State Department Views on European Security Prior to the 1990 Washington Summit

President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev met for a four-day summit, their second together, in Washington and Camp David beginning on May 31, 1990. Discord had grown dramatically within the Soviet government concerning the drastic changes that had occurred in the Soviet bloc during the previous year. The following excerpt from a State Department report produced for Bush during preparations for the summit set out an agenda for him to pursue regarding European security issues in light of Gorbachev’s domestic difficulties. The summit resulted in some fifteen agreements, including a trade agreement and an agreement that called for the destruction of 80 percent of chemical weapons stocks and action to create an international chemical weapons ban to get rid of the remaining 20 percent. Progress also was made to resolve a dispute between the two nations on whether a reunited Germany would become a part of NATO should it desire to join. In addition, the meetings produced a joint statement vowing to accelerate talks regarding the reduction of conventional forces in Europe (CFE). A CFE treaty subsequently was signed on November 19, 1990. The Washington summit cemented the growing personal relationship between the two leaders as they negotiated thorny issues relating to the end of the Cold War.