CONFRONTATION.
THAT WAS REVOLUTIONARY.
GORBACHEV MADE FRIENDS WITH THE
SOVIET UNION'S FORMER ENEMIES.
NONE MORE THAN RONALD REAGAN.
THEY NEGOTIATED A BREAKTHROUGH
NUCLEAR MISSILE TREATY, AND
FORMED A STRONG BOND.
THAT SAME YEAR, GORBACHEV SAT
DOWN WITH NBC'S TOM BROKAW, A TV
FIRST, AND AMERICANS WERE AMAZED
BY THE OPEN, REASSURING SOVIET
LEADER AND CHARMED BY THE FIRST
SOVIET FIRST LADY THEY'D EVER
SEEN.
BUT IT WAS AT HOME WHERE
GORBACHEV'S TWO IDEAS, GLASS
NOVEMBER AND PAR STROI KA THAT A
GENIE OUT OF THE BOTTLE EVEN HE
COULDN'T PUT BACK.
>> Translator: WE COULD AND
SHOULD HAVE SAVED THE SOW YETVIE
UNION, BUT WE LOST POLITICALLY,
HE SAYS.
SOVIETS GOT MORE FREEDOM, BUT
NOTHING TO BUY.
THE ECONOMY COLLAPSED.
WHILE IN EASTERN EUROPE, PEOPLE
DIDN'T EMBRACE HIS REFORMS, THEY
FLED THEM.
BUT IN PERHAPS HIS MOST ICONIC
ACT, GORBACHEV LET THE BERLIN
WALL FALL, AND A YEAR LATER WAS
AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
BUT BACK IN MOSCOW, HIS OWN
COLLEAGUES PLOTTED AND FAILED TO
OVERTHROW HIM IN A THREE-DAY
COUP.
WHEN GORBACHEV RETURNED FROM
HOUSE ARREST IN THE CRIMEA, HE
LANDED IN A DIFFERENT WORLD.
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN
WAS NOW FIRMLY IN CHARGE.
WITHIN MONTHS, GORBACHEV
RESIGNED, AND THE SOVIET UNION WAS NO MORE.
WAS NO MORE.
YEARS LATER, HE SAID, HIS MAIN
CONCERN WAS TO AVOID BLOODSHED.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN CIVIL WAR IN
A COUNTRY SATURATED WITH NUCLEAR
WEAPONS, HE SAID.
HE WENT ON TO BECOME AN
INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY, MAKINGE
ADS FOR PIZZA HUT.
AND LOUIS VUITTON TO FUND HIS
FOUNDATION RUSSIA, FEW PAID
ATTENTION TO HIS CALLS FOR MORE
DEMOCRACY.
>> HE'S A HERO TO MANY.
THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD, HE'S
A HERO.
TO A MINORITY, HE'S A VILLAIN.
>> MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, THE MAN
WHO ENDED THE COLD WAR WAS NEVER