Reagan's Aide Says President No Longer Called USSR 'Evil Empire' After Meeting Her

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th December, 2022) US writer and prominent scholar on Russia, Suzanne Massie, who served as an adviser to Ronald Reagan, told Sputnik that the 40th US President stopped referring to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" after meeting with her.

President Reagan publicly labeled the Soviet Union an "evil empire" in his speech to the National Association of Evangelicals in Florida on March 8, 1983. The speech denied that the two superpowers were equally responsible for the Cold War and ongoing nuclear arms race and described the conflict as a "struggle between right and wrong and good and evil."

"Undoubtedly, the USSR was a center of power, and the Western world at times perceived it as too much of a threat. Everyone knows Reagan's phrase that the USSR is an evil empire," Massie said in Russian. "But after meeting me, he never said it again. I managed to explain to the President and his entourage that the USSR is the same Russia with which the United States had had long-term relations since its formation as a country."

The example of it, Massie pointed out, is the assistance that Emperor Alexander II provided to President Abraham Lincoln by sending a squadron of Russian frigates.

"This noble act still lives in our memory, but we need to talk about it more so that everyone knows about it," she stressed.

Massie spoke to Sputnik on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union.

"In my opinion, Russia has a truly great potential, no less significant than that of the United States. All my life I have worked to bring the two peoples closer together," Massie underscored. "I still believe that we need each other and can work together for the good of the whole world."

Massie advised Reagan on Russia from 1984-1988 and played a significant role in the final years of the Cold War. She taught the president the Russian proverb, "Trust, but verify," which Reagan famously used during nuclear disarmament talks with the Soviet Union.

Massie is fluent in Russian and has authored numerous books on Russia's history and culture.