At minimum, we're looking at someone who was active in the civil rights debates. Although...I don't know McCloskey's history, could he fit that bill? (Not Gavin, his political goose is cooked.)
Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72
- Thread starter Drew
- Start date
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At minimum, we're looking at someone who was active in the civil rights debates. Although...I don't know McCloskey's history, could he fit that bill? (Not Gavin, his political goose is cooked.)
Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy
Banned
I missed that part when I went back and read the post again. OK then, the only name to pop up in my mind on such short notice is Ted Kennedy's. Don't know if he and Wallace could work together, but his Kennedy-ness, unlike Dellums' blackness, is something that America would be ready for.
WestVirginiaRebel
Banned
The only person I could think of off the bat is Jesse Jackson; this could be a testing ground for his future Presidential campaigns.
If it were Jackson, it might as well be Dellums.
Now me, I can think of a guy, who might just fit the bill. The question about George Romney is, is America ready for a Mormon VP?
Now me, I can think of a guy, who might just fit the bill. The question about George Romney is, is America ready for a Mormon VP?
Yeah, I think we can rule out an African-American from the post, or a reverend with no governmental experience, for that matter. Wallace needs somebody with gravitas, given both his foreign policy inexperience and lingering worries about his health.
EMK could work, if he'd take the job, but that seems too obvious -- Dellums seemed surprised by the pick, which I'm guessing either means a Republican or an experienced outsider, as Gavin was.
Romney....hmm. That would certainly be an interesting choice, though I'm not sure he could be moved to ditch the GOP even if he is increasingly out of place in it. Also, while I think the Mormon issue could be overcome, the fact that he was in Richard Nixon's cabinet might be a problem.
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This makes me think we're looking at someone currently in the private sector, but who served in or had strong ties to the Kennedy Administration.
....RogueBeaver, any ideas?
EDIT: Waaait a second. Kennedy Administration, foreign policy experience, business executive, black and white images from the civil rights movement...I think I've got it.
It's Nicholas Katzenbach, isn't it?
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Sounds like you're getting warm Fleetlord. You may even be at the front door.
Thande
Donor
Don't feel obliged to please whiny update-mongers over your RL stuff. But by all means if you do have the time I would very much like to see what happens next. Particularly since not all of us have Fleetlord Hart's strength of theory for who Wallace's running mate is, accurate or not.
It started on Nov 22 1963, so was well established by 1973, at which point TTL started changing things in the wider world. I would think that as escapist Sci Fi Dr Who would continue to do well.
In the US and Canada it would be determined by ratings, which drives the advertising revenue of any particular program, which is a significant factor in whether a show stays on the air or gets cut.
I don't know how the BBC did its formulation in the 1970's, or if commercial concerns were as significant to determining what went on the BBC's schedule.
So, unless it went overtly political in a way that OTL Dr. Who didn't, I don't think it would get killed, and it would go on with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in the lead role through this period.
What kind of music is in charts at this time? Much the same as it was in OTL? Maybe it's generally more political (so punk might appear a few years earlier - I wouldn't be surprised if the first Sex Pistols LP had a safety pin through Margaret Thatcher's nose rather than the Queen) or more escapist?
WestVirginiaRebel
Banned
I think it's been established that punk rock is more popular (The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bob" is a top ten single in the U.S. in this TL.) Also electronic music (Kraftwerk) is subsituted for disco (although given its escapist nature disco might be even more popular.)
Bump, map, and question...
Hope your life is going well Drew. Just was wondering, how's Congressman Jimmy Stewart doing?
Hope your life is going well Drew. Just was wondering, how's Congressman Jimmy Stewart doing?
Attacks
February 18, 1976
18th annual Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: Bob Dylan (producer and artist) "Blood On the Tracks"
Album of the Year: Phil Ramone (producer) & Paul Simon (producer & artist) for Still Crazy After All These Years
Song of the Year: Stephen Sondheim (songwriter) for "Send In the Clowns" performed by Judy Collins
Best New Artist: Natalie Cole
March 29, 1976
The 48th Annual Academy Awards
Best Picture:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (winner)
Soles
Dog Day Afternoon
Jaws
Nashville
Best Actor in a Leading Role:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Jack Nicholson (winner)
Dog Day Afternoon - Al Pacino
Give 'em Hell, Harry! - James Whitmore
Soles – Jeff Bridges
FDR – Gregory Peck
Best Actress in a Leading Role:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Louise Fletcher (winner)
Hedda - Glenda Jackson
Hester Street - Carol Kane
The Story of Adele H - Isabelle Adjani
The Wind and the Lion – Candice Bergen
Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Soles – Burt Lancaster (winner)
The Sunshine Boys - George Burns
Dog Day Afternoon - Chris Sarandon
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Brad Dourif
Night Moves – James Woods
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Soles – Anne Archer (winner)
Farewell, My Lovely - Sylvia Miles
Nashville - Ronee Blakley
Barry Lyndon – Marie Kean
The Drowning Pool – Gail Strickland
Best Director:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Milos Foreman (winner)
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick
Soles – Ridley Scott
FDR - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The Sunshine Boys - Neil Simon
April 2, 1976
Ronnie Bunting of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) recruits Gerard Steenson (19) and Kevin Lynch (20) for “a special mission in Britain.” To prepare, Bunting, Steenson and Lynch are smuggled out of Ireland to Portugal where they receive several weeks training in small arm use from the Portuguese Army (and possibly Cuban advisors).
April 5, 1976
In the Central African Republic supporters of David Dacko attempt to free him from house arrest. They fail, but the resulting political fallout leads to more infighting within the National Salvation Council. Dacko is put away in a military prison, where he is reportedly tortured.
April 16, 1976
As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
The Senate passes the Portuguese Democracy Act of 1976 by a vote of 79 - 21. This act provides for a complete economic sanction of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal (called “the Communist held Portuguese rogue entity” in the bill) exempting only the Azores and Madeira from the sanctions. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) attempts to add an amendment to the bill which would extend economic and military support to General Spinola’s loyalist forces, but this fails to pass since such aid would have to be channelled through Falangist Spain.
April 21, 1976
The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
April 23, 1976
The punk rock group The Ramones release their first self-titled album.
April 29, 1976
The House of Representatives passes the Portuguese Democracy Act of 1976 by a vote of 229 – 206.
April 30, 1976
President Gavin signs the Portuguese Democracy Act of 1976 into law.
In the Central African Republic Brigadier André-Dieudonné Kolingba and Dr. Sylvestre Bangui seize power, abolishing the National Salvation Council. Georges Bokassa flees into exile. The new government then engages in an offensive against Banda “separatists.”
France, which had supported the National Salvation Council, condemns the coup, but Kolingba and Bangui have covert CIA support, having convinced the Americans that several members of the National Salvation Council are on the Soviet payroll (whether this is actually true or not is subject to interpretation).
Dr. Bangui, acting through CIA intermediaries, begins to make secret deals with the Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of nearby Zaire. Mobutu is interested in gold, diamonds and uranium in the CAR. Dr. Bangui also explores deals with the Israelis, South Africans and Chileans over uranium deposits in the CAR.
April 30 – May 1, 1976
The Trades Union Council and the TGWU stage a nationwide General Strike to oppose privitisation. The effect of the strike is to bring Britain to a virtual standstill.
May 1, 1976
Eric Wills is elected to another term as Premier of New South Wales. Some regard the Liberal-Country Coalition re-election at the State level as a reaction to the re-election of the Labor Party at the Federal level.
Most major European capitals outside of the East Bloc see large anti-government demonstrations on May Day as unions, students and individuals protest economic conditions. London and Paris also have large anti-war demonstrations.
Paris is the scene of a large anti-nuclear protest staged by The French Communist Party (PCF) and its associated Union, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the Socialist Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) and the National Union of Students (UNEF) and some allied left-wing groups. Violence occurs in clashes with right-wing groups opposed to the anti-nuclear protestors.
May 2, 1976
Under increasing pressure from radical clerics Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, acting in the name of his hospitalized brother King Khalid, orders the execution of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
Seamus Ludlow (47), a Catholic civilian, who was an unmarried forestry worker from Thistle Cross, Dundalk, County Louth, was killed in the early hours of the morning. He was shot a number of times. [Initially the PIRA was suspected by some members of the Garda Siochana (the Irish police)].
Senator John Tunney (D-CA) is attacked by a man whom he and his escort describe as “dark haired, short and stocky,” while Tunney is jogging in Rock Creek Park. The Senator sustains a bullet wound in his shoulder as the gunman tries to shoot at him from a hidden perch. However, the Senator has a bodyguard assigned to him from the Capitol Police (guards have been assigned to Democratic law makers from the Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Service and even the Border Patrol, anywhere personnel can be found). The gunman next exchanges gunfire with the Senator’s escort, before escaping into the undergrowth.
The bullet extracted from the Senator’s shoulder confirms that this was another attempt by “the Democrat Killer.” After the attack on Tunney he is not heard from again until the fall presidential campaign.
May 3, 1976
Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud is beheaded for the crime of transgressing Islamic law through his sinful living in foreign countries. The execution is condemned by a number of foreign countries and religious groups. Radical Wahhabi clerics use the fact that the Crown Prince (and through him the King) delayed the execution of Sattam due to foreign pressure as an example of “the moral corruption” of the monarchy.
Nine RAF personnel and one soldier are KIA after a British Hercules plane comes down 22 km northwest of Damascus. Later evaluation of the wreckage indicates that it was brought down by a surface to air missile.
The British House of Commons passes a series of economic sanctions against the PDRP (exempting the Azores and Madeira) by a vote of 319 – 316. The British sanctions are not as strict as their American counterparts.
May 4, 1976
The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.
May 5, 1976
An attempted coup in Turkey fails. The Grey Wolves crack down further on dissent.
Nine members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) escaped from the Maze Prison through a tunnel.
May 6, 1976
An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.
On the evening of 6 May 1976, after the end of the third Cod War had already been decided, the Icelandic ship Týr was trying to cut the nets of the trawler Carlisle. Captain Gerald Plumer of HMS Falmouth decided to ram V/s Týr. The Falmouth at the speed of 22+ knots (41+ km/h) steamed into the ship, almost capsising her. Týr did not sink and managed to cut the nets of Carlisle. This resulted in another ramming. At that moment Týr was heavily damaged and propelled by only a single screw and pursued by the tug-boat Statesman. In this dire situation Guðmundur Kjærnested, captain of V/s Týr gave orders to man the guns, in spite of the overwhelming superiority of firepower the Falmouth enjoyed.
Eight members of the Special Air Service (SAS) were arrested in the Republic of Ireland. The official explanation was that the soldiers had made a map reading error and accidentally crossed the border. [During the course of the Northern Ireland conflict there were many instances of British Army personnel and vehicles, including aircraft, making illegal crossings of the border. In March 1976 SAS soldiers had crossed the border and grabbed Seán McKenna, then a PIRA commander, from his home before handing him over to a British Army patrol on the northern side of the border.]
May 9, 1976
Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction is found hanging in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.
FBI and FCTB agents arrest a group of anti-Castro Cuban activists in Fort Lee N.J. who have purchased a container of Sarin gas from Marwan Kusa’s group. Kusa, acting through a middle man whom he later kills, sold one of the six Sarin containers to obtain some working capital, and to mislead authorities after he discovered that one of his people had in fact turned informant(he knows of “some Sarin” and one or two people in Kousa’s ring, but not of the extent of what Kousa has, or how he plans to use it). While remaining in the background, Kusa creates a scenario that leads the informant to believe that there was only one canister of Sarin and that it was sold to the Cubans. This in turn deflects federal authorities from any further investigation into a Sarin gas in the hands of potential terrorists.
May 11, 1976
U.S. President James Gavin signs an amended Federal Election Campaign Act into law.
In 1971, Congress consolidated its earlier reform efforts in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), instituting more stringent disclosure requirements for federal candidates, political parties and Political action committees (PACs). Still, without a central administrative authority, the campaign finance laws were difficult to enforce.
Public subsidies for federal elections, originally proposed by President Roosevelt in 1907, began to take shape as part of the 1971 law, as Congress established the income tax checkoff to provide for the financing of Presidential general election campaigns and national party conventions. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code in 1974 established the matching fund program for Presidential primary campaigns.
Following reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Congress amended the FECA in 1974 to set limits on contributions by individuals, political parties and PACs. The 1974 amendments also established an independent agency, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the law, facilitate disclosure and administer the public funding program. The FEC opened its doors in 1975 and administered the first publicly funded Presidential election in 1976.
The Supreme Court struck down or narrowed several provisions of the 1974 amendments to the Act, including limits on spending and limits on the amount of money a candidate could donate to his or her own campaign in Buckley v. Valeo (1976).
Congress made further amendments to the FECA in 1976 following those decisions.
May 15, 1976
While in hiding from Mafia assassins, former Teamsters International President James Riddle Hoffa is diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Five Catholic civilians were killed in two separate bomb attacks carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). One bomb killed two people at the Avenue Bar, Union Street, Belfast. The second bomb was at Clancey's Bar, Charlemont, County Armagh. Many other Catholic civilians were injured in the explosions. Three Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed in a landmine attack near Belcoo RUC station, County Fermanagh, carried out by the PIRA. Another RUC officer was killed in a gun attack at Warrenpoint, County Down.
9,000 additional U.S. troops arrive in Syria.
May 16, 1976
Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries outside a Social Club, Alliance Road, Belfast. An off-duty Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Benburb, County Tyrone.
May 17, 1976
James Gallagher (20) was shot dead, as he travelled, as a passenger on a bus, past Fort George British Army base, Strand Road, Derry. The soldier who shot him was on sentry duty in the base and as he handed over his rifle is reported to have said, "I'm cracking, I'm cracking". Two other passengers on the bus, a man and a woman, were injured in the incident. [Later Gallagher was listed on a Republican roll of honour as a Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) member.] Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries at a factory in Dungannon Street, Moy, County Tyrone.
May 19, 1976
Unification church leaders Neil Albert Salonen, Lee Shapiro, Sung Jin Moon and Bo Hi Pak are arrested and arraigned in the United States, where they are charged with racketeering, money laundering and espionage in connection with the on-going U.S. and international activities of the Unification Church. The indictments are the result of Special Prosecutor Elliott Richardson’s continuing investigation. The Church’s leader, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, his wife Hak Ja Han and Chung Hwan Kwak, a leader of the international church, are also indicted in absentia, but these three remain outside of the United States and so are beyond the current reach of the U.S. courts.
Rumors soon surface that Moon and Chung are funnelling Unification Church money to the Lon Nol regime in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in return for sanctuary. The President’s brother, Lon Non, is said to have joined the Unification Church and acts as a go-between for the Church and the Cambodian government.
May 24, 1976
Scheduled Concorde service between Washington D.C. and London and Paris is disrupted by a court injunction from the U.S. District Court for Northern Virginia prohibits the Concorde from landing at Washington area airports, pending a lawsuit filed by the Citizens United against the Concorde. The primary complaint is over the sonic boom.
May 25, 1976
The Ulster Service Corps, a Loyalist paramilitary grouping, announced that it was going to mount 'patrols' because of the 'deteriorating security situation'.
May 28, 1976
A Catholic and a Protestant civilian were killed in a bomb attack on the Club Bar, University Road, Belfast. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries.
May 30, 1976
Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 255 miles (408 km). The event is heavily guarded by Indiana National Guard Troops.
May 30 – June 3, 1976
U.S-U.K. offensive against Baalbeck in Lebanon aimed at destroying forward operating centers for Syrian insurgents and destroying weapons stockpiles. This incursion into Lebanese territory is protested by the Lebanese government.
Allied forces suffer 52 casualties, and kill upwards of 250 insurgents as well as capturing or destroying a significant arms stockpile.
June 1, 1976
The UK and Iceland end the Cod War.
In 1972, Iceland unilaterally declared an Exclusive Economic Zone extending beyond its territorial waters, before announcing plans to reduce overfishing. It policed its quota system with the coast guard, leading to a series of net-cutting incidents with British trawlers that fished the areas. As a result, a fleet of Royal Naval warships and tug-boats were employed to act as a deterrent against any future harassment of British fishing crews by the Icelandic craft. The conflict involved several cases of vessels ramming each other.
The dispute ended in 1976 after Iceland threatened to close a major NATO base at Keflavik in retaliation for Britain's deployment of naval vessels within the disputed 200 nautical mile (370 km) limit. The British government, under pressure from Washington to settle the problem, conceded and agreed that after December 1, 1976 British vessels would not fish within the previously disputed area.
Prime Minister Heath faced a serious challenge from within his own Conservative ranks over this settlement, as he was accused of having sacrificed the interests of the British fishing industry at a time of economic hardship in the name of NATO. Labour is equally opposed to the settlement for similar reasons, placing Enoch Powell and Barbara Castle on the same side during the parliamentary debate over the agreement.
June 2, 1976
A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.
The exact motive for the crime remains a mystery, but many speculate that the Mafia is responsible, as a large concentration of Bolles' work involved organized crime, even going as far as to run a story naming over 200 known mafia members operating in the state of Arizona. Some suspected that Kemper Marley, a man who made millions in the liquor distribution business in Arizona, was behind the Bolles murder, but Phoenix police could find no evidence linking him with the crime, and he continued conducting business in Arizona.
The United States Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal in United States v. Nixon. The case is remanded to Judge Sirica for sentencing.
The PIRA shot dead an off-duty member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) outside the Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls Road, Belfast. The IRA also shot dead a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at his home in Cambrai Street, Shankill, Belfast. A Protestant civilian was shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries in Comber, County Down; a Catholic man had been the intended target. Linda Baggley (19), then a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, died nine days after being shot by the PIRA at Chapel Road, Waterside, Derry.
The Sex Pistols release their single Bloody Bitch Maggie which soars to #1 on the UK charts.
The Canadian government agrees to commit a mixed detachment of RCMP, OPP, SDQ, Toronto and Montreal Police to Syria in order to train the Syrian National Police Force. (RCMP=Royal Canadian Mounted Police; OPP = Ontario Provincial Police; SDQ = Surete Du Quebec). The opposition Liberal Party tries to block this in the House of Commons with little success. The move is also unpopular in Quebec.
June 4, 1976
The Phoenix Suns defeat the Boston Celtics 128-126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Boston Garden. A riot breaks out among Boston fans and several Suns players and bystanders are injured. Governor O’Neill is compelled to call in the National Guard to supplement the Boston Police in restoring order. The Boston Garden suffers damage as a result of the rioting.
Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), disclosed information about a series of secret talks between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The two parties had held five meetings since March 1976.
General Bernard Rogers USA, commander of allied forces in Syria, announces a program of phased withdrawal of allied forces from Syria in 1977, contingent upon the development and operation of a western trained Syrian National Guard and National Police Force.
Israel registers a continuing objection to the re-building of a Syrian national army.
A Bill to impose sanctions on the PDRP passes the Canadian House of Commons by a vote of 134 – 130. It is held up in the Senate and not passed by that house before the Parliament is prorogued on June 7, 1976.
Marwan Kousa’s group stage a successful second rehearsal of their planned attack.
The Irish National Election
The Fine Gael government (a coalition with support of the Irish Labour Party) lead by Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Patrick (Paddy) Donegan is returned for another term in office.
Seats in the Dial Erianne (148* seats)
Fine Gael 54 + 1 = 55
Fianna Fail 68 + 3 = 71
Labour 19 + 1 = 20
Independent 3 - 1 = 2
75 needed to form a governing coalition
Fine Gael + Labour + Independent (55 + 20 + 1 = 76)
* = 4 new seats created as a result of re-districting.
June 5, 1976
The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out a gun attack on the Chlorane Bar, Gresham Street, Belfast, and killed three Protestant civilians and two Catholic civilians. In a separate bomb attack on the International Bar, Portaferry, County Down, the UVF killed a Catholic civilian. Republican paramilitaries carried out a bomb attack on the Times Bar, York Road, Belfast, killing two Protestant civilians. A member of Sinn Féin (SF) was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), at Camberwell Terrace, Belfast.
June 6, 1976
In response to the recent upsurge in violence the British government announced that it was sending an additional 1,000 troops to Northern Ireland.
In the Central African Republic a bomb of mysterious origin wipes out most of the Cabinet, including General Kolingba and Dr. Bangui. General Josyhat Mayomokala attempts to seize power in the aftermath, but he must fight off a number of rivals, which slowly leads to chaos in the country, as none is sufficiently powerful in men and weapons to subdue the others, and none of them is willing to work together in an alliance.
Prime Minister Heath announces a shuffle in his cabinet:
Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service: Edward R.G. Heath MP (Sidcup)
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Thomas Boardman MP (Leicester South)
Lord Chancellor: The Lord Hailsham, Quintin Hogg
Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords: The Baron Barber, Anthony Barber
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons: James M. Prior MP (Lowestoft)
Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service Department: Geoffrey Johnson-Smith MP (East Grinstead)
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: William S. I. Whitelaw MP (Penrith and the Border)
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Douglas R. Hurd MP (Mid Oxfordshire)
Secretary of State for Defense: A. Geoffrey F. Rippon MP (Hexham)
Secretary of State for the Home Department: The Lord Carrington, Peter Carington
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Sir (Richard) Geoffrey Howe MP (East Surrey)
Secretary of State for Energy: Peter E. Walker MP (Worcester)
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of Trade: Keith Joseph MP (Leeds Northeast)
Chief Secretary of the Treasury: Cranley Onslow MP (Woking)
Dropped from Cabinet:
Maurcie V. Macmillan MP (Farnham)
L. Robert Carr MP (Carshalton)
Margaret Thatcher MP (Finchley)
All three ministers were dropped from Cabinet over assorted controversies. Chancellor Macmillan was removed over the poor performance of the British economy and a desire by the Prime Minister to freshen the image of his government. Defence Secretary Carr lost his post over inside rumors that the Radcliffe Inquiry into the Demagore affair was going to heavily lambaste his management style while at the MOD and at least partially blame it for the series of events and poor communications which lead to the murder of the priests. Mrs. Thatcher was removed over the poor situation in Northern Ireland, her poor poll ratings, and to remove the Patel affair as an irritant to the government.
June 7, 1976
Facing a serious budget shortfall, the new Chancellor Tom Boardman applies for and receives a $5.3 billion loan for Britain from the IMF. The need for this loan is viewed by many as an abject failure of the Conservative government’s fiscal policies.
The United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC) took a vote opposing any talks between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
The Canadian federal government loses a confidence motion on a finance bill. Prime Minister Stanfield schedules a Federal election for July 12, 1976.
Two suicide bombers strike in Yarbud and Al-Qusyar, Syria, claiming at least 44 lives, mostly of Syrian National Police recruits.
Ronnie Bunting, Gerard Steenson and Kevin Lynch of the INLA are smuggled into the UK disguised as merchant seaman with forged New Zealand passports.
June 12, 1976
Bunting, Steenson and Lynch joined the crowds for the annual Trooping the Colour, finding a spot near the junction between The Mall and Horseguards Avenue in London. When Queen Elizabeth II came riding past on her 13-year-old horse Burmese, Lynch and Steenson quickly fired four shots at her with pistols. Bunting, the leader, was supposed to act as cover man for the other two. However, Steenson is shot and killed by a Special Branch security officer. Lynch is wounded in cross fire (as are two bystanders – several more are trampled in the panic) and captured by the British police. Bunting melts into the crowd.
After Steenson and Lynch opened fire, the Sovereign's Escort was ordered by the Gold Stick-in-Waiting to "close up" around Her Majesty, which they did. At first she tried to ride on as if nothing happened, but it was soon apparent that the Queen had been hit by at least one of the bullets.
The Queen was rushed to hospital. Several hours later Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II had died during emergency surgery. The hollow point bullets fired at the Queen had been treated with a solution of mercury, which caused blood poisoning and internal organ trauma at the time of impact.
The captive gunman, Kevin Lynch, was taken to a military infirmary for debriefing and treatment. Reports indicated that although his wounds were tended, he received some very rough handling in the hours after the shooting.
Later inquiries revealed that the guns Lynch and Steenson used had been smuggled into the UK on the same freighter as the men. These weapons, a pair of Beretta M1951 pistols sold to the Portuguese Army before the 1975 Carnation revolution.
Once it is clear that the two men (the third accomplice, Bunting, is identified later) came into the country from Portugal, Prime Minister Heath calls in the PDRP charge d’affaire in London and lodges a protest. The remaining PDRP delegation in the United Kingdom is soon expelled and Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with the regime. As the Cubans are identified as having been involved, Great Britain also lodges a formal protest with the Cuban government and recalls its Ambassador from Havana, and formally requests that the Cuban Ambassador in London and the man identified by MI-5 as the chief Cuban intelligence resident in London leave.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, the Cuban and PDRP Embassies in London are surrounded by protestors -as is the Irish Embassy for a time. All three buildings are pelted with rocks and garbage.
“My God, they really want a war,” Prime Minister Heath at the first conference after the assassination.
“Yes, and the British people will want one too, now,” Foreign Secretary Whitelaw.
The murder of Queen Elizabeth II is the first public murder of a British monarch since the beheading of King Charles I in 1649, and the first assassination of a Monarch in modern British history.
The Prince of Wales assumes the throne. At this point he is referred to by the press and government spokesmen as King Charles III.
The INLA later releases this statement:
"As head of the British State, Elizabeth Windsor was a legitimate target of war. All the horrible acts that have been done to our people by the British occupation forces have been done in Her name or that of her predecessors. When the British say they act for the security of the crown, it is well to remember that Elizabeth Windsor is the crown. Therefore, we have struck directly at the crown, for it is clear that our message is not being headed at lower levels.
“It is clear that the reactionary elites which support the fascist British power in place will not relent in their violence until they are themselves made to feel it. By this act each and every one of the elite of Whitehall and those who furnish them support and comfort should now understand that there is no safety from the revolutionary anger of the oppressed of Ireland.
“This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country."
June 13, 1976
Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan, Iowa.
In a phone conversation President Gavin pledges full U.S. support to Prime Minister Heath’s government. He relates that American port authorities have been alerted to be on the look-out for Bunting, should he come to the U.S.
A planned TUC general strike call is postponed due to the recent assassination of Queen Elizabeth II.
The British government orders 3,000 more troops to Northern Ireland and declares Marshal Law in Ulster. Pressure is also brought on the government of the Irish Republic to institute a stict security regime in the Republic.
June 14, 1976
The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
Ronnie Bunting is publicly identified as Steenson and Lynch’s accomplice. An all points arrest bulletin is put out for him.
President Gavin dismisses Director of Central Intelligence Daniel O. Graham over what are euphemistically called “policy differences.” CIA Deputy Director Frank C. Carlucci, who replaced General Vernon Walters in the DDCI post in March, will serve as acting Director through the rest of Gavin’s term.
Saudi Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz issues an epistle calling for the release of Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaibi and Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani by Saudi authorities as “true Mujahideen of the Islamic faith.” Bandar also calls the Saudi Army the “Mujahideen of the Kingdom” and calls on them to be “vigilant” and “zealous” in observing and enforcing Sharia, “especially against the praetorians who have fallen under the spell of foreign sorcery and have abandoned the path of the true faith for the shameful road of apostasy.”
There are a number of codes in this statement. By referring to the Army as the “Mujahideen of the Kingdom,” Bandar is calling on the Saudi Army to be “holy warriors” for the faith. The Praetorians who he refers to and whom he accuses of apostasy (a serious religious crime under Sharia law) are the Saudi Arabia National Guard (SANG), a separate force which guards and protects the Saudi Royal Family.
