Chapter 60: February 1989 – December 1989
“Learning is not attained by chance…It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”
– Abigail Adams [1]
…Bellamy laid out her ambitious left-wing agenda in her first State of the Union address, which occurred on February 9, 1989. Her call for implementing guaranteed employment, a National Initiative and Referendum Amendment, and, most importantly in her eyes, the passing of Universal Health Care. She pointed to the stability of the economy as being a sign that the US could afford to make “our next giant leap.” While conservative and libertarian economists, most vocally Murray Rothbard, feared the UHC’s passing would lead to a rise in inflation, Bellamy privately believed that should this occur, a slight tax hike on “wealthier” Americans would offset the situation. Bellamy also called for raising the minimum wage, leading to like-minding politicians proposing such legislation weeks later at the federal level and the state levels...
– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017
Ross had the nickname “Bust ’em up Bobby” in the military for a reason. …After leaving behind a public access show watched by over 80 million people
[2], Ross met with state legislatures to win over as many allies as possible. Alaska was suffering from high domestic violence/rape rates due to remote locations and poor transportation capabilities that limited delayed the enforcement of laws. A National Geographic Article from 1983 describe conditions under Governor Bill Clinton that had not changed since: “
Self-Dignity suffers daily along the strip of seamy honky-tonks on Anchorage’s Fourth Avenue… Alcohol abuse here makes no distinction between city and village, native or nonnative. One of every nine Alaskan adults has an alcohol problem, one of the worst rates in the country. Now a dry movement sweeps native communities in revulsion against days-long group binges. More than 50 villages have adopted prohibition laws amid drug and alcohol abuse studies supported by the Denton administration
. Says Dr. Red Mala, an Eskimo physician… ‘We thought we’d get resistance, but people are so concerned that most communities support it. And we’re going to succeed because we have our roots here, and we have to live with the results.’”
[3]
Ross strongly supported the dry movement, and sought to address these concerns by opening up at least two health clinics in every state county, and urged afflicted people to address their recreadrug and alcohol addictions. To this end, Ross also worked with state lawmakers – pressing the more reluctant of them with examples from their respective districts – workers suffering from alcohol, women suffering from violence – that demonstrated how they and their constituents would benefit from reforming the state’s mental health care system – to overhaul the state’s handling of the situation before the end of February 1989. Additionally, Ross donated 50% of his salary to homeless shelters and mental wellness centers across Alaska.
Ross faced difficulty convincing doctors to work in remote clinic locations, and so offered a tax breaks program for out-of-state medical students and physicians willing to relocate to these clinics. Ross also began looking into how to improve police response times in domestic disturbance calls…
– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012
…The U.S. President finally address the “Food For All” movement when Carol Bellamy reversed Jeremiah Denton’s food program policies, returning the flow of funds to food stamps and the federal W.I.C. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program. I joined Jeff Bridges, Willie Nelson, Cheech Marin and others in rejoicing the turnaround…
– Jim McGovern, 2009 interview
The battle over passing UHC raged across Washington D.C. Its endorsers took to citing historic precedence of recent years. For instance, the United Kingdom launched its universal National Health Service all the way back in 1948
. Universal health care was next introduced in the Nordic countries of Sweden (1955), Iceland (1956), Norway (1956), Denmark (1961), and Finland (1964). Universal health insurance was then introduced in Japan (1961), and in Canada through stages, starting with the province of Saskatchewan in 1962, followed by the rest of Canada from 1968 to 1972. Even the
Soviet Union extended universal health care to its rural residents in 1969, with Italy following suit in 1978.
[4] Universal Healthcare coverage was introduced in South Korea in 1989, and was in the process of being introduced in Taiwan, Israel, Palestine, and Thailand at the time as well. “Most of the former Soviet nations have adopted some form or another, and even developing countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa are working on bringing their respective populations under universal health care systems. America used to lead the world in innovative ideas; now it’s going to have to play catch-up if it wants to lead the world into the 21st century,” proclaimed US Senator Katie Beatrice Hall (D-IN).
Opponents were often quick to note the differences between the US and other nations, arguing that the US was somehow too unique or complex to properly manage the perceived weighty cost of the UHC. Supporters, however, often countered such notions by pointing to the 18 states that now made up the multistate “Health Pact,” a collection of states with matching universal healthcare coverage. Studies showed that most of these states were better off financially that the states without any form of UHC. Senator Phil Hoff, who brought the Health Pact about by passing UHC in Vermont when he was said state’s governor, received high praise for inadvertently creating a “platform” of sorts on which the positive and negative aspects of UHC could be studied at the state and multistate levels before potential implementation at the federal level…
– T. R. Reid’s Healing America: Medicine and Healthcare in the United States, Penguin Books, 2010
…Per the request of President-Elect Carol Bellamy, Democratic lawmakers established the US Department of Energy and Technology via the aptly-named Department of Energy and Technology Act of 1989. The Senate approved the act 56-39 in early February, allowing for the nomination process of US Senator Peter Kyros to occur swiftly; he entered office on February 28. As the inaugural holder of the newest US Cabinet position, Kyros oversaw the implementation of federal tax breaks for charging power grids with wind-powered or solar-powered electricity instead of nuclear power. An ambitious project, it nevertheless was a transformative milestone in America that was met with fierce opposition from lobbyist from the oil/natural gas, coal, and nuclear power industries…
– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017
HISTORIC SUMMIT FUELS PUSH FOR HIGHER K-12 STANDARDS
Charlottesville, VA – This weekend, the chief executives of 48 states and 3 territories gathered with President Bellamy at the University of Virginia in a muddle of bipartisan fellowship. Determined to bring about consensus on education goals in the U.S. over the next four years, in an effort co-led by Governors Edith Kirkpatrick (D-LA) and John Bayard Anderson (R-IL), the summit aims to establish exact goals for federal and state-wide education programs, and how they could be reached. And, most importantly for D.C., who should foot the bill for the education of the next generation of American citizens?
– The Washington Post, 3/5/1989
Dedicated to the job above all else, Carol was a 24-7 President. Burning the midnight oil was common, and calling people as late as 4:00 AM was not unheard of. She would often pretermit pleasantries and instead jump right into the meat of whatever matter she wanted to address …Carol spend hours every day sitting down with congresspersons and cabinet members as Republicans began to mount opposition to key parts of her education reform omnibus package…
– Mary Hatwood Futrell and Diane Silvers Ratich’s Within The Fray: Our Time Inside The Bellamy White House, Cornell University Press, 2014
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– President Bellamy in the Oval Office, 3/11/1989
JAN HOOKS NAILS IT AS BELLAMY IN LAST NIGHT’S SNL EPISODE
…the sketch saw Hooks play President Bellamy, presented like an impatient schoolteacher who treats congress and their leaders Bob Byrd (played by regular cast member Dana Carvey) and Bob Dole (played by guest star Norm McDonald) like a classroom of uncooperative students. Trying not to give up hope, Bellamy/Hooks repeatedly tempts to down a swig from a flask on her desk. Finally, the “teacher’s pet,” Senate Education Committee Chair Bronson LaFollette (played by regular cast member Phil Hartman) convinces the class to work on the class project (that being “how to keep Mr. Snuggles from dying without losing our lunch money”) in a purposely-convoluted metaphor for the complexities of converting the nation to universal healthcare without raising taxes...
– Variety magazine, 3/12/1989 issue
…Ross reversed Governor Fink’s policy of selling out state land which increased oil production but also timber deforestation. The new Governor reformed oil regulations, expanded restrictions on activities in nature preserves, and established Ecological Protection Zones, or “no tanker” zones, along 75% of the state’s coastline. In Juneau, he worked with moderates in the Republican-majority state legislature to pass an omnibus rural development package in March 1989 that incentivized schools to host smaller classroom sizes and establish one-on-one after-school tutoring programs, and aimed to establish safer-functioning roadways between Fairbanks and Anchorage, and between Juneau and Ketchikan. Concerned for the state’s animals, Ross also became an avid promoter of large wildlife crossings
[5] in order to create major public works projects that would lower employment without disturbing local habitats and land migration patterns...
– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012
America’s President Bellamy responded to most foreign affairs with aid and relief packages. Their Peace Corps returned to the forefront of political news as Bellamy began humanitarian efforts in several countries in Africa and Asia affected by drought and other disasters. However, many Russians did not appreciate her offer to send medical supplies to the cities surrounding Yaroslavl during the flu epidemic that swept the region in 1989. The idea of a former world superpower receiving basic necessities from a former adversary was insults to enough Russians for a few pro-communist demonstrations to occur that year in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other urban areas. Their leaders alleged that the implementation of capitalist democracy was not working as the economic system was “in out-of-control disarray,” referring the Russian recession of 1989. “We [Russians] have lost our sense of identity. No longer are we a great power; we are a shell of our former selves,” said Alexander Rutskoy. One of many vocalizing support for a more socialist welfare system, Rutskoy, a Brigadier General
[6], a veteran of the Soviet-Turkestani War, and a founding member of the communistic Patriotic Force political party, famously complained on Gorbachev’s talk radio show “Everyone had everything under communist rule, so everyone got something. We didn’t have the best apartment, but at least everyone had one. Now, privatization has transformed our town, including this very town, for the worse. Homeless people seen are everywhere! I think more people live outside than inside nowadays!” Volkov persevered, believing that the economy would recover once the long-term effects of public works projects and investments came about.
