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Editor’s Note: This story first ran on Fox News April 9, 2013, but has been republished following the Tuesday announcement of Mikhail Gorbachev’s death.
The calendar read June 2004. But it was definitely the ‘80s.
A trio of the world’s preeminent leaders from the waning days of the Cold War came together for the final time. Icons, they were as indelible from the cultural fabric of the decade as “The Cosby Show” and “Family Ties” airing back-to-back on Thursday nights, cult movies like “Heathers” and “The Breakfast Club,” and little old ladies demanding “Where’s the beef?”
But this wasn’t like a rock band hitting the road for a reunion tour. The flag-draped casket flanked by an honor guard in the middle of the Capitol Rotunda explained that.
This was farewell.
GORBACHEV’S INTERPRETER REACTS TO RUSSIA-UKRAINE CRISIS, ESCALATIONS IN TENSION SINCE COLD WAR’S END
FILE – Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, left, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attend the state funeral of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
(Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
They would visit their friend one last time in a moment. But for now, they waited.
They were part of a line of people who stood in the hall running between the Rotunda and the Old Senate Chamber. The men wore dark suits. The women, dark dresses.
But this duo stood out among the other mourners.
For him, there was the vascular, port-wine birthmark.
And for her, there was the purse.
The purse.
In other times, the purse might dangle from the left forearm as she waved to the crowd or photographers.
But on this day, she clutched it close to her body like a satchel filled with diamonds.
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, left, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev leave Hofdi House after finishing their two days of talks during a mini-summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, on…
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