Whilst recording a sound check for his weekly radio address, Ronald Reagan made the following statement:

"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."

This statement was never broadcast, but, even so, news of it leaked out.

It caused a storm of international protest and his political opponents at home seized on it as yet another example of the 'cowboy' in the White House trying to provoke a fight with the Soviet Union.

Reagan was to go on to forge close ties with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and watch on as the Soviet empire started to break up in favor of capitalism.