– Alexander Korzhakov’s autobiography From Dawn to Dusk: A Cutthroat Career, St. Petersburg Press, 1997
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– President Bellamy (far left) speaks with her four predecessors (left-to-right: Kemp, Denton, Mondale, and (seated) Sanders) ahead of a White House photo-op, 3/21/1989
“ARKED OUT” DOCTOR TO GET 30 YEARS FOR ABUSING MICHIGAN U STUDENT ATHLETES, JUDGE RULES
Ann Arbor, MI – Dr. Robert E. Anderson
[8], the former director of the Health Services department of the University of Michigan, has been denied appeal and will soon begin the 30-year prison sentence he was given at his trial late last year. Anderson was “arked” out of his position at Michigan U in the summer of 1987, after several former athletes, encouraged by news reports concerning similar revelations concerning Dr. Richard Strauss of Ohio State University, came forward with claims that Anderson sexually abused them during medical exams. Police immediately investigated the reports, soon leading to Anderson being arrested in October of said year…
– The Detroit Free Press, 3/26/1989
…Labor Secretary Ralph Nader was incredibly active right off the bat, working closely with the President to combat worker abuse. Nader centralized the department, wanting to be aware of anything and everything that went on under his watch. Both cheap and humble, Bellamy and Nader preferred libraries to spotlights, though the latter was even more camera-shy. Still, the two soon became known for establishing a friendly rapport with one another. The fact that the two unmarried workaholics were often photographed sitting near or next to each other in cabinet meetings, though, led to some reporters, most infamously from
the Hollywood Reporter, claim that a budding romance was unfolding. Such rumors went unsubstantiated, with Nader later revealing that he found such postulations to be “frustrating distractions” from “the issues at hand.” Speaking of which, as Labor Secretary, Nader came out against several popular activities over fear of worker safety – Monster truck rallies can damage hearing, sunbathing can give you cancer, and employment at retail stores, in a controversial 1989 study, was linked to depression and alcohol rates. Nader was most relentless, though, when it came to violations of the Occupational Unsafe Conditions and Hazards Act, or OUCHA, of 1966. Updated and expanded twice, Nader believed higher penalties were necessary to incentivize employers of guest visa employees to follow safety regulations, and began work on this front in March 1989…
– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017
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– U.S. Labor Secretary Ralph Nader, announcing a probe of the WWF’s safety features amid concerns of OUCHA violations, 4/4/1989
BELLAMY SIGNS WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW
– The Washington Post, 4/10/1989
…New reports reveal that support for ending Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang is growing considerably among Chinese merchants major and minor, and among politicians large and small, as the People’s Republic of China continues to reel from recession brought on by the international trade embargo…
– BBC World News, 4/11/1989
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– US Senator Harley Sanders walking with his father at the latter’s ranch home in Corbin, Kentucky, 4/12/1989
D.C. LAWMAKERS PONDER IF ABORTION SHOULD BE “A ‘FEDERAL’ ISSUE”
…concerns over the federal government’s in the debate over abortion – a complicated issue, with details ranging from healthcare coverage to when in the gestation period can or should a pregnancy be terminated to inter-state concerns – are dominating political discussions…
– The Washington Post, 4/15/1989
…FBI Director Robert F. Kennedy, with support from Attorney General Amalya Kearse, reformed counter-terrorism procedures, looking to conduct more collaborative missions with state and local law enforcement departments that addressed suspected activities without harming or endangering innocent local civilians. Criminal Justice reforms were much bolder, consistent with the new Director’s long-held attitudes toward corruption of labor workplaces, dating back to as early as his interrogation of James R. Hoffa (1913-1989), a labor leader later imprisoned for twelve years for various crimes, while working as counsel on a US Senate committee in 1957. In April 1989, a month after Hoffa's death from colorectal cancer, Kennedy began to increase taking aim at multiple suspected mafia members across the Eastern Seaboard…
…Agriculture reform under Secretary White to address food insecurity, farm debt, and other concerns culminated in the Agriculture Trade and Conservation Act of 1989, a broad market-oriented bill that temporarily froze target prices and allowed for more planting flexibility among other things. A lingering concern that received greater attention under White was wasted produce – crops lost in shipping and storage, and produce discarded for being too aesthetically unappealing for consumer purchase often being thrown away. White sought to address the former by calling for local sourcing to cut down on transportation measures; the latter issue led to the department launching a media campaign to promote consumer consumption of fruits and vegetables that are “ugly but still delicious”…
– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017
“Education extents to the parents of the children. The phrase ‘it takes a village’ is not an exemption or an exclusion of city dwellers. There are many vital aspects of good child-rearing that cannot be taught in public school or private school. Parents must raise their children with good values, they must appreciate them for who they are and encourage them to enjoy learning. Parents must makes children feel safe, important and loved, and must give their children to ability to attend events important to them in some way or another. A parents must be there when their child is sick; they must spend time talking to them, with them, not merely at them. And parents must be involved in their children’s lives; not just in their school life, but in their personal lives as well. These methods prove time and again to create attentive students and, very importantly, well-adjusted children who can grow to be well-adjust adults.”
– US Secretary of Education Marian Wright Edelman speaking before the US Senate, 4/23/1989
…After just over three years of scandals and controversies – from attempted suppression of freedoms for “security purposes,” to anti-foreigners/anti-immigration executive orders, to wiretapping political opponents, to fighting with teachers unions over books on the Holocaust, to unsuccessful efforts to leave the European Economic Community – President Le Pen faced a High Court impeachment trial with the odds stacked heavily against him. The two charges of the President willingly and willfully violating the constitution were reviewed by the members of the National Assembly, who with the nation’s Senate, acknowledged the impeachment and (in accordance with the 68th Article of the French Constitution) united to form the High Court, which then decided to declare him impeached. The trial began immediately…
– Jonathan Marcus’ Le Pen: The Impact of The National Front on French Politics, Second Edition, New York University Press, 1999
V. P. SINGH ELECTED INDIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER
…the scandal-ridden incumbent Rajiv Gandhi has lost his bid for re-election in the face of Singh’s unifying anti-Gandhi “Third Front” alliance…
– The New York Times, 5/2/1989, 1989 [9]
USAID OVERSEAS HUMANITARIAN AID DISTRIBUTION TO COLOMBIAN REFUGEES IN CARACAS
Washington, DC – The United States Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency responsible for the administering of civilian foreign aid and assistance, today announced that it has successfully sent humanitarian aid to Venezuela to help thousands of refugees there, nearly all of whom stem from Colombia, Venezuela’s western neighbor entrenched in a long-ongoing Civil War. The agency announced that the relief landed in Caracas under the direct supervision of the USAID’s Administrator, former Governor of Puerto Rico Roberto Clemente. “These people need food, medicine, and the opportunity to get their lives together and to keep their families safe until peace returns to their homeland,” Clemente said to reporters in Caracas; he is expected to return to D.C. within the week. The US State Department also reported to have coordinated this shipment of aid with the assistance of military cargo planes in order to assure the fair distribution of supplies such as non-perishable food, medical kits, and hygiene supplies.
– Associated Press, 5/11/1989
LE PEN CONVICTED OF DERELICTION OF DUTY; 21st President of France Removed From Office, Making Poher Acting President
…in accordance with the French constitution, the new interim “acting” President is the incumbent President of the senate, Alain Poher. Poher, who turned 80 years old last month, previously served as Acting President in 1965, after President de Gaulle resigned from office over his support for the US-Cuban War… The removal of Le Pen shifts the nation’s voting schedule. Instead of holding the next Presidential election in February 1993 as initially planned, it will be held later this year, “in either June or July,” according to an anonymous member of new Poher government. It is currently unknown whether or not Poher will run for a full seven-year term...
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 17/5/1989
“
Although I have
lived a far from perfect life, my heart and soul belonged wholeheartedly to God, country, and family long before the Navy got hold of me, and long before politics got hold of me, and way long before the Presidency got hold of me.”
[10]
– Jeremiah Denton, in his first interview since leaving the White House, KNN, 5/20/1989
…in political news, controversial tech businessman Michael Bloomberg has bowed out of a long-shot bid for Mayor of New York City in the wake of renewed criticism connected to several discrimination and sexual pestering lawsuits from last year. A related class action lawsuit by over a dozen women, all claiming they experienced pregnancy discrimination from Bloomberg, is set to be settled in court later this year…
– NBC News, 5/22/1989 broadcast
NARRATOR: “After graduating from the Polytechnical University of Kabul in 1976, he was conscripted into the military and sent to the Soviet Union to become a pilot; by 1983, he was a chief navigator. During the Soviet-Turkestani War, Mohmand saw active duty but failed to rise in rank above Colonel as Soviet forces ultimately lost the war. After the collapse of the USSR, Mohmand returned to Afghanistan a hero to his home town, and with that status began calling for Afghanistan to invest in technological pursuits. During the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began to re-invest in space travel, Mohmand became a candidate for cosmonaut training.”
MOHMAND: “I saw an opportunity and I took it. …My mother was distraught over my safety, terrified of me burning up or blowing up, but I told her, ‘I survived warfare. Outer space is a lot more peaceful than warfare, so by that logic I should be fine.’”
