of conservative historians who claimed ronald reagan won the cold war by basically forcing the soviet union into bankruptcy because of there military buildup in the united states to put pressure on the soviets, right, they couldn't keep up. as a result they had to enact reforms. those reforms ultimately undid the soviet union. and finally, there's a sort of emerging school of thought, which is the school i want to belong to, right, that reagan and gorbachev worked together to set the foundation for a peaceful end to the cold war and the dissolution of the soviet empire. i think gorbachev deserves most of the credit although he probably wouldn't like to take it, right? he was a valid socialist, but i think his policies ultimately are what undid the soviet union. but i think reagan deserves a lot of credit for working with gorbachev in order to basically establish better relations to enable gorbachev to carry out those reforms at home. that's where i fit into the historiography. i know i'm speaking to a more conservative audience, so i'm not either one of the first two. so don't be too angry

romanian soldiers are evacuated to slave labor camps in the soviet union. the red flag flies over eastern romania. stalin's advance agents organize the local communists. khrushchev congratulates the romanians on their liberation and assures them the soviet government does not pursue the aim of change on social living in romania. ". >> as you just witnessed, the communists took lenin as his word -- at his word that a treaty is the means of gaining strength. the communists recognize and made alliances with their neighbors to gain time to marshal the resources and energies of the 170 million russians to build a powerful military force. when they felt they were strong enough, they systematically and immediately gobbled up their neighbors. the reds found in most cases that just the threat of soviet power was enough to gain their in. karl marx, one of the original architects of communist theory, said, the russian bear is certainly capable of anything, as long as he knows the other animals he has to deal with are capable of nothing. unquote. communist imperialism w

hungary is ready to be taken into vassalage of the soviet union. 1st, 1949, hungary becomes a popular democracy. the general secretary of the hungarian workers party arrives to cast his ballot and to speak of soviet generosity. quote, what was the role of the soviet union in the creation of a popular democracy? without the unremitting kind support of the soviet union, the hungarian popular democracy and all other popular democracies would never have been created. end quote. harping on capitalist imperialism, the red satirized alleged warmongers. in 1956, the world learned the meaning of the support of the soviet union. russians, go home. the hungarian people are in revolt. they succeeded, overwhelming the red forces for a few days. then, through treachery, catching the hungarian freedom fighters totally unaware, the russians counterattacked to end the short-lived breath of hungarian freedom. >> in view of the acts of subjugation which we have just witnessed supervised by khrushchev, it is difficult to understand this quote from stalin. the people of

banners and signs prepared demand admittance of latvia into the soviet union. july, the second secretary of the latvian communist party makes the formal request to parliament. the proceedings are watched carefully by the soviet secret police. there are no opposing votes. on august 3, he leads riga for the moscow supreme soviet. stalin and company applaud the latvian delegates. in the background -- he positions for acceptance of lobby as a soviet state. stalin, khrushchev, and molotov. he welcomes by soviet troops his new guard of honor. we are reminded by an item in molotov speech to the supreme soviet in 1939. the nonsensical talk about the sovietization of the balkan countries has some of the foreign press charge. the new constitution center moscow guarantees freedom from unreasonable arrest. however, enough reasonable charters are found to send thousands of latvians to slave labor cans -- camps in the soviet union. on this list of the names of 78 people arrested by the nk vd, the soviet secret police, the notation at the end of the list explains the quite re

at least in the minds of the soviet union. because of the shooting down of a flight k, l zero zero seven. the korean airliner straight it straight into the soviet air praise airspace, where it strayed for two hours. soviet sent fighters because they thought it was an american spy plane initially, and i'm not sure what they were thinking, it's interesting because i had windows, there were lights it looks like a commercial airliner. nonetheless the soviets shoot down the plane, and on board there were 269 passenger, including 63 americans. including a congressman. a conservative congressman. they all die in the shooting down of it. and a response to that, conservatives the conservative activists amy holder press conference, denouncing the soviet union and calling on ronald reagan to enact an embargo on technology, and demand a release of prisoners who are there, like human rights activists who are imprisoned. and to embargo grain shipments to the soviet union immediately in response to this. reagan is on vacation when this happe

