Although the format of their New Year's greetings was nothing like a debate, President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev identified their main area of disagreement -- weapons in space, using many of the same words and ideas to hope for a peaceful 1986.
Both referred to their November 1985 summit, the first meeting between leaders of the two countries in six years, with Reagan hoping to build 'on the foundations laid in Geneva.'
Gorbachev said the Geneva summit showed that, while 'The gap dividing us is still wide ... bridging that gap would be a great feat - a feat our people are ready to perform for the sake of world peace.'
The Soviet leader, who strode to his desk in the Kremlin, put on his glasses and began reading, said 1986 'has been declared the year of peace.'
'Let's work together to make it a year of peace,' said Reagan, sitting behind a desk flanked with the American and presidential flags, and a sideboard in the background displaying family pictures.Reagan had taped his five-minute address at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday.
While both dwelled on making it a safer world, Reagan made a pitch for his space defense program as a way 'to one day free us from the threat of nuclear destruction.'
Gorbachev opposed Reagan's 'Star Wars' program, saying, 'It is senseless to seek greater security for one's self through new types of weapons.'
Reagan used some Russian words, 'christoye nyebo' (clear skies) and 'spasiba' (thank you).
Gorbachev referred to 'a remarkable work of American literature, the novel 'The Winter of Our Discontent,'' written by John Steinbeck.
In one particularly interesting parallel, both men established they were speaking for their people.
Reagan said he spoke to Gorbachev in Geneva 'as the elected representative of the American people.'
Gorbachev said during the summit 'we had the mandate of our peoples.'
Reagan, in a long-awaited chance to explain the benefits of political freedom to the Soviet audience, declared, 'Our democratic system is founded on the belief in the sanctity of human life.'
Gorbachev said, 'The Soviet people are dedicated to peace -- that supreme value equal to the gift of life.'
Reagan's 'sanctity of human life' was in the context of human rights. Gorbachev's reference to 'the gift of life' was in the context of the need to prevent another war.
The Soviets, he reminded American listeners, suffered 'unhealing wounds and the agony of irretrievable losses' in World War II, fighting as allies with the United States.
Gorbachev noted the peaceful intentions of the American people he had learned from visiting members of Congress, scientists, businessmen and statesmen.
Reagan said, 'If people in both countries can visit, study and work together, then we will strengthen the bonds of understanding.'
Both men were optimistic that their Geneva talks and New Year's greetings were setting the stage for better U.S.-Soviet relations.
'A good augury,' Gorbachev said.
'A time for reflection and for hope ... for peace, prosperity and peace,' Reagan said.
