White House Diaries

Thursday, June 16, 1983

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Wrong start to a pretty good day. One of our Presidential Scholars—high school Seniors chosen for outstanding scholarship was a visitor before the ceremony. A young lady named Ariela Gross came by to give me a petition she had persuaded 14 of the more than 140 to sign advocating a nuclear freeze. I should have asked her questions and then caught her up when she was wrong. I didn’t—feeling pressed because I only had a few minutes with her. I tried to tell her why a freeze was ridiculous. She was unreachable & more than a little arrogant. I spoke to ears that refused to hear. N.S.C. meeting re the danger of the debt the developing countries have piled up. Then out to the S. Lawn to speak to the Presidential scholars. Lunch with the V.P. Then an ec. briefing on the market. Don Regan more optimistic than I’m used to seeing him. The Dow Jones set a record yesterday & another one today. 1248. A lot of visitors Lorraine Wagner & her family, the United Negro College fund raisers, His Holiness Karekin II Pope of the Armenian Apostolic church presented me with Cross of Cicilia. Committee to restore Statue of Liberty came by & I said good-by to Commander Waters & his family. They have been in charge at Camp David. Four medal winners for Cancer research sponsored by Gen. Motors came by & then I was presented with the 1st Maine Salmon to be caught at opening of season—9 1⁄2 lbs. The man who caught it was the son of the man who caught the first one when F.D.R. was Pres. Greeted 5 Ambassadors & tonite dropped by dinner for Jesse Helms.