Diplomats in Moscow leaned increasingly toward the conclusion that Marshal Nikolai V. Ogarkov’s replacement as Soviet Chief of Staff was in fact a dismissal. The Kremlin gave no further explanation for the abrupt removal of Marshal Ogarkov, announced Thursday, and his replacement by his deputy. Soviet sources reached by diplomats and correspondents were unable or unwilling to shed any light on the change of command or on Marshal Ogarkov’s new status.
Many Western diplomats here said they assumed that dismissal of a man of Marshal Ogarkov’s stature would have required the approval of the entire Politburo, but diplomats noted that influential Politburo members like Grigory V. Romanov and Nikolai A. Tikhonov were not in Moscow when the decision was announced. However the decision was made, diplomats said that only a momentous dispute on fundamental policy would have led to the dismissal, or resignation, of so senior an official. Since his appointment in 1977 as Chief of Staff, Marshal Ogarkov had demonstrated a willingness to press his positions in public. His most recent major statement, an article May 9 in Krasnaya Zvezda, was widely seen as an attack on economic laxity and as a demand for more resources for research on military high technology – a frequent theme in his earlier writings.
The association of a strong military with a healthy economy may have irritated Konstantin U. Chernenko, the Soviet leader, and his lieutenants. Marshal Ogarkov was viewed as a supporter of Mr. Chernenko’s predecessor, Yuri V. Andropov, who made economic change a theme of his administration. Mr. Chernenko’s rise to power has been accompanied by a partial return to earlier, easier ways, and the new leader may have seen a challenge in the marshal’s writings. In the same article Marshal Ogarkov argued that any further buildup of nuclear missiles was “becoming senseless.”
A statement signed by a fugitive Solidarity leader, Zbigniew Bujak, today challenged Lech Walesa’s assertion that the outlawed union is stronger than ever, saying public support is dwindling. Mr. Walesa called the statement a fabrication. The remarks by Mr. Bujak, former leader of Solidarity’s Warsaw chapter, who has been in hiding since martial law was imposed December 13, 1981, were made in a statement circulated among Western reporters. The statement by Mr. Bujak, the fugitive most wanted by Poland’s Communist Government, complained that “the activities of the union have ceased to exist in many factories.”
Salvage workers retrieved four empty containers today from a French freighter that sank off Belgium two weeks ago with 450 tons of radioactive cargo, an official said. Divers entered one of the six holds in the vessel, the Mont Louis, and “unhooked the containers, which floated to the surface,” said Henk Drenth, a spokesman for the salvage company Smit Tak International in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The wind later increased, he said, and “again we had a considerable swell, so we could not do much more.” Salvage efforts were abandoned for four days this week because of gales and high waves in the North Sea.
The Mont Louis sank 12 miles off the Belgian coast after colliding with a passenger ferry August 25. It carried 30 containers of radioactive uranium hexafluoride, none of which have been recovered, and 22 empty containers. Ten of the empty containers are now on a pontoon anchored off the Mont Louis, Mr. Drenth said.
Iran’s long-planned “final offensive” against Iraq may not take place anytime soon, according to a senior Iranian official with close ties to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This was believed to be the first time that a high-ranking Iranian official openly talked about the timing of the “offensive” since Iranian troops began to converge on the border with Iraq last February. Western analysts had been predicting an imminent invasion for months.
In an interview broadcast by the Tehran radio Thursday, the Iranian official, who is the Ayatollah’s personal representative on the Iranian Supreme Defense Council, was asked why there had been a “delay in operations.” “Of course, the delay is well calculated,” he replied. He said Iran had decided to begin its offensive at “an opportune time” when there would be little loss of life and little destruction in either Iran or Iraq. Speaking after a series of military meetings in Teheran, at which top military and civilian leaders reported to Ayatollah Khomeini, Hojatolislam Rafsanjani said Iranian troops were well positioned “and now we are not in a hurry to carry out operations.”
