Diary Entry - 12/14/1986
Key Facts
The President and First Lady host a Christmas Party for members of the White House staff.
The President and First Lady attend the taping of a "Christmas in Washington," hosted by NBC.
The experimental aircraft Voyager takes off from Edwards Air Force Base in California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world.
A call to Margaret Thatcher to respond to her warm handwritten letter re our “Irangate.” George Shultz called about a short talk. So he & Al Keel arrived at 11 A.M. Geo. had several things on his mind—most important was our arms proposal re the Reykjavik talks. We’ll meet on that this week to discuss possible changes to get the Soviets on board. One idea is to go for the 5 yr. 50% cut on I.C.B.M.s & then negotiate out further action beyond 1991.
A little before noon met with Mike Deavers attorney Jack Miller. He is going to find out from Poindexters lawyer (if he can) if John & Ollie North are taking the 5th thinking they are protecting me. If the answers are right it’s possible I might ask the Cong. committees to offer them immunity so they can tell the whole story.
Did my or our appearance before exec. branch staff & families downstairs. Then back up to a phone call from Barbara W. [Walters]. She is sending a lot of material obtained from a top Iranian figure re the money exchange. It sounds fantastic.
Off to “Christmas in Wash.” It was as always a lovely performance of Christmas music in a beautiful setting.
Back to the W.H. for dinner & a quiet evening.
