Word: specialist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...clear whether Gorbachev handpicked Kryuchkov as his new KGB chief, but the two shared a common patron in Yuri Andropov. Kryuchkov, whose affectionate nickname is said to be "Kryuk" (meaning hook), accompanied Gorbachev to last December's Washington summit, marking him as a man to watch. A specialist in international operations, Kryuchkov is not closely associated with repressing dissidents during Gorbachev's democratization effort. His appointment may be a signal that the Kremlin now attaches greater priority to KGB activities abroad. In the view of a U.S. State Department Soviet expert, "Gorbachev wants to narrow KGB responsibilities and get them...
David C. Hilmers, 38, mission specialist. Jan. 28, 1986, was Hilmers' 36th birthday. But it was no time for celebrating: that was the day Challenger disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Ever since, Hilmers has had a dream that "one day a shuttle would once again make its way to the launchpad to launch Americans into space." A religious man, he says his anxiety about the mission was "soothed by my faith in God." Hilmers, who doubles as Covey's backup pilot, is a math whiz. He graduated summa cum laude from Cornell College, in Iowa, and earned an electrical...
...followed at the mike by other champs-for-a-day: an accountant, a short-order cook named Larry, a computer specialist who beams while a wag introduces him as "the greatest lead voice from Florida." He bows and launches into Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven. Fellowship and fun count for more than tonal quality in barbershopping, a thriving movement that celebrates a unique song style: the four-part unaccompanied harmony that flourished at the turn of the century on porches, street corners, saloons and, yes, barbershops across America. In its early years, barbershop singing was pretty much a male...
Alexandra Biryukova, 59. A consumer-affairs specialist on the Central Committee, she was named a nonvoting Politburo member, the first woman to hold such a post in 27 years. Promoted...
Vadim Medvedev, 59. A brainy culture specialist who rose through the ranks of the Leningrad party organization, Medvedev since 1983 has headed the Central Committee's Science and Education Department. His appointment as a voting member of the Politburo, over the heads of seven nonvoting members waiting in the wings for such a summons, is little short of astonishing. In effect, moreover, he was given Ligachev's ideological portfolio. Promoted...