Item COLD WAR 27/170 - Transcript of interview with Rear Admiral John F Sigler, 1997

Typescript transcript of interview with US R Adm John F Sigler, Commanding Officer, USS BELKNAP, Flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, Mediterranean, 1989, relating to the shipboard summit meeting between US President George (Herbert Walker) Bush and General Secretary Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, Malta, Dec 1989; the inclement weather during the summit, Malta, Dec 1989; the banquet held aboard the USS BELKNAP during the summit, Dec 1989; the possibility of the USS BELKNAP being grounded during the storms, Malta, Dec 1989; Sigler's opinion that the Cold War began at the Yalta summit, Feb 1945, and ended at the Malta summit, Dec 1989; the collapse of the USSR, Dec 1991; Sigler's reaction to the Soviet coup d'etat against Gorbachev, Aug 1991; the use of anti-seasickness medication by the US delegation during the Malta summit, Dec 1989; the resignation of Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, and the dissolution of the Party, 24 and 29 Aug 1991; the television announcement, by US President Bush, that the Cold War was over, Dec 1991; the legacy of the Cold War, 1991-1997. 23pp