Our new Repub. N.J. caretaker Sen. Nicholas Brady was sworn in today. He replaces Williams (Abscam scandal).
Wednesday, April 21
An N.S.C. meeting on “START” our idea for Strategic Arms Reduction Talks with the Soviets. We’ve had a team working on this. Some of the journalists who write so easily as to why we don’t sit down and start talking with the Soviets should know just how complicated it is. Our team is doing a good job. Israel bombed a P.L.O. base in Lebanon. There have been some provocations and an unfounded report that an Israeli plane was shot down.
Took the afternoon off on a beautiful spring day and went down to Quantico for a horseback ride.
[Overnight guests, Marion and Earle Jorgenson.]
Thursday, April 22
[Report on Falklands outlook, diplomatic and military; violence in Israel and Lebanon, but truce is maintained.]
Last night C.B.S. did a special 1 hour documentary (Bill Moyers) on 4 cases of poverty and illness they laid to our ec. program. It was a thoroughly dishonest demagogic, cheap shot. They may have gone too far—some columns already have taken them on. We’re going to reply—forcefully.
A reception for the Folger Library. I’m now an honorary member. This was its 50th anniversary.
Friday, April 23
Both the Falklands and the Budget battle seem to be coming to a moment of truth. Defense Minister Pym (U.K.) is on his way back to London with what could be the last proposal we can cook up. The shooting could start—it would be a war mainly because an Argentine General, President (result of a coup) needed to lift his sagging pol. fortunes.
The group debating the budget seems unable to arrive at any kind of consensus. If we can’t get a Bi-partisan agreement to act together in the face of the projected deficit—then I take to the air (TV) and there will be blood on the floor.
[Visited mail office volunteers; signed executive order addressing problems of crime victims. Saturday, April 24: radio broadcast; W.H. correspondents dinner.]
Sunday, April 25
First news—British Helicopters damaged an Argentine Sub of New Georgia. Next—the Sinai has been returned to Egypt. Mubarak & Begin together said “Peace Forever.” I called Mubarak and Begin. The call to Menachem was most important because this has been a traumatic experience. Many of his people resisted leaving the Sinai and his army had to physically eject them. The army went in unarmed and did a magnificent job. I pledged to both that we will continue to help in any way we can to further the peace process. Rest of the day tried to catch up with some of the upstairs desk work.
Monday, April 26
It was raining—Mommie left for Calif. (for 5 days) and it was Mon.
Then at 10:15 I went to Const. Hall to address 2000 delegates of the U.S.C. of C. convention. What a shot in the arm. They interrupted me a dozen times or more. I was talking about the budget and our tax program.
[British send fleet to Falklands; hoping Haig can return to Argentina for further negotiations.]
A Budget meeting—tomorrow the gang goes back at it with the Demos. tomorrow. I felt they were tiring a bit and the Demos are holding out for more concessions. The D’s are playing games—they want me to rescind the 3rd yr. of the tax cut—Not in a million years!
[Tuesday, April 27: budget talks stalled, meeting scheduled with Tip O’Neill; no word from Argentina on renewing diplomatic efforts; NSC meeting on “a master strategic plan” submitted by Tom Reed (no description of it given); meeting with leaders of building trade.]
Wednesday, April 28
The big thing today was a meeting with Tip, Howard Bohling, Jim Wright, Jim B., Ed M. Don R. and Dave S. the result of my call to Tip. The “gang of 17” had come fairly close together on the budget and revenue package.
Their combination of cuts and revenue increases came to $60 bil. on the R. side to $35 bil. on the D. side. It should have been straight haggling especially since our original budget package called for $10 bil. I didn’t try to start bargaining from that figure but started at the $60 bil. Three hours later we’d gotten nowhere. Finally I said I’ll split the difference with you and they refused that. Meeting over.
[ Thursday, April 29: lunch with Prime Minister Muhammad Mzali of Tunisia, who thought Yasser Arafat was ready to recognize Israel’s right to exist; television address on budget.]
Friday, April 30
Al H. has announced the turn down of our plan by Argentina and that we now must come down on the side of Britain.
[Messages to W.H. showed support for speech; met with congressmen negotiating budget.]
