Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

[Igeo654]

OK. So, here are two suggestions. When the 90s rolls around, bring Sting to WWF to become its face post-Hogan and have Dwane Johnson join WCW instead.

Also, with Elton John dead, who will be the one to pull Eminem from the brink of self-destruction? Elvis perhaps?

 

[Unknown]

With the general increased focus on abuse/harassment, I wonder if this gets exposed earlier than OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University_abuse_scandal.

Also, I wonder if Dennis Hastert gets found out earlier ITTL; both men would be good candidates for earlier exposure ITTL...

 

[Igeo654]

Actually, it should probably be the Ultimate Warrior that goes to WCW, not The Rock.

Plus, here's another idea. Could a more progressive administration lead to significant cultural changes for the 90s? I mean, by the time the republicans bounce back in 1996, They're actions could change the decade even further. Case in point, the 80s ITTL are most definitely different than in ours. Denton is a much different ballgame to Reagan in terms of personality, the stronger Christian views, etc. I see Mondale's era in the 70s as being a more left-wing version of OTL's 80s, from how music is presented to some variation of the Yuppies, right down to having a fuck ton of cartoons made to sell toys. What's the pop culture scene for this decade we've just seen?

 

[FDRFan1943]

How did Elton John die?

 

[Igeo654]

How did Elton John die?

Drug overdose.

 

[historybuff]

Someone care to fill me in about Volkov, the new Russian leader?

 

[nbcman]

Per the Author's description of him:

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.”

He's a character that the Author butterflied his death as he died IOTL in 1971 during the Soyuz 11 mission.

 

[historybuff]

Wow. The collapse was peaceful, I hope?

 

[Igeo654]

I would love to believe that, ITTL, Warner now owns Marvel instead of DC. Like Kinney National figured the smaller and younger company would be a better investment rather than DC. Maybe that's just because I really like the idea of a Burton-directed Spider-Man movie for 1989. Preferably with River Pheonix as Spidey and Jack Nicholson as the Green Goblin.

 

[Ogrebear]

Chapter 54: January 1986 – June 1986

Hum... Perot in trouble? Didn't stop in OTL, so I suspect he survives here too.
Go Oprah!
Why do I feel we will be hearing a lot from the Senate Select Committee on Contentious Presidential Activities?
Bob Packwood- get with the times or get out?
"President Marcos and his family fled the country" - don't forget your shoes!
Le Pen as French President? That cannot end well for Europe. Frenchxit is not going to be fun for anyone!
And Goodbye Duvalier- Hope Haiti can capitalise on this and get stable
Legal same-sex marriage in 1986? That would be one interesting change
Mason case just goes through so many twists and turns! Make a good movie thriller...
Jerry Springer as Governor and then a Presidential run?
HEALTHY GUN OWNERS BILL = one good thing to come from Huberty shooting?
1981 repeal of the F.E.C.’s Fairness Doctrine- seems like a bad idea to me...
HOUSE PASSES PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE ACT - boo!
CONGRESSMAN LANDGREBE SUFFERS HEART ATTACK ON LIVE TV - and this is why Live TV is bad for you...

Fun Chapter there.

 

[Ogrebear]

Chapter 55: July 1986 – December 1986

Farm Aid - hardly a ringing endorsement of the American system heh?
KFC first in Moscow? Rock on Colonel!
Boldly Into Hell sounds like one heck of a movie.
That was one grim death for Epstein- good
Go Ossetia!
Bob looks happy with a hammer
UN has its own Gitmo camp? The Netherlands will be less harsh than Cuba at least
Good move Murphy, get off the ship before it sinks...
Yugoslavia hosting the Olympics will either help the place survive or be the final nail as hosting is very, very expensive
PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE ACT- one for the Dems to overturn
Hummm Impeachment time!
NRA supports a gun bill? Good
Wonder if GW Bush will go into coaching now?
Trump got rid of Fenway Park???
Big seat change there, but I guess that normal during a scandal...
Wonder where Perot turns up next?
The Mental Health Research bill actually sounds like a good idea
Goodby President Denton. Good luck President Kemp!

 

[Wendell]

You've kept his exciting well after Sanders leaves office, and without a world war to boot. Bravo.

 

[Igeo654]

Looking forward to the next update. Even though Kemp is pretty much a lame duck going forward.

 

[Mordalfus Grea]

Honestly I'm hoping the Colonel lives to be at least a Century old or older before it's time to go

 

[Sunstone77]

Honestly I'm hoping the Colonel lives to be at least a Century old or older before it's time to go

When he does eventually die, I want to see him frozen like Walt Disney, if only just for the “frozen chicken dinner” jokes that would arise

 

[gap80]

Chapter 56: December 1986 – July 1987​

“Giving your enemy a drink does not mean you are excusing their misdeeds, but that you are recognizing them, forgiving them, and loving them in spite of their sins – just as Christ did for us.”

– pinterest.com/pin/190558627956034639



“Hello, America. My name is Jack Kemp, and I’ve been your President for the past four hours. …What we have been through as a nation over the past two years has tested us all. It has tested our faith in our government, our belief in our judicial system, and our loyalty to each other... Now is the time to move on. Now begins a time of healing, and making amends. As your new President, I vow to uphold every part of my oath of office, and will begin by calling for greater transparency in all White House positions, cabinet departments, and cabinet-level departments, administrations, and agencies… I will strive to be the kind of President that the American people deserve to have – open, sincere, hardworking and loyal to all Americans everywhere. Together, as we enter the New Year, we will also enter a new chapter in American history. Thank you and good evening.”

– Jack French Kemp’s first televised Address to the Nation, 12/28/1986, 11:30 A.M. EST



They called him JFK – Jack French Kemp. He was an NFL quarterback-turned-politician, and at 51, he was fairly young and fairly charismatic. Becoming President in the wake of Denton’s sudden but not-too-surprising resignation, Kemp enjoyed a “honeymoon period” of fairly high approval ratings after assuming office. The initial approval of the new man – a savvy, charming, aesthetically pleasing and fair-haired jock with presumably broad appeal – sitting behind the Resolute Desk even made some Republican pundits optimistic that the GOP would manage to put the Great Potomac Scandals behind them, and rebuild their reputation in time for the 1988 elections.

– Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes’s Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America, Sentinel Books, 2015



“The U.S.A. would not have survived a scandal like this during the Cold War. The President resigning under a cloud of suspicion, amid claims he’d committed impeachable crimes? The Soviets would have never let that go! We’d have been an embarrassment on the world stage, and we very likely would have lost the Cold War, or at least the moral superiority front of the Cold War!”

– William F. Buckley Jr., Meet the Press interview, 12/30/1986



At the start of the New Year, President Kemp began assembling his cabinet. Only roughly a quarter of the members of the Denton Administration retained a position in the Kemp Administration, as J.F.K. sought to “start fresh with a clean house.”

