Spiro Rides Again
September 8 – 22, 1975
CBS’s All In the Family begins its sixth season with a three episode arc which tries to adapt the series to on-going realities.
The deal that would have had Mike and Gloria move into the old Jefferson home falls through when the Jeffersons are forced to return to that house after Jefferson’s dry cleaning business nearly goes bankrupt. (A spin-off series called The Jeffersons had dealt with that issue at the end of its half season run during the spring of 1975. That show had failed in the ratings because its upwardly mobile, light comedy premise was panned by critics as “unrealistic for the 1970’s.”).
While still living under Archie’s roof, Gloria becomes pregnant and Mike cannot find a job. Making matters worse, Archie loses his. The only ones making money in the family are Edith, who is working at Jefferson cleaners remaining store, and Gloria, who works at a department store – until she is laid-off too. Archie bemoans how the country is going into the toilet while Mike has to confront the dilemma of how to earn a living. He wins little respect from Archie when he hires himself out as a nude model at an art school.
Meanwhile George and Louise Jefferson must confront the fact that in order to save what remains of the business, they will have to sell their home (at a considerable loss, George moans, because it’s a buyer’s market). George confronts the fact that banks aren’t lending to small businessmen. His son Lionel takes offense, assuming that the bank’s lending practices are racially motivated. Lionel falls in with a black radical group – Mike tries to warn Lionel off them – and Lionel’s departure (he leaves his wife who returns to live with her parents) from the series is premised as a long, dark departure into radical politics.
In the end, in order to get by, Archie is forced to rent out his basement to two tenants – George and Louise Jefferson. Archie will drive a taxi to try and make a living.
Mike announces that, with no other jobs available and a baby on the way, he will join the Navy, which will pay him a salary as an officer plus family benefits for Gloria. Archie is amazed, Gloria is stunned.
Rob Reiner remains a regular on the series as his naval training is said to take place in New York, and he still lives with his in-laws. It leads to new conflicts between him and Archie over the meaning of military service and patriotism. The premise is being developed as a possible spin-off.
The more influential story line is that of having Archie and George Jefferson being compelled to live under the same roof. The message producer Norman Lear and Carroll O’Connor envision with this premise change is that all Americans, regardless of race, are being affected by the economic crisis and everyone has to pull together to get through it.
Just to reinforce the point, and for added comedy, a Hindu couple buys the old Jefferson house. The husband runs a rival dry cleaners to Jefferson’s, setting-up a series of story lines for George Jefferson. Comedy points are elaborated as both Archie’s and George Jefferson’s latent bigotry confronts the different cultural perceptions and practices of their Indian neighbors, even as Louise and Edith (who have some latent conflicts of their own which come out while living at close quarters) befriend the wife.
September 10, 1975
The Mel Brooks situation comedy, When Things Were Rotten, a Robin Hood spoof airing on ABC TV, becomes an instant top-10 show. Many critics, who pan the show’s off-beat style, attribute the success to a kind of zeitgeist related to the title of the show.
September 12, 1975
Strange New World, a post-apocalyptic Science Fiction Series, starring John Saxon begins a four-year run on ABC Television. Former POW George W. Bush has his acting debut on Strange New World in a small supporting part in an episode halfway through the first season.
NBC rejects Star Trek: Phase II, calling the proposed sci-fi series “too sunny” for the current times.
ABC premieres a program called Back Home. The premise of the show – a familiar situation – is that of an unemployed couple with children moving in with the wife’s parents in order to survive the economic problem. The show is drama, and deals with the various aspects of “the new economy.”
The “Asian Regiment” arrives in Syria. This is a unit composed of company and brigade sized units, mostly infantry, drawn from the armies of South Vietnam, South Korea and Taiwan which are deployed in Syria to augment the Allied force.
September 14, 1975
NBC premiers the drama/sci-fi show called The Conspiracy. A somewhat revamped version of an old Irwin Allen show of the 1960’s called The Invaders, The Conspiracy features Michael Douglas, son of Kirk Douglas and recently a star of ABC’s police show The Streets of San Francisco, as World War II Navy pilot Lt. Frank Casey.
In the opening episode Casey is leading a flight of aircraft in anti-U-Boat patrols off the coast of Florida in 1942 when he and his group are snatched by what appears to be an alien spacecraft. Casey loses consciousness and awakens in modern America, seemingly a homeless drifter.
Through the series Casey learns that Aliens are conspiring to control events on Earth and through them gain control of humanity. The implicit messages is that the aliens are causing wars, drug addiction and economic problems. Casey, as he becomes aware of the conspiracy must battle the aliens, all the while avoiding incarceration as a lunatic. Along the way he discovers other humans like himself who have been moved around in time in an apparent effort by the aliens to disrupt events in the past. As Casey continues his quest through the episodes of the series he also recalls suppressed memories of his imprisonment on the alien spacecraft and how he escaped, which provide vital clues in overcoming the alien conspiracy.
September 15, 1975
Planet of the Apes (Television series) begins its second season on CBS Television. The three person lead (Roddy McDowell as the Chimpanzee Galen, and Ron Harper and James Naughton as astronauts marooned in the far future,) are joined by Leonard Nimoy in the role of Lazarus, a human who has learned much of ancient human culture from studying old texts. Lazarus leads the human astronauts in piecing together clues which may lead to a buried spacecraft which may be able to get the astronauts home.
September 19, 1975
In Portugal an attempted coup by right wing officers attempting to oust Premier Goncalves fails. The coup plot is exposed reportedly with the assistance of the Cuban DGI. The PDRP regime begins a purge of the armed forces.
Serial killer Freddie Lee Glenn is killed by police in a shoot-out. Two months earlier Glenn had raped and killed 18 year-old Karen Grammer outside a Red Lobster restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Karen’s elder brother Kelsey, at the time a student at Julliard, became frustrated by the death of Glenn before he could be tried and punished for his crime. This frustration leads Kelsey Grammer to change his studies from acting to the law, with a determination on his part to become a prosecutor. Grammer graduates from Columbia Law School in 1980 and begins work as a junior assistant District Attorney in New York.
Rep. Gerald Ford (R-MI) becomes a Gavin for President co-chair. Harry S. Dent Sr., best known as the architect of the Republican Southern Strategy, becomes a senior strategist on President Gavin’s re-election team, bringing with him a young intern named Lee Atwater. Republican fundraiser Harry S. Gorgas becomes the finance committee chair, where he is assisted by Robert (Bob) W. Kasten Jr. The advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn is hired to do advertising for the campaign.
September 22 – October 2, 1975
The siege of Porto in Portugal. Non Communist elements of the military, the clergy and the Socialist Party attempt to make a stand on mainland Portugal against the Communist regime in Lisbon. The “Porto Counter-Revolution” receives support from the exile government on the Azores and from the United States and Spain. This leads to the existence of a northern non-Communist enclave around the city of Porto lead by General António de Spínola and which comes “under the protection of Spain.” This group is considerably to the right of the Socialist group on the Azores, and the two non-Communist groups begin to argue about each other’s legitimacy. The Porto group invites Dom Duarte Pio to take an active role in shaping “the post Communist” governance of Portugal.
Under the auspices of United States Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Arthur A. Hartman, and Nigel Trench, the British Ambassador to Portugal, the United States and the United Kingdom attempt to broker an agreement between President Soares and the Porto group. Neither will budge on the question of legitimacy however, and General Spinola refuses to recognize Mario Soares as the legitimate President of Portugal.
September 21, 1975
Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan, becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
In U.S. theatrical motion pictures, major studios concentrate on low-budget, “quickie” productions which require low levels of investment. To augment cash flow, the motion picture companies re-release older films, with theatres charging ½ or even ¼ price admission. This provides both producers and distributors with cash flow. Studios in turn receive revenue on projects for which they are not incurring new production costs. They also follow the same model with compilations of old clips into theme movies, following in the pattern of MGM’s hit 1974 film That’s Entertainment.
The release of older movies and reduce ticket prices proves very popular. Older movies remind people of a time when things were better. 1930’s and 1940’s musicals enjoy a revival, as do old westerns and war movies.
In popular music, country and folk music seems to enjoy an increasing following, over other kinds of pop music. There is also a developing hard rock culture, and nihilistic punk rock is becoming popular in youth culture. Concerts feature lower cost productions and become more community centered in their presentation. It becomes common practice for promoters to donate a share of the proceeds to local charities in an effort to present their acts as “caring.”
Record sales are low. Very common are record exchanges.
In the United States “community grocery pools” develop. These pool resources from members to buy food in bulk from wholesalers and then distribute them among their members. This lowers the overall cost of food and eliminates the retail mark-up of supermarkets. Community grocery pools also emphasis the lower cost of locally sourced agricultural products (a self-grown movement is also taking hold) versus imported agricultural goods.
In a number of communities across the United States supermarkets fail, or competitors are forced to consolidate as wholesale cost re-distributors, in response to the community grocery pool movement.
In fashion, low cost, all purpose clothing becomes more fashionable, as one set of clothing can be used for multiple uses. The leisure suit for instance can accommodate both business and social functions, decreasing wardrobe costs. The all purpose coverall, for manual labor and recreational purposes, is another cost saving fashion trend. Shoes also become multi-purpose, with work and athletic shoes merging into a common, all purpose format.
Unisex hair parlors are more common, as barbers and hairdressers economize and merge in order to survive. This gives rise to the low cost unisex haircut as efficient and cost effective. On the other hand, facials for men become more accepted and are offered as a service feature with haircuts.
In parts of the South and other strong Bible-Belt areas unisex hair parlors are denounced as "Satanic."
September 22, 1975
Ronald Reagan gives a speech at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco at which he proposes cutting $ 90 billion form the federal budget by passing responsibility for a wide variety of social and educational programs from the Federal budget to the budgets of State and local governments. During these remarks he also mentions the value of turning the Social Security Trust into a pool of investment capital. His speech does not receive wide attention immediately because of the subsequent event.
Sara Jane Moore, an unemployed accountant who has dabbled in left-wing radical politics, attempts to shoot former California Governor Ronald Reagan as he leaves a fund raising event at San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel. She fires two .38 caliber bullets; one misses Reagan entirely and lodges in a wall. The other hits John Sears, his campaign manager. Sears dies several hours later. Edwin Meese becomes Reagan’s interim campaign manager.
Moore is convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison.
There was a series of bomb attacks on towns across Northern Ireland, which the PIRA claimed credit for.
September 26, 1975
Ronald Reagan has a secret meeting with California Governor Barry Goldwater Jr. in which he urges restraint on his protégé.
Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Indian Constitution placing election of Prime Minister beyond the scrutiny of judiciary approved.
September 27 – Oct 3, 1975
An allied force composed of U.S., French, British, Belgian and Italian troops, supported by police units from Yugoslavia, Canada and West Germany land on Cyprus and intercede between the two parties of the conflict.
There is no resistance from regular Greek forces, who have been ordered to their barracks by the government in Athens.
