Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72

[Drew]

And thank God for that bright spot, though I wouldn't mind the Soviet Union wasting its resources away on that misadventure.

No Soviet Vietnam ... not in Afghanistan at any rate.

I don't think the 2 Yemeni governments would meet in Muscat. The communist one is presumably still funding the rebellion in Dhofar. Baghdad would be a better location.

That revolt is mostly over by 1978 in both TLs, and in the event they have a bigger common problem right now, much. much more threatening to all of their regimes.

Why did the Lao government leave for Thailand rather than, say, Savannakhet?

Following the ancient art of war -- if the enemy is advancing from three sides, probably best to retreat the other way.

I assume the PSOE is still illegal in Spain. Mitterrand could meet Gonzalez or whoever is in charge as a fuck you to the Falange. Might even help Gonzalez's attempt to move the party away from Marxism, presuming he's still trying that.

Just how much closer to the US is North Vietnam moving? And what does it mean for maybe having a united Vietnam in the future?

And again, what of the Aegean islands under Turkish occupation?

Stay tuned.

What's the situation of China's minorities? Is there any possibility of the Soviets, Americans, Indians, North Vietnamese, and/or Thai using them to gain insights into the working of the regime and maybe even causing some instability? Has there been any flight of people, Han or otherwise, from China's less populated frontier regions?

You will be seeing a lot of Chinese boat people fleeing the PRC, along with refugees coming over the mountains. However, other governments in the area, suffering from economic problems of their own, won't be so happy to see them and there will be a definite political downside in many western countries for taking in large numbers of destitute refugees.

There could well be internal revolts, all the better for the Lesser Mao to prove what a tough guy he and his friends are. Of course, the protests/revolts are the result of Chouist conspiracy and/or American-Russian Imperialist adventuring, all designed to destroy the People's Revolution. So says the Great Helmsman from his contemplative retreat.

 

[Drew]

Hey, I wonder if Richard Aoki is involved in the African-American Freedom Party?
He was Japanese-American, but was a leader in the Black Panther Party and close friend of the AAFP's de facto leader, Bobby Seale. Since the party's platform has already called for partnership with Native American activists, it's perhaps a possibility.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Aoki

The Peace and Freedom Party have largely been eclipsed by the end of the Vietnam War and more immediate pocket book issues; they are still out there, but in the "others" category. SWP and AAFP have so far had modest success exploiting these among urban minorities (note successful AAFP candidates are ones with "celebrity power" - Rep. John Carlos having been one of the "black power" athletes in Mexico City in 1968) while SWP is trying to exploit areas where traditional parties are not meeting economic needs.

Stay tuned, because this is just the starting point for something else that's going to happen over the next two years leading-up to the 1980 Presidential election.

 

[Drew]

Incidentally, what's been going on with the US DoD?
*Did the B-1A get canceled by Wallace like Carter did in OTL?

No, and development of the neutron bomb was authorized.

*Has the draft been ended?

Yes.

*Are Zumwalt's High-Low proposals, such as the Sea Control Ship, getting any traction? For that matter, is Zumwalt CNO in this TL?

Zumwalt was appointed CNO by Richard Nixon before the POD. I think he was referred to during the Agnew Presidency. In the event I would expect Gavin to have supported this and I don't see that Wallace wouldn't, in as much as he would be letting Secretary Claytor take the lead in running the Defense Department. Defense policy was not one of Wallace's interests or strengths.

Along the same lines for the MICV, which became something of a Congressional pork trough OTL and ITTL too I think.

*Given who you've got as the Secretary of Defense, is any progress being made on gays/women and the military?
***

Most likely incrementalist in nature, and not being played out in the political spot light. The fact is that James Gavin was old school and George Wallace was no fan of homosexual rights, so in neither case would I expect there to have been any presidential support for such a move. Claytor would have to act as he did OTL, quietly relaxing the enforcement of regulations while changing what rules he could without having to go to Congress to get changes to the UCMJ, which would start a political fire.

On another note, has something like Team B come into play ITTL?

If you look at the personalities that have been running CIA and much of the national security apparatus in both the Gavin and Wallace Administrations I would say that "Team B" has come to be the official policy.

 

[Drew]

I was thinking about cars in TTL. The oil shock I think was even worse than OTL so there will probably be the same move towards smaller and more fuel-efficient cars. The British car industry might actually be in slightly better shape than OTL as the Tories were in power 1974-77 and so we avoided some of the questionable policies that Labour pursued around British Leyland in OTL which rendered them particularly vulnerable to industrial action. Given Heath's Europhilia I could perhaps see some sort of partnership set up between BL and one of the German car manufacturers (like Thatcher tried to do with the Japanese in OTL, but by that point it was too late). I also wonder about the American car industry; what was its relationship to Presidents Agnew, Gavin and Wallace?

ITTL the Heath Administration moved to privatize the British car industry, which resulted in labour unrest that helped contribute to their ultimate downfall in 1977. But I expect British car makers have emerged healthier from the experience than OTL and might well be pursuing foreign partnerships on their own.

In the US the big three have become the big two (GM absorbed Chrysler) and GM has cut its number of product lines. Meanwhile VW has made an entry into the US market, and that plus the general economic climate has compelled the "big two" to make smaller, more fuel efficient (and less costly to maintain) vehicles.

Agnew came and went too fast for there to have been a relationship of any standing; Gavin likely followed a centrist line, hoping to protect and develop what was left of the American car industry as it fell into the economic slump.

Wallace's policy would, of course, to be seen protecting blue collar jobs - maybe even at the expense of pillorying a few white collar executives before blue collar audiences. As for the manufacturers and the UAW itself he would make deals -- provided they delivered on his side.

 

[Drew]

If you are so sick ... why am I so pale?

October 1, 1978

Briefed on the continuing development of Stealth technology in secret acting President Katzenbach approves the continued development of the B-1 bomber as a “cover project” meant to mislead the Soviets over the nature of the U.S. Strategic Bomber development program.


October 2, 1978

The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees 5–4 at Fenway Park to clinch the AL East.


Seventy-two Libyan and Pakistani engineers and technicians arrive at Lop Nur, PRC to continue work on a joint nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems project.


October 5, 1978


Thai Army and Air Force units intervene in the Laotian Civil War to drive back Chinese backed Pahtet Lao forces from Thai frontier areas.


Gold hits record $411.50 an ounce in London.


The three leaders of the Peace People, Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan, and Ciaran McKeown, announced that they intended to step down from the organisation.


October 7, 1978


The Liberal/National Coalition wins the New South Wales State election and Peter Coleman becomes the new Premier of New South Wales.



New South Wales Election

99 seats; 50 required for a majority


Liberal: 37
National: 14
Labor: 47
Independent: 1


Coalition Government (37+14=51 seats)


October 8, 1978

Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.6 mph (511.13 km/h at Blowering Dam, Australia.

At a secret meeting of the Soviet Defence Committee Mikhail Suslov orders priority placed on the development of the MIG-31 and Sukhoi Su-27 projects. Suslov also orders an added effort in developing stealth technology, charging the GRU and the KGB to steal it from the United States if necessary.


A number of groups in Derry, including Sinn Féin (SF), held a march to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 5 October 1968 civil rights march. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) staged a counter demonstration attended by Loyalists and led by Ian Paisley. Trouble developed and 67 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were injured in clashes with Loyalists. Two RUC officers were also injured in confrontations with Republicans.

October 10, 1978

A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ends the satellite's scientific mission.

Acting U.S. President Nicholas Katzenbach signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Agnew On Point

So today we honor a woman who once rabble roused against the patriotic order of her day and became one of the leading nabobs of negativism in her age. How typical that the licentious liberal now acting as President would choose to honor such as her in United States currency. The act itself marks how debased our nation has become under the liberal assault.


Don’t get me wrong: I don’t oppose the vote for women. But I do oppose the socialist agenda this person tried to push on a free America, and I oppose honouring her on our money, that most central symbol of our freedom and right to conduct our own affairs as a free people.


Was it not this woman, in her seditiously named publication,-- the Revolution--, who argued for, in addition to a right for women to vote, for the redistribution of wealth from those who work to those who do not? Did she not use the very freedoms granted to her by our great Constitution to spend a life-time arguing against it? Did not this woman attempt to twist the words of our founders into a manifesto of left-wing revolution and in so doing try to corrupt the minds of decent Americans to the true message of liberty?


This is who this new dollar would honor, in the name of the United States.


That this was done, at this time, by this limp, left-wing liberal of a Deputy Secretary General only serves to point out how much of a grip the loony left are gaining over our society.


We must stop this, my friends. We must stand up to the nattering nabobs and take back this country; freedom must be rescued before freedom is lost.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Aerosmith's Steve Tyler & Joe Perry injured by a cherry bomb.

October 11, 1978

The government of Greece launches an action in the International Court of Justice charging the government of Turkey with unlawful occupation of the Aegean Islands and the commission of crimes against humanity with its forced expulsion of Greek nationals from their home islands. (The policy of Turkey since 1975 has been to de-populate the islands of their Greek inhabitants and expel the ethnic Greeks to Greece. At the same time it has been replacing the expelled Greeks with Turkish settlers. The Turkish Army has been forced to fight resisters on some of the Islands. President Ersin continues the Turkes era policy in this regard). The United States had proposed U.N. sanctions on Turkey over this during the Turkes period, but the Soviet Union had vetoed these. Since the ascendance of the Ersin government, Soviet proposals to impose sanctions on Turkey have met with U.S. vetoes; the United States having decided to re-build relations with the Ersin government even at the expense of better relations with Greece’s socialist regime.

-------------------------------

October 12, 1978

The Hon. Rep. Peter Rodino, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

The Hon. James Eastland, President pro-Tempore of the United States Senate

Sirs,


I, George Corley Wallace, do hereby declare that I am fit and capable of discharging the duties and responsibilities of the office of President of the United States and do hereby declare my intent, effective immediately, to resume the duties of the office to which I was elected on December 13, 1976.


George C. Wallace
President of the United States.
-----------------------------------------------------------

The Organization of the Islamic Conference negotiates a cease-fire between Libya and Egypt. A long simmering border conflict had emerged into a shooting war, however several attempts by the Libyans at a cross border offensive were repelled by the Egyptian Army. Egypt did not pursue a wider war due to political difficulties at home.


Sid Vicious charged in murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

-----------------------------------


----------------------------------------

October 13, 1978

The Hon. Rep. Peter Rodino, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

The Hon. James Eastland, President pro-Tempore of the United States Senate

Sirs,


Having taken qualified medical advice, it is my opinion and that of the undersigned that President George C. Wallace is currently unfit to resume the discharge of the duties and responsibilities of the office of President of the United States. I therefore will continue in the capacity as Acting President of the United States until a determination is made by both Houses of Congress in accord with Amendment twenty-five, section four of the United States Constitution.


You will find appended to this letter the medical findings in support of this claim.


Nicholas Katzenbach
Acting President of the United States,
Vice President of the United States


Henry M. Jackson
Secretary of State of the United States


Stephen McNichols
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States


W. Graham Claytor
Secretary of Defense of the United States


Birch Bayh
Attorney-General of the United States


Cecil Andrus
Secretary of the Interior of the United States


George McGovern
Secretary of Agriculture of the United States


Shirley Chisholm
Secretary of Labor of the United States


Edward Brooke
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare of the United States


Ronald Dellums
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development of the United States

---------------------------------------------------------------


Sam Walton, Secretary of Commerce; Reubin Askew, Secretary of Transportation and Lew Allen, Secretary of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight decline to sign this document.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Speaker Peter Rodino (D-NJ): “Son-of-a-bitch! This means we have to reconvene in the last weeks of an election campaign.”


