Reagan Will Send Bush to Funeral

Hours after the announcement of the death of Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko, President Reagan pledged Monday to work “with an open mind” toward improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations and said he is “looking forward” to meeting Chernenko’s successor, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The President decided not to attend Chernenko’s funeral, designating Vice President George Bush to head the U.S. delegation.

At the same time, he dispatched a formal note of condolence to the Soviet government, saying that while the differences between Washington and Moscow are “many and complex,” leaders of the two countries “can and must resolve our differences through dialogue and negotiation.”

Stresses Arms Talks

In that message and in remarks to newspaper editors attending a White House luncheon, the President used Chernenko’s death as an occasion to stress the importance of the new nuclear arms negotiations opening today in Geneva.

“Our two delegations are sitting down in Geneva to begin negotiation on how to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons,” he said in his note to the Soviets, addressed to Vasily V. Kuznetsov, first deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. “We must seize the opportunities for peace. . . . We must also establish a working relationship that builds greater trust and cooperation between us.”

Asked about the possibility of meeting with Gorbachev, he told the White House visitors: “I think there is a mutual suspicion between the two countries . . . so I’d like to have a talk and see if we can have a meeting of minds.” He made it clear, though, that he was not proposing an early summit to get acquainted with Gorbachev.

Late Monday, the President visited the Soviet Embassy, just a few blocks from the White House, where he was greeted by Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin and signed a book of condolences.

Reagan wrote: “My condolences and sympathy to Chairman Chernenko’s family and to the Soviet government and people in this time of bereavement. Let us rededicate ourselves to ensuring a lasting peace between our countries.”

Reagan was awakened by national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane about 4 a.m. Monday and told of Chernenko’s death.

At a meeting in the Oval Office later in the morning, the President made the decision to pass up the funeral services for the Soviet leader, who had been in office a little more than a year. Instead, the United States’ official representatives at the services will be Bush, Secretary of State George P. Shultz and U.S. Ambassador to Moscow Arthur A. Hartman.

Bush was in Geneva when Chernenko’s death was announced. Shultz left Washington Monday evening for Moscow.

Speaking to the visiting editors and broadcasters at the White House on Monday afternoon, the President said his decision not to go to Moscow was made because “there is an awful lot on my plate right now” and because it was logical to send Bush, who was already in Europe.

The full plate Reagan referred to included Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s visit to Washington this week and Reagan’s long-scheduled trip to Canada beginning Sunday.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Monday that Bush would deliver a personal note from the President to Gorbachev, which would express the same sentiments included in the message made public.

Although Reagan said he “looked forward” to a meeting with Chernenko’s successor, he emphasized that “we must have an agenda and not just get acquainted.”

Gorbachev will become the fourth leader in the Kremlin since Reagan took office in January, 1981. Reagan did not meet with any of the previous three--Leonid I. Brezhnev, Yuri V. Andropov and Chernenko, taking the position that he stated Monday, that any summit meeting must be carefully prepared and offer some prospect of concrete results.

Although he pointed to Gorbachev’s selection as an opportunity to ease tensions between the superpowers, Reagan conceded that he does not expect to see the new Communist Party leader produce significant near-term changes in Soviet policy. The real leadership, he said, remains in the hands of the same “dozen or so individuals in the Politburo.”

In both his informal remarks and in his formal message to Moscow, Reagan focused on the Geneva arms talks.

“I am pleased that negotiations will begin as scheduled,” he said, adding that “our team stands ready to put forward concrete and constructive proposals, and they will in turn respond to good-faith Soviet proposals. We earnestly hope that the Soviets are equally prepared for serious give and take.”

Bush was touring Africa in November, 1982, when Reagan sent him to the funeral of Brezhnev. And the vice president was in Europe in February, 1984, when Reagan ordered him to Moscow for the burial of Andropov.

He was in Switzerland on Monday after completing a week-long journey through famine-stricken Sudan, Niger and Mali.