University of Denver - Kynewisbok Yearbook (Denver, CO)

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n Dec. 13, as Poles slept, the tanks rolled in, taking up strategic positions in the heart of Warsaw. The Polish peo- ple woke up to find themselves under martial law, all communications within their country and into the outside world cut or severely restricted. The army, under Communist par- ty head General Wojciech Jaruzelski, had begun their long-expected counterattack against a year of social unrest led by Solidarnosc, 0r Solidari- VVJ '!h 1 W'A; e1, 'llt W 1 1?. e 1., II f .. ty, the nationts first-ever officially recognized trade union. The erackdown caid the U.S., and two of Polandts highest-ranking Am- bassadors, was a direct result of Soviet pressure on the Polish puppet regime. The two Ambassadors resigned and sought asylum in the States; Ronald Reagan imposed sanctions meant to register Amerieats great displeasure. but he did not go as tar as he emild have. Amerieais European zillies were predictably more middle-oli-the-mtttl about the whole matter, sayttlg ngshi bad thing, but that the SOVIetS ie not necessarily be behln i wn. UMktwcxanwhile, the Pepe askaegaigg fellow Poles not to use Violenci1 isvheafl eaeh other. yet let it be knOWIt was with the broken tr Wuleszi was kept under houte nd co the short term, the army at munist party had won 11.1 tort. but the country was In hard period ahead. aetical W U for a 10H:

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The evening of Saturday, July 19 was a festive one in one of Kansas Ci- tyls newest and most popular watering holes - the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown. For a few weeks, hun- dreds of people had shown up on Fri- day evenings for the kind of old fashioned dances being held in the large, spacious foyer area. On the walkways above the dancers, crowds of people laughed, chatted, listened to the music of the live band and tapped their feet in time. Maybe that was what did it. All of a sudden the walkways started to give way. In a flash they were tumbling down, people and all, onto the dancers below. In a few seconds the hotels foyer looked like it had been bombed. Many people were killed in- stantly, others died after fruitless at- tempts to save their lives by the paramedics and other relief squads which rushed to the scene. The death toll was finally placed at 114. It was a terrible tragedy which took place on a warm summerls night. On Wed. Oct. 28, 1981, the US. Senate voted 52 to 48 to allowPresident Reagan to sell five sophisticated AWACS planes and other armaments to Saudi Arabia. The deal would earn the US. sup- pliers $8.5 billion over the next several years. More importantly, it signalled a change of attitude on the Administra- tionls part toward the whole Middle East power equation, and it was a politically divisive issue. Coloradols Republican Senator, Bill Armstrong, called the vote a lltribute to Reaganls leadership, while the states other Senator, Gary Hart, termed it a Denise Moore Wide World Photos, Inc. llfailurel, in the presidentls foreign policy. Reagan did change many minds on the issue, by maintaining that the deal would be good for Israel, since it helped Saudi Arabia to be less suspicious of Jerusalemls military plans. Or something like that. The harsh reality the administration was seeming to be accepting, however, was that Saudi Arabia was simply too powerful, oil-rich and determined to play second fiddle to Israel in Middle East-Washington rela- tionships. Early in November. Reagan said he partially endorsed a Saudi plan to peace in the region, which included the divi- sion of Jerusalem once again into two sections - one Jewish, the other Arab. Israel was not pleased and said so, whereupon the state department began to take back, or water down some of the presidentls comments. But clearly Reagan was trying to show that US. interests in the area could not best be served by support of lsraells point-of-view alone. With Sadat gone, the US. tightrope walk in the region became even more perilous and important. 25

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