[Meeting with Economic Council on farm matters.]
A good meeting—Geoff Swaebe, our Ambas. to Belgium. He’s really a solid citizen & I’m glad he’s willing to stay on. No good news from Cong. If we don’t have an extension of the debt ceiling by the 15th we will have to sell gold or default on bonds. D--n their hides (the Cong.), we’ll default for the 1st time in our history. Something has to wake those d--n prima donnas up.
Tuesday, November 5
N.S.C. meeting was a movie. We saw a demonstration of our new Bomber, one of the greatest advances in aircraft in years & years. It is of course most hush hush—I should call it what it is—a fighter bomber.
Geo. S. called from Moscow on scramble phone—7 more hours of talks—4 of them with Gorbachev. Apparently not much progress. Gorbachev is adamant we must cave in our S.D.I.—well this will be a case of an irresistible force meeting an unmovable object. Met with Edmund Morris who is going to do my official biography. I’m pleased—his book on Teddy Roosevelt was wonderful. Of course I can’t charge up San Juan Hill. Had an Ec. briefing—our recovery is continuing—or by now I should say our expansion & growth is progressing at a slow but steady rate & on employment we’re doing extremely well. A higher percentage of the potential work force (all between 16 & 65) is employed than ever in our history.
[Ambassadorial formalities; Mrs. Reagan in NYC.]
Wednesday, November 6
Briefing not the way to start the day—what with news of the games Cong. is playing with regard to the debt ceiling, deficit & tax reform. And yes that goes for Repubs. as well as Dems.
[Met with Republican leaders; briefing for interview with wire services; had interview; lunch with Republicans and Democrats raising money for presidential library; videotapings]
Then George S. & Bud came upstairs with Don R. & George B. to report on their Gorbachev meeting. It seems Mr. G. is filled with a lot of false info about the U.S. & believes it all. For example, Americans hate the Russians because our arms manufacturers stir them up with propaganda so they can keep selling us weapons.
Nancy & Maureen arrived.
Thursday, November 7
This one got to be a busy day. The usual staff & NSC meetings then into the Cabinet room to meet 40 or 50 heads of all manner of Nat. Org’s.—Vet’s. groups, K. of C. etc. all in a coalition to support S.D.I. Then former Gov. Otis Bowen of Ind. came in—I’ve named him Sec. of H.H.S. to succeed Margaret Heckler. Next meeting was with Sen. Dan Evans who is fighting like h--l to halt the textile protection bills. He wanted to be reassured that I’m with him & I am.
[Met with Russian scholars on upcoming summit; interviewed by U.S. News & World Report; gave Presidential Medal of Freedom to Cold War diplomat Paul Nitze and nuclear strategist Albert Wohlstetter and his wife, Roberta.]
Back to the P.M. Met a lady Mrs. Barbara Newington who has spent 10’s of 1000’s of her own money taking out ads to build support for things like our Nicaraguan policy.
Ed Meese came in to brief us on the Medved affair—he is the sailor who jumped ship (a Russian ship) in New Orleans to be a defector. Then he recanted & is back on shipboard. Ed gave us the detailed story of how it all happened. Now Jesse Helms has gotten the Agri. Committee of the Sen. to subpoena him—a staff member is on his way to N.O. I don’t know how this would work & think it’s pretty silly. The guy was very positive that he wanted to go back to Russia.
A ceremony for swearing in of Ed Hickey who is leaving our Mil. Office to be Chmn. of the Fed. Trade [Maritime] Commission. Upstairs Lyn N. came by briefly—wanted to be reassured that I wouldn’t roll over & settle for something at the Summit just to come home with an agreement. I reassured him.
Friday, November 8
A meeting with our Repub. Cong. leadership. Geo. S. & Bud reported on their Moscow trip & we had a discussion about the Summit & the part our Defense Bud. plays in that. Jack Kemp kicked up a fuss when he challenged the St. Dept. about not supporting $27 mil. aid to Savimbi in Angola. Geo. replied that our objection was to Cong. making the aid overt. We want a covert operation for real help. Our problem is Cong. interference in what should be exec. office management of international diplomacy. Things got hot for awhile. Then we got around to the extension of the debt limit. If we don’t have that by the 15th we will have to default on our bonds for the 1st time in our history. I let them know if the fun & games continued—trying to hang unacceptable amendments on the debt bill I wouldn’t be blackmailed into signing even if my veto brought a default.
