This year there were two sad anniversaries in the first week of February: two former political superstars, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrated their birthdays in the shadow of severe health problems. Confined to hospital, they were unable to appreciate the cheering of fans and the fanfare of the mass media.
Reagan, who turned 90, has succumbed to the devastating affects of Alzheimer's disease. Yeltsin, who is 70, is shrouded in premature senility. Neither realizes what is happening to them and their nations. Both are unable to figure out what their legacies are and what history might have to say about them.
The paths of the two presidents did not cross when they were in power. When Reagan proudly stepped down in 1989, having restored America's self-esteem and its dominance in world politics, Yeltsin was still locked in a bitter struggle with the Soviet monolith, and only starting to gain international prominence and notoriety. The first American president he would meet with would be Reagan's successor, George Bush. The last Russian leader Reagan met was Yeltsin's archenemy, Mikhail Gorbachev.