In those years,'80 was the, at the turn of '79/'80 you had the invasion of Afghanistan. It was the period in which the Americans attempt to liberate, to, to liberate the hostages in Iran and all these, all these things, the atmosphere was freezing - boycott of the Olympic Games and all that.
Helmut SchmidtI have had and still do have every confidence in Paul Nitze, a man whom I have known for decades, one of the wisest servants of the American nation but always willing and capable of taking into account the interests of their allies, whoever: the British, or the French or the Germans or others.
Helmut SchmidtPresident [Ronald] Reagan told me he would negotiate and negotiate and negotiate with the Soviets, and I believed him.
Helmut SchmidtLeonid Brezhnev did not understand the enormous political importance of the decision to produce and afterwards deploy the SS-20s.
Helmut SchmidtSome of the American military obviously were thinking in terms of fighting a nuclear war. I was opposed to that.
Helmut SchmidtPresident [Ronald] Reagan never has tried to become an expert on military matters. He never has endeavored to learn the most important details in that field, which lead to a situation in which his aides played a much greater roles than aides would have played under President Ford or let us say in the whole Nixon-Ford-Kissinger era.
Helmut Schmidt