The INF Treaty Is Signed
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on December 8, 1987.
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The Event
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on December 8, 1987.
The Wider Story
The agreement required elimination of specified categories of American and Soviet ground-launched missiles. Verification and later implementation were important to its operation.
Putting the Event in Perspective
Signing was not instantaneous destruction of the weapons or universal nuclear disarmament.
Reading the Historical Record
The treaty's later history should be distinguished from the achievement commemorated here.
About the Historical Recreation
The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: a distant 1987 White House diplomatic signing ceremony with unreadable papers. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.
Sources
- Remarks on Signing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty | Ronald Reagan — Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
- Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles | Ronald Reagan — Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum
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