only with xfinity. that's it for us tonight. thank you for watching. "the >> to lie, to cheat. >> gearing up for war. >> the senate approved a record, their 136.5 billion defense budget. >> the largest nuclear protest in u.s. history. >> he is eager to meet with the leader of the soviet union.

>> mtear down this wall!

in afghanistan today the united states couldulosis the cold war. >> there was a model of behifr, during the cold war. and often described as the red side of the map and the blue side of the map. separated by the afternoonor. the rest of the world, we competed for. unexpected development, polish workers are standing firm in their strike against the government. >> the demands of the striking

workers include a free press, release of political prisoners, they assumed the risk of striking illegally. >> solidarity. it isn't a union run by communists, it is a union run by polish patriots. it is a tremendous threat to the ussr. >> spent part of the weekend, reinforcing the link between the workers and the catholic church. >> it is impossible to understand solidarity, without understanding the impact of john paul ii. >> the soviets are -- he is anticommunist. the pressures are forcing the

polish government figuring out to to keep control. >> for the polish strikers, it was a day worthy of hyperbow hyperbowhyperbowl -- our showing that you can have an independent union in a communist country. and the question was, how independent were they going to be allowed to be. >> regan has spent his career blasting the soviet union, and leading policy of trying to ease relations with the soviets. would he -- what he disliked about it, they were hitting the

negotiating team as equals. regan thought, there are two super powers, democracy is inheritantly good, and soviestism is inherrently bad. >> the only thing they recognize, meaning rereserve under the right to commit any crime, lie, cheat. i of course when you do business with them, you keep that in mind. >> everybody went, this cowboy is shooting from the hip. doesn't he understand that it was diplomatic? he got the soviet attention. it was a lot of tisk, tisking about if it was appropriate for the president to say.

>> you said to the fellow who has all the arms, what do you have to negotiate with? >> the senator approved a $136.5 billion defense budget. 92-1, the vote was overwhelming. >> he said, what we spent on our armed forces is a smaller proportion of our economy than is the case with you. now, see if you can compete. >> ronald reagan's clear anticommunism made many people worry, although he department want war, the effect of his thinking would be an unwanted war. >> the state council, marshall

law, beginning today. >> the leader of solidarity is said to be in a guest house, not under arrest. dozens have been locked up, with some former leaders of the communist government. >> pope john paul ii, told 200 polish pilgrims he knew were in the crowd, they they should pray for peace. the. >> the cold war became as cold as it had ever been before. it was capable of becoming hot.

>> tragic events occurring in poland, after the soviet union

invasion of afghanistan. >> the first crisis in poland, provides a vehicle for regan to begin to think that maybe the communist system in eastern europe is not as stable as people imagined. >> this is the persian missile. a new version will be deployed in and the communist block. >> ronald reagan pushed to have missiles in europe. we aring go to ration up the cold war. >> many will be protesting the deployment of the missiles. this would make irp a battle field and leave america

unscathed. >> they are for the most part nonviolent. trapped on the front line. the fear is in the cold war period in the early 1980s, if thicks went wrong, they would go totally wrong. that we might be at the cusb of nuclear war. #

to ignore the facts of history, and the impulseless of an evil empire, and call the armed race a misunderstanding, is removing yourself from right and wrong and good and evil. >> the trouble is, you are poised with these weapons at each other, a terrible way to live. mutually assured destruction. why not put a protective shield between us. so that i can have some other option. that was the berth of sdi, or unkindly called star wars. laser and directed energy. president regan didn't understand technology.

what he understand was, if we have a defensive system, that stops their offensive missiles, then they have no value and we are safe. almost a pareral sis, on top of the leadership. they were fearful that ronald reagan administration would take advantage of the weakness. the soviets are reactive. >> if you are watching this broadcast, you went to sleep with the same impression that we did. we lead you to believe that the plane landed safely on soviet territory. that was sadly not true. >> at 1,600 hours. at 10,000 meter, at 18:26, the soviet pilot.

