Chapter 53: February 1985 – December 1985
“There’s more going around in the dark than Santa Clause, and hanky-panky is its name!”
– Henry Howell
Moderator ROGER MUDD: Well, gentlemen, today’s question is what the future holds for the Democratic Party. How should the party proceed in the wake of Gravel’s defeat?
Governor PAUL SOGLIN: I’d like to start by saying that while Gravel’s candidacy flopped, his ideas did not. George, you can point to the statistics Gallup published last month showing a majority of Americans support a National Initiative and Referendum Amendment.
Analyst GEORGE GALLUP JR.: That I can, so you’re saying “right message, wrong messenger?”
SOGLIN: Oh, no, let me be clear – Gravel lost because the Soviet Union collapsed.
Prof. WILLIAM SCHNEIDER: No, Gravel’s campaign was too far to the left to win over moderates and undecided voters.
GALLUP: Actually, our research favors the Governor’s view – most undecided voters voted based on foreign policy issues, not domestic ones, and Gravel’s strength was in domestic issues.
MUDD: Then perhaps the Democrats may want to consider focusing on foreign affairs going forward.
SOGLIN: I disagree. As the situation at home worsens, and believe me, under Denton, it will, more people are going to return their focus to domestic affairs, and the Democrats can solve those kind of problems by sticking to Gravel’s policies.
MUDD: Do you think that strategy will win them the White House in ’88, or at least win more congressional seats in ’86?
SOGLIN: Yes, especially if we go even farther with Gravel’s vision.
SCHNEIDER: What, and alienate more Denton voters? At this point, it’d make more sense for the Democrats to veer back to the center!
SOGLIN: What makes sense and what will work are not always the same thing!
– Meet the Press, 2/1/1985 discussion [1]
IRAQ PRESIDENT SIGNS RENEWED TREATY WITH NATION’S KURDS
…Iraqi president Tahir Yahya, 68, with the support of the Shah of Iran and former President of Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, seeks to continue the nation’s stability among its ethnicities, which has defined relations within Iraq since the signing of the original 1970 Peace Accord…
– The Globe and Mail, 2/5/1985
…The President of Colombia is seeking to dismantle his nation’s large illicit cocaine-trafficking industry plaguing the cities and countryside of the South American nation, a problem that has developed as Colombia’s civil war continues on with seemingly no end in sight…
– CBS News, 2/6/1985 report
UN RULES IN FAVOR OF US!: GADDAFI TO SPEND LIFE IN PRISON
…Due to American forces being the ones who apprehended Gaddafi, effectively making them the victors of the War in Libya, the U.N.’s Special International Justice Committee ruled in favor of the United States, overriding a Libyan court sentencing Gaddafi to death. …US diplomatic experts fear that the ruling may jeopardize the level of support US troops have in Libya, as many of our allies over there are seeing the ruling as “American Imperialism imposing imperialistic injustice,” as the leader of the Libyan congressional opposition called it earlier today…
– The Washington Post, 2/8/1985
WILLIAMS LEADS LABOUR TO NARROW VICTORY!
…Elections were held for all 650 seats… Williams of the Labour party won 339 seats, a downward swing from the 352 it held before the election, while the “wet” Conservative leader Jim Prior led his party to winning 268. The centrist SDP-Liberal Alliance, meanwhile, picked up 10 seats, bringing their total to 25.
…due to the growth of left-wing members of the party, and with many of said members remaining unhappy by the ascension of the moderate Shirley Williams to the office of Prime Minister, several progressives departed from Labour late last year to form a new party: the United Kingdom Intrepid Progressive party, or U.K.I.P. for short. Tonight, the UKIPs won 5 seats. …The Moralist party, however, seems to have imploded in the wake of the Prior candidacy appealing to the party’s base; the socially conservative party has gone from holding 4 seats to just 1, the one held by its leader, Mary Whitehouse. 12 other seats went to smaller parties.
…The most-watched race of tonight, though, was the Liverpool election that saw famous musician and political activist John Lennon win a seat in parliament…
– The Guardian, 2/11/1985
…John Lennon, having just won a seat in parliament from Liverpool, was conflicted over the breakaway UKIP party. He agreed with their passion and ideology, but believed that such progressive stances would have a better chance of being implemented via through the Labour party, as it was already a well-established major party. As a result, John feared the existence of UKIP would siphon more progressives out of the Labour party, emboldening the moderate plans of Prime Minister Williams and her allies…
– Pat Sheffield’s Dreams, Reality, and Music: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole Entire World, Tumbleweed Publications, 2000
…On February 16, 1985, voluntary abortion became legal across Canada via striking down an abortion-when-necessary law stemming from the June 27, 1969 Criminal Law Amendment Act. Soon after, the US phrase “taking a trip to Canada” became synonymous with getting an abortion, as many Americans would take “extended vacations” to the Great White North to get “voluntary” abortions…
– Mary Ziegler’s Abortion: A History, Harvard University Press, 2015
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– Colonel Sanders, age 94, receiving an award from an old-fashioned Women's Club in Louisville, Kentucky, 2/18/1985
President of Mexico Miguel de la Madrid’s actions were brought into question when a February 1985 Internal CIA report revealed that the federal government of Mexico had spent much of American assistance funding on wealthy donors instead of on the US’s efforts to fight the recreadrug “epidemic” plaguing the US, Mexico, Colombia, and several other nations of the Western Hemisphere. In response to this Denton ended the financial help, claiming the money was needed for domestic programs at a press conference the next day, February 19. That same day, Denton privately “told off” de la Madrid for “betraying” him, and, according to former Secretary of Defense William Westmoreland, adding “I should carpetbomb your mansion into dust. It seems we paid for it, so there’d be nothing wrong with it! But I’m not an unhinged man, so instead, I’ll just tell you one thing – never f*ck with me again, Miguel, because when you f*ck with me, you are f*cking with all of United States and all of its firepower. Good day.” Regardless of the accuracy of this quote, the fact does remain that US-Mexico relations under Denton became ice-cold after February 1985…
– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002
VP ALEXANDER’S INITIATIVES ARE TAKING FORM: A Review
…In stark contrast to the freezing-cold relationship of President Mondale and Vice President Gravel, Denton and Alexander have grown closer over the past four years, to the point that Alexander is being seen as a “Assistant President” of sorts. The label rings true especially in the wake of Alexander’s latest efforts on Capitol Hill. The Vice President has worked with conservative lawmakers – mostly Republicans, but also including conservative Democrats – to pass a string of new laws…
…One of these new bills will allow firearms in checked baggage to be transported on all public train systems… Alexander is a promoter of a new tax bill that will most likely be passed despite Democratic and liberal opposition. Alexander advocates for a “flatter, fairer, simpler federal income tax,” a reduction of estate tax, a “family-friendly” tax code, and the continuation of the federal reduction of capital gains taxes and dividends. Alexander has also opposed higher taxes on the wealthy, and has backed a plan to implement $100billion in tax breaks over the next four years to continue the nation’s growth.
…In regards to less economic concerns, Alexander is supportive of a recent bill that calls for making English the official language of the United States and the U.S. government, and replacing bilingual schools with English-only schools in order to “strongly coerce” non-English speaking Americans to learn the language. “We can’t be a united country if so many of us can’t even understand the rest of us,” claims Congressman Bob Dornan (R-CA), one of the bill’s more outspoken co-sponsors. …The Vice President has also called for more severe punishments for illegal aliens, and is opposed to “widening the pathway” to citizenship for illegal aliens in general, though he has gone on record as saying that he is “okay” with “the legal ones going through the process.”
– The Atlantic, 2/27/1985 issue [2]
ANTI-SECRECY CONGRESSMEN SET SIGHTS ON SANDERS’ SPICES
…A group of five US Representatives – all Democrats – are lobbying the FDA to inspect Kentucky Fried Chicken, demanding that the multinational brand and its parent company, Finger Lickin’ Good Inc., reveal the contents of its famous “trade secret” eleven herbs & spices! “The American people have the right to know what’s in that stuff,” says de facto group leader John Donald “Don” Fuqua (D-FL-2)… Another congressman even goes so far as to suggest that the presence of Harley Sanders in the Senate constitutes a “conflict of interests” in regards to Senate votes concerning business regulations that would affect Kentucky Fried Chicken. This claim, however, conflicts with Harley Sanders having severed all ties from KFC upon being elected to the US Senate…
– The New York Post, 2/28/1985
Denton approval rating shatters record high at 91%
…“The President is ushering in a new post-Cold War era with another four years of unquestioned American greatness,” says Senator Jack Edwards (R-AL)…
– The Washington Post, 3/1/1985
…In a formal statement, the CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Lee Cummings has announced that the multinational corporation will not, quote, “violate the sanctity of respecting trade secrets,” unquote, and will not disclose the company’s famous 11 Secret Herbs and Spices to, quote, “any inquiring FDA officials,” unquote. The statement comes after members of the US House of Representatives requested the FDA inspect the famous Trade Secret. The statement also stated the company’s belief that revealing the secret composition of flavoring applied to the company’s famous chicken would jeopardize the nation’s economy and markets by creating, quote, “an unprecedented breach in the trust of businesses big and small,” unquote. As U.S. District judges for Kentucky awaits additional replies from KFC’s attorneys, sources state that at least one circuit judge favors an FDA inquiry in order assure consumer safety…
[snip]
…We now have an update on the KFC Spices controversy. Attorneys for KFC have released to the FDA documents pertaining to the specific procedures used by KFC when employees and contractors handle the herbs and spices, along with citations for the, quote, “impeccably high ratings,” unquote, that Finger Lickin’ Good Incorporated has received from various sanitation inspection entities for the past ten years alone...
