Ex-Reagan Aide Massie Receives Russian Foreign Ministry’s Medal
© Sputnik / Evgeny Odinokov
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WASHINGTON, November 15 (Sputnik) - US writer and scholar on Russia, Suzanne Massie, who served as an adviser to President Ronald Reagan, has received the medal of the Russian Foreign Ministry "for contribution to international cooperation."
The medal, signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, was presented to Massie on Tuesday at the Foreign Ministry Representation in St. Petersburg.
“If Lavrov was there, I would kiss him on the cheek. The words he used to describe the medal 'for contribution to international cooperation' characterizes my activity best of all,” Massie shared with Sputnik upon receiving the award. “That's the way it is, I have always worked to bring Russia and the United States closer together, especially in the most difficult times of this relationship.”
Massie’s representative in Russia and a manager of the International Diplomatic Club Balthazar Schaldenbrand told Sputnik that St. Petersburg was chosen for the event because it is “the city of her heart."
“It is the city where she spent most of her work to bring the two peoples closer together,” Schaldenbrand added.
US writer and scholar on Russia, Suzanne Massie, who served as an adviser to President Ronald Reagan, has received the medal of the Russian Foreign Ministry "for contribution to international cooperation."
© Sputnik / Liudmila Chernova
Massie also pointed out to Sputnik that the Presidential Library in St. Petersburg should be the place where her archive will be kept.
At the end of September, she had already visited the library and discussed handing over her archive to the institution.
Massie's collection includes Reagan's personal letters, her correspondence with US President Bill Clinton, Vice President Albert Gore and other political and other personalities, including writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn and choreographer George Balanchine.
The correspondence has never been made public and is being published for the first time.
"I would like to help you for your help in my preparations for meetings with President Yeltsin in Vancouver," Clinton said in a letter addressed to Massie.
"I appreciated hearing your views on the historic opportunities and challenges that lay before us in our relations with Russia. Your expertise on Russia’s political dynamics was particularly helpful in the days before the Vancouver Summit. My meetings with President Yeltsin were extremely positive and productive. I recognize, however, that the summit was but a prelude to the great challenges we face in our efforts to support Russia’s reforms."
Clinton also expressed hope in that letter that Massie will continue to give him advice on these issues in the months and years ahead. In another letter, Clinton thanked Massie for her advise on his speech in Annapolis, which he finished with the lines from the poem of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.
Also included among the collection are two letters from Reagan, the first of which was sent to her after the funeral of the leader of the Soviet Union Yuri Andropov.
Letters from former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan provided to Sputnik courtesy of Suzanne Massie, who served as White House adviser during the Reagan administration.
© Sputnik / Liudmila Chernova
"I waited to answer your letter until after your return from the Soviet Union. In the meantime a great change occurred there. I dare to hope there might be a better chance for communication with the new leadership," Reagan said.
"Watching scenes of the funeral on TV, I wondered what thoughts people must have at such a time when their belief in God or immorality is faced with death. Like you, I continue to believe that the hunger for religion may yet be a major factor in bringing about a change in the present situation."
The second letter saw Reagan thank her for the preparations for the Moscow Summit in 1998.
The author's research papers and original manuscripts of her books on the history and culture of Russia are also included in the archive.
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 the nuclear disarmament talks with the Soviet Union.
Massie is fluent in Russian and has written numerous books on Russia's history and culture.
