A Wolf in the Woods
June 20, 1980
Augusta AVA becomes the first federally recognized American Viticultural Area.
The Israeli Opposition Leader, and head of the Israeli Labour Party and Alignment block, Shimon Peres dies in a mysterious car crash. Conspiracy theories about a murder are connected to this incident for years. The Labour Party begins to look for a new leader. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is not considered because he is still in the political wilderness after the Entebe debacle which brought down his government in 1976. This has been compounded by a scandal which came to light in 1977 when it was discovered that he and his wife had an illegal foreign bank account in the U.S. Former Public Security and Interior Minister Shlomo Hillel becomes the new leader of the Labour-Alignment block and Opposition Leader in the Knesset.
June 23–September 6, 1980
The 1980 United States heat wave claims 1,700 lives.
June 23, 1980
The Results of the Canadian Federal Election
Total Seats: 282 (141 needed to form a Majority)
Progressive Conservatives: (113 + 8)= 121 seats (minority government)
Liberals: (88 - 12) = 76 seats
New Democrats: (50 +1) = 51 seats
Quebec Sovereignist: (0 + 26) = 26 seats
Social Credit: (12 -4) = 8 seats
Independent: (1-1) = 0 seats
Prime Minister before election: Peter Lougheed (PC)
Prime Minister after election: Peter Lougheed (PC)
The Progressive Conservatives form another minority government under Prime Minister Peter Lougheed. This is the first Canadian Federal government re-elected since 1972, although it is still a minority government like every government since 1972.
Donald S. Macdonald, Liberal Party leader, remains as Opposition Leader.
Exit polling indicated that Canadian voters assumed the PC government would drive a harder bargain with Quebec than would the Liberal Party. The Quebec Sovereignist Group (essentially a federal arm of the Provinces Parti Quebecois government [although the federal MPs don’t use that name] gained at the expense of the Social Credit and the Liberal Party in Quebec.
Former Prime Minister and Senator Robert Stanfield remains as Canadian External Affairs Minister.
June 24, 1980
British unemployment has reached a postwar high of 1,600,000.
June 25, 1980
The Democratic Party in the United States of America (USA) adopted as policy a proposal put forward by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and endorsed by Gov. Hugh Carey (D-NY), then the Democratic Party nominee for President. The new policy called for an end to the divisions of the Irish people and a solution based on the consent of all of the parties.
Syria holds a second round of elections for parliament. The Ba’ath re-appear in these elections under the name of the Syrian National Renewal Movement, which wins four seats in parliament. Jamil al-Assad, brother of the Ba’ath dictator Hafez al-Assad who was murdered in 1973, is the leader of this block of MPs. (Jamil, unlike his brother, is more religious and has ties to Islamists).
Although the country is still under UN supervision of mainly 25,000 U.S. troops, 5,000 UK troops and another 10,000 from Morocco and various former French colonies in Africa (and some Foreign Legion units) President Maamun al-Kuzbari continues to proclaim Syrian independence and calling for foreign forces to leave. The country has no army, and only a paramilitary police force armed and trained by the U.S., U.K. and French. The Israelis continue to oppose any armed force for Syria and continue to attack arms depots and police outposts they deem threatening to their security.
June 26, 1980
Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 crashes into the sea near Palermo after an explosion occurs in the air; 81 people die. After an investigation a bomb or a missile is suspected to be the cause of the accident. No culprits are indentified.
Miriam Daly, a prominent member of the National H-Block / Armagh Committee, was shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries at her home in Andersontown, Belfast.
June 26-29, 1980
Pope Pius XIII visits Spain and receives a popular welcome.
June 27, 1980
U.S. President George Wallace signs Proclamation 4771, requiring 18- to 25-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to tensions in China and other recent events.
June 29, 1980
Vigdis Finnbogadottir is elected president of Iceland, making her the first woman democratically elected as head of state.
June 30, 1980
The pre-decimal Sixpence withdrawn from circulation.
The Grundig company announced that its factory in Belfast would close with the loss of 1,000 jobs.
July 1, 1980
A fire guts the Alexandra Palace.
The IRB issued a statement formally re-naming itself the Patriotic Irish Republican Army (PIRA), re-adopting a variation of the name and the initials it had before the failed Rambouillet process.
A new constitution is presented for the Spanish people to vote on in a referendum. It incorporates many concepts from the Federal Republic of Germany’s Basic Law as well as a Bill of Rights based on the American and French Constitutions. The Parliament and the Government are to be elected by the people, while the President of the Republic is to be elected by an electoral college composed of members of parliament and representatives of various regional and communal governments. The Basques are formally invited to participate in the referendum. (The Constitution has a clause stating that no region of Spain, choosing to leave Spain, shall be re-integrated by force save it is being done by a foreign army at the behest of conquering Spanish territory for a foreign state).
July 2, 1980
The Healey government published a proposal for Home Rule in Northern Ireland based on a modified federal approach with a Northern Ireland Legislature based on popular sovereignty and an Upper House based on sectarian equality. (Similar in principle to the Canadian and Australian Senates). The so-called Healey plan was denounced by Unionists as “a sell-out” and by most Nationalists and Republicans as “a Trojan horse.”
July 4, 1980
The Basque government, re-stating its autonomy, chooses not to participate in the Spanish constitutional referendum.
ISTC strikers begin a campaign of harassing tourists at popular sites in the UK and at tourist hotels in an effort to drive away visitors and thus bring about a decline in British visitors revenues.
July 7, 1980 – forward
A World War I type static front develops in Kwangsi, between Naning and Chin-hsien, between the combined Vietnamese and Chinese forces in Southern China. What develops until well into 1981 is a series of deadly battles along trench lines which soon evolve into a war of attrition. By the logic of numbers the Vietnamese should be forced back; the fact that they aren’t, and are able to hold-off a much larger Chinese military is attributable mostly to poor leadership and equipment and low morale on the Chinese side. During much of the fighting the Vietnamese routinely take large numbers of prisoners who are mainly starving men with PTSD who give-up because they can’t go on. The Chinese are able to hold-off any Vietnamese advances only because they have more bodies to throw into the lines than the otherwise better equipped Vietnamese forces.
July 7, 1980
The Safra massacre, or Day of the Long Knives, occurred in the coastal town Safra (north to Beirut) on July 7, 1980, during the Phalangist civil war, as part of Bashir Gemayel's effort to consolidate all the Christian fighters under his leadership in the Lebanese Forces.
The Phalangist forces launched a surprise attack on the Tigers, a 500-man militia that was the armed force of the National Liberal Party of ex-Lebanese President Camille Chamoun. The attack was supposed to be conducted at around 4:00 a.m., but in order to spare the life of Camille's son and commander of the Tigers Dany Chamoun, the attack was postponed to 10:00 a.m. to make sure that Dany left for Fakra. The attack claimed the lives of roughly 83 people.
Prior to the attack, Camille Chamoun decided to disarm the militia in order to avoid further bloodshed from both the Phalangists and the Tigers. After the attack, Chamoun’s faction declined in influence.
Since the collapse of the PJO and PLO and with Western and Central Syria under western occupation, and backed by the Israeli military presence in the South of Lebanon, the Phalange have largely taken control of Lebanon and defeated or encircled various Arab militias. The Phalange remain heavily armed with support from Israel.
After the Safra Massacre Charles Malik, the then President of Lebanon, steps down from office.
July 8, 1980
A wave of anti-communist strikes begins in Lublin, Poland.
The U.S. Senate passes the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA: also known as “Superfund”) by a vote of 53-46. The act is delayed in the Republican controlled House until December.
July 9, 1980
Pope Pius XIII visits Brazil; 7 people are crushed to death in a crowd meeting him.
July 10, 1980
Governor George Bush (R-TX) reiterates that he is not interested in the Vice Presidency. “I told the people of Texas I would serve the full term if elected, and that is my commitment, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
July 11, 1980
Atlas Shrugged, an action-drama film directed by Sam Peckinpah and loosely based on the novel by Ayn Rand, is released and distributed by United Artists.
July 13, 1980
Bachir Gemayel is elected President of Lebanon by the rump parliament dominated by the Phalangist forces.
July 14-17, 1980
The Republican National Convention – Detroit Michigan.
Former California Governor Ronald Reagan and Illinois Governor Donald Rumsfeld continue their battle for the Republican Party Presidential Nomination.
The tally on the first ballot is (1424 needed to win):
Ronald Reagan – 1398
Donald Rumsfeld – 1351
Jack Williams – 77
Trent Lott - 20
Two minor candidates, Lott and Williams, are attempting to be King makers while Reagan and Rumsfeld split 588 super delegates about evenly between them. Prior to the second ballot Ronald Reagan announces that he will name former New York Congressman and Gubernatorial Candidate Jack Kemp as his running mate in an effort to sow up support among fiscal conservatives. However this backfires when Clarke Reed, leader of the Mississippi delegation, and other social conservatives lead a boycott against Kemp who, while being a fiscal conservative, is known as being a moderate on social policy views. Clarke and Jesse Helms are particularly incensed by Kemp’s positive views (and Congressional votes) on affirmative action and civil rights for homosexuals. This latter point also draws fire on Reagan from Strom Thurmond and Senate Republican leader William Brock (R-TN). [Clarke, Helms, Thurmond and Brock are called “the four horsemen” over this, or more derisively “the four inquisitors.”]
