No. 6 Ronald Reagan - Geneva
Dates: November 19-21, 1985 President Reagan had long insisted that he wanted a face-to-face meeting with the leader of Soviet Union – but they kept dying on him. In November 1985, in Geneva, Reagan got his wish as he met for the first time with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. The two men, who would ultimately bring about the peaceful conclusion to a decades-long, bitter and often bloody super power standoff, traded sharp barbs over the history of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, the Strategic Defense Initiative, human rights, and third world conflicts. The meeting was a media sensation, as the press lapped up images of the hawkish Reagan sitting amiably by the fireside with the leader of the Soviet Union. The meeting led to four more between Reagan and Gorbachev and the gradual thawing of relations between the two rivals.
