Word: zeros
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...European applause was no great surprise: over the past months, allied leaders have been pressing Washington hard to accept the zero option. In fact, success seemed to have the usual number of fathers. Officials in West Germany and Italy, the countries where most of the planned new missiles are to be based, claimed partial credit for devising the plan. The most notable claimant was Chancellor Schmidt, who likes to see himself as a useful mediator between the superpowers. Reagan's speech, said Schmidt, "gives me a broad base for the talks" he will have this week with Brezhnev...
Italian Premier Giovanni Spadolini was visiting French President Francois Mitterrand when the speech was given. Said Spadolini, upon emerging from the Elysee Palace: "The Italian and French reactions are both favorable." Concurred French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson: "The zero solution is obviously advisable." Skeptics, however, dismissed the speech as a cynical attempt to score off the Soviets by making Moscow an offer it could not accept...
There was another reason for European satisfaction with Reagan's speech. Though long used to being confronted with Washington faits accomplis, the NATO leaders this time had been kept informed on the evolution of the policy decision. The zero option was discussed in a meeting of allied defense ministers in Gleneagles, Scotland, in October. Three weeks ago, a draft of the final negotiating proposal was approved by a special NATO consultative group in Brussels chaired by Assistant Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. He carefully briefed top European officials on the speech days before Reagan delivered...
Under pressure from the Europeans, and largely at Haig's urging, the Administration agreed in May to resume INF talks by the end of the year. But Reagan's men had trouble deciding on a bargaining strategy. Weinberger and his Pentagon colleagues tended to favor the zero option. They maintained that it would be the best way to please the Europeans and put the Soviets in a bind. Haig, however, argued that the zero option would both raise false hopes in Europe and hinder serious arms-limitation negotiations with Moscow...
...President approved the zero option as Weinberger was preparing to leave for last month's NATO meeting in Gleneagles. Buried in the communique issued by the defense ministers was a clause that "the zero level remains a possible option." A Pentagon team led by Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle drafted a version of the proposal; State Department opposition lessened as it became clear that the volatile new mood in Europe made an attention-grabbing offer more important than staking out a bargaining position that would be credible to the Soviets. Haig, Eagleburger and other State officials successfully argued...