Governor Rumsfeld counters by naming popular Southern Conservative Congressman Jack Edwards (William Jackson Edwards) as his running mate, launching an end-run around Reagan’s efforts to consolidate his hold on the conservatives. Rumsfeld also pledges to end support for the Equal Rights Amendment and school busing. Minor candidate Jack Williams drops out and endorses a Rumsfeld-Edwards ticket, as do the four horsemen. Trent Lott, noting the direction things are going, also endorses a Rumsfeld-Edwards ticket over a Reagan-Kemp one.
Rumsfeld narrowly wins the nomination on the second ballot:
Donald Rumsfeld – 1428
Ronald Reagan – 1419
Jack Williams - 1
Trent Lott – 1
Jack Edwards is then nominated for Vice President
Jack Edwards – 2505
Strom Thurmond – 108
Trent Lott – 62
Jack Williams – 48
John Rarick - 35
Eliot Richardson – 34
Ronald Reagan – 20
Jack Kemp - 11
Barry Goldwater Sr. – 9
Barry Goldwater Jr. - 8
Richard M. Nixon - 3
Spiro Agnew - 1
Augusto Pinochet - 1
Donald H. Rumsfeld is the Republican Party nominee for President in 1980 and Jack Edwards is the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1980.
Many moderate Republicans leave the convention dismayed. However, while Reagan supporters are not pleased, they find in Edwards a suitable candidate to rally around even if they question Rumsfeld’s conservative credentials.
July 15, 1980
A severe and destructive thunderstorm strikes 4 counties in western Wisconsin, including the city of Eau Claire. It causes over $250m in damage, and 1 person is killed.
Prime Minister Lougheed declares: “Quebec is not one indivisible entity, as some in the Quebec government would maintain. If Quebec is to separate from Canada, then we must first define what is Quebec.”
Premier Rene Levesque (PQ): “The people of Quebec have voted for sovereignty, and it is not up to the government of Canada to dictate to us what is, and what is not Quebec. Quebec is a whole entity within its present borders, and this is all of Quebec – indivisible – which shall form a the sovereign political entity of Quebec to be governed by the Quebec people.
Inter-Governmental Minister Joe Clark issues a white paper defining the following questions to be reviewed in defining the boundaries of g a sovereign Quebec:
1] The northern two-thirds of the province would be retained by Canada following independence, on the basis that the territory had been assigned (not ceded) to the Province of Quebec in two steps, in 1898 and 1912.
2] All Quebec territory south of the St. Lawrence River would also be retained by Canada, on the basis of the 18th-century claim of the then-colonies of New York and Massachusetts to these lands, which had been abandoned by the British Crown only after Quebec had been captured by Britain in 1759.
3] The Pontiac region of west Quebec, the lower north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the western part of the island of Montreal would remain in Canada on the basis that local populations are predominantly non-Francophone, and presumably therefore would be Canadian rather than Québécois in its loyalties.
Clark’s white paper calculated that the resulting independent Quebec republic would contain somewhat less than one-quarter of the province’s total landmass, have a population of around 2.9 million, and would be about 97% French-speaking. The parts remaining in Canada would contain over three million residents, of whom about two-thirds would be French-speaking.
Additionally, The Grand Council of the Crees and the Inuit of Nunavik in Northern Quebec both expressed to the governments in Ottawa and Quebec City that they wanted to keep their lands in Canada should Quebec secede, invoking international laws that guarantee their right to self-determination. To bolster their point the Cree held a referendum and voted 95% in favour of staying in Canada should Quebec secede.
Premier Rene Levesque: “You cannot carve-up Quebec like a Christmas goose and leave us with the smaller parts. Quebec is all of Quebec, the sovereign right of its people stretches from Labrador to the Ottawa River. Quebec is a whole and no one has a right to separate from it.”
Joe Clark: “That is a very simplistic determination, and one not rooted in law. The fact is that what Quebec may take out of Confederation is not equal to the province of Quebec within Confederation. In effect, Mr. Levesque cannot enjoy the fruits of Confederation at the same time he is actively working to split it apart. He must respect the rights of other regions of Canada and work within the framework of the laws and constitutional precedents provided.”
RL: “We will not be reduced to a North American Belgium – a tiny island of francophone people swamped by English culture. Our nation will be the historic Quebec.”
Jean Drapeau (Mayor of Montreal): “If the people of Quebec have the right to decide their future, then the people of Montreal have no less a right and we will hold our own referendum. We will measure district by district, and those districts which wish to join Mr. Levesque may do so, but those who vote for a Montreal within Canada shall not blithely surrender their Canadian rights to the Quebec government.”
Reagan Independent (Conservative) Ticket
After Governor Donald Rumsfeld was nominated at the Republican National Convention, a number of Reagan’s more zealous supporters suggested that he launch an independent candidacy in the fall, much as former California Congressman and HUD Secretary Ron Dellums had done to challenge the Democratic Party from the left. Reagan supporters believed that as an independent, running under a conservative banner, Reagan could paint both Carey and Rumsfeld as too liberal for the American electorate. In effect, this plan foresaw Reagan decisively outclassing Rumsfeld, while relegating Carey to the third position as he fought to fend off the challenge from Dellums’ We The People movement. Critical to this was the idea that Reagan could capture support from the Christian Values Movement and many who were leaving the GOP for the Libertarian Party. Reagan’s supporters argued that as an independent, Reagan would be free to “run as Reagan”, without any of Bush’s baggage, and that he could win enough States in the West, South and Mid-West to reach 270 Electoral Votes, the amount required to win the Presidency. Conservative Illinois Congressman Philip Crane was proposed as Reagan’s running mate, although Barry Goldwater Sr. and James Buckley were also under consideration. (Jack Kemp was not on the list, his fatal flaw among social conservatives having become apparent at the Convention, where it arguably cost Reagan the re-nomination).
According to contemporaries, Reagan seriously considered the idea, but was eventually talked out of it after several GOP leaders whom he respected, including Barry Goldwater Sr., met with him and advised that his independent candidacy would only further split an already divided GOP, leaving an opening which Carey and the Democrats could exploit (or worse, open the door to a 1972-type Electoral chaos). After talking with these leaders Reagan abandoned the idea, and retired from active politics as a candidate (he remained a spokesman for conservative causes and candidates for another decade).
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July 17 – 22, 1980
Former Vice President Saddam Hussein of Iraq is tried by the Revolutionary Court for exceeding his authority and adventurism in excess of his governmental mandate, enriching himself with state assets, plotting treason against the Revolutionary Command Council and one count of homicide. He is found guilty on all four counts and sentenced to death. The government does not comment on or explain how he lost an eye and a leg while in custody.
July 19–August 3, 1980
The 1980 Summer Olympics (XXII Olympiad) are held in Moscow, Soviet Union.
The senior U.S. Representative who attends the opening and closing ceremonies is Vice President William Scranton. The venue for the XXIII Olympiad in 1984 is to be Los Angeles, California.
These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:
Nation Gold+ Silver+ Bronze= Total
1 Soviet Union 55+31+46 = 132
2 United States 41+31+27 = 99
3 East Germany 35+32+ 30 = 97
4 Canada 12+ 26+ 31 = 69
5 West Germany 11+ 14+ 15 = 40
6 Bulgaria 10+ 12+ 13= 35
7 Romania 7+ 11+ 6 = 24
8 Hungary 11+ 6+ 6 = 23
9 France 6+4+6 = 16
10 India 6 +4+ 4 = 14
July 19, 1980
Sprio Agnew: "Don Rumsfeld, as you all know, was once my Chief of Staff and is my protege. His nomination by the Republican Party for President can only be described as a victory for the patriot cause in this nation. Soon the forces of General Secretary Wallace, and his would be Politburo successor Governor Carey, will be chased out and we will reclaim the true America from Wallace's Soviet vision of our America. Don Rumsfeld is a tough guy and a true patriot. He wrestled at Princeton and was a fighter pilot in the Navy, so he understands how to be forceful and to take action. He's a brilliant guy and dedicated to seeing the strenght of this country revivied. I encourage you to vote for Don for President."
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Reporter: "Do you consider yourself Spiro Agnew's protégé?"
Donald Rumsfeld: "Protégé is perhaps not the correct way to put it. I would rather think of it as a working collaboration, with me supporting our Constitutional President at that time. You have to remember it was a troubled time, there was a Constitutional crisis over who the legitimate President was, and Spiro Agnew stepped in to fill the void under very difficult circumstances. He asked me to serve, and I felt it was my duty to the country to support him in the difficult task of leading our nation. To do any less would, in my book, have been unpatriotic. So, I like to think, Mr. Agnew and I worked together on behalf of the country in a time of difficulty and we helped to keep the country strong and safe during our watch."
