President Reagan makes a Radio Address to the Nation on his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Nuclear arsenals would be cut 50 percent under a proposal that was reportedly made to President Reagan by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard A. Shevardnadze. Administration officials said Mr. Shevardnadze outlined the proposal in the Oval Office after giving Mr. Reagan a long letter from the Soviet leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Today’s developments were the first clear indication that the Soviet Union would offer a comprehensive plan to reduce offensive weapons since the Geneva arms talks resumed in March after 15-month hiatus. The Administration has repeatedly attributed the impasse in Geneva to Moscow’s failure to submit such a plan. Mr. Reagan and Mr. Shevardnadze conferred for two hours in the Oval Office, then met for an hour over lunch in the State Dining Room.
In his oral presentation, the Administration official said, Mr. Shevardnadze emphasized that the reductions should be contingent on an end to American work on a space-based shield against incoming missiles. Mr. Reagan has insisted, and reiterated today, that research on the project, popularly known as “Star Wars,” is not negotiable. At the meeting, according to the Administration official, Mr. Shevardnadze said the Soviet proposal for a 50 percent cutback in offensive arsenals would be spelled out by Soviet negotiators next week in Geneva. Mr. Shultz, who was present for most of the discussions, said Mr. Shevardnadze had presented a “rather lengthy” letter from Mr. Gorbachev to Mr. Reagan that included arms control proposals “different from the position that they have been taking.” Mr. Shultz declined to discuss details of the proposals, saying they would be presented in Geneva next week.
The Soviet proposal reportedly made to President Reagan today seems likely to break the six-month logjam in the Soviet-American arms negotiations in Geneva and to open the way to more intensive preparations leading up to the President’s meeting in November with Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Both Administration officials and some members of Congress, informed by the Russians on their proposals, called today’s move a significant and positive step that would “put us in a new ball game,” as one Administration official put it. “At least now we can have a real negotiation,” this official said. Neither Secretary of State George P. Shultz nor a Soviet spokesman would spell out the specifics of the proposal relayed to President Reagan by the Soviet Foreign Minister, Eduard A. Shevardnadze. But later, an American official said it called for a 50 percent cutback in offensive arsenals, even more than had been anticipated.
Prime Minister Nikolai A. Tikhonov, at 80 the oldest member of the Soviet leadership, retired today and was replaced by Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, one of the new younger generation of Soviet leaders. The official announcement said Mr. Tikhonov had asked to be relieved of his duties because his health had “considerably deteriorated.” His attendance had been reported at only one official function since early July, and there were unconfirmed reports that he had become partly paralyzed. Mr. Tikhonov’s replacement by Mr. Ryzhkov, who turns 56 on Saturday, had been widely anticipated here, although the timing came as something of a surprise to diplomats. Most had not expected the shift before the next session of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal Parliament, at the earliest.
Nikolai I. Ryzhkov, who was appointed Soviet Prime Minister today, is an engineer and industrial manager by training, not a Communist Party official. In his new job as head of the Soviet Government, or chairman of the Council of Ministers, he will have the main responsibility for instituting the economic changes outlined by the man thought to be his mentor, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader. Mr. Ryzhkov, who will turn 56 on Saturday, represents the new generation of well-educated, professionally trained managers who began to climb when Yuri V. Andropov was Soviet leader, and have been promoted to top positions by Mr. Gorbachev.
Administration officials said today that people identified by a K.G.B. defector as Soviet agents had quit the Central Intelligence Agency and that one of those implicated had fled the United States. The officials, who asked not to be identified, would not say what positions had been held by the people implicated by the defector, Vitaly Yurchenko, a former senior K.G.B. official who defected to the West in July. One official said those involved were “above the level of courier.” Another described their posts as “operational.”
Polish leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski, apparently in an allusion to the United States, told the General Assembly today that “chaos and anarchy” were being deliberately sown in Poland. Although General Jaruzelski, the Prime Minister of Poland, did not mention the United States by name, he was clearly alluding to the trade restrictions imposed by Washington nearly four years ago, after Poland decreed martial law to suppress the Solidarity labor movement.
Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez said today that he was confident his fellow Spaniards would vote to remain in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in a nationwide referendum scheduled for early next year. But, in a speech during an unofficial visit here, Mr. Gonzalez suggested that Spain’s long-range military priorities would be upgrading its armed forces and modifying existing agreements with the United States. Mr. Gonzalez spoke at a luncheon of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. He noted that he and his Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party had initially opposed Spain’s entry into the Atlantic alliance. But he said that was because the country had not been consulted by the previous Government, which brought Spain into NATO.
