US President Ronald Reagan had begun his presidency in 1981 by calling the Soviet Union the "evil empire" and proposing major new defense initiatives to challenge the USSR. But in Reagan's second term, his rhetoric softened and he developed a personal relationship with Soviet premier over the course of several summit meetings. In 1987, they worked out together and signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty, a significant step toward arms control and reducing tensions between the two powers.
