Word: flinch
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...February Americans flinch at an inflation rate of 18% that drops to a hardly bearable 12.7% as the year ends. February is also the month when the U.S. hockey team's victory over the Soviets ignites national pride. But in April the U.S. boycotts the Summer Olympic Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In May Cuban refugees flee Castro, and the U.S. greets them at first with an "open arms" policy, then a state of emergency in Florida, then a closing of the open arms?the entire pilgrimage eventually capped off with riots at Eglin Air Force
Worthwhile leaders, believes Kissinger, may quail before the Deity in their prayers, but on the job they never flinch. "To assume on your shoulders the responsibility for the people is an act of arrogance in itself," declares Kissinger. "Most action must be taken when a leader cannot see his way clearly to the end. What is needed is a curious combination of egomania and humility. If he is too much impressed with the size of the challenge, he does nothing. If he is too little impressed, he gets into trouble...
...chain-smoking, the use of drugs to get going in the morning and to stop at night, the increasingly heavy drinking. His remarkable face became a relief map of a ravaged land; Auden said he looked "like a wedding cake left out in the rain." Osborne does not flinch from presenting such evidence, but neither does he seem to know what to do with it: "On the Atlantic crossing back to England, he was uncharacteristically miserable, and on one occasion burst into tears, confessing to Isherwood that he could never find anyone to love him and that he believed himself...
Liddy positioned his right hand over the candle so that the flame licked at his palm. Soon, the room filled with the scent of burning flesh. Liddy did not flinch. The stench became overwhelming. The executive pushed a button on his intercom...
...clearing of the throat, perspiration on the palms and other involuntary manifestations of the trembles at the assignment: a cover story on Russell Baker, the humor columnist who writes so deftly himself that he won this year's Pulitzer Prize for commentary. But Contributor John Skow did not flinch. Says Skow: "I've followed Baker's column since he started it 17 years ago. You can tell merely by reading him that he's a very approachable...