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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual
collections.
Collection: Deaver, Michael
Folder Title: May 1985 Outgoing (1)
Box: 25
To see more digitized collections
visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories
visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives
Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
MEMO TO BETTY UBBENS
FROM: GAIL LEDWIG
SUBJ: NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION
You can cancel Mr. Deaver's newspaper subscription effective
today - Friday, May 3, 1985.
I would like to receive the magazines through the week of May 6th.
Thank you for your attention to this request.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Knoblach:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. Robert H. C. Knoblack
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
April 30, 1985
Miss Gail Leadwig, Assistant to
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
Deputy Chief of Staff and
Assistant to the President
Executive Office of the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Miss Leadwig:
Thanks for your wonderful cooperation in my phone call to you this morning
in your offer to apprise Mr. Deaver to inform President Reagan of the
proposal that he address President Kohl inviting the finest West German
philharmonic orchestra and Opera to be President Reagan's guests to the
U.S.A. in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian
Bach, etc., while on his visit with President Kohl, as suggested on the
phone and as more fully proposed in my letters enclosed herewith.
Thanks again, and hoping it all works out well.
Gratefully,
Robert H. C. Knoblach
Enclosures
(Copy)
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
April 30, 1985
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
Deputy Chief of Staff and
Assistant to the President
Executive Office of the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Deaver:
Not knowing until reported in the news last evening that President Reagan
is scheduled to leave for his visit to West Germany this evening, I
telephoned your office at 10 a.m. today and, in your absence, spoke with
your Assistant Miss Gail Leadwig, asking her to reach you with the pro-
posal made in my attached letter to President Reagan, suggesting that he
and Mrs. Reagan address President Kohl inviting West Germany's finest
philharmonic orchestra and opera to be his guests of the U.S.A. this tri-
centennial year of Johann Sebastian Bach, much as mentioned in my letter
to the President; copy enclosed.
Miss Leadwig graciously said she would promptly apprise you of my request
that you inform President Reagan for his immediate consideration of the
proposal while he is on his visit with President Kohl.
Thanks very much.
Respectfully,
Robert H. C. Knoblach
Enclosure
assistant Leading chiefof K. staff and
(copy)
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
April 28, 1985
The Honorable Ronald W. Reagan
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Reagan:
The late erudite Dr. Clarence E. Manion, Professor of Constitutional Law 25 years
and Dean of the School of Law of Notre Dame University 12 years, in his "Lessons
in Liberty", regarding our American Declaration of Independence wrote: "The
Declaration goes on to say that all men are endowed, not by the civil government
but by God Himself, with certain unalienable rights, and that the one overriding
purpose of all civil government is to secure and protect each person's God-given
life and liberty while that person is making his particular contribution to the
general good by using his personal talents to provide for his own (and his
family's) welfare. The Declaration makes it clear that civil government is never
our master. Always and everywhere it is merely man's agent for the protection of
God's gifts."
Dean Manion says: "All this and more makes the Declaration of Independence the
greatest theo-political document ever published in the world. It is the most
perfect orientation of man to his God, to his government and to his fellow-man
to be found anywhere in all literature outside of Holy Writ."
Throughout the 2000 years of recorded history of the Christian era, unlike hateful
vengeance of pre-Christian times or even among some non-Christians of Western
civilization today, whereas citizens of their respective nations in unfortunate
times of war dutifully respond submissively to the patriotic call of their
government, nevertheless, upon termination of hostilities, traditionally, in the
resolve toward amicable peace and social order, in accordance with the Christian
precepts to love one another and "to forgive seventy times seven times" and,
that the un-Christian vengefullness of "an eye for an eye" is disclaimed by our
Lord's Word that "he who hates his brother is a murderer"; regardless of the
irrational extremism of warfare in time of war and combat, upon termination of
hostilities, in the interest of amicable peace, both victor and vanquished mutually
and respectfully resolve to purge enmity for their common good and especially that
of their posterity.
They who will not amicably so resolve and who hatefully and perpetually continue
their vengeance against former combatants of war are not peacemakers, but, dis-
regarding Divine Counsel, stir and re-kindle old mutual hatreds because in carnal
nature devoid of heedence of Divine Law, hate begets hate, rather than love
and peace.
Unlike some other forms of government still in the world today, our American
Constitutional Government is not now, nor was it ever, an end in itself. It was
constructed by our forefathers as a confinement for the powers of civil government
President Ronald W. Reagan
2
April 28, 1985
which, unconfined, had always grown into omnipotence, and as some foreign
governments abroad still presume to be and have the audacity to even directly
demand of our Government and you as President to submissively consort with their
continued vengeance of the past forty years. Omnipotent government and vengeance
is not rooted in law nor the Christian-American precepts of goodwill and peace
but in force and power.
