Come Out of the Wings,

A showdown is shaping up over the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit that will be the public-relations battle of the century. The protagonists are the Great Communicator and the Genius of Glasnost. The issue will be who gets credit for the historic treaty that will eliminate an entire class of nuclear weaponry. Recall that, in 1980, Reagan warned that the Soviets would only abandon their arms race if the United States competed realistically with them. This reasoning was the justification for the biggest U.S. peacetime defense buildup ever. But that buildup entailed enormous political sacrifice—culminating in the loss of the Senate in 1986, and all that that has entailed. Now the treaty prize that might warrant the sacrifice is within Reagan’s grasp, but Gorbachev may snatch it away from him.

Both the hard Right and the hard Left in this country are attributing the INF treaty to a desperate effort by Reagan to overcome his lame-duck status, the Bork defeat, the stock-market crash, and the Iran/Contra affair. They do not see in it the final triumph of a calculated defense policy. Thus Gorbachev, who plans to tour the United States after the treaty signing, will be perfectly positioned to get the credit. He will be the energetic, exciting, peace-loving Hero of the Summit—unless Reagan takes the initiative.

Featured Tags

A showdown is shaping up over the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit that will be the public-relations battle of the century. The protagonists are the Great Communicator and the Genius of Glasnost. The issue will be who gets credit for the historic treaty that will eliminate an entire class of nuclear weaponry. Recall that, in 1980, Reagan warned that the Soviets would only abandon their arms race if the United States competed realistically with them. This reasoning was the justification for the biggest U.S. peacetime defense buildup ever. But that buildup entailed enormous political sacrifice—culminating in the loss of the Senate in 1986, and all that that has entailed. Now the treaty prize that might warrant the sacrifice is within Reagan’s grasp, but Gorbachev may snatch it away from him.

Both the hard Right and the hard Left in this country are attributing the INF treaty to a desperate effort by Reagan to overcome his lame-duck status, the Bork defeat, the stock-market crash, and the Iran/Contra affair. They do not see in it the final triumph of a calculated defense policy. Thus Gorbachev, who plans to tour the United States after the treaty signing, will be perfectly positioned to get the credit. He will be the energetic, exciting, peace-loving Hero of the Summit—unless Reagan takes the initiative.