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Q. How do you see Sino-American relations evolving? Do you anticipate eventually selling "lethal" as opposed to "nonlethal" military equipment to the Chinese?
A. This is a subject that is going to take a great deal of study. I would like to envision a China that could eventually be a legitimate ally of the free world. I think there has to be a certain degree of caution, remembering that this is a country whose government subscribes to an ideology based on a belief in destroying governments like ours. I will meet them with an open mind and in an honest attempt to improve friendly relations, but I am also going to keep in mind that I do not want to go so fast that some day weapons we might have provided will be shooting at us.
Q. Do you envision even the dim possibility of a military alliance with the Chinese if they maintain their present form of government?
A. I don't know.
Q. You have often talked about what the Federal Government should not attempt to do. Yet you have also urged a return to "traditional values," to use your phrase. What role do you see yourself taking in the area of traditional values or social questions?
A. Well, I suppose that is in the context of what Teddy Roosevelt said about the White House being a bully pulpit. I think that all of our leaders, whether state, local or national, can have an impact by setting examples themselves, and trying to see that government is as high-principled as it can be, ending if possible this concept that most people in America now accept that there's a double standard—that you can accept things in politics that you would not accept in private business or your own dealings.
Q. Does use of the bully pulpit include using the President's prestige to promote constitutional amendments outlawing abortion in most circumstances and sanctioning prayer in public schools and that sort of thing?
A. Long before I ever sought this job, I believed that the outlawing of prayer, nonsectarian prayer, in public schools was not a defense of the First Amendment but was actually against the Constitution, which says that the Congress shall make no laws concerning the establishment of religion or the restriction of it or its practice and so forth. I just think [the restrictions] went too far. This is a nation under God. It is still on our coins: in god WE TRUST. The Divine Providence is mentioned in our most important documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. As for abortion, I think it is a constitutional question. The [advocates] of the right of abortion speak of the right of a mother or a prospective mother and her own body. We are talking of two bodies.
Q. The President can have a lot to say about these controversial issues, or he can stand back and let political nature take its course. Do you plan to speak out?