The Spirit Of Washington

With big smiles and some frustrations, detente makes a comeback

It will be remembered as the summit at which intimacy and symbolism overshadowed disputes about substance, and its spirit was captured during a private moment between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan on the morning after they signed their historic arms accord. The President led the Soviet leader to a little study next to the Oval Office and produced a baseball that Joe DiMaggio had hoped to have autographed by Gorbachev at the state dinner the night before. Reagan was not just fulfilling the old Yankee slugger's request. He had a metaphor in mind. Are we, he asked, going to play ball?...

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