– Abdul Ahad Mohmand: The First (But Not Last) Afghan In Space, 2010 Saudi Arabian mini-documentary
INDIAN PM V. P. SINGH CALLS FOR TEMPORARY ARMISTICE TO START PEACE TALKS OVER KASMIR
…intense fighting between ethnic groups in the disputed mountainous region of Jammu & Kashmir has seen logistical problems and high civilian casualties for all factions (Pakistan-backed Kashmiri nationals; Indian military; Muslim, Hindu and even Buddhist militants)… Singh hopes that Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq can be convinced to enter talks over how to best resolve the decades-long conflict – if he even agrees on a temporary truce…
– The Chicago Tribune, 5/29/1989
REP. CLAUDE PEPPER, LIBERAL CRUSADER FOR THE ELDERLY, DIES AT 88
...the “Grand Old Man of Florida” known for his defense of Social Security and Medicare, as well as his strong support for President Bellamy’s UHC Bill plan and for his role in the passing of the Elderly Rights Act of 1971, passed away from cancer earlier today…
– The Orlando Sentinel, 5/30/1989
SHIRLEY’S BACK! Rematch Returns de la Hunty to 5 Adelaide Avenue
…former PM and opposition leader Shirley de la Hunty led the Liberal Party to victory tonight over incumbent PM Manfred Cross of the Labor Party. …Labor may have been hurt by the presence of Charles Blunt of the National Party. Blunt received controversial support from far-right individuals such as former Army Minister Bob Katter Sr., MP Bob Katter Jr., and, most notably, media magnate Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, who owns several newspapers and TV programs in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, supported Blunt “to the point of nausea,” says one Cross supporter “I think a lot of folks turned away from Blunt because of the kind of people he was winning over.” The loss of over half of their seats tonight in a poor showing – winning only 7.1% of the total number of votes cast – may be the final nail in the coffin of the National Party…
– The Canberra Times, Australian newspaper, 6/6/1989
BELLAMY SIGNS OIL POLLUTION PREVENTION AND MONITORING BILL INTO LAW
– The Washington Post, 6/11/1989
…The international “don’t buy from China” campaign that began in 1988 led to some energy companies turning to domestic suppliers to meet demands, if only for the short term. In the US, this shift in economic positioning benefited states such as Wyoming, Texas and Alaska that were rich in natural resources. Wyoming and the plains, especially Kansas, were also quick to capitalize on President Bellamy’s federal subsidies for solar and wind power investments… However, its effect on the economy was a delayed reaction of sorts, possibly being at least partially responsible for the accumulative gradual buildup of socio-economic waffling at the close of the 1980s…
– Welcome to the Big River Flat: The History of Wyoming, Victory Publications, 2019
The Education Reform Bill of 1989 finally made it to the Senate committees, where its basics were reviewed. The bill called for increasing homework loads, and for encouraging parent involvement in the learning process. The most ambitious aspect was its imposing of a “cap” on the number of students per teacher in a single classroom to 25, lower than the national average at the time. The bill also raised the number of required standardized tests per year from typical one to at least two, but also limited the number of tests to no more than four.
As a compromise to conservative Democrats who supported deregulating education entirely – which would potentially lead to a re-opening of the old dispute of teaching evolution in schools – Democrats agreed to impose trade school courses as alternative classes during high school for students focused more on employment than academia. This part was praised and endorsed by “big name” politicians such as Governors Bob Ross (I-AK) and Edith Kirkpatrick (D-LA), and even led to many Republicans finally signing onto the omnibus package.
The bill passed the Senate on June 18, then went to the joint conference committees for fine-tuning in October…
– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017
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– Governor Bob Ross (I-AK) at his office desk, circa June 1989
New Jersey Gubernatorial Primary Election Results:
Democratic Primaries:
Initial, 6/6/1989:
Incumbent Governor Gloria A. Decker – 235,601 (71.43%)
Former state General Assembly Speaker Alan J. Karcher – 94,234 (28.57%)
Total votes cast: 329,835 (100.00%)
Runoff, 6/20/1989:
Not held; cancelled due to Initial Primary winner receiving over 50% of the vote in that contest
The moderate first-term incumbent deflected a challenger who was to the political left of her. Karcher, who was 46 at the time of the election, had previously served in the state Assembly since 1970, and had served as that chamber’s leader since 1986; he forwent re-election to try and primary Decker, but continued to be involved in state politics after leaving office. During the race, Karcher criticized Decker for not being “ambitious” enough in attempting to resolve the state’s budget issues; while on the campaign trail, Karcher lambasted Decker for agreeing with Republicans to cut spending to “alleviate the tax burdens,” but in doing so allegedly negatively impacted the quality of the Garden State’s social services. Karcher ended up performing stronger than expected, winning almost 30% of the vote; these results suggested that Governor Decker’s support within Democratic party was much weaker than many initially thought to be. Decker responded by incorporating more “pragmatic” elements to her campaign as the race entered the general election season.
Republican Primaries:
Initial, 6/6/1989:
former US Rep. James Andrew “Jim” Courter – 105,217 (27.17%)
state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards – 103,049 (26.61%)
state Rep. Charles Leighton “Chuck” Hardwick – 68,002 (17.56%)
businesswoman Lois Rand – 45,037 (11.63%)
state Sen. William Gormley – 38,145 (9.85%)
state Sen. Gerald “Jerry” Cardinale – 15,994 (4.13%)
Capt. Hubert Thomas “Tom” Blomquist – 6,389 (1.65%)
activist James A. “Jim” Kolyer III – 5,422 (1.40%)
Total votes cast: 387,255 (100.00%)
Runoff, 6/20/1989:
state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards – 169,599 (54.42%)
former US Rep. Jim Courter – 142,049 (45.58%)
Total votes cast: 311,648 (100.00%)
The centrist Edwards won the GOP nomination over initial frontrunner, the more right-leaning Congressman Courter. Edwards, from Oakland, had been the Attorney General since 1986 and had recently clashed with Decker over the “proper” interpretation of the state constitution. Courter, a member of the US House of Representatives since 1979, was lambasted by opponents Edwards, Hardwick, and Rand for being a “D.C. insider” in a possible effort to form a connection in the mind of voters between Courter and the scandals that plagued D.C. in the mid-to-late 1980s. Hardwick, representing Westfield in the state assembly since 1978, received criticism of his own from the likes of Courter, Edwards, and Rand for his many corporate ties. Gormley, representing Atlantic County since 1978, proved to be a poor campaigner at the state-wide level; in April, he made a gaffe when he referred to The Pine Barrens as “hillbilly territory,” costing himself support among rural New Jerseyans. Meanwhile, Cardinale, representing District 39 since 1982, entered the race late and failed to win voters away from Edwards and Hardwick. Businesswoman Lois Rand from Bernardsville, however, ran an insurgent “outsider populist” campaign that performed better than expected. Two other candidates, Blomquist, a far-right conservative Coast Guard veteran, and Kolyer, who repeatedly called himself “The Middle Class Candidate,” struggled to stand out in the crowded field.
Upon the race advancing to a runoff, Rand threw her support behind Edwards in an effort to “keep D.C. out of N.J.,” with Gormley also endorsing Edwards soon after. However, lower turnout in the second round suggests that many voters who had cast ballots in the Initial election chose to sit out the runoff. Nevertheless, former Rand and Gormley supporters seemingly tipped the race away from Courter, after polling suggested he and Edwards were virtually tied heading into the second round. These results were worrisome to some Republicans who believed that the runoff results strongly indicated that former Courter supporters would not support Edwards in the November election.
– ourcampaigns.co.usa
POST-SCANDAL SCATTERING OF LABORERS REVEALS NEED FOR MORE IMMIGRATION REFORMS
…last year, Taco Bell came under fire for its contracts with tomato farmers that used illegal workers in their Florida fields. Now those workers face new problems. Tomato production industry took a hit this spring after hundreds of workers were deported in November and December 1988, with only some opting to re-enter the country through legal means due to how long the process still takes... Most of the farm workers have instead returned to their native Cuba, and are now suffering under worse conditions. …“I left Cuba because the American sweatshops there had no air, no room… I cannot go back there.” Gael now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his brother Vicente, who finally became an American citizen last year. Gael has found work as a roof shingles installer. “It’s another hot, sweat-making job, but it still beats the shops.”…
– The Santa Fe New Mexican, exposé article, 6/25/1989
Batman is a 1989 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton based on the DC Comics character of the same name, the first of Warner Bros.’ fist Batman film franchise.
[snip]
Casting for the film was long and complex. Script writer Tom
Mankiewicz had wanted an unknown actor for Batman, William Holden for James Gordon, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth, and Peter O’Toole as the Penguin, whom Mankiewicz wanted to portray as a mobster [11]. Willem Dafoe was cast as the Joker after Jack Nicholson bowed out, after the latter failed to win a higher salary during contract negotiations. African-American actor Demond Wilson was cast as Harvey Dent, a supportive role, while Sean Young as cast as the feminist reporter Silver St. Cloud. Tom Hulce was cast as Alexander Knox, while O’Toole’s Penguin character devolved into a camo appearance.
The most controversial casting choice, however, was the selection of Nicolas Cage for the role of Batman. After Kevin Costner, Christopher Jones, Randy Quaid and Harrison Ford were considered, Cage’s performances in several recent successful films such as Racing With The Moon (1984), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (187) and Moonstruck (1987) convinced Burton to give Cage his first prominent “serious” role. With Cage being 25 at the time of production, the film depicted Bruce Wayne as “being in the earlier years, at the beginning of his years as Batman and at the real start of his adversaries’ origin stories,” described co-writer Warren Skaaren. As a result, many elements were borrowed from the popular “Batman: Year One” comic of 1987. The casting was highly controversial at the time, as many comic book fans believed Cage would not do the role justice. While enthusiastic to play a superhero role, Cage later admitted that as a comic book fan he privately preferred Superman to Batman.
