National Security Council
*
Jack F. Matlock, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union
*
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Un ...
, then Director for Soviet and East European Affairs at the National Security Council
*
Brent Scowcroft
Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military A ...
, U.S. National Security Adviser
*
Raymond Seitz, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs
*
John H. Sununu, White House chief of staff
*
Margaret Tutwiler, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Spokeswoman of the Department
*
Paul Wolfowitz, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
*
Robert Zoellick, Counselor of the Department of State
Venue: "From Yalta to Malta", and back
The meetings took place in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
, off the island of
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. The Soviet delegation used the missile cruiser
''Slava'',
while the US delegation had their sleeping quarters aboard .
The ships were anchored in a
roadstead off the coast of
Marsaxlokk
Marsaxlokk () is a small, traditional fishing village in the South Eastern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishermen and history. As at March 2014, the village had a population of 3,534. The ...
. Stormy weather and choppy seas resulted in some meetings being cancelled or rescheduled, and gave rise to the moniker the "Seasick Summit" among international media. The meetings ultimately took place aboard
''Maksim Gorkiy'', a Soviet
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...
chartered to West German tour company
Phoenix Reisen
Phoenix Reisen is a Germany-based travel agency that also operates a fleet of cruise ships. The company first entered the cruise business in 1988 by chartering the Soviet Union-owned cruise ship .
History
Phoenix Reisen first begun operating crui ...
, which anchored in the harbor at
Marsaxlokk
Marsaxlokk () is a small, traditional fishing village in the South Eastern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishermen and history. As at March 2014, the village had a population of 3,534. The ...
.
The idea of a summit in the open sea is said to have been inspired largely by President Bush's fascination with
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt's habit of meeting foreign leaders on board naval vessels.
[James Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace, 1989-1992, Putnam (New York) 1995, p.169.] The choice of Malta as a venue was the subject of considerable pre-summit haggling between the two superpowers. According to
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Un ...
:
The choice of venue was also highly symbolic. The
Maltese Islands are strategically located at the geographic centre of the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
, where east meets west and north meets south. Consequently, Malta has a long history of domination by foreign powers. It served as a
British naval base during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and suffered massive destruction during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Malta declared its neutrality between the two superpowers in 1980, following the closure of
British military bases and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Regional Headquarters (
CINCAFMED), previously located on Malta. Neutrality is entrenched in the Constitution of Malta, which provides as follows, at section 1(3):
On February 2, 1945, as the
War in Europe drew to a close, Malta was the venue for the
Malta Conference, an equally significant meeting between US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and
British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
prior to their
Yalta meeting with
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...
. The Malta Summit of 1989 signaled a reversal of many of the decisions taken at the 1945
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
.
See also
*
Soviet Union–United States relations
Soviet Union–United States relations were fully established in 1933 as the succeeding bilateral ties to those between the Russian Empire and the United States, which lasted from 1776 until 1917; they were also the predecessor to the current ...
*
Malta–United States relations
*
Cold War (1985–1991)
The time period of 1985-1991 marked the final period of the Cold War. This time period is characterized by a period of systemic reform within the Soviet Union, the easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet-led bloc and the United Stat ...
*
Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...
*
Soviet Union–United States summits
*
Governors Island Summit
*
Helsinki Summit (1990)
*
New world order (politics)
References
Further reading
*
McGeorge Bundy, "From Cold War Toward Trusting Peace", in ''Foreign Affairs'': America and the World 1989/1990, Vol. 69, No. 1.
*
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...
"1989 - Malta Summit Ends Cold War".*
CNNCold War Interviews, Episode 23: "The Wall Comes Down", an Interview with George H.W. Bush*
CNNCold War Interviews, Episode 24: Transcripts from Malta Summit*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070506193628/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,959312,00.html Richard Lacayo, "Turning Visions into Reality" in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' (online): December 11, 1989
Romesh Ratnesar, "Condi Rice Can't Lose" in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...
'' (online): September 20, 1999
{{Fall of Communism
Cold War
Birżebbuġa
1989 in Malta
1989 in the Soviet Union
1989 in the United States
1989 conferences
1989 in international relations
1989 in politics
December 1989 events in Europe
Diplomatic conferences in Malta
Presidency of George H. W. Bush
Mikhail Gorbachev
Soviet Union–United States diplomatic conferences
Malta–Soviet Union relations
Malta–United States relations