76-08-A2
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
| << Previous Broadcast | Next Broadcast >> |
Farewell Speeches
TranscriptShortly before the changing of the guard in the nation's capital, the former Secretary of State addressed the Washington Press Plub. In his address, he vehemently denied that we had lost military supremacy to the Soviet Union. He spoke somewhat harshly of those who claimed otherwise, which I assume included me. But to tell you the truth, he didn't change my mind. About the same time, the just retired head of Air Force intelligence, Major General George J. Keegan, Jr., gave an interview to the New York TIMES. He said flatly that the Soviet Union has already achieved military superiority over this country, QUOTE -- "By every criterion used to measure strategic balance", he said, "that is, damage expectancy, throw weight, equivalent megatonnage or technology I am unaware of a single important category in which the Soviets have not established a significant lead over the United States". --UNQUOTE. The General spoke of the one thing that, until recently, has not been very much publicized by our side and that is the Soviet emphasis on civil defense, including shelters and stockpiling of food and supplies. He expressed the view that we are probably no longer capable of carrying out our assigned war time task of crippling the Soviet industrial capacity, nuclear stockpiles and the basic fighting capacity of the Russians. General Keegan expressed his own view that the Soviet Union is not only trying for superiority but is preparing for war. He based this somber assessment on a collection of thousands of photographs, pamphlets and documents on Soviet military sites and civil defense projects. In the TIMES interview, he said, -- QUOTE -- "In the military area alone they have hardened command posts for the civil military leadership within the 75 underground command posts for the civil military leadership within the Moscow Beltway alone". He also said, "some of these structures were several hundred feet deep and wide and capable of withstanding 1000 pounds per square inch of blast pressure." -- UNQUOTE. According to him, the hardened sites included headquarters of all the major military services, duplicate reserve installations for each and for the entire nuclear chain of command. In addition, according to Keegan, 10,000 surface to air missile sites have been hardened and 4,500 early warning and ground control intercept radars are in the process of being hardened. Evidence was given of worker shelters in industrial areas capable of protecting more than 60 million workers. Some one-fourth of all factory workers are in training programs preparing them -- QUOTE "for civil defense leadership roles". -- UNQUOTE. The General declared, "The implication is that they have quietly and at extra expense taken measures to assure that the essential, civilian-military leadership, the fighting capability and the production capacity can continue to function under conditions of total war." -- UNQUOTE. The majority opinion among qualified experts as to the relative strength of the Soviet Union and the United States is not on the cheerful side. It's time to ask ourselves if we can afford not to believe them. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
Details
| |||||||||||
Added Notes
|
