Posted on May 29, 2018
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President Ronald Reagan travels to Moscow to begin the fourth summit meeting held in the past three years with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Though the summit produced no major announcements or breakthroughs, it served to illuminate both the successes and the failures achieved by the two men in terms of U.S.-Soviet relations.
In May 1988, President Reagan made his first trip to Moscow to meet with Gorbachev and begin their fourth summit meeting. Just six months earlier, during a summit in Washington, D.C., in December 1987, the two men had signed the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons from Europe. In many ways, Reagan’s trip to Moscow in May was a journey of celebration. Demonstrating the famous Reagan charm, the president and his wife waded into crowds of Russian well wishers and curiosity-seekers to shake hands and exchange pleasantries.
Very quickly, however, the talks between Reagan and Gorbachev revealed that serious differences still existed between the Soviet Union and the United States. From the beginning, Reagan–who had in the past referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”–pressed Gorbachev on the issue of human rights. He urged Gorbachev to ease Soviet restrictions on freedom of religion and also asked that the Soviet Union relax the laws that kept many Russian Jews from emigrating. The Soviets were obviously displeased at Reagan’s insistence on lecturing them about what they considered purely internal matters. A spokesman from the Soviet Foreign Ministry showed his irritation when he declared to a group of reporters, “We don’t like it when someone from outside is teaching us how to live, and this is only natural.”
Despite the tension introduced by the human rights issue, the summit was largely an opportunity for Reagan and Gorbachev to trade compliments and congratulations about their accomplishments, most notably the INF Treaty. As Reagan stated after their first day of meetings, “I think the message is clear–despite clear and fundamental differences, and despite the inevitable frustrations that we have encountered, our work has begun to produce results.”
In May 1988, President Reagan made his first trip to Moscow to meet with Gorbachev and begin their fourth summit meeting. Just six months earlier, during a summit in Washington, D.C., in December 1987, the two men had signed the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons from Europe. In many ways, Reagan’s trip to Moscow in May was a journey of celebration. Demonstrating the famous Reagan charm, the president and his wife waded into crowds of Russian well wishers and curiosity-seekers to shake hands and exchange pleasantries.
Very quickly, however, the talks between Reagan and Gorbachev revealed that serious differences still existed between the Soviet Union and the United States. From the beginning, Reagan–who had in the past referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”–pressed Gorbachev on the issue of human rights. He urged Gorbachev to ease Soviet restrictions on freedom of religion and also asked that the Soviet Union relax the laws that kept many Russian Jews from emigrating. The Soviets were obviously displeased at Reagan’s insistence on lecturing them about what they considered purely internal matters. A spokesman from the Soviet Foreign Ministry showed his irritation when he declared to a group of reporters, “We don’t like it when someone from outside is teaching us how to live, and this is only natural.”
Despite the tension introduced by the human rights issue, the summit was largely an opportunity for Reagan and Gorbachev to trade compliments and congratulations about their accomplishments, most notably the INF Treaty. As Reagan stated after their first day of meetings, “I think the message is clear–despite clear and fundamental differences, and despite the inevitable frustrations that we have encountered, our work has begun to produce results.”
Reagan arrives in Moscow for summit talks - May 29, 1988 - HISTORY.com
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President Reagan's First Meeting with General Secretary Gorbachev in Moscow on May 29, 1988
Full Title: Trip to Soviet Union. First Meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in St. Catherine's Hall, Local Color of Krem...
Thank you my friend TSgt Joe C. for reminding us that on May 29, 1988 President Ronald Reagan traveled to Moscow to begin the fourth summit meeting held in the past three years with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Background from latimes.com/1988-05-29/news/mn-5588_1_cruise-missiles
"The Moscow Summit : Doubts and Delays Stalled Accord on Strategic Missiles
May 29, 1988|ROBERT C. TOTH | Times Staff Writer
HELSINKI, Finland — Last summer's bright hopes of signing an agreement to cut offensive strategic arms by half in time for the May summit, which opens in Moscow today, have faded to extinction. And, while U.S. officials expressed hope Saturday that such an accord might still be hammered out before President Reagan leaves office, there was more than enough blame to go around for not having the treaty completed by now.
The Soviets delayed for three months before submitting their draft treaty. In Washington, the Joint Chiefs of Staff suddenly dug in their heels against new U.S. offers.
And an errant comma, as some experts see it, ruined the fragile compromise on space defense that was reached at last December's summit in Washington. About a dozen words were to have solved the impasse over the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative--the "Star Wars" project--but the stray comma meant that the two sides could--and did--insist on opposite interpretations.
