>>The full judgment of what contribution Reagan's policies made during the period of Soviet collapse awaits further releases of material from the Soviet archives.
Not really. But releases from Stasi files are illustrative. They profiled Reagan as unlike past US leaders, Reagan was different - resolute and could not be bullied. Reagan would not shortchange strategic interests for domestic political gain.
From Ronald Reagan by D'Sousa:
When Gorbachev in 1988 announced that Soviet troops would pull out of Afghanistan, for example, doves in the State Department implored Reagan to "reward" the Soviet leader with economic concessions and trade benefits. Reagan recognized that this approach ran the risk of restoring the health of the sick bear - Gorbachev's goal, of course. But Reagan never forgot that it was not his goal. Rather, his goal was - as Gorbachev himself once joked - to take the Soviet Union to the edge of the abyss and then induce the regime to take "one step forward".
Thus Reagan judiciously encouraged Gorbachev's reform efforts while applying constant pressure on him to move faster and faster. This was the significance of Reagan's trip to the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987. President Kennedy had visited Berlin a quarter of a century earlier and won the favor of the locals by claiming in German that he too was a Berliner. This was uplifting rhetoric, but it was only rhetoric. Reagan, by contrast, used his speech to drive Gorbachev into an awkward position, to compel him to prove his sincerity before the world. Reagan said, "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
As with Reagan's reference to the Soviets as an "evil empire", the State Department kept deleting from Reagan's speech the reference to dismantling the Berlin Wall. Even the more hawkish National Security Council was opposed. But Reagan kept putting it back in. "That wall has to come down", he kept telling speechwriter Peter Robinson. "That's what I'd like to say." Reagan kept up the drumbeat of pressure. A year later, in May 1988, Reagan stood beneath a giant white bust of Lenin at Moscow State University where in front of an audience of Russian students he gave the most ringing defense of a free society ever offered in the Soviet Union. On that trip he visited the ancient Danilov Monastery, which had been recently returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, and preached about the importance of religious freedom and a spiritual revival. At the U.S. ambassador's residence, he hosted a highly publicized meeting with dissidents and "refuseniks" and told them to take heart because the day of freedom was coming soon. All of these measures were calibrated to force Gorbachev's hand...
pp 193-4
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