Forces loyal to the Samson junta do fight the allied forces, but they are quickly dispatched and their leaders rounded-up.
Allied forces liberate concentration camps where Turkish prisoners (military and civilian) have been held and investigators begin work on war crimes documentation.
NATO announces that the occupying powers will not impose a government on Cyprus, however they will facilitate negotiations which will create a federal, but unified Cypriot state which is to remain independent of both Greece and Turkey.
Despite reservations by several allied leaders, Archbishop Makarios is allowed to return to the Greek portion of Cyprus.
In accord with an agreement with the National Salvation Council in Greece, the U.S. and French Navies transport regular Greek troops back to the mainland together with their equipment, so that they might be used to defend Greece from the Turkish Army.
An effort is made to ship the Turkish regular military troops (without their equipment) and any persons identified as not being indigenous to the island back to Turkey. However, some Turkish government representatives and troops attempt to blend in with the civilian population, creating a Turkish fifth column within the ethnic Turkish community on the island.
From Colin Powell - My American Journey
We went in through the British base at Dehkelia and into the largely Turkish half of the island. The population there greeted us warmly. Our main concern was to secure Greek troop positions and prevent the local population from taking revenge on them. It turned out the ones from the mainland Army were just as happy as the local Turkish population to see us. Our job, once we secured their positions, was to evacuate them as quickly as possible through Dehkelia. The local Greek troops, the ones answering to the Samson government which had overthrown the previous Greek government on the island, were sullen and uncooperative. But they did not shoot at us.
I later heard that Brigadier General John Shalikashvili’s formation, which had gone in through Akotiri and directly into the Greek area of the island, experienced resistance from Greek Cypriot forces, and that they actually fought several short skirmishes, which were complicated by the surrendering units of the regular Greek Army. Fortunately, General “Shali” managed the situation and minimized casualties. He persuaded one of the senior Greek officers to act as an intermediary and persuade the local troops to surrender to us before things got out of hand.
Moving Northeast, we then linked up with U.S. and British Special forces under the command of under the command of Colonel Hugh Shelton. They had a secured a number of the rear positions and had persuaded a number of Turkish Special forces units which had been operating as guerrillas in the area to come down out of the mountains and surrender. That saved us a lot of trouble.
It was only later that a British Lt. Col, Peter Inge, who had a lot of experience with counter insurgency in Northern Ireland, warned us that a significant number of the Turkish troops were melting into the local population.
“They’re waiting for Ankara to send another force,” Col. Inge warned. “Then they’ll rise in support.”
It sounded a lot like Vietnam, and I reported Inge’s comments to Division command. For some reason nothing ever came of them; I suspect they were greeted as bad news back at the Pentagon, and like much of the bad news they were buried under more sunny assessments of the situation. The lesson of Vietnam had yet to be fully learned back home: Col. Inge’s comments were to prove prescient.
Moving further toward the demarcation line between the ethnic communities, our group encountered several of the camps where he Greeks had interned the Turkish men, soldiers and civilians alike. In addition to the able-bodied, the camps also held boys and some very elderly men as well.
The conditions were terrible, and served as a stark reminder of what wars based on ethnic hatred can lead to. The men were walking skeletons, their skin covered in sores. Cholera and typhus had broken out in the camps due to poor sanitation. The stench was terrible; I witnessed several healthy soldiers from our units, strong, athletic men, pass out when they were first immersed in it. I had experienced some very smelly conditions in Vietnam, but even I had to wretch on entering my first camp. It was truly an appalling experience, one that put me in mind of the accounts I had read of our Army liberating the concentration camps in Western Germany in 1945.
The camp inmates were just as happy to see us as the civilian population, perhaps more so for obvious reasons. The military men among them would quickly identify which of us were the senior officers present, and we would quickly be surrounded by these men in wretched condition, all wanting to take us and show us the mass graves which the Greek guards had hastily dug for the dead. At this point we had no idea if these dead men had been executed or had died of disease and maltreatment in the camps. The UN investigators would later have to make that determination.
Within a few days we had created a buffer between the two groups. The regular Greek soldiers were all being sent home, to fight the war there. The question was, now that we had done our job with hardly any resistance, now what?
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September 27, 1975
The Norwood Football Club beats the Glenelg Football Club in the SANFL Australian Rules Football Grand Final.
An allied fuel convoy from Jordan is attacked by insurgents on the road between An Nabk and Yabrud in Syria. Five drivers are killed and several thousand gallons of fuel ignited in a fireball.
A new film is released by the PIRA in which Roger Moore reads a denunciation of the Demagore Incident. In the film Moore calls for the British government to resign, and for the members of the Cabinet to be prosecuted for murder.
Two Republican California State Assemblyman, Eugene A. Chappie and Wally Herger, hold a meeting in Redding, California proposing the creation of a State of Jefferson, independent of California, which they argue would better serve the economic needs of what is currently northern California (as distinct from the economy of what is currently Southern California). Chappie and Herger also hope to encourage some counties in Southern Oregon to join Jefferson.
September 29, 1975
Seven people were injured in a PIRA bomb attack in Oxford Street, London.
12 people died in a series of Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attacks across Northern Ireland. Four Catholic civilians were killed in a UVF gun attack at Casey's Bottling Plant, Millfield, Belfast. Two other Catholic civilians were killed in separate bomb attacks in Belfast and County Antrim. Two Protestant civilians were also killed in UVF attacks. And four members of the UVF died when a bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely near Coleraine, County Derry.
Cyril Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, a retired Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, is called to head a commission of inquiry into the Demagore incident, to be called The Radcliffe Inquiry.
September 29, 1975 – January 17, 1976
A series of artillery exchanges and infantry operations take place around Sostis and Komotini and variously labelled as battles by each side in the Greek-Turkish War. Overall, the Turkish Army is slowly being pushed back to a defensive perimeter along a line from Haralambos on the Aegean to Komotini, where a stalemate develops which appears similar in many respects to the trench warfare on the Western Front during the First World War. With the Turkish side remaining intransigent, and the Greek National Salvation Council mobilizing more troops in support of the homeland, the Greek Army proves capable of resisting further attempts at advancing by the Turkish Army.
The two air forces continue to attack one another, but by late October they have exhausted their equipment. By the end of the year both sides are running low on ammunition and supplies as well, although Greece is receiving some material support from outside, as it technically remains a part of NATO. (Prime Minister Turkes has abrogated Turkey’s membership in NATO over the allied deployment in Cyprus). The Turkes government does negotiate a deal with the Soviets to provide his military with small arms and ammunition. However, further equipment purchases are complicated by the incompatibility of Soviet technology with much of Turkey’s American made military equipment. (Although Turkes gets some covert help from Israel and the Shah of Iran in this area).
The breakthrough success in this conflict are the Greek partisans (the Greek Freedom Forces), who fight a destructive guerrilla conflict against the Turks in the Evros, Rodophe and Xanthi prefectures. In the area around Kechros the Greek Freedom Forces declare an autonomous “Free Greek State” which receives some support from Bulgaria across their common border. The Greek Freedom Forces resist coordination, much less political co-operation with the National Salvation Council in Athens.
Through the fall the UN, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League try to persuade the Turks to withdraw from Greek territory in return for a security guarantee and further international talks on the status of Cyprus and the Aegean Islands. Prominent in this effort are President Sadat of Egypt, King Hussein of Jordan and King Hassan of Morocco. The Shah of Iran also becomes involved, although he is playing a double game with his secret support of the Turks. Prime Minister Turkes is resistant to the entreaties however, instead using the war to stoke nationalist sentiment in support of his government.
September 30, 1975
Governor Barry Goldwater Jr. announces he will enter into negotiations with California’s public sector employees in order to develop a joint agreement on cost cutting and other cut backs in California’s public service.
The Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
October – December 1975
Alliances continue to rise and fall in the on-going Lebanese Civil War as variously the PLO, Druze and the Phalangists battle the PJO and their Shi’ite allies; Sunnis and Shi’ites among the PJO aligned forces fight with each other, the PLO and Phalangists take-up arms against each other at various points, only to reach temporary truces.
What is clear is that the Lebanese government and its army are completely ineffective at keeping order, and as such are marginalized as the various militias take on a quasi-government status in the territories that they control. Beirut and many of the major cities of Lebanon become battlefields, and civilian casualties increase rapidly.
The major exception is in the South of Lebanon, where Major Saad Haddad and his Free Lebanon Army are firmly in control and maintain a form of stability. They are backed by Israel and are, in effect, creating a security buffer zone for Israel along its northern border.
October 1, 1975
The Thrilla in Manila: a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier for the WBC/WBA Heavyweight championship. Ali is the defending champion, having won back his title in 1974, which he had been stripped of in 1969 for his refusal to serve in Vietnam. (Frazier held the title from 1970 – 1973). In the sixth round, as Ali is tiring from an initial onslaught against Fraizer, Frazier lands two lucky punches which knock Ali to the mat. Frazier wins at the end of the sixth round with a TKO to win the championship.
Turkey begins to evacuate many of its remaining military units from Syria, supported by the Soviet military presence in the joint operation. However the United States finds plenty of opportunities to create logistical delays for the evacuating Turkish forces. The U.S. forces also make efforts to deny Turkish units of their equipment through “fuel distribution difficulties caused by the insurgent attacks on fuel support services.”
The case of United States v. Richard M. Nixon goes to the jury.
October 2, 1975
A blast at an explosives factory kills 6 in Beloeil, Quebec.
Menachem Begin (speech in the Knesset): “All around us we are confronted with seething hostility and a ravenous, murderous readiness to drive the Israeli people into the sea. The violence in Lebanon is only the latest in the long line of aggressions aimed at the heart of our state. Today, we have Jihadist threatening our borders from the North, we have the Soviet Red Army – the Army that once did the will of Stalin – poised at our borders. Where is our security? Where is our strength? When will this government awaken to the peril and take firm decisive action. Only by expanding our zone of security, into Syria, into Lebanon, can we guarantee a perimeter of safety for our state. Anyone who will not do this, who will not support this, is carrying in his hands the death sentence of the Jewish people.”
Yitzhak Rabin (Prime Minister): “This government remains vigilant and ready to defend our borders from any aggressor. We have made firm our demands through intermediary powers that the Soviet Union withdraw its armoured and infantry forces from our borders. However, events in Lebanon are a domestic crisis. While this government may act to protect Israel, a plan of outright aggression against our neighbours will not serve our security.”
October 3, 1975
Tiede Herrema, then a Dutch industrialist living and working in the Republic of Ireland, was abducted and held hostage at a house in Monasterevin, County Kildare. On 21 October 1975 Gardaí surrounded the house and a siege began which lasted until the release of Herrema on 6 November 1975.
During an ambush by insurgents, Capt. William Clinton (US Army – res.; JAG Corps) draws fire and saves the lives of three soldiers, including Lt. David Patreus USA. Capt. Clinton’s leg is seriously wounded and is later amputated below the knee. Clinton receives the silver star decoration for his actions.
