November 18, 1981 (Wednesday)
- In a speech to the National Press Club in Washington D.C., President Reagan unveiled what he called the zero option proposal, the first attempt to reduce the number of nuclear missiles. Reagan, also announced the term "START" for upcoming negotiations in Vienna, with the goal being a Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, going beyond SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) negotiations. The proposal was for the U.S. to cancel deployment of Pershing II missiles and cruise missiles if the U.S.S.R. made similar reductions of its arsenal of SS-20, SS-4 and SS-5 missiles.
Read more about this topic: November 1981
Famous quotes containing the word november:
“During my administration the most unpleasant and perhaps most dramatic negotiations in which we participated were with the various leaders of Iran after the seizure of American hostages in November 1979. The Algerians were finally chosen as the only intermediaries who were considered trustworthy both by me and the Ayatollah Khomeini. After many aborted efforts, final success was achieved during my last few hours in the White House.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)