☢️ Soviets, Trust but Verify – 1st Midterm Press Conference Pt 2 — Ronald Reagan 1983 * PITD

☢️ Soviets, Trust but Verify – 1st Midterm Press Conference Pt 2 — #RonaldReagan 1983 * PITD
January 20, 1983 2nd Anniversary of Inauguration. Excerpt
Q. Mr. President, knowing what you do now -- this is really a followup to Gary's question. Is there anything that you, yourself, as President, would have done differently in those 2 years with the knowledge of the economy that you're now experiencing?
A.Well, I could have demanded a recount. [Laughter]
But, no, we tried very hard. And I think in a compromise, all in all, we did get a goodly share of what we asked. But I can't think of anyplace where we would have changed courses drastically.
The Soviet Union and Arms Negotiations
Q. Mr. President, do you wish now, in hindsight, that you hadn't started out with such a very tough rhetorical line about the Russians?
In the last 2 years, I think many observers think that you've been in a push-pull situation -- one day as in London, talking about a crusade for freedom, the next day as in Bonn, talking about accommodation with the Soviet Union. And just this morning, the Soviets are saying that they will break off the arms negotiations if we go ahead with our missile deployment in Europe. Where do we stand there with the Soviets?
A. Sam [Sam Donaldson, ABC News], let me jog your memories a bit. In that first press conference across the street, the question that was asked of me was with regard to my personal trust in the Soviet Union, did I trust and believe in the Soviet Union. And I did not render as an opinion of mine the things that I said about them. My reply, if you want to go back and look it up, was that this is what they said of themselves, that they reserve these rights to break a promise, to change their ways, to be dishonest, and so forth, if it furthered the cause of socialism.
Now, just the other day, one among you somewhere has written and commented on that and has quoted the 10 commandments of Nikolai Lenin that he printed as the 10 principles, guiding principles of communism. And they're all there, that promises are like pie crust, made to be broken. And he went right on down the line, that the Soviet Union considered the -- and I used this, I quoted this 2 years ago -- he said that the Soviet Union believed that the only morality was that which furthered the cause of world socialism, that they recognize no immorality.
No, now I said I'd recognize Lesley and then I'll get -- --

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Q. All right. My second -- so there is some trust that you can build into this. Is there any flexibility in your zero-zero proposal?
A. Lesley, the trouble is if I answer that, then I'm getting into what I said I wouldn't talk about the other day. You can't talk openly about strategy or tactics. We have said -- and we stick to it -- we have said that we believe the best solution for both of us is zero-zero, both sides. But we have said we will listen to and negotiate any fair proposals that are made.
Q. But this is beyond negotiating at the table. It's become a public relations, propaganda campaign that the Russians are waging in Europe. Do you not want to jump in and get in the propaganda thing and answer the Soviets to the public?
A. Yes. The answer to that is not propaganda; it's public relations. There is no question their goal is that whatever they do, they do not want us to implement the plan of placing even one of those missiles in European soil. And we are just as determined that we are going to stay on schedule with that.
And when I say it's public relations on our part, it requires us to remind those people that are hearing this propaganda, both here and in Europe, that what the Soviet Union is demanding is the right to maintain enough intermediate-range nuclear warheads to literally, as I say, hit every population center in Europe, but they don't want a single weapon of a deterrent nature to be there on the other side. And when the people realize that, I think the people living in those population centers are going to have something to say.
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