– The Overmyer Network, 3/2/1985 broadcast
…We can confirm that a powerful earthquake has pummeled the nation of Chile. Measured roughly at 8.0 on the Richter Scale, it appears that the quake has left at least hundred people dead, and over one thousand injured, along with having destroyed thousands of homes in a significant crisis for the South American country…
– CBS, 3/3/1985 broadcast
COLONEL SANDERS PLEDGES $1MILLION TO CHILE EARTHQUAKE RELIEF EFFORT
– The Wall Street Journal, 3/4/1985
On March 7, the “Big Five” of television – ABC, NBC, CBS, Overmyer and KNN – all reported on major breaking news: a bombshell scandal had hit D.C. as a Tennessee state investigation revealed that Vice President Lamar Alexander, while serving as Governor of Tennessee, had improperly accepted donations from several Christian colleges and schools, via members of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. The education-oriented institutions hoped to gain favoritism with the Governor in order to receive accreditation under his administration. Once out of office in 1979 but before he decided to launch a presidential bid later that same year, Alexander joined the board of the religious Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, for a salary that was 200 times above average for his largely advisory role.
While this controversy alone may have not been so damaging, the investigation into this action also led to state prosecutors, overseen by attorney general W. J. Michael Cody, discovering that the Vice President had frequently shifted his personal assets between banking accounts, mainly between one in his name, one in the name of his wife, a “family account.”
[3]
While Alexander both publicly and privately proclaimed that there had been no wrongdoing, his initial fumbling at a press conference held the next day – in which he said “If I did anything illegal, I had nothing to do with it” – the Tennessee justice department nevertheless continued the investigation as it became more apparent that the “shifting funds” patterned had continued until 1982, after Alexander had entered his current occupation. This meant that charges could still be brought against Alexander if necessary because, while the statute of limitations for any wrongdoing committed while Governor had expired, said statute did not protect Alexander from any wrongdoing committed during any point in his Vice-Presidency.
– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005
REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DIES AT 56; Famous Civil Rights Leader Suffered From Heart Failure
…his wife of 32 years, Coretta Scott King, noted that “he had so much of his heart to give that the doctors said Martin had the heart of a 90-year-old”…
– The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/15/1985
EXPO ’85 OPENS IN JAPAN TODAY
…with the theme being focused on the application and use of the latest science and technology in future homes, several tech companies big and small are attending this celebration of human accomplishments and aspirations…
– The Los Angeles Times, 3/17/1985
THE RISE OF THE PROGRESSIVE TOMORROWISTS
…The party was formed in 1969, when the New Democrats merged with the waning Social Credits…the interim party name was the “Leftward Tomorrow” Party, but this was changed to the current name in 1971… Under Ed Broadbent’s leadership, the PTs (sometimes pronounced “Peteys”) have slowly gained a sizeable amount of support among left-leaning and populist-leaning Canadians…
– The Toronto Star, 3/17/1985
CHRETIEN WINS SECOND TERM BY A HAIR; PTs Almost Beat PCs For Second Place
…Despite winning by a margin of victory much narrower than his 1980 election, Jean Chretien (L-QC) will remain Prime Minister Canada thanks to a plurality in the popular vote …Opposition leader Erik Nielsen (PC-AB) fared better than expected, but the real winner of the night very well may have been Ed Broadbent (PT-ON), who breathes fresh air into the far-left Tommorrowists to come within five seats of becoming the leader of the opposition…
– The Globe And Mail, 3/20/1985
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Above: Governor Coya Knutson (D-MN) reflecting on Humphrey’s legacy in a KNN interview, c. March 1985; Knutson worked with Humphrey on multiple projects during their time in election politics, and was “always grateful” of his early support of her career.
Humphrey passed away from the cancer two months shy of his 74th birthday. His body laid in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol before being buried in Waverly, Minnesota. Both foes and friends, from William Scranton, Mario Biaggi, John F. Kennedy and Colonel Sanders, to Walter Mondale and Coya Knutson, paid their final respects; the funeral was the first time in which Kennedy and Sanders were in the same place at the same time since the 196 debates… In the US Senate, Governor Knutson appointed state Secretary of State Joan Growe to the vacant desk, after the widowed former Second Lady of the United States Muriel Humphrey declined the offer to do so herself.
– Carl Solberg’s H.H.H.: A Biography, Borealis Books, 2001 edition
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– clickopedia.co.usa
FURTHER EVIDENCE OF VP WRONGDOING PUTS STRENGTH OF SUPPORTERS’ “STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS” CLAIMS TO THE TEST
– The Chicago Tribune, 3/23/1985
Under increasing pressure to settle the matter, Alexander looked to the precedence set by John C. Calhoun, who had faced a similar scandal while serving as Vice President in 1826, in order to argue that a sitting Vice President cannot be indicted. Alexander also
tried to rally public opinion, giving a speech before a friendly audience in Los Angeles asserting his innocence. [4]
– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005
“People sure plumb forgot all about the Jake Butcher Scandal in a hurry, didn’t they?”
[5]
– Barry Goldwater, 3/25/1985
On April 3, 1985, the interim government organized an All-Russia referendum about the introduction of the proposed posts of “President” and “Vice President” for the purpose of decentralizing power from the Interim National Assembly while still providing a clear leader for national unity and leadership on the world stage. The positions would have the power to introduce mandates and speak before congress, but would have little veto power. The RSFSR, by popular vote, went with “yea” with 68.1%, while “nay” received 31.9%. With turnout being 81.2%, the vote stood and the motion was carried.
With the position introduced, the head of the I.N.A. and the de-facto leader of the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Orlov, served as interim President until a Presidential election could be held three months later…
– Risto Alapuro and Oleg Kharkhordin’s Community Building in Post-Soviet Russia, Routledge Books, 2011
With the Soviet Union gone, Yugoslavian politicians began looking to the U.S. government. Former Tito ally Veselin Duranovic noted in April 1985 “I should not be so surprised. America had lasted for over 200 years. The USSR could not make it to 70. What is it about America that gives that country such longevity?”
It was on a sunny April morning when Duranovic announced that he had ultimately decided that it was the “melting pot” sense of unity that kept the US strong and united. He also had come to believe that people “work better when neighborhoods think more broadly about their shared city and desires,” and so began to push for unity relationships with the US.
To China, this was seen as another loss for the cause of communism, as Yugoslavia was the last pinnacle of communism left in Europe…
– Leslie Benson’s Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Palgrave Publishers, 2001
April 4, 1985 was not a good day for Buz Lukens. That morning, The Washington Post published the story of a woman from Cincinnati, Ohio, who, under the pseudonym Anna Mason (after two towns on Ohio’s Route 75), claimed that the US Secretary of State and his lawyers had given her $100,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement about an “unprintable sexual incident” regarding Lukens and Mason’s 14-year-old daughter, who was given the pseudonym Sidney after another location on Route 75. The incident, Anna stated, had occurred in June 1984, and Anna was “coerced” into signing the agreement in August. Naturally, Lukens denied it all, claiming to be the lies of a woman desperate for fame and fortune. The next day, Anna filed a civil suit in Ohio to nullify the nondisclosure agreement on the claim that she signed it under great duress and intimidation.
– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988
The initial reaction to the accusations made against Lukens was minor, but as it made its way through the news cycle, a familiar atmosphere return to the United States. Feminist activists began to circulate the story and repeatedly refer to it on public radio and public access TV stations and talk shows, spreading their support for the ones known as Anna and Sidney Mason.
– Michael Stewart Foley’s Front Porch Politics: American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s, 2013 net-book edition
“Uh, Buz, this ain’t gonna be some kind of problem, right?”
“Not at all. I promise – there’s nothing to worry about here.”
– Conversation between President Denton and Secretary Lukens, c. mid-April 1985 (multiple sources, but still possibly anecdotal)
KEMP LEADS EFFORT TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
…Led by House Whip Kemp, and reportedly tacitly supported by House Speaker Michel, House Majority Leader Polonko, and leading House Deputy Whip Emery, the conservative lawmakers are gaining ground in their call for cutbacks on Social Security benefits in order to “alleviate [a] federal burden”…
– The Wall Street Journal, 4/10/1985
ENVER HOXHA, LEADER OF ALBANIA SINCE 1944, DIES AT 76
…Hoxha isolated his nation from the rest of the world with fear and paranoia, which saw him install an extraordinary number of fallout shelters across the nation’s countryside and cities. …With Albania being economically in shambles, Hoxha’s successor, Ramiz Alia, will have his hands full…
– The New York Times, 4/11/1985
FEMINIST GROUPS ACROSS CA & NY CALL FOR LUKENS TO RESIGN AMID UNDERAGE RELATIONS CLAIM
– The Los Angeles Times, 4/12/1985
SEC. OF STATE LUKENS MEETS WITH U.K. DIPLOMATS IN LONDON AS CONTROVERSY BACK HOME CONTINUES
– The Washington Times, 4/22/1985
“It is with great sadness that I confirm that Supreme Court Associate Justice Sarah Tilghman Hughes has passed away earlier today at the age of 88. Despite suffering a stroke three years ago, she remained mentally sharp, and continued to support the policies she believed in until the very end. Hughes was an inspirational leader that I had the pleasure to work for during most of her 23 years on the bench. She was a passionate and level-headed justice, a steady and determined force on the bench who will be missed greatly by all who had the pleasure to know her and know of her.”
– Linda Coffee, former personal secretary and personal assistant to Justice Hughes, 4/23/1985 press statement
COMMERCIAL SANTE FE-TO-NEW YORK FLIGHT MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING AT O’HARE: Delta Air Lines’ Lockheed Plane Survives Microburst “Near-Miss”
…The incident comes just days after the FAA released a report calling for a “severe need” to update pilot, emergency situation, and mechanic repairs training programs. Last year, the Denton White House relaxed F.A.A. security measures in order to better the air travel industry. This move freed up funds for the F.A.A., allowing it to launch an expensive investigation into the quality of procedures and training that pilots go through to equip them for emergency situations…
– The Albuquerque Journal, 4/25/1985
LOUISVILLE AIMS FOR MORE RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES IN CITY/COUNTY MERGER
…the city of Louisville has merged with Jefferson County, creating what is being called a “metro government” in an effort to maintain the inflow of employers and revenue that both areas have enjoyed (for the most part) since the early 1970s…
– The Paducah Sun, 4/29/1985
FORMER SENATOR GREMILLION ACQUITTED ON PERJURY CHARGE
– The Washington Times, 4/30/1985
Needing to make the second Supreme Court nomination of his administration, Denton studied the court’s composition. The justices were almost evenly split between four right-leaning justices (Denton’s 1981 pick Herb Fogel of Pennsylvania, Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson of Alabama, Sylvia Bacon of California, and Edward Hirsch Levi of Illinois) and four left-leaning justices (A. Leon Higginbotham of Pennsylvania, William Nealon of Pennsylvania, Miles W. Lord of Minnesota, and William Brennan of New Jersey). His personal secretary would later reveal that Denton did not consider gender or race when seeking out a nominee due to a woman and an African-American already being on the Supreme Court. Instead, due to the lack of western and southern representation on the court, Denton looked at potential nominees from the Court of Appeals Circuits 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 for geographical balance. With almost a third of the Senate held by Republicans and a majority by conservatives, Denton also sought out a strong social and fiscal conservative justice for the vacant seat.