James Otis, who sparked the American Revolution with his courage and eloquence,
declared that such a government "destroys all distinction between right and wrong;
that it overturns all morality, leads directly to skepticism and ends in atheism."
This is true also in the converse because atheism has no place else to go.
Otis declared that Almighty God is "the only monarch in the universe Who has a clear
and indisputable right to absolute power because He is the only one Who is omni-
scient as well as onmipotent. (Pamphlet on "The Rights of the British Colonies"
1764)
Dean Manion wrote that "Omnipotence without omniscience wrecked every civilization
that has appeared in the course of recorded history. The American Constitutional
system was the first insurance policy ever written against the resurgence of such
an omnipotence and it has protected generations of Americans with the benefits of
freedom from the days of James Otis until now."
Under our Constitutional government of Christian precepts, we render to Caesar only
specified things which are Caesar's, but with the clear understanding that all other
things will be rendered to God, according to the specifications of the Ten Command-
ments and Christian precepts, for responsibility for maintaining the moral order
is the province of Almighty God respectfully and righteously expressed by our
nation's Founding Fathers in our American Declaration of Independence, the founda-
tion of our U.S. Constitution: "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United
States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge
of the world for the rectitude of our intentions do, in the name, and by authority
of the good People of these Colonies (States), solemnly publish and declare
And, for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection
of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our sacred Honor. "
"Long before James Otis was born," said Dean Manion, "the Quaker William Penn
said: 'Those people who will not be governed by Almighty God must be ruled by
tyrants. "
People of all nations, particularly Christians, who serve their governments
through the holocaust of war and survive and the thousands who pay the supreme
sacrifice, whose loved ones survive, in compliance with the Laws of God lovingly
forgive their former adversaries. The unjust unbearable poverty imposed upon
Germany following World War I begot the horrendous revolt to shed it under Hitler.
Post World War II Germany and the United States with the people of other still
free nations need to purge enmities of the past and to cordially cultivate mutual
Christian goodwill affording them the mutual respect of dignity and positiveness
of self reliance of protection against the Godless implacable Marxist enemy at
their borders.
President Ronald W. Reagan
3
April 28, 1985
Hardships of people sustained under Hitler were not perpetrated by the United States
nor by Americans, and calumnious inferences of U.S. guilt by association is vile
and offensive. Likewise slander and persecution of today's innocent new generation
of Germans for the alleged crimes of some of their forebears is typical of the
perpetual persecution of the innocent new generation of Germans following World
War I which erupted into World War II.
Holy Scripture tells all that "love overcomes all understanding" or, misunderstanding.
In families of all peoples and races, people pine with love over the sins or loss
of their loved ones. Just as Americans are sorrowful about the loss of loved ones
who died in the military service in World War II, so too, families in Germany who
survived the same holocaust but who also lost loved ones in the conflict sorrowfully
pine for them. Now that it is past, with saddened hearts, forty years later, with
new growing generations, in Christian goodwill, all may surely mutually empathize
with one another for the common good of posterity in peace.
Historically, upon termination of past wars, in Christian protocol victor and
vanquished mutually purged enmities, amicably and peacefully.
Rancorous incessant malicious aspersions of guilt even calumniating entire new
generations of nations or people for the alleged crimes of some of their forebears
is pernicious or, bearing of false witness and genocidal by the accuser which
begets retaliatory malice.
For you, Mr. President, to be intimidated and humiliated before the nation and the
world via telstar in arrogant violation of protocol, without advance discreet pre-
screening of the embarrassing Weasel scene by the rancor and pressures of hatreds
of all enemies and enmities may not only impinge upon cordial confidence, faith
and hope in the friendship between the new Germany and the United States but
also serve to be disparaging, distrustful and disdainful to the common detriment
of peace and the ultimate great sorrow and hardship of our nations' posterity -
seeds of another holocaust of war. Hasn't the U.S.A. been good to them? Eaten
bread is soon forgotten.
Please, therefore, with recourse to Divine Providence, be guided by our American
principles of letting bygones be bygone, with charity toward all and malice toward
none and, fulfill your original plans of goodwill on your forthcoming visit to
Germany. History, justice and wisdom will thank you and prove you right.
Accenting the positive optimistically, this year is the 300th birthday anniversary
of composer Johann Sebastian Bach and the anniversaries of works of other great
German composers (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner and (Wolfgang Amadeus) Mozart which are
appreciatively being commemorated this year, too, and therefore, it would be a
commendable cordial gesture if you and First Lady Mrs. Reagan were to invite the
finest German symphonic and German vocal operatic talent to perform in the U.S.