For State, Kemp nominated Lawrence Eagleburger, a statesman and diplomat and a veteran of the Denton, Mondale and Sanders administrations. ...Retired Brigadier General Donnie Dunagan was Kemp’s choice for the position of U.S. Secretary of Defense; Dunagan began his military career in 1952, becoming the youngest-ever Marine Corps drill sergeant before serving two tours in Cuba and five tours in Indochina. He was wounded several times in Laos, North Vietnam and Cambodia but received a Bronze Star and four Purple Hearts (taking bullets in the chest, arms, and legs, in total) for his actions in three of those incidents; he had retired in 1983 after overseeing some troop activities in Libya. He was nominated without incident… Leander J. Shaw Jr., a Democrat African-American state judge from Florida, became Attorney General... The position of Secretary of Education was filled by Cleveland Sellers, Jr., an African-American educator and veteran civil rights activist…

…It was not surprising when Kemp selected economist and author Arthur Laffer to be his Chief Economic Policy Advisor and Ed Rollins to be his White House Counsel… the 74-year-old retired 4-star General of the Marine Corps Lew Walt became Kemp’s Chief Foreign Policy Advisor, while Democrat Bettye Fahrenkamp of Alaska became Kemp’s Chief Domestic Policy Advisor…

…For the Small Business Administration, Kemp chose Democratic U.S. Congressman George Joseph Hochbrueckner of New York… US Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN) became the youngest-ever H.U.D. Secretary at the age of almost 37… Ralph Nader retained his post at the EPA… NASA Director Mary Lowe Scranton was promoted to Secretary of Health and Welfare, while NASA scientist Farouk El-Baz became said agency’s new Director…

…Former US Senator Maureen Reagan was chosen to be the new US Ambassador to the UK…

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010



DOW CLOSES STRONG, MARKETS RECOVERING IN WAKE OF DENTON DEPARTURE

– The Wall Street Journal, 1/5/1987



When it came to choosing a Vice President, Kemp knew exactly who he wanted. On January 15, Kemp nominated someone who Kemp had worked with on legislation in the House for years, a man he respected and trusted – U.S. Congressman and the new House Minority Leader Joseph J. Polonko Jr. [1]. Born in July of 1939, Polonko served in the Army, rising to the rank of Captain, before receiving two purple hearts for getting shot in the legs during the Cuban War. Retiring from the military, he soon went into politics, leading to him being elected to Congress in 1970. While the pairing of Kemp and Polonko was not at all regionally balanced, it was politically wise because not only was Polonko able to work well with lawmakers across the aisle, he was also more conservative and religious than Kemp, and thus appealed to the right wing of the GOP.

– Curt Smith’s From No. 15 to No. 39: The Life And Presidency of Jack French Kemp, Cornell University Press, 2015



“SHOULD DENTON STAND TRIAL?” POLLING SHOWS NATION DIVIDED ON FORMER PRESIDENT’S FATE

…the possibility of a former President being indicted for crimes allegedly committed during his time in office is very real, as the DOJ continues to probe the US State Department…

– The Birmingham News, 1/19/1987



“Should Kemp pardon Denton before he is placed on trial?” That was the question on the minds of Kemp, Polonko, House Whip Emery, Fahrenkamp, Attorney General Shaw, and D.C. Circuit Appeals Court Justice Patricia Wald when the four men and two women sat down in the Oval Office for a lengthy discussion.

“The DOJ investigation still ongoing, former Congressman Packwood has already been charged, and it is very possible that criminal charges may in fact be filed against Denton,” Shaw broke down the situation.

“To allow the former leader of the Free World to be dragged out to trial, which in itself could drag out for several more months, possibly even a full year – a year of the trial dominating news cycles, TV, papers – it would ruin the nation’s psyche and prevent the healing process to begin,” worried Fahrenkamp.

“But I you do pardon him, Mr. President,” countered Wald, “You run the risk of the rest of your time in office being overshadowed by an action that could be seen as a shady and obvious attempt at a cover-up. Innocent men do not need pardons, and Denton accepting a pardon will be seen by the American people as a confession of guilt from him. It could take pressure off you, but, then again the American people may not approve of the image of a guilty man walking away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist. I know I wouldn’t.”

“So I’m damned if I do, and I’m damned if I don’t.” Kemp analyzed the situation, “Is there any possible third option? Anyone?”

“Um, maybe some kind of commutation?” Emery half-heartedly suggested after a moment, “It’s not a pardon or a complete exemption from indictment. We simply make it so what sentence he receives is changed to something much less severe.”

Shaw shot the notion down easily. “It would upset the justice department. Would probably piss off Denton’s remaining supporters, too. And most people don’t even know the legal difference between a pardon and a commutation, and even if they do, they won’t like it. Besides, I does nothing for us now to talk about what to do later, and furthermore – ”

“Alright, I get it!” Emery interjected, “Don’t subpoena me for spitballing!”

“The people just want this over and done with. I say we go with a full-on blanket pardon so we can all talk about something else for a change,” Polonko returned to the topic at hand.

“Why blanket?” asked Fahrenkamp.

“So as to not admit guilt.” Polonko answered.

“But wouldn’t that just anger the people who are certain that Denton’s guilty?” was Fahrenkamp’s second question.

“I got it!” Wald exclaimed, “Issue a specific pardon, saying you pardon Denton for obstructing justice and directing the misuse of department funds. Then the ball will be in Denton’s corner.”

“Isn’t it ‘the ball’s in your court?’” Fahrenkamp continued with the questions.

“Whatever,” Wald dismissed the query, “My point is, if Denton accepts it, it’ll be like admitting guilt but not going to trial. But if he refuses, claiming innocence, the trial will commence, and if the American people don’t like it…”

“…then we can go ‘hey, we offered Denton a pardon and he refused to take it. Blame him.’ I get it!” Shaw nodded his head in approval.

“I don’t know,” Kemp commented. “It seems underhanded. I want to start my presidency off on the right foot.” Already working on new cabinet transparency laws, Kemp was thinking ahead. Even if he won a full term in 1988, it’d be the only one to which he’d be entitled. He thought back to December, how, upon being informed that the President had resigned without informing him of the plan, he felt betrayed, and a bit angry. He remembered how one of the first things he thought was “You couldn’t have waited 23 more days, Jer?”

Returning his mind to the present, he conceded. “Analysts will understand this, but will the American people?”

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010



DENTON PARDONED FOR SPECIFIC CRIMES! Kemp Issues Pardon For Obstruction And Misuse of Funds!

– The Washington Post, 1/30/1987



As the President faced the reactions to his pardoning controversy – which was mostly positive, save for criticisms from Republican Party leaders – Kemp pressed on by unveiling his agenda for the rest of the year. Considering growth to be an economic goal that was superior to a balanced budget, he implemented a 60-day-freeze on government spending. Championing free markets and free trade, he sought to lower tax rates on both employment and investment income, and to pass a tax simplification bill. He also sought to implement a flat tax, saying “a rising tide lifts all boats” in more than one speech on the subject. Kemp won support from members of the GOP’s growing libertarian wing such as Senator Ron Paul for supporting the gold standard, but not for his decision to continue on American military involvement in Colombia and Nicaragua. …Due to the experience that was his wife Joanne’s miscarriage, Kemp opposed abortion. …Kemp soon found out that working with the Democrat-majority Congress would be easier than expected in some areas but quite difficult in others…

– Curt Smith’s From No. 15 to No. 39: The Life And Presidency of Jack French Kemp, Cornell University Press, 2015



Support for gay marriage began to rise almost immediately after Denton left office. A February 1987 Gallup poll showed Support for Gay Marriage among Republicans to be at 15%, a 2% rise from an early 1986 Gallup poll; among Independents to be at 30%, a 8% rise; and among Democrats to be at 36%, a 5% rise. In Washington, D.C. legislators began debating the repealing the 1986 Protection of Marriage Act...