Saturday, May 1
Off to Knoxville and the opening of the World Fair. Also to meet Nancy who has been gone since Mon. I’ve been lonesome.
[Spoke at opening ceremonies and at U.S. Pavilion; appeared at political fund-raiser.]
Helicoptered up into the foothills to Sen. Baker’s place. Had a nice afternoon and very informal BBQ dinner with them and their friends and neighbors and his daughter Cissy who is running for Congress. I think she’ll make it—I hope so. Joy and Howard are gracious and comfortable hosts. We overnighted there.
[Sunday, May 2: attended Presbyterian church; back to W.H.]
Monday, May 3
Met with Repub. Leadership. Also, Rep members of Sen. Budget Committee. While we have some disagreements as to the makeup of the budget I think we’ll be together. There is a feeling of optimism and an esprit de corps.
Read this morning of a black family—husband and wife both work in govt. printing office. They live in a nice house near U. of Maryland. They have been harassed and even had a cross burned on their lawn. It was all on the front page of the “Post.” I told Mike and Jim I’d like to call on them. We cleared the last part of the afternoon schedule and Nancy & I went calling. They were a very nice couple with a 4 year old daughter—grandma (a most gracious lady) lived with them. Their home was very nice and tastefully furnished. They were very nice about our coming and expressed their thanks. The whole neighborhood was lining the street—most of them cheering and applauding us. I hope we did some good. There is no place in this land for the hate-mongers and bigots.
[Bloodshed in Falklands War with loss of an Argentine cruiser; no progress in efforts to stop it.]
Tuesday, May 4
[British take losses in war.]
Turned State dept. down on a message they wanted me to send our Ambassador in China urging him to have informal talks with Chinese preceding George Bush’s arrival. The talks were to soften the Taiwan issue some more. We can’t do that—the Taiwanese have proven their friendship.
[Cabinet meeting regarding sugar imports; met with Republican members of the House Budget Committee.]
Dick Wirthlin reported in. My speech was to a smaller TV audience than usual. Probably due to its last min. nature and no promotion. But people are confused on the whole budget issue and my ratings are way down.
[Dinner for the Congressional Campaign Committee.]
Wednesday, May 5–Friday, May 7
Never got to this journal until today (Fri). Wed. things turned up. We got together with Sen. Pete Dominici’s Budget committee & worked out a compromise budget pckg. It passed out of committee by a straight 11 to 9 party line vote. It’s a good budget and will trim the projected deficits down to $106 bil. next year, $69 bil. in ’84 and $39 bil. in ’85. The Demos. are screaming and lying like bandits charging us with cutting Soc. Security—we aren’t touching Soc. Security.
[Tentative cease-fire in the Falklands; meeting with congressmen on defense budget; went riding with Bill Clark and Paul Laxalt. Saturday, May 8: deskwork; new diplomatic initiative in Argentina. Sunday, May 9: visited Eureka College for fiftieth reunion; in commencement address introduced START program for nuclear weapons reduction; left for Chicago. Monday, May 10: fund-raising and civic appearances in Chicago; returned to W.H. Tuesday, May 11: considered Democratic budget proposal; sought support on budget in meetings with business groups; noted that “Dem. Phil Gramm is coming u
p (as he did last year) with his own plan which may even be better than ours.”]
Wednesday, May 12
[Visit from President Joáo Baptista Figueiredo of Brazil.]
Al H.- George Bush and I lunched on the patio and heard about George’s trip to China. The P.R.C. is really obsessed with our continuing to be friendly to Taiwan. Well there isn’t going to be any change on our part.
Francis Albert (Sinatra) came by with the Multiple Sclerosis Mother and Father of the year. He’s heading up their fundraising drive—“F.S. for M.S.” What a cruel disease—a young mother getting around in a walker—has a handsome little boy. Louis Unser—brother of the Indianapolis 500 champ—(Louis was a race driver too), he’s in a wheelchair. He has a lovely little girl.
[State dinner; President Joáo Baptista Figueiredo said that he’d heard British intended to attack Argentine mainland bases.]
Thursday, May 13
I called P.M Thatcher […]. I talked to Margaret but don’t think I persuaded her against further action.
