Reagan-Gorbachev Summit Wasn't Easy on Reykjavík

With its Blue Lagoon thermal spa and unrivaled views of the Northern Lights, Iceland is one of the world's top tourist destinations, drawing over 2 million visitors last year alone. A few decades ago, however, it was a different story. In 1986, when the island nation—population 240,000—was asked to host an important summit between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, its emergence on the global stage that autumn was swift and chaotic. The planned meeting between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was the largest international event that Iceland had ever been asked to host—and the country had been given just 10 days to prepare.