The Brink: President Reagan and the Nuclear War Scare of 1983

Former White House correspondent Ambinder (Deep State; The Command) presents a study of the 1983 nuclear war scare, referred to by the code name Able Archer 83, involving NATO and the Soviet Union. Using firsthand interviews, declassified documents, and secondary literature, Ambinder recounts events of that year, such as Reagan's March 8 "Evil Empire" speech before a group of evangelicals; his March 23 proposal for a "Star Wars" Strategic Defense Initiative; and the September 1 downing of the South Korean KAL 007 civilian plane, misconstrued as an American spy craft. Listing major participants and a guide to acronyms, the work demystifies a complex Western alliance that was misinterpreted by newly installed Kremlin leader Yuri Andropov. The author reveals how, through discrete decisions to deescalate tensions, the closest the world came to nuclear war since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis resulted instead in renewed détente, which President Reagan's campaign had opposed.