The new head of France’s intelligence agency said tonight that he had discovered a “malicious operation” to destroy the agency. “I must tell you,” said the director, General Rene Imbot, “that to my deep astonishment I have discovered, and I weigh my words carefully, a truly malicious operation to destabilize our secret services — I would even say, to destroy our secret services.”
Czechoslovakia closed a major crossing at the Austrian border today, saying a terrorist attack had taken place at the post near Bratislava, the Interior Ministry said. A person near the scene said defectors trying to leave the country had taken hostages. The account could not be independently confirmed. The Berg-Petrzalka border crossing, 25 miles east of Vienna, was surrounded by troops. The Czechoslovak authorities told Austria that soldiers had been sent “to resolve the situation without bloodshed,” the Austria Press Agency reported. An Interior Ministry official said, “Czechoslovak authorities have been in contact with our delegation in Prague, and they say it was a terrorist attack.” Witnesses saw Czechoslovak and possibly Soviet soldiers patrolling Bratislava, about a mile from the border, the news agency said.
Eight people were shot dead tonight when gunmen opened fire without warning during two holdups that were carried out about 15 minutes apart in suburban Brussels supermarkets, the police said. In Overijse, three gunmen wearing carnival masks killed five people, including a 12-year-old child. At Braine L’Alleud, 12 miles away, two hooded men shot three people to death. A police spokesman said the holdups of supermarkets of the Delhaize chain, carried out within about 15 minutes of each other, were the bloodiest such incidents in Belgian history.
The President plans to sell Jordan arms worth $1.5 billion to $1.9 billion, including 40 advanced fighter planes. The move is expected to produce a major political confrontation between the Administration and Israel and its Washington supporters, reminiscent of the sale of Awacs surveillance planes to Saudi Arabi in 1981. That sale barely survived a Congressional challenge.
King Hussein of Jordan said today that any consultation on the Middle East between the United States and the Soviet Union was “both necessary and positive.” The King, addressing the General Assembly, reiterated that he was ready to negotiate with Israel under the auspices of an international conference sponsored by the United Nations Secretary General. Today’s speech indicated that the King had not changed his position on the need for an international conference on the Middle East, an approach that has been rejected by the Reagan Administration as too time-consuming and as allowing the Russians into the peace process. This weekend the King is to travel to Washington where he will meet with President Reagan on Monday and with Congressional leaders on Tuesday.
Sikh leaders who won the Punjab state election on Wednesday selected a moderate today to become Chief Minister of the state, avoiding a battle that had threatened to hamper their ability to govern. The swift and unanimous selection of Surjit Singh Barnala, a former Agriculture Minister, for the job of Chief Minister of the troubled northern Indian state surprised many politicians.
President Nicolas Ardito Barletta, bowing to pressure from Panama’s military, labor and business leaders, offered his resignation today, legislators said. The National Assembly convened to swear in a successor. A Presidential spokeswoman, Migdalia Fuentes, said she had been told by local television station that the country’s First Vice President, Eric Arturo Delvalle, 49 years old, was to be sworn in as Mr. Ardito Barletta’s successor.
Ugandan rebels have overrun the army barracks in a key southwestern town, residents there said today. Residents of the town, Masaka, said by telephone that insurgents of the National Resistance Army took the town in the afternoon, then shelled the barracks on the outskirts before taking the camp early Thursday evening. Witnesses said Government soldiers fled the camp, and another battle was reported when the rebels caught up with them about 10 miles away. Rebel spokesmen in Nairobi said they knew the town was captured Thursday night, but said they did not know how many casualties there were. The N.R.A. rebels and a Ugandan Government delegation met again here this morning to discuss ways to end the fighting in Uganda. The key difference between the two sides in the deadlocked three-day-old peace talks appeared to be over how to get the many armed groups in the country to surrender their weapons, Western diplomats said. The Ugandan Government has said it wants all armed groups, including its own army, to hand in their weapons possibly with outside observers. The rebels, who originally fought against the army of President Milton Obote, who was ousted in a military coup in July, reject disarmament.
The South African Army today started what it called a campaign to win the hearts and minds of black township residents, building a soccer field in Tembisa, a segregated area north of here. At the same time, Defense Minister Magnus Malan, in an interview with a South African newspaper, said he would send his forces into Angola “as often as it is necessary” to prevent a buildup there of the insurgent South-West Africa People’s Organization. In Durban, the police said three bombs exploded in white-owned stores, but no one was hurt. A fourth bomb was found and defused. No one immediately took responsibility for the blasts, and the motive for the bombings were unclear.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced today that American Airlines had been fined $1.5 million for violating Federal regulations on aircraft safety maintenance and inspection. The agency said none of the deficiencies had caused any injuries or deaths. The fine, which has been paid by American, was the largest imposed by the Federal air safety agency against a commercial airline. It stemmed from an extensive audit of American’s maintenance records last summer.
