Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment briefly about the START Treaty, the consideration of which is now pending before the Senate, and to urge my colleagues to move forward to ratify this important treaty. I have long been interested in the relationship between the United States and, at that time, the Soviet Union, following the end of World War II, with the emergence of our Nation and the Soviets emerging as the two great world powers. In college, after the war, I devoted a good bit of study to U.S.- U.S.S.R. relations. I wrote a senior thesis on it as a major in political science and international relations, and I have continued that interest throughout my tenure in the Senate. One of my first initiatives, in 1982, after being elected in 1980, was to propose a resolution calling for a summit meeting between the President of the United States and the head of the Soviet Union. President Reagan had a practice of making Saturday afternoon speeches--or Saturday morning speeches--on the radio. One day I listened in and heard him talk about the tremendous destructive power which both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. had, and how they had the capacity to destroy each other. Of course, that capacity became the basis of the mutual assured destruction period. But it seemed to me that what ought to be done was there ought to be a dialog and an effort to come to terms with the Soviet Union to reduce the tension and reduce the threat of nuclear war.…”