Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72

Status
Not open for further replies.
I do have one question that no one else has asked about this TL...

...

...

...how IS the gumbo? Is it any good? Or did the butterflies add a little too much kick?
 
Also, one would think that Gov. Carey would be only too aware of his problems with New York City and would therefore try to placate them in some matter of fashion.

Granted, many would probably call it too little, too late, but doing nothing about it would be worse.

Well, the best thing he could do would be to end the city's receivership and restore elected government, though he probably wouldn't want city elections taking place at the same time as the Presidential.

Of course, the problem there is that an elected NYC government at this point may well be Socialist and/or pro-secession from the rest of the state.

If I were Carey, I'd find that the city's financial house is in order (whether it is or not), declare victory, and end federal management on a timetable ensuring elections in... February 1980. The dead of winter tends to depress non-machine turnout, and if it doesn't, hopefully (from his POV) it will be Mario Cuomo's problem by then.
 
Well, the best thing he could do would be to end the city's receivership and restore elected government, though he probably wouldn't want city elections taking place at the same time as the Presidential.

Of course, the problem there is that an elected NYC government at this point may well be Socialist and/or pro-secession from the rest of the state.

This is going to be a big problem for New York State government going forward because of continued activism in the face of the bankruptcy.

If I were Carey, I'd find that the city's financial house is in order (whether it is or not), declare victory, and end federal management on a timetable ensuring elections in... February 1980. The dead of winter tends to depress non-machine turnout, and if it doesn't, hopefully (from his POV) it will be Mario Cuomo's problem by then.

He may well want to pass this on to his successor to resolve. Giving too much to New York City carries political costs upstate. Since both Carey and Cuomo are from NYC this could create an imeptus for an anti-NYC ticket on the Republican side in 1982. It's an issue he might not want to inject into the 1980 Presidential, although the Republican campaign probably will.
 
Koufax Pitches in the Hardest Game Yet

It’s one, two, three strikes and you’re on your way to the White House? That’s the question being asked about independent Presidential candidate Sandy Koufax. The former southpaw pitcher, Cy Young Award winner and Dodgers star (both Brooklyn and that west coast version) has brought the feel of the old ball park to the contest for the highest office in the land.

“I want to shake things up a little, like Ron Dellums,” Koufax, whose birth name is Sanford Braun, explains. “The professional politicians, they’ve got this country in a real mess and we need to send them a message that the people are tired of it and want candidates who are going to work for them, not for themselves.”

Koufax, who hails from Brooklyn (which still mourns the loss of its beloved Dodgers over twenty years later) and legally changed his name over a decade ago, currently resides in Los Angeles, California, but has been making repeated trips home to his old stomping ground in order to drum-up support. “I’m still a Brooklyn kid at heart,” Colfax explains, “and this is where I see I can do the most good.”

Apart from his nearly 2,400 strike-outs in an eleven year career as a Major League Pitcher, Koufax also attracted attention back in the mid-1960’s when he bucked MLB’s player reserve system and demanded more respect and better pay. For a time he became a quasi Walter Ruther of MLB, fighting for the rights of players against management. Now he seems to be bringing the same spirit to politics.

Koulfax’s platform, which stresses cleaning-up government and making it more accountable, more targeted social spending and engagement of more citizen politicians (as opposed to the professional variety he decries), overlaps in many significant respects with Ron Dellums and Ralph Nader’s We The People third party movement. Koufax has been asked why he doesn’t join-up with We The People.

“I’ll be honest, until I started this I hadn’t heard of what Secretary Dellums was up to,” Koufax replies with unabashed honesty that many find re-freshing on the campaign trail. “But, they’re a little bit too left, too big government, I think. I mean, we want government that’s going to take care of people, but not take-out their freedom at the same time. I think Mr. Dellums and Mr. Nader have a good idea, but they want too much government, which going to make for other problems, you know?”

Baseball fans and others attracted to America’s past-time – or indeed the cult of sports in general – are coming to Koufax’s support, but not everyone is convinced.

“I was a loyal Dodgers fan ‘til they run out on us,” says one man. “I like Sandy, I think he’s got a good heart – but I ain’t gonna vote for him for President. That’s too big a job for a ballpark bum.”

While Koufax’s campaign seems to be well funded, it has experienced a series of problems related Koufax’s own inexperience as a political campaigner. Twice in recent weeks Koufax has had to apologize for remarks that seemed insensitive when addressing urban issues. He also lacks a running mate. No one of stature seems interested in joining him.

“A couple of national figures were approached,” notes Koufax campaign watcher Ted Gerharty of The New York Post, “but none of them took him seriously.” Koufax may end-up on state ballots with a local stand-in as the Vice Presidential candidate, a situation which may help him in some state polls, but also opens him up to attracting regional cranks.

“The biggest problem with Koufax getting into an already crowded field on the left is that he could cost the Democratic ticket some crucial votes in key states where they might otherwise have an easier win,” observes former New York Congressman Ed Koch. “it would really be better if he made his statement by running for Congress of Governor – out in California, where he actually lives now.”

Meanwhile Koufax continues to campaign with a cheerful optimism, despite the problems and relatively low poll numbers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Great mini-update, Drew!

Hmm, I wonder who would ideologically fit with Koufax, and still be a viable candidate. Someone a bit populist-y, I suppose.
 
He may well want to pass this on to his successor to resolve. Giving too much to New York City carries political costs upstate. Since both Carey and Cuomo are from NYC this could create an imeptus for an anti-NYC ticket on the Republican side in 1982. It's an issue he might not want to inject into the 1980 Presidential, although the Republican campaign probably will.

What is the state of New York's finances ATM? After six years, I'd think that the management has managed to balance the city's books by now, even if it's had to make some drastically unpopular decisions to get there. (And even if it hasn't quite, Carey would very much like people to think it has, otherwise he looks incompetent.)

In that light, I don't think there would be very much short-term downside to declaring victory -- it wouldn't be spun as "giving too much" to the city but the natural end of him having successfully gotten the city's finances back on track.

Of course, it may well blow up by 1982, but as a man who intends to vacate the office by then, he'd rather have the Socialists playing silly buggers next year than demonstrating right now, while the Republicans run ads deriding him as the Governor who's state has been on the Federal dole for his entire term.
 
Great mini-update, Drew!

Hmm, I wonder who would ideologically fit with Koufax, and still be a viable candidate. Someone a bit populist-y, I suppose.

The campaign sounds vaguely reminiscent of Gene McCarthy's later runs, but I assume he's one of the folks who's already been unsuccessfully approached.
 

Thande

Donor
Based on what I said above about third party vote splitting, maybe Koufax will split the vote in New York enough for (as someone else suggested above) Carey to suffer the embarrassment of losing his home state.
 
A Very Troublesome Woman

February to May 1980

After the Geneva Summit Soviet leader Yuri Andropov disappears from public view. It is widely rumoured - though not confirmed by the Soviet government - that he has been hospitalized for a serious illness. During his absence Nikolai Ryzhkov and Grigori Romanov appear to be running the day-to-day affairs of the Soviet government, although their orders bear what purports to be Andropov’s signature.


April 1, 1980


Governor John Rarick (AI) of Louisiana introduces a budget that would cut one-third of spending in the state of Louisiana, mainly by cutting a series of state support programs for hospitals, health care, education, payments to prisoners for labor, welfare and income support programs and adult re-education programs. The Governor’s proposals draw fire from the legislature and generate an acrimonious debate. The budget finally passes in a modified form that reduces some of the Governor’s cuts, but still represents a significant drop in public spending by the State. Governor Rarick denounces the modified budget as “half-a-loaf” but signs it into law promising to “come back for more cuts next year.”


April 2, 1980


At a press conference in New York City President Wallace signs a final agreement with Governor Hugh Carey which sets out a plan for a restoration of full local government to New York City. The city will be run by an administrator appointed by Albany until December 1981. In November 1981 a new Mayor will be elected, who will assume the office and full responsibility for administering the city’s affairs in December 1981. The Federal management will be phased out as local borough and city-wide officials are elected and their boards and councils reconstituted in the twenty-month run-up to the mayoral election. (November 1981 would have been the next regularly scheduled New York Mayoral election under the political calendar disrupted by the bankruptcy).


Donald Rumsfeld: “This is cheap theatre designed to promote Governor Carey’s campaign. They’ve changed nothing of substance. New York City will be back begging for relief in two years.”


Ronald Reagan: “I applaud any effort to return political control to the people. But, if we re-create the big government monster that pulled New York City down in the first place, then that does no one any good. Until New Yorkers decide to vote for less government, they aren’t going to have any other result.”


April 7, 1980


Five Palestinian Arab terrorists from the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front penetrate kibbutz Misgav Am in the night and enter the kibbutz nursery. (It is believed they landed by boat from the Turkish area of Cyprus [as neither the PLO nor the PJO have bases in Lebanon]). They kill the kibbutz secretary and an infant boy. They then hold the rest of the children as hostages, demanding the release of about 50 terrorists held in Israeli prisons. The first raid of an IDF infantry unit is unsuccessful, but a second attempt, a few hours later, succeeds, and all the terrorists are killed. Two kibbutz members and one soldier are killed, four children and 11 soldiers are wounded.


The National Federation of Independent Republicans (NFIR) in France, lead by Jean Lecanuet, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Rene Monroy, Rene Haby and Philippe Malaud officially changes its name to the Union of National Republicans (Union Nationale des Républicains/UNR) in advance of the 1981 French Presidential elections. Raymond Barre is informally associated with the UNR.


The main Gaullist Party is still known as the Union of Democrats for the Republic

(Union des Démocrates pour la République/UDR). Jacques Chirac and his rebel group have been largely marginalized as the post-Great Gauchis UDR regrouped to counter the Socialist government of Mitterrand and Defferre. The UDR’s current leader is Jean-Pierre Fourcade.

April 10, 1980


Tahir Yaha is made Iraqi Governor of Arabia. His authority is limited though. Command of the military forces is directed by the Revolutionary Command Council in Baghdad. President al-Bakr and his regime want to ensure that no one individual has a concentration of power in their hands to the extent that Saddam Hussein did at the beginning of the Arabian campaign.


April 12, 1980


Lyndon Larouche, who was attempting to mount a third party Presidential candidacy under the name of the National Democratic Party (a name which was disputed by the Democratic National Committee), is indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for money laundering and mail fraud. Larouche claims that he is being persecuted and points to the We The People Movement as an example of what he is trying to accomplish. Ron Dellums of We The People quickly disassociates himself from Larouche.


April 14, 1980


52nd Annual Academy Awards


Best Picture:

Kramer vs. Kramer

Apocalypse Now
(Same idea – set in Syria, 1975; they surf in the med off the coast of Lebanon)
Norma Rae

The Man With the Golden Arm
(gritty 1979 remake of the 1955 film)
And Justice for All
(Winner)

Best Actor:

Al Pacino – And Justice for All

Martin Sheen – Apocalypse Now
John Cazale – Pray to the Money God (winner - posthumous)
Harrison Ford – The Man With the Golden Arm (in this version Frankie (Ford) goes back to prison at the end)
Sean Connery – God’s City (an adaptation of the story of Jerusalem’s fall at the end of the First Crusade in 1099; highlights the moral and ethical ambiguities of the Crusaders; roman a clef of current events in the Middle East)

Best Actress

Sally Field – Norma Rae (winner)
Diane Keaton – Manhattan
Jane Fonda - Emma Goldman (biopic of the famous dissident)
Bette Midler – The Rose
Brooke Adams - Cuba

Best Supporting Actor

Lane Smith (as Richard Nixon in Spiro - a biopic of Spiro Agnew’s career from 1964 – 1973, examining his corruption, his relationship to Richard Nixon and his downfall as President)
James Earl Jones (in the “Marlon Brando” part in Apocalypse Now) (winner)
Mickey Rooney – The Black Stallion
Tommy Lee Jones – Pray to the Money God

Jack Warden – Being There

Best Supporting Actress

Lucille Benson - 1941
Mariel Hemmingway – Manhattan
Candice Bergen – Starting Over
Olympia Dukakis – Pray to the Money God
Meryl Streep – Kramer v. Kramer (winner)

Best Director

Francis Ford Coppola – Apocalypse Now
Norman Jewison – And Justice for All (winner)
Franklin J. Schaffner – Spiro
Sidney Lumet – Pray to the Money God
Hal Ashby – Being There

Winner Best Animated Film:
Star Wars (Ralph Bakshi Director).

Pray to the Money God
(1979): A man (John Cazale*)tries to reason with his bank manager (Don Murray) about foreclosing on his business. Manager is intransigent – there is a fight, man is thrown out of bank. Manager embezzles a lot of money, makes it look like man robbed his bank. Man goes underground to avoid the law. Meanwhile a real bank robber (Tommy Lee Jones) assumes his identity and goes on a spree. Man now has to avoid the law, and exact his revenge on the bank robber and the crooked bank manager. *(Filmed in 1977-78, shortly before Cazale’s death, released in 1979).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
April 19, 1980


“Last time I voted for Reagan, and look what happened. He couldn’t beat some guy in a wheelchair who used to scream a lot about keeping black men down. And what did Wallace do? Acted like a clown, as far as I can see. I got no confidence that either Reagan or Rumsfeld can take Carey, and the Libertarians are a bunch of loons. It’s pretty disgusting. If I vote at all, I’m going to write-in Dick Nixon’s name, cause he’s the only one of the lot who was ever worth a damn!” – a disgruntled, likely non-voter.


April 20, 1980


A year after returning to civilian rule the Argentine government begins the prosecution of war criminals from “the dirty war.” President Carlos Humberto Perette announces that only the “truly guilty” and “those with innocent blood on their hands” will be prosecuted.


Rumsfeld-Reagan Debate

Ronald Reagan: “The more government takes in taxes, the less incentive people have to work. What coal miner or assembly-line worker jumps at the offer of overtime when he knows Uncle Sam is going to take sixty percent or more of his extra pay? Any system that penalizes success and accomplishment is wrong. Any system that discourages work, discourages productivity, discourages economic progress, is wrong.

"If, on the other hand, you reduce tax rats and allow people to spend or save more of what they earn, they'll become more industrious; they'll have more incentive to work hard, and money they earn will add fuel to the great economic machine that energizes our national progress. The result: more prosperity for all--and more revenue for government."


Moderator: “Governor Rumsfeld, your response.”


Donald Rumsfeld:”I agree with every word Governor Reagan has just said. Unfortunately, when you examine Mr. Reagan’s record, you’ll find it is just that, words. As Governor of California – for eight years from 1967 to 1975, in relatively prosperous times for most of that time – Governor Reagan failed to significantly cut the California state budget or lower taxes. Now, Mr. Reagan likes to blame the Democrats in the state legislature for this, but the fact is that as Governor, rather than wage a fight for the principles of reducing government, Mr. Reagan shied away from a real fight. He left a large share of the hard work to Governor Goldwater, who did challenge the vested interests and brought forward some real tax and spending reductions.”


M: “Governor Reagan?”


RR: “Well, we tried to work with the Democrats in the legislature, who, of course, were big government tax and spenders. The path I set as Governor was to achieve reform without disrupting the people’s lives, which would have – and did under my successor – create real problems for everyone. You can examine my record over those eight years and see that I never wavered from my commitment to reduce government.”


DR: “Speeches are not actions, Governor. Over four years as Governor of Illinois, and that’s with an election after the first two years, I have pushed forward with real reform in tax and spending policy, despite intransigence from Democrats in the legislature. Has this lead to some confrontation? Of course it has; change – real, substantive change will always meet resistance, and it is that very resistance that tells you that you’re hitting the mark. I believe, in the current troubled economy, I’ve achieved more in Illinois in four years than you did over eight years.”


RR: “Governor Rumsfeld has a Republican majority in the Illinois State Senate to work with, which is very different than the situation I faced in California. Despite what you may think, we addressed the issues of reducing the tax burden on California tax payers, which is just the step this country needs to get back on the road to prosperity.”


DR: “You signed into law two tax increases during your second term, Governor. I have consistently vetoed any so-called compromise which raised a tax; instead I demanded spending cuts from the legislature. The Democrats in the state assembly didn’t like it, but they were forced to face the reality that real cuts had to be made. That’s the same resolve I want to bring to Washington, to compel Congress to cut wasteful spending and reduce taxes for working Americans and small business. I would also like to remind voters that while Governor Reagan signed into law an abortion bill which eased restrictions on that loathsome procedure – despite his often stated opposition to abortion – I have stood firm in vetoing all measures in Illinois which would expand the ability for this immoral act to be expanded. Many of opponents, and not a few of my allies were against this, but I believed it was more important to stand on a bedrock principle in so central a question of life and death. Unfortunately, on that score Governor, you allowed compromise to come before the right to life.”

--------------------------------------------------------------
Former Gov. Barry Goldwater Jr. (R-CA): “Much as I admire Governor Reagan, I really think Governor Rumsfeld is a better choice to get things moving in the right direction.”

Sen. Barry Goldwater Sr. (R-AZ): “Personally, I’m neutral. I want to see a good, small government Republican win in November, whoever that might be.”


“I’m voting for Rumsfeld because he’s actually cutting taxes and making things work for business. You know, I hear a lot of talk out of Reagan about shrinking big government, but if you look at his record, Rumsfeld and Williams are right, he didn’t do much, and he had eight years to do it. Rumsfeld and Goldwater did more in four years than Reagan ever did. So, I’m with Rumsfeld.” – Republican voter.


“Four years ago they said Reagan was a closet Socialist because he wanted to move Social Security into the stock market and use it to make government the biggest investor going. That’s sort of pink, you know. Now, when I look at what Reagan did – or I should say didn’t do as Governor of California – and then Rumsfeld, he made real changes in Illinois – I gotta say, I think he’s a better choice than Reagan. I have my doubts about Reagan, you know.” – Republican voter.


“I’m with Reagan because he’s the real deal, despite what they say. He’ll save America.” – Republican voter.


“Reagan couldn’t beat Wallace, and that guy was in a wheelchair and had a real bad reputation as a KKK kind of guy. My hearts with Reagan and all, but I’m leaning to Rumsfeld because he can win. I don’t think Reagan can, and I don’t want Carey to win.” – Republican voter.


“Reagan had his chance last time but he couldn’t do it. He should step back and let Rumsfeld win this one.” – Republican voter.


Poll of Republican Voters – June 1980

Rumsfeld: 42%

Reagan: 40%
Williams: 12%
Undecided: 6%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 21, 1980


The British Parliament passes a second incremental wealth tax as part of Chancellor Roy Jenkins’ effort to finance increased spending on social supports with a levy on the wealthy. The first incremental wealth tax had been passed in 1977 and the second adds a 0.5% increase, with a 3% tax on efforts to send capital out of the country without a proper “external investment” permit from the Board of Trade.


April 22, 1980


New Jersey Democrats (who control both Houses of the State Legislature), worried about the growing strength of the We The People Movement in the North Eastern part of the state, pass through the General Assembly and the State Senate an amendment to the Election Act which would allocate 15 of New Jersey’s 17 Electoral Votes (one per Congressional district) according to the winner in each of the 15 Congressional districts (the same system then used in Maine). State Democrats are concerned that this support for WTP will split the vote on the left, and give New Jersey’s Electoral Votes to the Republican ticket.


Republican Governor Ray Bateman (elected in 1977) vetoes the amendment. An attempt by Democratic leaders in the New Jersey Senate (James Florio, Senate President) and the General Assembly (Burt Iannuci, Speaker of the General Assembly) fails to override the Governor’s veto. Then they pause to realize that this is no ordinary New Jersey State Bill.


The override effort having failed, Florio and Iannuci next appeal the standing of the Governor’s veto to the Federal Courts. Their argument is that a strict reading of Article Two, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution reserves to State Legislatures the right to choose how Electors are chosen, but makes no mention of the State Executive. Therefore, Florio and Iannuci’s lawyers argue that Governor Bateman’s veto of the bill is unconstitutional and should be set aside.


Article Two, Clause Two:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

In
Florio, Iannuci et al. v. Bateman, the plaintiff (Florio et al.)argument is upheld at the Federal District Court and Circuit Court of Appeals level and is directed to the United States Supreme Court for an expedited hearing before the 1980 Presidential election. Justices Marshall, Rehnquist and Powell review the petition and agree that the Supreme Court should review the matter and rule on it.
---------------------------------------------------------------

April 25, 1980


A two-year investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI into procurement fraud in energy sector leads to the indictment of twenty-five executives on a variety of charges including fraud and conspiracy. Trials continue into 1981.


Attorney-General Birch Bayh: “Not since the recent Mafia trials in New York have we seen a conspiracy to rob the public purse on so vast a scale. What makes this so particularly loathsome is that these executives and their companies sought to reap an illegal windfall from projects designed to bring cheaper, cleaner energy to our citizens. Their activities not only increased the costs of these projects, which alone siphoned off large amounts of badly needed tax dollars – essentially robbing citizens as if they had been common thieves picking their pockets – but they have caused production delays which will translate into more years of dependence on high priced, foreign energy which in reality is a second robbery of our citizens – all in the name of greed. How the accused can assuage their moral conscience for these activities is between them and whatever God they believe in, if any. But in the terms of the law, the Justice Department will bring those charged to trial and seek to punish them for these crimes against all Americans.”

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


April 27, 1980


Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana proposes a bill which would ban inter-racial marriage, citing the practice as “divisive and producing off-spring who are the perpetual victims of bigotry by every side.” After many demonstrations by civil rights groups and a threat of federal action by the Federal Justice Department the Bill fails to pass the Louisiana legislature.


President Wallace says of this measure: “It was my hope that we had buried these ancient hatreds, but I see the past is still alive in some corners. I can only say that this measure by Governor Rarick and his supporters is a bad move, an inhuman move, and folly of the worst kind. Our national problems are economic, and we don’t need the distraction of racial division. We need tolerance today and tolerance forever, and this bill will only produce the reverse, and I call on the legislators of the great state of Louisiana to defeat it.”


After the President says this Governor Rarick attempts to sue the President in federal court for exceeding his Constitutional authority and violating state sovereignty. The suit is unresolved when President Wallace leaves office.

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

April 28, 1980

Greek National Elections

301 Seats – 151 needed to form a government

Socialist Party (PASOK) – (158 – 66) = 92 (52.5% - 21.8% = 30.7%)

Greek Communist Party (KKE) – (39+ 32) = 71 (13.0% + 10.7% = 23.7%)
New Democracy – (95 + 26) =121 (31.5+ 8.8% = 40.3%)
Minor Parties – (9 + 7) =16 (3.0% + 2.3% = 5.3%)

Prime Minister before election: Andreas Papandreou (PASOK)

Prime Minister after election: Andreas Papandreou (PASOK)

Papandreou retains the government by forming a coalition with the Greek Communist Party. This is widely seen in Greece as a sell-out by the Communists because Papandreou’s previous government had been unpopular due to on-going uprisings in the North, high inflation and serious economic problems. PASOK, which had governed as a majority in the first post dictatorship parliament, had lost 66 seats (42% of its pre-election members) in the election, a defeat by most standards. Many on the Greek right came to see this as a cynical grab for power by the Communists who went from being critics of the PASOK in the last parliament to controlling several key Ministries in the new coalition with Papandreou.


The result is an increasing series of anti-government demonstrations and deep cynicism about the government among the Greek people.


President: Ioannis Alevras (PASOK) (1976 – 1981)


Prime Minister and Defence Minister: Andreas Papandreou (PASOK)

Minister of Foreign Affairs: Ioannis Haralambopoulos (PASOK)
Minister of Finance: Manolis Drettakis (PASOK)
Minister of the Interior and Public Order: Charilaos Florakis (KKE)
Minister of Agriculture: (KKE)
Minister of Labour: (KKE)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 30, 1980

The Kryuchkov affair: Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov, a senior KGB officer, is arrested along with several others and a group of black marketers. While they are charged with economic crimes, it seems entirely likely that this was an effort to remove some of Yuri Andropov’s close allies from the KGB. Not surprisingly two of the officers involved in the arrest, KGB Colonel Oleg Kalugin and KGB Lieutenant Vladimir Putin, are clients of Deputy Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov by way of Ryzhkov’s assistant Alexander Yakovlev.


1980 – 1981

Through 1980 and into 1981 the War in Southern Africa revolves around a series of offensives and counter-offensives by the two sides. Those by the ZPLF and its allies are designed to de-stabilize the South African-Rhodesian alliance. Those by South-Africa and Rhodesia are meant to use firepower along with chemical weapons, poison gas and dirty bombs to destroy the African forces by attrition. The results are a terrible level of causalities on both sides. When the ZPLF take a white community they often practice a scorched Earth policy, destroying it utterly. South African and Rhodesian forces are no less thorough in destroying African communities and their sources of supply. As the Soviets are supplying the ZPLF and their allies, Mozambique and eventually even Angola become involved, but even with East Bloc advisors and Cuban troops for support, they prove unable to dislodge the numerically inferior but persistent South African and Rhodesian forces. Most of these believe that if they surrender they will die, and their homeland will be wiped-out. This inspires a level of fanaticism among the white soldiers. Their numbers are also boosted by as many foreign mercenaries who will sign-on, many with experience in other recent conflicts.

Reports also filter out of the conflict area from time-to-time that some other regimes with links to the South African government (mainly covert on the side of procuring arms or nuclear technology) are sending units of their troops into the area in order to give them field experience in actual combat. Among those suspected of doing this are Israel, Chile, Taiwan and several Latin American states. South Africa may in turn be paying for some of these troops in gold and diamonds.


The casualties are horrendous - estimated at over 200,000 dead and an unknown number displaced and injured. Endemic disease and starvation, along with a refugee problem, infest areas behind the lines. More die under horrible conditions.


Efforts to negotiate an end to this horror are stymied by the underlying superpower conflict, and by intransigence on both sides which leads to the break down of negotiations. The whites believe that to give-in at any point will lead to their annihilation, while the resistance forces believe that they need not negotiate as they will overrun the whites eventually and claim all of Southern Africa.


Arms embargos are imposed, but regularly circumvented, slowing but not eliminating the flow of arms to both sides.

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

May – September 1980

U.S. Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski attempts to bring Egyptian and Israeli representatives together in an effort to re-start the peace process. What he finds is little interest on either side. Since Syria has ceased to be a regional power, Egypt no longer feels compelled to check its influence through a relationship with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel feels little threat from Egypt and little need to speak with the el-Gamasy regime.


Prime Minister Begin: “We have no objections in talking to Egypt, but first the Egyptian government must accept the condition of the Sinai directly effects Israel’s security, and so if we choose to relinquish territory it must be only in a way, and to a degree, that will protect the strategic depth of Israel’s defences. Secondly, Cairo must give-up all support of the PLO. Until this happens, we cannot believe that the Egyptians are speaking with any good faith.”


President el-Gamasy: “How can one talk with anyone who demands that we give-up everything before any sort of talks can begin? This is not bargaining, this is demanding by ultimatum, as if Egypt were somehow to be obedient to Israel’s command. What the Zionist leader calls strategic depth we call occupation of our sovereign territory by a foreign power, and no government worthy of the name would enter into negotiations on the basis that we can have back only that much of our land which they deem will not effect their strategic depth, and they will keep the rest as they decide. I tell Mr. Begin and his friends in America and Europe that we will not play Czechoslovakia to his Germany and we will not sign a Munich pact which gives away our land for the sake of their supposed security.”


May 1, 1980

Yuri Andropov appears atop Lenin’s Tomb for the May Day parade, his first public appearance since the Geneva Summit of February. He looks thin and pale, wears dark glasses and appears to be held-up by his military aide standing behind him on the platform. In the subsequent months Andropov appears in public only three more times, at two Party functions in June and September and again at the celebration of the October Revolution in Red Square. Other than that the Soviet leader is absent from public view through all of 1980 (though he does meet with some foreign visitors in private – they all report he sits throughout these meetings and does not rise to greet his visitors).



May 2, 1980

During a campaign stop in St. Louis, Missouri Ronald Reagan draws widespread ridicule by claiming that eighty percent of air pollution is caused by trees.


The space shuttle program has lain largely dormant since Fiscal 1976-1977, due in large part to funding cuts and differing spending priorities. One prototype, the Constitution was built and air tested, but there has been no more production since. Money instead went into production of Apollo components for Skylab use, a second Skylab vehicle and other expenditures. Skylab was given a priority in order to compete with the Soviet Salyut program. Other spending was spread out over conventional rocket production for satellite launches. In Fiscal 1980 for the first time new money is allocated for further development of an orbiter program to be used in tandem with an existing Skylab station, with a possibility of a larger Skylab C as a permanently manned orbiting community.


William F. Buckley Jr: “General Franco was an authentic national hero and the regime he left behind was the last guard post against the Communist sweep through Southern Europe. Now the guard is gone and the red tide has swept across all of sunny Southern Europe from Red Greece to Red Portugal and upward through Red France. Soon even the waters of the English Channel will run red with the stain of Leninism, forever darkening the bright hue of the white cliffs of Dover. Europe is lost, fallen from our open hand like so many marbles carelessly dropped by a palsied hand. I can only believe that a strong hand can stem the tide before it is too late. Once I thought Ronald Reagan the man to do it, but lately I have considered the candidates, and I believe Governor Rumsfeld is the better choice to stay the creeping hand of Communist tyranny.”


May 3, 1980

William P. Casey takes over as campaign manager for the Reagan for President campaign. Richard B. Cheney left his position at the Hughes Network in late 1979 to manage Donald Rumsfeld’s campaign. Pat Buchanan has assumed Cheney’s position (Vice President of Operations and Programming) at the Hughes Network.


José Maldonado González, the formal President of the Spanish Republican government-in-exile (the Second Spanish Republic) signs a decree formally declaring that the Federal (Third) Republic is the legitimate successor to his government, and thus dissolving his government-in-exile. Maldonado is in fact already involved with activities surrounding the founding and the writing of the Federal Republic’s Constitution. As an act of reconciliation the flag of the Second Republic is flown over the Cortes Generales for one day.


May 4, 1980

Release of
The First Emperor (1980), a biopic of Qin Shi Huang, the first historic Emperor of China. The film highlights his military successes but also his cultural isolationism and his attempt to destroy all previous written records and invent a new alphabet. Emperor Qin is portrayed as a clever man who descends into madness. The film is regarded as a roman a clef for the regime of the Lesser Mao.

May 5, 1980

The Irish Republican Brigade (IRB) carried out a bomb attack on the North-South electricity link at Crossmaglen. The British and Irish governments had been attempting to re-establish the link following an earlier explosion.


CBS News Interview

Dan Rather: “The question has been raised, Governor, about this alleged memo that circulated in the Agnew Administration – under your name – in which you advocated an invasion of Saudi Arabia – presumably a grab for oil.”

Donald Rumsfeld: “If you look at what has happened since, with the revolution and with Iraq invading and taking control over that oil, about a quarter of the world’s supply, you have to wonder, if that memo was in fact written, if it wasn’t prescient. Think about it? How much more secure would we be today, how much better would our economy be, if we controlled Arabia and not a cruel, pro-Soviet dictatorship in Iraq?”


Rather: “So, Governor, you think President Gavin should have followed-up on the idea, after the Syrian operation?”


Rumsfeld: “I think the Gavin and Wallace Administrations both let us down, in terms of our overall security, and we are living with the result. During the Agnew Administration we reinvigorated the effort to save South Vietnam from the Communists, and we succeeded. We stopped the Soviets from getting a foothold in the Middle East and we saved Israel from a military obliteration by its non-democratic neighbors.”


Rather: “But Governor, it was that very action, the support for Israel in 1973, that lead to the collapse of the Syrian regime and necessitated our military intervention in that country. That was hardly a success...”


Rumsfeld: “The problem was that President Gavin and his advisors let it get out of hand by playing too much to the sensibilities of the nay-sayers and the blame America first crowd – the people who cry henny-penny the sky is falling at the first sign of trouble. Syria was necessary to get rid of a fanatic, but the Gavin people were too eager to have a consensus with the Russians in the process. That opened the door to bring them back into the Middle East, after President Agnew had slammed it shut in their face. “


Rather: “So if you had still been in office during that period...”


Rumsfeld: “I would have counselled President Agnew on a unilateral move to get Bayanouni, and secure Syria, without going through the process of a UN resolution – which in the end was a Soviet smoke screen for getting their foot in there. And, by the way, it was that action which emboldened the Soviets to encourage the Iraqis which has lead to the current mess. It happened because the Gavin and Wallace Adminstrations allowed it to happen. You see you have to nip these things in the bud, with quick and decisive action.”


Rather: “Do you acknowledge that things could have gone better with the Agnew Administration?”


Rumsfeld: “Better? How? The end maybe, but that related to the President himself and his past. You see, we created the groundwork for a strong economy, for a strong America, but didn’t have a chance to build on that – and that was the fault of Congress and the succeeding Administrations which watered down what we left them. During President Agnew’s term we took steps to free-up the economy, to make sure that American power was respected around the world, and to secure our strategic interests. There is nothing in that to be ashamed of or apologetic about.”

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

Spiro Agnew: "None of the major candidates will appear on my show, my friends, because they fear to be exposed to a thorough questioning by me, someone who has held the office and understands it like no other. They prefer the softballs of the liberal press, which fawns over the Democrat and hurls insults at the Republicans. But these Nattering Nabobs of Negativity do not understand the Presidency as I do, so they cannot ask the questions - the hard questions - which need to be asked. I therefore challenge the candidates to come on my show and face a true grilling. Who has the nerve?"



Richard Nixon: "As the only President ever impeached and removed from office, Ted certainly has a unique understanding of the office, but not one I think anyone wants to share."