President Reagan spends the day at the White House catching up on paperwork.
The Philip Morris Companies, the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, has agreed to buy the General Foods Corporation, one of the country’s biggest food producers, the two companies announced yesterday. Philip Morris will pay General Foods’ stockholders almost $5.8 billion in cash, making the merger the costliest in history outside the oil business. The combination is the latest in a succession of food-company acquisitions: The lure, as consumers become increasingly eager for convenience foods, is established brand names. General Foods, for example, makes Jell-O, Maxwell House coffee and Birds Eye frozen foods. The trend also reflects the desire of tobacco companies to diversify into other consumer products because of the pressures that health questions are putting on their cigarette business.
Charles McC. Mathias will not run for re-election next year, he announced. The Republican Senator from Maryland, who has often been criticized by conservatives for taking positions they consider to be liberal, is the third Republican Senator to decide not to seek re-election.
Hurricane Gloria charged up the Atlantic seaboard and slammed into the New York metropolitan region with pounding winds and heavy rain. The hurricane — 300 miles of churning spiral arms that hurled winds up to 130 miles an hour — drove 280,000 residents from coastal areas, including 100,000 on Long Island and 95,000 in New Jersey, killed at least three people, knocked out power to at least 1.7 million homes and disrupted the lives of millions from North Carolina to New England. But at 8 PM, the National Weather Service downgraded the hurricane to a tropical storm when its winds fell to 50 miles an hour over New England. At midnight, the storm was at the northern tip of Maine.
The hurricane sped up Jersey’s coast in about two hours and poured up to eight inches of rain, according to officials. Gloria left modest property damage and a great deal of relief. In coastal areas, the storm knocked down trees and power lines, flooded streets and basements and caused widespread blackouts.
The storm dealt parts of Long Island a devastating blow, slamming first into Fire Island at noon with 90 mile-an-hour gusts. The Long Island Lighting Company said that more than 600,000, or two-thirds, of its nearly 1 million customers were without power and that it could be a week before all service is restored.
About half of Connecticut residents were without electricity after hurricane Gloria’s race across the state. Thousands of people were displaced from their homes, with the most severe property damage along the shores of Long Island Sound.
Preparing for Hurricane Gloria was like the storm before the calm as the metropolitan region battened down its hatches, taped its windows, evacuated its beachfronts and made ready for what forecasters had been calling “possibly the worst hurricane of the century.” In parts of New York City and some suburban areas, the preparations proved more dramatic than the hurricane, which roared through quickly, followed by brilliant blue skies.
The Defense Department is studying a new plan that some senior officials believe may provide a politically acceptable and militarily desirable base for the MX missile, according to Congressional and Reagan Administration officials. The basing idea entails fitting the new multi-warhead missiles with armored suits and hiding them among a large number of cheaply constructed underground silos. A Reagan Administration official familiar with the missile program said today that the plan was receiving serious, high-level attention in the Pentagon, although it has not won universal approval. Officials said the method could be used as well for a smaller, single-warhead missile, dubbed Midgetman.
Programs that require or encourage people on welfare to work for their benefits have spread around the nation and have resulted in full-time jobs for some recipients and reductions in caseloads and costs in some areas, according to studies of the programs and interviews with administrators and participants. Proponents of the approach, sometimes referred to as workfare, contend that it offers recipients experience that enables them to escape from welfare dependency. But critics say it is costly and unfair and does not meet recipients’ needs. Since 1981, when Congress gave the states broad discretion to initiate such programs, at least 23 states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, have required some welfare recipients to work. On Thursday, Governor George Deukmejian of California signed a bill that requires most able-bodied welfare recipients to seek jobs or training as a condition of receiving benefits. And other states have started voluntary programs that provide work for some beneficiaries. The programs exist in 518 of the nation’s counties, or about 17 percent.
A man who shunned society and said he hoped to establish a tribe of mountain people was sentenced to 85 years in prison today for his part in the kidnapping of a young woman and the killing of a would-be rescuer. The man, Don Nichols, 54 years old, was convicted in July of kidnapping Kari Swenson, 24, a member of the United States Winter Olympics team, July 15, 1984, of killing Alan Goldstein when he tried to rescue Miss Swenson the next day and of pointing a rifle at another would-be rescuer. Mr. Nichols’s son, Dan, was convicted last spring of kidnapping and assault and is serving a 20-year sentence.
