The “Star Wars” speech in which President Reagan in March 1983 called on American scientists to find ways to make nuclear weapons “impotent and obsolete” may have had one of its origins in Dr. Edward Teller, the physicist who had a central role in developing the hydrogen bomb. Beginning in 1982, Dr. Teller had several meetings with Mr. Reagan to discuss ways of trying to destroy enemy missiles and warheads during an attack. The events that led up to the speech also included roles by Mr. Reagan’s “kitchen cabinet,” his science adviser, the Joints Chief of Staff and the National Security Council. A review of that history goes a long way toward illuminating the origins of Star Wars and the debate swirling around it.
A Soviet delegation led by Vladimir V. Shcherbitsky, the Ukrainian Communist Party chief, flew to the United States today, marking the first time since 1973 that a Politburo member other than Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko has visited Washington. Mr. Shcherbitsky, a burly, broad- faced politician in the classic mold of the Kremlin commissar, is not expected to attract the sort of attention from journalists that Mikhail S. Gorbachev, his younger and better-known colleague in the Politburo, did during a visit to Britain in December. Mr. Shcherbitsky, who is 67 years old, is not generally considered a contender for the top Kremlin position because his political base is outside Moscow and because his nationality is officially listed as Ukrainian, not Russian. Yet he is thought to have considerable influence in the Soviet leadership. He ranks among the longest-serving members of the Politburo, having become a full member in April 1971, three years before Mr. Gromyko. The republic he runs, the Ukraine, is second only to the Russian Federation in size and wealth, and Mr. Shcherbitsky is believed to be close to Konstantin U. Chernenko, the ailing Soviet leader.
West Germany’s Foreign Minister flew to Moscow for a meeting today with Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko, and he is expected to have a meeting in Warsaw on Wednesday with the Polish leader, Wojciech Jaruzelski. Before leaving for Moscow, Hans-Dietrich Genscher said “We are at the beginning of a new development in East-West ties.” West German officials said Mr. Genscher had gone to Moscow to underscore Bonn’s deep interest in a positive outcome to the Soviet-American arms negotiations that begin in Geneva on March 12. The meeting reportedly was arranged at Genscher’s request. He is also expected to try to prevent further deterioration of Soviet-West German bilateral ties, which have been severely strained by a prolonged anti-German propaganda campaign from Moscow that began after deployment of U.S. Pershing nuclear missiles in West Germany in 1983.
Britain’s miners ended their strike almost a year after it began, and will return to their jobs tomorrow. The strike was called off without an agreement with the National Coal Board on the key issue, the closing of uneconomic mines. Arthur Scargill, the president of the National Union of Mineworkers, said that “the dispute will continue” and some other union officials predicted that “guerrilla warfare” would erupt in militant areas. With the firm backing of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the coal board gradually wore the strikers down. A few trickled back to work as long as 10 months ago, and by last week the trickle had become a flood. By Friday more than 52 percent of the miners had abandoned the strike, many of them because they could not feed their families.
Irish Republican Army gunmen shot to death a Roman Catholic policeman in front of his wife and three children as he arrived at a church to sing in a choir, police said. He was the 11th policeman to die in violence in Northern Ireland in two weeks. A police spokesman said two men attacked Sgt. Hugh McCormac, 40, in Enniskillen, about 70 miles southwest of Belfast. Witnesses said the killer fired a pistol point-blank as the policeman was locking his car, then fired several more times as he lay bleeding on the ground beside his screaming family. The IRA issued a statement taking responsibility.
Like so many disappointed parents, many of the participants at a two-day conference on the “United Nations at 40” expressed disillusionment, anger and resentment that the child they had conceived did not turn out the way they wanted. The conference, sponsored by the Center for International Studies at New York University, served as a sort of unofficial kickoff to a flurry of festivities, speeches, articles, seminars and conferences scheduled over the next several months to mark the 40th birthday of the world organization. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar hopes to assemble “dozens” of heads of state to re-examine the United Nations and express a “recommitment” to the Charter. Already many heads of state have indicated that they intend to come and more than 100 nations are taking part in a preparatory committee.
