Bush Urges Baltic States’ Freedom : Summit: He calls Gorbachev ‘a remarkable man’ and says relations with the Soviet Union have entered a new era.

Under fire for not doing more to champion Lithuanian independence hopes at the superpower summit, President Bush asserted Thursday that he is “committed to self-determination for the Baltic states.”

Bush said that his four-day meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev opened a “new era” in Soviet-American relations but could not resolve every world problem.

Selling the summit on a two-day political tour of the Midwest, Bush appeared to take account of widespread criticism in Congress that he did not push hard enough for Baltic rights in his sessions with the Soviet leader.

“Of course, we have differences,” he said of himself and Gorbachev. “I want to see Lithuania have its freedom.”

Then, adding a line to his prepared text, the President drew applause when he said: “We are committed to self-determination for the Baltic states.”

In its first action on a summit-related bill, the House on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to deny new trade benefits to Moscow until Bush certifies that the Kremlin has lifted its economic embargo against Lithuania and started negotiations on independence demands.

The 390-24 vote was seen as a rebuff to Bush, who signed a trade agreement with Gorbachev without insisting that Moscow relax its sanctions against Lithuania.

In his talk to an audience of 2,500 at a fund-raising lunch for Wisconsin Gov. Tommy G. Thompson’s reelection campaign, Bush called the summit results “very productive.”

Speaking in the state where the late Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy launched his anti-Communist crusade at the height of the Cold War in the early 1950s, Bush struck a sharply contrasting note about the Soviet president.

“I’m grateful to Mr. Gorbachev for the forthright spirit in which he addressed every issue on the table, and I take it as proof that we have indeed entered a new era in our relations with the U.S.S.R.,” he said. “As I chatted informally with President Gorbachev at Camp David, I kept thinking that this new Soviet leader--committed to reform and openness--is indeed a remarkable man.”

In Chicago, where he spoke at a fund-raising reception for GOP gubernatorial candidate James Edgar, Bush defended the trade agreement as “certainly in the best interests of the United States.” A related grain sales agreement, he said, will bring business to Illinois farmers and bread to Soviet consumers.

“The summit was good for Illinois, good for America and good for the world,” Bush said.

While in Chicago, Bush appeared at Farnsworth School on the city’s Northwest Side, where he described his job to a group of children. He put it this way:

“It’s full-time work. It’s very interesting. You meet interesting people. It’s very important. It’s exciting. You live in a beautiful White House.”

Then, apparently deciding that this Dick-and-Jane description was lacking something, Bush recalled his dog.

“After supper, guess who we walk with? Millie! So it’s not all hard work,” the President assured the youngsters.

Then, after reading a story titled “Wednesday’s Surprise” on a Thursday, Bush gave a little advice to any would-be successors:

“If you want to be President, learn how to read,” he said solemnly. “I read so much sometimes I start to read backwards, which is not very good.”

Bush’s presence in Milwaukee helped to raise an estimated $650,000 for Thompson’s reelection effort, the largest amount ever raised there in a single event, a Thompson aide said. Thompson is an overwhelming favorite to win a second four-year term. The governor’s race may be closer in Illinois, where Edgar, the secretary of state, faces Democrat Neil Hartigan in the fall.