Wojciech Jaruzelski had sent Eugeniusz Molczyk to confer with Vice President George H. W. Bush and Bush had agreed with Molczyk that martial law was the lesser of two evils. Whether this meeting with the American vice president occurred is disputed. While it is erroneously cited, Harvard historian Mark Kramer has pointed out that no documents support Jaruzelski's claim. Jaruzelski was chiefly responsible for the imposition of martial law in Poland on 13 December 1981 in an attempt to crush the pro-democracy movements, which included Solidarity, the first non-Communist trade union in Warsaw Pact history. Subsequent years saw his government and its
1981 in motoring 1981 in motoring 1981 in motoring deals with developments in the automotive industry that occurred in 1981, listed by country. The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles. General Motors introduced a new range of medium-sized family cars, the "J Car". The British-built version of the car was called the Vauxhall Cavalier, while its German twin was sold as the Opel Ascona. This incarnation of the car had front-wheel drive and a hatchback body style to run alongside the saloon. The engine line-up included 1.3 L and 1.6 L petrol units as well as a 1.6 L