Word: brezhnevs
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They turned their faces toward Brezhnev's head for a moment of silent communion, then filed out, past the honor guard...
...express regrets and reminiscences. "I'm really sorry for him," said a grandmother. "The poor man didn't even have time to play with his grandchildren." Said an engineer: "We used to complain some, bitch about this and that, and tell jokes about the old man. But now that Brezhnev is dead I feel sad because he conveyed a sense of security and stability." One middle-aged Russian intellectual recalled a different scene, when Stalin lay in state in the House of Trade Unions. Then the streets outside were packed with an unruly mob of people pushing their way toward...
While many world leaders, including French Premier Pierre Mauroy and Indian Prime Minister Gandhi, announced that they planned to attend Brezhnev's funeral, Reagan rejected the arguments made by Secretary of State George Shultz, National Security Adviser Clark and CIA Director William Casey that the President's presence would be a gesture of conciliation toward the new Soviet leadership. Instead, Reagan decided to send a delegation headed by Shultz and Vice President George Bush, who interrupted a seven-nation visit to Africa. The decision drew immediate criticism. Reagan's failure to go to Moscow, said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas...
Defending the decision, a Shultz aide said, "We don't think the succession itself requires a major reassessment of the U.S. position." At a press conference on the day Brezhnev's death was announced, Reagan said that he had no intention of modifying his stern stance toward the Soviets without any give on their part. "We shouldn't delude ourselves," he declared. "Peace is the product of strength, not of weakness, effacing reality and not believing in false hopes." The President went on, "For ten years, detente was based on words from them and not on any deeds to back...
Much the same sentiment was expressed by Andropov. Addressing the Central Committee, he said, "We know well that the imperialists cannot be talked into peace. It must be defended by relying on the invincible might of the Soviet armed forces." The speech echoed Brezhnev's last public words. Surveying a Soviet military parade three days before his death, he had promised to deal any aggressor "a crushing retaliatory strike...