From 1985 to 1989, the leadership and unlikely friendship of two men – U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev – catalyzed an astonishing event: the end of the Cold War.

Nearly 21 years ago, on Dec. 25, 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved itself, marking the definitive end of the Cold War. Few had foreseen that it would end, and almost no one expected it to do so with so little violence.

Michael E. Reagan, son of the late President Reagan, will discuss how this extraordinary event happened when he speaks at Wofford College on Thursday, Nov. 1, for the college’s Hipp Lecture Series on International Affairs and National Security.

He will speak at 7 p.m. in Leonard Auditorium in Main Building on “Reagan and Gorbachev: The Unlikely Friendship that Ended the Cold War.” The program is free and open to the public.

“I’m looking forward to speaking at Wofford College and the Hipp Lecture Series on International Affairs and National Security,” Reagan says. “My father understood that principles matter when you are on the world stage. He believed in American exceptionalism and that America remains the best hope for mankind.”

Van Hipp, the Wofford alumnus who endowed the lecture series, says, “President Reagan’s effort to help end the Cold War was one of the great achievements of the 20th century. Michael Reagan had a front row seat to his father’s historical accomplishments, and we are pleased to have him at Wofford as part of our lecture series.”

Read full article at: https://www.wofford.edu/newsroom/2012/Michael-Reagan-to-speak-at-Wofford-on-Nov-1/