LEE EDWARDS: Three Who Made a Revolution
O'Sullivan, John
HeinzKerry'sfirsthusband.Doesthismeanthatheand PrincessMargaretwerelovers? These are one type of Vidal story, not proven but well within the realm of possibility all the same. Another type of...
...A professor who lecturesonmyworktellsmethatacademicstothisday refuse to believe that the Times could ever have done suchathing.Suchissimplefaith...
...But Reagan pointed out that a system of agreed global defense would protect everyone against what he called "some madman...
...It would be impossible, of course,tofindsomeonewhocould do all of the above--unless you couldpersuadeJohnO'SullivantowriteThePresident, thePope,andthePrimeMinister, hisfirstbutnotIhope lastbook...
...Thus welearnearlyonthatPanama,aprovinceofColombia thatisgenerallybelievedtohavebeenunjustlyseparatedfromthatcountrybyTheodoreRoosevelt,hadbeen the site of 50 uprisings or general revolts in 50 years, "surely some kind of a record,"andthatalltheU.S.did was withhold use of a railway to transport Colombian soldiers...
...General elections were held in Britain, Holland, Belgium, and Italy in the fall of 1983, and the peaceniksweredecisivelydefeatedeverywhere...
...Conceding that we face very different problems todaythanthepresident,thepope,andtheprimeminister did, O'Sullivan argues there is every reason to hope that we can overcome them...
...For John Paul II (at least in the political realm) it was his diplomatic offensive for religious liberty behind the Iron Curtain, especially in Poland...
...Inordertoreduce stockpiles on both sides, Reagan insisted, "missile defense would have to be available to all nuclear powers...
...Reagan's argument, writes O'Sullivan, foresaw scenarios like those we face today: "an Iranian bomb, a nuclear device in the hands of al Qaeda, even the risk of an accidental launch by a nuclearstate...
...And they were confident they wouldwin...
...Doing Civilization'sWork THIS IS A VERY STIMULATING andoriginalbookthat combines this well-established author's gift for careful research with his taste for rational contrariety and love of the comical and the obscure...
...Three years later, on October 12, 1984, Thatcher miraculously escaped an IRA bomb intended to kill her unscathed (five people died in the blast...
...Then, in response to the summer heat, he suddenly exploded...
...People magazine "The lady knows nothing of mediocrity...
...His war with the gray eminence began in 1948 when he published his second novel, The City and the Pillar,anopenlygaywork,andthepaper'smostpowerful book critic was so shocked that he swore he would never review the author again...
...Thatcher was determined to transform "the sick old man of Europe" (a familiar epithet for Britain) into a dynamiclandofenterpriseandprosperity...
...If this paragon also had a smooth, accessible writing style, that would be a heaven-sent bonus...
...Each believed that he had been created for a purpose...
...Both sought personal tax cuts to encourage enterprise, believedthatthebestwaytolimitthesizeofgovernment wastocontrolspending,foughtinflationthroughmonetarypolicy,andwerecommittedtoreversingnational decline...
...In summing up the individual and collective achievements of the president, the pope, and the primeminister,O'SullivanstatesthatReaganwonthe ColdWarwithoutfiringashot;revivedtheU.S.economy,whichwentontoenjoymorethan20yearsofconsecutive economic growth...
...Thatcher offered a strong purgative--economic liberty, traditional Christian values, patriotism, and a strong attachment to the United States and like-minded nations--and in May1979waselectedprimeminister...
...Reagan,theauthorinsists,wasnoutopian dreamer: He sought not a flawless defensive shield but a prudential "mix" of missile defense and nuclear disarmament...
...Newsweek followed his lead, and Vidal's next seven books went unreviewed by publishing's most important venue...
...From the first, they hit it off personally and politically...
...John Paul II barely survivedanattemptedassassinationonly43dayslater,on May 13...
...For their part, Reagan and John Paul II believed that"PolandwasthekeytotheunravelingoftheSoviet empire...