Bob Dole started talking about a nice clean bill with no amendments.
[NSC meeting on case of sailor, Miroslav Medved, going back to USSR, noted, “We’re convinced his Mother & Father have been threatened if he doesn’t”; lunch with religious leaders regarding human rights and the summit; met with Shultz and McFarlane on summit; signed proclamation for Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation; photo session for Time and Newsweek; accepted unexpected visit from two students introduced on University of Tennessee trip.]
Saturday, November 9
The big day. Prince Charles & Diana arrived at 11 A.M. for coffee. They are very nice & it was an enjoyable 40 min. or so. Then they had to move on & I had to hightail it to U.S.I.A. where my 5 min. Saturday Radio broadcast became, for just this once, a 10 min. Radio & TV show to the Soviet U. & a number of other countries in 9 languages—an estimated audience of 120 mil. people. I wonder if Mr. G. listened. The dinner for the Prince & Diana was a great success. It had not a hint of “State Dinner” flavor. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. Ted G. had decorated the W.H. more beautifully than we’ve ever seen it. Leontyne Price sang wonderfully & then everyone danced like at a Junior Prom.
[Sunday, November 10: noted that the ship carrying Miroslav Medved departed New Orleans; lunch with friends on the sun porch. Monday, November 11: attended Veteran’s Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.]
Tuesday, November 12th
Met with Cong. Ldrship—Dem. & Repub. Things got a little tense re the deficit & the need to extend the debt ceiling. I told them there wasn’t a state in the union that didn’t have a better budget process than the Fed. Govt. We submitted a bud. on Feb. 5th—some weeks ago the Cong. finally passed a bud. resolution which I agreed to—but here it is Nov. & they are fighting over appropriations entirely at odds with their own bud.
Later an N.S.P.G. meeting on aid to Savimbi in Angola. […] Had a TV interview with 5 foreign press—5 countries—U.K., Switzerland, Italy, France & darn if I can remember number 5. A meeting with Rep. Strangeland—he’s concerned about the farm situation but aren’t we all.
[Latest poll results showed 65 percent job approval.]
Wednesday, November 13th
[Cabinet meeting on plans for Geneva, discussion of 1987 budget; NSC meeting on details for Geneva, report from Weinberger on Soviet treaty violations; met with Red Cross leaders, concerned about financial shortfall; bill signing.]
Bill Casey brought in 3 of his experts on the Soviet U. Their presentations on the people of Russia were great & confirmed things I had heard from unconfirmed sources. The Soviet U. is an ec. basket case & among other things there is a rapidly spreading turn by the people to religion.
Thursday, November 14
Met with our fine Ambas. to the Philippines Steve Bosworth. He believes Pres. Marcos is underestimating the danger from the Communist insurgents—not so much as to mil. threat but their progress in winning converts. It’s a touchy mess. An N.S.P.G. meeting to talk about arms control & how we present (& what) to Mr. G. in Geneva.
Called Jimmy Carter to ask any input he might have on the meeting. He was remarkably cordial.
Met with our 3 arms negotiators who have just received the 3rd session. They are aware that the Soviets have gone farther in the sense of actually proposing numbers but still the Soviets shade things in their favor.
[Delivered televised speech on summit.]
Friday, November 15
At 9 A.M. Wash. time P.M.s Thatcher
& Fitzgerald (Ireland) signed an agreement on bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Tip O’Neill came down & we were photographed together endorsing their action & making statements of support.
An NSC meeting was a run through by George S. of the Geneva day to day Summit schedule. Then Geo. & Bud & I had our usual Fri. meeting—nothing very important. Now we know what will happen to our re-defecting KGB agent Yurchenko; He’s doing appearances in Russia repeating how we drugged him.
[Received letter of support on SDI from thirty-nine senators; videotapings; packing. Saturday, November 16: flew to Geneva.]
Sunday, November 17
I awoke at 9:15 after a pretty good night’s sleep. Nancy slept till around 10, then we had breakfast. It’s a gray day but the view from our windows over the formal lawn & gardens & on to Lake Geneva is lovely. A visit to where we’ll hold the Tues. meeting & where I hope to get Gorbachev aside for a one on one. There is a pool house down on the Lake shore complete with fireplace. I’ll try to talk him into a walk. The press is excited about the leak of a letter to me from Cap on why I shouldn’t be trapped into endorsing continued observance of Salt II. It is a great distortion & is not as the press would have it an in house battle.
