A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland

Jones (In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan), a political scientist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, offers a complex and well-written account of a major U.S. intelligence operation of the Cold War. When the power struggle between Poland’s Communist government and the popular pro-democratic, unionist Solidarity movement led to the proclamation of martial law in December 1981, President Ronald Reagan saw an opportunity to bring the Cold War home to the Soviet empire by guile rather than force. He was the behind-the-scenes patron of Operation QRHelpful, which furnished Solidarity with resources to print leaflets, finance radio and television broadcasts, and organize demonstrations. By 1989 the movement had gotten Poland closer to free elections, and two years later a Solidarity leader was elected president. Despite the useful foreign assistance, the keys to the operation’s success were Polish: old-line trade unionists, idealistic intellectuals, and Catholic clergy. Some names remain familiar, like those of Solidarity cofounder Lech Wałe˛sa and Karol Wojtyła, later and better known as Pope John Paul II. The person-to-person nature of the operation is ideally suited to Jones’s narrative format and the vivid character sketches that inform it. This account will reward readers interested in human and government behaviors in high-risk, high-stress situations. (July)