November 26, 1986 - General John Vessey, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shares his views on investigation of the Iran Arms-Contra deal. He also comments on the media and concerns of blowing situation out of proportion.
December 2, 1986 - Richard Lawrence Garwin, the American physicist who authored the actual design used in the first hydrogen bomb (code-named Mike) in 1952, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Garwin’s address was titled “Space Defense: The Impossible Dream,” and focuses on the SDI program. Garwin received his bachelor's degree from the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1949, where he worked in the lab of Enrico Fermi. He was assigned the hydrogen bomb job by Edward Teller, with the instructions that he was to make it as conservative a design as possible in order to prove the concept was feasible (as such, the Mike device was not intended to be a usable weapon design, with tons of cryogenic equipment required for its use). Later on, while at IBM, he was the "catalyst" for the discovery and publication of the Cooley–Tukey FFT algorithm, and did research on inkjet printing.
December 19, 1986 - The first part of program presents a rebroadcast of Stephen Smith’s documentary report "Shelter for the Night," which examines the plight of the homeless over a period of 12 hours in the St. Stephen's Emergency Shelter. Following documentary, Nancy Nagler, chair of St. Paul Area Coalition for the Homeless, discusses the homeless problem in Minnesota and what can be done about it. Nagler also answers listener questions.
December 22, 1986 - Henry Cisneros, mayor of San Antonio and president of the National League of Cities, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Cisnero’s address was on the topic "The Survival of the American Cities in the '80s". He places a special focus on jobs. George Latimer, St. Paul Mayor, introduces Cisneros. Minnesota Meeting is a non-profit corporation which hosts a wide range of public speakers. It is managed by the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
January 2, 1987 - Midday presents the Public Policy Unit documentary "Dropouts: Falling off the Bottom Rung." MPR’s Stephen Smith, Bill Catlin, and Dan Olson create a collaborative report on Minnesota high school dropouts.
January 16, 1987 - Walter Rostow, former national security advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, speaking at Minnesota Meeting. Rostow’s address was titled "The United States and the Fourth Industrial Revolution." Speech focused on U.S. in the technological revolution. After speech, Rostow answered audience questions.
January 16, 1987 - On this MPR Special, MPR’s Bill Wareham presents speeches from the "Minnesota Horizons: Turning Point to the '90s" conference attended by state lawmakers. The speakers and topics were as follows: - Philip Raup "Does the Dual Economy Really Characterize Minnesota?" - Jan Smaby "Those in Need and the Human Services Support System" - Michael Resnick "Public Health Trends and the Human Services Support System" - Stanley Collender "The National Perspective: The Impact of the Federal Budget and the Deficit"
February 13, 1987 - Jan Smaby, president of Spring Hill Center, discusses public policy. Topics include AIDS, diversity, and politics. Smaby also answers listener questions. Ms. Smaby is co-host of the popular public affairs program, "Almanac" on public television. Smaby came to the job at Spring Hill last fall, after serving as director of Hennepin County's Human Service Department and as chairman of Minnesota's Sentencing Guidelines Commission. Spring Hill is a conference center just west of the Twin Cities where policy makers from many parts of the community can go to hash out ideas. It likes to place itself on the cutting edge of public policy, dealing with emerging issues, rather than ones that have been around for a while.
March 16, 1987 - The controversial bill allowing for the release of $24 million from the 2002 Fund for economic development on the Iron Range was recalled from the House during Senate session. News of an FBI probe of Endotronics, Inc., that surfaced after the Senate had voted final passage on the measure, prompted Majority Leader Roger Moe to make the motion for recall. The recall motion prevailed on a 51-15 roll call vote.
April 4, 1987 - This month's edition of Minnesota Monthly features excerpts from Eugene McCarthy's new book, "Up 'Til Now," and today on Weekend we are pleased to present to you an interview with Eugene McCarthy. This is chiefly about people in politics that have made an impression on McCarthy over the years. He talks about Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Nixon, Carter, plus Rayburn, Humphrey, Mondale. He tells us his view of the press and the state of politics today.