The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World

by John O'Sullivan

Book Overview

The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister is a sweeping, dramatic account of how three great figures changed the course of history. All of them led with courage -- but also with great optimism. The pope helped ordinary Poles and East Europeans banish their fear of Soviet Communism, convincing them that liberation was possible. The prime minister restored her country's failing economy by reviving the "vigorous virtues" of the British people...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159698550X
• ISBN13: 9781596985506
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Regnery History
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Two Great Men, One Great Woman

There is a theory in history called the Great Man Theory, which seeks to explain the events of history principally by looking at the impact of pivotal men and women who played a role in world events. On it's most simplistic level, the theory does make some sense. It's hard to imagine the American Revolution happening the way it did without the role played by men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or even King George III. It's equally hard to imagine World War II and all that has happened since without taking into account the individual decisions and personalities of Roosevelt, Churchill, Hitler, and Stalin. The academic left, though, has generally rejected the Great Man Theory and looks to economic, technological, and other factors to explain history. To them, the role of the individual in history is insignificant compared to the role that these "forces" play. What they forget, of course, is that economics, technology, and culture are all created by individuals. So arguing that "forces" rule history and that individual's are irrelevant is inherently irrational. In reading The President, The Pope, And The Prime Minister, it's easy to see where John O'Sullivan comes down in this debate. He clearly believes that individuals play a vital role in history, and considering the three individuals he profiles -- Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcher -- it's hard to argue with him. The hyopthesis of O'Sullivan's book is fairly straightforward. Three individuals who, in the years just before they came to power, were believed to be outside of the mainstream of 1970s era thinking worked together, sometimes at cross purposes and often not consciously, to change the world by putting in place forces that led to the downfall of the Soviet Empire and the remaking of the world. As O'Sullivan makes clear, the spark was lit in October 1978 when the Catholic Church did the unthinkable by electing a non-Italian Pope for the first time in over 450 years. And not only a non-Italian, put a man who came from behind the Iron Curtain and who had spent much of his career as a priest and bishop resisting tyranny, first from the Nazis and then from the Communists. His election set off a firestorm in Poland that led directly to the formation of Solidarity and its preservation through nearly a decade of martial law. O'Sullivan also pays considerable attention to former President Reagan, his dealings with the Soviet Union, and, most interestingly, his view of the role of nuclear weapons in the Cold War. Though it was not generally known at the time, and goes against what was being said about Reagan by his critics and even some of his supporters, it has become fairly clear in the years since he left office from the release of private writings that Reagan despised nuclear weapons and pursued a policy that had as its conscious goal their eventual elimination. While some might consider this attitude naive (after all, you can't put the nuclear genie back in

History as it should be written: fact-filled, detached and light on the bias

Very readable, smooth flowing inter-weaving of the stories of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II and how, working together, they changed the world. This is history as it should be written. Fact-filled. Detached. Light on the bias. Fascinating. The book is quick to read and hard to put down. This is the story of three disparate personalities and their unlikely (and synchronous) rises to power. The elderly B-movie actor. The school-marmish scold. The non-Italian Catholic living under the thumb of officially atheistic communism. Together, they defeat the scourge of communism while simultaneously rescuing their respective polities from the slow death spiral of the 60s and 70s, whether than be Reagan resurrecting American swagger and putting the U.S. economy on sound footing, or Thatcher curing Britain of Euro-sclerosis, or the Holy Father rescuing the Catholic church for the suffocating forces of modernism and "reform." This is an essential history of late 20th Century America and Great Britain. It is an essential history of the recent Catholic church. It is also very much a history of Poland, for it is that land that it is at the center of this narrative. Ronald Reagan always believed that the key to ending the Cold War lay with Poland. And it is events in Poland, from the papal visits, to the strike at the Gdansk shipyard, from the martial law of Jaruszelski, to the rise of Lech Walesa and Solidarity, that shape this story. Reagan's insight into the centrality of Poland proved astonishingly right. This book is not just for us Republicans. For example, one Carter Era figure prominently and positively figures in events here: Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's national security advisor. Brzezinski has not gotten enough credit for seizing control of events in Poland from the late Carter administration through the Reagan administration. This book gives him delayed credit. Two (minor) criticisms of this book. First, the Holy Father drops out of the narrative, for the most part, in the last third of the book. More Pope, please! Second, the equation of the bombing of Mrs. Thatcher's hotel in 1984, does not really parallel the 1981 assassination attempts on President Reagan and Pope John Paul II. It's a reach that doesn't work. But these are very minor blemishes on a masterful book.