Syrian President Maamun al-Kuzbari calls for “the graduated withdrawal” of all foreign troops from Syria.
October 5 – December, 1975
Over a two month period U.S., British and French naval vessels take-up station in the Aegean and make an effort to create a barrier between the warring Greek and Turkish sides. The Turkes government never directly challenges the three navies (his military chiefs recognizing such a conflict would be short lived and disastrous for the Turkish side). Turkes does use the western intervention in the war and in Cyprus as a pre-text for whipping-up nationalist sentiment in support of his government.
Domestically, the Turkish economy is beginning to suffer from shortages due to embargos and the unwillingness of shipping companies to enter Turkish waters and ports. Land trade from the west has also been cut-off from the war. Turkes does benefit from a trade deal with the Soviet Union, through which he is able to prove to his people that he is looking to alternatives to “dependence on the west.”
The Shah of Iran officially orders his borders with Turkey sealed in order to comply with the western embargo. Secretly he arranges shipments of oil to Turkey and the Turkey-Iran border becomes very active with illicit trade between Turkey and the outside world.
Israel also become involved in providing contra-band goods to Turkey and, through its ports, providing points of export for re-labelled Turkish goods.
October 5, 1975
The new start-up Hughes Network announces that it will feature a syndicated news program to be called Agnew On Point. The show will be hosted by the ex-President Spiro T. Agnew who will provide news, opinion and conduct interviews and “investigative pieces” from the perspective of the right.
Canadian Prime Minister Robert Stanfield’s government barely survives a vote of no-confidence brought by the Opposition Liberal Party over the Progressive Conservative government’s foreign policy.
At the end of Ramadan the religious hermit Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz (the elder brother of the King) issues another “opinion” calling for a purification of Saudi society and the “cleansing of impure tendencies” from Islam. His “opinion”, though technically banned by the Saudi authorities, is widely circulated within the kingdom. Juhayman al-Otaibi begins making reference to it in his underground sermons which are becoming increasingly more militant in tone. He and Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani begin recruiting followers in the Saudi armed forces and in the police.
A bomb goes off at the Bologna, Italy train station killing twelve and injuring forty. A group calling itself “Solidarity with the Oppressed Muslims of Syria (SOMS)” claims responsibility. Various intelligence agencies conclude that the membership of SOMS is likely made-up of Palestinians already operating in Europe.
The Results of the French National Assembly Election October 5 and 12, 1975.
488 Seats (245 needed to form a majority)
The Left (Presidential majority)
Socialist Party (PS) --------- 178
Communist Party (PCF) --- 61
Other Left Parties ----------- 12
Total Left: 251
The Right (Opposition)
UDR ------------- 121
NFIR ------------- 98
Other Right: ---- 15
Total Right: 234
Non-Aligned
Ecologists: ----- 2
Independent: ---1
Total: 3
Prime Minister Gaston Deferre remains in office with a Cabinet drawn largely from the PS with some technical and junior ministries allocated to the PCF and minor left party members. Valery Giscard d’Estaing declines the offer of a ministry in the government.
Though not an overwhelming mandate, President Mitterrand regards the result of a vindication of his policies.
October 9, 1975
A British soldier was killed in a PIRA land mine attack near Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded a bomb outside the Green Park Underground Station in London and killed one person and injured 20 others.
October 10, 1975
On 10 October, the High Court of Australia ruled that an act passed at the joint sitting that gave the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory two senators each was valid. A half-Senate election needed to be held by June 1976; most senators-elect would take their seats on 1 July but the territorial senators would take their places at once. The ruling meant that it was possible for the governing Australian Labor Party to gain a temporary majority in the Senate, at least until 1 July 1976. The opposition Liberal and National Parties were determined to see that this didn’t happen.
In parliament the Opposition used its control of the Senate to block appropriation bills, or supply, which finance governmental operations and which had been passed by the House of Representatives. The Opposition stated that they would continue to do so unless Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam called an election for the House of Representatives and urged Governor General Robert Kerr to dismiss Whitlam unless he agreed to their demand. Whitlam believed that Kerr would not dismiss him, and Kerr did nothing to disabuse Whitlam.
An insurgent car bomb kills ten people and injures forty more at a souk in Damascus.
October 11, 1975
NBC’s Saturday Night (later to be called Saturday Night Live) premieres at 11:30 pm on NBC--TV. George Carlin is the first guest host of the comedy sketch series. During his monologue Carlin uses the free air time to muse about his Presidential campaign and to make the following offer:
“I don’t have a running mate yet. So I’m going to do this to choose one; whoever can send me the most interesting letter, explaining why they should be my running mate, will get it.”
NBC is not amused by this. Because Carlin used the NBC airwaves to discuss his Presidential campaign – even if he meant it as entertainment – under FCC regulations NBC must now give equal air time (approximately 17 minutes) to every other Presidential candidate. George Carlin is blacklisted from any further appearances on NBC for the remainder of 1975 and 1976.
Ronald Reagan, Harold Stassen and George Wallace both try to compel the FCC to force NBC to give them forty-four minutes of free air time (the total time of Carlin’s entire appearance on the ninety minute live telecast); however the FCC rules that the remaining twenty-seven minutes of Carlin’s appearance was devoted to sketch comedy and did not reference his Presidential campaign, therefore only the seventeen minutes of the monologue are to be counted toward equal time.
October 12, 1975
There was a split in the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP) following William Craig's support for a coalition with the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Craig was expelled from the United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC) for advocating a coalition with the SDLP.
The Israeli Air force bombs the Syrian port of Latakia, destroying the majority of the Syrian navy at anchor. The action is met with outrage across the Arab world and in Europe. The U.S. government files a complaint with Israel as this action was unannounced.
October 15, 1975
Two Italian Red cross workers are abducted from a refugee camp at At Tail in Syria.
October 16, 1975
Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces, during their incursion into Portuguese Timor.
Israeli Air force jets bomb PJO strongholds in the Beirut area.
Yitzhak Rabin: “Israel acts strictly in defence of our security in crippling the military power of a deadly enemy.
Menachem Begin: “The crippled hand of an enemy is still the hand of an enemy ready to strike. It is not enough to cripple it. We must cut it off and make sure it rots in the sand for good.”
NSC Meeting:
Kenneth Rush (Secretary of State): We have had several meetings with the Israelis at which we have made plain that we do not approve of their actions in Lebanon, that they are only stirring the pot.
Admiral Holloway (Chief of Naval Operations): Their stirring the pot at Latakia damn near got some of our personnel killed.
Daniel Graham (Director of Central Intelligence): We received a warning; you got your people out of the way.
Holloway: Two hours was not a warning, it was a scramble alert, General. We came damned close ot having American casualties.
Graham: We have to appreciate the Israeli point of view here. They have been patient while the countries around them are disintegrating. With Russians on their border, and this mess in Syria, they rightly feel that we aren’t taking their security needs into consideration, and they are acting in a preventative manner.
Vice President Scranton: These acts of prevention could well get American service people killed, or start a new war. I’m getting some very – unsettled – feedback about this from some of our Arab allies.
Rush: I have to agree with the Vice President’s assessment. Any aggressive action from Israel creates negative impact in Arab capitals, which their political leaders have to take into account. We’re already perceived poorly for our support of Israel, and the Turks have been trying to stir-up some pan-Islamic sympathy over Cyprus and their conflict with the Greeks. We don’t need to be adding more.
The President: So, how do we cool things off?
Rush: I should go to Tel Aviv and see if we can get the Israelis to sit on their hands.
Graham: Good luck with that. Rabin is walking a tight rope on the issue. If he agrees to back off, Begin will bring down his government.
The President: That drastic.
Graham: Yes.
Scranton: Maybe if we tried a high level approach and included Begin, offered them security guarantees, a guarantee that once we get Syria under control we’ll ask the Soviets to leave...
Caspar Weinberger (Chief of Staff): Will they?
Graham: They won’t.
Rush: We can pressure them at the UN and over other issues. We’ll have to make clear that once we stabilize Syria it will be a joint withdrawl.
Graham: Do that and Syria will collapse back into chaos, or back to being a Soviet client.
Scranton: That maybe the only option we have, a return to the status quo before the 1973 war.
Graham: Then we did it for—what? The intervention, I mean.
The President: Perhaps to prove we wouldn’t let bandits like Bayanouni loose. He was the original target, and we got him. Now maybe we have to look at putting the best face possible on this.
General Cushman (Chairman, Joint Chiefs): With all do respect there was a lot of talk like that in 1972 about Vietnam, and it nearly cost us the whole shooting match. But we re-engaged in 1973, and look what happened.
Rush: Not the same.
Graham: Exactly the same. Are we a world power or aren’t we?
The President: This is getting us nowhere. We need a consensus on what we define as a victory in Syria, and we may have to settle for less than what we got in Vietnam. I don’t want to be the world’s policeman. For now Bill, Ken, let’s work on those security guarantees for Israel. One more thing, General Cushman...
Cushman: Yes, Mr. President
The President: If the Israeli air force comes near anymore of our installations, have our fighters warn them off. I don’t want to shoot at any Israeli jets if we can avoid it, but I’m not willing to sacrifice American lives to that cause either. Ken, Bill, when you go to Tel Aviv – I’ll kick it up a notch by sending you too Bill – I want you to make clear that we will protect Israel, but that they had better not mess around with our forces in the region.
From Caspar Weinberger – White House Diary
JMG clearly about ending engagement in Syria, hopefully before the election. Getting Bayannouni ended the mission, if we get a pro-Soviet regime in Damascus its no worse than before. Points out that we destroyed their military; the chances of their repeating 1973 nil. Sadat no longer interested in doing that. We have other priorities, have to address mess in Lebanon, secure Aegean problems.
JMG: “We have taken too big a bite out of the apple. Let’s secure what we can, work on the rest. No need to be putting out so many fires all at once.”
Discussed Portugal. Agreed US military intervention would only be a disaster internationally, “no more Bay of Pigs.” Have to support anti-Communists in the Azores and Porto region. Also have to pressure the Spanish not to invade; JCS assessment is that it would be a military disaster; Spanish military not ready for this sort of thing. Will deal with sanctions, have to squeeze Goncalves, maybe embargo his ports. Spain blocks his land borders. Not like Cuba, Russian help can’t keep him going indefinitely.
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October 17, 1975
In the case of United States v. Richard M. Nixon the jury convicts the former President on the counts of perjury and obstruction of justice but dismisses the other counts against him.
Analysts later comment that the depth of details and contradictory activities of the parties involved – including those of the President – made for a confused narrative; apart from the fact that the President had tried to direct a cover-up and he did lie under oath about it.
Nixon’s attorney Edward Bennett Williams indicates that Nixon will appeal.
October 18, 1975
The Communist Party of the United States and the Socialist Workers party of the United States hold a rally in New York “In solidarity to the fight against poverty and unemployment”. To their surprise, upwards of five hundred thousand unemployed people show-up (the anticipated turn-out had been ten to twenty thousand). The FBI and FCTB also take note of this.
