988 Summit

On December 7, 1988, the island was the scene of the last official summit between US President Ronald Reagan, Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev, and US President-elect George H. W. Bush

National Security Archive

It was on this day that Gorbachev gave a breakthrough speech at the UN, proposing unilateral arms reductions, which many perceived as a symbolic end to the Cold War

On the island, Gorbachev hoped to speed up the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), but Reagan, under pressure from conservative advisers, held back the initiative, and Bush, who had not yet taken office, asked for time to study the issues - which delayed progress for a whole year

Results and Significance

The summit on the island became a kind of epilogue to a whole series of meetings: starting with Geneva (1985), through Reykjavik (1986), Washington (1987), Moscow (1988), and culminating in the Malta Summit (December 1989) with the subsequent declaration of the end of the Cold War

The outcome of the summit demonstrated that Gorbachev was prepared to implement radical arms reductions, but domestic politics and the transfer of power to the United States slowed this process. Nevertheless, its significance remains historical - as the moment when the "ice was broken" forever.