[snip]

Outside of politics, a large Oxford poll conducted in February 1987 showed that the number of people who thought “sexual relations between two adults of the same sex” was “always wrong” was at 54%, up from the 48% level of 1983, while the number of people who thought “sexual relations between two adults of the same sex” was “not wrong at all” was at 19%, down from the 21% level of 1983. [2]

Society was further split on more nuanced details, though; for instance, a UK poll showed 41.0% of American citizens supported giving school boards the authority to fire teachers who were known members of the BLUTAG community.

– Brandon Teena’s The Rise of BLUTAG Rights: The Story of the Bi-Lesbian-Undefined-Trans-Asexual-Gay Movement, Scholastic, 2019



…Still combating diabetes, the Colonel continued to experiment with various recipes, searching for more healthy items to add to KFC’s menus. In January 1987, for instance, a new item based on an old recipe of the Colonel appeared. “The Colonel’s Own” Crispy Cornmeal Chicken is made with chicken breasts or legs, beaten egg, cornmeal, and the secret herbs and spices blend; the blend is mixed with the cornmeal, and then the chicken is dipped into the egg and the cornmeal mixture before being pressure-fried. The special item sold fairly well, notably most successfully in parts of the American South…

[pic: https://imgur.com/XIj6hgZ ]
Claudia and Harland regularly inspected the company’s offerings, from the salads to the gravy (above), to assure the customers top quality items.

– Josh Ozersky’s Colonel Sanders and the American Dream, University of Texas Press, 2012



SNL WILL HAVE RICHARD BENJAMIN PLAY GOVERNOR DUKAKIS IN THE NEXT “WEEKEND” UPDATE SEGMENT

…the Governor of Massachusetts, in office since 1977, is rumored to be considering running for President next year…

– The Hollywood Reporter, 2/16/1987



MITCHELL WINS PROGRESSIVE TOMORROW LEADERSHIP ELECTION

…Margaret Anne Learoyd Mitchell of Vancouver East, one of the first members of parliament to raise the issue of violence against women in the wake of the First Ark Wave, won over Audrey McLaughlin, Rosemary Brown, Bill Vander Zalm, and long-shot candidate Anna Aquash…

– The Globe and Mail, Canadian newspaper, 17/2/1987



…Things were good until one fateful morning in February 1987. I tried to swipe some coin from a geriatric vacationer. Now, usually, I could spot an ex-cop from miles away. They always had some kind of tell. Good posture, “phantom belt” or “phantom gun” gestures, moving their head around as they scouted out the place. I avoided them well, but this one hid himself even better. And once they brought me in, he was real good at making sure they ran me through the system.

That was it for me. Well, first I tried to escape, but after they caught me just half a mile from the station, then it was it for me.

Okay, fine, it was three months later, when I jumped out of the squad car after being transferred back to the state but got caught just around the corner just ten minutes later. That’s when it was it for me.

– James Earl Ray’s memoir, How I (Almost) Got Away With It: The True Story of The Man Known As Eric Starvo Galt, Borders Books, 1999



Kemp admitted that implementing the “flagship” policy idea of his 1987 presidential agenda, the creation of “economic zones,” officially known as “Zones of Economic Development,” or “ZEDs” for short, would be politically complex and difficult, but not impossible. The policy would open “forsaken corners of various communities” to all newcomers, with minimal government involvement. The small-bureaucracy plan appealed to libertarians and showed to observers that this new administration was aware of the slow decline of the Rust Belt’s levels of jobs and businesses over the past many years, arguably starting in full with the decline of US Steel in 1959 [3].

The idea was that the ZEDs would renew existing stocks of social capital – highways, railroads, housing, utilities and the like – via deregulation. The loosening up of building codes and zoning laws, occupation licenses, and other property details – but not safety codes (given the abandoned nature of certain zones) – would also be implemented, as well as the cutting of tax rates. It soon made its way onto the House floor, introduced as the “Economical Urban Redevelopment Enterprise Clearance Assistance,” bill or the EURECA bill, for short.

“This will allow anyone to open a small business in an enterprise zone and gain tax credits and wage benefits,” argued the President at a press conference on February 19. Strip malls, community computer education centers, medical clinics, retail shops, and other such businesses were example given in regards to the “benefits of state governments working with local governments to incentivize businesses, via tax breaks and other incentives, to locate or invest in poor areas in order to bring employment opportunities to said areas.”

While the bill had bipartisan appeal, several Democrats, such as freshman US Senator Bronson La Follette of Wisconsin, believed the lack of “job market entryways” for people with criminal records, recreadrug/alcohol issues, and mental health issues, was “a bigger, more pressing issue that this bill does not resolve or even address.”

Other details of the large bill included prohibiting firearm possession in public housing, promoting ZEDs at the state level more-so than at the local level, and most controversially, the concept of tenant ownership...

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010 [4]



Since their independence, United Turkestan and Tajikistan had quietly backed Uyghur separatists, and offered asylum to refugees. Chinese government officials responded to this by doubling down on border crackdowns. Xiaoping, as he anticipated retirement at the end of the year, refused to reconsider his repressive policies on Tibetans, either, causing many of them to rebel to an extent that seemed to eclipse, if not surpass, the violence of the 1959 Tibetan Rebellion [5]. Tibetan “terrorists” began to co-ordinate with anti-PRC Uyghurs in India, Nepal and United Turkestan. The East Turkestan Islamic Movement led by the Turkestan Unification Organization and the Uyghur Liberation Organization [6] sought to end the PRC’s policies of forcing locals of out Xinjiang and Tibet to move in Han Chinese “settlers” through a variety of methods. A faction in both groups pushed for the repelling of all Han Chinese peoples from their borders; a similar faction of Tibetans were critical of the Dalai Lama calling for a “peaceful resolution.”

Outside of China, international groups admonished the Chinese government to little effect. In the United States, the Kemp administration considered calling for peace talks, but were held back by the reality that China was a major player in American mineral markets, being the largest supplier of steel in American construction projects.

Many analysts believed that Colonel Sanders could return to geopolitics and play a key role in changing Chinese policy due to his popularity among many members of the Han Chinese population…

– Bo Yibo’s The Dragon and The Eagle: Chinese and American Dances, Daggers and Dinners, English translation, 1998



In the wake of Le Pen’s upset election, Socialist Prime Minister Georges Marchais argued that the next parliamentary majority should refuse to govern if President Le Pen attempted to abuse power or in any other way violate the powers of his new office. Edouard Balladur and others also noted that while impeachment did not exist in the French Constitution, the policy of "cohabitation" did. Under this policy, Le Pen was compelled to retain Marchais, who had maintained majority support in the 1986 elections despite the Socialist alliance losing seats, while the new cabinet would enforce its domestic policy programme and Le Pen would keep control of foreign and military affairs, meaning that for the first time of the history of the Fifth Republic, the parliamentary majority was opposed to the President. In France, the Prime Minister is appointed by the President, but can be revoked by the National Assembly. As a result, Le Pen’s efforts to dismiss the Socialist Prime Minister Georges Marchais were unsuccessful. [7]

However, the President of France also appoints members to the Constitutional Council, which ensures that measures passed by parliament are constitutional, or conform to both the Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Le Pen’s efforts to block parliamentary measures through his appointees on the Constitutional Council led to Parliament failing to pass several bills meant to limit the power of the President or implement legislation supporting several policies that Le Pen opposes in regards to taxes and immigration; thus, 1986 and 1987 saw a 20% drop in parliamentary productivity.

