Fighting for peace: seven critical years at the pentagon

The eight years of the Reagan Administration were a critical period for the United States, witnessing major international crises and controversy in the White House itself. Few men are better placed to comment on those turbulent times than Caspar Weinberger, who for most of the Presidency was Secretary of State for Defense. His lively, personal account of his years in office makes fascinating, enlightening reading.

The turbulent 1980s began with Soviet threats towards Poland, and crises in El Salvador and Nicaragua. They continued with the Iran-Contra affair, Lebanon and the Israeli invasion, the Libyan bombing and the liberation of Grenada. Weinberger was fundamentally involved in the whole change in America's nuclear strategy and the revolutionary Strategic Defense Initiative, as well as the development of NATO policy. The period ends with the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf episodes, and the new Soviet initiative in arms reduction. Caspar Weinberger's support for Britain was, of course, immensely influential during the Falklands war.
Caspar Weinberger's comments on the management of both the Armed and Intelligence services are fascinating, as are his discussions of the problems in a democratic society of a free and frank public airing of many of the decisions made. Through it all, we gain a unique insight into what it is like to be in such a position of power.