Capital this year as our guests with both of you as their hosts; and, comparable
American talent reciprocating, possibly the Metropolitan Opera, with commemorative
performances in West Germany. As you may know, about 40% of Americans are of
German lenial descent, and this commemoration surely would augur toward cordial
U.S.-German rapport. It would be one of our finest investments and events in
history.
President Ronald W. Reagan
4
April 28, 1985
You might ask President Kohl of Germany to send you Germany's best philharmonic
orchestra and opera company as guests of the people of the United States at our
expense, to perform first in the White House for you, members of your Cabinet,
bi-partisan leaders of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and others as space would
permit, plus, host them with a White House dinner.
Secondly, possibly with the assistance of the U.S. Foundation of the Arts, to perform
in a theater of the finest acoustics in Washington, with reserved seats for all
Members of Congress, your Cabinet, your friends, the U.S. Supreme Court and for the
entire Diplomatic Corps, other select personages - dignitaries of the Churches,
etc., and, of the public, as accommodations allow.
If security could be assured and it certainly should be, they should be scheduled
to perform at the same theatre a second and third time for the public; followed by
scheduled one-day performances at several major U.S. cities across the nation with
well-advanced bookings and screenings for served seats and meticulous cooperation
of highest authorities of the respective cities throughout their tour.
Coincidentally, because 1985 is also the centenary anniversary of the New York
Metropolitan Opera Company, it would be excellently appropriate for these German
artists to present their New York performance at the Met.
Reciprocally, following the German performances in the U.S.A., on our U.S. goodwill
and $ tab, you should send the N.Y. Metropolitan Opera Company and the finest
philharmonic orchestra of our nation's Capitol - possibly the orchestra of the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on a brief tour of West Germany,
including West Berlin and Bonn.
All of which would be of greatest moment of happy and cordial grass-roots U.S.-
German rapport, which should be an immeasurable plus in genuine goodwill beyond
the many billions necessarily spent for mutually needed defense.
The Lord be with you and your hosts on your journey and visitation.
Respectfully,
Robert H. C. Knoblach
(copy michael Deaver
Deperty Chapaf staff and
assistment to the Fresident
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
April 30, 1985
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
Deputy Chief of Staff and
Assistant to the President
Executive Office of the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Deaver:
Not knowing until reported in the news last evening that President Reagan
is scheduled to leave for his visit to West Germany this evening, I
telephoned your office at 10 a.m. today and, in your absence, spoke with
your Assistant Miss Gail Leadwig, asking her to reach you with the pro-
posal made in my attached letter to President Reagan, suggesting that he
and Mrs. Reagan address President Kohl inviting West Germany's finest
philharmonic orchestra and opera to be his guests of the U.S.A. this tri-
centennial year of Johann Sebastian Bach, much as mentioned in my letter
to the President; copy enclosed.
Miss Leadwig graciously said she would promptly apprise you of my request
that you inform President Reagan for his immediate consideration of the
proposal while he is on his visit with President Kohl.
Thanks very much.
Respectfully,
Robert H. C. Knoblach
Enclosure%
atc. mr. THE Deputy michael Deavers
(Copy)
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
April 28, 1985
The Honorable Ronald W. Reagan
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Reagan:
The late erudite Dr. Clarence E. Manion, Professor of Constitutional Law 25 years
and Dean of the School of Law of Notre Dame University 12 years, in his "Lessons
in Liberty", regarding our American Declaration of Independence wrote: "The
Declaration goes on to say that all men are endowed, not by the civil government
but by God Himself, with certain unalienable rights, and that the one overriding
purpose of all civil government is to secure and protect each person's God-given
life and liberty while that person is making his particular contribution to the
general good by using his personal talents to provide for his own (and his
family's) welfare. The Declaration makes it clear that civil government is never
our master. Always and everywhere it is merely man's agent for the protection of
God's gifts."
Dean Manion says: "All this and more makes the Declaration of Independence the
greatest theo-political document ever published in the world. It is the most
perfect orientation of man to his God, to his government and to his fellow-man
to be found anywhere in all literature outside of Holy Writ."
Throughout the 2000 years of recorded history of the Christian era, unlike hateful
vengeance of pre-Christian times or even among some non-Christians of Western
civilization today, whereas citizens of their respective nations in unfortunate
times of war dutifully respond submissively to the patriotic call of their
government, nevertheless, upon termination of hostilities, traditionally, in the
resolve toward amicable peace and social order, in accordance with the Christian
precepts to love one another and "to forgive seventy times seven times" and,
that the un-Christian vengefullness of "an eye for an eye" is disclaimed by our
Lord's Word that "he who hates his brother is a murderer"; regardless of the
irrational extremism of warfare in time of war and combat, upon termination of
hostilities, in the interest of amicable peace, both victor and vanquished mutually
and respectfully resolve to purge enmity for their common good and especially that
of their posterity.
