Geneva Summit (1985) - Misplaced Pages

Meeting of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev For other uses of "Geneva Summit", see Geneva Summit.

Geneva Summit
Reagan and Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit
Host country	Switzerland
Dates	November 19–21, 1985 (1985-11-19 – 1985-11-21) (39 years ago)
Venue(s)	Villa Fleur d'Eau Soviet Mission in Geneva Maison de Saussure International Conference Center (CICG)
Cities	Geneva
Participants	Mikhail Gorbachev Ronald Reagan
Follows	Vienna Summit (1979)
Precedes	Reykjavík Summit (1986)

The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was held on November 19‑21, 1985, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race.

Background

In the mid-1980s, both the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in a Cold War struggle, but both nations sought to reduce the total number of nuclear weapons. The Soviets sought to halve the number of nuclear-equipped bombers and missiles, and the U.S. sought to ensure that neither side gained a first-strike advantage, and that the protect rights of defensive systems were not endangered. Diplomats struggled to come up with planned results in advance, with Soviets rejecting the vast majority of the items that U.S. negotiators proposed.

The Geneva Summit was planned months in advance, so both superpowers had the opportunity to posture and to stake their positions in the court of public opinion. Reagan's security advisor Robert McFarlane said that the United States was having "real trouble establishing a dialogue" with the Soviets, and announced that the U.S. would be conducting its test of the missile defense system known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The Soviets, in turn, announced a unilateral moratorium on underground nuclear tests and invited the Americans to also cease such testing, a request that was rebuffed.

Meetings

The Versoix municipality as it appears on the north-west shore of Lake Geneva. Villa Fleur d'Eau, where the principal meetings of the first day were held, is circled.

President Reagan arrived in Geneva ahead of the summit on the evening of November 16, 1985. The next day, Reagan and his retinue toured the grounds of Fleur d'Eau, the villa in Versoix where the first day's meetings were to take place. On November 18, Reagan was officially received by Swiss President Kurt Furgler at Le Reposoir.

Reagan had come to Geneva convinced that the personal assessments he and Gorbachev would make of each other at their meetings would be crucial to the outcome of the summit. It was Reagan's understanding that the 1961 Vienna Summit between President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev failed due to a lack of chemistry between the two leaders, where Khrushchev "walked over Kennedy and Kennedy knew it." In order to foster improved communications between the two leaders, the summit was structured with the first two days consisting of a series of private meetings with only Reagan and Gorbachev present (and their interpreters) interspersed with a series of plenary meetings with Reagan and Gorbachev accompanied by their major advisors. A third day consisting of a concluding joint press conference and signing ceremony was also scheduled. Each day's events occurred at different locations in and around Geneva:


Day one: November 19 at Fleur d'Eau	Day two: November 20 at the Soviet Mission	Day three: November 21 at CICG
First private meeting, 60 min First plenary meeting, 48 min Second plenary meeting, 70 min Second private meeting, 65 min Dinner hosted by the Gorbachevs at Geneva's Soviet Mission, 150 min	Third private meeting, 70 min Third plenary meeting, 70 min Fourth plenary meeting, 45 min Diplomatic reception at La Gandole, 40 min Dinner hosted by the Reagans at Maison de Saussure, 150 min	Joint press conference at the International Conference Center in Geneva Signing ceremony

On November 19, 1985, Reagan and Gorbachev met for the first time at Fleur d'Eau. When Reagan emerged outside without his coat, commentators took it as a sign of Reagan’s vitality. Reagan had been wearing an overcoat and scarf, but was urged by his personal aide, Jim Kuhn, to take them off for appearance’s sake. Gorbachev later said: "We viewed the Geneva meeting realistically, without grand expectations, yet we hoped to lay the foundations for a serious dialogue in the future." Reagan's goal was to convince Gorbachev that America desired peace above all else. Reagan described his hopes for the summit as a "mission for peace". The first thing Reagan said to Gorbachev was "The United States and the Soviet Union are the two greatest countries on Earth, the superpowers. They are the only ones who can start World War 3, but also the only two countries that could bring peace to the world." He then emphasized the personal similarities between the two leaders, with both being born in similar "rural hamlets in the middle of their respective countries" and the great responsibilities they held.

During their first private meeting, Gorbachev told Reagan of information he had received from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, specifically the Institute for Earth Studies, where the scientists had become convinced that there would be a major earthquake in an area of California and Nevada by 1988. This forecast was based on a computer analysis of patterns of seismicity worldwide. Reagan replied that he realized that such an earthquake was considered to be overdue.

