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Q — What did they say to each other? 

A — Well, I mean, it‘s—in Gorbachev‘s book, to some extent it probably will be in Mr. Bush‘s 

book, but basically they said that they value what had been accomplished by the two of them and 

that they would stand by the—this cause of improving relations between our two countries, that 

they would, in whatever capacity, try to pursue and continue that cause. 

Q — You do tell a story there where things could have really gotten off key between Ronald 

Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. It had something to do with the Bolshoi ballet and the private 

dinner at the dacha. What went wrong there? What was the problem? 

A — Well, for some reason, the US security services that accompanied President Reagan 

decided that they wanted to check every person entering the Bolshoi even though that was, I 

think, probably the responsibility of the Soviet security. And that irritated the Soviet security 

people, that irritated Gorbachev because that delayed the beginning of the ballet performance to 

which the Reagans were invited. I don‘t think that President Reagan himself had anything to do 

with it, but there was some irritation, and at some point, there was a possibility that because of 

that, Mr. Gorbachev might decide to curtail some of the concluding events on that program, 

particularly the private dinner that they were supposed to have with the Reagans after that ballet 

performance. But eventually, perhaps, you know, with some prodding from me because I was 

there when I saw him very irritated, he decided not to cancel it and I think it was a very wise 

decision because it made it possible to end the summit on a very good note. 

Q — What year was that? 

A — That was the summer of 1988. 

Q — And were you at the dinner then? 

A — Yes. 

Q — And how many people are in the room at a dinner like that? 

A — Well, that particular dinner, I think that it was Mr. and Mrs. Gorbachev, Mr. and Mrs. 

Reagan and also the Shultzes and the Shevardnadzes. 

Q — Was—were you the only interpreter?  

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A — There‘s always an interpreter on the American side, too.  At all—at all times, there was an 

interpreter from the Soviet side and from the US side.  

Q — And you didn‘t want to rush out of a dinner like that and write it all down somewhere to 

remember every word that... 

A — As I say, I don‘t have that habit. For some reason, I rely more on my memory. But I really 

would like to assure you and whoever that, you know, what I write is what I actually remember. 

I‘m not trying to embellish anything and I‘m not trying to skew and distort the whole thing for 

my own purposes.  

Q — Do you have any other book in mind? Any other—do you have material that you still want 

to get out or did you get it all out in this book? 

A — Well, I don‘t think so. I think I‘ve written about that time what I wanted to write. I‘ve 

always been fascinated by linguistic problems, even though I‘ve been in the political and 

diplomatic arena for a few years. I still regard myself as a linguist above all. So with a colleague,