the guests are greeted by nina, president of the union of soviet societies of friendship and cultural relations with foreign countries. permit me to address you, our dear friends, she says. on behalf of the union of soviet friendship society, the institute of soviet/america relations, the committee of soviet women and all our public, i'm happy to greet you sincerely and heartily. speaking in reply, dr. hutchinson said -- >> on behalf of the american delegation, which is being so cordially entertained in your vast and great country, i want to thank the madame for her very cordial words of greetings. i was impressed again with the ease with which we of the family are now able to meet and to converse with each other and to try to understand each other. >> the conference lasted seven days. after many fruitful discussions, it adopted a joint statement on the promotion of peace and general and complete disarmament. the statement expressed hope in the full possibility of peaceful co-existence. the signing of the moscow treaty infused hope and fresh strength in all women, all people of goodwi

the american delegates came to the soviet union to exchange views with their soviet counter parts on promotion of peace and to see the country. the conference was held at friendship house. hundreds of different languages are spoke here. but all people coming here are united by one common cause. promotion of peace. the institute of soviet american relations and other soviet friendship societies are doing much for the peoples of all continents to come to know each other better. in the three years, many people have come here from across the ocean to take part in meetings, discussions and conferences. and this is one such friendly meeting at friendship house. the guests are greeted by nina popola, president of the union of soviet societies of friendship and cultural relations with foreign countries. >> translator: permit me to address you our dear friends she says, on behalf of the union of soviet friendship society, the institute of american soviet relations, the committee of soviet women, and all our public, i'm happy to greet you sincerely and heartily. speaking in reply, dr. hutchins

could become leader of the country and when we deplete it was going to rebel and the collapse of soviet union because again you know so that was the rebel even. the soviets themselves that saved russia you know because lusha crash landed it wasn't plunder but i'm told it actually happened presidential got to take a very short break but it will be back in just a few moments. her. turn wanting to. move on sudoku some don't tell you the name doesn't do it all joking there on the scene on the bus on the other vehicles on its own zones only calls a stall small talk can manage and. does not all guns around the world will live up to us all morning as long as old as old as it all to. her. welcome back to worlds apart with your good at all again professor of social research and public policy at new york university ended up being a whole does capitalism and have a future professor dahl again before the break we were talking about some of the signs. pointing to these structural weaknesses of the capitalist system and one mentioned the expansion in the currency mass a lot of experts mention it to logic d

it was that our famous in publicized circles for having predicted the and to all that the the soviet union all the way back in the 1970s but when they started saying that capitalism is also approaching its its advantage structurally that it was perceived as almost an ideological betrayal isn't that because that many people in the west see a chapter as more than just an economic system as something that is a much much bigger perhaps even sacred ideology it is a major blinder in social science. it's ever present and of course you know people who say no my faith favorite example is the charles darwin to almost mother century to share his theory with the rest of society because he was a good english country gentleman. because kid just understood that if he tells you know his fellow churchgoer so no originate from monkeys you know he will never be able to go to the church again you know some there will proprietors of the moment and vegas was. as in the $1007.00 just it was almost impossible to discuss collapse of communism because it would be considered crazy you know president reagan was campa

the guests are greeted by the president of the union of soviet societies friendship and cultural relationso address you, our deep friend, she says. on behalf of the union of soviet friendship society the institute of soviet american relations, the committee of soviet women and all our public, i am happy to greet you sincerely and heartily. [applause] speaking of reply, doctor hutches and said -- >> only half of the american delegation, which has been so cordially entertained in your great country, i would like to thank the madam for her cordial greeting. i was impressed, again, with the ease with which we have the family of man are now able to meet and converse with each other, and try to understand each other. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> the conference lasted seven days. after many fruitful discussions, it adopted a joint statement on the promotion of peace and general and complete disarmament. this image expressed hope in the full possibility of peaceful coexistence. the signing of the moscow treaty infused hope and fresh strengthen all women, all the people of goodwill a desire and easing of international

