“...it (the Miracle on Ice) made the Russians/Communists aware of what our way of life was and it gave them the opportunity to rebel and break down the wall and create more opportunities for everybody.” -Jim Craig, 1980 Olympic US Men’s Ice Hockey team goal tender. Personal phone interview.
During the 1980's Soviet morale continued to deteriorate. The Soviet Union began to lose control of countries that made up the Eastern Block. In 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev won the Nobel Prize for helping end the Cold War. On December 25, 1991, as Gorbachev's last act in office, he signed documents dissolving the USSR.
Gorbachev’s reforms-Glasnost and Perestroika. Digital Image Source: Slide Player
Mikhail Gorbachev distressed at the fall of the Soviet Union. Source: Spiegel Online International
Map illustrating the break-up of the Soviet Union. Source: Spiegel Online University