They who will not amicably SO resolve and who hatefully and perpetually continue
their vengeance against former combatants of war are not peacemakers, but, dis-
regarding Divine Counsel, stir and re-kindle old mutual hatreds because in carnal
nature devoid of heedence of Divine Law, hate begets hate, rather than love
and peace.
Unlike some other forms of government still in the world today, our American
Constitutional Government is not now, nor was it ever, an end in itself. It was
constructed by our forefathers as a confinement for the powers of civil government
President Ronald W. Reagan
2
April 28, 1985
which, unconfined, had always grown into omnipotence, and as some foreign
governments abroad still presume to be and have the audacity to even directly
demand of our Government and you as President to submissively consort with their
continued vengeance of the past forty years. Omnipotent government and vengeance
is not rooted in law nor the Christian-American precepts of goodwill and peace
but in force and power.
James Otis, who sparked the American Revolution with his courage and eloquence,
declared that such a government "destroys all distinction between right and wrong;
that it overturns all morality, leads directly to skepticism and ends in atheism."
This is true also in the converse because atheism has no place else to go.
Otis declared that Almighty God is "the only monarch in the universe Who has a clear
and indisputable right to absolute power because He is the only one Who is omni-
scient as well as onmipotent.' (Pamphlet on "The Rights of the British Colonies"
1764)
Dean Manion wrote that "Omnipotence without omniscience wrecked every civilization
that has appeared in the course of recorded history. The American Constitutional
system was the first insurance policy ever written against the resurgence of such
an omnipotence and it has protected generations of Americans with the benefits of
freedom from the days of James Otis until now."
Under our Constitutional government of Christian precepts, we render to Caesar only
specified things which are Caesar's, but with the clear understanding that all other
things will be rendered to God, according to the specifications of the Ten Command-
ments and Christian precepts, for responsibility for maintaining the moral order
is the province of Almighty God respectfully and righteously expressed by our
nation's Founding Fathers in our American Declaration of Independence, the founda-
tion of our U.S. Constitution: "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United
States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge
of the world for the rectitude of our intentions do, in the name, and by authority
of the good People of these Colonies (States), solemnly publish and declare
...
And, for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection
of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our sacred Honor.'
"Long before James Otis was born," said Dean Manion, "the Quaker William Penn
said: 'Those people who will not be governed by Almighty God must be ruled by
tyrants. "
People of all nations, particularly Christians, who serve their governments
through the holocaust of war and survive and the thousands who pay the supreme
sacrifice, whose loved ones survive, in compliance with the Laws of God lovingly
forgive their former adversaries. The unjust unbearable poverty imposed upon
Germany following World War I begot the horrendous revolt to shed it under Hitler.
Post World War II Germany and the United States with the people of other still
free nations need to purge enmities of the past and to cordially cultivate mutual
Christian goodwill affording them the mutual respect of dignity and positiveness
of self reliance of protection against the Godless implacable Marxist enemy at
their borders.
President Ronald W. Reagan
3
April 28, 1985
Hardships of people sustained under Hitler were not perpetrated by the United States
nor by Americans, and calumnious inferences of U.S. guilt by association is vile
and offensive. Likewise slander and persecution of today's innocent new generation
of Germans for the alleged crimes of some of their forebears is typical of the
perpetual persecution of the innocent new generation of Germans following World
War I which erupted into World War II.
Holy Scripture tells all that "love overcomes all understanding" or, misunderstanding.
In families of all peoples and races, people pine with love over the sins or loss
of their loved ones. Just as Americans are sorrowful about the loss of loved ones
who died in the military service in World War II, so too, families in Germany who
survived the same holocaust but who also lost loved ones in the conflict sorrowfully
pine for them. Now that it is past, with saddened hearts, forty years later, with
new growing generations, in Christian goodwill, all may surely mutually empathize
with one another for the common good of posterity in peace.
Historically, upon termination of past wars, in Christian protocol victor and
vanquished mutually purged enmities, amicably and peacefully.
Rancorous incessant malicious aspersions of guilt even calumniating entire new
generations of nations or people for the alleged crimes of some of their forebears
is pernicious or, bearing of false witness and genocidal by the accuser which
begets retaliatory malice.
For you, Mr. President, to be intimidated and humiliated before the nation and the
world via telstar in arrogant violation of protocol, without advance discreet pre-
screening of the embarrassing Weasel scene by the rancor and pressures of hatreds
of all enemies and enmities may not only impinge upon cordial confidence, faith
and hope in the friendship between the new Germany and the United States but
also serve to be disparaging, distrustful and disdainful to the common detriment
of peace and the ultimate great sorrow and hardship of our nations' posterity -
seeds of another holocaust of war. Hasn't the U.S.A. been good to them? Eaten
bread is soon forgotten.
