A Letter From the Publisher: Sep. 9, 1985

Unlike their Western counterparts, Soviet leaders almost never meet with foreign journalists. One of the rare exceptions occurred in 1979, when Leonid Brezhnev received Time Inc. Editor in Chief Henry Grunwald, TIME Managing Editor Ray Cave and Chief of Correspondents Richard Duncan for a formal interview. Last week, at the same long Kremlin table, aided by the same translator, the same three editors became the first Western newsmen to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev. What was new was the vigor and directness of the host. "Instead of delay, there was a definite aura of efficiency," said Cave. "The session was to begin...

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