As you know, we have now embarked on a public campaign within the Alliance to
take the political offensive away from the Soviets. The purpose is to
demonstrate to Western publics that it is the Soviets, not the United
States, who are blocking the path to a more stable East-West relationship,
and that for our part we are ready for better relations if Moscow is ready
to show greater restraint.
To get this campaign off the ground, I believe that you should send a letter
to Brezhnev timed with the start of
the fall session of the U.N. General Assembly describing your views on the
future direction of US-Soviet relations. Although we would not release the
text of the
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letter, we envisage
briefing the press on its main themes in order to create the maximum
possible impact on Western opinion.
The proposed letter (attached) makes some of the same points that I plan to
use with Gromyko in my talks next
week. The basic message is that the U.S. is prepared to defend its interests
by whatever means necessary, but that a more constructive relationship is
possible if the Soviets exercise restraint.
Attachment
Letter From President Reagan to Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev3
[Begin text.]
Dear President Brezhnev:
As we begin the fall session of the United Nations General Assembly and
approach the meetings between our Foreign Ministers, I thought it would
be useful for me to describe to you some of my thoughts on the future
direction of U.S.-Soviet relations.
Let me say at the outset that the United States is vitally interested in
the peaceful resolution of international tensions and in a more
constructive and stable relationship with your country. We have
repeatedly demonstrated our willingness to settle disagreements by
negotiations and to observe scrupulously our international
commitments.
I believe, however, that a great deal of the present tension in the world
is due to actions by the Soviet Government. As we and our Allies have
repeatedly stated, two aspects of Soviet behavior are of particular
concern to us:
—First, the Soviet Union’s pursuit of unilateral advantage in various
parts of the globe and its repeated resort to the direct and indirect
use of force in regional conflicts. The role of Cuba in Africa and Latin
America is particularly disturbing and unacceptable to us.
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—Second, the USSR’s unremitting and
comprehensive military buildup over the past 15 years, a buildup which
in our view far exceeds purely defensive requirements and carries
disturbing implications of a search for military superiority.
Despite these trends, we are committed to a dialogue with the Soviet
Union. We are deeply concerned over the threat to mankind in the age of
nuclear weapons. I have stated publicly that the United States is ready
to engage in discussions with the USSR
that would lead to genuine arms reductions. The existing stockpiles of
these weapons and ongoing programs are such that only a serious effort
at arms reductions would contribute to the objective which we both
share, namely, lifting the threat of nuclear annihilation which hangs
over mankind.
While the United States is committed to a stable and peaceful world, it
will never accept a position of strategic disadvantage. Because the
Soviet Union has, over the past years, embarked on a major program to
improve its strategic forces, the United States must also upgrade its
forces. We have no desire to tax our societies with a costly,
burdensome, and dangerous build-up of armaments. The United States,
however, will invest whatever is needed to maintain a secure strategic
posture.
The meetings this month between our Foreign Ministers will, I assume, set
the time and place for negotiations between our two countries on what we
term “theater nuclear forces.” We are deeply committed to achieving a
military balance in this area—a balance which has been upset by the
unprecedented buildup of military forces by your country in recent
years, especially the deployment of the SS–20 missiles. Furthermore, as
we have stated at the Madrid meeting of the Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe, we are prepared to participate in negotiations to
fashion a coherent system of commitments on European security that are
verifiable and militarily significant.
With our Allies and other concerned nations, the United States is willing
to pursue negotiated solutions to the problems that threaten world
peace, including the presence of occupation forces in Afghanistan and
Kampuchea. Soviet readiness to resolve the Afghanistan problem on the
basis of a prompt withdrawal would go far toward restoring the
international confidence and trust necessary for the improvement of
East-West relations. The Vietnamese invasion and occupation of Kampuchea
has earned widespread condemnation from the international community as a
breach of accepted norms of conduct and a threat to peace. I call on
your government to exert its influence over the Government of Vietnam to
withdraw its troops from Kampuchea.
In sum, the United States is more interested in actions which further the
cause of world peace than in words. We are fully committed to solving
outstanding differences by peaceful means, but we are not willing to
accept double standards of international behavior. Words
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and public statements are, however,
important. A major contribution to the reduction of world tensions would
be for your country to curb the escalating campaign of anti-Americanism
and disinformation both inside the Soviet Union and abroad, a campaign
which only serves to poison the political atmosphere.
Mr. President, my country stands ready to begin the search for a better
U.S.-Soviet relationship. We are prepared to discuss with the Soviet
Union the full range of issues which divide us, to seek significant,
verifiable reductions in nuclear weapons, to expand trade, and to
increase contacts at all levels of our societies. I am hopeful that the
meetings between Secretary of State Haig and Foreign Minister Gromyko will start a process leading toward such a
relationship.
For such a process to bear fruit, your country must understand the need
for greater restraint in the international arena. At the same time, let
me add that the United States is fully prepared to take your interests
into account, if you are prepared to do the same with ours. If we can
succeed in establishing a framework of mutual respect for each other’s
interests and mutual restraint in the resolution of international
crises, I think we will have created a much more solid and enduring
basis for U.S.-Soviet relations than we have ever had before.
End text.