President Wallace (in a hospital bed): Unfit? Who does that bastard think he is? (Collapses in a coughing fit; he is still wearing oxygen).



Agnew On Point

I don’t wish to make light of man’s illness; nothing can be more tragic for a family than to have to suffer through a severe illness by one of its members. But the position of George Wallace requires us to look beyond normal social niceties to see the bigger picture.

The General Secretary has fallen, and this can only be a good thing. Although the Presidency has fallen into the hands of the one of the more licentious panderers of liberalism that this Republic has ever known. The unfortunate truth is that the felling of General Secretary Wallace has done little to preserve this nation as a result. We are still trapped by the left lilting legions of licence and liberality, and they, through the Deputy Secretary General Katzenbach, will continue the pernicious plunder of our freedom.

The elections are coming my friends, and the message we must send to Washington is quite clear. The leeching of liberty must stop; the pernicious partisans of pilfery have to be punished for their anti-freedom ways. Let not sympathy for the plight of one stricken man dissuade anyone from casting a ballot for those who ride the tide of righteous restoration who will bring back the true values of the Republic to our government.

I urge you, my friends, to seek among the candidates in your district the true warrior of freedom, the true patriot, and send that candidate to Washington to right the wretched wrongs that have been imposed on us by General Secretary Wallace and his left wing stooge Katzenbach .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------


Enrique Líster Forján, a leading figure in the Spanish Communist movement, is injured in a car bomb explosion outside his home in Rome, Italy. Lister Forjan survives the attempt on his life, but loses his right hand and forearm as a result of shrapnel injuries and infection. Italian Police at first blame the Red Brigades for the crime, but few (including the Italian government) believe this. A more likely suspect are right wing extremists acting on behalf of the Falangist government in Madrid.




Thai forces and Laotian Nationalist (Royal Army and Pathet "Green" forces) recapture the devastated Laotian capital of Vientiane.


Fourteen people are killed and twenty-seven seriously injured when a Belfast pub is sprayed with machine gun fire by two gunmen. The INLA accepts responsibility, indicating that the targets were a group of IFB(PIRA) members who frequented the pub.




October 14, 1978

Acting United States President Nicholas Katzenbach vetoes a bill that would allow the home brewing of beer in the United States.


1st TV movie from a TV series-"Rescue from Gilligan's Island"


The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) organised another march in Derry to protest against the march in the city on the previous Sunday, 8 October 1978. There were clashes between Loyalists and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers which resulted in 32 policemen being injured and there was also damage to property in the city.

October 15, 1978

In a national referendum 61.1% of French voters who cast ballots (53% of all eligible voters) approve of the reduction of the Presidential term from seven years to five years, and a three consecutive term limit on any one individual holding the Presidency of the French Republic. The new term will take effect after the next Presidential election currently scheduled for May 1981. President Francois Mitterrand, the incumbent, has his current term grandfathered out of the change, so that he can stand for re-election in 1981 and potentially serve three more terms if he chooses.



The United States Congress re-convenes to deliberate the medical fitness of President George Wallace. A Joint Committee of the House and Senate is formed (The Byrd-Rhodes Committee) to conduct hearings and take evidence. The Committee of 22 members includes 6 House Democrats and 5 House Republicans, 6 Senate Republicans and 5 Senate Democrats in order to be equal in partisan terms. The joint chairmen Sen Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Rep. John A. Rhodes (R-AZ) are further chosen to reflect this bi-partisan make-up.



Before the Committee can be formed Sen. Ronald Galtieri (Lib-MT) challenges the make-up, as do the 3 House Libertarians, 2 Socialist Party Worker’s members, 1 Independent House member 1 African-American Freedom party member. Their challenge is taken up by the rules committees in both Houses, and it is agreed that the panel will be expanded to include Sen. Galtieri and one minor party representative from the House to be chosen by a drawing of lots. Rep. John Carlos (AAFP-IL) is chosen as the twenty-fourth member of the panel.



(Neither Sen. Harry Byrd (I-VA) nor Sen. Orval Faubus (I-AR) expressed interest in joining the panel).



October 16, 1978

The Royal Laotian government returns to Vientiane.


Acting President Kaztenbach signs into law a supplemental military assistance bill for Laos and Thailand.


October 17, 1978

The Boston Red Sox defeat the Philadelphia Fillies to win the 1978 World Series.


The People’s Republic of China acquires two SU-24’s and a Mirage F-1 from the Libyans which the PRC will now use to reverse engineer more advanced fighter designs.


October 20, 1978

The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is held.

After five days of wrangling over the issue of membership, the Joint Congressional Panel meets to begin hearing evidence into the medical condition of President Wallace. Because the panel must issue a report for the Senate to vote on no later than November 2 (so that the vote can take place on November 3 at the latest) it agrees not to adjourn for the elections .


Colonel Qhaddaffi of Libya awards Dominic McGlinchey of the INLA Libya’s highest military award at a ceremony in Tripoli. McGlinchey, a former PIRA member, had escaped from Portlaoise Prison in the Republic a month earlier and was named as the new Chief of Staff of the INLA while in Libya.


October 21, 1978

Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.


October 23, 1978

Sid Vicious commits suicide while at Riker's Detention Center in NYC


October 27, 1978

For the first time since 1967 the Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded. The Nobel Committee notes that little has been done to promote global peace by anyone over the year from 1977 to 1978.



Thai forces with Laotian government and nationalist Pathet Lao (“Green”) forces begin an offensive against Chinese backed Pathet Lao (“Red”) forces in Vientiane and Bolikhamsai Provinces in Laos.


October 28, 1978

In India former Prime Minister Indira Ghandi is found guilty of murder for actions relating to her State of Emergency “Rule by Decree”. Mrs. Ghandi is later sentenced to life imprisonment.



October 31, 1978

The Congressional panel of inquiry into the state of President Wallace’s health concludes that, judging from the medical evidence submitted, George Wallace is currently not fit to resume the duties and responsibilities of the Presidency. The vote is 17 – 7 in favour of this report.


Iranian oil workers go on strike for higher wages and more benefits.


People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South) adopts constitution.


November 1, 1978

The United States House of Representatives votes 301 – 134 to adopt the committee’s report and declare President Wallace unfit for office.


November 2, 1978

RTÉ 2 went on air in 1978 at 8:00 pm.


The United States Senate votes 72-28 to adopt the committee’s report and declare President Wallace medically unfit for office. Under the twenty fifth amendment, Vice President Nicholas Katzenbach will continue as acting President.

President Wallace: “Those bastards haven’t heard the last of me.”



The Soyuz 29 crew returns to earth aboard the Soyuz 31 capsule.

IFB gunmen kill three INLA members.



November 3, 1978

Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

Elvis Presley visits President Wallace in the hospital and conducts a prayer vigil with the stricken President.



November 4, 1978

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) annual conference voted that British withdrawal was 'desirable and inevitable'. The party also called for fresh talks between the British and Irish governments and representatives of the two communities in Northern Ireland.


November 5, 1978

Followers of the late Ayatollah Khomeini attack the Italian Embassy in Tehran as well as the offices of Alitalia Airlines and the El Al airline office. They stage a two day sit-in at the Italian Embassy and Alitalia offices before Iranian police and Army troops forcibly expel them.


November 7 , 1978

Governor Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL) is re-elected (to a four-year term).
Rumsfeld (Republican) (inc)---- 47% Republican hold
Hartigan (Democrat) ------------ 46%
SWP ----------------------------- 5%
AAFP ----------------------------- 2%




Governor Hugh Carey (D-NY) is re-elected.
Carey (Democrat) (inc)-------- 48% Democratic hold
Kemp (Republican) ------------ 46%
SWP ----------------------------- 3%
AAFP ----------------------------- 3%



Governor Richard Lamm (D-CO) is re-elected.
Lamm (D) (inc.) --- 48.2% Democratic hold
Republican -------- 29.2%
Libertarian ------- 18.1%
SWP --------------- 2.1%
AAFP ---------------1.1%
Others ------------- 1.3%



George H.W. Bush (R-TX) is elected as the 42nd Governor of Texas.
Bush (Republican) ------------- 41% Republican pick-up
Hill (Democrat) ------------ 40%
Libertarian ----------------------- 12%

Johnston (SWP)--------------- 2%
AAFP --------------------------- 2%
Compean (Raza Unita) ----- 1%
Others ------------------------ 2%


Former Rep. Peter McCloskey defeats incumbent Republican Governor Barry Goldwater Jr. and Democratic candidate John V. Tunney to become the first independent Governor-elect in California history (the first not representing a major party since 1914). McCloskey had rallied moderate Republican opposition to Governor Goldwater and won over many centrist Democrats who did not have faith in former Sen. Tunney’s ability to defeat Goldwater. McCloskey also mobilized a large group of independent voters to support his candidacy.


McCloskey (I) -------- 29% independent pick-up
Goldwater (R)(inc) -- 27%
Tunney (D) ---------- 25%
SWP --------------------9%
Seale (AAFP) ----------7%
Other ----------------- 3%


California voters approve California Proposition 6 (“the Briggs Initiative”), which prohibits the hiring of gay school teachers in the state, 51%-49%. The initiative had been opposed by all three Gubernatorial candidates and former Governor Ronald Reagan (who also endorsed Governor Goldwater for another term). Later analysis indicate that some “yes” votes may have been influenced by the Goldwater-Reagan opposition – people voted for it out of an aversion to being told to vote “no” by Goldwater and his supporter Reagan. Other influences was a widely condemned campaign by several evangelical churches (which supported no Gubernatorial candidate) to equate homosexuality with pedophilia.


Mid-Term Congressional Elections



A national turn-out of only 56.2% of eligible voters has a tendency to work in favour of more extreme elements at the expense of some moderate candidates, as dedicated cause supporters represent the core of the votes cast. Republicans who expected to win big are disappointed, largely because of the fragmentation of voting with a number of smaller parties running candidates. Contrary to expectations the fragmentation of votes, together with an anti-incumbent mood that transcends party lines, results in the Republicans losing a substantial number of Senate seats (mainly to anti-incumbent voting); this despite Democratic President Wallace’s poor approval ratings.


The Republicans do, however, gain control of the House of Representatives, largely as a result of vote fragmentation in a number of Democratic districts. However, the Republicans suffer the same in other parts of the country, so their pick-up is thin. (In fact 48 Republican incumbents and 54 Democratic incumbents are defeated [21% of incumbents running for re-election, a historically high number not seen since the 1930’s] however many of these cancel each other out, so that the shift to Republican control is relatively small).


Still, this result represents the first time since 1955 that the Republicans have controlled at least one House of Congress.



