For years, people have asked both Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev about what really ended the Cold War. Nobody asked this question better than best-selling author Anthony "Tony" Robbins.
Shortly after Gorbachev was forced out of office, President George H.W. Bush called Robbins and asked him if he could take Gorbachev on the author's private jet to a meeting in Colorado.
As soon as the plane was in the air, Robbins asked, "What ended the Cold War?" Through an interpreter, Gorbachev gave him his standard answer. Robbins didn't buy it.
"Well you know that's really great, but I want to know what really ended the Cold War. You've obviously said that a hundred times. I want to know the moment the Cold War ended."
After he thought about it, he told Robbins that it was the end of demonization.
Reagan called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire" and the Soviets were criticizing America and capitalism. Gorbachev believed that the moment came on the first day of their first summit in Geneva.
That morning, Reagan and Gorbachev had two morning sessions. The first was a one-on-one private meeting that lasted for an hour.
As President Reagan criticized the Soviet Union, Gorbachev said, "Mr. President, you are not a prosecutor. I am not the accused. You are not a teacher. I am not a student."
Things got worse in the second morning session, which was a plenary meeting with Reagan and Gorbachev along with seven of their national security aides on each side of the table as well as an official interpreter for each side.
They were going back and forth for 45 minutes and just getting more frustrated with each other. Then Reagan said, "We get along pretty well talking alone" and decided to end the meeting by getting Gorbachev to take a walk with him toward the pool house.
Once they sat down for an hour, it was this private meeting that really broke the ice. In that hour, Reagan and Gorbachev began to establish trust by overcoming demonization.
Reagan made it clear to Gorbachev that he didn't want an arms race, but that if the Soviets wouldn't change course that the only option was for the United States to win it. Reagan would later say that Gorbachev's expression gave him the feeling that the message got through to him.
George Shultz and Gorbachev's Soviet Foreign Minister, Alexander Bessmertnykh, both noticed that both men left the meeting with a stronger rapport. The tone shifted for the rest of the summit.
Bessmertnykh would later comment that, "Gorbachev immediately started to like Reagan. That was a very surprising thing. I think Reagan had something which was so dear to Gorbachev and that was sincerity."
Gorbachev knew that the arms race was bankrupting his country and made it impossible for him to reform the economy. Shortly after becoming general secretary, Gorbachev told his wife, Raisa, "We can't go on living like this."
In December 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev had a summit in Washington, D.C., that ended the arms race. According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), the number of nuclear weapons declined from a peak of 70,300 nuclear weapons in 1986 to 12,700 nukes in 2022.
Reagan and Gorbachev began this process by signing the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. This agreement destroyed 846 American missiles and 1,846 Soviet missiles.
After the INF Treaty was signed, Reagan and Gorbachev wanted to use the momentum to define the parameters for a START agreement. At the summit, both leaders agreed to a 50 percent reduction of 6,000 strategic nuclear weapons on each side with a limit of 1,600 launchers.
In 1987, the Soviet arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), especially the SS-18s, was substantially more destructive than the American Minuteman III missiles. To prevent a first-strike capability on the Soviet side, the United States developed an advantage in submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).
In 1991, the START agreement was signed by Presidents Bush and Gorbachev.
I always thought liberals liked Gorbachev because they didn't want to give Reagan any credit for winning the Cold War. While I think Reagan deserves more credit, it took both men to make peace.
That said, the peace was largely on America's terms.
Having read Gorbachev's memoirs, I was disappointed that there was no point where he completely broke with the communist past. In 2011, he admitted he should have left the Communist Party in 1991.
Apparently, both Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, had relatives that were sent to the gulags. Surprisingly, they remained Marxists.
My paternal grandparents met each other because they were both sent to the gulag in Vorkuta. After they were sent to Vorkuta, they became fervent anti-communists.
I wish that Russia today had a peacemaker like Mikhail Gorbachev — despite his flaws.
Robert Zapesochny is a researcher and writer whose work focuses on foreign affairs, national security and presidential history. He has been published in numerous outlets, including The American Spectator, the Washington Times, and The American Conservative. When he's not writing, Robert works for a medical research company in New York. Read Robert Zapesochny's Reports — More Here.
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