On December 8, 1987, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the United States and the leader of the Soviet Union, respectively, signed an arms control treaty and vowed to work for greater arms reduction. In the midst of this historic step towards peace, Marija in Medjugorje was intimately involved. Just two days before the signing, on December 6th, the White House called Alfred Kingon, a representative (ambassador) of the United States to the European Communities, to get Marija’s address. In a later briefing, Reagan told Kingon that he had been, “very moved†by the letter. When the President read the letter he said:
“This will help me to go to the meeting with Gorbachev with a new spirit.â€
Kingon called on December 8th and spoke to Kathleen Martin, an American friend of Marija’s, who was living with Marija’s family at the time. Kathleen relayed that Marija wanted to get a letter to Mikhail Gorbechev, but she didn’t know Russian. On December 9th, Kingon sent Marija a letter telling her to go ahead and write the letter. He said he could get it translated. On December 11th, Kingon spoke to Jack Matlock, the United States ambassador to Russia about getting a letter to Gorbechev. Matlock said it would be no problem. Kingon sent a second letter to Marija saying:
“Let it come, don’t worry about the translation. I’ll take care of it and get it into the Kremlin.â€
But, Kingon never got a response from Marija. In February, 1988, Kingon met with Austrian ambassador who handed him a large envelope. An Austrian deputy had gotten to know Marija and had translated the message from Marija and wrote a description. Kingon got the letter and description into Matlock’s hands in February, 1988. Kingon was invited to speak at the Notre Dame Medjugorje Conference in 1992, and he said:
“I know that man swore he would give it to President Gorbachev…We are convinced that Gorbachev got the message.â€
