It Takes One to Tango

25 cm, xiv, 273, [1] pages, index. Name in ink on fep. Edward Leon Rowny (born April 3, 1917) is an American, retired United States Army Lieutenant General of Polish origin. He was a commanding officer in World War II and Korea, a military advisor to five U.S. presidents and a negotiator on the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). In 1971 he was appointed the US representative to Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and held this post under three presidents: Nixon, Ford and Carter. In June, 1979 he retired from the Army in protest over President Carter's signing of the SALT II Treaty which he believed would undermine United States security. He subsequently led the fight to prevent the Congress from ratifying the faulty SALT II Treaty. After the election of President Reagan, General Rowny was appointed to the rank of Ambassador as the President's chief negotiator on Strategic Nuclear Arms (START). During his second term, President Reagan appointed Rowny his Special Advisor on Arms Control. He was awarded the Presidential Citizen Medal with the citation: "Rowny was one of the chief architects of peace through strength", Rowny continued as President George H.W. Bush's special advisor for arms control for two years. In 1990, General Rowny retired from the Government after fifty years of Government service to become an international consultant on negotiations. He also began advising the Administration and Congress on National Security matters and combating terrorism. In 1992 he authored It Takes One to Tango, a memoir of his service to five presidents and his dealings with the Soviets. The author was a key arms control advisor and negotiator for presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. He was highly critical of George Bush's presidency. Excerpts from a review posted on-line: The blunt recollections of an arms-control negotiator for five Presidents. A three-star general who fought in Italy, Korea, and Vietnam, Rowny was assigned to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) in 1973, largely at the behest of the late Senator Henry Jackson, who prized Rowny's fluency in Russian, familiarity with nuclear-deterrence theory--and hawkish concern with national security rather than unverifiable treaties. Once involved, Rowny was hooked, spending much of the 17 years that followed at the bargaining table with hard-line envoys of the USSR. In his memoir, the author reprises the conflicts, domestic crises, summit meetings, and other geopolitical developments that helped determine the course of the struggle between the two superpowers. Rowny offers candid comment on his superiors, colleagues, and opposite numbers. Reagan--whose peace-through-strength doctrine the author deems vindicated--comes off best. Nixon and Ford also fare well but Carter and Bush, along with a host of lesser lights, are discounted. Throughout Rowny delivers harsh judgments with considerable humor. In summarizing prospects for reaching an agreement with his USSR adversaries during the mid-70's, he notes: ``I knew the Soviets like their currency were simply not convertible.'' Finally, he cautions that, although the US ``won'' the cold war, the nation and its allies cannot afford to let their guard down. A memoir with an unyielding point of view.…