His remarks became known while Iran’s President, Hojatolislam Ali Khamenei, was in Syria for talks with President Hafez al-Assad. Analysts here believe the subject is a strategy on how to prevent the Persian Gulf war from widening. Although Syria shares Iran’s hostility toward the Government of President Saddam Hussein of Iraq, the Syrians have also been under pressure from Saudi Arabia and other gulf nations to use their influence with the Iranians to find a solution to the war, which began nearly four years ago.
American intelligence analysts said that Iran continued to send troops to the border, particularly around the city of Basra, and that each side was thought to have about 500,000 soldiers on the frontier. But a senior American official said, “Our best analysis is that if Iran launched the ‘final offensive’ it would be beaten badly, and the Iranians must realize that, too, and that’s why they haven’t moved.” But even though the remarks by Hojatolislam Rafsanjani indicated that the decision for the moment is to put off the offensive, there is no sign that Iran is ready to agree to end the war. One American official said, “I think they have been debating the issue in Teheran and came up with a no war, no peace policy.”
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said today that he would hold discussions with Vietnam about the possible repatriation of Indochinese refugees now in camps in Thailand. The High Commissioner, Poul Hartling, flew to Hanoi today after three days of talks with Thai Government officials, who have expressed concern that a substantial number of the 125,000 to 130,000 refugees from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam now in Thai camps will not be accepted for residence by third countries.
The Prime Minister of Japan told South Korea’s President Friday that efforts must be made to end North Korea’s “isolation” if there is to be stability on the Korean peninsula. The Prime Minister, Yasuhiro Nakasone, offered no specific proposals in his remarks to President Chun Doo Hwan, and Japanese Government officials emphasized that his comments did not signal a Japanese shift away from basic support for South Korean diplomatic positions. Japan has some economic ties but no formal relations with the North Korean Government in Pyongyang. Mr. Nakasone reportedly said there was “no reason why this policy should change unless there is a major change in the international situation.” Nevertheless, any reference to possible fresh initiatives to North Korea — no matter how thickly veiled — is enough to raise concern among South Korean officials. Mr. Chun, who met with Mr. Nakasone for an hour Friday morning, was said to have called on Japan to act “prudently and cautiously” in dealing with Pyongyang.
Mexico’s foreign debt payments will be extended over 14 years at lower interest rates under an agreement reached by the Government with its bank advisory group. The agreement, would constitute the most flexible restructuring of foreign obligations thus far granted to a Latin American debtor country.
Four Cuban military advisers died last Saturday during a Nicaraguan rebel air raid in which two private American citizens were also killed, senior Reagan Administration officials asserted. They said the Cubans were killed in the rebel attack on a military training school in Santa Clara, near the Honduran border, that serves as a center for Cuban advisers in Nicaragua.
Bolivian officials accused a retired colonel today of organizing a rightist plot to attempt a coup this weekend. Interior Ministry officials said the colonel, Rolando Saravia, had planned to kill senior political, union and military officials in an attempt to overthrow the elected Government. Colonel Saravia has been in hiding since he was accused of organizing the brief abduction of President Hernan Siles Zuazo in June. Military sources said army garrisons in several cities were placed on alert after Interior Minister Federico Alvarez Plata said the coup was planned for the weekend. Mr. Alvarez Plata said in a statement issued Thursday night that intelligence services had detected a number of suspicious meetings. Political sources said the Bolivian Socialist Phalange, an extreme rightist group, was involved in the coup plot.
A South African magistrate placed a ban today on weekend protest meetings in the Johannesburg area. He said such meetings could seriously threaten public order. The ban, issued under the Internal Security Act, was announced after riots in black townships this week in which at least 31 people were killed. In further unrest today, a stone- throwing crowd set fire to a bus in the black township of Soweto, south of Johannesburg, the police said.
The ban by the magistrate, Oelof de Meyer, covers gatherings to discuss deaths in the recent riots or to call for the release of detainees. It is not clear whether funerals for those killed in the riots are also banned. Meanwhile, a leading black clergyman, Bishop Desmond Tutu, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, said he thought the official casualty figures were too low.