According to Secretary of State George Shultz, Reagan and Gorbachev's first private meeting exceeded their time limit by over a half an hour. A Reagan assistant asked Shultz whether he should interrupt the meeting to end it by its allotted time. Shultz responded, "If you think so, then you shouldn't have this job."

Reagan and Gorbachev's second private meeting was held at Fleur d'Eau's pool house, where a fireplace provided the backdrop to a seated Reagan and Gorbachev, leading some to call Geneva's summit the "fireside summit". Speaking to a group of Maryland students shortly after the summit about his second private meeting with Gorbachev, Reagan disclosed that he had discussed the topic of aliens, saying "I couldn't help but say to him, just think how easy his task and mine might be if suddenly there was a threat to this world from some other species from another planet outside in the universe." Reagan explained that his remarks to Gorbachev were meant to further a sense of togetherness, saying "we'd forget all the little local differences that we have between our two countries, and we would find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this Earth together," adding that "I don't suppose we can wait for some alien race to come down and threaten us, but I think that between us, we can bring about that realization." In a 2009 interview, Gorbachev confirmed that during their second private meeting Reagan had asked if the Soviet Union would help if the U.S. was invaded by aliens from space. Gorbachev said yes, and that Reagan said, "we would too".

Newer Soviet proposals that Gorbachev had brought to Geneva were also discussed, according to White House spokesman Larry Speakes, who said that senior arms control adviser Paul Nitze and Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Perle had joined in appurtenant meetings of U.S. and Soviet senior advisers at the Soviet mission in Geneva. While the walk to the pool house was spent talking about Reagan's films, the walk back from the pool house saw Reagan and Gorbachev agreeing to continue to meet at further summits.

On November 20, 1985, Reagan and Gorbachev began their second day of meetings, this time at Geneva's Soviet Mission. The main focus of the third plenary meeting held there was the Strategic Defense Initiative, with Gorbachev insisting that SDI represented a new phase of the arms buildup in space and Reagan insisting that SDI was merely "a shield" against ICBM's. Reagan replied that, where Gorbachev saw a threat, "we saw an opportunity," and that both sides first ought to be seeking to reduce offensive arms by 50 percent, since the US would ultimately not "miss the opportunity to develop a defense because of fear that it might have an offensive potential."

Human rights

Members of the Reagan Administration were said to have privately lamented what they considered to be an insufficient focus on human rights issues at the summit. Reagan stressed in interviews before the summit that he would deal with that issue privately with Gorbachev, on the grounds that he had decided the best way to deal with it was through "quiet diplomacy."

Much of Reagan and Gorbachev's third private meeting at the Soviet Mission was spent on the subject of human rights, with Reagan focusing on "the desire of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel," because of the "large Jewish community in the U.S., which had an influence on Congress." Reagan emphasized that "we would express our appreciation for what was done ," reiterating that there would be "no hint that this was done as a result of U.S. efforts." Reagan stated that handling emigration in this manner "would make it easier for the President to do the type of things which the two countries could do together, such as in the area of trade, for which the President needed Congressional support." Gorbachev countered by stating his belief that the issue of human rights was "being used for political purposes, not only by representatives of various political organizations which were anti-Soviet, but also by officials of the U.S. Administration, including the President." Gorbachev stated that "the fate of Jewish people was of concern to the Soviet government," adding that "after what the Fascists had done to the Jews, the Soviet Union had done everything it could to give them special attention, and it had not regretted doing so."

Gorbachev mentioned what he saw as examples of personal discrimination occurring in the United States, to which Reagan stated that "there were individuals, perhaps employers in factories, with personal prejudices about hiring women, blacks, and so on," but that according to the law, "there can be no discrimination."

Conclusion and agreements

On November 21, 1985, at Geneva's International Conference Center (CICG), Reagan and Gorbachev held a joint press conference announcing several agreements, including implementation of the already signed Northern Pacific Air Safety accord that aimed at preventing a repeat of the Soviet downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 in September 1983. A signing ceremony followed, with an agreement on the opening of consulates in Kiev and New York being signed, as well as agreements to renew regular U.S.‑Soviet dialogue on future summit meetings. Forty‑one cultural exchange agreements were also signed, including the restart of exchanges of theatrical and artistic groups and major art exhibits that were suspended after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.

At the end of the summit, Reagan gave Gorbachev a Colonial Williamsburg Chippendale-style mahogany box and desk set with fountain pens, carrying the theme "peace through communications," selected in honor of the 10th anniversary of the U.S.‑Soviet Apollo–Soyuz space mission. Gorbachev gave Reagan a set of bronze medallions in a leather case representing the 15 republics of the Soviet Union.

