The Reagan Diaries

by Ronald Reagan

  Monday, January 12

  Into office at 10 A.M.—A light schedule for the rest of the week. Met with Don R. & V.P. The press is quoting the usual unnamed W.H. source that our game plan is to sit tight for 2 years—protecting what we’ve already accomplished. Truth is we’ve got so many new programs we want to go after we’re having trouble setting the agenda.

  Then Frank came in for NSC briefing. He’s really taking hold. We have a situation where Soviets are talking about establishing a covert channel—an individual to carry messages between Dobrynin & Frank???

  Then 3 of our arms negotiators came in. We are naming our top one as leader of the group to meet with a Soviet team in Geneva. We’re promoting Max Kampleman to Counselor to the Sec. of State to give him more status as he leads our team. Then upstairs to lunch & sit in a hot tub & back to the office at 3 P.M. Met with David Abshire who is putting all the paper together bearing on Iran mess. A haircut & upstairs to another hot tub.

  [Telephoned French woman who helped U.S. airmen during World War II.]

  Tuesday, January 13

  Began with usual meetings, Don R. & V.P. We have a tough problem Bill Casey. It’s pretty certain that he’ll never be able to head up the CIA again but we don’t want to say that now & set back his recovery. Maybe in a few weeks we’ll talk to him about a Cabinet level post in the W.H. & go ahead with a replacement at CIA. Suggestions are possibly Sen. Baker or Sen. or .

  Then Frank C. came in with a his new assistant Gen. Colin Powell. He’s a good man. Frank believes Soviets refused my son a Visa to fit their propaganda that I have worsened our relations. There is also possibility it had to do with ABC’s big special “Amerika.” Ron’s trip was to be for ABC’s “Good Morning” show. We have some problems too about possible deployment early of 1st phase of SDI.

  [Cabinet meeting; discussion of State of the Union Address with Regan and Ken Khachigian.]

  Wednesday, January 14

  [Considering Howard Baker for head of CIA.]

  Then meeting with Frank C., I gave him some information—a copy of a message Ghorbanifar is sending to King Fahd on Iran & the factions waiting to succeed Khomeini. I also told him to turn NSC loose on a possible Govt. in Exile for Nicaragua which we would recognize.

  [Approved construction of security tunnel connecting Oval Office to Situation Room; noted postponement of interview with journalist Trudy Feldman.]

  Thursday, January 15

  Don R. had a reply for the latest Wash. Post falsehood. The Post proclaims that he (Don) had made the decision on pay raises for Legislators, Judges, executives, etc. & that once again I was off on a cloud unaware of what was going on. Well the record shows that we had 8 meetings on the subject & I was presiding at all 8. Frank C. brought in our new member of the NSC group an authority on the Soviet Union with a most prestigious resume. He will be a big help.

  [New poll numbers show slight drop in approval rating; delivered speech to schools on Martin Luther King Jr.; lunch with Vice President Bush; met with Shultz on his trip to Africa, some improvement in situations in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Angola.]

  Friday, January 16

  Into the office for usual meetings. Then a meeting with Sen. Packwood. We have a difference, he wants a former staffer of his, now on the F.C.C. to be chairman of F.C.C. I have decided on another member for the job. I’ve assured him that I’m looking for another high level job for his candidate. Watched Bud McFarlane’s televised testimony before Sen. Committee. He was masterful for more than 2 hours.

  [Went to Camp David; watched For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) for the first time. Saturday, January 17: radiocast; short walk. Sunday, January 18: short walk in rain; sat by fire. Monday, January 19: returned to W.H.]

  Tuesday, January 20

  Into the office at 10 A.M.—Met with V.P. & Don R. We are considering Ed Bennet Williams for Director of CIA. He’d like to do it & will give us an answer soon. His problems are 2—Cancer & financial. As to Cancer it hinges on a possible upcoming surgery. I hope he can, he’d be a great choice.

  Frank C. & Gen. Powell came in for their meeting. Frank wants to make a trip to Central America, which is O.K. with me. We discussed upcoming problem re the future of SDI. Cap wants to go beyond the ABM Treaty restraints. Apparently our progress has updated our anticipated attainment of deployment. Geo. S. is adamantly opposed. I’ll be hearing from each of them tomorrow. Topped off morning with a phone call to Pres. Febres-Cordero of Ecuador congratulating him on his release from the kidnapers who had held him for about 10 hours.