United States Senate Elections
Democrat: 47 + 4 = 51
Republican: 50 -4 = 46
Independent: 2-1 = 1
Libertarian: 1
Christian Values Movement: 1


President of the Senate: Nicholas Katzenbach (D) (to January 1979, then Vacant)

President Pro-Tempore of the Senate: Sen. Warren Magnuson (D-WA)
Majority Leader: Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Minority Leader: Sen. William E. Brock (R-TN)




United States House of Representatives Elections
Republicans: 213 + 12 = 225
Democrats: 215 – 14 = 201
Libertarians: 3 + 1= 4
SWP : 2+ 0 = 2
AAFP: 1+ 1 = 2
Christian Values Movement =1


Speaker of the House: Trent Lott (R-MS)
Majority Leader: Delbert L. "Del" Latta (R-OH)
Minority Leader: John Brademas (D-IN)



The House Republican caucus voted on the Speaker as follows:



Rep. Trent Lott (R-MS) ------- 113
Rep. Robert Michel (R-MI) --- 110
Rep. Robert Dornan (R-CA)---- 2


Rep. Trent Lott was elected Speaker of the House. Vote was later confirmed by a ballot of the full House membership 225 – 210.


The House Republican caucus voted on the Majority Leader as follows:


Rep. Delbert Latta (R-OH) -------- 116
Rep. Donald J. Mitchell (R-NY) --- 109
-----------------------------------------------


Agnew On Point

Today we have the House of Representatives back to the side of freedom because you, my friends, through your ballots demanded that it be so. You have proven that America can still work for free men and women when they come together to vote for proper, Constitution honouring candidates.

Unfortunately, one of our number has fallen to the powers of falsehood and liberal venality in the great state of California. Governor Barry Goldwater, like a prophet of ancient yore, offered them light and truth, but instead the masses cleaved onto the bitter fruits and empty blandishments of a bitter man who should be reviled by all freedom loving Americans. Peter McCloksey betrayed his party and his president once, and low by his actions set in motion the events which, after I was brought down by the liberal conspiracy, brought this nation to its economic knees.


California, Barry Goldwater offered you hope, but you have chosen the bitter water of the poisoned well. Low be unto you. California, by your actions, you have doomed yourself.

Fortunately, my old friend Donald Rumsfeld has been returned to the Illinois State House, and George Bush has carried the cause of Constitutionalism and patriotism into the State House in Austin. But their struggles will be long and fiercely resisted by the liberals who will sting them with every sling and arrow of left-wing misfortune they can dream-up to slow them these Governors in their mission.


The fight has only begun, my friends, and you must continue to fight it, to carry it forward to the next battles.. The White House and the Senate are in need of liberation from the nattering nabobs. The struggle continues, and we shall win.
---------------------------------------------------------------------


November 10, 1978

A series of riots break out in Medina and Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The original source is said to have been a Torah found among the effects of a Saudi Royal official who was detained by the religious police for “suspicious activity.” Rumours quickly spread among the Muslim faithful of apostasy among the Saudi officials, which leads to further disquiet and violence. Rioting soon spreads to other cities in the Saudi Kingdom was over the next week efforts by the Saudi regime to reign in street violence fail and radical religious leaders take control of the crowds.



Thai and Laotian nationalist forces manage to drive the “Red” Pathet Lao forces into a wedge in Central Laos, from where they are attacked on one side by the Thai-Lao forces and North Vietnamese forces on the other. The North Vietnamese forces also block an escape by the Chinese backed Pathet Lao forces north toward the PRC. Instead they are driven south toward the South Vietnamese and Cambodian borders.

The U.S. begins an air and sealift of military supplies to South Vietnam, Thailand, the Laotian Royal government and (more covertly) North Vietnam.


November 14, 1978

The INLA carried out seven bomb attacks in towns across Northern Ireland. Serious damage was caused in attacks in Armagh, Belfast, Castlederg, Cookstown, Derry and Enniskillen. Thirty-seven people were injured in the attacks.




November 18, 1978

In San Francisco former People’s Temple cult leader and anti-poverty activist Jim Jones is arrested by the FBI and IRS on charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to launder money.

Felipe González Márquez, the General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), is assassinated in Paris. The Spanish government are the immediate suspects, although there is no proof. A claim of responsibility is made in the name of ETA, but ETA quickly disavows the attack. Two Cuban citizens are arrested for suspicion of involvement with the crime, but both men are later unmasked as Argentine mercenaries living in France using forged Cuban documents.


President Mitterrand condemns the killing of a man he describes as his “friend” and “a true democrat.” France and Britain both downgrade relations with Spain as a result.


The KGB defector Oleg Gordievsky later informs British intelligence that the two Argentines involved were in fact anti-regime leftists who were hired by the Soviets (acting through the Bulgarians) to kill Gonzalez and in so doing de-stabilize a united effort at peaceful removal of the Falangist government in Spain.


Alfonso Guerra González (no relation) is elected to succeed Gonzalez Marquez as General Secretary of the PSOE.




November 19, 1978

The first U.S. Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.

The House Foreign Relations Committee begins inquiries into the Wallace Administration’s actions in Nicaragua. It is soon joined by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a parallel investigation.



November 21, 1978

Amidst popular unrest and disorder, King Abdullah officially abdicates and King of Saudi Arabia. He and a number of Royal Princes flee into exile. Prince Bandar – is appointed “caretaker” but not elevated to the title of King. The next day Prince Bandar summons the Umma council is a Shura to declare a new Islamic government for the former Saudi Arabia.



November 22, 1978

The Islamic Caliphate of Arabia is declared, replacing the old Saudi Arabian Kingdom. The Umma council assumes control as the executive organ of state under the name of “the national Shura”: it is for the moment a collective leadership with no one figure as “the leader.” A moratorium on the export of petroleum is declared while religious scholars are charged with examining the question of whether petroleum is “un-Islamic.”


November 23, 1978

The world price of oil climbs $ 7.00 per barrel over night. Stock markets around the world fall as limited economic progress is threatened by a new oil crisis.



November 24, 1978

The National Salvation Council of Iran announces that Iran will increase output to stabilize world oil markets. This announcement is met with rioting and disorder in Iran launched by anti-western religious elements and by the Soviet backed MEK. This in turn forces a crackdown by the military, which leads to further fighting.


The ICE begins the process of expelling all non-Islamic foreigners and nationalizing all non-Islamic owned foreign assets in the country. Accredited foreign diplomats are not part of the expulsion at this point, however many foreign diplomatic missions begin the process of downsizing their staffs and sending dependants home.


November 26, 1978

ZPLF forces begin an offensive across northern Rhodesia, largely killing all who oppose them and many who get in their way.

First lesbian theme TV movie - "Question of Love" – appears on U.S. television.


Albert Miles, then Deputy Governor of Crumlin Road Prison, was shot dead by the Irish Free Brigade (IFB) outside his home in Evelyn Gardens, Belfast.




November 27, 1978

In San Francisco, California, Mayor George Moscone is wounded and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.



November 28, 1978

The Cincinnati Reds fire manager Sparky Anderson after 9 years.


November 29, 1978

UN observes an "International day of solidarity with Palestinian people," boycotted by US and 20 other countries.


November 30, 1978

Publication of The Times is suspended due to labour problems until November 13, 1979.


People’s Liberation Army Forces sweep south into Laos to relieve pressure on their Pathet Lao “Red” allies; the PLA forces are initially successful against the NVA and Thai-Pathet Lao “Green” forces.



December 1, 1978

PLA forces cross the North Vietnamese border in an offensive designed to relive pressure on their Pathet Lao “Red” allies and distract the North Vietnamese. After two weeks of offensive operations the PLA threaten Hanoi itself.


The IFB carried out a series of reprisal attacks against INLA safe houses in Northern Ireland.


December 2, 1978

Chanting "Allah is Great," anti-government protesters march through Tehran.


December 4, 1978

Mayor George Moscone of San Francisco resumes his official duties. He attends an official memorial for Supervisor Harvey Milk.


Pioneer Venus 1 goes into orbit around Venus.



At the written request of President Wallace (submitted to the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate) the joint Congressional Committee Regarding the President’s fitness to serve reconvenes, to hear testimony as to the President’s fitness to serve from President Wallace’s physicians and from President Wallace himself. On the first day the doctors go over Wallace’s condition in detail.


December 5, 1978

Elvis Presley appears before the Joint Congressional Committee and testifies to President Wallace’s spiritual strength and determination, and his belief from close personal observation that the President is ready to resume his duties.




In the high moment of drama President Wallace is rolled into the hearing room. With a clear voice he takes the oath.


Sen. Byrd (Chair): “With all due respect Mr. President, we have only one question before us, and this whether or not you are healthy enough to resume the Presidency. Your letter is all the Constitution requires, but you have requested that we meet and deliberate the matter, so at your request, Mr. President, here we are.”



President: “Thank-you Senator Byrd, Representative Rhodes, distinguished Senators and Representatives. You have seen the medical testimony, the evidence is there, and here I am. Fit as a fiddle. Am I physically challenged? Yes, of course I am. My wounds, like those of a soldier returning from battle, mark me for life. But my mind, my reason – they are as sound as ever. What is more my heart, my passion for this country and its people is as alive now as it ever was. I am, and have always been a fighter, and with the strength of God at my side I have fought this most recent assailant and I have won. It has not been easy, but I sit before you a renewed and strengthened man.


"Am I ready to resume the Presidency? (At this point he half rises with his hands pressed to the table, in a kind of upper body muscle lift). I am. I am here to show you, I am ready to be President. (Sits back down in the wheelchair, assisted by a Secret Service Agent). The words in my letter to Speaker Rodinio and Senator Eastland are just words, but here is my testament, living and in full flush of energy, before you all. Look at me. Do you see a sick man? I am ready to return to the Presidency. I am eager to return to the office to which the American people elected me and to carry forward their work in this most challenging of times. Ladies and gentlemen, I am the President of the United States, and I am ready.”


While the committee deliberates the President is wheeled to the ceremonial office of the Vice President in the Capitol. Once inside, with the door locked, the President slumps in his wheelchair and lets out a sob of pain.


Bill Nichols: “You took a Hell of chance in there, pushing it like that.”


President (coughs): “If you’re gonna play in the big leagues, then you go for it all, or go home, Bill. And I ain’t goin’ home.”
--------------------------------------------------------


December 6, 1978

Spanish King Felipe IV signs a decree appointing the Falangist Grand Council as the “sole, legitimate body for the selection of Spanish governing authority.”


The Joint Congressional Panel votes 22-2 that President Wallace is fit to resume office. The two dissenters are Sen. Ronald Galtieri (Lib-MT) and Rep. John Carlos (AAFP-IL).

President George C. Wallace is re-instated to his office.


From: The Memoir of Bill Nichols

The panel vote wasn’t even necessary; all the President had to do to meet the Constitutional requirement was submit a letter stating he was fit, which he did. But, after Katzenbach had undercut his first letter, the President needed to prove his point in a public forum, to prevent Katzenbach and the Cabinet from simply overruling him with another letter. It could have gone on endlessly like that.


The President proved his point and he got a vote that re-instated him. Since the vote of the panel wasn’t Constitutionally required, there was no need to go through the process of going through a vote of both Houses. Katzenbach and the Cabinet didn’t challenge it, in part because they knew they didn’t have a leg to stand on, and I think once the hand writing was on the wall, Katzenbach saw most of his Cabinet support disappear anyway.


The vote was strictly symbolic. Since a vote by the panel had lead to a vote by both Houses of Congress to temporarily remove the President, he felt that he need a vote behind him, if only for symbolic closure to the country at large. With a vote to reverse its earlier finding, the panel seemed to put to rest the whole chapter in a neat, orderly and democratic fashion which would firmly close the lid on any further questions about George Wallace’s Constitutional legitimacy.