France is also a unitary state in which the regions, departments and communes – administrative subdivisions – have various legal functions and capabilities; as the national government – and thus Le Pen – are prohibited from interfering with the standard operations of these divisions, leading to several areas and cities passing local laws that directly defied President Le Pen.

In March 1987, Le Pen’s Nation Front faced additional opposition when the new cabinet finally managed to abolish proportional representation for the next legislative elections. [7]

– Jonathan Marcus’ Le Pen: The Impact of The National Front on French Politics, Second Edition, New York University Press, 1999



KEMP SIGNS “TENANT EMPOWERMENT” BILL INTO LAW!

…the act, introduced separately from the larger “EURECA” bill, will allocate $4billion to a nationwide project involving the selling of public housing to its tenants, a proposal that had both bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition. With Kemp calling it a form of “welfare adjustment of government offsets,” the new act will also increase subsidies for low-income renters and lower taxes for first-time home buyers… Critics of the bill are now voicing their concern over Kemp’s other proposals, such as expanding some social service programs for the homeless and elderly while somehow still cutting taxes overall…

– The Rutland Herald, 3/2/1987



BEN HALIM WINS MANDATE IN LIBYA’S FIRST “FREE AND FAIR” ELECTIONS

…tonight’s general elections in the Democratic Republic of Libya went smoothly and saw high turnout for the popular head of state… Incumbent Prime Minister Mustafa Ben Halim, representing Libyans sympathetic to the West but not necessarily entirely trusting of the West, led his Libyan Movement party to victory over his two main challengers – Aguila Saleh Issa of the slightly pro-West but anti-US Independent Pathway party, and Sadiq Al-Ghariani of the conservative “third-way” National Identity party…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 3/3/1987



Governor Thyra Thomson oversaw the state’s population growth continue on, as a massive project concerning underground water distribution systems created even more jobs for the new residents. …While some environmentalist groups voiced some concern over the proximity of some of these water-distributing pipes to Jackson Hole, a low-lying valley, and Grand Teton, a popular mountaineering site, both on the edge of Wyoming’s Idaho border, Thompson managed to prove to most of those concerned that the project was environmentally conscious... The success of the waterworks project is usually cited for why Thompson’s approval ratings were usually the highest of all other Governors in the US during most of her third term in office…

– Welcome to the Big River Flat: The History of Wyoming, Victory Publications, 2019



VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN BILL GAINING MOMENTUM

…The bill, co-sponsored and heavily supported by Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), provides over $1billion towards enhancing investigations into prosecutions of violent/abusive crimes against women, increases the pre-trial detention of the accused, provides automatic restitution of those convicted, and allows for civil redress in cases that prosecutors choose to leave unprosecuted. The bill is meant to better protect and defend women victimized by domestic violence, sexual assault, and financial intimidation...

– The Washington Post, 3/5/1987



KEMP BACKS V.A. TRANSPARENCY, H.R. REFORM EFFORTS

– The Washington Times, 3/10/1987



SENATE, HOUSE CONFIRM REP. JOE POLONKO FOR V.P.

[pic: https://imgur.com/cS2LHDw ]
– The Star Ledger, NJ newspaper, 3/14/1987



…President Kemp announced today his support for the Sorensen-Schneider bill going through the House that will raise business taxes for wealthy American in exchange for lowering personal income taxes for poorer Americans, explaining he backs the bill because, quote, “this moves the weight of the government to those who can carry it and will lower taxes overall,” unquote. Kemp, who agreed to support the new bill, as a form of compromise with the Democrat-majority Congress, argues that smaller government will incentivize people into working, saving, and investing into business and market enterprises, and to follow beneficial pursuits such as advancing their education, interests, and other possibilities…

– KNN, 3/16/1987



“Wealthy businessmen launched wave of attacks on Kemp after that – articles in places like the National Review, conservative radio, TV spots, the works – calling him a sellout for not sticking to his convictions and simply refuse to support such a bill. But the legislation did lower taxes overall, so it wasn’t Kemp beliefs they were worried about – they cared about their fortunes, and nothing more.”

– political analyst Morton Kondracke, KNN interview, 2009



“KEMP’S HONEYMOON IS OVER!”: The New President’s “Grace Period” May Have Finally Closed

– The New York Times, opinion article, 3/23/1987



“I had a positive experience with liberal classmates growing up in the ’70s and ’80s. Exposure, um, learning in high school how corporations had responded to the ’78 crash, and sense of betrayal by Nixon, and the way that Kemp got hounded by his own fellow Republicans for raising taxes on the rich in, uh, 1987, it, you know, it just p- it really angered me. And my attitude toward the Republicans only worsened during my college years. By the time I graduated, I was definitely what you could call a ‘Financial Justice Progressive’ liberal kind of guy. …Since registering as a Democrat in ’88, I’ve only rarely voted Republican…”

– P. Davis Ryan, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) segment, 2006



THE COLONEL STAYS MUTE OVER CONTROVERSIAL SENATE BILL

…One prominent voice absent from the recent wave of angry wealthy Republicans is arguably America’s most identifiable businessman, the 96-year-old former President Colonel Sanders. While increasingly apolitical in recent years, one source close to the Colonel claims the politician-turned-philanthropist believes “successful businessmen have a responsibility to the people that made them successful in the first place.” This comment reminds this reporter of what the Colonel said in an interview in 1983: “the Market should be ‘free to a degree’ – businessmen should have the ability to explore new possibilities and inspiring ideas, but should not do so in any way or ways that endanger things like the public, the environment, their workers, and the like...”

– The New York Post, 3/26/1987



POLONKO SWORN IN AS NEW V.P. TODAY

…The Senate and House approved of his nominations by wide margins last month…

– The New York Times, 4/2/1987



…black rain is a form of precipitation caused by the immediate aftermath of a nuclear detonation, in which water is black and sticky due to radioactive materials in the air… the notable incident of “black rain” in the United States came roughly eight years after the Trojan Tower Disaster of northern Oregon. On April 4, 1987, the region of eastern Montana was “bombarded” by “pitch-black storm clouds [that] delivered small tar-like globs, some the size of a wristwatch, others larger than a fist!” The rain the covered the region for over an hour, affecting several hundred acres of crops. Nobody was reported hurt, but there were reports of animals being sick from eating the tar. As a result, most of the affected areas were evacuated for same measure, with the Governor at the time, Thyra Thomson, following the precedents established in the aftermath of the Trojan Tower Disaster to address the situation…

– clickopedia.co.usa



UPDATE: JAPAN’S ECONOMY RECOVERING STEADILY FROM MILD “MINI-RECESSION,” PRICES STARTING TO DROP SLOWLY

– The Wall Street Journal, 4/5/1987



…NASA’s projects continued on unchanged under Kemp. By the time Kemp began to consider cutting our budget, we had already awarded contracts to American companies for the US portions of the International Space Station.

