White House Diaries

Thursday, August 6, 1987

View the President's Schedule

Before we were out of bed the phone rang. It was Geo. S. to tell us the Russian Pianist Feltsman was out of Moscow & in Vienna with his wife & child. We’ve been working on that for about 2 yrs. Into the office for a quick meeting. It seems Jack Kemp is blasting our peace proposal & even went so far as to call Pres. Duarte of El Salvador & try to persuade him to oppose our plan. Then we discussed Cong. & the possibility they’ll send a bill I’d like to sign but with an amendment calling for a tax increase. That I cant sign. We’ve agreed on Bill Verity for Sec. of Commerce but at days end still hadn’t been able to reach him.

N.S.C.—Gen. Vessey on his way home from Vietnam. Panama—word is that some faction raided operational HQ’s looking for documents. It’s hard to tell who the players are & who to root for.

In the P. gulf we’re delaying flagging Kuwait tankers for a couple of days & we’ve tightened up on revealing plans & schedules. Our Turkish friends are nervous. The Cong. is again considering a bill demanding the Turks take blame for the Ottoman Empires persecution of Armenians when it was in power.

Then at 9:30 a Cong. meeting. These were Sens.—Dem. who tend to be against our peace plan. I think we sent them away in a better frame of mind.

Then another Cong. meeting—this time Repubs. who are involved with the Welfare plan (reform). This too was a good meeting. Then a shorter meeting with a few of our Repubs. on the matter of a Housing bill. The Const. business has lobbied them into wanting to spend too much money. I think we are on the way to a compromise.

Finally our regular Mexican lunch with Geo. B. After lunch a brief meeting with Ed Meese on appointments.

Met with 8 award winners in the Puerto Rico Am. community. One is a Vice Admiral commanding the 3rd Fleet. One was Rita Moreno.

Then Personnelle time with Bob Tuttle. And finally farewell photos with Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Vivien Crea—1st woman & 1st Coast Guard officer to serve as Presidential Mil. Aide. She’s being transferred. Then to the Dr’s. for bandage removal. Upstairs for a shower & then back down to see the other dr’s. from Bethesda. All the stitches are out of my nose.