Keeping Up Appearances

By David Beckwith

It was billed as "Style Wars" and "Tea and Empathy." Nancy Reagan, the polished Southern California socialite, and vivacious Raisa Gorbachev, the uniquely style-conscious Soviet First Lady, were advertised as going coiffure to coiffure in a well-scripted spate of public relations appearances while their husbands went eyeball to eyeball over substance behind closed doors. In fact, while the women generated little real warmth in private discussions, they nevertheless displayed a dignity that transcended the much hyped designer-dress face-off. Pressed by a reporter about style-wars comparisons, Nancy Reagan aptly retorted: "I really think that's a little silly. I mean there are very important things being discussed here, and what somebody wears or doesn't wear really isn't terribly important."

Maybe so, but it was clear that both sides had paid elaborate attention to precisely such details. The news blackout that cloaked the two principals focused for a while more scrutiny, if possible, on their wives, who dutifully worked their way through a crowded schedule. Raisa Gorbachev, 53, still largely unknown and more unpredictable, attracted particular journalistic interest, and she did not disappoint, peppering her hosts with rapid-fire questions and spontaneous comments. At the University of Geneva, Raisa, a Ph.D. in Marxism-Leninism who has lectured in Communist theory at Moscow State University, startled the rector by engaging him in a conversation about the relationship between philosophy and physics. At a clock museum, she jokingly inquired whether one ceremonial item was a Swiss watch; the director sheepishly admitted it was French. Raisa Gorbachev also demonstrated a beguiling bilingualism. Fingering a jeweled antique timepiece, she displayed it to U.S. television camera crews and warbled in accented English, "It's bea-u-tee-ful."

The contrast between the two First Ladies was most evident at an afternoon tea staged by Nancy Reagan at Maison de Saussure. The experienced American First Lady, 64, confidently sat back in her chair as the flock of photographers swirled around, strobes flashing; Raisa Gorbachev perched anxiously forward at the edge of her seat. When the press was at last safely outside, the women engaged in a drawing-room version of their husbands' fireside summit discussions, the hostess serving a flavored beverage, Celestial Seasonings Almond Sunset tea ($1.69 for 24 bags), which she had carried along from the U.S. Raisa Gorbachev gamely claimed she enjoyed the tea. Later White House aides said that Nancy had found Raisa somewhat pedantic and inflexible.

In other appearances, both women acquitted themselves well. Raisa Gorbachev remained unflustered when heckled loudly by a Soviet emigre outside the Geneva city hall. Nancy Reagan momentarily lost her train of thought while conversing with addicts at a drug treatment center but recovered and launched into a warm pep talk. In a joint appearance at a Red Cross ceremony, Nancy Reagan carefully read a prepared speech; Raisa Gorbachev had largely memorized hers, impressing the audience with the resulting sincere eye contact. At a second tea party, this one given by an increasingly confident Raisa Gorbachev at the Soviet mission and featuring caviar and blini, the two First Ladies briefly held hands as they posed for photographers.

Soviet journalists ignored the tea functions as insufficiently newsworthy. But their reports of Raisa Gorbachev's other appearances in Geneva found a receptive audience back home. She was featured in action at the Red Cross ceremony, and her name was mentioned for the first time on Soviet television. In Moscow citizens took obvious pride in her stylishness. Said a Soviet artist: "You Westerners must have thought all our women were barrel-shaped grannies like Brezhnev's wife." Some observers thought that the First Lady's performance might lead to a more formal role, heretofore unheard of, in Soviet public life.

Though the First Ladies managed to keep the summit's distaff side free of controversy, White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan did not fare so well. On the eve of the meeting, Regan advised the Washington Post, in an interview about the wives' press role, that many of the paper's female readers would not understand "throw-weights or what is happening in Afghanistan or what is happening in human rights. Most women . . . would rather read the human-interest stuff of what happened." The remarks predictably infuriated feminists and provided news-starved journalists with a few stories. When reporters asked Nancy Reagan if women understood substantive issues, she coolly replied, "I'm sure they do." Even Mikhail Gorbachev leaped in with a politic comment: "Men and women . . . all over the world are interested in having peace and being sure that peace would be kept stable and lasting." In an ironic twist, the President found himself trying to explain away a gaffe by his top aide. Regan, he said, merely meant that wives "also had an interest in children and a human touch"--a comment not likely to dispel the controversy. --By David Beckwith. Reported by Barrett Seaman and Adam Zagorin/Geneva

With reporting by Reported by Barrett Seaman and Adam Zagorin/Geneva