Reporter: "So, you make no apologies about how it ended?"
DR: "Why should I? I didn't work for Mr. Agnew in Maryland; I wasn't involved in that aspect of his life. That had nothing to do with me."
R: "But did you counsel him to pardon himself? Wasn't that a misstep that endangered the Presidency?"
DR: "It was ill advised, but Mr. Agnew did not seek my counsel on the matter. In fact he felt that, as a lawyer, he understood the legal aspect of the situation, and he acted on that experience and according to his own judgment. Was it flawed, yes, I guess so. But he was the President at the time, so ultimately it was his call to make. Did he ask me, no he didn't. And since he didn't ask me, I didn't feel it was my place to offer an opinion. Had he done so, I might have pointed out the pitfalls, as several others did. But he, Mr. Agnew, chose his course in spite of that opinion, so I doubt any discouragement from me could have made any difference."
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July 20, 1980
Former Reagan for President campaign manager William P. Casey joins the Rumsfeld-Jackson campaign staff as a campaign Vice-Chair.
Imam Abdel Muhram, a senior Wahhabi cleric in exile from Arabia is shot to death in Cairo, Egypt. It is believe his murder was ordered by the Iraqi secret service as he was gathering exiles around him to resist the Iraqi occupation of Arabia. The Imam was a prominent supporter of Mahrous bin Laden.
The Patriotic Irish Republican Army (PIRA) planted a car bomb in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, which caused extensive damage to the centre of the town.
July 22 – August 19, 1980
The Seventh Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly is convened by Senegal to consider the issue of a Palestinian homeland and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
July 23 -24, 1980
We The People holds the “Grand People’s Convention” in Chicago, where Ron Dellums is nominated for President after a rabble rousing speech by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Ralph Nader is nominated for Vice President.
July 23 – October 11, 1980
Soyuz 37: Joao Branco of the DPRP (first Portuguese national in space) arrived with Commander Viktor Gorbatko aboard Salyut 6 in Soyuz 37; they both returned to Earth in the Soyuz 36 spacecraft approximately eight days later. The long-duration crew launched in Soyuz 35 returned to earth in the Soyuz 37 spacecraft at the end of their 186 day mission.
July 25, 1980
The album Back in Black is released by the Australian band AC/DC.
President of al-Bakr of Iraq rejects Saddam Hussein’s appeal against the death penalty. As an act of family compassion he orders that Saddam’s soon-to-be-widow receive a state pension, and that his sons be allowed to leave Iraq for exile in Egypt. The sons, Kusai and Uday Saddam, must pledge fealty to the Iraqi state and swear not to exact revenge for the death of their father, and swear on pain of death to never return to Iraq, as a condition of this leniency.
July 26, 1980
Saddam Hussein is hanged in Baghdad. His body is later burned and buried in an unmarked grave.
July 27, 1980
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, deposed Shah of Iran, dies in New York.
July 29, 1980
The United States Volleyball team wins a gold medal by defeating the Soviet Volleyball team in the finals at the Summer Olympics. Some Americans consider this revenge for the U.S. Hockey team’s defeat at Lake Placid.
The Indian field hockey team wins a gold medal when it defeats the United States field hockey team, which wins silver at the Olympics.
The Knesset
Menachem Begin MK (Likud-Prime Minister): “Israel will have borders that ensure our security and survival. Today these borders stretch from the Litani River and the Golan to the Sinai Canal and include Judea and Samaria. This is Israel, and it is being populated by Israelis. No one will ever drive us out.”
Abba Eban MK (Labour): “Every decade we see an expansion of what we choose to call Israel. Once we were the new state within the old mandate of Palestine. Then we added the Sinai and the West Bank, which were occupied territories of foreign states for a while, but which the government has now fallen into the habit of referring to as part of Israel. Now the Prime Minister includes a twenty-five mile strip of Southern Lebanon into his definition of Israel. This has the character of expansion by creeping. Each time we take a little more form our neighbours. One wonders where it will stop. Amman? The Euphrates? How far will we stretch the boundary of Israel before, like an overinflated balloon, the whole thing pops?”
Ariel Sharon MK (Likud): “I would sooner govern a hostile Arab population as far as the Euphrates or even the Iranian border than have that hostile Arab population governing me.”
Meir Kahane MK (Independent): “The solution to the Arab problem is to drive the out. Israel can have peace once the Arabs are outside our borders.”
Shlomo Hillel MK (Labour-Opposition Leader): “A delightful statement of Lebensraum if ever I heard it. So, what would we do if they decide they don’t want to go? Special trains to the East, perhaps?”
Ya'akov Meridor MK (Likud): “Mr. Hillel insults us all with his allusions to the Nazis. The fact is that Israel must have secure borders, and the space we now inhabit is the historic boundary of Israel. If the Arabs will not accept this, then they must go. Of course we will have no special trains to the East, but we will be firm.”
Mosche Dayan MK (Labour): “I agree that the ancient borders of Israel varied, and that there are historic claims to the West Bank territory. But, and I have studied the ancient sources in detail, have I yet to see even an ancient map of Israel with a claim to the Sinai and territory as far north as the Litani. The current government’s ancient claim is the newest of ancient claims I have ever heard of.”
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July 30, 1980
Vanuatu gains independence.
Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law. It began as a private member's bill proposed by Geula Cohen, whose original text stated that "the integrity and unity of greater Jerusalem (Yerushalayim rabati) in its boundaries after the Six-Day War shall not be violated." However, this clause was dropped after the first reading in the Knesset. As the Knesset thus declined to specify boundaries and did not use the words "annexation" or "sovereignty", Ian Lustick writes that "The consensus of legal scholars is that this action added nothing to the legal or administrative circumstance of the city, although, especially at the time, its passage was considered to have political importance and sparked a vigorous protest reaction from the world community."
August 1, 1980
The Israeli government passes a bill which declares that the official name of the area “previously known as the West Bank of the Jordan River” shall now be called “Judea and Samaria.” The bill also calls for an increase in Jewish settlements. Many opponents of the settlements in Israel see this bill as a first step toward annexation of the West Bank. The passage of the bill evokes protests in Israel as well as anti-Israel demonstrations in many Arab cities.
August Poll
Carey: 34%
Rumsfeld:33%
Dellums: 8%
Galtieri: 5%
Christian Values: 3%
Koufax: 2%
Undecided: 15%
“We’re living in a dictatorship. They tell you what to plant, how much land you can use, what to keep idle. Then they pay you so much you can’t afford to refuse what they want you to do. Well, I’m tired of the whole damn thing. I mean the smart thing would be to vote for the Democrat, ‘cause they keep the money coming, but I’m sick of being told what to do. And if I vote Republican, they’ll do the same thing, just to keep my vote. So that’s why I’m going to vote for Galtieri. He won’t win, but I’ll feel a hell of a lot better.” – Iowa farmer.
August 2, 1980
A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200. The terrorists involved are associated with groups who attempted to stage a right-wing coup in 1979.
The Spanish people vote for the new Federal Constitution 60% - 35% - 5% (For-Against-Abstain).
The United States signs a controversial agreement to sell small arms and tanks directly to the North Vietnamese military.
August 3, 1980
A funeral is held of the late Shah in Tehran amidst tight security. His son, Shah Reza II does not attend, as matter of distancing himself politically from his unpopular father.
American fugitive murderer Charles Manson (under the name Claudio Marino) begins organizing anti-regime revolutionaries in the backcountry of Nicaragua near the Honduran border. Marino/Manson will become a key figure in helping to revitalize the largely decimated Sandinista resistance to the Managua regime. Few among his new allies realize that Commandante Toro (as he will become known) is being paid by the Honduran regime to destabilize their neighbour.
August 6, 1980
The British government announced an extra public spending package of £48 million for Northern Ireland to try to alleviate the high level of unemployment in the region which stood at 14.7 per cent. This announcement came after a meeting between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTUs) and Dennis Healey.
Lt. General Mohammed al-Karami, exile former head of the Saudi Air Force is gunned down by suspected Iraqi agents in Basel, Switzerland.
August 8, 1980
There was widespread violence following commemorations of the ninth anniversary of the introduction of Internment.
Bachir Gemayel is sworn in as the 12th President of Lebanon (Term: August 8, 1980 – August 8, 1986).
August 9, 1980
Following protests on the ninth anniversary of Internment there was continuing violence and three people were killed and 18 injured in a number of incidents.
August 10, 1980
Hurricane Allen (category 3) pounds southeastern Texas.
August 11 – 14, 1980
The Democratic National Convention is held in New York City.
Governor Hugh Carey of New York is nominated for President on the first ballot. He attempts to broker a grand bargain with former Secretary of State Henry Jackson to join him as his running mate, however the negotiations fall through. Instead Carey chooses former Florida Governor and Secretary of Transportation Reubin Askew as his running mate. This dismays some Kennedy supporters who had been backing Kennedy ally Senator John Culver of Iowa.