After a stop in Brussels to brief allies, Reagan returned to Washington to give an address on the summit to a joint session of Congress.

Key statements related to the summit


No.	Name of the document	United Nations Documents symbol (General Assembly)	United Nations Documents symbol (Security Council)
1	Interview given by the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, to Izvestia Newspaper, published with reductions on November 4, 1985 (Moscow evening issue) and on November 5, 1985 (USSR national issue)	no data	no data
2	Address to the nation given by the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, on the upcoming Soviet-United States summit meeting in Geneva on 14 November 1985	no data	no data
3	U.S.-Soviet joint statement issued in Geneva on 21 November 1985	A/40/1070	—
4	Press conference given by the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, in Geneva on November 21, 1985	no data	no data
5	Address given by the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, before a joint session of the Congress following the Soviet-United States summit meeting in Geneva on 21 November 1985	no data	no data
6	Radio address to the nation given by the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, on the Soviet-United States summit meeting in Geneva on 23 November 1985	no data	no data
7	Report given by deputy Mikhail Gorbachev, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, at the session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 27, 1985	A/40/987	S/17670

Notes

In 1988, the head of the Soviet team that provided their forecast to the Institute for Earth Studies, Vladimir Keilis-Borok, was invited to the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council to present a modified version of the probability forecast Gorbachev had given to Reagan. Keilis-Borok extended the time window of that forecast from the end of 1988 to mid-1992 and restricted the area to a more limited region of central and southern California, an area that included the site and date of the future 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
The tentative summit schedule prepared by William Henkel and submitted on October 9, 1985, to Dennis Thomas and White House Chief of Staff Don Regan for their approval shows Reagan and Gorbachev's first private meeting allotted an initial timespan of 15 minutes. When actually held, the meeting ended up lasting for one hour.
The pool house is also referred to in various media as Fleur d'Eau's boat house.
The official record of conversations at the summit shows Reagan returning to the topic of aliens during an impromptu toast at the dinner hosted by the Gorbachevs, when Reagan mentioned recalling his earlier conversation with Gorbachev to Foreign Minister Shevardnadze, where he remarked how "if the people of the world were to find out that there was some alien life form that was going to attack the Earth approaching on Halley’s Comet, then that knowledge would unite all the peoples of the world."

References

"Proposals bode well for Geneva Summit". The Milwaukee Sentinel. November 2, 1985. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
"Communique Unlikely at Geneva Summit". The Glasgow Herald. November 11, 1985.
Coffey, Raymond (August 28, 1985). "Geneva Summit Could Turn Into Bare-Knuckles Confrontation". The Evening Independant.
^ Henkel, William (October 9, 1985). "William Henkel to Donald T. Regan, re Geneva trip - Proposed Summary Schedule". Thomas, W. Dennis Files: Geneva – SAFE [1 of 3] Box: 7 (PDF) (Report). Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
^ Gwertzman, Bernard; Weinraub, Bernard (November 24, 1985). "Twists at the Summit: Inside the Geneva Talks". The New York Times. Vol. 135, no. 46603. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017.
^ Charles, Elizabeth C.; Rasmussen, Kathleen B., eds. (2020). "Reagan-Gorbachev Meetings in Geneva, November 1985: Memorandum of Conversations". Foreign Relations of the United States: Soviet Union, March 1985 to October 1986 (PDF) (Report). Vol. 5. Washington, D.C.: Department of State. pp. 650-720 (print) pp. 681-751 (pdf).
"L'accueil de Reagan". Radio Télévision Suisse (in French). November 19, 1985.
^ Mann, James (February 12, 2009). "Dick & Ronnie & God & Gorby". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023.
Matlock, Jack (November 8, 2005). Reagan and Gorbachev. Random House Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 9780812974898.
Reagan, Ronald; Shultz, George P. (2003). Skinner, Kiron K.; Graebner Anderson, Annelise; Anderson, Martin (eds.). Reagan: A Life In Letters. New York: Free Press. p. 288. ISBN 9780743219662. OCLC 52493559.
Yeats, Robert S. (June 1, 1999). "Forecasting the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake—Close But No Cigar". Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest. Vol. 36, issue 10. p. 5.7.11.1. doi:10.5860/choice.36-5709. S2CID 128171993.
"A Conversation With George Shultz". Charlie Rose. Archived from the original on November 30, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
"President Ronald Reagan During the Trip to Switzerland at the Geneva Summit and at the Pool (Boat) House on the Grounds of Fleur d'Eau with Mikhail Gorbachev". Digital Public Library of America.
Wiessler, David A. (November 21, 1985). "President Reagan and Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev End Summit with Pledge of Cooperation". UPI.
Clift, Eleanor (December 5, 1985). "Space Invaders Would Unite U.S. and Soviets, Reagan Says". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 20, 2024.
"Reagan Told Gorbachev U.S.-Soviets Would Unite in Space Invasion". UPI. December 4, 1985.
Mikhail Gorbachev, George Shultz (April 21, 2009). The Berlin Wall: 20 Years Later (Television production). Charlie Rose. Event occurs at 15:50.
Lewis, Danny (November 25, 2015). "Reagan and Gorbachev Agreed to Pause the Cold War in Case of an Alien Invasion". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution.
^ Hoffman, David; Oberdorfer, Dan; Cannon, Lou; Lee, Gary (November 21, 1985). "Gorbachev Agrees to Visit U.S. Next Year". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 30, 2024.
Csongos, Frank T. (November 21, 1985). "Aviation Agreement With Kremlin To Help Prevent Another Korean Air Lines Jetliner Disaster". UPI.
Weinraub, Bernard (November 22, 1985). "Reagan-Gorbachev Talks End; New Effort on Arms Planned; President Sees A 'Fresh Start'". The New York Times. Vol. 135, no. 46601. Archived from the original on November 25, 2022.
Eaton, William J. (November 5, 1985). "Soviets Publish Edited Interview With Reagan: Izvestia Cuts Harsher Criticism of Kremlin, Offers Point-by-Point Rebuttal of 'Distortion'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023.