[Press conference. Friday, May 14: political fund-raisers in Pennsylvania; returned to W.H.; Mrs. Reagan in Chicago to accept honor for her father at Northwestern University.]
Saturday, May 15
Held morning meetings with George Schultz and Phil Habib. George met with heads of state I’ll be meeting with in Versailles. It’s a little un-nerving to find they expect me to be the leader in solving our world wide ec. problems.
Phil thinks our Lebanon cease fire is on thinner ice than it has been in 9 months. A radical wing of the P.L.O. wanting to take over from Arafat is out to provoke Israel into action. This will rid them of Arafat who is more moderate & will rally Arab & Soviet support to the radicals. We’re trying to make Israel see this.
Did my radio script on the 33rd observance of Armed Forces Day. We’ve really made the volunteer military work. Enlistments are up, so are re-enlistments but most important the intelligence and ed. level of the enlistees is higher than it’s ever been.
Long call to Ron. He wants to Sign off Secret Svc. for a month. S.S. knows he’s a real target—lives in a N.Y.C. area where the Puerto Rican terrorist group is active. In fact he’s on a hit list. He thinks we’re interfering with his privacy. I can’t make him see that I can’t be put in a position of one day facing a ransom demand. I’d have to refuse for reasons for the Nation’s welfare.
[Sunday, May 16: went swimming; false report that British would attack Argentina overnight. Monday, May 17: visit from Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser of Australia, both agreed Australia should be included in European summit at Versailles; calls to congressmen on budget; Nancy left for New York City for the opening of Broadway musical Annie, watched Marco Polo on television.]
Tuesday, May 18
Lunched with Joint Chfs. of Staff and Cap W. It was a good meeting with a sound discussion of strategic problems—for example—the importance of the sea above Norway and what Iceland means in the Navy strategy should these be conflict on the NATO front.
[Greeted Baseball Hall of Famers Walter Alston and Al Lopez, German publisher Axel Springer; cabinet meeting on proposal for a gas tax and highway-building program; noted progress on budget talks; possibly imminent bombing raid on Port Stanley by British bombers; Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s discomfort with the PLO in southern Lebanon.]
Wednesday, May 19
[Official visit from King Hassan of Morocco; talks and then riding at the Bill Marriott estate in Shenandoah Valley.]
Nancy is very depressed about her father’s health and understandably so. I want so much to speak to him about faith. He’s always been an Agnostic—now I think he knows fear for probably the 1st time in his life. I believe this is a moment when he should turn to God and I want so much to help him do that.
Thursday, May 20
Ron’s birthday. But here a frustrating day, much of it spent on the phone with members of Cong. on the budget. Most are going to be with us but some I talked to are dedicated (they say) to what we’re trying to accomplish but they won’t vote with us because the budget compromise isn’t exactly to their liking. A compromise is never to anyone’s liking—it’s just the best you can get and contains enough of what you want to justify what you give up.
[Offer of help from the King of Spain on Falklands diplomacy; meeting with economic advisors—“as usual they are not in total agreement—economists never are”; attended fundraiser for Howard University; met with John Davis Lodge, interested in ambassadorial posting.]
Friday, May 21
The British have landed in the Falklands & the fighting has started.
My fight has started but it isn’t bloody—just messy. I’m on the phone all day calling Congressmen. The Senate is supposed to pass a budget—not too different from what I wanted—tonight. The House has 5 budgets before it—one of which resembled the Sen. Bill. It’s called the “Bipartisan Recovery Budget.” They’ll be voted on next Mon.
[Briefings on upcoming European trip; Don Regan called with inflation numbers.]
Saturday, May 22
Last nite the Senate Budget bill passed 49 to 43. Now it’s up to the House where there are 7 Budgets only one of which is any good—our “Bipartisan Budget Proposal.” They’ll begin voting on all of them Mon. Ours first, but then according to the rules, any other proposal that passes after ours has been voted on even—if it passes—will be replaced by the last one to pass.
[Desk work.]
Sunday, May 23
At home all day. Ron came down from N.Y. He’s a little rebellious and wanted us to sign off S.S. protection for a month. He’s the only one of the kids who is on the hit list of groups like FALN etc. Ed Hickey came over and it’s all straightened out.