I agree with Cap & wanted his factual accounting in writing.
Ron came for dinner—a nice time for the 3 of us.
Monday, November 18
Both of us had a wakeful night. The day was colder & darker. Don R. came for me at 10:55 then we walked across to the Pometta House for a meeting plus a working lunch—Lord I hope I’m ready & not overtrained. After lunch we picked up Nancy & went to Le Reposoir for welcome ceremony with Pres. Furgler. Usual Nat. Anthems & review of troops. Then a plenary meeting with him & his top people. We have a top relationship—very warm & friendly & few if any problems. They were happy with my position on S.D.I. & Protectionism. Back to our quarters & met the owners—the Pometta family—very nice. They rent this house to the Aga’s son. Nancy surprised me with a masseur coming in at 5 P.M. I fell asleep about 4 x while he was massaging.
Tuesday, November 19
This was the day. Mr. G. & I met. We were scheduled for 15 min. of pvt. one on one—we did an hour which excited the h--l out of the Press. Then we joined the plenary meeting. I gave him the floor 1st & he did a pitch about us not trusting them, etc. We should have no pre-conditions set before any agreement about better relations. “Our ruling class (munitions makers) keep our people upset at the Soviets so they can sell more weapons.” He also took off on the Heritage Foundation & think tanks that do the same. He said we had declared zones of special interest around the world but attacked the USSR when they did the same thing. We must recognize right of people to a revolution. Well finally it was my turn & I took them all the way through the history of Soviet aggression, etc. We broke for lunch but I assured him he’d have the floor to rebut me after lunch. Our gang told me I’d done good. In the P.M. session he had quite a prepared thing that had us suspicious without cause, etc. Again I rebutted with some pretty solid examples—WW II then refusal to let Am. warplanes use Soviet fields etc. When I finished I suggested he & I leave the group & do another one on one. We walked down to a pool house on the lake shore. Eddy had a fire going & we did about 2 hours on S.D.I. He’s adamant but so am I. I scored one we’ve worried about;—that the meetings should be on an ongoing basis. He accepted my invite to U.S. next year & I’m invited to U.S.S.R. in ’87. That in itself could make the meeting a success—Tonite to their place for dinner. And what a dinner—they must be influenced by the Orientals. Course after course & for half of them I thought each one had to be the entrée. Finally dessert & by this time it was time to go home & that’s what you did because the host & hostess pushed back their chairs & escorted us to the front door. When you have dinner with the Russians—dinner is the full evening’s entertainment.
Wednesday, November 20
The last day of the Summit & this time Mr. G. was host. We went to the Soviet mission & he took me into a small room with interpreters. This was my chance to have at human rights. I explained that I wasn’t telling him how to run his country—I was asking for his help; that I had a better chance of getting support at home for things we’d agreed to if he would ease some of the restrictions on emigration, etc. I told him I’d never mention what he was doing out loud but he’d find that I could better meet some of his requests for trade, etc. He argued back sort of indicating that he thought they treated their people better than we did ours. He quoted statements made by some of the feminist extremists to prove we were unkind to women. I fought back—only time will tell if I made any headway.
In the plenary I took off on arms control then he fired back about S.D.I. creating an arms race in space & the stuff really hit the fan. He was really belligerent & d--n it I stood firm. That took us til lunch. In the P.M. session I tried out a written proposal for a joint statement. Upshot was we cut short the meeting & our teams went at the problem of a joint statement. He & I & the interpreters went into a small room & wound up telling stories. We were there ’til 5:30 then the teams came in with a number of things agreed upon & several we didn’t. We broke up to leave them still at it so he & I could get ready for the reception at the Swiss Presidents home. Then they were here for dinner. It was a pleasant evening & a small informal dinner. Over coffee some of our aides (both his & mine) came over to tell us they were having trouble on the joint statement—his people were trying to withdraw some things they had already agreed to. There was some brisk language & at 5 A.M. the statement ended up the way we’d wanted it! And I think it was because Mr. G. told his guys to quit what they were doing.
Thursday, November 21
[Formal farewell ceremony; spoke briefly, as did General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev; noted that Shultz and Minister of Foreign Affrairs Eduard Shevardnadze signed agreements; stopped en route to America in Belgium and delivered report to NATO, commented, “The air of success in the meetings is widespread—but probably not with our cynical press”; arrived in Washington and slept; addressed joint session of Congress.]