The eight Court of Appeals Circuit Judges considered the most were 60-year-old Charles Clark of Mississippi, 63-year-old James Barrett of Wyoming, 65-year-old Joseph Tyree Sneed III of California with deep Texas roots, 52-year-old Alfred Goodwin of Oregon, 52-year-old former Brigham Young University President Dallin Oaks of Utah, 56-year-old Peter Fay of Florida, anti-capital punishment 60-year-old Warren Urbom of Nebraska, and the Illinois-born 63-year-old Carl Olaf Bue Jr. of Texas. Also considered were the incumbent Attorney General of California Anthony McLeod Kennedy, a mainstream moderate; Judge Gerald Tjoflat of Florida; 69-year-old Judge Robert Hugh McWilliams Jr. of Kansas; Assistant US Secretary of Defense, former FBI Assistant Director, and former Circuit Judge William Hedgcock Webster of Missouri; Assistant Attorney General of US Fern Meyerson Smith from California; Puerto Rican Judge Mark Americus Constantino of New York; 79-year-old Senior D.C. Court of Appeals Judge George MacKinnon of Minnesota; and Court of Appeals Judge and follower of the Baha’i Faith Dorothy Wright Nelson of California.
Ultimately, Sneed was nominated on the third of May. Denton preferred Sneed in the end due to his conservative record on law-and-order issues, recreadrugs, and BLUTAGO rights.
[6] Senators Hoff and Kennedy-Shriver launched a “No Need For Sneed” campaign almost immediately afterward for that same record.
– Linda Greenhouse and Morton J. Horwitz’s Upholding Liberty: The Supreme Court Under Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson, Sunrise Publishing, 2019
…KFC’s parent corporation, Finger Lickin’ Good Inc., has teamed up with the US-based Bread for the World organization to launch an anti-hunger campaign aiming to drop food insecurity levels in the “hungriest” counties in the US…
– ABC News, 5/5/1985
EX-PROFESSOR ACCUSES VP OF ACCEPTING “THE EQUIVALENCE OF A BRIBE”
A former member of the faculty at Trevecca Nazarene University has formally alleged that Vice President Lamar Alexander received payments from TNU in September 1981 in exchange for supporting a federal bill that sought to impose higher regulations on the activities of Christian schools… The placement of the payments – repeatedly switched between three different accounts – could also mean that Alexander could be charged with tax fraud…
– The Chicago Tribune, “exposé” article, 5/6/1985
FULL COPY OF LUKENS’ NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT RELEASED! Includes Lukens’ signature!!!
…the copy of the agreement about the Secretary’s “night of sexual intimacy” with an underage girl is authentic according to several analysts… Mrs. Mason claims the documentation was made in triplicate, and that Lukens and his lawyers forgot to leave with this copy… ...one subsection of the legal document includes a bit about additional payments “if the situation requires [the daughter] to obtain an abortion.”
– The New York Post, 5/9/1985
…You may not remember where you were when the papers reported that President Denton was furious, positively outraged, they said, at Lukens and his discretion. You also may not remember the additional reports claiming that the Secretary was repeatedly kept out of cabinet meetings immediately after the scandal grew in seriousness. You may not even remember where you were when Lukens filed a defamation lawsuit against Mason.
That’s alright, because what mattered more was the outrage. The fury that rose up over the revelation that the man fourth in line for the Presidency was a degenerate lowlife. …But it was not just the far-left that was enraged. In fact, conservative women being incensed by Lukens’ “abortion” stipulation was a political hit much closer to home for Denton. Some contributors to the National Review condemned the President for having “such an immoral man work for” him. Pundits were sure to take note that, indeed, there are women in both major political parties, and that women can in fact be conservative. For the first time in ages, far-left pioneers like Congresswoman Trudy Cooper and far-right talking heads like Phyllis Schlafly agreed on something – Lukens was scum.
– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 1988
LUKENS LEGAL TEAM REVEALS ANNA MASON HAS CRIMINAL PAST
– The Dayton Daily News, 5/12/1985
Anna Mason’s police record showed that she had shoplifted in her teens, which Anna claimed was the result of “hanging out with the wrong kind of crowd.” A report of crashing her car and another incident of disturbing the peace revealed Anna’s temperamental side. Fine was sympathetic, telling her firm’s “biggest” client “Don’t cry, and don’t apologize. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.”
On May 20th, in Washington, D.C., the “Citizens For Women’s Justice” organization was officially launched. Officially, it was co-founded by women’s rights attorney Gloria Bloom Allred and several other big names (many being “veterans” of the Ms. Arkansas Scandal and its subsequent “Ark Wave”), but it was unofficial co-founded by them and by Anna Mason’s “number one” supporter Janice Fine, her older sister Marjorie, 49-year-old activist Doris Lake, and several others as well. Initially meant to mobilize support for the Masons at a time when many still did not believe their story, despite the evidence in their favor, due to her police record, the organization soon expanded to cover all aspects of protecting women’s rights.
– Andrew Boyd and D. O. Mitchell’s Glorious Chaos: A Guide for The Revolutionary in You, Sparkstarters Publications, 2013
EXTRA! LUKENS INDICTED BY OHIO COURT!
…An Ohio court has indicted the former Secretary of State on the charges of contributing to the delinquency and unruliness of a minor and of having sex with a minor. Both of these are serious crimes in the state of Ohio, described as “degenerate crimes worthy of high punishment” by Lukens in 1973. In that year, Lukens, as the Governor of Ohio, successfully pushed for the raising of the penalties and severity of sentences for both crimes as part of a tough-on-crime initiative ahead of his 1974 re-election campaign... The decision comes days after being subpoenaed for an unrelated, and newer, charge of workplace pestering that alleged occurred in 1978, during his last year as Governor…
– The Los Angeles Times, 5/22/1985
OHIO JURY BRINGS CHARGES AGAINST LUKENS; THE US SECRETARY OF STATE MUST APPEAR IN COURT
– The Madras Pioneer, 5/22/1985
Even [White House Counsel] Jesse Helms suggested Lukens be forced to resign. Denton still would not budge from his position.
“Buz is an invaluable member of this team,” Denton again defended his decision to not accept a resignation from Lukens, claiming, “He’s proven himself to be a very effective diplomat on the world stage. And now, with that mad man in Pakistan and our boys in uniform in Colombia and still in Libya, we can’t afford a destabilizing shake-up in our diplomatic line of defense against the enemies of freedom.”
Ugh, this isn’t a battle!, I remember thinking to myself, almost wanting to roll my eyes at the ridiculously over-the-top rhetoric.
Denton also defended Lukens by bringing up how his marriage had fallen apart in early 1984. “The man’s wife had left him. She'd filed for divorce, and was eyeing half of everything. He was in a bad way. If he truly did some of the things he did, he likely wasn’t thinking clearly when he did them.” From that statement, [Chief of Staff] Richard Schermerhorn came up with what “a solution” – have Lukens take a short leave of absence for “exhaustion,” and claim his previous actions to be the result of “fatigue.” I thought this was a horridly poor excuse – and, thankfully, many in the media thought so too – but my opposition to the notion fell on practically deaf ears.
By this point in time, it was becoming increasingly obvious that my presence in the White House was not nearly as effective and impactful as it had been before. [snip] I handed in my letter of resignation that November.
– Former White House Chief Domestic Policy Advisor Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson’s Behind Closed Doors: The Machinations of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1986
SENATOR NIXON TURNS ON FORMER ALLY LUKENS!
…Nixon stated “I think it’s important for it to be known what the Secretary did and how he did it.” …Nixon further stated, “if the Secretary did do what they’re saying he did, just because he’s the Secretary of State doesn’t make it legal, allowed, or alright.”
– The Dayton Daily News, 5/26/1985
…The last manned moon mission of NASA’s Aries program before finally shifting its full focus onto shuttleplanes and the I.S.S. saw Aries 13 launch on May 28, 1985, and land on the lunar surface with four people on board – a white man (53-year-old veteran astronaut and this mission’s commander Clifton Williams), a white woman (and the fifth woman to land on the moon overall; 36-year-old Anna Lee Fisher), an African-American man (the third Black person to land on the moon overall; 39-year-old Charles Bolden), and the half-Chinese, half-Latino 35-year-old pilot Franklin Chang Diaz...
– NASA scientist Farouk El-Baz’s Up and Away: How The Cold War Competition Pushed Us Into The Stars, MacFarland & Company, 1994
…After a very quick and speedy hearing process, the US Senate has confirmed Joseph T. Sneed the Third for the US Supreme Court’s vacant seat, with a vote of 55 yea, 43 nay, and two Senators – Maureen Reagan of California and Mario Biaggi of New York – abstaining from voting…
[pic:
imgur.com/6yAmgjB ]
[picture of Sneed shown]
– CBS Evening News, 5/30/1985
GOVERNOR GREENLEAF VISITS WESTERN PARTS OF STATE AFTER TWISTER OUTBREAK RAVAGES REGIONS
…dozens of tornadoes touched down in areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario for roughly eight hours yesterday, killing dozens and inflicting hundreds of injuries of varying degrees...
– The Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/1/1985
LUKENS ACCUSSER TESTIFIED IN OHIO TODAY
Cincinnati, OH –
A teen-ager who says she had sex with the US Secretary of State
Donald E. Lukens testified today that she appeared at his apartment in Washington, D.C. along with a female friend,
and that the three of them went to bed together.
[7] The accuser, Sidney Mason said that she first met Mr. Lukens in 1983, but did not see the Secretary of State again until May 28, 1984, when she and a friend of hers, one Celina Troy, whom had also met Lukens separately, were invited to his D.C. apartment.