and the most varied contacts are developments between the soviet union and america. a delegation of the united states section of the williams peace and freedom came to moscow for the second soviet american women's conference. the delegation included doctor dorothy hudson, president of the american section. phyllis sanders, member of the league national board. very faster, civic leader, actress and former congresswoman. journalist, nancy, lawyer, ruth, panelist, methodist clergy woman. -- a delegate to the first conference held at gwen moore and joseph ian, or -- a teacher. the american guests were met by officials in the institute of soviet relations including all gonna, leader of the soviet delegation, secretary general leader, and all gonna. the american delegates came to the soviet union to exchange ideas on piece, and to see the country. the conferences held at the friendship, house hundreds of different languages are spoken here but all people coming here or unit by one common cause. promotion of peace. the institute of soviet relations and other -- are doing muc

today the existence is delete denied by the soviet union. ovember 29 1944 communist subversion results in only one governing party being recognized in albania. an insight into communist party -- destroyed after soviet and chinese liberation. "-- here is grim evidence to the contrary. the example of mongolia. this mongolian official is an agent of the kremlin. he is ordered to moscow to ask for formal incorporation into the ussr. the example of yugoslavia. in may 1946 commonest republic of yugoslavia decided. from heading the government in exile during the war years. he is unanimously reelected president by the constituent national assembly. very soon, the communists, the leading party in the cabinet. denounces non-communist cabinet members before 100,000 in his party's main swear -- main square. communists file into the building and problem. on the speakers stand. chairman of the central of czechoslovakia -- two committee members have the to abstain. it is noted by the soviet secret police. this whistle signals the beginning of the communist

were themselves the soviet union and their nice to do a serous after the 1990 s. of the kind of the western world began to believe that is to do only a representative for the and for human human right. well you know well the progress of human race yeah i know it will take time some time for them to understand that their own country is in different countries will soon become trees and independent countries and this transition period will be very dangerous and i think one more difference between our present times and the cold war is that. in the end the highest points of the cold war everybody understood the necessity of diplomacy and the importance of thinking before you for speaking and fortunately i don't think that's. still the case but anyway professor looking to have to leave it there i really appreciate your being with us today. thank you very much for having me and thank you for watching hope this year again next week and also part of. the world is driven by shaped by our own person. who dares thinks. we dare to ask. some of our loud someone your stories of

the soviet union. why? go ahead. >> they wanted the capitalist economies to fail so that revolution could happen in countries could turn to communism. professor hitchcock: it doesn't suit their long-term objectives. but that is not but there were going to say publicly. they are not going to say this interferes with our plan of global revolution. what is their argument about what the u.s. is trying to do? >> it looks imperialistic. professor hitchcock: exactly. if the united states is using economic muscle to do what they say they would never do, to expand their sphere of influence and control. the u.s. is doing just what we said they would do, they're trying to take over western europe. >> i was just going to say that they see it as the united states meddling in their sphere of influence that they earned, with their soldiers killed. professor hitchcock: that's a great question. does the marshall plan reach into eastern europe? does it metal and the soviet sphere of influence? does it? exactly. remember the

germany writing back to washington very frustrated bitterly complaining about the behavior of the soviet union the soviet representatives in germany. the russians it appeared were not going to treat germany as a single. a single nation and work cooperatively with the western states then the eyes of these american administrators they seem to be acting. unilaterally in germany especially in the area of reparations and dismantling of german economic assets. the american saw the russian behavior as predatory. i think that's a good word to describe their attitude. or at least the way the american saw russian behavior as predatory as dealing with germany as if it was conquered territory to be extracted and brought home. the soviets they felt were clearly going to operate an occupy germany in only in their own national interests and not in the cooperative interests of the four occupying powers as they had said they would at potstep. that was an american perception. was that the reality? well, this is the great question, but that was the perception at work here. now it wasn't just in germany that trou

yeah or become leader of the country and we deplete it was going to rebel and the collapse of soviet union because again you know so that was the revolt even pull. the soviets themselves i thought saved russia you know because russia grassland it it wasn't plunder but i'm still it actually happened president will get me to take a very short break but we'll be back in just a few moments. and so that's a bad day for them. if they pay them is going to. about the him i'm going to be obviously to let them do so. frankly got to. get back yet not just the types to use upon each one the pockets i mean the. mom i'm going to have as a plus it's my least been the. you type and feel good in the interviews i'll go to the gym with them but again i was on the. welcome back to well department you're good at all. professor of social research and public policy at new york university ended up being a whole. capitalism would have a future professor down again before the break we were talking about some of the signs. pointing to the structural weaknesses of the capitalist system and one mentioned the expansion

