The World - News from May 9, 1989

Janos Kadar, 76, who ruled Hungary from the Soviets’ crushing of the 1956 uprising until his ouster last May as Communist Party leader, was removed as the party’s president and expelled from the Central Committee. Hungarian radio said the ailing president was removed at a closed session of the 118-member Central Committee after a report on the deterioration of his health, both physical and mental. Kadar, once hailed as the most liberal Communist leader in Eastern Europe, had become a major embarrassment to the party, which has embarked on far-reaching reforms. Karoly Grosz, who succeeded Kadar as the party’s general secretary, has said Kadar suffers from pulmonary problems and an inability to come to terms with current political policy.