The age of consent in Ohio is 16, but Sidney was days away from turning 15 when the alleged sexual encounter occurred. A misdemeanor statute in Ohio
states that “no person shall…aid, abet, induce, cause, encourage, or contribute to a child or ward of the juvenile court (into) becoming an unruly or (delinquent) child.”
[8] As a result, the US Secretary of State is on trial on two charges of contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor.
While on the witness stand, Ms. Sidney Mason said that her and Ms. Troy t
ook a cab to the Secretary’s
apartment. He met them at the door in boxer shorts, she said, and gave her a $20 bill to pay the driver of said cab.
Mr. Lukens, who once represented
a district north of Cincinnati, shook his head repeatedly during her testimony. Ms. Mason
said Mr. Lukens showed the two around his apartment and took them to a guest room.
“He told us to get undressed and put on two black robes,” Ms. Mason
said. She asked him why they could not wear two white robes she saw in the room. “He said those were for white people,” she said.
Ms. Mason
and Ms. Troy
are black. Mr. Lukens is white.
Ms. Mason
testified that they got into bed with the Secretary of State. She testified that they
then had oral sex and intercourse with Mr. Lukens. She said Mr. Lukens gave her two $20 bills and paid Ms. Troy
$30. Ms. Mason
said Mr. Lukens also gave her a glass of brandy and two gifts – a pink lace fan and a silver pillbox – and gave Ms. Troy
a bottle of perfume and a diamond pendant.
If convicted of the misdemeanor, Mr. Lukens, who is divorced, could be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000. Before Ms. Sidney Mason
testified, Mr. Lukens’s lawyer, Thomas Tyack, attacked the testimony of the girl’s mother, describing the woman as continually unemployed and desperate for notoriety and money. Mrs. Anna Mason testified yesterday that, in August 1984, she
contacted Mr. Lukens after the incident and confronted him in a meeting in Washington, D.C.
“I told him how old she was,” Mrs. Mason
said, adding that she showed Mr. Lukens pictures of the girl. She said Mr. Lukens told her he thought her daughter was 18. [7] The Washington, D.C. meeting was soon followed by a second meeting at a Holiday Inn just outside of Middletown two weeks later, where she claimed she was intimidated into signing a non-disclosure agreement and into accepting a check that Mrs. Mason repeatedly referred to as “hush money.”
– The New York Times, 6/10/1985
Reports of sexual pestering began to rise; it seems the Lukens Scandal exposed a side of America that most wanted to believe was no longer a lingering situation for women. It soon began to feel like 1985 was turning into 1970.
– Andrew Boyd and D. O. Mitchell’s Glorious Chaos: A Guide for The Revolutionary in You, Sparkstarters Publications, 2013
F.E.C. LAUNCHES INQUIRY INTO ORIGINS OF LUKENS’ “HUSH MONEY”
…the Federal Election Commission has launched an official inquiry into where the Secretary of State obtained funds for a “hush money” payment of $100,000 in August of last year. Working with Ohio’s state Attorney General Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.’s justice department, the FEC, an independent federal agency, has formally requested access to any and all executive files, general files, legislative files, personal files, political and campaign files (including senatorial, congressional, gubernatorial, vice presidential and presidential files), public relations files, sound and visual materials (photographs and videos), speeches, banking and monetary transactions, and any and all other materials and paper trails relative to their inquiry...
– The Washington Post, 6/19/1985
Lukens only worsened the situation by lambasting “all” media outlets for “blowing things really out of proportion” at a press briefing on June 22. During one strange moment during his criticisms, he was sure to single out Evan W. Thomas III, a journalist for Time Magazine at the time, for “not [being] a patriot” due to the fact that his father was Norman Thomas, a known Socialist politician.
– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988
Supply and demand dictated that the rise in mothers working outside the home would lead to a rise in day-care centers. What economics did not predict was a rise in anxiety, guilt and fear experienced by said mothers leaving their young with people who could quite easily be considered – by the parent or the child – as strangers. The resulting paranoia created a tense atmosphere that was set aflame upon the sordid details of the Lukens Scandal coming to light. “If we can’t trust the Secretary of State – the man fourth in line for the Presidency – who can we trust?” was the general feeling. As a result, an unforeseen consequence of the Lukens Scandal was a sudden drop in women in the workforce rates as women began becoming more reluctant to leave their children. Feminist activists such as former US Congressman Sarah Weddington (D-TX) sought out alternatives as the situation continued. Talks of things such as onsite daycare – and to lesser extent (at the time), at-home work – began to work their way around, being promoted on radio and then on TV programs and in newspapers, books and professional articles...
– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 1988
So after that bizarre accusation, the U.S. Attorney General, Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, declined to lead the federal Justice Department into an investigation into an alleged misuse of federal funds. Instead, after the releasing of the results of a quick inquiry into the State Department, Cianci issued and, in late June, fully released a small report claiming there was “too little evidence” to merit a full-on investigation.
– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988
…After almost three months
[9] of protests, the scandal-stricken Buz Lukens has finally stepped down as the US Secretary of State in order to appear before an Ohio court on two charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor…
– CBS News, 7/1/1985
In 1979, both Harvey and Robert Weinstein, using the profits saved from their concert-promoting business, founded Miriamax, an independent film distribution company named after their parents Miriam and Max Weinstein. With various music and arthouse films, the company was slowly and steadily growing when
Shortly after the Fourth of July celebrations of 1985, a former assistant for Miriamax accused Harvey Weinstein of workplace pestering. This was soon followed by several former interns and a former appointments secretary stepping forward to describe either experiencing or knowing of similar instances of inappropriate behavior and sexual assault from Harvey. These accusations led to Bob firing Harvey from Miriamax in order to keep the company from being financially ruined from the scandal. [snip] Bob Weinstein continued to run the company while Harvey was imprisoned on sexual assault charges, serving three sentences from 1989 to 2014. [snip] In 2015, Bob’s brother Harvey was controversially made a silent partner in Miriamax 18 months after being released from prison on parole, and later took on an advisory role in the company. In 2016, however, Harvey stepped down from said role in the midst of increased controversy over his presence in the company, possibly due to the 2016 film “Anna Mason” reviving public interest in Harvey’s 1980s court cases; Harvey currently (as of early 2020) works as a self-hired diabetes research advocate in Montauk, Long Island.
– clickopedia.co.usa/Bob_Weinstein
LUKENS FOUND GUILTY ON BOTH CHARGES; In Lenient Ruling, Sentenced To 3 Months In Jail And $5,000 Fine
– The New York Times, 7/8/1985
It began with the oil. Under Chairman Jerry John Rawlings, a structural adjustment plan had been negotiated to combat the nation’s economic slump that had contributed to Rawlings rising to power. Understanding the need to change many old economic policies, Rawlings invited foreign energy companies to invest in the nation during the early 1980s. With US companies seeking to recover from the crash of ’78, several took Rawlings up on the offer. The investing paid off in 1985, when the Jubilee Oil Field was discovered
[10] off the coast of Ghana’s Western Region by an American oil company. Estimates at the time suggested that at least 2 million barrels of sweet crude oil was in the Atlantic, waiting to be used. Ghana found itself swiftly entering a new, more prosperous era, as oil and gas exploration came to dominate the economy, fueling national projects such as the construction of roads, hospitals and schools.
– Historian Roger Gocking’s The Modern History of Ghana, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005
As the US Justice Department and the Ohio A.G. collaborated with each other, FBI officials seized documents and business records in a clandestine raid on Lukens’ office in D.C. and Cincinnati on July 15. Concurrently, Denton was optimistic that “the situation with Buz,” as the President called it, would blow over “soon enough,” and so approved of his Attorney General, Buddy Cianci, appointing a special prosecutor to the source-of-funds investigation. The man Cianci hired for the role was named Stephen S. Trott, a 45-year-old former D.A. for L.A., California, then working as the Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.
– David Frum’s political textbook How We Got Here: The ’80s, Basic Books NY, 2007
…Despite swearing innocence, the scandal surrounding Vice President Alexander just took another incriminating turn. Earlier today, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Eastern Tennessee John W. Gill Jr. formally gave Alexander’s office a letter stating that he is under federal investigation for fraud…
– The Overyer Network, 7/10/1985 report
COLONEL SANDERS BECOMES GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER WITH THE BIRTH OF HARLAND V
Five Generations of Greatness Gather In One Room At Hospital – See Inside for Photos!
…Harland David Sanders V (the fifth) was born in Florence Medical Center in Florence, Kentucky, to Harland David “Davey” Sanders IV and Samantha Lee. Davey (b. 1959) is the son of Harland “Lando” Sanders III (b. 1939), who is the son of Senator Harley Sanders, Colonel Sanders’ son, making Davey the Colonel’s great-grandson…
– The National Enquirer, US tabloid “grocery store” magazine, 7/15/1985
We knew the competition was getting more serious when the Amiga personal computer came out in July of ’85, and it was a better seller than expected. About, what was it? I want to say, six? Yeah, six months later the Microsoft Corporation releases the second version of Windows, Windows 2.0
[11], and all these other, newer computer companies start entering the market. Sinclair Research, Eagle Computers, Packard Bell, Prime Computer, Texas Instruments, they all start trying to make the best computer. I mean, I wasn’t partial to so much competition, but it did spur research and development of computer technology, so in the end it was a really good, a great thing to have happened, and I’m really happy that it did.
– Bill Gates, KNN interview with Bill Gates and Kent Allen, 9/1/1995
[pic:
imgur.com/wnvjDm9 ]
– Commodore International’s 1987 Amiga 500; this model would be an even better seller than its 1986 predecessor due to its potential for efficiency in offices during the mid-to-late 1980s
The
1985 FDRR Presidential Election was held in the Federal Democratic Republic of Russia on July 27, 1985. Several candidates ran for a five-year term in a first round-runoff election system similar to the ones used by the nations of France and Cuba. The incumbent interim President, Vlad Orlov, declined to run, making for an open election. The lack of established political parties made for a largely non-partisan election season.
[snip]
Candidates (8):
Vasily
Arkhipov b. 1926 (Communist (“conservative” faction)), a Vice Admiral during the Cuba War and the Minister of Defense under Podgorny, came out of retirement to defend the past actions of the USSR.
