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Ronald Reagan & the Iran Contra/Ollie North Confession — Transcript

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0:10[Applause]
0:25well thank you director
0:28lagunov and I want to thank all of you
0:31very much for a very warm
0:34welcome it's a great pleasure to be here
0:36at Moscow State
0:38University and I want to thank you all
0:40for turning out I know you must be very
0:44busy this week studying and taking your
0:46final
0:48examinations so let me just
0:53sayu vam USA
0:58[Applause]
1:05Nancy couldn't make it today because
1:06she's visiting Leningrad which she tells
1:09me is a very beautiful
1:11city but she too says hello and wishes
1:15you all good
1:16luck let me say it's also a great
1:19pleasure to once again have this
1:22opportunity to speak directly to the
1:24people of the Soviet
1:26Union before I left Washington I
1:29received many heartfelt letters and
1:31telegrams asking me to carry here a
1:34simple
1:36message perhaps but also one of the most
1:40important business of this
1:42Summit it is a message of peace and Good
1:45Will and hope for a growing friendship
1:49and closeness between our two
1:52peoples as you know I've come to Moscow
1:56to meet with one of your most
1:58distinguished graduates
2:00in this our fourth summit General
2:02Secretary gorbachov and I have spent
2:04many hours together and I feel that
2:08we're getting to know each other
2:10well our discussions of course have been
2:13focused primarily on many of the
2:15important issues of the day issues I
2:18want to touch on with you in a few
2:21moments but first I want to take a
2:23little time to talk to you much as I
2:26would to any group of University
2:27students in the United States
2:30I want to talk not just of the realities
2:33of today but of the possibilities of
2:37Tomorrow standing here before a mural of
2:40your
2:41Revolution I want to talk about a very
2:43different Revolution that is taking
2:45place right now quietly sweeping the
2:48globe without Bloodshed or conflict its
2:52effects are peaceful but they will
2:54fundamentally alter our world shatter
2:57old assumptions and reshape Our Lives
3:01it's easy to underestimate because it's
3:03not accompanied by banners or
3:06Fanfare it's been called the
3:09technological or information
3:12revolution and as its emblem one might
3:15take the tiny silicon chip no bigger
3:19than a fingerprint one of these chips
3:22has more computing power than a room
3:25full of old style
3:27computers as part of an exchange program
3:31we now have an exhibition touring your
3:33country that shows how information
3:36technology is Transforming Our Lives
3:40replacing manual labor with robots
3:43forecasting weather for Farmers or
3:46mapping the genetic code of DNA for
3:49medical
3:50researchers these microcomputers today
3:54Aid the design of everything from houses
3:56to cars to
3:58spacecraft they even design better and
4:00faster
4:02computers they can translate English
4:04into Russian or enable the blind to read
4:08or help Michael Jackson produce on one
4:11synthesizer the sounds of a whole
4:14Orchestra linked by a network of
4:17satellites and Fiber Optic
4:19Cables one individual with a desktop
4:22computer and a telephone commands
4:25resources unavailable to the largest
4:28governments just just a few years
4:31ago like a chrysalis we're emerging from
4:34the economy of the Industrial
4:36Revolution an economy confined to and
4:39limited by the Earth's physical
4:41resources into as one Economist titled
4:44his book the economy in mind in which
4:49there are no bounds on human imagination
4:52and the freedom to create is the most
4:54precious natural
4:56resource think of that little computer
4:59chip
5:00its value isn't in the sand from which
5:02it is made but in the microscopic
5:05architecture designed into it by
5:08ingenious human minds or take the
5:12example of the satellite relaying this
5:15broadcast around the world which
5:18replaces thousands of tons of copper
5:20mined from the earth and molded into
5:23wire in the new economy human invention
5:27increasingly makes physical resources
5:31obsolete we are breaking through the
5:33material conditions of existence to a
5:36world where man creates his own
5:38destiny even as we explore the most
5:41advanced reaches of science we're
5:44returning to the age-old wisdom of our
5:47culture a wisdom contained in the book
5:50of The Genesis in the
5:52Bible in the beginning was the spirit
5:56and it was from this spirit that the
5:58material abundance abundance of creation
6:01issued
6:02forth but progress is not for ordained
6:06the key is freedom freedom of thought
6:10Freedom of
6:11Information freedom of
6:14communication the renowned scientist
6:16scholar and founding father of this
6:19University mik
6:22lomos knew that it is common knowledge
6:26he said that the achievements of science
6:29are considerable and Rapid particularly
6:33once the Yoke of slavery is cast off and
6:36replaced by the freedom of
6:40philosophy you know one of the first
6:42contacts between your country and mine
6:45took place between Russian and American
6:48explorers the Americans were members of
6:50Cook's last Voyage on an expedition
6:53searching for an Arctic Passage on the
6:56island of unalaska they came upon the
7:00Russians who took them in and together
7:03with the native inhabitants held a
7:05prayer service on the ice the explorers
7:09of the modern era are the
7:12entrepreneurs men with vision with a
7:15courage to take risks and faith enough
7:17to Brave the
7:18unknown these entrepreneurs and their
7:21small Enterprises are responsible for
7:24almost all the economic growth in the
7:27United States they are the the prime
7:30movers of the technological
7:32revolution in fact one of the largest
7:34personal computer firms in the United
7:37States was started by two college
7:40students no older than you in the garage
7:43behind their
7:44home some people even in my own country
7:49look at the riot of experiment that is
7:51the free market and see only
7:54waste what of all the entrepreneurs that
7:57fail well many do
8:00particularly the successful ones often
8:03several times and if you ask them the
8:06secret of their success they'll tell you
8:09it's all that they learned in their
8:11struggles along the
8:13way yes it's what they learned from
8:16failing like an athlete in competition
8:19or a scholar in pursuit of the
8:22truth experience is the greatest
8:25teacher and that's why it's so hard for
8:28government planners
8:30no matter how sophisticated to ever
8:33substitute for millions of individuals
8:36working night and day to make their
8:38dreams come
8:40true the fact is bureaucracies are a
8:44problem around the world there's an old
8:48story about a town it could be anywhere
8:51with a bureaucrat who was known to be a
8:53good for nothing but he somehow it
8:56always hung on to
8:57power so one day in a town meeting an
9:00old woman got up and said to him there
9:03is a folk Legend here where I come from
9:07that when a baby is born an angel comes
9:10down from heaven and kisses it on one
9:13part of its body if the angel kisses him
9:16on his hand he becomes a
9:19handyman if he kisses him on his
9:21forehead he becomes bright and
9:24clever and I've been trying to figure
9:26out where the angel kissed you so that
9:29you should sit there for so long and do
9:38[Music]
9:41nothing we are seeing the power of
9:44economic freedom spreading around the
9:46world places such as the Republic of
9:49Korea Singapore Taiwan have vaulted into
9:53the technological era barely pausing in
9:55the Industrial Age along the way low tax
9:59agricultural policies in the
10:01subcontinent mean that in some years
10:04India is now a next a net exporter of
10:08food perhaps most exciting are the winds
10:11of chains that are blowing over the
10:12People's Republic of China where one
10:15quarter of the world's population is now
10:18getting its first taste of economic
10:21freedom at the same time the growth of
10:24democracy has become one of the most
10:26powerful political movements of our age
10:29in Latin America in the
10:321970s only a third of the population
10:35lived under democratic
10:37government today over 90% does in the
10:42Philippines in the Republic of Korea
10:45free contested Democratic elections are
10:48the order of the day throughout the
10:51world free markets are the model for
10:53growth democracy is the standard by
10:57which governments are measured
11:00we Americans make no secret of our
11:02belief in
11:03Freedom in fact it's something of a
11:05national
11:06Pastime every four years the American
11:09people choose a new president and 1988
11:12is one of those years at one point there
11:16were 13 major candidates running in the
11:18two major parties not to mention all the
11:21others including the Socialist and
11:23libertarian candidates all trying to get
11:26my
11:27job about a thousand local television
11:30stations
11:328,500 radio stations and
11:351,700 daily
11:37newspapers each one an independent
11:39private Enterprise fiercely independent
11:42of the government report on the
11:45candidates Grill them in interviews and
11:48bring them together for
11:50debates in the end the people vote they
11:54decide who will be the next
11:57president but Freedom doesn't begin or
11:59end with elections go to any American
12:02town to take just an example and you'll
12:05see dozens of churches representing many
12:08different beliefs in many places
12:11synagogues and mosques and you will see
12:14families of every conceivable
12:16nationality worshiping together go into
12:20any school room and there you will see
12:23children being taught the Declaration of
12:25Independence that they are endowed by
12:28their creator with certain unalienable
12:30rights among them life liberty and the
12:34pursuit of happiness that no government
12:37can justly
12:39deny the guarantees in their
12:41constitution for freedom of speech
12:44freedom of assembly and freedom of
12:45religion go into any courtroom and there
12:48will provide preside an independent
12:50judge beholden to no government power
12:54there every defendant has the right to a
12:57trial by a jury of his peers usually 12
13:01men and women common citizens they are
13:04the ones the only ones who weigh the
13:07evidence and decide on guilt or
13:10innocence in that Court the accused is
13:13innocent until proven guilty and the
13:16word of a policeman or any official has
13:19no greater legal standing than the word
13:22of the
13:24accused go to any University campus and
13:28there you'll find an open sometimes
13:30heated discussion of the problems in
13:33American society and what can be done to
13:36correct
13:36them turn on the television and you will
13:40see the legislature conducting the
13:42business of government right there
13:44before the camera debating and voting on
13:47the legislation that will become the law
13:50of the
13:51land March in any demonstration and
13:54there are many of them the people's
13:56right of assembly is guaranteed in the
13:58con stitution and protected by the
14:01police go into any Union Hall where the