the target was destroyed. sglp spies or anything like that? >> think the russians are gears up for war, doing everything. and the savalue of human life, and the timing. particularly bad. the united and the -- united states and the soviets, two great power presidency are afraid of each other. and klz 007 happens, this is one of the most dangerous years of

the cold war. >> causing the suspicions about ronald reagan, the soviet intelligence agencies thought, under the cover of a military exercise, called able archer, a first nuclear strike on moscow could be launched. >> when ronald reagan discovered that soviets did think that united states might launch a pre-emptive strike, it was like, i will look upon them in a different light. >> an estimated 100 million watched as an attack was portrayed in a tv movie. >> ronald reagan processed a lot of history through movies, the fear of nuclear annihilation was real, he started feeling he was put on earth to avoid nuclear war. suppose with me for a moment

than you could find yourself in a room with jim and sally, with no language barrier, would they find themselves comparing notes about their children, what each other did for a living? they would have proven that people don't make wars. ronald reagan comes to understand, he has made a mistake, not trying to meet with the soviets, and his desire to do this gets stronger as it becomes clear to him, there is such a level of misunderstanding between the two, that inadvertent war is possible. >> this is a special report. >> gorbachev takes control. >> when the death was announced today, the world waited to see who would win the struggle for control of the kremlin.

it was a short wait. four hours, 15 minutes, winning that power is 54-year-old gorgachev. >> the one that comes advertised is the one most likely to rock the boat. #

man 1: i came as fast as i could. what's up? man 2: this isn't public yet. man 1: what isn't? man 2: we've been attacked. man 1: the network? man 2: shhhh. man 1: when did this happen? man 2: over the last six months. man 1: how did we miss it? man 2: we caught it, just not in time. man 1: who? how? man 2: not sure, probably off-shore, foreign, pros. man 1: what did they get? man 2: what didn't they get. man 1: i need to call mike... man 2: don't use your phone. it's not just security, it's defense. bae systems.

>> gorbachev may feel less bogged down by history. >> he is talking about a new soviet union, allowing an open society. he had seen how the gap of how the soviet people live, and what the party said was growing wider and wider. he is a child of the system. he didn't want to destroy it he had it in his mind, i have to save it. >> i want him to fight for

peace. for better life. >> i think he will be a good leader, i like him. >> the first couple of years of the ronald reagan first term, he didn't meet soviet leaders. when asked, he said, they keep dying on me. he wasn't making much of an effort. the sov kwlets, if you don't reach out to them, they are so afraid of us, they will do something stupid. >> he is eager to meet with the leader of the sofiet union, he has sent mr. gorbachev a letter, suggesting a summit. >> all previous summits had the communication. here is what we would say at the end. ronald reagan said, we are not

doing any of those. whatever comes out of the summit will be what we develop while we are there. >> mr. ronald reagan invited mr. gorbachev sat by the fire, and talked about his personal feelings, reducing fear and misunderstanding between the two nations. >> they met as human beings, regan had concentrated his attention on gorbachev as a person. he spent more time studying him than things to do with arms control. >> gorbachev was not at combative as he was with other officials recently. >> is it a good sign? >> i would think so. >> i was, when ronald reagan came out of his first meeting with gorbachev.

he said, this is a new type of soviet union. >> the soviet leader was more negative. >> the more important problems, arms race and increasing hopes of peace, we didn't succeed in reaching at this meeting. of course, there are important disagreements that remain between us. >> president regan deserves credit for starting a dialogue with gorbachev. many here pronounced the summit a modest success, it failed to achieve significant progress on arms control. the first word that something was seriously wrong came from this power plant in eastern sweden.

workers on the job registered high levels of radiation on their bodies, as tests were conducted, similar reports came in from all over skand navia. finally, a surprise, the radiation was coming from 750 miles away, in the soviet union. >> the soviets report an accident at the chernobyl power plant. >> the result of which people died, not only, on soviets not getting the truth about chern chernobyl. >> after the latest five-year

plan, eight or nine minutes into the news, an announcer said that only two people had been killed, contradicting one news report that casualties numbers in the thousands. >> every few week, there would be something like chernobyl, because of the defects in the system. >> buse it took place at a soviet's newest reactor, they say the soviets brought on the accident, not taking the safety precautions taken in the united states. >> chernobyl reminded the soviets, they couldn't protect their own people. >> in order to do that he needed to end the race, and spend more money on improving living standards of orginary people.

>> well, i am pleased to announce that gorbachev will meet in iceland. the meeting proposed by gorbachev. >> all we agreed upon that we will have a meeting. >> gorbachev needs a show of progress. the irony will be, when ronald reagan meets the leader of the free world, it will be gorbachev that needs the publicity near home. hinking, they all claim stuff like that. yeah, but some of them stretch the truth. one said they were the fastest. we checked, it was fastest in kansas city and a few other places.

