Which two leaders met aboard naval vessels off Malta in 1989, an event seen as signaling the end of the Cold War?

• A. George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev
• B. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev
• C. George W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev
• D. George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin

Answer: (A)

This question tests how shifts in Cold War diplomacy are signaled by high-level meetings. The Malta gathering happened in December 1989 aboard two naval vessels off Malta, bringing together U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Their informal talks helped cement a move away from confrontation toward cooperation, reinforcing momentum from earlier arms-control progress and aligning leaders with the sweeping reforms and peaceful transitions occurring in Europe that year. The meeting is seen as signaling the Cold War’s end because it embodied a new willingness on both sides to work together and reduce tensions, just as Eastern Europe was moving toward change and the Berlin Wall was coming down. The other options don’t fit because they involve different leaders or different moments (for example, Reagan and Gorbachev met earlier in Reykjavik in 1986; George W. Bush wasn’t the participant in this Malta event; Boris Yeltsin’s leadership and meetings with Bush occurred later).