The SANG tend to be the children of the elite, or at least those who have proved themselves in the service of the Royal family and their circle. The Army are made up of lesser educated, lower class Saudis who are generally not trusted by the elite and who have a distinct second-class status within the Saudi military hierarchy. Unlike the SANG forces, the Army troops tend to have less exposure to western influences and are more “pious” in a traditional sense.
Bandar is trying to drive a wedge between the Army and the SANG along the existing social and educational fault lines, in order to use the Army as the Mujahideen (holy warriors; literally fighters of the jihad) who will end the apostasy in the Kingdom.
The Saudi Royal family begin to worry about just how loyal their army is when Bandar’s epistle becomes a popular “teaching” in the Army’s rank-and-file and among some lower class citizens.
June 15, 1976
Ronald Bunting Sr. (Ronnie (Ronald) Bunting Jr’s father), a prominent Ulster Loyalist politician and activist denounces his son’s actions in the assassination of the Queen.
Prince Phillip addresses the British nation asking for calm and for people to "act out of anger and grief against the innocent who may share a name or nationality with the criminals who committed this crime. Her Majesty would not want the evil of this deed compounded by thoughtless acts against innocent bystanders in acts of misplaced revenge.
"I thank-you all for your expressions of grief and your support for our family at this grave hour. It is my belief that the British people are a fair and just people, and that while you were shocked by this outrage, you have the fairness of temperament and the commitment to justice and fairness, which have long been the outstanding hallmarks of British civilization, and not to blame whole communities for the acts of a few malefactors."
Over the next several months there are small outbreaks of violence against establishments associated with the Irish, the Portuguese, the Lybians and Cubans, and people thought to be of those ethnic groups.
There are protests outside the various embassies and some loud demonstrations, but no direct mass violence. There is, of course, also a heavy police and military effort to prevent any ugly incidents from occurring.
There are numerous instances of individual attacks by Protestants against Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland, but tensions already simmer between the two communities as a result of the troubles. In the first months after the Queen's assassination, British military and security forces are tasked by the Heath government to keep the level of incidents down and to keep the communities apart.
Portuguese Communist Party General Secretary Álvaro Cunhal (commenting to Le Humanite, years after these events): “Of course we sympathize with the struggle of the oppressed of North Ireland who are held down by a reactionary, imperialist government which has at its head a leadership principle which remains little changed since feudal days. We endorse the struggle of the Irish people to be free, but let us be clear, we cannot say that the cold blooded murder of individuals, no matter their social or political station, is the best way to achieve this.
“This action in London, the killing of the English Queen, profoundly shocked us, especially after we learned that the three men involved had received training here. I caused inquiries to be made, and learned that certain of our Cuban comrades had handled the matter. Our people, and some of the Cubans I think, thought they would train the three in how to use weapons, and that they would then return to Ireland, perhaps England, to make war against senior government leaders. No one that I or our military investigators ever spoke with claimed to know that they had trained the three with the expressed mission of killing the British head of state.
“Of course, we cannot rule out duplicity or a hidden agenda among our Cuban friends. We could not be as exhaustive in our inquiries with the Cuban officers as we could with our own – and our questioning was very intensive against those who had been involved. They spoke the truth as they knew it by the time the matter was concluded.
“Let me say that our government never endorsed this thing, and would have arrested these three had it been known ahead of time what they were planning. Of the Cubans, I cannot be as sure. But if the impetus for this came from any government, then it came from Havana and not from our own.
“The British were understandably upset, though with their Prime Minister, Heath, being of bourgeois and not aristocratic origin, I should think – with the history of how the aristocrats have kept both bourgeois and proletarians down an under the yoke through the centuries – he might have been understanding of what had happened.
“Instead Heath ordered attacks on our Progressive state. No matter the provocation or the intrigues of our comrades, we could not let those go unchallenged.
“Still, even now, I hold more blame in my heart for the Cubans than for the British. We were clearly mislead on the matter by our comrades.”
June 16, 1976
The Soweto riots in South Africa begin.
The new King of the United Kingdom announces that he will take the official name of King George VII in honour of his grandfather and great-grandfather. Some speculate that the former Prince Charles has done this to ease royal family concerns about the bad luck and ill omens associated with the previous Kings Charles (Charles I beheaded; Charles II largely seen as a dissolute and corrupt monarch, and the uncrowned “Charles III” having been Prince Charles of the House of Stuart, otherwise known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, who lead an unsuccessful effort to remove the current King’s Hanoverian ancestors from the throne.)
The House of Commons votes 445 – 190 in favour of Emergency Measures to assist the security forces in hunting down the assassins of the Queen.
Airey Neave MP: The only way we can have peace is by eradicating these criminals. Their attack upon the sovereign was a pointless indulgence in blood letting for its own sake, and a direct message to the British people that they will not stop until we – our land, our government, our civil society – is eradicated. We in turn have but one choice – but to eradicate them.
June 17, 1976
The National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association agree on the ABA-NBA merger. Both leagues are in serious financial trouble.
Two Catholic civilians were shot dead, by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), as they travelled on a bus on Crumlin Road, Belfast.
A Catholic civilian died 11 days after being shot by the PIRA in a case of mistaken identity.
French anti-nuclear protesters are chased away with tear gas by French police after they stage a sit in at the entrance gates to the Elysee Palace.
Actor Timothy Dalton is killed and actress Caroline Munro is seriously injured in a traffic accident on Corsica, which is a location being used for the filming of Colonel Sun. The film goes on indefinite hold as a result.
June 20, 1976
General elections are held in Italy.
The Communist Party of Italy comes out ahead in the polling due to voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent Christian Democratic government over the state of the economy and foreign military activity by the Italian military.
The result:
Chamber of Deputies (631 seats)
Communist Party – 39.2%: 247 seats
Christian Democrats – 31.2%: 196 seats
Socialist Party – 11.1%: 70 seats
Social Movement – 6.1%: 39 seats
Democratic Socialist Party – 4.1%: 26 seats
Republican Party – 3.0%: 19 seats
Proletarian Democracy – 2.0%: 13 seats
Radical Party – 1.5%: 10 seats
Liberal Party – 1.0%: 6 seats
South Tyrolean People’s Party – 0.5%: 3 seats
Others: 0.3%: 2 seats
316 seats needed to form a governing coalition.
Senate (315 of 322 seats):
Communist Party – 39.2%: 123 seats
Christian Democrats – 34.5%: 110 seats
Socialist Party – 12.4%: 39 seats
Social Movement – 6.5%: 20 seats
Republican Party – 2.9%: 9 seats
Proletarian Democracy – 1.8%: 6 seats
Radical Party – 1.6%: 5 seats
Liberal Party – 1.1%: 3 seats
Senators for Life (not elected) - 7 seats.
162 seats needed to form a governing coalition.
At first Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer proposes a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Party in order to create a stable government for Italy. The Christian Democrats, lead by outgoing Prime Minister Aldo Moro and Christian Democratic Party General Secretary Benigno Zaccagnini, rejected the offer.
After several weeks of negotiations Berlinguer put together a coalition of the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Proletarian Democracy Party and the Radical Party to form a government with himself as Prime Minister.
(Chamber of Deputies: Seats = 247 + 55* + 13 + 10 = 325)
(Senate: Seats = 123 + 26* + 6 + 5 = 160 (plurality without majority))
*Showing division within the Socialist Party over the partnership with the Communists, 15 Socialist Deputies refuse to vote with their party in support of the Coalition and choose to sit in opposition. In the Senate 13 Socialist Senators did the same thing, although at least 5 were open to bargaining with the governing coalition for their votes on a per bill basis (and thus had the bargaining leverage to keep the government in power, but with only two needed their bargaining power could be played off against each other if required, or against the Life Senators who represented a more eclectic, less partisan mix of individuals).
The Prime Minister – elect declares that his government will not just be “Communist, for we are a partnership of the left to bring hope and prosperity to all Italians. We are therefore a government of Progressives with a progressive agenda. Let this be the anchor of our government.”
The Socialist Party plays a prominent role in the new coalition when Berlinguer names the newly elected Socialist Party General Secretary and Deputy Bettino Craxi as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the new government. Socialist Deputy (Alessandro) Sandro Pertini is named Defence Minister. The Radical Party and the Proletarian Democracy Party also receive one Cabinet seat each.
Fellow moderate Communist Giorgio Napolitano is named as Foreign Minister.
The newly installed Prime Minister Berlinguer pays his first foreign visit to President Mitterrand in France – instead of going to Moscow as many expected – in order to underline the European centered policy of his government. In fact Berlinguer visits Tito and Helmut Schmidt in West Germany before paying his first call on the Soviet leadership in Moscow.
Within the growing P-2 Masonic lodge - and in other quarters - conspiracies soon begin to bring down Italy’s first post-war Communist-lead government.
Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win Euro 76, when the game had ended 2–2 after extra time.
U.S. District Court Judge John Sirica sentences former President Richard Milhouse Nixon to serve between four and seven years in federal prison and a fine of two million dollars. Nixon becomes the first former President to be sentenced to prison in the history of the nation. By federal law, Nixon is stripped of his pension and privileges and an ex-President. He is also stripped of his license to practice law and disbarred from the profession.
Round-ups begin in Northern Ireland and the British mainland of those suspected of having sympathies for or ties to the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the INLA.
June 23, 1976
The Senate’s Church Committee publishes its 112 page report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
This report, often referred to as the Schweiker-Hart Report after its authors, discusses the performance of the CIA and FBI in the investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy. The report analyzes the general question of whether and by what degree the CIA and FBI withheld relevant information from the Warren Commission, which was charged with investigating Kennedy’s murder. Among the information unknown to the Warren Commission (except Commissioner Allen Dulles) were the CIA’s plots to kill Fidel Castro. With the public disclosure of these plots, the idea that Castro “struck back” gained prominence with many at the time. The Committee found that the evidence “indicates that the investigation of the assassination was deficient” and “impeaches the process whereby the intelligence agencies arrived at their own conclusions.”
About 72 Syrians are killed by a suicide car bomb outside a medical centre in southern Damascus. The bomber, who later turned out to be a U.S. educated Jordanian-Palestinian engineer targeted a large crowd of mainly teachers and paramedic recruits outside a health clinic. It was the deadliest single blast in Iraq's history. Four French workers from MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) are also killed in the blast.
Enoch Powell MP: “Now we have before us the bitter fruits of allowing an Irish Republican snake to harbour its venomous offspring so close from our shore. Clearly, we must look at the Irish Republic not as a friend, nor even an ordinary nation, but as a dark swamp which gives sanctuary to the vilest of criminals. It is not enough to blame some faceless group of hooligans for this despicable crime, no we must look at the cradle that gave them birth and decide if we will deal forcefully with the root of this problem.
“And we must look to America, yes to America, and hold that Republic to equal blame for this crime. Is it not America which gives shelter and support to these self-professed Republicans? Are there not so-called Irish Republican clubs as thick as weeds in New York, Boston and Chicago? And do they not, in their hearts, celebrate this monstrous deed as somehow being a heroic act?
“No you think? Then I will read into this record the comments of Mr. Edward Markey, a United States Representative from Boston who said on the floor of that House, and I quote “the British have brought this on themselves for not recognizing the legitimate aspirations to freedom and liberty of the people of Northern Ireland.
“Murder for Freedom? Cold Blooded murder for Liberty? The slaying of an innocent mother and legitimate sovereign of our nation as a legitimate aspirations for the freedom of others?
“I decry this idea, and I call for Mr. Markey’s immediate arrest and extradition to these Isles where he might be held to account by British justices for his foul and venomous lies.
“On June 12 the INLA wielded the gun, and the hooligans who call themselves Irish Republicans gave birth to the evil plot which lead to the murder of our sovereign, but the father of the act, the instigator who through money and sanctuary and the pretence of political legitimacy gave this devil’s child its earliest succour is the United States of America, and it is the United States of America which must now account for its role in this act of war against the British state and British people.”
Mr. Powell’s comments resulted in a diplomatic protest by the Gavin Administration
Edward Heath MP (Prime Minister): “As Prince Philip has asked of us, we must not let emotion carry away our reason, no matter how deep and legitimate our anger and frustration at this horrible act. I rise in this House to say, unequivocally, that neither the government of the Irish Republic nor that of the United States had any part in this, and that both nations have pledged their deep sorrow to the British people for our loss, and that both governments stand ready to assist us in tracking down and bringing to justice the criminals responsible for this cold blooded murder.”
June 25, 1976
Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; they end on June 30.
A demonstration is held in Riyadh after Friday prayers calling for the release of Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaibi and Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani as “teachers and protectors of the faithful.” The crowds praise Prince Bandar’s call for “vigilance” against those “falling under the deceitful spell of apostasy.” The crowds stone the Saudi Defence Ministry building, and denounce Saudi Defence Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud as “corrupt” and “the chief of the Apostates.”
Three Protestant civilians were shot dead during a gun attack on The Store Bar, Lyle Hill Road, Templepatrick, County Antrim. The attack was carried out by a group called the Republican Action Force (RAF), believed to be a covername for some members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Ronnie Bunting is publicly greeted in Tripoli by Colonel Quadaffi, who describes his act of regicide as “a fundamental strike for the liberation of the Irish and an act of defiance against all western imperialism.” Bunting is given refuge in Lybia.
A photographer captures the iconic image of 12-year-old Prince Edward praying next to his mother’s flag draped coffin. This image is spread around the world on the cover of Time magazine, and is used by the British in anti-Republican propaganda.
June 26, 1976
Construction on the CN Tower in Toronto is completed. The tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.
Under heavy security Queen Elizabeth II is given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Despite security warnings and concerns President Gavin attends to show his (and the United States’) outrage at this action. Also present are many heads of government and state from around the world including President Mitterrand, West German President Walter Scheel, the Irish President, most Commonwealth Prime Ministers, the Japanese Crown Prince and Alexei Kosygin of the Soviet Union.
John Tyndall (Leader of the [British] National Front): “Round-up all the Mics all over that damn Island and pack them off to America. They love their Gavins and their Reagans over there, don’t they?
PIRA statement (read by hostage Roger Moore):
“The true Republican movement absolutely condemns this act of regicide. We want the British people to understand that while our grievance is with the violent and undemocratic actions of your government, we in no way wish for the destruction of the British nation. We strike at those who strike us, who by their actions have brought the violence upon themselves. Queen Elizabeth and her family have never been targets of ours, and we would never undertake such an action as occurred on June 12.
“Those who did this are outlaws in the Republican movement, and will be dealt with harshly by our comrades. We will not be giving them medals and accolades for killing the Queen, rather we will be visiting justice in kind upon them.”
Anti regime demonstrations in Tehran become violent as protestors scuffle with riot police and Army troops. Protestors take control of Tehran’s Rahahan square, where they play tapes of anti-Shah sermons by the Ayatollah Khomeini over a make-shift loud speaker system.
The Shah dithers at first, allowing the demonstrations to go on for a week before he uses his Army to brutally crack down on the demonstrations. The Shah later claims he was put-up to the violent action by his American advisors, while the Americans deny they gave him any such advice.
June 27, 1976
Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
June 29, 1976
The Seychelles gain independence from the United Kingdom.
Under heavy security Kevin Lynch is moved from the infirmary to a special detention area where he can be put through “rigorous interrogation” by the British security forces.
France sends Foreign Legion troops into the Central African Republic in an attempt to restore order. French forces meet fierce resistance from some local private militias. Orders from Paris restrain their freedom of action.
From James M. Gavin – A Call to Duty: A Memoir
After returning from Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, I had to look at some disturbing trends in the Middle East. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran were showing serious signs of instability.
Our main concern was that the twin pillars of our Persian Gulf security, and between them the source of something like forty percent of the world’s crude petroleum, were each beginning to implode because of internal cultural and political pressures.
Ken Rush had recalled Charles Robinson, our Ambassador in Tehran, to try and obtain a candid assessment of the Shah’s situation (this was at a time when the Pentagon and the CIA were telling us we had nothing to worry about – advice that struck me as oddly out of synch with the increasing level of civil disturbances in the country). Ambassador Robinson’s guarded position was that he was extremely vulnerable – opposition to his regime was steadily increasing in intensity. The assassination of Amir Asadollah Alam had lead to a spasm of paranoia on the part of the Shah, the result of which was that he had alienated himself from many of his own ministers and military leaders. He was seeing hidden conspiracies behind even legitimate opposition, which fostered a further inability to respond.
That opposition was founded on resentment over economic problems – mainly with the distribution of wealth, corruption and was the outgrowth of an autocratic system which had suppressed the last Iranian period of democracy in 1953. Many in the Iranian middle class, and especially the youth, wanted a larger say in how the country was run – a fair enough objective from our point of view. The opposition also resented the Shah’s heavy handed the secret police, which increased their antipathy to his regime. The Shah’s having half-leveled a major university in a fit of rage over the murder of his most trusted adviser hadn’t helped his case with the youth of the country either. The half-destroyed university buildings were, according to Robinson, a fitting symbol of the moral bankruptcy of the regime.
The Shah’s opposition had an increasing anti-American flavor because we were closely associated with the Shah personally. Secretary Rush challenged the Ambassador specifically on this point, because we were hearing none of this through the CIA and DOD channels. Robinson replied:
“The reason you’re not getting that from them is because they talk to the Shah’s officers and the Shah’s intelligence people, their counterparts in Tehran. These people are either in a state of denial about what is happening, or they don’t want to admit that there is anything wrong, because it would be an admission of their own failure, the result of which would be a loss of their power and – frankly – their place on the corruption gravy-train. The Shah himself is getting the same worthless advice because none of these people has the guts to look him in the eye and tell it like-it-is; most have a vested interest in lying to the man. Our people in Tehran don’t have that motive, but their so closely embedded with their Iranian counterparts that they’re willing to accept the group-think that has set in there and look at the protesters as nothing but a bunch or rabble, which they aren’t. These kids who are protesting are future engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers of Iran. In short, Mr. President, they are the future rulers and opinion leaders of Iran and they are coming together over the idea that, regardless of ideology or their own view of the future, the Shah has to go. The Shah’s crushing Mashhad University only served to underscore the point that he’s an out of control brute. And, most importantly, if we continue to prop him up, our government will look more and more like that to the Iranian-in-the-street as well.”
Charles Robinson had a solid reputation as a level headed diplomat, and he had a lifetime of experience in the region, both in government and through his legal work with the oil industry. That gave what he was telling us credibility.
Once we accepted Ambassador Robinson’s analysis, the next question was to do about it. Ambassador Robinson had identified a secular, liberal opposition, a radical leftist opposition, and a clerical opposition which was based on a religious political movement. Of the three the liberals and clerics were preferable politically – the leftists were definitely committed to a pro-Soviet path. The clerics, however, Charles Robinson warned, were an idiosyncratic group who wanted to create a quasi-feudal regime, one which wanted to turn back the clock on modernity and national development in a pattern that was eerily similar to the fanatics in Saudi Arabia. Among them a certain Ayatollah Khomeini, recently expelled from the Shiite enclave in Southern Iraq and living in exile in Rome, Italy, was considered the most influential – at least among the masses. He had been making anti-Shah sermons for two decades and had developed a large and committed following as a result, even among secularists. The problem was, according to Ambassador Robinson, that Khomeini was neither a liberal nor a secularist. He called him “eccentric” and “unpredictable.”
“From what I can tell, Khomeini is committed to a vision of an Islamic state – meaning a theocratic state – but he doesn’t have an organized plan for getting there. I’m no expert on revolutions but that sounds to me, Mr. President – if Khomeini comes out on top of the anti-Shah movement, like a recipe for chaos, at best.”
In the end we came around to a decision that the United States would have to favor a development of the secular-liberal opposition to the Shah, and assist them into power if necessary. I signed a finding to that effect so that Frank Carlucci could put the CIA to work on a program with that aim. Our conclusion was that if the Shah didn’t go on his own we would have to push him, and do so before someone with a more hostile intent toward us did the pushing. The main concern was that we were running out of term, and as I looked at the prospects of who would be my likely successor, I felt a disturbing lack of confidence in any of them. I wondered if Reagan, Wallace or Bayh had the subtlety of mind to understand what was needed. In the case of Bayh I had doubts that he would even accept a covert change of government in Iran if our hand was in it; of George Wallace I just didn’t know where his bent was on these foreign policy questions. Ronald Reagan seemed to closely wed to a conservative mind-set in Washington which saw the Shah as the ultimate ally in Iran and wouldn’t be very supportive of efforts by us to remove him.
The question of Saudi Arabia was even more perplexing. There, as reported by our Ambassador in Riyadh, James E. Akins, there was no liberal or even leftist opposition. It was the clerics or the royal family, with little in-between. Ambassador Akins reported that with the King’s elder brother Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, a well regarded religious ascetic (almost the equivalent of a monk in Christian terms) behind the restiveness of the young firebrands, the whole religiously-oriented dissent – which was widely scorned by the ruling House and the educated elite – was picking-up legitimacy among the ordinary Saudi population. In the nearest equivalent in America, they were becoming like a large revival movement which was threatening to sweep away the present Saudi ruling structure which they regarded as corrupt and having turned its back on the Islamic faith. This latter point was especially important in Saudi Arabia because it was the home of the Islamic holy sites and religious support was part of the House of Saud’s legitimacy as the rulers.
Apart from authorizing a program to watch developments in Saudi Arabia and funnel what support we could to the regime, we were unable to identify any groups, apart from the royal family, whom we could realistically support and expect a favorable outcome. Our only chance was to hope that the situation could defuse itself.
Still I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I tasked both the State Department and the CIA to identify alternatives that might be available to us, even if we had to identify elements among the religious radicals with whom we could do business if there was some kind of a revolution in Saudi Arabia. It wasn’t the best program, but the only one we had.
As the situations in Saudi Arabia and Iran continued to develop, I became increasingly nervous for our future in that part of the world. Part of our program now had to be to identify alternative suppliers of oil, and to that end I authorized Rush to explore improving relations with Iraq, even if it upset the Shah and the Israelis. Odious as that regime was, it might be the only secular state standing if both the Shah and the Saudi royal house fell. What was more, along with Kuwait and Jordan, Iraq would be wedged right between two revolutionary regimes. This could not have been a welcome prospect in Baghdad, and I suggested to Ken Rush that he find a way to put this point to the President Bakr as directly as possible.
We weren’t sure how to approach Iraq at first, although I remembered that Henry Kissinger had met one of Iraq's Vice Presidents once in Paris several years before. I suggested Henry as the courier of a personal message to President Bakr and, if possible, to sound him out.
All this was happening against the deadline of the coming elections and the end of my term of office, now only six months away. I was beginning to keep a log for my eventual successor, but I couldn’t guarantee that any of them would carry forward what I started with. I therefore determined to do what I could in the time I had left.
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July 2, 1976
Six civilians, five Protestant and one Catholic, died as a result of a Loyalist paramilitary attack on the Ramble Inn, near Antrim, County Antrim. The attack was carried out because the public house was owned by Catholics.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, then the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the outcome of a review of security force response to violence in Northern Ireland. The review made a number of recommendations including: increasing the manpower level of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC); establishing specialised investigation teams; creating a tactical response force; improving the level of arms available to the RUC; making greater use of the RUC reserve; and trying to encourage more support from the Catholic community. [These were some of the practical consequences of the policy of 'police empowerment' announced by then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Margaret Thatcher on 25 March 1976.] Secretary Howe also comments that the assassination of the Queen has “hardened attitudes” over any approach to negotiating with “criminals who operate under Republican guise.”
The British Cabinet fails to reach a consensus on whether British forces should attack Lybia’s oil infrastructure from the air.
A large demonstration of clerics and their supporters opposed to the allied presence in Syria marches through Damascus. The demonstration, closely guarded by allied forces, is mainly peaceful.
Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko orders his troops to cross the Ubangi River and occupy the CAR capital of Bangui, as well as a number of neighbouring prefectures. Through his Army, Mobutu sets-up a client relationship with a number of local CAR prefectural officials who become like local warlords. Mobutu is after the mineral wealth of the CAR.
Zaire’s action creates a crisis within the Organization for African Unity, which characterises Zaire’s action as an invasion.
Attempts to sanction Zaire at the U.N. are blocked by the United States, which supports Mobutu as a client in the region. (American companies have a stake in Mobutu’s plans to exploit the CAR’s untapped mineral wealth). While the French and the Soviets act together to condemn Mobutu’s actions, the U.S. uses its veto on the Security Council to stop the embargo, claiming that Zaire’s action is helping to stem the chaos in the country, which French troops were unable to stop. (The French government was ultra cautious about getting its troops involved in any open conflict and as a result the expeditionary force sent out proved ineffective – French officials spent half their time trying to buy-off various local warlords to create peace, only to have Mobutu undercut them with better pay-offs).
Zaire meanwhile finds itself inheriting a civil war in the CAR against the Banda people, as well as facing armed resistance from some CAR patriotic groups.
July 3, 1976
Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
Prince Andrew arrives in the United States to represent his brother and late mother at America’s bicentennial events (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip had been scheduled to attend; British security are unwilling to allow King George VII to travel at this point).
The Shah calls in troops to forcefully put down the anti-regime demonstrations which have been going on for the last week in Tehran. A number of students and clerics are killed by the military action. An iconic image appears of a student protestor confronting a tank in Terhan’s Rahahan Square, the scene of several confrontations and rioting. Many around the world are horrified when they see the tank run over the protesting student, squashing him under its treads. Not lost on many – particularly anti-Shah Iranians – is that the tank in question is an American built M60A1 “Patton” tank.
On the advice of an East German military adviser who visited Entebbe Airfield several times during the hostage crisis, President Amin orders the deployment of two tanks (one T-55 and one M4 Sherman) to the airport with their guns aimed at the runway. The advice from the East German is to the effect that the tanks should be prepared to blow holes in any rescue aircraft.
Since the tanks arrive only a few hours before the Israeli raid, they are not included in the Israeli strike force's operational intelligence.
Amin also adds another reinforced company to the troops already guarding the area.
July 4, 1976
In a “friendly fire incident” three U.S. soldiers are accidentally killed by a Soviet patrol, when the two groups exchange fire in a pre-dawn encounter. General Rogers and the Soviet Ground Commander, General Akhromeyev manage to defuse the situation before it becomes a major incident. Each side blames the other for not properly communicating their operations in advance.
United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
That occasion is seriously undermined by:
On July 4 Marwan Kousa and his associates release sarin gas attacks in the New York and Philadelphia Subway system. The morning attacks are designed to hit families as they are arriving in the two cities for Bi-Centennial festivities. Contents from two gas canisters are released at Penn Station in New York, a major transit point between the suburban commuter lines and the city transit system. A third is released at Central Park North. In Philadelphia two canisters are released, one at the 8th street subway station and one at the City Hall subway station.
At the subway stations the attacks followed roughly the same patterns at the three places of attack. Three to four men each entered the stations with a back pack, suitcase or gym bag containing various quantities of sarin gas contained in plastic bags or aerosol spray containers. At Philadelphia City Hall Station two of the men posed as maintenance staff allowing them to disguise the release of the gas in aerosol cans as they pretended to clean a section of the floor (they died – Kousa had given them all cyanide capsules so that, if exposed to the lethal effects of sarin, they could die more quickly and painlessly than their victims).
Others punctured quantities of the liquid sarin contained in beer bottles, soda cans or milk cartons. A single drop of sarin the size of a pinhead can kill an adult. Rather than use it as a targeted weapon, Kousa’s group released it in a way that would cause as many incidental casualties as possible.
At Penn Station in New York Kousa’s operatives had access to the air conditioning system, as one of his operatives had gotten work as a maintenance man at Penn Station and volunteered to work the July 4 holiday shift. Kousa’s people released Sarin in vapour form into the air conditioning system, which was working at full blast on a hot July 4 day. Others released it on the floor of Penn Station in the same manner as the releases at the various subway stations.