Immediately after I asked him what we should do about the Vice President. With that dark gleam in his eye that he usually got when he was calculating how to strike an opponent the President said:


“Nothin’ for now. Let the dust settle; let him get comfortable. Then ... we’ll talk about it...”


Meanwhile, I was given the task of preparing a short list of replacements for the Vice President.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



December 8, 1978

In Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood organizes a series of demonstrations in support of the Arabian Islamic Revolution. The Egyptian Army cracks down on these. This leads to a series of similar demonstrations on December 15, 22 and 29th, all with an anti-government and anti-western flavour.


December 9, 1978

Pioneer Venus 2 drops 5 probes into atmosphere of Venus.

December 10, 1978

New York Police and the FBI arrest six men who had planned to rob a Lufthansa cargo facility at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport the next day.



Assisted by the US Air Force, South Vietnamese Army units are airlifted into Hanoi and other parts of North Vietnam to reinforce North Vietnamese units. The two Vietnams are involved in a joint exercise to protect Vietnamese territory from Chinese incursions. The U.S. also arranges for Taiwanese Special Forces units to assist the Vietnamese.


The U.N. Security Council votes a resolution to condemn the outbreak of warfare in Southeast Asia. The United States uses the threat of a veto to block any effort to sanction Thailand or South Vietnam and the Soviet Union uses its veto threat to safeguard North Vietnam. Limited sanctions are approved against the Khmer Republic.



December 12, 1978

Four people were injured by parcel bombs in Belfast and Lisburn. Three of those injured were the wives of prison officers and the fourth was a postman.


December 13, 1978

The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation.


December 14, 1978

Rhodesian Defence Forces use a dirty bomb (a conventional bomb wrapped in radioactive material) on ZPLF forces. The invaders are also met with extensive use of mustard gas and anthrax, which quickly infects the eco systems of northern Rhodesia and drifts across the Zambezi River into Zambia.



December 15, 1978

Cleveland, Ohio becomes the second major American city to go into default since the Great Depression, under Mayor Dennis Kucinich.


December 15 – 17, 1978

The revived Communist Party of Iran joins with the MEK in staging a two day “worker’s rights” general strike across Iran.


December 17, 1978

Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda.


December 19, 1978

Former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is arrested and jailed for a week for breach of privilege and contempt of parliament.


PLA forces manage to open a corridor through central Laos allowing Pathet Lao Red forces to move north toward their PRC supported bases. Meanwhile South Vietnamese forces have moved into Southern Laos from South Vietnam and Cambodia to conduct offensive operations against the Pathet “Red” forces.



December 20, 1978

Former Nixon White House Chief of Staff and Watergate conspirator H.R. Haldeman is released from prison.



December 21, 1978

Licio Gelli, Grandmaster of the P2 (Propaganda Due) Lodge meets with media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, Franco Di Bella, director of the right-wing newspaper Corriere della Sera, Angelo Rizzoli, owner of Corriere della Sera, Federico Umberto D'Amato, leader of an intelligence cell (Ufficio affari riservati) in the Italian Minister of Interior, General Giuseppe Santovito, head of the military intelligence service SISMI, General Giulio Grassini, head of the intelligence service SISDE, Admiral Giovanni Torrisi, Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Fabrizio Cicchitto, member of the Italian Socialist Party, Publio Fiori, Christian Democrat politician, General Orazio Giannini, deputy commander of the Guardia di Finanza and Roberto Calvi, banker. The main point of discussion is a plan of action to unseat the PCI government and prevent a recurrence of their being elected. According to some reports there were also CIA officers present at the meeting, although their identities have not been confirmed. The meeting arrives at a program of “de-stabilization” as a first step toward ridding them of the Communist government.



December 21, 1978

French sponsored talks between the UK government and Sein Fein break off after four months of deadlock over the questions of disarmament and proportional representation formulas in Northern Ireland. The UK and SF also cannot reach an agreement on a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Northern Ireland.


December 22, 1978

The December coup. At the eleventh party Congress Mao Yuan-jin (“the Lesser Mao”), currently holding the position of Secretary to the Central committee reads a letter from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (then said to be in retreat) calling for the “rejuvenation of the Revolution” and “the retirement of old blood to positions of guidance as the new generation tales the helm.” The Lesser Mao retires much of the old guard left in the Central Committee and Politburo and replaces them with his followers. He also secures his own election as Deputy General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (with the elder Mao retaining the title though he is not seen publicly.). At this point, for the first time, the younger Mao becomes more visible as the leader of the People’s Republic of China.

The Lesser Mao also publishes the famous maxim that while a cat of any colour may catch mice, it is only the largest, fiercest ("the tiger") which will have its choice of which mice to catch, and which will feast on the other cats if necessary. China is the "Red Tiger" and only the Party lead by Mao Yuan-jin, guided by his Great Uncle, has the vision as to lead China and make it the "supreme Tiger" upon the Earth.


Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who was subsequently convicted of the murder of 33 young men, is arrested.


Skylab VIII safely returns to Earth.


The United Nations Security Council votes further sanctions against Rhodesia and condemns the use of nuclear and chemical weapons by the RDF. The Healey government instructs the British Ambassador at the UN to vote in favour of the sanctions.





Enoch Powell MP (UU- South Down): “The Rivers of Rhodesia now run red with the blood of whites and blacks, and this has largely been the fault of this government and its predecessors to address the situation with resolution, before it was too late. This House knows I find no comfort in the flagrant actions of the Rhodesian Front in casting aside their sworn oaths to the British crown, but such they did. Now, in consequence of their action, and that of the current authority, the former colony is about to be overrun by a mob in what can only be the bloody climax of a long and unnecessary conflict. This country has neither the power to stop it, not it seems the will. The United States, if it has any regard in the matter, seems intent on allowing the bloodshed to continue indefinitely. Will this government not find the moral courage to at least make an offer of peace?”


James Callaghan MP (Lab - Foreign Secretary): “His Majesty’s government remains adamant that a peaceful transition to majority rule is the only acceptable solution to the Rhodesian crisis. We do, in fact, deplore the interference of outside powers in fortifying the fight on both sides, which can, as the honourable member points out, lead only to further bloodshed. Would we prefer a peaceful resolution? Certainly. The unfortunate fact is that we have no one to negotiate with, as both sides in the conflict have closed themselves off to reason and negotiation. Short of direct military action from the outside – an unlikely prospect and one this government cannot entertain without international co-operation and United Nations sanction – I fear that Rhodesia’s problems will be settled in a bloody matter and that many of her people will suffer as a result.”


Enoch Powell: “Whom should we cry the most for – the Rhodesians of both races who will suffer for the weakness of this government; or the spectre of the once great Empire reduced to impotent witness to horror.”

Barbara Castle MP (Lab. - Deputy Prime Minister): “Cry all the crocodile tears you wish, the essential fact remains that the current situation has been brought about by the intransigence of the last members of a colonial elite who will not accept that the time of Imperial privilege and all its abominations has come to an end. Let the rebels in Salisbury lay down their arms and come out, let them offer to the Africans of Zimbabwe the justice of their rightful homeland as a free and independent nation, and we shall declare it was well done. But to do any less, to stand for the exploitation of an oppressed people by a class of colonial parasites under any guise, this cannot be acceptable to us, and will not be acceptable to the people of Zimbabwe who aspire to be free.”



Keith Joseph MP (Cons. Leeds North East) “So ends British greatness, with a whimper and a Gallic shrug. Oh, de Gaulle would have laughed with joy. Let there be mayhem afar, we stand neutered on our island uttering solemn platitudes of moral courage and uprightness, all to mask our indifference. Four years ago we sent our young men to fight in Syria in the name of stability and peace, arguably to a place of faint connection with British responsibility. But we did not shirk our responsibility. Now when our one-time colony – our creature – is set to fall into the blood-bath of anarchy, we mumble about freedom and responsibility, and yet His Majesty’s government resolves to do nothing, for nothing is all that we can do? It truly is enough to make the heart sick and the honoured dead weep.”



Denis Healey (privately): “Fuck them! What would they have me do, send in the Army? Then they’d cry like two year olds getting their first needle when our troops started dying. I curse Wilson for not settling this when he had a chance.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Due to the war in Laos, Thailand postpones adoption of a new Constitution.




Argentina started the Operation Soberanía against Chile.


The Argentine Government planned to first occupy the islands around Cape Horn and then, in a second phase, either to stop or continue hostilities according to the Chilean reaction. Argentina had already drafted a declaration of war.


An Argentine complaint in the UN Security Council over Chile's military occupation of the disputed islands preceded the attack. The UN Security Council agreed to look into the matter, but advised Argentina to take no action against Chile.


The Argentine government ignored efforts by the Vatican to intercede and prevent a conflict. Instead, under President Massera’s personal direction the Argentines continued with war plans.


The Argentines planned amphibious landings to seize the islands southwards of the Beagle Channel, along with massive land-based attacks:


1.at 20:00 on 22 December 1978 a task force of the Argentine Navy and the Argentine Marines ( Batallón N° 5 ) under the command of Humberto José Barbuzzi moved to seize the islands Horn, Freycinet, Hershell, Deceit and Wollaston.


2.at 22:00 on 22 December 1978 the Argentine task force (with Batallones N° 3 und N° 4 of the Naval Infantry) moved to seize Picton, Nueva und Lennox islands and secure for the navy the east mouth of the Beagle Channel.


3.at 24:00 on 22 December 1978 an invasion of continental Chile began. The Fifth Army Corps under command of José Antonio Vaquero was to seize Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, the largest two cities of the Chilean Magallanes Region.


4.at daylight 23 December 1978 the Argentine Argentine Air Force began attacks against Chilean Air Force.


5.The follow-up was to be the Third Army Corps under the command of Luciano Benjamín Menéndez which would start an offensive through the Andean passes of "Libertadores", "Maipo" and "Puyehue" (today Cardenal Samore Pass) to seize Santiago, Valparaíso and the Los Lagos Region.


The Second Army Corps under the command of Leopoldo Galtieri would protect the north of Argentina from a potential Brazilian attack and its II Brigada de Caballería blindada would protect the Argentine region of Río Mayo in Chubut Province from a possible Chilean attack.


The Argentine Armed Forces expected between 30,000 and 50,000 dead in the course of the war.


For the postwar phase of the operation, the Argentine Navy prepared political instructions to be followed in the southern zone after the disputed islands were under Argentine sovereignty. They defined the new border, navigation rights for Chilean ships, instructions in case of confrontations with the Chilean Navy, dealing with injured personnel, prisoners of war etc.


The execution proved to be a disaster. The Chileans were prepared for the attack .


There was no surprise factor, since the Chilean military kept movements of the Argentine fleet under surveillance and monitored the build-up of Argentine troops. Chilean troops were deployed along the border, ready to meet any invaders.


Chile planted mines in certain areas along its borders with Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, and dynamited some mountain passes. Parts of route 9-CH between Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales were selected to serve as extra airstrips in the case of an invasion. A defensive position was built up the narrowest part of Brunswick Peninsula in order to avoid or delay an Argentine capture of Punta Arenas. In the Puerto Natales area the Chilean army prepared for guerrilla warfare if the defensive lines would be penetrated. In contrast to the defensive war planned by the Chilean Army in Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, the Chilean army had plans for an attack to invade the Argentine part of Tierra del Fuego, but the control of Tierra del Fuego Island was considered a secondary goal since its control was believed to depend on the outcome of the clash of the navies.


