December 8, 1987Primary sourceWell documented
The INF Treaty
On the timeline · around December 8, 1987 ·
What happened
At the White House, Reagan and Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which for the first time eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons — all US and Soviet ground-launched intermediate- and shorter-range missiles — under strict verification.
Why it matters
The INF Treaty reversed the arms race and marked a decisive thaw in superpower relations in the closing years of the Cold War.