Oleg
Baklanov, b. 1932 (Independent), was the Minister of General Machine Building under Podgorny and Ustinov, and was responsible for overseeing the developments of the Soviet space industry during that time. He opposed the coup that overthrew Ustinov and opposed the collapse of the Soviet Union, but ran on a platform focused on scientific advancement and on getting foreign businesses to invest in Russia.
Vladimir
Bukovsky, b. 1942 (Progressive), was a human rights activist who was expelled from the USSR in 1976 for being a dissident since the 1950s; now that he had been allowed back in, he ran on a platform focused on, along with other issues, mental health care and government reparations for survivors of the USSR’s “horrific” mental hospitals, labor camps and prison systems.
Gennady
Burbulis, b. 1945 (National), had organized public forums to discuss local issues under Podgorny and Yakovlev. A supporter of democratic reform, he sought to carefully walk a fine line between institutional change and alleged “radicalism” many remaining hardliners blamed for the collapse of the USSR.
Vladimir
Chub, b. 1948 (Independent), was the youngest candidate in the race, and called for major socio-economic development, government transparency, and other changes to assure Russian prosperity in both the short term and the long term.
Mikhail
Gorbachev, b. 1931 (Communist (“glasnost” faction)), ran on a platform of “openness and helpfulness, but still communist,” but his closeness to Anatoly Lukyanov made him very unpopular.
Sergey
Sokolov, b. 1911 (Independent), was the Minister of Defense under Dmitriy Ustinov and a defender of his actions who called for slow and gradual reform, starting locally and building up to nationwide, believing this to be the best way to “observe and adjust such impactful changes.”
Vladislav
Volkov, b. 1935 (Democratic), was an engineer and former cosmonaut, first elected to the National Assembly in 1984; he supported investing in the I.S.S. project and in removing “as much poverty and famine as possible” from Russia via agriculture and urban development reform as a step “we need to take before we can even consider going to Mars.”
[snip]
Results:
Sokolov won over enough elder voters and fiscal conservatives to advance to the runoff, while Volkov’s “pragmatic” and “forward-thinking” campaign energized younger Russians, allowing him to make it to second place, behind Sokolov. In the July 27 runoff, former supporters of Baklanov, Bukovsky, and Chub rallied behind Volkov, leading to him winning the election by a margin of 12%. Sokolov, in a historically important moment went on Russian TV and radio to applaud Volkov for a well-run campaign.
[snip]
After the election, there was some more lighthearted debate over the well-known “Bald-Hairy” Pattern
[12]. Former Primer Yakovlev was often counted as either hairy or bald, as he had long and wild hair, but only on the sides of his head, and was bald on top. If Vladimir Orlov, who was merely the “interim” head of state (both before and after Yakovlev), was counted in the hairy-bald pattern, then Yakovlev was considered hairy in order to maintain the pattern; if Orlov was not counted, Yakovlev was considered “bald” to maintain the pattern. Some voters decided that the election helped “clarify” the situation by a “hairy” candidate winning the election.
– clickopedia.co.usa
[pic:
imgur.com/6kYIi50 ]
– Vlad Volkov, c. 1971
…After the Soviet collapsed, the Khalq and Parham Communist parties in Afghanistan’s bicameral legislature, both of whom were funded by the Soviets, fell out of favor as funding dried up and American mining and research companies boosted the nation’s economy, making the 1980s a “Golden Decade” for Afghanistan…
– Tamim Ansary’s Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan, Hachette Book Group, 2012
An insurrection in Jammu and Kashmir broke out in early July 1985. Inspired by the successful war of independence fought by the people of United Turkestan, anti-India demonstrations erupted in the disputed region’s urban centers of Rajauri and Srinagar. Indian police used batons and pepper spray on the crowds and established a curfew for night hours. Pakistan soon intervened by providing arms and training to Kashmir militants, prompting a mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir valley. Further unrest was provoked when dozens were protestors were killed on July 30, when Indian police fired on them during the second straight week of civil disobedience, leading to thousands, if not millions (sources and eyewitness accounts vary) taking to the streets, demanding the region separate from India. As the weeks continued onward, thousands of more youths traveled into Pakistan, repeating a vicious cycle of violence leading to more violence. Human rights violations were committed on all sides.
Disgusted by the violent tendencies of both nation’s governments, former US President Colonel Sanders, along with several anti-war organizations, sought to convince “all” relevant companies to end, or at least threaten to cease, all business activities with both countries unless both sides agreed to a ceasefire... International pressure would continue to develop over the months and years that followed until…
– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy in the Cold War: Negotiation & Confrontation, Routledge, 2017
…Breaking News: the F.E.C.’s investigators have confirmed that Secretary of State Buz Lukens used political funds for the Cincinnati Hush Money payment, which is a clear violation of federal finance use laws as it was not disclosed to the IRS, or to the FEC, or on US State Department records… another news bulletin concerning Secretary Lukens has just come over the wire… the judge overseeing Lukens’ defamation charge has ruled against the lawsuit, effectively throwing it out of court...
– KNN, 8/3/1985 report
DENTON STILL REFUSES TO CRITICIZE LUKENS, CLAIMING “NO MAN IS PERFECT”
– The New York Times, 8/7/1985
PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN 50+ CITIES OVER DENTON’S COMMENTS DEFENDING LUKENS
– The Los Angeles Times, 8/7/1985
ASSISTANT HEALTH AND WELFARE SECRETARY RESIGNS IN PROTEST OF LUKENS STILL STAYING ON
…the strongly pro-life Assistant Secretary Marjory Mecklenburg remarked that she is “outraged” at Denton’s “woefully unwise” decision to allow Lukens, whom she described as “a man with no remorse and no regard for the unborn or for minors” to retain his position of Secretary of State for so long…
– The Washington Post, 8/9/1985
AT LEAST 1,000 ARRESTED IN XINJIANG AND TIBET AFTER CAM BOMBS KILL FIVE CHINESE OFFICERS IN URUMQI AND LHASA
– The San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/10/1985
SOURCE: MCDONALD’S IS AIMING TO BEAT KFC AND OTHERS TO BEING THE FIRST U.S. FOOD CHAIN TO OPEN AN OUTLET IN RUSSIA!
– The New York Post, 8/11/1985
In early August, Alexander entered into negotiations for a plea bargain on the condition that he not serve any jail time for what he insisted was “an honest and simple…mishandling of funds.” Alexander informed prosecutors and investigators that he wanted to protect his family and the American people from “a national embarrassment,” according to his memoirs. On August 12, Alexander informed Denton of his decision to resign. Denton initially opposed the notion, telling his second-in-command that it was “out of the question.” Alexander reportedly reminded the President of his low approval ratings, and he damage his continuation in the office could do to the Denton White House. After a lengthy debate, Denton finally yielded. With a sigh, Denton uttered “Things won’t be the same around here without you, dear friend.”
– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002
…Tonight’s top story: the Vice President of the United States Lamar Alexander has resigned amid investigations into his accepting of donations from lobbyists working for a Tennessee University, donations that have been described as bribes due to the timing of their delivering and of Alexander’s opposition to a Christian schools regulation bill. The announcement comes hours after the Vice President appeared in a federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, where he pleaded nolo contendere, or “no contest,” to one felony charge of tax fraud for the year of 1981, after which he paid a $50,000 fine and was sentenced to five years’ supervised probation, a sentence raised in 1983 from merely $5,000 under President Denton. Hours later, Alexander submitted a formal letter of resignation to President Denton. A few minutes ago, the White House Press Secretary made the following statement.
[cut to footage of Press Secretary Peggy Noonan]
NOONAN: Lamar Alexander, a patriot dedicated to improving the welfare of his fellow countrymen, has resigned from the office of the Vice Presidency in order to better focus on clarifying a discrepancy concerning activities that occurred in his gubernatorial and post-gubernatorial years.
[cut back to the newsroom]
ANCHOR: The resignation leaves the office of the Vice Presidency vacant until the House and the Senate can confirm Denton’s nominee for the rest of Alexander’s term, as laid out in the 26th Amendment of 1971…
– CBS Evening News, 8/15/1985 coverage
The Russian economy often seems to go through a three-part cycle: collapse, recovery, and prosperity. It was in shambles in the 1940s (collapse), it got itself together and picked itself up in the 1950s and 1960s (recovery), was roaring prosperously under Kosygin in the 1970s (prosperity), but then collapsed in the 1980s. Now, it was starting to pick itself back up again…
Advice from American and Western voices was conflicting: conservative economists and politicians urged the new President to hold off on regulations in order to allow Russian enterprises to flourish. Others told them to invest in the private sector in order to encourage other aspects of capitalism. More liberal analysts, however, urged the new President to implement privatization slowly, warning that it happening too quickly would actually hurt the newly non-communist nation’s economy
[13] Vice-President-Elect Nikolay Travkin was torn…In a telephone call to President-Elect Vladimir Volkov, the US Secretary of Commerce Alfred Hayes Jr. explained that “a nation can’t go from a command economy to a free market one too quickly. It’s crash if it tries to. It requires a well-thought-out and well-guided transitional period that is planned out long-term.”
– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016
VLADIMIR VOLKOV SWORN IN AS NEW RUSSIAN PRESIDENT TODAY: Former Cosmonaut Is The First-Ever Democratically Elected Leader of Russia
– The Guardian, 17/8/1985
To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of hosting “The Joy of Painting,” [originally titled “The Magic of Oil Painting,”] an article in the New Yorker covered the “unexpected rise” of Bob. Calling him “a perplexing fixture in the art world,” the journalist described, likely with his nose held up high, how Bob was much more popular with the average Joe Six-Pack kind of the American, and how more traditional artists of the Art World did not appreciate Bob “making art look easy.” This, however, only highlighted why Bob was so popular with the working class – anyone, from a blue-collar worker to a college student to an independent single mother – could enjoy his instructional showcasing of the wet-on-wet style, and is they so desired create a work of art that was all their own…
– Kristin G. Congdon, Doug Blandy, and Danny Coeyman’s Happy Clouds, Happy Trees: The Bob Ross Phenomenon, University Press of Mississippi, 2014
CAM BOMB KILLS 32 IN TRIPOLI
– The Boston Globe, 8/27/1985
“DENTON KNEW!” LATEST CLAIM ALLEGES THE PRESIDENT OK’D HUSH MONEY MOVE
Washington, D.C. – Thomas Tyack
[14], a former employee to Buz Lukens has come forward with the claim that he, as Lukens’ assistant, was present when White House officials, including President Denton, approved of Lukens’ decision to offer the now-infamous money payment… The former employee, who worked as Luken’s legal advisor, claims that the alleged meeting was in compliance with Denton’s wishes to know the goings-on in all cabinet and cabinet-level departments…
– The New York Times, 8/29/1985
DENTON DENIES NEW ACCUSATIONS AS WHITE HOUSE PERSONNEL KEEP QUIET
– The Washington Post, 8/29/1985
RUSSIA AGREES TO PARTIALLY COVER NUCLEAR WASTE CLEANUP COSTS
…The Russian government has agreed to cover 60% of the costs for the cleanup of lingering amounts of radiation at the nuclear meltdown site at Aktar, United Turkestan. …Iran and other nations have pledged to help clean up the Caspian and Aral Seas, where a 1984 U.N. study found that the fish in both bodies of water have been negatively affected by the deposits of nuclear material in their water.
– The Guardian, 31/8/1985
“We must stay vigilant. We must protect the moral necessities in these times. Not even our Vice President and Secretary of State are immune to the temptations of sin. No one is exempt from the devil’s plans, and that is why protecting people’s souls is a daily duty of ours. Going to church is not enough. Nodding along during the service won’t save your soul from temptations of the flesh and of the coin. You must act on what you say! You must practice what I preach!”
– Southern Baptist clergyman Billy Ervin McCormack of Louisiana, CBN broadcast, 9/1/1985
GOVERNOR LARRY JACKSON BACKS STATE-LEVEL “COMMON SENSE” ABORTION CONTROL BILL
…the proposed publicly-funded program would include a “punishment” feature of sorts for “unwarranted,” or completely voluntary, abortion. “The later the term, the stricter the law,” explains one state senator …On the other side of the issue, in an acknowledgement of the financial and emotional concerns that come with a pregnancy, Jackson supports a financial aid program meant to monetarily compensate employed women for income lost due to a pregnancy. …Jackson also encourages putting babies up for adoption as a humane alternative to aborting them when they are “at the fetal stage of life, [as abortion] deprives them of even a chance at life.”
– The Idaho Press-Tribune, 9/5/1985
“I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C’ and ‘D.’ Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? …I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism.’”
– Barry Goldwater, Meet the Press interview, 9/6/1985 [15]
“Not sure to what extent, if it was Denton’s idea or if he simply knew it and he just turned a blind eye to it, but I know for a fact that Denton knew about the hush money scheme because I overheard him and Buz discussing it in the White House. I heard them use the phrases ‘the offer’ and ‘the money.’”
– Thomas Tyack, former legal advisor to Buz Lukens, KNN interview, 9/10/1985
Returning from Expo ’85 shortly before its conclusion, and having perused its showcases and ideas in its last month, the Colonel immediately voiced his concerns over future technologies. He worried, “the dawn of the compers,” his word for computers, “will replace honest work! How will honest folks get by if one bot can do ten jobs and the only job left is the guy hired to hit the bot’s ‘on’ switch?” However, he did approach his worries with a bit of levity, saying a few weeks later at a KFC in Detroit, “I know big companies are working on bots and compers that can do things better than how most people can. But compers can never replace folks like you and me – cooks and politicians will always be needed. A bot can’t make food with love – they certainly will never make and serve KFC with love, not like you folks can, I can tell ya tat much – and I tell ya, the robots are going to end up being way too smart to go and dabble into politics.”
– Josh Ozersky’s Colonel Sanders and the American Dream, University of Texas Press, 2012
…When Mexico City was struck by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake on September 19, the US government was reluctant to send aid due to “what happened last time,” referring to the misuse of anti-recreadrug funds under Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid. As a result, the Mexican government sought out aide from Mexican-American organizations and companies, and on any international aide they could obtain. The campaign saw Mexican organizations at the national, state, and local level mobilize relief workers and reach out to other humanitarian organizations. Soon funding for earthquake relief found a supporter in Governor Toney Anaya of New Mexico. After getting both US Senators from New Mexico – Pedro Jimenez and Roberto Mondragon – to join him, Anaya led an effort that saw thousands of American citizens sending small donations – anything they had, from spare blankets and Band-Aids to pocket change – to the people of Mexico City. This would lead to a strong and friendly relationship developing between the people and governments of New Mexico and central Mexico as the years went by, culminating in Mexico City and Santa Fe officially becoming “sister cities” in 1995…
– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002
AUSTRALIA ELECTION: SNEDDEN BEATS CROSS IN LIBERAL SWEEP
…Sir Billy Snedden is set to become Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister after defeating incumbent PM Manfred Cross by a very comfortable margin. Snedden, who won the 1983 Liberal coalition leadership election over Andrew Peacock and John Howard, likely won the election due to Cross’s unpopularity more so than Snedden’s active campaign. Cross’s approval ratings steadily dropped down to 41% on election day as he failed to defend his controversial introduction of a capital gains tax in May of this year…
– The Sun, UK newspaper, 20/9/1985
The VP selection process took weeks because Denton wanted to carefully consider his options. He had no need to worry about electability because he was not forming a ticket, but instead was seeking out a competent and well-functioning first-mate who he could get along with professionally and as someone that he could call friend.
Going out the box a bit, Denton considered picking a fellow Alabaman like Senator Jack Edwards or former Senator Martin. He considered picking someone that the GOP would not miss being sent to 1 Observatory Circle, like Ron Paul, or Barry Goldwater or some other controversial lawmaker. He considered Charlton Heston and Mario Biaggi, both Democrats, but both declined. Denton even seriously considered nominating Harley Sanders at one point, only for the 73-year-old to take too long to respond, and he was passed over. Years later, I remember, Harley revealed in his memoirs that he had decided to accept the position when he was informed that Denton had already been convinced by his advisors to nominate someone else.
Because Denton’s advisors had sought out a member of congress, or at least a congressional connection, figuring that it would be easy to confirm one of their own. That led to their eyes passing over Governors and instead turning onto the House leaders – Kemp, Michel, Emery and Polonko. Of the four men, Kemp was the most conservative. A bit to left of Denton in some places, but not so much in others. Actually, it’s hard to pin down where Kemp stood politically, but to Denton, it was more important that Kemp was a team player.
– historian and former political strategist K. Christian Rove, KNN Interview, 2019
JACK KEMP, CONGRESSIONAL HOUSE WHIP, NOMINATED FOR V.P.
– The Washington Post, 9/20/1985
On September 22, the FBI began a new investigations into claims that President Denton greenlit improper use of State Department funds in connection to the Buz Lukens “hush money” payment scandal. When asked about it, Denton strongly denied the “baseless accusations” from “a disgruntled former employee,” as the President put it. As the Justice Department expanded its ongoing Lukens investigation to include White house personnel, all members of the White House staff were one-by-one brought in for questioning...
– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005
CRISIS IN XINJIANG: China’s Expulsion of Native Muslims “Finally” Gaining International Attention
…the authorities are attempting to relocate millions of native inhabitants through heartless procedures that include separating children from parents. Millions of adult Uyghurs, the main ethnic group of the region, are being sent to prisons for refusing to move away to make way for Han Chinese newcomers attempting to flee from China’s highly-overcrowded coastal cities in order to resolve the country’s growing overpopulation crisis. …The children, meanwhile, are sent to state-run schools, including boarding schools and universities, with the intention of cracking down on these locals’ devotion to Islam. “Their orders are to assimilate them, to indoctrinate them into the mindset laid out by the state,” says one anonymous expert, describing how Red China’s government is doing essentially everything short of outright and direct brainwashing to control the masses within its. “They want to the next degeneration of Uyghurs to be loyal to the party above all else.” …Despite constant surveillance and threats of mass arrests and violence, many Uighurs are fighting back...
– Follow-up article to investigative reporter Don Bolles’ August expose, The Arizona Republic, 9/29/1985
CAM BOMB KILLS 19 IN SABHA, LIBYA, AS ANTI-US FORCES FORM UNITED FRONT
– The Chicago Tribune, 9/30/1985
NASA: U.S. TO JOIN U.K. & FRANCE IN I.S.S. “MEGA-PROJECT”
…In a formal announcement, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration revealed that the U.S. will contribute to a non-military International Space Station project currently underway and led jointly by the U.K. and France…
– The Miami Herald, 10/1/1985
Privately, Denton hoped that the latest developments by NASA would distract the media and their avid audiences from the scandals plaguing hid administration of late. He wanted to return the nation’s attention to “the more important issues of our times,” as his Press Secretary put it…
– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005
...In the world of sport, Gerald Sandusky, the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions football team, has died in a car accident. According to several eyewitnesses, Sandusky was pulling out of his driveway when a truck carrying metal rods for a construction site swerved out of the way of a third vehicle, most likely a drunk driver according to witnesses. The truck with the rods collided at a high speed with Sandusky’s vehicle, causing the rods to slide off the truck and into Sandusky’s car. Some witnesses have stated that Sandusky was run clean through by the metal rods, but out of respect for the Sandusky family we will refrain from releasing any such grisly details. …The death of Coach Sandusky comes shortly after the Rutgers’ Scarlet Knights almost upset Penn State in a college football contest held in the Meadowlands… Sandusky, 41, is survived by his wife Dottie and their six young children… “This is truly a tragedy for football and for sports. Jerry never hurt nobody,” says Rutgers coach Dick Anderson, a longtime colleague, former teammate, and mentor of Sandusky…
– NBC, local news report, 6/17/1985 [27]
AG CIANCI STEPPING DOWN TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND
Washington, DC – Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, the controversial Attorney General of the United States, has announced his resignation in order to “focus fully” on running for governor next year. The timing of the announcement is somewhat puzzling as it comes in the midst of continued investigations into the alleged misuse of government funds by the State Department in a “hush money” scandal …Cianci previously served as the Mayor of Providence from 1975 to 1981 as a Republican before being tapped for Attorney General in 1981, but due to his known independent streak, he has not confirmed that he intends to run as a Republican.
