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    "label": "Letter from President Ronald Reagan to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, 10/31/1985",
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    "title": "Letter from President Ronald Reagan to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, 10/31/1985",
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    "ocrText": "SYSTEM II\n91135\nTHE WHITE HOUSE\nWASHINGTON\nOctober 31, 1985\nDear Mr. General Secretary:\nAs I told Foreign Minister Shevardnadze in New\nYork October 24, I have been giving careful\nconsideration to your letter dated September 12.\nThe issues you raise are important ones, the ideas\nyou have put forward are in many ways interesting,\nand I have wanted to study them thoroughly before\nreplying.\nMany of the specific points you addressed in your\nletter have been or will be dealt with by our\ndelegations in the Geneva arms control negotia-\ntions or by our Foreign Ministers. In this letter\nI will therefore focus on what I consider the most\nsignificant issues you have raised.\nYou suggested in your letter that we might reach\nan understanding on the inadmissibility of nuclear\nwar and other general principles which should\nguide us. Foreign Minister Shevardnadze has since\nproposed specific language for our consideration.\nAs I have repeatedly made clear, it is indeed my\nview that a nuclear war cannot be won and must\nnever be fought. I therefore have instructed\nSecretary Shultz to discuss this matter with\nForeign Minister Shevardnadze in their meetings\nnext week.\nAs we address this and other elements which may\nfigure in any document we may issue in Geneva, I\nbelieve it is important to give the most careful\nconsideration to our words. The experience of the\npast has been that overly vague or rhetorical\nlanguage has led to expectations which, given the\ncompetitive aspect of our relationship to which\nyou referred in your letter, cannot be sustained.\nDECLASSIFIED / RELEASED\nNLS F99-0514358\nBY amt NARA. DATE 10/16/00"
}