communism circa 1987

6. Communism 

"What about communist countries...Red China for instance?" 

""Yugoslavia is communist, it's a third-world country, so's Nicaragua, so's Cuba." 
-quotes from Talk Radio 

Following the death of Konstantin Chernenko (Andropov's successor) in 1985, Gorbachev was appointed general secretary of the party despite being the youngest member of the politburo. He embarked on a comprehensive program of political, economic, and social liberalization under the slogans of glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika(“restructuring”). The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl (1986) forced Gorbachev to allow even greater freedom of expression. The government released political prisoners, allowed increased emigration, attacked corruption, and encouraged the critical reexamination of Soviet history. 
In a series of summit talks (1985–88), Gorbachev improved relations with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, with whom he signed an Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) arms limitation treaty in 1987. By 1989 he had brought about the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (seeAfghanistan War) and had sanctioned the end of the Communist monopoly on political power in Eastern Europe. For his contributions to reducing East-West tensions, he was awarded the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize. By 1990, however, Gorbachev's perestroika program had failed to deliver significant improvement in the economy, and the elimination of political and social control had released latent ethnic and national tensions in the Baltic states, in the constituent republics of Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova, and elsewhere. http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0821290.html The American Experience:The Iran Contra Affair By Julie WolfRonald Reagan's efforts to eradicate Communism spanned the globe, but the insurgent Contras' cause in Nicaragua was particularly dear to him. Battling the Cuban-backed Sandinistas, the Contras were, according to Reagan, "the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers." Under the so-called Reagan Doctrine, the CIA trained and assisted this and other anti-Communist insurgencies worldwide.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande08.html7. The Iran Contra Affair"How do you think thay pay for all those covert wars? Laos, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Air America, Iran Contra, it's a time-honored tradition." - quote from Talk RadioThe American Experience: The Iran Contra Affair By Julie WolfIn 1985, while Iran and Iraq were at war, Iran made a secret request to buy weapons from the United States. McFarlane sought Reagan's approval, in spite of the embargo against selling arms to Iran. McFarlane explained that the sale of arms would not only improve U.S. relations with Iran, but might in turn lead to improved relations with Lebanon, increasing U.S. influence in the troubled Middle East. Reagan was driven by a different obsession. He had become frustrated at his inability to secure the release of the seven American hostages being held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. As president, Reagan felt that "he had the duty to bring those Americans home," and he convinced himself that he was not negotiating with terrorists. While shipping arms to Iran violated the embargo, dealing with terrorists violated Reagan's campaign promise never to do so. Reagan had always been admired for his honesty.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande08.htmlIt was not until 1986 that word had gotten out about the secret transactions. The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa published a series of articles in November 1986, that exposed the weapons-for-hostages deal. On November 18th, 1987, the Congress issued a report on the affair that stated the president bore "ultimate responsibility."Upon further investigation, Attorney General Edwin Meese verified the report and an independent special prosecutor, Lawrence E. Walsh, was assigned to investigate the deals involving the arms sale and the Contra support.The hearings surrounding the scandals were televised from May to August in 1987. Military aide Marine Lt. Colonel Oliver North, former CIA chief William J. Casey, National Security Advisor John Poindexter, former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger, and many other high-ranking government officials were publicly investigated. 
It was finally found that National Security Advisor Poindexter had personally authorized the diversion of money to the Contra rebels; all the while withholding the information from President Reagan. The CIA's William J. Casey played a part in the conspiracy, but he died during the hearings. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1889.html8. Lebanon Hostage Crisis"Who can stop the toxic wastes, the terrorism, the nuclear build-up, the assasinations?" -quotes from Talk Radio1987: Peace envoy imprisoned in Beirut Reports from Lebanon say Church of England envoy Terry Waite has been kidnapped by an Islamic militia group. 
Mr Waite, 47, disappeared on 20 January, eight days after arriving in the capital, Beirut, to try to free four hostages, including British journalist John McCarthy.http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2524000/2524703.stm 
Charles Glass. American television correspondent Charles Glass was seized on June 17, 1987, by a previously unknown group, the "Organization for the Defense of Free People", (believed to be one of Hezbollah's aliases) he escaped 62 days later.[14] 
Rudolph Cordes and Alfred Schmidt, two citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) abducted in January 1987 by an organization calling itself "Strugglers for Freedom." The West Germans were seized shortly after the West German government arrested Muhammad Ali Hamadi, a Shia terrorist leader who allegedly masterminded the 1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacking and killed diver Robert Dean Stethem. Muhammad Ali Hammadi was not released at that time but was in 2006, "in an apparent exchange for a German hostage in Iraq."[20] 
Terry Waite. Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite, who disappeared January 20, 1987, while on a negotiating mission to free the other kidnap victims, spent almost five years in captivity, nearly four years of it in solitary confinement, after he was seized by Islamic Jihad from a go-between's house in Lebanon on January 20, 1987. Before his release in November 1991 he was frequently blindfolded, beaten, and subjected to mock executions. He lived much of the time chained to a radiator, suffered desperately from asthma, and was transported in a giant refrigerator as his captors moved him about. [21]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon_hostage_crisis9. Assassination Attempts on The Pope and President Ronald Reagan"They tried to kill the pope, Barry!" - quote from Talk RadioMore than half the world's population was not born or was less than 10 years old when a 23-year-old Turk named Mehmet Ali Agca shot Pope John Paul II four times with a 9-mm pistol from a distance of 15 feet as the pope drove through a crowd of 20,000 in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981.http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/4/5/160320.shtmlMonday - March 30 (1981)I was almost to the car when I heard what sounded like two or three firecrackers over to my left - just a small fluttering sound, pop, pop, pop. I turned and said, "What the hell's that?" Just then, Jerry Parr, the head of our Secret Service unit, grabbed me by the waist and literally hurled me into the back of the limousine. I landed on my face atop the armrest across the back seat and Jerry jumped on top of me. When he landed, I felt a pain in my upper back that was unbelievable. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. "Jerry," I said, "get off, I think you've broken one of my ribs."Little by little, though, I learned what had happened and what the situation was: I had a bullet in my lung; Service agent Tim McCarthy had been shot in the chest; policeman Tom Delehanty had been shot in the neck. All of us had been hit by the gun of a young lone assailant who was in police custody. When Jim Brady, a funny and irreverent man who was as talented and well liked as anyone in the White House, was wheeled by me unconscious on his way to the operating room, someone told me he was hit so badly he probably wouldn't make it, and I quickly said a prayer for him. http://www.ronaldreagan.com/march30.html10. Sports: Baseball"Hey, I disagree with you on that one, Bar! They're gonna take the pennant. Niekro's gonna win twenty!" - quote from Talk RadioOctober 25 – 1987 World Series: The Minnesota Twins win despite having the worst regular season win-loss ratio for a winner, a record they hold until 2006. 

