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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, February 22, 1980
Page 3
Mr. Rader noted that during the next few days and weeks further cooling of
relations between the United States and Russia may transpire. Neverthe
less, even though the Church might come under criticism for visiting Russi,
at a time of deteriorating relations between the two superpowers, Mr.
Armstrong feels we must run the risk and go through the door God has openec
to His Work.
It is planned that on Mr. Armstrong's return from Moscow he will stop in
Warsaw where he will have large meetings with representatives of the
Polish government. There will also probably be a very large testimonial
dinner in his honor.
Moscow Trip Promises to Be Significant
In any event, the trip to Russia is expected to be significant. Mr. Rader
explained that Mr. Armstrong already has some concrete plans for the
erection of a new cultural bridge. This is one of the things he and Mr.
Rader discussed at some length in Tucson last week. The goal is to estab
lish a really significant cultural bridge between the Soviet Union and
the Church, the College and the Foundation, as well as the American
people. He said these relations would transcend politics.
Mr. Rader then explained why, even on Mr. Armstrong's first visit, the
discussions should be very meaningful: "When you are dealing with people
and you're looking for a lasting relationship--for one that will go beyond
the immediacy of the visit--you have more opportunity to talk about things
because people do take a longer view and they want to be sure, if they're
going to be involved with you in a project for a period of time, that
they're not making a mistake. So they look more closely at what you are
doing. If you are just hitting and running that's one thing, but if
you're saying that you're going to come back again and again, and there's
going to be a permanent relationship, they're going to be talking about
things that are very substantive--things important to us, things important
to them. So we think the discussions will be very·meaningful."
Church/State Documentary Accomplishing Its Purpose
In answer to an inquiry about the success of the documentary, Mr. Rader
was happy to announce that from all indications available to us it is
accomplishing what it was intended to do. He said that in addition to its
having been aired here in Southern California, it has also been aired in
Tucson. We are hoping to have it aired again here in the Los Angeles area
on another station sometime in March. We are also shopping market by
market for prime time slots (9-10 p.m.) around the country. All of this,
of course, will take time.
The word-of-mouth response among the informed community here in this area
has just been tremendous, said Mr. Rader. Lawyers have been talking about
it, commenting on how different the case was from how it had been por
trayed in the press as well as by the courts and the Attorney General.
Current plans now call for two follow-up half-hour documentaries; one on
the Honorable Jerry Pacht and the other on the Honorable Steven Weisman.
Everyone will be able to learn who some of the cast of characters are, wh2
they did and how it happened. There has been tremendous interest in these
two men within the legal community. Mr. Rader noted that the nature of