...ThreeWho MadeaRevolution OTHER WRITERS HAVE NOTED the timely emergenceofanAmericanpresident,aPolishpope, and a British prime minister in the late 1970s and early 1980s and their critical role in leading the WesttoapeacefulresolutionoftheColdWar.Butithas remainedfortheAnglo-Americanjournalistandeditor John O'Sullivan to write the definitive history of howRonald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcherworkedtogether,openlyandnotsoopenly,to bring about what most experts agreed was impossible--the swift dissolution of the Soviet Union and Marxism-Leninism...
...secretly set[ting] out to produce some [nuclear weapons] with the idea of blackmailing the world...
...Please call 800.524.3469, visit www.spectator.org/DejaReviews, or mail a check to: The American Spectator, 1611 N. Kent Street, Ste...
...M A R C H 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 7 5 B O O K SI NR E V I E W A History of the EnglishSpeaking Peoples Since 1900 by Andrew Roberts (HARPERCOLLINS, 736 PAGES, $35) Reviewed by Conrad Black Conrad BlackistheauthorofFranklinDelanoRoosevelt: Champion of Freedom (Public Affairs...
...The establishment of the new country was accomplished(intheparlanceofthe time),withthelossofonly"oneChinamanandanass...
...After all, he writes, adapting what Lady Thatcher said in her eulogy of President Reagan: "We have an advantage that they neverhad:Wehavetheirexample...
...Reagan and John Paul II almost died from their wounds...
...Paul Greenberg, Introduction to Deja Reviews mament policies of the left in Britain and on the European continent...
...Which may be why any collection of her writings goes off like a fireworks display...
...Another type of Vidal story is the jaw-dropper...
...Although Reagan and John Paul II met more frequently than is generally supposed (there were at leastseven meetings, according to informed estimates), it is the friendship between Reagan and Thatcher that receivestheauthor'sclosestattention.Reaganwasone ofthefirstAmericanstocallandcongratulateThatcher onherbeingelectedprimeminister,andThatcherwas the first major foreign leader to be invited to Washington in 1981 by the newly elected Reagan...
...This was kept from the world for a long time until someone (a Jesuit...
...Worsethantheblackoutwasthepaper'shypocrisy and outright stupidity: It raved the three mysteries he wrote under a pen name, but a decade later when he publishedtheminasinglevolumeunderhisrealname, itreviewedthemagain--andpannedthem...
...And so the president and the pope cooperated, openly and not so openly, to help keep the Solidarity trade union alive throughout the 1980s until, as O'Sullivan writes, it won the first free electionsinPoland'spostwarhistoryandbecame"thefirst freepostwargovernmentamidthegeneralcollapseof theSovietbloc...
...passed on the information...
...Meanwhile, Thatcher and Reagan worked closely togetherintheearly1980sagainsttheunilateraldisar7 4 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R M A R C H 2 0 0 7 B O O K SI NR E V I E W This is a limited time offer...
...O'Sullivan begins his admirable study by making the arresting point that the times seemed to have bypassed Reagan, Thatcher, and Karol Wojtyla, who embodied such seemingly "fading" virtues as faith, self-reliance,andpatriotism.Buttheunexpecteddeath oftheItalianJohnPaulIledtotheelectionofthePolish JohnPaulIIin1978;JimmyCarter'smonumentalineptitude at home and abroad prepared the way for a conservative alternative in Reagan in 1980...
...In an elegant coda to his marvelous book, O'Sullivan writes that it is "a spiritual element that best explains [Reagan, Thatcher, and John Paul] and their achievements...
...Any attempt at transition between the blasts would be ludicrous, like playing a waltz between artillery barrages...
...JohnPaulII,besideshelpingbringdowntheSoviet empire, bequeathed to Pope Benedict XVI a Catholic Churchthatwaslarge,growingfast(particularlyinthe ThirdWorld),andbecomingmoreorthodox.AccordingtoO'Sullivan,Thatcher'sreputationishigherintherest oftheworldthaninBritain,buteveninhernativeland theIronLady'spoliciesthatdefeatedinflation,restored British industry, and helped win the Cold War are "almostuniversallyregardedascorrect...
