Bruce B. G. Clarke senior military officer in arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union. After his first year at the State Department he was selected for brigade command but the busy pace of Soviet-American negotiations caused his assignment to be extended one year beyond the normal two-year posting. In his three years at the State Department, he regularly shuttled between negotiations in Washington and Geneva. This period include three summit meetings between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev: the November 1985 Geneva Summit, the October 1986 Reykjavík Summit and the December 1987 Washington summit where the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was
Nancy Reagan felt after my husband almost died... Was astrology one of the reasons [further attempts did not occur]? I don't "really" believe it was, but I don't "really" believe it wasn't." Nancy wielded a powerful influence over President Reagan. Again stemming from the assassination attempt, she strictly controlled access to the president and even occasionally attempted to influence her husband's decision making. Beginning in 1985, she strongly encouraged her husband to hold "summit" conferences with Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, and suggested they form a personal relationship beforehand. Both Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev had developed a productive relationship through their summit