Edwin Meese 3rd’s nomination as Attorney General will not be considered by the Senate this year to avoid having it become a political issue in an election year. An aide to Senator Strom Thurmond, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Mr. Thurmond had removed the nomination from the committee’s agenda. “There was a very deep concern that other committee members would request additional hearings,” Mr. Goodin said. “There was a strong indication that the nomination would be politicized.”
President Reagan today reconfirmed his support of Mr. Meese, the Presidential counselor, and said he would resubmit the nomination if elected to a second term. The President, referring to an investigation into Mr. Meese’s financial dealings being conducted by an independent counsel, said, “Barring anything unforseen, and I don’t expect anything of that kind, I have not changed my mind about him.” Senator Bob Dole, Republican of Kansas, noting a report in The Los Angeles Times that said the independent counsel had found no evidence of criminal conduct on the part of Mr. Meese, said, “Assuming that the story is correct, I see no reason why Mr. Meese should not be confirmed before Congress recesses.” “Frankly, I believe the Meese nomination has been held hostage long enough,” he added.
President Reagan, leaving the White House for Camp David, accused reporters and his Democratic opponents today of distorting remarks about religion that he made at a Dallas prayer breakfast. Asked by a reporter whether he believed religion and politics were intertwined as he said in Dallas on August 23, the President replied, “In the sense that I said it in Dallas – which none of you have correctly reported — the correct words to use is there is a wall of separation” between church and state. “And some anti-religionists are trying to break down that wall,” he added. “And what I was saying, was in the context of yes, definitely, there is a connection between morality and politics, and should be, and too many neglect it.”
Speaking in Dallas the day he accepted the Republican Presidential nomination, Mr. Reagan said, “The truth is, politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality’s foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related.” Elsewhere in the speech he said, “We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship.” When asked today about a quip by Walter F. Mondale that the President evidently believes “God is a Republican,” Mr. Reagan apparently took his cue from Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press secretary. “Do you think that God is a Republican, as Mondale charges?” a reporter asked. On a tape recording made by ABC News, Mr. Speakes is heard to advise Mr. Reagan, “Best don’t answer that.”
President Reagan participates in a briefing on America’s Future in Space.
President Reagan participates in a meeting with Women Executives of major corporations and financial institutions.
The President and First Lady watch the movie “Red Dawn.”
President Reagan has invited Walter F. Mondale, the Democratic Presidential nominee, and his running mate, Geraldine A. Ferraro, to the White House on Tuesday to attend a ceremony honoring the memory of Hubert H. Humphrey. At the ceremony, the President will present the family of the former Senator and Vice President a Congressional gold medal bestowed on distinguished Americans. Mr. Humphrey was Mr. Mondale’s political mentor. Larry Speakes, the White House spokesman, said he did not know whether Mr. Mondale and Mrs. Ferraro had accepted their invitations.
The unemployment rate held steady at 7.4 percent in August, the level recorded in May and July, the Labor Department said. Analysts said the report indicated that the economy, while still expanding, had moved into a slower phase and had exhausted its ability to produce more new jobs than could be filled by new workers entering the labor force.
Is Joan Mondale overshadowed by Geraldine Ferraro, who has become the leading female star of the Democratic ticket, a role that usually goes to the candidate’s wife? No, says Mrs. Mondale, who is often asked about eclipses, such as: Has Representative Ferraro eclipsed Walter Mondale as the ticket’s strongest member? Publicly, Mrs. Mondale dismisses such speculations with a serene smile.
A 22-cent first-class stamp was recommended by the independent Postal Rate Commission as part of a $2.2 billion rate increase affecting most classes of mail. The rate increase is expected by private postal experts to be approved by the Postal Service board of governors, whose chairman said the increase would take effect early in 1985.
Ernest John Dobbert was executed at Florida State Prison in Starke for the first-degree torture murder of his 9-year-old daughter. He was also convicted of the second-degree murder of a son and of abusing his other two children. He was the eighth man to die in Florida and 23rd nationwide since the Supreme Court lifted its ban on capital punishment in 1976.
