A Letter From the Publisher

By John A. Meyers

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 at 3 p.m. It did, on the dot. And the answers we got were as disciplined as the timing."

The 2-hr. 12-min. meeting started with a light touch. Referring to the fact that Grunwald was responsible for Time Inc.'s several publications, Gorbachev listed them and teasingly asked, "Are you affected by antitrust laws, or have you simply forgotten all about them?" (Grunwald's answer: "We are not a monopoly. We do try for expansion, but we do not try for hegemony.") At one point, after a complicated question, Gorbachev said, "Do you think we're never going to meet again, so you are going to pile everything into one interview?" Cave's response: "Well, since we are going to meet again, I think we could stop now." Gorbachev laughed and answered the question.

TIME had first applied for the interview last March. Still, it came as a surprise on Saturday morning, Aug. 24, when Grunwald received an urgent phone call from a Soviet diplomat. The question: Could he, Cave and Duncan be in Moscow by Monday for an interview with Gorbachev? Visas? No problem. Everything would be taken care of. Indeed it was. Soviet officials smoothly whisked the TIME group through Moscow airport's tight security.

The occasion was plainly significant, both journalistically and diplomatically. "Even though he is far more subtle and forthcoming than other Soviet leaders, much of what Gorbachev said was self-serving and one-sided," Grunwald noted. "One had to suppress the instinct to argue with him. Nevertheless, the interview was exciting and revealing. It showed his state of mind and his manner of thinking. It is very important for Americans to know these things."