HISTORY - Anniversary of Gorbachev Overthrow

"Remembering the Overthrow of Gorbachev, 20 Years Later" PBS Newshour 8/19/2011

Excerpt from transcript

ROBERT MACNEIL (Newshour, retired): The stunning overthrow of Mikhail Gorbachev by communist hard-liners dominates the news this Monday.

Gorbachev was reported under house arrest, as Soviet tanks took up positions throughout Moscow.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): That was how Robert MacNeil described the shocking developments of Aug. 19, 1991, on The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, a coup that would backfire and lead to the end of the Soviet Union.

Final excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN: One of our commentators that day was Madeleine Albright, who would become secretary of state six years later.

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, former National Security Council staff: I think that the coup will not last. I think the issue here is that the Soviet Union is unraveling. What we're seeing are very deep splits within the public. They're unclear about what direction to go in. They treasure their democratization and glasnost.

JEFFREY BROWN: She was right. In the next two days, protesters rallied against the coup, which quickly fell apart. By the end of the week, Gorbachev had returned to Moscow and to power. The Communist Party was disbanded, and, by the end of the year, the Soviet Union itself had been dismantled.

NOTE: Robert MacNeil was one of the creators (along with Jim Lehrer) of the Newshour back when the show was called MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour.