But over time and a few landmark summits in Washington and Moscow, the two forged a genuine friendship and negotiated a deal. a landmark arms control treaty that for the first time not only slowed down the arms race but also eliminated the entire arsenal of weapons and set the stage for the Cold War to finally end.
Kenneth L. Adelman, Reagan’s Director of Arms Control and author of “Reagan at Reykjavik.” “But in the end each understood that the other was sincere in finding a way to end the horrifying nuclear threat.”
While in Moscow during his final year in office, Reagan was asked if he still considered the Soviet Union the “evil empire” he had long called. “No,” he said. “It was a different time, a different era.” And he praised Mr. Gorbachev for the change. “Mr. He told reporters at a press conference in Moscow, Gorbachev “deserves most of the credit, as the leader of this country.” On another trip to Moscow a years after leaving office, Reagan told reporters that “President Gorbachev and I discovered a kind of relationship, a friendship between us.”
When he ran for president in 1988, Bush initially thought Reagan had gone too far and trusted too much. After taking office, Bush put the relationship on hold for months pending a policy review, a so-called “pause,” which largely disapproved of Mr. Gorbachev. But so did Bush, eventually befriending the Soviet leader and seeking cooperation that had profound implications for world history.
Jeffrey A. Engel, author of “When the world seems new,” a history of Bush’s foreign policy, stating that the relationship between the 41st president and the last leader of the Soviet Union “has changed over time from profound skepticism bordering on distrust” to a “good working relationship”. But it is a relationship, he added, born of pragmatic necessity on both sides.
“Gorbachev needs Bush’s recognition, support, and most importantly, money,” said Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. “Bush knows anyone who comes after Gorbachev, especially if a coup or violent abrupt transition of power could reverse all of his reforms and rekindle a simmering Cold War. “.