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[12]
[snip]
The film was released in US theaters on June 29, 1989 and was a critical and financial success, earning $444million in box office totals against a budget of $39million
[13]. A summer blockbuster and a hit with critics and audiences, much praise was given to Burton for his directing work, while many others were surprised at actors Nicholas Cage and Demond Wilson being able to successfully carry serious, dramatic roles. Cage depicting Bruce Wayne as a quirky eccentric billionaire in order to “reconceive the character” as a caring hero out of touch with normal human behavior was praised by critics for adding depth to Wayne/Batman, while some audiences considered it “disrespectful” to suggest Wayne/Batman is a “flawed” character. Nevertheless, the film boosted the careers of several actors involved and led to several sequels as public interest in the Batman character increased. In 1990, a prequel, “Batman: Year One,” set five years before the first film and again starring Nicolas Cage, was greenlit…
– clickopedia.co.usa
20,000 ARMENIANS FLEE FROM BAKU AS ETHNIC VIOLENCE OVERWHELMS AZERBAIJAN’S CAPITAL CITY
– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 30/6/1989
…Albania’s movement to join Yugoslavia is being met by two other movements – one that calls for a restoring of the monarchy, and another calling for the southeastern European nation to become a part of the United States
[14]. The monarchist movement is gaining traction as the newly-capitalist country contemplates taking a step back, or returning to what has worked for them in the past… In the United States, support for Albania becoming their 51st state is being met with lighthearted support as more Americans are becoming aware of the European nation’s existence, with it becoming a focus of interest to some who are perplexed and/or humorously entertained by the country’s seemingly serious notion…
– BBC World News, 1/7/1989 report
TALKS OVER QUEBEC’S PLACE IN CANADA BREAK DOWN AS J. J. CHRETIEN AND ROBERT BOURASSA REACH AN IMPASSE
…the breakdown of negotiations over possible changes to the 1982 constitution comes in the midst of disapproval of Chretien’s latest tax proposals. Already suffering from poor approval ratings for his labelling his tax hikes as “tax shifts” and other issues, Chretien is facing rising pressure from fellow members of the Liberal party to either change course or step down, according to a source close to parliament…
– The Calgary Sun, Canadian newspaper, 7/5/1989
REP. CHARLES DEAN (D-NY) CO-INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REPEAL P.O.M.A.
– The Washington Post, 7/6/1989
Music during America's "Bellamy Years" definitely saw some major shakeups. More victorious-sounding music from feminist rockers. Cyndi Lauper I think wrote an album on women empowerment, and some of the beat were actually pretty catchy. Riot Grrrl became a thing, so, yeah I think Bellamy really did a number on gender stereotypes, only this time the feminists were, like, they didn’t want to become complacent, you know? It was like they thought they took their eyes off of sexism after the first Ark Wave, and that had necessitated a second one, I guess. Anyway, I mean, I was more into the punk rock groups popping out of the former Warsaw Pact nations. The Hungarian band group Locomotiv GT, and the “pleasing” style of that Klari Katona, she and Locomotiv GT had this nice mix of Tommy Chong’s reeflex rock and newer jazz styles. They really took off internationally.
– Hungarian singer-songwriter Linda Kiraly, 2018 interview
TEXAS PASTORS ARE REFERRING TO PRESIDENT BELLAMY AS A “JEZEBEL” IN THEIR SERMONS!
– The Associated Press, 7/9/1989
UHC CORE, THE PATIENT PROTECTION BILL, ENTERS WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE FOR CONSIDERATION
– The Washington Post, 7/12/1989
PRESIDNT OF PAKISTAN AGREES TO 2-MONTH ARMISTICE, OPENING “PATH” FOR U.N.-BACKED PEACE TALKS
– The New York Times, 7/15/1989
Pundits were mostly correct in assuming that the 1989 election would see a return to more traditional contests of the past, with the exception of the unexpected rise of the French Green party. Heading into the first round, the parties watched the most closely were the UDF and the Socialist Alliance. The Union for French Democracy (UDF), a big-tent party that was right-of-center for domestic, social, and economic policies (essentially supporting classical liberalism), but was also heavily pro-NATO and pro-European, was founded in 1978 soon after the election of President Mouroy. National Assembly member Jean-Claude Gaudin, a 50-year-old centrist with liberal and conservative appeal, became their standard bearer. The Socialist Alliance, meanwhile, saw a heated debate over who to nominate: former foreign policy advisor Jean-Christophe Mitterrand (b. 1946); progressive National Assembly member Michel Rocard (b. 1930), noted for often sparring with Le Pen; and Henri Emmanuelli (b. 1945), former Secretary of State for Budget and former Secretary of State for Consumption were the top three contenders. Ultimately, the socialists rallied behind former member of European Parliament, former member of National Assembly and French Senator since 1986 Claude Estier (b. 1925). The candidate of the far-right was National Front nominee and Le Pen advisor Maurice Papon, while the progressive National Assembly member Brice Lalonde (b. 1946) ran as the Green party’s nominee. Two centrist candidates – Rene Monory (Center) and Raymond Barre (Independent) – were on the ballot as well.
On 9 July 1989, Estier came in first, while Gaudin underperformed and came in third behind Lalonde. Many pundits pointed to center-right candidate Raymond Barre, the former PM of France who ran as an Independent, possibly siphoning votes away from Gaudin, while others noted Gaudin’s campaign as being too milquetoast and uninspiring in his effort to present himself as a calm and lucid politician. Others still believed Lalonde winning endorsements from several French and international celebrities, from Jean-Marc Barr and Charlotte Gainsbourg to John Lennon, brought greater attention to his campaign, possibly explaining his rise from 5% in early June to 20% in early July.
Ahead of the 23 July 1989 runoff, Estier and Lalonde ran positive campaigns that uplifted the nation’s spirits. While Estier won the second and final round of voting by a 15% margin, Lalonde advancing to the runoff in the first place was a boon to the country’s newly-established Green party. Estier assumed office a week later, on 30 July.
– Jonathan Marcus’ Le Pen: The Impact of The National Front on French Politics, Second Edition, New York University Press, 1999
CHRETIEN CALLS IT QUITS!: Will Step Down In Three Months!
…In the face of declining popularity and indications that the Liberals will lose the next federal elections if he remains said party’s leader, Prime Minister Chretien has succumbed to the private urgings of his political allies, says one anonymous source. Chretien has announced that he will retire from the office of Prime Minister on September 29, giving his party roughly three months to find a successor…
– The Daily Courier, Canadian newspaper, 7/31/1989
Virginia Gubernatorial Primary Election Results:
Democratic Primary:
Initial, 7/13/1989:
State Attorney General Mary Sue Terry – 188,201 (38.59%)
former US Ambassador to New Zealand William Battle – 173,326 (35.54%)
Lieutenant Governor Frederick Carlyle “Rick” Boucher – 92,367 (18.94%)
former Mayor Charles E. “Chuck” Beatley Jr. – 28,823 (5.91%)
former state Senator J. Lewis Rawls Jr. – 4,975 (1.02%)
Total votes cast: 487,692 (100.00%)
Runoff, 7/27/1989:
State Attorney General Mary Sue Terry – 245,686 (51.90%)
former US Ambassador to New Zealand William Battle – 227,697 (48.10%)
Total votes cast: 473,383 (100.00%)
Battle, who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1977, was the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1970 to 1974, and had served several “low-key” diplomatic roles under Presidents Walter Mondale, Jeremiah Denton, and Jack French Kemp; he claimed during the campaign that he was the most experienced candidate in the race, and the only one that could work well with both parties. Terry, on the other hand, focused on local issues and touted her accomplishments as Attorney General. Boucher had a similar campaign, but he was not as energetic as Terry was on the campaign trail. A fourth prominent candidate, Beatley, had been the mayor of Alexandria from 1967 to 1976 and from 1979 to 1985; he focused almost entirely on local affairs and appeared informal at the three debates held between the top four candidates. A fifth candidate, Rawls, struggled to gain much media attention. Ahead of the debates, the top three candidates were practically tied in most polls, with Beatley seemingly siphoning votes away from Boucher. However, most psephologists credit Boucher’s poor performance in the final gubernatorial debate for his sudden faltering in polls in the final weeks of the campaign, turning the race from a three-way split to a two-person matchup.
In the runoff, the competition seemed to be between a candidate with superior foreign policy experience and a candidate between superior knowledge of state laws, regulations, and customs. Appealing to suburban housewives, college students, and Ethnic minorities, Terry won the nomination by a narrow margin, making for the state’s first female major-party candidate.
Republican Primary:
Initial, 7/13/1989:
Former Lieutenant Governor Stanford E. Parris – 151,568 (35.12%)
State Senator J. Marshall Coleman – 144,619 (33.51%)
Former state Attorney General Mills Godwin – 116,871 (27.08%)
Activist Frank Miller Ruff Jr. – 18,514 (4.29%)
Total votes cast: 431,572 (100.00%)
Runoff, 7/27/1989:
Former Lieutenant Governor Stanford E. Parris – 206,629 (50.15%)
State Senator J. Marshall Coleman – 205,398 (49.85%)
Total votes cast: 412,027 (100.00%)
Parris began the race in third place, and with Coleman in the lead. Mills Godwin, who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1977, had not held public office in over a decade, but was winning over elderly voters and discussing issues concerning healthcare and Senior Rights. As the race continued, Parris mounted a “buyer’s remorse” campaign focused on what he would have done differently had the voters selected him when he ran four years prior. As the primary election date neared, there was concern in both camps that the conservative Coleman – who was the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1978 to 1982 and who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1981 – and the conservative Parris – who was the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1982 to 1986 and who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1985 – would cancel each other out and hand the nomination to Godwin. However, many argue that Parris being endorsed by US Senator Richard Obenshain (R-VA) is what helped to propel him from having 25% in May polls to being practically tied with Coleman in the week before the initial primary.
As the top two finishers advanced to the runoff, the ideologically similar Coleman and Parris sought to make each other distinctly different in the eyes of the electorate by emphasizing their records, with Coleman describing his ability to “stand up to Bellamy supporters” in the state legislature, where he had held a seat since 1986. However, this led to Parris, out of office since 1986, criticizing Coleman’s response to the Second Arkwave. This attack in turn led to Coleman moving farther to the right on the subject of “the liberal agenda” in the next debate, where is “aggressive” critiquing of Democratic talking points was met with mixed reviews from viewers and undecided voters. On election night, the race was very narrow, but Parris was declared it victor on the 29th. Coleman responded by demanding a recount; after said recount concluded roughly a week later, Parris, on August 6, was again declared the winner, having secured victory by a margin of 1,231 votes.
