Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev went on to the great beyond on Nov. 10, 1982.
And please remember, Ronald Reagan had written a letter to Brezhnev in late Spring 1981 and in some ways thought of himself as put on the Earth by God to prevent nuclear war.
Even if the Soviets had said, no thank you, we don't want the attention taken away from the funeral, would the mere asking, perhaps privately through diplomatic channels, had made for a less dangerous '83?
And I'm thinking of all the tension around 'Able Archer' and 'Reforger.'