Hugh Carey is the 1980 Democratic Nominee for President and Reubin Askew is the 1980 Democratic Nominee for Vice President.
Indian and Chinese forces exchange fire in Nathu La on the (disputed) border between the two countries. As in Southeast Asia, some Chinese troops take the opportunity to defect.
August 15, 1980
37 people die as a result of fires started by arson at adjacent London nightclubs.
An elderly Protestant man and his daughter were found dead at their home in Belfast; they had been beaten, stabbed and shot.
August 17, 1980
In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.
August 19, 1980
Nothing happened.
August 20, 1980
United Nations Security Council Resolution 484, voted on 20 August 1980, declared Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law a violation of international law, and states that the Council will not recognize this law, and calls on member states to accept the decision of the council. This resolution also calls upon member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city. The law declared Jerusalem to be Israel's "complete and united" capital.
The resolution was passed with 13 votes to 1 against, with the United States vetoing the resolution. It is widely believed that the Wallace Administration ordered Deputy Ambassador Ted Weiss to veto the resolution in order not to alienate support from the Carey-Askew Democratic Party ticket. (A minor drama had erupted on the night of August 19-20, 1980 when U.N. Ambassador Cyrus Vance resigned on principle rather than cast a veto of the resolution).
August 24, 1980
Two East German advisors to the South Yemeni Army are murdered by gunmen disguised as South Yemeni soldiers. It is believed they were anti-Iraqi insurgents from Arabia operating within South Yemen.
August 25, 1980
The Israeli Navy sank a Cypriot registered freighter which was attempting to smuggle PJO commandos into the coastal areas of Israel. The Cypriot crew are killed along the Palestinians.
August 26, 1980
U.S. negotiators report to Secretary of State Brzezinski that they are close to a deal with the Iraqis which would bring about a phased withdrawal of Iraqi forces from the Arabian peninsula.
Rajiv Gandhi begins working for Indian Airlines.
August 31, 1980
Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, has made efforts all summer to negotiate with the anti-regime forces, but this has failed. After returning from a Warsaw Pact Summit in Moscow, where he was strongly warned by the other Warsaw Pact leaders to get his house in order (more strongly by the East German, Czech and Hungarian leadership than by the Soviets, who did their best to "advise" Gierek) he declares Martial Law and orders the military and security forces to restore order. This declaration is met with unrest and rioting in many major Polish cities, leading to an even more brutal crackdown.
Gierek's order generates significant international protest, especially notable from the Communist Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Berlinguer, who considered Gierek to be a more enlightened leader. Many citizens in Poland are dismayed by this use of marital law by the regime almost forty-one years to the day Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.
The strikers in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk close-up the shipyard to resist the invasion and manage to hold out against the incursion for a further eighteen days.
September 1, 1980
Terry Fox is forced to end his Marathon of Hope run outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, after finding that the cancer has spread to his lungs.
Donald Rumsfeld (R): “What was that about no more Hungarys or Czechoslovakias? “
Ford launches one of the most important new cars of the year - the mark 3 Escort, which is a technological innovation in the small family car market, spelling the end of the traditional rear-wheel drive saloon in favour of the front-wheel drive hatchback. An estate version is also available.
William P. Casey meets with Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in Baghdad. The reason for Casey’s visit is not stated (the whole matter is kept secret by the Rumsfeld-Jackson campaign) but later reports suggest that Casey asked the Iraqi President to continue stalling on the Arabian negotiations until after the November election, in order to forestall a breakthrough by the Democratic Administration which could cause a positive effect for the Carey-Askew ticket at the polls. It has also been suggested that Casey negotiated with President al-Baqr for an oil price bump later in the fall which would slow the economy down around election day. In return Casey is alleged to have promised that a Republican administration would offer Iraq easier terms than currently on the table.
Soon after Casey’s visit to Baghdad the breakthrough of August 26th evaporates as talks continue to stall.
Pope Pius XIII denounces the declaration of Martial law in Poland and the arrest of senior Polish clergy by security forces. In a rare show of solidarity he meets with both the Italian President Noberto Bobbio and the Communist Prime Minister Enrico Berlinguer to join with their condemnations of the Polish government action.
Indian Prime Minister Sundar Das declares that China is a nation without credibility and predicts that it will soon descend into medieval chaos.
September 2, 1980
Hugh Carey (D): “Events in Poland remind us, if we needed the reminding, of the true nature of the Communist menace. Predictably, mendaciously a satelite of the Soviet Union has acted to snuff out peaceful protest in the time tested methods of Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Should we be surprised, given that Yuri Andropov, who played a significant role in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, now reigns in the Kremlin? The old Communist spymaster, acting through his Polish understudy, has given vent to the way he knows best to solve the problem of freedom. My prescription is to keep reminding him of the problem of freedom by throwing our support behind the Polish people. The United States government must not allow normal relations with the Soviet Union to continue until the last soldier has been withdrawn from the streets of Poland. If they want trade, we must say, what trade? Not until the people of Poland are free. Cultural exchanges? Only when the people of Poland are free. That must be our refrain; normal relations? Only when the people of Poland are free!”
The Spanish Federal Election
Congress of Deputies (350 seats; 176 needed to form a government)
Socialist Worker’s Party* ---- 154 seats (44.0%)
National Democratic Union ----- 80 seats (22.9%)
Communist Party of Spain -- 41 seats (11.7%)
Democratic Coalition --- 17 seats ( 4.9%)
Royalist Party of Spain ------ 12 seats ( 3.4%)
Catholic Rights Party ------ 11 seats (3.1%)
Socialist Party of Catalonia* --- 9 seats (2.6%)
Spanish Labour Party* --- 9 seats (2.6%)
Catalan Regional Party ---- 8 seats (2.3%)
Socialist Party of Andalusia* –- 5 seats (1.4%)
Republican Left of Catalonia – 2 seats (0.6%)
Canarian People’s Union* --- 1 seat (0.3%)
Aragonese Regional Party --- 1 seat (0.3%)
*In post election negotiations the Socialist Worker’s Party, the Socialist Party of Catalonia, the Spanish Labour Party, the Socialist Party of Andalusia and the Canarian People’s Union agree to form a coalition (154+9+9+5+1= 178 seats). Guerra organized the coalition talks to include as many non-Communist Parties of the left as possible so as to avoid having to form a governing coalition with the Communist Party, mainly to avoid criticism from the right that the new Spanish Republic had fallen under Communist influence as the Portuguese had after their revolution in 1975.
Prime Minister Before Election: Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez (as appointed caretaker since April 2, 1980)
Prime Minister After the Election: Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez (Parliamentary leader of the PSOE)
The Senate (218 seats; 110 needed for a majority):
(Directly elected + regional government seats)
Socialist Worker’s Party ---- 85+15 = 100 seats (45.9%)
National Democratic Union ----- 39 + 14 = 53 seats (24.3%)
Communist Party of Spain -- 16 + 7 = 23 seats (10.6%)
Royalist Party of Spain ------ 9 + 4 = 13 seats ( 6.0%)
Democratic Coalition --- 10 + 1= 11 seats ( 5.0%)
Catholic Rights Party ------ 4 + 4 = 8 seats (3.7%)
Catalan Regional Party ---- 2 + 2 = 4 seats (1.8%)
Socialist Party of Andalusia –- 1+1 = 2 seats (0.9%)
Republican Left of Catalonia --- 0+1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
Canarian People’s Union --- 0 + 1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
Aragonese Regional Party --- 0 + 1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
Loyal Navarre Party --------- 0 + 1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
In the Senate the Socialist Worker’s Party, the Socialist Party of Andalusia and the Canarian People’s Union uphold the government. (100 + 2 + 1 = 103 seats). The necessary coalition includes one-off deals with smaller parties that can often be played off against larger rivals (such as the Catholic Rights Party against the Communists, or the Communists against the right-wing etc.).
The National Democratic Union is the old Falangist Party (the Movimiento Nacional) with a new, democratic face, representing itself as a democratic party of the right. One of the facts the new Republic must confront is that at least one-fifth of the Spanish electorate are still loyal to the old Movimiento. When the Royalists and the Catholic Party are included this represents around 30% of the electorate still expressing their support for the old conservative view of Spain through their ballot. (And estimates indicate that in the first election blocks of supporters for these groups (perhaps another 5 – 8%) didn’t vote because they were suspicious of the revolution and the whole process leading up to the polling).
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William P. Casey goes to Jerusalem, where he holds private (and secret)talks with members of the Likud government. According to later reports he strikes a deal with the Israeli government which will help support the election of a Republican ticket in the United States Presidential election through the support of the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This is a major shift from previous Jewish support for Democratic candidates. Casey persuades the Israelis that a President Carey would continue dialogue with the Arab states (pitched as being at the expense of Israeli security – a fact believed by the Likud leadership), whereas a President Rumsfeld would be more supportive of Israel.
