Nice-power summits can convey excessive drama. The encounter between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet chief Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna in 1961 previewed a terrifying showdown over West Berlin. The assembly between two of their successors, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986 raised and dashed hopes for nuclear disarmament.
Tuesday, August 18
