In February 1947, barely 18 months tomary two growls. Below his mane after an American-made atomic appeared the company's celebrated bomb known as Little Boy leveled motto: Ars Gratia Artis, "Art For Art's the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Sake." Then came what purported to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released to be a newsreel, showing canisters of the world what would today be film-supposedly, copies of the film called a "docudrama" about the that the audience was about to see- making...
LECTIONS
Earlier this year, the Johns Hopkins University Press published Joseph T. Shipley's "discursive dictionary of Indo-European roots," a rich compendium of words from our lost mother tongue. English and more than 100other "daughter languages" can today trace their origins back to Indo-European. Shipley's thousands of entries, each an eclectic mag of fact, anecdote, and deft quotation, reveal the author's ksero wit, eye for the ozd, and sheer love of dinghu.We present some...
Walter Dean Burnham, Paul R.
Abramson, Thomas R. Dye, Lee Sigel- Democrats' Fate man, and others, in Society (July-Aug.
1984),Box A, Rutgers-The State Univer- sity, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903.
Even as the Democratic Party gathers its considerable forces for the No- vember elections, its long-term future is, once again, a matter of debate.
To Burnham, an MIT political scientist (and a key advocate of the theory that U.S. political parties undergo "critical realignments" every 30 years...
two to one. The party, notes Sigelman, who teaches at the University of Kentucky, is "one of the oddest political coalitions ever assembled" and is nature and tradition given to bickering, turmoil, and more than a dash of excitement. As Will Rogers put it more than half a cen- tury ago: "I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat."
"After the Congressional Veto: Assessing ew Checks the Alternatives" by Robert S. Gilmour and Barbara inkso on Craig, in Journal of
And...
Henry Fair- lie, in The New Republic (Mav 28, 1984). 1220 19th St. N.w., washington, D.C. 20036.
Once "it was impossible to think of the practice of politics without the eloquence with which kings and politicians tried to move individuals and multitudes." Today, laments the New Republic's Fairlie, oratory has no place in American politics.
Of course, television is responsible for much of the change. Before the advent of broadcasting, public gatherings and newspapers were the sole outlets...
Linda E. Demkovich, in Na-
Cloudy Future tional Journal (June 23, 1984), 1730 M St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
Nobody in Washington wants to admit it before the November elec- tions, but public officials of both political parties who are looking for ways to reduce federal budget deficits are contemplating cuts next year in that most sacred of federal programs, Social Security.
The retirement program itself seems assured of solvency for the fore- seeable future, thanks to the $165-billion...
Samuel P. Huntington, in Politi-cat Science Quarterly (Summer 1984), Vistas 2852 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
10025-0148.
Democracy has planted new flags in recent years, notably in Spain, Ar- gentina, and Greece. But Huntington, a Harvard political scientist, is not optimistic about the overall prospects for the spread of representa- tive government.
For more than a century after the American Revolution, democracy was on the rise around the world. Its momentum faltered around 1920, only to revive...
promoting economic development and free-market economies and increasing its influence in world affairs, the United States may be able to aid the democratic cause.
"Why Trust the Soviets?" by Richard J. Barnet, in World Policy Journal (Spring 1984), World Policy Institute, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017.
Distrust and ill will have poisoned relations between the United States and the Soviet Union since the late 1970s. Yet "it is a dangerous delu- sion to believe that...
govern- ments." This ground swell of public opinion, along with the high cost of the arms race, opens the door to a "historic" transformation of U.S.- Soviet relations.
"Europe's Nuclear Superpowers" byCreating TWO New George M. Seignious I1 and Jonathan Paul Yates, in Foreign Policy (SummerSuperpowers 1984), P.O. Box 984, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11737.
Talk of the nuclear "superpowers" brings just two countries to mind, the United States and the Soviet Union. But...
Great Britain and France could make them nuclear powers of the first rank-and pose nearly as much of a challenge to Washington as to Moscow.
Both of these U.S. allies already maintain small nuclear forces: a combined total of 300 warheads in land- and submarine-based missiles. Moscow's installation of new SS-20 missiles targeted on Western Eu- rope and European doubts about Washington's commitment to defend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at all costs prompted the Anglo-French plans....