Ronald Reagan: Good Chemistry

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"The biggest thing about this visit," he declares, "the thing that impressed me the most, was the people. They were lined up along the street by the thousands. I was amazed by their sincere warmth and pleasure at us being there. At first I was trying to wave from inside the car. Then I decided to open the window a little bit and stick my hand out so that they could actually see there was a person in the car. They seemed to respond to that."

Because their son Ron had urged the Reagans to see the Arbat, Moscow's lively pedestrian mall, the first thing they did after the greetings was take a stroll through the area. It turned into a crunch. "We thought we could sneak out," Reagan relates. "But the word must have gotten around. A lot of people showed up and it was the same warm welcome. The damper was how the KGB security men treated their own people. Our problems are not people to people, they are government to government."

Inside the Kremlin, he noted the religious paintings that adorn the walls. He did his share of neck craning at the dinners and ceremonies, and the cameras, thus directed, followed his gaze to the figures of Christ and the Apostles. He wondered to himself whether, if something were to happen to the decorations, they could be restored. "I looked up at all the beautiful work," says Reagan, "and I thought about our great technology and our & ability to build skyscrapers and all that, and I had to wonder if we could duplicate this. Could we find people in the world to do that kind of work?" This was, perhaps, another subtle reprimand for all nations that repress individuality, a theme he preached from the Danilov Monastery to Moscow State University.

When he mentions his visit to the university, Reagan seems to get a surge of enthusiasm. "That was very encouraging," he says. "Their interest was genuine. When I finished talking to the Soviet students, I met with 35 American students who are studying at the university. I can't believe this interrelationship does not affect governments. That's why I want to set up a program for more exchange, for thousands of students."

The summit meeting is waning, a remarkable free-form talkathon that flowed across the city from the elegant Kremlin chambers to the sullen, gritty streets. It may prove, when history looks back, to be Reagan's finest hour, not to be measured by the treaties and agreements signed, because they were of modest nature, but by the easing of tension and the nurturing of understanding between the suspicious superpowers. During his visit Reagan defined his presidency in more detail and feeling than he has ever done. He was making a bid for history to look up and take notice.