Word: pragmatist
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...book. He reminded Malraux both of the old Chinese emperors and "the Old Man of the Mountain." Malraux saw him as a romantic revolutionary talking about the "Sons of the People," much as the old China talked of the "Son of Heaven," yet at the same time as a pragmatist ready to do anything for the greatness of China. "He seems to be struggling simultaneously against the United States, against Russia-and against China," wrote Malraux. As a believer in the revolution, Mao "is more anxious to make China than to make...
...Yahya Khan. As the only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, she was carefully groomed for leadership and grew up an adored and beloved "child of the nation." From her father she inherited a sense of grace under pressure, but where he was the idealist, she is much more the pragmatist. As one political commentator observed: "Her father was a dreamer who did not act decisively. The people loved Nehru, but ihey are impressed by Indira's ability to make decisions and make them firmly and fast." In elections last March, Indians gave Indira, who like Yahya is 54 years...
...chief idea man, counselor and fixer for Chairman Mao, Chou is China's chief executive officer. Though his influence is powerful, he is "a builder, not a poet," as Journalist Edgar Snow says. Chou is usually described as a "moderate" or a "pragmatist." But he is also, in all senses of the word, an opportunist. To some of those who knew the patrician Premier when he was starring in student theatricals (once in a female part) in the Teens, he is a skillful dissembler, not to be trusted in any circumstances. But most Westerners who have met Chou would agree...
Despite his nebulous and often contradictory position on foreign policy, in his hard hitting domestic program, he successfully reconciles McGovern the idealist and McGovern, the pragmatist. Campaigning under the lincoln green banner of Robin Hood, he proposes a tax system to "take from the rich and give to the poor" and does everything but call President Nixon the Sheriff of Nottingham. His program includes excess profits tax, an end to oil depletion allowances, a realistic minimum income tax, an increased tax on millionaires, and better consumer protection...
...considering even the most minor relaxations, Prime Minister John Vorster must still take into account his Nationalist Party's dwindling but vocal right wing, known as the verkramptes (cramped ones). Vorster, 55, a cautious pragmatist during his five years in office, has already adopted a successful "outward-looking" foreign policy of providing trade and aid to black African states. Last month he declared: "Your government is now entering an era of the most practical politics South Africa has ever known. The time of speeches, blueprints and fancy flights has gone." The statement could have meant anything, but aides insisted...