Aboard the storm-battered Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorky, two men changed history.
After two days of talks rocked by Force 10 gales in Marsaxlokk Bay, US President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stepped before the world and declared the Cold War over.
“I assured the President I will never start a hot war against the USA,” Gorbachev said.
Bush replied: “We stand at the threshold of a brand-new era of US-Soviet relations… a lasting peace and the transformation of East-West relations into enduring cooperation.”
With the Berlin Wall still crumbling, Hungary’s borders freshly opened and Czechoslovakia’s communist regime collapsing, the timing was electric.
Gorbachev warned: “The world is leaving one epoch and entering another. Force, mistrust and ideological struggle must become things of the past.”
Bush added cautiously: “We don’t dictate the pace of change in Germany – that’s for Germans to decide.”
The summit itself nearly sank. Gale-force winds marooned Bush on his cruiser, cancelling meetings and a joint dinner. Only on the final day did the seas calm enough for eight hours of decisive talks aboard the Maxim Gorky.
Differences remained – Central America, naval cuts – but the message was clear: the superpowers had chosen partnership over confrontation.
As Bush flew to brief NATO and Gorbachev prepared to address the Warsaw Pact, both leaders agreed to meet again in June 1990.
Malta 1989 – the day the Cold War didn’t end with a bang, but with a handshake in a storm.
Source: BBC
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