I'M Having Second Thoughts About Leaving . . .

By DAVID ELLIS

One of the many American officials stunned by the anti-Gorbachev putsch was ROBERT STRAUSS, the Democratic power broker whose fondness for creature comforts made him an unlikely ambassador to the Soviet Union. "I'm not sure I'm the right guy for the job," confessed Strauss in the early hours of the crisis. But as he thought about the prospect of taking on the hard-liners, Strauss warmed to the challenge. "I guess I could tell those motherf--- sons of bitches off," he concluded.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart