I always found living in Moscow exhilarating, in the sense that what we were trying to do . . . and to influence what was going on, was so important.
Jack Matlock served for 35 years as a career diplomat, including tenure as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991.
Now retired, he is the author of several books including Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended, Superpower Illusions, Autopsy on an Empire; and a handbook to the thirteen-volume Russian edition of Stalin's Collected Works.
He is also a historian and linguist, and teaches at Columbia University's School for International and Public Affairs.
