Reykjavík summit of 1986
United States–Soviet Union history
Print Cite Share Feedback
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: Apr 19, 2024 • Article History
Reagan, Ronald; Gorbachev, Mikhail
See all media
Date:
October 11, 1986 - October 12, 1986
Location:
Iceland
Reykjavík
Context:
Cold War
Key People:
Mikhail Gorbachev
Ronald Reagan
On the Web:
Atomic Heritage Foundation - The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History - Reagan
and Gorbachev: The Reykjavik Summit (Apr. 19, 2024)
(Show more)
See all related content →
Reykjavík summit of 1986, meeting held in Reykjavík, Iceland, on October 11 and 12,
1986, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
The meeting, the second between the two leaders, was intended not as a summit but as a
session in which the leaders explored the possibility of limiting each country’s
strategic nuclear weapons to create momentum in ongoing arms-control negotiations.
The Reykjavík summit almost resulted in a sweeping nuclear arms-control agreement in
which the nuclear weapons of both sides would be dismantled. Although no agreement
was reached, many historians and government officials, including Gorbachev himself,
later considered the Reykjavík summit a turning point in the Cold War.
Reagan had been committed to opposing the Soviet Union at every opportunity.
The White House believed that American supremacy was key to U.S. survival, and it was
thought that an accelerated arms race would cause irreparable harm to a faltering Soviet
economy. Reagan, however, was gradually being perceived as an extremist hard-liner
bent on the complete destruction of the Soviet Union. To allay such fears, he attended
the summit meetings.
COLD WAR EVENTS
keyboard_arrow_left
Truman Doctrine
March 12, 1947
Marshall Plan
April 1948 - December 1951
Berlin blockade
June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949
Warsaw Pact
May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991
U-2 Incident
May 5, 1960 - May 17, 1960
Bay of Pigs invasion
April 17, 1961
Berlin crisis of 1961
August 1961
Cuban missile crisis
October 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
August 5, 1963
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
1969 - 1979
Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
October 1973 - February 9, 1989
Korean Air Lines flight 007
September 1, 1983
Reykjavík summit of 1986
October 11, 1986 - October 12, 1986
collapse of the Soviet Union
August 18, 1991 - December 31, 1991
keyboard_arrow_right
1
2
3
4
5
Meanwhile, Gorbachev based his presidency on the dual reform programs
of perestroika (“restructuring”) and glasnost (“openness”). The Soviet Union was a
military and industrial power for much of its history, but in its waning decades it was
faltering under the strain of its outmoded economic system and
industrial infrastructure. To compete against the West, the Soviet economy and society
would need drastic restructuring. Gorbachev, however, could not afford to continue
down the path to reform without assurances about national security. He needed an
arms-limitation treaty to accomplish that.
During the exchange of proposals, the leaders agreed that nuclear weapons must be
eliminated, and they nearly produced an agreement to eliminate the Soviet and
American nuclear weapons stockpiles by 2000. What prevented such an agreement was
the space-based missile defense system known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
under consideration by the United States. President Reagan refused to limit SDI
research and technology to the laboratory. Gorbachev, however, would not accept
anything less than a ban on missile testing in space. Despite the failure to reach an
agreement on that issue, both sides felt that the meeting was a success and that it
opened the way for further progress.