  [Issues meeting, suggested bipartisan commission on budget planning.]

  Wednesday, January 21

  [Maureen and Dennis visiting; decided to remark in State of the Union Address on John Chancellor’s negative commentary the previous night.]

  Frank C. & Gen. Powell had some things to say about the Soviets & disarmament and a few suggestions for my meetings with Cap W. & Geo. S. Cap came in at 11 A.M. We discussed SDI. He agreed we should pin our scientists down on progress. Some times they get a little over optimistic. […]

  After lunch—back to office for some desk work—then a meeting with Geo. Shultz. He brought word—Soviets are suggesting a foreign ministers meeting in Moscow in Feb. & then—based on its success—a summit here in the Spring. We also discussed our arms control strategy to try on them based mainly on getting a 50% reduction in ICBM’s—period. Then we’d negotiate follow up plans.

  David Abshire came by—he’s really clearing away a lot of confusion on the Iran mess & turning Cong. men around who just plain didn’t understand the situation.

  Upstairs & deskwork.

  Thursday, January 22

  [Received positive economic statistics; NSC briefing on Iran-Iraq War; telephoned Right to Life marchers in Washington; made bet with Australian prime minister Robert Hawke over America’s Cup race.]

  Upstairs for lunch & got out my diary for 1985—to check on chronological layout of the Iran situation prepared by NSC & Dave Abshire. It sure is helping my memory. Then at 2 P.M. a briefing by Frank C. & Dave for my Monday session with Tower Commission.

  [Brief meeting with Vice President Bush; continued to check diary until going to bed. Friday, January 23: staff meeting with Regan and Vice President Bush; NSC meeting with brief discussion of Manuel Noriega, dictator of Panama, commented, “Corruption there is rampant & he’s too fond of Castro”; had another prebriefing of meeting with Tower Commission investigating Iran-Contra covert operations; worked with policy makers and writers on State of the Union Address; went to Camp David; watched James Bond movie. Saturday, January 24: radiocast; took walk; worked on speech; received word of new kidnappings in Beirut; approved positioning of Delta Force on a British base in Cyprus; dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Ken Khachigian.]

  Sunday, January 25

  An early morning message re the Delta Force. England asked us not to citing the inability to keep such a thing secret & the possible threat to hostages & Terry Waite still in Lebanon. We said yes to their objection. Weather turned bad in Wash. and we had to drive down & a rush start at 9:30 A.M.

  Back in W.H. communications coming from Frank C. A nameless voice speaking for the “Organization of Oppressed People” (believed to have a link to Hezbollah) phone a Beirut radio station demanding the return of the terrorist we’re trying to extradite from W. Germany also that we stop helping Iraq??? & intervening in Middle East or more specifically Persian Gulf affairs or hostage will be killed 5 P.M. our time. Next message indicated Hezbollah was holding Terry Waite as a hostage.

  Monday, January 26

  No word about Waite & no word about execution of a hostage. But 2 more have been seized. It’s a frustrating business—you feel like lowering the boom on someone but how do you do it without getting some hostages killed? We need more intelligence on who & where.

  John Tower’s committee—whoops!—Commission questioned me for an hour & 15 minutes—not in an adversarial way—just trying to round out their information.
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  [Positive economic briefing; haircut; finished work on State of Union Address; sent message of congratulations to Helmut Kohl on reelection as chancellor of West Germany]

  Tuesday, January 27

  In at 9 A.M. for usual meetings—[…] Chiefs of Staff are working on potential targets if we need to retaliate directly against Iran.

  [Meeting with Republican congressional leadership to outline speech; called Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, then traveling in Zimbabwe, to discuss Canadian-U.S. relations; rested in afternoon before speech.]

  Walked into the warmest reception from Congress—well the Repub. Congress I’ve ever received at a St. of the Union appearance. Speech was interrupted 39 times by applause. Dem’s were if anything more partisan than ever. When they did come to their feet they were obviously being sarcastic.

  Wednesday, January 28

  [Noted favorable messages on speech, more cynical comments in press.]

  No word yet on whether Terry Waite is a hostage. He hasn’t been seen in 8 days since he went into a house alone to discuss hostages. We are going ahead with planning mil. targets & trying to get a better intelligence set up on Lebanon.