– ourcampaigns.co.usa
Suspicious that the politburo would turn against him if the economy worsened any further, potentially leading to another bloody war like the one that almost devastated the nation’s economic centers in 1975, Li finally buckled under the pressure. In early August, he called for the Party Chairman (me), his chief diplomat Zhao Ziyang, his propaganda leader Li Na, and his Vice Chairman Lee Teng-hui to meet with him in Beijing for a pivotal meeting.
“We will reverse course.” Li instructed us. “The attempts to re-educate the Uyghurs is a failure.”
“Surely we are in the right,” Ziyang was bold enough to say.
“Of course we are right!” Li bellowed. “It’s just that the rest of the world won’t acknowledge it. And unfortunately, when we opened our doors to the world, that meant accepting the benefits and detriments of the world, ignorance and opportunity.” He sighed “Had we never opened up, we wouldn’t have this problem.” Fearful of saying something that would lead to our being fired, we sat there nodding slightly. Li continued, “but this has benefitted us. With the Soviet Union gone, we lead the communist world. However, we cannot be a beacon of hope to our impoverished brothers abroad if our economy is so easily ruined by outside influencers.”
“So…we are severing ties with the west?” Lee said in a way that indicated that he was requesting clarification.
“Of course not – we are ending the wasting of resources! Try to teach the Uyghurs...ha! How foolish Deng was! If they refuse to live like us, fine! Let them have their deserts and mountains.”
“So long as we can still access the resources within, yes?” Li Na postulated.
“Yes. We’ll use their land, but allow them to partake in their pitiful little traditions. It is more important for all of us to return focus to redeveloping the north, to open more natural resource projects in those mountains. Heavy industry. Energy production. Rare Earth minerals. Nuclear power. Manchuria is our nation’s true future!”
Through liaisons, Li Xiannian’s allies met with surrogates of America’s President Bellamy, UK PM Alastair Goodlad, Russia’s Vlad Volkov, and several other political and business world figures leading the charge against his nation’s economy in order to discuss trade deal possibilities. Back-channel negotiations included discussing the possibility of allowing Tibet and Xinjiang to have greater autonomy in exchange for better trade deals with Europe and America. The UK’s Goodlad and France’s Astier agreed. The US did so as well, but only after Bellamy applied pressure to get Li to agree to also allow for foreign companies to invest in state-run operations in Manchuria.
– Bo Yibo’s The Dragon and The Eagle: Chinese and American Dances, Daggers and Dinners, English translation, 1998
CHINA’S PREMIER LI ANNOUNCES THE END OF “EDUCATION CAMPS” POLICY!
Claims “Our Movement [To] Enlighten” Ethnic Groups In Western China “A Success”
…in the official internationally-televised announcement, Li repeatedly noted that the “excellent policy” was the brainchild of his predecessor, Deng Xiaoping… …one source states anonymously that Li is “still pursuing strong anti-reform measures to impose greater state control over China’s markets at all levels…” [snip] …it is believed that the PRC’s politburo hopes that is reversal of their internationally-condemned treatment of ethnic minorities in their westernmost provinces will lead to companies resuming trade and business with the nation, alleviating China’s economy enough for it to be lifted out of recession. Leading politicians in China may also be anticipating a drop in Uyghur terror attacks and the end of calls for the independence of Xinjiang and Tibet, which, allegedly, some in the politburo feared could spark a war of secession in Central Asia similar to the bloody one that occurred between the USSR and United Turkestan just a few years ago…
– The Associated Press, 8/8/1989
After forty minutes and what seemed like the millionth painful bump in what was a road in name only, Colonel Sanders told his translator the clichéd line “I think I’m starting to get too old for this.” At the age of almost 99 years, the food proprietor-turned-humanitarian diplomat needed to rely on both his cane and a travel guide’s helping hand to carefully climb out of the vehicle.
Base Commander Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi, a.k.a. P.Q. Mehdi of the Pakistan Air Force, had already arrived from the strategic military base of Rawalpindi, near Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. Sanders had begrudgingly agreed to meet with Mehdi outside of Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir, where they were to work as unofficial “go-betweens” for Pakistan’s Zia and India’s Ramaswamy Venkataraman “V.P.” Singh, respectively, during peace talks
[15]. Mehdi supported the Colonel’s “intervention,” believing he could “do for us what he did for Jerusalem” before the situation escalated into a nuclear confrontation, as both nations in question still in possessed atomic warheads at this time (despite years-long denuclearization movements pressuring both governments to reverse course).
“I’m mainly doin’ this not as a favor to the Veep,” his nickname for Singh, “but because I wouldn’t be a good Christian or a good man if I turned down a chance to help end a war this out of hand,” the Colonel said as the group entered the meeting place. The surrounding landscape was typical of the region in the summer, its mountainous-but-humid terrain reminding the Colonel of southern Colorado.
Sanders’ calls to end companies doing business with both countries until a ceasefire was declared had been much less successful than the international effort to economically pressure China into ending their “camps” policy. As such, Zia wondered why his “Indian counterparts” had worked to get the Colonel to try and broke a peace deal. According to his aide, Zia believed India only want peace because Pakistani forces were close to having to retreat from the region. Despite Zia-ul-Haq’s best efforts to make his country a military powerhouse in the region, Pakistan’s losses were heavier and their firepower was inferior. Additionally, America’s newest President, Carol Bellamy, had reversed the course set out by Presidents Denton and Kemp by ending the US’s quiet support of the strongly pro-US Zia
[16] and becoming a neutral party. “I spoke with Bellamy,” Mehdi told the Colonel, “I and Zia do not believe she understands the situation; you, though, Colonel. You are more experienced. I trust your assessment more. And Zia trusts me.”
[snip]
The Colonel suggested, “Religion is a central and vitally important part of life. Whether you’re Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, or Christian like me, we all want the same thing, to do what’s right, to make our maker proud. To keep our loved ones safe. This war’s doin’ none of that. We are not priests, or rabbis, or imams, or bhikkhus – ”
“ – But the region is very religious,” Mehdi interjected.
“And it’s intertwined with military and politics, I know!”
“So the two of us, two religious politicians with military backgrounds,” the Colonel decided not to correct Mehdi’s use of the common misconception, “We have to do what makes sense from a governing viewpoint, from a military standpoint, and from a religious viewpoint, with respect to religious groups,” Mehdi replied.
“With respect to religion and to everyone involved,” the Colonel added.
The two men looked over the maps again, a collection showing the overlapping land claims, local support, and religious diversity of the area. “Sunnis make up a majority of the region, the heaviest numbers here and along here,” Mehdi dragged his finger across Jammu and the valley. “They prefer joining Pakistan, while Shias prefer in independence, but will take joining Pakistan over joining India.”
The Colonel circled the area with his pen and said “I’ve talked with the Veep, he says he’s willing to give y’all this if y’all relinquish this area over here…
[snip]
While the Colonel was privately disgusted by Zia-ul-Haq’s oppressive record, he admitted that the ends – like ending warfare between two nuclear powers – sometimes justified the means – like tolerating a dictatorial leader. As the Colonel put it, “You can’t stay clean when you mud wrestle.”
– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020
The results of the August 20 “Status Referendum” were the following: 51.1% voted in favor of Albania joining Yugoslavia, 32.3% voted for their country joining the United States, and 10.2% voted in favor of Albania remaining independent, while only 6.4% voted for Albania returning to a monarchist state. International organizations observed that the referendum received merely 39% voter turnout. Nevertheless, “pro-Yugo” Albanian leaders considered the results a mandate clearly showing what future Albanians wanted for themselves. However, Albanian President Sali Berisha, though, opposed acting on the referendum due to said “low” voter turnout, instead declaring the referendum to be “inconclusive.” This action led to riots sprouting up once again in Tirana…
[snip]
In response to the high amount of votes cast for joining the US, America’s President Bellamy offered signing trade deals to increase Albania’s economic conditions, opening Albanian markets to American products; more substantial educational programs such as a stronger student exchange program were also established by the end of 1990…
– Tajar Zavalani’s The Albanian People: A Fiery History, London Books, 2015
[pic:
imgur.com/Xm6VVD7 ]
– Governor Bob Ross (I-AK), while overseeing oil pollution cleanup efforts, inspects the quality of a river uphill from Prince William Sound, 8/19/1989
BLOOMBERG FORCED TO PAY!
…the millionaire businessman has been ordered by a New York City court to pay over $17.5million, excluding additional legal fees, to 18 women who experienced a host of sexist pestering incidents from Bloomberg…
– The New York Post, 8/23/1989
…The results have been finalized, and they have again confirmed without ambiguity that Steve Biko of the BCM/Inkatha Freedom (People’s) Party will succeed the retiring Nelson Mandela into the office of President of South Africa. Biko won over Mandela’s preferred successor, Deputy President Walter Sisulu of the ANC, along with notable third-place finisher Keorapetse Kgositsile, an Independent supportive of Mandela. These election results are worrisome for many both here and in South Africa due to Biko’s past militant activities and for his past anti-white rhetoric. If he indeed aims to stay true to his campaign promises, Biko will have to tread carefully if he wishes his administration to be a success “without significant input” from the white South Africans, and Biko explains it…
– BBC World News, 25/8/1989 broadcast
WHATABURGER CELEBRATES 1,000TH LOCATION AS OPENING OF CHICAGO OUTLET MARKS THE MILESTONE
– The Houston Chronicle, 8/27/1989
…The TV movie, “The Colonel Governor,” focuses on an often-overlooked part of Colonel Sanders’ long and colorful career, his four years as the Governor of Kentucky. Despite numerous variables working in their favor – mainly, a solid cast that included Jack Lemmon as the Colonel and Polly Bergen as Claudia Sanders, and covering interesting real-life events ranging from the Sturgis Standoff to the Cumberland River Flood to Sanders’ fights with state legislatures – the filmmakers dropped the ball on this one. Despite best efforts, the film fails to deliver a truly gripping depiction of the living legend… A spiritual successor of sorts to the 1983 film “The Colonel President,” most moviegoers may want to seek out any one of the many other films about the Colonel that are more worthy of their time...