As a result, this week's summit is likely to see the signing of only one or two minor new arms agreements and a ratification ceremony for the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed last December.
The INF treaty, which bans ground-launched nuclear weapons with ranges of between 300 and 3,400 miles, won overwhelming approval in the U.S. Senate on Friday and was also approved by the Presidium, the executive committee of the Supreme Soviet or Parliament, on Saturday. Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev will exchange instruments of ratification Wednesday.
The two new agreements likely to be completed are small steps toward eventual ratification of two treaties limiting underground nuclear tests that were signed more than a decade ago. Because of last-minute Soviet moves, the two sides were unable to come together on a third agreement--to provide for advance notification of missile test flights within national borders (international flights are covered).
Nonetheless, Reagan and Gorbachev have agreed in principle that their nuclear arsenals--the long-range missiles aimed at each other's territory--should be cut by half. White House officials said Saturday that Reagan would be taking new proposals to Moscow.
Still, Administration and non-government experts in Washington have mixed emotions about the superpowers' failure to complete work on all the details of such a far-reaching treaty. They feel the consequences of what has already been negotiated are not clear.
"Where are we going?" asked Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to former Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. "If 50% is good, is 75% better and 100% best? What then happens to the concept of nuclear deterrence? Where's the line between good and bad?"
A strategic arms reduction talks (START) agreement, according to top Defense Department officials, would require U.S. defense planners to rethink their deployment of long-range nuclear weapons.
In political terms as well, a START treaty could be expected to generate stiff opposition, particularly from conservatives.
Despite the remaining obstacles to a START agreement, the two sides have in fact settled many of its central features. U.S. and Soviet negotiators in Geneva, who began work in 1982, have almost 300 pages of a draft treaty, mostly in language accepted by both sides.
Both sides have agreed to a ceiling of 1,600 delivery vehicles--land- and submarine-based ballistic missiles and heavy bombers--compared to today's U.S. total of 1,974 and the Soviet Union's 2,485. And both sides would limit weapons, warheads and bombs, to 6,000, compared to about 12,750 U.S. weapons and 10,650 Soviet weapons today.
But loopholes remain that could allow many more than the 6,000 limit. The major unresolved arms issues to be addressed center on:
-- Mobile land-based missiles. The United States has none and wants to ban them. The Soviets have two new types of this weapon and want to keep them. The Joint Chiefs would like to base the 50 U.S. MX missiles on moving rail cars and has resisted constraints on mobile missiles until Congress provides money for making the MX missiles mobile.
-- Air-launched cruise missiles. The Soviets, who are behind in this field, want to limit both conventional-armed and nuclear ALCMs that have a range of more than 375 miles. The U.S. proposal would limit only nuclear-armed ALCMs with a range of more than about 1,000 miles.
-- Sea-launched cruise missiles. Lagging here too, the Soviets want to limit long-range SLCMs, while Washington wants no fixed ceiling.
-- Verification. The two sides have agreed to measures that would be far more intrusive than those for monitoring compliance with the treaty banning medium-range missiles. Still unsettled are the problems of which missile sites would be open to inspection."
Trip to Soviet Union. First Meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in St. Catherine's Hall, Local Color of Kremlin Courtyard, Nancy Reagan, Raisa Gorbachev walking together, May 29, 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcWrHS9z0OQ
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SSG John Ross SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Gabriel F.
Background from latimes.com/1988-05-29/news/mn-5588_1_cruise-missiles
"The Moscow Summit : Doubts and Delays Stalled Accord on Strategic Missiles
May 29, 1988|ROBERT C. TOTH | Times Staff Writer
HELSINKI, Finland — Last summer's bright hopes of signing an agreement to cut offensive strategic arms by half in time for the May summit, which opens in Moscow today, have faded to extinction. And, while U.S. officials expressed hope Saturday that such an accord might still be hammered out before President Reagan leaves office, there was more than enough blame to go around for not having the treaty completed by now.
The Soviets delayed for three months before submitting their draft treaty. In Washington, the Joint Chiefs of Staff suddenly dug in their heels against new U.S. offers.
And an errant comma, as some experts see it, ruined the fragile compromise on space defense that was reached at last December's summit in Washington. About a dozen words were to have solved the impasse over the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative--the "Star Wars" project--but the stray comma meant that the two sides could--and did--insist on opposite interpretations.