The combat-ready Chilean fleet sailed on 22 December 1978 from the fjords of Hoste Island to frustrate an Argentine landing. Rear Admiral Raúl López, Chief of the Chilean fleet, kept silent as to whether he would simply wait or initiate an attack on the enemy navy. When the Argentine Navy proceeded with the attack, Admiral Lopez did indeed attack them.


The Argentine Navy was also hampered by a severe storm on December 22nd. President Massera (a former head of the Argentine Navy) personally overrode his Admirals and ordered that attack proceed despite unfavourable weather.


Over the course of the next week, December 22 – December 29, 1978, the Chileans not only successfully defended their own territory, but they also pushed back into Argentina, all but wiping out the Argentine Air Force in the process. In the north a Chilean Army successfully pushed back General Galtieri’s Second Army from its defensive positions.


Argentine casualties were estimated at close to 65,000 or more by December 30, 1978.


The Chileans were prevented from taking advantage of their early victories and pressing an offensive into Argentina only by extreme political pressure from the United States. Secretary of State Henry Jackson personally negotiated a cease fire between the two combatants. His job on the Argentine side was made easier by the complete collapse of domestic political support for the junta after the initial attacks failed.


December 25, 1978

South Vietnamese forces in Cambodia are attacked by the Cambodian Army of the Lon Nol regime. The South Vietnamese are too heavily engaged in fighting in North Vietnam and Laos to adequately protect their rear bases in Cambodia and are forced to withdraw from previously occupied positions into toward the South Vietnamese and Laotian border.


There is no evidence that the Cambodian attacks are being co-ordinated with the PRC, but the United States nonetheless warns the Lon Nol government (which is still highly dependent on U.S. military aid) to cease its attacks on the South Vietnamese. With Washington’s warning, Cambodian attacks on the South Vietnamese abate, but hostile incidents among the combatants at the individual unit level continue along their frontiers..


December 27, 1978

Spanish Prime Minister Jaime Milans del Bosch officially declares that “democracy is not for Spain.”


In an effort to promote stability President Gamsay of Egypt meets with “Imam Bandar” (he no longer uses a royal title) and members of the ICA Shura. The Shura in return demands that Gamsay allow the Muslim Brotherhood to participate in the Egyptian government.


December 28, 1979

The White House Residence (a closed meeting between President Wallace and Vice President Katzenbach only).

The President is sitting-up in a hospital bed whose back has been elevated to support him. The Vice President stands next to the bed.

Wallace: We can’t continue like this. There has to be an accounting for what happened.


Katzenbach: You were ill, Mr. President, and I – along with the Cabinet – invoked the Constitution to prevent a crisis.


W: The first time, right, I’ll give you that, Nick. But the second time, no, you were playin’ for something else.


K: I disagree and I resent that charge. You were unfit for office...


W: That was a matter of opinion...


K: Medical opinion.


W: Convenient medical opinion, for you. But I found doctors who could see it more clearly, better doctors.


K: You sold it to Congress, Mr. President, but there’s a lot of opinion – professional opinion - out there that your doctors are quacks.


W: Still, here I am, and you’re not likely to get enough Cabinet signatures on another letter.


K: They’re all sweating it out, waiting to see who you’ll sack over this.


W: I should sack’em all; the whole back stabbing bunch, but we both know I can’t do that. We’d look like a goddamn banana republic that just survived a coup. Christ, how would that look in Moscow?


K: I’m glad you see that, sir.



W: You know, that’s what I hate about all you superior, nose in the air, northeast fucking liberals. Y’all think you know everything and me, and the rest of America, we just fell off the truck ignorant as new born babe. Well, Goddamn you and your airs – Mr. Vice President – because I damn well can see that and a lot more. If I fire the whole Cabinet I might as well kiss my Presidency good bye because I’ll be a second rate joke for the rest of my term. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?



K: I completely disagree – about your view of my motives, or those of the Cabinet. You’re right about the effect of a mass firing on public and international perception.


W: You’re the one guy I can’t fire; the one guy protected by the Constitution in all of this.


K: I don’t work for you, not like the Cabinet. I’ll stay and preside over the Senate, and say nothing more.


W: No, you don’t get off that easy, Nick. Because you are the one guy I can’t fire, you are the guy who has to take responsibility for this and step down. You take the hit, and give the rest of them cover.


K: You’re suggesting I publicly state I was wrong to do what I did?


W: Congress already implied it.


K: You fixed that.


W: They voted on it. You like to take the public view, the international view: ok, see it like this. How does it look if I’ve got a Vice President standing behind me who looks like he’s waitin’ to grab power any minute? They’ll be watching your every move, waitin’ for your next power grab. Now how does that look to the world? No one, and I mean no one, will think I have the real power to act as President as long as you’re in the wings.


K (after a pause): I do see your point.


W: You go, and I can keep the Cabinet. Makes ‘em look less like a bunch of coup plotters if you agree to go. Once you’re gone I’ll get ‘em all to reaffirm their loyalty to me. But if you stay, and they stay, then everyone will ask “who’s Cabinet are they really?” That effect’ll be as bad as my firing them outright. We can’t run a government like that.


K: I resign, and take full responsibility, point out that the Cabinet was acting Constitutionally...


W: Makes it clear their loyalty is to the President, and you get a chance to make it clear that you didn’t do this as a cheap grab for the Presidency yourself. Your honor among your liberal friends will be saved.



K: I have never been disloyal to you or this Administration.


W: The second letter was disloyal! You bunch of eggheads and liberals just don’t get that, do you? I am the President and I said I was fit to serve, and you argued with me in public. That was disloyal and it makes my Administration look like the Mutiny on the Bounty. Hell, you threw me into the row boat with that second letter, like you were telling me to row off to Tahiti and rot while you ran the government. I am the elected President, and it is my judgment that the voters wanted in this office, not yours. With what you did, you stepped all over me – and them.


K: That’s a harsh view of the situation.


W: Yes, and that’s the Republican view of it.


K: You were too ill to take back the job in October.


W: I said I could take it back, and you refused to support me. No matter what my actual condition was, that created doubt, it made us look divided and weak.


K: We should have let a sick man serve as President? How would that project stability?


W: Nick, if I’m to convince the people and the world that our Administration is stable, I need them – the Cabinet, the government, behind me. I don’t need you. Frankly, you’re the easiest to replace. You have got to go.


K: I will never say that I acted wrongly, and I maintain that I acted out of concern for the Constitution.


W: As a former Vice President you can say whatever the Hell you want. Just not on the federal payroll.


K: You do realize that’ll put Trent Lott next in line for the Presidency?


W: Scary prospect, isn’t it?
----------------------------------------------------------------


December 29, 1978

The Argentine President Emilio Massera issues an official letter to the Chilean government, via the United States, suing for peace and asking for a cease fire.



Having suffered nearly 70,000(est.) casualties in North Vietnam and a similar number in Laos, the PLA begins a withdrawl before the joint Vietnamese forces toward the Sino-Vietnamese border. At the same time PLA resources are used to reinforce the Pathet Lao “Red” enclave in northern Laos.



December 30, 1979

President Massera and the other members of the Argentine military junta resign in disgrace after the failure of Operation Soberanía. An interim body composed of leaders from various civilian political parties takes temporary control, with a Presidential election to be scheduled in April and that to be followed by Congressional elections.


December 31, 1978

Under pressure from the Wallace Administration the Chilean government accepts the proposed cease fire with Argentina.

January 1, 1979

The International Year of the Child begins.

Jura, the 26th canton of Switzerland, established.


January 2, 1979

Vice President Nicholas Katzenbach resigns from office.


“Let no one ever doubt that I acted in the furtherance of my Constitutional duty, and in resigning my office I wish to show to the people of the United States and the rest of the world that Constitutional government functions unimpeded in our great land. It was never my wish to take an office to which I had not been freely elected by our people, and today I step aside so that another may fill the office of Vice President and thus clear away for good any doubts as to my motives and intentions and those of the Cabinet.”



Colonel Muammar Qhaddaffi, leader of Libya, meets with the ICA Shura to propose “Arab Revolutionary Solidarity.” Instead he is treated to a stern lecture from Imam Bandar and several others condemning his socialist deviations from Islam and for the un-Islamic cult of personality he has built around himself and his regime.




Sunni religious extremists stage a noisy demonstration in Damascus, Syria in favour of the Arabian Revolution and against the continued occupation by foreign powers.



A combined Thai-Lao and joint Vietnamese offensive closes the Pathet Lao “Red” escape corridor from the south of Laos. While allied forces are stopped from moving North by the PLA defensive line (the Thais are reluctant to take on the PLA in any further battles, having secured their own frontier areas) joint Vietnamese and Lao Nationalist forces begin mop-up operations against remaining Pathet Lao “Red” units in Bolikhamsai and Champasak provinces.



With the encouragement of the United States, Yugoslavia and India undertake an effort to mediate a ceasefire between the warring parties.


The massacre of Karoi. Both the ZPLF and the RDF are blamed for the death from chemical toxins and by murder from firearms and knives of some 8,000 – 11,000 civillians.




January 3, 1979

The 96th United States Congress takes office. Rep. Trent Lott (R-MS) is sworn in as the 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He now stands first in line to succeed to the Presidency.




January 4, 1979

President Wallace submits the name of Colorado Governor Richard Lamm to the House and Senate as a candidate for the office of Vice President.



From: The Memoir of Bill Nichols

Even if it hadn’t been for the health crisis, the President had planned to dump Nick Katzenbach from the ticket in 1980. “Katz” had helped him overcome the baggage of his 1960’s anti-civil rights stance in a dramatic fashion, and that had been important in 1976. But keeping him on was, the President felt, stale. He wanted to liven-up the Democratic ticket in 1980 with at least one fresh face. The crisis in late 1978 merely brought the decision time forward by a year and a bit.

The President settled on Governor Dick Lamm of Colorado as both his next VP and 1980 running mate after Lamm won a tough re-election battle in 1978. Lamm was a westerner, a moderate and as Governor had delivered on his promises despite tough economic circumstances. He was also a bit of a maverick when it came to strict party identification – Dick had worked with Republicans in his own state to get things done. The President admired this and figured it would add cross-over appeal to the 1980 ticket. He also made the calculation that with Governor Lamm on the ticket, they had a strong chance to pick-up Colorado and perhaps one or two other Western states in the Electoral College.


There was no question we could get Lamm through the incoming Senate with little trouble; even a number of moderate Republicans were supportive. The challenge was going to be the House, where we expected that Trent Lott and his crew might dig their heels in because they would consider Dick Lamm too effective as a potential VP, and in effect a potent candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1984. We suspected that, with both 1980 and 1984 in their minds, they weren’t going to let Governor Lamm go through without a hard fight.


The President, for his part, was more than ready to mix it up with the Republicans over this. He wasn’t going to let it pass like he had Briscoe’s nomination for Energy Secretary. If it was drawn out through the election, he decided that he would run with Lamm anyway, and hang the failure to approve his candidate around the House Republicans’ collective neck if they strung it out that long.