time and of and of course the soviet union that was and that as the real be united states and they were the relations that we had at that time with china went on to the very good will do we know the cool idea of diplomacy and that was to find compromises and for comparable to find a compromise you do that you should not call you now. or even the never say or words because it's useless you know why why why should you do this but now everything is different now people mostly speak not of the countries but when the supposedly talked of the country is the true talk to the 2 weeks. you know what are the internal india and some of this or do i see now let's talk about the russian are specifically apprehensive reaction to that comment the russian president in a joking. essentially accused mr biden over freud and projection and ascribing to russia america's own since he wished him a good house and challenge him to an open mediated debate now did the biden administration have promptly declined the offer was there after a chance that they would agree to something like that because you mentio

of the fortress type of mentality of the soviet union and if they look around it well it's hard not to come to a conclusion that this is already happening in that they call it making it seem conscious 1st. behaving very selfishly in securing supplies and now sort of reverting to self-sufficiency economic self-sufficiency predicated on the need to provide for that own citizens i know it's not common isn't but if you really looks like everybody is for themselves for now much more so than i bet you would imagine that when you were writing your book so. again i know you cannot say that for sure but in terms of intuition which way do you think this system and the capitalist system will go because when when you talk about the end of capitalism it's sounds very political but both you and i understand that nothing disappears forever and the soviet union didn't disappear if it gave birth to russia as may know it today so what for i. think that transformation will take based on the chance that you can already absurd there always disagree possibilities and only 3 possibilities in social and. one

you declare war you should you know when when say nazi germany and began their war against the soviet union the soviet diplomats still were allowed to leave. germany german difference for were allowed to leave the soviet union then the return what was going to happen to all this protocol diplomatic immunity under this circumstance is it's not very clear wish it wait and see now i think if there is one of my standards i still wear lining in this whole controversy is that very much every russian now knows this american expression all walking and chewing gum meeting and maintaining pressure and collaboration at the same time but i wouldn't want to ask you what. what is this proverbial gun what had those areas of mutual interest that russia and the united states instill disgust are there any well russia is discussing some things with the. states. still for example the situation in syria. some talks about nuclear stuff was but this is for their. such topics are very few because the united states is to visit because they're not not interested. in the 1st place it is they think that them to intere

american public, one mutual understanding, and the most varied compacts are developing between the soviet union america. a delegation of the united states section of the women's international league for peace and freedom came to moscow for the second soviet american women's conference. ♪ the delegation included dr. nora b hatch and said, president of the american section. phyllis sanders, member of the league's national board. vera foster, civic leader. at helen douglass, actress and former congresswoman. irna harris, and nancy reeves. ruth freeman and emily stewart, methodist clergy woman. mildred olmsted, a delegate to the first soviet american women's conference held at bryn mawr. orly pell. the american guests were met by officials from the institute of relations, including the leader of the soviet delegation, the secretary-general, and public figures. ♪ the american delegates came to the soviet union to exchange views with their soviet counterparts on the promotion of peace, and to see the country. the conference was held at friendship house. hundreds of different languages are spoken here

next, former soviet union leader mikhail gorbachev's lecture at the college from may 1992. he talked about how the world could emerge from the cold war and shape the future. [ applause ] -- in which the sculpture's imagination and remarkable expression and reconnaissancism conveyed the drama of the cold war. the irrepressible human striving to penetrate the barriers of alienation and confrontation. it is symbolic that this was the grabbed daughter of winston churchill and that this sculpture should be in fulton. more than 46 years ago, winston churchill spoke in fulton and in my country this speech was singled out as the formal declaration of the cold war. this was indeed the first time the words iron curtain were pronounced and the whole western world was challenged to close ranks against the threat of tyranny in the form of the soviet union and communist expansion. everything else in this speech including churchill's analysis of the post-war situation in the world, his thoughts about the possibility of preventing a third world war, a prospect for progress and methods of r