...As a counter to several hundred Soviet SS-20s aimed at Western Europe, NATO proposedthedeploymentofasimilarnumberofAmerican cruise and Pershing missiles...
...901, Arlington, VA 22209 Deja Reviews: Florence King All Over Again - Selections from National Review and The American Spectator Get the very best of Miss Florence King from both National Review and The American Spectator in our new book, Deja Reviews...
...There were, for example, the attempted assassinations: Reagan narrowly escaped death at the hand of John Hinckley on March 30, 1981...
...ItisalsorefreshingtoseetheBoermyththoroughlyexposedasthefraudthatitis.BravefighterstheBoers certainly were, but they were also racist and primitive authoritarians, and monstrous political hypocrites...
...All three individuals were self-confident charismatic leaders who achieved greatness through dedication and hard work...
...Stillshebears theburdenofthevehementoppositionandevenhatred they aroused, especially among the liberal intelligentsia...
...and established a "new conservative dominance in American politics" based on small governmentandlowtaxes...
...In the ensuing chapters, O'Sullivan deftly traces the interactive careers of the three leaders...
...To say that Florence King doesn't suffer fools gladly is an understatement akin to suggesting that Fred Astaire could maneuver quite nicely on the dance floor...
...To write such a multi-faceted story, you would want a polymath: an American familiar with Reagan's special genius for combining principle and pragmatism, a Brit who could explain how Thatcher became thefirstwomanprimeministerinBritishhistory,anda RomanCatholicwhounderstoodwhytheSovietswere so worried about the impact of a Polish pope on their empire.Youwouldseeksomeonewithakeenhistorical sense and a flair for biography--and the ability to integratesmoothlythemyriadaccomplishments of three major figures of our times...
...and Britain's accelerating economic decline coupled with a series of often violent strikes in the winter of 1978-79 brought the country to the edge of anarchy...
...O'SULLIVAN'S SKILL AS A REPORTER comes to the fore in his dramatic description of the several Reagan-Gorbachevsummits,mostnotablythe one at Reykjavik...
...Conservatives as well as liberals criticized the president's position--liberals because they were weddedtotheideaofMutualAssuredDestruction,conservatives because they were convinced you could not "trust"theCommunistswithsuchknowledge...
...There were massive demonstrations against deployment in major European cities, but the West, led by Thatcher and Reagan, stood firm...
...The one included here claims that when Pope Pius XII died in 1958,hewasembalmedbyanamateurtaxidermist: ...while he lay in state in the basilica, he turned, according to one viewer, "emerald green...
...Each, according to O'Sullivan,hadthesameexplanation for his survival: "Onehandfiredandanother handguidedthebullet...
...restored the spirit of America...
...ForconservativesforwhomthenameGoreVidalis anathema, there is hope: He loathes the New York Times...
...All three, he says, "taught and embodiedthevirtueofhope....Inverydifferentstyles,allwere enthusiasts for liberty...
...Not widely understood at the time was that both B O O K SI NR E V I E W M A R C H 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 7 3The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World By John O'Sullivan (REGNERY, 448 PAGES, $27.95) Reviewed by Lee Edwards Lee EdwardsisDistinguishedFellowinConservative ThoughtattheHeritageFoundationandtheauthorof many books about American conservatism, including the first political biography of Ronald Reagan...
...He goes to the heart of the fierce debateovertheStrategicDefenseInitiativebyexplaining that Reagan regarded SDI not as one facet of the nucleardeterrentbutas"thecentralelementinaglobalsystemofnucleararmsreduction...
...For just $24.95 (includes S&H) take a trip down memory lane, or begin the journey anew with these delightful selections of Miss King's voluminous collection of essays from 1991-2002...
...It is also reported that many sturdy Swiss guardsmenfaintedduringthisholycombustion...
...For Reagan it was to hasten and bring about the collapse of Communism...
Vol. 40 • March 2007 • No. 2