– The Newport Daily News, 10/3/1985
Denton’s Deputy Attorney General Delwen Lowell (D. Lowell) Jensen of California, became his new Attorney General. Jensen immediately announced that he would oversee the “effectiveness” of the special prosecutor, Stephen S. Trott, in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal.
[snip]
…Behind closed doors, however, certain members of the Denton White House were jumpier than others. In early October, White House Counsel Jesse Helms suggested to Denton that Communication Director Newt Gingrich should be fired for not keeping Denton informed of Lukens’ activities.
“I like the guy, I really do, but we have to think about what’s best for this administration – and that would be moving on from this farcical scandal,” Helms reportedly said. Despite Helms’ logic holding less logic than a sieve holds water, Denton eventually agreed that the Newt would, reluctantly, have to be thrown under the bus.
– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002
DENTON FIRES COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR!
…the White House Press Secretary claims Director Gingrich “failed to properly monitor the activities of Denton’s cabinet members in a clear breach in his duties of communicating information to the President, and of promoting and developing the policies and ideals of the President to and with the members of the cabinet.”
– The Washington Post, 10/9/1985
LIBYAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION POSTPONED SIX MONTHS AMID RISE IN TERROR ATTACKS
– The Boston Globe, 10/13/1985
Lukens showed no remorse over his sexual relations. He even smirk once during a mid-October encounter with the press, in which he suggested he would face no major consequences for his actions. Then, just days later, more women finally came forward. It became clear from these further claims that the 1984 relations was not his first instance of sexual pestering. By the end of the month, seven women painted a lugubrious and sleazy picture. Lukens often fondled and groped low-ranking workers such as janitors and elevator operators, and even slept with interns going as far back as 1971. The alleged incidents of workplace misbehavior that occurred while he was Governor were all made ironic by the fact that he had run for Governor in 1970 on an “anti-pestering crusade,” rebuking politicians accused of “immoral behavior,” during the year of the Ms. Arkansas Wave.
Lukens again called the accusations to be all hearsay, but he no longer said it with a smirk.
– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 1988
[pic:
imgur.com/Dv0PX0k ]
– Buz Lukens, then Governor, visiting Washington, D.C. with two interns, c. October 1976
The U.S. Senate confirmed Kemp as the new V.P. by a wide vote of 71-28-1 on October 10. The U.S. House of Representative did the same a few days later, on October 18, by the even wider vote of 340-93-2.
– clickopedia.co.usa/Jack_French_Kemp
As more women stepped forward, Lukens decided to file another lawsuit against Anna Mason, the mother of the 14-year-old, claiming that Mason had violated their nondisclosure agreement, essentially confirming Mason’s testimony. Lukens demanded Mason return the $100,000. Having never spent it, Mason instead returned the money directly to the State Department, taking a train to their headquarters in D.C. and dramatically slapping the check onto the receptionist desk.
– David Frum’s political textbook How We Got Here: The ’80s, Basic Books NY, 2007
Because of his business deals with wealthy clients around the world, Epstein traveled extensively. He kept fake IDs and passports for places such as Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the UK, in case of emergency. …In the midst of the social fallout of the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, Epstein, and Jean Luc Brunel decided to cut down on the frequency of their procuring and trafficking activities, but it seems this pledge was not enough to keep Epstein at bay, and in 1986, he got sloppy…
– Jeffrey Epstein: Profile of a Monster, 1995 documentary
CONGRESSMAN NICHOLAS INTRODUCES DEFENSE RESTRUCTURING BILL INTO HOUSE
– The Washington Post, 10/24/1985
...Abortion had not become a major topic of debate in D.C. until its inclusion in Buz Lukens’ non-disclosure agreement allowed it to rise to national prominence. Concurrently, the same agreement’s contents led to members of the religious right pushing even more rigorously than before for anti-abortion legislation at the state level in several liberal states, including in Senator Kennedy-Shriver’s home state.
[16]. …Naturally, being a Catholic, President Denton was a firm opponent of Abortion, and denounced Lukens’ inclusion of “the very thought” in the non-disclosure agreement. The senior US Senator from Massachusetts agreed with the President’s views, as she
belonged to America’s dwindling population of outspoken pro-life liberals.
Like her church, she saw a continuity, rather than a contradiction, between championing the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed and protecting unborn human life [17]. Due to her years of
work with the developmentally disabled, a group of Americans who had once been marginalized and hidden away – or lobotomized, like her sister Rosemary – was ushered closer to full participation in ordinary human life further and further each year Kennedy-Shriver spent in the Senate
[17]. …In a late October 1985 CBS debate held on the subject between her and a pro-choice Republican political activist from California, Kennedy-Shriver famously remarked “A poor person has no right to kill their own child... I just cannot support the notion that someone being a burden on you is justification for you killing them. Every child has the potential, especially in this country, rise above the conditions of their upbringing, and every unborn child has the potential to live. This is the same reason why we don’t unplug every comatose patient. The potential and the right to live is still there in the coma patient, just as it is in the on-the-way baby.”
– The New York Times, 2001 article
GLORIA DECKER ELECTED GOVERNOR
…in the first gubernatorial race to feature two female main-party candidates in the history of the Garden state, state senator Gloria A. Decker, a conservative Democrat from Phillipsburg, was elected Governor over state senator Barbara A. Curran of the Republican party. Former state senator Gertrude Berman ran as a liberal independent; together, the three women split the vote 54.5%-40.2%-3.1%, respectively, with the remaining votes going to all the other candidates on the ballot…
– The Star-Ledger, 11/5/1985
BELLAMY RE-ELECTED MAYOR IN LANDSLIDE
…with roughly 75.8% of the vote going to Carol Bellamy of the Democratic party (and endorsed by the Liberal, Progressive, and Natural Mind parties of New York), the incumbent Mayor of New York City was declared the winner before midnight. Her biggest challenger tonight, US Congressman from Staten Island Gaetano “Guy” Molinari of the Republican Party (and endorsed by the Conservative party of New York) received roughly 20.5% of the vote, with several minor third-party and independent candidates dividing the remaining 3.7% of votes…
– The New York Times, 11/5/1985
TYLER WINS GOVERNOR’S SEAT
…state senator Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., a Democrat, is the 60-year-old grandson of John Tyler, who served as US President from 1841 to 1845. Before election to the state senate in 1981, Governor-Elect Tyler was an attorney who shifted to a career in academia in 1967, and spent the succeeding 14 years teaching history at the University of Richmond and the Virginia Military Institute
[18]. Tyler won over the Republican nominee, US Congressman Stanford Elmer “Stan” Parris, by a margin of 4% in a night that has been very fortuitous for Democrats…
– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/5/1985
On November 6, 1985, three vehicles carrying 35 M-19 Marxist guerillas drove to the Palace of Justice of Colombia, the judiciary center for the nation and the workplace of Colombia’s national court’s justices, and attempted to enter the basement while a second group of guerillas sought to storm the building from the front. However, American and UN security forces in the capital and at the building prevented the vehicles from entering, leading to the “basement group” opening fire and attempt to enter through the basement by force. Upon hearing the gunfire, the second group attacked the first floor, only to be met by counter-guerilla security forces. After two hours of firefighting, the US/UN forces repelled the outnumbered, outgunned and outmaneuvered M-19 Marxist guerillas, but not before their detonation of a “nail bomb” (explosives surrounded by scrap metal and other dangerous projectiles). In the end, 20 guerillas were dead, but so were 15 US soldiers, 12 UN security officers, and 4 civilian bystanders. However, U.S. intelligence soon afterward declared the attack on the building to be a “final stand for them,” as the fall of the USSR “has taken the air out of their tires.”
– Miguel LaRosa and German R. Mejia’s Colombia: A Concise Contemporary History, Chronicle Books, 2013
On November 9, Garry Kasparov defeated Anatoly Karpov in all-Russian chess match for World Chess Championship. The competition of strategy and intelligence lifted the spirits of the Russian people as they tried to move on from the Soviet Era and create a new chapter in their people’s history.
– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016
MAUROY CRISIS: SUPPORT PLUMMETS AMID SCANDALS AND LEGISLATION IMPASSE
Scandal!: Mitterrand Had False Health Reports Published While President To Hide Early Cancer Diagnosis
[19]! His Former Physician, Dr. Claude Gubler, Claims Mauroy Knew!
– Le Parisien, French newspaper, 11/11/1985
NEW HOMOSEXUAL LAW REFORM ACT ENACTED; Amends The Crimes Act Of 1961
…in a move celebrated by the BLUTAGO Zealanders nationwide, the new reform act legalizes the act of consensual sex between men aged 16
[20] and older…
– The New Zealand Herald, 11/11/1985
A week after one chaotic calamity hit Colombia, another one arrived. On November 13, the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano violently erupted, killing at least 20,000 people, most of them in the neighboring town of Armero. The deadly tragedy’s high casualty count was avoidable, as seismologists had distributed maps of the likely lava flood zones over month before the eruption, only for them to be ignored by many local authorities who accused the scientific and civil defense agencies of fearmongering at a time of high-intensity guerilla warfare. UN workers already in Bogota immediately began the process of rescuing and treating injured survivors, but continued to deal with internal fighting as guerilla fighters accused the government of being corrupt and “dangerously inept.” It seems as if not even thousands of their fellow countrymen burning alive in lava flows could impede the violence. If anything, this as the moment when the UN decided to work more closely with the Colombian government to put an end to the guerilla warfare…
– Miguel LaRosa and German R. Mejia’s Colombia: A Concise Contemporary History, Chronicle Books, 2013
JACK KEMP IS SWORN IN AS OUR NEW VICE PRESIDENT
– The New York Times, 11/15/1985
EXTRA! DENTON FIRES SPECIAL PROSECUTOR STEPHEN S. TROTT ON “PROCEDURAL MISCONDUCT” CLAIM!
– The Washington Post, 11/17/1985
FIRED W.H. COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: “DENTON HELPED LUKENS”!
