1988 Kerry Flip-Flop: Says he always thought Reagan's Star Wars program was a great bargaining chip

After steadfastly leading the Senate opposition to President Reagan's Star Wars (SDI) programs for the previous 4 years, John Kerry suddenly flip-flopped in 1988 as the fall of the Soviet Union became plausible:

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WASHINGTON -- After five years and $13 billion, President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, widely known as "star wars," finds itself besieged as never before.

Reagan established the SDI program in March 1983, with a televised address that called upon the nation's scientists to devise new technologies that could render nuclear weapons "impotent and obsolete."

And even though most Democrats and a few Republicans criticize SDI -- and, in some cases, privately say the notion is dubious, to say the least -- almost nobody publicly advocates doing away with it.

The reason is the politics of arms control. President Reagan has said many times, and few have challenged him, that SDI is what brought the Soviets back to the bargaining table in Geneva, and it is what keeps them there. He has said the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in December and ratified late last month, would never have been reached without SDI.

This is what lures many of even the most diehard SDI skeptics from the temptation simply to savage the program.

Even Sen. John Kerry, one of the prominent critics of the program, thinks this argument is probably valid. "SDI is a great bargaining chip, and I've always thought so," Kerry said. "The problem is that this president shows no inclination to bargaining it away.

From 1986: Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), another leading SDI critic, said, "Only one year ago, the Senate doubled the funding for the president's 'star wars' program. Today, we came within one vote of limiting that program to 3 percent growth. . . This program is in trouble because it seeks to substitute high technology for arms control. The close vote. . . reflects the fact that many now recognize that the deployment of thousands of orbiting 'star wars' systems would be a terrible mistake."

From 1985: Sen. John P. Kerry (D-Mass.), who proposed a ban on ASAT testing, says he finds the administration's announcement "unbelievable" -- and revealing. "It is his notion of how to approach the talks, his notion of bargaining. He is trying to set up the summit in his terms, so that when it doesn't produce anything, it can be blamed on the Soviets, who won't talk because they are ahead of us."

From 1984 Campaign: A new Kerry radio advertisement criticizes the proposed Strategic Defense Initiative, or so-called "Star Wars" system, saying: "Do yourself a favor tonight. Step outside into the crisp night air, take a deep breath and look up at all those stars. Now imagine that thousands of those stars aren't stars but killer satellites. Ray Shamie thinks an $800 billion 'Star Wars' system is a good idea. John Kerry think it's the most dangerous idea anyone has ever thought of and he'll fight to stop it.

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