Word: mx
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...expenditure of political capital that Presidents make only a few times in a four-year term, and only for matters they deem absolutely essential. Just five hours before the Senate was to vote last week on spending $1.5 billion for construction of 21 more MX missiles, Ronald Reagan rode by motorcade from the White House to Capitol Hill for a climactic personal appeal on behalf of the controversial weapon. Meeting with Republican Senators over lunch in the Mansfield Room, the President pulled out a $5 bill to pay for his meal and quipped to Majority Leader Bob Dole, "Include...
...issue after issue since his second term began--loan guarantees for farmers, the MX missile, aid to the Nicaraguan contras--the President has been talking almost as tough as he does on taxes. He left no doubt that his approach is deliberate. Addressing the Magazine Publishers Association the morning after his "make my day" speech, Reagan noted, "Some stories recently (have suggested that) remarks of mine on taxes and defense and freedom in our hemisphere have been--well, shall we say, plain and direct." The stories, the President happily confirmed, were entirely correct: "We have an obligation...
...issue. The President has begun his second term with a clear set of goals: shrinking the role of Government in the economy and reducing the deficit by slashing nonmilitary spending; simplifying but not --horrors!--raising taxes; stabilizing relations with the Soviets through arms reductions, but without giving up the MX or his Star Wars plan; preventing the spread of Communism, especially in Central America. His re- election sweep has bolstered his already high confidence that the public will support...
Geneva figured heavily in another pending U.S. weapon decision, namely the fate of the MX in Congress. Reagan seemed on the verge last week of rescuing the controversial missile yet again from a funding cutoff by the Legislative Branch. In a highly polished lobbying campaign, he spoke to 150 members of Congress in small groups at the White House, constantly stressing that the U.S. would lose vital leverage in Geneva without the MX, which is scheduled to come up for a series of funding votes in the next few weeks. Using his favorite name for the missile, the President pleaded...
This "heavy-duty brainwashing," as one Administration official called it, showed every sign of working. Majority Leader Jim Wright, a Democrat, expressed a widely held view that the arms-talk link "enhances the likelihood" that Congress will release funds for production of an additional 21 MX missiles, bringing the total to 42. One key backer was Democratic Congressman Les Aspin, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, who told several colleagues that he planned to vote in favor of the MX, though he declined to make his position public. Democratic Congressman Norman Sisisky of Virginia, who moved from opposing...