Countries that had considered the United States their enemy, now looked to it to lead the way to peace and, they hoped, prosperity.

(MUSIC)

As the Soviet Union was dying, President Bush repeatedly negotiated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. One of those meetings took place in the spring of nineteen ninety in the United States. It led to an agreement calling for both sides to destroy most of their chemical weapons. The two leaders also agreed to increase trade relations.

The American and Soviet presidents met in Moscow in July nineteen ninety-one. There, they signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, known as START I. This treaty called for both sides to reduce their numbers of long-range nuclear weapons. They promised to cut the number by about one-third over seven years.

START I became the first agreement between the two powers to order cuts in existing supplies of nuclear weapons.

In September nineteen ninety-one, President Bush said the United States would remove most of its short-range nuclear weapons from service. He also said the United States would destroy many of them. The next month, the Soviets announced that they would do the same.

On December twenty-fifth of that year, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president, as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics came to an end.

GORBACHEV (with English translator): “Compatriots, due to the situation, which has evolved as a result of the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I hereby discontinue my activities at the post of President of the U.S.S.R”