TRANSCRIPT OF PRESIDENT'S SESSION WITH NEWSPAPER EDITORS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505370016-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: April 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Transcript of Presidents SessIon With Newspaper Editors
rf:
Following is a transcript of President Reagan's address to the American,
.,$pciety of Newspaper Editors in Washington yesterday and questiors and an-
s.wers, as recorded by The New York Tfrries through the facilities of Cable
cNews retwork:
bJ) Thank you. Well, thank you very doubters were qukk1 rebut?ed The
t1nuch. I am delighted to have this op- Anti-Defamation League of B'nai
?ortunity to be with all of you today. I B'rith quickly issued a strong state-
k thef thittthfiihhf
now purpose os ge-ogeer ment conrmng te trut o what we
saidabout the persecution of rews in
Nicaragua.
And n the illicit drug trafficking
charge, I was grateful to a number of
publications for editorially outlining
the depth and extent of the evidence
against the Sandinistas. A massive
report by the President's Comrnis-
sion on Organized Crime on the inter-
national drug trade, for example, dis-
cussed the Sandinistas participation
in the drug trade.
Extremely persuasive testimony
hasalso come from Alvaro Baldizan,
the former chief investigator of the
Special Investigations Commission of
the Ministry of Interior in Nicaragua.
And by the way, besides his descip-
tions of what ie learned about the
Sandinistas' inyolvement in the drug
trade, Se?or Baldiz4n's testimony,
called "Inside the Sandinista Re-
giine: A Special Investigator's Per-
spective." This is a richly detailed
harrowing look at te Sandinista re
gime.
It's been published for the State De-
partment, and I recommend it to you.
I think your readers would be in-
trigued by his revelations, especially
his portrait of Sandinista leaders like
Interior Minister Tomas Borge and
that gentleman's often successful at- . . Associated Press
tempts to mislead visiting digni- President Reagan with Robert P. Clark, president of the American Society
tanes.
I
A14
: Chairman: Thank you very much,
r. President. We will have ques-
tions from the floor. Let me remind
:you that members only will ask ques-
??tin5 and please state clearly your
tiame and your newspaper affiliation
.. so that not only the others in the hall
but the President can understand who
you 'are.
And i'll recognize the questioners,
and I recognize Dick Smyser, Dick.
REAGAN'S ADDRESS
: some bck:ndfoh beTweeifus, so
. l.'ll try to keep my remarks short. But
this is a very influential group, and
what politician worth his salt would
give up the chance to make a few
..points to you this morning,
: It reminds me of a story that my
friend Punch Sulzberger tells about
the time he had lunch at the White
..> House.i That evening lie went home
. . id called his mother, who as you
know is the most remarkable woman,
' and he said t her, "Mother, today I
.' had lunch at the White House with the
" 'President of the United States, the
' Vice President of the United States
'and the Secretary of State."
. . "Yes, dear" his mother said dryly,
. "and what did they want?"
. ' I didn't want this opportunity to go
. by without pointing t some ' of the
enormous changes that we've seen in
' American politics during this decade.
. I don't have to remind those of you
. who report and edit the news of the
. scope of this change, but I do think it's
. a good idea now and then to take a
. ' moment and reflect on the meaning
: o that change and gain some per.
. ' spective on a decade that is now more
. . tlan half over.
.' I'm sure you all remember that
cen we took office in 1981 we faced
iflppalling economic conditions, and
that's not to mention the crisis of
con- of Newspaper Ed as he grted editors yesterday in Washi
flors,ngton.
sidence in America's military La Prensa Editor's Article '
'strength and her international pres-
tide. Our program for economic re- I hope you'll permit me one other Miami Herald. Mr. President, dipla- counter in the Gulf of Sidra, there
cQvery was much criticized, and get- recommendation, J'aime Chamarro, maticaily you said you supported th were six journalists that were on the
ting it through the Congress was the the editor of La Prensa, the heavily Contadora peace initiative i Central USS. Saratoga as part of a press
first of many tough struggles to censored but last remaining non-Gov- America. Yet those nations of th pool. But when the military encounter
. come. We also faced opposition to our erument newspaper in Managua, re- Contadora pact have said that they began, they were removed from the
. efforts to restore America's military cently wrote an article for The Wash- don't think that aid to the contras will ship and flown back to Rome and
??: strength and carry out a foreign iflgton Post. He put it quite plainly. help their eflort. low do you resolXe were not even made aware of the fact
?: policy that pursued peace while it He said the Sandinistas are trans- ' the contradiction between support of that there was a military encounter
also sought to halt Soviet expansion- forming the Nicaraguan revolution the Contadora initiative and your own going on in the Gulf of Sidra.
