SIMI VALLEY : Gorbachev to Meet With Reagan in Spring

Former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev will meet with former President Ronald Reagan, possibly at the Reagan library near Simi Valley, during Gorbachev’s 2 1/2-week tour of the United States that will begin in late April, officials said Monday.

Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, will visit several cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, during their brief tour, which will run from April 30 to May 16, officials said. Other cities on their itinerary include Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, New York and Washington.

Gorbachev will be in Los Angeles from April 30 through May 4, said Jim Garrison, director of the San Francisco-based Gorbachev Foundation USA. The nonprofit foundation was recently formed to educate Americans about their own democratic freedoms, he said.

Garrison said Gorbachev will give a speech May 1 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

“He sees it as an opportunity to speak to the American people on the ending of the Cold War and the post-nuclear era,” Garrison said.

Reagan officials said the former chief executive plans to meet with Gorbachev during his U.S. visit, but were vague about details.

“When Gorbachev visits Los Angeles and meets with Reagan, there is a very good possibility he will visit the (Reagan) library,” a Reagan aide said, but declined to confirm the May 1 speaking engagement. Reagan sent Gorbachev an invitation in January to visit the library after receiving a letter from the former president of the now- defunct Soviet Union.

Reagan received the letter a few days after Gorbachev’s resignation on Dec. 25. In the letter, Gorbachev alluded to how both he and Reagan had worked together to bring an end to the Cold War, Reagan officials have said.

Gorbachev also stated that he hoped the two men would be able to meet again.

Reagan responded by sending an invitation to the Gorbachevs to visit his library in California.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was officially dedicated on Nov. 4 during a ceremony that featured President George Bush and former chief executives Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford and Richard M. Nixon.