Of the twenty men who released the sarin gas, eleven died in the attacks or shortly thereafter due to exposure. Of the remaining nine, six were captured by U.S. authorities, five of them lived to stand trial. Three disappeared; two turned-up in Lebanon sometime afterward where they were given a heros’ receptions by the PJO. The twentieth man was never accounted for.
Marwan Kousa himself did not participate in the actual attacks, and feld the United States for Lebanon in the hours after the attacks.
Casualties: Penn Station: 221 (97 of whom were under ten years of age – two of these child casualties were the children of the Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations); 36 at Central Park North (12 children); 21 at 8th street in Philadelphia and 66 at Philadelphia City Hall (including a deputy chief of the Philadelphia Police Department).
Direct casualties: 344 dead (167 of whom are children).
A further 4,000 + are injured, of which another 71 will die of complications over the following weeks. The attack abruptly ends the celebrations of the Bicentennial, turning July 4, 1976 into a day of tragedy.
Within hours most celebrations are brought to a halt, including a star studded open-air rally that had been intended to occur on the Mall in Washington featuring George Carlin and Elvis Presley among others.
Kousa’s group releases the following statement:
“For three years America has occupied the lands of Islam, and for decades before that America has financed the Zionist, imperialist war machine in its relentless murder of Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands have bled and died at the hands of the Zionist aggressor and its American puppet master. Now, on this celebration of your nationhood, you have tasted the blood and tears of the Palestinian and Syrian people. Now you know that the ocean affords you no shield. You cannot sleep safe in your bed for as long as the people of Islam are made to suffer at the hands of imperial aggression. Today, America, is your first taste of justice.”
Subsequent investigation of Kousa and his people leads the FBI and the FCTB to discover that the May 9th raid was a diversion, leading some to believe that the federal agencies could have uncovered the full extent of the plot if they had bothered to dig beyond the Cubans who were set-up by Kousa.
President Gavin: “Today, when America should be celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of our freedom, we have instead been attacked by terrorists and our innocent citizens – and children - have been brutally murdered. This was a horrible crime perpetrated by criminals; the kind of low, skulking cowards who slither in the dark recesses and attack with a stab in the back. There was no honor in this attack, and the claim that this was done on behalf of a higher, noble national cause is absolutely false.
“Let me be clear, the United States will track down these animals and all those who aided them, and our retribution will be swift and just. We will make every effort to bring these criminals to justice, to answer before an American court and an American jury for their evil crimes, but we shall not allow this consideration to stand in the way of getting the enemy, wherever he may be found. If the ordinary course of justice will not suffice, then we shall use our military to visit a just recompense upon those who have done this horrible thing.
“I have today received cables and calls of support from many civilized nations around the world who are as appalled as we are at this horrible crime. Even General Secretary Suslov sends his sympathies to the American people. Yet some remain silent, and some harbor those who have done this, or who have supported those who carried this out. To these nations and to any who would consider protecting these terrorists I can only say that in so doing, you invite the wrath of the United States upon yourselves. It is the policy of the United States government that anyone who assists the criminals who carried out this attack is themselves responsible as an accomplice for this horror, and shall be treated as if they had taken part in the attack. There will be no sanctuary for these criminals, and there will be no safe haven. Where ever you are we will find you and we will bring you to account, one way or another.
“To those of our allies and other nations who have expressed their support for the American people on this terrible day I extend my thanks and appreciation of your support.
“Finally, we must, in our anger and grief, focus on this one point. Those who did this claim to have carried out this horrible crime in the name of Islam. Islam is a great religion of peace and learning, and in no way does the Koran or the traditions of this faith support the murder of innocents in this manner. In our anger we must refrain from blaming the millions of peaceful Muslims, many of whom are friends of the United States, for this. Some men who call themselves Muslim are responsible for this crime, but in choosing to commit this horror, they abandoned their faith and all it stands for. We cannot blame Islam for this, and we cannot direct our grief and outrage blindly at those who are of that faith. We must instead direct our efforts at the men – the terrorists – who did this and deliver our answer to them.”
Ronald Reagan: “I am fully behind the President and the brave men and women in our armed forces. The people who did this are evil, and no effort must be spared to punish them.”
George Wallace: “Gun ‘em down like the rabid dogs they are. This is cold-blooded murder and those who did it deserve to die. I give my full support to President Gavin and our government in carrying this out, and my heart goes out to the families of those who have lost loved ones in these attacks.”
Birch Bayh: “Marv and I extend our sympathies to the families of the victims of this terrible crime. I have spoken with the President, and have expressed my unequivocal support in his efforts to heal our nation and bring those who did this to justice.”
Spiro Agnew (Agnew On Point): “Sadly, now we know from bitter personal experience what the Israelis have been fighting the last three decades. I grieve with the families. My family has suffered the effects of terrorist attack – when our, Judy and my, beloved daughter was killed by thugs – I feel the loss of all those who lost loved ones in this attack deeply in my own heart. I know also their anger, as parents, brothers and sisters and children. I know as they do that this crime must be avenged, and the guilty made to pay.
“I stand with President Gavin at this hour of crisis and hope that he will be able to make the guilty pay. But I must take issue with this, Mr. President. You say that the men who did this cast away their Islamic faith when they carried out this attack. Respectfully, Mr. President, you are wrong on this point. These men fulfilled the canons of Islam in this attack; they carried out an attack on infidels in according to the teachings of Jihad laid down by Mohammed himself. This was not an exceptional act by a small band of deviants who happened to be Muslim; these was the first attack by the most hateful and violent religion known to man in a war against the West, Mr. President.
“It is no coincidence that they chose the two hundredth anniversary of our founding to strike. These Muslims attacked us, the only free nation upon the Earth, on the day that is most sacred to our national identity. That they chose this date shows clearly their intent. In the name of Islam, these terrorists made an effort to wipe out freedom forever. That was their goal, and it came from the very words written by Mohammed in the Koran, words which are the laws of God for every Muslim.
“Mr. President, we must make war on Islam and defeat them before they strike again. To do any less is to invite more attacks. The laws of Islam do not allow for anything less. It is them or us. Were it still in my power, I would immediately retaliate by wiping the Muslim Vatican in Mecca from the face of the Earth. They chose to attack the temple of freedom; let us therefore stop at no less than destroying the temple of this pernicious and evil belief, and let them know that they have more to fear from us than we do from them. This, Mr. President, is what we must do if we are to preserve our freedom.”
President Gavin (indirect response to Agnew): “I understand the sense of outrage that people feel over these attacks, but we must not let the anger of the moment overcome our common sense. Any counsel to rash attacks, which would be carried out in a moment of blind range, is not only irresponsible, but could potentially lead to the death of more of our citizens.”
Yassir Arafat: “We, the PLO, we absolutely condemn this criminal action. Our struggle will not be helped by murder, and this thing, it was murder of the innocent. American people must know that the Palestinian people cry with them, we feel your sadness. I have instructed all PLO elements, any who were involved with this must be arrested.”
Entebbe Raid (Fiasco): Israeli airborne commandos botch an attempt to free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport.
Apparently a ruse to fool the Ugandan guards into believing that the arriving Israelis were Idi Amin arriving for an inspection failed, and the Ugandans opened fire on the Israelis with the two tanks deployed to the airbase the previous afternoon.
The Israeli forces landed at Entebbe at 23:00 IST, with their cargo bay doors already open. A black Mercedes and accompanying Land Rovers were taken along to give the impression that the Israeli troops driving from the landed aircraft to the terminal building were an escort for a returning Amin, or other high-ranking official.
The Mercedes and its escort vehicles were quickly driven by the Israeli assault team members to the airport terminal in the same fashion as Amin. Along the way, two Ugandan sentries, who were aware that Idi Amin had recently purchased a white Mercedes to replace his black one, ordered this procession of vehicles to stop. The commandos shot the sentries with silenced pistols, but failed to kill either of them - one of them screamed for help. This alerted a nearby Tank crew, who set a flair to illuminate the situation.
The Israelis tried to take out the tank and its crew, which resulted in an exchange of fire. The leader of the Israeli force, Lt. Col Yonatan Netanyahu was injured in the cross fire and unable to continue. His deputy commander Muki Betzer had to take charge.
While the commandos were dealing with the first tank (the M4 Sherman) the T-55 opened fire on the C-130 aircraft, destroying them on the runway.
The Israelis were exposed on the open runway without retreat after that point and with no retreat, fought in a cross fire with Ugandan troops, until compelled to surrender by overwhelming numbers (the Israeli commandos managed to kill 12 Ugandans for every one of their own who were casualties.
Among the Israelis killed was Muki Betzer, whose command of the commandos would later be condemned as "hesitant" when the crisis hit.
Most of the Israeli strike force was killed, with the remaining commandos being hauled off to a prison in Kampala along with a few surviving hostages. The fate of the hostages is unclear. The Ugandans claim that the hostages were killed in the cross fire; however stories later emerge that Amin ordered his soldiers to execute the majority of them, including the remaining members of the Air France flight crew.
The Israeli and French governments both experience heavy political pressure from their opposition as a result of this outcome; both governments are held responsible for not doing more to get the hostages released.
July 5, 1976
Idi Amin has the surviving Israeli Commandos paraded through the streets of Kampala in chains. Foreign observers note that many of the Commandos appear wounded. One of the survivors paraded in the Ugandan capital is identified from photos as Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, the commander of the Israeli task force. He appears dressed in a private’s uniform, so as to disguise his identity – leading Israeli intelligence to suspect that the Ugandan authorities may not be aware of Netanyahu’s true identity.
Three American soldiers are killed when a Marine base comes under indirect fire near Buraq, south of Damascus.
A roadside bomb near the Syrian-Lebanese border city of Az Zabadani kills two Syrian soldiers and seriously wounds one of their British advisors.
Enoch Powell MP: "Of course, my sympathies go out to the Americans who have suffered from this attack. But this attack, coming as it did on a celebration of one of the gravest insults ever made against the British crown by those who were pledged to loyally serve their King, is something of the pidgeons coming home to roost isn't it? I mean, if you look at it, this could only have happened because of America's poor immigration security, which let these people into the nation in the first place. It serves as a warning for us all."
The central council of the Palestinian Jihad Organization issues a statement praising the attacks in the United States. The statement calls on all Muslims to “ask all infidels to accept the faith of Allah” and to “kill all who refuse.”
Heavy Centurion MK3 tanks make their first appearance in Northern Ireland. Previous to this point the British did not deploy tanks as they wished to keep the scale of the conflict on a lower pitched level. However, the assassination of the Queen has convinced the Heath government to employ heavier weapons in retaliation.
British aircraft flying out of Gibraltar bomb the site in Portugal where the Queen’s assassins are believed to have been given training. The British aircraft are given transit of Spanish airspace on the order of the Prime Minster, and at the request of King Juan Carlos of Spain.
July 6, 1976
The family home of Gerard Steenson is levelled by British authorities.
President Gavin signs a 120 freeze on the issuing of non-visitor visas to the United States, pending a review of immigration application review and the security checks that are done on prospective immigrants.
President Gavin: "I take no pride in doing this, and for all of me I wish we didn't have to stop immigrants from coming to America, even for a temporary period. Immigration has, after all, been the life blood of America, and always will be. But we must take a look at our procedures to ensure that those who are allowed into this country come here to build a better life, to ensure that our immigration procedures are secure."
July 9, 1976
Kevin Lynch’s family home in Dungiven is levelled by British authorities.
July 6 - 17, 1976
The Trades Union Council and several affiliated groups begin two weeks of rotating wildcat strikes designed to disrupt domestic commerce in Britain. This is being done to protest the Heath government’s privatization scheme and a series of austerity measures announced by Chancellors Macmillan and Boardman.
July 7, 1976
German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Strasse maximum security prison in West Berlin.
The Labor (Alignment) government in Israel, lead by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, falls as a result of the political fall-out from the Entebbe Fiasco. New elections are scheduled for September.
President Sadat of Egypt is compelled to use force to put down anti-government, anti-American and anti-Israel public demonstrations in Cairo. The images of this seen on television are similar to those which came from Rahahan Square in Tehran a week earlier (minus a protestor being run over by a tank).
July 8, 1976
A Catholic civilian died one day after being shot by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
British military forces use a heavy tank to obliterate a pub thought to be a popular meeting place of UFF/UDA fighters.
July 9, 1976
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is expelled from Iraq by the Ba’ath regime. The Iraqis see this as ridding themselves of a troublesome Shi’te cleric who is causing problems in Iraq, while at the same time creating problems for the Shah of Iran.
Khomeini initially tries to enter France, but the Mitterrand government denies him anything more than a transit visa. The West Germans also elect not to grant the Ayatollah sanctuary. He is also turned away by the British, the Dutch and the United States. Ironically, it is the new Communist government of Italy which gives Khomeini sanctuary in Rome. Khomeini moves into a villa which has a view of the dome of St. Peter’s basilica.
Two Catholic civilians, a husband and wife, were killed in an attack on their home by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).
July 10, 1976
Three British mercenaries and one American mercenary are shot by firing squad in Angola.
An explosion in Seveso, Italy, causes extended pollution to a large area in the neighborhood of Milano, with many evacuations and a large number of people affected by the toxic cloud.
The House of Representatives passes a resolution calling for an inquiry into how Marwan Kousa smuggled his Sarin into the country and managed to get away with the July 4 attacks without being detected. The Senate joins the House in voting for that resolution.
The Royal Air Force carries out a strike with SEPECAT Jaguars against suspected Republican targets along the Ulster-Irish Republic border. This represents the first use of fighter aircraft in direct combat roles against PIRA targets in Northern Ireland.
The British House of Commons imposes stricter sanctions on the PDRP by a vote of 450 – 203.
July 12, 1976
The Canadian Federal Election
Total Seats: 264 (133 needed to form a Majority)
Liberals: 90 (+14) 104 seats – minority government
Progressive Conservatives: 123 (-22) 101 seats
New Democrats: 39 (+6) 45 seats
Social Credit: 11 (+1) 12 seats
Independent: 1 (+1) 2 seats
Liberal Party leader John Turner negotiates the formation of a minority government with support from the New Democratic Party caucus.
The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party split gains in Ontario, with the NDP also adding seats in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Voters principal concern was the downturn in the economy and a sense that the Progressive Conservative government wasn’t in control of the situation. There was also some voter backlash in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba against the Stanfield government’s involvements in Hong Kong and Cyprus (even at modest levels).
Due to the timing of the Montreal Summer Olympics it is agreed that the new government will not take office until August 2, 1976, after the games are concluded. Prime Minister-elect John Turner will use the occasion to meet with a number of foreign representatives.
July 12 - 16, 1976
The Democratic National Convention
July 14, 1976
Bastille Day parades in Paris are marred by clashes when anti-nuclear protestors try to disrupt the officially sanctioned military parades.
July 16–20, 1976
Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France.
Anti-government riots break out in Manila and other Philippine cities, caused by the poor economy and high oil prices. The Marcos government cracks down with brutal force against these disturbances.
July 17 – August 1, 1976
The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Prince Andrew presides at the opening ceremonies on behalf of his brother.
Security is heavy during the entire Olympics in response to the events at the 1972 Munich Games, as well as recent events in London and the United States. The worst security breach occurs during the opening ceremonies when a Sinn Fein banner is unfurled in the stands and is plainly in view of Prince Andrew and Prime Minister Stanfield in the VIP box. The people who did this are quickly arrested by the RCMP and Montreal Police, and are booed by other spectators.
An attempt by an armed man to enter the Olympic venue ends in a shoot-out with Montreal Police, who kill him. He is later identified as a member of the Ku Klux Klan from Arkansas who entered Canada illegally. He apparently intended to shoot some Arab athletes.
East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
July 17, 1976
Two members of the PIRA were killed when the bomb they were transporting in a car exploded prematurely. The explosion took place in Castlederg, County Tyrone. In retaliation, British forces destroy the homes of both of their families.
July 18, 1976
Nadia Comăneci earns the first of 7 perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Former Teamster President James Riddle Hoffa issues a press statement from hiding in which he states that he was “aware” that Chicago Mobsters Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, Tampa Florida Mafia boss Santo Trafficante and New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello were involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, and that at least some of the same participants organized the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
Hoffa offers little direct proof other than to say that Marcello and Trafficante arranged for two CIA linked operatives – Clay Shaw and Guy Bannister – to “turn” an anti-Castro assassination operation into a Kennedy assassination operation.
July 19, 1976
Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
Two American sailors are killed and four wounded in a car bombing in Latakia, Syria. Another suicide car bomb outside a Syrian National Guard recruitment center and other attacks in the country kills a dozen people and wounds more than 50, including three Spanish and one Senegalese soldier.
July 20, 1976
Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
The California State Assembly rejects Governor Barry Goldwater Jr.’s bill for the phased privatization of the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS). The Assembly also votes down a bill which calls for the University of California system to rely more on private donation and less on government money for its operations.
Governor Goldwater indicates that he will back a move to place both bills on the next ballot as propositions and “allow the people of California to decide.”
July 21, 1976
Christopher Ewart Biggs (54), then the British Ambassador to Ireland, was killed in a landmine attack on his official car in Sandyford, Dublin. His secretary, Judith Cook (25), was also killed in the explosion. Sir Geoffrey Howe, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was originally to have travelled in the car as well.
Following the assassination of the Ambassador Ewart-Biggs, by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Donegan government announced its intention to declare a state of emergency. Irish President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh referred the resulting bill, the Emergency Powers Bill of 1976, to the Supreme Court, instead of signing it into law. This set the ground for a constitutional showdown between the President and the Taoiseach and the elected government in the fall of 1976.
A British soldier was killed by a booby trap bomb in an Army base in Derry.
An unknown person leaves a burning bag of cow excrement at Margaret Thatcher’s front door.
The House of Representatives passes the Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act) by a vote of 301 – 134. 90 Democrats (including Ron Dellums) and 44 Republicans vote against the bill; opposition is centered among left-wing Democrats who oppose the expansion of the intelligence community and its power, and right-wing Republicans who express a libertarian-based opposition to the expansion of the federal government’s intelligence gathering powers.
Italian Prime Minister Berlinguer and U.S. Secretary of State Kenneth Rush hold talks in Rome over a wide range of foreign policy issues. While Berlinguer has some policy changes in mind, he reassures Rush that he is looking toward an “evolution” of Italy’s role in the world rather than an abrupt, radical change of policy.
July 22 – 24, 1976
British fighter aircraft conduct continuous low altitude drills night and day over Republican neighbourhoods in Derry and Belfast in retaliation for the murder of Ambassador Ewart-Biggs. Leaflets are dropped from these planes offering rewards for the capture of PIRA and ILNA members. The underlying message is that the leaflets could just as easily be bombs.
July 26, 1976
British heavy tanks bombard a suspected PIRA safe house in Dunvegin, Ulster, reducing the structure to rubble. Inside British security forces discover a bomb factory.
July 27, 1976
The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, begin falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this will eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionellosis.
USAF aircraft carry out bombing strikes against PJO camps in Lebanon in retaliation for the Independence Day attacks.
The world price for a barrel of oil reaches $ 20.00 per barrel.
Former Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana, also in hiding, issues a statement in which he claims Hoffa “knows some things” and that he and Roselli were in fact involved with Trafficante and Marcello in anti-Castro assassination operations. Giancana claims that what he and Roselli were involved with were government sanctioned assassination plots against Castro (which had been authorized within the Kennedy Administration and have recently been exposed by the Church Committee hearings) and that Marcello and Trafficante were the ones who subverted them for use against “American politicians.”
July 28, 1976
The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851. An estimated 25,000 – 40,000 die from disease and hunger due to poor management of the immediate aftermath by the central government. The government of the PRC officially claims that the incident was not an earthquake, but a massive bombing conducted by the U.S. Air Force from bases in Japan and South Korea on behalf these nations and their ally in Taiwan.
María Isabel Allende Bussi, the daughter of Salavdore Allende and Hortensia Bussi (not be confused with Isabel Allende the better known Peruvian writer who is Maria Isabel’s second cousin) files suit in U.S. federal court charging former President Richard Nixon, removed President Spiro Agnew, former CIA Directors Richard Helms and Daniel O. Graham, former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Ambassador to Chile Nathaniel Davis, and ITT President and Chief Executive Officer Harold Geneen with conspiracy in the wrongful death of her father and causing severe emotional distress to her mother.
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) begins a thirty-four hour filibuster of the Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act), arguing that the unprecedented centralization of intelligence authority in a Cabinet level department is giving the U.S. government “too much secret power.” To charges from the bill’s supporters that Marwan Kousa and his group got away with their July 4 attack because of the lack of intelligence coordination, Sen. Goldwater calls instead for an investigation to “determine what really happened and who dropped the ball and when.”
Chicago mobster John Roselli, who has been living in retirement in Miami, Florida, disappears.
July 29, 1976
In New York City, David Berkowitz pulls a gun from a paper bag in an attempt to kill Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti. The gun misfires, seriously injuring Berkowitz’s hand. After he passes out from blood loss he is treated in a hospital, where he is arrested by the NYPD on a charge of attempted murder and assault.
Three Catholic civilians were killed as a result of a bomb attack on Whitefort Inn, Andersonstown Road, Belfast. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries.
An off-duty RUC officer was killed by a British soldier following an argument at a check point in Bessbrook, County Armagh.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said in the House of Commons that there had been no contacts between government officials and Sinn Féin (SF) and that as far as the government was concerned there could be no negotiations with “a terrorist organization.” Howe indicated that the government’s policy was becoming one of annihilation of Sinn Fein and the “Republican blood gangs.”
July 30, 1976
In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions.
Rising oil prices have set-off a spiral of inflation and corruption in Mexico as the Mexican government struggles with its position as a potential petro-state, while at the same time suffers from a drop-off in trade with the United States. The result is economic and political instability within a fragile political structure.
On July 30, 1976 Mexican President Luis Echeverria, who has largely governed as a left-wing economic nationalist and as such has nationalized a number of industries, dies in a plane crash at Cuernavaca airport, along with Jose Lopez Portio, his finance minister (and the ruling PRI Party’s 1976 candidate for President). Conspiracy theories soon arise that blame American oil companies, American banks, ambitious right-wing politicians in Mexico and the Israelis (Echeverria allowed the PLO to open an office (an unofficial embassy) in Mexico City) for his murder. An investigation of plane wreckage by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation concludes that the engines on the aircraft were sabotaged.
The Mexican Congress chooses Tristian Canales Valverde to serve as acting President until the next scheduled election in November.
Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon begins serving his sentence at the medium security Federal Correctional Institute at Allenwood, Pennsylvania. (Incarceration at a higher security level facility was done to protect Nixon. The Bureau of Prisons, the FBI and the Secret Service jointly concluded that a minimum security facility, to which he might otherwise be sent, would not be equipped to keep out a determined, armed effort to get at the former President.)
Four Protestant civilians died as a result of a gun attack on the Stag Inn, Belvoir, Belfast. The attack was carried out by the Republican Action Force (RAF), believed to be a cover name for some members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).
A member of the UDR was killed by a booby trap bomb set by the IRA near Moneymore, County Derry.
Col. Robert Wilton USA, an assistant military attaché at the United States Embassy to the United Kingdom is assassinated in London. Reports soon surface that Col. Wilton was engaged in covert efforts to make contact with the PIRA. Several months later the Washington Post reports that Col. Wilton had been on contract to the CIA since 1964. Questions remain as to whether Wilton was killed by the PIRA or the British security forces.
July 31, 1976
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses.
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) takes over Sen. Barry Goldwater’s filibuster of the the Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act), arguing the opposite to Goldwater’s exception – namely that the bill does not give the government intelligence services enough power to deal with terrorism. Senator Helms in his thirty-two hour harangue on the floor of the Senate talks about needing to give this authority to the military so that they can “wage war on terrorism, terrorists and all who are plotting against our national security.” Helms tries to attach a number of measures to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act, criminalize Islam and “permissive behavior”, both which he claims are responsible for the July 4 attacks. He also wants to require that the Secretary of Defense and the new Secretary of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight be serving senior generals or admirals. He also argues that the Secretary of Defense and the SNICO be moved above the Secretary of State in protocol order (the current bill would amend the Succession Act of 1947 to place the SNICO between the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Interior in terms of protocol rank and in terms of Presidential succession).
Syrian President Maamun al-Kuzbari escapes an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber in a car attacks his convoy near his home. The attack kills two policemen and wounds four, including a German private security contractor hired to protect the President.
April – September 1976
Cyprus: Negotiations continue under United Nations and NATO auspices to reach a final agreement on the division of the island into two ethnic components joint by a loose federal structure. NATO military and police units continue to patrol the island. Occasional clashes and resistance are noted, however there is no wide-scale resistance activity. Turkish Special Forces units remain active in the mountains.
Lebanese Civil War: Clashes continue between the PJO and its Sh’ite milita allies and the PLO-Druze-Phalange coalition. Outside efforts to bolster the Lebanese government prove fruitless as the government is deeply divided and relatively powerless to impose order on its own.
In July 1976 the United States gets drawn closer to the conflict after a terrorist attack in New York and Philadelphia is linked to the PJO. U.S. military units based in Syria begin a much more aggressive program of attacking targets belonging to the PJO in Lebanon.
An ironic outgrowth of this conflict is that while the Israelis are supporting their Phalange allies and re-arming them, they are also providing a supply conduit to the PLO. The PLO leadership itself has become more focused on dealing with the PJO than with Israel. However, elements of the radical (non-religious) Palestinian movement remain active as witnessed by the Entebbe Affair.
Portugal and Spain: As the Politburo of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal consolidates its position in Lisbon, irregular warfare battles continue against General Antonio de Spinola’s forces around Braganca along the Spanish border. The General’s loyalist forces are given sanctuary in Spain, which leads to clashes between PDRP and Spanish Army forces along the frontier in between Tras o Montes and Zamora.
Spain does not attack the PDRP largely due to an inner debate within the ruling Spanish Falange Party over whether a war with Portugal is desirable. Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro is being challenged by a number of other politicians, who would use the excuse of a war to pressure him to resign. The Falange government must also deal with a series of domestic disturbances which occur with greater frequency since the death of General Franco. Largely, a restive population is pushing at the constraints of dictatorship, and Navarro’s government is trying to navigate this while retaining a firm grip on power.
The new King, Juan Carlos (briefed by many senior officers in the Spanish Army), is also said to oppose a war with Portugal and is exerting pressure on Navarro not to open-up a war with the PDRP. The King argues with his Prime Minister that, bluster aside, the Spanish Armed Forces aren’t up to the endeavour.
Prime Minister Navarro is also disappointed that his Chilean allies supply no more than token “training units” and a small amount of money and arms, none of which are sufficient to augment his nation’s army. The Spanish do receive some more support from the South Africans, who are eager to exact a measure of revenge against the socialist influenced Portuguese officers who abandoned Mozambique and Angola to hostile regimes. The South African scouts train Spanish and General Spinola’s loyalist irregulars in guerrilla warfare tactics which they can use to conduct irregular warfare against PDRP and East Bloc formations in Portugal.
In addition to General Spinola’s loyalists, Spain also is the host to Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, the pretender to the Portuguese throne. Prime Minister Navarro is trying to push Dom Duarte, Marcelo Caetano, the last Prime Minister of the pre-Carnation revolution regime and General Spinola together into forming a unified, royalist opposition government to the PDRP. General Spinola for his part is a republican who does not wish to see his cause subverted for the purposes of restoring monarchy he considers an ancient relic.