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>> the feeling it was, we didn't have fo prepare too much. it would be a howdy, hello, photo op. it turned out to be anything else but that after the first morning, when ronald reagan and gorbachev met, we were called into the embassy, ronald reagan says, gorbachev wants to reduce nuclear weapon, hands a piece of paper to nobody in particular. it was a holy cow moment. this guy wants to reduce nuclear weapons, here was the soviet

leader, not going by the script. hemented to do business. >> the first indication that progress may have been made came at a white house briefing a few minutes ago. no prediction on the outcome of the talks, they give rise to optimism. >> i was up there t as the clock was ticking down. they had worked and worked and worked on an arms control agreement, at the last minute, it fell apart. >> mr. president? >> do we have ap agreement? ronald reagan was a mask of rage. gorgachev was stiff walking out. the guy behind me said, i don't like the body language. >> they appeared to have reached tentative agreement on much of a historic arms reduction

arrangement. in the end, the soviets assist that president ronald reagan must drop the star wars program. he couldn't bothat sglp the initiative could protect the united states, it was not muchly assured destruction at that point, assured protection of the united states. they went crazy about sdi. >> the president insisted until the end, on retaining for the united states, the right to test sdi, it would have taken a mad man to accept that. >> after inside the united states, there is astonishment, and beyond that, fear. about what ronald reagan has talked about doing.

banning nuclear weapon. >> it was criticized by nixon and kissinger. it would be a profound mistake, they say, to eliminate missiles in europe. >> many thought that regan was charmed by gorbachev. he had more time dealing with the hard right than the left. he had to let the right know, i know what i am doing. >> ronald reagan was being accused of getting soft on communism. he had not forgotten, that europe was divide, there it was still a berlin wall. >> there was is one sign that soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance the cause of freedom and peace, mr. gorbachev, open this gate. mr. gorbachev, tear down this

wall! >> it was perfect, it was beautiful. he had to insist on keech keeping it in the speech. he did it. don't let anyone tell you, it was a staffer or anybody else that did that. >> meanwhile, in the soviet union, gorbachev said, let's separate sdi, from reducing the nuclear stock pile. once he does this, it opens up a third summit. >> it may be historic, for the first time since the on-set of the nuclear age, the united states and the soviet union will sign a treaty reducing the number of nuclear missiles. >> it involved reducing the ballistic missiles. arms control to arms reduction. ru getting rid of nuclear

weapons. >>. >> i haven't changed from the time i made a speech about an evil empire. i think i can sum up my own position on this with the very brief russian proverb. it means, trust but verify. >> it importance of this treaty transcends numbers, we have listened to the numbers in, trust, but verify.

you repeat that at every meeting. i like it. >> the improbability of either one of them, doing this kind of thing, it is unheard of it. they did it. >> ronald reagan with iran contrat many americans didn't like him, didn't trust him. the negotiations with the soviet union in many ways saved his presidency. >> he made sure a lot of americans saw him. motor kaeds don't turn a lot of heads in this city, when they stop on a dime. so does everyone else. >> i am very surprised and pleased. >> he is a pr genius. jumping out of the car like t t that. >> congressional leaders say

they gave president regan a round of applause, there it was caution against euphoria. >> a love feast. everybody applauded when the president came in. >> the president said he is a different leader. he doesn't want world domination. >> i still don't trust him. >>

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. >> soviet leader gor bhmpt achev is saying the war in afghanistan may be coming to an end. >> out of a war they have not been able to win, a war, too costly to continue. >> because of afghanistan, communism was no longer affordable. the idea of promoting your ideology around the world, defending its interest, became too expensive. >> white house officials are thrilled when the president arrived in moscow in late mari it appears that the soviets will

have begun their pull-out from afghanistan. ronald reagan built his career saying communism is evil. that the notion that five years after his evil empire speech, ronald reagan lands in moscow, and welcomed and greeted, is mind blowing. >> just about like every american tour iflist that am cans to moscow, he toured red square, the center of this capital. he had the best possible tour guide, gorbachev. >> so friendly, was it that at one point, he threw his arm around him. and took back his evil empire. >> i would say no. i was talking about another time

and another era. >> the warmonger, ronald reagan, is saying the korld war looks like it is coming to an end. >> freedom is the recognition that no single person, no government has the monopoly on the truth. it is the right to put forth an idea, score scoffed at by the experts watch it catch fire among the people. >> in gorbachev's soviet union, food is harder to get. now, when there was three cheese, now, only one. we ate better, they say, in the days of bresnof. >> they were trying to change the system, in a system that was unchangeable. unable to adapt to modern world.

gorbachev, the united states is so far ahead of him. we have to accelerate the reforms. >> today i can report, that soviet union has taken to reduce armed forces, within the next two years, their strength will be reduced by 500,000 men. the numbers of conventional armments would be reduced. >> he didn't have much choice about this. they couldn't bail out the economies. what were they going to do? >> the impact in the united states, the critic of ronald reagan, acknowledge that things are fendamentally changing.