September Poll
Carey: 37%
Rumsfeld:32%
Dellums: 8%
Galtieri: 5%
Christian Values: 4%
Koufax: 2%
Undecided: 12%
September 4, 1980
Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana institutes a Federal court challenge, on behalf of the State of Louisiana, alleging that the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Income Tax) was not properly ratified and is therefore invalid.
September 5, 1980
The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km), stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.
The Soviet Union vetoes a UN Security Council resolution condemning the declaration of Martial law in Poland.
“Thing is, Republicans and Democrats, they both want to tell us what to do. But you know, you look at the last twenty years, and you gotta say, neither of them done anything worth a lick spit, at least nothing that lasted for long. New Frontier, Great Society, Silent Majority – its all just been one big flim flam. So what if I vote for Galtieri, what difference is it gonna make? Can’t say, ‘cept maybe it’ll put those bums in the big parties on notice that next time they gotta earn my vote.” – a Libertarian voter.
September 6, 1980
Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the exiled former head of the Saudi Arabian secret service is assassinated in Paris by Wahhabi radicals.
In an address to the Organization of American States Argentine President Carlos Humberto Perette re-asserts Argentina’s sovereign claim to the Falkland (Malvina) Islands. He calls on the OAS to support Argentina’s claim. Only the United States, Belize, El Salvador and Nicaragua vote against the measure.
The Israeli government passes a law banning flights by El-Al, the national airline on Saturdays (the Jewish Sabbath). Another Sabbath law prohibits the flying of foreign flags in Israel on the Sabbath and requires foreigners, including tourists, to remain in their lodgings or hotels from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday.
Edward Gierek survives an attempt to depose him by Politburo member Stanislaw Kania and Polish Defence Minister General Wojciech Jaruzelski. Gierek, with the aid of Military Security Chief General Czeslaw Kiszczak, retains nominal control of the government, although Kiszczak increasingly becomes the strongman behind the scenes as the martial law regime plays out. Kania and Jaruzelski are jailed, along with Jaruzelski allies Generals Florian Siwicki and Michal Janiszewski. General Joseph Uzycki, previously a colonel loyal to Kiszczak is promoted and becomes commander of the Polish military forces (and Kiszczak's right hand).
September 7, 1980
Donald Rumsfeld: “I don’t see any point in going on air with Agnew. In fact I see a lot of downside to it; he’s become a big joke.”
Dick Cheney: “No question it’s negative, but Ted is making all kinds of noises about what he might do if you don’t throw him a rope and make an appearance.”
DR: “Like what?”
DC: “Let’s just say we don’t want him making too big a deal about how he shaped you when you were his Chief of Staff. Give him his carrot, and he’ll shut-up; we’ll make it part of an agreement for the interview. We hold more cards than he does because he has next to no credibility and we are doing him a favour.”
DR: “I thought you and Roger fired him.”
DC: “Roger and Pat are easing him out. Meantime we need him happy and not throwing any bombs at us, so go do the interview.”
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Agnew on Point
SA: So Don, now that you’ve got your hat in the ring, I hope you plan to restore the level of discipline and forthrightness that we had when I was in the White House.”
DR: “I’m planning to reverse seven years of deterioration and chaos, which this country has been experiencing since you and President Nixon both left office. I have nothing but respect for General Gavin, of course, but the current administration has been a disaster. We need to re-focus on priorities which are going to bring prosperity back to the American people.”
SA: “When you and I worked together we kept the Russians out of the Middle East, and our work kept South Vietnam free. Both my successor and General Secretary Wallace have presided over a roll-back of freedom and the return of the Soviets to the Middle East. I’m hoping you are for a strong policy to reverse that troubling trend, Don.”
DR: “Of course, in your Administration, we started the process of keeping South Vietnam free, after others had sold the South Vietnamese out with a peace agreement that was nothing but a surrender in disguise. We have to give General Gavin his due for carrying that vision forward to success, though of course if we hadn’t started it, he wouldn’t have done it. But, Ted, if this country is to remain strong and to be in a position to roll-back Soviet advances, then we have to have a strong economy. We need to do what I have done in Illinois, and that is to get government off the backs of American businesses so they can hire, and American taxpayers, so they can spend. Once we get the economy out of the pit it has been in the last eight years, due largely to big government thinking which has mired our economy, instead of freeing-up market forces, then we will be in a better position to undo some of the mischief the Russian bear has been up to while President Wallace was asleep at the switch.”
SA: “It’s unfortunate that it is taken seven years before we can get back on the right path. I’m glad to see you’ll be carrying forward our work.”
DR: “Seven years is a long time, Ted, and a lot changes. Of course, you planted the seeds and I was happy to play a part in that, but that garden has been worked over by other hands since then. If I’m elected, I’m hoping to start a new policy of strength for the new decade. That’s going to involve re-asserting our strength and international leadership, and re-building our economy so that we have economic as well as military power to back us. Achieving that will take a few years, time you unfortunately didn’t have. But we will succeed and make America great again.”
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September 10. 1980
The Israeli government passes a bill which funds the increase in the number of Jewish settlements in the Sinai. This is seen as a precursor of annexation of that region by Israel. At the same time Israel has been driving Palestinians out of Gaza and toward enclosed areas within the Sinai region. Opponents call this scheme “the Warsaw Ghetto in the desert”, a term which infuriates Menachem Begin who becomes ever more resolute in his design to make Sinai a part of Israel. This act effectively ends Secretary Brzezinski’s efforts to mediate a peace agreement between the two.
September 11, 1980
The Du Pont Company announced the closure of one of its plants in Derry with the resultant loss of 400 jobs.
September 12-16, 1980
The eighth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was held between 12 September – 16 September 1980, after the Soviet veto of a Security Council resolution, to consider the situation in Poland. Lead by US Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski (himself a Polish exile), members were requested to consider sanctions against the USSR and Poland for the impostion of martial law in Poland (and the Soviet Union's failure to call for the Polish government to reverse its decision).
The USSR veto of a resolution led the other members to invoke the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution to defer the issue to the General Assembly in an emergency special session. It was the sixth emergency special session since the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution was adopted in 1950. The session was dominated by questions of its legitimacy since the Polish Communist government representative represented a martial law government beign used to put down the Polish people who were calling for more freedoms. The session rejected the Polish (Communist) government argument (supported by the Soviet delegate) that martial law had been necessary in the interests of stability after a general strike had crippled the Polish economy that summer. The U.S., Britain and France each denounced the martial law as unlawful and an attack by the Polish government on its people, and called on the Soviets to use their leverage over the Warsaw government to end the martial law regime, which was fashioned into the resolution from the General Assembly, which also called for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of troops from Poland's streets, so that its people could freely choose its own economic, political and social systems. The Soviet Union and its allies, including the Polish representative, denounced the special session as “a provocation” and “an unwarranted intrusion into the internal affairs of the Polish sovereign state.”
September 16, 1980
Rumsfeld Ad
Background: Montage of Mug shot photos.
Narration: “In his six years as Governor of New York, Hugh Carey has pardoned or released over six thousand serious offenders, including rapists and murders – some after serving only a quarter of their sentences.
“The New York State crime commission reports that over three thousand of these criminals have gone on to commit new crimes within a year of their release.
Background photo: Tug Elkins mug shot.
“One such criminal, Tug Elkins of Schenectady, who was released by Governor Carey after serving only six years of a life sentence for rape and murder, murdered two people and raped an eighty year old grandmother the same day he was released from prison.
Background photo: Grandmother with grandchildren.
“Hugh Carey, unsafe for New York; too much of a risk for America.”
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September 17, 1980
Polish security troops enter the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, to remove the last of the “Polish Summer” strikers. They are met with violent resistance and general mayhem ensues before the security forces put down the revolt. Casualties are not published but are estimated to be around 2,000.
Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is assassinated in Managua, Nicaragua. He is succeeded by Vice President Fernando Bernabé Agüero Rocha. The culprits are discovered to be Irish Republican mercenaries (and one South Vietnamese Catholic). Their actual employer is not uncovered, but it appears that the PIRA are hiring out some of their members in order make money for the organization.
Republic of China (Taiwan) forces which have been (quietly) operating with the combined Vietnamese forces in Southern China establish a prefectural office and assume some local governing responsibilities in Southern Kwangsi, in the area of China currently occupied by the Vietnamese forces. For the first time in thirty-one years the Republic of China flag is raised on the mainland.
Carey campaign statement: “Elmo “Tug” Elkins was released at the recommendation of the New York Attorney-General’s office, after a thorough review of his previous conviction lead to a conclusion that the conviction had been obtained on less than reliable evidence, a matter which the New York Court of Appeals upheld in hearing Mr. Elkins appeal of his conviction. Governor Carey acted within the parameters of the law and to ensure that justice was done in this case.”
New York State Attorney-General John M. Dewey (R): “Our office recommended that the Governor’s pardon and clemency board review the Elkins case in light of the ruling of the New York Court of Appeal, but we recommended against a release of Mr. Elkins, a known dangerous offender, before re-trial. Mr. Elkins release, and what happened afterward, is on Governor Carey’s hands.”