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

George F. Kennan: “In truth we stand at the edge of losing the struggle for Europe not because of a lack of military strength, but because we fell into the habit of relying on military strength alone as the sole means of counterforce to Communist ideas. We gave little thought to contesting post-Stalin ideas coming out of Moscow, and instead we allowed our political good-will and image to become mired in the swamps of Vietnam. It matters little that we won in Vietnam, and that victory came only as the result of a last minute hail-Mary play born of too much desperation and too little strategic sense. What we won in the jungles of South Vietnam is of questionable worth when we consider what it cost us in terms of the goodwill and co-operative spirit of the European left in general, and that of many moderate minded Europeans who might otherwise have looked to the United States for inspiration, had not their gaze fallen upon nightly images of American soldiers burning the straw huts of poor villagers.


“Today we hear across the land hysterical calls about the sweep of red – Socialist red or Communist red, those on the right fail to catch the nuance – and the cry that Europe has failed and that we, as the last bastion of democracy, must ride to the rescue. Never mind that with the lone exception of Portugal, the new red states have been elected, and as such have as rightful a claim to democratic legitimacy as any government we elect. That they were elected by the people of Europe is not so much a reflection of the weakness of the European voters, as it is the weakness of our ability when it comes to engaging the vital ideas of the European left.


“How are we to cure this? Not with shop warn right-wing jingoism which may stir-up the political base here in the United States but offers little that is attractive to all but a few militants in Europe. In the name of democracy we cannot force democratically elected governments not to our liking to change, or we would quickly unmask ourselves as the very thing we claim to oppose. Nor is it in our economic or political interest to be seen as a bully trying to lord our world view over free and proud peoples.


“If we are to win this battle we must put away the town-square slogans of the itinerant politician seeking to stir the blood and incite the crowd to follow his or her rhetorical lead to the ballot box. Now is the time when we must be smart, and our leaders must be smart. Only when we replace the image of the burning hut once again with the image of a prosperous, dynamic and free society will we have the true persuasive power to breathe life back into the demoralized political forces of the democratic center in Europe which can yet draw their nations back from the brink of total Soviet control.


“I would like to see our government gradually withdraw from its public advocacy of democracy and human rights. I submit that governments should deal with other governments as such, and should avoid unnecessary involvement, particularly personal involvement, with their leaders. On the soft issues there are other organizations that should take the lead. Governments are instruments of law, and as such should remain focused on safeguarding the legal framework within which trade and government-to-government relations can continue on a professional basis. Undo emotion, jingoism and a Wilsonian-like zeal for changing the world taken into these areas would be our undoing.”

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

May 7, 1980

Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate).


Former El Salvador Army Major Roberto D'Aubuisson was arrested with a group of civilians and soldiers at a farm. The raiders found documents connecting him and the civilians as organizers and financiers of the death squad who killed Archbishop Romero (on March 24), and of plotting a coup d’état against the government. Their arrest provoked right-wing terrorist threats and institutional pressures forcing the government to release Maj. D’Aubuisson.


In May 1980, the Salvadoran revolutionary leadership met in Havana, forming the consolidated politico-military command, the DRU — Dirección Revolucionaria Unificada (Unified Revolutionary Directorate). In October, they founded the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (comprising the Frente Farabundo Martí de Liberación Nacional [FMLN] and the Frente Democrático Revolucionario [FDR]) honoring insurgent hero Farabundo Martí, whom the Salvadoran National Guard killed in 1932.


In preparing for a mass insurrection against the U.S.-sponsored government of El Salvador, the FMLN's feasible military victory was a two-pronged strategy of economic sabotage and a prolonged guerrilla war-of-attrition (per the principles of Ché Guevara and Mao Tse-tung) fought with rural guerrillas and urban civil political support; thus, in the 1980–1982 period political violence increased when mass political groups metamorphosed into guerrillas.


By far, the majority of the victims were peasants, trade unionists, teachers, students, journalists, human rights advocates, priests, and anyone working in the interest of the poor majority. The death toll reached almost 12,000 with the vast majority of the victims falling prey to fascist death squads. The right wing government of President Ernesto Claramount, backed by Washington, made a show of combating the death squads, but this was largely believed to be a front to cover over the government’s inability to control the situation.


Carlos García Juliá, an exiled Spanish Fascist became prominent figure among the right wing death squads during this period.


The government of Indian Prime Minister Ram Sundar Das announces a land reform program which will allow the private sale of land to foreign as well as domestic developers. This is seen as an effort by the government to attract both foreign industry and tourism development. Kanu Sanyal, leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) organizes a series of anti-government protests against this policy.


President Wallace: “Who says Europe is lost? We may not like some of the governments that have been elected in recent years, but the point is they have been
elected. There are no more Hungarys or Czechoslovakias in Europe; no government has fallen to Soviet tanks. Governments have been made by the people at the ballot box. Now our job is to work with them, and it is in that give and take that we have to persuade them which way is better, and I’m confident that America can do that.”

May 9, 1980

In Florida, the Liberian freighter Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay. A 1,400-foot section of the bridge collapses and 35 people (most in a bus) are killed.

The Norco shootout takes place in California. The Norco shootout was an armed confrontation between five heavily armed bank robbers and deputies of the Riverside and San Bernardino County sheriff's departments in Norco, California, United States on May 9, 1980. Two of the five perpetrators and one sheriff's deputy were killed, 9 other law enforcement officers were injured, and gunfire damaged at least 30 police cars and one police helicopter.


At approximately 3:40 p.m. five men armed with shotguns, an assault rifle, handguns, and an improvised explosive device robbed the Norco branch of Security Pacific Bank. Deputies of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department responding to the bank robbery call confronted the perpetrators outside the bank and a shootout ensued, killing one perpetrator. The perpetrators then stole a vehicle in the bank parking lot and fled the scene, leading police on a 25-mile (40 km) car chase into neighboring San Bernardino County. Riverside County deputies were joined in the pursuit by officers of other area law enforcement agencies, including the California Highway Patrol and San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. The perpetrators then ambushed the pursuing deputies and engaged them in another shootout in unincorporated San Bernardino County near Lytle Creek before escaping into a wooded area in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains.


Two days later, three of the four surviving perpetrators were arrested in the area of the ambush; the fourth was killed by police. The three who were arrested were convicted of 46 felonies and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.


James Alexander George Smith "Jags" McCartney the Turks and Caicos Islands’ first Chief Minister, is injured in a plane crash over New Jersey, but survives.


Local elections were held in the United Kingdom in 1980.

In a test of the electoral strength of the three year-old Labour government of Prime Minister Dennis Healey the government lost ground, while the trend of the Liberal Party as an alternative to either Labour or Conservative continued. Also showing strength was the National Front (mainly in Scunthrope, Teesside and South Yorkshire, three of the areas hardest hit by the British Steel strike), which for the first time gained council seats.


The Conservatives gained 332 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 9,041 (43.3%);


Labour lost 1,068 seats, bringing their number of councillors to 8,625 (41.3%);


The Liberal Party gained 610 seats and finished with 2,798 councillors (13.4%);


The Scottish National Party gained 48 seats, finishing with 291 councillors (1.4%);


The National Front won 51 seats*, up from 0; (0.2%)


while other parties gained 27 seats, finishing with 92 councillors (0.4%).


*= Among these National Front Councillors were Andrew Fountaine, Martin Webster and Andrew Brons. The NF’s nominal leader John Tyndall remained outside of elective office. At least one MI-5 mole, using the cover name John Blandish, also made it onto a local council.

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

May 11, 1980

Mobster Henry Hill is arrested for drug possession.


An awkward moment ensues when Donald Rumsfeld is leaving an event at the Club Quarters Hotel in Houston, Texas at the same time former President Richard Nixon is arriving for another event. A photographer catches both men in the same frame as they appear to recognize and acknowledge one another. The photo becomes a
Time Magazine cover on The GOP Coming and Going in Transition. For the Rumsfeld campaign the photo is an unpleasant reminder of Watergate and Gov. Rumsfeld’s association with the discredited Nixon Administration.

TRW announces that it will begin production of the desktop computer for home and small business users. At the time it is not revealed that TRW has designed the operating software to log all user activity to create in each unit a record of what the user does with the computer. The federal government was not unaware of this and has an intent, through the Department of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight (NICO) to apply surveillance to computer activity.


John Hinckley is arrested while stalking Republican Presidential candidate Donald Rumsfeld at a campaign event. Hinckley is arrested carrying a pistol. After a psychological assessment, which finds him disturbed and “out of touch with reality” he is released in August.


Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana manages to get through the Louisiana legislature a controversial bill which states that drug addiction is not a disease but a menace to society and as such requires strict state control. After abandoning an early draft which would have applied the death penalty to drug addiction, the final bill which he signs into law proscribes life imprisonment without possibility of parole to those convicted of “criminal addiction.”


The Bayh Justice Department immediately challenges the Louisiana Criminal Addiction Bill, which makes its way toward the United States Supreme Court as
Bayh v. Rarick.
---------------------------------------------

May 13, 1980

Gerry Fitt, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), travelled to Downing Street, London, to hold a meeting with Dennis Healey, then British Prime Minister.


The Westie Irish gang in New York and the West End Irish gang in Montreal begin encroaching on Chinese heroin territory in Montreal and along the East Coast of the United States. They are reportedly backed by the Italian Mafia’s Gambino family in New York and the “Outfit” in Chicago, both of which have, through their Sicilian partners, secured new sources of heroin from Afghanistan and Turkey. The Middle Eastern suppliers are using their new U.S. contacts to undermine the Chinese grip on the heroin trade. Similar operations have been started with various indigenous gangs in Western Europe as well. Reportedly the PIRA is charging “protection” on Irish and British smuggling gangs as a fund raising tool.


In the United States, the attempt to undercut the Chinese sources leads to renewed gang wars which result in over 1,000 deaths due to shootings and other assassination activities. European statistics are comparable, though these violent crimes are underreported there for political reasons.


Ron Dellums (WTP): “I have to agree with George Kennan. We have many problems here at home that need to be addressed, such as educational reform, poverty and a lack of opportunity for many of our citizens. Let’s get past the idea that we are missionaries to the world and get involved with the idea that we have to be missionaries to ourselves.”


May 14 – June 7, 1980

The Sixth Special Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly is held to consider the War in Southern Africa.


May 14, 1980

Reagan famously says “I am committed to
not supporting Civil Rights for black Americans.” The gaffe goes uncorrected at the moment, and is only later retracted by Reagan assistant Michael Deaver after the original remark is read back to him by reporters. It later transpires that Reagan was reading from a script and that someone (person unknown) inserted the word not between to and supporting, thus causing Reagan to read a statement that was contrary to his intent. The fact that Reagan is reading script pages without vetting what he is saying causes a further scandal for the Reagan campaign.

May 15, 1980

KGB Colonel Oleg Kalugin, with the assistance of KGB Lieutenant Vladimir Putin organize the “Black Flag.” Black Flag is to be an internationalist Fascist front group which will recruit fascist and anti-Communists to carry out (deniable) operations on behalf of the Soviet Union by using false flag techniques to deceive the agents into believing they are working for a fascist group. One of their first recruits is a Turkish Grey Wolves fugitive named Mehmet Ali Ağca.


The British steel strike hits an impasse when Bill Sirs, General Secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, walks out of talks with the government aimed at trimming production costs at British Steel. This progresses into a direct confrontation between the ISTC and the Labour government over efforts to “rationalize” British industry in the face of declining demand and rising unemployment.


May 16, 1980

Gov. Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL): “In my experience the Presidency involves more than reading a script. Sometimes you’re called on to write it.”


Inflation in Britain hits 18%. Main causes the rising price of oil, labour unrest and market uncertainty over whether the Labour government can settle the Steel strike.


Although sympathetic to the government, Trades Union Congress General Secretary Len Murray finds himself drawn into the increasingly bitter conflict between British Steel and the Labour government. ISTC is by this point trying to mobilize other unions to join its workers on the picket line in a general strike across Britain.


Louisiana passes a law banning pornography.
The Family Decency Act of 1980 describes pornography as a “criminal addiction” and subjects those who posses or distribute it to the same penalties as the Criminal Addiction Act. This is immediately challenged.

May 17, 1980

A Tampa, Florida court acquits 4 white police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, provoking 3 days of race riots in Miami.


On the eve of presidential elections in Peru, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho.


An Israeli intelligence report places Juhayman ibn Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Otaybi (one of the leaders of the anti-Saud Revolution in Arabia) and Ayman al-Zawahiri (Egyptian Islamic militant and suspected terrorist) in Gao, Mali where they are receiving support and training from the PJO. The Israelis suspect the PJO is giving support to the anti-Iraqi resistance in Arabia via North Yemen.


Approx May 18 – October 18, 1980

Skirmishes resume between Lao government troops and Chinese backed Pathet Lao Red forces along the north of the country. At the same time the Chinese begin new offensive operations along the Chinese-Vietnam border.


May 18, 1980

Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage.


Fernando Belaúnde Terry is elected President of Peru in a reasonably free election. Belaunde will replace a military junta.


Ian Curtis, singer/songwriter of acclaimed post punk band Joy Division, is found hanged.


May 18 – 20, 1980

Mahrous bin Laden leads an army of Bedouin in attacking Iraqi supply installations along the Riyadh to Mecca road. Mahrous is becoming a legend in Arabia for leading the resistance to the Iraqis.


May 18–May 27, 1980

Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.


On the morning of May 18, students gathered at the gate of Chonnam National University, in defiance of its closing. By 9:30 am, around 200 students had arrived; they were opposed by 30 paratroopers. At around 10 am, soldiers and students clashed: soldiers charged the students; students threw stones. The protest moved then to the downtown, Geumnamno (the street leading to the Jeollanamdo Provincial Office), area. There the conflict broadened, to around 2000 participants by afternoon. Initially, police handled the Geumnamno protests; at 4 pm, though, paratroopers took over. The arrival of these 686 soldiers, of the 33rd and 35th squadrons of the 7th Brigade, marked a new, violent, and now infamous phase of suppression.


Witnesses say soldiers clubbed both demonstrators and onlookers. Testimonies, photographs, and internal records attest the use of bayonets. The first known fatality was a 29-year-old deaf man named Kim Gyeong-cheol, who was clubbed to death on May 18 while passing by the scene. As citizens were infuriated by the violence, the number of protesters rapidly increased and exceeded 10,000 by May 20.


As the conflict escalated, the army began to fire on citizens, killing an unknown number near Gwangju Station on May 20. That same day, angered protesters burned down the local MBC station, which had misreported the situation then unfolding in Gwangju (acknowledging only 1 civilian casualty, for example). Four policemen were killed at a police barricade near the Provincial Government Building after a car rammed into them.


On the night of May 20, hundreds of taxis led a large parade of buses, large trucks and cars toward the Provincial Office to meet the protest. As the drivers drove in the demonstration, the troops used tear gas, pulled them out of the cars and beat them. These “drivers of democracy” showed up to support the citizens and the demonstration because of troop brutality witnessed earlier in the day, as well as out of anger after many taxi drivers were assaulted when trying to assist the injured and while taking people to the hospital. Some were even shot after the drivers attempted to use the vehicles to block soldiers or as weapons.


The violence climaxed on May 21. At about 1 p.m., the army fired at a protesting crowd gathered in front of the Jeonnam Provincial Office, causing casualties. In response, some protesters raided armories and police stations in nearby towns and armed themselves with M1 rifles and carbines. Later that afternoon, bloody gunfights between civilian militias and the army broke out in the Provincial Office Square. By 5:30 p.m., militias had acquired two light machine guns and used them against the army, which began to retreat from the downtown area.


May 20, 1980

Quebec referendum: Voters in Quebec vote 51% to 49% to accept a proposal to seek independence from Canada. The PQ provincial government immediately takes this as a mandate to being talks with the Canadian government.


Dennis Healey stated in the House of Commons: "The future of the constitutional affairs of Northern Ireland is a matter for the people of Northern Ireland and this government. We will, of course, consult with the government of the Irish Republic as they have an understandable interest in the matter, however the Republic will not be given a veto status over Northern Ireland affairs." This statement was made the day before Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), was due to arrive in London with talks with Healey.


Enoch Powell MP (UU-South Down): “The Irish Republic chose the path of sovereignty outside of the British Commonwealth of nations some time ago, and as such they should manage their own affairs and stay out of those of Great Britain. I call on the Prime Minister and this government to deliver to the Taoiseach the plain and simple message, Ireland for the Irish and Northern Ireland for her own people.”


Airey Neave MP (Cons.-Opposition Leader): “Let us deliver the message to the Taoiseach that Great Britain expects the Irish Republic to call in the paramilitaries, and that continuing good relations with our nation depend on good will over the disarmament issue coming from Dublin first.”


May 21, 1980

The South Korean government declared Marshall Law in response to ongoing protests and clamped down hard on protestors. Some two hundred designated leaders of the militias were executed before the firing squad within days of the crackdown. The government invalidated all South Korean passports, forcing many citizens to re-apply for new documents, which were withheld from those deemed to be trouble makers. A further 2,000 South Koreans with dual citizenship (mainly U.S.) who had been involved in the protests were deported to the nation of their second nationality and banned on pain of death from returning. One deportee, a University of California and Berkley Law Professor, John Gwojun, did return, violating the law, in 1984 and his fate caused a major international incident.


There is no universally accepted death toll for the 1980 Gwangju Uprising. Official figures released by the Martial Law Command put the death toll at 144 civilians, 22 troops and 4 police killed, with 127 civilians, 109 troops and 144 police wounded. Individuals who attempted to dispute these figures were liable for arrest for "spreading false rumors," and in 1981 fourteen individuals were executed for this crime. Kim Dae-jung himself, who was associated with these as a figurehead prisoner of conscience, disappeared within the South Korean prison system without an adequate account ever having been given as to exactly what his fate was.


Throughout the 1980’s some 3,000 South Koreans were to disappear without trace in what became known as “South Korea’s Dirty War.” A further 8,000 would be imprisoned or exiled for dissident actions. (Sixteen U.S. citizens of non-Korean ethnicity would also disappear during this period; something which was suppressed for a number of years by the South Korean and U.S. governments: South Korea would long claim that the sixteen Americans left South Korea to engage in the drug trade in Burma and Thailand. This ruse worked only so long as the Burmese and Thai authorities didn’t contradict the South Korean contention by claiming that the missing sixteen had never entered their countries.). One U.S. Army sergeant died under mysterious circumstances that the South Koreans maintained for years had been “a mugging.”


Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach travelled to London to attend a meeting with Dennis Healey and his senior ministers. A communiqué released after the meeting promised greater political co-operation between the two governments on the issue of Northern Ireland and referred to the "unique relationship" between the two countries.


In light of the failed military offensive against Spain (in as much as Portugal sacrificed a lot blood and gained little) Álvaro Cunhal is forced to resign his government position and shortly afterwards to step down as Secretary General of the ruling Portuguese Communist Party. This in turn allows Prime Minister Vasco Goncalves to deflect some of the blame away from himself. Carlos Alfredo de Brito succeeds Cunhal as General Secretary of the Communist Party.


May 21, 1980

The Socialist French government passes a second capital tax designed to fund employment programs. The opposition NFIR, lead in the Assembly by Valery Giscard d’Estaing, denounces the new tax as anti-business and as too constricting on capital transfers and investment.



May 22, 1980

Pac-Man is released.


The Lougheed government falls on a vote of confidence arising from the federalist loss in the Quebec referendum. A Canadian Federal election is called for June 23.


Seattle area narcotics figure Li Chen Ho is convicted of 2,633 counts of unlawful narcotics importation and distribution and receives a like number of life sentences in prison – to be served consecutively. (Parole eligibility begins after 10,000 years). This is considered a major victory in the drug war and credit goes to the assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Grammer, who won the conviction in court.


Indian Finance Minister Haribhai M. Patel announces an “open bank” program which will allow foreign banks to work more closely with their Indian counterparts without tight capital restrictions being imposed from the central government. This leads to a home bankers protest against the encroachment of foreign competition.


May 23 – August 2, 1980

Meetings between Saud family representatives and other exile groups in London and Geneva fail to produce a consensus on an Arabian government in exile. The Saud family wants their throne restored, while other groups want an Arabian government without Saud dynastic control.


May 24, 1980

The Edmonton Oilers win their first Stanley Cup in game seven of playoffs against the Buffalo Sabres in a 5-4 win in overtime. The “Edmonton Miracle” comes to refer to the Oilers win in their divisional play-offs as well as in the finals during only their second full season in the NHL. This is also the fourth in a row win for a Canadian team in the Stanley Cup.


Sen. Edward Kennedy receives a conditional discharge on the drug possession charge after pleading no contest in an Illinois court. He pays a fine and agrees to complete 100 hours of community service in Menard County (which he will do cleaning roads and working in a soup kitchen). This disposition leads many to claim that the fix was in so that Kennedy could get off the hook on a charge that would have sent others to prison. Gov. Rumsfeld of Illinois orders a review of the handling of this case.


May 25, 1980

Indianapolis 500: Johnny Rutherford wins for a third time in car owner Jim Hall's revolutionary ground effect Chaparral car; the victory is Hall's second as an owner.


Matrix-Intertech (MI) founded through private capital infusion. MI, based in Virginia but with satellite locations in other parts of the world, is an designed to recruit non-U.S. citizens to conduct covert activities on behalf of the U.S. government which remain deniable, and off the U.S. government books (so as to evade Congressional oversight). MI is set-up as a security company, with venture capital holdings in other enterprises that meet its requirements.

Soviet Premier Pelse and Deputy Premier Ryzhkov make a state visit to Baghdad in order to “re-solemnize” the Treaty of Friendship and support between Iraq and the USSR.

May 26, 1980

John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away.


Vernon Jordan is shot and critically injured in an assassination attempt in Fort Wayne, Indiana by Joseph Paul Franklin (the first major news story for CNN).


Riots erupt in Argentina as the government of President Carlos Humberto Perette imposes strict austerity measures to curb inflation.


May 26 – July 31, 1980

Soyuz 36 was launched 26 May 1980 with Valery Kubasov and Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas, headed to the Salyut 6 space station where Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin, launched aboard Soyuz 35, were resident. The flight was originally scheduled for 5 June 1979, but was cancelled due to the Soyuz 33 failure. They successfully docked at the aft port the day after launching. The flight was the fifth Intercosmos flight whereby guest cosmonauts from Soviet allied nations would visit the space station, typically for about a week. The flight was only the second time a Soviet mission had a civilian commander. The Soyuz craft was used to boost the station's orbit on 29 May, then Kubasov and Farkas swapped Soyuz craft with the long-duration crew, exchanging seat liners, pressure suits and personal items, before departing the station in Soyuz 35 on 3 June and landed 140 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan. The Soyuz 36 spacecraft was later used to return the crew of Soyuz 37 to earth.



May 27, 1980

Having raised his profile by winning the Democratic Party Iowa Presidential Caucuses, former Davenport Mayor Charles J. Wright now enters the Democratic Primary for Iowa’s First Congressional district currently held for two terms by Republican Rep. James Leach (R-IA).


Inquest into the death of New Zealand born teacher Blair Peach (who was killed during a demonstration against the National Front last year) returns a verdict of misadventure, sparking a public outcry.


May 28, 1980

Nottingham Forest retain the European Cup with a 1-0 win over Hamburger SV, the West German league champions, in Madrid. The winning goal is scored by Scotland international John Robertson.


June 1, 1980

British Leyland launches its Morris Ital range of family saloons and estates, which are a reworking of the nine-year-old Marina that was one of Britain's most popular cars during the 1970s. It will be produced for up to four years until an all-new front-wheel drive model is launched, and sales begin on 1 August - the same day that the new W-registered cars go on sale.


The UK economy officially slides into recession.


The Cable News Network (CNN) is officially launched. Founder Ted Turner is determined to compete with the Hughes Network. “They’ve got crap and we’ve got the real news,” Turner says. CNN announces that ABC White House correspondent Al Gore Jr. will be taking over as lead anchor on CNN Newswatch. Gore initiates CNN Prime Time coverage with a interview of Democratic Presidential candidate Gov. Hugh Carey. On June 3 (the day of the last series of primaries) Gore interviews Republican candidate Gov. Rumsfeld.


"We won't be signing off until the world ends. We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event... and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer, My God, to Thee' before we sign off." – Ted Turner


Plans for a second James Bond film starring Michael Billington are announced (following the modest success of 1979’s Moonraker) for release in 1982. The film will be based on the Ian Fleming short story “Property of a Lady.”


Ibn Farouz, a former Saudi official in exile who has been trying to organize a secular opposition to the exiled royal Saudi government is murdered in Rabat, Morocco. The Saudis and the PJO are both suspects.


June 1–August 31, 1980

The Polish Summer: A series of General Strikes cripple Poland. They appear to be inspired by the Spanish Liberation (noting that Poland, like Spain, is a heavily Roman Catholic Country). The demands of the strikers are for higher pay, more religious freedom and an end to Soviet domination of their country. The event spawns street festivals and other related events celebrating Polish national identity.


Lech Wałęsa, in exile in Siberia, hears only rumors of what is going on in Poland.


June 1 – October 4, 1980

Skylab X mission. James B. Irwin (Commander), Joseph Allen and Dr. Victor Bergman. (Dr. Bergman is the first British astronaut). On June 5 Dr. Bergman receives a personal call in space from King George VII.


June 2, 1980

Infamous Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy is paroled after having served seven years of a twenty year sentence for his part in the Watergate conspiracy. Liddy is the last of the Watergate conspirators still in prison. President Wallace had been rumoured publicly to be considering commuting Liddy’s sentence in 1978, however this ended when Liddy sent a letter to the President whose contents were kept secret (according to Chief of Staff William Nicols’ memoirs the letter contained a series of personal insults against the President, his family and his late first wife Gov. Lurleen Wallace; Liddy’s motivation appeared to be contempt for Wallace because Wallace had not backed Nixon’s 1972 re-election). Within days he is signed as a commentator by the Hughes Network.


Meanwhile Hughes features Geraldo Rivera as an anchor opposite Al Gore on CNN.


Roger Ailes (President of the Hughes Network): “[Ted] Turner’s comment is completely inappropriate and defamatory. Of course, what can you expect from a guy who’s just full of that substance he mentioned.”


A confrontation between ISTC strikers and the police outside of Consett leads to three days or violence and burning before police restore order.


June 3, 1980

A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing 5 people and injuring over 250.


Republican Party operatives Richard V. Allen and Lawrence Silberman, both associated with the Donald Rumsfeld campaign, meet with representatives of the Israeli Likud government to ostensibly discuss “Middle East Policy.” Later rumours suggest that the Rumsfeld representatives discussed a plan whereby Israel would not accede to U.S. requests for negotiations on Middle Eastern peace issues. The reason for this was to prevent the incumbent Democratic Administration from receiving any credit for a breakthrough in talks which might benefit the Democratic Party ticket in the November election. Another agenda item reportedly discussed was the steering of Israeli backing to the Rumsfeld for President campaign.


Salem Bin Laden, brother of Mahrous, the Chairman of the Arabia Bin Laden Group (ABG), a giant construction firm, is murdered for collaborating with the Iraqis. A suicide bomber had walked up to Salem at a construction site and blew them both up, along with injuring several bystanders.


An entire Chinese army defects to the combined Vietnamese forces at Tso-chao in Southern China. This allows the combined Vietnamese force to move north toward Naning, before being stopped by a counter-offensive of special security troops.


The advance of Vietnamese troops into the region of October 1979’s Kwangsi Nuclear Incident (or Kwangsi Massacre) allows film crews to venture into the area directly effected by the nuclear bomb, including the ruins of villages and towns. These films afford the outside world its first view of what happened in Kwangsi and the effect of the nuclear explosion on the area and the people who inhabited it.


California
Proposition 12, which calls for the secession of several counties of Northern California to form a new State to be known as Jefferson, is approved by voters by a narrow margin of 51.1% to 48.9%. To the surprise of many observers, a substantial number of voters in the South of California voted to expel the North. Governor McCloskey and the Legislature must now wrangle over how to achieve this and present the appropriate petition for statehood to Washington. The proposition gives them until January 1, 1983 (30 months) to complete the process of creating the new State.

June 4, 1980

John Turnley, then chairman of the Irish Independence Party (IIP), was shot dead by Loyalists while on his way to a political meeting in Carnlough, County Antrim.


The British House of Commons

Kenneth Clarke MP (Liberal - Rushcliffe): "Are we to receive any assurance at all from this government that the ISTC strike will be settled sometime soon? I fear that the lack of firm and decisive action by the government has left the issue adrift and that now, like a giant anchor, it is dragging the whole of the British economy into a sinkhole."


Anthony Crosland MP (Secretary of State for Industry): "This government has made several efforts to enter into good faith negotiations, each of which has been rebuffed by the other side. It is not for us to impose a settlement, but it is for the ISTC and their allies in the TUC to adopt a responsible attitude and meet us halfway with regard to any settlement of the matter."


David Steel MP (Liberal -Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles): "Poppycock. The government has a number of legal instruments at its disposal to clamp down on this increasingly lawless situation. That it will not use them speaks not of even-handedness, but of the electoral fear gripping these ministers that in doing what needs to be done they will alienate their allies in the TUC, and suffer the consequences at the next poll."


Roy Jenkins MP(Chancellor of the Exchequer):"This government has sought remedy through many of the legal measures of which the honourable member seeks, and the ISTC leadership should be aware that we have still more at our disposal. Our predecessors were quick to resort to the club, which we will not do, unless provoked in the extreme."


Airey Neave MP (Cons.-Opposition Leader): "The previous government of which the honourable Chancellor speaks knew how to deal with law breakers and malcontents. How long must the British people suffer until we will see the government put their foot down in the people's interest, rather than scurrying to serve like a poodle the interests of the TUC and ISTC?"


Barbara Castle MP(TL -Blackburn): "It is the height of hypocrisy to speak of the people suffering when we know full well it was Tory policy and Tory mean-spirited, narrow-minded corner cutting that created the situation now gripping the honest, oppressed workers of the British Steel industry. When will this government remember that it is a Labour government and act as poodle not to the interests of the City of London but instead defend these honest, put upon British workers from the ravages of greedy capitalist plutocrats?"


Patrick Mayhew MP (Cons. - Royal Tunbridge Wells): "Mr. Speaker, the honourable Red Lady speaks to us of hypocrisy, about the oppression of poor British workers, and yet has repeatedly stood in this House to defend the regime of a barbarous madman who has used nuclear weapons on his own people. Now I imagine that the honourable Red Lady would have no difficulty sanctioning a nuclear strike upon the City of London and would do so with glee, I am sure. However, we must face the reality that everyday this strike continues the British Steel industry suffers, and as a result every Britain in every walk of life suffers as a result. Those who defend this strike are defending the very destruction of the livelihood of those they seek to protect. Clearly, where is the hypocrisy now? It is only made worse by an intransigent government and Chancellor who knows better, but will not act for fear of upsetting his political supporters."


Barbara Castle MP (TL: - Blackburn): "Mr. Speaker I am used to being insulted by the small minds of on the Tory bench, and find no surprise that the minds have grown smaller with the numbers of their members. To the question if nuclear weapons, I abhor their use by anyone, but especially by civilized nations who should know better. No government can call itself civilized having unleashed such terrible destructive power, and no civilized government could or should support their use. It is on reflection of this that I begin to see why this government cannot find the path to justice for the British Steel worker."


Anthony Crosland MP (Secretary of State for Industry): "This government will continue to pursue a just settlement, one that serves both the Steel workers and the British public at large. We will not use a cudgel when sincere talks will serve better."


Tim Renton MP (Cons. Sussex-Mid): "Talk to yourselves then, because that's the only way you will get sincere talks. Force them back to work now! Show a little spine!."


John Bailey MP (Liberal - Sudbury and Woodbridge):"When showing a little spine one has to be careful not to break the nation's back through over-reaction. While it is true that forcing a solution often causes more trouble, is nevertheless not past time for this government to act in a more - forceful manner toward bringing this strike to an end?"

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

June 5 – 9, 1980

Soyuz T-2 carried Yuri Malyshev and Vladimir Aksyonov into space. A mission lasting under four days, its primary purpose was to perform a manned test of the new Soyuz-T spacecraft.


June 6, 1980

Two Malaysian men are jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of running a drug smuggling ring in London which generated millions of pounds. The Labour government has them quietly deported in May 1981.

The FAN (Armed Forces of the North) lead by Hissène Habré, seizes the city of Faya, alarming his pro-Libyan opponent Goukouni Oueddei, Head of the Transitional Government of National Unity. This pushes Oueddei toward signing a treaty of assistance with Libya.


June 9, 1980

In Los Angeles, comedian Richard Pryor is seriously burned while trying to freebase cocaine. He dies on June 11th without ever regaining consciousness.


Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), argued on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) programme Panorama that it was in the best interest of both Britain and Ireland for Britain to withdraw from Northern Ireland. He indicated that some form of federation could be possible in the event of a British withdrawal.


Tom Lehrer re-launches his musical career with the hit song “
Ronnie and Rummy” on Father Maryland records.

June 10 – 12, 1980

U.S. Vice President William Scranton visited Dublin and London in an effort to broker a renewal of talks between the UK and the Irish Republic.


June 10, 1980

The South African government announces that Nelson Mandela has died of natural causes while in custody. There is an immediate uproar within the anti-Apartheid community over this revelation as well as general disbelief that Mandela died of natural causes.


A Unabomber bomb injures United Airlines president Percy Wood in Lake Forest, Illinois.


Turkey holds elections for the National Congress, which is a 150 seat “consultative body” designed to “assist the President of the Republic with issues of governance.” The members are elected, though they are all independents (no political parties permitted) and all previously vetted by the military regime of President Nurettin Ersin, who continues to rule Turkey as an Executive President. The office of Prime Minister (which is really an assistant to the President) is filed by a compliant civilian, Halil Turgut Özal.


June 11, 1980

The Irish Republican Brigade (IRB) issued a statement that threatened to renew attacks on prison officers.


