(Music.)
Ken Herrera: In early December, the Hammer and Sickle flew alongside the Stars and Stripes in the nation’s capital as Soviet leader Gorbachev met with President Reagan to sign a Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty of historic proportions.
Here’s UPI Radio’s White House Correspondent Bill Small …
Bill Small: "Side by side they stood on the South Lawn of the White House, the Soviet General Secretary and the American President who would call the Soviet Union an evil empire; but there was none of that rhetoric this time, though."
President Ronald Reagan: "'I've often felt that our people should have been better friends long ago.'"
Bill Small: "The highlight of the Summit was the signing of a treaty eliminating all U.S. and Soviet medium- and shorter-range nuclear missiles worldwide, the first agreement to actually reduce nuclear arms since the dawn of the Atomic Age. And at the signing ceremony, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev was looking ahead to a possible treaty cutting strategic nuclear forces by half …
Unknown Speaker: "'The treaty whose text is on this table offers a big chance at last to get onto the road leading away from the threat of catastrophe."
Bill Small: "Mr. Reagan's overall assessment of the Summit at the end was an upbeat one …
President Ronald Reagan: "'This Summit was a clear success. I believe there is reason for both hope and optimism."
Bill Small: "His Summit success was something that Mr. Reagan needed badly.
