 with us this morning, Mrs. Sylvia Sorkin. Who I understand will be competing in a big contest this evening. I hope you can all get out the sunrise for that event. I wish a special assembly, but I hope you weren't too disappointed. I've been looking forward to this chance to speak to you because I've got a very important mission that I want the countries want, the same thing. A safer and better future for themselves and their children. And the growth in nuclear arsenals about injustice and persecution of fellow human beings and about threats to peace around the world. It was because I shared that concern that I went to Geneva to begin a dialogue for peace with Mr. Gorbachev. We talked about many things. The need to cut the number of offensive nuclear weapons on each side. The wars of independence being waged by freed men of good will should be rejoicing. That our deliverance from the awful threat of nuclear weapons may be on the horizon. And I suggested to him that I saw the hand on this issue. We were realistic going into these meetings with the Soviets. The United States and the Soviet Union are as different as two names Gorbachev is the leader of the Soviet Union and no leader has held out the promise of change. He has said that he wants a better relation. Let's begin at the very least to draw back the barriers that separate our peoples from whatever that exists between us. The Soviet Union is not a democracy. The hopes and aspirations of the Soviet people and of the people of America that I will see to it that information on these people-to-people exchanges is widely disseminated. We want all of you through us to reach agreements for deep reductions in nuclear arsenals with strict compliance. To help support an end to regional conflicts and to see to it that human rights are respected. Together we can build a future that will be safer and more secure for you and your children. Yeah, if suddenly there was a threat to this world and some other species from another planet outside of the universe, we'd forget all of the local differences that we have between our countries and we would find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth together. I don't suppose we can wait for some alien race to come down and threaten us, but I think that between us we can bring about that realization. Thank you all, God bless you. Thank Ronald Reagan on his visit to the Faustin High School for pretending Maryland's December 4th, 1981. With this in mind, I would like to present to you our mascot, a Faustin Cougar, as a token of our respect for you and our appreciation for your visit. The class of students here at Faustin High School have several questions prepared for you today on your speech this morning on the news. How come I'm nervous? You could all be seated. Well, it's good to see you and I'll try my best with the questions that you have and have you decided who's first or... Mr. President, my name is Bill Breher. And this is going to talk to yourself our very strong dependence on your respective political systems. It was apparent that the two of you formed a friendship, but there was also a sense of mistrust between you. Do you really believe we can achieve world peace with the Soviets? Yes, I have to believe that we can and I'm optimistic and hopeful of it. In spite of the differences between our systems, I think one thing on our side is the Soviet people have, are virtually obsessed with the desire for peace because of the suffering they underwent in World War II. The Soviets lost 20 million people in that war. And that was not just military. That was the civilians that died as the attacks went into their cities like a Stalingrad and all. So there is a great desire for peace there. At the same time, there is a mistrust and we have to at least recognize that I got the impression that they really, many of them do believe that we have hostile intentions toward them. And I tried to disabuse them of that thought by pointing out that when World War II ended, ours was the only country that our industry hadn't been bombed to rubble in the war. Our military was virtually intact. We had 12 and a half million people, men and women in uniform, and we were the only ones with the nuclear weapon. We were the only ones who had the bomb. At that point, we could have literally dictated to the world if we'd chosen to do so, and we didn't. We set out to help the other nations in the war, including our enemies. And I pointed this out to him that we had some evidence on our side that we didn't have hostile intentions. And I can only hope that it registered. This is one of the things that I think could come out of these meetings that we're having, because now that they too have been victims of terrorism, I think that they've got a very definite reason for wanting to... We do cooperate with all the other nations in the world, or most of them. We've managed to establish a contact, exchange information, and so forth on terrorism. And I hope the same thing can happen with them. And then I'll go that way. My name's Troy Baseton, and I've been wondering what checks you're putting in place to stop a $2 billion failure like the Sargent York program from happening again? Well, it is in the case of putting things in place, you don't want those things to happen, and yet you must realize that in that field, as in so many others, you're going to research, and your research indicates the potential of some weapon system, and you go forward, and now and then you're going to find that defensive abilities have been developing all the time too, and suddenly you find that something that looked good when you first planned it and ordered it has now been overtaken by a superior defense. And I don't know any answer to that. Just try our best and see that those kind of things don't occur. A verifiable agreement of nuclear disarmament can ever be accomplished? A verifiable agreement. Agreement? Yes, but it's going to take confidence and trust on both sides. And this was one of the first things that I talked to General Secretary Gorbachev about, that for us to start talking, reducing arms or doing this or that, we would first have to by deed, not just word, prove that we were losing our distrust of each other. Because as long as we distrust to the point that there are restrictions on whether you can go in and verify what the other fellow is doing, then you're going to have to be suspicious and believe that those restrictions are based on a desire to not keep the agreement. And this was the basis of one of our talks and made it plain again that it's more than just words. There have to be deeds, both sides, to show that we mean we want to get along. And this was why I offered to them with our Strategic Defense Initiative. I told him that their scientists could come into our laboratories if ours could come into theirs, where this research was going on so that they could see exactly what it was we were trying to develop. Steel imports are still coming into the country above the quotas that were set. What stuff are going to be taken to enforce these quotas? We have the quotas and here and there there are violations and sometimes there are countries that get into the steel