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Learn More > 1986 Reykjavik Summit
1986 Reykjavik Summit
On October 11-12, 1986, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met in Reykjavik, Iceland and discussed an agreement to eliminate all U.S. and (then) Soviet nuclear weapons. While an agreement on total elimination was not reached at Reykjavik, the summit is widely recognized as marking a major turning point in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union and their 40-year Cold War nuclear confrontation.
Read "Reykjavik Summit: The Legacy and a Lesson for the Future," by Dr. Nikolai Sokov, The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, December 2007.
Photos from the 1986 Reykjavik Summit
The Reykjavik File: Previously Secret U.S. and Soviet Documents on the 1986 Reagan-Gorbachev Summit
The National Security Archive at George Washington University, Washington, DC, has put together a collection of previously secret U.S. and Soviet documents on the 1986 Reykjavik Summit. These materials are reproduced below from www.nsarchive.org with the permission of the National Security Archive.
- "Dear Mr. President," Mikhail Gorbachev letter to Ronald Reagan, September 15, 1986 (unofficial translation with signed Russian original, proposing "a quick one-on-one meeting, let us say in Iceland or in London").
- USSR CC CPSU Politburo discussion of Reagan's response to Gorbachev's initiative to meet in Reykjavik and strategic disarmament proposals, September 22, 1986..
- Gorbachev discussion with assistants on preparations for Reykjavik, September 29, 1986..
- Memorandum to the President, Secretary of State George Shultz, "Subject: Reykjavik,"
October 2, 1986.
- Gorbachev's instructions for the group preparing for Reykjavik, October 4, 1986.
- "Gorbachev's Goals and Tactics at Reykjavik," National Security Council (Stephen Sestanovich),
October 4, 1986.
- "The President's Trip to Reykjavik, Iceland, October 9-12, 1986 - Issues Checklist for the Secretary," U.S. Department of State, October 7, 1986.
- USSR CC CPSU Politburo session on preparations for Reykjavik, October 8, 1986.
- U.S. Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev, First Meeting, October 11, 1986.
- Russian transcript of Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Reykjavik, 11 October 1986 (morning), published in FBIS-USR-93-061, May 17, 1993.
- U.S. Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev, Second Meeting, October 11, 1986.
- Russian transcript of Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Reykjavik, October 11, 1986 (afternoon), published in FBIS-USR-93-087, July 12, 1993.
- U.S. Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev, Third Meeting, October 12, 1986.
- Russian transcript of Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Reykjavik, October 12, 1986 (morning), published in FBIS-USR-93-113, August 30, 1993.
- U.S. Memorandum of Conversation, Reagan-Gorbachev, Final Meeting, October 12, 1986.
- Russian transcript of Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Reykjavik, October 12, 1986 (afternoon), published in FBIS-USR-93-121, September 20, 1993.
- Russian transcript of Negotiations in the Working Group on Military Issues, headed by Nitze and Akhromeev, October 11-12, 1986.
- "Lessons of Reykjavik," U.S. Department of State, October 12, 1986.
- Gorbachev's reflections on Reykjavik on the flight to Moscow, October 12, 1986.
- "Iceland Chronology," U.S. Department of State, October 14, 1986.
- USSR CC CPSU Politburo session on results of the Reykjavik Summit, October 14, 1986.
- USSR CC CPSU Politburo session on measures in connection with the expulsion of Soviet diplomats from the USA, October 22, 1986.
- USSR CC CPSU Politburo session on Reykjavik assessment and instructions for Soviet delegation for negotiations in Geneva, October 30, 1986.
- Memorandum for the President, John M. Poindexter, "Subject: Guidance for Post-Reykjavik Follow-up Activities," November 1, 1986.
- National Security Decision Directive Number 250, "Post-Reykjavik Follow-Up,"
November 3, 1986 (signed by President Ronald Reagan).
- USSR CC CPSU Politburo session on discussions between Shevardnadze and Shultz in Vienna, November 13, 1986.
- Gorbachev Conversation with Chernyaev about Reykjavik, November 17, 1986.
- Gorbachev Conference with Politburo Members and Secretaries of the Central Committee, December 1, 1986.
- Meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Alton G. Keel [Executive Secretary of the National Security Council], December 18, 1986 [for meeting on December 19 to discuss NSDD 250 and other topics].
[The U.S. documents were obtained by the Archive through Freedom of Information Act requests and Mandatory Declassification Review Requests to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and the U.S. Department of State. The Soviet documents came to the Archive courtesy of top Gorbachev aide Anatoly Sergeyevich Chernyaev, who has donated his diary and notes of Politburo and other Gorbachev discussions to the Archive, and from the Volkogonov collection of the U.S. Library of Congress.]
