Don Oberdorfer Papers, 1983-1990: Finding Aid

Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/v979v306x

Don Oberdorfer Papers, 1983-1990: Finding Aid

MC162

Image from the Don Oberdorfer Papers.

Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA
Phone: 609-258-6345
Fax: 609-258-3385
mudd@princeton.edu
http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd

Published in 1998

Summary Information

Creator:: Oberdorfer, Don, 1931-
Title and dates:: Don Oberdorfer Papers, 1983-1990
Abstract:: The Don Oberdorfer Papers consist of transcripts of interviews conducted by Oberdorfer with both American and Soviet foreign policy officials for his book, The Turn: From the Cold War to a New Era, The United States and the Soviet Union, 1983-1990 (Poseidon Press, 1991, and Touchstone Press, 1992). The papers also contain a significant amount of material documenting foreign policy actions taken by both countries during the same period.
Size:: 2.52 linear feet (6 boxes)
Call number:: MC162
Location:: Princeton University Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
Public Policy Papers.
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA
Language(s) of material:: English.
Storage note:: This collection is stored onsite at the Mudd Manuscript Library.

Biography of Don Oberdorfer

Don Oberdorfer was born 1931 in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and served as a U.S. Army lieutenant in Korea, 1953-1954. In 1955 he began his journalistic career as a reporter for the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, becoming the paper's Washington correspondent in 1958. From 1961-1965, he was a Washington editor and contributing editor of the Saturday Evening Post magazine. From 1965-1968, he was national affairs correspondent for the Knight Newspapers chain, covering the Vietnam War both at home and abroad. During the next 25 years, he worked for the Washington Post, serving as White House correspondent, Northeast Asia correspondent, and diplomatic correspondent.

Oberdorfer won the National Press Club's Edwin M. Hood Award for diplomatic correspondence in 1981 and 1988, and Georgetown University's Edward Weintal prize for diplomatic reporting in 1982 and 1993. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

In addition to The Turn, Oberdorfer is the author of Tet! (Doubleday, 1971; Da Capo Press, 1984), and numerous magazine articles. He was a visiting professor at Princeton University in 1977, 1982, and 1986 and now serves as a resident scholar with the title of Distinguished Journalist in Residence at Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

He is married to the former Laura Klein, and they have two children, Dan and Karen.

Description

This collection contains transcripts of interviews conducted by Oberdorfer with both Soviet and American foreign policy officials about events occurring between 1983 and 1990, as well as records detailing those events. Topics discussed include the four summit meetings between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Geneva in 1985, Reykjavik in 1986, Washington in 1987, and Moscow in 1988); the downing of Korean Airlines passenger jet KAL 007; the zero ballistic missiles option raised at Reykjavik; the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty's reinterpretation in connection with it; the Daniloff spy-swap affair; diplomatic missions of George Shultz and Andrei Gromyko; and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The interviews also detail American and Soviet foreign policy administration and personalities, including Gorbachev's predecessors, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

Series 1, Soviet Interviews, 1990
Series 2, American Interviews, 1989-1990
Series 3, Research Documents Files, 1983-1989

Access and Use

Access

One folder containing confidential memoranda from various summits and high-level meetings is closed until January 1997. Access to the folder may be obtained prior to January 1997 by obtaining the written permission of Mr. Oberdorfer.

Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Curator of the Public Policy Papers. Any copyright vested in Mr. Oberdorfer has passed to Princeton University; researchers are responsible for determining any other copyright questions.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Provenance and Acquisition

Mr. Oberdorfer donated these papers to the Seeley G. Mudd Library in 1994 (Accession Number: ML-1994-1).

Processing and Other Information

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Daniel J. Linke in 1994. Finding aid written by Daniel J. Linke in 1994.

Descriptive Rules Used

Finding aid content adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.

Encoding

Machine-readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 by Techbooks and Cristela García-Spitz on September 20, 2006.