business that haven't been there before. Our whole system is based on equity and trade between the countries. And we just have to pursue that and wherever we find a violation we then bring that case forward and nail the other country where that violation is occurring. I think I should maybe turn this way for a minute. I'm going to be fair at all, shouldn't I? What is the most important accomplishment of the summit being outside of the cultural exchange? I think the most important thing was the very fact that we decided to continue having the meetings. We had thought when we left that the Soviets might be so resisting to future meetings that this alone could make the summit a success if we could get an agreement and we got it on the first day there and with no problem at all. He was almost eager for that and I think that but also our agreement for ever since 1946 our country has been proposing controls of weapons and in more recent years the controls of nuclear weapons and we've had negotiators, Vienna in Stockholm and in Geneva on this subject. For the first time really now the Soviets have actually suggested a figure to which if we can work out the conditions they would be willing to reduce their numbers. Up till now we've been the only ones that have had a number and said let's do a wavevex number of weapons and there's never been in the negotiation of them coming back and saying we're willing to reduce this number so you could then haggle about it. Now we've both come to the agreement that the idea would be right now to start with 50% of the nuclear weapons and so I think this was an accomplishment also. Mr. President, my name is Steve Dahlko. I was wondering why was Boston High School choosing out thousands of schools across the country to be honored by your visit? Well, you're a pretty outstanding high school and you're also here within range of the capital. I'd like to do this in more areas of the United States but we just thought that this was a pretty good place to start telling your generation about our dreams of people exchanges and with the hope that we have that it will be your generation that will start these exchanges where we can get better acquainted. Mr. Steve Dahlko, I'm wondering what position was held by the Russians about the human rights issue? I have to be a little careful here on that because I talked privately with General Secretary Gorbachev about that. They feel very strongly that they could appear to be yielding to an outside influence if they change their laws and so forth that we think are so repressive. So I felt that that was something that we should talk about in private and I can tell you that he has our full view and understanding of how we feel about the differences between our two nations in that respect but it isn't something that I think you go public with because of this resistance of anyone in leadership position in a government about seeming to give in to an outside government but I can assure you they know how we feel and they know what we think would be a good move. Mr. President, my name is Kimberly I. Do you believe that in the future an economic exchange will be established between the United States and the Soviet Union? An economic exchange. Well, there are certain areas of trade now as you know between us and this too would come along with this better understanding. Right now with the conditions the way they are and the arms race that has been going on and their evident desire to be number one militarily we have had to have restrictions on trading with them things that might help them in their arms race and those are the restrictions the only ones that I know basically on the trade between us but we, there is trade particularly in our agricultural field and we want to keep those doors as open as we can. Mr. President, I'm advocate and in issue of arms production do you believe that there will ever be any significant agreement settled between the U.S. and the Soviet Union because of the unwillingness of either sides to take either way out of each other's major stockpiles? I think, no I think as I said before that we made a pretty good start here on this matter of the nuclear weapons I think that both sides recognize that as long as we keep building these mountains of armaments higher in an effort to stay even with each other and here I have to say on our behalf we are the ones who are trying to catch up they are the ones who went out ahead and have placed their military emphasis on offensive weapons where we have thought of them as a deterrent to war and why we are seeking a defensive shield right now that would render nuclear missiles if not obsolete at least more harmless as a threat but I believe that for the first time they recognized with some of their problems that the arms races helped create those problems for them they have brought so much on military buildup that they have had to deny their people many of the things that you and I think are just every day in our ability to go down to the store and buy them well they don't have such privileges and we hope that with that as a help that maybe we can begin a reduction back in 1980 when I was running for this job there had been a number of arms agreements but all of them were limitations on how fast and how much we would increase and I got pretty outspoken about that those weren't the kind of agreements we needed that we needed an agreement that started reducing them and so for the first time that's what we're proposing and what's going on in Geneva way in the back there My name is Jennifer Harrison How do you and Mr. Gorbachev propose to organize a risk reduction center to prevent accidental nuclear war? Now wait a minute, I had a little problem there How do you and Mr. Gorbachev propose to organize a risk reduction center to prevent accidental nuclear war? How do we propose to... You've got to forgive me, I have a little problem To organize a risk reduction center? Oh, well this is a thing that we're trying to put together here in a proposed and they seem very willing to go along with this and this is to have, again, meeting places where our own military can meet with each other so that there wouldn't be danger of one or the other of us thinking that a hostile action had been taken This is more information on maneuvers war games, practice war games and so forth and we would have these centers where we could immediately communicate with each other at a military level and know what's going on So we're going to go forward with those and it's kind of a new experiment so I can't tell you exactly how they'll work out As we said, the Soviet... was a one world communist state So this has caused us to view with alarm as I say, their outright offensive build up of offensive weapons Now I think this would be one of the things and the type of deeds that we would talk about if they do not still follow that Marxian principle if they are not aimed at expansionism and conquering or taking over the whole world then they can help prove that they are joining in arms reductions to show that they have no hostile intent But this is one of the reasons for the basic suspicion between us Mr. President, I have a question concerning a different