YouSaid · the spoken record

Reagan

lines on the record

66

first

1983-09-24

most recent

1984-09-24

sittings or episodes

2

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un-general-debate

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1. “Its founders spoke of the right of smaller countries not to become involved in others' disagreements. Since then, membership in the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries has grown dramatically, but not all the new members have shared the founders' commitment of genuine non- alignment. Indeed, client Governments of the Soviet Union which have long since lost their independence have flocked into the Movement and once inside have worked against its true purpose. Pseudo non-alignment is no better than pseudo-control of arms. 29. The United States rejects as false and misleading the view of the world as divided between the empires of the East and the West. We reject it on factual grounds. The United States does not head any bloc of subservient nations, nor do we desire to.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

2. “The Members of the United Nations must be aligned on the side of justice, rather than injustice; peace, rather than aggression; human dignity, rather than subjugation. Any other alignment is beneath the purpose of this great body and destructive of the harmony that it seeks. What harms the Charter harms peace. 27. The founders of the United Nations expected that Member nations would behave and vote as individuals, after they had weighed the merits of an issue—rather like a great, global town meeting. The emergence of blocs and the polarization of the United Nations undermine all that the Organization initially valued. 28. We must remember that the Movement of Non- Aligned Countries was founded to counter the development of blocs and to promote cooperation between them.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

3. “The Governments of the West and their peoples will not be diverted by misinformation and threats. The time has come for the Soviet Union to show proof that it wants arms control in reality, not just in rhetoric. 25. Meaningful arms control agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union would make our world less dangerous; so would a number of confidence- building steps that we have already proposed to the Soviet Union. 26. Arms control requires a spirit beyond narrow national interests. This spirit is a basic pillar on which the United Nations was founded. We seek a return to this spirit. A fundamental step would be a true non-alignment of the United Nations. This would signal a return to the true values of the Charter, including the principle of universality.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

4. “We have negotiated arms agreements, but the high level of Soviet encoding hides the information needed for their verification. A newly discovered radar facility and a new inter-continental ballistic missile raise serious concerns about Soviet compliance with agreements already negotiated. 24. Peace cannot be served by pseudo-control of arms. We need reliable, reciprocal reductions. I call upon the Soviet Union today to reduce the tensions it has heaped on the world in the past few weeks and to show a firm commitment to peace by coming to the bargaining table with a new understanding of its obligations. I urge it to match our flexibility. If the Soviets sit down at the bargaining table seeking genuine arms reductions, there will be arms reductions.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

5. “We cannot, however, especially in light of recent events, compromise on the necessity of effective verification. 23. Reactions to the Korean airliner tragedy are a timely reminder of just how different the Soviets' concept of truth and international co-operation is from that of the rest of the world. Evidence abounds that we cannot simply assume that agreements negotiated with the Soviet Union will be fulfilled. We negotiated the Helsinki Final Act,' but the promised freedoms have not been provided and those in the Soviet Union who sought to monitor their fulfillment languish in prison. We negotiated a biological weapons convention, but deadly yellow rain and other toxic agents fall on Hmong villages and Afghan encampments.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

6. “I have decided to put forward these important initiatives after full and extensive consultations with our allies, including personal correspondence that I have had with the leaders of the Governments of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Japan and frequent meetings of the NATO Special Consultative Group. I have also stayed in close touch with other concerned friends and allies. The door to an agreement is open. It is time for the Soviet Union to walk through it. 22. I want to make an unequivocal pledge to those gathered today in this world arena. The United States seeks and will accept any equitable, verifiable agreement that stabilizes forces at lower levels than currently exist. We are ready to be flexible in our approach—indeed, willing to compromise.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

7. “If the Soviet Union agrees to reductions and limits on a global basis, the United States for its part will not offset the entire Soviet global missile deployment through United States deployments in Europe. We would, of course, retain the right to deploy missiles elsewhere. 19. Second, the United States is prepared to be more flexible on the content of the current talks. The United States will consider mutually acceptable ways to address the Soviet desire that an agreement should limit aircraft as well as missiles, 20. Third, the United States will address the mix of missiles that would result from reductions. In the context of reductions to equal levels, we are prepared to reduce the number of Pershing II ballistic missiles as well as ground-launched cruise missiles. 21.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

8. “That is where things stand today, but I still have not given up hope that the Soviet Union will enter into serious negotiations. 17. We are determined to spare no effort to achieve a sound, equitable and verifiable agreement. For this reason, I have given new instructions to Mr. Nitze at Geneva, telling him to put forward a package of steps designed to advance the negotiations as rapidly as possible. These initiatives build on the interim framework that the United States advanced last March and address concerns that the Soviets have raised at the bargaining table in the past. 18. Specifically, first, the United States proposes a new initiative on global limits.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

9. “We did not alter our objective of substantial reductions, but we recognized that there are a variety of ways to achieve this end. During the last round of Geneva talks, we presented a draft treaty which responded to a number of concerns raised by the Soviet Union. We will continue to build upon this initiative. 16. Similarly, in our negotiations on intermediate-range nuclear forces, when the Soviet leaders adamantly refused to consider the total elimination of these weapons, the United States made a new offer. We proposed, as an interim solution, some equal number on both sides between one and 572. We recommended the lowest possible level. Once again, the Soviets refused an equitable solution and proposed instead what might be called a "half zero option"—zero for us, and many hundreds of warheads for them.”