September 18 – 26, 1980
Soyuz 38: 12th expedition to Salyut 6. 7th international crew. Carried Intercosmos cosmonaut from Cuba. The Soyuz 38 docking occurred in darkness. As the spacecraft approached Salyut 6, the Dniepers could see only its “headlights.” Cosmonaut Valery Ryumin filmed ignition and operation of the transport’s main engine. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez of Cuba and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko docked without incident.
September 18, 1980
John Hinckley stalks Democratic Presidential candidate Hugh Carey but fails to find an opportunity to shoot him.
Premier Levesque calls a provincial election to secure a mandate for separation talks with Canada.
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), Sen. Gary Howard (CVM-LA) and Governor John Rarick (AI-LA) headline a symposium in Washington DC on the “clear-and-present danger” of homosexuality to the freedom of the Republic and its direct danger to children of all ages (equating homosexuality and pedophilia). The symposium calls for a constitutional amendment criminalizing sodomy. Republican presidential candidate Donald Rumsfeld speaks to the symposium. Hugh Carey, Ron Dellums, Ronald Galtieri and Sandy Koufax all denounce the symposium and its declarations as “bigotry” and/or “a violation of civil rights.” Ralph Nader speaks at a demonstration outside of its venue.
President Wallace makes clear his feeling on the matter when he refuses to meet with Governor Rarick, and later in a speech denounces the symposium and criticizes Rumsfeld for attending it.
September 19, 1980
Israeli Navy ships shell the coast of Turkish Northern Cyprus near an area where the PJO terrorists are believed to have embarked aboard a Cypriot ship for Israel. Later the same day two Israeli Missile boats, the INS Nitzachon and the INS GurU.S.S. John Young (DD-973) and the U.S.S. O’Brien exchange fire with the (DD-975), engaged in U.N. Cyprus patrols, before withdrawing, creating another U.S.-Israel incident.
Rumsfeld Ad: (Not played in New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania)
Scene: An actor made-up to look like Don Corleone in The Godfather sitting behind his desk.
Narration (by “Corleone”): “Yeah, you know, that’s how it works, one hand washes another. We need a deal with the Unions, you know, to make them more compliant, we go see the Governor and he says, yes. The Governor needs votes, and we say sure. Garbage contracts, our friend the Governor comes through. Republicans he don’t wanna see in office, that’s our department. And now he’s gonna go to Washington, and well, that’s an opportunity we just can’t refuse.”
Narration (end Voice over): “Stop the secret New York deals. Don’t let Carey turn the White House into the Don’s House. Vote for Rumsfeld – he can save our future.”
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September 21, 1980
First Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) rally at RAF Greenham Common.
The League of Women Voters had announced in 1979 a schedule of debates similar to those held between George Wallace and Ronald Reagan in1976. There were to be three presidential and one vice presidential. No one had much of a problem with this until it was announced that former Secretary Ron Dellums and Sen. Ronald Galtieri (Lib.-MT) might be invited to participate along with Carey and Rumsfeld. Governor Rumsfeld steadfastly refused to participate with the minor candidates included, especially Dellums (the Rumsfeld campaign argued that debating Carey and Dellums amounted to a two-on-one debate for the Democrats: the Rumsfeld spokesmen made no mention of Senator Galtieri in any of their discussions). Governor Carey, sensing he had a campaign issue, refused to debate without Dellums (although he unsuccessfully tied to get Galtieri removed: Dellums stood firm that Sen. Galtieri be included). Dellums and Galtieri were included to exclusion of all other minor candidates because they alone of the minor candidates had been polling consistently at or above five percent among potential voters, which the LWV used as an informal cut-off point.
The first debate was moderated by Bill Moyers and took place in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 21. In attendance were Governor Carey (D), former Secretary Ron Dellums (WTP) and Sen. Ronald Galtieri (Lib.-MT). An empty stool and lectern stood in for Governor Rumsfeld. In this debate Carey and Dellums exchanged barbs at each other as each tried to define himself as the leading progressive: Dellums went to the left, while Carey tried to tack to the center, trying to attract moderate Republican support. Galtieri essentially used the debate as a forum to lay-out his Libertarian views, which both Carey and Dellums attacked as either cruel or impractical.
September 22, 1980
Youth riots in the capital of the Soviet Republic of Estonia are quickly forced down.
President al-Bakr of Iraq makes a state visit to Tehran where he is greeted by the Shah and has meetings with Prime Minister Azhari.
September 23, 1980
“I’d like to go to nursing school, but I have to put myself through and I’ve had a hard time getting a good job, what with the economy being so bad. I know so many people who’ve been out of work. My father was laid off from his construction job earlier this year. He worked only seven months in the last three years. He voted for Kennedy, for Johnson, for Nixon and for Wallace. This year he’s not going to vote because he’s fed-up.
“I’ve saved enough money to get through my first year of nursing school on what I made from part-time jobs. But I need more. Last summer I got a job in a nursing home, but the state came in and told them they had to cut back on their budget. They kept the older workers but let the young people go. Young people don’t have a chance.
“Four years I had just turned eighteen and I voted for Wallace because my father and mother did: I didn’t like Reagan, he seemed phoney. This time I’ve thought about it and I’m going to vote for Ron Dellums and Ralph Nader. If they get elected then we’ll see a chance for young people, especially like me, who want a career in public service. It’s the only hope, I think.” - a WTP voter.
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September 26, 1980
The Mariel Boatlift officially ends. Fidel Castro has used the opportunity to clean-out his prisons, hospitals and mental asylums to send criminals, the chronically ill and lunatics to the United States along with other assorted riff-raff from Cuban society (among some legitimate refugees). Castro also uses the occasion to send undercover DGI intelligence agents to the US.
Carey Ad:
Narration: “As Governor of New York Hugh Carey brought balance to the management of the State’s books and saved New York City from the worst excesses of bankruptcy. As a Congressman Hugh Carey looked for ways to improve the lives of all New York families, and all families across the land.”
Hugh Carey: “When you get down to it, elected office is about what you can do to help your fellow citizens. I want to be President because I believe that I can do a better job for America’s families and bring prosperity back to this country, and that will benefit every family, from mine to yours.” (Shows Carey with his family).
Narration: “Hugh Carey and the Democrats for decent jobs in a decent America.”
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September 28, 1980
The second LWV Presidential debate was held. Governor Rumsfeld refused to attend this one, as he had the one a week before. This time Governor Carey also skipped the debate. Only Ron Dellums and Ronald Galtieri showed-up, resulting in a debate between two extremes on the political spectrum which was more of a series of speeches and remarks by each candidate exploiting free air time than a substantive debate.
September 29, 1980
The Washington Post publishes Janet Cooke's story of Jimmy, an 8-year-old heroin addict (later proven to be fabricated).
September 30, 1980
Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.
Colonel Enrique Bermudez of the Nicaraguan National Guard stages a coup which ousts President Agüero Rocha from office and replaces him with a military junta led by Bermudez, Adolfo Calero and José Aristides Sánchez Herdocia. Adolfo Calero becomes the civilian President of Nicaragua, while Bermudez becomes Chief of Staff of the National Guard.
Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana introduces a measure into the Louisiana Legislature calling for the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment (popular election of Senators).
October 1980
A series of sectarian riots between Greek and Turkish Cypriots along the buffer zone between the two enclaves leads to violence and conflict with UN troops assigned to keep the two communities apart. The division between the two halves of Cyprus now comes to resemble the Berlin Wall.
Carey AD:
Background: Montage of Hugh Carey as Governor of New York
Narration: “Upon taking office as Governor of New York, Hugh Carey cut taxes significantly, reduced corporate taxes from fourteen percent to eleven percent, capped personal income tax at ten percent, and reduced capital gains taxes. His administration also offered tax credits to encourage new investment.
“When Hugh Carey came into office New York City was bankrupt and under federal receivership. Hugh Carey brought business and labor together to craft a plan which brought New York City back from the brink and returned it to fiscal and health and political responsibility. Hugh Carey managed to keep the growth of state spending below the rate of inflation through his frequent use of line-item vetoes and fights with the New York State Legislature, which was at the time divided between a Republican-controlled Senate and an Assembly divided between three parties. Hugh Carey worked with Democrats, Republicans and even the Socialists to build working coalitions that restored fiscal soundness to New York’s government and restored confidence for all New Yorkers.
“Governor Hugh Carey signed the Willowbrook Consent Decree, which ended the warehousing of the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. His vision and leadership led to the humane treatment of the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, while making community programs for the mentally ill.
“Hugh Carey, has demonstrated effective leadership, resolve in the face adversity and compassion for his fellow human beings.
“Vote Hugh Carey for President and together we can get America working again.”
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October 1, 1980
Associated Newspapers announces that The Evening News will close and merge with The Evening Standard.
