The Presidency: A Wish for Clear Sky

It was Charlie Wick's idea a year ago. The USIA director penned a letter to the chief Soviet spokesman, Leonid Zamyatin, about having their two leaders talk to the Soviet and American people directly over television. There was no answer from Moscow. At the Geneva summit eleven months later, Wick was walking offstage from a ceremony when he ran into Zamyatin, whom he had never met "I didn't answer your letter," Zamyatin confessed with a sheepish smile. Replied Wick: "I was wondering if you read your mail." Both men laughed. The spirit of the moment had seized them and, more important,...

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