MACNEIL / LEHRER NEWSHOUR, THE {REAGAN-GORBACHEV ICELAND SUMMIT/BABY LANCE CASE} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of nightly news analysis programs. Hosted by Jim Lehrer and Robert MacNeil, this program focuses on the summit in Iceland between Pres. Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev; the Baby Lance court battle; and the troubled Bank of America. The "News of the Day" summary includes a report on the summit by Elizabeth Brackett, with clips of Gorbachev, Assistant Secretary of State Rozanne Ridgway, Frida Lemberg, Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, and press spokesman Larry Speakes. Also included is a report on William Cooper and Wallace Sawyer, Jr., the two U.S. citizens who were shot down and killed in Nicaragua; lone survivor Eugene Hasenfus is under interrogation, and Nicaraguans contend that the U.S. military was involved, which the U.S. government denies. The report includes clips of State Department spokesperson Pete Martinez, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel D'Escoto, Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Herbert Okun, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.), and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.). The segment "Disarming Issues" features interviews about expectations for the summit, including speculation over arms control and foreign policy. Guests include former arms negotiator Jack Mendelsohn, former State Department official Ambassador Seymour Weiss, editor of Foreign Affairs magazine William Hyland, and Prof. Stephen Cohen of Princeton University. Topics covered include possible agreements on Euro-missiles, medium-range missiles, and the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI); the problem of verifying the terms of the treaties, since the missiles are easily hidden and highly mobile; events that would make the summit a success for both Gorbachev and Reagan; and the reasons that the U.S. is approaching the Soviet Union with new openness but also with the cautious intention to remain passive on most issues. "Fateful Decision," a report by Fred Sam Lazaro of KTCA in St. Paul/Minneapolis, covers the Baby Lance case, a lengthy court battle in Marshall, Minnesota, in which the judge has denied a mother's request that doctors withhold "heroic measures" that would maintain life support for her 6-month old son, Lance Steinhaus, an infant who was persistently battered by his father into a vegetative state. With no hope of meaningful recovery, the mother wishes for her son to die a natural death if the event arises, while the father, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for assaulting his son, wants his son's life to be saved at all costs. The report profiles the history of the case and probes the dilemmas involved in deciding the proper outcome for euthanasia cases. Included are interview clips with Lance's father, Timothy Steinhaus; Lance's mother, Amy Wiederholt; Judge George Harrelson, who tried the case; the father's attorney, Cecil Naatz; and Dr. Dana Johnson of the University of Minnesota Hospital, where Lance is being treated. In the final segment, "Embattled Bank," Spencer Michels of public station KQED-TV in San Francisco reports on the troubles of the second largest bank in the nation, Bank of America. The report examines the history of the bank, including the accomplishments of A. P. Giannini, founder of the Bank of Italy, which later became the Bank of America; the reasons the bank began to falter; the actions that CEO-turned-president Sam Armacost took to help the bank, leading to his current resignation; and the bank's attempts to fight rumors of its dire circumstances. Those interviewed include former bank director Angelo Scampini; ex-board member Claire Giannini Hoffman; Dick Fredericks of Montgomery Securities; former bank spokesperson Tom Oswold; San Joaquin farmer Harold Brockman; real estate consultant Stephen Roulac; and Bank of America official Stephen McLin. Also included is archival footage of the bank, Giannini, and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the Times Mirror Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: October 10, 1986 Friday 7:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:58
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:29312
- GENRE: News; Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arms control; Glasnost; Euthanasia; Medical ethics; Summit meetings - Iceland; U S - Foreign relations - Nicaragua; U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; U S - Officials - Talk/Interviews
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1983-1995
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lester M. Crystal … Executive Producer
- Linda Winslow … Deputy Executive Producer
- Dan Werner … Associate Executive Producer
- Michael D. Mosettig … Senior Producer
- Gordon Earle … Senior Producer
- Peggy Robinson … Senior Producer
- Joe Quinlan … Senior Producer
- Spencer Michel … Producer
- Craig Merrielees … Producer
- Georgia Smith … Producer
- Fred Sam Lazaro … Producer
- Lewis Silverman … Managing Producer
- Patti Parson … Managing Producer
- Gregg Ramshaw … Managing Producer
- Walter Kravetz … Director
- David Deutsch … Director, In Washington
- Jim Lehrer … Anchor
- Robert MacNeil … Anchor
- Elizabeth Brackett … Correspondent
- Fred Sam Lazaro … Correspondent
- Spencer Michels … Correspondent
- David Shapiro … Reporter
- Jack Mendelsohn … Guest
- Seymour Weiss … Guest
- William Hyland … Guest
- Steven Cohen … Guest
- Samuel Armacost
- Harold Brockman
- William J. Cooper
- Miguel D'Escoto
- Dick Fredericks
- A. P. Giannini
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- George Harrelson
- Eugene Hasenfus
- Claire Giannini Hoffman
- Dana Johnson
- John Kerry
- Frida Lemberg
- Richard Lugar
- Pete Martinez
- Stephen McLin
- Cecil Naatz
- Thomas P. O'Neill
- Herbert Okun
- Tom Oswold
- Claiborne Pell
- Ronald Reagan
- Rozanne Ridgway
- Stephen Roulac
- Wallace Sawyer
- Angelo Scampini
- Larry Speakes
- Lance Steinhaus
- Timothy Steinhaus
- Amy Wiederholt