Principles do matter

It is almost hard to imagine an era not that long ago when focus groups and polling did not dictate public policy positions for politicians and leaders as was the case when Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II were in office. O'Sullivan does a masterful job of linking these three world leaders together in a way which puts their bold initiatives in context of the time. Reagan came into office as someone who gave the USA hope in a time when Carter was blaming the electorate for "malaise" as well as a string of foreign policy failures which we are still recovering from to this day. Thatcher had an equally difficult job in convincing the populace of the UK that there was a better way than labor anarchy, rampant inflation, a continuation of the downward spiral of the standard of living among the people who had grown numb and apathetic. Pope John Paul had an equally ambitious agenda of bringing an end to communist tyranny not only in his native Poland, but wherever the heavy boot of Soviet domination kept people from the basic freedoms that FDR spoke of but never really imagined possible for hundreds of millions behind the iron curtain. What these three extraordinary individuals had were long-held beliefs in freedom and fighting oppression and a willingness to take the long-view of history and the consequences of their actions as leaders. From Reagan's victory in kicking out the communist-dominated unions in Hollywood in the 40's to Thatcher's pit-bull determination to emancipate the British public from the hegemony of equally leftist unions in the UK, and the Pope's understanding that the Soviets were propping up weak and criminal regimes in the East, they all had very different ways of achieving their objectives, but never lost sight of their goals. O'Sullivan had a unique window on these people and fills this book with hundreds of examples of how the world changed when they all understood that the classic arguments of "detente" only helped the Soviets and did nothing to end the evil empire and its advocates like Arthur Scargill, the British labor leader who ran his union and the country like any good totalitarian, through fear and intimidation. O'Sullivan does an equally good job of showing just how active the Soviets were in forming and shaping public opinion as they had done for decades, and how many challenges that the Soviets created were part of this PR Potemkin village to disguise the rot at the core of the Soviet realm. While there have been many liberals who have written dozens of books rewriting history to diminish the accomplishments of these three leaders, O'Sullivan does a masterful job of showing that a continuation of Carter's policy of kissing commies on both cheeks was the course of action demanded by popular opinion as dictated by the leftists in newsrooms all over the world, and Reagan, Thatcher and John Paul held to their principles to prevail and deliver a far safer and secure world than most of us who grew used to sle

A Chronicle of Freedom

Ronald Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot. Pope John Paul II, without any divisions save his faithful flock, shook an ossified communist establishment to its core. Margaret Thatcher infused not only Britain but the Western alliance with a new sense of urgency and energy. In this sparkling book, John O'Sullivan seamlessly weaves together these strands of history to recount the central drama of the late-twentieth century: how three moral and political giants tore down the Berlin Wall and ended an "evil" empire. It is a powerful story, a case where fact is more formidable than fiction. In O'Sullivan's hands it is also a riveting read. He brings it to life in mesmerizing detail, while recalling the knife-edge tension of the Cold War, when all was in play, an unnerving element of the era that has, alas, receded from the consciousness of so many commentators today. John O'Sullivan's new volume reminds us of what exactly was at stake, namely, the survival of liberty. This accomplishment alone makes it essential. That the book achieves so much more makes it indispensable. Ronald Reagan, John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher. John O'Sullivan's study reveals what linked these three protagonists: their sustained commitment to a profound moral and political philosophy built upon the first principles of Western civilization, including the ascendancy of the Almighty, the dignity of the individual, and the liberating energy of freedom. These values are what placed them in diametrical opposition to international Communism. They hewed to them, as O'Sullivan vividly recalls, even in the face of death, since all three survived assassination attempts. While staring down the barrel of a gun - or, in Thatcher's case, the twisted mind of a depraved IRA bomber - they defended the sanctity of liberty. One of the foundational principles of the West is religious liberty. It proved to be a catalyst for the demise of the Eastern bloc. In 1979 Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Cracow was elected Pope and assumed the name John Paul II. O'Sullivan describes the reaction in the Kremlin: Yuri Andropov, the head of the KGB, a member of the Politburo, and the future General Secretary of the Communist Party, "telephoned his agent "in Warsaw to ask how he could have allowed a citizen of a Communist country to be elected Pope." A report commissioned by the Communist Party's Central Committee predicted the nature of the new threat: John Paul II "would probably wage a campaign for human rights and religious freedom in the Soviet bloc." The Russians were correct on this point, but wrong on so many others. They failed to grasp, in contrast to the Pope, that the future belonged to Scripture, not the Communist Manifesto. Ronald Reagan shared John Paul II's vision and translated it into a successful geopolitical strategy. In a bracing passage in the book, O'Sullivan records Reagan's conversation with Richard Allen in 1977, during which the future President expressed his take on the conflict

Three "Misfits" Who Changed The World

They were unlikely world-changers. As the 1970s dawned, writes John O'Sullivan, they were leaders with uneven prospects, each weighed down by fundamental flaws: Cardinal Wojtyla, too Catholic; Governor Reagan, too American; Lady Thatcher, too Conservative. The Cardinal, an "orthodox rebel" in O'Sullivan's term, was seen as out of step with the increasing liberalization of the Church in the wake of Vatican II. As a non-Italian practicing behind the Iron Curtain, his chances of ascending to the Papacy seemed nil. Reagan was a successful politician, then in his second term as California Governor, and a darling of the Right. But his free-enterprise convictions, can-do optimism and stalwart anti-Communism seemed an anachronism in an age of stagflation, perceived limits to growth (misperceived it turned out) and détente with the Soviets. Being the "first off the treadmill" was "the only victory the arms race had to offer," wrote the chief U.S. arms control negotiator in 1975, reflecting widely held bi-partisan opinion at the time. Thatcher was the education minister in a weak Tory government that increasingly ceded economic policy to radical labor unions and presided over the continued diminution of Britain on the world stage. Thatcher's message of fiscal prudence, privatization, monetarism and individual initiative/self-reliance ran counter to the prevailing Keynesian economic standard of the time. As a woman, the highest office thought possible for her was Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister), and even that was considered a long-shot. O'Sullivan tells the story of how each of these "misfits" (my word, not his)rose to greatness in spite of their handicaps. They did not so much overcome obstacles, as changed the terms of the debate, and by the dawn of the 1990s, left the world a markedly better place - freer, more secure and prosperous - than it was 20 years earlier. I've read many books on this era (and lived through it) and can tell you that O'Sullivan's is one of the best. Recommended.