Engineer Memoirs
The meeting, Bush said, would be devoted to general discussions and no specific
arms control matters would be taken up. Because of the general nature of the
discussions and the limited facilities at Malta, it was decided that no arms control
experts would travel with the President. Rather, we were to stand by our
telephones to answer questions that might come up.
It was just as well that we didn't travel to Malta. A severe storm blew up which
disrupted the meetings. Malta suffered a storm, the likes of which had not been
seen in the Mediterranean in a decade. The high seas and 60-mile per hour winds
kept Bush from leaving the cruiser Belnap for his scheduled meeting with
Gorbachev on the Soviet warship Slava. On the second day, an impatient Bush
took off for a meeting with Gorbachev on the Soviet pleasure boat Maxim Gorky.
By deciding to brave the elements, Bush's critics said he was trying to live down
his "wimp image." The admiral's barge in which he made the trip was described
as bouncing around like a cork in a bathtub. After five attempts to board the
Maxim Gorky in the high seas and howling wind, Bush made it on the sixth try.
He could have saved himself the trouble; Gorbachev did not risk leaving the Slava.
When the two leaders finally got together, Bush immediately moved to bolster
Gorbachev's position in the Soviet Union and internationally. Making certain that
the reporters were within earshot, Bush told Gorbachev, "You are dealing with an
administration that wants to see the success of what you are doing.
The world
would be a better place if perestroika succeeds."
I was surprised that Gorbachev did not reply personally. His spokesman, Gennadi
Gerasamov, said that the talks were "excellent" and that "the Cold War is over.
This was the first official statement on either side announcing the end of the Cold
War. However, to Bush's advisors, such a statement appeared premature and
overly optimistic. Alarmed that the rhetoric overstated the case, Bush's aides acted
quickly to dampen the euphoria. America's offers to help perestroika would
evaporate, they said, if the Soviets did not clean up their act in Central America.
Q ..
Was arms control discussed at Malta?
A ..
Yes. Despite Bush's intention to stay away from substantive discussions on arms
control, Gorbachev brought up START and CFE. The desultory discussions in an
acknowledgement from both leaders that START had a number of issues yet to be
resolved and that little progress had been made. As for CFE, Bush accepted
Gorbachev's suggestion that a 23-nation conference be scheduled in Berlin to clear
up the remaining obstacles.
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