Edward L. Rowny
As is customary after an election, I
submitted my resignation. But I
was told that President-elect Bush
wanted me to stay on until further
notice. Accordingly, I continued to
operate in the same capacity as
formerly as special advisor to the
President and the Secretary of State
for arms control matters.
It was heartwarming to me that two
days before he left office, President
Reagan presented me with the
Citizen's Medal of Freedom.
Q:
Regarding the groups that you
talked to during the period of time
of Bush's election campaign, were
they pro-Bush or were they people
President Reagan and Ambassador Rowny at
that you were trying to convince to
the Reagan ranch in California, February 1990.
keep the Reagan-Bush stand on
arms control?
The people I talked to were generally well disposed toward the Reagan-Bush
A:
philosophy. I was, for the most part, trying to convince them that it was important
to get out and vote, and vote the right way. The groups I talked to were not hostile
audiences and generally the questions were benign. I was trying to ensure that
people who felt disposed toward Reagan would in fact vote for Bush. It was more
an insurance policy of holding onto our friends than trying to convert our enemies.
Q:
I gather you felt that your speeches were rather well received?
Yes. I felt I helped bring along the people who were pro-defense and interested
A:
in arms control. Eight years earlier a large number of people were skeptical over
whether Reagan was or was not in favor of arms control. They now saw the
evidence; he brought home a very satisfactory INF treaty. One of the questions I
was asked quite often was whether I, in fact, favored the INF treaty. I said I did
mainly because it eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons and had good
verification provisions. I thought good verification provisions would stand us in
good stead for later treaties like a strategic arms treaty [START].
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