The 1987 Series was remarkable in several regards: It featured the first World Series games played in an indoor stadium (the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome)[1] and the final Series game to start earlier than prime timein the eastern United States (Game 6, with a 4 p.m. ET start), and was the first World Series in which all games were won by the home team. (Four previous series had the home team winning the first six games, but in all four cases, the visiting team won Game 7). The 1987 Twins[2] set the record for the worst regular season win-loss record of any World Series championship team (85–77, .525). This record stood until broken in 2006 by the Cardinals themselves, who won the World Series after going 83–78 (.516). 
Besides setting a record for the worst ever regular season winning percentage for a World Series winner (at the time) and hosting the first ever World Series game indoors, the 1987 Twins were the first team to ever enter the World Series having been outscored in the regular season. The 1987 Twins, as a team, were pretty much outnumbered in virtually every major statistical category.[citation needed] As ABC play-by-play man Al Michaels put it in the pre-game show for Game 1 "They were out everything!" 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_World_Series Posted by Erin Marie Williamsat 1:32 PM0 comments thursday, july 23, 2009ImagesImage of Cleveland Union Terminal which is now called Tower City Center. The commuter train, seen in the foreground, no longer runs and Cleveland Union Terminal, seen in the background, was eventually revitalized. The train tracks were taken out and retail and office space was put in. (Terminal Tower is where the radio station is located)http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=11674.0
Image of Girard, south of Liberty Street, (site condition unknown)+ Niles Mahoning, at Pratt, (foundation is still visible). PHOTO:Seen in the 1980s shortly before demolition. (An example of the urban blight prevalent in Cleveland during the 1980's).http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=11674.0 Map of the City of Cleveland (where Talk Radio is set)http://www.dot.state.oh.us/maps/Cities/Cleveland.jpg 
Image of Cleveland, Ohio.