[snip]

All companies that work with NASA are legally required to use the metric system for all measurements, even for domestic projects, in order to avoid any snafus – a lesson we learned the hard way. In April 1987, one of the companies contracted to build a section of the Mobile Servicing System did so with inches instead of centimeters, requiring a rebuilt and causing the launch of that section to be delayed by fourth months. While an embarrassment for NASA and the company, it did, on the other hand, lead to more support from NASA for the rest of the nation to shift to metric. Even thought this is not currently a major movement, the clichéd phrase does state that hope springs eternal…

– Former NASA Administrator Farouk El-Baz’s Up and Away: How The Cold War Competition Pushed Us into The Stars, MacFarland & Company, 1994



It was becoming clear that President Ramiz Alia would not win the election on April 12, 1987. His slow-moving reaction to the student demonstrations had just been too damaging to his campaign. Thus, it became mighty suspicious when the government announced that the elections were too close to call. After a day of uncertainty, the Communists announced the formation of an “emergency government” for an indefinite period. Naturally, the riots and protests returned to the streets, this time larger and louder in the face of alleged voter fraud. This period is often referred to as either a time of revolt, crisis, unrest, or an unofficial civil war.

The general strike that soon followed the student protests worsened the economy, causing Alia’s remaining support to deflate even further. The political organization called Democratic League, led by the youngish Sali Berisha, took over the capital on April 25. Alia agreed to relinquish power on the condition of amnesty; both sides of the deal were kept. Berisha, the new President of Albania, announced that Albanians had the freedom to travel abroad and establish diplomatic ties to the West. However, corruption and the abysmal economy were still major problems in the country.

As their northern neighbor’s economy kept on soaring because of their investments into Africa (especially post-Civil War Ethiopia), Yugoslavian politicians began to offer assistance to Albania. Encouraged and influenced by vocal members of the Kosovan region of Yugoslavia, Albania’s northern neighbor made the move, and the two nations agreed to an open-borders policy in August 1987.

In the subsequent years, Albanians began to share high opinions of their northern neighbor, so much so that in a national poll conducted in 1989 revealed that roughly 7% of Albanian citizens approved of the idea of unifying with them. The semi-serious [8] proposal either demonstrated the closeness of the two nations, despite Yugoslavia’s socialist government, or the amount of Albanians that preferred a return to life under socialist rule…

– Tajar Zavalani’s The Albanian People: A Fiery History, London Books, 2015



“Yeah, me and Yoko had known Paul [McCartney] for a few years, but the first time we ever collaborated on anything was in, I want to say, in April of ’87. Yoko never really liked Paul on a professional level, leading to there being no love lost between the two of them, but when we were out of that recording studio, and we were all fine with each other. Paul’s a real cool dude…”

– Tommy Chong, 2014 interview



GRAVEL DECLINES TO RUN AGAIN, ENDING MONTHS OF SPECULATION

…the former Vice President claims that the 1984 election “exhausted” him, that he did not wish to put himself thought “another election cycle of arguing with superficial mudslingers as they dance around the issues.” However, Gravel did not rule out a late, last-minute entry, saying that “I will endorse any and every candidate that both supports a National Initiative plan and addresses the 800-pound gorilla in the room that is the military-industrial complex, and if nobody steps up to the plate and supports those two things, then maybe I might just have to run after all.” There were reportedly concerns over his electability among several former members of the 1984 campaign, which makes sense given his electoral history. Apart from winning a second term as Vice President in 1976, Gravel last won an election over sixteen years ago, when he was elected to the US Senate in 1970… Since leaving the Presidency, Gravel has remarried and has founded the True Democracy Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes direct democracy proposals, non-interventionism, and several other progressive and libertarian ideas...

– The New York Times, 4/27/1987



KEMP MEETS WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT TO STRENGHTEN RELATIONS

…Standing next to his political counterpart at the White House, President Kemp spoke of seeking to “work closely with” President Miquel de la Madrid “to better address our mutual concerns” such as issues regarding recreadrugs and immigration…

– The El Paso Times, 4/28/1987



...The Second Arkwave spurred the abortion debate from being a regional state-by-state discussion to being a major national controversy…

– Michael Stewart Foley’s Front Porch Politics: American Activism in the 1970s and 1980s, 2013 net-book edition



…Since 1978, Dr. Richard Strauss had worked in the Athletics Department and Student Health Center at Ohio State University as a physician for sports teams. …Strauss’s abusing of male students since 1979 were known to some members of the OSU faculty, being an allegedly “open secret” to the sports department, but not the higher-ups. Strauss was fired in January 1987 without explanation, likely to avoid a scandal during the Second Ark Wave still occurring at the time. …Students, inspired by the Ark Wave, decided that it was “time for male victims to step forward, too,” and a group of students formally complained about the nature of Strauss’ physical examinations on April 29, 1987. The allegations came at a time when Strauss was attempting to open a private off-campus clinic near OSU…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Ohio_State_University_Abuse_Scandal



On May 3, 1987 [9], Dr. James Hansen, professor and research climatologist, testified before the US Senate that “our computer climate simulations indicate that the greenhouse effect is already large enough to begin to effect the probability of extreme events such as summer heat waves. …Altogether the evidence that the earth is warming by an amount which is too large to be a chance fluctuation and the similarity of the warming to that expected from the greenhouse effect represents a very strong case. In my opinion, that the greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now.” [10]

Dr. Hansen’s comments, while initially criticized by some of his colleagues for its “alarmist” delivery, were nevertheless instrumental in increasing public awareness of the man-made phenomenon eventually dubbed “Global Climate Disruption,” or GCD for short…

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



The Devil’s Doctors (released in Argentina under the name Edeljude)

Premiered: May 5, 1987

[snip]

Synopsis:

Alternating between various points in history, the film focuses on the lives of two of Adolph Hitler’s physicians, Eduard Bloch and Hugo Blaschke. Both men are being interviewed in 1945 to determine their role in Hitler’s rule, and to understand why both men were given special treatment by Hitler himself.

Bloch (1904-1907) of Linz, Austria was the family doctor for the Hitlers. Adolph was forever grateful for helping his mother during her final months of life during her battle with breast cancer, as Bloch had charged reduced rates and sometimes worked free of charge. Hitler inquired about Bloch’s well-being for twenty years, called him a “Edeljude” (“noble Jew”).

In 1938, as the dictator of Germany, Hitler puts Bloch and his immediate family under special protection by the Gestapo after Austria became a part of Germany, the only Jew in Linz to get such status. This creates tension for Bloch, as his friends, neighbors and patients accuse him of betraying his religion for not rejecting the protection. In 1939, Bloch and his family are allowed to receive emigration paperwork, sell their home at market value, and leave the country without any interference from The Gestapo, leading to Bloch’s neighbors and remaining friends accusing him of being a Nazi collaborator. Despite his insistence, his family receives jeers from townsfolk as they leave, and various items are thrown at them, with the Gestapo leader in charge of escorting them out of the country implied that the townsfolk will be “punished” for being so “hostile,” much to Bloch’s horror.

Years later, in 1944, Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist, visits the dictator to fix his infected teeth. Hitler thanks Blaschke for his 12 years of loyal service, even though Blaschke, a member of the Nazi party since 1931, has begun to feel regret and guilt, but dismisses the feelings by justifying that he has “no real power here.” A year later, after surviving the last days of the Third Reich, Blaschke is arrested by American forces and comes with authorities to identify Hitler’s jaw remains, concluding that they are in fact Hitler’s.

Throughout the film, Bloch and Blaschke verbally spar over their roles in history, with Bloch regretting he did not “do something” to stop his rise to power, and Blaschke claiming Hitler’s rise was an inevitability that was “out of [their] control.” The climax of the film is a heated debate over the “filth on [their] souls,” which culminates in Blaschke finally admitting that he feels guilt, and asks Bloch for forgiveness. Seeing that he is sincere, Bloch does.

