Word: vital
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ANZUS pact has been a vital part of its global defense obligations. For Australia and New Zealand, the treaty has provided a measure of protection under the U.S. nuclear shield--even if external threats to life and freedom have seemed remote in the South Pacific. The U.S. is specifically concerned about the growth of the Soviet Union's blue-water navy, pointing to increasing Soviet use of facilities at Cam Ranh Bay, once the main U.S. military complex and naval base in Viet Nam. Says a U.S. official: "We are facing a real problem of Soviet penetration...
Worst of all, perhaps, export demand shriveled. Exports have become vital, not just to the prosperity but to the survival of many U.S. farms. Under Secretary of Agriculture Daniel Amstutz estimates that, using modern mass- production techniques and breakthroughs promised by biogenetic research, the U.S. could soon grow enough grain and fiber to feed and clothe itself comfortably operating at just half its full crop-growing capacity; the rest could be profitably employed only by selling overseas. But U.S. farm exports, after multiplying more than six times, from $7 billion in 1970 to a peak of $43.8 billion...
While the Administration admits that long-haul service may end, it believes that the most vital sections of the rail line would survive. Says Dole: "There may be a considerable amount of interest on the part of local and state authorities to pick up the service." The most likely region to keep its trains rolling would be the 455-mile Northeast corridor between Boston and Washington, where 120-m.p.h. Metroliners and other trains carry more than half of all Amtrak riders...
...they never see," says Martin Marty, religion historian at the University of Chicago. A westward shift, he thinks, would be aimed at putting "the leadership in close touch with the way people are actually thinking." The Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Episcopal bishop of New York, counters that it is vital to be where "urban issues, poverty issues and the intensity of the social problems are right there under your nose...
Before they move in, freshmen usually learn such vital things about a House as how many people it has and where the dining hall is. Typically, they can also tell you the code word for the Houses with the most blatant reputations...