Remembering Bill Hopkins, Who Helped Reagan, Gorbachev Understand Each Other

One won't find the name of Bill Hopkins in many, if any, of the chronicles of the twilight days of the Cold War.

But rest assured, he was a player in these events — albeit a quiet and little-noticed one whose death on Dec. 29 at age 80 was barely reported.

Hopkins was the man almost always seen sitting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev at their historic summits in the late 1980s. Translating the words of the 40th U.S. president and the last ruler of the Soviet Union, the soft-spoken and avuncular Hopkins spoke in English and fluent Russian on topics ranging from arms control to the desire of both leaders to end the threat of war altogether.

"You have to remember that Gorby [he always used the abbreviated name of the Russian] was unique among top Russian Communists in that he visited Western countries, knew people outside Russia, and wore suits made in Europe," Hopkins told Newsmax following the former Soviet president's death last year. "If there was any Communist with whom the U.S. could have a constructive dialogue, it was him."

He also pointed out that where many high-level Communist politicians had mistresses, "you wouldn't imagine that with Gorby — not ever. He was completely devoted to [wife] Raisa and never got over her death [in 1999]."

As to whether Gorbachev had become a Christian before his death — a scenario speculated upon by Paul Kengor of The American Spectator and others — Hopkins said: "He was a gentleman and well-rounded, but also a lifelong Communist. I don't see how he could have accepted Christianity."

Along with Reagan, presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush had Hopkins at their side as an interpreter with Russian chieftains from Leonid Brezhnev to Vladimir Putin.

He also translated for five secretaries of state, three Cabinet secretaries, and numerous members of Congress. Hopkins particularly enjoyed interpreting for former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. — an increasingly controversial figure because of his high regard for Putin and the Russian strongman's agenda.

Sometimes startling dinner guests at his Washington home, Hopkins would vigorously expatiate on his belief that "Putin is as right to worry about NATO near the border of Russia as President [John F.] Kennedy was about Russian missiles in Cuba."

An Iowa native, Hopkins earned his doctorate in Slavic languages and literature from Indiana University. He was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa there in 1965 while working on his master's degree.

Following teaching stints at Indiana and Middlebury College in Vermont, Hopkins began his 50-year career as an interpreter and translator in 1973 as a contractor to the State Department.

Nine years later, he joined the State Department as a staff interpreter and rose to be its branch chief of Slavic Languages from 1990-1991.

During the turbulent breakup of the USSR in 1991, Hopkins provided support for U.S. Ambassador Robert Strauss in his one-on-one meetings with Gorbachev and other government officials in Moscow.

He left government briefly to work as a contractor, but rejoined the State Department in 2010 as the chief of Language Support Services at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He retired six years later.

"Look at any photo of a U.S.-Soviet or U.S.-Russian summit from the early 1980s through the early 2000s, and you will likely find Bill in the picture," said Ambassador Eric Rubin, president of the American Foreign Service Association. "Every bit of progress and every step forward our country and our allies made in ending the Cold War and the post-World War II division of Europe required hours of painstaking diplomatic negotiations, from the level of heads of state down to the working levels of both countries.

"Bill was in the middle of it all, smoothing misunderstandings and conveying weighty concepts of war and peace that ultimately determined the fate of the planet. His was a life of service and skill, and also a life of friendship and deep loyalty to his country."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.