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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 8 December 2021

Bidens honor Pearl Harbor’s fallen in visit to WWII Memorial

(AP) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on
Tuesday marked the 80th anniversary of the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor with a somber visit to the World
War II Memorial in the nation’s capital.
The Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and other locations
in Hawaii killed 2,403 service members and civilians and was
a defining moment that led to U.S. entry into World War II.

Joe Biden touched a wreath and saluted. The wreath con-
tained a wild sunflower, the state flower of Kansas, in honor
of former Sen. Bob Dole, a war veteran who was a driving
force in getting the memorial built on the National Mall and
who died Sunday at age 98.

The first lady laid a bouquet of flowers at the base of the me-
morial below the New Jersey pillar and softly touched a wall,
where she and the president spent a moment. The bouquet
was in honor of her father, Donald Jacobs, who served as a
U.S. Navy signalman in the war, the White House said.

The Bidens then paused at the Pacific arch on the southern
side of the memorial plaza for one last moment of reflection
before departing.

Joe Biden, in a White House proclamation issued last week
to recognize National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, gave
“thanks to the Greatest Generation, who guided our Nation
through some of our darkest moments and laid the founda-
tions of an international system that has transformed former
adversaries into allies.”

Biden made the Tuesday morning visit just hours before he
was to hold a highly anticipated video conference call with
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden is expected to use
the call to express concern about Russia’s troop buildup near
its borders with neighboring Ukraine and to make clear to
Putin that an invasion would lead to economy-jarring sanc-
tions against Russia.

Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt dead at 66

(AP) — Fred Hiatt, a for- 40-year veteran of The Post, His tenure wasn’t without which precipitated the U.S. According to the paper, three
eign correspondent who he built friendships through- controversy. entering World War II. De- columnists won the Pulit-
rose in 2000 to become out the company and made tractors would later criticize zer for commentary under
The Washington Post’s immense contributions as a On Sept. 11, 2001, he and Hiatt for helping lead the Hiatt’s guidance: Colbert I.
editorial page editor, died writer, an editor, and a men- his deputy, Jackson Diehl, march to war in Iraq. King in 2003, Eugene Rob-
Monday at a hospital in tor to so many across the or- responded to the terrorist inson in 2009 and Kathleen
New York City. He was 66. ganization. His legacy also attacks on the Pentagon and Hiatt had an eye for cultivat- Parker in 2010. Hiatt himself
spans the globe: Few journal- New York’s World Trade ing editorial talent and built was a three-time finalist for
According to the Post, his ists have rivaled his idealism Center with an editorial out a team in an internet age the Pulitzer Prize in editorial
wife, Margaret “Pooh” Shap- and complete dedication to that analogized them to the that produced some of the writing.
iro, said Hiatt had cardiac ar- the causes of democracy and bombing of Pearl Harbor, website’s most-read articles.
rest while visiting his daugh- human rights worldwide.”
ter in Brooklyn, N.Y., on
Nov. 24 and did not regain Hiatt was a Post reporter for
consciousness. 15 years covering regional
politics and national security
The Post said for two de- and was a correspondent in
cades, Hiatt either wrote or Tokyo and Moscow before
edited nearly every unsigned joining the editorial page
editorial published by the in 1996. Four years later, he
newspaper — more than took over the editorial page.
1,000 a year. He also edited
the opinion columns pub- Under his leadership, Hi-
lished on the paper’s op-ed att worked to maintain The
page and website. Post’s traditional editorial po-
sitions including support for
“Over the past two decades, civil rights, fiscal responsibil-
Fred’s leadership made The ity and international human
Post’s editorial page into the rights. He oversaw Post edi-
most consequential in the torials that called on China to
news industry,” the newspa- allow dissent and to free its
per quoted Washington Post political prisoners, and advo-
publisher and chief executive cated for abortion rights and
Frederick J. Ryan Jr. as saying campaign finance reform.
in a statement to the staff. “A