14:04members know their right to strike is
14:06protected by law as a matter of fact one
14:09of the many jobs I had before this one
14:12was being president of a union The
14:15Screen Actors Guild I led my union out
14:18on strike and I'm proud to say we
14:22won but freedom is more even than this
14:26freedom is the right to question and
14:28change the established way of doing
14:30things it is the continuing revolution
14:33of the
14:34marketplace it is the understanding that
14:36allows us to recognize shortcomings and
14:39seek
14:40Solutions it is the right to put forth
14:42an idea scoffed at by the experts and
14:46watch it catch fire among the
14:49people it is the right to stick to dream
14:52to follow your dream or stick to your
14:54conscience even if you're the only one
14:56in a sea of
14:57doubters freedom
14:59is the recognition that no single person
15:02no single Authority or government has a
15:05monopoly on the truth but that every
15:08individual life is infinitely precious
15:12that every one of us put on this world
15:15has been put there for a reason and has
15:17something to
15:18offer America is a nation made up of
15:21hundreds of
15:23nationalities our ties to you are more
15:25than ones of good feeling they're ties
15:28of kinship
15:29in America you'll find Russians
15:31Armenians ukrainians peoples from
15:34Eastern Europe and Central Asia they
15:37come from every part of this vast
15:39continent from every continent to live
15:41in harmony seeking a place where each
15:44cultural heritage is respected each is
15:47valued for its diverse strengths and
15:49Beauties and the richness it brings to
15:51our
15:52lives recently a few individuals and
15:55families have been allowed to visit
15:57relatives in the West
15:59we can only hope that it won't be long
16:02before all are allowed to do so and
16:05Ukrainian Americans Baltic Americans
16:09Armenian Americans can freely visit
16:12their homelands just as this Irish
16:15American visits
16:17his freedom it has been said makes
16:21people selfish and
16:23materialistic but Americans are one of
16:25the most religious peoples on Earth
16:28because they know that Liberty just as
16:30life itself is not earned but a gift
16:33from God they seek to share that gift
16:37with the world
16:39reason and experience said George
16:42Washington in his farewell
16:45address both forbid us to expect that
16:48National morality can Prevail in
16:50exclusion of religious principle and it
16:53is substantially true that virtue or
16:56morality is a necessary spring of
17:00popular
17:02government democracy is less a system of
17:05government than it is a system to keep
17:08government limited
17:10unintrusive a system of constraints on
17:13power to keep politics and government
17:15secondary to the important things in
17:18life the true sources of value found
17:22only in family and
17:24Faith but I hope you know I go on about
17:28these things not simply to extol the
17:29virtues of my own country but to speak
17:33to the true greatness of the heart and
17:35soul of your
17:37land who after all needs to tell the
17:40land of
17:42DKI about The Quest For Truth the home
17:46of Kandinsky and scriabin about
17:50imagination the rich and Noble culture
17:53of the USC man of letters
17:56alisher navo about beauty and heart the
18:01great culture of your diverse land
18:03speaks with a glowing passion to all
18:06Humanity let me cite one of the most
18:08eloquent contemporary passages on human
18:12Freedom it comes not from the literature
18:15of
18:16America but from this country from one
18:19of the greatest writers of the 20th
18:21century Boris past in the novel Dr
18:27zivago he writes I think that if the
18:29Beast who sleeps in man could be held
18:32down by threats any kind of threat
18:35whether of jail or of Retribution after
18:38death then the highest emblem of
18:41humanity would be the lion tamer in the
18:44circus with his whip not the prophet who
18:48sacrificed himself but this is just the
18:51point what has for centuries raised man
18:54above the me Beast is not the cudgel but
18:59an inward music the irresistible power
19:03of unarmed
19:05truth the irresistible power of unarmed
19:09truth today the world looks expectantly
19:13to signs of change steps toward greater
19:16freedom in the Soviet
19:18Union we watch as and we hope as we see
19:21positive changes taking place there are
19:24some I know in your Society who fear
19:27that change will bring only dis
19:28disruption and
19:29discontinuity who fear to embrace the
19:32hope of the
19:33future sometimes it takes
19:36Faith it's like that scene in the cowboy
19:38movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
19:42which some here in Moscow recently had a
19:45chance to see the posi is closing in in
19:48the two Outlaws Butch and Sundance who
19:51find themselves trapped on the edge of a
19:53cliff with a sheer drop of hundreds of
19:56feet to the Raging Rapids below
20:00Butch turns to
20:01Sundance and says their only hope is to
20:04jump into the river below but Sundance
20:07refuses he says he'd rather fight it out
20:09with the posi even though they're
20:11hopelessly
20:12outnumbered but says that's suicide and
20:16urges him to jump but Sundance still
20:19refuses and finally admits I can't
20:23swim Butch breaks up laughing and says
20:25you crazy fool the fall will probably
20:28kill
20:29you by the way both Butch and Sundance
20:32made it in case you didn't see the
20:35movie I think what I've just been
20:37talking about is perista and what its
20:41goals
