Swiss American Historical Society Review
Keywords
Geneva summit, Cold War relations
Abstract
Forty years ago this month, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland. What became known as the “Geneva Summit” was an important Cold War meeting between the two superpowers that would reset and impact their relations to this day. The Geneva Summit, some would argue, was the beginning of the end of the Cold War, as both leaders began working towards arms reduction, peace, and cultural and educational exchanges between both countries. It is hard to believe that November 1985 was forty years ago. The world watched as the new leader of the Soviet Union, a young Mikhail Gorbachev met with the then-oldest President of the United States who was in his second term. The relationship that they developed in a villa just outside the international city of Geneva would significantly impact the world and change the course of history. And yet forty years later, not everything had changed, and in many ways both nations were back in a “cold war.” Russian President Vladimir Putin exhibited the goal of reconstructing the prior boundaries of the USSR. His February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a former state of the USSR, continued to impact world affairs with an ongoing war. The United States supported Ukraine with a large amount of financial aid and military equipment, but three years later and under a new presidential administration, that began to recede as those in power sought an end to the war.
Recommended Citation
Marabello, Thomas Quinn and Schaller, Jonah S.
(2025)
"Revisiting the Geneva Summit 40 Years Later:,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 61:
No.
3, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol61/iss3/3