Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbacheva: why the first lady of the USA could not stand the first lady of the USSR
'29.12.2019'
Source: Clever
Nancy Reagan, unlike Barbara Bush, with whom Raisa Gorbacheva had an excellent relationship, could not stand the first lady of the USSR. The hostility between Reagan and Gorbachev arose from their first meeting. Even when meeting Raisa Maksimovna, the wife of the 40th president of the United States seemed to be an excessively dry, pedantic and even indifferent woman, writes "Smart".
Lecturer
According to Sergei Platonov, author of the book “The Gorbachevs. The couple of presidents, "even before meeting with Raisa Gorbacheva, Nancy Reagan complained that she did not know how to behave and what to talk about with a" member of the Communist Party. " However, the wife of the 40th president of the United States was worried in vain, because Raisa Maksimovna took the initiative in her hands from the very first minutes of the meeting. Later, according to Olga Leontovich, author of the Russia and the USA publication, Nancy Reagan complained that the first lady of the USSR spoke incessantly and did not allow a single word to be inserted into her endless monologue.
Indeed, the fact that Gorbacheva preferred notations to friendly conversation is mentioned in her book “Gorbachev. His life and time ”and William Taubman. So, according to him, when Raisa Maksimovna complained to Nancy that the Soviet Union suffered heavy losses during the Great Patriotic War, Reagan barely managed to insert that many people died during the American Civil War. After that, Gorbachev burst into a lecture on the American Civil War. And Nancy Reagan had no choice but to listen to a long digression into the history of her own country.
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Dry and ill-mannered
In general, it seemed to Nancy Reagan that Raisa Gorbacheva was only interested in herself and nothing else interested her. As Yuri Mukhin writes in his book “The Afghan Front of the USSR. Forgotten victory, ”just a month before meeting with Raisa Maximovna, Reagan had two misfortunes at once: the American president’s wife lost her mother and underwent surgery due to breast cancer. However, Gorbacheva, well aware of this, never even bothered with the psychological or physical state of her interlocutor.
That is why Nancy Reagan subsequently described Raisa Gorbachev as an excessively dry, indifferent and ill-bred lady. As evidence for the last statement, one can recall the tour of the White House, during which Raisa Maksimovna interrupted Nancy at every step, and in the end she stated that she did not like the housing of the American presidential couple, since it resembles a museum. According to historian William Taubman, Reagan outraged this remark, all the more so, as Nancy said, the first lady of the USSR “didn’t even see the living rooms”.
Tacit competition
By the way, in terms of life, Nancy Reagan really was an experienced woman. She generally devoted her whole life to the family, abandoning her own career. However, this circumstance did not prevent Nancy from giving a variety of advice to her husband-president. And in this they were very similar to Raisa Gorbacheva. In addition, both first ladies paid great attention to their wardrobe. However, one day Gorbacheva did not have an evening dress, and she came to the reception in a modest business suit. According to the authors of the book “Women's Power” Vitaly Wulf and Serafima Chebotar, later the media began to praise the outfit of Gorbacheva, claiming that she looked more elegant than Nancy Reagan, who wore a gorgeous dress.
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Such unspoken rivalry and mutual taunts accompanied Reagan and Gorbachev almost constantly. Moreover, Nancy did not hide her attitude to Raisa Maximovna and generously shared her observations about her with the press. Reagan told the newspapers about Gorbacheva’s opinion of the White House, her passion for lectures, and her callousness.
In the summer of 1991, the wife of the first president of the USSR partially took revenge on Nancy Reagan. Sergey Bad in his book “The Last Empire. The fall of the Soviet Union ”recalls how, when asked by a journalist, Gorbachev answered:“ Are you interested in what is being whispered in my husband’s ear? This question is not for me! ”Thus, she hinted at Nancy Reagan, who, among other things, once noticed that Raisa Maximovna was whispering the word“ peace ”in Mikhail Sergeyevich’s ear.