[snip]

Critical Reception:

The film was highly controversial when it was released. Critical reviews were polarized; audiences were similarly split. Despite the filmmakers publicly going through great strides to make the film historical accurate (the conversation between the two doctors was fictionalized while the flashbacks based on real events), the film allegedly depicting Hitler as sociopathic and almost bipolar in how he was heartless to millions but not to the Jewish doctor led to accusations that the director and writers were anti-Semitic. They denied these claims, but the film’s plot (though not necessarily the film itself) became a common talking point and “fan favorite” for neo-Nazis and anti-Semitic groups, especially during the 1990s and 2000s decade, when the film began being circulated and sold ontech.

– mediarchives.co.usa



WHISTLEBLOWERS REVEAL MALE STUDENTS SEXUALLY PESTERED AT OSU!

– The Columbus Dispatch, 5/9/1987



EX-ATHLETES SAY OHIO STATE U EX-DOC “PESTERED” MALE STUDENTS FOR YEARS

– The Dayton Daily News, 5/10/1987



On May 11, Prime Minister Sir Billy Snedden stunned the nation by announcing that he was stepping down after less than two years in office. To those closest to him, it was not a surprise. The leader of the Liberals had been suffering from declining health for years. Despite only being 60, the effects of atherosclerosis and heart disease had taken their toll on the life-long politician; he would pass away from heart failure three years after leaving office.

Soon the Liberals were on the hunt for a new leader, and found one in Shirley de la Hunty. De la Hunty, who was born in 1925, was originally a professional athlete, winning Gold medals in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics for hurdles, before entering politics. She won a seat in the legislative council in the 1971 Western Australian state elections, then rose in rank and prominence over the next fifteen years. By succeeding Snedden, Shirley de la Hunty became Australia’s 23rd Prime Minister and the nation’s first female head of state…

– Jeremy Moon and Campbell Sharman’s Australian Politics And Government: A History, Cambridge University Press, 2003



Several congresspersons on both sides of the aisle were restive and some even petulant over the passing of the EURECA bill on May 15. The anger, however, was not endemic to conservative Republicans. Concerned that tenant empowerment could cost more than the expected “high bar” of $4billion to implement via HUD appropriations led to, prior to its passing, freshman US Senator Barbara Mikulski told Kemp she had “great reservations” about his whole tenant-ownership plan. She contended that most public housing tenants were too poor to purchase their units and that the cost of rehabilitating units to make them purchase-worthy prohibitive.” [11] Kemp pressed on regardless, and managed to win the support of several Democrats by supporting the spending of money on necessary emergency relief, restoration and rebuilding of regions struck by natural disasters, which angered members of the GOP even further.

– Curt Smith’s From No. 15 to No. 39: The Life And Presidency of Jack French Kemp, Cornell University Press, 2015



…an independent investigation is collaborating with the Ohio Department of Justice to investigate sexual pestering allegations that have been made against a physician formerly employed by Ohio State University…

– The Overmyer Network, 5/18/1987 broadcast



OHIO STATE PRESIDENT SEEKING MORE INFO ON EX-DOC MISCONDUCT

– The Augusta Chronicle, 5/20/1987



After two tours of duty in Libya, partaking in combat missions as a naval aviator over Tripoli and Sirte, McCain retired from the Navy and enrolled in Columbia University in early 1984. McCain faced negative backlash from some of his fellow students on campus for serving in Libya, reporting incident ranging from verbal spats to passive-aggressive insults. “The piercing glances were ambiguous – I asked myself ‘were they offended by my skin color or my uniform?’ more than once –but the shouters at least made their thoughts clear. …but after surviving dogfights and anti-aircraft missile fire, verbal spats were nothing I couldn’t handle.” McCain graduated from Columbia University with a BA in May 1987 at the age of 26.

By this point in his life, McCain’s adoptive father, Admiral John McCain III, was becoming “quite the celebrity” from the theatrical film “Boldly Into Hell,” leading to him declining a Presidential run in 1988 and continue serving in the Navy. McCain’s mother, meanwhile, was continuing her work at the US Department of Education, focusing on rural development, microcredit for low-income families, and human rights work with Native American nations and the World Food Bank. This work proved interesting enough to Barack McCain for him to begin work as a community organizer in the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, an occupation that “made my mother and both of my fathers [his biological father and his adoptive father] proud” of him…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Barack_McCain

[pic: https://imgur.com/LMiZz1A ]
– A low-resolution family photo of Barack McCain (far right) at Columbia University with (left-to-right) Barack Obama, Ann Dunham, and John McCain, c. April 1987



On May 29, Kemp embarked on a three-day tour of Europe, becoming the first US President in a generation to visit the now-“wall-free” Berlin… While considering himself to be a moderate interventionist – most notably his promoting of the activities of Poland’s Solidarity labor union during his time in the House – Kemp was more critical of China than had been Denton [12], leading to him paying more attention to their activities in Xinjiang than had his predecessor…

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010



The industrial restructuring of the US economy during the 1960s led to economic crises and a rise in crime rates for the city during the late 1960s. Starting in the late 1960s, Mayor Joey Pericone (R) worked on occasion with New York Governor Mario Biaggi (D) on several measures to combat criminal activities. To nip the issue in the bud, Pericone capitalized on the economy growing in the US overall and offered tax breaks for small businesses that hired low-income employees and non-harmful ex-cons. The crime rate noticeably dropped from 1970 to 1978, though it spiked briefly during the close of the decade. Revised police strategies under Mayor Bellamy allowed the crime rate to continue to drop during the 1980s, though at a slower rate than under Pericone.

Issues such as healthcare reform and police brutality began to rise during the late 1970s and early 1980s, contributing to Bellamy’s election in 1981 and 1985. As Mayor, Carol Bellamy solved a financial crisis in 1982 via austerity measures that, while initially unpopular, proved to be successful enough for Bellamy to win re-election in a landslide. Bellamy’s formation of community groups to make the city’s police precincts known to and trusted by their communities was coupled with superior processes for vetting police officer candidates.

During the 1980s, the city’s culture changed as well, as more immigrants from Asia and Latin America moved in, as well as many technology-based companies. By 1987, the city had a reputation of being crime-free, which only contributed to its rise in population and economic prosperity.

– clickopedia.co.usa/New_York_City/History/1980s



CROWDED OR CLEAR?: Democratic Voters Uncertain Ahead of Presidential Primaries

…Early speculation on how the 1988 primaries will go is focusing on the campaigns of several potential candidates such as Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Osborne, longtime US Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver, and even long-shot candidate Carol Bellamy, the progressive Mayor of New York City…

– The New York Post, 6/6/1987



SCOOP JACKSON DIES!

…the Senator passed away peacefully in his sleep just days after turning 75, most likely from heart failure according to a source close to the family…

– The Washington Post, 6/8/1987



FORMER D.C. MAYOR ALEXANDER LAUNCHES BID FOR PRESIDENCY

…Clifford Leopold Alexander Jr., 55, an African-American lawyer, was elected the Mayor of our nation’s capital in 1966, 1970, 1974, and 1978. While he has not held elective office since leaving the mayor’s office in 1983 and moving to New York, he has stayed involved in politics by serving as a political lecturer at NYU and as a political correspondent for NBC.

