The former Soviet leader who helped bring the Cold War to an end has died at the age of 91. The BBC reports Mikhail Gorbachev died at a hospital after a long illness.

One of the biggest speeches Mr. Gorbachev delivered happened in mid-Missouri’s Fulton in May 1992, on the historic Westminster College campus. It was titled “The River of Time and the Imperative of Action.” He essentially declared an end to the Cold War, telling thousands of people on-campus that “The goal today has not changed: peace and progress for all.”

He also sounded optimistic about the future that day.

“In a qualitatively new and different world situation the overwhelming majority of the United Nations will, I hope, be capable of organizing themselves and acting in concert on the principles of democracy, equality of rights, balance of interests, common sense, freedom of choice, and willingness to cooperate,” Gorbachev told the audience in Fulton. 

More than 20,000 people packed the campus that day, and thousands if not millions more listened to the speech live in 132 nations around the world. Then-Missouri Governor John Ashcroft joined Mr. Gorbachev that day, as did then Westminster President J. Harvey Saunders.