GRINDING OUT THE TREATY 299board – and he pounded the coffee table with the flat of his hand to
reinforce the point.^86
On 31 May Reagan gave his speech at Moscow State University. He
had drafted it in an avuncular style. His themes were freedom, peace
and cooperation. He memorably recounted the scene in the Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie when the two outlaws are poised
on the edge of a cliff overlooking a river. Butch urges Sundance to
jump. Sundance replies that he cannot swim. But they both jump and
survive. Reagan likened the episode to ‘perestroika and what its goals
are’. He wished the Soviet reforms well.
Gorbachëv was his equal as a showman. When they took their
scheduled stroll that day in Red Square, Gorbachëv picked up a young
boy and told him to shake hands with Dedushka Reigan (‘Grandad
Reagan’). The President reacted with characteristic gracefulness. As
they turned into the Kremlin at the Spasski Gate, a crowd of reporters
shouted for their attention. One of the questions was: ‘Do you still
think you’re in an evil empire, Mr President?’ Reagan simply replied:
‘No, I was talking about another time and another era.’^87 That single
word ‘No’ was relayed in TV and press bulletins around the world. It
was indeed a statement of importance. A president who had once
denounced the USSR in blistering terms was walking with a general
secretary as if nothing was more normal. American conservatives wor-
ried that their President might have fallen for the charm of the Soviet
leader. They were also apprehensive that, even if Reagan’s judgement of
Gorbachëv’s sincerity was well founded, there was no guarantee that
he could survive for long in power. On 31 May Shultz took a question
on the topic from Tom Brokaw of NBC News. Without commenting
on the General Secretary’s future tenure of office, he assured American
viewers that the President was right to persist in seeking further agree-
ments with the USSR as soon as possible.^88
On 1 June Gorbachëv and Reagan came together in the Kremlin’s
Vladimir Hall to sign the treaty. Dignitaries from both countries were
in attendance. Senators Doyle and Byrd had flown over, and Reagan
was surrounded by Shultz, Carlucci and Powell while Gorbachëv
brought along his entire Politburo. Nancy Reagan gave Shultz a kiss
before taking her seat next to Raisa Gorbachëva. The moment of sig-
nature happened on schedule at midday. Politics were not forgotten on
the American side as Reagan gave thanks to the American Senate for
its support.^89 The unimaginable had suddenly happened. America and
the Soviet Union had not just agreed to limit the number of nuclear