Mr. Gorbachev was charming and presented himself as a reformer, but neither Ronald Reagan nor George Bush was convinced he was for real. They would both be proved wrong.

Former President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Moscow, Russia, on Sept. 16, 1990. (Wojtek Laski/Getty Images) With strength came support.

President Ronald Reagan, left, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow's Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral in the background in May of 1988.

Mikhail Gorbachev was the last of a trio of world leaders — including U.S. President Ronald Reagan and U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — who ended the Cold War and reshaped the globe ...

Mikhail Gorbachev stepped onto a Washington street and began shaking hands to cheers and applause in 1990 — a bit of unaccustomed political showmanship worthy of his friend Ronald Reagan.

President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8, 1987, as they met for the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

In hindsight, President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last ruler of the Soviet Union, were the two most unexpected people of the 1980s.Gorbachev’s passing Tuesday at age 91 represents ...

MOSCOW, USSR - 16 SEPTEMBER 1990: former US President Ronald Reagan and President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on September 16, 1990. ((Photo by Wojtek ...

In October 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met for a summit in Iceland. A group of Soviet Jewry activists from the U.S. showed up to speak out for the right of ...

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is pictured during his "tear down this wall" speech in West Berlin, Germany, on June 12, 1987. The speech resurfaced on Tuesday with news of the death of former ...

Dennis Quaid's "Reagan" isn't a great movie, but it highlights something missing in today's White House: clarity. Courtesy Everett Collection I love Ronald Reagan, the man. So I expected to eat up ...

Mr. Gorbachev was charming and presented himself as a modernizer, but neither Ronald Reagan nor George Bush was convinced he was for real. They would both be proved wrong.