78-14-B3

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Rostow V

Transcript In evaluating the SALT II agreement now being negotiated and the SALT I we've lived under for several years, Professor Rostow points out some frightening possibilities. He raises the question of whether, under SALT II, we would be able to threaten the Soviet Union with a second strike capability if it should attack us or our allies. The answer he gives is that the draft of SALT II as we've indicated in the press deals only with nuclear weapons which could reach the United States and that is like a dam across half the river. "We have," as he says, "vital interests in Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan and other allied nations. It does no good for us to spend thousands of hours fussing over whether the Backfire bomber can reach the United States while it al.so threatens Western Europe and the Middle East." "The Soviet Union was allowed in SALT I to have more and larger missile launchers than we because we thought we could stay ahead in mirving and in accuracy." But six fundamental developments have taken place since 1972. First, the Soviet Union has made extremely rapid progress in mirving their missiles. Where ours have three warheads, theirs have eight to 10, and they have greater throw weight--20 times the destructive power of ours. Our "SALT sellers", as Rostow calls the Administration spokesmen, continue to claim our warheads are the equivalent of the Soviet weapons. They are not. The second basic change since 1972 is the Soviet improvement in accuracy of missiles designed to destroy our missiles, planes on the ground and ships in harbor. Hear Mr. Rostow on this-- "Soviet science has achieved a great breakthrough, that as a result the Soviet Union is now superior to the United States in military power; and that the effects of the breakthrough will soon be apparent in world politics." Third, our dependence on submarines (now that we've cancelled the B-1 bomber) should give us little comfort for the Soviets have made equal breakthroughs in antisubmarine warfare. Fourth, the Soviet Union has made some of its Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles mobile. When SALT I was announced, assurances were given the Senate that this was not true. Now the Administration confirms it is true. Fifth, the Soviets now have killer satellites. They can knock from space our communications and spy satellites, leaving us blind. And sixth, there is the Soviet civil defense program. Our leaders continue to tell us that if the Soviets cross certain lines we can kill millions of them without danger to ourselves. This was a plausible answer at the time of the Cuban missile crisis, but it has "long since lost even the appearance of conviction", says Professor Rostow. He states that, "Our fixed site missiles are outclassed in number, size, destructive power and survivability by Soviet missiles; we have tossed away our advantage in bombers and our citizen population remains unprotected while the Soviet Union has persevered in air defense and evacuation procedures." This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-14-B3 Production Date 10/10/1978 Book/Page RihoH-97 Audio Youtube? No
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