Finding aid written in English.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Don Oberdorfer Papers, Box and Folder Number; Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Subject Headings

These materials have been indexed in the Princeton University Library online catalog using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.

Browse other finding aids related to the following terms:

Contents List

Series 1, Soviet Interviews, 1990

Series Description

These twenty-five interviews conducted by Oberdorfer during the first half of 1990 detail U.S.-Soviet relations from 1983-1990. Soviet foreign policy figures interviewed include Sergei Akhromeyev, Andrei Aleksandrov-Agentov, Georgi Kornienko, Edvard Shevardnadze, and Aleksandr Yakovlev. Notable by his absence is Mikhail Gorbachev.

The interviews range in length from 1 to 38 pages, and the total page length of each person's interview(s) is found in parentheses after his name on the container list. Many individuals were interviewed more than once. This series also contains background documents on specific individuals or events closely tied to them within their folders, and in the case of Boris Yeltsin, background materials only are found. While most of the interview transcripts are complete transcriptions of conversations, a few are only summaries of conversations.

Akhromeyev, Sergei
(37 pages)
Box 1, Folder 1
Aleksandrov-Agentov, Andrei
(38 pages)
Box 1, Folder 2
Blagovolin, Sergei
(14 pages)
Box 1, Folder 3
Bovin, Alexander
(5 pages)
Box 1, Folder 4
Burlatsky, Fedor
(14 pages)
Box 1, Folder 5
Falin, Valentin M.
(17 pages)
Box 1, Folder 6
Frolov, Ivan
(1 page)
Box 1, Folder 7
Grachev, Andrei
(2 pages)
Box 1, Folder 8
Grinevsky, Oleg
(1 page)
Box 1, Folder 9
Karpov, Viktor
(15 pages)
Box 1, Folder 10
Kokoshin, Andrei A.
(4 pages)
Box 1, Folder 11
Kornienko, Georgi
(33 pages)
Box 1, Folder 12
Kortunov, Andrei
(33 pages)
Box 1, Folder 13
Lisavolik, Dmitri
(6 pages)
Box 1, Folder 14
Maleschenko, Igor
(1 page)
Box 1, Folder 15
Medvedev, Roy
(2 pages)
Box 1, Folder 16
Obukhov, Alexkei and George Mamedev
(17 pages)
Box 1, Folder 17
Petrovsky, Vladimir
(4 pages)
Box 1, Folder 18
Primakov, Yevgeny
(20 pages)
Box 1, Folder 19
Rogachev, Igor
(1 page)
Box 1, Folder 20
Shevardnadze, Edvard
(11 pages)
Box 1, Folder 21
Tsipko, Alexander
(9 pages)
Box 1, Folder 22
Velikhov, Yevgeni
(18 pages)
Box 1, Folder 23
Vorontsov, Yuli
(22 pages)
Box 1, Folder 24
Yakovlev, Aleksandr N.
(30 pages)
Box 1, Folder 25
Yeltsin, Boris
(background materials only. No interview transcript.)
Box 1, Folder 26
Miscellaneous interviews
re: Kremlin architecture.
Box 1, Folder 27
Miscellaneous Soviet documents
Box 2, Folder 1
Miscellaneous American documents
Box 2, Folder 2

Series 2, American Interviews, 1989-1990

Series Description

These thirty-five interviews conducted by Oberdorfer primarily during the last half of 1989 detail U.S.-Soviet relations from 1983-1990. American foreign policy figures interviewed include George Bush, Frank Carlucci, Richard B. Cheney, William Crowe, Arthur Hartman, Robert McFarlane, Richard Perle, John Poindexter, Ronald Reagan, and George Shultz.

The interviews range in length from 1 to 212 pages (most are 10 to 30 pages in length), and the total page length of each person's interview(s) is found in parentheses after his/her name on the container list. Many individuals were interviewed more than once. This series also contains background documents on specific individuals or events closely tied to them within their folders, and in the case of Fred Ikle and Nancy Reagan, background materials only are found. While most of the interview transcripts are complete transcriptions of conversations, a few are only summaries of conversations.