20:42are but change would not mean rejection
20:44of the past like a tree growing strong
20:47through the seasons rooted in the earth
20:51and drawing life from the Sun so too
20:54positive change must be rooted in
20:56Traditional Values in the land in
21:01culture in family in community and it
21:04must take its life from the Eternal
21:06things from the source of all life which
21:09is Faith such change will lead to new
21:13understandings new opportunities to a
21:16broader future in which the tradition is
21:19not supplanted but Finds Its full
21:22flowering that is the future beckoning
21:25to your
21:26generation at the same time we should
21:30remember that reform that is not
21:34institutionalized will always be
21:36insecure such Freedom will always be
21:39looking over its shoulder a bird on a
21:42tether no matter how long the Rope can
21:45always be pulled back and that is why in
21:48my conversation with General Secretary
21:50gorbachov I have spoken of how important
21:53it is to institutionalize change to put
21:57guarantees on
22:00reform and we've been talking together
22:02about one sad reminder of a divided
22:05world the Berlin Wall it's time to
22:09remove the barriers that keep people
22:13apart I'm proposing an increased
22:16Exchange program of high school students
22:19between our countries General Secretary
22:22gorbachov mentioned on Sunday a
22:25wonderful phrase you have in Russian for
22:27this better to see something once than
22:31to hear about it a hundred
22:33times Mr gorbachov and I first began
22:36working on this in
22:381985 in our discussion today we agreed
22:40on working up to several thousand
22:43exchanges a year from each country in
22:46the near future but not everyone can
22:49travel across the continents and oceans
22:52words travel lighter and that's why we'd
22:55like to make available to this country
22:57more of our 11,000 magazines and
23:01periodical and our television and radio
23:03shows that can be beamed off a satellite
23:05in seconds nothing would please us more
23:09than for the Soviet people to get to
23:11know us better and to understand our way
23:13of
23:14life just a few years ago few would have
23:18imagined the progress our two Nations
23:20have made together the INF treaty which
23:24general secretary gorbachov and I signed
23:27last December in Washington and whose
23:30instruments of ratification we will
23:33exchange tomorrow the first true nuclear
23:37arms reduction treaty in history calling
23:40for the elimination of an entire class
23:43of US and Soviet nuclear
23:46missiles and just 16 days ago we saw the
23:50beginning of your withdrawal from
23:53Afghanistan which gives us hope that
23:55soon the fighting may end and the
23:57healing May begin
23:59and that that suffering country may find
24:02self-determination unity and peace at
24:05long
24:06last it's my fervent hope that our
24:09constructive cooperation on these issues
24:12will be carried on to address the
24:14continuing destruction of conflicts in
24:16many regions of the globe and that the
24:19serious discussions that led to the
24:21Geneva accords on Afghanistan will help
24:24lead the Solutions in southern Africa
24:27Ethiopia Cambodia the Persian Gulf and
24:31Central
24:33America I have often said Nations do not
24:37distrust each other because they are
24:40armed they are armed because they
24:43distrust each
24:44other if this globe is to live in peace
24:47and prosper if it is to embrace all the
24:50possibilities of the technological
24:53Revolution then Nations must renounce
24:56once and for all the right to an
24:58expansionist foreign policy peace
25:01between nations must be an enduring goal
25:05not a tactical stage in a continuing
25:08conflict I've been told that there's a
25:10popular song in your country perhaps you
25:13know it whose evocative refrain asks the
25:17question do the Russians want a war in
25:21answer it says go ask that silence
25:24lingering in the air above the Birch and
25:27popler there beneath those trees the
25:30soldiers lie go ask my mother ask my
25:34wife then you will have to ask no more
25:37do the Russians want a
25:40war but what of your one-time allies
25:43what of those embra who embraced you on
25:46the ELA what if we to ask the watery
25:49Graves of the Pacific or the European
25:51battlefields where America's Fallen were
25:53buried far from
25:55home what if we were to ask their mother
25:58brothers sisters and Sons do Americans
26:02want
26:03war ask us too and you'll find the same
26:06answer the same longing in every
26:09heart people do not make Wars
26:13governments do and no mother would ever
26:16ever willingly sacrifice her sons for
26:19territorial gain for economic Advantage
26:22for ideology a people free to choose
26:26will always choose peace
26:29Americans seek always to make friends of
26:31old
26:32antagonists after a colonial Revolution
26:35with Britain we have cemented for all
26:37ages the ties of kinship between our
26:40Nations after a terrible civil war
26:43between North and South we healed our
26:45wounds and found true Unity as a nation
26:49we fought two world wars in my lifetime
26:53against Germany and one with Japan but
26:56now the Federal Republic of Germany and
26:58and Japan are two of our closest allies
27:01and
27:02Friends some people point to the trade
27:05disputes between us as a sign of
27:07strain but they the frictions of all
27:10families and the family of free Nations
27:12is a big and vital and sometimes
27:15boisterous one I can tell you that
27:18nothing would please my heart more than
27:21in my lifetime to see American and
