Reagan Asks Increase in MX Missiles

President Reagan launched a new campaign Tuesday to obtain funding for more MX missiles, declaring that continued congressional support of the nuclear weapons system is vital to the “pace and quality” of upcoming U.S.-Soviet arms negotiations.

“I have no idea whether we can achieve an arms control agreement, even if we move forward with the MX--but I’m utterly convinced we cannot get a sound agreement without it,” Reagan told the Senate Armed Services and Appropriations committees during a late afternoon meeting at the White House.

The private session capped a day of all-out lobbying for the 10-warhead MX by Reagan and his top advisers.

Reagan also appealed personally to Republican congressional leaders for MX funds while Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger made a rare joint appearance on Capitol Hill before the Senate Armed Services Committee on behalf of the weapon.

“This is no time to cast doubt on our national resolve,” Shultz admonished committee members.

Max M. Kampelman, Reagan’s chief arms negotiator, also took up the cause in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asserting: “It would be damaging to our negotiating position were the Congress not to fund the MX. As a negotiator, I would like to have as much on my side of the table as is practical, responsible and reasonable.”

Reagan’s uphill, four-year battle to build an arsenal of 100 intercontinental MX missiles clearly was being given a boost by the coincidental timing of the resumption of U.S.-Soviet arms talks in Geneva on March 12, to be followed a week or two later by the congressional voting on MX funds, which was scheduled long ago.

“The President strongly believes that the pace and quality of the negotiations in Geneva will be related to the outcome of the MX vote,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said, presenting the Administration’s current principal argument for continuing the controversial missile program.

That reasoning seemed to be persuasive enough for Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who previously had expressed doubts about the wisdom of continuing the expensive MX program. Referring to the resumption of arms negotiations coupled with the MX vote, Goldwater said, “We in the Congress cannot ignore the connection between the two events.”

Won Funding for 21 Missiles

Reagan won congressional funding for the first 21 MX missiles two years ago. But last year, Congress gave only tentative approval for another 21 missiles, stipulating that before the money could be released the President would have to win two additional floor votes in each house after March 1. The voting must be preceded by the President’s submission to Congress of an MX status report. Once he does that, as scheduled on Monday, a strict timetable is set in motion for the voting.