When Ronnie Met Mikie: The Friendship of Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan

One was a man born in Russia during the height of Stalinism, who rose to power through hard work and perseverance.

The other was a man, a proud American with great charisma, and once acted alongside a chimpanzee.

Both men were leader of their respective countries, long rivals who on more than one occasion nearly brought about nuclear war. There was little in common between these two men that could possibly bring them together.

Or was there?

Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and American President Ronald Reagan first met at a summit in Geneva in 1985. It was at this first meeting the two would develop a friendship and mutual respect for one another which – through close calls, stalemate, and disagreement – bring about the thawing of relations between their respective countries, and bring about the end of the Cold War only two years later.