27:25Soviet diplomats grappling with the
27:27problem of trade disputes between
27:30America and a growing exuberant
27:32exporting Soviet Union that had opened
27:35up to economic freedom and
27:37growth and as important as these
27:40official people- to- people exchanges
27:42are nothing would please me more than
27:46for them to become unnecessary to see
27:49travel between East and West become so
27:52routine that University students in the
27:54Soviet Union could take a month off in
27:57the summer and just like students in the
27:59west do now put packs on their backs and
28:02travel from country to country in Europe
28:04and with barely a passport check in
28:08between nothing would please me more
28:10than to see the day that a concert
28:12promoter in say England could call up a
28:16Soviet rock group without going through
28:18any government agency and have them
28:21playing in Liverpool the next
28:23night is this just a
28:26dream perhaps but it is a dream that is
28:29our
28:31responsibility to have come true your
28:35generation is living in one of the most
28:37exciting hopeful times in Soviet history
28:42it is a time when the first breath of
28:43Freedom stirs the air and the heart
28:46beats to The Accelerated rhythm of Hope
28:49when the accumulated spiritual energies
28:51of a long silence yearn to break
28:54free I am reminded of the famous Passage
28:58near the end of goal's dead soil
29:01Souls comparing his Nation to a speeding
29:04triker gogal asks what will be its
29:09destination but he writes there was no
29:12answer save the bell pouring forth
29:16marvelous
29:17sound we do not know what the conclusion
29:20of this will be of this
29:22journey but we're hopeful that the
29:25promise of Reform will be full
29:28filled in this Moscow spring this May
29:331988 we may be allowed that hope that
29:37freedom like the fresh green sapling
29:39planted over tolstoy's grave will
29:41Blossom forth at last in the rich
29:45fertile soil of your people and
29:47culture we may be allowed to hope that
29:50the marvelous sound of a new openness
29:53will keep Rising through ringing through
29:56leading to a new world of
29:58reconciliation friendship and
30:02peace thank you all very much
30:09and God bless
30:26you thank you thank
30:30you thank
30:44you thank
31:17uh dear friends Mr President has kindly
31:20agreed to answer your questions but
31:22since he doesn't have too much time only
31:2515 minutes so those who uh have
31:29questions please ask them
32:01[Music]
32:18this is a student from the history
32:21faculty and he says that he would very
32:24he's happy to welcome you on behalf of
32:26the students of the UN University and uh
32:29the first question is that the
32:31Improvement in the relations between the
32:34two countries have come about during
32:36your tenure as president and in this
32:39regard he would like to ask the
32:41following question uh it is very
32:44important uh to get a handle on the
32:46question of arms control and
32:49specifically the limitation of strategic
32:52arms do you think that it will be
32:54possible for you and the general
32:56secretary to get a treaty on the
32:59limitation of strategic arms during the
33:02time that you are still
33:04president well the Arms Treaty that is
33:06being negotiated now is the so-called
33:09Stark
33:10treaty and it is based on taking the
33:13intercontinental ballistic missiles and
33:15reducing them by half down to parity
33:19between our two countries now this is a
33:22much more complicated treaty than the
33:25INF treaty the intermediate range treaty
33:28which we have signed and which our two
33:31governments have ratified and is now in
33:34effect so there are many things still to
33:37be settled that you and we have had
33:40negotiators in Geneva for months working
33:43on various points of this
33:45treaty once we had hoped that maybe like
33:49the INF treaty we would have been able
33:51to sign it here at this Summit meeting
33:54uh it is not completed there are still
33:56some points that are being
33:58debated we are both hopeful that it can
34:03be U finished before I leave office
34:07which is in the coming
34:09January but I assure you that if it
34:14isn't I assure you that I will have
34:18impressed on my successor that we must
34:21carry on until it is signed my dream has
34:26always been that once we've started down
34:29this
34:30road we can look forward to a day you
34:33can look forward to a day when there
34:35will no be no more nuclear weapons in
34:38the world at
34:43[Applause]
34:51[Music]
34:56all for
35:38if you like inter the question is the
35:42universities uh influence public opinion
35:46and uh the student wonders how the uh
35:50youths have changed uh since the days
35:53when you were students up till now
35:57and wait a minute how you have changed
36:00since the era of my own youth or uh how
36:04just students have changed the youths
36:07have changed you were a student at your
36:09time they were uh one type now they have
36:12changed
36:15well I know there was a period in our
36:18country when there was a very great
36:20change for the worst when I was governor
36:24of California I could start a riot just
36:26by going to campus but that has all
36:30changed and uh I could be looking out at
36:34an American student body as well as I'm
36:37looking out here and would not be able
36:39to tell the difference between you uh I
36:42think that back in our day I did happen
36:46to go to school get my college education
36:48in a unique time it was the time of the
36:51Great
36:52Depression when in a country like our