Phase two of Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon was approved by the Cabinet. After the Cabinet announced that it had adopted plans for the second stage of the three-part withdrawal, the Israeli radio said the dismantling of positions had already begun. This phase of the withdrawal, from eastern Lebanon, is expected to take three months, but the Cabinet did not set a deadline for completion. Military officials say the timing will depend on when the bitter cold weather in that region of Lebanon breaks and when the snow begins to melt.
Relatives of a Roman Catholic priest kidnaped January 8 in Lebanon said they have received a handwritten letter from him, raising hopes that he is alive. Father Lawrence Martin Jenco’s brother, John, of Joliet, Illinois, said the letter was dated February 19 and was received Friday. He declined to reveal its contents. The priest, 50, head of Catholic Relief Services in Beirut, was seized by gunmen on his way to see a doctor about a heart condition. He is one of four Americans believed held by guerrillas in Lebanon.
Libya’s leader, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, defended his country’s right to “liquidate” its opponents at home and abroad and vowed to export terrorism against nations that protect his enemies. In a speech to the Libyan Parliament, Qaddafi invoked what he called Libya’s “right to take a legitimate and sacred action… liquidating its opponents inside and abroad in broad daylight,” the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
The Kuwaiti Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Sheik Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, shuffled his 15-member Cabinet today, introducing eight new ministers to serve in a new government. There were changes in key economic posts, while the Foreign, Defense and Interior Ministries remain in the hands of incumbents. A shuffle had been expected since a National Assembly election last month that diplomats said reflected disenchantment over economic and social policies. Jassem al-Khorafi was appointed Minister of Finance and Economy in place of Sheik Ali Khalifa al-Sabah, who remained Oil Minister and became Industry Minister. Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah remained Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister but dropped the portfolio of Information Minister. The Defense Minister, Sheik Salem al-Sabah, and the Interior Minister, Sheik Nawaf al-Ahmed al-Sabah, kept their posts.
The two main opposition leaders in Bangladesh, Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheik Hasina Wazed, were put under house arrest Saturday as part of a ban on political activity and a tightening of martial law instituted Friday by the President, Lieutenant General H. M. Ershad. The police also arrested Oli Ahad, another opposition leader; Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, a militant student leader, and several other political activists. Most other opposition leaders were reportedly in hiding. A five-hour nightly curfew remained in force today. General Ershad reimposed tight military rule Friday, saying opposition groups had rejected his offer to hold parliamentary elections.
Security at border stations between the United States and Mexico was stepped up and nine border crossings were closed Saturday night after threats against United States Customs Service agents, officials of both countries said today. The actions were taken after what the Mexican Government said were anonymous threats of “the possible kidnapping of some United States officials.” The move was by agreement between the two Governments, a statement from the Mexican Interior Ministry said.
Archbishop Arturo Rivera y Damas of San Salvador said today that 86 people died in political violence last week, eight of them civilians killed by right-wing death squads. “The ominous death squads have assassinated eight people, leaving marks of cruelty on their mutilated bodies,” the prelate said in his weekly homily. He said the church human-rights organization had reported that another 5 civilians, 61 guerrillas and 12 soldiers died in battles between the army and left-wing rebels.
An earthquake struck Chile this evening, killing at least 82 people and injuring about 2,000, Government reports said. Thousands of people ran screaming from their homes as walls crumbled and shards of glass showered the streets. Part of a Roman Catholic church in San Bernardo, a city just outside the capital, fell when the quake hit during mass, killing 10 people, a city official said in a radio statement. The quake struck at 7:47 PM, shaking Santiago violently for about five minutes. Within six hours, the capital’s residents had felt about 48 aftershocks, some of them strong enough to rock high-rise buildings. Hundreds of Chileans, afraid to return to their homes, camped on blankets in the dark, debris-littered streets. At least 53 of the deaths were reported in Santiago. Government officials said they feared the toll would grow as communications were gradually restored and reports were received from remote places.
The earthquake, measuring 8.0 Mw on the Richter sccale, struck just offshore the Greater Valparaíso area. The event followed a ten-day period of moderate and non-destructive foreshocks and ultimately left at least 177 people dead and about 2,500 injured. It was felt with a maximum intensity of VIII (Severe) on the Mercalli intensity scale. Damage was significant and widespread. The Valparaiso and Santiago metropolitan areas have been repeatedly and severely impacted by great earthquakes that have occurred very close offshore or directly under populated areas.