Armacost, Michael
(18 pages)
Box 2, Folder 3
Baker, Howard
(11 pages)
Box 2, Folder 4
Barry, Bob
(1 page)
Box 2, Folder 5
Bush, George
(7 pages)
Box 2, Folder 6
Cannon, Lou
(22 pages)
Box 2, Folder 7
Carlucci, Frank
(14 pages)
Box 2, Folder 8
Cheney, Richard B.
(12 pages)
Box 2, Folder 9
Crowe, William J., Jr.
(23 pages)
Box 2, Folder 10
Daniloff, Nicholas
(2 pages)
Box 2, Folder 11
Deaver, Michael
(13 pages)
Box 2, Folder 12
Eagleburger, Lawrence
(11 pages)
Box 2, Folder 13
Gregg, Donald
(4 pages)
Box 2, Folder 14
Gunn, Cynthia
(4 pages)
Box 2, Folder 15
Hartman, Arthur
(66 pages)
Box 2, Folder 16
Hill, Charles
(16 pages)
Box 2, Folder 17
Ikle, Fred
(no interview)
Box 2, Folder 18
Kampelman, Max
(16 pages)
Box 2, Folder 19
Massie, Suzanne
(3 pages)
Box 2, Folder 20
Matlock, Jack
(3 pages)
Box 2, Folder 21
McFarlane, Robert
(70 pages)
Box 2, Folder 22
Palmer, Mark
(33 pages)
Box 2, Folder 23
Perle, Richard
(30 pages)
Box 2, Folder 24
Poindexter, John
(19 pages)
Box 2, Folder 25
Powell, Colin
(16 pages)
Box 2, Folder 26
Reagan, Nancy
(no interview)
Box 2, Folder 27
Reagan, Ronald
(9 pages)
Box 2, Folder 28
Redmond, Chuck
(12 pages)
Box 2, Folder 29
Ridgway, Rozanne
(14 pages)
Box 2, Folder 30
Ross, Dennis
(26 pages)
Box 2, Folder 31
Rowny, General Edward
(22 pages)
Box 3, Folder 1
Shultz, George
(128 pages)
Box 3, Folder 2
Shultz, George
(84 pages)
Box 3, Folder 3
Shultz, George
(No interview. Background material only.)
Box 3, Folder 4
Shultz, George
(No interview. Background material only.)
Box 3, Folder 5
Scowcroft, Brent
(8 pages)
Box 3, Folder 6
Seitz, Ray
(11 pages)
Box 3, Folder 7
Simons, Tom
(4 pages)
(See additional material in Box 3A.)
Box 3, Folder 8
Weinberger, Caspar W.
(13 pages)
Box 3, Folder 9
Zoellick, Robert B.
(16 pages)
Box 3, Folder 10

Series 3, Research Documents Files, 1983-1989

Series Description

This series contains materials relating to foreign policy events discussed in Oberdorfer's book The Turn. It contains texts of speeches and broadcasts from both American and Soviet officials; American and Soviet government press releases on specific events, meetings, or speeches; press conference transcripts; summit meeting texts, including working protocols and joint statements; summit press pool reports; newspaper and magazine clippings from foreign newspapers including Soviet publications; and copies of memoranda, correspondence, or official background briefing material released by the White House and the State Department. This series also contains several brief anonymous interviews, as well as copies of select pages of interview transcripts found in Series 1 and 2. Oberdorfer frequently annotated these pages with clarifications of inaudible fragments or references to specific events. Their organization within this series can act as a partial index to topics covered in the interviews found in Series 1 and 2.

Items of note include a copy of Ronald Reagan's 11 July 1983 letter replying to Yuri Andropov's proposal to “end the nuclear threat;” copies of Gromyko's statements from the Geneva summit; texts of Gorbachev's speeches to the Politburo; U.S. Department of State memoranda of conversations or “memcons” from the Reykjavik summit; publications from the U.S.S.R.'s Foreign Ministry; several English translations of Soviet treatises; and transcripts of BBC broadcasts.