36:55own there was 25%
36:57unemployment and the bottom seemed to
36:59fall out of everything but U we had I
37:05think what maybe I should be telling you
37:07from my point here because I graduated
37:10in
37:111932 uh that I should tell you that when
37:14you get to be my age you're going to be
37:18surprised how much you recall the
37:21feelings you had in these days here and
37:27that uh how easy it is to understand the
37:30young people because of your own having
37:33been young once you know an awful lot
37:35more about being young than you do about
37:36being
37:37old and uh I think there is a
37:42seriousness I think there's a sense of
37:45responsibility that young people have
37:47and I think that there's an
37:49awareness on the part of most of
37:52you about what you want
37:58the your adulthood to be and what the
38:00country you live in you wanted to be and
38:04I have a great deal of faith I said the
38:07other day to
38:1078 76
38:12students they were half American and
38:15half Russian they had held a conference
38:17here and in Finland and then in the
38:19United States and I faced them just the
38:22other day and I had to say I couldn't
38:24tell the difference looking at them
38:26which were which
38:29but I said one line to
38:32them I said if I believe that if all the
38:36young people of the world today could
38:39get to know each other there would never
38:42be another
38:44war and I think that of you I think that
38:47of the other students that I've
38:48addressed in other in other
38:51places and of course I know also that
38:54you're young and therefore there are
38:56certain things things that uh at times
38:59take
39:00precedence I'll illustrate one myself 25
39:03years after I graduated my alma mat
39:06brought me back to the school and gave
39:09me an honorary
39:10degree and I had to tell them they
39:13compounded a sense of guilt I had nursed
39:15for 25 years because I always thought
39:19the first degree they gave me was
39:20honorary
39:27you're great carry on
39:32[Music]
39:33[Applause]
40:09uh Mr President you have uh just
40:13mentioned that uh you welcome uh the
40:17efforts aided at the settlement of the
40:20aghani questions and it might promote
40:24the settlement of other Regional uh
40:28conflict what conflicts do you needan
40:31Central American conflict Southeast
40:33Asian or uh
40:35South uh I am grateful in advance for
40:40your well for
40:42example in South
40:45Africa where Nam Namibia has been
40:48promised its independence as a nation
40:50another new African
40:52nation but it is impossible because of a
40:56civil war going
40:57on in another country there and that
41:01Civil War is being fought on one side by
41:05some 30 to 40,000 Cuban troops who have
41:10gone from the Americas over there and
41:13are fighting on one side uh with one
41:16kind of authoritative
41:18government when that country was freed
41:22from being a
41:23colony and given its independence one
41:26fact ction seized power and made itself
41:30the government of that nation and
41:34leaders of another seemingly majority of
41:37the people had wanted simply the people
41:40to have the right to choose the
41:42government that they would that they
41:44wanted and that is the Civil War that is
41:46going on but what we believe is that
41:51those foreign soldiers should get out
41:53and let them settle it let them
41:58the citizens of that Nation settle their
42:01problems and the same is true in
42:04in well in Nicaragua Nicaragua has
42:08been Nicaragua made a promise they had a
42:11dictator there was a revolution there
42:14was an
42:15organization uh that and was aided by
42:17others in the revolution and they
42:19appealed to the organization of American
42:22states for help in getting the dictator
42:26to step down Stop The Killing and he did
42:29but the organization of American states
42:31had asked what are the goals of the
42:33Revolution and they were given in
42:35writing and they were the goals of a
42:38pluralistic society of the right of of
42:42unions and freedom of speech and press
42:44and so forth and free elections a
42:47pluralistic
42:49society and then the one group that was
42:51the best organized among the
42:53revolutionaries seized power exiled many
42:56of the other
42:57leaders and has its own government which
43:01violated every one of the promises that
43:04had been made and here again we want
43:09we're trying to
43:11encourage the giving back those or the
43:14making those promises come true and
43:16letting the people of that particular
43:18country uh decide their their fate
43:32chch
43:57from The Faculty of
43:58journalist uh esteemed Mr President I'm
44:02very much anxious and concerned about
44:05the destiny of 310 Soviet soldiers uh
44:10being missing in
44:12Afghanistan can you and are you willing
44:15to help in their Surge and their return
44:19to the motherland very much so we would
44:22like nothing like nothing better than
44:24that
44:41St
45:14uh as student from the law faculty the
45:18realization of the UN
45:21unalienable rights of
45:24citizens uh guarant by the
45:28Constitution uh faces certain problems
45:33for example uh the right of uh people to
45:37uh have arms or for example uh the
45:41problem uh appears an evil appears uh
45:45whether spread of pornography or
45:49narcotics is compatible with these
45:51rights do you believe that these
45:54problems uh just are an avoidable
45:56[Music]
45:58unavoidable uh problems connected with
46:01democracy or they could be
46:04avoided well if I understand you
46:06correctly this is this is a question
