Office of the Historian

Sources

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Volume IV, Soviet Union January 1983–March 1985

The White House Staff and Office Files at the Reagan Library provide a key source of documentation on high-level decision-making toward the Soviet Union from January 1983 to March 1985. The Executive Secretariat files, a subset of this collection, include the National Security Council (NSC) and National Security Planning Group (NSPG) Meeting Files; National Security Decision Directives (NSDD); the Head of State File; and the USSR Country File. Other relevant Staff and Office File collections include the European and Soviet Affairs Directorate: USSR Files; Director of Soviet Affairs Jack Matlock Files; and files of President’s Assistants for National Security Affairs William Clark and Robert “Bud” McFarlane. Key collections of other members of the NSC Staff are the files of John Lenczowski, Robert Linhard, Ronald Lehman, and Sven Kraemer, which focus on various aspects of policy development, arms control, and negotiations with the Soviet Union. In some instances, NSC records related to NSDDs and NSC and NSPG meetings have remained in the institutional files of the NSC in Washington. The text of the declassified NSDDs are available on the Reagan Presidential Library website.

The Department of State records most vital for this volume are in the following Executive Secretariat S/S Lot Files: Lot 91D257: Top Secret/Secret Sensitive Memorandum; Lot 92D52: Executive Secretariat Sensitive and Super Sensitive Documents, 1984–1989; Lot 92D630: Executive Secretariat Special Caption Documents, 1979–1989; Lot 93D188: Memorandum of Conversations, 1981–1990; Lot 94D92: NODIS and EXDIS Secretariat Memorandums, 1985; and Lot 96D262: Special Handling Restrictions Memos, 1979–1983. The files of Lawrence Eagleburger in Lot 84D204 and Kenneth Dam in Lot 85D308, as well as the Policy Planning Staff Memoranda in Lot 89D149 and files of the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Office of Soviet Affairs, in Lot 91D231 provide an excellent insight into high-level decision-making in the Department. The Central Foreign Policy File of the Department includes cable traffic between the Embassy in Moscow and Washington, as well as other related cables.

In addition to the paper files cited below, a growing number of documents are available on the Internet. The Office of the Historian maintains a list of these Internet resources on its website and encourages readers to consult that site on a regular basis.

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Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Foreign Policy File
    • Lot Files. These files have been transferred or will be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland
      • Lot 03D256: EUR Records, Records of Ambassador Thomas J. Simons, Jr.
      • Lot 03D314: EUR Records, Arthur Hartman Files
      • Lot 84D204: Executive Secretariat, S/S, Lawrence Eagleburger Files, 1967–1984
      • Lot 85D308: Executive Secretariat, S/S–I Records, Deputy Secretary Dam’s Official Files
      • Lot 89D149: S/P, Memoranda/Correspondence from the Director of the Policy Planning Staff
      • Lot 89D250: A Records, Miscellaneous Papers of Secretary Shultz and Charles Hill
      • Lot 90D137: Paul Nitze Files, 1953, 1972–1989
      • Lot 91D231: Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, Office of Soviet Affairs, 1978–1989
      • Lot 91D257: Executive Secretariat, S/S, Top Secret/Secret Sensitive Memorandum
      • Lot 92D52: Executive Secretariat, S/S, Executive Secretariat Sensitive and Super Sensitive Documents, 1984–1989
      • Lot 92D630: Executive Secretariat, S/S, Executive Secretariat Special Caption Documents, 1979–1989
      • Lot 93D188: Executive Secretariat, S/S Records, Memorandum of Conversations, 1981–1990
      • Lot 94D92: Executive Secretariat, S/S Records, NODIS and EXDIS Secretariat Memorandums, 1985
      • Lot 96D262: Executive Secretariat, S/S, Special Handling Restrictions Memos, 1979–1983
  • Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California
    • Intelligence Directorate
      • NSC Records
    • White House Staff and Office Files
      • Frank Carlucci Files
      • William Clark Files
      • Kenneth deGraffenreid Files
      • Files of the Executive Secretariat, National Security Council
        • Agency File
        • Cable File
        • Country File: Europe and Soviet Union
        • Head of State File
        • Meeting File
        • National Security Decision Directives (NSDD) File
        • National Security Planning Group (NSPG) File
        • National Security Study Directives (NSSD) File
        • System Files, System II Intelligence File
        • System Files, System IV Intelligence File
        • Subject File
        • Files of the European and Soviet Affairs Directorate, National Security Council
        • Files of the Political Affairs Directorate, National Security Council
        • Files of the Situation Room, White House
        • Donald Fortier Files
        • Fred Ikle Files
        • Intelligence Directorate, NSC Records, 1981–1989
        • Sven Kraemer Files
        • Robert Lehman Files
        • John Lenczowski Files
        • Robert Lilac Files
        • Robert Linhard Files
        • Jack Matlock Files
        • Robert McFarlane Files
        • Edwin Meese Files
        • John Poindexter Files
        • Roger Robinson Files
        • Papers of Charles Hill
        • Papers of George Shultz
        • President’s Daily Diary
  • Central Intelligence Agency
    • Office of the Director of Central Intelligence
      • Job 88B00443R: Policy Files (1980–1986)
      • Job 85M00363R: Subject Files (1983)
      • Job 86M00886R: Subject Files (1984)
    • Office of Congressional Affairs
      • Job 81M01032R: Subject Committee Files (1943–1980)
    • Office of Russian and European Analysis
      • Job 87T01145R: Policy & Substantive Files
    • National Intelligence Council
      • Job 09T00367R: Intelligence Publication Files, Production Case Files
      • Job 88T00528R: Policy Files (1982–1984)
      • Job 90T00435R: Chronological Files (1988)
      • Job 91B00551R: Speeches, Lectures, Briefing Files (1988–1989)
    • History Staff Files
  • Library of Congress
    • Manuscript Division
      • Papers of Caspar W. Weinberger
  • National Security Council
    • Carter Intelligence Files
    • Institutional Files
  • Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
    • RG 330, Records of the Department of Defense
      • FRC 330–85–0023: 1983 Official Files of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense
      • FRC 330–86–0048: 1984 Official Files (Top Secret) of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense
      • FRC 330–87–0023: 1984 Official Files (Secret and below) of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense

Published Sources

  • Brinkley, Douglas, ed. The Reagan Diaries, Unabridged, Volume I: January 1981–October 1985. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.
  • Current Digest of the Soviet Press.
  • Dobrynin, Anatoly. In Confidence: Moscow’s Ambassador to Six Cold War Presidents. New York: Crown, 1995.
  • Gates, Robert. From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.
  • Matlock, Jack. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. New York: Random House, 2004.
  • McFarlane, Robert and Zofia Smardz. Special Trust. New York: Cadell and Davies, 1984.
  • New York Times.
  • Nitze, Paul. From Hiroshima to Glasnost: At the Center of Decision. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1989.
  • Pipes, Richard. VIXI: Memoirs of a Non-Belonger. New Haven: Yale, 2003.
  • Reagan, Ronald. An American Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
  • Shultz, George P. Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State. New York: Scribner’s, 1993.
  • Strober, Deborah H. and Gerald S. Strober. Reagan: The Man and His Presidency. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.
  • United Nations. Yearbook of the United Nations, 1983, 1984, 1985. New York: United Nations Publications, 1983–1985.
  • United States. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Documents on Disarmament, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982–1985.
  • ______. Department of State. Bulletin, 1983–1985.
  • ______. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1982–1988.
  • Washington Post.
  • Weinberger, Caspar. Fighting for Peace: Seven Critical Years at the Pentagon. New York: Warner Books, 1990.