His announcement comes unusually early, as most politicians since the primary reforms of the 1970s typically wait to officially announce their Presidential aspirations in the autumn, and after Independence Day at the earliest... We will have to wait and see if this early announcement benefits his campaign, or leads to fatigue for his candidacy by the time the primaries actually begin…

– The Washington Post, 6/11/1987



America’s “N.A.S.A.” is their version of Roscosmos. Formerly a part of the USSR’s Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosviakosmos), Roscosmos re-established Russian interest in out space. …Launching facilities were constructed in several areas south of Volgograd during the late 1980s because Russia-Turkestani relations were not warm enough for us to successful open launch facilities in the Kazakh region of United Turkestan until 1993. …when the Russian Space Agency was formed by a decree from the President, Volkov appointed me its inaugural director… cash flow concerns forced us to play a smaller role in the I.S.S. development than we had hoped. However, 1987 saw the Russian economy begin to finally recover from the effects of the USSR’s collapse. Our funding increased, and with it, our ability to contribute more to space travel – not only with constructing more pieces for the I.S.S. project, but with a return to manned orbital missions soon afterwards as well.

– Among the Stars: The Autobiography of Yuri Gagarin, 1995



SUPREME COURT RULING STRIKES DOWN PRO-CREATIONISM CURRICULA

…in the case of Freeman v. Aguillard, the Court considered a state law in Louisiana that required the additional teaching of creationism in any public school that taught evolution to its students. The US Supreme Court ruled against the law because it violated the Establishment Clause of the Frist Amendment, as it purposely intended to advance one idea over another instead of giving all ideas equal footing. With the decision, Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson explained “teaching opposing scientific theories in public schools must be done in a manner that is valid and, most importantly, with clearly secular intent.”…

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 6/19/1987



SENATE KILLS BILL TO DEREGULATE CABINET RESPONSIBILITIES, 58-42

…Kemp, sticking to his long-held promotion of minimizing most aspects of the federal government, states that he is “disappointed” in the vote results, but believes that, “with proper tweaking,” the bill can be revised, be re-introduced, and be passed…

– The Washington Post, 6/24/1987



MAUREEN REAGAN TO STEP DOWN AS US AMBASSADOR TO THE UN; Will Leave Diplomat Post Over “Conflicting Ideas,” Arguments With Kemp White House

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 6/25/1987



OHIO STATE PHYSICIAN ARRESTED IN PESTERING PROBE

– The Dayton Daily News, 6/27/1987



In the end, Dr. Robert Strauss, tried and found guilty of 1 count of attempted rape and 5 counts of sexual pestering. In early 1988, at the age of 49, Strauss was sentenced to 40 years in prison. While serving his sentence, he twice attempted suicide and sent for mental health examinations and therapy each time. Attempts to appeal his sentence as his health worsened failed repeatedly. After battling numerous health issues for roughly twenty years, Strauss passed away in 2019, at the age of 81.

– Dr. Strauss & The Horrors of Larkins Hall, Episode 4 of a documentary series, 2025

[vid: watch?v=nuwAMztxL1E ]

– Colonel Sanders in a KFC commercial, first aired 6/30/1987



Even the region’s name was controversial. It was Xinjiang (“New Frontier” in Chinese) to some, “Chinese Turkestan” to others, “East Turkestan” to the separatists, and “Uyghuristan” to most of its many Uyghurs. In the capital of Urumqi, PRC officials organized the almost-daily treks to distant villages. Uyghur, Han, Kazakh, Tibetan, Hui, Tajik, Mongol, Russian and Xibe ethnic groups were all persecuted whenever dissident activities sprouted up.

The land was divided geographically by mountains, with the Dzungarian Basin making up most of the north and the Tarim Basin the south. We sent thousands of urban dwellers to the expansive region despite knowing that less than 10% of the total land area was actually fit for human habitation.

[snip]

Most of the local inhabitants opposed to our activities began demanding autonomy, those some “radicals” pushed for an all-out war for independence, either by treaty or by force. The precedence of United Turkestan made many support the latter, but the circumstances were woefully different for them and China when compared to those of the UT and the USSR. There was less unity among the local non-Han Chinese populations, and the population itself was spares – over 90% of China’s population lived in the easternmost third of its land territory. Their numbers were simply too small...

– Bo Yibo’s The Dragon and The Eagle: Chinese and American Dances, Daggers and Dinners, English translation, 1998



…Breaking News: a Chevron oil tanker has hit a reef and run aground in Alaska, spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Alaska…

– KNN, 7/9/1987 morning broadcast



…Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil merged in 1984 and soon after adopted the legal name of Chevron Corporation. …The “Stargazer Delight” oil tanker headed south of the town of Valdez and passed through Prince William Sound. It was almost done passing by Hinchinbrook Island when the captain, failing to inspect the proper measurements, misjudged the tanker’s proximity to said island’s easternmost coast. Upon attempting to correct the error, said captain failed to turn the tanker away quickly enough. The collision created an opening along a third of the ship’s hull, and pierced deep into the bowels of the vessel’s cargo of crude oil.

After spilling into the Gulf of Alaska, the oil found its way onto the shoreline, covering the coast and its animal inhabitants with the black substance. The oil hit the shores of the coastal village of Cordova, and to a lesser extent, the villages of Alaganik and Katalla, both of which were to the east of Cordova. All of the coastlines hit belonged to the Chugach National Forest bordering the town of Valdez. Hundreds of miles of shoreline was disastrous for the local ecological habitats and local wildlife. Thousands of sea birds, otters, and other local marine life were killed by the spill.

– clickopedia.co.usa/The_Alaskan_Chevron_Oil_Spill



While more celebrities simply sent in funds, Bob decided to that and more. Bob took action; he flew down from Fairbanks to the coastal villages hit and joined the recovery project. Heartbroken by the sight of nature’s most innocent creatures hurt and sick, Bob spent most of his time in Cordova keeping the animals warmed, fed, hydrated and rested before being washed in several alternating tubs of a diluted cleaning agent mixture and hot softened water.

Since breathing crude oil is toxic, cleaning up the oil-coated rocks on the beach led to EPA Administrator Ralph Nader making certain that volunteers received legitimate safety training ahead of their efforts. You can’t spray hot water onto the rocks without wearing proper sanitation equipment, including gloves and masks at the very least. As a result of his precautionary actions, claims of respiratory or nervous system damage was at a minimal during the post-spill actions – roughly 95% lower than the cases reported in the aftermath of the California Oil Spill of 1969.

[pic: https://imgur.com/zCqcLJj ]
Above: Typically jovial, Bob speaks to a reporter, during a break from nighttime cleanup efforts, to express the need protect “God’s happy little creatures”

– Kristin G. Congdon, Doug Blandy, and Danny Coeyman’s Happy Clouds, Happy Trees: The Bob Ross Phenomenon, University Press of Mississippi, 2014



Chevron was ordered to pay for cleanup expenses as EPA and ODERCA collaborated in the subsequent cleanup procedures. Months later, cleanup efforts were still far away from complete as Governor Fink’s efforts were criticized as lackluster. Later, in a civil settlement, Chevron agreed to pay $700 million in ten annual payments to the state of Alaska. Two months after that, in a class action lawsuit, Chevron was also ordered to pay an additional $4billion in punitive damages, and the company agreed to begin disbursements of this sum in annual installments for the next ten years. After years of delay on this, appellate litigation enforced the company to begin payments in 1992, ending years of Chevron challenging the ruling in circuit court.