– author and film critic Richard Schickel, article for Time Magazine, early September 1989 issue
…The India-Pakistan Peace Treaty of 1989 was a landmark “reorganization” treaty. It yielded Azad Kashmir, Baltistan and Gilgit to Pakistan on the proviso that Pakistan keep the region demilitarized for ten years. India would retain all remaining regions but were also bound to keep their spoils demilitarized for ten years as well. This was not satisfying to the Pakistani-majority regions found outside of the Kashmir valley farther to the south and to the east of the region’s center, as they still fell under Indian jurisdiction. To counter this, Colonel managed to convince Singh, and (through Mehdi) Zia, to allow travel between India and Pakistan to be freer, lowering visa limitations while also increasing the use of local-based non-military security personnel…
– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020
BELLAMY PRAISES SIGNING OF INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE TREATY
…the President has ended her “freezing” of relations with both nations just hours after the signing of the binational accord… tensions seem to be cooling as military officers return home from a four-years-long confrontation that ended between 3,000 and 4,000 lives in total…
– The Washington Post, 9/10/1989
New York City Mayoral Primary Election Results, 9/12/1989:
(note: city mayoral elections only required a plurality for a primary contest winner to be declared at this point in the city’s political history)
Democratic Primary:
US Rep. Edward Irving “Ed” Koch – 516,740 (47.79%)
Acting Mayor Andrew Stein – 465,164 (43.02%)
County D.A. Richard “Dick” Ravitch – 62,281 (5.76%)
State Sen. Gary L. Ackerman – 37,089 (3.43%)
Total votes cast: 1,081,274 (100.00%)
Koch ran on his twenty years of experience in Washington, D.C. and on Stein’s alleged inability to work well with the Borough Presidents during his short and supposedly ineffective time serving as Acting Mayor. Koch won over white ethnic communities while the more moderate Stein and the more progressive Ravitch both received a plurality of their respective vote shares from African-American and Hispanic communities, despite the latter candidate underperforming in this contest.
Republican:
Former US Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder – 67,199 (57.76%)
Businessman Edward N. Rodriguez – 49,142 (42.24%)
Total votes cast: 116,341 (100.00%)
Lauder, a diplomat who had previously served under Presidents Denton and Kemp, defeated a local business operator and investor who had narrowly lost a race for city council two years earlier. Lauder was the more conservative of the two candidates.
Liberal Primary:
Former US Rep. Allard K. Lowenstein – 165,857 (76.45%)
County D.A. Richard “Dick” Ravitch – 51,091 (23.55%)
Total votes cast: 216,948 (100.00%)
Despite Ravitch running a campaign with a bigger war chest than Lowenstein’s, the former Representative was the better known candidate due to his well-publicized progressive activism.
Conservative Primary:
Real Estate Developer Henry F. Hewes – 45,589 (46.16%)
Former US Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder – 41,047 (41.56%)
Activist Mary Jane Tobin – 9,887 (10.01%)
Businessman Peter J. Gaffney – 2,242 (2.27%)
Total votes cast: 98,765 (100.00%)
Hewes, a businessman and “right to life” activist, gave a fiery performance while on the campaign trail, and successfully argued that Lauder was not conservative enough for the Conservative party nomination.
– ourcampaigns.co.usa
ONTARIO’S SHEILA COPPS ELECTED NEXT PM IN LIBERAL LEADERSHIP VOTE
…Copps was victorious in the third round of voting, defeating Paul Martin Jr., Garth Turner, Herb Gray, and Hazel McCallion, the last of whom was drafted into running at the last moment and withdrew after the first round. A prominent member of the Liberal Party’s left-wing faction since joining Parliament via a by-election in 1982, Copps supports women’s rights, minority rights, the legalization of “safe” recreadrugs such as marijuana used for medicinal purposes, and greater conservation and anti-pollution efforts to protect the environment without crippling energy production vital to the economies of the dominion’s western provinces…
– The Globe And Mail, Canadian newspaper, 9/21/1989
Yeah, I originally was into swimming like my sister is, but then Hurricane Hugo happened. That storm swept through my town [in the U.S. Virgin Islands], back in, uh, September ’89, and it messed up the only Olympic-sized swimming pool on the island. I tried swimming in the ocean, but, you know, sharks. So, uh, then I got into my head – I was kind of inspired by President Kemp – he was a decent-enough guy who got the shaft despite helping out a lot of people with tenant ownership, you know – and so I thought, since he was a former NFL player, the idea of trying out for football sounded pretty good. I mean, I’m 6-foot-11, about 250 pounds, I figured I’d be good at it. Guess I was right.
– MVP-winning NFL player Tim Duncan of the Dallas Cowboys, 2001 ESPN interview [17]
Copps officially began her tenure as Prime Minister on September 29, just under two months before her 37th birthday. This made Copps Canada’s youngest-ever Prime Minister, as the previously youngest-ever PM, Arthur Meighen, took office shortly after turning 46. …The media declared her sky-high approval ratings “Sheilamania.” Seen as a younger, bolder and to some an even more controversial version of her predecessor, Copps was practically idolized by younger and more urban voters. Riding on a decent economy and a popularity surrounding her youthful energy and personality, along with her combative style, Copps and the Liberal party were expected to win the next general election…
– clickopedia.co.uk/Sheila_Copps
…The Dixie Chicks bluegrass country band was formed in 1989. Their upbeat, yet conservative personas, combined with their feminist ideals, led to them obtaining widespread appeal, making them very popular at the start of the 1990s...
– Feminist writer Eleanor Clift’s The Way We Never Were, Simon & Shuster, 2002
[snip]
U-2, Syngman Rhee, L.B.J. and Alan Freed
Chubby Checker, “Psycho,” Belgians in the Congo
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichmann, Tommy Chong and his band
Fast-food Cold War, Stranger in a Strange Land
Lawrence of Arabia, Beatnik-Shoutnik mania
Che and Cam, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
Salad Oil Stock Collapse, who knew what would happen next?
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it
To the Moon, Manson loon, Vienna, Ms. Arkansas
Soweto, Jerrie Cobb, Healthy Elvis, Painter Bob
K.F.C. Peace Talks, S.N.L. and Alois Mock
Hardcore metal, gay sex, Athens get Olympics
Trojan Tower, Guitar Gordon, Trailblazers get Michael Jordan
Dingle Foot, Gaddafi oust, Perverts in the White House
Second Arkwave Movement born, Chinese politburo’s torn
Rock-and-roller Burger Wars, I can’t take it anymore
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone, will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it
– Billy Joel’s hit single “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” released 9/27/1989
SENATE REVIEWING EDUCATION REFORM OMNIBUS “PACKAGE DEAL”
– The Washington Post, 10/1/1989
“VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVING”: Plaintiffs Of Landmark Supreme Court Case Endorse Terry In Governor’s Race
…Mildred and Richard Loving, a Carolina County couple famous for their role in the 1967 US Supreme Court ruling that struck down the banning of interracial marriage, today jointly appeared at a rally for the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, state Attorney General Mary Sue Terry…
– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10/2/1989
21 STATES AIM TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE IN 1990
Washington, DC – Workers rejoice. The minimum wage is set to increase in 48 jurisdictions in 1990. The increases will be in 21 states, 17 cities, and 10 counties, according to the advocacy group Decent Employment Project DC. Most of these change are set to begin on New Year’s Day, while others are set to begin much later on in the year. “These raises will put much-needed money into the hands of the lowest-paid workers, many of whom struggle with high and ever-increasing costs of living,” says a representative of DEPDC. The move comes after years of attempts to raise the wage in all fifty states failed, including when the 1986 Wage Raise Bill failed to pass the Senate, and similar bills met similar fates in 1981 and 1984. The move also comes after the Farm Aid Concerts held annually since 1985 increased national awareness of poor farming wages, and after several small-scale wage-related worker strikes hit several states last year…
– The Washington Post, 10/5/1989
BUCKLEY: RAISING MINIMUM WAGE WILL HURT WORKERS
…“if employers have to pay their workers more, then they’ll just hire less workers”…
– The Wall Street Journal, 10/6/1989
CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATS PUSHING FOR OPT-OUT FEATURE ON UHC BILL
…the bill for overhauling of America’s health insurance and hospitals system in the biggest expansion of coverage since Medicare and Medicaid in 1962 is being held up by lawmakers concerned over one’s “freedom of choice,” i.e. the ability to option out of UHC and choose a private healthcare system….
– The San Francisco Chronicle, 10/8/1989
The argument on whether or not to return to the moon, over a decade since cosmonauts landed, renewed focus on the Soyuz 42 and Soyuz 7K-T tragedies of 1980 and 1971, respectively. “At this point, technology for travel to Mars, landing on Mars, and returning to Earth and landing on Earth is very unreliable. This administration must not send any of our brave men or women to Mars without knowing they can return home alive. The process must be tested with robots, probes, satellites, and rovers until we can lower the failure rate. That will take a lot time, and it will be very costly for a good long while,” argued Vladimir Chub, a conservative politician and a leading member of a group of Moscow politicians opposed to space travel investments in general, on a TV talk show on October 10, 1989. Chub explain, “In the meantime, we can focus on more immediate concerns. Opening more hospitals and medical programs in our schools and universities, ending hunger, assuring heat for our most northern and most isolated communities. By the time that’s all done, Mars will still be out there, still waiting for us to explore, and eventually, travel there will be less expensive and much less dangerous.”
President Volkov’s counterargument the next day was “I agree with him [Vladimir Chub]; we do need to open more medical schools and improve the quality of life for all Russians. But Chub is wrong in assuming that we can’t do that and return to space at the same time. We are not aiming for Mars yet, but that does not mean that we should give up on space travel at all. The construction of space-related massive public works projects – constructing rockets, launching sites in and out of Russia – that all will require jobs – jobs that will provide financial security and wellness to all the Russian workers involved. These projects will let the Russian people out of poverty today and let us into the stars tomorrow.”
