In May 1989, I recalled Kiraly's desperate 1956 experience along the Hungarian-Austrain border when I read that Hungarian border guards had snipped the barbed wire dividing the two nations. Change? Within days, thousands of Eastern Europeans, the majority of the initial wave East Germans, began fleeing to Hungary, hoping to move on to freedom in the West.

By the end of the summer of 1989, that border was entirely open. On Nov. 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall cracked.

Definite change -- a grand and gratifying change.

But in May 1989, the outcome remained uncertain, as years of living on the thermonuclear brink tempered optimism. The next seven months produced a political and emotional rollercoaster, with bouts of elation followed by dread that the Russians would once again send tanks to close the borders.

The Russians didn't. The reasons are complex. A state-run economy inevitably produces shared poverty for all but the political elites. Russia had created a one-dimensional superpower, military might without economic muscle and cultural magnetism. The Kremlin had also suffered a stinging political defeat in 1983. In the late 1970s, the Soviets began deploying offensive SS-20 ballistic missiles in Eastern Europe. In response, NATO pursued a "dual track" strategy -- it would negotiate to remove the SS-20s but would deploy its own missiles if the Soviets refused.

By 1983, "dual-track" had failed. Despite tantrums by Moscow and the protest shenanigans of leftist sympathizers and Western "peace" organizations, Ronald Reagan deployed U.S. cruise and Pershing 2 ballistic missiles, militarily and politically countering the Russian threat. The "Euromissile Crisis" was a blatant attempt to crush Western European resolve and shatter NATO -- two blows that would have crushed Eastern Europeans' hope for freedom. In many respects, it was the last big political battle of the Cold War.

The United States is often knocked as shortsighted and irresolute, but U.S. Cold War policy was remarkably consistent and resolute. The Truman administration made several prescient strategic decisions (see NSC-68). The Eisenhower administration's refinement of "containment" (NSC-161/2) is a superb example of a new administration shouldering the burden of a long struggle. And in May 1989, that perseverance set the conditions for change.