Reagan Hails ‘Momentous’ Summit Events

President Reagan, saluting “momentous events” taking place in U.S.-Soviet relations, proclaimed Friday that a new Western-led “crusade for freedom . . . is well under way.”

Reagan, reporting on the results of his five-day visit to Moscow, said that he and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev had made “tangible progress” toward an agreement to scale down the superpowers’ arsenals of long-range nuclear missiles and bombers.

And he declared: “Such a treaty, with all its implications, is, I believe, now within our grasp.”

Back in Washington

Reagan’s assertion was the most upbeat of any of the appraisals made by U.S. officials who took part in the Kremlin meetings this week. He continued his optimistic tone when he arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington just hours later, telling a cheering crowd of 3,000 gathered in a hangar that the summit meeting was “not conclusive, but momentous.”

But senior advisers who have been close to the difficult negotiations have said that so many details of an agreement remain to be resolved that they do not expect the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve such a pact before Reagan’s term ends Jan. 20.

One White House official said, “Everything’s in our grasp rhetorically. But there’s no chance realistically.”

Memories of Victories

In a sentimental speech delivered in throaty, dramatic tones to a London research institute, Reagan summoned memories of stirring British victories--in the Falkland Islands in 1982, at El Alamein in World War II, on the Marne in World War I--to underline Western resolve, while at the same time forecasting an era of new amity along the East-West divide.

Speaking in the 15th-Century Guildhall, the center of civic government in London, and surrounded by the pageantry that Britain routinely summons for such events, the President predicted a relaxation in the tension that has marked East-West relations for four decades. At the same time, he also held out the possibility that the changes he saw under way in the Soviet Union may yet come to naught.

“Quite possibly,” he said, “we are beginning to take down the barriers of the postwar era. Quite possibly, we are entering a new era in history, a time of lasting change in the Soviet Union. We will have to see.”

‘Momentous Events’

Referring to the treaty that went into effect Wednesday to eliminate all ground-based U.S. and Soviet medium-range missiles and to the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan that began May 15, Reagan said: “The changes we see in the Soviet Union--these are momentous events. Not conclusive. But momentous.”

He spoke to the Royal Institute of International Affairs, an independent research and study organization that analyzes international issues.

Even more than his comments in Moscow, his report Friday served to burnish his assessment of his experiences in the Soviet Union--in private with Gorbachev and in public as he met with Soviet citizens and moved about the city.

Reagan’s analysis of the visit and the changes in the Soviet Union presented a marked contrast with another report he delivered in London almost exactly six years ago. On that occasion, he told assembled members of Parliament that “the march of freedom and democracy” would “leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history. . . .”

‘Crusade Under Way’

Recalling that address, Reagan said he had sought then to spur “a worldwide movement toward democracy.”

“Well, that crusade for freedom, that crusade for peace, is well under way,” he said Friday, in a speech that carried as much the air of a valedictory as a report on a superpower summit. “We have found the will. We have held fast to the faith.”

While Reagan delivered his report, the White House also sought to put into perspective the Soviet goal during the summit.

“The key to this,” one White House official said, “is the Soviets are trying to move the President as far to the left as possible, so there is a criterion for the next President to go by”--in effect, setting a pattern of friendly relations from which it would be impossible to retreat without great political risk.

In his own view, Reagan believes that the summit left things looking “good and promising for the future.” Upon his arrival at Andrews, he repeated his assessment that “tangible progress” had been made toward an agreement to reduce long-range strategic missiles.

‘Contribution to Peace’

Vice President George Bush, who introduced a visibly weary Reagan and the First Lady to the crowd, said Reagan “made a historic contribution to peace and the world” in Moscow.

He noted that Reagan had “caught a little flak bringing up the issue of human rights so forcefully right there in the heart of the Soviet system.” But, he said to vigorous applause, “What’s wrong with telling the other guy how you feel?”

In his comments in London, the President himself reported summit progress in human rights, as well as two other focal points of the meetings, bilateral relations and regional conflicts. “On the issue of human rights--granting people the right to speak, write, travel and worship freely--there are signs of greater individual freedom,” he said.

Offering what he said was a “personal reflection” on the Soviet Union, which he was visiting for the first time, the President said that “in all aspects of Soviet life, the talk is of progress toward democratic reform--in the economy, in political institutions, in religious, social and artistic life.”

“It is called glasnost --openness. It is perestroika --restructuring,” Reagan said, touching on the twin themes that symbolize Gorbachev’s effort to reform Soviet life.

Party Conclave Looms

The President said that he and the Soviet leader--who have now met four times, more than any of their predecessors have done--discussed the new focal point in internal Soviet political life: the special Communist Party conference that Gorbachev has called for later this month.

At that conference, Reagan said, such reforms as official accountability, limitations on terms of service, criminal law revisions and the independence of the judiciary, will be debated “and, perhaps, adopted.”

The irony of the assessment he offered was not lost on Reagan, who came to office driven by a personal mission to restrain communism.

“To those of us familiar with the postwar era, all of this is cause for shaking the head in wonder,” he said, adding:

“Imagine, the President of the United States and the general secretary of the Soviet Union walking together in Red Square talking about a growing personal friendship and meeting, together, average citizens, realizing how much our people have in common.”

It was “a special moment in a week of special moments,” Reagan said of his surprise stroll through the Kremlin gates and into Red Square, escorted by Gorbachev, whom the President described as “a serious man seeking serious reform.”

Precautionary Note

Yet Reagan offered a brief note of caution. While the West must acknowledge positive change in the Soviet Union, he said, “Let us also be wary; let us stay strong.”

Reagan’s efforts were saluted at the end of the speech by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, perhaps the President’s closest colleague among leaders of the Western world.

“Thank you for the summit,” she said. “Thank you for your presidency.”

When she sat down, the President reached past his wife, Nancy, grasped Thatcher’s right hand, and said quietly, “Thank you.”

Before the address, Reagan conferred at Winfield House, the London residence of U.S. Ambassador Charles H. Price II, with Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, who stopped in London on his way from New York to Tokyo.

After the speech, Reagan greeted members of the embassy staff, and then, with Mrs. Reagan, boarded Air Force One for the flight home to Washington.