June 26, 1993

Joe McGinniss's forthcoming book about Senator Edward M. Kennedy, "The Last Brother," includes a riveting description of Mr. Kennedy and his sister Eunice Shriver standing at their father's bedside in November 1963, struggling to break the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. The father had suffered a crippling stroke two years earlier, and the Senator hesitated. "He was going to speak," Mr. McGinniss writes. "He just needed one more moment to think of how to begin. And so he stood at the foot of the bed, as mute as his father, his hands clasped behind his back, unable even to look the old man in the eye.

Ruling in an important civil rights case, a divided Supreme Court today made it substantially harder for employees to prove they suffered discrimination on the job. Until now, a worker could often win a discrimination case by showing that the employer gave the court a dishonest explanation for a dismissal or other action that appeared discriminatory.

South Africa Talks Disrupted Hundreds of armed white separatists stormed South Africa's constitutional talks, then dispersed without causing serious casualties. Page 3. Clinton Warns Iraq Over U.N. President Clinton warned Iraq that its refusal to allow United Nations inspectors at missile test sites could have serious consequences. Page 4. A Maker of Lists, and Bombs Federal investigators believe the person who sent bombs to two professors is an obsessive-compulsive white man reared near Chicago. Page 6. 9 Principals Are Removed New York's Schools Chancellor removed nine principals in a district plagued by corruption. Page 21.

This morning at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters someone pinned a note on the bulletin board outside an employee changing room. Addressed to "W.S.S.," the initials of William S. Sessions, it said, "Time to clean out your locker." The note reflected the exasperation of many bureau employees about Mr. Sessions, who is fighting almost alone to keep his job. Those internal critics say he is presiding as little more than a figurehead over an agency roiled with discord five months after a harsh internal ethics report on the Director's conduct made his ultimate departure seem inevitable.

Virtually ending any significant Navy presence in New York City, a Presidential commission voted today to close the Staten Island Homeport and move its ships and sailors to Virginia and Florida. The decision by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission appears to put an end to one of the Navy's most modern installations, which until 1991 had been the focus of a debate over allowing nuclear-armed ships to be based in New York Harbor. The panel rejected, however, a Pentagon recommendation to shrink the submarine base at New London, Conn. Other Major Closings In a body blow to California and South Carolina, the seven-member commission also voted to close the Navy base and shipyard in Charleston, S.C., and a large shipyard and two Navy bases in the San Francisco Bay area. Combined, they employ more than 14,000 civilians, and community officials estimate the closings could indirectly cause the loss of two to three times that many jobs.