: ism an expand the borders of free- fought for by all Nicaraguans into a push for aid to the Contras? I'd like to know if you'd give us an
' dom, revolution that serves the purposes of A. Well, we may disagree on explanation as to why the reporters
' .. Marxism-Leninism. whether it is necessary oow to give were removed from the ship and if'
' . sew' Ideas And he went on to say that the San- this - we do believe it is necessary , you could restate your attitude on re-
?. . Much of this opposition was under- dinistas want to use his country as, and I'm wondering if their view porters covering military encounters
tandabIe. A number of the people in and I'm quoting, "a beachhead for would not be the same about help to involving the United States?
.o1icy. and opinion-making circles Communist expansion." He said they the contras in view of what just hap. A. Well, with the Grenada situation,
... had trouble dealing with the new were filling Nicaragua with quote pened at the last meeting, because we had found out how leaky Washing.
Ideas that we brought to Washington. "internationalists whose aims are the once again - and we have subscribed ton is in a number of things. We real-
': As Bill Buckley once put it, "Though expansion of Communist influence to their goals that they have put down ized that for the safety of our men
tiberaIs do a great deal of talking and Soviet domination in the region." as to what it is they're trying to that that operation had to be top Se-
iout hearing other points of view, it Md he adds: "When Latin Amer. ? achieve an4 they know we fully sub cret It came about with a direct re-
,-.19metimes shocks them to learn that ica or much of Lati
n America is scribe to them. . ' quest to us from the other Caribbean
ere are other points of view." under the influence of the Eastern But in thi last meeting, it was island nations that they didn't have
.$- But despite the parochialism of bloc, NATO will no longer be in Eu- Nicaragua once again - the Sandin- the power and asked us. As a matter
of our critics, our programs, rope. It will be San Antonio, Tex." ista Government - that refused the offact, at about 3 o'clock in the morn-
4, ith the support of the American peo. You know, he said that, I'm just proposals of Contadora and walked fhg it was relayed o me - it George
pIe, gained passage. I think tht re- quotin
ilts achieved thus far with the revi. Younow a numler of people h out. So, maybe how they'll join us in Shultz ever asks you for a q'.iiet week-
ere believing that there's going to have to end of golf at Augusta, don't take him
lization of the economy, our miii. in Washington have said that we can be some pressure put on the Sandin- Up on it - that's where I was awak-
,1ry strength aid the restoration of win the support for the freedom fight- ista Government to make i return to ned. And I knew that we had to ac-
pur international prestige bear out ers only on the strength of the na- the goals of the revolutionary against cede to their request.
tiie merit of oui conservatiye ideas. tional' security issue; Well I agree'
., t Sorhoza regime. They announced Now, we only. had 48 hour. to pu,t
A few gears back our simple e
,. with Se?or Chamarro that the na- publLcly goaI and informed this operation togethe and
the Or-r, we
>forts Co get some aid to El Salvador, tional security issue is very impor- ganization of Amerfcan States what feared very definitely that any leak
.so a democratic government could be tant. But you know, sometimes I their revolutionary goals were. And would result in higher casualties for
' firmly established there, met with think Washington people forget that they were democracy, a pluralistic our forces. We immediately that we
fierce opposition. But thanks in no self-interest aoesn't really count as society, freedom of press, religion, had landed, as you know, then, did
small part to the Salvadoran people, much with the American people as it freedom of speech, observance of provide the transportation and make
:rho braved guerrilla threats and gun. does in this town. human rights and the right of the peo- possible the bringing in of the press,
fire to march to the polls, we pre- . Well, I think you know that over the pie to choose their own government. On this latest one that you're asking
vailed - and so did the dream of long run, the American people are a And that's what is at issue. ? about, I was not aware of those six
moeracy. . little more enlightened than that, that The Sandinistas were only part of being taken off It seemed to me that
.'+My favorite story is of an elderly they respond readily to what's right
that revolution. And they ousted their we started, once there were hostili-
oman standing in line waiting hours and wrong, what's good and bad and revolutionary companions wh are ties, we started trying to round up the
vote in the hot sunshine in that fihat'
rst not just ws in it for me. I think mainly now the cont Once the press in Ital But this in response to
ras,y. Salvador election. And she had that's why support for the freedom they took ovz the reports th
revolution succeeded,at we deliberately went
*en hurt by the guerrillas because of fighters is growing in this country. and have established a totalitarian in there as a provocation. That was
detertnination to vote, and they The Sandinista Regime Communist state. the seventh such maneuver - war
told her that they would kill her And we think they're not going'to - games, you may want to call them -
S td her friends if she went on and The American people are just now
wten have we have ever seen a C that we have conducted in that same
ted. And she said: "You may kill getting the facts about the Sandinistaom- my regime its atrocities against groups Il'lunist government that has achieved area. And we knew that we were risk-
e and you may kill my family,. that totalitarian statehood? When i knowing th
: Iends. You can't kill us all." like the Miskito Indians, its persecu-ng,e nature of Qaddarl,
have we ever seen them voluntarily that there might possibl
And so she went in defiance of them ' tion of Jews and Christians the ver.y be some-
,, stood and voted. ' 1al attacks on Cardinal Obando, who and without some pressure or force thing.
give up their power? So we believe Andl'vealwayshadoneord
4intend to prevent from becominger: any
The Grenada Operation Cardinal Mindszenty of this hemi- that arming the contras is necessary, place we ever sent our personnel, I
I cap't help but mention the Gre- , sphere. And the list goes on, and I hope maybe now the Contdora declared to the Navy that it was my
" will 'agree with policy that if hostiliti
ada operation also in connection . The savageness and inhunianity of us.es were
'
ththesethings, Itwashardlyunder tt. ti.t ..
ay when some of ou critics took to
e airwaves to denounce our efforts
ere as rampant militarism. Well
,
jist as the people of El Salvador
oke out in t eir own way, so too our
ed1ca1 '
students and the people of
renada provided all the eloquent re-
,ittaIs that were needed.
In a curious' way, though, being
rong about the issues - whether it's
e economy or Central America -
oesn't seeni to discourage our crit-
'is. I'd hardly gotten through my teic-
cised address asking support for the
Jteedom figh
ters in Nicaragua when
-
onie voices were questioning some
; t1e charges I made against the
tandinista regime. For example, that
4he Sandinistas engagd in vicious
acts of anti-Semitism and that they'd
''b
en deeply involvd in the illicit
rug tra e.
But again, fortunately, some of the
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
representative that was meeting with
him and quite consistently. Our only
practice - or what we did during that
entire time - was to try and see that
the Philippines 'which historically
the Filippino people have . been our
close friends, that this did not degen-
erate into civil war, And when he
' himself publicly announced he re.
fusal to order the army to fight, we
were very pleasc4 with that, and I
thought it was very worthy of hini
that he did that.
And this was all. We just wanted to
see that there would be no civI war,
and we respect him for his willing-'
ness to leave the island. But, as far as
we knew, he was aware that his desti-
nation when he left the palace was
. Marcos Accusations
Q. Mr, President, I'm Dick Smyser
from The Oak Ridge in Oak Ridge,
I Tenn. President Marcos said during
his interview with Ted Koppel last
Thursday night that, in effect, he was
' double-crossed. He said that all f a Clark FieIcI.
sudden the Administration would not Q, And you're in effect saying that
' answer his telephone calls. He said President Marcos misspoke himself
, that when he went to Clark Air Force or stated a falsehood when said he
Base, he thought he was going else- thought he. was going to somewhere
. where in the Philippines and that it else in the Philippines?
,t was only after he was on the plane A. I think maybe he was misin-
that he learned that he was going to formed. It happens to every Presi-
Guam. Would you comment on his ac- dent.
. cusations?
. A. I think that toy friend Mr. Mar-
e cos has been misinformed by some.
As a matter of fact, I had a personal
Contadora Initiative
Chairman : Overhere on my left.