A jury was seated today in the trial of Governor Edwin W. Edwards of Louisiana and seven other men charged under Federal anti-racketeering laws with illegally making $10 million through a hospital construction venture. Mr. Edwards, his brother Marion, and six others are accused of conspiring to obtain state certification for hospital and nursing home corporations they formed. All have pleaded innocent. Prosecutors have said that five of the hospital certifications obtained by the defendants were sold to large health care corporations.
Claus von Bulow paid the legal expenses of his two trials on attempted murder charges with a $1 million loan from John Paul Getty Jr., the oil magnate, a magazine has reported. Mr. Getty is quoted in the October issue of Vanity Fair as saying that he gave Mr. von Bulow the money because the trials would have left the Danish-born financier insolvent.
Seattle teachers are to vote today on a proposed $8.4 million one-year contract aimed at ending the nation’s largest teacher strike. A tentative settlement was also reached yesterday in a 23-day teacher strike in Toronto, Ohio, but other walkouts kept schools closed to 31,700 students in Pennsylvania, 3,300 in New Jersey and 800 in Illinois. The 24-day strike by the Seattle Teachers Association has kept 43,000 students out of school. Sources said the agreement included funds to help reduce class sizes.
A Presidential emergency board, set up to help avert a national rail strike, recommended Thursday that the jobs of 8,000 railroad workers, including firemen, be eliminated on most of the nation’s freight-carrying railroads. The rail industry favors the recommendation, which has been submitted to President Reagan. The United Transportation Union has rejected a tentative agreement reached this summer because of the railroad companies’ efforts to eliminate the jobs through attrition.
Policy on scientific research was clarified by the White House, which said the government would not try to restrain the publication of unclassified research. White House officials made it clear they were not retreating from efforts to prevent the disclosure of technical information of clear military value to the Kremlin, but were defining more clearly where and how to draw the line on the kinds of material to be restricted.
Major League Baseball:
Peter Ueberroth says he will “bow’ to the “overwhelming desire” of the players and work to set up a testing program by the World Series. On October 22, the owners, unable to come up with a testing program, end the 1984 drug agreement.
Eric Show scattered eight hits and drove in four runs, three with his first homer of the year, to lead San Diego to a 10–1 victory over Atlanta. Show (12–10) became the second winningest pitcher in Padre history with his 53rd career victory.
Jody Davis has a single, two doubles and a homer in the Cubs 9–7 win over the Phils at Wrigley. Leon Durham hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to also spark Chicago. The loss was the Phillies’ eighth in a row. Durham’s homer off Kent Tekulve (4–10) came after the Philadelphia manager, John Felske, had vehemently protested that a fan interfered when his right fielder, Glenn Wilson, tried to catch a foul by Durham. Glenn Wilson has a pair of homers, including a grand slam, for the Phils.
The Mets took another step backward in the National League East race tonight when they lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8–7. The loss dropped the Mets to four and a half games behind the first-place St. Louis Cardinals and reduced the Cardinals’ magic number to five. Any combination of five St. Louis victories or five New York losses will clinch the championship for the Cardinals. The Cardinals’ game with Montreal was rained out tonight, and the teams will play a doubleheader Saturday. The loss went to Wes Gardner (0–2), the third pitcher. Larry McWilliams (6–8), who came on in relief in the fourth inning, was the winner. Trailing by 5–2 going into the their half of the third, the Pirates scored six times against three relievers.
The game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Montreal Expos at Jarry Park was postponed due to rain. It will be made up in a doubleheader tomorrow.
Dave Parker hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift Cincinnati over Houston, 4–3. Parker’s 30th homer equaled his career high set in 1978. He now has 119 r.b.i.’s, the National League lead and a career high. With one out in the eighth inning and the Reds trailing, 3-1, Eddie Milner singled off Jeff Heathcock. One out later, Pete Rose singled off the reliever Jeff Calhoun (2–5). Parker then hit the first pitch into the right-field seats.
The Dodgers downed the Giants, 6–2, as right-hander Orel Hershiser hurled a four-hitter to earn his 10th consecutive victory. The victory lowered the Dodgers’ “magic number” for winning the division title to five. Hershiser struck out five and walked two to boost his record to 18-3 with his fifth win in September. The Dodgers scored enough to win off Vida Blue, 7–8, with a four-run second inning. Mike Scioscia opened with an infield single and advanced to second on a passed ball by Bob Brenly. One out later, Steve Sax brought home Scioscia with a single and took second on the throw to the plate.
