Iceland in the Cold War Iceland in the Cold War Throughout the Cold War, the nation of Iceland was a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and allied with the United States, hosting a US military presence in Keflavík Air Base from 1951 to 2006. In 1986, Iceland hosted a summit in Reykjavík between United States President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, during which they took significant steps toward nuclear disarmament. Five years later, in 1991, Iceland became the first country to recognize the renewed independence of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania when they broke away from the Soviet Union. Early in
Ronald Reagan sure its total cost would reach in the trillions of dollars. Reagan encouraged Congress to think of it as billions of new dollars spent in individual districts. If SDI worked, thousands of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles would be worthless — if launched, they could all be shot down. Gorbachev made it his highest priority to get Reagan to abandon SDI. Meanwhile, Reagan escalated the rhetoric. In his famous 1983 speech to religious fundamentalists he outlined his strategy for victory. First, he labeled the Soviet system an "Evil empire" and a failure—its demise would be a godsend for the world. Second, Reagan