Today in History, October 11, 1986:

President Reagan meets for the second time with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Reykjavik, Iceland to discuss limitations on nuclear missiles. The Russian attempted to add “SDI” or the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars” to the discussion. SDI was a planned space based missile shield that would make America impervious to nuclear missile attack.

Reagan, knowing the supposed defense system gave the US an incredible strength in the negotiations, refused. While they came away from Iceland empty handed, Reagan’s poker face worked. The next year in DC the two leaders came to an agreement on missile reduction. The USSR was on it’s way out.