ABSTRACT
Soviet propaganda had in the past been quite successful in conjuring up the alleged dangers of American imperialism and German "revanchism", but was no longer convincing to the mass of Soviet citizens. The USSR was no longer virtually sealed off from the rest of the world as in Stalin's times. Increasing numbers of Soviet people had now traveled abroad and listened to Western radio broadcasts. By 1981 it was clear that Brezhnev was the leader of the Soviet Union in name only, and could not remain even the nominal leader for much longer. And America now had its most conservative president since. well, 1932. Moscow learned to live with the fact that US warheads could land on the Soviet territory after a thirty-minute flight. But it viewed as intolerable that by placing the rockets in Europe they could reach Moscow in six or so minutes.
