Engineer Memoirs
During some of the sessions which I attended, I noted a desire by Gorbachev to
emulate Reagan's use of wit and humor to break the ice. He was not very good
at telling stories-but at least he tried.
At one point Gorbachev told a self-deprecating story about perestroika. A man
went into a bar and ordered a vodka. `That will be one ruble," the bartender said.
"But it was only 5 0 kopeks yesterday.* "One ruble," the bartender insisted.
Given a ruble the bartender gave the customer 50 kopeks change. "We're out of
vodka," he said, "that's perestroika at work.
Sensing that even though Reagan laughed, the joke had fallen flat, Gorbachev tried
again.
A raven saw a fox running down a path in the forest. "Why not try perestroika?"
the raven asked. `When I fly backwards, you should run backwards." The fox
did so and ran into the open jaws of a wolf. As the fox was being devoured he
complained to the raven. "Oh, I forgot to tell you," the raven said, "perestroika
is for high flyers only." This time Gorbachev was pleased as Reagan laughed
heartily.
Much has been written about Nancy Reagan's behavior toward Raisa, and in my
opinion unfairly. Although I had heard that Mrs. Reagan didn't like me because
I allegedly egged her husband on to expound conservative views, I must say that
what I observed of her in Moscow was exemplary. I was present at the famous
Moscow museum incident. Nancy Reagan had arrived at the appointed hour and
was kept waiting for almost half an hour for Raisa Gorbachev to appear. When she
did arrive, Raisa did so with a crowd of reporters who had been following her.
After perfunctorily greeting Nancy, Raisa launched into a diatribe on the "obvious
superiority" of Russian art over America's Although Mrs. Reagan's knuckles
went white, to her credit she restrained herself and did not answer Mrs. Gorbachev
in kind. I was disappointed that the reporters-at least the American ones-did not
praise Nancy Reagan for the restraint she showed under such difficult and
provocative circumstances.
President Reagan gave a memorable speech during the Moscow summit at the
Moscow university. It was a tour de force. A thousand students, undoubtedly
hand-picked by Soviet authorities, were assembled to hear the President. They
were prepared to be polite, but also prepared not to be persuaded. Reagan cut his
40 minute speech to 20 minutes, giving only the topic sentences and conclusion of
his prepared speech. It was a soft but polished sales pitch on the virtues of the
capitalist system. Reagan's simple eloquence, his sincerity, and his conviction got
through to the audience.
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