October 21, 1975
Gardaí surrounded a house in Monasterevin, County Kildare, where Tiede Herrema, then a Dutch industrialist, was being held hostage. A siege began which was to last until 6 November 1975.
Chappie and Herger recruit former Congressman and independent Vice Presidential candidate Pete McCloskey to become a spokesman for the Jefferson Statehood movement. McCloskey becomes interested in it as an environmental issue. A native of Southern California, who has been practicing environmental and activist law since leaving Congress, McCloskey has become disappointed with the effects of rapid development there and the neglect of the environment. He approaches the Jefferson Statehood proposal as a way of preserving the natural environment of Northern California, where he now lives on a farm.
McCloskey recruits his friend actor Paul Newman to add further public clout to the Jefferson Statehood movement.
October 22, 1975
The People’s Liberation Army of America (PLAA) claims responsibility for a bomb that goes off at the Chicago Federal Building housing the offices of the IRS and other federal agencies. Seven people are killed and fifteen are seriously injured.
Patrick Armstrong, Gerard Conlon, Paul Hill, and Carole Richardson (who became known as the 'Guildford Four') were found guilty at the Old Bailey in London of causing explosions in London in October 1974. Controversially, the four were sentenced to death under the government’s new anti-terror laws.
The Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 in the 7th game of the 1975 World Series; Boston’s first win in the World Series since 1918. Boston celebrates the end of the fifty-seven year old “Curse of the Bambino.”
A suicide attack in Syria and roadside bombings kills six American soldiers.
A film is released which shows insurgents beheading two Italian Red Cross workers who had been kidnapped seven days before.
October 23, 1975
Two Catholic civilians, Peter McKearney (63) and his wife Jane McKearney (58), were shot dead by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at their home near Moy, County Tyrone.
The PIRA planted a bomb on a car outside the home of Hugh Fraser, then a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). A person passing the car was killed when the bomb exploded prematurely.
Airey Neave MP (Cons. – Abingdon) calls on the government to begin air bombing operations against Catholic neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland. “For every civilian these thugs kill, I say that we kill ten, until they get the message once and for all that violence is not the way.”
President Gavin sings into law the Tunney-Carter Act which extends unemployment benefits for “crucial family breadwinners” and provides for significant corporate tax cuts for companies which enact four day work weeks in place of lay-offs. Companies taking advantage of this program receive federal tax breaks if they rotate their workforce on four day weeks (idling 20% of their work force for one day a week rather than laying off workers) cutting their payroll costs by approximately 20%. This act is an attempt to provide alternatives through private business to lay-offs and job cuts.
At the same time the Tunney-Carter Act carries penalties for companies which move straight to lay-offs without developing alternate plans, including the four day week, first. The act also includes federal money for job retraining, and tax incentives for companies to hire and train people who are currently collecting unemployment benefits.
October 25, 1975
The classic "Chuckles Bites the Dust" episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show airs on CBS.
October 27, 1975
Robert Poulin kills 1 and wounds 5 at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada before shooting himself.
The S.S Gligo, a merchant ship, sails from the Yugoslav port of Dubrovnik for Fort Lee, New Jersey. Hidden among a cargo of machine parts, barrels of caustic lime and other goods are six inner barrels filled with Sarin gas packaged in larger barrels filled with caustic lime as cover. These have been acquired by the Egyptian Army Doctor, Captain Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Feld Entertainment and Mattel sell the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus to Disney Entertainment for $ 25 million. Disney elects to keep the circus as a mobile attraction, as this better serves the customer base in Disney’s evaluation (despite the cost involved). Disney develops a formula for lower cost through regional traveling shows and also uses the circuses as marketing platforms for Disney products.
October 28, 1975
A James Bond film was shown on British television for the first time, Dr. No on ITV. It is preceded by a tribute to Roger Moore presented by Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell.
October 29, 1975
The Provisional Irish Republican Army shot and killed Robert Elliman (27), then a member of the Official IRA (OIRA), in McKenna's Bar in the Markets area of Belfast. [Between 29 October 1975 and 12 November 1975, 11 people were to die in the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA. Most of those killed were members of the 'official' republican movement.]
A Catholic civilian was shot dead by Loyalists in Lurgan, County Armagh.
British forces capture a PIRA arms cache. They note with interest that included with the usual assortment of Soviet and East Bloc made weapons are several American M-14 rifles bearing the stamp of the Springfield works. Later checking of the serial numbers confirms that these weapons were part of a cache captured by the North Vietnamese in 1967 near Da Nang.
October 30, 1975
Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting Head of State after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.
A highly classified report is leaked from the Pentagon which details a finding that over 200 tons of high explosives, together with small arms, ammunition and other equipment, which had been stored by the Syrian Army under the pre-1973 regime, are missing.
Two U.S. Army MPs are killed and six injured at a checkpoint in Al Kiswah, Syria.
U.S. Vice President William Scranton and Secretary of State Kenneth Rush make a high profile visit to Israel, where they discuss U.S. security guarantees with Israeli leaders. The Vice President delivers a speech to the Knesset in which he re-states the United States commitment to Israel’s security, but also expresses the concern of the President and the U.S. government that the Palestinian question must be addressed, as the continuing Palestinian homeland issue is destabilizing to the region (witness Lebanon) and as such a threat to Israel’s security as well.
Yitzhak Rabin (Prime Minister):”Israel continues to value the friendship of the United States and we will take seriously the Vice President’s concerns, just as he and President Gavin will carefully consider our side of the matter.”
Menachem Begin:”I never thought I would see the day when Yasser Arafat wrote a speech delivered by a senior official of the United States.”
To appear even-handed, Scranton and Rush also visit King Hussein of Jordan, President Sadat of Egypt, King Khalid of Saudi Arabia and King Hassan of Morocco after their discussions in Tel Aviv.
In Saudi Arabia there is a street protest against the American state visit, which leads to a violent crackdown by the Saudi police. The radical preacher Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani denounces the U.S. visit as “the conspiracy of the infidels to destroy the places of Islam and to enslave the Islamic peoples. Let the crown not rest long on the head of he who would be a lackey to the crusaders.”
Wilma McCann is raped and murdered by Peter Sutcliffe.
October 31, 1975
Thomas Berry (27), then a member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA), was shot dead by the Provisional IRA (PIRA) outside Sean Martin's Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Club in the Short Strand, Belfast. Seamus McCusker, a senior member of Provisional Sinn Féin (SF), was shot dead by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) on the New Lodge Road, Belfast. Both these killings were part of the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA.
Columba McVeigh, a 17 year-old Catholic suspected of being an informer, was abducted and became one of the 'disappeared'. [He is believed to have been killed by the PIRA.]
November 1, 1975
Hakeem Okerke, a Nigerian graduate student at Columbia University sets-off a homemade bomb in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. One priest is killed and several nuns are injured. Among the items found among Okerke’s effects is a letter in which he explains that he has attacked the “infidel temple” for “an act of Jihad.”
FCTB agents suspect that Okereke’s attack is a forerunner to other planned attacks.
November 3, 1975
An independent audit of Mattel, one of the United States' largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."
The first petroleum pipeline opens from Cruden Bay to Grangemouth, Scotland.
The long-running television game show The Price is Right expands from 30 minutes to an hour-long format on CBS.
Agnew On Point premieres on The Hughes Network.
The Utah state legislature becomes the first in the nation to ratify a Constitutional amendment incorporating the features of the Harvard Plan for resolving Presidential Elections not decided by a majority in the Electoral College. To allow time for consideration and ratification, the proposed amendment has a deadline of December 31, 1979 for ratification, with the intent that it will come into force for the first time in the 1980 Presidential election.
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Text of the Proposed 27th Amendment:
The procedures of the twelfth amendment to the United States Constitution shall be amended as follows:
The Contingent Panel:
A contingent panel of three members shall be chosen not later than three weeks before the meeting of the joint session of Congress to count and certify the Electoral Vote. The contingent panel shall be chosen by lot, to be conducted by an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court designated to the task by the Chief Justice of the United States. The pool for the contingent panel shall be composed of the names of all currently serving Judges on all United States Circuits Courts of Appeal under the United States.
The designated Associate Justice shall choose three names at random from lots representing the names of all Judges of the United States Circuits Courts of Appeal. The Associate Justice shall continue to draw members’ names until the following conditions are met in full.
No two members of the Contingent Panel shall be drawn from the same Federal Circuit.
No more than two members of the Contingent Panel shall have been appointed to the federal bench by the same President.
No member of the panel shall be chosen who has been appointed to the federal courts by any of the candidates for the Presidency or the Vice Presidency currently under consideration.
No member of the panel shall have served in any advisory or executive capacity for any of the candidates for the Presidency or the Vice Presidency currently under consideration.
No member of the panel shall serve have served as a member of a Contingent Panel, or as an alternate, in the two previous Presidential elections.
No member of a Contingent Panel that has exercised contingent authority in presiding over a joint session of both Houses of Congress to elect either a President, a Vice President or both, shall be permitted to serve on a Contingent Panel a second time.
A reserve pool of three alternates shall also be chosen by the Associate Justice in a like manner. The alternates shall meet all of the qualifications of the regular members of the Contingent Panel.
Should the pool run out of candidates before three qualified panel members and three panel alternate have been chosen, then the drawing shall proceed from a pool of names of all currently serving United States District Court Judges. All Judges chosen shall meet the same a fore enumerated qualifications as applied to Judges of the United States Circuits Courts of Appeal.
The drawing of names shall be witnessed by the Secretary of State of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States and the Majority and Minority Leaders of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The witnesses may object to any choice, but such objection may only be rendered if they do not meet the qualifications listed above. The witness objecting shall provide the reason for his objection in writing, and said objection will be a public document. The Associate Justice shall immediately determine whether the objection is valid or not. The ruling of the Associate Justice shall be deemed final on the matter. If the objection is determined to be valid, then the candidate shall be set aside and new candidate drawn.
In the event that factual verification is required for an objection, the candidate’s name shall be set aside and an alternate drawn for that candidate (this shall be in addition to the three alternates drawn for the panel as a whole). The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall be required to verify the factual basis of the objection within five days. If the objection is determined by the FBI to be factually correct, then the alternate chosen shall replace the candidate as either a member of the contingent panel or as an alternate. The determination of the FBI shall be the final determination on the question of factual validity.
The government of the United States shall provide for all travel and related expenses, including accommodation, of the members of the Contingent Panel and the alternates from their place of domicile to the Capitol and for their return.
A Contingent Panel lawfully chosen need not be called to the Capitol if their service is deemed unlikely to be required. However, each member of the panel and each alternate shall be notified of their having been chosen, whether their service is anticipated or not. Each shall take the following oath before a Judge of the United States District Court in their respective place of domicile upon notification, and certification of the oath taken shall be returned to the Chief Justice of the United States.
