He Dared to Hope

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their share of attention during 1981 (see following story). Ronald Reagan, whose sweeping electoral victory made him TIME'S choice as the Man of the Year in 1980, started a revolution in domestic policy that curbed a Federal Government which had been growing without restraint since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the '30s. Reagan also had his failings. He had an uncertain touch on foreign policy and he made the astonishing discovery that his economic policies were projected to leave the U.S. with a $100 billion budget deficit in fiscal 1982.

In a year marked by widespread political violence, assassins shot a U.S. President, a Pope and a Nobel laureate. The first two victims recovered. The third, Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, died in a lash of bullets, casting a shadow over the cause of Middle East peace that he had courageously espoused. That turbulent region of the world was further shaken by the aggressive acts of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, which bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor; attempted to destroy a Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Beirut, killing 300, mostly civilians; and in effect annexed the Golan Heights.

U.S.-Soviet relations grew more tense as the Reagan Administration adopted a hard-line approach to its dealings on virtually every issue with the Kremlin and with Communism worldwide. As the Administration talked sternly, a powerful movement swept through Western Europe in opposition to the planned deployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons in NATO countries. The antinuclear crusade threatened NATO'S solidarity against the Warsaw Pact nations. Urged on by the Europeans, the U.S. met with the Soviets in Geneva on Nov. 30 to begin their long-awaited talks on mutual reductions of their medium-range missiles.

For Americans, the most moving moment of the year was the return of the 52 U.S. hostages who had been held in Iran for 444 days. The most reassuring moment occurred on April 12, when the space shuttle Columbia roared triumphantly into orbit, trailing behind a fiery, orange-and-white plume—and all doubts about U.S. supremacy in space technology. The most delightful moment for Britons, and for about everybody else, came when a demure 19-year-old with glowing cheeks and feather-swept blond hair said yes to the future King of England. The spectacular wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to Prince Charles lifted hearts everywhere.

None of these developments in 1981, however, equaled the drama of Poland's triumph and tragedy. At the center of the Polish revolution was one of history's more improbable heroes. With a double chin, a bit of a paunch, and a height of only 5 ft. 7 in., Lech Walesa, 38, hardly has an imposing physical presence. His working-class Polish is rough and often ungrammatical; his voice, perhaps from years of heavy smoking, is hoarse and rasping. His speeches frequently are riddled with mixed metaphors and skewed analogies; Solidarity's leaders admit that Walesa (pronounced Vah-wen-sah) is more intuitive than intellectual. He rather defiantly claims that he has never read a serious book in his life.

Yet Walesa got through his message of hope to his countrymen. Said a Warsaw journalist: "Sometimes he doesn't even make any sense, but he is always reassuring. He energizes people." He could work a crowd like an actor onstage, never