Diary Entry - 04/30/1987

Key Facts
President Reagan greets Prime Minister of Japan Yasuhiro Nakasone.
President Reagan meets with Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger to discuss short range nuclear missiles.
Pope John Paul II begins a five-day visit to West Germany.
Opened day with a briefing for P.M. Nakasone’s visit – then the moment was at hand. Ten A.M. the S. Lawn ceremony. I never seen a bigger public turnout for one of these events. Weather was perfect. He & I had a very brief one-on-one & then into the Cabinet Room for the plenary. He’s most anxious that our trade sanctions on the semi-conductor issue should be lifted before the Ec. Summit this June in Venice. Well we’d like that too but it depends on their adherence to the agreement we had on the marketing of semi-conductors. I invited him, his wife & daughter to have breakfast tomorrow morning with Nancy & me. We did that in 1983 – our 1st meeting.
He was very pleased.
Had lunch on the patio with V.P. He said he’d understand if I felt I should lend a hand to Paul Laxalt now that Paul was a candidate for President. I told George I had already told Paul I’d remain absolutely neutral in the primaries.
[considered new appointed; ceremony for Law Day; meeting with Weinberger, noted, “he is opposed to a zero deal for short range nuclear missiles but all for it on the long range weapons. He & I disagree on this one”; state dinner; entertainment by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mathis.]