46:08about the inalienable rights of the
46:10people does that include the right to do
46:12criminal acts and um U for example in
46:17the use of drugs and so forth uh
46:21[Music]
46:25no no we have a set of laws I think what
46:29is significant and different about our
46:32system
46:33is that every country has a
46:36constitution and most constitutions or
46:39practically all of the Constitutions in
46:40the world are documents in which the
46:43government tells the people what the
46:46people can
46:48do our
46:50constitution is different and the
46:53difference is in three words it almost
46:56escapes everyone the three words are we
46:59the
47:00people our constitution is a document in
47:03which we the people tell the government
47:07what its powers are and it can have no
47:11powers other than those listed in that
47:14document but very carefully at the same
47:17time the people give the government the
47:22power with regard to those things which
47:24they think would be destructive to
47:27society to the family to the individual
47:30so forth infringements on their rights
47:33and thus the government can enforce the
47:35laws but they that has all been dictated
47:39by the people
48:00[Music]
48:10[Music]
48:12I wish I hear your
48:14language uh Mr President from history I
48:18know that people who have been connected
48:23with great power with big posts uh uh
48:27say goodbye leave these posts with great
48:30difficulty since your term of office is
48:33coming to an end uh what sentiments do
48:36you experience and whether you feel like
48:41if hypothetically you can uh just uh
48:45stay for another
48:48term well I'll tell you something it was
48:52um I think it was a kind of a revenge
48:54against Franklin Delona Roosevelt who
48:56was elected four times the only
48:59President there had kind of grown a
49:01tradition in our country about two
49:04terms that tradition was started by
49:06Washington our first president only
49:10because there was great talk at the
49:12formation of our country that we might
49:15become a monarchy and we had just freed
49:18ourselves from a monarchy so when the
49:21second term was over George Washington
49:23stepped down and said he would do it
49:26stepping down so that there would not
49:29get to be the kind of idea of an
49:32inherited
49:34aristocracy well succeeding presidents
49:37many of them didn't get a chance at
49:39second term and they did one term and
49:41were gone but uh that tradition TR kind
49:44of remained but it was just a tradition
49:46and then Roosevelt ran the four times
49:49died very early in his fourth term and
49:52suddenly
49:53in the atmosphere at that time they
49:56added an amendment to the Constitution
49:58that presidents could only serve two
50:02terms when I get out of office I can't
50:06do this while I'm in office because
50:07it'll look if I'm selfishly doing it for
50:10myself when I get out of office I'm
50:13going to travel around what I call the
50:15mashed potato circuit that is the after
50:17dinner speaking and the speaking to
50:20lunch and groups and so forth I'm going
50:22to travel around and try to convince the
50:25people of our country
50:27that they should wipe out that amendment
50:29to the Constitution because it was an
50:32interference with the Democratic rights
50:34of the people the people should be
50:37allowed to vote for who they wanted to
50:39vote for for as many times as they want
50:41to vote for him and that it is they who
50:44are being denied a
50:47[Applause]
50:47[Music]
50:50right but you see I will no longer be
50:53president then so I can I can do that
50:56and talk talk for that there are a few
50:58other things I'm going to try to uh
51:00convince the people to impress upon our
51:02Congress the things that should be done
51:05I've always described it that if if in
51:08Hollywood when I was there if you didn't
51:10sing or dance you wound up as an after
51:13dinner speaker and uh I didn't sing or
51:17dance so uh I have a hunch that I will
51:20be out on the speaking circuit telling
51:23about a few things that I didn't get
51:25done in government but urging the people
51:28to tell the Congress they wanted them
51:32done is that
51:34[Applause]
52:03uh a student from the biological faculty
52:05Mr President I heard that a group of
52:09American Indians have come here because
52:12they couldn't meet you uh in the United
52:16States of America if uh you fail to meet
52:20them here will you be able to improve to
52:24correct it and to meet them back in the
52:26United States I didn't know that they
52:29had asked to see me if if they've come
52:31here or whether to see them there I I'd
52:34be very happy to see them uh let me tell
52:38you just a little something about the
52:40American Indian In Our
52:43Land we have provided millions of acres
52:46of
52:47land for what I call the
52:50preservations or the reservations I
52:53should say they they from the beginning
52:57announced that they wanted to maintain
52:59their way of life as they had always
53:01lived there in the desert in the plains
53:03and so forth and we set up these
53:07reservations so they could and have a
53:08Bureau of Indian Affairs to help take
53:11care of them at the same time we provide
53:14education for them schools on the
53:16reservations and they are free also to
53:19leave the reservations and be American
53:21citizens among the rest of us and many
53:23do some still prefer however that way of
53:27that early way of
53:29life and we've done everything we can to
53:33meet their demands as to what they how
53:35they want to
53:36live uh maybe we made a