“I (name) do swear or solemnly affirm that I shall fulfill this duty as a member (or alternate) of the Contingent Panel impartially and in accordance with the Constitution of the United States and the laws thereof.”
Joint Session of Congress:
All members of both Houses of Congress shall be required to attend the Joint Session of Congress for the counting of the Electoral Vote. The only acceptable reason for absence will be documented illness of personal hardship deemed an acceptable reason for absence by the Speaker of the House and the President of Senate
The Chief Justice of the United States shall assume the chair for a joint session of both Houses of Congress for the purpose of opening and counting the Electoral Vote. For these purposes the Speaker of the House shall assume his position as a Representative and exercise his vote as a member of the House of Representatives (if he or she has been elected as a Representative; otherwise if the Speaker is not an elected Representative, he shall be recused from the chamber).
The President of the Senate shall be recused from his Constitutional role during this process and shall have no vote in the process. He will be required to vacate the chamber during the voting process. If the President pro-tempore of the Senate is acting as President of the Senate, or any other elected Senator is acting in his stead, then the elected Senator shall assume his place as a member of the Senate.
In no incidence will this temporary recusal prejudice the return of these officers to their Constitutional offices once the process of electing a President and Vice President is completed.
The Chief Justice of the United States shall, in the presence of the full membership of the Senate and House of Representatives meeting jointly, open all the certificates and the Electoral votes shall then be counted.
If one candidate for President and one candidate for Vice President has achieved the majority of Electoral Votes lawfully cast and certified by the Constitutionally empowered certifying authority of the several states, then the Chief Justice of the United States shall declare the candidates so elected to have been elected as the President and Vice President of the United States for the succeeding term. The role of the Chief Justice shall then be completed and he shall return the chair to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate.
If one candidate for President and one candidate for Vice President has not achieved the majority of Electoral Votes lawfully cast and certified by the Constitutionally empowered certifying authority of the several states votes then the Chief Justice of the United States shall call for The Contingent Panel, which shall immediately – or as quickly as it’s members can be assembled together at the Capitol - assume the chair as the presiding authority over the joint session of Congress. The joint session shall adjourn if The Contingent Panel is not immediately present, and shall reconvene once the Contingent Panel is available to fulfill its function.
Once seated, the Contingent Panel shall call for an immediate vote of the joint membership of the Senate and the House of Representatives to choose one candidate as President from among the top three presidential candidates in the Electoral College vote. Each member of the House and each member of the Senate shall have one vote. An abstention, a no vote, or a vote for a person other than the three designated candidates, shall be deemed a not properly cast vote and shall not included in the total count of properly cast votes . The candidate receiving the majority (and not the plurality) of the properly cast votes for President shall be declared by the Contingent Panel as elected President.
If in the first round of votes no candidate shall have received a majority of the properly cast votes, a second ballot shall be taken, with the lowest of the three candidate on the first ballot removed, so that the choice shall be between the top two candidates. In the event of a tie on the second ballot, there shall be a third ballot and a fourth ballot if necessary, with the choice on each being between the top two candidates chosen after the first ballot. If at the end of four ballots, neither of the two candidate has received the majority of the properly cast votes, then The Contingent Panel shall, by a vote of its majority, declare which of the two candidates shall have been elected President of the United States.
Once the election of a President is completed in the above prescribed manner, a Vice President shall be elected in the same manner as the President from among the top three of those candidates who received Electoral Votes for the office of Vice President.
The service of The Contingent Panel shall end with the election of a President and a Vice President, and they shall return the chair to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate upon completion.
District of Columbia Provision
The District of Columbia having been by previous Constitutional Amendment granted the right to cast Electoral Votes in the Electoral College shall have the right to cast a number of votes equal to its number its Electoral Votes in the event of a contingent election. In such a situation the District of Columbia shall be represented by its Electors, who shall cast their votes for President and Vice President with the joint membership of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Electors shall have no other right of vote or voice in the joint session apart from the casting of votes for President and Vice President.
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James Fogarty (22), who had been a Republican Clubs member, was shot dead at his home in Ballymurphy, Belfast, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). This killing was part of the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA.
November 4, 1975
Coal company executive and Republican candidate Robert E. Gable is elected Governor of Kentucky. Despite his over-the-top-antics in the campaign (such as ringing “a truth gong” every time Gable alleges the incumbent Democratic Governor Julian Carroll has lied) Gable rides dissatisfaction over the economy to a narrow win of 375,825 (50.1%) to 372,332 (49.9%) over the incumbent Governor.
A fuel depot outside of Safina in Syria is destroyed by insurgents.
The San Francisco Examiner prints a story about Ronald Reagan’s secret September 26th meeting with Governor Goldwater. The Examiner’s report links Governor Goldwater’s sudden moderation on a number of questions, including the public sector service strike, to Reagan’s visit, and implies that Reagan was trying to defuse the public relations problem that Goldwater’s hard right stances were creating for Reagan’s Presidential campaign.
The Reagan campaign is forced to acknowledge that the meeting took place, but claims it was only a conversation between the Governor and his predecessor about state business. Still, it embarrasses Reagan who now appears to have to keep a tight grip on his protégé.
November 6, 1975
The Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.
The siege at the house in Monasterevin, County Kildare, where Dutch industrialist Tiede Herrema, was being held hostage, ended with his safe release.
Sen. Lee Metcalf (D-MT) is shot and killed outside his Georgetown home in Washington DC, in what was thought at the time to be an attempted mugging. No suspect is immediately caught.
November 7, 1975
A United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC) report was endorsed by a vote at the Constitutional Convention. The Convention voted by 42 to 31 to submit a draft report to the Secretary of State. The report recommended a return to the 'majority rule' system of government for Northern Ireland with the addition of a series of all-party committees to scrutinise the work of departments. [The Report was published on 20 November 1975.]
November 9, 1975
John Kelly (19), then a member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA), was shot dead by the Provisional IRA (PIRA) in the New Lodge area of Belfast. This killing was part of the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA.
The S.S. Gilgo arrives in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The six barrels of Sarin gas, disguised as Caustic Lime, pass through U.S. Customs and are picked-up by Marwan Kousa, a Palestinian immigrant who operates a sewer repair and sewage treatment company in the tri-state area. As a result, Kousa has the proper import licenses for the Caustic Lime and does not attract any suspicion from U.S. Customs agents. Kousa has family connections to the PJO and has been converted to being a covert adherent to their cause.
November 10, 1975
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379: By a vote of 72–35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world.
The 729-foot (222 m)-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles (27 km) from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board (an event immortalized in song by Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot).
Lev Leshchenko revives "Den Pobedy", one of the most popular World War II songs in the USSR.
The producers of the long-running serial drama The Guiding Light changed the show's name to Guiding Light, in an attempt to modernize the show's image. The show's announcer, however, continued to call the series The Guiding Light in his announcements until the early 1980s. Plots also become more escapist in trying to avoid the grim realities of the mid-70’s economic crisis.
November 11, 1975
Angola achieves independence from Portugal. A civil war among the competing factions soon erupts with the Cubans backing the Marxist MPLA, while the United States backs UNITA, which receives aid from South Africa and Chile as well.
Australian Governor General Robert Kerr uses his powers to order the dissolution of the Whitlam government and calls on Liberal Party leader Malcolm Fraser to form a new government. The move is technically Constitutional but widely seen as undemocratic.
Prime Minister Fraser immediately calls an election.
TRW employee Christopher Boyce later sees cables implicating the CIA in this attempt to change the Australian government. He sells these and other secrets, including TRW’s acquisition of the Gates-Allen software, to the Soviets in Mexico City.
The first annual Vogalonga rowing "race" is held in Venice, Italy.
November 12, 1975
Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas announces his retirement after thirty-six years of service on the Court. (Justice Douglas had a serious stroke in December 1974 and this development is not unexpected).
Liam Cosgrave, the Taoiseach of the Irish Republic is assassinated outside of his home in Dublin. Initially the UVF and the British are blamed for this action; although later investigation determines that the INLF lead by Seamus O’Connor committed the crime. They targeted the Taoiseach as a protest of co-operation between the Irish and British governments over the arrest and extradition of Republican suspects. Defence Minister Patrick “Paddy” Donnegan becomes interim Taoiseach.
Michael Duggan (32), then Chairman of the Falls Road Taxi Association, was shot dead in Hawthorne Street, Belfast, by members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). This killing was part of the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA.
One person was killed when the PIRA threw a bomb into Scott's Oyster Bar (Restaurant) in Mount Street, Mayfair, London.
November 14, 1975
Spain abandons Western Sahara. Morocco and Mauritania move in from the North and South respectively to take control of the former Spanish colony.
Construction halts on the World Trade Center complex as the developer, Tischman Realty and Development, goes bankrupt, due in part to a lack of cash flow resulting from his financing drying-up, and due to a lack of leasing of space. Neither New York City, nor the State or the Federal governments can afford to keep the huge project going at this point with only marginal, inadequate revenues in sight.
Completed are the "Twin Towers" (Tower One and Tower Two) and 4 World Trade Center, 5 World Trade Center and 6 World Trade Center, which stand largely vacant (save mainly for office space rented by the United States, New York State and some foreign governments). All further work on the project, notably the Marriott World Trade Center hotel has been halted.
New York Mayor Abraham Beame has called this "a disaster of monumental proportions. What'll happen next, someone will knock them down? Someone will knock New York down?"
Radio talk personality and conservative critic Barry Farber has called this "the biggest White Elephant any politician ever foisted on the taxpayers of New York, and the Mayor, he cries over it like some old hysterical aunt. I hope they all rot in Hell over this."
TIME Magazine, November 1975:
THE TWIN TOWERS: A CITY’S TOMBSTONES?
With Contribution by W.V. Rebel
Two years after the ribbon-cutting ceremony which officially opened them, the Twin Towers, once seen as an ambitious, if controversial, urban renewal project for lower Manhattan now stand virtually empty, a testament to bad timing and a symbol of hubris to many in what has been called the worst economy since the 1930s. Most of the original tenants have left; the Windows on the World restaurant which was scheduled to open next year has been postponed "Indefinitely," as has further construction at the site, and the towers have become a high-rise ghost town as a result. Construction on the five star hotel which was to be located on the site has been halted as well.
There used to be a running joke that the towers were the boxes that the city's other buildings came in. Nowadays, with the city facing bankruptcy, New Yorkers say, only half-jokingly, that the towers are what the rest of the city will be buried in.
Another running joke is that the twin towers will be Mayor Abraham Beame’s political coffin as well. Mayor Beame is receiving the brunt of attacks blaming him for the woeful state of New York City’s finances. Economic specialists indicate that it is only financial sleight-of-hand by the Mayor and his staff that is keeping the city from declaring bankruptcy. Most observers believe that Mayor Beame cannot keep the juggling act up indefinitely.
Recent polls show that Mayor Beame’s popular support is hovering around 6%, perhaps the lowest approval rating for a New York Mayor in polling history.