Q. Heath Meriwether with The
Approved For Release 20 1 0/09/1 3 : CIA-RDP9O-00552 R0005053700 16-6
NN NBW .YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, APRiL 1986
Coverage of Flhting
Q. Bill Ketter, from The Patriot
Ledger in Quincy, Mass. Mid. Presi-
dent, as you know the members of
A.S.N.E. and the press in general
were concerned when the press was
excluded from the Grenada invasion
sometime ago. After that we worked
out this situation with the Defense De-
partment when we had these practice
pools, where reporters would be able
to go with the military on these exer-
cises. And recently, in the Libyan en-
launched against us, we'll never send
4sa S bSLSA .? 4 J SU4 .J Y V.LA1L
to be told. We know now that the Fall in Oil Prices American military personnel without
the right to fight back and fire back if
Cubans knew aid approved of Sandin- Chairman: Don, on the right here. they're fired upon. So that was the
ista plans fo the r recent incursion rule that was in there.
into Hondur&s and that each day's Q, Don James, Wichita Falls Times But we went in on what had been
delay in assisting the freedom fight- and Record-News. Mr. President, the planned for months and months, and
ers increases the chances of a perma. free fall in oil prices is concerning a they'll probably be another such
nent Soviet beachhead of agression on lot of people, particularly with re- maneuver next year. nd then when
the Norht American mainland. . spect to woat it will do for explora- the hostilities - when they did launch
The Sandinista the Cubans and tion. Do you have any concerns about ,.-
----
Li5 IL,% GI5.L1 U WIL)' IL W
the Soviets want 'a military, riot a the longterm effectQf a virtual halt my understanding that then following
political, solution to the problem of in exploration for oil on the national that when it did become an operation
Central America. And that's why ?t's security? that we tried to round up the press
imperative to the House of Repre- A. Well, yes, and we hope that this and so informed them and make
sentatives to apprQve the legislation whole thing sill stabilize very quick- available to them the news.
recently passe by the Senate - ly. We're concerned lest some major Well, it's our information that
legislation that provides the freedom producers in other parts of the world the six reporters or six journalists
fighters with a full aid package, espe- might start playing games with this were removed from the ship and were
cially the defensive weapons they as if in an effort to eliminate competi- not told about the militaiy encounter
need to protect themselves. tion. And if they have such Ideas - I that was going to occur once the ship
And now that's been. enough of a don't know that they do - but if any- went across the "line of death." But
monologue, and I understand there's one does and has sueh an idea, of are you saying that you think the
a dialogue in the offing, so, Mr. Chair. course they would be looking forward pressshould accompany the military
t,-s tli,, ,..-..tA ,
nfl nfl
'.,..', __'_"_i. 'u fl all of its encounters?
-uvie pnces on i(ma 01 monopoly
basis. But we still believe in the free
market. We know that it now is a
hardship for the oil-producing regions
and industry here in America.
At the same time5 we can't deny
that it has been of great benefit to the
rest of industry in America, to our
productivity because of the impor-
tance of energy as part of production
aid of benefjtto oir citizens, with the
lower prices. ut i nope triat the tree
marketplace can adjust. I'm resist-
ant to the idea of government trying
to inject itself and through regulation
and so forth bring about a change be-
cause that never has worked, I hava
always stated that the nearest thing
to eternal life we'll ever see on this
earth is a government program.
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A. Yes, but I think that the - and
we have had such a policy - but I
think also that you must understand
where we believe that there is an
operation, that where secrecy is so all
important, that you give us the right
to protect ourselves against a leak of
information. And th'at leak does not
necessarily come from you. We found
that the White House is the leakiest
place I've ever'been in. So, you'd be
surprised how few people knw that
we were planning that operation. Not
even our press secretary knew - not
that he's the leaker - we just kept it
that close,
Q. We'd like, to be there for the
leaks.
A. But I'm going to look into what
you said about the six.
Dealing With Terrorism
Q. Mr. President, Randy Hatch,
from Ogden, Utah, The Ogden Stand-
ard-Examiner. After increasing ter-
rorisin and incidents of terrorism and
reviewing all the options available, do
you have a specific plan of dealing
with terrorism in the future now?
A. Well, we've taken very seriously
things - as I've said, we're not going
to just sit here and hold still. We're
trying to work with our allies, and
we've been successful in part, with
regard to cooperation and intelli-
gence matters. Last year, thanks to
that cooperation betweer' our coun-
tries, we were able to abort 126
planned terrorist attacks throughout
the world.