  Noon & upstairs for lunch. Back over to office for 2 P.M. meeting with George S. Most of discussion was what our position should be on ABM Treaty and SDI. I said I believe that we were correct in a broad interpretation of treaty which would leave our development of SDI within the terms of ABM. I asked George to look into some $½ million proposals regarding the embassy residence in Rome for Ambas. to Vatican. It would easily be a half mil. wasted. We should sell the house. He’ll look into it. Dr. Smith & wife came in to say goodbye—they’re going back to California. Then I did a live TV broadcast to all the NASA stations—anniversary of Challenger tragedy.

  [Videotapings.]

  Thursday, January 29

  Back to a 9 A.M. start. Colin Powell handled NSC briefing, Frank C. is on a visit to Central America. At 10 A.M. met with Bi-partisan leadership of Cong. We reported to them more fully on specifics of programs I’d proposed in St. of U. Address. Then Jim Wright sounded off on his usual pitch that we were the big spenders & they were trying to balance the budget. I blew my top and heaped some honest figures on him & Bob Byrd who somewhat came to his rescue. My figures are correct & they had no real answer. I’ve learned that our Repub. leadership were on cloud 9 they were so pleased with my response. I’ll admit I felt good.

  Upstairs for lunch with Nancy & Ted & back down at 2 P.M. for a Domestic Council Meeting on the latest thing in high tech. The “Collider,” that isn’t it’s full name but it is the successor to the Accelerator where atoms are split. The present one in Illinois is a tunnel in a 12 mile circle. This new idea calls for a 52 mile circle with results 1000 times greater. We had a briefing & my answer is going to be “go” event though it adds to our budget. I think we can get some help from our trading partners who’d like to share in it.

  A short meeting with George Bush to replace our usual Thursday lunch.

  Don R. went to the hospital with Ed M. to see Bill Casey. Bill told them he wanted to resign from CIA. Don told him (to his obvious joy) that when he was ready to come back he’d be my counselor—the job Ed M. had before he became Attorney General.

  [Meeting with woman with possible channel to release of hostages in Beirut.]

  Friday, January 30

  [Meeting with Deputy National Security Advisor Colin Powell on hostage situation in relation to Germany and its hostage problems.]

  This morning I received Bill Casey’s resignation—also word that Ed Bennett Williams can’t take the job. Surgery revealed cancer of the liver—quite extensive. I have appointed Bill’s deputy—now acting Dir., as Dir. in Bill’s place.

  [Addressed gathering of supporters of budget cutting; farewell meeting with W.H. Spokesman Larry Speakes; discussed hostage crisis with Shultz; interviewed by biographer Edmund Morris on Hollywood career.]

  A brief session with Peter Wallison & Dave Abshire—more probing of what I remember about the Iran deal.

  [Saturday, January 31: trip to Camp David canceled due to weather; radiocast on administration efforts in education and anti-drug crusade.]

  Sunday, February 1

  At 10 A.M. the Dr’s came up & hung a lot of gear on me which I must wear ’til 10 P.M. It is a 12 hour electrocardiograph recorded on a 12 hour tape. Just a check to see how the old man’s ticker is doing. Colin Powell called. In Teheran the Iranians arrested an American press man (Wall Street Journal) took his passport, accused him of being a Zionist spy & threw him in jail. He’s a Roman Catholic. I’m ready to kidnap the Khomeini.

  [Homework and reading.]

  Monday, February 2

  The Groundhog saw his shadow! Pat B. is leaving us and I’ve told Don R. to see if we can augment the speech writers by bringing back Landon Parvin.

  [Short meeting with foreign minister of Italy Giulio Andreotti; new poll figures show slight increase in approval rate; issues lunch; greeted champion Penn State football team.]

  Then a pre-meeting to be briefed for tomorrow’s NSPG meeting on SDI & whether to go for the liberal interpretation of ABM Treaty which is really legal & correct to me. Doing this would help research on SDI but the Soviets & possibly some of our allies might scream.

  [Videotapings.]

  Tuesday, February 3

  A meeting with Repub. Cong. Leadership. I pitched a plan that they stand together so that even with the Dem’s out voting us we can point out to the people how different the Dems & Repubs are. I don’t think they got the message. In the House today only 26 Republicans supported my Veto of the Clean Water bill.

