Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 14, 1993 TAG: 9304140238
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FOREST LENGTH: Medium
GORBACHEV STRESSES NEED FOR PARTNERSHIP
With the birthday celebrations in Charlottesville behind him, Mikhail Gorbachev saved perhaps his most substantive remarks of Tuesday for a dinner visit to Thomas Jefferson's Bedford County retreat, Poplar Forest.Of course, Gorbachev acknowledged Jefferson's 250th birthday and Jefferson's enduring legacy to the world. But he didn't repeat what was said at earlier events at Monticello and the University of Virginia.
Instead, the former Soviet leader used the black-tie, invitation-only dinner at Poplar Forest as a forum to discuss his own legacy, to encourage a "fruitful partnership" between Russia and the United States and to ask for patience as his country wrestles with its struggling democracy.
Gorbachev pointed out that the United States has had 200 years to establish the well-developed democracy it enjoys. Russia and the other countries that made up the former Soviet Union have not yet had two years.
He called this a critical time in history.
In a 20-minute speech delivered through an interpreter, Gorbachev said the world - particularly the United States - must support Russia politically and financially to help see his country through its current crisis.
"A success in our reforms is something the entire world needs and the entire world must work for," he said to resounding applause. Gorbachev spoke without a prepared text to the audience of about 300 people.
He urged American business to invest in Russia and its neighbors. He said the potential is enormous and expressed surprise at the timid start of American business in his homeland.
Gorbachev said he was encouraged to see President Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin meet last month. However, he said, the two leaders must now move beyond political gestures and look at practical solutions for helping stabilize Russia's young democracy. He said he soon hopes to see a new era of "fruitful partnership" between the two countries.
He warned that they shouldn't miss the opportunity.
Of his own legacy, Gorbachev said he hopes to clarify his role in the Soviet reforms that eventually led to his removal as the Soviet Union's leader and the end of communism there.
He is working on his memoirs, he said, which should cast him in a more favorable light. Gorbachev has been hailed as a visionary in the West, but he is unpopular at home.
Gorbachev even poked some fun at himself.
He said his memoirs will help his status because, like most memoirs, they will portray him as a better leader than he really was. Gorbachev then assured that he was writing his memoirs honestly to preserve the truth for generations in the future.
He joked that his closest advisers were helping him stay in line, telling him that if he had listened to them, he might have been able to remain in power.
In the end, though, Gorbachev returned to Jefferson, who he called "a great citizen of the world." He praised the Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest and its effort to preserve the retreat. He said a country without a living memory of its history has no future.
Jefferson built Poplar Forest in the early 1800s as a retreat from his Monticello home in Charlottesville. It was sold by his grandson and remained in private ownership until 1984, when the Poplar Forest corporation took over.
Efforts are now under way to restore the home to Jefferson's original design. It was altered considerably after a fire in the 1840s and when it was modernized earlier this century. Most of the invited guests to Tuesday night's dinner with Gorbachev are large benefactors to the Poplar Forest restoration project.