Did you know? The term «Cold War» first appeared in 1945 in an essay by English writer George Orwell entitled «You and the Atomic Bomb.» That it comes at a time when the United States is increasingly concerned about the threat posed by what it sees as a resurgent Russia is doubly troubling. Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union improved significantly in the mid-1980s. At a spectacular summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986, Gorbachev proposed a 50% reduction in the nuclear arsenals of both sides, and for a while it seemed that a historic agreement would be reached. The summit ended in failure due to differences over the SDI. On December 8, 1987, however, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed in Washington, eliminating an entire class of nuclear weapons. The INF Treaty was the first arms control pact to demand a real reduction in nuclear arsenals, rather than simply restricting their proliferation. The Cold War period from 1985 to 1991 began with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev to the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev was a revolutionary leader for the USSR, as he was the first to promote the liberalization of the political landscape (glasnost) and the economy (perestroika); Previously, the USSR had strictly banned liberal reforms and maintained an inefficient managed economy. .