October Poll
Carey: 42%
Rumsfeld:36%
Dellums: 8%
Galtieri: 5%
Christian Values: 3%
Koufax: 2%
Undecided: 4%
“I never got anything from the Democrats and the Republicans, heh, man they just want to bring back the chains and the slave ships from Africa. That’s free enterprise to them, right? Ron Dellums speaks for me, so I’m going to put one down for him.” - a WTP voter.
“I’m white, upper middle class and from Vermont, so I don’t fit the We The People stereotype they’re trying to sell, about We The People being a ghetto movement. We need real change in our politics, and to get that I think we have to throw out the old parties. Their day has come and gone. I mean Jefferson and Lincoln were great men and all, but what’s that got to do with today? I’m voting for Ron Dellums and Ralph Nader because I want real change for all the people.” – a WTP voter.
“I was leaning to Rumsfeld, until I thought about all that Agnew stuff, and you know, I think maybe he was a little too tough in Illinois. I think Hugh Carey will do a better job for all Americans.” – an undecided voter.
“I’m a freedom voter. I voted for Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan, and every time we got less freedom. Personally, I think Rumsfeld is a sell-out like tricky Dick so this time I’m voting for Galtieri for real freedom.” – a Libertarian voter
“America is becoming as God less as the Soviet Union. This country was built on Christian morality, and now we’ve got nothing but permissiveness and rioting. We need to put the Ten Commandments into the Constitution, so I’m voting for a candidate who will do that.” –a Christian Values voter.
“Look, Republicans under Nixon and Democrats under Johnson and Wallace, they all went for the vote for them people on welfare, if you know who I mean. Them who live in the cities and don’t know how to work, you know. I believe in good Christian Values for hardworking, faithful people and that’s what we need in the White House, to bring God back into government and to crack down on them welfare bums.” – a Christian Values voter.
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Rumsfeld Ad:
As a dedicated public servant in the White House Donald Rumsfeld saved Vietnam from a Communist take-over, and he saved Israel from being overrun by Soviet backed forces.
As Governor of Illinois Donald Rumsfeld closed a billion dollar budget gap and returned money back to the pockets of Illinois taxpayers.
Under Governor Rumsfeld unemployment in Illinois went down for the first time in a decade. He privatized many services, which saved tax money and created jobs.
Donald Rumsfeld saved our country, gave people back their tax money and created jobs.
Isn’t that what we need for America today?
Donald Rumsfeld for President – he can save our future.
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Beginning in October, Libyan troops airlifted to the Aouzou Strip (Northern Chad) earlier in the year operated in conjunction with Chadian leader Goukouni's forces to reoccupy Faya. The city was then used as an assembly point for tanks, artillery and armored vehicles that moved south against the capital of N'Djamena.
Pathet Lao (Red) forces and their PLA allies are driven back by Lao government forces into the jungles of Yunnan Province in China, where a deadly war of attrition continues.
October 2, 1980
Public demonstrations around the world (mainly featuring anti-nuclear speakers) mark the first anniversary of the Kwangsi massacre.
In France this anniversary in particular re-ingnites a strong anti-nuclear movement on the left which targets President Mitterrand’s support for nuclear energy and nuclear weapons ahead of the next French Presidential election. A former Education Minister in the Defferre government, who broke with Defferre and Mitterrand over “the middle-road” economic policy, becomes the voice of a movement on the left that criticises both the President and Prime Minister for their nuclear policy and their “sell-out” of more traditional left-wing state-oriented economic policies. Jospin eventually decides to enter the 1981 Presidential election as a dissident, left-wing “Independent Socialist” candidate.
Despite repeated pronouncements by the PRC government that it will put the five American servicemen it holds on trial, and repeated protests by the United States over this, nothing more is heard of them, which is taken as an ominous sign by U.S. officials. Both the Secretary of State and President Wallace strongly protest their detention. This message is reinforced on the campaign trail by both Governors Rumsfeld and Carey.
Ron Dellums (WTP): “First, allow me to add my voice to those of the President, Governor Rumsfeld and Governor Carey in calling for the immediate return of the five United States citizens currently being held illegally by the People’s Republic of China. There can be no doubt that their detention by that regime is unjust, and that they are undoubtedly being kept imprisoned under the most brutal of conditions. I do not wear the rose colored glasses of some who would make excuses for the thuggish regime currently in power in Peking simply because it proclaims itself the protector of the peasants or because it cynically mouths the terms of revolutionary justice. The current leadership has made clear by its actions that these ideals are no more than lip service to a regime of brutes and killers. We are beyond the point of excuses and well-meaning apologetics for what is clearly a clique of criminals enforcing a form of madness on the Chinese people. That these five young Americans, patriots all in the service of our great country, are in this position is due to the failed imperial policies of this nation, and that is a fair topic of debate and discussion in this election. Had we not sought to impose our will on the people of Vietnam, and paid for it in the blood of our youth far above what was reasonable to ask, these five young men need not be where they are today, and instead would be home with their families and participating in the life of our nation as free men. Whomever we elect in November must pledge to bring these young men home. But more importantly, whomever we elect in November must pledge never again to imperil the lives or our young men in so vainglorious and ultimately pointless an effort ever again.”
Ralph Nader (WTP): “The five young Americans are paying the price for the follies of six Presidents of both major parties who involved us in that monstrous quagmire that was the Vietnam War. Yes, we won in the end, but at what price? These five young Americans can tell you better than anyone – if their captors allowed them to speak – because they are still paying that price. Bring them home, and let’s end the folly of trying to impose America on the world.”
October 3, 1980
Carey Ad:
Background: An electric chair.
Narration: “Governor Rumsfeld claims that his record shows that he’s tough on crime. Under his watch more criminals have been executed in Illinois than under the terms of his two predecessors combined. Donald Rumsfeld is proud of that statistic.”
Donald Rumsfeld: “I am proud that under my leadership we brought the death penalty back into full force in Illinois.”
Narration: “What Don Rumsfeld doesn’t tell you is that reviews have found that five of those who were executed in the last four years were innocent. In one case, that of Herb Galton of Springfield, Illinois, Governor Rumsfeld ignored proof of Galton’s innocence, including the confession of the real murderer, when he signed his death warrant. Here’s what Governor Rumsfeld said when confronted with this fact.”
DR: “Herb Galton was convicted by a jury of his peers, who recommended the death sentence. The fact that he was later found to be innocent was beside the point. His execution was legal and showed that we will not tolerate violent crime in the State of Illinois.”
Narration: “Innocence beside the point? According to Don Rumsfeld being tough on crime includes executing the innocent. Do you want to trust your life to Don Rumsfeld?”
DR: “We have to be tough on crime, no matter what.”
N: “Hugh Carey and the Democrats for an America we can all be proud of.”
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October 4, 1980
Rumsfeld campaign statement: “A jury found Herb Galton guilty and recommended the death sentence according to the facts presented at trial. That sentence was not reduced or overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court. Governor Rumsfeld carried out the law according to the facts available at the time, and continues to believe in a strong and vigorous use of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crime, unlike his opponent who believes in putting violent criminals back on the street where they can continue to victimize the innocent.”
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October 5, 1980
British Leyland launches its new Metro, a three-door entry-level hatchback which is designed as the eventual replacement for the Mini. It gives BL a long-awaited modern competitor for the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Chevette.
The Portuguese and Spanish Boundary Commission establishes a de-facto truce line along the Portuguese-Spanish border. The DPRP and the new Spanish government do not have diplomatic relations (Spain’s official Embassy to Portugal is in the Azores with the exile Socialist government of Portugal) but agree to continue talks through Swiss and French intermediaries.
Acceding to demands from both the Carey and Rumsfeld campaigns, the LWV held a Vice Presidential debate to which only Secretary Reubin Askew (D) and Rep. Jack Edwards (R) were invited. The two major Vice Presidential candidates squared-off in a more traditional campaign, notable for the fact that both men were Southerners. Polling after the debate showed that each had represented his position well, but neither had managed to win over supporters of the other, or of We The People.
October 6 – 8, 1980
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in the case of Florio, Iannuci et al. vs. Bateman over whether Gov. Bateman of N.J. can veto a Legislative Bill which re-apportions the method of choosing New Jersey’s 17 Presidential Electors. At issue, whether by a strict interpretation of Article Two, clause two, which gives the authority for the State legislatures to choose how a State’s Electors are apportioned, can a State Governor veto such a re-apportionment by the State Legislature, given that Article Two, Clause two omits mentioning the State Executive and that office’s veto power from the text. Florio and Iannuci argue that the founders deliberately, in the formulation of the text, sought to omit the State executive from the process. Governor Bateman argues that the portion of the New Jersey Constitution assigning the veto authority to the Governor over acts of the State Legislature takes precedent, and on those grounds the veto should be upheld.
October 6, 1980
Israeli jets strike at and damage Egyptian military units based along the western side of the Sinai Canal. Israel claims the Egyptian units were preparing to attack the Israeli occupied Sinai. The Egyptians claim the troops were protecting the border and that Israelis air strike was a provocation. Everyone is mindful that this is the seventh anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur war, and that an election in Israeli is little more than a month away. (Begin’s Likud Party has been slumping in the polls up to this point). Opposition Leader Shlomo Hillel (Labour-Alignment) calls the attack “a cheap political stunt by a desperate government devoid of ideas and initiative.”
