On May 31,1988, Reagan stood on Russian soil and addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, delivering a remarkable, yet now largely forgotten, speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital. This fourth in a series of summits between Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was a dramatic coda to their tireless efforts to reduce the nuclear threat. More than that, Reagan viewed it as 'a grand historical moment': an opportunity to light a path for the Soviet people toward freedom, human rights, and a future he told them they could embrace if they chose. It was the first time an American president gave a speech about freedom and human rights on Russian soil. Reagan had once called the Soviet Union an 'evil empire'. Now, saying that depiction was from 'another time', he beckoned the Soviets to join him in a new vision of the future.

"On May 31, 1988, Reagan addressed a packed audience at Moscow State University, with a remarkable -- yet now largely forgotten -- speech that capped his first visit to the Soviet capital. This fourth in a series of summits between Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was a dramatic coda to their tireless efforts to reduce the nuclear threat. More than that, Reagan viewed it as 'a grand historical moment': an opportunity to light a path for the Soviet people -- toward freedom, human rights, and a future he told them they could embrace if they so chose. It was the first time an American president had given an address about freedom and human rights on Russian soil. Reagan had once called the Soviet Union an 'evil empire, ' but now, saying that depiction was from 'another time, ' he beckoned the Soviets to join him in a new vision of the future. The importance of Reagan's Moscow speech was largely overlooked at the time, but the new world he spoke of was fast approaching.

Recounts the events of Reagan's historic, three-day 1988 Moscow Summit with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, examining the importance of Reagan's speech at Moscow State University that offered a new vision of the future to the Soviet people.