Please, therefore, with recourse to Divine Providence, be guided by our American
principles of letting bygones be bygone, with charity toward all and malice toward
none and, fulfill your original plans of goodwill on your forthcoming visit to
Germany. History, justice and wisdom will thank you and prove you right.
Accenting the positive optimistically, this year is the 300th birthday anniversary
of composer Johann Sebastian Bach and the anniversaries of works of other great
German composers (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner and (Wolfgang Amadeus) Mozart which are
appreciatively being commemorated this year, too, and therefore, it would be a
commendable cordial gesture if you and First Lady Mrs. Reagan were to invite the
finest German symphonic and German vocal operatic talent to perform in the U.S.
Capital this year as our guests with both of you as their hosts; and, comparable
American talent reciprocating, possibly the Metropolitan Opera, with commemorative
performances in West Germany. As you may know, about 40% of Americans are of
German lenial descent, and this commemoration surely would augur toward cordial
U.S.-German rapport. It would be one of our finest investments and events in
history.
President Ronald W. Reagan
4
April 28, 1985
You might ask President Kohl of Germany to send you Germany's best philharmonic
orchestra and opera company as guests of the people of the United States at our
expense, to perform first in the White House for you, members of your Cabinet,
bi-partisan leaders of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court and others as space would
permit, plus, host them with a White House dinner.
Secondly, possibly with the assistance of the U.S. Foundation of the Arts, to perform
in a theater of the finest acoustics in Washington, with reserved seats for all
Members of Congress, your Cabinet, your friends, the U.S. Supreme Court and for the
entire Diplomatic Corps, other select personages - dignitaries of the Churches,
etc., and, of the public, as accommodations allow.
If security could be assured and it certainly should be, they should be scheduled
to perform at the same theatre a second and third time for the public; followed by
scheduled one-day performances at several major U.S. cities across the nation with
well-advanced bookings and screenings for served seats and meticulous cooperation
of highest authorities of the respective cities throughout their tour.
Coincidentally, because 1985 is also the centenary anniversary of the New York
Metropolitan Opera Company, it would be excellently appropriate for these German
artists to present their New York performance at the Met.
Reciprocally, following the German performances in the U.S.A., on our U.S. goodwill
and $ tab, you should send the N.Y. Metropolitan Opera Company and the finest
philharmonic orchestra of our nation's Capitol - possibly the orchestra of the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on a brief tour of West Germany,
including West Berlin and Bonn.
All of which would be of greatest moment of happy and cordial grass-roots U.S.-
German rapport, which should be an immeasurable plus in genuine goodwill beyond
the many billions necessarily spent for mutually needed defense.
The Lord be with you and your hosts on your journey and visitation.
Respectfully,
Robert H. C. Knoblach
(Copy)
819 North Fifth Street
Allentown, PA 18102
April 30, 1985
Miss Gail Leadwig, Assistant to
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
Deputy Chief of Staff and
Assistant to the President
Executive Office of the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Miss Leadwig:
Thanks for your wonderful cooperation in my phone call to you this morning
in your offer to apprise Mr. Deaver to inform President Reagan of the
proposal that he address President Kohl inviting the finest West German
philharmonic orchestra and Opera to be President Reagan's guests to the
U.S.A. in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian
Bach, etc., while on his visit with President Kohl, as suggested on the
phone and as more fully proposed in my letters enclosed herewith.
Thanks again, and hoping it all works out well.
Gratefully,
Robert H. C. Knoblach
Enclosures
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Dietze:
I wish to acknowledge your April 27, 1985
letter to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. Gottfried Dietze
Professor
The Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland 21218
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21218
DEPARTMENT OF
April 27, 1985
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. Deaver:
Thank you for your kind note. Following my
phone call to Ms. Gail Metrick in which I informed her to take
the suggestion by a rabbi, that President Reagan visit the grave
of Pastor Niemöller, with caution because Pastor Niemöller,
while incarcerated by Hitler and to many Germans a symbol of
resistance to the dictator, is said to have offered Hitler his
services as a U-boat commander during World War II and to have
resented the fact that Christ was a Jew, I should like to add
that following the war Niemöller was denied status as a victim
of the Nazis by an official committee.
An additional thought that occurred to me, of which obviously no
one so far has thought, is the following. The German verb "bitten"
can be translated "to beg", but also "to pray". Bitburg can thus
be translated "Prayburg", "Praytown", "Praysite". It probably is
the only German war cemetary with this kind of a symbolic name,
and for that reason a good place to give a prayer of thanks that
there has been peace for 40 years and of hope that there will be
peace hereafter and to pray for all the victims of the last war,
in which also the killing of Jews occurred.
The mail being what it is, I shall also phone the above in on
Monday.