the border between iran and the soviet union.ell, i think one of the first things that has to happen for stability has got ton in iran itself to establish a government that can speak as a government for iran. and part of our problem in all these long 444 days has been the inability of anyone, seemingly, to speak for that nation to have a government. now, i think that any country would want to help another if they really showed an intent to have a government that would abide by international law and do what they could to help them in that regard. but until such a thing appears apparent there, i don't know that there's anything we can do. no. young lady. >> mr. president, if it's your intention to signal the world that this country will respond with swift retribution in cases of international terrorism in the future, why is it your policy not to retaliate against iran? >> well, what good would just revenge do? and what -- what -- what form would that take? i -- i don't think revenge is worthy of us. on the other hand, i don't think

>> so far, dÉtente has been a one way street that the soviet union has used to pursuit for their owneans. i do not have to think of an answer as to what i think their intentions are. they have repeated it. i have no leader of the soviet union since the revolution that has not more than once repeated in the various communist congress is that they hold. they are determination that their goal must be the promotion of world revolution, and eight one world socialist communist state, whatever words you want to use. as long as they do, that and as long as they have at the same time openly and publicly declared that the only morality that they recognize is what will further their cause. meaning they reserve under themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that. and that is moral. not immoral. we operate on a different set of standards. i think when you do business with them, even at a dÉtente, you keep that in mind. let me take someone.. >> mister president, what is your opinion of american companies that have now resumed business with iran? >> my opinion

this the soviet union did. but it funds the conference which is run by the presidential administration. that is to basically explain russian policy positions or explain russia to experts. so i've attended that. probably some the audience have as well. it has established institutes on democracy and cooperation. one of which still exists in paris. the one that existed in new york monitored american democracy, and it has theirs public support fund that again funds nongovernment organizations and of course things like the hosting over the sochi olympic and the world cup show russia to the world as a modern country that transform itself. that's a kind of more traditional kind of soft power. it has reached out to russian diaspora communities in the community, israel in particular has large russian diaspora. putin paid pensions to those russian -- former russian or soviet citizens who fought in the second world war and paid in israel. it's been a tremendous -- gave them tremendous boost. he is the only russian leader

the collapse of the soviet union, and of european communism, is fundamentally, and at its heart, nothing less than the collapse of an empire. the soviets had a political, ideological, and military system which ruled over other countries that opposed them, and it was a pretty good one at that. add global influence and global reach. throughout history, i challenge you to find another case of a major international empire declining and then collapsing without an in suing great power war. in fact, i know this one is true. you cannot find another case, an experiment with 20,000 nuclear weapons running around the mix. so as we think about everything that turned out well, for the most part, i want you to think about how fundamentally and dangerous this moment was, this moment that we think of as exultation, but a moment of soviet transformation of identity, politics, transformation of their entire empire, a process which had never before in history successfully occurred without an in suing collapse in the international system. that's with george bush gets to inherit when he takes office. i know

there was very little trade with the europe and the soviet union very little american russian trade. but in this case we have we have countries in asia that the united states of and that these some of these countries the ones that have a treaty relationship look to the u.s. for security but those same countries are very heavily invested with trade with china that's where the parallel with the cold war comes to an end because containment of the soviet union worked it worked ok primarily because of economic reasons but in this case here you cannot contain china this is ridiculous and going back to my 1st question in this block here having a asia nato is also ridiculous here the leverage just isn't there tom go ahead. oh you can actually include china and the united states alone some of the other countries around the world is like a bolt holes to get a. were entangled and multiple way china home was i believe the trillion dollars worth of our debt our farmers which are saner rebound some of the greatest trade going on right now with our agricultural midwest year in the heartland of ame

and, of course, this depended to a decisive degree on the soviet union and the united states. here, i hardly need to explain why that was. so, i would like to commence my remarks by noting that the ussr and the u.s. missed that chance. the chance to establish their relationship on a new basis of principle and thereby to initiate a world order different from that which existed before the war. i think it is clear that i'm not suggesting they should have established a sort of condominium over the rest of the world. the opportunity was on a different plane altogether. if the united states and the soviet union had been capable of comprehending their responsibility and sensibly correlating their national interests and strivings with the rights and interests of other states and peoples, the planet today would be a much more favorable and suitable place for human life. i have more than once criticized the foreign policy of the stalinist leadership of those years. not only was it incapable of re-evaluating the historical -- taking into account the experience and results of the war and

