“A Flag Too Far”

Memorial Day weekend, 1988: President Reagan, in Moscow for his fourth and final summit meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, was enjoying his “role of a lifetime,” his charm seducing Soviet intellectuals as he never could their American counterparts. The editor of a Soviet weekly lauded the American president as a “normal man.” “We want to have a normal man as the leader of our state.” The performances, scripted by White House aides for both men, was like a Cecil B. DeMille Hollywood epic set in Red Square and St. Catherine’s Hall, observed the American president. ¹ He and Gorbachev then signed the agreement to carry out the Intermediate Nuclear Forces accord, which concluded their mutual efforts toward international cooperation. Reagan had made his mark in helping to phase out the cold war. ²