Chapter 1. Reagan-Shultz-Dobrynin Meeting, February 1983
Box 3, Folder 11
Chapter 1. Able Archer
Box 3, Folder 12
Chapter 1. Andropov letter, 1983
Box 3, Folder 13
Chapter 1. Strategic Defense Initiative
Box 3, Folder 14
Chapter 1. Andropov period
Box 3, Folder 15
Chapter 1. Fall, 1983
Box 3, Folder 16
Chapter 1. Thaw period, Early 1984
Box 3, Folder 17
Simons, Tom
(additional interview transcripts)
Box 3A, Folder 1
Chapter 1. Shultz speech, January 16, 1984
Box 4, Folder 1
Chapter 2. KAL 007
Box 4, Folder 2
Chapter 3. Gromyko Trip, 1984
Box 4, Folder 3
Chapter 3. U.S.-Soviet relations, January-March, 1985
Box 4, Folder 4
Chapter 3. Geneva, January 8-9, 1985
Box 4, Folder 5
Chapter 3. Shultz-Gromyko Geneva Meeting
Box 4, Folder 6
Chapter 4. Gorbachev, pre-1985
Box 4, Folder 7
Chapter 4. ABM re-interpretation, 1985
Box 4, Folder 8
Chapter 4. Gorbachev's initial policies, early 1985
Box 4, Folder 9
Chapter 4. Gorbachev takes over, 1985
Box 4, Folder 10
Chapter 4. Gorbachev period, 1985
Box 4, Folder 11
Chapter 4. Enter Shevardnadze
Box 4, Folder 12
Chapter 4. U.S.-Soviet Relations, March-September, 1985
Box 4, Folder 13
Chapter 4. U.S.-Soviet Relations, October-December, 1985
Box 4, Folder 14
Chapter 4. Moscow Ministerial, November, 1985
Box 4, Folder 15
Chapter 4. Geneva Summit, November, 1985
Box 4, Folder 16
Chapter 4. 27th Party Congress, February 1986
Box 4, Folder 17
Chapter 5. Gorbachev Plan, January 1986
Box 5, Folder 1
Chapter 5. Zero Ballistic Missiles
Box 5, Folder 2
Chapter 5. Daniloff case
Box 5, Folder 3
Chapter 5. U.S.-Soviet Relations, 1986
Box 5, Folder 4
Chapter 5. Chernobyl
Box 5, Folder 5
Chapter 5. Reykjavik
Box 5, Folder 6
Chapter 5. Confidential memoranda
(RESTRICTED Prior to January 1997. Permission of Mr. Oberdorfer required for use.)
Box 5, Folder 7
Chapter 6. Moscow Ministerial, April 1987.
Box 5, Folder 8
Chapter 6. Mathias Rust, May 1987.
Box 5, Folder 9
Chapter 6. Moscow Ministerial, October 1987
Box 5, Folder 10
Chapter 6. A Treaty Takes Shape, 1987
Box 6, Folder 1
Chapter 6. Washington Summit, 1987
Box 6, Folder 2
Chapter 6. Washington Summit Texts, 1987
Box 6, Folder 3
Chapter 7. Prelude to Moscow Summit, April 1988
Box 6, Folder 4
Chapter 7. START
Box 6, Folder 5
Chapter 7. Moscow Summit, text and transcripts, May 29 - June 2, 1988
Box 6, Folder 6
Chapter 7. Moscow Summit, text and transcripts, May 29 - June 2, 1988
Box 6, Folder 7
Chapter 7. Moscow Summit
(additional background material)
Box 6, Folder 8
Chapter 7. President Gorbachev, Summer-Fall, 1988
Box 6, Folder 9
Chapter 7. New York Governor's Island, December 1988
Box 6, Folder 10
Chapter 8, January, 1989
Box 6, Folder 11

Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/v979v306x

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