With all good wishes,
Sincerely yours,
gottleied lietze
Gottfried Dietze
Professor
(Home phone in Washington, D.C. :
659-1840)
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Ochinero:
I wish to acknowledge your recent mailgram
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. John A. Ochinero
1611 116th Northeast
Bellevue, WA 98004
NORTHEAST
WA 98004 26PM
Western Union Mailgram® ®
STATE UNITED
U.S.MAIL
2238116 04/26/85 ICS IPMRNCZ CSP WHSB
621510 MGMB TDRN BELLEVUE WA 286 04-26 0742P EST
HR MICHAEL DEAVER
WHITE HOUSE
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE NORTHWEST
WASHINGTON DC 20500
DEAR MR DEAVER,
THE NEGATIVE PUBLICITY (AND PROPORTIONAL PUBLIC CONCERN) SURROUNDING
THE PRESIDENT'S PLANNED VISIT TO THE BLITBURG CEMETERY IS AT HIGH
PITCH, WHILE COMPLICATED BY MIXED IMPRESSIONS FROM RECENT CENTRAL
AMERICA DEFEATS AND CRITICAL REVIEWS OF THE ADMINISTRATION'S MIDDLE
EAST POLICY, I BELIEVE THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HAS A HIGH THRESHOLD OF
TRUST IN THE PRESIDENT'S JUDGMENT. MOREOVER, I BELIEVE THE PRESS IN
THIS CASE IS CREATING IMPRESSIONS TO A GREATER EXTENT THAN ECHOING
PUBLIC OPINION, I BELIEVE THAT 47 SS TROOPS ARE PERCEIVED TO BE AN
ARBITRARILY PLACED FRACTION OF THE OVERWHELMING THEME OF THE
CEMETERY'S LOT OF SOME 2,000 NON SS GERMAN SOLDIERS, IT IS THIS
DISTINCTION WHICH SHOULD BE EXPOSED ON EVERY LEVEL,
IF THE VISIT IS TO OCCUR (WHICH CURRENTLY APPEARS UNAVOIDABLE) I
SUGGEST THAT THE PRESIDENT'S PURPOSE BE TWOFOLD:
1. A SYMBOL OF RECONCILIATION BY PLACING THE WREATHS: AND
2. AN OPPORTUNITY TO EXPOSE TO THE WORLD THE AUTROCITY OF THE
HOLOCAUST. INCLUDING, THE UNIFICATION OF WEST GERMANY, ISRAEL, NATO
AND THE WELCOMING OF ALL NATIONS WHO WILL JOIN, AND A COMBINED PLEDGE
THAT SUCH AN EVENT WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO OCCUR AGAIN. NATURALLY, I
WOULD FORMALLY WELCOME THE USSR AND ITS SATELLITES TO JOIN IN SUCH A
PLEDGE,
THESE THEMES WOULD BE ECHOED IN BOTH REAGAN'S AND KOHL'S
PRESENTATIONS AT THE SCENE (WHICH IS CONSISTENT WITH BOTH OF THEIR
ATTITUDES). UNDER THESE CONDITIONS ELIE WIESEL MAY JOIN IN. IF so,
THIS FESTERING ISSUE WOULD TURN INTO A POSITIVE CLARIFICATION OF
POSITIONS AND AN IDENTIFICATION OF GOOD AND EVIL,
JOHN A . OCHINERO
(206) 462-1510
1611 116TH NORTHEAST
BELLEVUE WA 98004
1 (R 7/82)
CC: LETTER TO THE EDITOR - WASHINGTON POST
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Ms. Frye:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Dailw Gail W. Ledwig Bluey
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Ms. Patricia J. Frye
119 Rio Vista Place
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
April 23, 1985
THE WHITE HOUSE
Gentlefolk,
You were so kind to return my call and I thank you so
very much.
I wanted so much to be heard and don't know if there is
any time left but I am none the less going to put my feelings
in writing and share them with you---for whatever they are worth.
I recognized immediately President Reagons good intention
and the healing, forgiving theme of reconciliation. I am sure
many of you already are familiar with all the attempts at re-
conciliation of Martin Buber and the German nation and people.
And, how he and his efforts were vilified by his own people,
(not ALL however). They were misinterpreted and misunderstood.
I also heard the plea of Martin Luther King that those who
were the haters and persecutors of the blacks were as much a
victim as were the blacks themselves. I know it was that re-
velation of some 30 years ago that changed my perception and
politics forever.
Both men were open to dialogue and it was extremely pain-
ful for Buber to even return to German soil but he did in order
for a dialogue and reconciliation to begin. But he did SO at
institutuions of learning and places dedicated to peaceful dia-
logue. I don't think either men would have laid a wreath at
their graves or honored their dead. I think that would have re-
mained a private affair for both.
