The President unveils a strategic arms reduction proposal
As a candidate for the presidency in 1980, Ronald Reagan was vocally unenthusiastic about the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). He charged that the talks had favored the Soviet Union and that the SALT II treaty, signed by Jimmy Carter but unratified by the Senate, was "fatally flawed." Yet Reagan insisted repeatedly that he was committed to the goal of "real arms control" and "equal, significant reductions." In a television ad shortly before the election, he vowed, "As President, I will make immediate preparations for negotiations on a SALT III treaty."
Those preparations have taken nearly 16 months—a third of a presidential term. In the meantime, Reagan has changed the acronym from SALT to START, substituting "reduction" for "limitation." His critics were beginning to wonder if the real name of the game was perhaps STALL. But in a speech he took to his alma mater, Eureka College in Illinois, on Sunday—his most comprehensive address on East-West relations since taking office—Reagan finally unveiled his proposal for a new round in negotiations with the Soviet Union. He suggested that the talks begin in June and reiterated his suggestion of a meeting with Leonid Brezhnev at the United Nations next month, but said he would be willing to have a summit later, as the Soviets prefer. "When we sit down, I will tell President Brezhnev that the U.S. is ready to build a new understanding," said Reagan. "I will tell him that his people and his government have nothing to fear from the U.S."
The White House hopes that the speech, which chastised the Soviets for mischief making around the globe, will also ease some of the pressure that Reagan has been feeling from both the West European antinuclear movement and domestic advocates of an arms freeze. However, the proposal is so ambitious—and so favorable to the U.S.—that it is likely to touch off a new round of debate about the feasibility, and even the sincerity, of Administration arms-control policy. At the same time, the far right is likely to criticize Reagan for proposing any diplomacy at all with the Soviets.
In a carefully worded passage that was transmitted to Moscow before delivery, Reagan said the U.S. wanted to "reduce significantly the most destabilizing systems—ballistic missiles, the number of warheads they carry, and their overall destructive potential." He added that the reductions should take place in two phases of unspecified duration. At the end of the first, he hopes for at least a 33% drawdown from current levels, with only half of each side's remaining missile warheads permitted on land. He envisions even deeper cuts at the end of the second phase—as much as 50%, according to a top presidential aide.