Vice President George Bush began an African trip to see firsthand the effects of drought and famine. Bush, who is going to Sudan, Niger and Mali, will steer clear of Ethiopia, the most-publicized famine country, because of U.S. differences with the Marxist government in Addis Ababa. During five days on the African continent, Bush will tour refugee camps and be briefed by relief officials. His party includes television evangelist Pat Robertson and two representatives of relief organizations.
Nine French citizens have been taken hostage in Lalibala, an Ethiopian city about 200 miles north of Addis Ababa, diplomats and relief officials said today. The nine, including a five-man French Air Force crew and two doctors and two nurses working for the French volunteer organization Doctors Without Borders, were evidently taken early this afternoon, shortly after landing in a French Transall cargo plane loaded with relief supplies. The plane had been scheduled to fly out immediately after unloading, leaving the doctors and nurses behind for several days.
President Jaafar Numeiri of Sudan declared a cease-fire in the two-year bush war in the south and repeated an offer of amnesty to the rebels. In a speech marking the 13th anniversary of the Addis Ababa accords that ended 17 years of civil war, Numeiri said the armed forces’ role “will be limited to defense…” Southern rebels have rejected previous such calls, saying they seek Numeiri’s overthrow.
Zimbabwe lifted a paralyzing security net on townships near the southern city of Bulawayo amid charges that the clampdown had been politically motivated. A spokesman in Harare, the African nation’s capital, said the operation — fourth in three years — was a temporary measure aimed at lessening political violence. However, Joshua Nkomo, leader of the opposition Zimbabwe African People’s Union, protested the search for anti-government dissidents conducted by more than 4,000 troops and policemen. Townships in Bulawayo, the city in southwestern Zimbabwe where Mr. Nkomo lives, were surrounded during the search. Mr. Nkomo, the country’s opposition leader, accused the authorities of seeking to demoralize and “dehumanize” his followers and rob him of votes in elections scheduled for later his year.
A march led by civil rights leaders in Selma, Alabama, retraced the steps of a group whose march 20 years ago marked a turning point in the movement for voting rights for blacks in the South. More than 2,500 people took part. The demonstration today, led by Coretta Scott King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, commemorated what is remembered as Bloody Sunday, when 600 civil rights protesters were beaten and routed by state troopers and mounted sheriff’s deputies blocking their route toward Montgomery over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. “When I think about Selma I think about blacks not being able to drink water when we were thirsty,” said Mr. Jackson, speaking outside the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where the marchers gathered 20 years ago. “Whenever our spirits are down and our hearts are heavy, we can always return to this landmark and remember how far we’ve come.”
The federal government has quietly shelved a controversial plan to evacuate whole cities to rural areas in the event of nuclear war, according to officials of the nation’s civil defense agency. The relocation plan had led to stiff resistance around the nation, with several states and cities rejecting the notion that such large-scale evacuations were feasible. Officials had derided it as unworkable and unrealistic.
President Reagan spends the day at the White House answering mail.
House Democrats met here this weekend to begin a party revival, search for new policies and to push for unity. But, as the meeting ended, the Democrats were still having their usual share of squabbles. Lee A. Iacocca, chairman of the Chrysler Corporation, one of several experts brought in to address the 135 Democrats, just over half the Democratic membership of the House, angered several members with a speech about free trade that focused on Japan.
A federal law enforcement official said in New York that the Mafia could be destroyed within five years, but he and other crime experts warned that new leaders — and dangerous new gangs — could revitalize organized crime. Last month’s indictment of five men alleged to make up a “commission” that controls the Mafia should be viewed as a beginning, rather than an end, of the fight against the mob, said U.S. Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani. “There’s an awful lot of work left — two, three, four, five more years of indictments like this,” Giuliani said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
Emergency surgery to stop bleeding near Murray P. Haydon’s mechanical heart will set back his recovery by only “three or four days,” Dr. William C. DeVries predicted at Humana Hospital Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky. Haydon, 58, became the world’s third permanent artificial heart recipient on February 17. DeVries said that Saturday night’s surgery might even have speeded Haydon’s recovery because the five-day bleeding problem had slowed his recuperation.