Personally, I thought we’d have a turf fight with Lott – who after all had to establish his credibility as the new Speaker – but in the end I was certain we’d get the nomination through.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

January 5, 1979

The committee of Religious Scholars assigned by the ICA Shura to review the Islamic nature of the petroleum business concludes that trading in Petroleum is “un-Islamic” and no different than the opium trade. The lengthy report of the scholars points out how the petroleum trade has been used by the infidel Empires to impose their power on others and attack Islam. The fortunes it has brought to the former Saudi Arabia corrupted the nature of the regime and its people, and “fouled the home of the holy sites.” Petroleum, like opium, “leads to addiction, enslavement and the abandonment of Islamic values.”

Two members of the INLA were killed in a car in Ardoyne, Belfast, when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely. It was believed that they planned to use the bomb against a prison officer.


January 6, 1979

The Shura Council of the ICA declares the trading in oil to be “un-Islamic” and pronounces a death penalty for anyone convicted of involvement in oil trading. The Council orders the destruction of all oil facilities in the former Saudi Kingdom.


President Wallace receives a delegation of Ambassadors from Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and North Yemen, all anxious for U.S. support against the Arabian Revolution. A report from U.S. Ambassador to Oman Marshall Wiley declares that Sultan Qaboos is “in a state … close to hysteria.”


January 7, 1979

Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, rapidly overrunning the small state. Iraq claims this is a preventative measure to protect Kuwait from the “anarchy” in the former Saudi Kingdom. However, Iraqi propaganda quickly raises the contention that Kuwait is in reality the nineteenth province if Iraq, and that it was separated from Iraq illegally during the period of British colonial rule.


January 8, 1979

Unknown terrorists (the MEK later takes responsibility) set off a bomb, damaging the Iranian oil terminal at Kharg Island. This sets off further instability in world oil markets.


King Hussein of Jordan arrives in Washington to discuss military support for his Kingdom against the Iraqis and the Saudis. President Wallace and Secretary of State Jackson are willing to offer support, in exchange for a Jordanian recognition of Israel, placing the otherwise feisty King between a rock, a hard place and the fires of Hell.



January 9, 1979

Both Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ron Dellums and Secretary of Labour Shirley Chisholm resign from the Wallace Administration cabinet.


Chisholm(reading from a prepared statement; Dellums standing behind her): "Both Secretary Dellums and I have concluded that this President has turned his back on the promises he has made to the poor, the needy and the hungry in this land. Instead of addressing the real needs of the unemployed, he has gone off on a glory trip designed to enhance his standing in the polls with populist gimmicks and sleights of hand which appeal to some, but provide no lasting benefit to anyone. In having abadoned the people who need him most, President Wallace has turned his back on those promises he made to urban community leaders during the campaign and this has had the effect of turning more of the electorate cynical and divided. If you look at the recent gains made by the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, you will see that Republicans have made exploited divided communites, often electing representatives by marginal votes from a third of the electorate or less. Such free-rider Republicans, and there are many of them in this ninety-sixth Congress, they neither understand nor empahtize with their constituents and will be the tools of others, their votes bought and paid for by a corporate elite while they themselves do not worry about being bound to a divided consituency where a small and unrepresentative minority elected them, and under present circumstances, can conspire to keep them in office.


"The President, in abandoing these communites, has by his very neglect and indifference - by the cynicism and anger he has evoked by making promises to these communites and then breaking them - contributed to the radicalization which has so polarized so many communities in need, that the voice of the radicals drowns out the voices of the sensible, and the Republicans who are the enemies of the poor and unemployed, can exploit the division to bring to Washington unaccountable representatives who will stand against the very policies which can assist their communites. Mr. Dellums and I will no longer remain silent as this occurs, instead we are here today to speak out against this political trend and the President who should not have let it happen, but has."


Reporter: "Is this in any way related to the recent resignation of Vice President Katzenbach?"


Dellums: "Nick Katzenbach is a progressive and a good friend of the poor and the oppressed. I make it no secret, and neither does Miss Chisholm, that it was the presence of Mr. Katzenbach in this Administration, and his persuation, which in part convinced us to join the Cabinet under a President whose past record did not meet with our support. But our leaving has nothing whatsoever to do with Mr. Katzenbach's depature, which was a matter between the former Vice President and the President. Our disagreement with President Wallace is one of policy and priority which transcends any personality, and our resignation is based on this division between ourselves and the President."

From Ron Dellums – Going Left to be Right


Katz’s resignation didn’t come as a complete surprise. Someone had to take the fall for what had happened, and firing the Cabinet would have made Wallace’s Administration look very unstable. Getting the Vice President out of the way at least ended the speculation about the next time the Constitution would be used to undermine the President. That in turn brought back a kind of token stability, in the sense that none of us, without Katz, could try to take over again.


Even so, in spite of the sound reasoning for the Vice President’s resignation, it still deprived the Administration of a sound progressive voice, and it served as a clear sign of the direction in which this President was going. What Shirley had said at our press conference was true, we had joined the Wallace Administration not because we had any love for George Wallace, but because he had sold us on the idea that he was reformed, and that bringing Nicholas Katzenbach on in the second spot was the evidence of it. Now he had tossed that aside, even as it seemed he was tossing the progressive wing of the Democratic Party under the bus.


In September 1978 Eugene McCarthy gave a speech at the University of Pennsylvania in which he said that the old George Wallace of the 1960’s was breaking out from under the kinder, gentler mask of the late 1970’s. By January 1979 I could see his point.


It wasn’t Katz’s resignation which motivated Shirley’s and my decision to resign when we did. Our resignations were already in the works when, on January 2, the Vice President announced his own. His press conference just came a few days earlier than we had planned for our own. At first we thought about delaying our announcement, knowing full well that the press would attempt to create a linkage, as if somehow our actions were motivated by Katz’s relationship with the President. We both liked Katz and supported him, but the turns in his public career was not our interest.


The 1978 mid-term elections had shown us just how clearly the progressive forces in our nation were divided, and to an extent demoralized. The Socialist Worker’s Party and the African American Freedom Party were sowing a good deal of mischief without any worthwhile result. They only won four seats in the House, and the AAFP won its two by running black celebrity candidates, leaving open the question of who was using whom, and who was getting the better of the deal (not necessarily their constituents). For the most part the SWP and the AAFP were giving new hope to Republicans by splitting the progressive vote. In my old Oakland district John Reading won two elections to Congress with less than forty percent of the vote. That example was typical of what happened in a number of other places like Chicago, New York and Detroit to name but some.


This might have been acceptable if the Republican candidates that had won in any way represented their communities. However, a Detroit district that was over seventy-percent black had a blond haired, blue-eyed Representative who actually lived in Dearborn and dedicated his campaign to ending the all of the Great Society anti-poverty programs.

This man did not represent his constituents, and I soon came to understand that he wouldn’t even meet with any of them. As far as anyone could tell, he never even visited his district office, and most of his district staff had never met the man. This was the most outrageous example of what was happening, but it served as a symbol for the problems the radical third parties were creating.


I am often asked why perfectly sane voters turned to the SWP and the AAFP, or why out west they turned to the Libertarians, at the expense of the established parties? I tell people who ask me that that the Democratic and Republican Parties had failed the people, and voters turned away from them out of anger, disappointment or sheer disgust. Neither of the two big parties seemed ready to solve the economic crisis, and it seemed that at every turn it got worse while Washington politicians played political games and engaged in name-calling that helped no one.


Don’t forget two Republican Presidents, Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, were out-and-out crooks, the former convicted in a court of law, the latter by his own admission when he gave himself a pardon. James Gavin had been honest enough and he meant well, but he proved to have a personal flaw which in the end detracted from the overall positive image of his Presidency. All three had presided over the worst economic decline since the Great Depression, and in some areas, the impact was perhaps even worse than that. By 1977 people were seriously hurting and little seemed to be coming out of Washington except rosy promises and empty pronouncements.


On the Democratic side progressive candidates like George McGovern and Birch Bayh had been sidelined by a pair of Southern crackers, John McKeithen and George Wallace, both of whom at times seemed more like Republicans than Democrats. Progressives in the Democratic Party were dismayed, and many wanted to jump ship. In a way, George McGovern’s 1972 Peace and Freedom campaign had given them a kind of permission to do just that.


When they got around to doing it in 1976 and 1978, they went willy-nilly all over the board, like a lost tribe of Israel wandering around the political desert looking for a sweet well. Libertarians, the SWP and the AAFP all benefited, but the diaspora spread to other third parties which stood no chance in Hell of ever seeing elective office, much less of influencing policy.


When Shirley and I left the Wallace Cabinet, we wanted to begin a process of drawing these threads together into what we felt could be a more unified third party movement. I recalled the Georgetown conferences, that summer of discussion which had drawn together left wing support and unity behind McGovern’s third party run, and I thought we could start the process toward recapturing that. Having served in Congress and the Cabinet, and having been Presidential candidates ourselves, Shirley and I both believed we could become magnets to draw back progressives into a more cogent, more practical third party that might stand a chance of coalescing the discontent into a more potent and widespread political force.



We tried to convince George McGovern to join us. George was as disgusted with Wallace as we were, but the 1972 experience, plus the loss of his Senate seat in 1974, had scarred him, leaving him a little dejected and risk adverse. Besides, George liked being Secretary of Agriculture. He truly believed he was helping the nation’s farmers through a tough time and the evidence is that he was having a positive effect in that area. He wanted to stay and continue his work, and while I thought he could do more with us, I wasn’t going to argue with him too much. He had to be willing to go all out in the struggle; half-hearted recruits wouldn’t do.


In my experience Pete McCloskey gets short shrift when McGovern supporters look back with rose colored glasses at the 1972 campaign. At the Georgetown conferences in the summer of 1972 he joined with McGovern on the anti-war plank: McCloskey had challenged Nixon in the 1972 Republican primaries over the Vietnam War. But, as a moderate Republican, he had been turned-off by the left-wing bent of the people around McGovern. The McGovern people in turn had treated McCloskey and his supporters as an after-thought, thus their ticket had existed in name only, with McCloskey disenchanted by the whole exercise well before the 1972 election.



Of course, in 1978 McCloskey resurrected his political career by defeating Governor Barry Goldwater Junior and John Tunney to become the first Independent Governor in California’s history. I heartily approved, not because I thought former Senator Tunney was such a bad choice, but because I believed McCloskey was more likely to get something done and to reverse the tide of conservative negativism and destruction that Goldwater junior had unleashed in Sacramento. I voted for Pete McCloskey in that election, and (much to his surprise I think) had organized support for him from among my colleagues in the California Democratic Party. The main-line Democrats, and in particular Tunney’s supporters, may have held a certain animosity against me because of it, but I didn’t care. I just didn’t think Tunney could defeat Goldwater junior, and I didn’t believe he would be an effective Governor.


Pete McCloskey could never be described as a left-wing radical; though on social policy at any rate he was more of a liberal than most of his Republican colleagues. That he was no Goldwaterite was proven by his unseating of Governor Goldwater; and in his run against Nixon in 1972 he showed that he was willing to put his political career on the line to take a stand on principle. Joining with McGovern later that year had only reinforced that point.



I now saw, with his win in California as an independent, a chance to draw Pete McCloskey in as a high-profile member of a larger, generally more progressive national movement which could compete with the Republicans and the Democrats (either by slowly taking back the Democratic Party, or driving its more conservative members to the Republican Party and as such clearing out some of the division in the ranks – or at the very least compelling people to make a clear stand for what they truly believed in rather than shading the edges as so many of them were trying to do at that time). Shirley and I had even discussed with some seriousness the possibly of supplanting the Democratic Party altogether with a more unified and effective progressive force. Winning over Pete McCloskey would be a good first step in building a wider base of support.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------



U.S. Senate Elections

Alabama
The incumbent Sen. John Sparkman (D) retired.

