December 1981 - December 23, 1981 (Wednesday)

December 23, 1981 (Wednesday)

• U.S. President Reagan wrote to Soviet President Brezhnev on the direct communications link between the two nations, to urge an end to the Polish martial law. "The recent events in Poland clearly are not an 'internal matter'," Reagan told Brezhnev, "and in writing to you, as the head of the Soviet government, I am not misaddressing my communication." That evening, Reagan announced sanctions against Poland in a televised address to Americans. Reagan's letter was declassified in 1995.
• In Nicaragua, soldiers of the Sandinista regime massacred 75 miners who had been demanding back wages for work unpaid.
• Died: Reg Ansett, 72, Australian businessman and aviator; and Samuel L. Kountz, 51, African-American scientist who perfected successful kidney transplantation; Luther Harris Evans, 79, Librarian of Congress 1949-53