ronald-reaganMartin Anderson dedicated a quarter century of his life to setting the historical record straight about Ronald Reagan’s accomplishments as president. It’s only fitting, then, that Anderson’s last book — released shortly after his death in January at age 78 — would continue that theme.

Ronald Reagan: Decisions of Greatness offers plenty of interesting information about the 40th president, though a reader unprepared for the text and the circumstances surrounding its release is likely to close its back cover with some disappointment.

For one thing, the title suggests a book that will focus on key decisions Reagan made during the course of his eight-year administration that illuminate his greatness. Instead Anderson and his wife and co-author Annelise hone in on one particular decision: ramping up the United States’ nuclear weapon capabilities in the attempt to force the Soviet Union to commit to serious arms control efforts.

The 95 pages of text examine this decision from various angles: historical context, newly available closed-door meeting transcripts that demonstrate Reagan’s commitment to his nuclear weapons goals, even the links between Reagan’s arms control record and his growing stature among American presidents in recent polls of the American public.

It’s hard not to speculate that Martin Anderson would have wanted to work with Annelise to flesh these themes out to a greater extent had they had more time. Only four of the book’s 11 chapters extend beyond 10 pages, with one — titled “Freedom Won” — totaling just two pages. Two flesh out the book, we get the full transcript of an interview Martin Anderson conducted with Reagan shortly after the president left the White House in 1989, a fairly technical essay on nuclear weapons technology as it existed in the 1980s, and a selection of Reagan movie posters from 1937 to 1957. (Yes, the posters do seem out of place and contribute to the sense that this book ends up serving as a grabbag for material not yet compiled elsewhere.)

So no one should expect a detailed dissection of Reagan’s greatest decisions. A reader who accepts that fact and focuses instead on the Andersons’ actual message will find much of interest.

Of all Ronald Reagan’s accomplishments, the most important — and unique — was persuading the Soviets to reverse their nuclear buildup and end the Cold War. He finally convinced Michael Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, that an arms race was a contest the Soviets could not win and that a nuclear attack would be a disaster for the Soviet Union as well as the United States and Europe. …

… Reagan’s strategy, well established in his first year in office, did not change: it was to make absolutely sure in the minds of the Soviets that they faced destruction in a nuclear war. Thus they, too, adopted — at Geneva and in individual statements — the view that a nuclear war could not be won and must never be fought. The evolution of their view occurred as Reagan sought an alternative through strategic defense to make nuclear missiles obsolete and thus eliminate the possibility of an all-out nuclear war.

Reagan, in short, left the world a safer place.

Readers searching for more information on this theme can seek out Ken Adelman’s book about Reagan’s negotiations with Gorbachev at the famous Reykjavik summit. For a more comprehensive view of Reagan’s political stature, it would be hard to beat books from Craig Shirley and Steven Hayward.