Two armed bandits landed at a remote airport today and tied up three witnesses, then drove into the town of Overton, Nevada, “cleaned out” a bank and made a getaway in their private plane. Sgt. Dean Weidemann of the police said one bank employee was taken hostage in the robbery but was released unharmed on the way to the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration alerted airports in Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah to watch for a blue and white Cessna 210 that left the Moapa Valley Airport near Overton at midmorning. Bill Jansen, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the incident began about 10 A.M. in the tiny town of 1,200 some 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
Richard Speck, serving a sentence of up to 1,200 years in prison for murdering eight student nurses in their dormitory townhouse, today was denied parole for the fifth time. Paul Klincar, chairman of the 10- member Illinois Prisoner Review Board, said “the serious nature of the crimes” was a key factor in the panel’s unanimous decision. “It’s in the category of very vicious crime,” Mr. Klincar said. Mr. Speck, who is imprisoned at the maximum-security Stateville Correctional Center at Joliet, had been sentenced to eight consecutive terms of 50 to 150 years. Mr. Speck stabbed and strangled the young women one by one in their Chicago dormitory townhouse on July 14, 1966. A ninth woman survived by crawling under a bed.
Students at a Wilmington, Massachusetts high school where new rules ban all drugs say the policy is “kind of a pain,” but administrators say it shows students that “we care.” “It’s ridiculous,” said Robert Wesinger, a junior at Wilmington High School. “I have allergies. If I don’t have a pill, my nose runs.” The policy, passed in April by a 10- member committee of Wilmington residents, requires students to leave all drugs, including non-prescription pain relievers and hay fever pills, in the school clinic, where a nurse must supervise their taking. Breaking the rules, which became effective Wednesday with the start of school, could mean an eight-day suspension and loss of the right to participate in extra-curricular activities.
A tentative settlement reached last week in the Houston, Texas school district’s 28-year-old desegregation suit is in trouble and a Federal judge has ordered lawyers to be ready for trial Monday. Federal District Judge Robert O’Conor told lawyers for the Houston Independent School District and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that a trial will begin Monday unless they resolve their differences. The current dispute is over the wording dealing with the transfer of white students to mostly white Kolter Elementary School.
American actress-singer Janet Jackson (18) weds American R&B singer James DeBarge (21); annulled in 1985.
Steve Balboni, making his first start in 10 days, hit a towering three-run homer tonight to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 5–4 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Balboni, who had been sidelined with a pulled muscle since August 28, unloaded in the sixth inning off Matt Young (4–7), helping the Royals maintain their share of first place in the American League West with the Minnesota Twins, who also won. The Royals trailed, 3–1, with one out in the sixth when Frank White and Don Slaught singled. Both scored on Balboni’s 22nd home run of the season.
Down 4–0 in the 8th, the Detroit Tigers send ten men to the plate and score 4 runs — three on a homer by Kirk Gibson — to tie the Blue Jays in Toronto. In the 10th, Dave Bergman cracks a 3-run homer with one out and the Tigers win, 7–4. Willie Hernandez (9–2) wins with 3 innings of shutout relief. The victory increased Detroit’s lead to 9½ games over Toronto in the American League East.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have already played their way out of any pennant fight, but their struggle tonight, with Fenway Park full and the chilly air signaling autumn’s approach, was reminiscent of so many bygone Septembers when Boston, New York and baseball meant far more than just another game. Trailing by 2–1 going into the ninth inning, the Yankees rallied for three runs, capped by Don Baylor’s two-run homer, for a 4–2 victory over their ancient rivals. Baylor, picking on the first pitch from the reliever Bob Stanley, hammered his 26th homer of the season over the wall in left to break a 2–2 tie. Dave Winfield, hitting before Baylor, had tied the score with a triple to center off the starter, Bobby Ojeda, who held the Yankees to only one run on 11 hits through eight innings. Jay Howell (8-4) earned the victory in relief. Dave Righetti picked up his 25th save.
