President Reagan Discusses Summit Meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, 1987
Annotation
The Washington summit of December 7-10, 1987 between President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, their third such meeting, was called “historic” by both participants. On December 8, they signed the first treaty between the superpowers to reduce nuclear weapons arsenals, the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and continued Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START). INF talks had begun in November 1981, START in June 1982, but the Soviets broke them off after the US installed Pershing II intermediate-range missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles in Western Europe in response to a Soviet deployment of new intermediate-range missiles in a modernization effort. In their previous summit at Reykjavik, Iceland, Reagan and Gorbachev nearly had agreed to eliminate all nuclear weapons from their country’s arsenals within ten years. The talks had stalled when Gorbachev insisted that for at least ten years, the US must limit research on its Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)—Reagan’s “dream” of a missile defense system to protect against nuclear attack—to the laboratory. In February 1988, however, after Soviet scientists convinced him that SDI would not be a major threat, Gorbachev indicated to the US that he could sign an INF treaty without linking it to SDI restrictions. In a sentiment similar to that expressed by Reagan in the internationally-televised address--excerpted below--that followed the signing, Gorbachev told the Politburo on his return to Moscow that he felt “maybe for the first time . . . the importance of the human factor in international politics.” He reported that “the friendly atmosphere, even enthusiasm to some degree, with which straight-laced Washington met us, was a sign of the changes that have begun to transpire in the West, and which meant that the ‘enemy image’ had begun to erode, and that the myth of the ‘Soviet military threat’ was undermined. It was very special for us. And it was noticed in the entire world.”
Text
Address to the American and Soviet Peoples on the Soviet-United States Summit Meeting
December 8, 1987
Well, thank you, and thank you all very much, and I think that maybe I got out the wrong
set of notes here. Still, I do say thank you very much. General Secretary Gorbachev and
distinguished guests, my fellow Americans and citizens of the Soviet Union, the
American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once wrote that there is properly no
history, only biography. He meant by this that it is not enough to talk about history as
simply forces and factors. History is ultimately a record of human will, human spirit,
human aspirations of Earth's men and women, each with the precious soul and free will
that the Lord bestows.
Today I, for the United States, and the General Secretary, for the Soviet Union, have
signed the first agreement ever to eliminate an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear
weapons. We have made history. And yet many so-called wise men once predicted that
this agreement would be impossible to achieve -- too many forces and factors stood
against it. Well, still we persevered. We kept at it. And I hope the General Secretary will
forgive me if I reveal that in some of the bleakest times, when it did truly seem that an
agreement would prove impossible, I bucked myself up with the words of a great
Russian, Leo Tolstoy, who wrote: ``The strongest of all warriors are those two -- time
and patience.''
In the next few days, we will discuss further arms reductions and other issues, and again
it will take time and patience to reach agreements. But as we begin these talks, let us
remember that genuine international confidence and security are inconceivable without
open societies with freedom of information, freedom of conscience, the right to publish,
and the right to travel. So, yes, we will address human rights and regional conflicts, for
surely the salvation of all mankind lies only in making everything the concern of all.
With time, patience, and willpower, I believe we will resolve these issues. We must if
we're to achieve a true, secure, and enduring peace.
As different as our systems are, there is a great bond that draws the American and Soviet
peoples together. It is the common dream of peace. More than 40 years ago we fought in
a great war as allies. On the day that news of the enemy's surrender reached Moscow,
crowds gathered in front of the American Embassy. There they cheered the friendship of
a nation that had opened a second front and sent food, munitions, and trucks to the Soviet
peoples as they displayed awesome courage and will in turning the invader back. A
young American diplomat later told of a Soviet soldier in the crowds who shouted over
and over, ``Now it is time to live.''
Too often in the decades since then the soldier's dream -- a time to live -- has been put
off, at least as far as it concerned genuine peace between our two countries. Yet we
Americans have never stopped praying for peace. In every part of the world we want this
to be a time to live.
Only those who don't know us believe that America is a materialistic land. But the true
America is not supermarkets filled with meats, milk, and goods of all descriptions. It is
not highways filled with cars. No, true America is a land of faith and family. You can
find it in our churches, synagogues, and mosques -- in our homes and schools. As one of
our great writers put it: America is a willingness of the heart -- the universal, human heart
-- for Americans come from every part of Earth, including the Soviet Union. We want a
peace that fulfills the dream of all peoples to raise their families in freedom and safety.
And I believe that if both of our countries have courage and the patience, we will build
such a peace.
In the next 2 months, people throughout the world will take part in two great festivals of
faith: Hanukkah and Christmas. One is a celebration of freedom, the other of peace on
Earth, good will toward men. My great hope is that the biographies of our times will
record that we had the will to make this the right season for this summit.
Thank you, and God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. in the State Dining Room at the White House. His
remarks were translated into Russian by an interpreter. The address was broadcast live
on television. Following the broadcast, the President and the General Secretary met with
U.S. and Soviet officials to discuss arms reduction and bilateral issues.
Credits
Ronald Reagan, "Address to the American and Soviet Peoples on the Soviet-United States Summit Meeting," speech, The White House, Washington, D.C., December 8, 1987, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, The Public Papers of Ronald Reagan, Reagan Library, (accessed March 19, 2008).