Howell Hefflin (D) --- 39.2%
James D. Martin (R) – 38.1%
Libertarian ------------ 11.9%
AAFP --------------------5.6%
SR ------------------------4.2%
Others ------------------ 1%


Run-Off
James D. Martin (R) – 50.05% Republican Pick-up
Howell Hefflin (D) --- 49.95%


(SR= States’ Rights Party)



Alaska
Donald W. Hobbs (D) -------- 47.1% Democratic Pick-up
Ted Stevens (R) (inc.) ---------45.0%
Libertarian --------------------- 7.9%


Arkansas
Tom Kelly (R) ----------- 36%
Orval Faubus (I) (inc.) – 31%
David Pryor (D) -------- 29%
SWP -------- 2%
Other ------- 2%


Run-off
Tom Kelly (R) –----------- 52.1% Republican Pick-up
Orval Faubus (I) (inc.) -- 47.9%



Colorado
William L. Armstrong (R) ---- 37.6% Republican Pick-up
Floyd K. Haskell (D) (inc.) --- 36.6%
Libertarian ---- 16.2%
SWP ------- 4.1%
AAFP ------- 3.4%
Others ----- 2.1%


Delaware
The incumbent J. Caleb Boggs (R) retired.

James H. Baxter (R) – 44.1 % Republican hold
Joe Biden (D) -------- 41.7% SWP ---------- 4.2%
Liberatarian --- 4.1%
AAFP --------- 3.8%
Others ------- 2.1%


Georgia
John Stokes (R) ------- 42.7% Republican Pick-up
Sam Nunn (D) (inc.) --- 41.1 %
AAFP ------------------ 7.2%
SWP -------------------6.6%
Others --------------- 2.4%



Idaho
Dwight Jensen (D) -------- 45.1% Democratic pick-up
James McClure (R) (inc.) --- 40.8%
Libertarian ------------------ 12.2%
Others --------------------- 1.9%



Illinois
The incumbent Sen. Charles Percy (R) lost in the primary.

Alex Seith (D) --- 45.1% Democratic Pick-up
Phil Crane (R) --- 44.5%
Patricia Grogan (SWP) 5.1%
William R. Roy (Lib) – 4.2%
Others -----------------1.1%


Iowa
The incumbent Sen. Jack R. Miller (R) retired.

Robert D. Fulton (D) ----- 36.2% Democratic pick-up
Roger Jepsen (R) --- 30.1%
Ben Olson (Lib) ---- 23.2%
SWP ---- 8.2%
Others --- 2.3%



Kansas
The incumbent Sen. James Pearson (R) retired.

Robert “Bob” Dole (R) --- 47.6% Republican hold
Daniel Glickman (D) ------45.3%
Libertarian ------------------7.1%



Kentucky
John B. Breckinridge (D) --- 49.1% Democratic pick-up
Louie B. Nunn (R) (inc.) --- 44.2%
Others -------------------------6.7%



Louisiana
Del Tusson (R) --- 21.2%
Gary Howard (CVM) ------------- 20.6%
J. Bennett Johnston (D) (inc) --- 20.1%
Ridley Beaudeaux (D) ----------- 15.1%
Kent Courtney (D) ---------------- 9.6%
SWP ---------------------------------3.2%
AAFP ------------------------------- 2.9%
Others ----------------------------- 7.3%




Run-Off
Gary Howard (CVM) ---------- 50.2% Christian Values Movement pick-up
Del Tusson (R) ---------------- 49.8%



Maine
The incumbent Sen. Margaret C. Smith (R) retired.

Llewellyn Smith (D) ------ 41.6% Democratic Pick-up
William Cohen (R) ------- 40.2%
Independent -------------10.6%
Others ----------------------7.6%



Massachusetts :
Donald R. Dwight (R) 46.2% Republican Pick-up
Thomas P. O’Neill (D) (inc) 45.1%
SWP candidate 5.1%
Libertarian candidate 3.2%
Other 0.4%


Michigan
Carl Levin (D) ------------- 48.1% Democratic pick-up
Phillip Griffin (R) (inc.)-- 47.1%
Others ------------------- 4.8%



Minnesota (Class 1)
The incumbent Muriel Humphrey (DFL) retired.

David Durenberger (R) ---------- 49.9% Republican Pick-up
Wendell Anderson (DFL) ------- 42.6% Frank Hewitt (Lib) ---------------- 3%
Christine Frank (SWP) -------------- 3%
Other --------------------------------- 1.5%


Term expires: January 3, 1983



Minnesota (Class 2 )
Rudy Boschwitz (R) ----46.3% Republican Pick-up
Walter Mondale (D) (inc) ------- 45.7%
William Peterson (SWP) ------- 3%
Leonard Richards (Libertarian) 3%
Others -------------------------- 2%



Mississippi
The incumbent Sen. James Eastland (D) retired.

Thad Cochrane (R) ---- 45.3% Republican pick-up
Maurice Dantin (D) --- 31.8% Charles Evers (I) ------ 22.6%
Others ----------------- 0.3%


Montana
Ronald C. Galtieri (Lib.) (inc.) --- 41.1% Libertarian hold
Democrat ------------------- 40.6%
Larry Williams (R) ----------------- 18.1%
Others ------------------------------ 0.2%



Nebraska
The incumbent Sen. Carl Curtis (R) retired.

Donald Shasteen (R) ---------- 46.2% Republican hold
James Exxon (D) -------------- 44.2% SWP -------------------------------5.1%
Libertarian ----------------------- 4.1%
Others --------------------------- 0.4%



New Hampshire
Gordon J. Humphrey (R) ------- 44.5% Republican pick-up
Thomas McIntyre (D) (inc.) ---- 40.2%
Carl Franklin (Lib) ---------------- 9.2%
SWP ---------------------------------6.1%



New Jersey
The incumbent Clifford P. Case (R) retired.

Charles Sandman (R) ---------- 31.9% Republican hold
Bill Bradley (D) ------------------ 30.6%
William T. Cahill (I) ------------- 20.2%
SWP ------------------------------ 9.6%
AAFP ------------------------------ 5.4%
Others ---------------------------- 2.3%



New Mexico
Toney Anaya (D) ----------- 41.7% Democratic pick-up
Pete Domenici (R) (inc)--- 40.1%
Libertarian ------------------- 11.2%
La Raza Unita ----------------- 4.6%
SWP --------------------------- 2.4%



North Carolina
Jesse Helms (R) (inc) --- 52.2% Republican hold
John Ingram (D) ------- 47.8%




Oklahoma
The incumbent Dewey F. Bartlett (R) retired

Edward L. Gaylord (R) -- 47% Republican hold
David Boren (D) ---- 44%
Libertarian ----------- 7%
Others --------------- 1%



Oregon
Vernon Cook (D) ------------- 38.1% Democratic pick-up
Mark Hatfield (R) (inc) ------ 37.4%
Libertarian --------------------- 19.1%
SWP ------------------------------ 4.3%
Others ----------------------------1.1%



Rhode Island
Claibrone Pell (D)(inc.) ----- 54.3% Democratic Hold
James G. Reynolds (R) ----- 36.1%
SWP ----------------------------5.1%
Libertarian ------------------- 4.2%
Others ------------------------ 0.3%





South Carolina
Charles D. Ravanel (D) ------- 34.6% Democratic pick-up
Bob Jones III (CVM)---------- 33.1%
Strom Thurmond (R) (inc.) --- 23.1%
AAFP ------------------------------9.2%



South Dakota
The incumbent James Abourezk (D) retired.

Larry Pressler (R) --- 38.4% Republican pick-up
Don Barnett (D) ----- 36.2% Libertarian ---------- 25.4%


Tennessee
Jane Eskind (D) ------------ 44.1% Democratic pick-up
Howard Baker (R) (inc.) --- 42.1%
Lib -------------------------- 7.8%
Independents ----------------- 6%



Texas
Bob Krueger (D) ----------------- 44.2% Democratic pick-up
John Tower (R) (inc.) ------------ 43.8 %
Libertarian ------------------------- 5%
Miguel Pendas (SWP) ------------ 4%
Luis Diaz de Leon (La Raza Unida) 2%
Others ------------------------------- 1%



Virginia
The incumbent William Scott (R) retired.

Andrew P. Miller (D) ------- 47.7 % Democratic pick-up
John Warner (R) ------------ 47.4%
Libertarian ------------------- 4%
Others ------------------------ 0.9%


West Virginia
Arch A. Moore (R) --------------- 50.1% Republican pick-up
Jennings Randolph (D) (inc.) --- 49.9%


Wyoming
The incumbent Clifford P. Hansen retired.

Raymond B. Whittaker (D) -------- 37.8% Democratic pick-up
Alan K. Simpson (R) -----------------36.2%
Libertarian --------------------------- 26%



Membership of the United States Senate – 96th United States Congress (January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1981)


Democrat: 47 + 4 = 51
Republican: 50 -4 = 46
Independent: 2-1 = 1
Libertarian: 1
Christian Values Movement: 1


President of the Senate: Vacant

President Pro-Tempore of the Senate: Sen. Warren Magnuson (D-WA)
Majority Leader: Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Minority Leader: Sen. William Brock (R-TN)



Alabama
3. Albert Brewer (D)
2. James D. Martin (R)


Alaska
3. Mike Gravel (D)
2. Donald Hobbs (D)


Arizona
3. Barry Goldwater (R)
1. John. B. Conlan (R)


Arkansas
3. Dale Bumpers (D)
2. Tom Kelly (R)


California
3. Alan Cranston (D)
1. G. Edmund (“Jerry”) Brown (D)


Colorado
3. Gary Hart (D)
2. William Armstrong (R)


Connecticut
3. Abraham A. Ribicoff (D)
1. Gloria Schaffer (D)

Delaware
1. William Roth (R)
2. James Baxter (R)


Florida
3. Richard Stone (D)
1. John Grady (R)


Georgia
3. James E. Carter (D)
2. John Stokes (R)


Hawaii
3. Daniel Inouye (D)
1. William F. Quinn (R)

Idaho
3. Frank Church (D)
2. Dwight Jensen (D)


Illinois
3. Adlai Stevenson III (D)
2. Alex Seith (D)


Indiana
1. Richard Lugar (R)
3. Robert Orr (R)

Iowa
3. Jack Culver (D)
2. Ronald D. Fulton (D)


Kansas
3. William R. Roy (D)
2. Robert “Bob” Dole (R)

Kentucky
3. Wendell Ford (D)
2. John B. Breckinridge (D)

Louisiana
3. Russell B. Long (D)
2. Gary Howard (CVN)

Maine
1. Robert A.G. Monks (R)
2. Llewellyn Smith (D)


Maryland
3. Charles Mathias, Jr. (R)
1. Paul Sarbanes (D)

Massachusetts
1. Edward M. Kennedy (D)
2. Donald Dwight (R)

Michigan
1. Marvin L. Esch (R)
2. Carl Levin (D)

Minnesota
1. David Durenberger (R)
2. Rudy Boschwitz (R)

