Chad Previch. "Gorbachev addresses ECU on world poverty, problems"

     ADA - Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet Union president and Nobel Peace Prize winner, told spectators Tuesday night the world hasn't learned lessons of the Cold War.
     "So in the world today fear and the use of forces will not solve problems," he said through a translator at East Central University's Kerr Activities Center. "We need new thinking."
Gorbachev has been in the United States since Thursday discussing ways to bring peace and end poverty in the world.
     He said ending poverty is crucial in bringing world stabilization and the end of terrorism. He said it took the crushing of fears between the United States and the Soviet Union to change the course of the world.
     "We had great hopes that this would usher in great changes," he said. "But the opportunities that were opened by that change were not fully used. I think that the most important thing today is to understand, to analyze the situation."
     Mary B. Meinders drove 40 minutes from Pauls Valley with a friend to hear Gorbachev speak.
     "This was a chance in a lifetime to see a world leader that I admire," Meinders, 63 said. "I really admire this man. I thought I'd never see the fall of communism.
     "He's not in power now. But his ideas are."
     During his presidency from 1985 to 1991, Gorbachev worked on "perestroika," his campaign to revitalize the Communist Party and the Soviet Union's economy and society by adjusting economic, political and social mechanisms.
     He resigned on Christmas 1991. That month, the Soviet Union dissolved, and the Commonwealth of Independent States was founded.
     Many credit Gorbachev's relationship with President Reagan with ending the Cold War.
     The two signed an arms limitation treaty in 1987.
     Gorbachev founded several organizations and is the president of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies, also known as the Gorbachev Foundation, based in Moscow.
     Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for efforts to reduce tensions with the West. He was succeeded by Boris Yeltsin.
     Ada was prepared for the former world leader's visit. On Main Street, a sign welcomed Gorbachev.
     Ada police officers and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers searched bags and directed visitors to their tickets and seats.
     Police expected 4,000 spectators. College-aged students attended, but most appeared to be in their 40s and older.

The Oklahoman, October 26, 2005