Word: buttoned
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Occasionally, Stalinism shows a sunnier face. But that is merely tactical, says Revel, because the frown is sure to follow. Party Leader Leonid Brezhnev is "simply a button-down Stalin without the old man's dementia." He has not emptied the Gulag of its millions of prisoners nor have any of the lesser Gulags in all the other Communist nations been dismantled. In fact, when Russia relaxes its grip on nations like Rumania and Albania, their societies tend to become even harsher and more restrictive. "De-Russification," writes Revel, "does not mean democratization...
...White House; a beige phone can instantly reach any U.S. military commander anywhere in the world. Mounted on one wall are half a dozen computer-fed display screens (each 6 ft. by 8 ft.), which flash the status of U.S. forces. Last week, at the press of a button, the screens gave this picture of some of the U.S. strategic strength on station: 1,054 nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles, most of them sited in concrete-reinforced underground silos scattered across the Great Plains; 21 nuclear-powered submarines gliding stealthily through the world's oceans, their 336 slender missiles within range...
Delicate Hands. Nixon found Leonid Brezhnev to be much more poised and cautious than his predecessor: "Intellectually you had a man not as quick as Khrushchev, but he is a much safer man to have sitting there with his finger on the button than Khrushchev." Brezhnev is also evidence that "the new class is doin' pretty good" in the Soviet Union. He is "something of a fashion plate. He liked beautiful cars. He liked beautiful women...
...least 50,000 hoods can be considered confederates of the Mafia. The Mafia is by far the best organized criminal group in the U.S. and the only one with a national structure: 26 families?five of them in New York City* ?of from 20 to 1,000 "button men," or soldiers...
...Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal; the other leaders will also be limited to their foreign and finance ministers. Other aides, including National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, will wait in an adjoining room. When the particular expertise of one of them is needed, the head of state will push a button by his chair. A red light will flash in the subordinates' area on a board numbered 1 through 8, indicating which leader needs assistance...