The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
Edited compilation of speeches regarding the Cold War and relations with the Soviet Union made by Ronald Reagan during his Presidency.
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
January 20, 1981 Excerpt from Inaugural Address: President Ronald Reagan. C/As of Lincoln Statue at Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Building, crowd attending Inauguration. "As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever." edit "And as we renew ourselves here in our own land, we will be seen as having greater strength throughout the world. We will again be the exemplar of freedom and a beacon of hope for those who do not now have freedom."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
January 29, 1981 Excerpt from The President's News Conference. Press conference: ABC News reporter SAM DONALDSON, "Mr. President, what do you see as the long-range intentions of the Soviet Union? Do you think, for instance, the Kremlin is bent on world domination that might lead to a continuation of the cold war, or do you think that under other circumstances detente is possible?" Reagan, "Well, so far detente's been a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims. I don't have to think of an answer as to what I think their intentions are; they have repeated it. I know of no leader of the Soviet Union since the revolution, and including the present leadership, that has not more than once repeated in the various Communist congresses they hold their determination that their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one-world Socialist or Communist state, whichever word you want to use. Now, as long as they do that and as long as they, at the same time, have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that, and that is moral, not immoral, and we operate on a different set of standards, I think when you do business with them, even at a detente, you keep that in mind."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
May 17, 1981 Excerpt from Address at Commencement Exercises at the University of Notre Dame. Ronald Reagan, "The West won't contain communism, it will transcend communism. It won't bother to dismiss or denounce it, it will dismiss it as some bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
November 18, 1981. Excerpt from Remarks to Members of the National Press Club on Arms Reduction and Nuclear Weapons. Reagan reads from letter he wrote to USSR President Leonid Brezhnev; announces START talks. "Back in April while in the hospital I had, as you can readily understand, a lot of time for reflection. And one day I decided to send a personal, handwritten letter to Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev." edit "I'd like to read you a few paragraphs from that letter. 'Mr. President: When we met, I asked if you were aware that the hopes and aspirations of millions of people throughout the world were dependent on the decisions that would be reached in those meetings. You took my hand in both of yours and assured me that you were aware of that and that you were dedicated with all your heart and soul and mind to fulfilling those hopes and dreams.'" edit "I continued my letter by saying -- or concluded my letter, I should say -- by saying, 'Mr. President, should we not be concerned with eliminating the obstacles which prevent our people, those you and I represent, from achieving their most cherished goals?'" edit "There's a tendency to make this entire subject overly complex. I want to be clear and concise. I told you of the letter I wrote to President Brezhnev last April. Well, I've just sent another message to the Soviet leadership. It's a simple, straightforward, yet, historic message. The United States proposes the mutual reduction of conventional intermediate-range nuclear and strategic forces." edit "To symbolize this fundamental change in direction, we will call these negotiations START - Strategic Arms Reduction Talks."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
December 23, 1981 Address to the Nation About Christmas and the Situation in Poland. (Lech Walesa & Solidarity movement): Ronald Reagan , "Our government, and those of our allies, have expressed moral revulsion at the police state tactics of Poland's oppressors. The Church has also spoken out, in spite of threats and intimidation. But our reaction cannot stop there. I want emphatically to state tonight that if the outrages in Poland do not cease, we cannot and will not conduct ``business as usual'' with the perpetrators and those who aid and abet them. Make no mistake, their crime will cost them dearly in their future dealings with America and free peoples everywhere. I do not make this statement lightly or without serious reflection."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
March 10, 1982 Excerpt from Remarks on Signing Proclamation 4908, Afghanistan Day. Ronald Reagan, "The Soviet Union bears a grave responsibility for the continuing suffering of the Afghan people, the massive violations of human rights, and the international tension which has resulted from its unprovoked attack. The Soviet Union must understand that the world will not forget, as it has not forgotten the peoples of the other captive nations from Eastern Europe to Southwest Asia -- who have suffered from Soviet aggression. This is the meaning of Afghanistan Day, that the Afghan people will ultimately prevail."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
May 9, 1982 Excerpt from Address at Commencement Exercises at Eureka College, Eureka, Illinois. Ronald Reagan, "The Soviet Union bears a grave responsibility for the continuing suffering of the Afghan people, the massive violations of human rights, and the international tension which has resulted from its unprovoked attack. The Soviet Union must understand that the world will not forget, as it has not forgotten the peoples of the other captive nations from Eastern Europe to Southwest Asia - who have suffered from Soviet aggression. This is the meaning of Afghanistan Day, that the Afghan people will ultimately prevail." edit "We are now approaching an extremely important phase in East-West relations as the current Soviet leadership is succeeded by a new generation. Both the current and the new Soviet leadership should realize aggressive policies will meet a firm Western response. On the other hand, a Soviet leadership devoted to improving its people's lives, rather than expanding its armed conquests, will find a sympathetic partner in the West. The West will respond with expanded trade and other forms of cooperation. But all of this depends on Soviet actions."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
June 8, 1982 Address to Members of the British Parliament. Ronald Reagan rallies against tyranny of totalitarianism, praises democracy, free elections. "We're approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention -- totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy's enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism is in order, because day by day democracy is proving itself to be a not-at-all-fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than 30 years to establish their legitimacy. But none - not one regime - has yet been able to risk free elections. Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root." edit "It may not be easy to see; but I believe we live now at a turning point. In an ironic sense Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great revolutionary crisis, a crisis where the demands of the economic order are conflicting directly with those of the political order. But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxist-Leninism, the Soviet Union." edit "What I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term -- the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people."
The Great Communicator Vol 2: The Military and the Soviet Union
June 17, 1982. Excerpt from Remarks in New York, New York, Before the United Nations General Assembly Special Session Devoted to Disarmament. Ronald Reagan calls for arms control, but warns that control doesn't equal peace. "My people have sent me here today to speak for them as citizens of the world, which they truly are, for we Americans are drawn from every nationality represented in this chamber today. We understand that men and women of every race and creed can and must work together for peace. We stand ready to take the next steps down the road of cooperation through verifiable arms reduction. Agreements on arms control and disarmament can be useful in reinforcing peace; but they're not magic. We should not confuse the signing of agreements with the solving of problems. Simply collecting agreements will not bring peace. Agreements genuinely reinforce peace only when they are kept. Otherwise we're building a paper castle that will be blown away by the winds of war. Let me repeat, we need deeds, not words, to convince us of Soviet sincerity, should they choose to join us on this path." edit "What a better world it would be if the guns were silent, if neighbor no longer encroached on neighbor, and all peoples were free to reap the rewards of their toil and determine their own destiny and system of government, whatever their choice." edit "... let those of us assembled here in the name of peace deepen our understandings, renew our commitment to the rule of law, and take new and bolder steps to calm an uneasy world. Can any delegate here deny that in so doing he would be doing what the people, the rank and file of his own country or her own country want him or her to do? Isn't it time for us to really represent the deepest most heartfelt yearnings of all of our people? Let no nation abuse this common longing to be free of fear. We must not manipulate our people by playing upon their nightmares. We must serve mankind through genuine disarmament. With God's help we can secure life and freedom for generations to come."