I haven’t gotten such a reception since I was shot. The gallerys were full & the members wouldn’t stop clapping & cheering. So home to bed at what is about 4 A.M. by Get up time.
Friday, November 22
A good night’s sleep & into the office at 11:15 A.M. They are being kind to me. Almost instantly I was rushed over to the family theatre to take Q’s. from all the leading TV commentators & some top columnists. It was all on the summit of course & designed to keep the upsurge going. My approval rating on handling the summit was 81%.
Back to the office for a brief NSC. Subject was our hostages in Beirut. We have an undercover thing going by way of an Iranian which could get them sprung momentarily.
Geo. B. & I had lunch. He’s been to Iowa to do a fundraiser for Gov. Brandstead who has been kicking my head in on the farm situation. He also met with some farm leaders. Sen. Grassley has really mobilized the farmers against me. I have compassion for them but there is a limit to what we can do to help them in this situation & we’re doing all we can.
George Shultz came in after the Cabinet meeting. The meeting was for both of us to report on the Geneva trip. George wants to leave govt. I told him he could stay as long as I was here but I couldn’t try to talk him out of his decision which is based on the fact he’s just burned out.
[Met with James Baker regarding tax bill; visit from Michael Deaver.]
Saturday, November 23
Awoke to the 1st sunshine we’ve seen since before leaving for Geneva. Did my radio stint on the Geneva meetings. After lunch a session of sorting out background papers on the trip. Some I will burn—some I’ll let Bud MacFarlane burn. Tomorrow Nancy leaves for the coast—engagements in S.F. & L.A. I leave Tues. I don’t look forward to 3 days without her. She’ll get to the ranch Wed. We’re still sweating out our undercover effort to get hostages out of Beirut.
[Sunday, November 24: received ongoing reports of hijacked E
gyptian airliner, ending with a firefight. Monday, November 25: further reports on “savagery” onboard the hijacked airliner. Attended farewell ceremony for Secretary of the Air Force Verne Orr; new poll shows high approval for dealings with Soviets; received annual live turkey; visit from John Fling, humanitarian award winner, and Pearl Bailey, honorary chair of American Lung Association; videotapings; dinner with Maureen.]
Tuesday, November 26
Get away day. At 9 A.M. we lifted off the S. Lawn—we being Lucky & me. Lucky is on her way to her new home in Calif.—Rancho del Cielo. A.F.1 was a new experience for her & never did quiet down. Of course I sweated the hours out worrying about a possible biological problem. She made it all the way without a boo boo & we went down the steps at Point Mugu to be greeted by the top Naval Brass & their wives plus a good sized crowd plus the press with cameras clicking. Then in front of all—Lucky proved she was a healthy dog. As one Navy Captain said—“better there than on the helicopter.” A call from Pres. de la Madrid of Mexico, some brush cutting with Barney & Dennis and, of course some paperwork as always. Problem of the moment is the House Ways & Means version of Tax Reform. It’s being studied by our team in Wash. & I’m looking at a thick stack of figures. There is a great question as to whether I can accept this. Then my first night ever to be at the ranch without Nancy.
[Wednesday, November 27: Mrs. Reagan arrived; rode.]
Thursday, November 28—TURKEY DAY
Rose to dense wet fog. About 9:45—called off the ride. Thurs. and the family arrived in early afternoon for our annual Thanksgiving dinner which was also early—around 5 P.M. By that time the fog had been joined by heavy rain. Ron & Doria stayed over night.
Friday, November 29
Weather unchanged—no ride. Awakened early by phone call from Bud M. It seems Moubarak wants to fly some of the Egyptian wounded & his commandos home from Malta & is concerned that Quadaffi might attack the plane. He has asked us for fighter cover. I said h--l yes. We are flying F-15’s plus a tanker & a communications plane down from Europe. Operation should take place some time tonight—I think. Ron & Doria who had stayed overnight departed around 11 A.M. Called Rostenkowski to assure him we were studying the tax reform as produced by Ways & Means Committee. Some press accounts had us feuding, etc.—absolutely no truth to it. For a time it looked as though it might be clearing—the sun even came out, but it was all temporary. Before the afternoon was over the rain was pouring down & continued into the night.
The Reagan Diaries Page 51