“The Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 1972 amended the Smith-Mundt Act to include a ban on disseminating within the United States any ‘information about the United States, its people, and its policies’ prepared for dissemination abroad.'
The Zorinsky Amendment added a new prohibition:
"no funds authorized to be appropriated to the United States Information Agency shall be used to influence public opinion in the United States, and no program material prepared by the United States Information Agency shall be distributed within the United States.”
"To focus on some politically sensitive issues before Congress, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is about to create a Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Communications, headed by Senator Edward Zorinsky, Democrat of Nebraska.
One of its first assignments, according to State Department sources, will be to pursue the committee investigation, begun last June but never made public, of whether the counterrevolutionary forces in Niacaragua have been involved in the drug trade. Some senators had suggested giving this responsibility to the special Senate committee looking into the sale of arms to Iran and the channeling of profits to these contras.
This is a matter of some political interest because President Reagan maintained in a television speech last year that the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua, which the contras are trying to overthrow, was engaged in drug traffic.
At the request of Senator Zorinsky, the subcommittee will also have jurisdiction over operations of the United States Information Agency headed by Charles Z. Wick, a subject of particular interest to Mr. Zorinsky."
"Senator Edward Zorinsky, a former Republican who switched parties in 1976 to be elected to the Senate, died late tonight after suffering a heart attack at the annual Omaha Press Club ball. He was 58 years old.
Senator Zorinsky, who was re-elected in 1982, died at Methodist Hospital at 11:26 P.M., the hospital said. He was stricken about 10:30 P.M. after singing a blues number at the party.
The Senator had been receiving treatment for heart disease since 1982 and was hospitalized in 1985 after suffering chest pains. Former Mayor of Omaha
Mr. Zorinsky, a former tobacco and candy wholesaler, was elected Mayor of Omaha as a Republican in 1973 and switched to the Democratic Party in 1976 to run for the Senate. He changed parties after complaining that Republican Party leaders passed him over in favor of an Omaha Congressman.
In the Senate, he established himself as a maverick, often supporting Republican initiatives. He received favorable ratings from conservative groups and unfavorable ratings from liberal organizations.
He reported being approached by President Reagan and other Republican leaders to switch back to the Republican Party in 1982, but he never did.
Senator Zorinsky served on the Senate Agriculture Committee, and became involved in Latin American issues. While he opposed most foreign aid, he supported economic help for countries in this hemisphere.
Yet he frequently voted with liberal Democrats against Reagan Administration policies in Central America. As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee's Western Hemisphere Subcommittee he fought to provide aid to Nicaragua. He Studied at Harvard
The Senator helped revise the rules governing the insanity defense for Federal crimes establishing a mandatory civil commitment procedure for persons found not guilty be reason of insanity.
Edward Zorinsky was born Nov. 11, 1928, in Omaha. He was graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1949 and did graduate work at Harvard University.
Before becoming Mayor, he was a member of the Omaha Public Power District board and the State Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Senator Zorinsky is survived by his wife, Cece."
"Senator Edward Zorinsky of Nebraska, a maverick politician who switched from Republican to Democrat and then threatened to switch back again, died of a heart attack Friday after performing a song-and-dance routine that made fun of his threats to switch allegiance. He was 58 years old.
Senator Zorinski was stricken shortly after appearing at the annual Omaha Press Club Gridiron Show, where he sang a humorous song and did a quick soft-shoe dance.
He was taken by ambulance to Methodist Hospital in Omaha, where he was pronounced dead at 11:26 P.M. Friday. Hospital officials attributed the death to a heart attack. The Senator had been hospitalized twice in recent years for severe chest pains.
Mr. Zorinsky will leave a major void on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, where he headed the most important subcommittee, dealing with production and stabilization of prices, and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he headed a new subcommittee on terrorism, narcotics and international communications, according to sources on both committees. Will Not Alter Balance of Power
Mr. Zorinsky's death is not expected to alter the balance of power in the Senate. The Democrats will remain in control of the Senate even if Gov. Kay Orr, a Republican, appoints a member of her own party to succeed him.
Mr. Zorinsky, a native Nebraskan who was nominally a life-long Republican, won election as Mayor of Omaha in 1973. His effective response to a severe blizzard and a series of tornadoes that hit Omaha in 1975 made him an extremely popular Mayor who was wooed by both parties to run for higher office.
In late 1975, when it became apparent that the Republicans intended to nominate someone else for the United States Senate, Mr. Zorinsky switched parties and became a Democrat. He scored upset victories in the primary and general elections in 1976, becoming the first Jew ever to win a statewide election in Nebraska.
There were repeated reports that Mr. Zorinsky might switch back again to the Republican party. In 1981 he considered but ultimately turned down an offer to rejoin the Republicans after they gained control of the Senate. And last year, before the fall elections, he indicated that he might rejoin the Republicans. Political Changeability
This political changeability was the focus of Mr. Zorinski's skit before more than 1,200 persons attending the press club affair on Friday. The song, which he sang to the tune of the 1955 Platters hit, ''The Great Pretender,'' said:
''Oh, I am the great pretender, pretending to be two in one. Thus the party I choose can never lose, And I'll be it's favorite son. Can't you see I'm a great pretender, and changing parties my key. I'm a G.O.P. cat dressed as a Democrat. My party's the majority.''
Mr. Zorinsky began to feel ill in the ballroom about a half hour after his performance, took a nitroglycerine pill, and went outside with his wife to get some air. A rescue squad was called, and paramedics, as well as two physicians participating in the show, administered emergency care. But Mr. Zorinsky arrived unconscious at the hospital emergency room and was pronounced dead.
Mr. Zorinsky was a conservative whose votes generally won approval in ratings published by conservative and business groups and disapproval in liberal and labor union ratings. He dramatized his commitment to open government by removing the door from his Senate office, encouraging press and public to walk in at any time.
Senator Claiborne Pell, Democrat of Rhode Island, who heads the Foreign Relations Committee, said today that his ''common sense approach and ability to get at the nub of a problem will be much missed.''
Mr. Zorinsky is survived by his wife, Cece, and three children, Barry, Jeffrey, and Susan.
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