On the Azores and in Madeira President Mario Soares continues to claim that his is the legitimate government of Portugal. His administration is recognized as such by the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which are using their naval and air forces to protect the islands from being attacked from the Portuguese mainland.
President Soares and his government are not recognized by General Spinola and his loyalists.
Also on the Azores and Madeira local nationalists are beginning to challenge President Soares regime. On the Azores they are lead by João Bosco Soares de Mota Amaral and on Madeira by Jaime Ornelas Camacho. In both the cases, the local nationalist forces see the current unrest in Portugal as an opportunity to exert more regional autonomy, if not as a basis for declaring outright independence (which seems to be Amaral’s preferred option for the Azores). Both nationalist leaders increasingly challenge the legitimacy of Soares’ government operating on their territory, and begin to lobby the with the allied powers for a replacement in the form of a representative body governing over them which is controlled by local leaders. If President Soares wants to set-up an exile government, they argue, let him do so in London or Washington. American officials and military personnel are increasingly greeted with signs which read “the Azores for the Azoreans” and “Soares to London or Hell, but away from here!”
Amaral even begins negotiations with representatives of the United States, French and British governments to gain recognition as a legitimate bargaining entity.
Turkey/Greece: Along the common frontier continued skirmishes and “accidental” exchanges of fire between units from the two countries. Tensions remain high in the Aegean as the Navies and Air Forces from both countries continue to challenge one another, but stop of short of actual hostilities.
UN sponsored negotiations continue, but neither side is willing to make any concessions and as such the peace talks are deadlocked.
Greek forces continue to fight communist partisans in the mountainous terrain of North Eastern Greece. The partisans are receiving aid and sanctuary from Bulgaria.
In Athens General Davos works with Konstantínos G. Karamanlís, the head of the moderate New Democracy Party, Andreas G. Papandreou, head of the Greek Socialist Party and Charilaos Florakis, the head of the Greek Communist Party, become involved in talks that leads to the formation of the first post-junta government in Greece, which while under the nominal leadership of Prime Minister Karamanlís and his New Democracy party, also relies on support from the Socialist and Communist Parties.
The Socialists (PSOK) and the Communists have gained ground as a result of their resistance to the Turks and because, having been persecuted by the previous regimes, including the military junta, they are seen as the “cleanest” when it comes to forming a national government which will punish the crimes of the past junta and restore the rights of the Greek people. Papandreou and Florakis thus begin to lay plans for a leftist coalition to take over from the National Salvation Council.
Turkey is politically deadlocked under the Turkes regime, especially after the May 5 coup attempt opens-up a new series of purges of the armed forces and the bureaucracy. There are significant political elements in the military and among the old political parties who are ready to move against Prime Minister Turkes, however they are divided amongst themselves and increasingly mistrustful of each other. This becomes especially true after a number of anti-government plots are exposed by informers working for the Grey Wolves.
In addition to its Greek problem, Turkey maintains a small force in Northern Syria, along the two countries’ border and has to commit forces to fighting Kurdish separatists in the East of the country. Despite several economic and arms embargos Turkey continues to enjoy sanction busting channels through Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Soviet Union. The Soviets are particularly interested in cultivating Turkes regime as a counterweight to a return of the traditional (and pro-NAT0) military aligned parties in Turkey.
Israel in particular is interested in using the Turkes regime as a counterweight to any new potential hostile regime in Syria. Their policy is also part of their triangulation with the regime of the Shah of Iran, as a counterweight to the hostile regime in Iraq.
Turkes uses the economic hardship caused by the sanctions to stoke the fires of Turkish nationalism, blaming the outside world for ganging-up on Turkey – especially over the Cyprus issue and over “the legitimate claims of the Turkish people against the Greek bandits.”
From Anonymous Behind the Fortress Walls
There was of course considerable debate within the Politburo over our support for the lunatic Colonel Turkes and his government, especially after the May 5, 1976 coup, in the aftermath of which his secret police began rounding-up Turkish Communist and other progressive elements.
Suslov and Kosygin clashed over the question, especially after the Premier returned from his state visits to West Germany, France and Britain at the end of May. During his trip Alexei Nikolayevich had been on the receiving end of lectures by both progressive and reactionary leaders who to a man condemned the Soviet support for the fascist Turkes. George Marchais, the French Communist Party leader, was very abrupt with Kosygin on the matter, calling the Soviet support a sell out of progressives and the workers. This came after the wishy-washy proto-Socialist President Mitterrand had said much the same thing to him, though in more polite terms. By the time he returned to Moscow, Alexei Nikolayevich was fuming over the matter and determined to take it up with Mikhail Andreyevich and Yuri Valdimirovich. While Kosygin could stand criticism, he was alarmed that the strongest part of it was coming from our nominal allies in the western countries.
Suslov and Andropov locked tightly on this policy though, and in this they had support from a number of key elements in the Party leadership. When Alexei Nikolayevich made his case, Mikhail Andreyevich responded as if he was an unschooled child.
“Alexei Nikolayevich,” he said, “we now have a major thumb over that fascist regime. We control many of his vital supplies. Plus we promote a civil war in Greece which prevents the Greek Army from unifying in a revenge campaign against Turkey. They must spend their time hunting partisans in the mountains. Our influence on Turkes’ agenda, together with progressive victories in Portugal and Italy, have all but destroyed the eastern and southern flanks of NATO. This has been a most desirable outcome.
“We must also reflect on the situation in Greece. As long as there is a militantly hostile regime in Turkey, the Greek progressives will profit from an image of having resisted the Turkish aggression. Even now the reactionaries in that nation are tied down fighting the partisans we back, and as they do so, they lose prestige in their nation to the progressive forces, who wish to make terms with the partisans. This will rebound to the progressive favor, and strike another nation from the NATO balance. Indeed, the loss of Greece, will end the NATO eastern and southern flanks for good.
“I do not care for the whining of so-called Communists who are busy intriguing with reactionary, bourgeois parties for a few crumbs from the table of political power. I care for the fact that while Turkes is odious as a political leader, he has done more to disrupt NATO than any so-called communist, save perhaps the progressive forces in Portugal. So long as this continues, we will back Turkes.
“Now, if our friends in the west find this difficult to understand, I suggest we remind them of what Party discipline means. And if this does not work, then we can suggest to them that they might be better off without our funding – maybe that will salve their soft consciences over this Turkes matter, if they like.”
Kosygin and many of the true believers were not happy with this answer, but under Suslov and Andropov the policy realists had the day.
It was a lesson driven home when the Italian, Berlinguer, finally came to call on the Politburo. Apart from receiving a rebuke for his having visited with Tito first, the new Italian Prime Minister was given a sharp tongue lashing about the value of undermining NATO by whatever means was at hand. Turkes and his odious regime were a tool to that end, and as such Berlinguer was asked to get in line behind that point. He was also questioned as to when he would be breaking ties with NATO himself, as his comrades in Lisbon had already done.
Berlinguer was vague in his response, and never gave a commitment on the NATO question. He also told Suslov that the General Secretary was wrong on the question of supporting Turkes, no matter how much the fascist regime in Turkey damaged NATO. Berlinguer compared the matter to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact; a comparison which drew Suslov’s ire down on the Italian Prime Minister.
He was later said to have berated Andropov for having failed to kill Berlinguer in Bulgaria in 1973.
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From Time Magazine – Koreagate on Capitol Hill?
The buzz words, like "stonewall" and "limited hangout," have not resurfaced—at least not yet. But there is an unmistakable sniff of Watergate wafting over the Hydra-headed investigations of exported South Korean corruption currently under way in Washington. The White House cover-up to protect its guilty is still fresh in everyone's memory. Yet here is the Legislative Branch displaying, at the very least, a marked lack of enthusiasm to get to the bottom of a scandal that could badly tarnish Congress.
So far the scandal has been focused on cash gifts to U.S. politicians who might have clout in decisions involving aid to the Kim Jong-pil regime in South Korea. New revelations continue to reinforce the impression that, as one congressional leader admitted, "there's a lot of Korean money around, and a lot of guys are involved." Among the main figures in the federal probes of Korean influence peddling: former Representative Richard Hanna of California, a silent partner in an import-export business run by Tongsun Park, a Washington-based Korean businessman with a yen for winning friends in high places; Louisiana Democrat Otto Passman, a long-time Park crony; and former New Jersey Congressman Cornelius Gallagher. Meanwhile, on another front, there are charges that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) has been carrying out both open and "black" (undercover) operations in the U.S. on a broad scale.
According to Korean dissidents in the U.S. and Washington officials, the KCIA maintains at least 30 acknowledged agents in the U.S., operating mainly out of embassies and consulates. They can call on the services of 400 or more Korean businessmen, students and professors willing to perform undercover jobs. The operation of such a spy network on U.S. soil by a foreign power —even a friendly one—is illegal, notwithstanding the fact that the U.S.'s own CIA has done much the same abroad.
One graphic account of KCIA activity was related last week to TIME Chicago Bureau Chief Benjamin Gate by Jai Hyon Lee, a former South Korean cultural and press attaché in Washington. Lee fell out with the previous Park regime and was granted asylum in the U.S. in 1973. In that year, says Lee, now an associate professor of journalism at Western Illinois University, the KCIA effectively took over the South Korean embassy. KCIA men began to hold daily "orientation" sessions in which diplomats, says Lee, were directed "to organize businessmen" in support of the Park government and to "seduce Congressmen" with influence on U.S.-Korean relations.
Lee insists he once saw then Ambassador Kim Dong Jo stuffing $100 bills into white envelopes. Kim's attaché case was "bulging with bundles of $100 bills. There must have been several hundred thousand dollars in that briefcase. It was an astonishing sight." Says Lee:
"I asked him where he was going." Kim, looking as if the question were naive, replied: "To the Capitol." Lee is convinced the money was intended for Congressmen and other officials.
Lee says it was common for the KCIA to hand junketeering Congressmen cash-filled envelopes to compensate them for their own and their wives' personal expenses on trips to South Korea. Thus the Congressmen could properly record and pay for their wives' expenses without being out of pocket at all. Lee, following his defection after 20 years of government service, testified to the FBI in 1973, but his allegations began to arouse interest only last summer, when a House International Relations subcommittee, headed by Minnesota Congressman Donald Fraser, again quizzed Lee. Fraser got the Justice Department to open its investigation of Korean bribery.
This investigation soon began to collide with a separate investigation being conducted by Special Prosecutor Elliot Richardson, who had been tasked by Attorney-General Clifford Wallace to investigate the fundraising activities and expenditures of the South Korean based Unification Church lead by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. According to insiders the two investigations keep tripping over each other as they cross paths in the labyrinthine cross-currents that seem to connect the Unification Church and the KCIA.
For all of its zeal, the KCIA is regarded in Washington as a ham-handed offspring of the U.S. CIA—which has helped finance the KCIA in the past. The KCIA does not bother to gather intelligence from South Korea's closest enemy, North Korea. Aside from its efforts to buy influence in U.S. political circles, its main mission seems to be to suppress criticism of the Park regime at home and abroad, notably in the U.S., which has big Korean populations in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington. The FBI has been probing—so far inconclusively—complaints by Korean dissidents in the U.S. of KCIA harassment through threatening phone calls and other bullyboy tactics.
The Seoul regime's influence-peddling efforts in the U.S. stem from an understandable worry about its American connection. Under constant threat from the North, the South Koreans depend for survival on their U.S. ties—and those have seemed less secure in recent years. The Park government's political activity in the U.S. began in 1970, after the Nixon Administration announced it would cut American forces in Korea from 60,000 to 40,000 troops. Fretful about a Birch Bayh campaign pledge to pull out more troops and perhaps cut economic aid as well, the Koreans kept up their U.S. political activity this year —until adverse publicity forced them to pull back.
Seoul still denies any connection with Tongsun Park, the party giving Washington rice broker who remains a focal point of the investigations. But federal probers believe the regime ordered the millionaire mystery man, last reported shuttling between Japan and Great Britain, to stay clear of both the U.S. and South Korea. Should Park decide never to return to the U.S., as seems possible, he would be leaving behind considerable assets—including two homes, a business building and the George Town Club, where he has done much of his Washington entertaining. He also had a $249,000 secret interest in a new Washington bank called the Diplomat National, according to a front man who held some of the Park stock —another facet in the still murky picture of Korean money and political muscle in the U.S.
One reason that picture has been developing so slowly is that influential Congressmen have been trying to thwart investigations of Korean activity by the departments of Justice and Agriculture —both of which depend upon Congress for appropriations. Should a Watergate-style Special Prosecutor be assigned to probe the Korean quagmire, as some observers suggest? So far, there has been little sign of congressional zeal for self-policing. Some months ago, a witness in the FBI investigation tried to tell a House Ethics Committee member what he knew about the Korean case. The Congressman refused to listen. His excuse: whatever he heard might prejudice him if the Ethics Committee should someday decide to take up the Korean matter.
On the other hand, Special Prosecutor Richardson has had better luck: he has currently indicted much of the top leadership of the Unification Church on money laundering charges. Richardson says he will continue to dig into the matter and follow it wherever it – or at least the crimes related to the church – take him.
“Even up to Capitol Hill,” Richardson adds, “if that’s where this leads. The law applies to everyone.”
(Author’s note: This is an OTL 1976 Time magazine article with the personalities adjusted for TTL where appropriate.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914710-1,00.html
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February 18, 1976
18th annual Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: Bob Dylan (producer and artist) "Blood On the Tracks"
Album of the Year: Phil Ramone (producer) & Paul Simon (producer & artist) for Still Crazy After All These Years
Song of the Year: Stephen Sondheim (songwriter) for "Send In the Clowns" performed by Judy Collins
Best New Artist: Natalie Cole
March 29, 1976
The 48th Annual Academy Awards
Best Picture:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (winner)
Soles
Dog Day Afternoon
Jaws
Nashville
Best Actor in a Leading Role:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Jack Nicholson (winner)
Dog Day Afternoon - Al Pacino
Give 'em Hell, Harry! - James Whitmore
Soles – Jeff Bridges
FDR – Gregory Peck
Best Actress in a Leading Role:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Louise Fletcher (winner)
Hedda - Glenda Jackson
Hester Street - Carol Kane
The Story of Adele H - Isabelle Adjani
The Wind and the Lion – Candice Bergen
Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
Soles – Burt Lancaster (winner)
The Sunshine Boys - George Burns
Dog Day Afternoon - Chris Sarandon
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Brad Dourif
Night Moves – James Woods
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Soles – Anne Archer (winner)
Farewell, My Lovely - Sylvia Miles
Nashville - Ronee Blakley
Barry Lyndon – Marie Kean
The Drowning Pool – Gail Strickland
Best Director:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – Milos Foreman (winner)
Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick
Soles – Ridley Scott
FDR - Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The Sunshine Boys - Neil Simon
April 2, 1976
Ronnie Bunting of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) recruits Gerard Steenson (19) and Kevin Lynch (20) for “a special mission in Britain.” To prepare, Bunting, Steenson and Lynch are smuggled out of Ireland to Portugal where they receive several weeks training in small arm use from the Portuguese Army (and possibly Cuban advisors).
April 5, 1976
In the Central African Republic supporters of David Dacko attempt to free him from house arrest. They fail, but the resulting political fallout leads to more infighting within the National Salvation Council. Dacko is put away in a military prison, where he is reportedly tortured.
April 16, 1976
As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
The Senate passes the Portuguese Democracy Act of 1976 by a vote of 79 - 21. This act provides for a complete economic sanction of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal (called “the Communist held Portuguese rogue entity” in the bill) exempting only the Azores and Madeira from the sanctions. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) attempts to add an amendment to the bill which would extend economic and military support to General Spinola’s loyalist forces, but this fails to pass since such aid would have to be channelled through Falangist Spain.
April 21, 1976
The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
April 23, 1976
The punk rock group The Ramones release their first self-titled album.
April 29, 1976
The House of Representatives passes the Portuguese Democracy Act of 1976 by a vote of 229 – 206.
April 30, 1976
President Gavin signs the Portuguese Democracy Act of 1976 into law.
In the Central African Republic Brigadier André-Dieudonné Kolingba and Dr. Sylvestre Bangui seize power, abolishing the National Salvation Council. Georges Bokassa flees into exile. The new government then engages in an offensive against Banda “separatists.”
France, which had supported the National Salvation Council, condemns the coup, but Kolingba and Bangui have covert CIA support, having convinced the Americans that several members of the National Salvation Council are on the Soviet payroll (whether this is actually true or not is subject to interpretation).
Dr. Bangui, acting through CIA intermediaries, begins to make secret deals with the Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of nearby Zaire. Mobutu is interested in gold, diamonds and uranium in the CAR. Dr. Bangui also explores deals with the Israelis, South Africans and Chileans over uranium deposits in the CAR.
April 30 – May 1, 1976
The Trades Union Council and the TGWU stage a nationwide General Strike to oppose privitisation. The effect of the strike is to bring Britain to a virtual standstill.
May 1, 1976
Eric Wills is elected to another term as Premier of New South Wales. Some regard the Liberal-Country Coalition re-election at the State level as a reaction to the re-election of the Labor Party at the Federal level.
Most major European capitals outside of the East Bloc see large anti-government demonstrations on May Day as unions, students and individuals protest economic conditions. London and Paris also have large anti-war demonstrations.
Paris is the scene of a large anti-nuclear protest staged by The French Communist Party (PCF) and its associated Union, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the Socialist Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) and the National Union of Students (UNEF) and some allied left-wing groups. Violence occurs in clashes with right-wing groups opposed to the anti-nuclear protestors.
May 2, 1976
Under increasing pressure from radical clerics Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, acting in the name of his hospitalized brother King Khalid, orders the execution of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
Seamus Ludlow (47), a Catholic civilian, who was an unmarried forestry worker from Thistle Cross, Dundalk, County Louth, was killed in the early hours of the morning. He was shot a number of times. [Initially the PIRA was suspected by some members of the Garda Siochana (the Irish police)].
Senator John Tunney (D-CA) is attacked by a man whom he and his escort describe as “dark haired, short and stocky,” while Tunney is jogging in Rock Creek Park. The Senator sustains a bullet wound in his shoulder as the gunman tries to shoot at him from a hidden perch. However, the Senator has a bodyguard assigned to him from the Capitol Police (guards have been assigned to Democratic law makers from the Capitol Police, the U.S. Park Service and even the Border Patrol, anywhere personnel can be found). The gunman next exchanges gunfire with the Senator’s escort, before escaping into the undergrowth.
The bullet extracted from the Senator’s shoulder confirms that this was another attempt by “the Democrat Killer.” After the attack on Tunney he is not heard from again until the fall presidential campaign.
May 3, 1976
Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud is beheaded for the crime of transgressing Islamic law through his sinful living in foreign countries. The execution is condemned by a number of foreign countries and religious groups. Radical Wahhabi clerics use the fact that the Crown Prince (and through him the King) delayed the execution of Sattam due to foreign pressure as an example of “the moral corruption” of the monarchy.
Nine RAF personnel and one soldier are KIA after a British Hercules plane comes down 22 km northwest of Damascus. Later evaluation of the wreckage indicates that it was brought down by a surface to air missile.
The British House of Commons passes a series of economic sanctions against the PDRP (exempting the Azores and Madeira) by a vote of 319 – 316. The British sanctions are not as strict as their American counterparts.
May 4, 1976
The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.
May 5, 1976
An attempted coup in Turkey fails. The Grey Wolves crack down further on dissent.
Nine members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) escaped from the Maze Prison through a tunnel.
May 6, 1976
An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.
On the evening of 6 May 1976, after the end of the third Cod War had already been decided, the Icelandic ship Týr was trying to cut the nets of the trawler Carlisle. Captain Gerald Plumer of HMS Falmouth decided to ram V/s Týr. The Falmouth at the speed of 22+ knots (41+ km/h) steamed into the ship, almost capsising her. Týr did not sink and managed to cut the nets of Carlisle. This resulted in another ramming. At that moment Týr was heavily damaged and propelled by only a single screw and pursued by the tug-boat Statesman. In this dire situation Guðmundur Kjærnested, captain of V/s Týr gave orders to man the guns, in spite of the overwhelming superiority of firepower the Falmouth enjoyed.
Eight members of the Special Air Service (SAS) were arrested in the Republic of Ireland. The official explanation was that the soldiers had made a map reading error and accidentally crossed the border. [During the course of the Northern Ireland conflict there were many instances of British Army personnel and vehicles, including aircraft, making illegal crossings of the border. In March 1976 SAS soldiers had crossed the border and grabbed Seán McKenna, then a PIRA commander, from his home before handing him over to a British Army patrol on the northern side of the border.]
May 9, 1976
Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction is found hanging in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.
FBI and FCTB agents arrest a group of anti-Castro Cuban activists in Fort Lee N.J. who have purchased a container of Sarin gas from Marwan Kusa’s group. Kusa, acting through a middle man whom he later kills, sold one of the six Sarin containers to obtain some working capital, and to mislead authorities after he discovered that one of his people had in fact turned informant(he knows of “some Sarin” and one or two people in Kousa’s ring, but not of the extent of what Kousa has, or how he plans to use it). While remaining in the background, Kusa creates a scenario that leads the informant to believe that there was only one canister of Sarin and that it was sold to the Cubans. This in turn deflects federal authorities from any further investigation into a Sarin gas in the hands of potential terrorists.
May 11, 1976
U.S. President James Gavin signs an amended Federal Election Campaign Act into law.
In 1971, Congress consolidated its earlier reform efforts in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), instituting more stringent disclosure requirements for federal candidates, political parties and Political action committees (PACs). Still, without a central administrative authority, the campaign finance laws were difficult to enforce.
Public subsidies for federal elections, originally proposed by President Roosevelt in 1907, began to take shape as part of the 1971 law, as Congress established the income tax checkoff to provide for the financing of Presidential general election campaigns and national party conventions. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code in 1974 established the matching fund program for Presidential primary campaigns.
Following reports of serious financial abuses in the 1972 Presidential campaign, Congress amended the FECA in 1974 to set limits on contributions by individuals, political parties and PACs. The 1974 amendments also established an independent agency, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to enforce the law, facilitate disclosure and administer the public funding program. The FEC opened its doors in 1975 and administered the first publicly funded Presidential election in 1976.
The Supreme Court struck down or narrowed several provisions of the 1974 amendments to the Act, including limits on spending and limits on the amount of money a candidate could donate to his or her own campaign in Buckley v. Valeo (1976).
Congress made further amendments to the FECA in 1976 following those decisions.
May 15, 1976
While in hiding from Mafia assassins, former Teamsters International President James Riddle Hoffa is diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Five Catholic civilians were killed in two separate bomb attacks carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). One bomb killed two people at the Avenue Bar, Union Street, Belfast. The second bomb was at Clancey's Bar, Charlemont, County Armagh. Many other Catholic civilians were injured in the explosions. Three Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed in a landmine attack near Belcoo RUC station, County Fermanagh, carried out by the PIRA. Another RUC officer was killed in a gun attack at Warrenpoint, County Down.
9,000 additional U.S. troops arrive in Syria.
May 16, 1976
Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries outside a Social Club, Alliance Road, Belfast. An off-duty Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer was shot dead by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Benburb, County Tyrone.
May 17, 1976
James Gallagher (20) was shot dead, as he travelled, as a passenger on a bus, past Fort George British Army base, Strand Road, Derry. The soldier who shot him was on sentry duty in the base and as he handed over his rifle is reported to have said, "I'm cracking, I'm cracking". Two other passengers on the bus, a man and a woman, were injured in the incident. [Later Gallagher was listed on a Republican roll of honour as a Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) member.] Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by Republican paramilitaries at a factory in Dungannon Street, Moy, County Tyrone.
May 19, 1976
Unification church leaders Neil Albert Salonen, Lee Shapiro, Sung Jin Moon and Bo Hi Pak are arrested and arraigned in the United States, where they are charged with racketeering, money laundering and espionage in connection with the on-going U.S. and international activities of the Unification Church. The indictments are the result of Special Prosecutor Elliott Richardson’s continuing investigation. The Church’s leader, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, his wife Hak Ja Han and Chung Hwan Kwak, a leader of the international church, are also indicted in absentia, but these three remain outside of the United States and so are beyond the current reach of the U.S. courts.
Rumors soon surface that Moon and Chung are funnelling Unification Church money to the Lon Nol regime in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in return for sanctuary. The President’s brother, Lon Non, is said to have joined the Unification Church and acts as a go-between for the Church and the Cambodian government.
May 24, 1976
Scheduled Concorde service between Washington D.C. and London and Paris is disrupted by a court injunction from the U.S. District Court for Northern Virginia prohibits the Concorde from landing at Washington area airports, pending a lawsuit filed by the Citizens United against the Concorde. The primary complaint is over the sonic boom.
May 25, 1976
The Ulster Service Corps, a Loyalist paramilitary grouping, announced that it was going to mount 'patrols' because of the 'deteriorating security situation'.
May 28, 1976
A Catholic and a Protestant civilian were killed in a bomb attack on the Club Bar, University Road, Belfast. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries.
May 30, 1976
Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 255 miles (408 km). The event is heavily guarded by Indiana National Guard Troops.
May 30 – June 3, 1976
U.S-U.K. offensive against Baalbeck in Lebanon aimed at destroying forward operating centers for Syrian insurgents and destroying weapons stockpiles. This incursion into Lebanese territory is protested by the Lebanese government.
Allied forces suffer 52 casualties, and kill upwards of 250 insurgents as well as capturing or destroying a significant arms stockpile.
June 1, 1976
The UK and Iceland end the Cod War.
In 1972, Iceland unilaterally declared an Exclusive Economic Zone extending beyond its territorial waters, before announcing plans to reduce overfishing. It policed its quota system with the coast guard, leading to a series of net-cutting incidents with British trawlers that fished the areas. As a result, a fleet of Royal Naval warships and tug-boats were employed to act as a deterrent against any future harassment of British fishing crews by the Icelandic craft. The conflict involved several cases of vessels ramming each other.
The dispute ended in 1976 after Iceland threatened to close a major NATO base at Keflavik in retaliation for Britain's deployment of naval vessels within the disputed 200 nautical mile (370 km) limit. The British government, under pressure from Washington to settle the problem, conceded and agreed that after December 1, 1976 British vessels would not fish within the previously disputed area.
Prime Minister Heath faced a serious challenge from within his own Conservative ranks over this settlement, as he was accused of having sacrificed the interests of the British fishing industry at a time of economic hardship in the name of NATO. Labour is equally opposed to the settlement for similar reasons, placing Enoch Powell and Barbara Castle on the same side during the parliamentary debate over the agreement.
June 2, 1976
A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.
The exact motive for the crime remains a mystery, but many speculate that the Mafia is responsible, as a large concentration of Bolles' work involved organized crime, even going as far as to run a story naming over 200 known mafia members operating in the state of Arizona. Some suspected that Kemper Marley, a man who made millions in the liquor distribution business in Arizona, was behind the Bolles murder, but Phoenix police could find no evidence linking him with the crime, and he continued conducting business in Arizona.
The United States Supreme Court declines to hear the appeal in United States v. Nixon. The case is remanded to Judge Sirica for sentencing.
The PIRA shot dead an off-duty member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) outside the Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls Road, Belfast. The IRA also shot dead a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at his home in Cambrai Street, Shankill, Belfast. A Protestant civilian was shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries in Comber, County Down; a Catholic man had been the intended target. Linda Baggley (19), then a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer, died nine days after being shot by the PIRA at Chapel Road, Waterside, Derry.
The Sex Pistols release their single Bloody Bitch Maggie which soars to #1 on the UK charts.
The Canadian government agrees to commit a mixed detachment of RCMP, OPP, SDQ, Toronto and Montreal Police to Syria in order to train the Syrian National Police Force. (RCMP=Royal Canadian Mounted Police; OPP = Ontario Provincial Police; SDQ = Surete Du Quebec). The opposition Liberal Party tries to block this in the House of Commons with little success. The move is also unpopular in Quebec.
June 4, 1976
The Phoenix Suns defeat the Boston Celtics 128-126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Boston Garden. A riot breaks out among Boston fans and several Suns players and bystanders are injured. Governor O’Neill is compelled to call in the National Guard to supplement the Boston Police in restoring order. The Boston Garden suffers damage as a result of the rioting.
Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), disclosed information about a series of secret talks between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The two parties had held five meetings since March 1976.
General Bernard Rogers USA, commander of allied forces in Syria, announces a program of phased withdrawal of allied forces from Syria in 1977, contingent upon the development and operation of a western trained Syrian National Guard and National Police Force.
Israel registers a continuing objection to the re-building of a Syrian national army.
A Bill to impose sanctions on the PDRP passes the Canadian House of Commons by a vote of 134 – 130. It is held up in the Senate and not passed by that house before the Parliament is prorogued on June 7, 1976.
Marwan Kousa’s group stage a successful second rehearsal of their planned attack.
The Irish National Election
The Fine Gael government (a coalition with support of the Irish Labour Party) lead by Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Patrick (Paddy) Donegan is returned for another term in office.
Seats in the Dial Erianne (148* seats)
Fine Gael 54 + 1 = 55
Fianna Fail 68 + 3 = 71
Labour 19 + 1 = 20
Independent 3 - 1 = 2
75 needed to form a governing coalition
Fine Gael + Labour + Independent (55 + 20 + 1 = 76)
* = 4 new seats created as a result of re-districting.
June 5, 1976
The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out a gun attack on the Chlorane Bar, Gresham Street, Belfast, and killed three Protestant civilians and two Catholic civilians. In a separate bomb attack on the International Bar, Portaferry, County Down, the UVF killed a Catholic civilian. Republican paramilitaries carried out a bomb attack on the Times Bar, York Road, Belfast, killing two Protestant civilians. A member of Sinn Féin (SF) was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), at Camberwell Terrace, Belfast.
June 6, 1976
In response to the recent upsurge in violence the British government announced that it was sending an additional 1,000 troops to Northern Ireland.
In the Central African Republic a bomb of mysterious origin wipes out most of the Cabinet, including General Kolingba and Dr. Bangui. General Josyhat Mayomokala attempts to seize power in the aftermath, but he must fight off a number of rivals, which slowly leads to chaos in the country, as none is sufficiently powerful in men and weapons to subdue the others, and none of them is willing to work together in an alliance.
Prime Minister Heath announces a shuffle in his cabinet:
Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service: Edward R.G. Heath MP (Sidcup)
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Thomas Boardman MP (Leicester South)
Lord Chancellor: The Lord Hailsham, Quintin Hogg
Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords: The Baron Barber, Anthony Barber
Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons: James M. Prior MP (Lowestoft)
Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service Department: Geoffrey Johnson-Smith MP (East Grinstead)
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: William S. I. Whitelaw MP (Penrith and the Border)
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs: Douglas R. Hurd MP (Mid Oxfordshire)
Secretary of State for Defense: A. Geoffrey F. Rippon MP (Hexham)
Secretary of State for the Home Department: The Lord Carrington, Peter Carington
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Sir (Richard) Geoffrey Howe MP (East Surrey)
Secretary of State for Energy: Peter E. Walker MP (Worcester)
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and President of the Board of Trade: Keith Joseph MP (Leeds Northeast)
Chief Secretary of the Treasury: Cranley Onslow MP (Woking)
Dropped from Cabinet:
Maurcie V. Macmillan MP (Farnham)
L. Robert Carr MP (Carshalton)
Margaret Thatcher MP (Finchley)
All three ministers were dropped from Cabinet over assorted controversies. Chancellor Macmillan was removed over the poor performance of the British economy and a desire by the Prime Minister to freshen the image of his government. Defence Secretary Carr lost his post over inside rumors that the Radcliffe Inquiry into the Demagore affair was going to heavily lambaste his management style while at the MOD and at least partially blame it for the series of events and poor communications which lead to the murder of the priests. Mrs. Thatcher was removed over the poor situation in Northern Ireland, her poor poll ratings, and to remove the Patel affair as an irritant to the government.
June 7, 1976
Facing a serious budget shortfall, the new Chancellor Tom Boardman applies for and receives a $5.3 billion loan for Britain from the IMF. The need for this loan is viewed by many as an abject failure of the Conservative government’s fiscal policies.
The United Ulster Unionist Council (UUUC) took a vote opposing any talks between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).
The Canadian federal government loses a confidence motion on a finance bill. Prime Minister Stanfield schedules a Federal election for July 12, 1976.
Two suicide bombers strike in Yarbud and Al-Qusyar, Syria, claiming at least 44 lives, mostly of Syrian National Police recruits.
Ronnie Bunting, Gerard Steenson and Kevin Lynch of the INLA are smuggled into the UK disguised as merchant seaman with forged New Zealand passports.
June 12, 1976
Bunting, Steenson and Lynch joined the crowds for the annual Trooping the Colour, finding a spot near the junction between The Mall and Horseguards Avenue in London. When Queen Elizabeth II came riding past on her 13-year-old horse Burmese, Lynch and Steenson quickly fired four shots at her with pistols. Bunting, the leader, was supposed to act as cover man for the other two. However, Steenson is shot and killed by a Special Branch security officer. Lynch is wounded in cross fire (as are two bystanders – several more are trampled in the panic) and captured by the British police. Bunting melts into the crowd.
After Steenson and Lynch opened fire, the Sovereign's Escort was ordered by the Gold Stick-in-Waiting to "close up" around Her Majesty, which they did. At first she tried to ride on as if nothing happened, but it was soon apparent that the Queen had been hit by at least one of the bullets.
The Queen was rushed to hospital. Several hours later Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II had died during emergency surgery. The hollow point bullets fired at the Queen had been treated with a solution of mercury, which caused blood poisoning and internal organ trauma at the time of impact.
The captive gunman, Kevin Lynch, was taken to a military infirmary for debriefing and treatment. Reports indicated that although his wounds were tended, he received some very rough handling in the hours after the shooting.
Later inquiries revealed that the guns Lynch and Steenson used had been smuggled into the UK on the same freighter as the men. These weapons, a pair of Beretta M1951 pistols sold to the Portuguese Army before the 1975 Carnation revolution.
Once it is clear that the two men (the third accomplice, Bunting, is identified later) came into the country from Portugal, Prime Minister Heath calls in the PDRP charge d’affaire in London and lodges a protest. The remaining PDRP delegation in the United Kingdom is soon expelled and Britain breaks off diplomatic relations with the regime. As the Cubans are identified as having been involved, Great Britain also lodges a formal protest with the Cuban government and recalls its Ambassador from Havana, and formally requests that the Cuban Ambassador in London and the man identified by MI-5 as the chief Cuban intelligence resident in London leave.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, the Cuban and PDRP Embassies in London are surrounded by protestors -as is the Irish Embassy for a time. All three buildings are pelted with rocks and garbage.
“My God, they really want a war,” Prime Minister Heath at the first conference after the assassination.
“Yes, and the British people will want one too, now,” Foreign Secretary Whitelaw.
The murder of Queen Elizabeth II is the first public murder of a British monarch since the beheading of King Charles I in 1649, and the first assassination of a Monarch in modern British history.
The Prince of Wales assumes the throne. At this point he is referred to by the press and government spokesmen as King Charles III.
The INLA later releases this statement:
"As head of the British State, Elizabeth Windsor was a legitimate target of war. All the horrible acts that have been done to our people by the British occupation forces have been done in Her name or that of her predecessors. When the British say they act for the security of the crown, it is well to remember that Elizabeth Windsor is the crown. Therefore, we have struck directly at the crown, for it is clear that our message is not being headed at lower levels.
“It is clear that the reactionary elites which support the fascist British power in place will not relent in their violence until they are themselves made to feel it. By this act each and every one of the elite of Whitehall and those who furnish them support and comfort should now understand that there is no safety from the revolutionary anger of the oppressed of Ireland.
“This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country."
June 13, 1976
Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan, Iowa.
In a phone conversation President Gavin pledges full U.S. support to Prime Minister Heath’s government. He relates that American port authorities have been alerted to be on the look-out for Bunting, should he come to the U.S.
A planned TUC general strike call is postponed due to the recent assassination of Queen Elizabeth II.
The British government orders 3,000 more troops to Northern Ireland and declares Marshal Law in Ulster. Pressure is also brought on the government of the Irish Republic to institute a stict security regime in the Republic.
June 14, 1976
The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
Ronnie Bunting is publicly identified as Steenson and Lynch’s accomplice. An all points arrest bulletin is put out for him.
President Gavin dismisses Director of Central Intelligence Daniel O. Graham over what are euphemistically called “policy differences.” CIA Deputy Director Frank C. Carlucci, who replaced General Vernon Walters in the DDCI post in March, will serve as acting Director through the rest of Gavin’s term.
Saudi Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz issues an epistle calling for the release of Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaibi and Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani by Saudi authorities as “true Mujahideen of the Islamic faith.” Bandar also calls the Saudi Army the “Mujahideen of the Kingdom” and calls on them to be “vigilant” and “zealous” in observing and enforcing Sharia, “especially against the praetorians who have fallen under the spell of foreign sorcery and have abandoned the path of the true faith for the shameful road of apostasy.”
There are a number of codes in this statement. By referring to the Army as the “Mujahideen of the Kingdom,” Bandar is calling on the Saudi Army to be “holy warriors” for the faith. The Praetorians who he refers to and whom he accuses of apostasy (a serious religious crime under Sharia law) are the Saudi Arabia National Guard (SANG), a separate force which guards and protects the Saudi Royal Family.
The SANG tend to be the children of the elite, or at least those who have proved themselves in the service of the Royal family and their circle. The Army are made up of lesser educated, lower class Saudis who are generally not trusted by the elite and who have a distinct second-class status within the Saudi military hierarchy. Unlike the SANG forces, the Army troops tend to have less exposure to western influences and are more “pious” in a traditional sense.
Bandar is trying to drive a wedge between the Army and the SANG along the existing social and educational fault lines, in order to use the Army as the Mujahideen (holy warriors; literally fighters of the jihad) who will end the apostasy in the Kingdom.
The Saudi Royal family begin to worry about just how loyal their army is when Bandar’s epistle becomes a popular “teaching” in the Army’s rank-and-file and among some lower class citizens.
June 15, 1976
Ronald Bunting Sr. (Ronnie (Ronald) Bunting Jr’s father), a prominent Ulster Loyalist politician and activist denounces his son’s actions in the assassination of the Queen.
Prince Phillip addresses the British nation asking for calm and for people to "act out of anger and grief against the innocent who may share a name or nationality with the criminals who committed this crime. Her Majesty would not want the evil of this deed compounded by thoughtless acts against innocent bystanders in acts of misplaced revenge.
"I thank-you all for your expressions of grief and your support for our family at this grave hour. It is my belief that the British people are a fair and just people, and that while you were shocked by this outrage, you have the fairness of temperament and the commitment to justice and fairness, which have long been the outstanding hallmarks of British civilization, and not to blame whole communities for the acts of a few malefactors."
Over the next several months there are small outbreaks of violence against establishments associated with the Irish, the Portuguese, the Lybians and Cubans, and people thought to be of those ethnic groups.
There are protests outside the various embassies and some loud demonstrations, but no direct mass violence. There is, of course, also a heavy police and military effort to prevent any ugly incidents from occurring.
There are numerous instances of individual attacks by Protestants against Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland, but tensions already simmer between the two communities as a result of the troubles. In the first months after the Queen's assassination, British military and security forces are tasked by the Heath government to keep the level of incidents down and to keep the communities apart.
Portuguese Communist Party General Secretary Álvaro Cunhal (commenting to Le Humanite, years after these events): “Of course we sympathize with the struggle of the oppressed of North Ireland who are held down by a reactionary, imperialist government which has at its head a leadership principle which remains little changed since feudal days. We endorse the struggle of the Irish people to be free, but let us be clear, we cannot say that the cold blooded murder of individuals, no matter their social or political station, is the best way to achieve this.
“This action in London, the killing of the English Queen, profoundly shocked us, especially after we learned that the three men involved had received training here. I caused inquiries to be made, and learned that certain of our Cuban comrades had handled the matter. Our people, and some of the Cubans I think, thought they would train the three in how to use weapons, and that they would then return to Ireland, perhaps England, to make war against senior government leaders. No one that I or our military investigators ever spoke with claimed to know that they had trained the three with the expressed mission of killing the British head of state.
“Of course, we cannot rule out duplicity or a hidden agenda among our Cuban friends. We could not be as exhaustive in our inquiries with the Cuban officers as we could with our own – and our questioning was very intensive against those who had been involved. They spoke the truth as they knew it by the time the matter was concluded.
“Let me say that our government never endorsed this thing, and would have arrested these three had it been known ahead of time what they were planning. Of the Cubans, I cannot be as sure. But if the impetus for this came from any government, then it came from Havana and not from our own.
“The British were understandably upset, though with their Prime Minister, Heath, being of bourgeois and not aristocratic origin, I should think – with the history of how the aristocrats have kept both bourgeois and proletarians down an under the yoke through the centuries – he might have been understanding of what had happened.
“Instead Heath ordered attacks on our Progressive state. No matter the provocation or the intrigues of our comrades, we could not let those go unchallenged.
“Still, even now, I hold more blame in my heart for the Cubans than for the British. We were clearly mislead on the matter by our comrades.”
June 16, 1976
The Soweto riots in South Africa begin.
The new King of the United Kingdom announces that he will take the official name of King George VII in honour of his grandfather and great-grandfather. Some speculate that the former Prince Charles has done this to ease royal family concerns about the bad luck and ill omens associated with the previous Kings Charles (Charles I beheaded; Charles II largely seen as a dissolute and corrupt monarch, and the uncrowned “Charles III” having been Prince Charles of the House of Stuart, otherwise known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, who lead an unsuccessful effort to remove the current King’s Hanoverian ancestors from the throne.)
The House of Commons votes 445 – 190 in favour of Emergency Measures to assist the security forces in hunting down the assassins of the Queen.
Airey Neave MP: The only way we can have peace is by eradicating these criminals. Their attack upon the sovereign was a pointless indulgence in blood letting for its own sake, and a direct message to the British people that they will not stop until we – our land, our government, our civil society – is eradicated. We in turn have but one choice – but to eradicate them.
June 17, 1976
The National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association agree on the ABA-NBA merger. Both leagues are in serious financial trouble.
Two Catholic civilians were shot dead, by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), as they travelled on a bus on Crumlin Road, Belfast.
A Catholic civilian died 11 days after being shot by the PIRA in a case of mistaken identity.
French anti-nuclear protesters are chased away with tear gas by French police after they stage a sit in at the entrance gates to the Elysee Palace.
Actor Timothy Dalton is killed and actress Caroline Munro is seriously injured in a traffic accident on Corsica, which is a location being used for the filming of Colonel Sun. The film goes on indefinite hold as a result.
June 20, 1976
General elections are held in Italy.
The Communist Party of Italy comes out ahead in the polling due to voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent Christian Democratic government over the state of the economy and foreign military activity by the Italian military.
The result:
Chamber of Deputies (631 seats)
Communist Party – 39.2%: 247 seats
Christian Democrats – 31.2%: 196 seats
Socialist Party – 11.1%: 70 seats
Social Movement – 6.1%: 39 seats
Democratic Socialist Party – 4.1%: 26 seats
Republican Party – 3.0%: 19 seats
Proletarian Democracy – 2.0%: 13 seats
Radical Party – 1.5%: 10 seats
Liberal Party – 1.0%: 6 seats
South Tyrolean People’s Party – 0.5%: 3 seats
Others: 0.3%: 2 seats
316 seats needed to form a governing coalition.
Senate (315 of 322 seats):
Communist Party – 39.2%: 123 seats
Christian Democrats – 34.5%: 110 seats
Socialist Party – 12.4%: 39 seats
Social Movement – 6.5%: 20 seats
Republican Party – 2.9%: 9 seats
Proletarian Democracy – 1.8%: 6 seats
Radical Party – 1.6%: 5 seats
Liberal Party – 1.1%: 3 seats
Senators for Life (not elected) - 7 seats.
162 seats needed to form a governing coalition.
At first Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer proposes a grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Party in order to create a stable government for Italy. The Christian Democrats, lead by outgoing Prime Minister Aldo Moro and Christian Democratic Party General Secretary Benigno Zaccagnini, rejected the offer.
After several weeks of negotiations Berlinguer put together a coalition of the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Proletarian Democracy Party and the Radical Party to form a government with himself as Prime Minister.
(Chamber of Deputies: Seats = 247 + 55* + 13 + 10 = 325)
(Senate: Seats = 123 + 26* + 6 + 5 = 160 (plurality without majority))
*Showing division within the Socialist Party over the partnership with the Communists, 15 Socialist Deputies refuse to vote with their party in support of the Coalition and choose to sit in opposition. In the Senate 13 Socialist Senators did the same thing, although at least 5 were open to bargaining with the governing coalition for their votes on a per bill basis (and thus had the bargaining leverage to keep the government in power, but with only two needed their bargaining power could be played off against each other if required, or against the Life Senators who represented a more eclectic, less partisan mix of individuals).
The Prime Minister – elect declares that his government will not just be “Communist, for we are a partnership of the left to bring hope and prosperity to all Italians. We are therefore a government of Progressives with a progressive agenda. Let this be the anchor of our government.”
The Socialist Party plays a prominent role in the new coalition when Berlinguer names the newly elected Socialist Party General Secretary and Deputy Bettino Craxi as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in the new government. Socialist Deputy (Alessandro) Sandro Pertini is named Defence Minister. The Radical Party and the Proletarian Democracy Party also receive one Cabinet seat each.
Fellow moderate Communist Giorgio Napolitano is named as Foreign Minister.
The newly installed Prime Minister Berlinguer pays his first foreign visit to President Mitterrand in France – instead of going to Moscow as many expected – in order to underline the European centered policy of his government. In fact Berlinguer visits Tito and Helmut Schmidt in West Germany before paying his first call on the Soviet leadership in Moscow.
Within the growing P-2 Masonic lodge - and in other quarters - conspiracies soon begin to bring down Italy’s first post-war Communist-lead government.
Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win Euro 76, when the game had ended 2–2 after extra time.
U.S. District Court Judge John Sirica sentences former President Richard Milhouse Nixon to serve between four and seven years in federal prison and a fine of two million dollars. Nixon becomes the first former President to be sentenced to prison in the history of the nation. By federal law, Nixon is stripped of his pension and privileges and an ex-President. He is also stripped of his license to practice law and disbarred from the profession.
Round-ups begin in Northern Ireland and the British mainland of those suspected of having sympathies for or ties to the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the INLA.
June 23, 1976
The Senate’s Church Committee publishes its 112 page report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
This report, often referred to as the Schweiker-Hart Report after its authors, discusses the performance of the CIA and FBI in the investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy. The report analyzes the general question of whether and by what degree the CIA and FBI withheld relevant information from the Warren Commission, which was charged with investigating Kennedy’s murder. Among the information unknown to the Warren Commission (except Commissioner Allen Dulles) were the CIA’s plots to kill Fidel Castro. With the public disclosure of these plots, the idea that Castro “struck back” gained prominence with many at the time. The Committee found that the evidence “indicates that the investigation of the assassination was deficient” and “impeaches the process whereby the intelligence agencies arrived at their own conclusions.”
About 72 Syrians are killed by a suicide car bomb outside a medical centre in southern Damascus. The bomber, who later turned out to be a U.S. educated Jordanian-Palestinian engineer targeted a large crowd of mainly teachers and paramedic recruits outside a health clinic. It was the deadliest single blast in Iraq's history. Four French workers from MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) are also killed in the blast.
Enoch Powell MP: “Now we have before us the bitter fruits of allowing an Irish Republican snake to harbour its venomous offspring so close from our shore. Clearly, we must look at the Irish Republic not as a friend, nor even an ordinary nation, but as a dark swamp which gives sanctuary to the vilest of criminals. It is not enough to blame some faceless group of hooligans for this despicable crime, no we must look at the cradle that gave them birth and decide if we will deal forcefully with the root of this problem.
“And we must look to America, yes to America, and hold that Republic to equal blame for this crime. Is it not America which gives shelter and support to these self-professed Republicans? Are there not so-called Irish Republican clubs as thick as weeds in New York, Boston and Chicago? And do they not, in their hearts, celebrate this monstrous deed as somehow being a heroic act?
“No you think? Then I will read into this record the comments of Mr. Edward Markey, a United States Representative from Boston who said on the floor of that House, and I quote “the British have brought this on themselves for not recognizing the legitimate aspirations to freedom and liberty of the people of Northern Ireland.
“Murder for Freedom? Cold Blooded murder for Liberty? The slaying of an innocent mother and legitimate sovereign of our nation as a legitimate aspirations for the freedom of others?
“I decry this idea, and I call for Mr. Markey’s immediate arrest and extradition to these Isles where he might be held to account by British justices for his foul and venomous lies.
“On June 12 the INLA wielded the gun, and the hooligans who call themselves Irish Republicans gave birth to the evil plot which lead to the murder of our sovereign, but the father of the act, the instigator who through money and sanctuary and the pretence of political legitimacy gave this devil’s child its earliest succour is the United States of America, and it is the United States of America which must now account for its role in this act of war against the British state and British people.”
Mr. Powell’s comments resulted in a diplomatic protest by the Gavin Administration
Edward Heath MP (Prime Minister): “As Prince Philip has asked of us, we must not let emotion carry away our reason, no matter how deep and legitimate our anger and frustration at this horrible act. I rise in this House to say, unequivocally, that neither the government of the Irish Republic nor that of the United States had any part in this, and that both nations have pledged their deep sorrow to the British people for our loss, and that both governments stand ready to assist us in tracking down and bringing to justice the criminals responsible for this cold blooded murder.”
June 25, 1976
Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; they end on June 30.
A demonstration is held in Riyadh after Friday prayers calling for the release of Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaibi and Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani as “teachers and protectors of the faithful.” The crowds praise Prince Bandar’s call for “vigilance” against those “falling under the deceitful spell of apostasy.” The crowds stone the Saudi Defence Ministry building, and denounce Saudi Defence Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud as “corrupt” and “the chief of the Apostates.”
Three Protestant civilians were shot dead during a gun attack on The Store Bar, Lyle Hill Road, Templepatrick, County Antrim. The attack was carried out by a group called the Republican Action Force (RAF), believed to be a covername for some members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Ronnie Bunting is publicly greeted in Tripoli by Colonel Quadaffi, who describes his act of regicide as “a fundamental strike for the liberation of the Irish and an act of defiance against all western imperialism.” Bunting is given refuge in Lybia.
A photographer captures the iconic image of 12-year-old Prince Edward praying next to his mother’s flag draped coffin. This image is spread around the world on the cover of Time magazine, and is used by the British in anti-Republican propaganda.
June 26, 1976
Construction on the CN Tower in Toronto is completed. The tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.
Under heavy security Queen Elizabeth II is given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Despite security warnings and concerns President Gavin attends to show his (and the United States’) outrage at this action. Also present are many heads of government and state from around the world including President Mitterrand, West German President Walter Scheel, the Irish President, most Commonwealth Prime Ministers, the Japanese Crown Prince and Alexei Kosygin of the Soviet Union.
John Tyndall (Leader of the [British] National Front): “Round-up all the Mics all over that damn Island and pack them off to America. They love their Gavins and their Reagans over there, don’t they?
PIRA statement (read by hostage Roger Moore):
“The true Republican movement absolutely condemns this act of regicide. We want the British people to understand that while our grievance is with the violent and undemocratic actions of your government, we in no way wish for the destruction of the British nation. We strike at those who strike us, who by their actions have brought the violence upon themselves. Queen Elizabeth and her family have never been targets of ours, and we would never undertake such an action as occurred on June 12.
“Those who did this are outlaws in the Republican movement, and will be dealt with harshly by our comrades. We will not be giving them medals and accolades for killing the Queen, rather we will be visiting justice in kind upon them.”
Anti regime demonstrations in Tehran become violent as protestors scuffle with riot police and Army troops. Protestors take control of Tehran’s Rahahan square, where they play tapes of anti-Shah sermons by the Ayatollah Khomeini over a make-shift loud speaker system.
The Shah dithers at first, allowing the demonstrations to go on for a week before he uses his Army to brutally crack down on the demonstrations. The Shah later claims he was put-up to the violent action by his American advisors, while the Americans deny they gave him any such advice.
June 27, 1976
Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
June 29, 1976
The Seychelles gain independence from the United Kingdom.
Under heavy security Kevin Lynch is moved from the infirmary to a special detention area where he can be put through “rigorous interrogation” by the British security forces.
France sends Foreign Legion troops into the Central African Republic in an attempt to restore order. French forces meet fierce resistance from some local private militias. Orders from Paris restrain their freedom of action.
From James M. Gavin – A Call to Duty: A Memoir
After returning from Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, I had to look at some disturbing trends in the Middle East. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran were showing serious signs of instability.
Our main concern was that the twin pillars of our Persian Gulf security, and between them the source of something like forty percent of the world’s crude petroleum, were each beginning to implode because of internal cultural and political pressures.
Ken Rush had recalled Charles Robinson, our Ambassador in Tehran, to try and obtain a candid assessment of the Shah’s situation (this was at a time when the Pentagon and the CIA were telling us we had nothing to worry about – advice that struck me as oddly out of synch with the increasing level of civil disturbances in the country). Ambassador Robinson’s guarded position was that he was extremely vulnerable – opposition to his regime was steadily increasing in intensity. The assassination of Amir Asadollah Alam had lead to a spasm of paranoia on the part of the Shah, the result of which was that he had alienated himself from many of his own ministers and military leaders. He was seeing hidden conspiracies behind even legitimate opposition, which fostered a further inability to respond.
That opposition was founded on resentment over economic problems – mainly with the distribution of wealth, corruption and was the outgrowth of an autocratic system which had suppressed the last Iranian period of democracy in 1953. Many in the Iranian middle class, and especially the youth, wanted a larger say in how the country was run – a fair enough objective from our point of view. The opposition also resented the Shah’s heavy handed the secret police, which increased their antipathy to his regime. The Shah’s having half-leveled a major university in a fit of rage over the murder of his most trusted adviser hadn’t helped his case with the youth of the country either. The half-destroyed university buildings were, according to Robinson, a fitting symbol of the moral bankruptcy of the regime.
The Shah’s opposition had an increasing anti-American flavor because we were closely associated with the Shah personally. Secretary Rush challenged the Ambassador specifically on this point, because we were hearing none of this through the CIA and DOD channels. Robinson replied:
“The reason you’re not getting that from them is because they talk to the Shah’s officers and the Shah’s intelligence people, their counterparts in Tehran. These people are either in a state of denial about what is happening, or they don’t want to admit that there is anything wrong, because it would be an admission of their own failure, the result of which would be a loss of their power and – frankly – their place on the corruption gravy-train. The Shah himself is getting the same worthless advice because none of these people has the guts to look him in the eye and tell it like-it-is; most have a vested interest in lying to the man. Our people in Tehran don’t have that motive, but their so closely embedded with their Iranian counterparts that they’re willing to accept the group-think that has set in there and look at the protesters as nothing but a bunch or rabble, which they aren’t. These kids who are protesting are future engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers of Iran. In short, Mr. President, they are the future rulers and opinion leaders of Iran and they are coming together over the idea that, regardless of ideology or their own view of the future, the Shah has to go. The Shah’s crushing Mashhad University only served to underscore the point that he’s an out of control brute. And, most importantly, if we continue to prop him up, our government will look more and more like that to the Iranian-in-the-street as well.”
Charles Robinson had a solid reputation as a level headed diplomat, and he had a lifetime of experience in the region, both in government and through his legal work with the oil industry. That gave what he was telling us credibility.
Once we accepted Ambassador Robinson’s analysis, the next question was to do about it. Ambassador Robinson had identified a secular, liberal opposition, a radical leftist opposition, and a clerical opposition which was based on a religious political movement. Of the three the liberals and clerics were preferable politically – the leftists were definitely committed to a pro-Soviet path. The clerics, however, Charles Robinson warned, were an idiosyncratic group who wanted to create a quasi-feudal regime, one which wanted to turn back the clock on modernity and national development in a pattern that was eerily similar to the fanatics in Saudi Arabia. Among them a certain Ayatollah Khomeini, recently expelled from the Shiite enclave in Southern Iraq and living in exile in Rome, Italy, was considered the most influential – at least among the masses. He had been making anti-Shah sermons for two decades and had developed a large and committed following as a result, even among secularists. The problem was, according to Ambassador Robinson, that Khomeini was neither a liberal nor a secularist. He called him “eccentric” and “unpredictable.”
“From what I can tell, Khomeini is committed to a vision of an Islamic state – meaning a theocratic state – but he doesn’t have an organized plan for getting there. I’m no expert on revolutions but that sounds to me, Mr. President – if Khomeini comes out on top of the anti-Shah movement, like a recipe for chaos, at best.”
In the end we came around to a decision that the United States would have to favor a development of the secular-liberal opposition to the Shah, and assist them into power if necessary. I signed a finding to that effect so that Frank Carlucci could put the CIA to work on a program with that aim. Our conclusion was that if the Shah didn’t go on his own we would have to push him, and do so before someone with a more hostile intent toward us did the pushing. The main concern was that we were running out of term, and as I looked at the prospects of who would be my likely successor, I felt a disturbing lack of confidence in any of them. I wondered if Reagan, Wallace or Bayh had the subtlety of mind to understand what was needed. In the case of Bayh I had doubts that he would even accept a covert change of government in Iran if our hand was in it; of George Wallace I just didn’t know where his bent was on these foreign policy questions. Ronald Reagan seemed to closely wed to a conservative mind-set in Washington which saw the Shah as the ultimate ally in Iran and wouldn’t be very supportive of efforts by us to remove him.
The question of Saudi Arabia was even more perplexing. There, as reported by our Ambassador in Riyadh, James E. Akins, there was no liberal or even leftist opposition. It was the clerics or the royal family, with little in-between. Ambassador Akins reported that with the King’s elder brother Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz, a well regarded religious ascetic (almost the equivalent of a monk in Christian terms) behind the restiveness of the young firebrands, the whole religiously-oriented dissent – which was widely scorned by the ruling House and the educated elite – was picking-up legitimacy among the ordinary Saudi population. In the nearest equivalent in America, they were becoming like a large revival movement which was threatening to sweep away the present Saudi ruling structure which they regarded as corrupt and having turned its back on the Islamic faith. This latter point was especially important in Saudi Arabia because it was the home of the Islamic holy sites and religious support was part of the House of Saud’s legitimacy as the rulers.
Apart from authorizing a program to watch developments in Saudi Arabia and funnel what support we could to the regime, we were unable to identify any groups, apart from the royal family, whom we could realistically support and expect a favorable outcome. Our only chance was to hope that the situation could defuse itself.
Still I wasn’t satisfied with that, so I tasked both the State Department and the CIA to identify alternatives that might be available to us, even if we had to identify elements among the religious radicals with whom we could do business if there was some kind of a revolution in Saudi Arabia. It wasn’t the best program, but the only one we had.
As the situations in Saudi Arabia and Iran continued to develop, I became increasingly nervous for our future in that part of the world. Part of our program now had to be to identify alternative suppliers of oil, and to that end I authorized Rush to explore improving relations with Iraq, even if it upset the Shah and the Israelis. Odious as that regime was, it might be the only secular state standing if both the Shah and the Saudi royal house fell. What was more, along with Kuwait and Jordan, Iraq would be wedged right between two revolutionary regimes. This could not have been a welcome prospect in Baghdad, and I suggested to Ken Rush that he find a way to put this point to the President Bakr as directly as possible.
We weren’t sure how to approach Iraq at first, although I remembered that Henry Kissinger had met one of Iraq's Vice Presidents once in Paris several years before. I suggested Henry as the courier of a personal message to President Bakr and, if possible, to sound him out.
All this was happening against the deadline of the coming elections and the end of my term of office, now only six months away. I was beginning to keep a log for my eventual successor, but I couldn’t guarantee that any of them would carry forward what I started with. I therefore determined to do what I could in the time I had left.
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July 2, 1976
Six civilians, five Protestant and one Catholic, died as a result of a Loyalist paramilitary attack on the Ramble Inn, near Antrim, County Antrim. The attack was carried out because the public house was owned by Catholics.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, then the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced the outcome of a review of security force response to violence in Northern Ireland. The review made a number of recommendations including: increasing the manpower level of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC); establishing specialised investigation teams; creating a tactical response force; improving the level of arms available to the RUC; making greater use of the RUC reserve; and trying to encourage more support from the Catholic community. [These were some of the practical consequences of the policy of 'police empowerment' announced by then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Margaret Thatcher on 25 March 1976.] Secretary Howe also comments that the assassination of the Queen has “hardened attitudes” over any approach to negotiating with “criminals who operate under Republican guise.”
The British Cabinet fails to reach a consensus on whether British forces should attack Lybia’s oil infrastructure from the air.
A large demonstration of clerics and their supporters opposed to the allied presence in Syria marches through Damascus. The demonstration, closely guarded by allied forces, is mainly peaceful.
Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko orders his troops to cross the Ubangi River and occupy the CAR capital of Bangui, as well as a number of neighbouring prefectures. Through his Army, Mobutu sets-up a client relationship with a number of local CAR prefectural officials who become like local warlords. Mobutu is after the mineral wealth of the CAR.
Zaire’s action creates a crisis within the Organization for African Unity, which characterises Zaire’s action as an invasion.
Attempts to sanction Zaire at the U.N. are blocked by the United States, which supports Mobutu as a client in the region. (American companies have a stake in Mobutu’s plans to exploit the CAR’s untapped mineral wealth). While the French and the Soviets act together to condemn Mobutu’s actions, the U.S. uses its veto on the Security Council to stop the embargo, claiming that Zaire’s action is helping to stem the chaos in the country, which French troops were unable to stop. (The French government was ultra cautious about getting its troops involved in any open conflict and as a result the expeditionary force sent out proved ineffective – French officials spent half their time trying to buy-off various local warlords to create peace, only to have Mobutu undercut them with better pay-offs).
Zaire meanwhile finds itself inheriting a civil war in the CAR against the Banda people, as well as facing armed resistance from some CAR patriotic groups.
July 3, 1976
Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
Prince Andrew arrives in the United States to represent his brother and late mother at America’s bicentennial events (Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip had been scheduled to attend; British security are unwilling to allow King George VII to travel at this point).
The Shah calls in troops to forcefully put down the anti-regime demonstrations which have been going on for the last week in Tehran. A number of students and clerics are killed by the military action. An iconic image appears of a student protestor confronting a tank in Terhan’s Rahahan Square, the scene of several confrontations and rioting. Many around the world are horrified when they see the tank run over the protesting student, squashing him under its treads. Not lost on many – particularly anti-Shah Iranians – is that the tank in question is an American built M60A1 “Patton” tank.
On the advice of an East German military adviser who visited Entebbe Airfield several times during the hostage crisis, President Amin orders the deployment of two tanks (one T-55 and one M4 Sherman) to the airport with their guns aimed at the runway. The advice from the East German is to the effect that the tanks should be prepared to blow holes in any rescue aircraft.
Since the tanks arrive only a few hours before the Israeli raid, they are not included in the Israeli strike force's operational intelligence.
Amin also adds another reinforced company to the troops already guarding the area.
July 4, 1976
In a “friendly fire incident” three U.S. soldiers are accidentally killed by a Soviet patrol, when the two groups exchange fire in a pre-dawn encounter. General Rogers and the Soviet Ground Commander, General Akhromeyev manage to defuse the situation before it becomes a major incident. Each side blames the other for not properly communicating their operations in advance.
United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, the United States celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
That occasion is seriously undermined by:
On July 4 Marwan Kousa and his associates release sarin gas attacks in the New York and Philadelphia Subway system. The morning attacks are designed to hit families as they are arriving in the two cities for Bi-Centennial festivities. Contents from two gas canisters are released at Penn Station in New York, a major transit point between the suburban commuter lines and the city transit system. A third is released at Central Park North. In Philadelphia two canisters are released, one at the 8th street subway station and one at the City Hall subway station.
At the subway stations the attacks followed roughly the same patterns at the three places of attack. Three to four men each entered the stations with a back pack, suitcase or gym bag containing various quantities of sarin gas contained in plastic bags or aerosol spray containers. At Philadelphia City Hall Station two of the men posed as maintenance staff allowing them to disguise the release of the gas in aerosol cans as they pretended to clean a section of the floor (they died – Kousa had given them all cyanide capsules so that, if exposed to the lethal effects of sarin, they could die more quickly and painlessly than their victims).
Others punctured quantities of the liquid sarin contained in beer bottles, soda cans or milk cartons. A single drop of sarin the size of a pinhead can kill an adult. Rather than use it as a targeted weapon, Kousa’s group released it in a way that would cause as many incidental casualties as possible.
At Penn Station in New York Kousa’s operatives had access to the air conditioning system, as one of his operatives had gotten work as a maintenance man at Penn Station and volunteered to work the July 4 holiday shift. Kousa’s people released Sarin in vapour form into the air conditioning system, which was working at full blast on a hot July 4 day. Others released it on the floor of Penn Station in the same manner as the releases at the various subway stations.
Of the twenty men who released the sarin gas, eleven died in the attacks or shortly thereafter due to exposure. Of the remaining nine, six were captured by U.S. authorities, five of them lived to stand trial. Three disappeared; two turned-up in Lebanon sometime afterward where they were given a heros’ receptions by the PJO. The twentieth man was never accounted for.
Marwan Kousa himself did not participate in the actual attacks, and feld the United States for Lebanon in the hours after the attacks.
Casualties: Penn Station: 221 (97 of whom were under ten years of age – two of these child casualties were the children of the Saudi Ambassador to the United Nations); 36 at Central Park North (12 children); 21 at 8th street in Philadelphia and 66 at Philadelphia City Hall (including a deputy chief of the Philadelphia Police Department).
Direct casualties: 344 dead (167 of whom are children).
A further 4,000 + are injured, of which another 71 will die of complications over the following weeks. The attack abruptly ends the celebrations of the Bicentennial, turning July 4, 1976 into a day of tragedy.
Within hours most celebrations are brought to a halt, including a star studded open-air rally that had been intended to occur on the Mall in Washington featuring George Carlin and Elvis Presley among others.
Kousa’s group releases the following statement:
“For three years America has occupied the lands of Islam, and for decades before that America has financed the Zionist, imperialist war machine in its relentless murder of Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands have bled and died at the hands of the Zionist aggressor and its American puppet master. Now, on this celebration of your nationhood, you have tasted the blood and tears of the Palestinian and Syrian people. Now you know that the ocean affords you no shield. You cannot sleep safe in your bed for as long as the people of Islam are made to suffer at the hands of imperial aggression. Today, America, is your first taste of justice.”
Subsequent investigation of Kousa and his people leads the FBI and the FCTB to discover that the May 9th raid was a diversion, leading some to believe that the federal agencies could have uncovered the full extent of the plot if they had bothered to dig beyond the Cubans who were set-up by Kousa.
President Gavin: “Today, when America should be celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of our freedom, we have instead been attacked by terrorists and our innocent citizens – and children - have been brutally murdered. This was a horrible crime perpetrated by criminals; the kind of low, skulking cowards who slither in the dark recesses and attack with a stab in the back. There was no honor in this attack, and the claim that this was done on behalf of a higher, noble national cause is absolutely false.
“Let me be clear, the United States will track down these animals and all those who aided them, and our retribution will be swift and just. We will make every effort to bring these criminals to justice, to answer before an American court and an American jury for their evil crimes, but we shall not allow this consideration to stand in the way of getting the enemy, wherever he may be found. If the ordinary course of justice will not suffice, then we shall use our military to visit a just recompense upon those who have done this horrible thing.
“I have today received cables and calls of support from many civilized nations around the world who are as appalled as we are at this horrible crime. Even General Secretary Suslov sends his sympathies to the American people. Yet some remain silent, and some harbor those who have done this, or who have supported those who carried this out. To these nations and to any who would consider protecting these terrorists I can only say that in so doing, you invite the wrath of the United States upon yourselves. It is the policy of the United States government that anyone who assists the criminals who carried out this attack is themselves responsible as an accomplice for this horror, and shall be treated as if they had taken part in the attack. There will be no sanctuary for these criminals, and there will be no safe haven. Where ever you are we will find you and we will bring you to account, one way or another.
“To those of our allies and other nations who have expressed their support for the American people on this terrible day I extend my thanks and appreciation of your support.
“Finally, we must, in our anger and grief, focus on this one point. Those who did this claim to have carried out this horrible crime in the name of Islam. Islam is a great religion of peace and learning, and in no way does the Koran or the traditions of this faith support the murder of innocents in this manner. In our anger we must refrain from blaming the millions of peaceful Muslims, many of whom are friends of the United States, for this. Some men who call themselves Muslim are responsible for this crime, but in choosing to commit this horror, they abandoned their faith and all it stands for. We cannot blame Islam for this, and we cannot direct our grief and outrage blindly at those who are of that faith. We must instead direct our efforts at the men – the terrorists – who did this and deliver our answer to them.”
Ronald Reagan: “I am fully behind the President and the brave men and women in our armed forces. The people who did this are evil, and no effort must be spared to punish them.”
George Wallace: “Gun ‘em down like the rabid dogs they are. This is cold-blooded murder and those who did it deserve to die. I give my full support to President Gavin and our government in carrying this out, and my heart goes out to the families of those who have lost loved ones in these attacks.”
Birch Bayh: “Marv and I extend our sympathies to the families of the victims of this terrible crime. I have spoken with the President, and have expressed my unequivocal support in his efforts to heal our nation and bring those who did this to justice.”
Spiro Agnew (Agnew On Point): “Sadly, now we know from bitter personal experience what the Israelis have been fighting the last three decades. I grieve with the families. My family has suffered the effects of terrorist attack – when our, Judy and my, beloved daughter was killed by thugs – I feel the loss of all those who lost loved ones in this attack deeply in my own heart. I know also their anger, as parents, brothers and sisters and children. I know as they do that this crime must be avenged, and the guilty made to pay.
“I stand with President Gavin at this hour of crisis and hope that he will be able to make the guilty pay. But I must take issue with this, Mr. President. You say that the men who did this cast away their Islamic faith when they carried out this attack. Respectfully, Mr. President, you are wrong on this point. These men fulfilled the canons of Islam in this attack; they carried out an attack on infidels in according to the teachings of Jihad laid down by Mohammed himself. This was not an exceptional act by a small band of deviants who happened to be Muslim; these was the first attack by the most hateful and violent religion known to man in a war against the West, Mr. President.
“It is no coincidence that they chose the two hundredth anniversary of our founding to strike. These Muslims attacked us, the only free nation upon the Earth, on the day that is most sacred to our national identity. That they chose this date shows clearly their intent. In the name of Islam, these terrorists made an effort to wipe out freedom forever. That was their goal, and it came from the very words written by Mohammed in the Koran, words which are the laws of God for every Muslim.
“Mr. President, we must make war on Islam and defeat them before they strike again. To do any less is to invite more attacks. The laws of Islam do not allow for anything less. It is them or us. Were it still in my power, I would immediately retaliate by wiping the Muslim Vatican in Mecca from the face of the Earth. They chose to attack the temple of freedom; let us therefore stop at no less than destroying the temple of this pernicious and evil belief, and let them know that they have more to fear from us than we do from them. This, Mr. President, is what we must do if we are to preserve our freedom.”
President Gavin (indirect response to Agnew): “I understand the sense of outrage that people feel over these attacks, but we must not let the anger of the moment overcome our common sense. Any counsel to rash attacks, which would be carried out in a moment of blind range, is not only irresponsible, but could potentially lead to the death of more of our citizens.”
Yassir Arafat: “We, the PLO, we absolutely condemn this criminal action. Our struggle will not be helped by murder, and this thing, it was murder of the innocent. American people must know that the Palestinian people cry with them, we feel your sadness. I have instructed all PLO elements, any who were involved with this must be arrested.”
Entebbe Raid (Fiasco): Israeli airborne commandos botch an attempt to free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport.
Apparently a ruse to fool the Ugandan guards into believing that the arriving Israelis were Idi Amin arriving for an inspection failed, and the Ugandans opened fire on the Israelis with the two tanks deployed to the airbase the previous afternoon.
The Israeli forces landed at Entebbe at 23:00 IST, with their cargo bay doors already open. A black Mercedes and accompanying Land Rovers were taken along to give the impression that the Israeli troops driving from the landed aircraft to the terminal building were an escort for a returning Amin, or other high-ranking official.
The Mercedes and its escort vehicles were quickly driven by the Israeli assault team members to the airport terminal in the same fashion as Amin. Along the way, two Ugandan sentries, who were aware that Idi Amin had recently purchased a white Mercedes to replace his black one, ordered this procession of vehicles to stop. The commandos shot the sentries with silenced pistols, but failed to kill either of them - one of them screamed for help. This alerted a nearby Tank crew, who set a flair to illuminate the situation.
The Israelis tried to take out the tank and its crew, which resulted in an exchange of fire. The leader of the Israeli force, Lt. Col Yonatan Netanyahu was injured in the cross fire and unable to continue. His deputy commander Muki Betzer had to take charge.
While the commandos were dealing with the first tank (the M4 Sherman) the T-55 opened fire on the C-130 aircraft, destroying them on the runway.
The Israelis were exposed on the open runway without retreat after that point and with no retreat, fought in a cross fire with Ugandan troops, until compelled to surrender by overwhelming numbers (the Israeli commandos managed to kill 12 Ugandans for every one of their own who were casualties.
Among the Israelis killed was Muki Betzer, whose command of the commandos would later be condemned as "hesitant" when the crisis hit.
Most of the Israeli strike force was killed, with the remaining commandos being hauled off to a prison in Kampala along with a few surviving hostages. The fate of the hostages is unclear. The Ugandans claim that the hostages were killed in the cross fire; however stories later emerge that Amin ordered his soldiers to execute the majority of them, including the remaining members of the Air France flight crew.
The Israeli and French governments both experience heavy political pressure from their opposition as a result of this outcome; both governments are held responsible for not doing more to get the hostages released.
July 5, 1976
Idi Amin has the surviving Israeli Commandos paraded through the streets of Kampala in chains. Foreign observers note that many of the Commandos appear wounded. One of the survivors paraded in the Ugandan capital is identified from photos as Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, the commander of the Israeli task force. He appears dressed in a private’s uniform, so as to disguise his identity – leading Israeli intelligence to suspect that the Ugandan authorities may not be aware of Netanyahu’s true identity.
Three American soldiers are killed when a Marine base comes under indirect fire near Buraq, south of Damascus.
A roadside bomb near the Syrian-Lebanese border city of Az Zabadani kills two Syrian soldiers and seriously wounds one of their British advisors.
Enoch Powell MP: "Of course, my sympathies go out to the Americans who have suffered from this attack. But this attack, coming as it did on a celebration of one of the gravest insults ever made against the British crown by those who were pledged to loyally serve their King, is something of the pidgeons coming home to roost isn't it? I mean, if you look at it, this could only have happened because of America's poor immigration security, which let these people into the nation in the first place. It serves as a warning for us all."
The central council of the Palestinian Jihad Organization issues a statement praising the attacks in the United States. The statement calls on all Muslims to “ask all infidels to accept the faith of Allah” and to “kill all who refuse.”
Heavy Centurion MK3 tanks make their first appearance in Northern Ireland. Previous to this point the British did not deploy tanks as they wished to keep the scale of the conflict on a lower pitched level. However, the assassination of the Queen has convinced the Heath government to employ heavier weapons in retaliation.
British aircraft flying out of Gibraltar bomb the site in Portugal where the Queen’s assassins are believed to have been given training. The British aircraft are given transit of Spanish airspace on the order of the Prime Minster, and at the request of King Juan Carlos of Spain.
July 6, 1976
The family home of Gerard Steenson is levelled by British authorities.
President Gavin signs a 120 freeze on the issuing of non-visitor visas to the United States, pending a review of immigration application review and the security checks that are done on prospective immigrants.
President Gavin: "I take no pride in doing this, and for all of me I wish we didn't have to stop immigrants from coming to America, even for a temporary period. Immigration has, after all, been the life blood of America, and always will be. But we must take a look at our procedures to ensure that those who are allowed into this country come here to build a better life, to ensure that our immigration procedures are secure."
July 9, 1976
Kevin Lynch’s family home in Dungiven is levelled by British authorities.
July 6 - 17, 1976
The Trades Union Council and several affiliated groups begin two weeks of rotating wildcat strikes designed to disrupt domestic commerce in Britain. This is being done to protest the Heath government’s privatization scheme and a series of austerity measures announced by Chancellors Macmillan and Boardman.
July 7, 1976
German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Strasse maximum security prison in West Berlin.
The Labor (Alignment) government in Israel, lead by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, falls as a result of the political fall-out from the Entebbe Fiasco. New elections are scheduled for September.
President Sadat of Egypt is compelled to use force to put down anti-government, anti-American and anti-Israel public demonstrations in Cairo. The images of this seen on television are similar to those which came from Rahahan Square in Tehran a week earlier (minus a protestor being run over by a tank).
July 8, 1976
A Catholic civilian died one day after being shot by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
British military forces use a heavy tank to obliterate a pub thought to be a popular meeting place of UFF/UDA fighters.
July 9, 1976
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is expelled from Iraq by the Ba’ath regime. The Iraqis see this as ridding themselves of a troublesome Shi’te cleric who is causing problems in Iraq, while at the same time creating problems for the Shah of Iran.
Khomeini initially tries to enter France, but the Mitterrand government denies him anything more than a transit visa. The West Germans also elect not to grant the Ayatollah sanctuary. He is also turned away by the British, the Dutch and the United States. Ironically, it is the new Communist government of Italy which gives Khomeini sanctuary in Rome. Khomeini moves into a villa which has a view of the dome of St. Peter’s basilica.
Two Catholic civilians, a husband and wife, were killed in an attack on their home by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).
July 10, 1976
Three British mercenaries and one American mercenary are shot by firing squad in Angola.
An explosion in Seveso, Italy, causes extended pollution to a large area in the neighborhood of Milano, with many evacuations and a large number of people affected by the toxic cloud.
The House of Representatives passes a resolution calling for an inquiry into how Marwan Kousa smuggled his Sarin into the country and managed to get away with the July 4 attacks without being detected. The Senate joins the House in voting for that resolution.
The Royal Air Force carries out a strike with SEPECAT Jaguars against suspected Republican targets along the Ulster-Irish Republic border. This represents the first use of fighter aircraft in direct combat roles against PIRA targets in Northern Ireland.
The British House of Commons imposes stricter sanctions on the PDRP by a vote of 450 – 203.
July 12, 1976
The Canadian Federal Election
Total Seats: 264 (133 needed to form a Majority)
Liberals: 90 (+14) 104 seats – minority government
Progressive Conservatives: 123 (-22) 101 seats
New Democrats: 39 (+6) 45 seats
Social Credit: 11 (+1) 12 seats
Independent: 1 (+1) 2 seats
Liberal Party leader John Turner negotiates the formation of a minority government with support from the New Democratic Party caucus.
The Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party split gains in Ontario, with the NDP also adding seats in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Voters principal concern was the downturn in the economy and a sense that the Progressive Conservative government wasn’t in control of the situation. There was also some voter backlash in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba against the Stanfield government’s involvements in Hong Kong and Cyprus (even at modest levels).
Due to the timing of the Montreal Summer Olympics it is agreed that the new government will not take office until August 2, 1976, after the games are concluded. Prime Minister-elect John Turner will use the occasion to meet with a number of foreign representatives.
July 12 - 16, 1976
The Democratic National Convention
July 14, 1976
Bastille Day parades in Paris are marred by clashes when anti-nuclear protestors try to disrupt the officially sanctioned military parades.
July 16–20, 1976
Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France.
Anti-government riots break out in Manila and other Philippine cities, caused by the poor economy and high oil prices. The Marcos government cracks down with brutal force against these disturbances.
July 17 – August 1, 1976
The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Prince Andrew presides at the opening ceremonies on behalf of his brother.
Security is heavy during the entire Olympics in response to the events at the 1972 Munich Games, as well as recent events in London and the United States. The worst security breach occurs during the opening ceremonies when a Sinn Fein banner is unfurled in the stands and is plainly in view of Prince Andrew and Prime Minister Stanfield in the VIP box. The people who did this are quickly arrested by the RCMP and Montreal Police, and are booed by other spectators.
An attempt by an armed man to enter the Olympic venue ends in a shoot-out with Montreal Police, who kill him. He is later identified as a member of the Ku Klux Klan from Arkansas who entered Canada illegally. He apparently intended to shoot some Arab athletes.
East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
July 17, 1976
Two members of the PIRA were killed when the bomb they were transporting in a car exploded prematurely. The explosion took place in Castlederg, County Tyrone. In retaliation, British forces destroy the homes of both of their families.
July 18, 1976
Nadia Comăneci earns the first of 7 perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
Former Teamster President James Riddle Hoffa issues a press statement from hiding in which he states that he was “aware” that Chicago Mobsters Sam Giancana and Johnny Roselli, Tampa Florida Mafia boss Santo Trafficante and New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello were involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, and that at least some of the same participants organized the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.
Hoffa offers little direct proof other than to say that Marcello and Trafficante arranged for two CIA linked operatives – Clay Shaw and Guy Bannister – to “turn” an anti-Castro assassination operation into a Kennedy assassination operation.
July 19, 1976
Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
Two American sailors are killed and four wounded in a car bombing in Latakia, Syria. Another suicide car bomb outside a Syrian National Guard recruitment center and other attacks in the country kills a dozen people and wounds more than 50, including three Spanish and one Senegalese soldier.
July 20, 1976
Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
The California State Assembly rejects Governor Barry Goldwater Jr.’s bill for the phased privatization of the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS). The Assembly also votes down a bill which calls for the University of California system to rely more on private donation and less on government money for its operations.
Governor Goldwater indicates that he will back a move to place both bills on the next ballot as propositions and “allow the people of California to decide.”
July 21, 1976
Christopher Ewart Biggs (54), then the British Ambassador to Ireland, was killed in a landmine attack on his official car in Sandyford, Dublin. His secretary, Judith Cook (25), was also killed in the explosion. Sir Geoffrey Howe, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was originally to have travelled in the car as well.
Following the assassination of the Ambassador Ewart-Biggs, by the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Donegan government announced its intention to declare a state of emergency. Irish President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh referred the resulting bill, the Emergency Powers Bill of 1976, to the Supreme Court, instead of signing it into law. This set the ground for a constitutional showdown between the President and the Taoiseach and the elected government in the fall of 1976.
A British soldier was killed by a booby trap bomb in an Army base in Derry.
An unknown person leaves a burning bag of cow excrement at Margaret Thatcher’s front door.
The House of Representatives passes the Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act) by a vote of 301 – 134. 90 Democrats (including Ron Dellums) and 44 Republicans vote against the bill; opposition is centered among left-wing Democrats who oppose the expansion of the intelligence community and its power, and right-wing Republicans who express a libertarian-based opposition to the expansion of the federal government’s intelligence gathering powers.
Italian Prime Minister Berlinguer and U.S. Secretary of State Kenneth Rush hold talks in Rome over a wide range of foreign policy issues. While Berlinguer has some policy changes in mind, he reassures Rush that he is looking toward an “evolution” of Italy’s role in the world rather than an abrupt, radical change of policy.
July 22 – 24, 1976
British fighter aircraft conduct continuous low altitude drills night and day over Republican neighbourhoods in Derry and Belfast in retaliation for the murder of Ambassador Ewart-Biggs. Leaflets are dropped from these planes offering rewards for the capture of PIRA and ILNA members. The underlying message is that the leaflets could just as easily be bombs.
July 26, 1976
British heavy tanks bombard a suspected PIRA safe house in Dunvegin, Ulster, reducing the structure to rubble. Inside British security forces discover a bomb factory.
July 27, 1976
The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, begin falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this will eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionellosis.
USAF aircraft carry out bombing strikes against PJO camps in Lebanon in retaliation for the Independence Day attacks.
The world price for a barrel of oil reaches $ 20.00 per barrel.
Former Chicago Mafia boss Sam Giancana, also in hiding, issues a statement in which he claims Hoffa “knows some things” and that he and Roselli were in fact involved with Trafficante and Marcello in anti-Castro assassination operations. Giancana claims that what he and Roselli were involved with were government sanctioned assassination plots against Castro (which had been authorized within the Kennedy Administration and have recently been exposed by the Church Committee hearings) and that Marcello and Trafficante were the ones who subverted them for use against “American politicians.”
July 28, 1976
The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851. An estimated 25,000 – 40,000 die from disease and hunger due to poor management of the immediate aftermath by the central government. The government of the PRC officially claims that the incident was not an earthquake, but a massive bombing conducted by the U.S. Air Force from bases in Japan and South Korea on behalf these nations and their ally in Taiwan.
María Isabel Allende Bussi, the daughter of Salavdore Allende and Hortensia Bussi (not be confused with Isabel Allende the better known Peruvian writer who is Maria Isabel’s second cousin) files suit in U.S. federal court charging former President Richard Nixon, removed President Spiro Agnew, former CIA Directors Richard Helms and Daniel O. Graham, former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Ambassador to Chile Nathaniel Davis, and ITT President and Chief Executive Officer Harold Geneen with conspiracy in the wrongful death of her father and causing severe emotional distress to her mother.
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) begins a thirty-four hour filibuster of the Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act), arguing that the unprecedented centralization of intelligence authority in a Cabinet level department is giving the U.S. government “too much secret power.” To charges from the bill’s supporters that Marwan Kousa and his group got away with their July 4 attack because of the lack of intelligence coordination, Sen. Goldwater calls instead for an investigation to “determine what really happened and who dropped the ball and when.”
Chicago mobster John Roselli, who has been living in retirement in Miami, Florida, disappears.
July 29, 1976
In New York City, David Berkowitz pulls a gun from a paper bag in an attempt to kill Donna Lauria and Jody Valenti. The gun misfires, seriously injuring Berkowitz’s hand. After he passes out from blood loss he is treated in a hospital, where he is arrested by the NYPD on a charge of attempted murder and assault.
Three Catholic civilians were killed as a result of a bomb attack on Whitefort Inn, Andersonstown Road, Belfast. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries.
An off-duty RUC officer was killed by a British soldier following an argument at a check point in Bessbrook, County Armagh.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said in the House of Commons that there had been no contacts between government officials and Sinn Féin (SF) and that as far as the government was concerned there could be no negotiations with “a terrorist organization.” Howe indicated that the government’s policy was becoming one of annihilation of Sinn Fein and the “Republican blood gangs.”
July 30, 1976
In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions.
Rising oil prices have set-off a spiral of inflation and corruption in Mexico as the Mexican government struggles with its position as a potential petro-state, while at the same time suffers from a drop-off in trade with the United States. The result is economic and political instability within a fragile political structure.
On July 30, 1976 Mexican President Luis Echeverria, who has largely governed as a left-wing economic nationalist and as such has nationalized a number of industries, dies in a plane crash at Cuernavaca airport, along with Jose Lopez Portio, his finance minister (and the ruling PRI Party’s 1976 candidate for President). Conspiracy theories soon arise that blame American oil companies, American banks, ambitious right-wing politicians in Mexico and the Israelis (Echeverria allowed the PLO to open an office (an unofficial embassy) in Mexico City) for his murder. An investigation of plane wreckage by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation concludes that the engines on the aircraft were sabotaged.
The Mexican Congress chooses Tristian Canales Valverde to serve as acting President until the next scheduled election in November.
Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon begins serving his sentence at the medium security Federal Correctional Institute at Allenwood, Pennsylvania. (Incarceration at a higher security level facility was done to protect Nixon. The Bureau of Prisons, the FBI and the Secret Service jointly concluded that a minimum security facility, to which he might otherwise be sent, would not be equipped to keep out a determined, armed effort to get at the former President.)
Four Protestant civilians died as a result of a gun attack on the Stag Inn, Belvoir, Belfast. The attack was carried out by the Republican Action Force (RAF), believed to be a cover name for some members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).
A member of the UDR was killed by a booby trap bomb set by the IRA near Moneymore, County Derry.
Col. Robert Wilton USA, an assistant military attaché at the United States Embassy to the United Kingdom is assassinated in London. Reports soon surface that Col. Wilton was engaged in covert efforts to make contact with the PIRA. Several months later the Washington Post reports that Col. Wilton had been on contract to the CIA since 1964. Questions remain as to whether Wilton was killed by the PIRA or the British security forces.
July 31, 1976
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses.
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) takes over Sen. Barry Goldwater’s filibuster of the the Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act), arguing the opposite to Goldwater’s exception – namely that the bill does not give the government intelligence services enough power to deal with terrorism. Senator Helms in his thirty-two hour harangue on the floor of the Senate talks about needing to give this authority to the military so that they can “wage war on terrorism, terrorists and all who are plotting against our national security.” Helms tries to attach a number of measures to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act, criminalize Islam and “permissive behavior”, both which he claims are responsible for the July 4 attacks. He also wants to require that the Secretary of Defense and the new Secretary of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight be serving senior generals or admirals. He also argues that the Secretary of Defense and the SNICO be moved above the Secretary of State in protocol order (the current bill would amend the Succession Act of 1947 to place the SNICO between the Attorney-General and the Secretary of the Interior in terms of protocol rank and in terms of Presidential succession).
Syrian President Maamun al-Kuzbari escapes an assassination attempt when a suicide bomber in a car attacks his convoy near his home. The attack kills two policemen and wounds four, including a German private security contractor hired to protect the President.
April – September 1976
Cyprus: Negotiations continue under United Nations and NATO auspices to reach a final agreement on the division of the island into two ethnic components joint by a loose federal structure. NATO military and police units continue to patrol the island. Occasional clashes and resistance are noted, however there is no wide-scale resistance activity. Turkish Special Forces units remain active in the mountains.
Lebanese Civil War: Clashes continue between the PJO and its Sh’ite milita allies and the PLO-Druze-Phalange coalition. Outside efforts to bolster the Lebanese government prove fruitless as the government is deeply divided and relatively powerless to impose order on its own.
In July 1976 the United States gets drawn closer to the conflict after a terrorist attack in New York and Philadelphia is linked to the PJO. U.S. military units based in Syria begin a much more aggressive program of attacking targets belonging to the PJO in Lebanon.
An ironic outgrowth of this conflict is that while the Israelis are supporting their Phalange allies and re-arming them, they are also providing a supply conduit to the PLO. The PLO leadership itself has become more focused on dealing with the PJO than with Israel. However, elements of the radical (non-religious) Palestinian movement remain active as witnessed by the Entebbe Affair.
Portugal and Spain: As the Politburo of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal consolidates its position in Lisbon, irregular warfare battles continue against General Antonio de Spinola’s forces around Braganca along the Spanish border. The General’s loyalist forces are given sanctuary in Spain, which leads to clashes between PDRP and Spanish Army forces along the frontier in between Tras o Montes and Zamora.
Spain does not attack the PDRP largely due to an inner debate within the ruling Spanish Falange Party over whether a war with Portugal is desirable. Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro is being challenged by a number of other politicians, who would use the excuse of a war to pressure him to resign. The Falange government must also deal with a series of domestic disturbances which occur with greater frequency since the death of General Franco. Largely, a restive population is pushing at the constraints of dictatorship, and Navarro’s government is trying to navigate this while retaining a firm grip on power.
The new King, Juan Carlos (briefed by many senior officers in the Spanish Army), is also said to oppose a war with Portugal and is exerting pressure on Navarro not to open-up a war with the PDRP. The King argues with his Prime Minister that, bluster aside, the Spanish Armed Forces aren’t up to the endeavour.
Prime Minister Navarro is also disappointed that his Chilean allies supply no more than token “training units” and a small amount of money and arms, none of which are sufficient to augment his nation’s army. The Spanish do receive some more support from the South Africans, who are eager to exact a measure of revenge against the socialist influenced Portuguese officers who abandoned Mozambique and Angola to hostile regimes. The South African scouts train Spanish and General Spinola’s loyalist irregulars in guerrilla warfare tactics which they can use to conduct irregular warfare against PDRP and East Bloc formations in Portugal.
In addition to General Spinola’s loyalists, Spain also is the host to Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, the pretender to the Portuguese throne. Prime Minister Navarro is trying to push Dom Duarte, Marcelo Caetano, the last Prime Minister of the pre-Carnation revolution regime and General Spinola together into forming a unified, royalist opposition government to the PDRP. General Spinola for his part is a republican who does not wish to see his cause subverted for the purposes of restoring monarchy he considers an ancient relic.
On the Azores and in Madeira President Mario Soares continues to claim that his is the legitimate government of Portugal. His administration is recognized as such by the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which are using their naval and air forces to protect the islands from being attacked from the Portuguese mainland.
President Soares and his government are not recognized by General Spinola and his loyalists.
Also on the Azores and Madeira local nationalists are beginning to challenge President Soares regime. On the Azores they are lead by João Bosco Soares de Mota Amaral and on Madeira by Jaime Ornelas Camacho. In both the cases, the local nationalist forces see the current unrest in Portugal as an opportunity to exert more regional autonomy, if not as a basis for declaring outright independence (which seems to be Amaral’s preferred option for the Azores). Both nationalist leaders increasingly challenge the legitimacy of Soares’ government operating on their territory, and begin to lobby the with the allied powers for a replacement in the form of a representative body governing over them which is controlled by local leaders. If President Soares wants to set-up an exile government, they argue, let him do so in London or Washington. American officials and military personnel are increasingly greeted with signs which read “the Azores for the Azoreans” and “Soares to London or Hell, but away from here!”
Amaral even begins negotiations with representatives of the United States, French and British governments to gain recognition as a legitimate bargaining entity.
Turkey/Greece: Along the common frontier continued skirmishes and “accidental” exchanges of fire between units from the two countries. Tensions remain high in the Aegean as the Navies and Air Forces from both countries continue to challenge one another, but stop of short of actual hostilities.
UN sponsored negotiations continue, but neither side is willing to make any concessions and as such the peace talks are deadlocked.
Greek forces continue to fight communist partisans in the mountainous terrain of North Eastern Greece. The partisans are receiving aid and sanctuary from Bulgaria.
In Athens General Davos works with Konstantínos G. Karamanlís, the head of the moderate New Democracy Party, Andreas G. Papandreou, head of the Greek Socialist Party and Charilaos Florakis, the head of the Greek Communist Party, become involved in talks that leads to the formation of the first post-junta government in Greece, which while under the nominal leadership of Prime Minister Karamanlís and his New Democracy party, also relies on support from the Socialist and Communist Parties.
The Socialists (PSOK) and the Communists have gained ground as a result of their resistance to the Turks and because, having been persecuted by the previous regimes, including the military junta, they are seen as the “cleanest” when it comes to forming a national government which will punish the crimes of the past junta and restore the rights of the Greek people. Papandreou and Florakis thus begin to lay plans for a leftist coalition to take over from the National Salvation Council.
Turkey is politically deadlocked under the Turkes regime, especially after the May 5 coup attempt opens-up a new series of purges of the armed forces and the bureaucracy. There are significant political elements in the military and among the old political parties who are ready to move against Prime Minister Turkes, however they are divided amongst themselves and increasingly mistrustful of each other. This becomes especially true after a number of anti-government plots are exposed by informers working for the Grey Wolves.
In addition to its Greek problem, Turkey maintains a small force in Northern Syria, along the two countries’ border and has to commit forces to fighting Kurdish separatists in the East of the country. Despite several economic and arms embargos Turkey continues to enjoy sanction busting channels through Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Soviet Union. The Soviets are particularly interested in cultivating Turkes regime as a counterweight to a return of the traditional (and pro-NAT0) military aligned parties in Turkey.
Israel in particular is interested in using the Turkes regime as a counterweight to any new potential hostile regime in Syria. Their policy is also part of their triangulation with the regime of the Shah of Iran, as a counterweight to the hostile regime in Iraq.
Turkes uses the economic hardship caused by the sanctions to stoke the fires of Turkish nationalism, blaming the outside world for ganging-up on Turkey – especially over the Cyprus issue and over “the legitimate claims of the Turkish people against the Greek bandits.”
From Anonymous Behind the Fortress Walls
There was of course considerable debate within the Politburo over our support for the lunatic Colonel Turkes and his government, especially after the May 5, 1976 coup, in the aftermath of which his secret police began rounding-up Turkish Communist and other progressive elements.
Suslov and Kosygin clashed over the question, especially after the Premier returned from his state visits to West Germany, France and Britain at the end of May. During his trip Alexei Nikolayevich had been on the receiving end of lectures by both progressive and reactionary leaders who to a man condemned the Soviet support for the fascist Turkes. George Marchais, the French Communist Party leader, was very abrupt with Kosygin on the matter, calling the Soviet support a sell out of progressives and the workers. This came after the wishy-washy proto-Socialist President Mitterrand had said much the same thing to him, though in more polite terms. By the time he returned to Moscow, Alexei Nikolayevich was fuming over the matter and determined to take it up with Mikhail Andreyevich and Yuri Valdimirovich. While Kosygin could stand criticism, he was alarmed that the strongest part of it was coming from our nominal allies in the western countries.
Suslov and Andropov locked tightly on this policy though, and in this they had support from a number of key elements in the Party leadership. When Alexei Nikolayevich made his case, Mikhail Andreyevich responded as if he was an unschooled child.
“Alexei Nikolayevich,” he said, “we now have a major thumb over that fascist regime. We control many of his vital supplies. Plus we promote a civil war in Greece which prevents the Greek Army from unifying in a revenge campaign against Turkey. They must spend their time hunting partisans in the mountains. Our influence on Turkes’ agenda, together with progressive victories in Portugal and Italy, have all but destroyed the eastern and southern flanks of NATO. This has been a most desirable outcome.
“We must also reflect on the situation in Greece. As long as there is a militantly hostile regime in Turkey, the Greek progressives will profit from an image of having resisted the Turkish aggression. Even now the reactionaries in that nation are tied down fighting the partisans we back, and as they do so, they lose prestige in their nation to the progressive forces, who wish to make terms with the partisans. This will rebound to the progressive favor, and strike another nation from the NATO balance. Indeed, the loss of Greece, will end the NATO eastern and southern flanks for good.
“I do not care for the whining of so-called Communists who are busy intriguing with reactionary, bourgeois parties for a few crumbs from the table of political power. I care for the fact that while Turkes is odious as a political leader, he has done more to disrupt NATO than any so-called communist, save perhaps the progressive forces in Portugal. So long as this continues, we will back Turkes.
“Now, if our friends in the west find this difficult to understand, I suggest we remind them of what Party discipline means. And if this does not work, then we can suggest to them that they might be better off without our funding – maybe that will salve their soft consciences over this Turkes matter, if they like.”
Kosygin and many of the true believers were not happy with this answer, but under Suslov and Andropov the policy realists had the day.
It was a lesson driven home when the Italian, Berlinguer, finally came to call on the Politburo. Apart from receiving a rebuke for his having visited with Tito first, the new Italian Prime Minister was given a sharp tongue lashing about the value of undermining NATO by whatever means was at hand. Turkes and his odious regime were a tool to that end, and as such Berlinguer was asked to get in line behind that point. He was also questioned as to when he would be breaking ties with NATO himself, as his comrades in Lisbon had already done.
Berlinguer was vague in his response, and never gave a commitment on the NATO question. He also told Suslov that the General Secretary was wrong on the question of supporting Turkes, no matter how much the fascist regime in Turkey damaged NATO. Berlinguer compared the matter to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact; a comparison which drew Suslov’s ire down on the Italian Prime Minister.
He was later said to have berated Andropov for having failed to kill Berlinguer in Bulgaria in 1973.
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From Time Magazine – Koreagate on Capitol Hill?
The buzz words, like "stonewall" and "limited hangout," have not resurfaced—at least not yet. But there is an unmistakable sniff of Watergate wafting over the Hydra-headed investigations of exported South Korean corruption currently under way in Washington. The White House cover-up to protect its guilty is still fresh in everyone's memory. Yet here is the Legislative Branch displaying, at the very least, a marked lack of enthusiasm to get to the bottom of a scandal that could badly tarnish Congress.
So far the scandal has been focused on cash gifts to U.S. politicians who might have clout in decisions involving aid to the Kim Jong-pil regime in South Korea. New revelations continue to reinforce the impression that, as one congressional leader admitted, "there's a lot of Korean money around, and a lot of guys are involved." Among the main figures in the federal probes of Korean influence peddling: former Representative Richard Hanna of California, a silent partner in an import-export business run by Tongsun Park, a Washington-based Korean businessman with a yen for winning friends in high places; Louisiana Democrat Otto Passman, a long-time Park crony; and former New Jersey Congressman Cornelius Gallagher. Meanwhile, on another front, there are charges that the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) has been carrying out both open and "black" (undercover) operations in the U.S. on a broad scale.
According to Korean dissidents in the U.S. and Washington officials, the KCIA maintains at least 30 acknowledged agents in the U.S., operating mainly out of embassies and consulates. They can call on the services of 400 or more Korean businessmen, students and professors willing to perform undercover jobs. The operation of such a spy network on U.S. soil by a foreign power —even a friendly one—is illegal, notwithstanding the fact that the U.S.'s own CIA has done much the same abroad.
One graphic account of KCIA activity was related last week to TIME Chicago Bureau Chief Benjamin Gate by Jai Hyon Lee, a former South Korean cultural and press attaché in Washington. Lee fell out with the previous Park regime and was granted asylum in the U.S. in 1973. In that year, says Lee, now an associate professor of journalism at Western Illinois University, the KCIA effectively took over the South Korean embassy. KCIA men began to hold daily "orientation" sessions in which diplomats, says Lee, were directed "to organize businessmen" in support of the Park government and to "seduce Congressmen" with influence on U.S.-Korean relations.
Lee insists he once saw then Ambassador Kim Dong Jo stuffing $100 bills into white envelopes. Kim's attaché case was "bulging with bundles of $100 bills. There must have been several hundred thousand dollars in that briefcase. It was an astonishing sight." Says Lee:
"I asked him where he was going." Kim, looking as if the question were naive, replied: "To the Capitol." Lee is convinced the money was intended for Congressmen and other officials.
Lee says it was common for the KCIA to hand junketeering Congressmen cash-filled envelopes to compensate them for their own and their wives' personal expenses on trips to South Korea. Thus the Congressmen could properly record and pay for their wives' expenses without being out of pocket at all. Lee, following his defection after 20 years of government service, testified to the FBI in 1973, but his allegations began to arouse interest only last summer, when a House International Relations subcommittee, headed by Minnesota Congressman Donald Fraser, again quizzed Lee. Fraser got the Justice Department to open its investigation of Korean bribery.
This investigation soon began to collide with a separate investigation being conducted by Special Prosecutor Elliot Richardson, who had been tasked by Attorney-General Clifford Wallace to investigate the fundraising activities and expenditures of the South Korean based Unification Church lead by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. According to insiders the two investigations keep tripping over each other as they cross paths in the labyrinthine cross-currents that seem to connect the Unification Church and the KCIA.
For all of its zeal, the KCIA is regarded in Washington as a ham-handed offspring of the U.S. CIA—which has helped finance the KCIA in the past. The KCIA does not bother to gather intelligence from South Korea's closest enemy, North Korea. Aside from its efforts to buy influence in U.S. political circles, its main mission seems to be to suppress criticism of the Park regime at home and abroad, notably in the U.S., which has big Korean populations in Los Angeles, New York City and Washington. The FBI has been probing—so far inconclusively—complaints by Korean dissidents in the U.S. of KCIA harassment through threatening phone calls and other bullyboy tactics.
The Seoul regime's influence-peddling efforts in the U.S. stem from an understandable worry about its American connection. Under constant threat from the North, the South Koreans depend for survival on their U.S. ties—and those have seemed less secure in recent years. The Park government's political activity in the U.S. began in 1970, after the Nixon Administration announced it would cut American forces in Korea from 60,000 to 40,000 troops. Fretful about a Birch Bayh campaign pledge to pull out more troops and perhaps cut economic aid as well, the Koreans kept up their U.S. political activity this year —until adverse publicity forced them to pull back.
Seoul still denies any connection with Tongsun Park, the party giving Washington rice broker who remains a focal point of the investigations. But federal probers believe the regime ordered the millionaire mystery man, last reported shuttling between Japan and Great Britain, to stay clear of both the U.S. and South Korea. Should Park decide never to return to the U.S., as seems possible, he would be leaving behind considerable assets—including two homes, a business building and the George Town Club, where he has done much of his Washington entertaining. He also had a $249,000 secret interest in a new Washington bank called the Diplomat National, according to a front man who held some of the Park stock —another facet in the still murky picture of Korean money and political muscle in the U.S.
One reason that picture has been developing so slowly is that influential Congressmen have been trying to thwart investigations of Korean activity by the departments of Justice and Agriculture —both of which depend upon Congress for appropriations. Should a Watergate-style Special Prosecutor be assigned to probe the Korean quagmire, as some observers suggest? So far, there has been little sign of congressional zeal for self-policing. Some months ago, a witness in the FBI investigation tried to tell a House Ethics Committee member what he knew about the Korean case. The Congressman refused to listen. His excuse: whatever he heard might prejudice him if the Ethics Committee should someday decide to take up the Korean matter.
On the other hand, Special Prosecutor Richardson has had better luck: he has currently indicted much of the top leadership of the Unification Church on money laundering charges. Richardson says he will continue to dig into the matter and follow it wherever it – or at least the crimes related to the church – take him.
“Even up to Capitol Hill,” Richardson adds, “if that’s where this leads. The law applies to everyone.”
(Author’s note: This is an OTL 1976 Time magazine article with the personalities adjusted for TTL where appropriate.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,914710-1,00.html
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The 1976 Democratic National Convention
From The Stand In the Schoolhouse Door to The Ticket to Glory
For some time after the last series of Democratic primaries on June 8 that Governor George C. Wallace was in negotiations with a “national figure” to become his running mate. Wallace, in facing the Bayh-Jackson putative ticket, had to appeal to liberals and demonstrate to the nation that he had placed his segregationist and regionalist past behind him sufficiently that he could credibly elected as President of the United States.
There was much speculation about who he might choose until July 2, 1976, when Wallace announced that he had reached an agreement with former Attorney-General, Under Secretary of State, IBM Counsel and recently resigned United States Ambassador to Great Britain Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach of New Jersey to run as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Katzenbach had been the Assistant Attorney-General in the Kennedy Justice Department and had succeeded Robert F. Kennedy as Attorney-General in the Johnson Administration. During these five and one-half years Katzenbach had been central to the enforcement of Civil Rights legislation throughout the South for both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. In regard to the segregation issue Katzenbach was the anti-Wallace with a solid liberal record.
This was accentuated by the fact that in June 1963 Governor Wallace and then Assistant Attorney-General Katzenbach had squared-off at the front door of the University of Alabama when Katzenbach tried to get three black students admitted, and Wallace had tried to block their admission through his own physical presence blocking the doorway. The stand in the doorway had become a famous episode in the Civil rights struggle; at the time it had made a liberal hero of Katzenbach and a villain out of Wallace in the North. Yet that episode, despite its racial overtones, had also crystallized Wallace’s image as an anti-Washington, States’ rights crusader.
Now, 13 years and much history later, Wallace sought to bury his old image by enlisting his old adversary as his running mate. In fact he hoped to play-off the old black-and-white footage of the two men arguing in the schoolhouse door to show how much he had changed on the segregation issue, and yet how he remained true to his roots as a populist and a fighter against excessive government power.
“I was on the wrong side of that issue, but I was right on the Constitutional fight. Today, I regret making an issue of race, when it was poverty and the way the rich skin the poor in this country that was the real problem,” Wallace said at the press conference where, with Katzenbach standing next to him, he announced his intention to nominate Katzenbach as his running mate.
“This country has gone through a lot in the last decade-and-one-half,” Katzenbach said in his own remarks, “and I’m pleased to say that Governor Wallace has come to understand what we were fighting for back then – justice for everyone. He hasn’t lost his fire, or his belief in the right of the ordinary man and woman to have a Constitutional government that is by the people and for the people, but he understands where the real challenge to our liberty and the rights of all our citizens lay. That’s why I am proud to join with Governor Wallace in fighting for the ordinary people of this country against the vested interests and the hidden power brokers.”
Katzenbach was also a former Under Secretary of State in the Johnson Administration, as well as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Gavin, which meant that he brought some valuable foreign policy experience to the ticket, which extended into his global work as a counsel for IBM since 1969.
On the latter, Wallace was asked, “Governor you talk about chasing the politocrats from the people’s temples. How do you reconcile the fact that Mr. Katzenbach fits the image of one of your politiocrats? In fact one of his jobs for IBM has been to lobby the federal government on their behalf. Doesn’t that make him the kind of man you want to drive out of power?”
Wallace replied: “Ambassador Kaztenbach has been good enough to forgive my sins from the past; I should be good enough to do the same.” (Laughter). “Fact is, when you go to sea, you need a sailor who knows how to read the chart, how to navigate those shark-filled waters. Nick knows ‘em, so I need that and I’m calling him in. But thing is, in our talks, he convinced me that he sees what’s wrong with the system – he’s seen it close-up from both sides. I believe him when he says he’s ready to help me drain that swamp.”
Katzenbach: “Let me add that Governor Wallace and I share a basic belief that in order to get this country going again – to restore prosperity – we have to clean out the rot that has gummed-up the works. The Governor and I want to get the government back in the hands of the people, and that’s a vision I can sign on with and work with him to bring about.”
The Democratic National Convention
The 1976 Democratic National Convention met at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from Monday, July 12 to Friday, July 16, 1976.
Due to the unsettled nature of the Presidential nomination going into the convention, and due to a number of disputes among the delegates, the convention lasted one day longer than had been originally planned.