…“In August or so of last year, Lukens spoke to Denton directly about paying off the mother of an underage girl he’d slept with back in June of last year. I was in the adjacent room when it happened, and I overheard everything. Neither Buz nor Jer spoke to me about it, though. They didn’t speak to me, and they didn’t speak through me. I’m just a scapegoat for them.” Gingrich has stated that he is willing to testify if called to do so…
– The Atlanta Constitution, 11/19/1985
BLOOMBERG L.P. CEO ACCUSSED OF WORKPLACE PESTERING
– The Wall Street Journal, 11/20/1985
“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Chief of Staff Richard Edward Schermerhorn said to Denton. “To think that Buz would consider aborting a bastard child – it’s disgusting! All life is sacred, including the lives of the unwanted,” the firm anti-abortion conservative expressed his beliefs to a disheartened Commander-In-Chief.
“Richard,” the President contemplated as he stared out at the early snowflakes beginning to stick to the window sill, “if I could misjudge Lamar and Buz, who else am I misjudging?”
“These past few months have been unsettling for all of us, sir. But the good thing about having an important job – like Governor, Senator, or President – is that not every call has to be made on your own. You still have us – Helms, Louie [Giuffrida], Curt [LeMay], me. And there’s at least one thing you have, Jer, that can’t be second-guessed – your morals. Your conviction to your principles. That’ll get us through this, Jer, you’ll see. You – ”
A buzz from Denton’s desk cut short Schermerhorn’s monologue. “Mr. President,” the personal secretary informed her boss, “Some F.B.I. agents are here.”
“Again?” Denton asked, “Listen, we already told them everything we knew about Lukens’ – ”
“They’re here for Richard, sir,” she quickly explained.
“Me?” the Chief of Staff’s eyes widened.
The agents were let into the room. Skipping the customary exchanges of pleasantries, the lead agent spoke directly to the Chief of Staff. “Richard Schermerhorn?”
“Yes?”
“We have reason to believe that you directly interfered with a federal investigation.”
“What?”
“Richard?” the President looked at his advisor with curiosity and shock clearly visible on his face.
“You need to come with us, sir.”
“For what?” Schermerhorn inquired.
“You need to answer a few questions for us, sir.”
By the end of that week, Denton was again questioning his judgement abilities, as Schermerhorn was ultimately arrested on the charge of directing assistants to destroy documents concerning the Lukens Hush Money Scandal back in late April of 1985. An FBI task force, performing a sweeping overview of White House activities in conjunction with the FBI’s investigations into the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, had received a tipoff from a former White House employee (a former paid intern for Schermerhorn) that the Chief of Staff had instructed employees to shred a “large pile” of document papers...
– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002
…In political news, another scandal has broken concerning a member of Denton’s Cabinet. This scandal features the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, former US Representative Thomas Beverley Evans Jr. of Delaware, and lobbyist and former nude model Paula Parkinson, the latter of whom is being accused of engaging in sexual favors in exchange for political influence…
– ABC News, 11/30/1985
After 21 years of Mitterrand, the scandal-riddled Socialist Alliance’s poor excuses for graft and cover-ups, and the ineffective multiple conservative parties not making things better, a general strike over another tax hike by President Mauroy to pay for social programs saw support for Le Pen and his National Front to rise even further as December 1985 began. Not even Le Pen’s claims that Mauroy was a puppet, that former President Mitterrand was controlling the Mauroy administration, and that “Mitterrand is also a puppet by being on the payroll of Jewish organizations, and particularly of the B’nai B’rith”
[21] could slow his momentum as the weary post-Cold War people of France turned more inward. Some of his more avid followers even reportedly enjoy hearing news reports that Le Pen practiced torture on prisoners while in French army during the Algerian War of 1954-1962
[21]. Of course, Le Pen denied committing war crimes, but he also launched several defamation lawsuits over the reports...
– Jonathan Fenby’s The History of Modern France, Scholastic, 2015
WALL STREET TECH CEO IS SERVED CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PAPERS AMID WORKPLACE PESTERING CLAIMS
New York City, NY – Michael R. Bloomberg, the millionaire founder and CEO of the data software company Bloomberg L. P. of New York City, has been formally served a filed class action lawsuit, the petition of damages laying out accusations of gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and workplace pestering. The lawsuit was organized the legal representatives of a group of 23 female former and current employees of Bloomberg L.P., some of which are currently remaining anonymous. The women claim Bloomberg directly pestered them and supported a workplace environment at Bloomberg L.P. that they described as “aggressive” and “hostile” to female employees.
[22] “Behind closed doors, in the office, he is constantly insulting to women he deems to be ugly,” says one member of the lawsuit, describing the CEO making “degrading comments” on various physical features on various women workers, and more than once telling a woman he deemed to be ugly to “kill it” upon being told that she was with child
[23]. Bloomberg and a spokesperson for his company could not be reached for comment…
– The Financial Times, 12/6/1985
…The FBI has announced that it is expanding its investigation into the Lukens Hush Money Scandal in light of President Denton’s November 17 firing of Special Prosecutor Stephen S. Trott …Also in political news, SBA Administrator Thomas Beverley Evans Jr. has stepped down over revelations concerning his years-long unprofessional relationship with a D.C. lobbyist…
– The Overmyer Network, morning news brief, 12/9/1985
“The President knows that the people of this country are behind him and will continually support him over baseless accusations of wrongdoing.”
– White House Press Secretary Peggy Noonan, 12/9/1985
On December 12, House Majority Leader Bob Michel, with minority leader Hale Boggs, jointly announced the formation of formal hearings to clarify the extent of President Denton’s knowledge of the Lukens and Alexander payments. “We simply seek to determine for the sake of justice and clarification whether or not the President’s actions were unquestionably legal. If we is innocent, he has no reason to not comply with the legal process,” Michel explained, confident that the sooner the justice department cleared matters up, the sooner Capitol Hill could return to other matters. House Ethics Committee chairman Louis Stokes was chosen to co-head the hearings with House deputy whip David Emery, creating a bipartisan panel of experience legislators.
[snip]
On December 16, Senate leader Howard Baker yielded to Democratic leader Robert Byrd’s demands and greenlit the formation a Special Senate Committee to investigate the extent of President Denton’s involvement in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal...
– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988
DENTON DEDICATES MORE TROOPS TO U.N. CAUSE IN COLOMBIA
…more advisory troops and supplies are being sent from the U.S. to Colombia as American military leadership takes the lead in an international effort to end the combination civil war/drug war conflict ravaging the northern South American nation...
– The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/18/1985
DENTON MEETS WITH RUSSIA’S VOLKOV IN GENEVA AS US-RUSSIAN RELATIONS KEEP IMPROVING
– The Chicago Tribune, 12/21/1985
vid:
youtube.com/watch?v=6XJZeW9IQZc
– A Christmas-themed KFC commercial, circa December 1985
With a raspy voice, Lukens requested that the start of his newest trial – this time for the illegal use of State Department funds – be postponed in order for him to seek treatment for throat cancer. The former chain-smoker claimed he needed surgery to correct a saliva gland deficiency and trouble speaking. As his cancer was in the early stages and the “saliva gland surgery” was actually an elective therapy of sorts, the judge overseeing the case against him declined to delay the case – it was still set for January ’86. …In his later years, Lukens would try in vain to become a “poster boy” for various anti-smoking organizations...
– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988
NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Based on comments made by Igeo654 and President_Earl_Warren on page 31 of this thread!
[2] All of his positions here are OTL:
https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Lamar_Alexander.htm
[3] Source 31 on his wikipage states “Alexander frequently shifted assets to his wife's name, yet such transfers are not legal under federal ethics and security laws,” so I don't think this is too implausible.
[4] Italicized parts are from Agnew’s wikipage.
[5] Similar to an OTL quote on his from 1973: “I think the country sure as hell forgot about Chappaquiddick in a hurry, and I think that’s worse than Watergate.”
[6] His wikipage states he ruled “
in favor of three-strikes law; LGBT employment discrimination; and the eviction of substance abusers by their landlords,” and cites this article which goes into further detail on said subjects:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-04/is-carly-fiorina-a-chip-off-the-old-block-
[7] italicized parts are from here:
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/25/us/teen-ager-in-ohio-testifies-to-sex-with-a-congressman.html
[8] italicized parts are from Source 6 of Luken’s wiki page
[9] The timing/chronology of events here is based on how quickly things went down in OTL (Nov: event; Feb: story breaks; May: testimony; June: conviction)
[10] This oil was not discovered until 2007 in OTL!
[11] Microsoft had only released Windows 1 by this point in OTL (11/20/1985)
[12] The what? This!:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald%E2%80%93hairy
[13] Like it did in OTL.
[14] Who? Some guy who defended Lukens in court in OTL:
https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/25/us/teen-ager-in-ohio-testifies-to-sex-with-a-congressman.html
[15] An OTL quote he said to the US Senate in September 1981
[16] In case you missed it: As I mentioned in Chapter 27, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade (birth name: Norma Nelson) was killed by a jilted lover in October 1967; as a result, lawyers Weddington and Coffee failed to find a client whose case could be brought to the Supreme Court (leading to Weddington serving two terms in the US HoR, as previously mentioned), meaning abortion is still a state-by-state thing at this point in the TL...
[17] This/these italicized part(s) is/are from here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/opinion/31douthat.html
[18] Age and OTL bio found here:
http://wikibin.org/articles/lyon-gardiner-tyler-jr.html
[19] OTL!
[20] They picked that age IOTL; I don’t know why…
[21] OTL, according to his wiki article.
[22] OTL:
https://www.businessinsider.com/bloomberg-built-a-toxic-sexually-charged-nightmare-for-women-2019-11
[23] OTL, according to this QT politics video, near the 15:30 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGzaJP3KWrw
[27] It couldn't find a source stating that Sandusky began doing what he did any earlier than in the 1990s.
Also:
@Bree, the Baltodome wasn’t built because Governor Mandel still pulled the plug on it in early 1974; ITTL, the recent oil shock creating a dip in the economy and renewing concerns over unnecessary spending were contributing factors on top of the OTL problems.
EDITS: fixed errors in the UK entry and moved the Sandusky bit to later in the year. The people are protesting Denton still supporting the former Sec of State b/c Lukens is so unpopular. Hogan was already using the All-American bit by January '84, so, if anything, I think he'd continue it to support the notion that America still rocks despite the ruckus in D.C.
