EARTHQUAKE IN ARMENIA: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV CUT UNITED STATES VISIT
ABC News
SHOW: TIME TUNNEL 9:09 AM EST ABC
December 8, 2006 Friday
Anchors: Rob Simmelkjaer
Reporters: John Mcwethy (New York, NY USA)
CONTENT: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, SOVIET AMBASSADOR YURI DUBININ, NATIONAL
SECURITY ADVISOR COLIN POWELL, PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN, ARMENIA
EARTHQUAKE, SOVIET UNION
ROB SIMMELKJAER (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) Welcome back to ‘Time Tunnel." I’m Rob Simmelkjaer in
New York. We now continue our journey back in time to this day in
1988 when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was forced to cut short a
visit to America after a devastating earthquake struck Armenia.
Here’s how it went.
GRAPHICS: EARTHQUAKE
PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) When the news became widely known this morning, that Mr.
Gorbachev is going home because of the disaster in Armenia, someone
observed this was the decision of a natural politician, of a leader
who sensed when to be away and when to be among his people. Here’s
ABC’s John McWethy.
GRAPHICS: NEW YORK
JOHN MCWETHY (ABC NEWS)
(Voiceover) Soviet leader Gorbachev attended a gala United Nations
reception until after 10:00 last night. When it was over, aides
presented him with new information on just how devastating the
earthquake had been. Back at the Soviet mission, it did not take him
long to decide. As leader of the Soviet Union, he must return home.
Besides, he could not be seen shopping in New York while his countrymen
faced a disaster. In minutes, Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin had
called national security advisor Colin Powell in the White House.
JOHN MCWETHY (ABC NEWS)
(Voiceover) President Reagan was awakened and given the news. Just
before midnight, Foreign Minister Shevardnadze told the world. So,
instead of a tour of New York, which was to be followed by stops
in Cuba and London, Gorbachev headed for home. He said he received
a phone call this morning from President Reagan and Vice President
Bush offering their sympathy and American help, if needed. Even though
he was forced to cut short his visit to the United States, Gorbachev
certainly made his mark. His proposal to reduce the Soviet military by
half a million men and 10,000 tanks is already a challenge to Congress,
where there will now be pressure to cut American defense spending.
SENATOR JOHN GLENN (DEMOCRAT
He want more than just words. And if so, if he really carries it out,
then that means it opens a whole panoply of things that we may be
able to do with conventional arms and with nuclear arms, and that
would be a real big step forward.
JOHN MCWETHY (ABC NEWS)
(Off-camera) So, Gorbachev flies home, leaving behind new ideas
and proposals that already have set off a worldwide debate. He is
challenging the West to take the same kinds of risk that the Soviet
Union appears to be taking. Still at issue, whether to trust what he
says. And if you do, whether you believe he can deliver. John McWethy,
ABC News, New York.