 Taubman regarded Gorbachev as being "exceptional... as a Russian ruler and a world statesman", highlighting that he avoided the "traditional, authoritarian, anti-Western norm" of both predecessors like Brezhnev and successors like Putin.McCauley thought that in allowing the Soviet Union to move away from Marxism-Leninism, Gorbachev gave the Soviet people "something precious, the right to think and manage their lives for themselves", with all the uncertainty and risk that that entailed.Gorbachev's negotiations with the U.S. helped bring an end to the Cold War and reduced the threat of nuclear conflict.