I may not agree with your policies and politics entirely
but I have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that if
you go through with this (which I have heard the majority of
Germans feel it is an empty gesture in the first place) you will
be laying a wreath at your own credibility and future to govern
freely and without this tainted gesture haunting you.
Sincerely Colricis grya
Patricia J. Frye
119 Rio Vista Pl.
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Dr. Klingenstein:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. R. James Klingenstein, M.D.
Gastrointestinal Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
SEACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
JAWES KILINGENSTEIN, M.D.
Cincal Associate in Medicine
ALIENTAL
Gastrointestinal Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
HARVARD
Tel. 617-726-3766
April 23, 1985
Michael Deaver
The White House
Dear Mr. Deaver:
I was pleased to learn that Mr. Reagan has decided to
visit the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during
his upcoming trip to Germany. My brother-in-law, Steven Hess,
and his sister Marion Lewin are the only twins to survive that
camp. They were interned there with their parents from ages
five through seven, and when liberated by the Allies were one of
the few families to survive intact. They were German Jews who
moved to Holland to try to escape the Nazis after Hitler came
to power. They emigrated to America in 1947 and grew up in
New York City. Steven is now a prosperous businessman in
Rochester, N.Y.; he is a graduate of Columbia University and
was an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1960-1964. Marion Lewin
lives in Chevy Chase, M.D. and is a former Congressional aide.
Their mother is still alive in New York City.
I am writing to you because I think there might be public
relations value in having them accompany the President on his
visit to that camp. If you are interested, Steven Hess lives
at 2768. 11 Pine Cone Drive, Pittsford, N.Y. His phone is 716 248-
Sincerely,
R. James James Klingenstein, M.D.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Halpern:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. Howard S. Halpern
182 Clay Hill Road
Stamford, CT 06905
April 18, 1985
dent Ronald Reagan
The White House
Some 40 years ago I paid a condolence call
Upon the family of a friend lost in the Battle of
the Bulge. He was their only son. Now you plan to
honor those who killed him by placing a wreath upon
their graves. These were not ordinary soldiets but
also murderers of little children, and of 100 the
American prisoners captured at Malmedy during the
Battle of the Bulge.
The only way you can make Your planned
visit to the German world war II military
cemetery acceptable would be to refrain from
placing a wreath and stating that You are
witnessing the accomplishment of out boys, and
those of out allies, achieved with great Sactifice
There are alternative cemetery visits;
(1) visit the grave of contace Adenauer who was to
himself taint. a leader in reconciliation with no Nazi
(2) Visit a world wat I rather than World war II
German military cemetery. As a reminder to
the German people, it would help if the grave
site picked for laying of wreath were that
of a Jewish soldier who died for Germany
Howard & 76alper (Howard S. Halpe
182 clay Hill Road
stamford, CT 06905
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Musgrave:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. Bill Musgrave
Administrative Assistant to
E. Thomas Coleman, M.C.
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
TELEPHONE
(202) 225-7041
BELL MUSGRAVENT
BILL E. MUSGRAVE
Washington, D.C.
April 23, 1985
M.C.
2344 RAYBURN BLDG.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
Deputy
and
Assistant to the resident
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
RE: Bitburg/Bergen-Belsen
Dear Mr. Deaver:
Thank you for your kind response to my inquiry regarding
your future plans for a public relations firm. I appreciate
your reply.
I know you are embroiled in the controversy surrounding
the President's upcoming trip to Germany. If I may, I would
like to offer a suggestion that could possibly diffuse some
of the negatives and offer a positive symbolic backdrop for
the tours of the German cemetery at Bitburg and the Bergen-
Belsen camp.
Locate a son or daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and a
son or daughter of one of the SS officers buried at Bitburg.
If they could accompany President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl
to both the cemetery and the camp they could well symbolize
a new era and understanding among the German people. They
would not be expected to "forgive and forget" but rather they
might offer words similar to those of Elie Wiesel's: "I don't
believe in collective guilt, nor in collective responsibility.
Only the killers were guilty. Their sons and daughters are
not."
Clearly, press coverage will be extraordinary when the
President and the Chancellor visit the two sites. Perhaps
it would be most advisable to get it over with as quickly
as possible. If, however, you are considering ways to try
to make the best of a bad situation my suggestion may be
of some value to you.
Sincerely Bill Musgrave tryme
Administrative Assistant to
E. THOMAS COLEMAN, M.C.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Krutein:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing and your
kind words of support for President Reagan.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Individung
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. Manfred G. Krutein
26 Mountain View
Irvine, CA 92715
MANFRED G. KRUTEIN
26 Mountain View
IRVINE - CA - 92715
Irvine, April 28, 1985.
Mr. Michael Deaver,
Member of Staff,
White House,
Washington - DC.