California Governor Pete McCloskey establishes a board to be headed by Lt. Governor Mervyn M. Dymally to consult with Californians and experts through public hearings and develop a plan by March 1, 1981 to implement the Jefferson state initiative. Other members of the board include representatives of the State Legislature (from both parties), the California Supreme Court and a representative of the California Attorney-General’s office.


June 12, 1980

The IRB carried out a car bomb attack on Markethill, County Armagh, which seriously damaged property in the centre of the town.


Margaret Thatcher, a former Conservative MP, leads a citizen’s counter march to the British Steel strike. The result is an ugly confrontation between Thatcher’s group and members of the ISTC which rapidly devolves into violence.


Margaret Thatcher (Bloody nose): “Here we see the utter and complete hooligan lawlessness that this government has let get out of control. These are not honest people, they are thugs and barbarians who flaunt the law and attack honest, hard working people. Where are the police? Where is this government? Missing in action while these criminals are allowed to roam the streets without check.”


Indian Foreign Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announces that India will fully boycott the white regimes in Southern Africa – and intends to actually crackdown on the smuggling that has been going on. At the same time he announces India will provide “aid and support within our means” to Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania. Although Minister Vajpayee denies it, this is thought to include cash-and-carry arms sales from India to those states.


George McGovern steps down as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture so that he can enter the South Dakota Senate election.


June 15, 1980

Goukouni Oueddei, Head of the Transitional Government of National Unity in Chad, signed a Treaty of Friendship with Libya. The treaty gave Libya a free hand in Chad, legitimizing its presence in that country: this was especially evident in the first article of the treaty, where it was written that the two countries were committed to mutual defence, and a threat against one constituted a threat against the other. Libyan troops, along with Soviet Bloc advisers begin to support TGNU troops.


June 16, 1980

Baron Carver of Shackleford (Field Marshall Sir Michael Carver (Ret.)) was appointed as security co-ordinator for Northern Ireland.


June 17, 1980

Secretary of State for Defence, David Owen reveals to the House of Commons that US nuclear cruise missiles would be located at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire and the disused RAF Molesworth base in Cambridgeshire


June 19, 1980

Gunmen attack the British embassy in Iraq; three unknown attackers are shot dead by Iraqi security forces.


A bomb destroys the constituency office of Ernest Armstrong MP (Lab.- North West Durham). Police are uncertain whether it is the work of the IRB or militant ISTC strikers, although the latter seem more likely. Over the next year there will be further incidents of this nature as the ISTC workers protest the downsizing and closure of steel works in the UK, effectively ruining the British steel industry in the process (whose production is reduced to a trickle in an already competitive market). The Steel workers are infected with a good deal of agitation from militants outside of their union, which only makes a settlement more difficult. In fact, over the course of the period from May 1980 to May 1981 Bill Sirs makes several efforts to end the pickets and work stoppages, only to open-up conflicts within his own union. The TUC is likewise split over militant support for the strike, and a more moderate approach which recognizes the futility of what is happening. There are intermittent attacks on government supporters and moderates throughout (in a similar manner as the attack on MP Armstrong’s office) which only serve to heighten the tension.


Meanwhile the Healey government’s industrial policy, crafted to “humanely rationalize British industry” is paralyzed by the British Steel situation. Although some progress is made in other areas, the government continues to look weak.


Later reports indicate that MI5 penetrated the militant arm of the ISTC, ostensibly to gather intelligence on their activities. Later writers and conspiracy theorists would posit that certain elements within the Security Service, opposed to the Labour government ideologically, provoked at least some of the militancy among the ISTC in order to embarrass the Healy government. Certainly MI5, like the ISTC, was acutely aware as the strike dragged on that the government would have to go to the polls sometime in 1981 or 1982, and as a result continued action added electoral pressure on the government side.


“Iron Maggie” Thatcher added to her already dire reputation during this period by becoming the voice of the “Honest Citizen’s Protests” to the ISTC strike. Some authors contend that “Iron Maggie’s” battalions of housewives and shopkeepers who staged counter-strikes and demonstrations helped to keep the tension up. They certainly put Thatcher on national television many nights. Some have speculated that Thatcher had a close relationship with MI-5 during this period. During this period Mrs. Thatcher moved to the constituency of Leeds East in a move some suspected was a precursor to her challenging the Prime Minister himself directly for his seat in the next election.
 
A Wolf in the Woods

June 20, 1980

Augusta AVA becomes the first federally recognized American Viticultural Area.

The Israeli Opposition Leader, and head of the Israeli Labour Party and Alignment block, Shimon Peres dies in a mysterious car crash. Conspiracy theories about a murder are connected to this incident for years. The Labour Party begins to look for a new leader. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is not considered because he is still in the political wilderness after the Entebe debacle which brought down his government in 1976. This has been compounded by a scandal which came to light in 1977 when it was discovered that he and his wife had an illegal foreign bank account in the U.S. Former Public Security and Interior Minister Shlomo Hillel becomes the new leader of the Labour-Alignment block and Opposition Leader in the Knesset.

June 23–September 6, 1980

The 1980 United States heat wave claims 1,700 lives.

June 23, 1980

The Results of the Canadian Federal Election

Total Seats: 282 (141 needed to form a Majority)
Progressive Conservatives: (113 + 8)= 121 seats (minority government)
Liberals: (88 - 12) = 76 seats
New Democrats: (50 +1) = 51 seats
Quebec Sovereignist: (0 + 26) = 26 seats
Social Credit: (12 -4) = 8 seats
Independent: (1-1) = 0 seats

Prime Minister before election: Peter Lougheed (PC)
Prime Minister after election: Peter Lougheed (PC)

The Progressive Conservatives form another minority government under Prime Minister Peter Lougheed. This is the first Canadian Federal government re-elected since 1972, although it is still a minority government like every government since 1972.

Donald S. Macdonald, Liberal Party leader, remains as Opposition Leader.

Exit polling indicated that Canadian voters assumed the PC government would drive a harder bargain with Quebec than would the Liberal Party. The Quebec Sovereignist Group (essentially a federal arm of the Provinces Parti Quebecois government [although the federal MPs don’t use that name] gained at the expense of the Social Credit and the Liberal Party in Quebec.

Former Prime Minister and Senator Robert Stanfield remains as Canadian External Affairs Minister.

June 24, 1980

British unemployment has reached a postwar high of 1,600,000.

June 25, 1980

The Democratic Party in the United States of America (USA) adopted as policy a proposal put forward by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and endorsed by Gov. Hugh Carey (D-NY), then the Democratic Party nominee for President. The new policy called for an end to the divisions of the Irish people and a solution based on the consent of all of the parties.

Syria holds a second round of elections for parliament. The Ba’ath re-appear in these elections under the name of the Syrian National Renewal Movement, which wins four seats in parliament. Jamil al-Assad, brother of the Ba’ath dictator Hafez al-Assad who was murdered in 1973, is the leader of this block of MPs. (Jamil, unlike his brother, is more religious and has ties to Islamists).

Although the country is still under UN supervision of mainly 25,000 U.S. troops, 5,000 UK troops and another 10,000 from Morocco and various former French colonies in Africa (and some Foreign Legion units) President Maamun al-Kuzbari continues to proclaim Syrian independence and calling for foreign forces to leave. The country has no army, and only a paramilitary police force armed and trained by the U.S., U.K. and French. The Israelis continue to oppose any armed force for Syria and continue to attack arms depots and police outposts they deem threatening to their security.

June 26, 1980

Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 crashes into the sea near Palermo after an explosion occurs in the air; 81 people die. After an investigation a bomb or a missile is suspected to be the cause of the accident. No culprits are indentified.

Miriam Daly, a prominent member of the National H-Block / Armagh Committee, was shot dead by Loyalist paramilitaries at her home in Andersontown, Belfast.

June 26-29, 1980

Pope Pius XIII visits Spain and receives a popular welcome.

June 27, 1980

U.S. President George Wallace signs Proclamation 4771, requiring 18- to 25-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to tensions in China and other recent events.

June 29, 1980

Vigdis Finnbogadottir is elected president of Iceland, making her the first woman democratically elected as head of state.

June 30, 1980

The pre-decimal Sixpence withdrawn from circulation.

The Grundig company announced that its factory in Belfast would close with the loss of 1,000 jobs.

July 1, 1980

A fire guts the Alexandra Palace.

The IRB issued a statement formally re-naming itself the Patriotic Irish Republican Army (PIRA), re-adopting a variation of the name and the initials it had before the failed Rambouillet process.

A new constitution is presented for the Spanish people to vote on in a referendum. It incorporates many concepts from the Federal Republic of Germany’s Basic Law as well as a Bill of Rights based on the American and French Constitutions. The Parliament and the Government are to be elected by the people, while the President of the Republic is to be elected by an electoral college composed of members of parliament and representatives of various regional and communal governments. The Basques are formally invited to participate in the referendum. (The Constitution has a clause stating that no region of Spain, choosing to leave Spain, shall be re-integrated by force save it is being done by a foreign army at the behest of conquering Spanish territory for a foreign state).

July 2, 1980

The Healey government published a proposal for Home Rule in Northern Ireland based on a modified federal approach with a Northern Ireland Legislature based on popular sovereignty and an Upper House based on sectarian equality. (Similar in principle to the Canadian and Australian Senates). The so-called Healey plan was denounced by Unionists as “a sell-out” and by most Nationalists and Republicans as “a Trojan horse.”

July 4, 1980

The Basque government, re-stating its autonomy, chooses not to participate in the Spanish constitutional referendum.

ISTC strikers begin a campaign of harassing tourists at popular sites in the UK and at tourist hotels in an effort to drive away visitors and thus bring about a decline in British visitors revenues.

July 7, 1980 – forward

A World War I type static front develops in Kwangsi, between Naning and Chin-hsien, between the combined Vietnamese and Chinese forces in Southern China. What develops until well into 1981 is a series of deadly battles along trench lines which soon evolve into a war of attrition. By the logic of numbers the Vietnamese should be forced back; the fact that they aren’t, and are able to hold-off a much larger Chinese military is attributable mostly to poor leadership and equipment and low morale on the Chinese side. During much of the fighting the Vietnamese routinely take large numbers of prisoners who are mainly starving men with PTSD who give-up because they can’t go on. The Chinese are able to hold-off any Vietnamese advances only because they have more bodies to throw into the lines than the otherwise better equipped Vietnamese forces.

July 7, 1980

The Safra massacre, or Day of the Long Knives, occurred in the coastal town Safra (north to Beirut) on July 7, 1980, during the Phalangist civil war, as part of Bashir Gemayel's effort to consolidate all the Christian fighters under his leadership in the Lebanese Forces.

The Phalangist forces launched a surprise attack on the Tigers, a 500-man militia that was the armed force of the National Liberal Party of ex-Lebanese President Camille Chamoun. The attack was supposed to be conducted at around 4:00 a.m., but in order to spare the life of Camille's son and commander of the Tigers Dany Chamoun, the attack was postponed to 10:00 a.m. to make sure that Dany left for Fakra. The attack claimed the lives of roughly 83 people.

Prior to the attack, Camille Chamoun decided to disarm the militia in order to avoid further bloodshed from both the Phalangists and the Tigers. After the attack, Chamoun’s faction declined in influence.

Since the collapse of the PJO and PLO and with Western and Central Syria under western occupation, and backed by the Israeli military presence in the South of Lebanon, the Phalange have largely taken control of Lebanon and defeated or encircled various Arab militias. The Phalange remain heavily armed with support from Israel.

After the Safra Massacre Charles Malik, the then President of Lebanon, steps down from office.

July 8, 1980

A wave of anti-communist strikes begins in Lublin, Poland.

The U.S. Senate passes the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA: also known as “Superfund”) by a vote of 53-46. The act is delayed in the Republican controlled House until December.

July 9, 1980

Pope Pius XIII visits Brazil; 7 people are crushed to death in a crowd meeting him.

July 10, 1980

Governor George Bush (R-TX) reiterates that he is not interested in the Vice Presidency. “I told the people of Texas I would serve the full term if elected, and that is my commitment, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

July 11, 1980

Atlas Shrugged, an action-drama film directed by Sam Peckinpah and loosely based on the novel by Ayn Rand, is released and distributed by United Artists.

July 13, 1980

Bachir Gemayel is elected President of Lebanon by the rump parliament dominated by the Phalangist forces.

July 14-17, 1980

The Republican National Convention – Detroit Michigan.
Former California Governor Ronald Reagan and Illinois Governor Donald Rumsfeld continue their battle for the Republican Party Presidential Nomination.

The tally on the first ballot is (1424 needed to win):

Ronald Reagan – 1398
Donald Rumsfeld – 1351
Jack Williams – 77
Trent Lott - 20

Two minor candidates, Lott and Williams, are attempting to be King makers while Reagan and Rumsfeld split 588 super delegates about evenly between them. Prior to the second ballot Ronald Reagan announces that he will name former New York Congressman and Gubernatorial Candidate Jack Kemp as his running mate in an effort to sow up support among fiscal conservatives. However this backfires when Clarke Reed, leader of the Mississippi delegation, and other social conservatives lead a boycott against Kemp who, while being a fiscal conservative, is known as being a moderate on social policy views. Clarke and Jesse Helms are particularly incensed by Kemp’s positive views (and Congressional votes) on affirmative action and civil rights for homosexuals. This latter point also draws fire on Reagan from Strom Thurmond and Senate Republican leader William Brock (R-TN). [Clarke, Helms, Thurmond and Brock are called “the four horsemen” over this, or more derisively “the four inquisitors.”]

Governor Rumsfeld counters by naming popular Southern Conservative Congressman Jack Edwards (William Jackson Edwards) as his running mate, launching an end-run around Reagan’s efforts to consolidate his hold on the conservatives. Rumsfeld also pledges to end support for the Equal Rights Amendment and school busing. Minor candidate Jack Williams drops out and endorses a Rumsfeld-Edwards ticket, as do the four horsemen. Trent Lott, noting the direction things are going, also endorses a Rumsfeld-Edwards ticket over a Reagan-Kemp one.

Rumsfeld narrowly wins the nomination on the second ballot:

Donald Rumsfeld – 1428
Ronald Reagan – 1419
Jack Williams - 1
Trent Lott – 1

Jack Edwards is then nominated for Vice President

Jack Edwards – 2505
Strom Thurmond – 108
Trent Lott – 62
Jack Williams – 48
John Rarick - 35
Eliot Richardson – 34
Ronald Reagan – 20
Jack Kemp - 11
Barry Goldwater Sr. – 9
Barry Goldwater Jr. - 8
Richard M. Nixon - 3
Spiro Agnew - 1
Augusto Pinochet - 1

Donald H. Rumsfeld is the Republican Party nominee for President in 1980 and Jack Edwards is the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1980.

Many moderate Republicans leave the convention dismayed. However, while Reagan supporters are not pleased, they find in Edwards a suitable candidate to rally around even if they question Rumsfeld’s conservative credentials.

July 15, 1980

A severe and destructive thunderstorm strikes 4 counties in western Wisconsin, including the city of Eau Claire. It causes over $250m in damage, and 1 person is killed.

Prime Minister Lougheed declares: “Quebec is not one indivisible entity, as some in the Quebec government would maintain. If Quebec is to separate from Canada, then we must first define what is Quebec.”

Premier Rene Levesque (PQ): “The people of Quebec have voted for sovereignty, and it is not up to the government of Canada to dictate to us what is, and what is not Quebec. Quebec is a whole entity within its present borders, and this is all of Quebec – indivisible – which shall form a the sovereign political entity of Quebec to be governed by the Quebec people.

Inter-Governmental Minister Joe Clark issues a white paper defining the following questions to be reviewed in defining the boundaries of g a sovereign Quebec:

1] The northern two-thirds of the province would be retained by Canada following independence, on the basis that the territory had been assigned (not ceded) to the Province of Quebec in two steps, in 1898 and 1912.

2] All Quebec territory south of the St. Lawrence River would also be retained by Canada, on the basis of the 18th-century claim of the then-colonies of New York and Massachusetts to these lands, which had been abandoned by the British Crown only after Quebec had been captured by Britain in 1759.

3] The Pontiac region of west Quebec, the lower north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the western part of the island of Montreal would remain in Canada on the basis that local populations are predominantly non-Francophone, and presumably therefore would be Canadian rather than Québécois in its loyalties.

Clark’s white paper calculated that the resulting independent Quebec republic would contain somewhat less than one-quarter of the province’s total landmass, have a population of around 2.9 million, and would be about 97% French-speaking. The parts remaining in Canada would contain over three million residents, of whom about two-thirds would be French-speaking.

Additionally, The Grand Council of the Crees and the Inuit of Nunavik in Northern Quebec both expressed to the governments in Ottawa and Quebec City that they wanted to keep their lands in Canada should Quebec secede, invoking international laws that guarantee their right to self-determination. To bolster their point the Cree held a referendum and voted 95% in favour of staying in Canada should Quebec secede.

Premier Rene Levesque: “You cannot carve-up Quebec like a Christmas goose and leave us with the smaller parts. Quebec is all of Quebec, the sovereign right of its people stretches from Labrador to the Ottawa River. Quebec is a whole and no one has a right to separate from it.”

Joe Clark: “That is a very simplistic determination, and one not rooted in law. The fact is that what Quebec may take out of Confederation is not equal to the province of Quebec within Confederation. In effect, Mr. Levesque cannot enjoy the fruits of Confederation at the same time he is actively working to split it apart. He must respect the rights of other regions of Canada and work within the framework of the laws and constitutional precedents provided.”

RL: “We will not be reduced to a North American Belgium – a tiny island of francophone people swamped by English culture. Our nation will be the historic Quebec.”

Jean Drapeau (Mayor of Montreal): “If the people of Quebec have the right to decide their future, then the people of Montreal have no less a right and we will hold our own referendum. We will measure district by district, and those districts which wish to join Mr. Levesque may do so, but those who vote for a Montreal within Canada shall not blithely surrender their Canadian rights to the Quebec government.”

Reagan Independent (Conservative) Ticket
After Governor Donald Rumsfeld was nominated at the Republican National Convention, a number of Reagan’s more zealous supporters suggested that he launch an independent candidacy in the fall, much as former California Congressman and HUD Secretary Ron Dellums had done to challenge the Democratic Party from the left. Reagan supporters believed that as an independent, running under a conservative banner, Reagan could paint both Carey and Rumsfeld as too liberal for the American electorate. In effect, this plan foresaw Reagan decisively outclassing Rumsfeld, while relegating Carey to the third position as he fought to fend off the challenge from Dellums’ We The People movement. Critical to this was the idea that Reagan could capture support from the Christian Values Movement and many who were leaving the GOP for the Libertarian Party. Reagan’s supporters argued that as an independent, Reagan would be free to “run as Reagan”, without any of Bush’s baggage, and that he could win enough States in the West, South and Mid-West to reach 270 Electoral Votes, the amount required to win the Presidency. Conservative Illinois Congressman Philip Crane was proposed as Reagan’s running mate, although Barry Goldwater Sr. and James Buckley were also under consideration. (Jack Kemp was not on the list, his fatal flaw among social conservatives having become apparent at the Convention, where it arguably cost Reagan the re-nomination).

According to contemporaries, Reagan seriously considered the idea, but was eventually talked out of it after several GOP leaders whom he respected, including Barry Goldwater Sr., met with him and advised that his independent candidacy would only further split an already divided GOP, leaving an opening which Carey and the Democrats could exploit (or worse, open the door to a 1972-type Electoral chaos). After talking with these leaders Reagan abandoned the idea, and retired from active politics as a candidate (he remained a spokesman for conservative causes and candidates for another decade).
------------------------------------------------

July 17 – 22, 1980

Former Vice President Saddam Hussein of Iraq is tried by the Revolutionary Court for exceeding his authority and adventurism in excess of his governmental mandate, enriching himself with state assets, plotting treason against the Revolutionary Command Council and one count of homicide. He is found guilty on all four counts and sentenced to death. The government does not comment on or explain how he lost an eye and a leg while in custody.

July 19–August 3, 1980
The 1980 Summer Olympics (XXII Olympiad) are held in Moscow, Soviet Union.

The senior U.S. Representative who attends the opening and closing ceremonies is Vice President William Scranton. The venue for the XXIII Olympiad in 1984 is to be Los Angeles, California.

These are the top ten nations that won medals at these Games:

Nation Gold+ Silver+ Bronze= Total
1 Soviet Union 55+31+46 = 132
2 United States 41+31+27 = 99
3 East Germany 35+32+ 30 = 97
4 Canada 12+ 26+ 31 = 69
5 West Germany 11+ 14+ 15 = 40
6 Bulgaria 10+ 12+ 13= 35
7 Romania 7+ 11+ 6 = 24
8 Hungary 11+ 6+ 6 = 23
9 France 6+4+6 = 16
10 India 6 +4+ 4 = 14

July 19, 1980

Sprio Agnew: "Don Rumsfeld, as you all know, was once my Chief of Staff and is my protege. His nomination by the Republican Party for President can only be described as a victory for the patriot cause in this nation. Soon the forces of General Secretary Wallace, and his would be Politburo successor Governor Carey, will be chased out and we will reclaim the true America from Wallace's Soviet vision of our America. Don Rumsfeld is a tough guy and a true patriot. He wrestled at Princeton and was a fighter pilot in the Navy, so he understands how to be forceful and to take action. He's a brilliant guy and dedicated to seeing the strenght of this country revivied. I encourage you to vote for Don for President."
---------------------------------------------------

Reporter: "Do you consider yourself Spiro Agnew's protégé?"

Donald Rumsfeld: "Protégé is perhaps not the correct way to put it. I would rather think of it as a working collaboration, with me supporting our Constitutional President at that time. You have to remember it was a troubled time, there was a Constitutional crisis over who the legitimate President was, and Spiro Agnew stepped in to fill the void under very difficult circumstances. He asked me to serve, and I felt it was my duty to the country to support him in the difficult task of leading our nation. To do any less would, in my book, have been unpatriotic. So, I like to think, Mr. Agnew and I worked together on behalf of the country in a time of difficulty and we helped to keep the country strong and safe during our watch."

Reporter: "So, you make no apologies about how it ended?"

DR: "Why should I? I didn't work for Mr. Agnew in Maryland; I wasn't involved in that aspect of his life. That had nothing to do with me."

R: "But did you counsel him to pardon himself? Wasn't that a misstep that endangered the Presidency?"

DR: "It was ill advised, but Mr. Agnew did not seek my counsel on the matter. In fact he felt that, as a lawyer, he understood the legal aspect of the situation, and he acted on that experience and according to his own judgment. Was it flawed, yes, I guess so. But he was the President at the time, so ultimately it was his call to make. Did he ask me, no he didn't. And since he didn't ask me, I didn't feel it was my place to offer an opinion. Had he done so, I might have pointed out the pitfalls, as several others did. But he, Mr. Agnew, chose his course in spite of that opinion, so I doubt any discouragement from me could have made any difference."
-------------------------------------------------------

July 20, 1980

Former Reagan for President campaign manager William P. Casey joins the Rumsfeld-Jackson campaign staff as a campaign Vice-Chair.

Imam Abdel Muhram, a senior Wahhabi cleric in exile from Arabia is shot to death in Cairo, Egypt. It is believe his murder was ordered by the Iraqi secret service as he was gathering exiles around him to resist the Iraqi occupation of Arabia. The Imam was a prominent supporter of Mahrous bin Laden.

The Patriotic Irish Republican Army (PIRA) planted a car bomb in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, which caused extensive damage to the centre of the town.

July 22 – August 19, 1980

The Seventh Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly is convened by Senegal to consider the issue of a Palestinian homeland and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

July 23 -24, 1980

We The People holds the “Grand People’s Convention” in Chicago, where Ron Dellums is nominated for President after a rabble rousing speech by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Ralph Nader is nominated for Vice President.

July 23 – October 11, 1980

Soyuz 37: Joao Branco of the DPRP (first Portuguese national in space) arrived with Commander Viktor Gorbatko aboard Salyut 6 in Soyuz 37; they both returned to Earth in the Soyuz 36 spacecraft approximately eight days later. The long-duration crew launched in Soyuz 35 returned to earth in the Soyuz 37 spacecraft at the end of their 186 day mission.

July 25, 1980

The album Back in Black is released by the Australian band AC/DC.

President of al-Bakr of Iraq rejects Saddam Hussein’s appeal against the death penalty. As an act of family compassion he orders that Saddam’s soon-to-be-widow receive a state pension, and that his sons be allowed to leave Iraq for exile in Egypt. The sons, Kusai and Uday Saddam, must pledge fealty to the Iraqi state and swear not to exact revenge for the death of their father, and swear on pain of death to never return to Iraq, as a condition of this leniency.

July 26, 1980

Saddam Hussein is hanged in Baghdad. His body is later burned and buried in an unmarked grave.

July 27, 1980

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, deposed Shah of Iran, dies in New York.

July 29, 1980

The United States Volleyball team wins a gold medal by defeating the Soviet Volleyball team in the finals at the Summer Olympics. Some Americans consider this revenge for the U.S. Hockey team’s defeat at Lake Placid.

The Indian field hockey team wins a gold medal when it defeats the United States field hockey team, which wins silver at the Olympics.

The Knesset
Menachem Begin MK (Likud-Prime Minister): “Israel will have borders that ensure our security and survival. Today these borders stretch from the Litani River and the Golan to the Sinai Canal and include Judea and Samaria. This is Israel, and it is being populated by Israelis. No one will ever drive us out.”

Abba Eban MK (Labour): “Every decade we see an expansion of what we choose to call Israel. Once we were the new state within the old mandate of Palestine. Then we added the Sinai and the West Bank, which were occupied territories of foreign states for a while, but which the government has now fallen into the habit of referring to as part of Israel. Now the Prime Minister includes a twenty-five mile strip of Southern Lebanon into his definition of Israel. This has the character of expansion by creeping. Each time we take a little more form our neighbours. One wonders where it will stop. Amman? The Euphrates? How far will we stretch the boundary of Israel before, like an overinflated balloon, the whole thing pops?”

Ariel Sharon MK (Likud): “I would sooner govern a hostile Arab population as far as the Euphrates or even the Iranian border than have that hostile Arab population governing me.”

Meir Kahane MK (Independent): “The solution to the Arab problem is to drive the out. Israel can have peace once the Arabs are outside our borders.”

Shlomo Hillel MK (Labour-Opposition Leader): “A delightful statement of Lebensraum if ever I heard it. So, what would we do if they decide they don’t want to go? Special trains to the East, perhaps?”

Ya'akov Meridor MK (Likud): “Mr. Hillel insults us all with his allusions to the Nazis. The fact is that Israel must have secure borders, and the space we now inhabit is the historic boundary of Israel. If the Arabs will not accept this, then they must go. Of course we will have no special trains to the East, but we will be firm.”

Mosche Dayan MK (Labour): “I agree that the ancient borders of Israel varied, and that there are historic claims to the West Bank territory. But, and I have studied the ancient sources in detail, have I yet to see even an ancient map of Israel with a claim to the Sinai and territory as far north as the Litani. The current government’s ancient claim is the newest of ancient claims I have ever heard of.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 30, 1980

Vanuatu gains independence.

Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law. It began as a private member's bill proposed by Geula Cohen, whose original text stated that "the integrity and unity of greater Jerusalem (Yerushalayim rabati) in its boundaries after the Six-Day War shall not be violated." However, this clause was dropped after the first reading in the Knesset. As the Knesset thus declined to specify boundaries and did not use the words "annexation" or "sovereignty", Ian Lustick writes that "The consensus of legal scholars is that this action added nothing to the legal or administrative circumstance of the city, although, especially at the time, its passage was considered to have political importance and sparked a vigorous protest reaction from the world community."

August 1, 1980

The Israeli government passes a bill which declares that the official name of the area “previously known as the West Bank of the Jordan River” shall now be called “Judea and Samaria.” The bill also calls for an increase in Jewish settlements. Many opponents of the settlements in Israel see this bill as a first step toward annexation of the West Bank. The passage of the bill evokes protests in Israel as well as anti-Israel demonstrations in many Arab cities.

August Poll
Carey: 34%
Rumsfeld:33%
Dellums: 8%
Galtieri: 5%
Christian Values: 3%
Koufax: 2%
Undecided: 15%

“We’re living in a dictatorship. They tell you what to plant, how much land you can use, what to keep idle. Then they pay you so much you can’t afford to refuse what they want you to do. Well, I’m tired of the whole damn thing. I mean the smart thing would be to vote for the Democrat, ‘cause they keep the money coming, but I’m sick of being told what to do. And if I vote Republican, they’ll do the same thing, just to keep my vote. So that’s why I’m going to vote for Galtieri. He won’t win, but I’ll feel a hell of a lot better.” – Iowa farmer.

August 2, 1980

A terrorist bombing at the railway station in Bologna, Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200. The terrorists involved are associated with groups who attempted to stage a right-wing coup in 1979.

The Spanish people vote for the new Federal Constitution 60% - 35% - 5% (For-Against-Abstain).

The United States signs a controversial agreement to sell small arms and tanks directly to the North Vietnamese military.

August 3, 1980

A funeral is held of the late Shah in Tehran amidst tight security. His son, Shah Reza II does not attend, as matter of distancing himself politically from his unpopular father.

American fugitive murderer Charles Manson (under the name Claudio Marino) begins organizing anti-regime revolutionaries in the backcountry of Nicaragua near the Honduran border. Marino/Manson will become a key figure in helping to revitalize the largely decimated Sandinista resistance to the Managua regime. Few among his new allies realize that Commandante Toro (as he will become known) is being paid by the Honduran regime to destabilize their neighbour.

August 6, 1980

The British government announced an extra public spending package of £48 million for Northern Ireland to try to alleviate the high level of unemployment in the region which stood at 14.7 per cent. This announcement came after a meeting between the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTUs) and Dennis Healey.

Lt. General Mohammed al-Karami, exile former head of the Saudi Air Force is gunned down by suspected Iraqi agents in Basel, Switzerland.

August 8, 1980

There was widespread violence following commemorations of the ninth anniversary of the introduction of Internment.

Bachir Gemayel is sworn in as the 12th President of Lebanon (Term: August 8, 1980 – August 8, 1986).

August 9, 1980

Following protests on the ninth anniversary of Internment there was continuing violence and three people were killed and 18 injured in a number of incidents.

August 10, 1980

Hurricane Allen (category 3) pounds southeastern Texas.

August 11 – 14, 1980

The Democratic National Convention is held in New York City.

Governor Hugh Carey of New York is nominated for President on the first ballot. He attempts to broker a grand bargain with former Secretary of State Henry Jackson to join him as his running mate, however the negotiations fall through. Instead Carey chooses former Florida Governor and Secretary of Transportation Reubin Askew as his running mate. This dismays some Kennedy supporters who had been backing Kennedy ally Senator John Culver of Iowa.

Hugh Carey is the 1980 Democratic Nominee for President and Reubin Askew is the 1980 Democratic Nominee for Vice President.

Indian and Chinese forces exchange fire in Nathu La on the (disputed) border between the two countries. As in Southeast Asia, some Chinese troops take the opportunity to defect.

August 15, 1980

37 people die as a result of fires started by arson at adjacent London nightclubs.

An elderly Protestant man and his daughter were found dead at their home in Belfast; they had been beaten, stabbed and shot.

August 17, 1980

In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.

August 19, 1980

Nothing happened.

August 20, 1980

United Nations Security Council Resolution 484, voted on 20 August 1980, declared Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law a violation of international law, and states that the Council will not recognize this law, and calls on member states to accept the decision of the council. This resolution also calls upon member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city. The law declared Jerusalem to be Israel's "complete and united" capital.

The resolution was passed with 13 votes to 1 against, with the United States vetoing the resolution. It is widely believed that the Wallace Administration ordered Deputy Ambassador Ted Weiss to veto the resolution in order not to alienate support from the Carey-Askew Democratic Party ticket. (A minor drama had erupted on the night of August 19-20, 1980 when U.N. Ambassador Cyrus Vance resigned on principle rather than cast a veto of the resolution).

August 24, 1980

Two East German advisors to the South Yemeni Army are murdered by gunmen disguised as South Yemeni soldiers. It is believed they were anti-Iraqi insurgents from Arabia operating within South Yemen.

August 25, 1980

The Israeli Navy sank a Cypriot registered freighter which was attempting to smuggle PJO commandos into the coastal areas of Israel. The Cypriot crew are killed along the Palestinians.

August 26, 1980

U.S. negotiators report to Secretary of State Brzezinski that they are close to a deal with the Iraqis which would bring about a phased withdrawal of Iraqi forces from the Arabian peninsula.

Rajiv Gandhi begins working for Indian Airlines.

August 31, 1980

Edward Gierek, First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party, has made efforts all summer to negotiate with the anti-regime forces, but this has failed. After returning from a Warsaw Pact Summit in Moscow, where he was strongly warned by the other Warsaw Pact leaders to get his house in order (more strongly by the East German, Czech and Hungarian leadership than by the Soviets, who did their best to "advise" Gierek) he declares Martial Law and orders the military and security forces to restore order. This declaration is met with unrest and rioting in many major Polish cities, leading to an even more brutal crackdown.

Gierek's order generates significant international protest, especially notable from the Communist Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Berlinguer, who considered Gierek to be a more enlightened leader. Many citizens in Poland are dismayed by this use of marital law by the regime almost forty-one years to the day Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.

The strikers in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk close-up the shipyard to resist the invasion and manage to hold out against the incursion for a further eighteen days.

September 1, 1980

Terry Fox is forced to end his Marathon of Hope run outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, after finding that the cancer has spread to his lungs.

Donald Rumsfeld (R): “What was that about no more Hungarys or Czechoslovakias? “

Ford launches one of the most important new cars of the year - the mark 3 Escort, which is a technological innovation in the small family car market, spelling the end of the traditional rear-wheel drive saloon in favour of the front-wheel drive hatchback. An estate version is also available.