>> in china, people took to the street demanipulatives reform. >> they grow and grow, reach a couple of million. in the middle of all this in comes gorbachev. this would be a visit where the chinese communist party homes to improve relations with the soviets. >> it is still gaining strength. students, dropping to exhaustion, some vowing to die if necessary. >> the chinese leadership didn't know what to do. but recognize they couldn't reform the way they were being pushed to reform. the leader ducked questions on the issue. i cannot be the judge, he said. >> the government declared

foreign law, juniorists -- >> there is injured, and dead all over the place. there is no way to ascertain for sure, how many people have been killed or wounded. china is restored into a deeply -- it is a question n moscow and throughout eastern europe, what gorbachev's attitude going to be toward those who want fo change a communist system.

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not the other way around. while china's communist rulers were cracking down on democracy, the results of parliamentary elections and admitting that solidarity was a big winner. for supporters, the taste of victory is sweet. the numbers are overwhelming. in a dramatic announcement, the government conceded. >> stupendous first time it ever happened in eastern european communist history and this was contagious.

>> one of our producers from primetime live went into east germany posing as a tourist. producer took a home video camera. found an incredible scene there. >> in east germany, you see a series of demonstrations for change and the question becomes, are these demonstrations going to be repressed and wiped out? what is gorbachev going to do? >> the east german leader at a military parade through the heart of east berlin preached reform and offered a gorbachev proverb. those being late, he said, will be punished by life itself. >> gorbachev felt he could put a happy face on socialism, that he could modify it.

but the freedom genie got out of the bottle, he couldn't put it back in. >> the time has run out for honecker. he resigned today. the official reason given was poor health. growing political unrest made today's change inevitable. today, in the bid to convince people that he's serious about reform, the east german leader, who has had the job for less than a month, managed to convince all of the members of the government he inherited they should resign. the question is this, what next? >> the pressure on the east german government was getting enormous. and as part of the kind of package to present themselves as human, there had been a resolution passed which is going to introduce new rules about immigration. he went to this press conference, he hadn't been at the meeting so didn't know what was in it. he said, here's something i can tell you. the biggest administrative error in history.

>> when the east german government opened the window a little bit and said, well, if you want to move from east germany into west germany, you may, that's all people needed to hear. >> history turns on these magnificent little divots. there are border guards who could have fired at these first people but they didn't. instead of firing on those who were coming close to the wall, instead of firing on them, they

just let them do it. [cheers and applause ] ♪ >> it was the sort of news that defies the possibility of a headline. what we know is that we are standing in attendance at a moment in history as you look now at the berlin wall. >> we didn't really anticipate that the wall would come down like that but so much pent up emotion and so much of the desire for freedom that it just overwhelmed them but it wasn't anticipated. it was a surprise.

>> our joy was just watching germans roll through that wall and knock it down and start making souvenir slices and it was a truly exciting night because we had wanted this for 40 years and now it's happening. >> the long-time communist leader of bulgaria suddenly and surprisingly today announced his resignation. >> it turns out that these regimes are more brittle than gorbachev understood and they couldn't find many gorbachevs. he tried to encourage people like him to rise to the fore in these countries. they weren't successful. >> had gorbachev decided to use force, this whole scenario would have been totally different and, furthermore, the cold war might have ended in a far different way. it might have ended with a bang and not with a whimper. >> how can one sum up what we've gone through in the last months? perhaps a concert.

the conductor was leonard bernstein and they climaxed to "the ode de joy" except one word was changed, "ode to freedom." ♪ >> the playwright activist is the first noncommunist president in 41 years. >> and he his wife were executed after military court found them guilty of genocide, stealing state funds and trying to escape prosecution. >> from our point of view, there was no argument about the most remarkable story of the decade. freedom. in some cases, freedom which had been unthinkable as the decade began.

>> hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states, and around the world. this is news room l.a. we will begin here in southern california. protesters spilled on the streets, blocking streets outside a donald trump rally. no reports of injuries, they were seen rocking a police car. inside the rally, trump lashed out at his rivals, and one of his favorite topics. >> we