Conservative talk show host Barry Farber, who has indicated that he may run for the Republican nomination for Mayor in 1977, has called the situation “disgraceful.”
“Abe Beame couldn’t manage a lunch counter, much less the city of New York,” Farber adds. “He gets a six percent approval rating in the polls, but who are those six percent? My guess, they’re polling his flunkies at City Hall to avoid a 0% rating, because I don’t know of anyone else in New York – Democrat or Republican – who has a nice thing to say about the guy. He should resign and move to Fargo.”
Mayor Beame has repeatedly said he will not resign, and that he will serve his full term. That has lead a number of civic politicians to look-up the laws on impeaching a sitting Mayor.
New York area Democratic Congressman Ed Koch, another rumored candidate to replace Beame, recently referred to the Twin Towers as “the City’s tombstones.” Koch quickly retracted the comment after he received negative reaction to it.
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November 15, 1975
During a disturbance involving members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) at the Park Bar in Tiger's Bay, Belfast, a Protestant civilian was shot dead. The fracas was part of an ongoing feud between the UDA and the UVF.
A Catholic civilian died almost one year after being injured in a Loyalist bomb attack in Crossmaglen.
Lord Carrington (Peter Carington), the Home Secretary, announces that Britain is building a large prison facility on the Crown Colony of South Georgia Island near Antarctica. This forbidding prison will house PIRA suspects currently on remand or interned, who are suspected or have been convicted of the worst crimes.
Carington: “If they do the Devil’s work, then it’s to the Devil’s land we’ll send them. I can’t say this new facility will be as warm as the abyss, but it is surrounded by ice and cold year round, which should prove just as uncomfortable.”
November 16, 1975
Montana Governor Thomas Lee Judge (D) appoints Lieutenant Governor Theodore Schwinden (D) to fill the late Senator Metcalf’s seat until a special election can be called in November 1976.
November 17, 1975
Over the next few days Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, held meetings with local political parties in Northern Ireland to discuss possible ways forward on Constitutional devolution of power. Thatcher warns that full devolution cannot be achieved until “the criminals are apprehended.”
AGNEW DECRIES COMEDY ATTACK
With contribution from W.V. Rebel:
(AP) – New York - On his new television program Agnew On Point, former President Spiro Agnew lashed out against NBC’s new comedy television show Saturday Night.
Agnew accused Saturday Night of launching a "vicious, hateful" personal attack in this week's sketches, which made light of his attempts to qualify as a candidate in the 1976 Presidential election. One particular sketch, which Agnew mentioned during his on-air tirade against the NBC program, featured guest host Buck Henry as the matriarch of a Waltons-style clan whose family members all have fatal heart attacks each time Agnew's name is mentioned, leaving Henry's character, who supports President Gavin-the last one standing.
Agnew called it "A typical attack by the effete liberals who run Hollywood and the TV industry," and suggested that a lawsuit may be forthcoming.
For his own part, Saturday Night producer Lorne Michaels took the criticism in stride: "If Mr. Agnew is scared of a TV show, he's got bigger problems than trying to get on the ballot.” The latter was a reference to Mr. Agnew’s ongoing efforts to get on the Presidential ballot next year. The Federal Courts have ruled that Mr. Agnew’s removal from office by the Senate in November 1973 bars him from holding any other federal office.
“Of course, his outrage makes great ratings for his own show, doesn’t it?" Mr. Michaels adds, his tongue slightly tucked into his cheek.
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November 18, 1975
President Gavin announces the nomination of Judge Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan) to serve as the first female Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. A center-right jurist, Judge Kennedy (no relation to Senator Edward Kennedy or his family) was first nominated to the federal bench by President Nixon in 1970. She was the first woman appointed to the federal bench in Michigan, and just the fourth woman in the United States to be appointed a federal district court judge.
Some conservatives are disturbed that Judge Kennedy is not conservative enough, while a number of liberals oppose her because they consider Judge Kennedy to be too conservative. However, there is broad based centrist support for the nomination in the United States Senate. She also receives the highest approval rating from the ABA.
Two civilians were killed and 23 were injured when members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) threw a bomb into Walton's Restaurant in Walton Street, Knightsbridge, London.
November 20, 1975
Francisco Franco, absolute dictator of Spain since 1939 (traditional end of the Civil War), dies at the age of 82. Juan Carlos I (Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias) is named to succeed Franco as head of state as King Juan Carlos I of Spain.
The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) published the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention Report.
The Senate’s Church Committee (United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) publishes its 347 pg report “Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders.”
The Church Committee investigated CIA plots to assassinate foreign leaders. This Interim Report, published in 1975, discusses alleged plots to kill:
• Patrice Lumumba (Congo)
• Fidel Castro (Cuba)
• Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic)
• Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnam)
• Rene Schneider (Chile)
The Committee also examined the CIA’s development of a general “executive action” capability. The Committee found that the U.S. initiated plots to assassinate Fidel Castro and Patrice Lumumba. In the other cases, either U.S. involvement was indirect or evidence was too inconclusive to issue a finding. In Lumumba’s case, the Committee asserted that the U.S. was not involved in his death, despite earlier plotting. The Committee was unable to state with certainty whether any plots were authorized by U.S. Presidents.
November 21, 1975
President Gavin: “I was just as astounded as most of you must have been about the contents of these reports. Obviously, there are issues to be addressed here. But, as the committee report makes clear, all of the events took place prior to 1973. We cannot change the past, but we can use the mistakes of the past to better inform our policies in the future.”
Question: “In 1961 you served as Ambassador to France in the Kennedy Administration, and the Church report indicates that there was some communication between the CIA and the French intelligence services, especially over the plots in the Congo. Did you ever discuss these or anything related to them with French officials while you were ambassador?”
President Gavin: “No. I had no knowledge of them at the time.”
Question: “Would you have approved, had you been consulted?”
President Gavin: “I wasn’t, so I can’t respond to a hypothetical. Let’s be clear, Senator Church and his colleagues have stated, for the record, that they couldn’t substantiate whether any past President – Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson or Nixon – had any knowledge of this activity. The nature of secret activities is that the people involved keep them secret. In this case – at least speaking for Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, both of whom I knew personally – I believe if either President had been informed, they would have ordered an immediate halt to this activity. My reading of President Johnson, based on what his associates have said about him as a man and a leader of conviction, would lead me to believe that he would have done the same. As for President Nixon and Mr. Agnew, they are still available, so I will leave it for them to speak for themselves on the matter.”
Richard Nixon (through his lawyers): “No comment.”
Spiro Agnew (Responding in an Editorial on his TV show Agnew On Point): “Finally, let me discuss the recent controversy which has swept Washington about Presidents ordering the assassinations of foreign leaders. All of those discussed by the Church report occurred before January 1973, on the watches of other Presidents. Between 1969 and 1973 President Nixon did not inform me personally, or in writing or through a subordinate, of any assassination plots. I’m sure he would have stopped any, had he learned of them: Richard Nixon was not – is not – the kind of man who would approve of murder. Such things were more the province of the National Security adviser of the time, and I imagine that he took the greatest liberty with the authority that President Nixon entrusted to him. I have no doubt that could have pushed U.S. policy to extremes, the extent of which the President may not have been aware of.
“It is true that Salvador Allende was murdered while I was President. But our government had no part in this activity. It was strictly the act of the Chilean generals who, as patriots, were trying to save their country from a Communist takeover. None of them asked our permission before acting and I received no briefing about this beforehand. I did approve of the Generals’ takeover afterward, this is part of the record. It is also part of the record that Salvador Allende was a ruthless Communist, a soldier in the Red march coming out of Moscow and Havana. Our intelligence left us with little doubt that Allende took his orders from Fidel Castro, and that he planned, in his own words, to be quote – the Castro of South America – end quote. It is unfortunate that he was killed in September 1973, but this happens in war. But let us be clear. Salvador Allende was a casualty in a war of his own making, a war he started in an effort to impose tyrannical communism on the Chilean people, and eventually all the peoples of the Americas. The action the Chilean generals took to save their country – and all of us – from this menace was harsh, but necessary.
“I cannot say that the idea of murder is easy for me. Having lost my own beloved daughter to radical terrorists, I know from personal experience the pain and suffering that such violence imposes on the family of the victim and those who love them. But there are times when it becomes necessary to remove bad men from this Earth. Fidel Castro is a bad man; he has turned his native home into a prison and enslaved his people. In October 1962 he threatened the peace of the world. To this day he spreads poison through the world, especially in Latin America and Africa. As a patriot, as a lover of freedom, I cannot help but applaud even the sternest measures that might be used to remove this menace from our planet. Had my office not been usurped, had I had the time to fully implement the policy, I might well, as President, have ordered the death of Castro. The removal of this one man would have lifted the peril from so many, and would have served the betterment of mankind.
“The others are lesser known to me, and I will not presume to second-guess the judgment of Presidents who addressed these situations before my tenure. But I believe that in each case, the actions were justified, else good Americans would not have done this. America is strong, but we face a determined adversary who is relentless, pitiless and brutal in his methods. Unlike Americans, the Communist is barely man, he is a being who has lost his soul, and as such is a terrifying monster. To combat such an evil being we must be ready to use any method, to be as relentless and brutal as our adversary, if only in the short run, until we beat him. When we do these things, we do them reluctantly, and for freedom. That cleanses the necessary horror in the bath of true liberty. It is unfortunate that we have come to this, but it is our adversary and his methods that have taken us there.
“In closing, let me say, that while assassination is a brutal, ugly business, I applaud those patriots who have found the moral courage to defend our liberty and stop the enemy in his tracks. That is true patriotism.”
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Henry Kissinger: “I followed President Nixon’s instructions, and carried out the policy directives he and I developed together. I never took liberties with President Nixon’s trust. At times I may have seem pedantic to the President, as I wanted to be sure that he understood everything I was doing based upon his policies. There was never any freelancing or concealment from the President. I never ordered, condoned or tolerated an act of murder.”
Richard Nixon (through his attorneys): “The former President cannot categorically state all that Dr. Kissinger may or may not have done while serving as National Security Adviser, as the President did not supervise Dr. Kissinger’s every action. However, the former President strongly believes that Dr. Kissinger, in all his official actions, acted faithfully and in the best interests of the United States and its people. Any who might claim otherwise have to present the evidence of any misdeeds on Dr. Kissinger’s part. The former President is confident that that cannot do so.”
Johnny Carson: (The Tonight Show): “The government reported today that aliens landed on the White House lawn in 1973 and demanded to be taken to our leader. However, Spiro Agnew shot them before they could tell us what they wanted.”
George Carlin: “Kind of makes you feel lucky if you were on Richard Nixon’s enemies list, ‘cause all he did was audit your taxes. But if you were on Spiro Agnew’s enemies list, watch out; no room for appeals there.”