William P. Casey meets with Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in Baghdad. The reason for Casey’s visit is not stated (the whole matter is kept secret by the Rumsfeld-Jackson campaign) but later reports suggest that Casey asked the Iraqi President to continue stalling on the Arabian negotiations until after the November election, in order to forestall a breakthrough by the Democratic Administration which could cause a positive effect for the Carey-Askew ticket at the polls. It has also been suggested that Casey negotiated with President al-Baqr for an oil price bump later in the fall which would slow the economy down around election day. In return Casey is alleged to have promised that a Republican administration would offer Iraq easier terms than currently on the table.

Soon after Casey’s visit to Baghdad the breakthrough of August 26th evaporates as talks continue to stall.

Pope Pius XIII denounces the declaration of Martial law in Poland and the arrest of senior Polish clergy by security forces. In a rare show of solidarity he meets with both the Italian President Noberto Bobbio and the Communist Prime Minister Enrico Berlinguer to join with their condemnations of the Polish government action.

Indian Prime Minister Sundar Das declares that China is a nation without credibility and predicts that it will soon descend into medieval chaos.

September 2, 1980

Hugh Carey (D): “Events in Poland remind us, if we needed the reminding, of the true nature of the Communist menace. Predictably, mendaciously a satelite of the Soviet Union has acted to snuff out peaceful protest in the time tested methods of Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Should we be surprised, given that Yuri Andropov, who played a significant role in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, now reigns in the Kremlin? The old Communist spymaster, acting through his Polish understudy, has given vent to the way he knows best to solve the problem of freedom. My prescription is to keep reminding him of the problem of freedom by throwing our support behind the Polish people. The United States government must not allow normal relations with the Soviet Union to continue until the last soldier has been withdrawn from the streets of Poland. If they want trade, we must say, what trade? Not until the people of Poland are free. Cultural exchanges? Only when the people of Poland are free. That must be our refrain; normal relations? Only when the people of Poland are free!”

The Spanish Federal Election

Congress of Deputies (350 seats; 176 needed to form a government)
Socialist Worker’s Party* ---- 154 seats (44.0%)
National Democratic Union ----- 80 seats (22.9%)
Communist Party of Spain -- 41 seats (11.7%)
Democratic Coalition --- 17 seats ( 4.9%)
Royalist Party of Spain ------ 12 seats ( 3.4%)
Catholic Rights Party ------ 11 seats (3.1%)
Socialist Party of Catalonia* --- 9 seats (2.6%)
Spanish Labour Party* --- 9 seats (2.6%)
Catalan Regional Party ---- 8 seats (2.3%)
Socialist Party of Andalusia* –- 5 seats (1.4%)
Republican Left of Catalonia – 2 seats (0.6%)
Canarian People’s Union* --- 1 seat (0.3%)
Aragonese Regional Party --- 1 seat (0.3%)

*In post election negotiations the Socialist Worker’s Party, the Socialist Party of Catalonia, the Spanish Labour Party, the Socialist Party of Andalusia and the Canarian People’s Union agree to form a coalition (154+9+9+5+1= 178 seats). Guerra organized the coalition talks to include as many non-Communist Parties of the left as possible so as to avoid having to form a governing coalition with the Communist Party, mainly to avoid criticism from the right that the new Spanish Republic had fallen under Communist influence as the Portuguese had after their revolution in 1975.

Prime Minister Before Election: Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez (as appointed caretaker since April 2, 1980)

Prime Minister After the Election: Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez (Parliamentary leader of the PSOE)

The Senate (218 seats; 110 needed for a majority):
(Directly elected + regional government seats)

Socialist Worker’s Party ---- 85+15 = 100 seats (45.9%)
National Democratic Union ----- 39 + 14 = 53 seats (24.3%)
Communist Party of Spain -- 16 + 7 = 23 seats (10.6%)
Royalist Party of Spain ------ 9 + 4 = 13 seats ( 6.0%)
Democratic Coalition --- 10 + 1= 11 seats ( 5.0%)
Catholic Rights Party ------ 4 + 4 = 8 seats (3.7%)
Catalan Regional Party ---- 2 + 2 = 4 seats (1.8%)
Socialist Party of Andalusia –- 1+1 = 2 seats (0.9%)
Republican Left of Catalonia --- 0+1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
Canarian People’s Union --- 0 + 1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
Aragonese Regional Party --- 0 + 1 = 1 seat (0.5%)
Loyal Navarre Party --------- 0 + 1 = 1 seat (0.5%)

In the Senate the Socialist Worker’s Party, the Socialist Party of Andalusia and the Canarian People’s Union uphold the government. (100 + 2 + 1 = 103 seats). The necessary coalition includes one-off deals with smaller parties that can often be played off against larger rivals (such as the Catholic Rights Party against the Communists, or the Communists against the right-wing etc.).

The National Democratic Union is the old Falangist Party (the Movimiento Nacional) with a new, democratic face, representing itself as a democratic party of the right. One of the facts the new Republic must confront is that at least one-fifth of the Spanish electorate are still loyal to the old Movimiento. When the Royalists and the Catholic Party are included this represents around 30% of the electorate still expressing their support for the old conservative view of Spain through their ballot. (And estimates indicate that in the first election blocks of supporters for these groups (perhaps another 5 – 8%) didn’t vote because they were suspicious of the revolution and the whole process leading up to the polling).
----------------------------------

William P. Casey goes to Jerusalem, where he holds private (and secret)talks with members of the Likud government. According to later reports he strikes a deal with the Israeli government which will help support the election of a Republican ticket in the United States Presidential election through the support of the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). This is a major shift from previous Jewish support for Democratic candidates. Casey persuades the Israelis that a President Carey would continue dialogue with the Arab states (pitched as being at the expense of Israeli security – a fact believed by the Likud leadership), whereas a President Rumsfeld would be more supportive of Israel.

September Poll
Carey: 37%
Rumsfeld:32%
Dellums: 8%
Galtieri: 5%
Christian Values: 4%
Koufax: 2%
Undecided: 12%

September 4, 1980

Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana institutes a Federal court challenge, on behalf of the State of Louisiana, alleging that the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (Income Tax) was not properly ratified and is therefore invalid.

September 5, 1980

The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km), stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.

The Soviet Union vetoes a UN Security Council resolution condemning the declaration of Martial law in Poland.

“Thing is, Republicans and Democrats, they both want to tell us what to do. But you know, you look at the last twenty years, and you gotta say, neither of them done anything worth a lick spit, at least nothing that lasted for long. New Frontier, Great Society, Silent Majority – its all just been one big flim flam. So what if I vote for Galtieri, what difference is it gonna make? Can’t say, ‘cept maybe it’ll put those bums in the big parties on notice that next time they gotta earn my vote.” – a Libertarian voter.

September 6, 1980

Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the exiled former head of the Saudi Arabian secret service is assassinated in Paris by Wahhabi radicals.

In an address to the Organization of American States Argentine President Carlos Humberto Perette re-asserts Argentina’s sovereign claim to the Falkland (Malvina) Islands. He calls on the OAS to support Argentina’s claim. Only the United States, Belize, El Salvador and Nicaragua vote against the measure.

The Israeli government passes a law banning flights by El-Al, the national airline on Saturdays (the Jewish Sabbath). Another Sabbath law prohibits the flying of foreign flags in Israel on the Sabbath and requires foreigners, including tourists, to remain in their lodgings or hotels from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday.

Edward Gierek survives an attempt to depose him by Politburo member Stanislaw Kania and Polish Defence Minister General Wojciech Jaruzelski. Gierek, with the aid of Military Security Chief General Czeslaw Kiszczak, retains nominal control of the government, although Kiszczak increasingly becomes the strongman behind the scenes as the martial law regime plays out. Kania and Jaruzelski are jailed, along with Jaruzelski allies Generals Florian Siwicki and Michal Janiszewski. General Joseph Uzycki, previously a colonel loyal to Kiszczak is promoted and becomes commander of the Polish military forces (and Kiszczak's right hand).

September 7, 1980
Donald Rumsfeld: “I don’t see any point in going on air with Agnew. In fact I see a lot of downside to it; he’s become a big joke.”

Dick Cheney: “No question it’s negative, but Ted is making all kinds of noises about what he might do if you don’t throw him a rope and make an appearance.”

DR: “Like what?”

DC: “Let’s just say we don’t want him making too big a deal about how he shaped you when you were his Chief of Staff. Give him his carrot, and he’ll shut-up; we’ll make it part of an agreement for the interview. We hold more cards than he does because he has next to no credibility and we are doing him a favour.”

DR: “I thought you and Roger fired him.”

DC: “Roger and Pat are easing him out. Meantime we need him happy and not throwing any bombs at us, so go do the interview.”
----------------------------------------------------------
Agnew on Point
SA: So Don, now that you’ve got your hat in the ring, I hope you plan to restore the level of discipline and forthrightness that we had when I was in the White House.”

DR: “I’m planning to reverse seven years of deterioration and chaos, which this country has been experiencing since you and President Nixon both left office. I have nothing but respect for General Gavin, of course, but the current administration has been a disaster. We need to re-focus on priorities which are going to bring prosperity back to the American people.”

SA: “When you and I worked together we kept the Russians out of the Middle East, and our work kept South Vietnam free. Both my successor and General Secretary Wallace have presided over a roll-back of freedom and the return of the Soviets to the Middle East. I’m hoping you are for a strong policy to reverse that troubling trend, Don.”

DR: “Of course, in your Administration, we started the process of keeping South Vietnam free, after others had sold the South Vietnamese out with a peace agreement that was nothing but a surrender in disguise. We have to give General Gavin his due for carrying that vision forward to success, though of course if we hadn’t started it, he wouldn’t have done it. But, Ted, if this country is to remain strong and to be in a position to roll-back Soviet advances, then we have to have a strong economy. We need to do what I have done in Illinois, and that is to get government off the backs of American businesses so they can hire, and American taxpayers, so they can spend. Once we get the economy out of the pit it has been in the last eight years, due largely to big government thinking which has mired our economy, instead of freeing-up market forces, then we will be in a better position to undo some of the mischief the Russian bear has been up to while President Wallace was asleep at the switch.”

SA: “It’s unfortunate that it is taken seven years before we can get back on the right path. I’m glad to see you’ll be carrying forward our work.”

DR: “Seven years is a long time, Ted, and a lot changes. Of course, you planted the seeds and I was happy to play a part in that, but that garden has been worked over by other hands since then. If I’m elected, I’m hoping to start a new policy of strength for the new decade. That’s going to involve re-asserting our strength and international leadership, and re-building our economy so that we have economic as well as military power to back us. Achieving that will take a few years, time you unfortunately didn’t have. But we will succeed and make America great again.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 10. 1980

The Israeli government passes a bill which funds the increase in the number of Jewish settlements in the Sinai. This is seen as a precursor of annexation of that region by Israel. At the same time Israel has been driving Palestinians out of Gaza and toward enclosed areas within the Sinai region. Opponents call this scheme “the Warsaw Ghetto in the desert”, a term which infuriates Menachem Begin who becomes ever more resolute in his design to make Sinai a part of Israel. This act effectively ends Secretary Brzezinski’s efforts to mediate a peace agreement between the two.

September 11, 1980

The Du Pont Company announced the closure of one of its plants in Derry with the resultant loss of 400 jobs.

September 12-16, 1980

The eighth emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly was held between 12 September – 16 September 1980, after the Soviet veto of a Security Council resolution, to consider the situation in Poland. Lead by US Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski (himself a Polish exile), members were requested to consider sanctions against the USSR and Poland for the impostion of martial law in Poland (and the Soviet Union's failure to call for the Polish government to reverse its decision).

The USSR veto of a resolution led the other members to invoke the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution to defer the issue to the General Assembly in an emergency special session. It was the sixth emergency special session since the 'Uniting for Peace' resolution was adopted in 1950. The session was dominated by questions of its legitimacy since the Polish Communist government representative represented a martial law government beign used to put down the Polish people who were calling for more freedoms. The session rejected the Polish (Communist) government argument (supported by the Soviet delegate) that martial law had been necessary in the interests of stability after a general strike had crippled the Polish economy that summer. The U.S., Britain and France each denounced the martial law as unlawful and an attack by the Polish government on its people, and called on the Soviets to use their leverage over the Warsaw government to end the martial law regime, which was fashioned into the resolution from the General Assembly, which also called for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of troops from Poland's streets, so that its people could freely choose its own economic, political and social systems. The Soviet Union and its allies, including the Polish representative, denounced the special session as “a provocation” and “an unwarranted intrusion into the internal affairs of the Polish sovereign state.”

September 16, 1980

Rumsfeld Ad

Background: Montage of Mug shot photos.

Narration: “In his six years as Governor of New York, Hugh Carey has pardoned or released over six thousand serious offenders, including rapists and murders – some after serving only a quarter of their sentences.

“The New York State crime commission reports that over three thousand of these criminals have gone on to commit new crimes within a year of their release.

Background photo: Tug Elkins mug shot.

“One such criminal, Tug Elkins of Schenectady, who was released by Governor Carey after serving only six years of a life sentence for rape and murder, murdered two people and raped an eighty year old grandmother the same day he was released from prison.

Background photo: Grandmother with grandchildren.

“Hugh Carey, unsafe for New York; too much of a risk for America.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------

September 17, 1980

Polish security troops enter the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, to remove the last of the “Polish Summer” strikers. They are met with violent resistance and general mayhem ensues before the security forces put down the revolt. Casualties are not published but are estimated to be around 2,000.

Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is assassinated in Managua, Nicaragua. He is succeeded by Vice President Fernando Bernabé Agüero Rocha. The culprits are discovered to be Irish Republican mercenaries (and one South Vietnamese Catholic). Their actual employer is not uncovered, but it appears that the PIRA are hiring out some of their members in order make money for the organization.

Republic of China (Taiwan) forces which have been (quietly) operating with the combined Vietnamese forces in Southern China establish a prefectural office and assume some local governing responsibilities in Southern Kwangsi, in the area of China currently occupied by the Vietnamese forces. For the first time in thirty-one years the Republic of China flag is raised on the mainland.

Carey campaign statement: “Elmo “Tug” Elkins was released at the recommendation of the New York Attorney-General’s office, after a thorough review of his previous conviction lead to a conclusion that the conviction had been obtained on less than reliable evidence, a matter which the New York Court of Appeals upheld in hearing Mr. Elkins appeal of his conviction. Governor Carey acted within the parameters of the law and to ensure that justice was done in this case.”

New York State Attorney-General John M. Dewey (R): “Our office recommended that the Governor’s pardon and clemency board review the Elkins case in light of the ruling of the New York Court of Appeal, but we recommended against a release of Mr. Elkins, a known dangerous offender, before re-trial. Mr. Elkins release, and what happened afterward, is on Governor Carey’s hands.”

September 18 – 26, 1980

Soyuz 38: 12th expedition to Salyut 6. 7th international crew. Carried Intercosmos cosmonaut from Cuba. The Soyuz 38 docking occurred in darkness. As the spacecraft approached Salyut 6, the Dniepers could see only its “headlights.” Cosmonaut Valery Ryumin filmed ignition and operation of the transport’s main engine. Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez of Cuba and Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko docked without incident.

September 18, 1980

John Hinckley stalks Democratic Presidential candidate Hugh Carey but fails to find an opportunity to shoot him.

Premier Levesque calls a provincial election to secure a mandate for separation talks with Canada.

Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), Sen. Gary Howard (CVM-LA) and Governor John Rarick (AI-LA) headline a symposium in Washington DC on the “clear-and-present danger” of homosexuality to the freedom of the Republic and its direct danger to children of all ages (equating homosexuality and pedophilia). The symposium calls for a constitutional amendment criminalizing sodomy. Republican presidential candidate Donald Rumsfeld speaks to the symposium. Hugh Carey, Ron Dellums, Ronald Galtieri and Sandy Koufax all denounce the symposium and its declarations as “bigotry” and/or “a violation of civil rights.” Ralph Nader speaks at a demonstration outside of its venue.

President Wallace makes clear his feeling on the matter when he refuses to meet with Governor Rarick, and later in a speech denounces the symposium and criticizes Rumsfeld for attending it.

September 19, 1980

Israeli Navy ships shell the coast of Turkish Northern Cyprus near an area where the PJO terrorists are believed to have embarked aboard a Cypriot ship for Israel. Later the same day two Israeli Missile boats, the INS Nitzachon and the INS GurU.S.S. John Young (DD-973) and the U.S.S. O’Brien exchange fire with the (DD-975), engaged in U.N. Cyprus patrols, before withdrawing, creating another U.S.-Israel incident.

Rumsfeld Ad: (Not played in New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania)
Scene: An actor made-up to look like Don Corleone in The Godfather sitting behind his desk.

Narration (by “Corleone”): “Yeah, you know, that’s how it works, one hand washes another. We need a deal with the Unions, you know, to make them more compliant, we go see the Governor and he says, yes. The Governor needs votes, and we say sure. Garbage contracts, our friend the Governor comes through. Republicans he don’t wanna see in office, that’s our department. And now he’s gonna go to Washington, and well, that’s an opportunity we just can’t refuse.”

Narration (end Voice over): “Stop the secret New York deals. Don’t let Carey turn the White House into the Don’s House. Vote for Rumsfeld – he can save our future.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------

September 21, 1980

First Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) rally at RAF Greenham Common.

The League of Women Voters had announced in 1979 a schedule of debates similar to those held between George Wallace and Ronald Reagan in1976. There were to be three presidential and one vice presidential. No one had much of a problem with this until it was announced that former Secretary Ron Dellums and Sen. Ronald Galtieri (Lib.-MT) might be invited to participate along with Carey and Rumsfeld. Governor Rumsfeld steadfastly refused to participate with the minor candidates included, especially Dellums (the Rumsfeld campaign argued that debating Carey and Dellums amounted to a two-on-one debate for the Democrats: the Rumsfeld spokesmen made no mention of Senator Galtieri in any of their discussions). Governor Carey, sensing he had a campaign issue, refused to debate without Dellums (although he unsuccessfully tied to get Galtieri removed: Dellums stood firm that Sen. Galtieri be included). Dellums and Galtieri were included to exclusion of all other minor candidates because they alone of the minor candidates had been polling consistently at or above five percent among potential voters, which the LWV used as an informal cut-off point.

The first debate was moderated by Bill Moyers and took place in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 21. In attendance were Governor Carey (D), former Secretary Ron Dellums (WTP) and Sen. Ronald Galtieri (Lib.-MT). An empty stool and lectern stood in for Governor Rumsfeld. In this debate Carey and Dellums exchanged barbs at each other as each tried to define himself as the leading progressive: Dellums went to the left, while Carey tried to tack to the center, trying to attract moderate Republican support. Galtieri essentially used the debate as a forum to lay-out his Libertarian views, which both Carey and Dellums attacked as either cruel or impractical.

September 22, 1980

Youth riots in the capital of the Soviet Republic of Estonia are quickly forced down.

President al-Bakr of Iraq makes a state visit to Tehran where he is greeted by the Shah and has meetings with Prime Minister Azhari.

September 23, 1980

“I’d like to go to nursing school, but I have to put myself through and I’ve had a hard time getting a good job, what with the economy being so bad. I know so many people who’ve been out of work. My father was laid off from his construction job earlier this year. He worked only seven months in the last three years. He voted for Kennedy, for Johnson, for Nixon and for Wallace. This year he’s not going to vote because he’s fed-up.

“I’ve saved enough money to get through my first year of nursing school on what I made from part-time jobs. But I need more. Last summer I got a job in a nursing home, but the state came in and told them they had to cut back on their budget. They kept the older workers but let the young people go. Young people don’t have a chance.

“Four years I had just turned eighteen and I voted for Wallace because my father and mother did: I didn’t like Reagan, he seemed phoney. This time I’ve thought about it and I’m going to vote for Ron Dellums and Ralph Nader. If they get elected then we’ll see a chance for young people, especially like me, who want a career in public service. It’s the only hope, I think.” - a WTP voter.
------------------------------------------------------------

September 26, 1980

The Mariel Boatlift officially ends. Fidel Castro has used the opportunity to clean-out his prisons, hospitals and mental asylums to send criminals, the chronically ill and lunatics to the United States along with other assorted riff-raff from Cuban society (among some legitimate refugees). Castro also uses the occasion to send undercover DGI intelligence agents to the US.

Carey Ad:
Narration: “As Governor of New York Hugh Carey brought balance to the management of the State’s books and saved New York City from the worst excesses of bankruptcy. As a Congressman Hugh Carey looked for ways to improve the lives of all New York families, and all families across the land.”

Hugh Carey: “When you get down to it, elected office is about what you can do to help your fellow citizens. I want to be President because I believe that I can do a better job for America’s families and bring prosperity back to this country, and that will benefit every family, from mine to yours.” (Shows Carey with his family).

Narration: “Hugh Carey and the Democrats for decent jobs in a decent America.”
------------------------------------------------------------
September 28, 1980

The second LWV Presidential debate was held. Governor Rumsfeld refused to attend this one, as he had the one a week before. This time Governor Carey also skipped the debate. Only Ron Dellums and Ronald Galtieri showed-up, resulting in a debate between two extremes on the political spectrum which was more of a series of speeches and remarks by each candidate exploiting free air time than a substantive debate.

September 29, 1980

The Washington Post publishes Janet Cooke's story of Jimmy, an 8-year-old heroin addict (later proven to be fabricated).

September 30, 1980

Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.

Colonel Enrique Bermudez of the Nicaraguan National Guard stages a coup which ousts President Agüero Rocha from office and replaces him with a military junta led by Bermudez, Adolfo Calero and José Aristides Sánchez Herdocia. Adolfo Calero becomes the civilian President of Nicaragua, while Bermudez becomes Chief of Staff of the National Guard.

Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana introduces a measure into the Louisiana Legislature calling for the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment (popular election of Senators).

October 1980

A series of sectarian riots between Greek and Turkish Cypriots along the buffer zone between the two enclaves leads to violence and conflict with UN troops assigned to keep the two communities apart. The division between the two halves of Cyprus now comes to resemble the Berlin Wall.

Carey AD:
Background: Montage of Hugh Carey as Governor of New York

Narration: “Upon taking office as Governor of New York, Hugh Carey cut taxes significantly, reduced corporate taxes from fourteen percent to eleven percent, capped personal income tax at ten percent, and reduced capital gains taxes. His administration also offered tax credits to encourage new investment.

“When Hugh Carey came into office New York City was bankrupt and under federal receivership. Hugh Carey brought business and labor together to craft a plan which brought New York City back from the brink and returned it to fiscal and health and political responsibility. Hugh Carey managed to keep the growth of state spending below the rate of inflation through his frequent use of line-item vetoes and fights with the New York State Legislature, which was at the time divided between a Republican-controlled Senate and an Assembly divided between three parties. Hugh Carey worked with Democrats, Republicans and even the Socialists to build working coalitions that restored fiscal soundness to New York’s government and restored confidence for all New Yorkers.

“Governor Hugh Carey signed the Willowbrook Consent Decree, which ended the warehousing of the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. His vision and leadership led to the humane treatment of the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, while making community programs for the mentally ill.

“Hugh Carey, has demonstrated effective leadership, resolve in the face adversity and compassion for his fellow human beings.

“Vote Hugh Carey for President and together we can get America working again.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 1, 1980

Associated Newspapers announces that The Evening News will close and merge with The Evening Standard.

October Poll
Carey: 42%
Rumsfeld:36%
Dellums: 8%
Galtieri: 5%
Christian Values: 3%
Koufax: 2%
Undecided: 4%

“I never got anything from the Democrats and the Republicans, heh, man they just want to bring back the chains and the slave ships from Africa. That’s free enterprise to them, right? Ron Dellums speaks for me, so I’m going to put one down for him.” - a WTP voter.

“I’m white, upper middle class and from Vermont, so I don’t fit the We The People stereotype they’re trying to sell, about We The People being a ghetto movement. We need real change in our politics, and to get that I think we have to throw out the old parties. Their day has come and gone. I mean Jefferson and Lincoln were great men and all, but what’s that got to do with today? I’m voting for Ron Dellums and Ralph Nader because I want real change for all the people.” – a WTP voter.

“I was leaning to Rumsfeld, until I thought about all that Agnew stuff, and you know, I think maybe he was a little too tough in Illinois. I think Hugh Carey will do a better job for all Americans.” – an undecided voter.

“I’m a freedom voter. I voted for Goldwater, Nixon and Reagan, and every time we got less freedom. Personally, I think Rumsfeld is a sell-out like tricky Dick so this time I’m voting for Galtieri for real freedom.” – a Libertarian voter

“America is becoming as God less as the Soviet Union. This country was built on Christian morality, and now we’ve got nothing but permissiveness and rioting. We need to put the Ten Commandments into the Constitution, so I’m voting for a candidate who will do that.” –a Christian Values voter.

“Look, Republicans under Nixon and Democrats under Johnson and Wallace, they all went for the vote for them people on welfare, if you know who I mean. Them who live in the cities and don’t know how to work, you know. I believe in good Christian Values for hardworking, faithful people and that’s what we need in the White House, to bring God back into government and to crack down on them welfare bums.” – a Christian Values voter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Rumsfeld Ad:
As a dedicated public servant in the White House Donald Rumsfeld saved Vietnam from a Communist take-over, and he saved Israel from being overrun by Soviet backed forces.

As Governor of Illinois Donald Rumsfeld closed a billion dollar budget gap and returned money back to the pockets of Illinois taxpayers.

Under Governor Rumsfeld unemployment in Illinois went down for the first time in a decade. He privatized many services, which saved tax money and created jobs.

Donald Rumsfeld saved our country, gave people back their tax money and created jobs.

Isn’t that what we need for America today?

Donald Rumsfeld for President – he can save our future.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Beginning in October, Libyan troops airlifted to the Aouzou Strip (Northern Chad) earlier in the year operated in conjunction with Chadian leader Goukouni's forces to reoccupy Faya. The city was then used as an assembly point for tanks, artillery and armored vehicles that moved south against the capital of N'Djamena.

Pathet Lao (Red) forces and their PLA allies are driven back by Lao government forces into the jungles of Yunnan Province in China, where a deadly war of attrition continues.

October 2, 1980

Public demonstrations around the world (mainly featuring anti-nuclear speakers) mark the first anniversary of the Kwangsi massacre.

In France this anniversary in particular re-ingnites a strong anti-nuclear movement on the left which targets President Mitterrand’s support for nuclear energy and nuclear weapons ahead of the next French Presidential election. A former Education Minister in the Defferre government, who broke with Defferre and Mitterrand over “the middle-road” economic policy, becomes the voice of a movement on the left that criticises both the President and Prime Minister for their nuclear policy and their “sell-out” of more traditional left-wing state-oriented economic policies. Jospin eventually decides to enter the 1981 Presidential election as a dissident, left-wing “Independent Socialist” candidate.

Despite repeated pronouncements by the PRC government that it will put the five American servicemen it holds on trial, and repeated protests by the United States over this, nothing more is heard of them, which is taken as an ominous sign by U.S. officials. Both the Secretary of State and President Wallace strongly protest their detention. This message is reinforced on the campaign trail by both Governors Rumsfeld and Carey.

Ron Dellums (WTP): “First, allow me to add my voice to those of the President, Governor Rumsfeld and Governor Carey in calling for the immediate return of the five United States citizens currently being held illegally by the People’s Republic of China. There can be no doubt that their detention by that regime is unjust, and that they are undoubtedly being kept imprisoned under the most brutal of conditions. I do not wear the rose colored glasses of some who would make excuses for the thuggish regime currently in power in Peking simply because it proclaims itself the protector of the peasants or because it cynically mouths the terms of revolutionary justice. The current leadership has made clear by its actions that these ideals are no more than lip service to a regime of brutes and killers. We are beyond the point of excuses and well-meaning apologetics for what is clearly a clique of criminals enforcing a form of madness on the Chinese people. That these five young Americans, patriots all in the service of our great country, are in this position is due to the failed imperial policies of this nation, and that is a fair topic of debate and discussion in this election. Had we not sought to impose our will on the people of Vietnam, and paid for it in the blood of our youth far above what was reasonable to ask, these five young men need not be where they are today, and instead would be home with their families and participating in the life of our nation as free men. Whomever we elect in November must pledge to bring these young men home. But more importantly, whomever we elect in November must pledge never again to imperil the lives or our young men in so vainglorious and ultimately pointless an effort ever again.”

Ralph Nader (WTP): “The five young Americans are paying the price for the follies of six Presidents of both major parties who involved us in that monstrous quagmire that was the Vietnam War. Yes, we won in the end, but at what price? These five young Americans can tell you better than anyone – if their captors allowed them to speak – because they are still paying that price. Bring them home, and let’s end the folly of trying to impose America on the world.”

October 3, 1980

Carey Ad:
Background: An electric chair.

Narration: “Governor Rumsfeld claims that his record shows that he’s tough on crime. Under his watch more criminals have been executed in Illinois than under the terms of his two predecessors combined. Donald Rumsfeld is proud of that statistic.”

Donald Rumsfeld: “I am proud that under my leadership we brought the death penalty back into full force in Illinois.”

Narration: “What Don Rumsfeld doesn’t tell you is that reviews have found that five of those who were executed in the last four years were innocent. In one case, that of Herb Galton of Springfield, Illinois, Governor Rumsfeld ignored proof of Galton’s innocence, including the confession of the real murderer, when he signed his death warrant. Here’s what Governor Rumsfeld said when confronted with this fact.”

DR: “Herb Galton was convicted by a jury of his peers, who recommended the death sentence. The fact that he was later found to be innocent was beside the point. His execution was legal and showed that we will not tolerate violent crime in the State of Illinois.”

Narration: “Innocence beside the point? According to Don Rumsfeld being tough on crime includes executing the innocent. Do you want to trust your life to Don Rumsfeld?”
DR: “We have to be tough on crime, no matter what.”

N: “Hugh Carey and the Democrats for an America we can all be proud of.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


October 4, 1980

Rumsfeld campaign statement: “A jury found Herb Galton guilty and recommended the death sentence according to the facts presented at trial. That sentence was not reduced or overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court. Governor Rumsfeld carried out the law according to the facts available at the time, and continues to believe in a strong and vigorous use of the death penalty as a deterrent to violent crime, unlike his opponent who believes in putting violent criminals back on the street where they can continue to victimize the innocent.”
-------------------------------------

October 5, 1980

British Leyland launches its new Metro, a three-door entry-level hatchback which is designed as the eventual replacement for the Mini. It gives BL a long-awaited modern competitor for the likes of the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Chevette.

The Portuguese and Spanish Boundary Commission establishes a de-facto truce line along the Portuguese-Spanish border. The DPRP and the new Spanish government do not have diplomatic relations (Spain’s official Embassy to Portugal is in the Azores with the exile Socialist government of Portugal) but agree to continue talks through Swiss and French intermediaries.

Acceding to demands from both the Carey and Rumsfeld campaigns, the LWV held a Vice Presidential debate to which only Secretary Reubin Askew (D) and Rep. Jack Edwards (R) were invited. The two major Vice Presidential candidates squared-off in a more traditional campaign, notable for the fact that both men were Southerners. Polling after the debate showed that each had represented his position well, but neither had managed to win over supporters of the other, or of We The People.

October 6 – 8, 1980

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in the case of Florio, Iannuci et al. vs. Bateman over whether Gov. Bateman of N.J. can veto a Legislative Bill which re-apportions the method of choosing New Jersey’s 17 Presidential Electors. At issue, whether by a strict interpretation of Article Two, clause two, which gives the authority for the State legislatures to choose how a State’s Electors are apportioned, can a State Governor veto such a re-apportionment by the State Legislature, given that Article Two, Clause two omits mentioning the State Executive and that office’s veto power from the text. Florio and Iannuci argue that the founders deliberately, in the formulation of the text, sought to omit the State executive from the process. Governor Bateman argues that the portion of the New Jersey Constitution assigning the veto authority to the Governor over acts of the State Legislature takes precedent, and on those grounds the veto should be upheld.

October 6, 1980

Israeli jets strike at and damage Egyptian military units based along the western side of the Sinai Canal. Israel claims the Egyptian units were preparing to attack the Israeli occupied Sinai. The Egyptians claim the troops were protecting the border and that Israelis air strike was a provocation. Everyone is mindful that this is the seventh anniversary of the start of the Yom Kippur war, and that an election in Israeli is little more than a month away. (Begin’s Likud Party has been slumping in the polls up to this point). Opposition Leader Shlomo Hillel (Labour-Alignment) calls the attack “a cheap political stunt by a desperate government devoid of ideas and initiative.”

President el-Gamasy: “Now we see what Menachem Begin means by his willingness to talk. He is not interested in peace but in dictates enforced by the barrel of the gun. Egypt will never accept this! Egyptians will never accept this! There can be no peace on these terms. Never!”

October 7, 1980

Carey Ad:
Backdrop: Photo of Rumsfeld and Cheney beside President Agnew, seated at his desk in the Oval Office.

Narration: “For nine months in 1973 Don Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney stood at the right hand of a man who overturned a peace agreement in Vietnam, who nearly started World War III and who began a cycle of ruinous debt and inflation. Rumsfeld brags that he was doing his duty to the nation, but what did his duty produce?”

Backdrop: Unemployment lines; a riot; photo of Agnew’s Senate trial.

Narration: “America was disgraced, and you or someone you know lost their job and possibly their home.”

Backdrop: Photo of Spiro Agnew yelling at some audience.

