Recalling Gorbachev's Atlanta Visits: Soviet Leader Symbolized a Different Path for Russia

What a difference a couple of decades makes. More than 20 years ago, former Soviet reformer and President Mikhail Gorbachev was being honored in Atlanta by Delta Air Lines for his efforts to create a more peaceful, sustainable world, and Coca-Cola Co. was just starting to get a foothold in a bloc long dominated by Pepsi.

Today, American companies are clamoring to divest from Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

Mr. Gorbachev, a Nobel laureate who died this week at 91, spent his twilight years in the political wilderness in the more strident Russia that developed under Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin laments the fall of the Soviet Union and has spent two decades in power trying to right this perceived wrong.

His Ukraine war, launched in February, is a stark reminder of how individual personalities can affect world events, and how ties among leaders matter deeply for international peacemaking.

These ideas, and the relationship among the three men who would preside over Germany’s reunification after the fall of the Berlin Wall, were central to a historic summit that, against all odds, took place in Atlanta on Oct. 3, 2003.

“The whole theme of our conference, other than celebrating the reunification of East and West Germany, was that it was possible to have significant political changes without a war — if there were good leaders,” said Tom Harrold, the Atlanta attorney for Miller & Martin PLLC who defied naysayers to orchestrate the moment.

On German unification day — timed at 11 a.m. to optimize for primetime TV viewing in Europe — Mr. Gorbachev visited Atlanta for at least the second time, joining former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush on stage at the Georgia World Congress Center for a chat moderated by legendary NBC reporter and anchor Tom Brokaw.

The leaders’ heady reflections on the merits of democracy and the global growth of free-enterprise had more prosaic origins: It started as a fundraiser for the Atlanta-based German-American Chamber of Commerce of the Southern U.S.

Mr. Harrold introduced the idea during a chamber off-site board meeting in the city of Wurzburg, Germany. He’d just read Condoleezza Rice’s 1992 book, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, in which the woman who would become George W. Bush’s secretary of state outlined how the actions of a few bold men had changed Europe’s operating paradigm. Their efforts would lift millions out of poverty, especially in former the East Germany and in Central and Eastern European countries.

It occurred to Mr. Harrold that these men, who were aging quickly, should be honored for their contributions.

“They said, that’s a wonderful idea — and you should lead the effort,” Mr. Harrold said. He thought to himself that he needed to learn how to keep his mouth shut.

He had a crucial backer: Claus M. Halle, the president of international for Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., who committed to underwriting the expenses for the event and the speakers’ honoraria. (He also committed the use of a Coca-Cola jet with a seat wide enough for the larger Mr. Kohl, who died in 2017). The late Mr. Halle, whose Atlanta-based foundation now underwrites German-American cultural and business exchanges, also hosted an Atlanta dinner at his Buckhead estate for Mr. Kohl and Mr. Gorbachev, already good friends, on the night before the ceremony.

Mr. Harrold garnered the first commitment from former President Bush, who consented to the conclave if his peers could be convinced. Mr. Kohl agreed during a meeting at his office in Germany. Mr. Gorbachev was Mr. Harrold’s final quarry.

“There were a lot of people saying, there’s no way in the world you’re going to get these three guys,” Mr. Harrold said, noting that the doubt motivated him.

Unable to reach the Soviet leader through letters in Russian sent to addresses in Moscow and Switzerland, Mr. Harrold got wind of a dinner Mr. Gorbachev was set to attend in Georgetown after a Washington D.C. conference for Global Green, the U.S. affiliate of Green Cross International, an environmental nonprofit he had created in Russia.

Mr. Harrold got into the event as the “plus-one” for former U.S. Sen. Wyche Fowler, a friend who hailed from Atlanta. Mr. Harrold says he moved the place cards around, unbeknownst to the hosts, and positioned himself next to Mr. Gorbachev, broaching the subject of the forum and delivering an official invitation letter over an evening of conversation through an impromptu translator.

The rest is history, captured on a video in which Mr. Harrold has shown to multiple German consuls general upon their arrival in Atlanta as a demonstration of the city’s strong history with Germany. Next to the Olympics, he sees the summit as one of the landmark events in the city’s international story.

Already in the early 2000s, Atlanta had become a hotbed for German industry, thanks in part to the work of the chamber that Mr. Harrold and now-Halle Foundation Chair Eike Jordan helped found in the late 1970s.

By the 1990s, Porsche already had its North American headquarters here, Siemens had thousands of employees in Georgia, and both BMW and Lufthansa were present in a big way. All four sponsored the event. On the Atlanta side, UPS joined Coke in providing support.

Mr. Harrold recalled Mr. Gorbachev as a deep thinker with a good sense of humor who already saw the need to invest in cross-cultural understanding, lest the great powers’ relationship deteriorate further.

The 2003 event is all the more resonant given the conflict raging in Europe today.

“I just think about the contrast between Gorbachev and Putin — he would never ever have invaded the Ukraine with troops. He would have done it with Russian products; he would have done it in a way to win an economic, free-enterprise battle,” Mr. Harrold said.

The German-American Cultural Foundation last year honored Mr. Harrold with a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the German-American business community.

See video of the summit and an interview with Mr. Harrold on Fox 5 Atlanta:

Man who planned Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Atlanta recalls historic summit