On a bitter cold day in Moscow, my heart pumping with excitement, I broadcast a bulletin from a window overlooking Red Square. It was Christmas, 1991:

Good day from Moscow. I'm Tom Fenton, CBS News. President Mikhail Gorbachev moments ago announced his resignation as President of the Soviet Union...

Excerpts from Gorbachev's speech were flashed to a waiting world. He gave assurances that “the totalitarian system has been eliminated” and that “free press, freedom of worship, representative legislatures and a multi-party system have all become reality.”

I concluded the bulletin with these thoughts: And so ends one of the most remarkable careers in modern history. In almost seven years in power, Gorbachev ended the Cold War, and brought the beginnings of democracy to his country. And although it wasn't his intention, his reforms spelled the end of both the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, leaving Boris Yeltsin to pick up the pieces.

I watched as the red flag was lowered for the last time over the Kremlin, and in the next few days, saw the Soviet Army disintegrate and civil war break out in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

On New Year's Eve, in another broadcast from Red Square, I took stock of the state of Russia as it entered a new era. I spoke to a homeless woman begging for herself and her baby. She prayed for God's blessing “so that people here can live like people in the West.”

I explained to the broadcast audience: Right now, Russians are living in limbo, still earning communist wages but about to be subjected to capitalist prices. No one knows how much a bag of groceries will cost on Thursday when the government ends a 70-year price freeze.

In the months and years that followed, I watched Russians hang on to their hopes for a better life as their country went through a roller coaster ride of political and economic ups and downs. Whether it was an attempted coup provoked by the Communists or a financial crash and devaluation provoked (at least partly) by bad advice from the West, the Russians learned to put up with it as they always have through centuries of turbulent history.

Although the Russian government is still riddled with corruption, cronyism and incompetence (as it was under communism) and the country's health system is appalling (not much change there either), life has improved for most Russians, especially the urban population.

At first, it was just the delight of being able to speak freely. I recall an elderly Muscovite who stood outside an imposing building not far from the Kremlin, and watched in wonder as his fellow citizens ransacked the empty offices of the Communist Party. He told me he remembered when the Bolsheviks came to power, and said he never thought he would see them leave. I will also never forget the KGB major in a town outside Moscow who told me, “You know, President Reagan was right. It was an evil empire.”

Later, Russians tasted the pleasure of being able to travel where they wanted, or could afford to go. You see them these days in many of the best hotels, and most of the less expensive tourist resorts of the world. A growing middle class in the major cities has begun to “live like people in the West.” Someone answered the prayer of the poor woman whom I met on Red Square in 1991.

Oil and raw materials have fueled most of this boom, and the worldwide crash in the commodities and financial markets now threatens to stall Russia's remarkable economic growth. Russians will likely learn to muddle through this setback as well. They are hardly alone in this recession.

They admire their leader, Vladimir Putin, who after nine years in power as President and now Prime Minister still enjoys popularity ratings that most other world leaders could only dream of. He has tried to impose a greater degree of law and order on a chaotic country. He has also muzzled much of the news media – especially television news – but Russians pay more attention to their rising standard of living than to the quality of their evening news.

Russians also say they like the way Mr. Putin stands up for their country. He tells them that Russia is back on the world stage, that it is once again a strong nation, and after the humiliating weakness of the 1990s, is once again respected. Russians like to hear that, whether or not it is actually true.

In fact, Russia is not yet a Western style democracy, nor does it have an efficient and competitive economy. Its system of government is still deeply flawed, but it has become a more normal country – one that looks after its own national interests and no longer tries to convert the world to a Marxist system. Most Russians just want peace and prosperity. They hope the new American administration will see their country in that light, rather than through the outdated prism of the Cold War.