Narration: “Do you want to bring him back? Of course you don’t. On Tuesday, November 4th vote for Hugh Carey, and let’s get this country moving again.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spiro Agnew attempts to sue the Carey campaign for liable over this television ad; however the court found the suit had no merit and dismissed it.
----------------------------------------------------------

October 8, 1980

The West German (Federal Republic of Germany) Federal Election
Bundestag: 497 seats (249 seats required for a governing coalition)

Christian Democratic Union: 190 - 3 = 187 seats (38.3% - 0.7% = 37.6%)
Christian Social Union: 53 – 1 = 52 seats (10.7% - 0.2% = 10.5%)
Free Democratic Party: 39 – 1 = 38 seats (7.9% - 0.3% = 7.6%)
Social Democratic Party: 214 + 6 = 220 seats (43.1% + 1.2% = 44.3%)

As in 1976, Ewald Bucher of the FDP leads his party into a governing coalition with the CDU-CSU to form a 277 seat governing coalition. Bucher remains as Finance Minister in the coalition.

Chancellor Before Election Helmut Kohl (CDU)
Chancellor After Election Helmut Kohl (CDU)

The un-dramatic result is widely interpreted as an endorsement by West German voters of Kohl’s economic liberalizations and his moderate foreign policy (continue Ostpolitik, no international commitments beyond NATO, condemnation of martial law in Poland but no overly provocative responses either); also seen as a reaction by some West German voters to the victory of Communist and Socialist Parties in Italy and France over recent years. (West Germany as the balancer in European affairs: “Mittleweg”).

The slight gain by the SDP is enough to secure SDP leader Manfred Lahnstein’s position as opposition leader, though some in the SDP blame the fact that he is “boring” for their very modest gains.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 10, 1980

El Asnam, Algeria is destroyed by an earthquake, which claims more than 2,600 lives. After the quake, El Asnam is rebuilt and changes its name to the city of Chlef.

Anti-regime rioting breaks-out in the city of Ining in Northwestern Sinkiang Province, near the Soviet border.

October 13, 1980

The U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion in Florio, Iannuci et al, v. Bateman argues that a strict interpretation of Article Two, Clause Two of the U.S. Constitution excludes the State Executive from vetoing acts of the Legislature on this matter (apportionment of Presidential Electors). The Court finds that if the Founders had intended the State Executive to have a veto power over this State Legislative authority, they would have said so when writing the clause in question. (The exclusion of any mention of the Executive being taken as purposeful rather than accidental, presuming that the Founders were very careful with their language and knew what they were doing when they drafted the clause in this manner with this wording).

The vote of the Court is 6 in the majority (Burger, CJ; Stewart; White, Blackmun; Powell and Kennedy) and 3 in dissent (Brennan; Marshall and Rehnquist).

In the 1980 Presidential Election 15 of New Jersey’s 17 Electoral Votes will be cast according to who carries each Congressional district, plus 2 Electoral Votes allocated to the candidate who carries the highest number of popular votes state-wide.

Noteworthy in the dissents are two points. Rehnquist in his dissent argues that the all or nothing Electoral Vote principle is part of the founding document and as such should not be tampered with. (An eccentric constructionist view (overlooking the absence of any mention of the Executive in the original clause) that barely disguises Rehnquist’s pro-Republican bias)).

Marshall, joined by Brennan, argues that this decision opens the door to “micro-fragmenting” of communities in Presidential elections if other states pick-up the precedent, and that the long-term effects could outdo the results of the effort to make the vote universal, accessible and relevant to all. (Can an anti-minority bloc pick 270 Electoral districts to win and exclude minorities in the other 168, rendering them and the 100 state wide votes ineffective?). This, Marshall argues, was never the intent of the founders when they devised the Electoral College (the all-or-nothing principle making it necessary for national platforms to be broader and therefore more inclusive).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Supreme Court of India overturns the conviction of Sanjay Gandhi on various treason and corruption charges. The convictions are found to be “unsafe” due to evidence tampering and perjury by government witnesses. Sanjay is released. Many charges are thrown out against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, however a charge of treason is upheld against her for declaring the martial law emergency. Mrs. Gandhi is returned to prison to serve a twenty year sentence.

Vasco Goncalves is forced to step down as Prime Minister of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal. Octávio Floriano Rodrigues Pato, who had been Minister of the Interior in the Goncalves government succeeds him as the new Prime Minister. At the same time the Communist Party General Secretary Carlos Alfredo de Brito is named as the Foreign Minister. António Aires Rodrigues becomes the new Interior Minister.

The ICI company announced the closure of one of its plants at Kilroot, County Antrim with the resultant loss of 1,100 jobs.

The new government of Spain begins to look at a healing process for resolution of the Franco regime. Valle de los Caídos is cordoned off and closed to the public. Meanwhile an equally grandiose memorial to the Republican casualties of the Civil War (and those killed by the Falangist regime over forty years of rule) is commissioned.

October 15, 1980

James Hoskins forces his way into WCPO's television studio in Cincinnati, holding 9 employees hostage for several hours before releasing them and taking his own life.

Noel Lyttle (44) of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), was killed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast.

Israeli Air Force jets bomb a training camp in Turkish Northern Cyprus where the Israeli’s allege that Palestinian terrorists are encamped and being prepared for infiltration into Israel.

WTP AD:
Narration: “The two parties say they’re different, but let’s look at that. Both parties – Democrat and Republican – have given you wars, inflation, unemployment and no sense of security. Both have the same answer – cuts in public spending and a further retreat of public services, while offering corporations and not working people tax cuts and “investment opportunities.” Since both parties give you the same problems, and offer you the same pro-corporation, anti-working family solutions, you have to wonder, maybe it’s both parties that are the problem.

“On November 4th send both big parties a message – vote for We The People – for the People.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 17, 1980

King George VII of the United Kingdom makes history as the first British monarch to be received at the Vatican.

President el-Gamasy of Egypt visits Moscow in order to sign a new Treaty of Friendship between Egypt and the USSR. Soon after President el-Gamasy’s visit Soviet technical and military advisors return to Egypt.

Former President Anwar Sadat (in exile in Morocco): “This move by (President el-Gamasy) is foolish in the extreme. He forgets how the Soviets tried to tie-up Nasser in Cold war struggles which were none of Egypt’s concerns, and which unnecessarily distracted us from the problems of our own country. He also forgets that we removed the Soviets because they were conspiring to undermine our sovereign regime and replace our leaders with Russian puppets who would turn Egypt into another Soviet Bloc state. This is the future (el-Gamasy) invites with the return of the Soviet advisors to our land.”

October 18, 1980

Rumsfeld Ad:
Narration: "There is a bear in the woods. For some people, the bear is easy to see. Others don't see it at all. Some people say the bear is tame. Others say it's vicious and dangerous. Since no one can really be sure who's right, isn't it smart to be as strong as the bear? Because that bear is there, and he’s waiting.”

The commercial featured a Grizzly Bear wandering through a forest while the above narration was heard, read by advertising man Hal Riney. In the final scene a man appears and the bear takes a step back. The ad ends with a picture of Rumsfeld and the tagline: "Don Rumsfeld: He can save our future."
---------------------------------------
October 19, 1980

Governor Hugh Carey and Governor Donald Rumsfeld met for a one-on-one debate in Cleveland which excluded all other candidates. Howard K. Smith was the moderator. Both candidates defended themselves and attacked the other but, like the Vice Presidential debate two weeks before, neither scored a knock-out blow.

Governor Rumsfeld tried a last-minute rhetorical flourish asking voters if they were better off than they were four years ago, and if not, then they should consider voting for him and not the Democrat. This lacked resonance though because Governor Carey was not President Wallace and was not close to the President (indeed he’d spent much of the campaign differentiating himself from Wallace, to the point one could almost assume that Hugh Carey and George Wallace came from two different Democratic Parties), and so Carey was not a prime target for voter dissatisfaction. Carey in return laid a significant amount of blame for what had gone wrong over the previous eight years at the doors of Presidents Nixon and Agnew, wryly noting that Rumsfeld had served both, before going out to ruin Illinois.
----------------------------------------------------------------
 
Last edited:
The Hungry Wolves

The Account of Kiang Liu – 1980 - 1981

Even the wolves were hungry, and in pain and desperation they turned on each other.

With large number of the People’s Liberation Army defecting to the enemy or laying down their arms and melting into the countryside (where they became bandits or guerrillas) the security troops, Mao Yang-jin’s so-called elite followers, were stretched thin. Half who would still fight were sent to stop the Vietnamese in the South; the rest were needed for an increasingly difficult task of controlling the masses.

Many outside wondered why we took no action in Hong Kong, or why our forces melted before the Slavic horde in Sinkiang and Manchuria - this was the reason: there was no one left to resist them. Had the westerners shared the audacity of their ancestors and come over the Hong Kong wall in force, it would have been a short battle followed by their victory. A latter day Patton could have driven his column of tanks into Peking if he had wished. Even the Hindus were able to gnaw away at us in Arunachal Pradesh without a significant retaliation. We held the Vietnamese in place outside of the ruins of Nanning, but it was at the cost of the most effective elements left to the State Security forces.

Lawlessness spread in Inner Mongolia, and not just from disaffected members of the PLA who had turned guerrilla/bandit. It seems that the Mongolian puppet of the Slavs had decided the best method for punishing their worst criminals was to expel them into our territory. This, to the Mongolians, was a sentence worse than death itself. When border security broke down these Mongolian criminals organized criminal gangs and even armies, and roamed the countryside looting and destroying at will.

In the centre we felt the crushing weight of destruction falling on us. Since the American strike at Lop Nur, a sort of madness had descended on the Lesser Mao and his inner circle, one fuelled by the taking of more and more narcotics: they consumed opium, heroin and LSD and in their drug-driven hallucinations saw themselves as communing with the Gods and attaining some metamorphosis on a plane of reality beyond mortal comprehension.

To us left to manage the mess of government on this mortal plane, we saw an army disintegrating, a strategic rocket force rendered useless because of American bombing and the execution of rocket engineers, and an air force grounded because the Lesser Mao had ordered the execution of all the pilots.

Oh what an irony that while the Security Forces busily chopped-up our pilots for suspected treason, the one who had defected – starting this wave of madness – stood trial in Hong Kong for murdering his fellow who, if he had not been stopped, would have attacked the western navies. This was a reminder to me that madness could be found there too – suggesting that all the world was indeed an asylum – but still, theirs was an almost child-like madness I would have preferred to the hell I lived in.

Every morning in the Autumn 1980 I walked to work past some poor wretch who had been chained to a post outside of the Ministry entrance. Once a Minister himself, this fellow had been fed radioactive sand from Lop Nur, and left to writhe in pain as he slowly decomposed before death, his frame becoming skeletal, his eyes, ears and mouth discharging a syrupy, foul smelling puss that turned the stomach. He was an object lesson for some imagined crime, and he was not the only one. Others of his kind appeared from time-to-time outside of official buildings all over Peking, where only we the rapidly decreasing ranks of bureaucrats could see them. More like them, lesser-ranked offenders of the Great Imagination, were chained in the central squares of the communes and villages, to remind he people that there were greater horrors than the life imposed upon them. They came to call the radioactive meal the American dish.

One knew the level of madness had exceeded all tolerance when you could gaze upon the wretches and say to yourself that the American dish was perhaps the more pleasant alternative to continuing your life in this world.

Who would be a Minister in this insanity? There were still cretins ambitious enough to try, and others like myself who rose in authority because those above us were served the American dish or met some other gruesome fall. One could be quite alarmed by one’s rise, because the nearer the top you went, the more likely your time was coming to the end. To that end a group of mid-level officials such as myself devised a plan where we would seek to promote fools, cretins and imbeciles above us, and replace them with the same as quickly as they fell, blocking our promotion to too great a height of power, which itself was an illusion since at the mid-level we exercised most power. Those at the top died too quickly to become truly powerful.

In my elder years, reflecting on this time, I am not proud to say that I sent so many to their deaths to save my own skin, but at the time there was little choice. Those of us at the mid-level in my Ministry were not alone: the practice seemed to be happening at other ministries – even the State Security Ministry – judging from the low and petty level of officials quickly rising to the top, and their just as rapid doom.

There could be no doubt by all but the most unworldly that the Great Helmsman, the senior Mao, must be dead by now. The level of madness presided over by the drug addled Lesser Mao could not have stood had he been able to stop it, and it was hard to believe that he was off in a retreat in the mountains contemplating the future of Maoist thought. This had never been the Great Helmsman’s way; the exercise of personal power having been too close to his soul. Only if he were gone, would he relinquish his grip so completely. Taking his drugs, pronouncing his mad schemes, and lovingly messaging his Terra Cotta warriors dug-up from the tomb of the first Emperor Chin, the Lesser Mao buried Maoism forever.

The Lesser Mao, the nephew, when he was still lucid, liked to think of himself as a modern Emperor Chin, destroying all that had been the past – including the recent past – in order to create a new China and a new Chinese mass. His dreams were of a generation of conquest that would sweep across the Urals and into Europe itself. In the end, he could barely conquer an outhouse. He was not a saviour of China, but the curse of the Gods, brought down on us for some arrogance or folly.

Rumours circulated in whispers that the Mao Yang-jin, who had once been trained in Moscow, was really a Slavic agent sent to destroy us. Others thought him to be an American agent – an absurdity I chose not to comment on, least it become known that I had spent time in that country. Either the Slavs or the Americans would have chosen a better, more stable agent to do this work. There could be no doubt that the Lesser Mao was born of China’s bosom, and that he was curse inflicted upon us by ourselves.

As I read the reports from the provinces where law and order was breaking down, I could see that even the Security Forces were beginning to question their dedication to the regime. It was only natural. The flow of money from the special crops had all but stopped. The special crop could not feed the masses, who were becoming increasingly hungry. You may threaten a man all you want, but when he begins to eat grass and sees his children dying, he has not much to loose in act of rebellion. Especially not when a PLA unit turned bandits encourages them. Risings were more frequent, lasted longer, and more disturbingly, the Security Forces started to join them.

Even along the Vietnamese front, as the western year of 1981 began, the elite of the fighting Security forces, who had held off the American armed Vietnamese outside of Nanning, began to experience defections and mutinies.

The end was coming. Now to bring it in once and for all.
 
The New Democracy: The candidate with fewer votes wins

October 20, 1980

Yuri Andropov releases the following statement to his Politburo colleagues about the situation in Poland. Remarkably it leaks into the western press. Donald Rumsfeld denounces it as a forgery and an attempt by the Soviets to deceive the world about their real intentions.

"We can't risk such a step. We do not intend to introduce troops into Poland. That is the proper position, and we must adhere
as long as Polish authorities can stabilizie the situation. I don't know how things will turn out in Poland, but even if
Poland falls under the control of counter-revolutionaries, that's the way it may have to be. If the capitalist countries
pounce on the Soviet Union, and you know they have already reached agreement on a variety of economic and political
sanctions, that will be very burdensome for us. We must be concerned above all with our own country and about the
strengthening of the Soviet Union. That is our main line.... As concerns the lines of communication between the Soviet Union
and the GDR that run through Poland, we of course must do something to ensure that they are safeguarded and these, more than
whichever politcal faction runs the Polish state at a particular moment, must remain our primary concern."


Sandy Koufax: “So what we had last night was a couple of political pros re-hashing their television ads and trying to one-up another. What’s wrong with our politics? That so called debate shows it all. It wasn’t a debate, it was the Hugh and Don Show, and out of this we’re supposed to choose one of these guys to run the country for the next four years? Is this anyway to run the greatest nation on Earth? You wouldn’t even run a baseball team like this. Bunch of bums, with all do apologies to the bums.”

Ron Dellums: “For ninety minutes last night we watched the two leading candidates for President of the United States say – well, nothing. Together in a room, with all of America watching, you would think something would slip from one of their two mouths about the relevant issues of the day. Jobs? The Economy? Poverty? Equality? Justice? An end to supporting foreign adventures and returning our money to our shores to help our people? Did we hear about any of this?

“No. Instead what we got was a steady stream of pabulum: tasteless, colorless gruel designed to go easily over our pallet, to fill us up, but not to provide any flavor of truth or direction. Hugh Carey and Donald Rumsfeld spent most of their time on the national stage attacking each other over various inconsequential and often times fabricated differences. Like Coke and Pepsi, we got an ad for syrup and sugar in either the red can or the blue one. We heard nothing of what the people really need to know in order to choose a president.

“Hugh Carey loves to use the expression “we the people”, no doubt in an effort to fool at least some of you into thinking that he supports our goals and our ideals. But if he does, where’s the proof? Where’s the flavor of justice and of understanding in the Pepsi? I’ve read his speeches, listened to his utterances, and I can’t taste it.

“If you want milk, the milk of freedom, of belief – the strong influx of sound nutrition which will make you feel healthy and vital again, in spirit and mind as well as body, you won’t find it in a Pepsi or a Coke can. You certainly didn’t see it on that stage last night. We are WE THE PEOPLE and we are for the people. For Justice, for equality, for balance and for a government that sustains our people and not one that exploits them and tries to buy-off their vote every four years with a cheap gimmick.

“Some will tell you I’m a radical, but what I’m talking about is as old as our Union and as basic as our democracy. We The People are here to form a more perfect Union, to enhance our Liberty and secure the blessings of our democracy for ourselves and our posterity. We the People are here to provide for the Common Welfare. We the People are here to ensure that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this Earth. Won’t you join us in the very idea that is America, idea of liberty that gave birth to our Republic, and has made us an inspiration for the world. An America of the people and for the people. That’s what I’m running for; that’s what We The People is all about.”
-------------------------------------------

October 20 – 28, 1980

Operation Pinpoint: U.S, U.K. and allied troops on Cyprus mount an operation to clear Palestinian fighters out of base camps which they have been using in Turkish Northern Cyprus. UN forces also round-up a number of Islamist figures on the island who have been supporting the PJO.

October 21, 1980

World Series: The Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees 4–2 in game 6.

WTP Ad:
Backdrop: Two giants (one wearing a shirt that says “Republican” and the other with a shirt that says “Democrat”) wrestle for what appear to be gold bars on a table. While they fight, they step on and knock debris on a village of much smaller people beneath their feet, which they seem unaware of. (A Gulliver and Lilliputians visual effect).

Narration: “Republicans and Democrats fight for power. They barely look at what effect they have on ordinary people.”

A heroic figure with a shirt saying “We The People” steps forward and trips both giants, causing them to fall away from the victimized villagers. He then hands the smaller villagers the gold the other two were fighting over.

Narration: “We The People – For the People.”
--------------------------------------------

ABC News
Peter Jennings: “You’ve said repeatedly that Israel would not allow Syria to re-arm. Many in Washington have taken this as a negotiating position, and that if Israel is consulted in the process, you would offer a level at which Israel could accept a Syrian national army. What would be the requirements, Mr. Prime Minister, on your part, for such a bargain.

Menachem Begin: “Our position is clear, and it is not subject to negotiation. We oppose any attempt to re-constitute a Syrian army of any kind. Against our own security interests, we have conceded that the U.N. forces could train and equip an armed national police force within Syria, but we can allow them no army. On this Israel will not budge.”

PJ: “But surely Syria has to have the means to defend itself?”

MB: “From whom? Jordan? Iraq? Turkey? These are the only possibilities. Will the United States allow any of these countries to take military action against Syria? We don’t believe so. Furthermore, Israel would regard any such move by any of these countries as a threat to Israel’s security, and we would act accordingly. A Syrian army could only be a weapon to be unleashed against Israel, if not by the current regime then by some future regime lulled into the belief that the west will protect it. We cannot run such a risk. A Syrian Army of any kind would be a dagger pointed at our heart. So, Israel opposes, and will continue to oppose, the re-creation of any Syrian Army. Our policy is to see a de-militarized Syria as a buffer against hostile nations, and as a measure to preserve the stability in Lebanon. You see, if Syria were to grow in military power again, sooner-or-later it would feel the need to meddle in Lebanese affairs. Many Syrians regard Lebanon as rightfully part of a greater Syria. This could re-start the deadly civil war there. So you see, Mr. Jennings, from our perspective the best Syria – the best guarantor of peace in our region – is a disarmed Syria.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter Jennings: “Secretary Brzezinski has been trying to revive the peace talks between Egypt and Israel and Jordan and Israel on the other. Sources in Amman and Cairo tells us, off the record, that the experience of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat – who was ousted from power shortly after making a peace overture to Israel was rebuffed by Prime Minister Begin – has made both King Hussein and President el-Gamasy wary of repeating the gesture. President al-Gamasy is also said to have opposed the Sadat initiative from the beginning, and led the effort to remove him once Sadat had extended his offer to go to Jerusalem. Certainly, the Likud government of Israel has made no gestures in return which might encourage them.

“Our sources in Jordan and Egypt go on to say that Sadat’s original proposal was high personal, and not widely shared, not even by King Hussein. The Jordanians tell us that a peace initiative was originally considered by Jordan and Egypt as a counterweight to growing Syrian influence. However the collapse of the Syrian regime, and the subsequent western occupation of Syria, removed that as a factor. The western installed Syrian regime today is far too weak to represent a strategic threat to either country or to Israel, even though Israel continues to act as if any effort to re-arm Syria is a direct mortal threat to Israel.

“Israeli officials remain open to peace gestures, though the present government is unwilling to initiate any. Like their Arab neighbours, the reduction of Syria to a shadow of its former power, and its relative dependence on the west as a result, has diminished strategic interest in establishing dialogue with either the Jordanians or the Egyptians – particularly as the current Egyptian regime has returned to the more hard-line attitudes of the Nasser era under President el-Gamasy. Israel feels more secure with its Sinai and South Lebanon buffers, and is currently pulling the strings politically in the rest of Lebanon. The Sinai has become even more important as Israel has discovered a major oil field and started to develop it, giving the Jewish state the one thing it has not enjoyed since its independence – a measure of energy security. As a result the Begin government has every incentive to hold on to these territories and not to risk having to concede anything at the bargaining table.

“Against this backdrop Secretary Brzezinski’s efforts have met with a cold shoulder throughout the region. This is Peter Jennings for ABC News, reporting from Jerusalem.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

October 22, 1980

The Thomson Corporation says that The Times and all associated supplements will close in March 1981 if no buyer can be found.

The Iranian government declares Martial Law in an effort to quell protests by students who are backed by religious fundamentalist groups. The students are calling for stricter Islamic teaching in the Universities along with an observance of Sharia law. They also wanted the secular heads of the Universities replaced with clerics. The government of Prime Minister Azhari regards this as a political challenge to the government by the clerical leadership and cracks down by arresting a number of student leaders and their prominent clerical supporters. Among those arrested are the Imam Ali Khamenei and Imam Ahmad Khomeini (son of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini).

Carey Ad:
Rumsfeld (news conference): “Our cuts will trim the fat from the system. Regular working Illinois families will be better off.”

Illinois worker: “Before Don Rumsfeld became Governor I had a job and a home. Now, because of his thoughtless slash and burn austerity I’ve lost my job, my home and I have to live with my sister, while my kids live somewhere else. That’s what Don Rumsfeld did to my family.”

Rumsfeld (news conference): “Pension adjustments are for the short term, but long term they will improve the quality of life for all Illinois residents.”

Another Illinois worker: “When Don Rumsfeld got in I had three years to go before I was eligible for my pension. Rumsfeld extended my term for eligibility then laid me off, with no pension and no help. Now, after his ‘reforms’ I sweep floors, and no pension, and I’m getting too old for this.”

Rumsfeld (news conference): “You cut school programs and suddenly its Henny-penny, the sky is falling. But the reality is we need to bring cost effectiveness to our schools.”

Illinois mother: “Before Governor Rumsfeld cut special education funds my son used to go to school and laugh. Now he sits at the back of the classroom and states into nothing. That’s what Rumsfeld did for my son.”

Narration: “Don Rumsfeld says he wants to do for America what he’s done to Illinois.”

Rumsfeld (to reporter): “I don’t mind firing a few people if that’s what it takes.”

Narration:”Hugh Carey says stop him now before it’s your child that suffers, or your job or your pension that is chopped by Rumsfeld’s thoughtless cuts. Vote for Hugh Carey and the Democrats for decent jobs in a decent America.”
------------------------------------------------------

October 23, 1980

Quebec Provincial Election (110 seats; 56 needed to form a government)
Parti Quebecois – 67 – 8 = 59
Liberal Party – 16 + 20 = 36
Union Nationale – 17 – 9 = 8
Independent – 6 – 2 = 4
Creditiste – 2 – 2 = 0
Popular – 1 + 1 = 2
Communist – 1 = 1

Premier before election: Rene Levesque (PQ)
Premier after election: Rene Levesque (PQ)

October 24, 1980

MG car production ends after 56 years with the closure of the Abingdon plant in Oxfordshire, where 1,155,032 MG's have been built in just over half a century.

John Hinckley is arrested at a Sandy Koufax event in California while carrying a pistol. This time he is committed for a 90-day assessment and review before being released in late January 1981.

October 25, 1980

Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.

October 26, 1980

Carey Ad:
Narration: “Who is Don Rumsfeld?”

Rumsfeld: “I’m an innovator.”

Narration: “Don Rumsfeld has through his career been a political appointee and an investment banker. In Congress and as Governor of Illinois he has consistently worked to promote the interests of big business and the wealthy, just as he did as an appointee in the Nixon and Agnew Administrations. His innovations have helped the wealthy get richer, often at the expense of working Americans.“

Rumsfeld: “I see nothing wrong with helping a big business.”

Narration: “Don Rumsfeld took millions away from Illinois state workers and outsourced their jobs at low pay with no benefits. And who benefited from that?”

Rumsfeld: “Illinois taxpayers.”

Narration: “No Governor, the private corporations who racked millions from the state trough in contracts. So who is Don Rumsfeld?”

Rumsfeld: “A corporation man.”

Narration: “Exactly.”

Rumsfeld: “The hard reality is that you’re not going to get anywhere throwing money at the poor. They’re just lazy bums.”

Narration: “That’s the corporate view. On November 4th vote for Hugh Carey and the Democrats for decent jobs in a decent America.”
--------------------------------------

October 28, 1981

Egyptian President el-Gamasy cracks down on the Ikhwan (The Muslim Brotherhood) which he accuses of plotting to stage a coup against the military regime. Evidence tends to support his claim.

October 29, 1980

Soviet forces move across the Sino-Soviet border into Ining and the surrounding area along the Soviet border with Sinkiang, ostensibly to quell unrest which the PRC regime has not been able to control. The Red Army troops are largely greeted as liberators by the local population. Within a few weeks the Soviets install their version of the People’s Republic of China government (formerly in exile in Moscow) in Ining and recognize it as the legitimate government of all of China.

Simultaneously Soviet forces begin probing for areas of weakness along the Soviet border with China in Manchuria, and along Mongolia’s border with China.

October 30, 1980

El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.

November 1980 – Spring 1981

The Quebec and Canadian governments continue to battle over the manner in which sovereignty discussions should proceed. At first Canada wants to keep the UN out of it and settle it as a domestic affair, while the PQ government calls of UN mediation. However, as more and more groups within Quebec begin to seek outside support for their own separation from an independent Quebec, the positions reverse. Ottawa begins to see a role for the UN in working parallel to minority claims within Quebec, while the Quebec government sees these as a direct threat. The Levesque government then changes course and insists that the UN has no role in the matter.

In the meantime the Lougheed government submits the case to the Supreme Court of Canada and to the House of Lords in the UK to provide legal opinions on the status of various parts of Quebec according to Confederation, the British North America Act of 1867 and pre-existing British treaty commitments and land grants. The Levesque government condemns this overly legal process as “foot dragging” by the federal government. The Progressive Conservative government in Ottawa, supported by most Provincial governments, views the legal process as a necessary “finding of facts, without which there can be no meaningful arbitration of competing claims.”

Questions also to be addressed:

1) Money: Would Quebec be able to use the Canadian dollar, which they are on record as saying they would, as it would provide a more stable (stronger) currency than if they create a new currency.

2) Pensions: What would happen to people who are entitled to Canadian pensions for having worked and lived in Canada all their lives; would they get a Canadian pension or would they have to have it converted into whatever currency Quebec creates, should it be required to create a new pension?

3) Native rights: Since Native Indians in Canada have procured rights as citizens of their own native reserve as well as Canadian citizenship, would they be allowed to still maintain their traditional relationship with Canada or would some other arrangement have to be made with the Quebec government, as a new entity (country)?

4)Travel: What would be requirements of people traveling in and out of Quebec? Would they need a passport or other documents to gain access?

5) Trade: Would current trade issues and rules apply or would there need to be new rules/laws in place allowing for the fact that Quebec is now not part of Canada?

6) Military and Foreign Affairs: Would Quebec develop its' own army, navy, etc. or would remain some connection with Canadian armed forces?

7) Treaties: Does Quebec automatically inherit all treaties which were signed with Canada? Washington indicates that it has treaties with the Canadian Federal Government and that those treaties do not apply to a sovereign Quebec, as the United States Constitution would require the U.S. Senate to re-ratify treaties with a newly sovereign Quebec. An extension of this is that Quebec sovereignty might not be automatically recognized by foreign nations. Quebec would have to deal with foreign nations on a one-to-one basis on the question. The same would revolve around an application for a sovereign Quebec to join the UN.

8) Dual Citizenship: What would be the status within Quebec of those of its residents who do not wish to give-up their Canadian citizenship? Quebec believes that dual citizenship should be automatic, but Ottawa has a more restrictive view. Here Ottawa has legal precedent with regard to the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and the Indian Independence Act of 1947 to provide precedents. Quebec rejects these two British statues as not applicable to the current context.

Virtually every issue which any new country is forced (decides) to establish when it becomes independent would be required of Quebec to address (deal with). Some have said that is why a new Quebec would need to continue what has been called sovereignty-association, with Canada, so that Quebec would be independent in some manner but still maintain ties (legal and cultural for example) with Canada in other areas. This is an issue that would have to be decided by both Canada and Quebec should Quebec decide to form some form of independence or separation from Canada.

9) Who speaks for Canada on this issue: This has two broad questions: One; can the Federal Government be the sole negotiating party or does it require the input of the other nine provincial governments who are partners in Confederation? (Unlike the American Union, the Canadian Confederation is at heart a legal partnership between nominally legally sovereign entities). Two: Is a referendum or some other plebiscite required in English Canada in order to agree to the terms of a sovereignty deal?

10) What are the jurisdictional boundaries of the courts involved? (A legally complicated question).

11) What is the overall status of the St. Lawrence Seaway which is an international project running through Quebec territory (but not exclusive to it).

King George VII: “If the people of Quebec want to have their own nation then that’s probably a jolly good idea. After all, what distinguishes them from Ireland or India, both of which are now recognized as independent nations?”

Prime Minister Peter Lougheed: “With all due respect, His Majesty’s comments are not only inappropriate, but highly divisive in an already tense atmosphere.” (privately to the British High Commissioner): “Put a muzzle on him.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

November 1, 1980

Duration of the CESDAP (The Colombo Plan Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific) plan extended indefinitely.

November 2, 1980

Israeli jets bomb the Iraqi nuclear power reactors near Al Tammuz in Iraq (known as the Tammuz Complex) in Operation Opera. Iraq had approached the French for help in building a reactor, but the Socialist government of Francois Mitterrand had turned them down. Subsequently a consortium of Swiss and West German companies became involved. The project accelerated after Helmut Kohl replaced Helmut Schmidt as West German Chancellor in 1976, and pursued an export-oriented liberal economic policy. The project thus received a measure of West German government sanction (although the West Germans operated through Swiss and Austrian fronts to maintain their distance). The revelation of West German involvement in the project, despite international sanctions and repeated complaints by successive Israeli governments, creates a scandal in the West German government. What makes this more problematic is that West German industry and officials appear to have been violating UN sanctions against trade with Iraq that the West German government had supported in the UN.

The Israeli jets destroy the reactor complex. But the timing of the raid raises questions due to coming elections in both Israel and the United States.

November 3, 1980

U.S. National poll of Presidential candidates:
Hugh Carey (D) – 41%
Donald Rumsfeld (R) – 38%
Ron Dellums (WTP) – 8%
Ronald Galtieri (Lib) – 6%
Sandy Koufax – 2%
Others/undecided – 5%
Margin of error: +/-3%

November 4, 1980

United States Congressional Elections:

US. Senate Membership - 97th Congress - Jan 3, 1981 - Jan 2, 1983

Democratic: 48
Republican: 48
Libertarian: 2
Christian Values: 1
Independent: 1

President of the Senate: William Scranton (R) (Jan 3 - 19, 1981)
* The next Vice President of the United States* (from Jan. 20, 1981)

President pro-tempore: Sen. Harry Byrd (I(D)-VA)*
Majority Leader: Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Minority Leader: Sen. William Brock III (R-TN)

*Post awarded to Sen. Byrd (by pluarlity vote) to encourage him to caucus with the Democrats and thus provide the majority.

