Word: raisa
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...East Wing of the White House was waging cold war while the West Wing celebrated a thaw, the rest of Washington found Raisa Maximovna Gorbachev dazzling. Vivacious and voluble, she beamed her strobe-light smile, melting the eye glaze of receiving lines. She asked questions and delivered on-the- spot sermons and exhortations. She cracked jokes. And, rivaling her husband, she tamed the media like the tiger handler at the Gorky Park circus: with flourishes, grins and bows to the audience...
...tour was an almost comical confrontation of the two superwives, each ; fighting to get her way with elaborate politesse. But as much as Nancy Reagan tugged at Raisa Gorbachev's elbow, trying to steer the diminutive (5 ft. 3 in.) Russian away from the cordoned-off journalists, she was outmaneuvered. A reporter asked Raisa whether she would be meeting ordinary Americans. Her flattering reply: "Meeting you, for me, is meeting Americans. This time our visit is too short. I hope next time will be longer." At one point she launched into a discussion of modern life...
Repeatedly, Nancy Reagan was asked about frosty relations. "I've answered that five times," she snapped and turned deliberately toward Raisa Gorbachev. Coolly correct, Raisa added, "Everything is all right. Mrs. Reagan gave the answer. She is the hostess, and that was her word." Another reporter asked if Raisa would like to live in the White House. Perhaps unaware that the Reagans' living quarters are upstairs, Raisa glanced at her opulent surroundings. "This is an official residence," she said. "I would say, humanly speaking, that a human being would like to live in a regular house." Smiling, she added, "This...
After the visit, East Wing aides snickered at the black dress with rhinestone belt buckle that Raisa had worn to the late-morning coffee. "A bit cocktailish, don't you think?" one said. White House officials were also miffed that Raisa chose to set up a colloquy with prominent women at the home of Democratic Fund Raiser Pamela Harriman. Among the guests: Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, University of Chicago President Hanna Gray, Publisher Katharine Graham and Senators Barbara Mikulski and Nancy Kassebaum. Nonetheless, by the end of the summit, official patch-up stories were issuing from...
...media made much of the tiff, Raisa's activities were given more sober coverage in the Soviet Union, where she is referred to as "Gorbachev's spouse." Despite recent criticism that Raisa has assumed too visible a role, Soviet television viewers were treated to a snippet of her singing Moscow Nights at the state dinner. TASS, the state news agency, published stories about her National Gallery visit and her meeting with a friendly group of Armenians at the Soviet embassy...