53:39mistake maybe we should not have humored
53:43him in that wanting to stay in that kind
53:45of primitive lifestyle maybe we should
53:47have said no come join us be
53:51citizens uh along with the rest of us as
53:54I say many have many have been very
53:55successful
53:57and uh I'm very pleased to to meet with
54:01them talk with them at any time and see
54:04what their grievances are or what they
54:07feel they might be and you'd be
54:10surprised some of them became very
54:12wealthy because some of those
54:15reservations were overlaying great pools
54:18of oil and you can get very rich pumping
54:21oil and uh so I don't know what their
54:24complaint might be
54:33yes
55:04Mr
55:05President uh I'm very much tantalized
55:08since yesterday evening by the question
55:11why did you receive yesterday uh did you
55:16receive and when did you invite
55:18yesterday uh just refusing so dissident
55:22and the second part of the question is
55:25uh just what I your impressions from
55:27Soviet
55:33people and among these uh just dissents
55:37you have uh invited a former
55:40collaborator with the fascists who was a
55:43policeman serving for
55:45fascists
55:47well there's one I don't know about or
55:50maybe the information is uh hasn't been
55:53all given out on that but you have to
55:58understand that
56:01Americans come from every corner of the
56:05world I received a letter from a man
56:09that call something to my attention
56:11recently he said you can go to live in
56:14France but you cannot become a
56:17Frenchman you can go to live in German
56:21you cannot become a German or a Turk or
56:23a Greek or whatever
56:26but he said anyone from any corner of
56:29the
56:30world can come to live in America and
56:34become an
56:36American you have to realize that we are
56:39a people that is made up of every strain
56:43nationality and race of the
56:45world and the result
56:48is that
56:50when people in our country think someone
56:53is being mistreated or treated
56:57unjustly uh in another
57:01country these are people who still feel
57:04that kinship to that country because
57:07that is their Heritage in America
57:09whenever you meet someone new and become
57:11friends one of the first things you tell
57:13each other is what your bloodline is for
57:16example I when I'm asked I have to say
57:19Irish English and Scotch English and
57:22scotch on my mother's side Irish on my
57:24father's side but uh
57:26all of them have that but when you take
57:29unto yourself a wife you do not stop
57:32loving your mother so there in Americans
57:36all feel a kind of a
57:38kinship to that country that their
57:42parents or their grandparents or even
57:44some great-grandparents came from you
57:47don't lose that
57:48contact so what I have come and what I
57:53have brought to the general secretary
57:55and I must say he has been very
57:57Cooperative about I have brought lists
58:00of
58:01names that have been brought to
58:04me that are from people that are
58:07relatives
58:09or
58:10friends that know that they or believe
58:14that this individual is being
58:16mistreated here in this
58:19country
58:21and they want him to be allowed to
58:24immigrate to our country
58:27uh some are separated
58:29families uh one that I met in this the
58:34other day was born in the same time I
58:38was he um was born of Russian parents
58:42who had uh moved to uh uh America oh way
58:47back in the early
58:491900s and he was born in
58:521911 and then sometime later the family
58:55moved back to
58:56Russia now he's grown has a son he's an
59:00American
59:01citizen but they wanted to go back to
59:05America and they're being denied on the
59:08grounds that well they can go back to
59:11America but his son
59:14married a Russian young lady and they
59:19want to keep her from going back well
59:22the whole family said no we're not going
59:24to leave her alone here she's a member
59:26of the family now back well that that
59:28kind of a case is brought to me
59:30personally so I bring it to the general
59:32secretary and as I say I must say he has
59:35been most helpful and most agreeable
59:37about correcting these things now I'm
59:41not blaming you I'm blaming bureaucracy
59:44we have the same type of thing happen in
59:46our own country and every once in a
59:48while somebody has to get the
59:51bureaucracy by the neck and shake it
59:52loose and say stop doing what you're
59:55doing and um this is this is the type of
59:59thing and the names that we have brought
1:00:01and it is a list of names all of which
1:00:03had been brought to me personally by
1:00:07either relatives or or close friends and
1:00:11[Music]
1:00:24Associates thank you very
1:00:31[Music]
1:00:33much you were all very kind I thank you
1:00:37very much and I hope I answered the
1:00:39questions correctly nobody asked me what
1:00:41it was going to feel like to not be
1:00:42president anymore uh I have some
1:00:46understanding because after I'd been
1:00:47governor for 8 years and then steep down
1:00:51I want to tell you what it's like we'd
1:00:53only been home a few days and someone
1:00:56invited us out to dinner Nancy and I
1:00:58both went out got in the back seat of
1:01:00the car and waited for somebody to get
1:01:01in the front and drive
1:01:04[Music]
1:01:09us
1:01:11toind in
1:01:13Moscow would like to congratulate you
1:01:16with the souvenir of depicting Unity of
1:01:19Moscow that is beautiful thank you very
1:01:24much thank you
1:01:35thank
1:01:42[Music]
1:01:47you only one that one
1:01:56know

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