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

Alaska
2. Donald Hobbs (D)
3. Clark Gruening (D) Democratic hold

Arizona
1. John. B. Conlan (R)
3. Fred R. Easer (Lib) Libertarian Pick-up

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

California
1. G. Edmund (“Jerry”) Brown (D)
3. Paul Gann (R) Republican pick-up

Colorado
2. Floyd K. Haskell (D)
3. Mary E. Buchanan (R) Republican Pick-up

Connecticut
1. Gloria Schaffer (D)
3. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R) Republican pick-up

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

Florida
1. John Grady (R)
3. Bill Gunter (D) Democratic hold

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

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

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

Illinois
2. Alex Seith (D)
3. David O'Neill (R) Republican pick-up

Indiana
1. Richard Lugar (R)
3. Roger Marsh (R) Republican hold

Iowa
2. Ronald D. Fulton (D)
3. Charles Grassley (R) Republican pick-up

Kansas
3. William R. Roy (D) Democratic hold
2. Daniel Glickman (D)

Kentucky
2. John B. Breckinridge (D)
3. Mary L. Foust (R) Republican pick-up

Louisiana
3. Russell B. Long (D) Democratic hold
2. Gary Howard (Christian Values)

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

Maryland
3. Charles Mathias, Jr. (R) Republican hold
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 Bostich (R)

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

Missouri
1. John Danforth (R)
3. Gene McNary (R) Republican pick-up

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

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

Nevada
1. Paul Laxalt (R)
3. David Towell (R) Republican pick-up

New Hampshire
2. Gordon Humphrey (R)
3. Warren Rudman (R) Republican pick-up

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

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

New York
1. James Buckley (R)
3. Elizabeth Holtzman (D) Democratic pick-up

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

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

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

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

Oregon
2. Vernon Cook (D)
3. Ted Kulgonoski (D) Democratic pick-up

Pennsylvania
1. William D. Greene III (D)
3. Peter Flaherty (D) Democratic pick-up

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

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

South Dakota
2. Larry Pressler (R)
3. George McGovern (D) Democratic pick-up

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

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

Utah
1. Orrin Hatch (R)
3. Dan Berman (D) Democratic pick-up

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

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

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

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

Wisconsin
1. William Proxmire (D)
3. Lee S. Dreyfus (R) Republican pick-up

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

United States House of Representatives Elections

Republicans: 225 -12 = 213
Democrats: 201 + 3 = 204
Christian Values Movement =1 + 5 = 6
We The People = 0 +5 = 5
Libertarians: 4 +-0= 4
SWP: 2 - 1 = 1
AAFP: 2 - 1 = 1
Independent = 1

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

* - Assignments based on plurality and not Majority in the House of Representatives.
-----------------------------------------

United States presidential election (projected):

Rumsfeld-Edwards [R] -- 299 EV
Carey-Askew (D) --- 228 EV
Dellums-Nader [WTP] – 11 EV

1980 Popular Vote
Carey-Askew (D) 35,755,877 40.8%
Rumsfeld-Edwards (R) 34,495,832 39.4%
Dellums-Nader (WTP) 7,084,115 8.1%
Galtieri-Koch (Lib) 4,697,346 5.4%
CVM [1] 2,642,858 3.0%
Koufax - Various 1,462,848 1.7%
Other 1,403,254 1.6%
Total 87,542,129

Popular Margin: 1,260,046 to Carey-Askew
1.4%

[1] = The Christian Values Movement ran a series of regional candidates.

Votes cast: 87,542,129
Eligible: 164,597,000
Turnout: 53.2%

Donald H. Rumsfeld projected winner of Presidential election.
W. Jackson “Jack” Edwards projected winner of the Vice Presidential election.

Hugh Carey (D): “To those of you my friends who may find this a bitter pill to swallow, I would remind you that it is the very Constitution which proscribes this process which has kept our nation free for nearly two hundred years. We may look with a heavy heart on the fact that the Electors and not the people will make a final choice not in agreement with the ballots cast, but we must not forget that the Electors in all the States were placed into a position to make their choices only by the voters and no one else. The end is Constitutional and therefore just, and I ask you to join me in congratulating Governor Rumsfeld and Congressman Edwards on their victory, and in wishing them both good luck and God’s guidance for the difficult and challenging offices that they shall soon enter.”

Donald Rumsfeld (R): “I have just spoken with Governor Carey, who conceded the election too me. He wished me well, and I wished him the same as I’m sure we will be working together in the future. I applaud Governor Carey for pointing out in his statement the Constitutionality of an Electoral College win, which has been the standard for electing every President since the founding of our republic. Let us not forget that one our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, was not on the ballot in over one third of our country, and yet he became President by carrying a majority in the Electoral College. This is our electoral system, designed by the wise minds who laid out a blueprint for the governing of this diverse and freedom loving nation which has endured for nearly two hundred years, through all of our national crisis, from a British invasion through Civil War to the World Wars. No matter the numbers of actual votes, I am, like Lincoln, the future chief executive for all our people across this land. Let us look on today as a re-affirmation that our system of free and Constitutional government works and serves the people of this great land.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------

ABC News Coverage:
Frank Reynolds: If we look at the Electoral Map, we certainly have an unexpected result. In fact, with the exception of one or two states, it looks like we’ve got the opposite result from what we might have expected, Al.

Al Gore: Yes Frank, tonight’s results are throwing the conventional wisdom out the window. Let’s take a look at two state results and we can see what’s been at work here. First New York, which we would expect to have gone Democratic, especially since the Democratic candidate is the Governor of that state and fairly popular there, but let’s look at the result.

Rumsfeld-Edwards (R): 2,718,547
Carey-Askew (D): 2,619,237
Dellums-Nader(WTP): 553,085
Koufax-McDavis (I): 280,294
Galtieri-Koch (Lib): 98,522
Christian Values Movement: 912
Minor parties: 111,955

AG: The single largest block of third party votes has gone to Ron Dellums and Ralph Nader, and that seems to be a concentration of urban voters in New York City, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. In effect the We The People banner seems to have acted as an anchor, pulling the Democratic vote down and allowing the Republicans to get just enough to win the states forty-one Electoral Votes. Sandy Koufax’s independent campaign, which titled to the left, added to that weight, especially in New York where he seems to have scored very well: it was Koufax’s best showing in the thirty-odd states where he qualified for the ballot. Something very similar, with respect to We The People’s mobilization in urban areas, happened in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, California and Illinois, and that worked against the Democratic ticket.

Frank Reynolds: And the opposite seems true in the South.

AG: Right, Frank. Let’s look at the numbers for Mississippi, a state you wouldn’t ordinarily associate with a liberal New York Governor:

Carey-Askew (D): 372,485
Rumsfeld-Edwards (R): 286,708
Christian Values Movement: 206,311
Galtieri-Koch (Lib): 12,036
Dellums-Nader (WTP): 4,866
Minor Parties: 10,214

AG: As you can see, the fragmentation here worked in the Democratic ticket’s favour. Much of the third party vote was on the right, which worked against the Republicans, while there was little on the left. Sandy Koufax didn’t even qualify for the Mississippi ballot, while We The People was a minor presence. The Christian Values Movement, which ran strictly local candidates on a state by state basis – in this case a Mississippi State Senator and a Christian activist from Texas – made a significant dent.

FR: Out west the Libertarians seem to have done the same to the Republicans as well.

AG: Yes, let’s look at Arizona for a second:

Carey-Askew (D): 387,951
Galtieri-Koch (Lib): 210,277
Rumsfeld-Edwards (R): 208,069
Christian Values: 34,012
Koufax-Garcia: 21,063
Minor Parties: 20,462

AG: The Libertarians did very well, displacing the Republicans to place second. Koufax had only negligible impact, while We The People, although they had a Senatorial candidate running as an independent candidate, were barred from the presidential ballot. The Libertarian surge is most notable in Arizona, over above the second place showing in the Presidential ballot, because the Libertarian Senate candidate, Fred Easer, has defeated the incumbent Barry Goldwater in the Senate election:

Arizona (Senate)
Fred R. Easer (Lib) -- 28.2% Libertarian Pick-up
Barry Goldwater (R) (inc.) - 28%
Bill Schultz (D) --- 27%
Lorenzo Torres (I (WTP)) -- 10%
Christian Values -- 5%
Josefina Otero (SWP) -- 1.8%

FR: A Libertarian defeated Senator Goldwater? I thought Barry Goldwater was practically one of them.

AG: But he was still a Republican, and the Libertarians were making a statement against both major parties. Also, Easer made a point of the fact that Barry Goldwater had been in Washington for three decades, and it was time for fresh blood. The two appeals seemed to have resonated with at least twenty-eight percent of Arizona voters, enough for Eraser to win – and take a margin only four percent above the showing of the Libertarian Presidential ticket.

Of course, Frank, there was a parallel to this in 1978. You’ll remember in that year’s Senate race the Christian Values candidates unseated Strom Thurmond, arguing that he too had lost touch with South Carolina voters after too many years in Washington. It seems a conservative or Libertarian type record is just not enough for the true believers; they are after their pound of flesh no matter what.

FR: Or those who have given up on the traditional two parties.

AG: Yes, we picked-up a lot of that in the polling. Many voters feel the Democrats and Republicans have both let them down, and so they are looking elsewhere for answers. Ron Dellums, Christian Values and the Libertarians have all picked-up on that. This time around it worked to the Republican tickets benefit because they held their pluralities – not majorities but pluralities – in the states with the largest numbers of Electoral Votes. Every strategist in all of the parties will be looking at that, and re-thinking their electoral calculus for 1984.

FR: One thing I did notice Al is that South Carolina did go Republican; it’s a lonely island of red in a sea of blue.

AG: That happened only because Strom Thurmond fought a determined effort on the part of Governor Rumsfeld and Congressman Edwards to win his home state. I think that was his bit of pay-back for what the Christian activists did to him in 1978.

FR: Well, it’s been an election night to remember, that’s for sure.
-----------------------------------------------
CBS News Coverage:
Walter Cronkite: “So what happened to Sandy Koufax’s campaign? He only pulled in 1.7% - a million and a half votes. Everyone was expecting a bigger splash from him.”

Dan Rather: “Sandy Koufax had a strong start, but seemed to fizzle. A number of analysts believe that in the end if he hurt anybody, it might have been Governor Carey in New York and the We The People ticket more nationally. Koufax failed to step out clearly as a Presidential candidate – as opposed to a novelty candidate – because he did not find a serious running mate, and frankly he did not professionalize his campaign in terms of delivery and appeal. In the end it looked more like a lark than a real campaign. He probably should have gotten out, but for some reason known only to him he stayed on to the end.”
-------------------------------------------------------
NBC News Coverage
John Chancellor: “One surprise of the evening has been the showing of We The People. Unlike many third parties, their final standing is consistent with what the polls have been showing for the past several months.”

David Brinkley: “Ron Dellums has managed to inspire a loyal following. The question is whether this is just a protest vote, or if he can sustain this?”

JC: “Well, David, we know that they have elected five members to the House, and their likely leader, Shirley Chisholm, has a lot of experience in the ways of the House, as does Dellums himself.”

Expert Commentator: “Worth noting is that Dellums’ We The People has managed to consolidate what was now fragmented protest voting among a number of third parties on the left. By uniting them under one banner, Dellums and Chisholm may now make them into a more effective political force.”

DB: “All of the cranks under one banner will make the screech louder; but I have to wonder if this will finally wake-up the major party leadership about the problem they face. I think maybe it will unite them in a common goal over the next few years.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PBS Coverage (The MacNeil/Lehrer Report):
Robert McNeil: "One question which tonight's results seems to beg is why the Libertarians didn't do better nationally. Although there seemed to be a lot of excitement for Senator Galtieri's candidacy, all through the autumn he never went above five percent in the polls, and that, it now seems, is where his popular support ended up."

Jim Lehrer: "I think we can say that was a steady support, concentrated as it was mainly in the west and to some degree in New England. Overall, the Libertarians have had a good night: they've elected their second Senator in Arizona and a second Governor in New Hampshire. Through most of the west and in Vermont and New Hampshire we're seeing an increase in their representation in State Legislatures. Possibly, with the exception of Arizona's Senate vote, most of the focus of Libertarian support has been on winning local offices as opposed to national ones."

RM: "Which would be consistent with the Libertarian philosophy. Still, does that match with the We The People movement on the left, who have clearly done the best of any third party candidacy since George Wallace's 1968 Presidential run?"

JL: "Yet another irony, when you consider that the same Wallace is the incumbent President, even if he wasn't on the ballot this time. I don't think we can match We The People and the Libertarians directly as opposites, as both have a similar anti-establishment appeal. Apart from that, they're going for two different constituencies overall. I think its telling that We The People carried the District of Columbia, in effect repeating McGovern's success there eight years ago. The vote in Hawaii seems to have been influenced by an appeal to native Hawaiian voters, to whom Ron Dellums appealed when he campaigned there - the only Presidential candidate to do so in person. The support in the New York city area, and that's where their New Jersey Electoral Votes will come from, seems to be part of a base they are building among dissatisfied urban voters, many of whom are minorities and most of whom feel ignored by the Democratic Party machines which have long dominated these areas. These are voters who are unlikely to turn to the Republicans as an alternative, much less the Libertarians."

RM: "And the Libertarians are enjoying some of the same success out west and in New Hampshire and Vermont, areas where the Republicans have long held sway."

JL: "The voter profiles are different, Robert, but the appeal is the same: change comes only when you make the big two parties sweat."
---------------------------------------------------

November 5, 1980

Spiro Agnew (Agnew On Point):”The wisdom of our Founding Fathers as handed down in their Great Constitution has triumphed once more. Though the people went for the false promises of the next would-be General Secretary of the Democrat Party Soviet America, the wisdom of the system gives us as our next President a true lover of freedom and the first real President for this country after seven long years in the valley of the shadow of death. Let the Constitution be praised!”

November 6, 1980

Ron Dellums (WTP): “What we have is an Electoral not an elected President. That result should make crystal clear to everyone the flaw of our Presidential election system, and suggest what we need to do to fix it. If the people, and not some party appointees, made the choice, then Hugh Carey would be President-elect. In France, where they elect a powerful President by popular vote, this would not be an issue. What does it say for our democracy when the second choice of the people choice can, by Constitutional mechanics, be declared the winner, while their first choice goes home to pay-off his campaign debts? Is that a genuine democracy? On reflection, I think perhaps a parliament is not so bad after all.”

November 10, 1980

Israeli Knesset Elections (10th Knesset) (120 seats, 61 needed to form a government)
Alignment+ 21 + 28 = 49 (17.5% + 23.3% = 40.8%)
Likud 47 - 1 = 46* (39.2% - 0.9% = 38.3%)
Dash 20 - 20 = 0
NRP 16 - 4 = 12* (13.4% - 3.4% = 10.0%)
AY 4+-0 = 4* (3.3% unchanged)
Hadasah 5 - 1 = 4 (4% - 0.7% = 3.3%)
Others 7 - 2 = 5 (5.9% - 2.5% = 3.4%)

*Likud forms a coalition government with the National Religious Party (NRP) and Adugat Yisrael (AY) 46+12+4 = 62 seats

Prime Minister before election: Menachem Begin (Likud)
Prime Minister after election: Menachem Begin (Likud)

+= Rather than form his own party, Mosche Dayan elects to join with the
Alignment and become deputy leader under Shlomo Hillel, who becomes the Opposition Leader. Alignment's success in doubling its votes is attributed to dissatisfaction with Likud over the economy and the collapse of the Dash party which held 20 seats in the previous Knesset.

President: Simha Erlich (Likud) (1978 – 1983)

Prime Minister: Menachem Begin (Likud)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Culture: Yosef Burg(NRP)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Yizhak Shamir (Likud)
Minister of Defence: Ezer Weitzman (Likud)
Minister of Internal Affairs and the Police: Ariel Sharon (Likud)
Minister of Finance: Avraham Yosef Shapira (AY)
Minister of Energy and Infrastructure: David Levy (Likud)
Minister of Religious Affairs: Zevulum Hammer (NRP)
Minister of Settlement Affairs: Geulah Cohen (Likud)
Minister of Housing and Construction: Mosche Shamir (Likud)
Minister of Agriculture: Haim Drukman (NRP)
----------------------------------------------------------------

November 10 – 12, 1980

Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.

In the British Steel strike The Sun newspaper took a very anti-strike position, as did the Daily Mail. Over time the Daily Mirror and The Guardian became hostile as the strike dragged on, largely it seemed due to the intransigence of the ISTC leadership. The Morning Star was the only national daily newspaper that consistently supported the striking steel workers. In the autumn, the ISTC strikers began establishing protest pickets around the major offending dailies offices, resulting in clashes with newspaper staff and police.

Around 3,000 strikers were arrested due to violence or other incidents either around the picket lines or at other demonstrations. An immediate concern was that a number of strikers were initially held without bail, and under circumstances which resembled the internment of Republican and Loyalist paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland (specifically without access to family or a solicitor) and that during interrogations strikers were asked extensive questions about their political leanings. A further outcry erupted when it was discovered that some strikers had been let go when they provided proof that they had contributed money to their local Conservative Party constituency organization. This immediately sent-up alarm bells about the impartial nature (or lack thereof) of the police.

Home Secretary Cledwyn Hughes ordered the practice stopped and issued instructions that strikers were to be arraigned in the normal manner and released on bail or recognizance according to standard practice for minor civil offenses. Hughes credibility was undermined however when it was discovered that some police had ignored the Home Office order and continued the internment practice. This lead to calls for Hughes resignation as he seemed to have lost control of the police. Hughes retaliated by personally visiting a number of the offending areas and processing cases for hearing before a magistrate personally. Four Chief Constables were re-assigned after this matter.

A rumour persisted that the ISTC received money from the All Soviet Confederation of Labour, which of course was most likely KGB money laundered through the ASCL. It is unclear who in the ISTC leadership actually received this money; Bill Sirs denied the allegation outright and no evidence was ever provided that he received money from Soviet sources (he did receive money from the French and Italian trade union movements and acknowledged the same, citing that both countries were Democratic. In the same vein the ISTC received some money from the United Steel Workers in the United States [which caused Enoch Powell MP (UU-South Down) to Brand the strike a US plot to weaken Britain].) More than likely if the Soviets did inject money into the strike fund, it was laundered through more militant members without direct participation of the ISTC leadership.

MI5 in an internal report maintained for a long time that the Soviets used the ISTC strike as a recruiting ground for agents in Great Britain, something Bill Sirs disputed as well.

“Iron Maggie” Thatcher in the meantime received report of this alleged Soviet activity and used the rumour to further castigate the ISTC as a front for foreign subversion.

The National Front also made headway piggy-backing on increasing popular discontent with the British Steel Strike. While they had initial success getting support from those opposed to the strike and the government, they also rallied some discontent ISTC members who had turned on the union, blaming – as was their usual line – foreigners for having created the economic conditions that were forcing cuts in British jobs. The NF tried to latch on to Thatcher’s civic protest, although Mrs. Thatcher was careful to keep herself distant from the NF.

British Steel Negotiations:
Tony Crosland (Secretary of State for Industry): “The government accepts that the input of the ISTC membership is a factor that we should consider, of course, but I have to repeat the Prime Minister’s recent statement that while this government is always prepared to enter into good faith negotiations, we will not enter into any negotiations as long as a gun is held to our heads.”

Bill Sirs (ISTC): “So, there it is. Your way or no way, Mr. Crosland.”

Len Murray (TUC): “Now Bill, let’s be fair about this. The Minister didn’t say that, all he said was that the government can’t be seen to give way while the country is in turmoil. All they’re asking for is a moratorium on work stoppage and then the talks can proceed. You can call it a victory in getting the government to the table and they will have settled their point about who governs Britain.”

BS: “Who governs Britain? Wasn’t that old stuffy Teddy Heath’s call to arms, eh? My members are not convinced that this government is going to look after their interests, at all. You sound like a bunch of Tories with your “cut-cut-cut” principles and we’re not going to lay down and let you roll over us.”

TC: “Perhaps you’ve given thought to the possibility that you won’t have jobs when this is over, given that every day your members are out tearing-up the streets is one more day what’s left of the British Steel industry is going down the scupper.”

BS: “There, you see what I mean, Len? That sounds like it could have come out of bloody Billy Whitelaw’s mouth. We didn’t support Labour just to see them become cheap knock-off Tories and sell us down the river.”

LM: “This has gotten too far, Bill. The Minister is right about the fact that every day this strike goes on you are harming – not helping – the British Steel situation, and that ultimately will cost your member’s jobs.”

BS: “I’m not an idiot, I realize that. But, it is my contention that unless this government comes to the table with a bottom line – a bottom line of saving at least fifty percent of the membership’s jobs, there can be no deal. Mr. Crosland, that’s one in two of my members I’m willing to throw under the bus to make it happen. The least you can do is share a little on the pain and meet us half way.”

TC: “I’m impressed with your show of leadership, Mr. Sirs. But you must understand that the government cannot commit to any quotas or pre-conditions on the overall size of the work force. If British Steel is to survive, then we must rationalize the workforce with the demand. We simply cannot promise to keep a fixed number of workers forever on the payroll as an alternative to the dole. We’re willing to discuss formulas and ...”

BS: “Formulas are for accountants and cutters, Mr. Secretary of State. There the means the bookmaker fixes the take. I’ll no give anything unless I have a firm commitment at fifty percent, one-in-two. Unless you can give me that, I’ll not see you making an honest effort here.”

To The Press (after talks):
Anthony Crosland: “This government has gone a long way toward setting the middle ground in these talks; we have always been open to negotiations with the ISTC on the crucial matters of employment and the welfare of their members. But we cannot, and will not, accept pre-conditions or quotas which are not based on some sort of economic sense. The leadership of the ISTC knows this, and they are being intransigent simply as a matter of form to their members without confronting the true issues here.”

Bill Sirs: “Intransigent? Heh! This government is refusing to meet us anywhere – their middle ground is the goal at our end of the pitch. A government is supposed to protect its citizens – all its citizens – and not throw them to the economic wolves like some City investment bankers throwing around bonds and shares. Until this government realizes its duty, and is prepared to give assurances to the hard working men of the ISTC, there can be no bargain.”

Margaret Thatcher: “Honest working men? Indeed! The true honest working men and women of this great country, the small business person, the shop keeper, the farmer who work for their days’ bread, they are disgusted by this thuggery. This is no more than an attempt by a Socialist front group to rob the British taxpayer in the same manner as the highwaymen who once roamed this land’s byways and preyed on innocent travellers. Well, the innocent hard working people of Britain have had enough. We once employed thief catchers to deal with such ruffians, and I call on decent, hard working people to come out and join me and become modern thief catchers against these bandits. Together we’ll stop this attempt by a few malcontents to hijack the British economy because they’re too lazy to work.”

King George VII: "While trying to find greater economies is a valid argument, those with responsibility for policy have to take care that economies, which are really formulas on a balance sheet, don't come at the expense of flesh-and-blood people's well being. We need to remember that people are far more than assets and liabilities in an accountant's ledger."

Denis Healey (Prime Minister): "I think those of us in public life should take care to remember the Constitutional boundaries of our offices. Policy is best left to those who are elected to formulate it, advised by those who know in-depth the subject being addressed."

Reporter: "So, you're saying the King overstepped the mark in his comment about the strike?"

DH: "Did he? I haven't heard him speaking about a strike, never crossed his mouth did it? In fact I don't think we've heard anything of current relevance at all in that coment."
-----------------------------------------------------------------

November 11, 1980

Phone Conversation:
President-elect Donald Rumsfeld: "Mr. President, thank-you for your call."

Spiro T. Agnew: "Thank-you, Don -- Mr. President-elect. You're one of the few who still calls me that."

DR: "Well, I still look on you that way. I recall fondly our time of service together."

SA: "Thank-you. I wanted to congratulate you on your victory."

DR: "I appreciate that. We have a lot to do to get this country back on track."

SA: "Yes, there's a lot to do. I wanted you to know that I'm available to help in any way you feel you can use me."

DR: "Thank-you for the offer, Mr. President. I'll keep that in mind, although I don't have anything for you right now."

SA: "Perhaps once you take office. You know I used to go out there and really hit them hard for Dick Nixon. I always had his back."

DR: "You did, I remember. If anything comes-up I'll let you know."

SA: "Thank-you Mr. President-elect - Don. I'm here for you."

DR: "I appreciate that. Take care of yourself."

The President-elect hangs-up the phone.

DR (to his assistant): "I never want to hear from him again. Do not ever put his calls through again."
----------------------------------

November 15, 1980

The Catalan nationalist Jordi Pujol i Soley is elected the first President of the Federal Republic of Spain without opposition. Soley was chosen to cement the idea that the regions are as much a part of the fabric of the New Spain as the center, and so a non-Castilian was chosen to represent the new Federal character of the Spanish Republic. Term: December 1, 1980 – December 1, 1986. (As with West Germany and Italy the Presidency is a largely symbolic office. Presidents are limited to one term.)

November 20, 1980

A Texaco oil rig breaks through to a mine under Lake Peigneur.

Hissène Habré and Hassan Djamous are killed by PJO suicide bombers believed to be working in the employ of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi.

A Turkish Special Forces unit is caught by SAS troops patrolling Cyprus. The TSF was arming and instructing Turkish Cypriot guerrillas who had been attacking Greek Cypriot forces and installations. The episode causes a major diplomatic incident between Britain and Turkey, and between Turkey and the UN.

November 21, 1980

A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip kills 85 people.

The new Spanish government begins talks with the provisional Basque government on the thorny issues of status and boundaries. This will be a long and complicated process.


November 21 - December 10, 1980
Stanislaw Kania, Wojciech Jaruzelski, Florian Siwicki and Michal Janiszewski are tried for treason in Warsaw. They are found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Trials of their proteges and supporters follow.

November 23, 1980

Italy Earthquake of 1980: a magnitude 7 earthquake in southern Italy kills approximately 4,800 people and leaves 300,000 homeless.

Ahmed Zaki Yamaani, the former Saudi Oil Minister, and two of his bodyguards are shot and wounded in New York by two gunmen who are later killed in a shoot-out with Yamaani’s bodyguards the NYPD. The gunmen are believed to be agents of the PJO, which has allied with resistance forces in Saudi Arabia fighting both the Iraqis and the return of the old regime. The incident becomes a major public scandal because three civilians are wounded and one killed in the exchange of gunfire.

November 27, 1980

Terrence Boston, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, told the House of Commons that there was still no consensus amongst the parties in Northern Ireland and little prospect for a devolved government in the region.

November 27 – December 10, 1980

13th expedition to Salyut 6. Tested three seat version of Soyuz T. First Soyuz since 1971 to carry three cosmonauts. It constituted a Salyut 6 refurbishment mission.

November 29, 1980

Governor Rarick (AI) of Louisiana draws fire when he suggests that all sex criminals be castrated as part of their punishment. To underline his meaning, he includes the crimes of sodomy, attempted sodomy and conspiracy to commit sodomy into his definition of a “sex crime.” In the same set of remarks he downplays marital rape, suggesting that it isn’t even a crime but a “domestic disagreement.” These remarks lead to further picketing of the Louisiana governor’s mansion by civil rights groups, women’s groups and homosexual advocacy groups.

November 30, 1980

To: The President-elect
FR: Richard Cheney

RE: 1984 re-election (Confidential)

The results of the 1980 election clearly show what the fragmenting of parties has done, and what the effect will be on the Electoral College. We won because We The People drained the Democrats of a plurality in the North East and California, while they gained at our expense in the South. Fortunately we gained the bigger Electoral Vote prizes, which is why we are going to the White House in January.

We need to use the next four years to address the small party issue. If Christian Values collapses all the better for us (not likely). If Dellums group collapses before 1984 (far more likely) then that will serve the Democrats next time around. If the current model holds, and WTP collapses while Christian Values increases its hold, then they could carry the Northeast, California and the South and that would be the ball game. There’s also the thorny issue of the Libertarians to consider. They drain both parties, but in some places their success has come at Republican expense (most notably the West).

Currently, analyzing the results of this past election, you have no base, but have had the luck of gaining pluralities of less than 50% in places that counted. We cannot count on that repeating itself. We need to look at revitalizing the Southern Strategy from 1968 and 1972 as a means of building a base for re-election.

Comments.

DC
----------------------------------

December 2, 1980

American missionary Jean Donovan and three Roman Catholic nuns are murdered by a military death squad in El Salvador while volunteering to do charity work during the country's civil war.

Iraqi forces supervise the annual Hajj under very strict security.

------------------------------------
December 2, 1980


To: Dick Cheney
FR: DR

RE: 1984 re-election (Confidential)

We’ll probably have to use the power of the law to crush the Libertarians. They’re a pain-in-the-ass anyway. I suggest you talk to Bill Casey and Grover about infiltrating provocateurs into their ranks.

I disagree on the other idea. Nixon’s Southern Strategy failed because McKeithen and Wallace confused it: neither Nixon nor Reagan was a match for a populist familiar to the culture and political style of that part of the country. Only a liberal as a Democratic candidate could have broken the spell – but McKeithen beat McGovern and Wallace beat Bayh, so it didn’t happen. Carey was ideal to the old Nixon idea, but he came too late after the Christ nuts got started.

New Southern and Radical Strategy, Dick. We have to encourage the Christ nuts and Dellums people to go after the Democrats and tear their party apart. Many of the Christ nuts are traditional Jim Crow Democrats who were well behind McKeithen and Wallace, and put their primary cards on Pat Robertson. The lefties are part of the northern Democratic Party, the orphans of LBJ and Hubert Humphrey if you will, with McGovern, Kennedy and McCarthy thrown in. With a little encouragement it seems natural for them to battle for control of the Democratic Party. Once they get going on that we have to bring all the middle-of-the-roaders, Nixon’s so-called silent majority, to us. That means playing down the right wing, and maybe even spinning them off in some way. Then we can make the GOP the majority party and the reasonable party.

First, we’ve got to play the conservative card to the hilt to co-opt and mollify the Reagan people. Once we’ve got them on-board we can tack back to the center. Meantime we have to get the Democrats to have at it.

Yours,

Don
----------------------

December 3, 1980

Oswald Mosley, former leader of the Union of British Fascists, died of natural causes on 3 December 1980 in his Orsay home, aged 84. He was cremated in Paris and his ashes were scattered on the pond at Orsay.

Meeting between The President-elect and the Director of the CIA Dr. Fred Charles Ikle
Donald Rumsfeld: “Thank-you for the update Dr. Ikle.”

FI: “Before we adjourn, Mr. President-elect, I just wanted to ask you if any decision has been made about my successor.”

DR: “No. We are still considering candidates.”

FI (Puts file on desk): “Of course, sir. Before I left today, I wanted to put another delicate matter to you, for your information.”

DR: “What is it?”

FI: “Well, to simplify what is a truly complex and involved situation, this file deals with several credible reports about Mr. William Casey meeting with a number of Middle Eastern figures before the election. It seems we have credible support for the contention that Mr. Casey was making promises on behalf of the campaign that – legally – were not his to make.”

(Pause)

DR: “You’ve kept this confidential?”

FI: “A premature release of so sensitive a matter would be in no one’s interests. You can rest assured, this is the only copy and it is in safe hands as long as it is in my safe.”

DR: “I see.” (Pause) “Has Mr. Cheney spoken to you about staying on in my Administration?”

FI: “He has, and I have mentioned that I’m open to re-appointment.”

DR: “I place high reliance in your discretion, Dr. Ikle. You’ll be hearing from me soon.”

FI: “Thank-you, Mr. President-elect. You can have every confidence in my support for you.”
----------------------------------------------------------

December 4, 1980
Soviet Premier Arvids Pelse and Politburo Member Grigori Romanov make a state visit to Poland as a show of support for the martial law regime and to undo some of the political damage from the leaked Andropov memo which has encouraged some to believe that the Soviet regime does not fully support the Polish regime. Pelse gives an address to the Polish parliament expressing Soviet solidarity with the “ordinary, peace-loving, socialist people of Poland who crave not disorder, but a return to order so that they may work toward a greater, more productive Socialist society.”

Ordinary Poles show their disapproval for the Soviet visit by not showing-up for any public events, or by standing in stony silence when they are forced to attend. The results are few enthusiastic crowds, and where there is any show of support for the Soviet officials it comes from Polish Communist Party members staging pro-Soviet demonstrations. At one point Pelse and Romanov’s motorcade is pelted with rotten eggs and Cuban pineapple slices, leading to the arrest of a dozen demonstrators.
---------------------------------------------------

December 8, 1980

A senior British government team comprised of Dennis Healey (PM), James Callaghan (Foreign Secretary), Roy Jenkins (Chancellor), and Terrence Boston went to Dublin for talks with Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), and senior members of the Irish government. It was agreed at the meeting to conduct joint studies on a wide range of subjects. [This represented the first visit to Dublin by a British Prime Minster since partition in 1921. The phrase 'totality of relationships' was first used at this meeting. However it was later revealed that the constitutional position of Northern Ireland had not been discussed at the meeting.]

December 10, 1980

Turkish forces crackdown on an Islamist protests.

December 11, 1980

The lame-duck House of Representatives defeats the CERCLA by a vote of 230 – 205. It is considered dead for the remainder of the 96th Congress.

December 14, 1980

Four people were murdered at Bob's Big Boy on La Cienga Blvd. in Los Angeles and four others were injured by two armed robbers.

December 15, 1980

The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian Language) is created.

Summary of Electoral Votes Cast for President of the United States
Donald Rumsfeld [R] 297
Hugh Carey (D) 227
Ronald C. Dellums (WTP) 11
Robert W. Welch Jr. (I) 1 -Faithless Mississippi Democratic Elector
Ronald W. Reagan (R) 1- Faithless California Republican Elector
Ronald Galtieri (Lib) 1 – Faithless Oklahoma Republican Elector
Total 538

Summary of Electoral Votes Cast for Vice President of the United States
W. Jackson Edwards [R] 297
Reubin Askew (D) 227
Ralph Nader (WTP) 11
Ronald W. Reagan (R) 1 -Faithless Mississippi Democratic Elector
Barry Goldwater Sr. (R) 1- Faithless California Republican Elector
David Koch (Lib) 1 – Faithless Oklahoma Republican Elector
Total 538
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The last episode of Agnew on Point is filmed before the program goes on Christmas hiatus.

December 16, 1980

Six members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) in the Maze prison start a hunger strike in support of their demand for segregation from Republican prisoners.

In Chad an attack started on December 6, spearheaded by Soviet T-54 and T-55 tanks and reportedly coordinated by advisors from the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic and the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal, brought the fall of the capital on December 16. The Libyan force, numbering between 7,000 and 9,000 men of regular units and the paramilitary Pan-African Islamic Legion (which included some units loaned to Qaddafi by the PJO for training), 60 tanks, and other armored vehicles, had been ferried across 1,100 kilometers of desert from Libya's southern border, partly by airlift and tank transporters and partly under their own power. The border itself was 1,000 to 1,100 kilometers from Libya's main bases on the Mediterranean coast. The Libyan intervention demonstrated an impressive logistical ability, and provided Gaddafi with his first military victory and a substantial political achievement.

