European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 03, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday november 3. 1985 Reagan s verbal missteps presidential gaffes by Michael Putzel associated press p resident Ronald Reagan has stumbled Over his own words lately when asked Todeal unrehearsed with sensitive Issue ranging irom arms control to attributable to fatigue. Carelessness or just inattention to detail the president s statements have prompted enough concern that he himself has Felt compelled to try to clarify them. And his aides who Long ago stopped trying to Correct factual errors in Reagan s Impromptu remarks have More than once been left without an explanation of what the president was talking about. During Reagan s 1980 presidential Campaign and Early in his first term democratic opponents and Many news reports challenged Reagan s use of supposed facts that just did t Check out. Assigning truth squads to search for information supporting or contradicting Reagan quotes was for a time a Standard practice after the president s news conferences. The White House eventually stopped responding to suggestions Reagan had made a mistake and after a while the verbal missteps stopped making news. In recent weeks however. Reagan has made gaffes he Felt compelled to Correct. Two weeks after he told an interviewer in August that South africans have eliminated the segregation that we once had in our own country he publicly apologized saying he carelessly gave the impression that he believed segregation had been eliminated in the White ruled nation. He insisted nonetheless that there had been great improvement Over what has Ever existed before a statement unsupported by his own state department. A few Days later Reagan invoked a package of sanctions against the Pretoria regime do minding an end to the government s racial policies and not citing any of the improvements he had mentioned Belore. At a news conference 10 Days later Reagan Oaid that in spite of some of the misinformation that has been spread around the United states is still Well behind the soviet Union in literally every kind of offensive weapon both conventional and in the strategic sen. Sam Nunn. An influential Democrat on the Senate armed services committee who usually supports the administration on defense issues said that the claim of total soviet military superiority was not right and has t been right Nunn suggested the president s military advisers Tell him something about our advantages in tactical air our advantages with submarines which Are better which Are quieter our advantages with aircraft carriers our advantages with cruise missiles our advantages with stealth technology. He needs to be much better briefed before facing soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit later this month. Nunn said. Just a Lew Days later Reagan was asked about reports the soviets were proposing a 40-percent reduction in nuclear weapons and replied he d like to see a plan Lor even larger cuts than that. Upon leaving Knoxville he slopped to Tell reporters he was misunderstood in trying to Call an answer to them earlier in the Day. The soviets he said had made no arms reduction proposal and he was not turning Down any we have received no proposal officially of a 40 percent Cut As i was asked about Reagan explained and when i made a remark that i wish it were More. I was doing that in the context of the fact that both or. Gorbachev and myself said that we would both like to see the missiles done away with it was in a similar Impromptu question and answer Exchange in Chicago on oct. 10 when said he would be willing Lor the Palestine liberation organization to try the pirates who murdered american tourist Leon Klinghoffer. Again he reappeared later to Tell reporters he had not Mccanl to say that he should have said they could Only be brought to Justice by the authorities of a Sovereign nation Reagan almost always Speaks from a prepared text when appearing before people other than his staff even it it is a private meeting. When saying a Lew words to a crowd of Well wishers at an Airport in Boise Idaho last month he stood on the running Board of his limousine a typewritten script placed on the car s roof in front of him. But when he gets tired. Reagan May stray from his text As he did on the last leg of his 13-hour. 4,200-Miie trip that same Day. Jutt launching Inlo the last paragraph of his text at an otherwise routine october fund raising event in Milwaukee the president abruptly altered course to Tell a Story about his ambassador to the United nations. Vernon Walters and How the envoy supposedly had persuaded chinese leaders to abandon their opposition to his Star wars nuclear defense plan. For three consecutive Days afterwards. Reagan s spokesmen were asked whether the Ever t Heagan described was True and whether the chinese had indeed dropped their opposition to stars wars and for three Days the spokesmen had no reply. The official chinese news Agency Xinhua denounced Star wars on july 30, saying it would Force the soviet Union to develop its own system thus surely bringing about grave and negative effects on the Geneva talks on and East West relations and the world situation in general. The International Community should act immediately to Stop the Drift toward space
