Parting Shots in ‘Speaking Out’

--Former White House spokesman Larry Speakes will likely raise more than a few eyebrows with his soon-to-be published book, “Speaking Out.” Excerpts of the book, which was co-authored by Washington writer Robert Pack, were published over the weekend in U.S. News & World Report. Although he calls President Reagan a super guy, Speakes heaps harsh words on other Administration officials--including members of the First Family. Nancy Reagan, Speakes writes, is “likely to stab you in the back” when she is riled up, and the President’s daughter, Maureen, is a “punch-you-in-the-nose type.” Mrs. Reagan, according to the book, is not a fan of Marine Lt. Col. Oliver L. North. At one time, she was heard to say, “not funny, sonny,” as she watched North giving a television interview, Speakes writes. Speakes, who resigned his post in late 1986 for a communications position with Merrill Lynch in New York, calls Vice President George Bush “the perfect yes man” who “tried to avoid taking a portfolio.”

--NASA’s most experienced astronaut may have flown his last mission--perhaps because he also happens to be NASA’s most outspoken astronaut. John W. Young, a veteran of six spaceflights--a world record--including a walk on the moon and two shuttle flights, has been bumped as commander of the 1989 shuttle mission to launch the $1.4-billion Hubble Space Telescope, according to the Houston Chronicle. His uncertain future as an astronaut may be traced to his criticism of the space agency after the Challenger disaster in January, 1986, the report says. Young, 57, then chief astronaut, complained that the agency had put its launch schedule ahead of flight safety. He was later reassigned as an adviser at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA says he is needed now to prepare shuttle systems for future flights.

--The ingenious contributions of Frank B. Colton, Elisha Graves Otis, Louis W. Parker and An Wang have not been forgotten. On Sunday, the four were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Crystal City, Va., joining the ranks of Henry Ford, Thomas Alva Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, to name a few. “Our tribute to great innovators and inventors comes at a time when doubts are being raised about the present and future of the United States and American technology,” said Commerce Secretary C. William Verity Jr. Colton (oral contraceptives), Parker (television receiver) and Wang (computer memory device) attended the ceremonies. Otis (elevator safety device) died in 1861.