South Bend, December 7, 1988
Gorbachev Surprises the World
For weeks one has been prepared for a dramatic announcement, but what Mikhail Gorbachev had to say today in his address to the plenary assembly of the United Nations surprised and stunned the world. Gorbachev announced straightforward that the Soviet Union will unilaterally reduce its troops by 500,000 in two years. At the same time he promised to withdraw or dissolve six armored divisions from East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. This would also allow the United States to reduce its armed forces in Europe. It gives the dialogue on lessening tensions new impetus. Furthermore, Gorbachev divulged his vision of a new, interdependent world, in which the demand for democracy and social justice is getting more and more urgent. Yet the question remains open: Will Gorbachev be able to put through his far-reaching, innovative ideas also at home?
Addendum
[Immediately following his speech at the United Nations, Gorbachev met with President Reagan and Vice President Bush for a conference on Governors Island. Governors Island is located off the southern tip of Manhattan just across the Statue of Liberty and at the entrance to the East River. It was the last meeting of Ronald Reagan with Gorbachev. The meeting also gave Gorbachev the opportunity to establish contact with President-elect George Bush. It was an impressive picture that showed the President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev together with the outgoing U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the newly elected President George Bush on Governors Island. The picture was taken against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, which as symbol of freedom stretched out her arm with the torch high into the sky.]
December 8, 1988
The Earthquake in the Caucasus
An earthquake in the magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale occurred in the Caucasian Republics of the Soviet Union - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Entire cities were flattened, the death toll goes into the tens of thousands, those left homeless into the hundreds of thousands. President Gorbachev, cutting short his visit to America, flew back to Moscow to start emergency operations.
December 8, 1988
The New Confidence
At his last press conference in the White House this evening, President Reagan expressed his confidence in Gorbachev. When asked whether he believes that Gorbachev will turn the Soviet Union into a less dangerous country, he emphatically replied: “Yes, I do.” There are changes taking place in the Soviet Union, he pointed out, which will make a closer, friendly cooperation for peace possible.
[Ronald Reagan gave a moving farewell speech to the press, which at the same time in questions and answers offered a broad overview of the foreign and domestic policy situation of the United States. The full text of the speech was printed in The New York Times, December 9, 1988, p. A18.]
South Bend, December 13, 1988
Already a Museum Piece
The spacecraft Apollo 8, on which the astronauts Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders had for the first time orbited the moon on December 24, 1968, is presently on exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Apollo 8 sent the most impressive pictures of the surface of the moon back to earth. At the same time, the picture of earth as a blue, white-marbled sphere floating through space has from then on become the lasting image of our planet. Apollo 8 is tangible proof of how fast manned space flights have developed. Twenty years ago, the spacecraft Apollo 8 made history in human spaceflight. Now, the capsule which for the first time circled the moon has already become a museum piece.
[On the flight of Apollo 8 to the moon, see entry above of December 21, 23 and 24, 1968.]
South Bend, December 21, 1988
Lockerbie
The news just came through that a Boeing 747 of PAN AM on its flight from London to New York crashed over Southern Scotland. Parts of the airplane that went up in flames came down like a rain of fire on the village of Lockerbie.
December 29, 1988
What was presumed from the beginning has now been confirmed: The Boeing 747 of PAN AM flight 103 was the target of a terror attack. At the altitude of 33,000 feet, a bomb had exploded in the cargo space that tore the airplane to pieces. There were no survivors. Among the 258 victims were 35 students of Syracuse University who participated in a foreign study program in London and were on their way home for Christmas. About 10 people in the village of Lockerbie suddenly lost their lives by the down falling, burning parts of the airplane. The question remains to be answered: Who can be called to account for this horrible crime?