Mississippi
1. John B. Williams (R)
2. Thad Cochrane (R)

Missouri
3. Thomas Eagleton (D)
1. John Danforth (R)

Montana
2. Ronald C. Galtieri (Lib)
1. Stanley C. Burger (R)

Nebraska
1. John Y. McCollister (R)
2. Donald Shasteen (R)


Nevada
3. Harry Reid (D)
1. Paul Laxalt (R)


New Hampshire
3. John A. Durkin (D)
2. Gordon Humphrey (R)


New Jersey
1. David A. Norcross (R)
2. Charles Sandman (R)


New Mexico
1. Harrison Schmidt (R)
2. Toney Anaya (D)


New York
3. Jacob K. Javits (R)
1. James Buckley (R)

North Carolina
2. Jesse Helms (R)
3. Robert B. Morgan (D)


North Dakota
3. William L. Guy (D)
1. Robert Stroup (R)


Ohio
1. Robert Taft, Jr. (R)
3. John Glenn (D)


Oklahoma
3. Ed Edmondson (D)
2. Edward Gaylord (R)


Oregon
3. Robert Packwood (R)
2. Vernon Cook (D)


Pennsylvania
3. Richard S. Schweiker (R)
1. William D. Greene III (D)


Rhode Island
2. Claiborne Pell (D)
1. John Chaffee (R)

South Carolina
3. Ernest Hollings (D)
2. Charles Ravanel (D)


South Dakota
3. Joseph J. Foss (R)
2. Larry Pressler (R)

Tennessee
1. William E. Brock III (R)
2. Jane Eskind (D)


Texas
1. Lloyd Bentsen (D)
2. Bob Krueger (D)


Utah
3. Jake Garn (R)
1. Orrin Hatch (R)


Vermont
3. Patrick Leahy (D)
1. Thomas P. Salmon (D)


Virginia
1. Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (I[D])
2. Andrew Miller (D)


Washington
3. Warren G. Magnuson (D)
1. John Chenberg (D)

West Virginia
1. Robert Byrd (D)
2. Arch Moore (R)


Wisconsin
1. William Proxmire (D)
3. Gaylord Nelson (D)

Wyoming
1. Malcolm Wallop(R)
2. Raymond Whittaker (D)





House of Representatives Elections


Arkansas 2nd District
William J. Clinton (R) ----- 47.6% Republican pick-up
Liberal Democrat -------- 39.1%
Libertarian ---------------- 12.1%
Others ---------------------- 1.2%



Arizona 1st District
Miguel Aronza (D) -------– 33.6% Democratic pick-up
John J. Rhodes (R) (inc.)-- 32.9%
Peter Gubel (Lib) --------- 26.5%
SWP -------------------------- 4%
Other ------------------------ 3%




California 6th District (Most of San Francisco & part of Marin County)
Mary-Alice Waters (SWP) (inc.) ----- 31.6% - Socialist Worker’s Party hold
Republican ------------------------------30.9%
AAFP -------------------------------------18.4%
Democrat ------------------------------- 16.1%
Others --------------------------------------3%




California 8th District (Oakland)
John H. Reading (R) (inc.) ---- 32.1% Republican hold
AAFP ----------------------------- 25.1%
Democrat ------------------------ 24.6%
SWP ------------------------------- 17.2%
Others ----------------------------- 1.0%




Illinois 1st District (South Chicago)
John Carlos (AAFP) (inc.) -- 49.2% - AAFP hold
SWP --------------------------- 38.6%
Democrat --------------------- 12.2%



Louisiana 5th District (Northeast Louisiana)
James F. Swaggart (CVM) (inc.) -- 51.1%
Democrat --------------------------- 41.6%
Republican ----------------------------7.3%



Montana 1st District
Republican --------------- 33.9% Republican pick-up
Democrat ----------------- 32.6%
Libertarian ---------------- 30.1%
Others ---------------------- 3.4%



Montana 2d District
Libertarian ------------------- 39.2% Libertarian pick-up
John Melcher (D) (inc.) ---- 38.1%
Ron Marlene (R) ----------- 20.3%
Others ---------------------- 2.4%




New York 10th (Bronx)
Paul Boutelle (SWP) (inc.) --- 39.1% - Socialist Worker’s Party hold
Republican --------------------- 23.1%
Democrat ----------------------- 21.7%
AAFP --------------------------- 14.4%
Others ----------------------------1.7%




New York 11th District
Paul Robeson Jr. (AAFP) ------ 33.2% AAFP pick-up
Republican --------------------- 31.1%
James Scheurer (D) (inc) ----- 26.5%
SWP ----------------------------- 8.2%
Others -------------------------- 1%



New York 16th District
John Travis (R) ------------------- 33.6% Republican pick-up
Elizabeth Holtzman (D) (inc.) --- 32.1%
SWP ----------------------------- 14.6%
AAFP ----------------------------- 12.2%
Others ---------------------------- 7.5%




New York 19th District
Meir Golding (R) -------------- 38.1% Republican pick-up
Charles Rangel (D) (inc.) ----- 36.9%
SWP ---------------------------- 10.2%
AAFP --------------------------- 8.1%
Others ------------------------- 6.7%


New Jersey 10th District
Robert Pell (R) ------------- 39.2% Republican pick-up
Peter Rodino (D) (inc.) ---- 38.5%
AAFP ------------------------ 11.1%
SWP --------------------------- 9.6%
Others ------------------------ 1.6%


Pennsylvania 2nd Congressional District
Republican -------------------- 41.3% Republican pick-up
Robert Nix (D) (inc.) ----------- 40.6%
AAFP ---------------------------- 11.1%
SWP ----------------------------- 5.9%
Others -------------------------- 1.1%


Speakers of the United States House of Representatives:

54. Carl Albert (D) --Jan. 1971 – Oct. 1973
55. James Gavin (I) -- Oct. – Nov 1973
56. Carl Albert (D) -- Nov. 1973 – Jan. 1977
57. John McFall (D) -- Jan. – Oct 1977
58. Peter Rodino (D) --- Oct 1977 – Jan. 1979
59. Trent Lott (R) -- Jan. 1979 – (TL) present
-------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Drew]

Map of Laos with Flags

A map of Laos with the provinces marked and the flags of various contesting parties.

 

[Drew]

Laos War 1978 - 1979 Part I

Map with relative positions of the combating parties during the first half of the 1978-1979 Laos War.

 

[Unknown]

Good update. At least there's no Bucky Dent in this TL.

Rhodesia's end will be much bloodier, if it occurs (chemical and dirty bombs being used).

The Dellums-Chisolm attempt at a third party is...interesting, to say the least.

As for Argentina, I am not crying for you, instead this is occuring (cue world's smallest violin playing).

Let's hope things get better (except for China, which will not end well).

If, when you get to 1983, Nebraska still makes it to the Orange Bowl for the national title, could you have them win, Drew?

 

[Drew]

Laos War 1978 - 1979 Part II

The relative positions of the combatants during the second half of the 1978-1979 Laos War. (Also known as The Patriotic War of National Defense in North Vietnam, and the China War in South Vietnam).

 

[anon_user]

I'm curious about the air-sea battle in the Beagle Channel, and would love to see more detail about it, if possible. What sorts of ships and aircraft would be involved on each side?
***
I vaguely wonder if there will be a united Vietnam in the future. In the meantime, go Southeast Asia! Beat the PLA!

 

[Thande]

Cool update. Plausible way of getting President Trent Lott if Wallace cocks his clogs at the wrong moment ( )

I like how both Vietnams are teaming up in the face of the PRC.

The Saudi revolution feels a bit off to me for two reasons: firstly it seems to happen too suddenly (I know it's been foreshadowed for a while, but the fact that the king abdicates and then it becomes a caliphate in a matter of days) and secondly the US and other western countries seem a bit too blasé about a regime openly declaring it will cut off petroleum production. Saudi is even more important than Iran in OTL 1979 to the global oil market, and in 1973 OTL the US had seriously mooted plans to invade and topple every OPEC Arab regime in response to oil price threats that are nothing compared to this.

Interesting use of Operation Soberania; surprised the Argentines bungled it that much but maybe that's what happens when you get Emilio Massera as President. Perhaps the Argentine regime will implode like after the Falklands War in OTL, although given the tone of this TL (and the earlier time period) we might see the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo seizing power and installing a Soviet-friendly regime rather than democratisation.

Also the involvement of the P2 in the planned Italian right-wing coup is possibly relevant due to the number of Argentine junta figures who were P2 members--perhaps they might flee into exile in Italy and help the coup.

Minor correction, Denis Healey wouldn't use "Screw them", this is an Americanism (especially in the 1970s). I would expect "Bugger them" or, given Healey's usual lack of tact, "Fuck them".

Like the foreshadowing about a left-wing US third party. I suspect the resurrection of the Progressive Party name might happen yet again, as with Wallace's campaign in 1948.

@anon_user: MacCaulay and I are currently planning a story beginning with Operation Soberania, so stay tuned on that score.

 

[vultan]

First run through reading; just looked at elections.

Glad to see Bob Dole return to office. Doubt he'll run for President in 1980, though, so soon after coming back.

And I hope this isn't the end of the line for Jack Kemp.

Also, I assume this Christian Values Party will absorb the American Independent Party and become the proto-Constitution Party.

Now time to go back and read everything else, but great update so far from what I read.

 

[Spengler]

Interesting use of Operation Soberania; surprised the Argentines bungled it that much but maybe that's what happens when you get Emilio Massera as President. Perhaps the Argentine regime will implode like after the Falklands War in OTL, although given the tone of this TL (and the earlier time period) we might see the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo seizing power and installing a Soviet-friendly regime rather than democratisation.

I'm not denying that you couldn't see a communist dictatorship established but it would be far from soviet friendly what with the soviets being big on stalin at the moment I doubt they'll want anything to do with a regime based on trotskyism.

 

[Orville_third]

So Bob Jones helped get Strom Thurmond out? Interesting... (Though I wonder what Maurice Bessinger is up to...)

 

[Nazi Space Spy]

The Christian Values Movement? Thats a new entity on the scene. More third parties are always good Whats Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan up too in this world?

 

[vultan]

Now that I went back and read everything...

Can't tell which disturbs me more... Islamofascist Arabia that may or may not shut off it's oil from the rest of the world, leading to Western intervention...

Or America indirectly fighting uber-Orwellian China in Laos, which could lead to... unpleasantness.

I can say now, definitively, after re-reading the first two pages of updates: thank goodness John J. McKeithen did not run for President in 1972!

 

[vultan]

Also, Agnew is stupid or trolling to oppose the Susan B. Anthony Coin on national television like that.

 

[Historico]

Awesome update Drew, I can't believe Katzenbach went over Wallace's head with the second letter, I'd say it be grounds of his resignation on Insubordination. So how did the coma and the subsequent return to office effect relations between Cornelia and George? I can't for things to start heating up for the election lol...Keep it comming

 

[arrowiv]

China in this TL is getting crazier more and more. The Lesser Mao makes Kim Jong Il look like a part-time nurse!

 

[Thande]

Also, Agnew is stupid or trolling to oppose the Susan B. Anthony Coin on national television like that.

Given how the dollar coin didn't catch on in OTL, Agnew can probably claim that lack of success is due to people agreeing with him about Anthony. (I doubt Agnew is clever enough to have planned that in advance, but he might have a 1970s equivalent of Karl Rove helping him).