That time the US and Russia agreed to be allies if aliens attacked Earth

Blake Stilwell
Sep 2, 2021 6:49 PM PDT
1 minute read
Cold War photo

SUMMARY

The Dream Team has nothing to do with basketball. On a 2009 episode of Charlie Rose, former Soviet Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev was a guest, commemorating the …

The Dream Team has nothing to do with basketball. On a 2009 episode of Charlie Rose, former Soviet Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev was a guest, commemorating the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. During the interview, Gorbachev made a number of interesting statements. He wasn't impressed with President Reagan's challenge to tear down the wall.


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But he did think Reagan was a great leader. Joining Gorbachev on the show was Reagan's Secretary of State George Schultz, who brought up Reagan and Gorby's famous Lake Geneva Summit. Schultz admitted he wasn't present when the two leaders ducked out to a nearby cabin to talk. Gorbachev remembered their conversation very clearly.

Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

"From the fireside house, President Reagan suddenly said to me, 'What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?'

"I said, 'No doubt about it.'"

"He said, 'We too.'"

President Reagan was an avid fan of science fiction films, like The Day the Earth Stood Still and even once got an advance screening of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Reagan repeated the story to a group of Maryland high school students after his return to the US. Deputy national security adviser Colin Powell used to go through the President's speeches and remove mentions of what he called "the little green men."

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