190 THE END OF THE COLD WAR
School noting that the Soviet leadership had at last put forward a
scheme that deserved America’s attention.^64 The State Department,
with the National Security Council’s consent, cabled American em -
bassies around the world with the latest information.^65 Shultz wrote to
congratulate the President on the success of his policy in compelling
the Kremlin to retreat from its earlier negotiating standpoint. Gor-
bachëv was no longer promoting his January declaration. He was now
willing to separate decisions on strategic and intermediate-range
nuclear weapons. He also accepted the idea of bilateral verification.
The time was right to resume high-level talks between the two super-
powers.^66 On the same day as Reagan was speaking at Glassboro High
School, as things turned out, Gorbachëv was writing a letter calling on
him to return to the tempo they had set at the Geneva summit. On
23 June 1986 Ambassador Dubinin delivered it at the Oval Office; he
emphasized that Gorbachëv was willing to consider ‘partial solutions’
to some of the questions – including about intermediate-range nuclear
missiles – that divided the two sides.^67 Not since the Geneva summit
had the prospect seemed more encouraging to those in Moscow and
Washington who strove after a fresh agreement. The months of diplo-
matic torpor appeared at an end.