Andre Thornton’s two-run double highlighted a five-run fourth inning and Neal Heaton and Vern Ruhle combined on a five-hitter tonight to lead the Cleveland Indians over the California Angels, 7–3. California remains tied for first place in the American League West with Kansas City, which lost to Minnesota. The Angels’ loss began a season-ending, 10-game road trip. Heaton (9–17) yielded two runs on four hits through six innings. He left because of a stiff forearm and Ruhle gave up only one hit, Bobby Grich’s 12th homer in the ninth. The Angels were held hitless between Bob Boone’s two-out single in the second and Grich’s leadoff homer. Mike Witt (13–9) set down the first nine Cleveland batters before the Indians scored five times in the fourth.
Kirby Puckett hit a two-run homer and Gary Gaetti hit a bases-empty shot to pace Minnesota to a 4–1 win over the Royals. Frank Viola (17–14) recorded his fourth straight victory, throwing a three-hitter. He walked one and struck out five in his eighth complete game. Bud Black (9–15) has split two decisions in five starts this month. Frank White led off the Royals’ second with a 400-foot homer over the left field wall, his 21st of the year. The Twins took a 4–1 lead in the fifth. Gaetti smacked a 436-foot homer to left, his 19th, to open the inning and one out later, Steve Lombardozzi doubled to the right field corner. Puckett followed with a 424-foot shot over the left field wall, his fourth of the year, on a 1-0 pitch from Black.
Jesse Barfield and Cecil Fielder hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning, and Lloyd Moseby and Damaso Garcia added bases-empty homers to power Toronto over the Brewers, 5–1. The victory gave the Blue Jays a six-game lead in the American League East and lowered their number for clinching the division to five. The second-place Yankees’ game against Baltimore was rained out. Dave Stieb (14–12) allowed seven hits and broke his three-game losing streak. Stieb, who gave up a run in the seventh on a groundout by Charlie Moore, left the game in the ninth with no outs and runners on first and second. Dennis Lamp got the final three outs for his second save.
The game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium was postponed due to rain. It will be made up in a doubleheader tomorrow.
Alan Trammell hit a two-run homer and Walt Terrell gave up one run over seven and two-thirds innings as Detroit beat Boston, 5–1. Terrell (14–10) took a four-hitter and a 3–0 lead into the eighth, but Boston scored on a double by Glenn Hoffman and a single by Steve Lyons. Terrell left after a single by Bill Buckner, and Willie Hernandez took over for his 31st save.
The Mariners blanked the Rangers, 6–0. Frank Wills and Ed Vande Berg combined on a two-hitter. Wills, 5–9, pitched eight innings and allowed the first Texas hit, a clean double to left by Don Slaught leading off the fifth inning. Wills broke his personal eight-game losing streak. Vande Berg gave up a two-out single to Gary Ward in the ninth.
The White Sox edged the A’s, 4–3. Scott Fletcher’s line drive to right field in the ninth inning scored Rudy Law from third base to lift Chicago. Law opened the ninth with a pinch-hit single off Steve Ontiveros, 1–3. Jay Howell relieved Ontiveros and was greeted by Jerry Hairston’s pinch-hit single that sent Law to third. Right fielder Mike Heath almost made a diving catch on Fletcher’s liner, and Heath threw to second to force pinch-runner Bryan Little at second as Law scored. The victory was the 16th in the last 22 games for the White Sox and kept their slim hopes alive in the American League West. Chicago is six games behind division co-leaders Kansas City and California, which both lost Friday night.
San Diego Padres 10, Atlanta Braves 1
Philadelphia Phillies 7, Chicago Cubs 9
Houston Astros 3, Cincinnati Reds 4
California Angels 3, Cleveland Indians 7
Boston Red Sox 1, Detroit Tigers 5
San Francisco Giants 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 6
Toronto Blue Jays 5, Milwaukee Brewers 1
Kansas City Royals 1, Minnesota Twins 4
Chicago White Sox 4, Oakland Athletics 3
New York Mets 7, Pittsburgh Pirates 8
Texas Rangers 0, Seattle Mariners 6
Born:
Breno Giacomini, NFL tackle and guard (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 48-Seahawks, 2013; Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, Houston Texans), in Malden, Massachusetts.
Stephen McGee, NFL quarterback (Dallas Cowboys), in Round Rock, Texas.
Anthony Morrow, NBA shooting guard (Golden State Warriors, New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls), in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Pedro Ciriaco, Dominican MLB third baseman, pinch hitter, and shortstop (Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Atlanta Braves), in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.
Died:
Lloyd Nolan, 83, American actor (“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”; “Peyton Place”), of lung cancer.
History Diaries 