Word: far
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...with a Virginia political trailblazer named Douglas Wilder. Back in 1975, when Wilder was the only black in the state senate (and the first since 1890), he gave voice to his overarching aspirations, a notion of empowerment far beyond what seemed plausible amid the genteel conservatism of the Old Dominion. "If people will elect you Lieutenant Governor," Wilder predicted with startling prescience, "they'll elect you Governor. I would think it would be an interesting test somewhere along the line for a black to run for one of those positions so as to put prejudice right on the line...
...longer did Wilder risk racial polarization by talking about putting prejudice to the test. Now 58, his hair silver, his manner reassuring and his smile infectious, Wilder had grown far too adroit to speak of racial issues in anything other than soft, almost dulcet, tones. Throughout the 1980s, Wilder had consciously shaped his persona to make his blackness and ground-breaking achievements seem almost boring and quietly inevitable. He did not disown his racial identity, tossing off laugh lines like, "How can I not think of myself as a black man? I shave." His style, rather, was to envelop...
...elected officials serve constituencies in which blacks are not a majority. Even David Dinkins' triumph in New York City was a reminder of the constraints on black political power; most big-city mayors operate in a no-win environment, where their capacity to be blamed for insoluble urban problems far exceeds their powers and resources...
...latest example of perestroika, a new airline called ASDA is being formed to compete with Aeroflot. Staffed by Soviet air force veterans and disgruntled Aeroflot pilots, the carrier will fly rented Boeing 747s on long- haul routes connecting such far-flung points as Kiev, Kamchatka, Moscow and Minsk. A straight-faced Soviet news report promised that the new airline will raise the level of passenger service. Travelers can only hope...
...convinced that Deng would retain his last post for a while longer to preserve his legacy of economic growth as well as to ensure the succession of his newly anointed heir, Jiang Zemin, a former Shanghai mayor who was named General Secretary in the chaos following the massacre. So far, however, Jiang has had little opportunity to prove his mettle. In fact, even though the Central Committee named Jiang to succeed Deng, it also expanded the powers of hard- line President Yang Shangkun, 82, a Jiang rival. Unlike Jiang, Yang has a national base and a large following...