The Minnesota Twins defeated the Texas Rangers, 7–3. Minnesota’s Tim Teufel and Tom Brunansky hit home runs and drove in three runs apiece, and Frank Viola struck out a career-high 11 batters. It was only the Twins’ fourth victory in their last 15 games. Teufel’s homer in the fourth inning tied the game, 1–1, and was Minnesota’s first home run in 83 innings. Brunansky belted a three-run shot in the sixth to put Minnesota ahead, 4–1.
The California Angels bombed the White Sox, 16–8. Fred Lynn doubled, singled and drove home three runs, two in California’s seven-run second inning, and led a 19-hit attack as the Angels remained a half-game back in the American League West.
The Cleveland Indians routed the Oakland A’s, 13–2. Mike Fischlin drove in three runs – including one during a nine-run fifth inning – to back Bert Blyleven’s six-hitter for Cleveland. Blyleven (16–6) struck out seven and walked one while lowering his earned-run average to 2.98.
The Milwaukee Brewers edged the Baltimore Orioles, 10–8. A two-out, ninth-inning double by Cecil Cooper scored Robin Yount from first base with the deciding run for Milwaukee.
Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets pitches a one-hitter and strikes out 11 in a 10–0 rout of the Chicago Cubs. The only hit is Keith Moreland’s slow roller in the 5th inning, which third baseman Ray Knight fields but can’t get out of his glove. Mookie Wilson drove in three runs with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, a double in the five-run third and a single in the fourth. George Foster and Darryl Strawberry hit home runs in the same game for the first time this season. Foster’s 20th homer, off Dick Ruthven in the third inning, produced three runs, and Strawberry’s 21st homer, off Rick Reuschel in the sixth, brought in two. Gooden’s 11 strikeouts give him 236 for the season, breaking the National League rookie record set by Grover Alexander in 1911. The win cuts the Cubs lead over the Mets to six games. For Gooden, he will win another 9 straight over the Cubs, lose, then win 12 straight.
The Montreal Expos spanked the Philadelphia Phillies, 7–1. Andre Dawson drove in four runs with a pair of home runs, and Jim Wohlford added two bases-empty homers for the Expos. It was the Phillies’ fifth straight loss.
The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4–1. Jim Morrison and Jason Thompson hit homers to lead a 15-hit Pirate attack. John Tudor (9–10) allowed seven hits as the Cardinals had a five-game winning streak snapped.
The Houston Astros downed the San Diego Padres, 6–4. Phil Garner drove in four runs with a triple and a single. Joe Niekro improved his record to 14–10.
The Cincinnati Reds blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1–0. Alan Knicely, just up from the minors, got a start at first base for the Reds and singled home the winning run with two out in the ninth. The punchless Dodgers, badly missing Steve Garvey and Ron Cey, extended their string of scoreless innings to 21.
In the Atlanta Braves’ 5–4 loss to the San Francisco Giants, pitcher Pascual Perez steals home in the 4th on the front end of a double steal with Thompson. This is Perez’ only career steal. He leaves in the 7th and Garber takes the loss with Mark Grant the victor. The next pitcher to swipe home will be Rick Sutcliffe, in 1988.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1207.38 (-11.48).
Born:
Vera Zvonareva, Russian tennis player (4 x Grand Slam doubles titles; U.S. Open, Wimbledon 2010 runner-up; Federation Cup 2004, 08), born in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
Mauro Gómez, Dominican MLB first baseman, pinch hitter, and third baseman (Boston Red Sox), in Bani, Dominican Republic.
Roderick Rogers, NFL safety (Denver Broncos), in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Ben Hollingsworth, Canadian actor (“Code Black”, “Virgin River”), in Brockville, Ontario, Canada.
Died:
Joe Cronin, 77, American Baseball HOF shortstop (7 x MLB All Star), manger (Boston RS, Washington Senators) and executive (AL President 1959-73).
History Diaries 