Roger Ailes (speaking for The Hughes Network): “The former President has some robust opinions, and he expresses them forthrightly. That’s one of the reasons we put him on the air, to help bring clarity and insight to our political debates. What Mr. Agnew said was his own opinion, of course; the corporate policy of The Hughes Network may be different, but we support Mr. Agnew’s First Amendment right to speak his mind on matters of public importance.”
From Edward Bennett Williams – One Man’s Freedom
Out of exasperation I turned to Nixon, and said, “For Christ sake, would Reagan have really been such a bad choice?”
I was referring to his choice of Agnew as his running mate in 1968.
The former President looked-up at me with his trademark long, jowly scowl and I thought at first he was going to say something nasty. Instead he glanced off into space for a minute and then said, “Romney. I should have settled for Romney. First class man, second class mind, dull as dishwater. No one would have given him a television show.”
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November 22, 1975
Three British soldiers were shot dead in a gun attack on a British Army observation post near Crossmaglen, County Armagh.
In Cabinet Mrs. Thatcher argues with the Prime Minister about implementing the Northern Ireland Constitutional convention report. Heath wants to proceed, while Thatcher is arguing for complete martial law in Northern Ireland.
November 25, 1975
Suriname becomes independent from the Netherlands.
Two Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were shot dead while on patrol by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Pomeroy, County Tyrone.
Francis Crossan (34), a Catholic civilian, was found dead with his throat cut in the Shankill area of Belfast. Members of he Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers' were responsible for the killing. [See: 20 February 1979]
A member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Derry.
Question (to President Gavin): “Do you have any response to Spiro Agnew’s remarks the other night?”
President Gavin: “They weren’t helpful.”
Question: “Do you think the former President’s remarks...”
President Gavin: “He’s not a former President, he was removed from office. “
Question: “Do you think Mr. Agnew’s remarks will damage our foreign relations?”
President Gavin: “Mr. Agnew, as a private citizen, is entitled to his opinion, that’s what the First Amendment is all about. He has no official voice, and what he says is the private opinion of one Maryland resident who was dismissed from public office and nothing else. No foreign leader is going to take them as a serious reflection of U.S. policy today. As to the content of his remarks, all I can say is – these days they’ll put just about anything on television. That doesn’t mean that what is said there is important or even relevant.”
November 26, 1975
The Rocky Horror Picture Show premiers in the United States. It develops a cult following, but is not a huge success.
November 27, 1975
Ross McWhirter (50), who had publicly criticised the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) violence, was shot dead by the PIRA at his home in Village Road, Enfield, London. McWhirter was a founder of the Guinness Book of World Records and had offered a £50,000 reward for the capture of the PIRA members responsible for the bombings in London.
The Heath government survives a vote of confidence by a vote of 319–318. Joining the opposition in the vote are six Conservative MPs lead by Kenneth Clarke who oppose the Heath Government’s Northern Ireland policy. The vote makes clear the fact that Heath is clinging to power as (effectively) a minority government being propped-up by the Ulster Unionist members of the House.
Barbara Castle MP: “When will this government realize that it has stepped beyond the bounds and resign? This most recent vote should make it clear to the Prime Minister that he is clinging to power only with the help of those who represent the extreme side of this conflict. I point out that members from the government’s own benches have found this government wanting. When will the Prime Minister and his Ministers awake to the fact that all the rest of Britain can plainly see, that they have squandered any public mandate, slim as it was, that they may have received long ago in February 1974?”
Edward Heath MP (Prime Minister): “Mr. Speaker, it remains a fact, one which our honourable friends find inconvenient, but a fact nonetheless, that the British voter expressed confidence in this government at the last poll – not even two years ago - and it is as a result of that mandate from the British people that we govern today. The most recent vote of confidence in this government has been a responsible reflection of that mandate.
“While this government remains responsive and sensitive to on-going changes and events, at the same time we will not allow the complaints of the Opposition, or the fair-weather allegiance of a few feckless turncoats, to sway us from our responsibilities as a government chosen by the people of Great Britain.
“And to those who have deserted our ranks, I can only point out that they ran as members of this government party and received their mandates to sit in this House as such. Were they to show any regard for principle, then they should resign at once and allow the people of their constituencies to decide on their fitness to continue service here.”
November 28, 1975
Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor. The newly created leftist government of East Timor is immediately recognized by North Korea, which begins funnelling Soviet aid to the country.
November 29, 1975
Archibald Waller (23), then a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), was shot dead by fellow UVF members in an internal feud. The shooting occurred in the Shankill area of Belfast.
An airport employee was killed by a Loyalist bomb at Dublin airport.
November 30 1975
Noel Shaw (19), then a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), was shot dead by fellow UVF members in an internal feud. The shooting occurred in the Shankill area of Belfast.
Rep. James A. Haley (D-FL) is shot and killed in a late night shooting outside his Chevy Chase, Maryland residence. It takes seven weeks before Maryland State Police match a casing found at the scene with one found at the scene of Sen. Metcalf’s murder in the District of Columbia. At this point the FCTB is called into the investigation.
From the Media section of The Washington Post
NABOB OF NONSENSE
From the upstart Hughes Network comes probably the worst excuse for information programming ever foisted on the American viewer in the form of Agnew On Point. Spiro T. Agnew, know as Ted to his friends and familiars, the one-time President, fired by the Senate for pardoning himself for crimes that would earn you and I years of rock breaking, opines with his curiously ill-informed illogic over the issues of the day.
Like he used to do on the campaign trail in his salad days as Richard Nixon’s hatchet man, this narcissistic nobbler of nonsense erupts every night into a barely literate Nile of numbskullery that neither informs nor enlightens.
Already, this nave of the new right has endorsed state sanctioned murder. He claims he would have killed Castro had he been given the time – leading one to wonder if Fidel says a secret prayer every night for our Senate. More to the point, Agnew has seduced an audience of millions, who have abandoned regular, balanced and informed network news to indulge nightly in Ted’s cheap thrill. This may serve the bottom line of the Hughes Network, a collection of bankrupt television stations saved by the money of a reclusive billionaire who, reports have it, lies naked in gauze every day, locked away in hotel rooms. Ted Agnew and his knit witted nibbles may fulfill Howard Hughes right-wing fantasies, but one has to wonder about their long-term impact on the viewers of America. Were they to regard this as clown-foolery by the billionaire and his stooge then we might be safe. But viewer feedback among the millions falling under Agnew’s spell is that they are accepting his word as gospel; his upside-down, tumble dried view of the world is becoming the preferred way an increasing number among the viewing audience are not only getting their news (viewer feedback says that those taking Agnew seriously are tuning out network news while they are tuning in Agnew), but he is shaping their world view in the bargain.
What, we can wonder, will that lead us to? Read over Ted Agnew’s record and ask yourself if that is the world in which you would like to live? State sanctioned murder, brutality from the police and the hard hitting right are his cup of tea. So are you a spellbound sucker ready to be spun into Agnew’s spell?
“This program,” Agnew says in his opening episode, “will tear the blinders off of our public affairs and shine a light where the ludicrous liberals and their legions of nattering nabobs of negativity don’t want you to look. I can’t promise to give it to you without my opinion thrown in, but I will promise to give it you and let you be the judge. After all, that’s what our democracy is all about, isn’t it? So, let’s you and I dig the deceptive depths and rescue the truth from the liberal lock-up of lies.”
That, as the Hughes Network would have it, is wit – or at least half of it.
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Agnew On Point
Agnew opens by reading the above article on the air.
Agnew (Laughing): There’s one hapless harpie of hysteria. Truth hurts, and our friends on the ludicrous left can’t take the sting. This hysterical rant has nothing to do with the quality of our show, no this is naked fear of the content. I said, as quoted here, that my commitment to you, the viewer, would be to rescue the truth from the liberal lock-up of lies. That remains unchanged.
This (holds up article) is proof that I’m getting under their skin. This malcontented milquetoast of the media has written that you are tuning out other news. Well, let me be the first to encourage you to watch my network colleagues and listen to what they tell you. Then ask yourself, is it news or leftist propaganda? I’m confident you’ll be able to tell, but I’ll be here to clarify it for you.
Recently, Mrs. Clara Dodge of Clintonville, Wisconsin wrote me to say, and I quote (reads from letter) “Keep up the good work, Mr Agnew. Unlike the others, you’re telling us the truth, showing us how it is and how badly the lying liberals have messed-up our country. More power to you and make them sweat.”
Exactly, Mrs. Dodge, and that’s what we’ll keep doing.
Hysterical rants like this (holds-up article) are proof we’re getting to them. In the coming days and weeks they’ll turn their best wits against us – well, at least half of them – to try and knock us out of the box. But no nabob of negativism, no larceny of liberal lies will stop me from bringing the truth to you. It’s time for a national awakening to the distortions and lies which have been foisted on us, and it will be my pleasure to expose, identify and dump in the dumpster of history every last one of them.”
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December 1, 1975
Two members of the PIRA were killed in King Street, Belfast, when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely.
Top-rated As the World Turns, bowing to competition from NBC, expanded to one hour in length, its current format. The Edge of Night moves to ABC, as CBS has no room in its schedule. CBS begins showing daytime reruns of All in the Family on this day.
Fred Silverman became the head of ABC Entertainment, initiating an era of what was disparagingly called "T&A" or "Jiggle Television". His programming choices resulted in ABC achieving ratings dominance, through titillating, escapist television shows.
December 2, 1975
Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries in the Dolphin Restaurant, Strand Road, Derry.
December 4, 1975
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a former member of the Manson family, aims a loaded gun at President Gavin as he leaves a speaking engagement at Chicago’s Biltmore Hotel. The Secret Service quickly subdue Fromme, and discover that the automatic pistol she is using does not have a chambered round; thus she could not have fired at the President without loading the chamber first round (there were some live rounds in the magazine).
"I stood up and waved a gun (at Gavin) for a reason," said Fromme. "I was so relieved not to have to shoot it, but, in truth, I came to get life. Not just my life but clean air, healthy water and respect for creatures and creation."
After a trial at which Fromme makes a number of speeches and throws an apple at the prosecutor, she is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to assassinate the President.
Burmese dictator Ne Win complains about Chinese military operations in the north of his country near Lashio, and the apparent support of Communist guerrillas by the Chinese, which are being used by the PRC to attack local Burmese forces and drug lords and drive them away from the border regions. Ne Win also maintains that the PRC is co-opting some Golden Triangle drug traffickers to smuggle opium, and is using the Communist guerrillas as a kind of enforcement and “tax collection” force through the region.
Similar complaints are soon to be heard coming from Laos’s leader, Prince Souvanna Phouma as well. In Laos a civil war breaks out within the Pathet Lao movement, between those elements under Kaysone Phomvihane, which are supported by North Vietnam, and breakaway factions who accept aid from China. The Pathet Lao who defect to the Chinese side are also thought to be involved in the drug trade.
Burma and Laos both receive more U.S. aid to combat drug trafficking as a result.