President el-Gamasy: “Now we see what Menachem Begin means by his willingness to talk. He is not interested in peace but in dictates enforced by the barrel of the gun. Egypt will never accept this! Egyptians will never accept this! There can be no peace on these terms. Never!”
October 7, 1980
Carey Ad:
Backdrop: Photo of Rumsfeld and Cheney beside President Agnew, seated at his desk in the Oval Office.
Narration: “For nine months in 1973 Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney stood at the right hand of a man who overturned a peace agreement in Vietnam, who nearly started World War III and who began a cycle of ruinous debt and inflation. Rumsfeld brags that he was doing his duty to the nation, but what did his duty produce?”
Backdrop: Unemployment lines; a riot; photo of Agnew’s Senate trial.
Narration: “America was disgraced, and you or someone you know lost their job and possibly their home.”
Backdrop: Photo of Spiro Agnew yelling at some audience.
Narration: “Do you want to bring him back? Of course you don’t. On Tuesday, November 4th vote for Hugh Carey, and let’s get this country moving again.”
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Spiro Agnew attempts to sue the Carey campaign for liable over this television ad; however the court found the suit had no merit and dismissed it.
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October 8, 1980
The West German (Federal Republic of Germany) Federal Election
Bundestag: 497 seats (249 seats required for a governing coalition)
Christian Democratic Union: 190 - 3 = 187 seats (38.3% - 0.7% = 37.6%)
Christian Social Union: 53 – 1 = 52 seats (10.7% - 0.2% = 10.5%)
Free Democratic Party: 39 – 1 = 38 seats (7.9% - 0.3% = 7.6%)
Social Democratic Party: 214 + 6 = 220 seats (43.1% + 1.2% = 44.3%)
As in 1976, Ewald Bucher of the FDP leads his party into a governing coalition with the CDU-CSU to form a 277 seat governing coalition. Bucher remains as Finance Minister in the coalition.
Chancellor Before Election Helmut Kohl (CDU)
Chancellor After Election Helmut Kohl (CDU)
The un-dramatic result is widely interpreted as an endorsement by West German voters of Kohl’s economic liberalizations and his moderate foreign policy (continue Ostpolitik, no international commitments beyond NATO, condemnation of martial law in Poland but no overly provocative responses either); also seen as a reaction by some West German voters to the victory of Communist and Socialist Parties in Italy and France over recent years. (West Germany as the balancer in European affairs: “Mittleweg”).
The slight gain by the SDP is enough to secure SDP leader Manfred Lahnstein’s position as opposition leader, though some in the SDP blame the fact that he is “boring” for their very modest gains.
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October 10, 1980
El Asnam, Algeria is destroyed by an earthquake, which claims more than 2,600 lives. After the quake, El Asnam is rebuilt and changes its name to the city of Chlef.
Anti-regime rioting breaks-out in the city of Ining in Northwestern Sinkiang Province, near the Soviet border.
October 13, 1980
The U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion in Florio, Iannuci et al, v. Bateman argues that a strict interpretation of Article Two, Clause Two of the U.S. Constitution excludes the State Executive from vetoing acts of the Legislature on this matter (apportionment of Presidential Electors). The Court finds that if the Founders had intended the State Executive to have a veto power over this State Legislative authority, they would have said so when writing the clause in question. (The exclusion of any mention of the Executive being taken as purposeful rather than accidental, presuming that the Founders were very careful with their language and knew what they were doing when they drafted the clause in this manner with this wording).
The vote of the Court is 6 in the majority (Burger, CJ; Stewart; White, Blackmun; Powell and Kennedy) and 3 in dissent (Brennan; Marshall and Rehnquist).
In the 1980 Presidential Election 15 of New Jersey’s 17 Electoral Votes will be cast according to who carries each Congressional district, plus 2 Electoral Votes allocated to the candidate who carries the highest number of popular votes state-wide.
Noteworthy in the dissents are two points. Rehnquist in his dissent argues that the all or nothing Electoral Vote principle is part of the founding document and as such should not be tampered with. (An eccentric constructionist view (overlooking the absence of any mention of the Executive in the original clause) that barely disguises Rehnquist’s pro-Republican bias)).
Marshall, joined by Brennan, argues that this decision opens the door to “micro-fragmenting” of communities in Presidential elections if other states pick-up the precedent, and that the long-term effects could outdo the results of the effort to make the vote universal, accessible and relevant to all. (Can an anti-minority bloc pick 270 Electoral districts to win and exclude minorities in the other 168, rendering them and the 100 state wide votes ineffective?). This, Marshall argues, was never the intent of the founders when they devised the Electoral College (the all-or-nothing principle making it necessary for national platforms to be broader and therefore more inclusive).
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The Supreme Court of India overturns the conviction of Sanjay Gandhi on various treason and corruption charges. The convictions are found to be “unsafe” due to evidence tampering and perjury by government witnesses. Sanjay is released. Many charges are thrown out against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, however a charge of treason is upheld against her for declaring the martial law emergency. Mrs. Gandhi is returned to prison to serve a twenty year sentence.
Vasco Goncalves is forced to step down as Prime Minister of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal. Octávio Floriano Rodrigues Pato, who had been Minister of the Interior in the Goncalves government succeeds him as the new Prime Minister. At the same time the Communist Party General Secretary Carlos Alfredo de Brito is named as the Foreign Minister. António Aires Rodrigues becomes the new Interior Minister.
The ICI company announced the closure of one of its plants at Kilroot, County Antrim with the resultant loss of 1,100 jobs.
The new government of Spain begins to look at a healing process for resolution of the Franco regime. Valle de los Caídos is cordoned off and closed to the public. Meanwhile an equally grandiose memorial to the Republican casualties of the Civil War (and those killed by the Falangist regime over forty years of rule) is commissioned.
October 15, 1980
James Hoskins forces his way into WCPO's television studio in Cincinnati, holding 9 employees hostage for several hours before releasing them and taking his own life.
Noel Lyttle (44) of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), was killed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast.
Israeli Air Force jets bomb a training camp in Turkish Northern Cyprus where the Israeli’s allege that Palestinian terrorists are encamped and being prepared for infiltration into Israel.
WTP AD:
Narration: “The two parties say they’re different, but let’s look at that. Both parties – Democrat and Republican – have given you wars, inflation, unemployment and no sense of security. Both have the same answer – cuts in public spending and a further retreat of public services, while offering corporations and not working people tax cuts and “investment opportunities.” Since both parties give you the same problems, and offer you the same pro-corporation, anti-working family solutions, you have to wonder, maybe it’s both parties that are the problem.
“On November 4th send both big parties a message – vote for We The People – for the People.”
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October 17, 1980
King George VII of the United Kingdom makes history as the first British monarch to be received at the Vatican.
President el-Gamasy of Egypt visits Moscow in order to sign a new Treaty of Friendship between Egypt and the USSR. Soon after President el-Gamasy’s visit Soviet technical and military advisors return to Egypt.
Former President Anwar Sadat (in exile in Morocco): “This move by (President el-Gamasy) is foolish in the extreme. He forgets how the Soviets tried to tie-up Nasser in Cold war struggles which were none of Egypt’s concerns, and which unnecessarily distracted us from the problems of our own country. He also forgets that we removed the Soviets because they were conspiring to undermine our sovereign regime and replace our leaders with Russian puppets who would turn Egypt into another Soviet Bloc state. This is the future (el-Gamasy) invites with the return of the Soviet advisors to our land.”
October 18, 1980
Rumsfeld Ad:
Narration: "There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it's vicious and dangerous. Since no one can really be sure who's right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? Because that bear is there, and he’s waiting.”
The commercial featured a Grizzly Bear wandering through a forest while the above narration was heard, read by advertising man Hal Riney. In the final scene a man appears and the bear takes a step back. The ad ends with a picture of Rumsfeld and the tagline: "Don Rumsfeld: He can save our future."
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October 19, 1980
Governor Hugh Carey and Governor Donald Rumsfeld met for a one-on-one debate in Cleveland which excluded all other candidates. Howard K. Smith was the moderator. Both candidates defended themselves and attacked the other but, like the Vice Presidential debate two weeks before, neither scored a knock-out blow.
Governor Rumsfeld tried a last-minute rhetorical flourish asking voters if they were better off than they were four years ago, and if not, then they should consider voting for him and not the Democrat. This lacked resonance though because Governor Carey was not President Wallace and was not close to the President (indeed he’d spent much of the campaign differentiating himself from Wallace, to the point one could almost assume that Hugh Carey and George Wallace came from two different Democratic Parties), and so Carey was not a prime target for voter dissatisfaction. Carey in return laid a significant amount of blame for what had gone wrong over the previous eight years at the doors of Presidents Nixon and Agnew, wryly noting that Rumsfeld had served both, before going out to ruin Illinois.
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