And we're continuing to try and get
more support now for action that
would be appropriate in view of the
greater threats that are being uttered
of terrorist activities. And right now,
with the most recent activities, I
cant get specific with you because I
can only tell you that we are invest!-
gating and trying to gather all the in-
formation we can so that we can actu-
ally, with solid evidence, point a fin-
ger at who is responsible.
Q. Can you indicate if it might be
Mr. Qaddafi?
A. Let us say he is definitely a sus-
pect.
Q. Thank you.
Attacks on Critics
Q. Mr. President, I'm David Corco-
ran froii The Record of Hackensack,
N.J. A personal question, if I may. I
think Americans overwhelmingly re-
gard you as a nice guy. and yet in
your talk today and in talks around
the country you have denounced your
critics and liberals and the previous
Administration in language that I
think is unusually harsh for a Presi-
dent in the ixth year of what's over-
whelmirigly considered to be a very
successful Administration, Can you
tell us, sir, why at this stage of your
Presidency you find it necessary to
engage in such attacks?
A. Well, now, my quoting of Bill
Buckley and his line, is that what
you're referring to as being harsh? I
don't often quote him because he uses
too big a words, but I didn't iJ'iink that
was harsh. There's rio question but
that I am tagged . throughout the
world as being an archeonservative,
and I've always thought that I was
kind of defending myself when I an-
swered back. ' .
Back in the beginning of our ceo-
nomic program that started this re-j
cuvery, I was aware that my critics
had named the plan Reaganomics,
and I knew it was a success when they
stopped calling it that.
Where have I been so - I don't
think I've been all that harsh.
Q. Well, sir, would you say then that
your remarks about liberals and your
critics in the media are just a normal
part of the ongoing dialogue and cx-
change in the marketplace of ideas?
A. Well, I'm sorry you took that to
yourself. 1 was very careful to say
"critics" and stop there. There's a
good share of the 535 on Capitol Hill,
and they aren't connected with the
press, that are critics, And so I wasn't
- in front of this audience I wasn't
going to actually tag my critics as
being the pressl ?
No, I recognize the right, and I go
along with Thomas Jefferson. I will
protect and believe in a free press. I
could say there is a section of the
press that takes me on regularly, but
it's a controlled press - Pravda and
Tass- and I don't defend them at all.
Publicity of Terrorists
Q. Mr. President, Mike Davies, The
Hartford Courant. It has been said
that publicity, in a sense, is the life-
blood of terrorism. Perhaps without
so much publicity terrorist acts
might diminish in scope and in num-
ber. Would you care to comment,
please, on how well or how poorly you
think the American media have coy-
ered terrorist acts up to this point?
A. I know' there's talk about pub.
licity and so forth, and I know they
strive for it. On the other hand, just
trying to pretend that it doesn't hap-
pen, keeping quiet about it, isn't going
to end it. I think we all - and by all I
mean that we in our country plus our
friends and allies throughout the free
world - have got to set down stand-
ards and make it plain that there will
be retaliation and that terrorism can-
flot succeed. And thus part of our
policy is that we will never pay oft
terrorists because that only en-
Courges more of it.
I, thinic the only time that I ever
wondered about the media was in th
terrorist kidnapping of a plane in Bet-
rut, and then when Nabih Bern took
away from the original hijackers our
people and held them and then
started negotiating for their release.
I did wOnder why some one of the
press that was present, when chey -
could come in and out and go back to
their hotels at night and then meet
with Nabih Bern the next day an
there he sat, flanked by their fellow
Americans who were prisoners, kid-
nap victims. Even though Nabih had
not been the rsan who hijacked the
plane, he hijacked it from the hijack-
ers.
" And I wondered why at some time
someone didn't say: "We are Amer.
leans, we've committed no crime or
anything, we're going when this press
conference is over, be able to walk out
of here and go where we want to go,
Why can't those other Americans
who'va committed no crime against
anyone, why can't they walk out of
here with us?"
And I just - I would have liked to
have seen the look on his face on the
TV news program if someone had
asked him that question at the time.
So it it ever happens again, be1
someone will think of it and ask that
question. -
Q. We thank you very much, Mr.
' President. We appreciate your being
here.
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