[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 34 (Thursday, March 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1674-S1675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire:
  S. 2281. A bill to name the United States Army misssile range at 
Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands for former President Ronald 
Reagan; to the Committee on Armed Services.


  LEGISLATION TO RENAME KWAJALEIN TESTING ATOLL FOR PRESIDENT RONALD 
                                 REAGAN

 Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, twenty years ago, 
President Ronald Reagan took office with daunting tasks before him. A 
year before, the Soviet Red Army had invaded Afghanistan, and Soviet 
proxy forces were challenging U.S. allies and interests in Central 
America, in Africa, and elsewhere. American hostages were still being 
held in Tehran, and the United States was suffering an acute crisis of 
confidence. Faced with an expansionistic Soviet Union that intimidated 
the Free World with nuclear weapons and a Communist ideology spread by 
Soviet-supported insurgencies and armed coups, President Reagan 
dedicated his Administration to resisting this global menace and toward 
winning the Cold War.
  President Reagan rejected the notion that the Soviet Union would 
modify its belligerence if only allowed to match U.S. military 
strength. He rejected the idea that the Evil Empire was indivisible, by 
implementing the Reagan doctrine, which met the Soviet proxy challenge 
in the Third World in Afghanistan, Nicaragua and Angola, and by funding 
Solidarity in Poland.
  On March 23, 1983, President Reagan set forth a broad vision of 
building a space-based defense, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), 
to free the American people from the threat of nuclear annihilation and 
to protect the public from an accidental nuclear

[[Page S1675]]

launch initiated by the Soviet Union or by a rogue state or actor. The 
critics labeled it ``Star Wars'' after the blockbuster hit by the same 
name and scoffed that it would never work. They publicly floated the 
notion that SDI was only a bargaining chip for arms control 
negotiations. America held its breath while President Reagan, remaining 
faithful to his vision, turned down President Gorbachev's offer at 
Reyjavik, because it would have meant the end of SDI. Reagan refused to 
give up his dreams of assured survival to replace assured destruction.
  Yet only twenty years earlier, President John F. Kennedy, after the 
Soviet launching of Sputnik, promised to put a man on the moon, and the 
Apollo program was born. Today, as the technology to intercept incoming 
missiles is being tested, Reagan's vision, like that of John F. 
Kennedy, is being realized, and the irrational notion of mutual assured 
destruction (MAD) pushed by arms control zealots is being dealt a 
mortal blow.
  Progress towards a national missile defense has not been impeded 
primarily by technical limitations, but rather by political 
obstruction, foot-dragging and by restraints of an imprudent treaty 
signed with a power that no longer exists. The ABM Treaty signed with 
the now-defunct USSR denies effective antimissile protections for the 
United States. As a result, the American people continue to remain 
undefended in the event of a missile attack.
  Since the fall of the Berlin Wall more than 10 years ago, and the 
collapse of the Soviet empire, Russia continues to pursue programs and 
policies that place the U.S. in conflict with the Russian Government, 
especially in the area of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear war-
fighting. There is also rapid proliferation of ballistic missile and 
nuclear technology world-wide.
  In recognition of President Reagan's dedication to providing America 
with protection from her enemies, I ask my colleagues in the Senate to 
join with me in supporting the renaming of the Army Missile Testing 
Range in the Republic of the Marshall Islands as the Ronald Reagan 
Strategic Defense Initiative Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll.
  I would like to point out that Kwajalein is a valuable national asset 
with a prime location for space surveillance, the ability to handle 
both long and short-range missions, and a suite of radars unsurpassed 
for assesssing missile intercepts. In 1986, President Reagan isssued 
Proclamation 5564, implementing the Compact of Free Association between 
the two nations, a key element of which granted the U.S. Department of 
Defense leasing rights to the Kwajalein Atoll for development of a 
national missile defense program, or the Strategic Defense Initiative. 
SDI was Ronald Reagan's greatest dream, and I believe that most of us 
look forward to its near-term fulfillment.
  The Marshallese legislature in February of 1999 decided to 
commemorate President Reagan in this manner by enacting Resolution 85. 
Therefore, I think it only fitting that the Senate concur in this 
tribute to a great President, leader and patriot, and a man, who 
because of his courage in attacking the conventional wisdom of his era, 
and because of his extraordinary and courageous vision, has changed the 
course of history.
  I am also including in the Record a fitting tribute to President 
Reagan by Winston Churchill which describes the impact that SDI had on 
the Soviet empire.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill and additional 
material be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2281

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. NAMING OF ARMY MISSILE TESTING RANGE AT KWAJALEIN 
                   ATOLL AS THE RONALD REAGAN STRATEGIC DEFENSE 
                   INITIATIVE TEST SITE AT KWAJALEIN ATOLL.

       The United States Army missile testing range located at 
     Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands shall be known and 
     designated as the ``Ronald Reagan Strategic Defense 
     Initiative Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll''. Any reference to 
     that range in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or 
     other paper of the United States shall be considered to be a 
     reference to the Ronald Reagan Strategic Defense Initiative 
     Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll.
                                  ____


  From the Remarks of Winston S. Churchill, MP, at the Opening of an 
    Exhibition of His Grandfather's Paintings at the Ronald Reagan 
                  Presidential Library, December 1992

       Mr. President, You have made reference to Sir Winston 
     Churchill's Iron Curtain speech at Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, 
     but more than any other single person, it was you who brought 
     about the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the demise of the 
     ``evil empire.''
       Historians will ponder the intriguing fact that in 1979 
     electorates on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously 
     smelled a rat. They sensed that if things were allowed to 
     drift on through the 1980s as they had so disastrously in the 
     1970s, with the West in full retreat in the face of Soviet 
     expansionism in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the free 
     world be heading for catastrophe.
       Accordingly, the U.S. and British electorates placed you 
     and Margaret Thatcher in office--and what a formidable 
     partnership you forged! You inspired NATO with a new resolve. 
     You strengthened the defenses of the West. You made clear 
     that the bugle would no more sound ``retreat!''
       When you unveiled your Strategic Defense Initiative, it was 
     mockingly dubbed ``Star Wars'' and dismissed by all too many 
     in both our countries as pure Hollywood hype. Fortunately, 
     there were a few people who believed it would work.
       I believe that when the history of this cataclysmic period 
     comes to be written, it will be seen that it was SDI--more 
     than any other factor--that broke the Soviet camel's back by 
     convincing the incumbents of the Kremlin that they could no 
     longer afford to compete militarily with the United States as 
     their economy could no longer bear the burden.
       All mankind owes you a debt of gratitude for bringing the 
     Cold War to an end, for putting the arms race in reverse and 
     for promoting reconciliation between East and West, so that 
     today we all live in a safer world.
                                 ______