Power, Lost and Found: America At Century’s End 537in the three years between 1985-88, the two leaders would meet 4 times and
try to reduce the number, and thus danger, of nuclear weapons. Initial efforts
failed because Reagan refused to get rid of his “Star Wars” program, which
was Gorbachev’s key demand. By 1987, Gorbachev had to act. The Soviet
economy was in worse shape than ever and he needed to cut Russian military
spending. Thus he and Reagan agreed to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear
Forces, or INF Treaty. The INF Treaty eliminated missiles of an intermediate
range, between 300 and 3400 miles [as opposed to ICBM, or Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles, which had a range over 3500 miles and could go from North
American to Asia or Europe] and allowed the U.S. and Russia to inspect each
other’s arsenals. The promise of the INF, however, did not last long. Gorbachev’s
economic problems continued and many of the “republics” that were includ-
ed in the Soviet Union sought independence.
Then, after Reagan left office and was succeeded by Bush, Sr., Eastern Europe
imploded. East Germany, the long-time bulwark of the Soviet system in Eastern
Europe, fell apart, as citizens began to tear down the Berlin Wall and, in short
order, dismantle the entire Eastern German government. After that, the countries
of Eastern Europe began to do the same, throwing off their Communist govern-
ments. Finally, in 1991, the Soviet Union itself, the first Communist state, fell
apart, as Gorbachev himself was ousted and dissolved the government on
December 25th.Since that time, many, especially conservatives, have given
Ronald Reagan credit for ending the Cold War. His hard line and military build-
ups, they claim, forced the Soviet Union to try to keep up, which they could not
afford to do, and eventually forced it to fall apart. That ignores the depth of the
breakdown in the Soviet Union, however, the “mess” that the CIA experts had
seen in the early 1970s. The Russians had been not just humiliated in Afghanistan,
but had spent tremendous amounts of money [having about a half-million troops
there]. Their continued spending on nuclear weapons had become unsustainable
as well. On top of that, perestroika was not brining economic prosperity, but
gangsterism, as the most corrupt businessmen tended to rise to positions of
prominence. Then, to make things even worse, glasnost had unleashed a torrent
of criticism, and Gorbachev was unable to offer real progress in response. It was
the inability of the Soviet Union to reform itself from the 1970s onward, and the
failure of Gorbachev’s reforms, that doomed the Russian government. The scope
of American military spending or Reagan’s hard line did not force the downfall
of the Soviet Union–its demise was caused internally.