University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

Page 22 text:

A lady among the brethren On September 25, Sandr OlConnor became the 102nd Am . and the first w0man to be appmrinaan Justice of the Supreme Court ofetha United States. Despite some Opposiii e from various religious groups, Who :3: that the former Arizona appeals coun Judge 3 vtews on abortion were too liberal, O Connor fairly sailed past the members of the Senate Judiciary Com- mittee, who accepted her views on the subject, and gave her full marks for her d i p l o m a c y . Describing her personal tlabhonence'i for abortion, the 51-year-old motherol three told the committee that while she would never have had an abortion, she would not allow her llpersonal views and philosophies to affect her iudgements llas much as that is possible. Reagan had promised during his cam- paign for the presidency that if elected he would appoint a woman to the Supreme Court at the first opportunity. That chance came sooner than most people expected - within the first six monthsol the new president's term - when Justice Potter Stewart announced his decision to retire from the bench. Denise Moore

Page 21 text:

5 Vi. The Royal Wedding On Wednesday, July 29, 1981, at 11 a.m., at St. Paulis Cathedral, Lon- don, England, the wedding took place of H.R.H. Charles, Prince of Wales, 32, and Lady Diana Spencer, 20, a ttcommonertt from a well-connected English family. It was a major event by any standards: as the future monarch of Great Britain, Charlest marriage was bound to attract a lot of attention. But two ingredients spiced up the occasion, turning it into a media event of im- mense proportions. First, the bride was young and beautiful and second, the timing of the wedding was perfect, com- ing as it did when Britain was being besieged by street riots in several cities in England, and civil disturbances in Northern Ireland. Somehow, everyone seemed ready for the good news. Millions tuned in, sharing in the romance being marketed and packaged by the British into a show of shows which only they could put on. It was estimated that 750 million peo- ple - one sixth of the worlds population - watched the royal wedding on televi- sion. They became familiar with all the minutiae surrounding the occasion, and they wallowed in it: the mystery recipe for the official wedding cake, which was 4V2 feet high and weighed 225 lbs; the secrecy shrouding the wedding gown until that final moment when Lady Di descended from her glass carriage out- side St. Paqu to reveal a silk gown with a 25 ft. train; the fireworks display, claimed to be the largest Britain had seen in 250 years; the fact that Charles had to stand on a box behind his bride- to-be when posing for their engagement portrait since her height made it difficult for him to achieve that toweringly royal look. One correspondent described the whole affair as a 16th century pageant rolling through 20th century London. And the world enjoyed every second. i'x $ t x x a - - . ex hney abhhhh ;s ---- -y Denise Moore

Page 23 text:

l8945 gtoups. ti; ? Arlene appgax, 1' abortion Wet; it. fall; sailed pi e Senate Judiciai,i wepted her views: gm 11a tall mails; 'e'. personal abhv fie 31-yeamldmc' 1? :ctvrnzttee mail 3 2.2 Fad an abcr. La -. re: ipersom s. 1: m1 he! at; 5 1'2; 5 possmie ta: storied Curr; H 3W5, them; .- 'T a ACTE. 301'? '1 9S O'JPOTiT: i o a a:lj'ia Clan lllUl' t I T .. tr: :'i.' $1.7 wemw ; or. rifle ' Be Debhakam MXes in Utah Axed n early October, President Reagan made his long- awaited decision on where to put the controversial MX in- tercontinental missiles. He decided to drop the Carter idea of shuttling 200 MX missiles among 4,600 covered launching pads in isolated desert areas of Nevada and Utah. Instead, Reagan decided to place about 100 in existing sites where Minuteman and Titan rockets are currently based. While the decision was applauded by those who were against such a massive project invading the quiet desert areas of Utah and Nevada, and by economists who shuddered at the cost lsome estimates reached $100 billionl, not to mention the en- vironmentalists who feared that the region's water supply could not sup- port such an influx of people and technology. it nevertheless received some criticism. The Denver Post wondered editorially if Americans had perhaps been the itvictims of a propaganda campaign calculated to stoke fears since it had been stressed in earlier months that the Soviet strike capability could easily wipe out the existing missile sites, and that an elaborate guess-where-they-are strategy was re- quired to ride out such an attack. Columnist Joseph Kraft wrote that, while he supported the decision, since he had never believed in lkeven the remote possibility of a Soviet at- tackf' the alternative Reagan plan would only lead to a iidestructive debate? since as a candidate Reagan had campaigned forcefully on the need to tlclose the window of strategic vulnerabilityll opened by the Soviet arms build-up. liEveryone has to wonder if Reagan . . . knows what he's doing, wrote Kraft. It was a long and bitter campaign and it ended without doing much to resolve any of the problems which had caused it to be waged in the first place: on Sun. Oct. 3. 1981. the IRA called off the hunger strike which had been going on among its members im- prisoned in the Maze Prison in Belfast. The seven-month fast had left 10 dead and in its early months had calls ed worldwide attention to the IRAs demands for political prisoner status in the Maze. By political status. the IRA meant that its incarcerated members should be exempt from prison work and not have to wear prison Clothes: should have lost parole time restored and be allowed to associate more freely as well as get more mail and visits. The Thatcher government steadfastly refuse ed to accede to such demands but vaguely promised some improvement in conditions if the strike was called off . V End of a bitter campaign In announcing its decision the IRA blamed the llCatholic hierarchy, aided and abetted by the Irish establishment, for the failure of the campaign. The church had worn down the resistance of the strikers relatives and the establishment had not stood up to the British in the matter, the lRAls Richard McAuley said. Thus. while the conservative government in Britain had won the battle. it seemed the war was far from over. Some commentators claimed that the hunger strike had helped the IRA raise a lot of money. especially in the US. It was fully expected that the IRAs efforts to end British rule in Northern Ireland would simply find new expression in the near future l9