because you have to remember that the soviet union were our allies in world war ii and that they suffered greatly, you know, the millions of losses of casualties on the soviet side and in general sense the americans and two degree winston churchill appreciated the russian people certainly for the sacrifice that they made without the soviets. the war not would not have been one and it was a necessary alliance in in the second world war but in the aftermath it really began at the alta conference in 1945 with fdr when he was still alive and maybe even earlier at the teran conference with the big three there was a beginning to be a fracture in the alliance and the post war outlook was such that you know who's going to be, you know in control of the eastern european countries. europe, you know churchill for instance wanted to very much defend poland and other countries thinking that it should be a sovereign state. i think joseph stalin had other plans and you know churchill began to see this and after the the victory in europe and after the end of the world war i churchill notices that the ame

we need to stanford -- stand firm and not appease the soviet union. he feared if we did than those expanded doctrines of communism would creep westward, and the world would be a far different place. this is churchill's backstop, potential soviet expansion. host: let's let some of our viewers join in on this conversation about the 75th anniversary of winston churchill's iron curtain speech at westminster college. let's start with david, who is calling from denison, texas. even, good morning. caller: good morning. that is a great speech, although you would think that churchill would have certainly known what stalin was going to be up to. as far as stalin being an ally, he was of course allied with germany before he was allied with us. russia and germany invaded poland. russia signed a pact with germany which surprised the world and provided the staging and training ground for german military forces. they were in the process of piloting the versailles treaty. that is how they organize their forces. britain and europe was the only country that had an army

i had believed about the lack of respect for human life that is felt by those in charge of the soviet unionnd i was following that that i made a student about it at the un. >> i want to ask you did call vesuvius union evil empire. you saw soviet union so shoot the oh seven airplanes. you suggested the even mr. gorbachev could work together to achieve peace. are those contradictory positions? >> no, not at all. i thought at the beginning of this administration, one questions were asked to mean press conferences and so forth about the soviet union, i spoke bluntly about what i felt that i knew about them. and the fact that they are expansionist they are aggressive. they have never withdrawn or retracted the lennon statement that their mission is a one world communist state. but at the same time we have to live in the world together, and i believe that the only way there will be world war three is if the were soviet union wants a war. if they want peace, there will be peace, because no one else wants a war. we certainly don't. i've never known a war in my lifetime we started. so i think that i

. >> the most varied contacts are development between soviet union in america.ted states section of the women's international lead for peace and freedom came to moscow for the second soviet american women's conference. after many fruitful discussions -- >> the united states government focused much of its attention on monitoring the activities of groups like the women's international league. >> when you become interest in these issues, which are non local issues, they have to be prepared for attacks that happen very differently. if they are organization set up to attack them, they are supposed to be un-american, then they are subject to great miss representation, absolute misrepresentation really. because they are afraid of them. the community is afraid of them. they don't really know what they're going to do so everyone was labeled communist because the communist movement was the great new movement. it was a great new movement. they were terribly afraid of it. they really did know it communism was. didn't know was going to happen in russia. there were all sorts

our strategic objective was to prevent the soviet union from becoming the dominant country. vietnam had just occupied czechoslovakia and two divisions were on the chinese border. the use of soviet military pressure was a feature of the cold war. nixon began by opening and control negotiations over nuclear weapons. the plan was -- with the soviet union to create this intent with china. then the soviet union decided to blackmail us. with the idea fulfillment. they said ok we're going to try. if you look at what nixon said about china, he had looked at china from the point of view of world order. is you was that, by getting china involved in the international system, the whole pattern of international politics would be transformed. because all other countries would then consider, the impact of china in terms of the new dispensation. and he calculated, that we might produce a situation, in which america would be closer to most of the contestants, then they were to each other. and then they were in a strong bargaining position. the second or third day, in office, i looked at the c