issue Due to the success of the crew of the Atlantis with experiments in the area on space construction what are your plans concerning Skylab or Space Station? We believe that the newest frontier in the world is space and we believe that the shuttle experiments so far have shown us so many literally miracles that can be performed in the weightlessness of outer space that instead of these just shuttle flights going up with experiment that we should see if we cannot put together out there a place where then the shuttles could carry workers and workers in space could develop let's take in the field of medicines alone we have an incurable ailment diabetes we have found in the experiments in the shuttle out there that a cell which in order to have a cure for diabetes must be able to be divided and split we can't do here on earth as we could do it up there in the weightlessness of space so there are other medicines and things of that kind that from the experiments already conducted we believe we need a place now not just experiment but to actually manufacture and so this kind of a Space Station I don't particularly like that name Space Station I know some people are toying with things like call it a universal space camp Station again has a kind of a hard possibly military sound to it and that isn't what it's for First I'd like to thank you for mentioning the contributor's competition at Rising Sun today I'm a cheerleader my question to you Mr. President is simply how do you feel none of the effects of any decision you make concerning the strategic defense initiative or more generally the nuclear arms race literally affect the lives of billions of people all around the world Well it's something anyone in this position has to live with it isn't easy and I have come to understand very much why Abraham Lincoln once said that if he well he said that he had been driven to his knees many times because there was no place else to go and he said if he didn't believe that he could call on someone who was stronger and wiser than all others he couldn't meet the responsibilities of his position for a single day and all you can do is try to the best of your ability with all the input and knowledge you get then hope that the decisions you make are based on what is morally right and that's all you can do and as I say I have come to understand very much what Mr. Lincoln meant he's supposed to be around the White House you know now and then Mr. Reagan, my name is Todd Pegg and I'd like to know what will the United States position be when the SALTO agreement expires late in December we haven't made a decision on that yet we have compiled a report right now that shows the Soviet Union has committed 23 violations of the SALTO agreement and we have to decide whether we can have complete agreement on both sides that we're going to abide by it even though it has never been ratified or we're going to have to conduct ourselves on the basis of what they are doing also there's no way that we could be so one-sided as to be destroying missiles and things of that kind to stay within a limit that they are violating this is one of the things when I talk about an arms buildup and where the race started when SALT-1 was agreed upon from the time of SALT-1 the Soviet Union has added 6,000 warheads nuclear warheads and since SALT-2 3,850 of those have been added and this is what I mean about agreements that were aimed at trying to limit the increase instead of flatly saying let's get rid of some of these things so we have a decision yet to make on that and it's going to in part depend on our negotiations with them about the present violations of that agreement and I'd better come back over here and I was wondering do you feel that a nation other than the United States or the Soviet Union could possibly start a nuclear war? that another nation other than the Soviet Union of the United States could start a nuclear war well we know that there are a few other nations some allies of ours that have some nuclear weapons we suspect that here and there there have been efforts whether they've succeeded yet in creating a missile or not we don't know but other countries and some of them other countries that are in the third world and where there is a lot of hostility and instability wars can start by accident if you take World War I it's been called by everyone who ever knew in history the war that no one wanted but it started when a terrorist a radical through a bomb at a leader of a European country assassinated the leader of the European country and out of that came World War I which finally included even the United States wars can start accidentally wars can spread across borders regional wars such as the one in Nicaragua and this is why this was one of our subjects also for negotiation we want to help in any way we can to persuade the Soviet Union to withdraw its troops they've had their fighting for six years bring them home and then let the people of Afghanistan within their country settle peacefully what kind of a government they want the present government of Afghanistan was installed there by the Soviet Union so that's why they're in defending that government I feel the first impressions are very important a little louder there I feel the first impressions are very important what were your first impressions of the premier general secretary Gorbachev my first impressions of him very intelligent man and while at the same time I recognize that he heart and soul believed in his in the system but he's grown up in he's young enough that this is all he's ever known he grew up even earlier than you in this in this system he has faith in it believes in it but at the same time having dealt with other leaders the Soviet Union who can kind of pound the table and get quite excited about things no our discussions I must say would be like we're having him he listened well and I listened to him and we were affable in this and it was a case of disagreeing on particular issues but no hostility no enmity and I had to believe that he believed some of the propaganda that's been going on for 70 years about us that he's never been to the United States and that his impression of us he was ready to believe for example that our strategic defense initiative that we're trying to find a defense against nuclear weapons that really out of that research we might develop something that would be a weapon in space for attacking them and I countered that by telling him that if our research yielded a defensive weapon we would sit down with them and with our allies with all the world and share it and say look why don't we all have this and then none of us have to have nuclear missiles and I hope that that had some impact on him but no I think that I have no illusions about him suddenly turning soft about their system and he totally believes in that that's the system that the people should have and I said to him look you have your system we don't like it and you don't like ours but we can each have our own systems and still get along together I hope you like teaching maybe one day I can try out your job well thank you very much having a meeting Helen later today back at the chapel and I'll be in front of you