– Among the Stars: The Autobiography of Yuri Gagarin, 1995
On October 17, said next test of her abilities came in the form of a 6.9 earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay Area. Dubbed the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the disaster left 93 people dead and over 5,000 injured
[18]. The counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz were heavily damaged from ground failures and landslides. Most of those deaths were on toppled freeways; striking at 5:04 PM local time, when the rush-hour traffic was heavier than usual, hundreds of drivers were affected. The Bay Area’s transportation structure failures were catastrophic and embarrassing for the state government. Collapse of the Nimitz Freeway was particularly deadly, killing dozens.
Bellamy worked with ODERCA and California’s Governor, Donald Kennedy, to ensure swift and immediate action. While Vice President Litton met with congressional leaders in D.C. to work on procuring federal funds for emergency relief, local Californian officers and volunteers began restoring power and searching the rubble for survivors. Police directing traffic and maintaining order at hospitals and stores led to looting and riots being at a level that was much lower than was expected for a quake so severe.
…Among the notable deaths was MLB center fielder Brett Butler of the San Francisco Giants… MLB Commissioner Lee Iacocca offered his condolences upon the news being confirmed, and a moment of silence was held before the final game of the 1989 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago Cubs being held in Illinois that same day (despite home-turf advantage, Cubs lost 5-2)…
…With extensive studies of how to best reinforce existing transportation lines and with freeway/highway repair underway immediately, Governor Kennedy made it a pledged priority to “restore the bay” within the next five years...
– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018
[vid: youtube:
/watch?v=31bsZhbTQOg ]
– KFC commercial featuring Colonel Sanders, first aired 10/20/1989 (note: the Colonel is seated throughout the ad due to his declining health)
TYPHOON GAY DISSIPATES AFTER DAYS OF CARNAGE: Powerful Storm Leaves Thailand’s Chumphon Province Devastated
– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 11/4/1989
STANFORD PARRIS ELECTED GOVERNOR IN UPSET
…in the biggest Republican victory of the night, Congressman Parris was elected Virginia’s next Governor over state Attorney General Mary Sue Terry… the election may be a form of social backlash to last year's election of our first female President - exit polls reveal that male turnout was higher than usual tonight. However, conservative counties saw high turnout as well, suggesting tonight's results were a rejection of Bellamy's progressivism...
– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/7/1989
KOCH BEATS LOWENSTEIN IN NYC MAYOR RACE
…Incumbent Acting Mayor Andrew Stein, as the President of the New York City Council, became Acting Mayor upon Bellamy’s resignation last December; Stein lost the Democratic nomination for a full term to Congressman Koch... Democrat Edward Irving Koch, 65, has represented the Empire state’s 17th, then 18th, district in the US House for over twenty years. Allard K. Lowenstein, 60, represented the state’s fifth district in the US House from 1969 to 1971 as a Democrat, then switched to the short-lived Progressive Party before successfully running for the Liberal party nomination for Mayor earlier this year. …Koch won a plurality, with Lowenstein coming in second place, but 9 points behind Koch; Republican nominee Ronald S. Lauder came in third, while Conservative nominee Henry F. Hewes came in fourth place with only roughly 4% of the vote…
– The Daily Record, New Jersey newspaper, 11/7/1989
…Alright, this morning’s top news story is last night’s election results. It was a real nail-biter for those of us who cared about it, but the state elections board just announced it’s all over, the recount in two counties, everything. Incumbent Governor Gloria A. Decker, a moderate Democrat, has been re-elected, albeit by a razor-thin margin, over state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards, a centrist Republican…
– New Jersey’s WIBG 1020 AM, 11/8/1989 radio broadcast
KNUTSON: "FIVE TERMS WAS ENOUGH, THANK YOU!"
[pic:
imgur.com/oWZHaRg.png ]
St. Paul, MN – Governor Coya Knutson has announced that she is retiring from politics, ending her career of roughly 40 years in public service on a high note. Knutson, who previously served in the state House from 1951 to 1955 and in U.S. House of Representatives from 1955 to 1967, has led the state of Minnesota through the turbulence of nearly twenty years of turbulence and progress. Knutson faced two women’s rights “waves” in 1970 and 1986, and several energy crises and economic recessions, and protected Minnesotan families and workers throughout it all. Her success propelled her to the national spotlight, and led to calls for her to run for President in 1972 and again in 1984, and to her being vetted for the position of running mate in 1972, 1980, and 1984. ...In the governor’s seat from 1967 to 1975 and again since 1979, the 77-year-old “moderate populist” Democrat today announced that she will not run for a sixth term and will leave office in January 1991, closing a very memorable and notable era of “rural pragmatism” in state politics…
– The Minneapolis Star, Minnesota newspaper, 11/17/1989
BELLAMY SIGNS EDUCATION REFORM BILL INTO LAW
…the bill, which was approved by a joint conference committee last month, “adjusts” state requirements in order to raise grade school graduation levels and collage enrollment levels by regulating smaller classrooms and placing greater emphasis on homework and one-on-one tutoring programs, though the bill also allows school districts to create vocational school programs as well. The new law will come into effect in January, but grade schools will not have to comply with the bill regulations until next July, in order to not disrupt curricula mid-way through classes…
– The Washington Post, 11/18/1989
The anger is still in me, but it’s mellowed. It started doing so in 1989, shortly after I turned 50. I was tired of running. Tired of hiding. I wanted to return home. In November, I dropped in on my brother Bobby. When he answered the door he was so shocked he turned as white as a klansman. “Didn’t you die?” he joked once he caught his second wind. I hadn’t seen him since shortly before Mom’s death two years prior, and even then, I didn’t stay for long. Just a quick hi-and-bye. But this time, it was good to be back, even if just for a while longer.
Needing work, an old friend from my pro-Castro days grabbed a spot for me at an alternate newspaper in San Francisco; after a week, I said goodbye to Bobby once more. San Francisco started out fun, until a gay guy spitted in my face when I called him a freak for wearing white after Labor Day, but then again, he may not have heard said follow-up explanation for the one-word comment. Well aware of what you can get from them, I had myself tested at a nearby walk-in clinic. I didn’t get any Sexually-Acquired System Immunity Failure Virus, or “SASIF” Virus, but that close call scared me into moving again, after only three months at the paper, to someplace where I was more comfortable. To a place where my anti-government, anti-establishment, pro-gun and anti-abortion sentiments would be respected – Montana.
…All my life, I wanted a comfortable job, and to accomplish this, I had earned a CPA while living in Mexico. I reinvented myself in Missoula. I changed my name, my look, my backstory. I got an apprenticeship at a local bank before landing a cushy desk job at an accounting firm. And I remarried.
The thoughts of Marina having raised our children with another man instead of with me pained me, so I pushed them out of my mind. I found a young local woman who believed in traditional family values, and who didn’t care much for who I once was or where I came from. We had two children together – Robert Karl, born in 1991, and Irina Catherine, born in 1993.
…By the end of the 1990s, I found myself being much less temperamental than I once was, and I think I know why. Every day, I’d pack up my stuff and come home to greet my son and daughter at the door without having to wash up. No car oil or grease, no dirt from fields, no newspaper ink. Accounting can be boring, but it doesn't leave you filthy.
I had found serenity not in hating the evils of America but in loving my family more. They were what mattered to me more than anything else. And I was happy with that.
– Lee Harvey Oswald’s autobiography Call Me By My Real Name: Confessions From a Fallen Hero, published posthumously
The rising intensity of the drug lord epidemic led to Mexico’s President Alvarez being wounded in an attempt on his life. On November 19, a cam bomb detonated near the back entrance of the President’s official residence of Los Pinos, Mexico City, just as Alvarez was exiting the building. Alvarez received minor burns to his back and a multiple cuts and wounds on his upper back and right arm. While the assassination attempt created sympathy for Alvarez and further support for his policies, the fact that recreadrug pusher came so close with detection from the President’s security forces made some fear and question how powerful these criminal organizations were becoming.
Back in the states, Bellamy believed that an increase in decent work and fair pay employment programs for Mexican labors and for visa workers in the US would lead to a drop in crime. Based loosely on the model she had used as Mayor of New York City to lower crime rates, Bellamy also launched further proposals such as a US-Mexico Crime Task Force to ensure collaboration between Mexican and US law enforcement officials to reign in the chaos unfolding in northern Mexican states. Her National Security Advisor Elmo Hunter became an unofficial drug control consultant to both Presidents as both sought to handle the situation before it became even more out of hand…
– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017
[pic:
imgur.com/dW7q12q.png ]
– Colonel Sanders, holding an assistant as he enters a room, spends Thanksgiving with family at his home in Kentucky, c. 11/23/1989
PHILIPPINE’S PRESIDENT CORAZON AQUINO CRUSHES MILITARY COUP ATTEMPT
…loyalist forces swiftly overwhelmed the rebel soldiers led by renegade Colonel Gregorio Honasan, leading to his capture earlier today, after almost three full days of warfare across the nation’s capital and military bases...
– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 12/3/1989
SOURCE CLAIMS U.S. SECRETALY AIDED AQUINO GOVERNMENT AHEAD OF ’89 COUP ATTEMPT
…Credit for Aquino’s forces being able to immediately outmaneuver Honasan’s troops, weapons and airpower could belong to the CIA, not to President Aquino. “Under President Bellamy, US military intelligence is becoming a prominent part of America protecting itself and its allies from would-be agitators,” says an anonymous source close to CIA Director Togo West. “US military intelligence learned of Honasan’s plans days or possibly even weeks ahead of this coup attempt, giving Aquino and her allies time to figure out a counterattack,” the source claims. If true, the revelation explains her successful repulsion of the coup, but could tarnish the former President’s popularity in the island nation…
– The New York Post, 5/13/1997
COLONEL: Hello?
