ABSTRACT
Ted Koppel's interest and compassion confirmed to Mikhail Gorbachev that the world realized the loss to the country's political life and general well-being that would accompany Gorbachev's departure from the Kremlin. Gorbachev announced that everything would take place in a civilized manner and that a reasonable interval would be allotted for "changing the guard" and for dismantling the Union apparatus. Gorbachev shoved the pages that he was annotating out of the way and immediately called the chief of security, Vladimir Redkoborody, who had been his own head of security a few days earlier. The Americans worked as a team with Soviet television personnel, taping everything: the visitors arriving at Gorbachev's office, his final telephone conversations with foreign leaders, his last walk to the Kremlin, and his departure from the empty palace. When he was saying good-bye to Gorbachev after the long series of talks they had together, he thanked the President for granting him so much time.
