The Presidency by Hugh Sidey: Getting to Know Andropov

Rarely a day goes by now that there is not a reference to Yuri Andropov in the President's morning intelligence report. Fragments from spies, diplomats, generals and businessmen are eagerly collected and fitted into the giant mosaic that American experts are assembling. As Ronald Reagan prepares to do psychological battle over the deployment of nuclear missiles in Europe, no task is more important than understanding the mind of this protagonist.

The files in the veiled recesses of the Kremlin bulge with material on Reagan. The Soviets know everything from the size of his biceps to...

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