Events/Courses - Event View

Early in his tenure Reagan was much criticized for his approach toward Moscow, which included a large U.S. military build-up and strong rhetoric. By the end of his administration, Reagan had concluded the first major US–Soviet arms control agreement in almost two decades, and the landmark START accord, which cut strategic nuclear weapons by 50 percent, was mostly complete. Louis Sell will discuss why Reagan enjoyed such success and end with some thoughts on why more recent administrations have not.    

Louis Sell had a 28-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, dealing in many aspects of US–Soviet relations, including six years at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He witnessed the collapse of the USSR and the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. His two books are From Washington to Moscow: US–Soviet Relations and the Collapse of the USSR and Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. Sell is one of the founders of the American University in Kosovo and he taught at the University of Maine at Farmington. He speaks Russian and Serbo-Croatian.