   1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

10. “When I was here last, I hoped that the critical Strategic Arms Reduction Talks would focus, and urgently so, on those systems that carry the greatest risk of nuclear war—the fast-flying, accurate, intercontinental ballistic missiles which pose a first strike potential. I also hoped the negotiations could reduce by one half the number of strategic missiles on each side and reduce their warheads by one third. Again, I was disappointed when the Soviets declined to consider such deep cuts, and refused as well to concentrate on these most dangerous destabilizing weapons. 15. Despite the rebuffs, the United States has not abandoned and will not abandon the search for meaningful arms control agreements. Last June, I proposed a new approach toward the START negotiations.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

11. “Nuclear non-proliferation must not be the forgotten element of the world's arms control agenda 13. At my last visit here, I expressed hope that a whole class of weapons systems—the longer-range intermediate nuclear forces—could be banned from the face of the earth. I believe that to relieve the deep concern of peoples in both Europe and Asia, the time was right, for the first time in history, to resolve a security threat exclusively through arms control. I still believe the elimination of these weapons—the zero option—is the best, fairest, most practical solution to the problem. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union declined to accept the total elimination of this class of weapons. 14.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

12. “I believe that if governments are determined to deter and prevent war, there will not be war. Nothing is more in keeping with the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations than arms control. 11. When I spoke before the twelfth special session, devoted to disarmament. I affirmed the United States Government's commitment, and my personal commitment, to reduce nuclear arms, and to negotiate in good faith toward that end. 12. Today, I reaffirm those commitments. The United States has already reduced the number of its nuclear weapons worldwide and, while replacement of older weapons is unavoidable, we wish to negotiate arms reduction; and to achieve significant, equitable, verifiable arms control agreements. And let me add, we must ensure that world security is not undermined by the further spread of nuclear weapons.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

13. “During the past year alone, violent conflicts have occurred in the hills around Beirut, the deserts of Chad and the Western Sahara, in the mountains of El Salvador, the streets of Suriname, the cities and countryside of Afghanistan, the borders of Kampuchea, and the battlefields of Iran and Iraq. 9. We cannot count on the instinct for survival to protect us against war. Despite all the wasted lives and hopes that war produces, it has remained a regular, if horribly costly, means by which nations have sought to settle their disputes or advance their goals. 10. And the progress in weapons technology has far outstripped the progress toward peace. In modern times, a new, more terrifying element has entered into the calculations—nuclear weapons. A nuclear war cannot be won and it must never be fought.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

14. “What has happened to the spirit which created the United Nations? 7. The answer is clear: Governments got in the way of the dreams of the people. Dreams became issues of East versus West. Hopes became political rhetoric. Progress became a search for power and domination. Somewhere the truth was lost that people do not make war, governments do. 8. And today, in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the North Pacific, the weapons of war shatter the security of the peoples who live there, endanger the peace of neighbors, and create ever more arenas of confrontation between the great Powers.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

15. “They hoped that a world of relentless conflict would give way to a new era, one where freedom from violence prevailed. 3. Whatever challenges the world was bound to face, the founders intended this body to stand for certain values, even if they could not be enforced, and to condemn violence, even if it could not be stopped. This body was to speak with the voice of moral authority. That was to be its greatest power. 4. But the awful truth is that the use of violence for political gain has become more, not less, widespread in the last decade. Events of recent weeks have presented new, unwelcome evidence of brutal disregard for life and truth. They have offered unwanted testimony on how divided and dangerous our world is, how quick the recourse to violence. 5. What has happened to the dreams of the founders of the United Nations? 6.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)

16. “1. Thank you for granting me the honor of speaking today, on this first day of the general debate at the thirty-eighth session of the General Assembly. Once again I come before this body preoccupied with peace. Last year I stood in this chamber to address the special session on disarmament. I have come today to renew my nation's commitment to peace. I have come to discuss how we can keep faith with the dreams that created this Organization. 2. The United Nations was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War to protect future generations from the scourge of war, to promote political self- determination and global prosperity, and to strengthen the bonds of civility among nations. The founders sought to replace a world at war with a world of civilized order.”

    1983-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 38 (1983)