one of the most important speeches of the 20th century<\/a>.<\/p>\nI remember it well. \u00a0Gorbachev, who was treated like The Beatles when he came to the US later that year, was the man who would save us all. \u00a0And here was Reagan, throwing down the gauntlet. Today, we\u2019re told that everyone was just thrilled with his speech. \u00a0But being a young Political Science major in \u201987, I can remember more than a few expressing their angst over his blunt words. \u00a0There we were, with a great leader like Gorbachev, ready to do everything he could to bring peace, and now? \u00a0Way to\u00a0tick off Gorby!<\/p>\n
Of course in 1987, most of us knew that things were starting to turn. \u00a0Even Reagan\u2019s most ardent critics in 1985 admitted that when he came back to report on his first meeting with Gorbachev at Geneva, it was as if the whole world heaved a sigh of relief. \u00a0We might even come through the Cold War without WWIII.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, critics being critics, they quickly formulated the narrative that it was Gorbachev alone who would deliver us from Armageddon. \u00a0Not Reagan. \u00a0Trusting Reagan was, well, like this:<\/p>\n