As a result, this week's summit is likely to see the signing of only one or two minor new arms agreements and a ratification ceremony for the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed last December.
The INF treaty, which bans ground-launched nuclear weapons with ranges of between 300 and 3,400 miles, won overwhelming approval in the U.S. Senate on Friday and was also approved by the Presidium, the executive committee of the Supreme Soviet or Parliament, on Saturday. Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev will exchange instruments of ratification Wednesday.
The two new agreements likely to be completed are small steps toward eventual ratification of two treaties limiting underground nuclear tests that were signed more than a decade ago. Because of last-minute Soviet moves, the two sides were unable to come together on a third agreement--to provide for advance notification of missile test flights within national borders (international flights are covered).
Nonetheless, Reagan and Gorbachev have agreed in principle that their nuclear arsenals--the long-range missiles aimed at each other's territory--should be cut by half. White House officials said Saturday that Reagan would be taking new proposals to Moscow.
Still, Administration and non-government experts in Washington have mixed emotions about the superpowers' failure to complete work on all the details of such a far-reaching treaty. They feel the consequences of what has already been negotiated are not clear.
"Where are we going?" asked Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser to former Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. "If 50% is good, is 75% better and 100% best? What then happens to the concept of nuclear deterrence? Where's the line between good and bad?"
A strategic arms reduction talks (START) agreement, according to top Defense Department officials, would require U.S. defense planners to rethink their deployment of long-range nuclear weapons.
In political terms as well, a START treaty could be expected to generate stiff opposition, particularly from conservatives.
Despite the remaining obstacles to a START agreement, the two sides have in fact settled many of its central features. U.S. and Soviet negotiators in Geneva, who began work in 1982, have almost 300 pages of a draft treaty, mostly in language accepted by both sides.
Both sides have agreed to a ceiling of 1,600 delivery vehicles--land- and submarine-based ballistic missiles and heavy bombers--compared to today's U.S. total of 1,974 and the Soviet Union's 2,485. And both sides would limit weapons, warheads and bombs, to 6,000, compared to about 12,750 U.S. weapons and 10,650 Soviet weapons today.
But loopholes remain that could allow many more than the 6,000 limit. The major unresolved arms issues to be addressed center on:
-- Mobile land-based missiles. The United States has none and wants to ban them. The Soviets have two new types of this weapon and want to keep them. The Joint Chiefs would like to base the 50 U.S. MX missiles on moving rail cars and has resisted constraints on mobile missiles until Congress provides money for making the MX missiles mobile.
-- Air-launched cruise missiles. The Soviets, who are behind in this field, want to limit both conventional-armed and nuclear ALCMs that have a range of more than 375 miles. The U.S. proposal would limit only nuclear-armed ALCMs with a range of more than about 1,000 miles.
-- Sea-launched cruise missiles. Lagging here too, the Soviets want to limit long-range SLCMs, while Washington wants no fixed ceiling.
-- Verification. The two sides have agreed to measures that would be far more intrusive than those for monitoring compliance with the treaty banning medium-range missiles. Still unsettled are the problems of which missile sites would be open to inspection."
Trip to Soviet Union. First Meeting between President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in St. Catherine's Hall, Local Color of Kremlin Courtyard, Nancy Reagan, Raisa Gorbachev walking together, May 29, 1988
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcWrHS9z0OQ
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Lt Col Charlie Brown Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey SSG John Ross SGT Mark Halmrast Sgt Randy Wilber Sgt John H. SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Dave Hoover SPC Margaret Higgins SrA Christopher Wright Cpl Gabriel F.
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Good reminder that we have to start somewhere. Every meeting doesn't result in an agreement but you have to pour a foundation before you can build a structure
LTC Stephen F. SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SP5 Mark Kuzinski CPT Jack Durish CW5 Jack Cardwell TSgt Joe C. TSgt David L. SPC Douglas Bolton Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SPC Margaret Higgins Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas
LTC Stephen F. SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SP5 Mark Kuzinski CPT Jack Durish CW5 Jack Cardwell TSgt Joe C. TSgt David L. SPC Douglas Bolton Maj William W. 'Bill' Price Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. SPC Margaret Higgins Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas
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SGT Brian Nile SGT Robert George SFC Shirley Whitfield MSG Mark Million COL Lee Flemming SFC George Smith SrA Christopher Wright LTC (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSgt Harvey "Skip" Porter SCPO Morris Ramsey SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Alan K. SPC Mike Lake ] LTC Greg Henning SSgt (Join to see) Sgt Trevor Barrett Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MSG Andrew White
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