NIXON: Colonel? It’s Nixon.
COLONEL: Ah hey, Nixy, long time no speak! [yawn] How’ve you been? And why are you callin’ me at…almost 11 o’clock at night? I told you, I’m not that much of a night owl anymore.
NIXON: My apologies, Colonel, but I thought you’d like to know before the press began houndin’ you.
SANDERS: Know what?
NIXON: Remember back when Oslo snubbed you?
SANDERS: Eh?
NIXON: Back in ’78. Secretary Carter got to share a Nobel Prize with Sadat and Begin instead of you.
SANDERS: Oh, that. Dick, we’ve been through this, I was okay with being let off of it. No more than three people could share a prize, and I was alright with it. I was just happy to help.
NIXON: It was an injustice, Colonel. You got the ball rolling on it, Carter just pushed it past the finish line.
SANDERS: Seriously, Nix, I’m fine. I don’t need a Nobel.
NIXON: Well you’re getting one anyway.
SANDERS: Huh?
NIXON: I just got off the phone with the Nobel Foundation to confirm what I heard through my European grapevines. You are absolutely winning the Nobel Peace Prize. You should be getting a call real soon from Stockholm to tell you, too, and the official announcement is going to be live 5:00 am where you are, but I’ll probably be asleep during it, right?
SANDERS: What’re ya talkin’ about, Nixo? A Nobel Prize, for what?
NIXON: For bringing India and Pakistan to the negotiation table, remember?
SANDERS: But that just happened. We don’t even know how long it’ll keep the peace over there. What good is it if in, like, just two years or so, they’re at each other’s throats again like two roosters fighting over a hen?
NIXON: Doesn’t matter. It was a big thing for India and Pakistan. And for the Nobel Foundation. It may have taken you another decade, but you’re finally getting that award, Colonel.
SANDERS: [silence]
NIXON: Colonel? Colonel, you still there?
SANDERS: Uh? Oh, uh, yeah I’m still here, I’m just thinking… a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, by gum, if that don’t beat all.
– Colonel Sanders and Richard Nixon, phone conversation recorded in Nixon’s Senate office, 12/9/1989 (recorded on Nixon’s personal tapes; transcript released in 1995)
COLONEL SANDERS SHARES NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WITH ZIA-UL-HAQ AND V.P. SINGH FOR INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE TREATY
– The New York Times, 12/11/1989
CONGRESS TABLES UHC VOTES FOR EARLY NEXT YEAR
– The Washington Post, 12/14/1989
VOLKOV ANNOUNCES NEW PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS CONCERNING AGRICULTURE, MINERAL EXTRACTION, AND SPACE EXPLORATION
…aiming to “kill two birds with one stone” – to lower unemployment and poverty and to pursue space exploration – the new projects include the Russian production of two more sections of the I.S.S., expected to begin being fully operational within a few months… The announcement seems to be the conclusion of months of debate over Russia’s place on the stage of international space travel – despite the USSR’s shortfalls, mishaps, and failures, we are picking up where the old government system left off, and will be a major player in mapping humanity’s quests among the stars after all...
– The Moscow Times, Russian newspaper, 12/16/1989
COLONEL SANDERS RE-ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
– The Louisville Times, 12/20/1989
[pic:
imgur.com/sVWVfxg ]
– The Colonel waving to supporters from his wheelchair upon leaving Norton Audubon Hospital, Louisville, KY, 12/23/1989
DOW DROPS 500 POINTS IN RESPONSE TO INFLATION WOES: After 11 Years, Is U.S. Economic Expansion Ending?
– The New York Times, 12/30/1989
WALL STREET IN PANIC! D.J.I.A. PLUMMETS, MARKETS CLOSE AFTER STAGGERING LOSSES: Interest Rates Impacted, Inflation Likely to Soar
– The Financial Times, 12/31/1989
NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] OTL quote.
[2] Number from OTL article from 1990:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1990-07-07-9007060122-story.html
[3] Italicized parts are from an OTL issue: National Geographic, Vol. 163, No. 2 (February 1983 issue), page 166 (I own several old National Geographic magazines. I’m actually proud of the one I have from 1919 – there’s no picture on the front cover!).
[4] Italicized parts were pulled from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care
[5] These things:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_crossing#History_and_location
[6] He’s only a Brigadier General instead of a Major General here because without the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Rutskoy fails to rise in rank amid overseeing Soviet forces in Turkestan. He still flies several combat missions, but not enough to earn him the Hero of the Soviet Union award title like he did in 1988. Thus, he is not that prominent here, at least not militarily.
[7] Alternative picture (though please note that in it Bellamy is much closer to the camera than to her predecessors; I’m not sure if that’s clear or not with this picture, hence ultimately deciding not to use it):
imgur.com/j6dbcrC
[8] This guy:
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/02/22/read-sex-assault-police-investigation-dr-robert-e-anderson/4836425002/
[9] This election was held in November 1989 IOTL; here, it was pushed up due to the more intense concerns over both the Kashmir conflict and Pakistan’s leader lowering Gandhi’s popularity even further and faster than in OTL.
[10]
https://www.azquotes.com/author/32983-Jeremiah_Denton
[11] Italicized part is from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(1989_film)
[12] Here’s an earlier, rejected version of Cage in a bat suit (where it’s more recognizably him due to the use of that buggy-eyes meme):
imgur.com/jWntTaV
[13] An extra four million due to the money saved + money not acquired in the first place by hiring Dafoe instead of Nicholson.
[14] Similar to OTL, in which “At the time of ex-Secretary of State James Baker's visit in 1992, there was even a move to hold a referendum declaring the country as the 51st American state,” the movement stemming from Woodrow Wilson’s role in assuring Albanian independence after World War One (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state#Albania).
[15] This guy gets chosen for this more diplomatic role because of his tendencies of OTL: “he is credited for advising against the all-out war with India to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, eventually providing an exit to Pakistan Army [sic] to deescalate the situation through diplomacy with India,” as stated here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervaiz_Mehdi_Qureshi
[16] Pakistan’s Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who didn’t die in a plane crash ITTL, bolstered ties with China and the US IOTL; also, according to his wikipedia article, “By the end of 1987, the Finance ministry [of Pakistan] had begun studying the process of engaging the gradual privatization and economic liberalization” of the nation’s economy, which, at least to me, sounds like someone willing to at least try and give international cooperation a chance/a shot/a try.
[17] IOTL, aid Hurricane led to Tim Duncan switching from swimming to basketball.
[18] This SoCal e-quake was more deadly because, to quote the person that pointed this out to me, , “a higher death toll on the freeways ITTL, since the death toll was so low due to a lot of people going home earlier to watch the World Series; OTOH, it will lead to increased reinforcement of existing freeways in California from earthquake damage, if this happens.”
OK, So I'm happy about Cage playing Batman since, in a weird way, it really does fit him, but this needs to be said. Superman Lives/Reborn. It NEEDS to happen here, preferably in 1996 or somewhere thereabouts. It SHOULD, by all rights, happen and be successful under the right circumstances. Preferably as a combination of
The Dan Gilroy Script and the Reborn Version 2 script with
Kevin Smith's casting choices. Jackie boy deserves the Luthor gig after losing the Joker role. Hell, let's have DC adapt the whole Justice League with multiple directors. We could have Morgan Freeman as Martian Manhunter. In all likelihood, you could have a Justice League movie by the summer of 1998.
Alrightythen, I'll add it to my very rough draft of the 1990s chapters and begin planning it out / working on it shortly.
Here's hoping that ITTL Warner didn't alienate Robin Williams in their attempts to get Nicholson as the Joker. Because frankly, he'd be perfect as the Riddler.
Duly noted!
I'd agree with you, only the rules have changed significantly. Carol and her bunch are in charge now. Effectively, they are the establishment and being who she is, things are going to change drastically. I can't even begin to guess what this version of the 90s is going to be like culturally. I know what the 70s were like under Mondale. Basically like OTL's 1980s only more left-wing. TTL's 80s...It's a hugely different ballpark. It's like a strange combo of the teen rebellion of Gen X mixed with the economic boom of the post-1991 US, mixed in with 2 and 1/2 of the more recognizable cultural aspects of OTL's 80s and the various scandals of the Nixon administration with Kemp, IMO, pretty much playing the role of an 80s Gerald Ford. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that this 90s will be an extension of the mid 90s punk, Britpop and Indy/Björk experimental scene, mixed in with the Y2K, Techno dance, teenybopper dance band crazy, frosted tips futurism of the latter part of the decade right from the get-go. Those surreal Anti-Ads from 1994 to 2000? Expect a ton more of them. With a progressive like Bellamy in charge, advertisers will have to get a lot more creative to get people to buy what they're selling. In fact, expect movies and entertainment, in general, to get a lot more futuristic and artsy from 1990 onwards because we're going to some wonderful places under Bellamy.
With all of this in mind, it'd be wonderful, for me, if the boy band ''Take That'' somehow made it big in the states with their biggest hit of 1992.
Interesting ideas to play with, here. Thanks!
Assuming Brannon and Braga; the Voyager writers, don’t take a job writing Ttl west wing. You never know when Alternate history is concerned.
Indeed!
Great timeline! Some really interesting choices for president (besides Sanders of course), never heard of Bellamy before this timeline, but she seems to be a great choice for the presidency. I also couldn't help but notice this:
It's not often that my hometown shows up on alternatehistory.com, so I'm happy that it shows up even if it's just a place to dump Gadaffi. Was it a random choice or did you choose it because of it's name?
It was a combination of the name and its geographical location; from what I could tell, it's not too isolated but not too close to a dense population center, either. Is this right?
EDIT: Thank you for that information!
