Reagan and Gorbachev met for the last time in New York City in December 1988. By then the two leaders had developed an easy collaboration that both hoped would carry over into the presidency of Reagan’s recently elected successor, George H.W. Bush. A former member of Congress, Director of Central Intelligence, ambassador to China, and Reagan’s vice president for 8 years, Bush came to the White House with more practical experience in national security affairs than any President since Eisenhower. As part of his agenda while in New York, Gorbachev addressed the UN General Assembly and used the occasion to announce that the Soviet Union would unilaterally reduce its armed forces by half a million men and withdraw 50,000 troops and 5,000 tanks from Eastern Europe over the next 2 years. Moscow, Gorbachev insisted, wanted military forces only for defensive purposes and would use them for nothing else. A dramatic, headline-grabbing gesture, Gorbachev’s announcement convinced Secretary of State George Shultz that the Cold War was more than drawing to a close. Indeed, Shultz insisted: "It was over.”