External links

Reagan greeting Gorbachev at Fleur d'Eau on YouTube November 19, 1985
Reagan / Gorbachev joint-press conference and signing ceremony on YouTube November 21, 1985
Geneva Summit Possibilities from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
Interview with Henry Kissinger about the Summit

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v t e Ronald Reagan
40th President of the United States (1981–1989) 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975)
Life and politics	Birthplace Pitney Store Boyhood home Rancho del Cielo Filmography Political positions Governorship of California Presidential Library and Museum Reagan Era Death and state funeral
Presidency	Transition First inauguration Second inauguration Domestic policy Economic policy Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 Tax Reform Act of 1986 Assassination attempt Strategic Defense Initiative Foreign policy Reagan Doctrine Cold War 1st term 2nd term Soviet Union summits Geneva Reykjavík Washington INF Treaty Moscow Governors Island Constructive engagement Invasion of Grenada Iran–Contra affair Libya bombing Cannabis policy International trips The Grace Commission Cabinet Judicial appointments Supreme Court controversies Administration scandals "We begin bombing in five minutes" Impeachment efforts Executive orders Presidential proclamations Bush transition
Speeches	Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine (1961) "A Time for Choosing" (1964) Neshoba County Fair "states' rights" speech (1980) First inaugural address (1981) Joint session of Congress (1981) "Ash heap of history" (1982) "Evil empire" (1983) Second inaugural address (1985) "Tear down this wall!" (1987) State of the Union 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Books	An American Life The Reagan Diaries
Elections	1966 California gubernatorial election 11th commandment 1970 California gubernatorial election Republican presidential primaries (1968 1976 1980 1984) Republican National Convention (1968 1976 1980 1984) 1976 presidential campaign 1980 presidential campaign "There you go again" "Let's make America great again" 1984 presidential campaign "Morning in America" "Bear in the woods" United States presidential election (1976 1980 1984)
Cultural depictions	Bibliography In music Let Them Eat Jellybeans! (1981) U.S. Postage stamps Rap Master Ronnie Ed the Happy Clown (1983 comic series) Spitting Image (TV series) (1984) A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985 game) The Dark Knight Returns (1986) film adaptation Pizza Man (1991 film) The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001 film) Reagan's War (2002 book) The Reagans (2003 film) Reagan (2011 documentary) The Butler (2013 film) Killing Reagan (2015 book) Killing Reagan (2016 film) Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020 game) The Reagans (2020 miniseries) Reagan (2023 film) "What would Reagan do?" Reykjavik (TBA)
Memorials	U.S. Capitol statue USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) Namesakes and memorials Ronald Reagan Day Reagan Day Dinner
Family	Jane Wyman (first wife) Nancy Reagan (second wife) Maureen Reagan (daughter) Michael Reagan (adopted son) Patti Davis (daughter) Ron Reagan (son) Jack Reagan (father) Nelle Wilson Reagan (mother) Neil Reagan (brother) Rex (dog)
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