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Some political observers believe that Reagan could defuse the movement—or co-opt it—by sitting down to negotiate with the Soviets. Some supporters of the initiative secretly hope that will happen. Only a proven anti-Communist like Richard Nixon could have opened the door to mainland China in the early 1970s without causing a divisive national debate. Similarly, the argument goes, only a President as strong on national defense as Reagan could bargain with the Kremlin on nuclear arms in the early 1980s. That, indeed, may be the idea whose time has come.
—By James Kelly. Reported by Benjamin W. Cate/Los Angeles and B.J. Phillips/Atlanta, with other bureaus