A strike by Mississippi’s public school teachers, the lowest-paid in the nation, threatens to spread today with the expiration of a court restraining order. The order was issued February 23 by Hinds County Chancellor Paul Alexander, who scheduled a hearing today in Jackson. Attorney General Ed Pittman said he would not ask that the order be extended but would work on “other legal methods of keeping the schools open.” The strike, which began last Monday in southern Mississippi, has spread to 28 districts thus far, affecting 87,625 students and more than 4,800 teachers.
Aid to college students is changing as private colleges and universities, faced with rising costs and fewer potential students, are beginning to use their financial resources to compete for top students even as the demand for assistance among needy students is beginning to outstrip available money. A school where the change is taking place is the College of Wooster in Ohio, which is tailoring its scholarship offers to fit recruiting efforts.
Pan American World Airways said again yesterday that it was trying to operate 40 percent of its scheduled international flights serving the United States, as a strike by the Transport Workers Union continued. About 800 persons are being trained to replace flight attendants honoring a strike by Transit Workers Union members at Pan Am, airline officials said in New York. The strike by 19,000 employees entered its fifth day with no new talks scheduled. Pan Am spokesman James Arey said the airline was operating about half its international flights and had virtually dropped all domestic service.
A Lutheran pastor jailed for defying members of his congregation, his bishop and finally a judge by refusing to halt radical pro-labor speeches from the pulpit, is scheduled to be freed today along with four of his supporters. The Rev. D. Douglas Roth, 33, who was fired as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in the Pittsburgh suburb of Clairton, is finishing a jail term of 112 days. Roth and his supporters are expected to resume the confrontational tactics they have used for several years to focus attention on blue-collar unemployment in the steel-making communities around Pittsburgh.
A 14-year-old Ohio boy’s suicide has highlighted the troubles faced by adolescents in foster care. The boy had lived in 32 foster homes in nine years. He was among 150,000 to 200,000 adolescents representing about half the total foster-care population, according to some estimates. Officials say these adolescents, like handicapped children, are unlikely to be adopted. In part this is because they are no longer the cute infants most parents want. In addition, most foster-care programs offer financial incentives that discourage adoption.
Repeat offenders returned to prison in large numbers in 1979. According to a study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, repeat offenders made up almost 84 percent of arriving inmates at state prisons that year. Another report on crime, from the Eisenhower Foundation, says violence by young repeat offenders has become more frequent and more serious. It describes street crime as a “form of slow rioting.”
Campaign money given by farmers and allied interests to current members of Congress totaled $8.2 million, in recent years, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
A 27-year-old District of Columbia man has become the seventh fatality reported in connection with a weekend heroin overdose epidemic in the Washington area, police said. The source of the drug, which has hospitalized 15 others, is still unknown. But authorities fear that the highly potent or contaminated batch of heroin may have been distributed regionally.
West Yellowstone, Montana, retained its title as the nation’s coldest place for 1984, but Bullhead City — with 123 degrees on July 5 — topped its Arizona companion Gila Bend as the hottest spot. West Yellowstone scored both the single coldest day of 1984-43 degrees below zero on Jan. 18-and the most daily low readings of any place in the country, according to National Weather Service statistics. The comparative readings covering the 48 contiguous states were compiled by David H. Hickcox of Ohio Wesleyan University and are reported in Weatherwise magazine.
Musical created around songs of George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin “My One and Only”, starring Tommy Tune, Twiggy, and Roscoe Lee Brown, closes at St James Theater, NYC, after 767 performances and 3 Tony award wins.
“Moonlighting” with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis premieres on ABC TV in the U.S.
Bill Shoemaker becomes the first jockey to win $100 million. Bill Shoemaker became the first jockey whose mounts surpassed $100 million in career earnings when he rode Lord at War to a 1¾-length victory in the $500,600 Santa Anita Handicap today before a record crowd at Santa Anita Park. Shoemaker, who is 53 years old, went into the day needing $82,977 to top $100 million.
Died:
Sarah Blanding, 86, first U.S. female college head (Vassar, 1946-1964).
LMAO. “Admires.”
History Diaries 