Mikhail Gorbachev Has died at 91

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who played a central role in ending the Cold War, died Tuesday at the age of 91.

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Russian media reported his death, citing the hospital that was treating him as saying he died of a "serious and protracted disease,"

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Gorbachev's trademark policies of glasnost and perestroika helped open up the Soviet economy and liberalize society in the late 1980s,

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Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990,

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Matlock notes that though Reagan's speech was made in 1987,

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the Berlin Wall came down in 1990.

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those in power made all the decisions for them."

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Gorbachev added that a lasting democracy will never come without a fight. –

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God rest his soul

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