Word: earnest
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...secret: First Lady Nancy Reagan's reliance on a San Francisco astrologer to determine the timing of the President's every public move. This was more than a charming eccentricity shared with the 50 million or so other Americans who, casually or in dead earnest, look to the alignment of the stars for guidance. As White House chief of staff for two years, before he was forced to resign in February 1987, Regan was in a position to see how the First Lady's faith in the astrologer's pronouncements wreaked havoc with her husband's schedule. At times...
...fact remains that we are a society using drugs, and that we will never stop drug usage. The more earnest our attempts in pursuing the war on drugs, the greater the costs in violence, wasted resources, and unaided addicts...
Dukakis, the plodding survivor, the paradigm of caution who has launched not a single imaginative political theme, has outlasted seven rivals. Barring acts of God, this candidate described by one of his own aides as an "earnest nerd" will be the nominee. Sighs of relief were audible among much of the Democratic establishment. Because Dukakis evokes wild enthusiasm? Hardly. A TIME poll last week conducted by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman showed that only 34% of registered voters consider Dukakis an "exciting" candidate (vs. 66% for Jackson). Rather, the party has grown weary of a nominating contest that combined the worst elements...
...typing in the jeep, pausing to shake the sand out of her typewriter. No wonder a weary colleague asks her to quit showing off. But soon she meets the love of her life, a tank commander named Tom Southern. The savvy reader of war fiction knows at once that earnest Tom will be dead within 50 pages, but Claudia is launched on a splendidly grand passion. And when finally the disastrous word comes from the front, she shows her saving grace: guts...
...victorious Massachusetts Governor appeared with Jackson on the Today show. Jackson immediately seized control by congratulating Dukakis, then adding dismissively, "You did well with your home-field advantage." Dukakis laughed nervously and fell silent. The incident was an apt symbol for the Dukakis dilemma: the need for the earnest gears-and-levers technocrat to combat the powerful passions of a black preacher...