70 Year Magazine Archive

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Summit addenda: “Reagan is a simple man, a normal man,” said Vitaly Korotich, Soviet editor, after Reagan’s speech to Moscow culturati. “He likes astrology; maybe he eats spinach; he was an actor. Americans maybe are getting tired of hearing about details of the private lives of their leaders, but we are just getting started. We see this normal man and we want to have a normal man as the leader of our state.” . . . Until they do, they’re still trying to leave: 1,145 Jews left Soviet Union in May, highest monthly total since 1981; 10,000 are expected to leave this year, along with 14,000 Armenians, 20,000 ethnic Germans. . . . Ted Turner and Encyclopaedia Britannica are planning a classroom version of Turner’s Portrait of the Soviet Union (which Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales called “a postcard from Binky and Biff at Camp Whitewash”). Excerpts from Roy Scheider’s gushing narration: “Once, the Kremlin was the home of czars. Now, it belongs to the people. . . . The longer you’re here, the more you discover how many wrong ideas you have about the Soviets.” . . . Planned for summer: U.S./Russian peace walks, sponsored by something called International Peace Walk, Inc. The schedule: June-July, Washington-Philadelphia, Iowa, California; August-September, Odessa-Kiev. Last year’s “history-making Walk” (their words) ended with American-Soviet rock concert in Moscow, featuring James Taylor, Doobie Brothers. . . . Five senators withstood pre-Summit rush to ratify INF Treaty: Republicans Jesse Helms, Gordon Humphrey, Steve Symms, and Malcolm Wallop, and Democrat Ernest Hollings.

George Bush reacted to bad polls at his Kennebunkport home over Memorial Day weekend: Don’t worry, there’s still time to panic. “I go back to the last elections, particularly in 1980, and there was, ‘OK, what’s the details, what’s the details of that, when are you going to do it?’ and I didn’t feel that I had to meet someone else’s timetable. So there will be more details at an appropriate time.” . . . Veep-talk: Campaigning in New Jersey, Jesse Jackson said, “I have earned consideration.” But hot Democratic talk continues to focus on John Glenn. Cincinnati Post poll puts Dukakis-Glenn ticket ahead of George Bush by overwhelming 54 to 38 per cent. (Bush leads Dukakis-Jackson.) California Field poll shows Dukakis-Glenn beating Bush 51 to 41 per cent, even if Gov. George Deukmejian is GOP running-mate. Interestingly, Bush-Deukmejian edges Dukakis and Sam Nunn—thus showing, according to Kevin Phillips, that Nunn “does lose votes for Dukakis in Northern liberal states.” Boston Phoenix editor Richard Gaines pinpoints Glenn’s biggest fan, Dukakis fundraiser Robert Farmer: “In Glenn’s aborted run for the Presidency in 1984, Farmer was his chief fundraiser. Since then, they have remained dear friends. No other contender for Vice President has such a passionate and influential advocate.” . . . On the Republican side, straw poll at Utah state convention was topped by Jeane Kirkpatrick and Elizabeth Dole. Famous for 15 minutes: Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft. St. Louis Post-Dispatch picks him as lure for Pat Robertson followers: “Ashcroft would be sent out by Bush to play the piano and sing gospel songs . . . ” Their 15 minutes are over: Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson, pushing for state tax increases, a no-no for Bush; and former Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh, whose handpicked successor as governor lost in 1986.

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