Reagan Lauds New Era--but He’s Still ‘Proud to Be Anti-Communist’

President Reagan, returning here Wednesday after meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in New York, expressed hope for “a new era” of cooperation between the superpowers, but he also declared: “I am proud to say I am still anti-Communist.”

In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute in Washington just hours after the mini-summit, Reagan called the discussions “positive and encouraging” and said “the work we began together in Geneva in 1985” at the first Reagan-Gorbachev summit “will continue under the Bush Administration.”

Addressing Gorbachev’s surprising announcement about a Soviet unilateral troop withdrawal, Reagan said, “I can only say that if it is carried out speedily and in full, history will regard it as important--significant.”

‘Hopes for New Era’

“While our hopes are for a new era,” Reagan added, “let us remember that if that new era is indeed upon us, that there was nothing inevitable about it. It was the result of hard work and of resolve and sacrifice on the part of those who love freedom and dare to strive for it.”

The United States “must remain strong and free of illusion,” the President said, because that is the only way the nation can “reach out and embrace this new era and transform this hope of peace and freedom for all the world into reality.”

That note of caution rang throughout Reagan’s speech, a forceful piece of oratory delivered to the institute meeting at a downtown hotel. Conscious of Gorbachev’s peripatetic media appearances in New York, Reagan sought to take back a share of the stage and at the same time to reassure his conservative audience that he was still one of them.

Making some of his strongest anti-Communist remarks in recent years, Reagan said: “The tiny free-exchange experiments in the East Bloc and the liberalization in the People’s Republic of China are stunning evidence of the Communist world’s desperate efforts to find a way out of the economic morass of state socialism.”

And, returning to one of his favorite themes, support of the Nicaraguan Contras, Reagan accused the Sandinista government of “abject failure,” asserting that the nation’s standard of living “has dropped precipitously” since the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979. He called the economic problems of the Central American country “stark proof of communism’s inherent inability to compel an enslaved population to do much of anything but suffer.”

The speech, which had been planned for some time, offered Reagan an opportunity to reminisce with supporters and to recall what he portrayed as a successful shift of ideas nationwide--from liberal to conservative--during his eight years in Washington.

“We came to Washington together in 1981,” he said, “both as anti-Communists and as unapologetic defenders and promoters of a strong and vibrant America. I am proud to say I am still an anti-Communist.” The audience cheered its approval.

‘Peace Through Strength’

As he has done for years, the President defended what he calls “peace through strength,” the notion that adversaries are brought to the bargaining table because of U.S. military strength. Reagan asserted that this policy was accepted by voters in November but “has been undercut by a wavering Democrat-controlled Congress” bent on “scoring points” against Administration efforts to fund the Nicaraguan rebels.

Offering details on his meeting with Gorbachev, Reagan said he stressed the importance of human rights and reviewed progress on arms control, regional conflicts and other matters relating to relations between the two countries.

“But we also recognized that fundamental differences between our two countries remain in many areas,” Reagan said, “and that determined efforts by both sides will be necessary in the months and years ahead to overcome such differences.”