An Interview with President Reagan

Reflections on summitry and the Soviet challenge

A long day of combat over the budget was behind him, and Ronald Reagan was heading for his retreat, Rancho del Cielo, near Santa Barbara, Calif., to mix the woodsy labor he loves with cramming for his forthcoming summit meetings in Western Europe. Before he left Washington, the President discussed his trip with TIME White House Correspondent Laurence I. Barrett and Senior Correspondent John F. Stacks. The President's voice was raspy—the result, he said, of a malfunctioning fireplace that had filled his den with smoke the night before—but he seemed relaxed as he talked about foreign policy. Highlights of the interview:

Q. This double summit is certainly your biggest and most important foreign journey so far. Besides the general good-will aspects of it, what problems with the Western alliance, in your view, most need attention?

A. We have had some ups and downs in the relationship in NATO in the past, and when I say the past, I mean before our Administration was here. I think there is now a far better relationship than we have had for some time, and this visit will give us an opportunity to further cement that.

I think all of us have economic and trade problems that we need to talk about, because we can't separate ourselves out from the others and think that our problems and our economic situation don't have something to do with theirs. If there are any things that need clarification with regard to our relationship as allies, when we get to the Bonn meeting we will take those up. I think the very fact of our proposals recently for arms-reduction talk's means that we need to see each other face to face so they can feel comfortable with any problems they may have about our intentions.

Q. How have things changed since your meetings with Western leaders at Ottawa last July?

A. We're all on a first-name basis now. We all know each other. There were several of us who were brand new [in office] then. I was meeting some of them for the first time. But now we have met, we have worked out issues we brought up there, as well as worked on things that we can further develop.

Q. William Clark, your National Security Adviser, in a speech the other day describing the Administration's approach to the Soviets, said that Moscow must be made to pay the price of its economic failures. Just how would that be done and to what extent would the U.S. depend on cooperation from the allies?

A. I think that what he really was talking about was the economic situation of the Soviet Union, which is very desperate to day. I don't see this as a confrontational problem. I see this as an opportunity once again to see if the Soviets cannot be persuaded to give more consideration to rejoining the family of nations. Obviously, their obsession with the military at the expense of their people's standard of living has not paid off for them, other than in having the greatest military buildup in world history. But we are offering an opportunity—by way of these arms-reduction talks—to indicate to them that there is another road, that there is a road of cooperation. But it is going to take deeds, not words, to convince us of their sincerity if they choose to take that road.