Click on the link here for Audio Player – CBS Hourly News – June 11, 1989 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
News for this June 11th in 1989 had much to do with the continuing crackdown in China of dissidents, post Tiananmen Square. High on that list of “most wanted” was Fang Lizhi, a scientist whose advocacy for economic and democratic freedoms helped shape the protest movement that led to the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Fang was holed up in the American Embassy in Beijing, and it was causing a rift in relations between the U.S. and China. China posted a warrant for his arrest, Fang and his wife were staying put in the Embassy. The U.S. wasn’t going to let them go, since it was obvious Fang would be facing the same fate as many of his fellow-dissidents, who were being rounded up and spirited away to parts unknown. All that, and protests from ABC News that Chinese authorities hijacked a satellite feed of a street interview with a man who was later arrested for rumor mongering. He told the ABC News reporter some 20,000 people were killed in Tiananmen Square – the Chinese authorities denied it, saying only 300 were killed and they were mostly soldiers who were attacked by ruffians. Nervous times.
Meanwhile, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev was getting ready for a four-day visit to West Germany. Soviet officials were poo-pooing the rumor that Gorbi was going to spring another surprise on the world. Amid rumors of another Arms summit, the Berlin Wall and German reunification, the plate of speculation was full.
Back home – Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, who started the group as a Political Action Organization said he was disbanding the Moral Majority because it failed to get Abortion outlawed or Public School Prayer legalized.
And that’s just a sample of what went on this June 11th in 1989 as presented by CBS Radio’s Hourly News
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