Gorbachev, Reagan, and ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’

Eulogies omitting the Soviet leader’s partnership with President Reagan — and the unique way they found a path to peace — diminish his full legacy.

AP/Boris Yurchenko, file
President Reagan, right, talks with the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, at the White House on December 8, 1987. AP/Boris Yurchenko, file

The last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, is being lauded as a peacemaker upon his death at 91. Yet eulogies that omit his partnership with President Reagan — and the unique way they found a path to peace — diminish his full legacy.

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