The Convention took place in the shadow of the Bicentennial terror attacks (literally – Penn Station where one of the Sarin gas attacks had been released on July 4 was next door to the Garden) eight days after they occurred. The Democratic National Committee had elected to proceed with the convention just a week after the attacks to demonstrate that the attack would not undermine the resolve of American democracy.
Security was extremely heavy with New York city and state police augmented by National Guard and regular Army units.
As had occurred in 1972, no candidate had won enough delegates to take the nomination outright. In the period between the last series of primaries on June 8 and the convention two competing tickets had developed, those of Indiana Senator Birch Bayh and Washington Senator Henry Jackson (Bayh – Jackson) and that of Governor George C. Wallace and former Attorney-General Nicholas Katzenbach (Wallace-Katzenbach), with a number of other candidates bargaining with the two camps for their support.
Before the formal votes on the candidates there were numerous clashes between supporters of the two camps over the planks to be included in the Democratic Party’s national platform for 1976. It soon became apparent that the steering committee had placed the cart before the horse on the matter: there could be no agreement on the platform until the party ticket had been chosen.
The key note address was given by Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NJ), the first black woman to give a key note address to a major political party’s convention. Her address was an unabashed endorsement of Ronald Dellums and, more implicitly, Senator Birch Bayh.
The vote on the first ballot, held on Tuesday, July 13 was follows:
Birch Bayh – 1202.4 (Bayh – 898.2; Jackson 304.2)
Wallace – 953.8
Ron Dellums – 493.3
Frank Church – 135.5
Dolph Briscoe – 80.0
Reubin Askew – 52.0
Uncommitted – 33.0
Robert Byrd – 31.0
Stanley Tucker – 15.0
Rafael Colon - 5.0
Need to win: 1501
Later that afternoon a second ballot was held:
Birch Bayh (1202.4 + 135.5 + 5) = 1342.9
George Wallace (953.8 + 52.0 + 5) = 1,010.8
Ron Dellums (493.3 + 15.0 + 1) = 509.3
Dolph Briscoe – 80.0
Robert Byrd – 31.0
Uncommitted – 20
Rafael Colon - 5.0
Hubert Humphrey – 2.0
Ron Dellums, who had been negotiating with both campaigns, increasingly took on the role of a king maker in the convention, and it was widely expected that he would cast his support to Birch Bayh. It was impossible for either campaign to win without his endorsement.
As negotiations among the campaigns continued through July 14th without any conclusive decision, there were several fights on the convention floor between rival delegations. Meanwhile, there were a series of demonstrations on the streets outside.
At some point several militant protesters tried to break the security perimeter and get into the Garden, which lead to a clash with troops and police. Tear gas was used, and it poured onto the convention floor. The convention was forced to adjourn because of the teargas (a panic set-in among some delegates as there was a fear that it was another sarin gas attack). Five delegates were trampled to death in a sudden panic, while fourteen were hospitalized. The news media covering the convention immediately began to draw parallels with the turbulent 1968 Democratic convention, which was not helpful to the Democratic Party’s overall image.
After the tear gas panic Senator Jimmy Carter of Georgia, himself still choking on the effects of tear gas, took to the podium and tired to bring order back to the events. He was successful in calming some of the panic resulted from the gas incident, but order was slow to come back.
On the evening of July 14 a group of urban black delegates tried to storm Governor George Wallace’s suite at the Century Plaza Hotel after they learned that Ron Dellums was having a meeting with Wallace and Nicholas Katzenbach. NYPD and State Police had to disperse them.
On July 15 a third ballot was held:
Birch Bayh (1202.4 + 135.5 +5 +5 +3) = 1350.9
George Wallace (953.8 + 52.0 + 5 + 31) = 1,041.8
Ron Dellums (493.3 + 15.0 + 3) = 511.3
Dolph Briscoe – 80.0
Uncommitted – 14
Hubert Humphrey – 4.0
This proved to be inconclusive. Pressure ramped-up on Dellums and Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe to make a choice, with each camp offering various inducements.
Supporters of Ron Dellums – Washington DC Mayor Stanley Tucker among them – became very upset when they learned that Dellums was leaning toward supporting the Wallace – Katzenbach nomination. There were fist fights and shouting matches among Dellums block of delegates as they divided over whether or not they could join their candidate in supporting Wallace.
Dellums felt he could support Wallace’s populist appeal, he felt Katzenbach’s presence on the ticket was a signal that Wallace was going to respect liberal support and that overall, George Wallace had a better chance of defeating Ronald Reagan than did Birch Bayh.
Since the ballot of July 15th had failed to produce a winner, the convention extended into an unplanned fifth day. On July 16, a fourth and final ballot was held: before that ballot Ron Dellums announced his support for Wallace-Kaztenbach, while Dolph Briscoe lent his support to Bayh-Jackson.
The Fourth Ballot*:
George Wallace = 1,504.8
Birch Bayh = 1495.2
Hubert Humphrey = 1.0
*=breakdown below
George Corley Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, was declared the victor on the fourth ballot, and declared the 1976 Democratic Party nominee for President.
Walllace immediately nominated Nicholas Katzenbach for Vice President. That vote was as follows:
Nicholas Katzenbach = 1707
Henry Jackson = 1211
Hubert Humphrey = 20
Ronald Dellums = 15
George McGovern = 9
Walter Mondale = 6
Fred Harris = 5
Others = 28
Nicholas Katzenbach was officially nominated for Vice President on the Democratic Party ticket.
The level on the podium was adjusted by adding a ramp behind the speaking platform, so that Wallace in his wheel chair could be rolled up next to Katzenbach and, hidden behind the podium, both men would appear to be on the same level (i.e. as if Wallace was standing next to Katzenbach) as they locked hands in the traditional salute of the nominated ticket.
The same podium is used when Senators Birch Bayh and Henry Jackson appear on the stage to link arms with Wallace and Katzenbach in a show of party unity. They are then joined by the other primary candidates. Visually, Wallace appears on an equal level with the rest through the use of the raised platform.
When Wallace gave his acceptance speech, he spoke from the same ramp raised behind the podium, so that it would appear as though Wallace was standing behind that podium as had the other speakers before him, including Senator Bayh when he conceded to Wallace, and Katzenbach when he had given his own acceptance speech.
In his acceptance speech, which was mild by Wallace’s standards, the Alabama Governor recognized that he had a rift to heal in his own Party. He essentially stuck to the themes which separated Democrats “who care about the little man” from the Republicans under Reagan who “care only about the moneyed man.”
“At the end of our long journey and hard fought contests, Democrats as a party must come together to fight against what is wrong. And I’ll tell you now, Ronald Reagan, Charles Percy and the G-O-P are just plain wrong. I have joined this race and fought my way to this nomination to carry the fight for the average working American and his or her family. I want to chase the professional lobbyists, deal makers and politocrats from the people’s temples and restore government by the people and for the people.
“The main cause of our crisis is the lack of respect for the people by the professional political class. They’ve lost touch with main street in Washington. That’s why this recession drags on and we feel stuck in a hopeless rut. Washington has developed the habit of spending the people’s money – your money – for its own purposes. My pledge is to change that direction, to get your tax dollars working for you, and to make your government accountable to you. Once we start that, then this economy will begin to recover and we’ll be on our way back to prosperity.
“Where I want to fix things and throw out the bad, which are gumming-up the system, Governor Reagan’s got a whole other idea. I’m the surgeon whose gonna fix the body by cutting away waste and crookedness, but I’ll make sure to save the healthy tissue – the good things that are worth saving. Reagan’s idea is to saw off the limbs in order to save the patient. He’ll cut and deregulate with all the gentleness and understanding of a chainsaw. That’s the G-O-P program, pure and simple. Take from the people and give to big business.
“Don’t be fooled by all that sweet talk about trickle down and supply side economics. That’s Reagan’s snake oil, kind of like the tonic you get from the patent medicine man. It makes you feel good when it goes down, but next morning you wake-up with one heck of a head banging hangover. That’s exactly what Governor Reagan is promising you. Today the economy is hanging by a thread, and ol’ Ronnie Reagan’ll cut that thread and let it fall – right into the lap of Wall Street and big banks and the Rockefellers and them big money types.
“Me, I’ll pull up the roots, shake out the bugs, and re-plant that economy so it’ll grow for all of us. That the choice you’ve got ahead of you my fellow Americans, and over the next four months Nick Katzenbach and I are going to show you why we are right and they are wrong.”
Wallace lets it be known that he is considering Henry Jackson for Secretary of State, Birch Bayh for “a senior Cabinet Post” and Ron Dellums for Housing and Urban Affairs.
Spiro Agnew (Agnew On Point): “With typical Democrat confusion and disorder they’ve finally - after four ballots, countless fist fights and next to no internal unity - managed to roll out a Presidential ticket. Well, I for one am not impressed. I predict that bus is going to drive right into the ditch.”
The Clowns in the Park
While the Democratic National Convention was going on an outdoor event was taking place in Central Park which was called “The Clowns in the Park.” Clowns in the Park was part comedy festival and part music event – a Woodstock on a much smaller scale. The theme was anti-establishment, anti-politics and included a mixture of events, from music to comedy stand-up to poetry reading on that theme.
Clowns in the Park competed for attention with the Democratic National Convention. Among its more notable episodes comedian George Carlin read a number of letters he had received in application for the position of running mate on his independent ticket.
In the end he chose comedian and activist Dick Gregory as his running mate and the two gave what has best been described as a joint comedy routine that struck many of the social and political nerves of the time as their “acceptance speech.”
Among other things, George Carlin announced that he and Dick Gregory would be running on a platform of free housing, free groceries, free sex and free pot – and a free District of Columbia and Hawaii. When asked how he would pay for the first four “free” items Carlin suggested he would “free” corporate profits from their owners in order to do that.
“I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.
“I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
“I know, the church says we have to believe them and have faith, and cast ourselves upon the waters. Let’s see how many of them are willing to be cast upon the waters without a life raft.
“That’s my platform for President – oh yeah and free DC and Hawaii.” - George Carlin
“We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. Well, looking at George Wallace and Ronald Reagan, I can’t help but feel that we’re in for the biggest massacre of all. I guess that makes us the Indians in this piece, the little guys fighting the big blue hordes to hang on to our freedom – but here’s a secret Ronald Reagan doesn’t want you to know – in one of them old westerns he played George Custer, and we all remember what those Indians did to George Custer, don’t we?
“I’m running with George here because, come next April fifteenth, when I pay my taxes, I want to pay them to a friendly country.” – Dick Gregory
Clowns in the Park ended at about the same time as the Democratic Convention did. To close out their event the organizers played Send In the Clowns sung by Judy Collins. As a matter of timing this nearly coincided with George Wallace’s acceptance speech.
Independent filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, who made a documentary about both events, wove the two together in their film Rage, Riot and Lunatics, so that Judy Collins was heard signing Send in the Clowns on the same track asGovernor Wallace giving his address.
----------------------------------------------------
Final make-up of Presidential ballots (Fourth Round Ballot)
George C. Wallace
953.8 of 953.8 Wallace Delegates
52.0 of 52.0 Askew Delegates
31 of 31 Byrd delegates
80 of 80 Briscoe Delegates
373 of 511.3 Dellums Delegates
15 of 33 uncommitted delegates
Total: 1504.8
Birch E. Bayh
898.2 of 898.2 Bayh delegates
304.2 of 304.2 Jackson delegates
135.5 of 135.5 Church delegates
138.3 of 511.3 Dellums delegates (includes Stanley Tucker’s 15 delegates; 3 previously uncommitted delegates)
5 of 5 Colon delegates
14 of 33 uncommitted delegates
Total 1495.2
Hubert H. Humphrey
1 of 33 uncommitted delegates
From The Stand In the Schoolhouse Door to The Ticket to Glory
For some time after the last series of Democratic primaries on June 8 that Governor George C. Wallace was in negotiations with a “national figure” to become his running mate. Wallace, in facing the Bayh-Jackson putative ticket, had to appeal to liberals and demonstrate to the nation that he had placed his segregationist and regionalist past behind him sufficiently that he could credibly elected as President of the United States.
There was much speculation about who he might choose until July 2, 1976, when Wallace announced that he had reached an agreement with former Attorney-General, Under Secretary of State, IBM Counsel and recently resigned United States Ambassador to Great Britain Nicholas deBelleville Katzenbach of New Jersey to run as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Katzenbach had been the Assistant Attorney-General in the Kennedy Justice Department and had succeeded Robert F. Kennedy as Attorney-General in the Johnson Administration. During these five and one-half years Katzenbach had been central to the enforcement of Civil Rights legislation throughout the South for both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. In regard to the segregation issue Katzenbach was the anti-Wallace with a solid liberal record.
This was accentuated by the fact that in June 1963 Governor Wallace and then Assistant Attorney-General Katzenbach had squared-off at the front door of the University of Alabama when Katzenbach tried to get three black students admitted, and Wallace had tried to block their admission through his own physical presence blocking the doorway. The stand in the doorway had become a famous episode in the Civil rights struggle; at the time it had made a liberal hero of Katzenbach and a villain out of Wallace in the North. Yet that episode, despite its racial overtones, had also crystallized Wallace’s image as an anti-Washington, States’ rights crusader.
Now, 13 years and much history later, Wallace sought to bury his old image by enlisting his old adversary as his running mate. In fact he hoped to play-off the old black-and-white footage of the two men arguing in the schoolhouse door to show how much he had changed on the segregation issue, and yet how he remained true to his roots as a populist and a fighter against excessive government power.
“I was on the wrong side of that issue, but I was right on the Constitutional fight. Today, I regret making an issue of race, when it was poverty and the way the rich skin the poor in this country that was the real problem,” Wallace said at the press conference where, with Katzenbach standing next to him, he announced his intention to nominate Katzenbach as his running mate.
“This country has gone through a lot in the last decade-and-one-half,” Katzenbach said in his own remarks, “and I’m pleased to say that Governor Wallace has come to understand what we were fighting for back then – justice for everyone. He hasn’t lost his fire, or his belief in the right of the ordinary man and woman to have a Constitutional government that is by the people and for the people, but he understands where the real challenge to our liberty and the rights of all our citizens lay. That’s why I am proud to join with Governor Wallace in fighting for the ordinary people of this country against the vested interests and the hidden power brokers.”
Katzenbach was also a former Under Secretary of State in the Johnson Administration, as well as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Gavin, which meant that he brought some valuable foreign policy experience to the ticket, which extended into his global work as a counsel for IBM since 1969.
On the latter, Wallace was asked, “Governor you talk about chasing the politocrats from the people’s temples. How do you reconcile the fact that Mr. Katzenbach fits the image of one of your politiocrats? In fact one of his jobs for IBM has been to lobby the federal government on their behalf. Doesn’t that make him the kind of man you want to drive out of power?”
Wallace replied: “Ambassador Kaztenbach has been good enough to forgive my sins from the past; I should be good enough to do the same.” (Laughter). “Fact is, when you go to sea, you need a sailor who knows how to read the chart, how to navigate those shark-filled waters. Nick knows ‘em, so I need that and I’m calling him in. But thing is, in our talks, he convinced me that he sees what’s wrong with the system – he’s seen it close-up from both sides. I believe him when he says he’s ready to help me drain that swamp.”
Katzenbach: “Let me add that Governor Wallace and I share a basic belief that in order to get this country going again – to restore prosperity – we have to clean out the rot that has gummed-up the works. The Governor and I want to get the government back in the hands of the people, and that’s a vision I can sign on with and work with him to bring about.”
The Democratic National Convention
The 1976 Democratic National Convention met at Madison Square Garden in New York City, from Monday, July 12 to Friday, July 16, 1976.
Due to the unsettled nature of the Presidential nomination going into the convention, and due to a number of disputes among the delegates, the convention lasted one day longer than had been originally planned.
The Convention took place in the shadow of the Bicentennial terror attacks (literally – Penn Station where one of the Sarin gas attacks had been released on July 4 was next door to the Garden) eight days after they occurred. The Democratic National Committee had elected to proceed with the convention just a week after the attacks to demonstrate that the attack would not undermine the resolve of American democracy.
Security was extremely heavy with New York city and state police augmented by National Guard and regular Army units.
As had occurred in 1972, no candidate had won enough delegates to take the nomination outright. In the period between the last series of primaries on June 8 and the convention two competing tickets had developed, those of Indiana Senator Birch Bayh and Washington Senator Henry Jackson (Bayh – Jackson) and that of Governor George C. Wallace and former Attorney-General Nicholas Katzenbach (Wallace-Katzenbach), with a number of other candidates bargaining with the two camps for their support.
Before the formal votes on the candidates there were numerous clashes between supporters of the two camps over the planks to be included in the Democratic Party’s national platform for 1976. It soon became apparent that the steering committee had placed the cart before the horse on the matter: there could be no agreement on the platform until the party ticket had been chosen.
The key note address was given by Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NJ), the first black woman to give a key note address to a major political party’s convention. Her address was an unabashed endorsement of Ronald Dellums and, more implicitly, Senator Birch Bayh.
The vote on the first ballot, held on Tuesday, July 13 was follows:
Birch Bayh – 1202.4 (Bayh – 898.2; Jackson 304.2)
Wallace – 953.8
Ron Dellums – 493.3
Frank Church – 135.5
Dolph Briscoe – 80.0
Reubin Askew – 52.0
Uncommitted – 33.0
Robert Byrd – 31.0
Stanley Tucker – 15.0
Rafael Colon - 5.0
Need to win: 1501
Later that afternoon a second ballot was held:
Birch Bayh (1202.4 + 135.5 + 5) = 1342.9
George Wallace (953.8 + 52.0 + 5) = 1,010.8
Ron Dellums (493.3 + 15.0 + 1) = 509.3
Dolph Briscoe – 80.0
Robert Byrd – 31.0
Uncommitted – 20
Rafael Colon - 5.0
Hubert Humphrey – 2.0
Ron Dellums, who had been negotiating with both campaigns, increasingly took on the role of a king maker in the convention, and it was widely expected that he would cast his support to Birch Bayh. It was impossible for either campaign to win without his endorsement.
As negotiations among the campaigns continued through July 14th without any conclusive decision, there were several fights on the convention floor between rival delegations. Meanwhile, there were a series of demonstrations on the streets outside.
At some point several militant protesters tried to break the security perimeter and get into the Garden, which lead to a clash with troops and police. Tear gas was used, and it poured onto the convention floor. The convention was forced to adjourn because of the teargas (a panic set-in among some delegates as there was a fear that it was another sarin gas attack). Five delegates were trampled to death in a sudden panic, while fourteen were hospitalized. The news media covering the convention immediately began to draw parallels with the turbulent 1968 Democratic convention, which was not helpful to the Democratic Party’s overall image.
After the tear gas panic Senator Jimmy Carter of Georgia, himself still choking on the effects of tear gas, took to the podium and tired to bring order back to the events. He was successful in calming some of the panic resulted from the gas incident, but order was slow to come back.
On the evening of July 14 a group of urban black delegates tried to storm Governor George Wallace’s suite at the Century Plaza Hotel after they learned that Ron Dellums was having a meeting with Wallace and Nicholas Katzenbach. NYPD and State Police had to disperse them.
On July 15 a third ballot was held:
Birch Bayh (1202.4 + 135.5 +5 +5 +3) = 1350.9
George Wallace (953.8 + 52.0 + 5 + 31) = 1,041.8
Ron Dellums (493.3 + 15.0 + 3) = 511.3
Dolph Briscoe – 80.0
Uncommitted – 14
Hubert Humphrey – 4.0
This proved to be inconclusive. Pressure ramped-up on Dellums and Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe to make a choice, with each camp offering various inducements.
Supporters of Ron Dellums – Washington DC Mayor Stanley Tucker among them – became very upset when they learned that Dellums was leaning toward supporting the Wallace – Katzenbach nomination. There were fist fights and shouting matches among Dellums block of delegates as they divided over whether or not they could join their candidate in supporting Wallace.
Dellums felt he could support Wallace’s populist appeal, he felt Katzenbach’s presence on the ticket was a signal that Wallace was going to respect liberal support and that overall, George Wallace had a better chance of defeating Ronald Reagan than did Birch Bayh.
Since the ballot of July 15th had failed to produce a winner, the convention extended into an unplanned fifth day. On July 16, a fourth and final ballot was held: before that ballot Ron Dellums announced his support for Wallace-Kaztenbach, while Dolph Briscoe lent his support to Bayh-Jackson.
The Fourth Ballot*:
George Wallace = 1,504.8
Birch Bayh = 1495.2
Hubert Humphrey = 1.0
*=breakdown below
George Corley Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, was declared the victor on the fourth ballot, and declared the 1976 Democratic Party nominee for President.
Walllace immediately nominated Nicholas Katzenbach for Vice President. That vote was as follows:
Nicholas Katzenbach = 1707
Henry Jackson = 1211
Hubert Humphrey = 20
Ronald Dellums = 15
George McGovern = 9
Walter Mondale = 6
Fred Harris = 5
Others = 28
Nicholas Katzenbach was officially nominated for Vice President on the Democratic Party ticket.
The level on the podium was adjusted by adding a ramp behind the speaking platform, so that Wallace in his wheel chair could be rolled up next to Katzenbach and, hidden behind the podium, both men would appear to be on the same level (i.e. as if Wallace was standing next to Katzenbach) as they locked hands in the traditional salute of the nominated ticket.
The same podium is used when Senators Birch Bayh and Henry Jackson appear on the stage to link arms with Wallace and Katzenbach in a show of party unity. They are then joined by the other primary candidates. Visually, Wallace appears on an equal level with the rest through the use of the raised platform.
When Wallace gave his acceptance speech, he spoke from the same ramp raised behind the podium, so that it would appear as though Wallace was standing behind that podium as had the other speakers before him, including Senator Bayh when he conceded to Wallace, and Katzenbach when he had given his own acceptance speech.
In his acceptance speech, which was mild by Wallace’s standards, the Alabama Governor recognized that he had a rift to heal in his own Party. He essentially stuck to the themes which separated Democrats “who care about the little man” from the Republicans under Reagan who “care only about the moneyed man.”
“At the end of our long journey and hard fought contests, Democrats as a party must come together to fight against what is wrong. And I’ll tell you now, Ronald Reagan, Charles Percy and the G-O-P are just plain wrong. I have joined this race and fought my way to this nomination to carry the fight for the average working American and his or her family. I want to chase the professional lobbyists, deal makers and politocrats from the people’s temples and restore government by the people and for the people.
“The main cause of our crisis is the lack of respect for the people by the professional political class. They’ve lost touch with main street in Washington. That’s why this recession drags on and we feel stuck in a hopeless rut. Washington has developed the habit of spending the people’s money – your money – for its own purposes. My pledge is to change that direction, to get your tax dollars working for you, and to make your government accountable to you. Once we start that, then this economy will begin to recover and we’ll be on our way back to prosperity.
“Where I want to fix things and throw out the bad, which are gumming-up the system, Governor Reagan’s got a whole other idea. I’m the surgeon whose gonna fix the body by cutting away waste and crookedness, but I’ll make sure to save the healthy tissue – the good things that are worth saving. Reagan’s idea is to saw off the limbs in order to save the patient. He’ll cut and deregulate with all the gentleness and understanding of a chainsaw. That’s the G-O-P program, pure and simple. Take from the people and give to big business.
“Don’t be fooled by all that sweet talk about trickle down and supply side economics. That’s Reagan’s snake oil, kind of like the tonic you get from the patent medicine man. It makes you feel good when it goes down, but next morning you wake-up with one heck of a head banging hangover. That’s exactly what Governor Reagan is promising you. Today the economy is hanging by a thread, and ol’ Ronnie Reagan’ll cut that thread and let it fall – right into the lap of Wall Street and big banks and the Rockefellers and them big money types.
“Me, I’ll pull up the roots, shake out the bugs, and re-plant that economy so it’ll grow for all of us. That the choice you’ve got ahead of you my fellow Americans, and over the next four months Nick Katzenbach and I are going to show you why we are right and they are wrong.”
Wallace lets it be known that he is considering Henry Jackson for Secretary of State, Birch Bayh for “a senior Cabinet Post” and Ron Dellums for Housing and Urban Affairs.
Spiro Agnew (Agnew On Point): “With typical Democrat confusion and disorder they’ve finally - after four ballots, countless fist fights and next to no internal unity - managed to roll out a Presidential ticket. Well, I for one am not impressed. I predict that bus is going to drive right into the ditch.”
The Clowns in the Park
While the Democratic National Convention was going on an outdoor event was taking place in Central Park which was called “The Clowns in the Park.” Clowns in the Park was part comedy festival and part music event – a Woodstock on a much smaller scale. The theme was anti-establishment, anti-politics and included a mixture of events, from music to comedy stand-up to poetry reading on that theme.
Clowns in the Park competed for attention with the Democratic National Convention. Among its more notable episodes comedian George Carlin read a number of letters he had received in application for the position of running mate on his independent ticket.
In the end he chose comedian and activist Dick Gregory as his running mate and the two gave what has best been described as a joint comedy routine that struck many of the social and political nerves of the time as their “acceptance speech.”
Among other things, George Carlin announced that he and Dick Gregory would be running on a platform of free housing, free groceries, free sex and free pot – and a free District of Columbia and Hawaii. When asked how he would pay for the first four “free” items Carlin suggested he would “free” corporate profits from their owners in order to do that.
“I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.
“I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
“I know, the church says we have to believe them and have faith, and cast ourselves upon the waters. Let’s see how many of them are willing to be cast upon the waters without a life raft.
“That’s my platform for President – oh yeah and free DC and Hawaii.” - George Carlin
“We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre. Well, looking at George Wallace and Ronald Reagan, I can’t help but feel that we’re in for the biggest massacre of all. I guess that makes us the Indians in this piece, the little guys fighting the big blue hordes to hang on to our freedom – but here’s a secret Ronald Reagan doesn’t want you to know – in one of them old westerns he played George Custer, and we all remember what those Indians did to George Custer, don’t we?
“I’m running with George here because, come next April fifteenth, when I pay my taxes, I want to pay them to a friendly country.” – Dick Gregory
Clowns in the Park ended at about the same time as the Democratic Convention did. To close out their event the organizers played Send In the Clowns sung by Judy Collins. As a matter of timing this nearly coincided with George Wallace’s acceptance speech.
Independent filmmakers Albert and David Maysles, who made a documentary about both events, wove the two together in their film Rage, Riot and Lunatics, so that Judy Collins was heard signing Send in the Clowns on the same track asGovernor Wallace giving his address.
----------------------------------------------------
Final make-up of Presidential ballots (Fourth Round Ballot)
George C. Wallace
953.8 of 953.8 Wallace Delegates
52.0 of 52.0 Askew Delegates
31 of 31 Byrd delegates
80 of 80 Briscoe Delegates
373 of 511.3 Dellums Delegates
15 of 33 uncommitted delegates
Total: 1504.8
Birch E. Bayh
898.2 of 898.2 Bayh delegates
304.2 of 304.2 Jackson delegates
135.5 of 135.5 Church delegates
138.3 of 511.3 Dellums delegates (includes Stanley Tucker’s 15 delegates; 3 previously uncommitted delegates)
5 of 5 Colon delegates
14 of 33 uncommitted delegates
Total 1495.2
Hubert H. Humphrey
1 of 33 uncommitted delegates
Great update. And it is--Reagan vs. Wallace.
Hmmm...
On the Kennedy "revelations"--may we assume that these are probably "I'm taking you with me" moves by severely disgruntled figures with nothing--or very little--to lose?
Hmmm...
On the Kennedy "revelations"--may we assume that these are probably "I'm taking you with me" moves by severely disgruntled figures with nothing--or very little--to lose?
- Status