I’ve been working on the speech for the British Parliament. Tomorrow Nancy leaves for Phoenix to see her father who apparently is desperately ill.
Monday, May 24
[Busy with meetings, briefings, and interviews.]
Nancy’s on her way to Phoenix & L.A.
We had a session on Sanctions, limiting Soviet Credit & the Versailles meeting. There was a lot of talk about not having a set to with our allies. I finally said to h--l with it. It’s time we tell them this is our chance to bring the Soviets into the real world and for them to take a stand with us—shut off credit, etc.
Day finally ended and tomorrow it’s Calif. for me too.
[Sunday, May 30: reported on week’s activities, starting with Tuesday speech at California aerospace plant; Wednesday to Saturday at the ranch; budget stalled in Congress; returned to W.H.]
Monday, May 31
Easy day—to Arlington for Decoration Day Ceremony. It was very moving and inspiring.
Back to office to meet with Jeanne [Jeane] Kirkpatrick. She and Al H. have been at each others throats. Later in day met with Al. Bill Clark at both meetings—thank Heaven. As it turns out there is some right and wrong on both sides. I think we can get a lid on it with no further damage.
Talked by phone to P.M. Thatcher. We had a new proposal to get or try to get a settlement without the U.K. scoring a total victory which could topple the govt. of Argentina. The P.M. is adamant (so far). She feels the loss of life so far can only be justified if they win. We’ll see—she may be right.
[Tuesday, June 1: briefings for summit; told Republican congressional leaders, “I d--n well want a budget.”]
Wednesday, June 2–Friday, June 11
We flew out Wed. morning—I was loaded with briefing books until my head was stuffed with more than I needed to know. Flying into night we arrived in Paris at near midnight their time but only 6 P.M. ours. Met by Van & Bootsie Galbraith our Ambassador plus a welcoming French group. Put up at the Ambassadors residence which is a magnificent palace built in 1840. Suddenly the W.H. looked like an ordinary residence. I had meetings the next day with P.M. Susuzki & Thatcher—plus briefings and that night—Thurs a black tie dinner for Pres. Mitterrand. Fri. visited Mayor Chirac. Every place we drove the streets were lined
with friendly crowds.
Left Nancy in Paris and flew to Versailles for 1st dinner with the Summit group.
Sat. the plenary sessions began. There were differences over East-West trade, Global negotiations and credits to Soviet U. plus how to stabilize currency exchange rates. We more than held our own and I believe came out on top.
Sundays meetings were topped with a dinner in the Hall of Mirrors—the table had to be at least 100 feet long—an unbelievably beautiful sight. Nancy had joined me. Then we were entertained by the Paris Opera and later a recital in the Palace Chapel.
Up early Mon. morning and off to Rome for meeting with Pope. A group of young American priests broke into song—“America the Beautiful.” Both of us were crying. Lunched with Pres. Pertini—then called on P.M. Spadolini. Met the young men (police) who had saved Gen. Dozier. Again, the streets were lined with cheering people. We were told that had never been done for any other head of state.
Flew out for London & helicoptered to Windsor Castle. This was a fairy tale experience. Black tie dinner with the Queen and Prince Phillip plus family—the Queen Mother et al. The next day a ride with the Queen. Nancy and the Prince did a carriage of 4 (horses.) We then left for London—I addressed Joint session of Parliament. First Pres. ever to do so. Lunch with P.M. Thatcher then back to Windsor for a White tie dinner—almost as spectacular as Versailles—1 long table for about 150 guests.
Bonn and Berlin were again a series of palaces. The NATO meeting was a success in every way. We were housed in an old castle complete with moat. Thurs. night a dinner hosted by Pres. and Mrs. Carstens of Germany—they are very nice. Fri. to Berlin—Checkpoint Charley and a heartwarming welcome by hundreds of our mil. personnel and their familys. Final event a speech in Charlottenburg Castle gardens to 25,000 Germans waving American flags.
Almost forgot—1st day in Bonn addressed the Bundestag (Parliament). It was hailed as a great success.
While in Bonn learned the House had passed a budget—we’re on our way. Also learned though that Israel had invaded Lebanon. I’m afraid we are faced with a real crisis.
The Reagan Diaries Page 12