Negotiating Behavior at Reykjavik: Reagan, Gorbachev and the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

October 11-12, 1986 marked a seminal event in United States-Soviet relations. For these two days, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev held meetings in Reykjavik, Iceland for what became one of the most remarkable meetings ever held between the two superpowers. The tangible product of the meeting was the basis for the INF Treaty and START, however, it is the proposal which failed to reach written form that sparks the most interest. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev engaged each other in a negotiating session in which the ultimate proposal was the elimination of all nuclear weapons. The Cold War was still in full force and although Gorbachev possessed lofty domestic goals, the domestic climate in both nations was not favorable to the abolishment of nuclear weapons. How and why this dramatic proposal was made, and ultimately rejected, is the focus of this paper. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]