December 18, 1980

Three members of the PIRA escaped from Brixton Prison, London. One of the escapees was Gerard Tuite who had been imprisoned for bombing offences in London in 1978.

December 19, 1980

Denis Healey held a meeting with Ian Paisley, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), to discuss the meeting with Charles Haughey, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), on 8 December 1980. Paisely later expressed his disgust that a British Prime Minister would go to Dublin other than at the head of an army to re-conquer Ireland. The government of the Irish Republic filed an official protest with the Foreign Office after the publication of Paisely’s comments.

Major General Özer Türkmen, head of the Turkish Cypriot Militia Force, overthrows the civilian government of the Turkish Cypriot zone of Northern Cyprus and installs a pro-Ankara military dictatorship.

December 20, 1980

Ali Nasir Muhammad, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Council of South Yemen is seriously injured when a suicide assassin, linked either to the PJO or the anti-Iraqi insurgents in Arabia (or possibly both groups) detonates a bomb in an effort to assassinate him. One of Nasir’s aides and two bodyguards are killed, as well as two bystanders (along with the bomber). Chairman Nasir is evacuated to the Soviet Union for medical treatment. Also injured is a Soviet military attaché. Nasir was targeted because of South Yemen’s support for Iraq.

December 30, 1980

A Loyalist paramilitary group called the Loyalist Prisoners Action Force (LPAF) shot dead William Burns (45) a prisoner officer in Belfast. [It is believed that the LPAF was a cover name used by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).]

pe1980(final).PNG
 
Last edited:
Rumsfeldia Rising

January 1, 1981

The Republic of Palau was proclaimed in the Palau Islands of Micronesia. Under an agreement signed with the United States in 1980, the new nation would continue to be administered as a United States trust territory, with the U.S. handling Palau's foreign and military affairs.

The United States minimum wage increased from $2.95 to $3.05 per hour.

Léopold Sédar Senghor, President of Senegal since the nation became independent in 1960, became the first African president to retire voluntarily, resigning in favor of his protégé, Vice-President Abdou Diouf.

January 2, 1981

The "Yorkshire Ripper", serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, was arrested by police in Sheffield, England after the largest manhunt in British history. Over a period of six years, Sutcliffe was believed to have murdered 13 women.

President Wallace formally nominates Vice President William Scranton to a position on the Federal bench.

The Hughes Network announces that Agnew On Point (which has been on hiatus since December 15) will be cancelled effective immediately. (Spiro Agnew will not be given a chance to make any on-air remarks about the cancellation).

January 3, 1981

The newly reconstituted Nicaraguan Sandinista Movement (FSLN) under Commandante Toro launches its first attack on a government National Guard Barracks in Bluefields.

Salvadoran labor leader José Rodolfo Viera, and two American representatives from the AFL-CIO, Michael P. Hammer and Mark David Pearlman, were assassinated at the Sheraton Hotel in San Salvador, by two members of the El Salvador National Guard. The gunmen, José Dimas Valle Acevedo and Santiago Gómez González, testified later that they had been ordered to carry out the murders after the victims had been recognized by businessman Hans Christ at the hotel's restaurant. Christ had been opposed to any form of labor organization in El Salvador which operated a sweat-shop economy.

President Wallace calls for a full investigation of the murders of the two U.S. citizens.

President-elect Rumsfeld states:”There’s a certain assumption, a preposterous arrogance really, that the labor rights we enjoy in America are somehow universal. The fact is they aren’t. While these murders are unfortunate, and I condemn them, I call on people to keep in mind that these two ventured into dangerous territory – risking their own lives – to spread a questionable message among people who may not have welcomed it.”

January 4, 1981

Archbishop Chrysostomos I becomes the President of the Greek Cypriot portion of island.

January 5, 1981

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first TV adaptation of the Douglas Adams book, debuted on BBC Two.

Peter Sutcliffe, a 35-year-old lorry driver from Bradford, is charged with being the notorious "Yorkshire Ripper" mass murderer who is believed to have murdered 13 women and attacked seven others across northern England since 1975.

Terrence Boston stepped down as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection. He was replaced in the Northern Ireland portfolio by William “Bill” Rodgers MP (Lab. – Stockton-on-Tees).

A group of Argentine “campers”, composed mainly of supporters of President Carlos Humberto Perette’s Radical Civic Union Party arrive on the Falklands and being what they call a “camp-in” on the “occupied Malvinas” drawing international press attention to the situation.

Marathur G. Ramachandran, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, leads joins with Kanu Sanyai’s followers to join a people’s protest of the government’s land reform measures. Ramachandran claims that the new government law liberalizing land sale rules is being exploited by loan sharks to steal poor people’s land and sell it to “bundlers” who make a business of bundling small parcels into larger parcels which they then sell to developers. Ramachandran also complains that the relaxation of currency regulations in regard to the banks and capital flow is increasing inflation in India.

January 6, 1981

The merger of Libya and Chad was announced in Tripoli by Libya's leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, and his guest, President Goukouni Oueddei of Chad, who had taken power in December with the help of 4,000 Libyan troops. At 1,175,112 square miles (3,043,530 km2), the proposed nation would have been the largest in Africa and 7th largest in the world. The prospect of Libya's annexation of its southern neighbor prompted the member nations of the Organisation of African Unity to intervene, with the assistance of France, in forcing the peaceful withdrawal of Libyan forces and an end to the merger plan.

The Brazilian ferry Novo Amapo sank in the Jari River after striking a sandbar. Although 211 survivors were rescued, at least 230 others drowned.

Donald Rumsfeld and Jack Williams were officially certified as the winners of the U.S. presidential election, 1980, with outgoing U.S. Vice President William Scranton and House Speaker Trent Lott announcing that the Rumsfeld-Edwards ticket had received 297 Electoral Votes.

The announcement was greeted with a demonstration on Capitol Hill demanding the abolition of the Electoral College.

British troops surround the “Argentine Campers” who display peace flags and set-up a “peace village” as a center to “reclaim the Malvinas, a historic part of Argentina, from the colonial occupiers and oppressors of Britain.” Ernesto Sanz, a law student and leader of the student faction of the Radical Civic Union emerges as a leader of the group, which also prominently displays photographs of Mohandas Gandhi to symbolize their peaceful intent.

On January 6, 1981, a joint communiqué was issued in Tripoli by Gaddafi and Goukouni announcing that Libya and Chad had decided "to work to achieve full unity between the two countries". The merger plan caused strong adverse reaction in Africa, and was immediately condemned by France and the United States. On January 11, despite some political opposition within his Socialist Party, President Mitterrand offered to strengthen French garrisons in friendly African states and on January 15 placed the French Mediterranean fleet on alert. Libya answered by threatening to impose an oil embargo, while France threatened to react if Libya attacked another bordering country. The accord was also opposed by all GUNT ministers present with Goukouni at Tripoli, with the exception of Acyl.

Most observers believe that the reasons behind Goukouni's accepting the accord may be found in a mix of threats, intense pressure and the financial help promised by Gaddafi. Also, just before his visit to the Libyan capital, Goukouni had sent two of his commanders to Libya for consultations; at Tripoli, Goukouni learned from Gaddafi that they had been assassinated by "Libyan dissidents", and that if he didn't want to risk losing Libyan favour and lose power, he should accept the merger plan.

The importance of the opposition they met caused Gaddafi and Goukouni to downplay the importance of the communiqué, speaking of a "union" of peoples, and not of states, and as a "first step" towards closer collaboration. But the damage had been done, and the joint communiqué badly weakened Goukouni's prestige as a nationalist and a statesman.

Increasing international pressure against Libyan presence in Chad were at first met by Goukouni's statement that the Libyans were present in Chad because requested by the government, and that international mediators should simply accept the decision of Chad's legitimate government. In a meeting held in May Goukouni had become more accommodating, declaring that while the Libyan forces withdrawal was not a priority, he would accept the decisions of the OAU. Goukouni could hardly at the time renounce Libyan military support, necessary for dealing with the FAN which, despite being demoralized by Habre’s assassination, was supported by Egypt and Sudan and funded through Egypt by the United States Central Intelligence Agency.

In the meantime, relations between Goukouni and Gaddafi started deteriorating. Libyan troops were stationed in various points of northern and central Chad, in numbers that had reached by January–February about 14,000 troops. The Libyan forces in the country created considerable annoyance in the GUNT, by supporting Acyl's faction in its disputes with the other militias, including the clashes held in late April with Goukouni's FAP. There were also attempts to Libyanize the local population, that made many conclude that "unification" for Libya meant Arabization and the imposition of Libyan political culture, in particular of The Green Book.

Goukouni and his ministers were also particularly alarmed by the introduction of Palestinian Jihad Organization troops into Chad via the Libyan forces. The PJO began to radicalize some tribal elements with Islamist teachings, turning them against the authorities and recruiting from among younger Chadians for their own ranks, particularly to send to Arabia to fight the Iraqis. In some areas the PJO established Islamist areas.

January 7, 1981

After investment analyst Joseph Granville sent an overnight telegram to his customers with two words— "Sell everything!"—the New York Stock Exchange had its biggest trading day up to that time, with 92,890,000 shares changing hands. His actions caused the Dow Jones to fall 100 points in one day.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Grammer secures a conviction against radical activist Lyndon Larouche for mail fraud, money laundering and perjury. Thanks to Grammer’s efforts Larouche will be sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison.

A suicide bomber walks into the lobby of the Soviet Embassy in Cairo, Egypt and detonates a bomb that kills two guards and one Embassy clerk and seven visitors. Scores more are injured, while the bomb causes some damage to the building. The bomber is later identified as a member of the Egyptian Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) who had been trained in explosives by the Egyptian Army and who had served in the Army during the Yom Kippur War of 1973. Afterward the bomber spent some time fighting with the PJO in Lebanon. A statement is later released in which a previously unknown group – The Egyptian Mujihadeen for Jihad in Arabia – claims responsibility, denouncing Soviet support for Iraq as the reason that their Embassy in Cairo was targeted.

January 8, 1981

Trans-en-Provence Case: In what has been described as "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time", retired contractor Renato Nicolai witnessed what he believed to be French military aircraft on a test flight. After police forwarded the report to GEPAN, an investigative unit of the France's space agency CNES, found traces of metal throughout the area where the UFO had been observed.

The British House of Commons:

Airey Neave MP (Cons-Opposition Leader):”What is this government prepared to do to enforce British sovereignty over the Falklands and to ensure that our citizens living there are protected from a foreign aggression?”

James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “Currently, we see no aggression, as the students and persons with them are acting in a peaceful matter. That they are squatting illegally on British soil is beyond doubt. However, we will not resort to violence which could only provoke the situation, when negotiations can resolve this in peaceful way.”

Enoch Powell MP (UU-South Down): “Peaceful negotiation? Does one negotiate peacefully with a burglar when he breaks into your house and decides to squat in your living room? No, you call the police and give him a good thumping if he has the audacity to raise a hand against you. And when the police come, they arrest him. Since the government are the police in this matter, when will you arrest them for trespassing?”

Barbara Castle MP (TL-Blackburn): “Burglars and thumping? Really, how low can we get? Perhaps we need to be reminded that it was Britain that stole the Malvinas [boos and jeers] – yes, we stole the Malvinas in the name of John Bull and Empire. [louder boos and jeers]. When will this government do the right thing and restore to the Argentine people what is rightfully theirs? “

Denis Healey MP (Prime Minister): “There will be no thumping, not unless the Argentine students provoke it. Let me be clear that the Falkland Islands are British territory, and that the inhabitants are British citizens and not a conquered people. We shall not preen in the name of Empire, but we shall not abandon the Falkland Islanders either. This government will negotiate for the students to leave of their own accord, and we shall not accede to any claims from them or from Buenos Aires to the islands.”
Airey Neave MP (Cons.-Opposition Leader): “While it is heartening to see this government stand-up for British rights in the Falkland Islands, it would be better to remove these students – if that is what you wish to call them, I personally see them as hooligans – it would be better to remove these people and show all the world our seriousness at protecting British soil and British citizens wherever around the globe they may be.”

Tony Benn (TL-Bristol Southeast): “Mr. Speaker, quite frankly I can see no use in prolonging this outdated, anachronistic claim to a distant set of islands – by whatever name they are called – when clearly we are in the wrong and have been for a century-and-a-half. Let us bring the British Falkland Islanders home, and let us say to Argentina here are the Malvinas, and be done with the whole business.”

John Nott MP (Cons. –St. Ives ): “Mr. Speaker, perhaps the honourable member would feel as sanguine should a Dane of King Canute’s tribe appear at his door tomorrow morning and demand the return of his ancestors land beneath the members house? Perhaps the member will not mind – in the interest of being done with the whole business – of having his home relocated to Brixton or Stepney. Would that be for the better then?”

Kenneth Clarke MP (Liberal - Rushcliffe): “Britain cannot, and must not, surrender the Falklands merely because they are occupied by those who claim them in the name of some ancient right and injustice. The instant we allowed that we would be a laughing stock; no power, no nation would respect us, and before long we might find Normans in Hastings and Norsemen in Scotland, all reclaiming ancient rights. Britain must remain firm in its commitment to the Falklands and the British citizens who live there. However, as an advanced nation with an advanced government based on laws, not arms, we must ensure that our response is measured and appropriate. We can afford the time to negotiate and reach a peaceful settlement on this matter, one that will be respected in Buenos Aires and the other capitals of the world. This may require patience and determination, and Britain has long shown that it has these qualities in abundance. Let us therefore pursue the high road in this matter, and we shall win out.”

Frank Macguire MP (Independent Republican - Fermanagh and South Tyrone):”I rise in this House, Mr. Speaker, with no small sense of irony in speaking about a land occupied by foreigners, British foreigners, and colonized by the same against the will of the people from whom the land was seized. I can say to the students of Argentina – good show lads! [Boos and hisses]. I wish them well. I hear some of my honourable colleagues in this House ask how such a thing came about? Well, it’s like this. Great Britain has long been drunk on the elixir of stealing other people’s land. It is a heady drink, this thing called Empire, and it can make you feel like a God! But then comes the morning, and that nag lyin’ next to you doesn’t look so beautiful as she did the night before, and your head feels like a rugby pitch after a tough game. That is Britain today, honourable members, with the hang-over of Empire. The good Argentines have called to reclaim what is theirs, just as others have been doing for some time now. Perhaps now is the time to listen, and make amends for the wild ride the night before?”

Voices: “Traitor! Throw him out!”

Speaker: “Order! Order!”

Cyril Smith MP (Liberal - Rochdale): “Our honourable friend in his colourful soliloquy does offer a cogent point here. Perhaps matters have come to this because successive governments, of all parties, have ignored this issue, until it has festered to the point that the Argentines felt action was necessary. I will note that Argentina, in the person of students affiliated with the democratically elected governing party, has chosen to take peaceful action, and this in itself should be applauded over any desire to use military force. Perhaps this government will do what others before it have failed to do and take the opportunity to sit down with a democratic Argentine government and resolve the issue of the Falklands in a mutually agreeable way. Will the Foreign Secretary not consider this?”

James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “His Majesty’s government is firmly committed to the principle that the Falklands are British sovereign territory inhabited by British citizens, and as such their status is non-negotiable. British sovereign rights are not susceptible to compromise by force, whether peaceful or by armed force. We shall not negotiate with any foreign government, elected or otherwise, over this issue. However, we will seek to end the current crisis in a peaceful manner.”

---------------------------
King George VII: “The islands may be British now, but in the past they were taken, and there should be some accounting for that. In a sense it’s no different than taking Arizona from Mexico or New South Wales from the aboriginal people.”

Denis Healey (privately): “Damn him!”

Diplomatic note from the United States Government to the Government of the United Kingdom: “The United States objects in the strongest terms to the recent characterisation by His Majesty King George VII of Arizona as “having been taken from Mexico.” The boundary between the United States and Mexico is a matter long settled by treaty between the two nations, neither of which was or is accountable to the United Kingdom on this sovereign matter. The United States government protests that the recent remarks of the King are an inappropriate utterance by the head of state of the United Kingdom concerning the diplomatic affairs of the United States and its neighbor.”

James Callaghan (meeting with the PM): “At least they used polite language. The Australian PM called our High Commissioner in Canberra into his office and apparently, to use the vernacular, ‘tore him a new one.’ This is a quite sensitive issue right now down there. The Mexicans, on the other hand, have extended an invitation to the palace for the King to make a state visit.”

Denis Healey: “Christ and wouldn’t that set the Yanks off, especially after this. I’m getting to the point where I have very few polite words for His Majesty, Jim.”

JC: “Ted Heath apparently had the same problem.”

DH: “And kindly passed it on to me: the Plonker! Jim, make sure the King doesn’t go to Mexico anytime soon.”

JC: “Question is, do we want to send him to Canada? He’s scheduled to go in July – their Dominion Day – but frankly I’m concerned that he’ll do a deGaulle and give a “Viva Quebec Libre” speech or some such nonsense that will upset the applecart on their unity problem.”

DH: “The Canadians expressing concern?”

JC: “Lougheed made the point to David Owen on his recent visit to Ottawa, and you can’t quite blame him, given the – ah – loose lips – over at the palace.”

DH: “Loose lips sink ships, ay Jim? Don’t suppose we could lock him up in the Tower, could we?”

JC: “Better still, make him an EEC Commissioner.”

DH: “Well, well, I’d have never guessed you were that much anti-Europe, Jim. That might cause another war, ay? Well, perhaps someone could put a word in at the palace. This cannot continue. Someone might suggest that I beginning to understand how Stanley Baldwin must have felt, and why he did what he did.”
-------------------------------------------------

January 9, 1981

A fire killed 31 elderly residents of the Beachview Rest Home in Keansburg, New Jersey. Another 78 patients and employees escaped the blaze.

The funeral of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, takes place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. She had died six days previously at the age of 97.

An official inquiry begins in West Germany into the government’s involvement in the development of a nuclear reactor in Iraq (The Tammuz Affair).

January 10, 1981

Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launched a guerilla war against the government of El Salvador which would last for eleven years. At 6:30 pm, after radio stations in San Salvador were seized and FMLN leader Cayetano Carpio announced "The hour... for the taking of power by the people... has arrived." and attacks were launched at multiple locations. One estimate is that 80,000 people, almost 2% of El Salvador's population of 4.5 million, were killed in the course of attacks and reprisals.
Lewis Green, the Principal officer at the U.S. Consulate-General in Belfast, was shot and wounded by a gunman in front of his residence. The UVF later claimed responsibility for the shooting, claiming that PIRA supporters in the United States were financing the PIRA and the U.S. government was not doing enough to stop it. The U.S. government immediately expressed concern to the British government that the UVF gunman had received assistance from within the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) which was supposed to provide protection for Green and other U.S. diplomats.

The Hughes Media Group, which owns the Hughes Television Network in the United States, announces that it has bought The Times from the Thompson Media Group. The details of the private transaction are not disclosed.

Le Monde publishes a story alleging that Israel is secretly arming pro-Jihad forces fighting the Iraqis in Arabia. The Israelis are doing this to keep the war going against the Iraqis and to tie down the Iraqi Army with fighting in Arabia. The revelation creates a scandal in Israel because some of the forces that Israel is arming covertly are associated with the PJO, so in effect Israel may be covertly assisting its mortal enemies. At first the Begin government denies the story and attempts to stonewall any efforts to investigate the matter.

Menachem Begin: “This French paper has written fiction, and is trying to pass it off as fact. One does not investigate fiction.”

This revelation also calls attention to a tense situation between the Yemens. South Yemen, which is pro-Soviet, has been resisting Soviet pressure to aid the Iraqis because the struggle to its North has deeply divided South Yemen. Many in South Yemen, who are more traditionally minded, side with the resistance to the Iraqi occupation. The matter threatens to start a Civil War in South Yemen.

North Yemen is actively aiding the resistance, and its government has allowed their country to be a transit point for arms and a refuge for resistance fighters. This has not only increased tensions between North Yemen and Iraq, but it has also increased tensions between the two Yemeni states.

Egypt had generally backed North Yemen, as a way to placate its Islamist opponents by supporting the Arabian jihad. But now, having turned back to the Soviet Union for its own support, Egypt finds the Soviets are compelling it to withdraw that support and instead to lend support to South Yemen and the Iraqis.

North Yemen remains a Cold war client of the United States. (U.S. Forces, under the Persian Gulf Command based in Iran, have a protective presence in Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain as a message to Iraq not to attempt to invade these states).

January 11, 1981

Governor Donald Rumsfeld (R-IL) [also President-elect of the United States] officially resigned his post as Governor of Illinois. He is succeeded by Lt. Governor Lynn Morley Martin (R-IL) who becomes successively the first female Lt. Governor (since January 1979) and then the first female Governor of Illinois.

January 12, 1981

At 1:30 am, the Macheteros, a separatist group in Puerto Rico raided Air National Guard's Muñiz Air Base after midnight and set explosives that destroyed nine jet fighters (8 A-7 Corsair IIs and an F-104 Starfighter.

January 13, 1981

Donna Griffiths, a 12 year-old girl in Pershore, Worcestershire, in the United Kingdom, began sneezing, and continued to sneeze, twice a minute, for 978 consecutive days. Eventually slowing to once every five minutes, Donna had her first day without sneezing on September 16, 1983.

January 14, 1981

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the first extended wear contact lenses, which could be left in the eyes for up to two weeks. The Hydrocurve II lenses were manufactured by a subsidiary of Revlon.

January 15, 1981

Hill Street Blues, described as "one of the most innovative and critically acclaimed television shows in recent television history" Museum of Broadcast Communications, Encyclopedia of Television (2d.Ed) (CRC Press, 2004) pp1089–1091 and a program that "set an entirely new standard for television drama" made its debut on NBC at 10:00 pm EST.

U.S. President-elect Donald Rumsfeld inflamed sensibilities within the Irish Republican movement and in the Irish Republic by commenting that “it was time to drive the snakes out of Ireland again.”

January 16, 1981

The Senate votes 91-9 to confirm the appointment of Vice President Scranton to the federal bench.

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, who had served as a British MP and an advocate for the rights of Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland, was shot multiple times, along with her husband, by Protestant gunmen of the paramilitary group Ulster Freedom Fighters who had invaded their home. Five days later, Protestant leader Norman Stronge, who had been the last leader of the Northern Ireland parliament, was shot and killed, along with his son, by an eleven member Irish Republican Brigade unit, at their home, Tynan Abbey.

Bernard Lee, 73, English actor; "M" in the James Bond films died. He had completed some scenes for the next Bond film shortly before his death, which the producers decide to keep as a tribute. Others not yet completed featuring the M character are re-written.


A SOFRES poll looking ahead to the French Presidential election in April and May finds President Mitterrand with an overall voter satisfaction rate of 52%. President Mitterrand is generally given credit for his support for democratic movements in Italy and Spain and for his even-handed neutrality in Portugal. However, his foreign policy activities in the Middle East are less popular, in particular his on-going trade with Iraq and equivocal commitment on the question of sanctions over the Iraqi invasion of Arabia. Mitterrand is also experiencing declining support among many French voters who are pro-Israel.

Domestically, while Mitterrand is credited with a steady handling of the economy since the Great Gauchis of the mid-seventies, there are a number of French voters who think the Socialist approach has been too tax heavy, stifling some economic opportunities and reducing unemployment through often opportunistic stimulus spending. Ironically, President Mitterrand is criticized on the left as being insufficiently Socialist in his approach to a mixed economy, while the right finds him insufficiently free market oriented (or “too Socialist”).

Mitterrand’s economic centre-left policy is also criticized by the hard left as being “luke warm Socialism”, or a “sell-out” to capitalist interests. President Mitterrand faces significant criticism on the left for his continued support of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The presence of Lionel Jospin as a Socialist challenger to Mitterrand (although officially Jospin is running as an independent candidate) emphasises the challenge the incumbent President has from the left as well as the right.

SOFRES poll trial heats (projected for the second round in May):

Francois Mitterrand (PS): 52%
Jean Lecanuet (UNR): 48%

Mitterrand (PS): 55%
Valery Giscard d’Estaing (UNR): 45%

Mitterrand (PS): 53%
Jean-Pierre Fourcade (UDR): 47%

Lecanuet (UNR): 52%*
Fourcade (UDR): 48%

Fourcade (UDR): 53%*
Giscard (UNR): 47%

*=These pairings in the second round are considered likely if Jospin’s presence in the first round drags Mitterrand down to third place.
----------------------------------------------------

January 17, 1981

After eight years, by Proclamation No. 2034, martial law was lifted in the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos, who had declared a state of emergency on September 22, 1972. Marcos announced that emergency rule would continue for three more years.

Marguerite Oswald, 65, mother of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald died.

January 18, 1981

BASE jumping was founded by Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield as they jumped off of the 72nd floor of the Texas Commerce Tower in Houston and parachuted to the ground, after having jumped from an antenna, a bridge and a cliff.

New Cross Fire: At Deptford, a mostly black neighborhood in London, thirteen young black British persons died in a fire during a 16th birthday party for one of the victims, Yvonne Ruddock. The fire, believed by many in the black community to have been set by racists, was cited as a factor in the 1981 Brixton riot three months later.

The Knesset votes to incorporate the conquered Sinai territory into “Greater Israel” and begin a program of “Israelification” of the land and population centers. Egypt formally protests this.

January 19, 1981

Vice President William Scranton formally resigns so that he can be sworn in as a Federal Appellate Judge on the same day.

President Wallace signs a last minute series of pardons including one for Oliver North and another for Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt. He also issues a pardon for former President Richard M. Nixon, restoring Nixon’s full civil rights.

January 20, 1981

Maurice Gilvarry (24), a member of the PIRA was found shot dead near Jonesborough, County Armagh. He had been killed by other members of the PIRA who alleged that he had acted as an informer. A British soldier was shot dead by the IRA in Derry.

Donald Henry Rumsfeld is sworn in as the 41st President of the United States
William Jackson (“Jack”) Edwards is sworn in as the 43rd Vice President of the United States. Term: January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1985

The Inaugural Address of President Donald H. Rumsfeld

Senator Tower, Mr. Chief Justice, President Wallace, Vice President Edwards, President Truong and my fellow citizens.

Today as we step forth into a new decade so we begin a new era in our country. For the best part of the last ten years our nation has been troubled by economic woes and uncertainty about our future. Today that stops. Today we renew the call to move America ahead as a leader of the world in economic prosperity and in the cause of global freedom. The nineteen seventies are done and with them we cast aside the gloom which has hung over them.

We all know too well the failures of the decade now closed; scandals, economic woes, a lack of clear direction at the head of our nation and a sense that the future was slipping through our fingers. These are the bad things. But let me remind you also of the good things of the decade now past, the things which speak to America’s resilience as a free and prosperous nation.

We won the war in Vietnam. For too long many naysayers said the cause of freedom in Vietnam was impossible and our struggle for it unwinnable. Yet today the Republic of Vietnam is a free nation and we are joined here by the democratically elected President of that nation. The way was hard and the struggle long, but America’s fighting men perceived through the darkness and the turmoil to win for the righteous cause. This we accomplished in the so-called lost decade of the nineteen seventies.

Through the resolve of our leaders, and through the commitment of our people, we kept the Middle East free of Communist tyranny. Ordinary Americans, like New Jersey National Guard corporal Walter B. Willis – who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country in Syria and for whom our joint services base there is now named – stepped forward to carry the struggle for freedom as their fathers and grandfathers had before them. Throughout the so-called lost decade, over-and-over again, ordinary, patriotic Americans showed the world of what stern and solid stuff this nation is made.

One of my predecessors once said that we have nothing to fear but fear itself, and this is as true now as then. Only our own fear will stop us, for as a nation and as a people, we are unstoppable in the face of opposition or adversity. America is at its best when the odds are against us and the fight is righteous. So it has been throughout our past, and so it shall be again.

As I swear the time-honored oath to assume this great office, I cannot help but be aware that these United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained recessions in our national history, unseen since the 1930’s. Some cry like Henny Penny that the sky has fallen and that this recession – or depression as they would have it – proves that capitalism has failed, and that free enterprise is dead.

To this negativism and Socialist babble I say – No!

The economic system has hit a bump in the road not because it has failed, but because we as the stewards of the nation, as the keepers of this democracy, have lost sight of the meaning of freedom and self-reliance. In short, we, my fellow citizens, have failed the economy by relying too heavily on the hand of the state to control the invisible hand of the market, to the point where we have not improved the markets, or made them fairier, but have so distorted the free market that the hand of the state has crushed the economy. Big government is why we are in the seemingly endless recession we find ourselves in today. Big government caused inflation, and high taxes, and systemic unemployment by strangling the market. For decades now we have been lead to believe that big government is the knight on the white horse who will save our future. Instead we have learned that big government is the menacing dragon bent on our destruction. We will never end this recession until we deal with the issue of big government, but once we have conquered big government, then prosperity will return. Together, my fellow citizens, we will slay that dragon and set free once more the tides of prosperity and freedom which have made American capitalism the envy of the world.

We will begin today, at the conclusion of this very address. At that time I will sign a series of executive orders which will immediately clear away big government mandated price and wage controls which have long held our economic well-being hostage to big government regulators. Today, with this hand, I will begin the process of slaying that dragon. In the days to come I will sign more executive orders to unsnarl more twists and knots put into the system by big government regulators which have weighed our nation’s entrepreneurs and business down like anchors. I shall be sending bills to Congress to bring a wholesale change in the anti-entrepreneurial, anti-prosperity agenda of big government regulation. Then our fortunes will change, as the shackles upon prosperity are broken away, and the success of free enterprise will once again drive our economy into a new era of sustained growth and action.

To that end, to unfettering our economy from the anchors which tie it down, we must stop the reliance on big government which has allowed us, for decades to pile deficit upon deficit in a senseless and self-absorbed scramble to mortgage our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we are not bound by that same limitation?

We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding—this administration, unlike several that have gone before it, will act and act decisively to end this destructive habit.

We will not fix these problems in a day, or in a thousand days, or not perhaps even by the time of the next election, but if we ignore them they will continue to fester, so we will address them, and over time we will see the success that comes from freeing up our economy.

But our fortunes, and our very freedoms, are threatened not only by economic woes, but also by a perilous world that eagerly awaits any opportunity to smother freedom and hope in the name of ideology and aggression. Our first challenge in preserving a free nation is to ensure that we live in a world where our freedom is respected and our nation secure from foreign encroachment and military intrigue.

Freedom can endure in the face of hostility, if the free people are willing to fight for that freedom and, when necessary, like Corporal Willis and thousands of dedicated young Americans like him, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve it as a way of life.

Let us look at the Republic of Korea, an impoverished and devastated nation three decades ago, which now has a growing economy which is leading its people to prosperity. How is this possible? Certainly with the support of the United States, but also because the free Korean people have been willing to stand-up for freedom, and in defence of democracy have built a large and increasingly more capable armed force with which to defend freedom. Let us look at the Republic of Vietnam, where the same has occurred over the last decade. These two freedom loving nations, and others like them, show us that where there is not only a will to be free, but a determination to remain free in the face of the forces of tyranny and destruction, then a free people can survive and prosper and the forces of tyranny can be held at bay.

But, to preserve freedom, it is not enough to hold tyranny at bay. We must remember that the Korean demilitarized zone, or the wall between Hong Kong and China or the wall dividing Germany, these do not represent stability or victory. They are the lasting symbols of our failure to secure freedom and they remind us that we have yet to accomplish the goal of vanquishing tyranny. They remind us not that the cause of freedom has boundaries, but that we ourselves have failed to secure a free and peaceful world, and this we must change.

The situation in Arabia, where one Soviet client nation, Iraq, has invaded and occupied two sovereign nations highlights our failure. Both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were allies of the United States and our partners in the fight for freedom against Socialist tyranny. Yet did we raise a finger to their defence? No, we temporized, as the forces of Marxist-Leninnist tyranny snuffed out their people’s freedom. And then what did we do? We entered into endless negotiations demanding nothing and conceding our strength to a weaker but more determined foe.

In the past no nation would have dared to incur America’s wrath by acting with such reckless aggression against a neighbor. That this could occur, and that the occupation could continue for more than a year, is the clear warning of our national failure. That his happened was the result of the failure of a generation of American leaders, who have allowed our strength and moral conviction to wane to the point where our potential adversaries question our very resolve as a nation. This is a trend we must stop.

Unlike the British in 1938, when they clung to appeasement as another rapacious dictator carved-up helpless Czechoslovakia, we cannot step back and say “this is a distant people about whom we know nothing.” Iraq today stands astride of nearly a quarter of the world’s known oil reserves. Our security and economic well-being are affected, and so we must act to reverse this unlawful aggression.

Let us look to Israel, which has fashioned from the desert a democracy in the heart of tyranny and hostility. There stands a nation which understands the values and aspirations of our founders. For too long we have, as a nation, abandoned our one true friend in the Middle East – the only democracy in that region – in a quest for the fool’s gold of false hope in the courts of despots and dictators. Our power and strength have ebbed in a tide of compromise and uncertainty; our strength will return once our adversaries and friends alike understand where we stand on the critical issues. Just recently Israel demonstrated its resolve by using its air force to destroy the potential threat of a nuclear-armed Iraq. Israel did not hesitate in the face of danger; it did not wait for mushroom clouds to appear above its cities before it acted to destroy the threat.

This administration will support Israel, including the expansion of settlements, as a move to spread democracy and order in an area of the world so often torn by chaos, strife and repression.