December 6, 1975
British police chased a group of four PIRA men through the West End of London. There was a car chase and an exchange of gunfire before the PIRA members took over a council flat in Balcombe Street and held the married couple living in the flat hostage. [This marked the beginning of a six-day siege during which time the PIRA members demanded a plane to take them to the Republic of Ireland. The siege ended when the hostages were released unharmed and the PIRA members surrendered to police.]
Two members of the PIRA were killed when the land mine they were preparing exploded prematurely near Killeen, County Armagh.
December 7, 1975
Indonesia invades and occupies east Timor with the blessing of the United States, which fears Communist influence in the new country.
December 9, 1975
A poll published in The Daily Telegraph showed that 64 per cent of people in Britain wanted the British Army to be withdrawn from Northern Ireland. 58 per cent of respondents also expressed favour for having Margaret Thatcher replaced as Northern Ireland Secretary. Many respondents blamed her combative style for aggravating “The Troubles.”
Barbara Castle MP: “The British people have spoken about this Minister, and they have but one word for her. Go! Go! Go! Will Mrs. Thatcher heed the will of the British people and be gone, gone, gone?”
December 10, 1975
During a visit to her constituency of Finchley, Margaret Thatcher, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, survives an assassination attempt. As her car is pulling out from her constituency office, it is rammed by a lorry. While a gunman lays down suppression fire with a machine gun on the accompanying police car, a man runs up to the damaged Minister’s car and sprays liquid nitrogen on the rear window next to Thatcher. Either he or a second person flings a brick at it, smashing the frozen window. Two men on a motorbike then drive by and one throws a satchel bomb through the smashed window.
Fortunately for Thatcher, the attackers have misjudged the amount of time required on the timer that sets off the charge. Instead of thirty seconds, the primer is set for 120 seconds. This gives Thatcher enough time to fling the satchel back out of the car.
The bomb lands on the hood of an Austin Mini driven by Mrs. Mela Patel, who is unaware of what has just transpired. The satchel detonates, killing Mrs. Patel and seriously injuring her two small children in the back seat of the Mini.
The PIRA claims responsibility and proclaims that Thatcher was a legitimate target of war. The PIRA does issue an apology to Mrs. Patel’s family, though her husband Mr. Kulen Patel goes before television cameras to decry the PIRA as murderers.
December 11, 1975
Billy McKee, a past Officer Commanding of the PIRA’s Belfast Brigade is assassinated by members of the INLA.
The Times: TERRORISTS ATTACK MINISTER: MURDER INNOCENT BYSTANDER
The Daily Mail: PIRA AIMS HIGH, GETS A MOTHER AND KIDS INSTEAD
The Guardian: THATCHER TARGETED BY PIRA; MINISTER ESCAPES BUT TOSSES BOMB AT INNOCENT MOTHER
The Scotsman: MRS. THATCHER PAYS FOR IRON POLICY; PASSES PRICE ON TO INNOCENT WITNESS
The Economist: MINISTER AND MOTHER LEARN THE COST OF WAR
Daily Mirror: THATCHER PASSES THE BOMB; KILLS IMMIGRANT MOTHER
News of the World: HARDCASE MAGGIE SHOWS HER REAL FEELINGS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS – KILLS ONE!
New Statesman: IMMIGRANT HOUSEWIFE PAYS THE PRICE FOR THATCHER’S IRON FISTED NI POLICY
The Sun: IRA AIMS AT THATCHER WHO GETS HOUSEWIFE WITH THEIR BOMB. IS THIS ANYWAY TO RUN A WAR?
December 12, 1975
Nationwide parliamentary elections in the Republic of Vietnam return a majority of deputies from President Truong’s movement, the Central Democratic Coalition (more of a group allied with the President rather than a formal political party at this point) . There are questions of fraud in some constituency, but overall the elections are rated as “relatively fair and free of tampering” by the U.N. watchdog agency.
Inflation in Turkey is now running at 265%, with the currency virtually worthless. Most trade is conducted in US dollars or other foreign currency. The economic situation puts pressure on Prime Minister Turkes to moderate his demands with regard to Greece and consider a ceasefire.
December 13, 1975
Australian National Election: (127 seats; 64 needed)
Labor: 55 seats
Liberal: 37 seats
National Country Party: 26 seats
Independents: 6 seats
Australia Party: 2 seats
Democratic Labor Party: 1 seat
Labor forms a minority government with the support of 6 Independent, the 1 member of the Democratic Labor Party and the Australia Party Representatives. The latter is a more conservative party which is more closely aligned with the Liberals, however they ran on a platform against Fraser’s manoeuvre to use the Governor General to change the government.
Labor Party Leader Gough Whitlam thus begins a second term as Prime Minister of Australia, but on very shaky ground.
Although many Australian voters voted against Labor (which had a 66 seat majority in the previous House of Representatives) due to the economy, many also turned on the Liberal Party for its machinations with the Governor General. This explains the sudden rise of the two minor parties to win seats, and the record number of no party independent Representatives.
Malcolm Fraser is forced to resign as Liberal Party leader.
Senate Result: (64 seats)
Labor: 22
Liberal/National (alliance): 15
Liberal (sitting apart from the alliance): 14
Independents: 3
National Country party (sitting apart from the alliance): 3
Democratic Labor Party: 2
Australia Party: 1
Liberal Movement: 1
Country Liberal Party: 1
Communist Alliance: 1
Prime Minister Edward Heath personally visits Mr. Kulen Patel to express his regrets at the death of his wife. Mr. Patel accepts Heath’s apology but still makes some unfavourable statements about the Northern Ireland policy to the Prime Minister, who numbly repeats “I understand,” and “understandable” to Patel’s remarks.
December 15, 1975
Despite a personal connection to George Bush from his political work in Houston, Texas, Karl Rove joins the Reagan for President campaign as a strategist. Rove later explains that he preferred Reagan’s philosophy to Bush’s.
Rep. Morris (Mo) Udall (D-AZ) announces that he will not seek the 1976 Democratic Party nomination for President. Instead, he announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for the Senate in Arizona. The incumbent, Sen. Paul Fannin (R-AZ) has announced that he will be retiring.
Kintan Patel, the four-year-old son of Kulen and Kintan Patel dies as a result of trauma and complications suffered in the December 10th bombing.
December 16, 1975
The Times: TERRORIST BOMB CLAIMS SECOND VICTIM
The Guardian: MINISTER HAS CHILD’S BLOOD ON HER HANDS
News of the World: HARDCASE MAGGIE UP 2 IN BODYCOUNT
Margaret Thatcher MP (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland): “I formally wish to express my regret to Mr. Kulen Patel and his family for the death of his wife and son. Mrs. Patel and the child were the victims of a terrible circumstance, a circumstance caused by these criminals who persist in using violence to achieve their illegal goals. Now, we see them for what they are, exposed in the full light of day as child murderers.
“I wish these tragic deaths had not been the outcome, and if I could change it I would. But it is the thugs who threw made the bomb and threw it who bear upon them the blood of Mrs. Mela Patel and her four-year-old child.”
Denis Healey MP (Leader of the Opposition): “The blood from this event, as the Minister calls it, the blood of Mela and Kintan Patel, rests on the hands of this government and on this Minister personally. While I cannot fault the Minister for tossing away the bomb, I can and do fault her and her government for creating the situation which caused this to happen in the first place. Throwing bombs is wrong, but surely the thing was caused by this government’s belligerent, unyielding policy in Ulster lead to this tragedy.
"The Minister must have been alerted that she was a potential target. Instead of conducting herself accordingly, she exposed herself in a public place where innocent bystanders could easily be exposed to the violence directed at her. This is what happened, and it happened to Mrs. Mela Patel and her four-year-old child. That blood, Mrs. Thatcher, is on your hands.”
Margaret Thatcher MP: “The murder of Mrs. Patel and her son is a terrible crime, but the attempt by the Opposition to exploit this for political gain is reprehensible. No member of this government shall shy away from their responsibilities because of the actions of thugs and criminals. We will not hide from the people. Instead, the members of the bench opposite should be hiding their faces in shame for this outrageous attempt to exploit the Patel family’s tragedy.”
December 17, 1975
Cornelia Groefsema Kennedy is confirmed for the United States Supreme Court by a vote of 79 - 21 in the United States Senate. She is sworn in as the first female Associate Justice of the USSC on December 19, 1975.
December 18, 1975
During a visit to Derry, Northern Ireland under very tight security, Prime Minister Edward Heath barely escapes an assassination attempt when a Rocket Propelled Grenade is launched at his motorcade. Heath is lucky that the Soviet made device does not explode (it is believed to have deteriorated due to poor handling and storage).
December 19, 1975
Two men were killed as a result of a car bomb planted by the Red Hand Commandos (RHC), a group closely associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), outside Kay's Tavern, Crowe Street, Dundalk, County Louth. The bomb exploded at 6.15pm. [Hugh Walters (60) was killed immediately and Jack Rooney (61) died later on 22 December 1975 as a result of his injuries.]
Three Catholic civilians were killed during a gun and bomb attack by the RHC on the Silverbridge Inn, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh. Patrick Donnely (24) had just arrived outside in his car when he was shot dead by the Loyalist paramilitaries who then began shooting into the bar before throwing a bomb into the premises. Michael Donnelly (14), the son of the owner of the bar, was shot dead as was Trevor Bracknell (35).
Six people were injured, some seriously, in the explosion. It is believed that the same Loyalist gang carried out both the attack in Dundalk and the attack on the Silverbridge Inn. [It was later claimed that there had been collusion between the security forces and the Loyalists in the attack: later investigators claimed that a member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were part of the Loyalist gang.
The United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee publishes a report calling the violence in Ireland and Britain “a full out Civil War.” The governments of both Britain and Ireland protest this characterization.
The Senate’s Church Committee publishes its 409 page report on the Huston plan.
In June of 1970, during the wave of domestic protest centered around the war in Vietnam, President Nixon approved a set of recommendations known as the Huston Plan. This plan called for various agencies of government, including the CIA, FBI, and military intelligence agencies, to conduct wide-ranging intelligence-gathering activities targeted toward dissident groups and individuals. Most of these activities violated basic civil liberties. The President revoked the plan 5 days later, though some of its recommendations continued to be carried out. Volume 2 consists of hearings followed by a lengthy set of document exhibits. Witnesses included Tom Charles Huston, the author of the plan, former CIA counterintelligence head James Angleton, and former Assistant Director of the FBI Charles Brennan. There is no indication that then Vice President Spiro Agnew was aware of these activities.
An early morning coordinated invasion of Anjar on the Lebanese side of the Syrian-Lebanese border by 3,000 US and 1,000 UK Special Forces and 2,000 Syrian government National Guard troops begins. The allied force occupies two insurgent staging camps on the Lebanese side of the border and claim to have killed as many as 125 insurgents. They also seize a cash of arms belonging to the insurgency.
Later sweeps of the area uncover the fact that the insurgents have massacred many of the ethnic Armenians who had been living in the region (they had been settled there by the French in 1939 after being expelled from Turkey).
