In remembering the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rudy Giuliani remembers the rise of Ronald Reagan, and the point at which he believes the Cold War was won.
In 1986, Gorbachev tried to use the international pressure for successful arms reduction talks to get Reagan to abandon the countermissile program. At the end of what had been successful talks, Gorbachev surprisingly said that he would not agree to any of the terms unless President Reagan was willing to abandon the Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, known as "Star Wars."
Reagan refused..... A lesser man, a lesser President would have stepped back in the face of the criticism. But Reagan didn't budge. A few months later, Gorbachev came back, agreed to every one of the terms that Reagan had imposed on him and left out the condition on SDI.
And I believe in that act alone the Cold War was won.