  [Received word that Wall Street Journal reporter kidnapped in Iran would be released; greeted heroes of Maryland train accident; National Security Planning Group (NSPG) meeting on SDI and furthering research in loose interpretation of ABM Treaty, commented, “On this one I don’t think Geo. S. & Cap are as far apart as we thought”; domestic-policy council meeting on Secretary of Health and Human Services Otis Ray “Doc” Bowen’s plan for catastrophic-illness coverage.]

  Wednesday, February 4

  After all this talk by the Dems of wanting us to work together on matters we had a bipartisan congressional leadership scheduled for 9:30 A.M. Meeting canceled—Bob Byrd called Jim Wright & told him to cancel for the House as he did for the Senate. His word was that if I wanted a meeting I could come to the Hill & see only one house at a time. He’ll wait a long time for that—NSC briefing—only rumors on Seib [Wall Street Journal reporter] being released so far. We talked about SDI and how we handled the ABM part.

  Lunch in the study then met with Sen’s Hatfield & McClure—back from trip to Asia. They visited the refugees in Thailand—agree we can’t take them all—they should be allowed to return to Cambodia if Vietnamese will clear out. They believe there is a desire on part of Hanoi to establish a relationship with us. Can’t be done ’til they get out of Cambodia & clear up once & for all the POW-MIA problem.

  [Met with Shultz on Soviet pianist Vladimir Feltsman, noted, “who got word to Nancy he would be allowed to come to America if he had invitation to play at the W.H.”]

  Upstairs & met with 6 individuals including FBI agents on whether Mike Deaver ever lobbied on behalf of his clients after he left the W.H. I can’t remember a single instance of his ever doing that.

  [Telephoned Landon Parvin about returning to the W.H. as a speechwriter. Thursday, February 5: received birthday greetings from Eureka College classmates; attended Annual Prayer Breakfast; met with Prime Minister Turgut Özal of Turkey; lunch with Vice President Bush, who had to leave early to cast vote as president of the Senate; received Charles Russell painting for W.H. from Mr. and Mrs. Armand Hammer; farewell visit with retiring park mounted policeman; received unconfirmed word on escape attempt by hostage Terry Waite.]

  Friday, February 6

  My Birthday! After usual meetings went over to EOB to address meeting of Private Sector Initiative suppor
ters—prepared speech in hand. Walked into the auditorium which was filled with Cabinet & Executive Staff people & the Marine Band. The band played “76 Trombones.” Nancy appeared from nowhere wheeling a giant birthday cake. The whole meeting had been a frame up to achieve a very successful surprise party.

  Then back to work. A good meeting with Dave Abshire who is doing very well on his digging into the Iran matter.

  [Received word of release of Wall Street Journal reporter held hostage in Iran; received birthday gifts.]

  Ended office day with a meeting with George S. Well it didn’t quite end the day—Bob Byrd & Bob Dole came in regarding ratification of Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. I had proposed that it be ratified in its present form with a proviso that I would submit a protocol for ratification continuing agreement to be negotiated regarding verification procedures. Bob Byrd was adamant that a double ratification could not be done. Believe it or not he settled for treaty with clause that would only be in effect after I had submitted verification clause satisfactory to me alone.

  [Dinner with friends. Saturday, February 7: radiocast; wrote thank-you notes; quiet evening. Sunday, February 8: telephoned Shultz with praise on TV appearance; wrote more thank-you notes; read background for decisions on SDI, the ABM Treaty, and catastrophic-disease program; noted that Mrs. Reagan was to leave the next day for California. Monday, February 9: noted death threat to hostages in Beirut; advised Regan to set high priority on welfare reform; addressed gathering on same subject; greeted Dennis Connor and winning sailors of America’s Cup; received Boy Scout Annual Report; met with Weinberger on SDI, commented, “we must not engage the Soviets in a discussion that could lead to watering down our ability to proceed with development”; haircut; Maureen visiting; noted that no word received of any attack on hostages.]

  Tuesday, February 10

  Don R. & V.P. & I talked about Bud McFarlane & going to call Johnny, his wife, & see if I can phone him. We also talked about an active schedule for me—having some special groups in for lunches etc. NSC was about SDI & the ABM Treaty—getting ready for NSPG meeting at 11 A.M. The problem is how to continue arms reduction dialog with the Soviets & at same time eliminate any compromise on SDI. I have proposed a plan to seek an agreement that we will—when & if SDI is ready for deployment—put it in hands of an international force as a defense against any & all nuclear missiles from wherever they are launched in the World.