Dear Mr. Deaver,
In support of the President's effort to reconcile with our NATO partner West
Germany and give the soldiers in the Bundeswehr the feeling that they are
finally accepted in the Free World, I sent several letters to senators and
congressmen, a typical copy of which is enclosed.
I wanted to remind them that after 1951 the Allied Military Government had
released a number of top SS-Generals and officers who had been accused of
crimes against humanity and sentenced to death or long-term prison when the
governments of Britain, France and the U.S. wanted to rearm West Germany.
The inexcusable and irresponsible reaction of senators and congressmen can be
explained only by their ignorance of those actions of the years after 1951,
actions which could not have been done without the approval of the allied
governments.
I admire President Reagan for not giving in to complaints from small ethnic
groups.
Mauped Sincerely yours, f. Undern
MANFRED KRUTEIN
-COPY- -
26 Mountain View
IRVINE - CA - 92715
Irvine, April 26, 1985.
Senator Arlen K. Specter,
Senate Building,
WASHINGTON, DC.
Dear Senator,
I support our President's effort to strengthen the alliance of NATO by not
changing the travel itinerary for the Presidents Europe trip.
The Germans have the old tradition to celebrate battles and ends of wars only
for 40 years. After such a long period most of the veterans have died and a
new generation has no interest to keep the memory of events of the former
generation.
The D-Day ceremonies of last year were used to celebrate victories of the
Allied Forces instead of setting an end to the terrible WII memories of all
nations. The West Germans were snubbed and were willfully excluded from these
ceremonies. Instead, they were told that there would be a reconciliation act at
the end of WWII ceremony to demonstrate the acceptance of the new German
military forces within the NATO alliance.
Then came Mr. Elie Wiesel and told the President that there were 47 soldiers of
the Waffen-SS buried on the Bitburg cemetery and he should not go to this
place, thus causing a political turmoil for the American nation.
What is so wrong with the existence of some 47 graves of young German boys
who were forcefully drafted by the Waffen-SS to participate in W WII war
actions? Could they have protested and rejected their draft call? Would the
NAZI recruiting office in 1944 have accepted their protest and send them home?
Aren't they also victims of the NAZI dictatorship ?
However, another problem should be considered by Mr. Wiesel and the American
politicians trying to pressure the President to reject the visit of the Bitburg
PRESERVATION COPY
Manfred G. Krutein
Consultant
26 Mountain View
Irvine, CA 92715
ANTA S LNA. (PM) 29 APR CA 58 927
USA
22
1985
Mr. MICHAEL DEAVER
MEMBER OF STAFF
WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON DC- 20500
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 3, 1985
Dear Mr. Garber:
I wish to acknowledge your recent letter
to Mr. Deaver. Before he left for the
European Summit he asked me to write and
thank you for taking the time to bring your
thoughts and observations to his attention.
Please be assured your views were given every
consideration in planning for President
Reagan's trip to Germany and the Summit.
Thank you once again for your interest and
concern which prompted your writing.
With best wishes,
Sincerely
Gail W. Ledwig
Staff Assistant to
Michael K. Deaver
Mr. Corey Douglas Garber
Attorney and Counselor at Law
100 Clock Tower Place
Carmel, CA 93923
Corey Douglas Garber
Attorney and Counselor at Law
April 27, 1985
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
Deputy Chief of Staff and
Assistant to the President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500
RE: Bitburg
Dear Mr. Deaver:
This letter follows up my telephone call to your office this morning.
I had telephoned to suggest that covering the headstones of the SS soldiers buried in
the Bitburg cemetery might be a solution to the President's quandary. I want to
amplify the reasons for my suggestion.
FIRST, in the event the West German government should refuse to comply with the
request that the gravestones by covered, the President would be justified in cancelling
his visit to the cemetery.
SECOND, if the West German government agreed to cover the SS headstones, the visual
effect would constitute a dramatic statement which would help reverse the initial
negative response to the President's visit to the cemetery.
Finally, it is my view that the President could use his request to cover the SS
headstones to emphasize his feelings and the feelings we all share for those against
whom atrocities were committed during the war.
For example:
"I have asked that the headstones of SS soldiers buried in this cemetery be covered
SO that my eyes would not fall upon the gravesites of those who, rightly or wrongly,
symbolize atrocities and human suffering all men abhor. I have come to this place as a
gesture of reconciliation between the American people and the German people, but
neither the German people nor the American people will ever be reconciled to or accept
the atrocities which remain so vivid for so many people."
page 1 of 2
408/625-6200
Mr. Michael K. Deaver
April 27, 1985
page 2 of 2
Therefore, with the approach I have suggested, I believe the President can turn his
visit to the Bitburg cemetery into a symbolic gesture, not just to the German people but
also to the Jewish people.
A Corey Douglas Garber
Very truly yours,
cc: Mr. Donald Regan