Looking Back: Past opinions provide perspective

Looking Back reviews opinions published in The Spokesman-Review during this week in history.

Cold war clash, July 27, 1959

An S-R editorial praised Vice President Richard Nixon for his impromptu debate in Moscow with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

“Standing in the very heart of communism’s stronghold where he journeyed as America’s representative to inaugurate a goodwill economic display, Nixon found himself the target of Khrushchev’s familiar blusterings. With deliberate firmness, Nixon matched Khrushchev’s thrusts point for point, fully maintaining his composure.

“Threading the narrow pathway between refusing to be intimidated and not becoming overbearing, Nixon ably upheld his role and appears to have won Khrushchev’s admiration as a formidable adversary.”

Moonwalk prediction, July 25, 1969

Just after man’s first walk on the moon, an S-R editorial marveled at how closely that event hewed to French author Jules Verne’s 1865 novel, “From the Earth to the Moon.”

“This was written at a time when land transportation was either by horse or by trains. Aviation was an unknown word. In fact, it was still two years before Wilbur Wright would be born. Edison’s incandescent lamp would not appear until 1879. And yet Verne was able to forecast with remarkable accuracy the voyage of Apollo 11.”

It continued: “The nation to accomplish this feat, the Frenchman wrote, was to be America. This was at a time when Europe still regarded us as wet behind the ears, and furthermore when we were still locked in a disastrous civil war, from which it would take to decades to recover.

“To cap his forecast, Verne wrote that the launching of the lunar vehicle was to take place in Florida, scarcely more than 100 miles from the actual Cape Kennedy site, and the trip would take about five days.”

Praise for candidates, July 26, 1999

An editorial praised local citizens who stepped forward to run for office.

“This week, in towns and cities around Washington state, hundreds of men and women … will take a critical step in the democratic process. They will make themselves useful. They will file as candidates for public office.

“In Spokane County alone, 35 municipal offices are up for election in 11 cities and towns. Before this fall’s elections are over and the winners come under the relentless fire that political office attracts, we should all take a moment to acknowledge the service and sacrifice public servants and would-be public servants contribute to our form of government.

“In an age when more than half of the eligible population seldom even votes, the commitment it takes to be a candidate deserves profound public respect, regardless of ideology or political agenda. It’s no small gesture to open your life to public inspection, to present your ideas to a skeptical public and risk ridicule, to devote time and energy to the rigors of campaigning and, if you succeed, office-holding.”