Today is a crucial anniversary in the history of the Cold War. On 19 and 20 November of 1985 the first meeting ever between the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, and the Soviet Union's number one, Mikhail Gorbachev.
The objectives of the summit (which was prepared for months) were rather ambitious: to start a dialogue to rebuild diplomatic relations between the two world powers and to begin negotiations to stem the escalation of nuclear arms race.
In particular, the Soviets aimed to halve the number of bombers equipped with nuclear weapons and missiles, while the Americans wanted to ensure that neither side achieved a position of decisive advantage.
Before the Reagan-Gorbachev meeting, the security adviser to the US president, Robert McFarlane, had said that the United States was encountering "serious problems in establishing a dialogue" with the Soviets and that a first exercise would begin shortly thereafter. of missile defense through the Strategic Defense Initiative.
The Soviets, for their part, had announced a unilateral moratorium on underground nuclear tests and invited the Americans to join them, but the request was decisively rejected by Washington.
The relaxation process started with the 1985 meeting and culminated two years later with the INF treaty (Intermediate Range Nuclear), which sanctioned the dismantling of the nuclear missiles installed by the USA and the USSR on European territory (the so-called euromissiles).