It has become fashionable in some quarters to question if America is right to stand for freedom in the world; indeed as some would have it we are the enemies of freedom and not its champion. This is an insidious moral acid that eats away at our self-esteem, or will, and which over time has infected our very top policy making bodies. Once America was feared by our enemies and respected by our allies. Today, we live in a world where the image of America has become so debased that our enemies believe that they can attack our diplomats on the street without fear of reprisal. I say to them, to those who attack Americans anywhere at anytime, be afraid. We will avenge these attacks, we will find who did it and we will inflict a price for this transgression. America will be respected once more by our friends, and our enemies will know better than to pick a fight with us, because it will be one they cannot win.

Freedom is today threatened around the globe. The iron curtain that once stretched from Stettin to Trieste has now bent west across the Alps to the Atlantic. Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France have all fallen to the pernicious influence of Communism or its Socialist fellow traveler in the last seven years. The old Europe of the Hapsburgs and Lafayette is now in danger of being dragged behind the curtain and into Leninist serfdom. In Asia, madness has gripped Peking, where just fifteen months ago a man devoid of reason and human understanding unleashed the most horrid of weapons – the nuclear bomb – on his own people. Not even Hitler or Stalin reached this level of depravity. And all the while he festers in his homicidal mania behind the walls of the Forbidden City in Peking his minions conspire to do his will by dumping tons of poison on our streets in an effort to infect our population with the insidious moral acid of addiction. This is not just an act of terror, not just an abomination, it is a direct challenge to the power and the authority of the United States by a power-mad despot, and it is one we will not shy away from. We will meet this challenge, we will bring this despot to answer for all that he is done, and we will restore order to the Pacific.

But it is not enough to hold this one lunatic in Peking responsible for all the evils of the world, for despite his heinous and abominable crimes, he is but a symptom of the larger problem – a problem called Marxist-Leninism which holds sway over nearly half the land mass of this globe, and which is the true source of evil and despotism upon this planet. To overcome this problem it is not enough that we secure freedom in the United States, or in London, or Tokyo or Munich. We must endeavour to bring the tide of freedom to Belfast, to Lisbon, to Havana, to Peking , to Warsaw and even to Moscow. Only then will the world be secure.

Throughout last year’s campaign I spoke often of the need to guard against unknown unknowns – the things we do not know we don't know, but which can strike at us at any time. We must endeavour to be in a position where, unlike the hapless victims of Kwangsi, the unknown unknowns don’t first appear as a mushroom cloud over one or all of our cities.

To this end my administration will work to fix our economy, since a strong and free market is the essential requirement of a strong and free nation. We will reverse the policies which have weakened our military, and we will re-build our intelligence capability so that the unknown unknowns grow smaller as our knowledge and capability becomes ever better.

Once more America is called on to be the arsenal of democracy, and as we did in World War II and in Vietnam, we will persevere until freedom is won and tyranny defeated. America will be free and we will be secure in our freedom.

In closing I say God Bless you my fellow citizens, and God Bless America.
----------------------------------------------------------

Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA): “As I listened I felt a sickening terror creep through my bones like the onset of an Arctic frost.”

Rep. Curtis Wright (D-IA): “This guy is nuts. We’ve got to get him out of office - that is if any of us are still alive three years from now.”

Ron Dellums (WTP-CA): “If he’d had the integrity to give this speech before the November ballot then he probably wouldn’t have carried even one State. When I heard this speech I knew we had, strictly because of the failings of the Electoral College, a President who was both a liar and certifiable. For all my fears that Reagan would win and drag us back to the nineteenth century, I had missed the genuine threat all along.”

Former President Wallace: “I was nice about to the guy who preceded me, but all Rumsfeld did was insult me. He’s a bum.”

President Norberto Bobbio of Italy: "How is it that a country that claims to be the very crucible of democracy can offer-up with a straight face such a loathsome creature as its President, a man who failed to win the most votes of his party to be nominated for President - but who took the nomination through trickery, and who lost the general election by more than one million votes of his countrymen to another man entirely. How can anyone seriously contemplate for a minute that this man should be the President of the United States, and then stand back and allow him to assume such a poweful office which holds in its grasp the very fate of all mankind? Are we to accept this fraud because some strange collection of Electors, persons we do not know and who hold no public office, decided it so by some strange numerical combination that somehow defies the popular will of the American people? Should this occur in any other country the cry of fraud and revoltion would be heard from every corner and the man would be driven from society as a pretender and criminal. That this Medieval practice of a secret cabal choosing a leader behind closed doors could happen at all in a modern nation is - beyond perposterous. Instead America celebrates its fraud and allows him to be President. It is insanity! I do not accept for a minute that Yuri Andropov is a leader chosen by his people, he was chosen by his Party in what is a closed system with democratic forms but not substance. But compared to this American President, he is far more legitimate in his office than Donald Rumsfeld. How sad this is for us all."


Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Rumsfeld signs the following executive orders before attending the Congressional inaugural luncheon:

- A directive ordering NASA to privatize or outsource its activities
- A directive calling for 10% budget cuts across all departments
- A directive freezing federal pay and requiring a reassessment of all pay grades prior to new hires
- A proclamation urging Congress to cut its pay
- A directive that the EPA identify and implement ways to fast track environmental approval on industrial projects and projects of “significant economic import.”
- a directive to the Attorney-General instructing him to halt any further federal action in regard to the Louisiana Criminal Addiction Bill and the Louisiana Family Decency Act.
- A directive to the Secretary of Transportation to implement a private partnership to develop high speed rail service
- A call for the development of more nuclear power plants
-A directive to the Secretary of Energy to establish a federal prize for innovative fuel alternative programs
- A directive easing the “Gavin taxes” on imported oil
- A directive reducing the federal restriction on domestic oil pricing
- A directive for the Secretaries of Commerce and Labor to develop a plan to merge their departments
- A directive to faze the Education portion out of the Department of Health Education and Welfare
- A directive cutting block grants to states in areas of “discretionary spending.”
- A directive to review federal criminal prosecutions and where possible to turn them over to state authorities
- A directive to cut the budget of the National Park Service by 10%
- A directive to the Commissioner of the IRS giving small businesses a one-year tax holiday
- A directive to end Federal receivership management of the City of New York
- A directive placing NORAID on a list of “terrorist front organizations.”

The Rumsfeld Administration 1981
President: Donald H. Rumsfeld
Vice President: W. “Jack” (Jackson) Edwards

Cabinet
Secretary of State: Jeanne Kirkpatrick
Secretary of the Treasury: Jonathan J. Bush
Secretary of Defense: John Connally
Attorney-General: Robert “Bob” Dole
Secretary of the Interior: Strom Thurmond
Secretary of Agriculture: Whitney MacMillan
Secretary of Commerce: Gerald R. Ford
Secretary of Labor: Hugh Gregg
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare: Raymond P. Shafer
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Thomas Kuchel
Secretary of Transportation: John Fishwick
Secretary of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight: William P. Casey
Secretary of Energy: Malcolm Baldridge

White House Staff:
Chief of Staff: Richard B. Cheney
National Security Advisor: Daniel O. Graham
Deputy National Security Advisor: William Van Cleave
Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Jack Kemp
Special Counsels to the President: Grover Norquist; Richard Darman
White House Counsel: William Wilkins, John Roberts (Assistant)
Chairman – President’s Council of Economic Advisors: Douglass C. North
Press Secretary: Bernard Shaw

Sub-Cabinet
Deputy Attorney-General: Robert Bork
Solicitor General of the United States: Antonin Scalia
Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel: Samuel Alito
Deputy Secretary of State: Elliott Abrams
Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs: Thomas Enders
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Policy: Jeremiah Denton
Deputy Secretary of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight: Paul Wolfowitz

Agency Level
Director of Central Intelligence: Dr. Fred Charles Iklé
Director of the FBI: Thomas C. Smith
Director of the Federal Counter-Terrorism Bureau: Alexander Haig
Chairman - Securities and Exchange Commission: Paul Kolton
Director of the Environmental Protection Agency: Barry Goldwater Jr.
Chairman of the Federal Reserve: Phillip E. Coldwell

Diplomatic
United States Ambassador to the United Nations: Richard Pipes
United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union: George P. Schultz
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom: Charles Percy
United States Ambassador to NATO: John F. Lehman

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

January 21, 1981

Norman Stronge (86), a former speaker of the Stormont parliament, and James Stronge (48), his son, were shot dead by the PIRA in an attack on their mansion, Tynan Abbey, near Middletown, County Armagh.

A figure of newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Rumsfeld (who had spoken out against the PIRA in his campaign) was burned in effigy in front of the U.S. Embassy in Dublin. Sinn Fein took credit for this act.

-----------------------------------------------------
January 21, 1981


TO: The President
FR: Richard B. Cheney, Chief of Staff

RE: Security of Tenure

Sir,

I draw to your attention the fact that in the past twenty years between the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy and your inauguration this country has had six Presidents (not counting yourself) – an average of a new one every three years – and in all but the first case this has been the result of the incumbent’s failure to master the system sufficiently to win re-election. [The Kennedy-Johnson case is seen as anomalous because of Kennedy’s murder and the peculiar circumstances of the 1964 election – LBJ’s real test should be seen in light of his failure to secure re-nomination and re-election in 1968]. The result, evident from 1968 forward, has been a steady erosion in the confidence in the Presidency and the overall power of the incumbency to guarantee re-nomination and re-election.

There have also been abundant examples of personal failing in the highest office: Johnson’s stubbornness over Vietnam; Nixon’s managerial lapses over the Watergate matter; Agnew’s dishonesty; Gavin’s personal failing and Wallace’s weathervane populism and failing health. All have contributed to the reduction of Presidential prestige and authority.

As we begin to chart a new course we can fully expect this twenty-year legacy to rear itself in direct and substantive challenges to your authority and prestige. Already we can identify signs that the jockeying for position in 1984 has begun within both parties. In that context, we must remain ever mindful that the systemic weaknesses that brought about your victory in the Electoral College could easily be turned against us, or exploited by an opponent to charge that you are an “Electoral rather than an elected President.” (The words in quotes are as Ron Dellums recently uttered them.)

Fundamentally we must reinvigorate both the prestige of the Presidency and the awe within which the office was held prior to this period of erosion. We must use your term to build a base upon which you can not only be returned to office, but from which we can forever quash in the public mind the idea that the Presidency is 1) short-term, 2) obedient to popular consent or 3) interchangeable between politicians. In short we must, as DeGaulle once did in France, make of the Presidency something between a tribune of the people and a indispensible crown of sovereignty.

The latter shall be essential if we are to carry forward a robust program of change and power, if we are to secure a Pax Americana (or a New American Century as some have suggested) then we must have the time to make this work: four years will not be enough and to secure our work we must have the time to not only complete its foundation, but to mould the system so as to make it possible for us to uplift and prepare those who will carry on the work after us.

This means in the short term that we must not only master the mechanisms for re-election in 1984 and 1988 (looking at only the short term) but that we must also consider widely the very definition of democracy, and how that notion in our domestic leadership selection fits with the long term interests of our nation. It may very well be that the long-term interests of freedom may be dependent upon curtailing that aspect of our political culture for one or two generations, until a victory over the forces in opposition has been secured. This must be the first consideration in our re-election strategy, and in how we develop a public strategy going forward which will not only secure your tenure in the Presidency, but will also secure a supportive, allied following in the Congress and the state houses.

I suggest a committee be struck to operate in secret to begin immediate work on a step-by-step plan to secure your tenure so that our longer-term goals can be accomplished. Both Bill Casey and Roger Ailes are onboard (Pat Buchanan has taken my old position at Hughes and he’s on-board as well) and Roger thinks he can line-up outside support.

Yours sincerely,

Dick

-----------------------------------------------
January 21, 1981


TO: Dick Cheney
FR: The President

RE: Continuity of National Options

Begin. Put as little in writing as possible, and under no circumstances make tape recordings. Use the above as the subject in all references and never again the previous reference.

Yours,
Don

PS: I’m good for at least five terms (haha).
------------------------------------------------------------

January 21, 1981


Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA) and Rep. Charles Wright (D-IA) introduce a proposed Constitutional Amendment which would replace the Electoral College with the direct popular election of a President. The Carter-Wright amendment includes a provision for a run-off election in the same manner as French presidential elections.

John Hinckley is released from a psychiatric facility in California.


From Anonymous – Behind the Fortress Walls

Yuri Valdomirovich Andropov, his grey skin hugging his skeletal frame, looked up from the translated text of the American President’s inauguration speech with a steely gaze, his red rimmed eyes as sharp and focused as they had ever been when he was in better health.

“Well, Comrades. I see the question as this,” the General Secretary said in a voice stronger than it had been in months. “Do we wait for them to bring the war to us at a time of their choosing, or do we bring a war to them at a time of our choice?”
-----------------------------------------------

From Ron Dellums – Going Left to be Right

Many professional Democrats explored whole new sinkholes of darkness with the vitriol they directed against Ralph and me in the wake of that election. The lowest of the low was perhaps reached when Bella Abzug, fired-up with a whole ocean of scorn and righteous indignation, questioned whether or not I had secretly signed a pact with the Republicans to make this happen, casting me in the role of Faust to Rumsfeld’s Satan. “Ron Rellums” took on a whole new meaning, and I recall a nasty cartoon which red “Don Rumsfeld and his boy” beneath reprehensible caricatures of Governor Rumsfeld as an old time Southern planter and myself as his slave. Even Wallace, no stranger to race baiting in his day, to his credit took a particularly nasty swipe at the editor who published that atrocity and sent Birch Bayh to investigate whether that publisher had crossed the line.

I will admit that I was angry at first, not so much at the outcome (don’t get me wrong, as a progressive Rumsfeld’s victory shocked and saddened me) but at the anger from the left directed at us for taking a principled stand for progressive policies. Ralph for his part took it in stride, suggesting that those who were most outspoken had the most to be ashamed for abandoning progressive ideals for the illusion of electability. When Vernon Jordan suggested we had “carpet bagged for the Republicans” Ralph took great relish in suggesting that had Vernon pushed for a more progressive platform at the Democratic National Convention and given us a basis to negotiate on a progressive alternative, the matter might of been moot.

“Who held the whip hand when it counted?” Ralph asked rhetorically, endearing himself not one bit to the African-American leadership with that reference.

In their anger what all of these Democrats failed to understand was the nature of the support we received. Simply combining our vote with theirs, as if it were a simple math problem, to conclude that if Ralph and I had not been in the race Hugh Carey would have received forty-nine percent of the popular vote and supposedly carried New York, Pennsylvania, California and New Jersey (to name but four big Electoral Vote states that he lost to Rumsfeld) was an exercise in the worst sort of flawed logic and insular group think. The election had not been as simply a matter of adding apples and apples to create a bigger bushel of apples compared to Rumsfeld’s lemons.

It is true that most of the We The People votes were won in traditionally Democratic precincts – our Electoral Votes came in the heavily Democratic District of Columbia and the traditionally Democratic State of Hawaii. But looking at these, and at other precincts where we won a plurality or a significant portion of the vote, we have to look behind the fallacy that these were “lost Democrats” lead astray by false promises, as our critics in that party would have it, and instead take the difficult and challenging step of asking who these voters were, and why they voted the way they did. In that answer lays the uncomfortable truth that our frustrated critics in the professional Democratic Party would prefer to sweep away with the comforting – albeit false – illusion of a numbers game.

Doing our own studies we found that as many as fifty percent of the people who voted for We The People indicated that had we not offered a progressive alternative, they either would have voted for another party of the left, or not voted at all. So, to begin with, these were voters lost to the Democratic Party whether we had been present or not. A further ten to fifteen percent were first time voters registered by our registration drives, so they too represent a non-starter in terms of numbers to the Democratic Party. So it is fair to say that we took – at most – thirty-five percent of our support from voters who might – and I have to emphasis the conditional might – have voted Democratic (2,473,000 voters, roughly 3% of the votes cast). If we give the benefit of the doubt to the Democrats on this, and those voters were concentrated in more than one large Electoral Vote State, then it is possible that they could have swung the election to Governor Carey. But looking how and where we conducted the polls, I am not so confident that these “lost Democrats” were concentrated in any one place so as to make such a significant difference. In fact I am confident they were not.

The people who voted for us were in large part residents of what had been heavily Democratic districts, some going as far back as the New Deal, some even farther. The fact was that the professional Democratic Party had engaged them in a cynical game of bait and switch, in which every two years they were promised a better deal by voting Democratic, but once the election was over the bulk of the promises disappeared in blue smoke. There were of course some changes, and there were some Democratic Representatives who fought very hard for their constituents, and they deserved every vote they got. But, by and large, the Democratic Party had been failing this primarily urban and primarily minority demographic for at least a decade before the 1980 election. This was in part a result of national Democratic efforts to compete with the Republicans by moving to the center, and in part the result of the candidacies of non-progressive Southern candidates who did not understand the needs of these traditional constituencies. We The People offered them a progressive alternative, and in the process re-awakened a political interest that had been waning – as witnessed by overall decreasing voter participation rates. Our gathering of statistics found that in the precincts where we had our strongest concentrations of support overall voter participation went-up for the first time in a decade.

This argument also fails to look at the effect Sandy Koufax had. Although his was a novelty campaign which didn’t reach major proportions, a study of his supporters would indicate that he too took away “‘loyal” Democrats in key States like New York and New Jersey. The common thread was dissatisfaction with the two party system and the candidates it produced.

The fact that our success did not “steal” the Democrats victory from them, but represented the expression of a wider dissatisfaction with the two party system in general, is illustrated by the parallel that happened on the other side of the spectrum. The Christian Values Movement, largely unheard of in the 1976 Presidential election, gathered three percent of the vote across large areas of the South in 1980, enough to (ironically) turn the tables on the Republicans and their so-called “Southern Strategy.” Added to an increasing support for Libertarians (especially in the west) and it was clear that party dissatisfaction was more widespread than just with Democratic voters. Governor Carey won almost forty-one percent of the vote while Governor Rumsfeld won just thirty-nine percent of the vote. Around twenty percent of the vote (around one voter in every five) expressed a dislike of both major parties, a growing trend we had seen now in every election since 1968. This was the new American political consciousness created by years of drifting government and poor economic performance.

Whenever the professional Democrats waive the finger of accusation at me, I like to point out how they misread the outcome. No clear illustration of this comes to mind than the Arizona Senate race which unseated the darling of the right, Senator Barry Goldwater senior. No one in his right mind would think Goldwater was anything less than a quasi-Libertarian already, so his defeat by a Libertarian came as a shock (there had been a parallel in 1978 when the arch-conservative Strom Thurmond had been unseated by dissatisfied conservatives, although in that case the Democratic candidate had benefitted.) This time around a Libertarian was elected over Goldwater. Looking at what Fred Easer did in his state I saw a reflection of our own efforts. He coalesced a following of former Republicans who came to believe Goldwater had, by his long association with the Republican party in Washington, lost touch with their values. Easer also registered new voters who were first time participants. He gave them a vibrant, modern alternative to Goldwater. Finally, Goldwater had been complacent about his support (he expected to be re-elected) and thus he had not taken the challenge seriously. Instead of offering alternatives to Easer’s objections, he treated him with contempt, as if he represented a fringe. Goldwater lost a close election as a result. The parallels to how the professional Democrats had regarded us, and our supporters, were very clear.

Albert Einstein is reported to have said that the definition of insanity was to repeat something that had failed over-and-over again in the hope that one time it would succeed. Looking at 1980 I had to wonder if professional Democrats, along with professional Republicans, were not walking into this trap.

We won five House races. (1-5) Two seats we took from Republicans who had won in traditionally Democratic districts in 1978 as a result of vote splitting on the left. We took a seat from the Socialist Worker’s Party. Shirley Chisholm was re-elected under our banner, as was John Carlos who had previously represented the African American Freedom Party in Chicago. This was a victory for progressive forces, especially in light of the fact that the overall House of Representatives had no majority party, meaning that the politics of coalition would control the day.

Both in the Congress in future elections, legislative as well as Presidential, the progressive voice would be heard and the establishment parties would have to come to terms with that. That we had made that point in 1980 (along with the Libertarians and CVM) was a good first step.

As for Rumsfeld’s election, that came about strictly as a result of the weaknesses of the Electoral College, something we should have learned from in 1972 but failed to take to heart. The 1976 election had seemed more normal, so some had thought the crisis in electing our Presidents had passed. 1980 demonstrated that this was not the case, and along with 1972 demonstrated that we had to get rid of this old, anti-democratic institution and replace it with a system that took account of the popular vote. Had we had a French style system, Carey and Rumsfeld would have squared off in a run-off election, and they would have been forced to court the smaller parties for support. That too would have given more power to the progressive forces on our side, and might have made all the difference.

(1) – Shirley Chisholm (NY- 12) – Shirley having been a Democrat, we took this seat from that party.
(2) – John Carlos (IL-2) – Moses had been with the AAFP, but saw it losing momentum, and came to us.
(3) – Kim Chong (CA-6) – A victory over the Socialist Workers Party
(4) – Larry Manuel (CA-8) – reclaimed my old district from the Republicans
(5) - Aldo Torres (NY-16) – another district reclaimed from the Republicans.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Senate elections – November 4, 1980

Alabama
Albert Brewer (D) (inc.) - 40% Democratic hold
Jeremiah Denton (R) - 39.6%
Christian Values --- 19.9%
Write ins -- 0.5

Alaska
The incumbent Sen. Mike Gravel (D) was defeated in a primary
Clark Gruening (D) - 38.2% - Democratic hold
Libertarian - 35.9%
Frank Murkowski (R) 24.9%
Write-ins - 1%

Arizona
Fred R. Easer (Lib) -- 28.2% Libertarian Pick-up
Barry Goldwater (R) (inc.) - 28%
Bill Schultz (D) --- 27%
Lorenzo Torres (I (WTP)) -- 10%
Christian Values -- 5%
Josefina Otero (SWP) -- 1.8%


Arkansas
Dale Bumpers (D) (inc.) -- 41.4% Democratic hold
Christian Values --- 40.0%
Bill Clark (R) ----- 18.6%

California
Paul Gann (R) --- 27% Republican pick-up
Alan Cranston (D) (inc.)- 26%
Paul Stephens (Jefferson State Initative) - 20%
David Bergland (Lib) - 10%
David Wald (WTP) - 10%
Jim Griffin (AI) - 4%
Odio Housa (SWP) - 3%

Colorado
Mary Buchanan (R) -- 45.2% Republican pick-up
Gary Hart (D) (inc.) -- 41.8%
Libertarian --- 12%
Others ---- 1%

Connecticut
The incumbent Sen. Abraham Ribicoff retired

Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R) -- 44.5% Republican pick-up
Chris Dodd (D) -- 41.5%
WTP ------ 14%

Florida
The incumbent Sen. Richard Stone (D) was defeated in the primary
Bill Gunter (D) -- 36% -- Democratic hold
Paula Hawkins (R) -- 35%
WTP -- 12%
Christian Values -- 11%
Libertarian -- 6%


Georgia
Jimmy Carter (D) (inc.) -- 41% -- Democratic hold
Matt Mattingly (R) ------- 38%
Christian Values -------- 16%
Libertarian ------- 4%
States Rughts ----- 1%

Hawaii
Daniel Inouye (D) (inc.) --- 48% -- Democratic hold
WTP --- 32.6%
Cooper Brown (R) -- 18.4%
Others -- 1%

Idaho
Frank Church (D) (inc.) -- 38.1% -- Democratic hold
Libertarian --- 36.2%
Steve Symms (R) -- 24.9%
Others -- 0.8%

Illinois
The incumbent Sen. Adlai Stevenson III (D) retired
Dave O'Neal (R) -- 40.1% -- Republican pick-up
Alan J. Dixon (D) -- 37.7%
WTP ---- 16.2%
Libertarian -- 4%
SWP --- 2%

Indiana
The incument Sen. Robert Orr (R) retired

Roger Marsh (R) -- 41.1% -- Republican hold
A. Democrat -- 35.9%
WTP --- 9%
Libertarian -- 7%
Christian Values -- 5%
Free Libertarian -- 2%

Iowa
Charles Grassley (R) 46.2% -- Republican pick-up
John Culver (D) (inc.) -- 37.9%
Christian Values -- 11%
Constitutionalist -- 4.1%
Others 0.8%

Kansas
William R. Roy (D) (inc.) -- 31.1% Democratic hold
Keith Sebelius (R) -- 29%
Christian Values -- 19.2%
Libertarian -- 13.6%
Free Libertarian -- 7.1%

Kentucky
Mary L. Foust (R) -- 41.2% -- Republican pick-up
Wendell Ford (D) (inc) -- 35.8%
Christian Values --- 14%
Libertarian --- 9%

Louisiana
Russell B. Long (D) (inc.) 56.1 % -- Democratic hold
Christian Values --------- 43.9%
(run-off result)

Maryland
Charles Mathias Jr. (R) (inc) -- 51.1%- Republican hold
Edward T. Conroy (D) -- 33.9%
WTP -- 9%
Libertarian -- 4%
SWP -- 2%

Missouri
Gene McNary (R) -- 47.9% - Republican Pick-up
Thomas Eagleton (D) (inc) -- 47.1%
Libertarian -- 3%
Martha Petit (SWP) - 2%

Nevada
David Towell (R) -- 34% - Republican Pick-up
Harry Reid (D) (inc) - 32%
Libertarian -- 16%
Christian Values -- 11%
WTP -- 7%

New Hampshire
Warren Rudman (R) - 40% - Republican pick-up
John Durkin (D) (inc) - 33%
Libertarian -- 20%
WTP --- 7%


New York
Elizabeth Holtzman (D) -- 33% -- Democratic Pick-up
Jacob K. Javits (R) (inc) --- 29%
Alphonse D'Amato (Cons.) -- 14%
WTP --- 12%
Richard Savadel (Libertarian) -- 10%
Victor A. Nieto (SWP) - 2%

Sen. Javits won the Republican nomination with the help of some Democrats, which caused a
split with the New York Conservative Party, which supported the more conservative primary
challenger Alphonse D'Amato in the general election.

North Carolina
Robert B. Morgan (D) (inc) - 43% -- Democratic hold
Christian Values -- 31%
John P. East (R) -- 22%
States Rights -- 4%

North Dakota
William Guy (D) (inc.) - 39% -- Democratic hold
Mark Andrews (R) -- 38%
Libertarian -- 19%
Christian Values - 4%

Ohio
John Glenn (D) (inc) -- 42% - Democratic hold
James Betts (R) -- 28%
WTP -- 10%
Libertarian -- 9%
Christian Values - 9%
SWP - 2%

Oklahoma
Ed Edmundson (D) (inc) -- 46.2% -- Democratic hold
Don Nickles (R) -- 26.8%
Christian Values -- 16%
Libertarian -- 11%

Oregon
The incumbent Sen. Robert Packwood (R) was defeated in the primary
Ted Kulongoski (D) -- 44% - Democratic pick-up
Victor G. Atiyeh (R) - 29%
Theodora Nathan (Lib) -- 20%
WTP -- 6%
SWP -- 1%

Pennsylvania
The incumbent Sen. Richard S. Schweiker (R) retired
Peter Flahrety (D) -- 44% -- Democratic pick-up
Arlen Specter (R) -- 41%
WTP -- 8%
Christian Values -- 7%

South Carolina
Ernest Hollings (D) (inc) -- 42% - Democratic hold
Christian Values -- 30%
Marshall T. Mays (R) -- 28%

South Dakota
The incumbent Sen. Joseph J. Foss (R) retired
George McGovern (D) -- 40% -- Democratic pick-up
James Abdnor (R) -- 35%
Libertarian -- 18%
Christian Values -- 7%

The outcome of this election surprised many observers who had noted that McGovern had suffered a humiliating defeat in the 1974 election, and had alienated much of the South Dakota Democratic Party with his independent presidential campaign in 1972. However, in the time since then he had re-built his political base largely by securing a number of farm support programs while serving as Secretary of Agriculture in the Wallace Administration.

Utah
Dan Berman (D) -- 41% -- Democratic pick-up
Jake Garn (R) (inc) -- 36%
Libertarian -- 21%
SWP -- 2%

Vermont
Patrick Leahy (D) (inc) -- 49.8% - Democratic hold
Stewart Ledbetter (R) --- 48.5%

Washington
Warren Magnuson (D) (inc) -- 34% - Democratic hold
Slate Gorton (R) -- 33%
WTP -- 16%
Libertarian -- 15%
SWP -- 2%

Wisconsin
Lee S. Dreyfus (R) -- 40% -- Republican pick-up
Gaylord Nelson (D) (inc) -- 34%
Christian Values -- 10%
WTP -- 9%
Libertarian -- 7%

An effective public speaker during the campaign, Dreyfus's most memorable quip was that states should be sovereign in most areas of law-making and that the federal government's role should be limited to only three things: "defending our shores, delivering our mail and staying the hell out of our lives." Another memorable line was: "Madison, Wisconsin is 30 square miles surrounded by reality."
------------------------------------------------------

1980 Gubernatorial Elections:

Arkansas
Monroe Schwarzlose (D) (inc.) – 39% - Democratic hold
Frank White (R) – 37%
Christian Values – 20%
Others – 4%

Delaware
Joe Biden (D) – 39% - Democratic pick-up
Pierre Dupont IV (R) (inc) – 37%
Lawrence Levy (Lib) – 11%
WTP – 7%
Christian Values – 5%
Others – 1%

Indiana
The incumbent Otis R. Bowen was term limited
John A. Hillenbrand (D) – 42% - Democratic pick-up
Robert D. Orr (R) – 29%
Libertarian – 11%
Cletis Artist (AI) – 9%
Christian Values – 8%

Missouri

Kit Bond (R) – 41% - Republican pick-up
Joseph Teasdale (D) (inc.) – 40%
CVM – 13%
Helen Savio (SWP) – 4%
Others – 2%

Montana

James Cole (D) (inc.) – 37% – Democratic hold
Jack Ramirez (R) – 31%
Libertarian – 30%
Others – 2%

New Hampshire
James Pinnaird (Libertarian) – 30% - Libertarian Pick-up
Meldrim Thompson Jr. (R) – 29%
Hugh Gallen (D) (inc) – 29%
WTP – 10%
SWP – 2%

North Carolina

The incumbent David Flaherty (R) was term limited.*
I. Beverley Lake Jr. (R) – 38% - Republican hold
Jim Hunt (D) – 35%
Robert y. Emory (Libertarian) – 11%
CVM – 10%
Douglas A. Cooper (SWP) – 5%
Others – 1%

*= An effort to amend the North Carolina Constitution to allow a Governor to serve two consecutive terms failed to pass during Gov. Flaherty’s term.

North Dakota

Richard Elkin (R) (inc.) – 45% - Republican hold
Arthur Link (D) – 40%
Libertarian – 15%

Rhode Island

Thomas R. DiLuglio (D) – 42% - Democratic pick-up
James Taft (R) (inc.) – 40%
Libertarian – 10%
SWP – 5%
Others – 3%

Utah

Scott Matheson (D) (inc.) – 44% - Democratic hold
R.L. Wright (R) – 32%
Libertarian – 22%
Others – 2%

Vermont

Bernie Sanders (I)* - 35% - Independent pick-up
Richard A. Snelling (R) – 31%
Stella Hackel (D) (inc.) – 21%
Libertarian – 12%
Others – 1%

*=Although Bernie Sanders ran as an independent he was closely associated with the We The People movement and campaigned on their behalf for the Presidential election. After becoming Governor in 1981 Sanders continued his efforts to organize a permanent WTP chapter as a third party in Vermont state politics.

Washington

The incumbent Gov. Dixy Lee Ray (D) was defeated in the Democratic primary.
John Spellman (R) – 40% - Republican pick-up
Jim McDermott (D) – 37%
WTP – 11%
Libertarian – 10%
Others – 2%

West Virginia

Jay Rockefeller (D) – 45% - Democratic Pick-up
Cecil Underwood* (R) (inc.) – 40%
CVM – 14%
Others – 1%

* = Governor Underwood was popular and many observers expected him to be re-elected. The West Virginia Constitution had been amended during his term to allow a Governor to serve two successive terms. However, he was damaged in a tough and divisive Republican primary challenge from former Governor Arch Moore.

Tag: PDF Popular vote
 

Attachments

  • PE1980FLG72.PDF
    497.1 KB · Views: 1,250
Last edited:
The Nightmare is just beginning....

To Be Continued … as Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in a Decade of Tears – Coming in Autumn (October-November) 2012.

Rumsfeld&Cheneyyoung.jpg
 
I have just one thing to say to this:

Oh. My. God.:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Drew, are you trying to give us all nightmares? I'm glad this never occurred.

This makes For All Time (did you read that before writing this, Drew) look tame by comparison.

Love that you show all points of view. Makes this TL unique.

How much research did you do into this TL, Drew? This is impressive. It is a shame that you have never won a Turtledove.

Of course, I'd still rather live here than in the Protect and Survive universe.
 
Last edited:
That was what, like 5 updates at once? God. And each of them so...realistic-looking. The inaugural address seems like it could be real. The account of the Chinese guy is also really authentic and even reads like the writing of a Chinese. The news stuff feels like it really could be printed on coarse, ink-stained paper.

So I take it that there is a growing rift between the US and Europe, and that Russia eventually invades China. And also we Americans have a hardliner in office. The future won't be good.
Soviet forces move across the Sino-Soviet border into Ining and the surrounding area along the Soviet border with Sinkiang, ostensibly to quell unrest which the PRC regime has not been able to control. The Red Army troops are largely greeted as liberators by the local population. Within a few weeks the Soviets install their version of the People’s Republic of China government (formerly in exile in Moscow) in Ining and recognize it as the legitimate government of all of China.

Simultaneously Soviet forces begin probing for areas of weakness along the Soviet border with China in Manchuria, and along Mongolia’s border with China.
Whoops, I guess they already have invaded. I can see why China splinters in the 90s.

Someone needs to compile the updates and make a TL-only thread.
 
Top
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top