The environmental disaster led to filibusters and demonstrations against Governor Fink’s efforts to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for crude oil, supposedly for the benefit of the Alaskan Permanent Fund, trade unions, and “traditional energy” businesses…

– clickopedia.co.usa/The_Alaskan_Chevron_Oil_Spill



The Russian Mafia mounted a resurgence in the wake of the Soviet Union collapsing in Russia. Several decentralized groups quickly increased their efforts to expand into post-Soviet Russia and Eastern Europe. Many ex-KGB agents and veterans of the Soviet-Turkestani War offered skills to crime bosses in order to maintain employment.

One of the largest of the “families” – close-knit groups much different than the mafia “families” found in the US – was the Tambov Gang in Tambov Oblast, which was run by boss, or “pakhan,” Vladimir Kumarin. His main rival was the ruthless Vyacheslav “Yaponchik” Ivankov (b. 1940), who unleashed a reign of terror onto urban centers in Russia with events concerning extortion, and narcotics from contacts in the US, particularly Boris Nayfeld (b. 1947).

To prevent the mafia from “growing into an undefeatable problem,” Russian President Vladimir Volkov privately launched a massive anti-corruption campaign in collaboration with regional governments. Police raids and drug busts became more common. However, instead of targeting mobsters directly, Volkov raised sentences for any politician found guilty of “doing business” with known mafia members, and formed special National Assembly committees to oversee criminal activity in oblasts and other divisions. Arresting the Pakhans was tantamount to the success of this campaign. Crime rings are certain to keep their top brass and highly connected members in secret. Good intelligence was a must.

In April 1987, intelligence efforts paid off when government informant learned of the whereabouts of key players in transfers and inter-family deals. On the 18th of that month, a hit on Kumarin was misinterpreted as an attack from Ivankov’s Gang. The two went to war with one another.

Meanwhile, the US Senate Special Committee on International Organized Crime, chaired by US Senator Mario Biaggi, worked to FBI officials who were working with Russian agents to “stomp out” Russian mafia members in the US. On August 19, 1987, the largest nationally coordinated organized crime bust in the FBI’s history unfolded, taking down Boris Nayfield. Without his American contact, Iankov went on defense in his attacks against Kumarin, while the Russian government agents continued their plans to orchestrate infighting among the Russian mafia families...

– Alexander Korzhakov’s autobiography From Dawn to Dusk: A Cutthroat Career, St. Petersburg Press, 1997



…In July ’87, Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc. introduced the Shrimp Burger in select locations in the US, and in all Wendyburger outlets in China, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. While merely financially profitable in back home, it was very wildly successful in Asia...

– Margaret Sanders’ The Colonel’s Secret: Eleven Herbs and a Spicy Daughter, StarGroup International, 1997



The Xinjiang Issue was not uncommon from the perspective of someone like me. I was one of many who voluntarily moved out there. In my younger years, I had sided with Mao against Deng in the 1975 Civil War. There was a strong undercurrent of animosity against people like me, who were on the wrong side, especially in the coastal cities. Places were overcrowded; we needed to spread out, and the government’s answer was to say to people like me, ‘make a fresh start. Conquer the western regions and make your country proud to have you in it.’ The government also told us that the natives were savage terrorists who wished war on the state. When I took a train out to the Tienshan mountains in 1982, though, I didn’t see the locals acting savage. Martial law crackdowns were carried out by PRC military officials. But after a while, the suicide bombings began. Muslim minorities believed such actions would make the world finally do something about how the government was treating them. Government officials told us that most of the locals were like this – "unhinged radicals who wished to destroy the state and all who supported it," and all that – and we believed them wholeheartedly. We had no reason to not believe them. ‘They were our leaders, so why would they lie to us?’ or however that phrase goes… …But soon the Buddhist activists began to perform self-immolations as well, begun out of desperation. Those self-immolations were showed to the world by what few American journalists could capture them on tape and then send them out for the rest of the world to see.

– Zhang Li, Han Chinese, in interview for a part of a 2008 documentary



KEMP SIGNS TRADE AGREEMENT WITH COLOMBIA TO PROMOTE INDUSTRY OVER WARFARE

…the Kemp administration believes that the creation of jobs for Colombians will lower that nation’s “poverty and crime” crisis, and with it, the number of guerillas combating government forces…

– The Washington Post, 7/28/1987



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)

[1] Who? This guy: https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=292971

[2] Table 1.7 on https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/british-social-attitudes-30/personal-relationships/homosexuality.aspx shows that in OTL 1987, the number of people who thought “sexual relations between two adults of the same sex” was “always wrong” was at 64% even though it was at 50% in 1983; and “not wrong at all” was at 11% even though it was at 17% in 1983.

[3] As was covered in the 1959 chapter.

[4] Several passages are pulled or paraphrased from the Washington Examiner article “An Idea Whose Time Never Came”

[5] OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Tibetan_uprising

[6] Similar in spirit to this OTL group: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Turkestan_Liberation_Organization

[7] Italicized bits are from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_French_legislative_election

[8] An idea a bit more prominent and a bit more serious than the OTL talk of Albania becoming a US state: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state#Albania (“At the time of ex-Secretary of State James Baker’s visit in 1992, there was even a move to hold a referendum declaring the country as the 51st American state.[154][155]”)

[9] One year earlier than TL due to President Sanders promoting educational institutions during the 1960s and 1970s

[10] Quote from here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110822055700/http://climatechange.procon.org/sourcefiles/1988_Hansen_Senate_Testimony.pdf

[11] Italicized part is from this book: https://books.google.com/books?id=EwUbBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jack+kemp&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjezZrDh9PnAhVlTd8KHTi-C0AQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=jack%20kemp&f=false

[12] According to this book: https://books.google.com/books?id=EwUbBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jack+kemp&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjezZrDh9PnAhVlTd8KHTi-C0AQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=jack%20kemp&f=false, “Kemp used his position to protect aid to Israel, fight China’s mandatory ‘one child population policy,’ and effect smaller changes important to various countries… He once asked China’s ambassador to the United States how many children he had. When the ambassador produced pictures of three, Kemp said, ‘Now, which one would you give up under your country’s one child policy?’” He also “Kemp also backed dissidents in Eastern Europe, notably the Solidarity labor union in Poland. He urged Reagan to impose economic sanctions on the” USSR IOTL as well.

The next Chapter's E.T.A.: Soon!

 

[gap80]

Chapter 57: August 1987 – December 1987​

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson



The young woman showed no hesitance or fear as she traversed the street holding nothing but lighter fluid and one match. She proudly wore the flag of Tibet on her like a cape. When she was well within view of the media – made obvious by the cameras swinging around their necks – the young woman stopped in front of the building. She stood on the green mats before the Embassy of the US in Beijing (the mats were for a diplomatic function set for later in the day) for only a moment before dowsing herself in the flammable liquid and striking the match on her garment. As she performed the act of self-immolation, she did her best to stand upright before collapsing. Captured on film before Chinese and American officials and bewildered onlookers, some sought to intervene; one iconic photograph captured one man hitting the flames with pillows and clothing in an attempt to put out the fire. Minutes later, other Chinese citizens used a hose to put out the flames and quickly whisked the woman away. Her ultimate fate, and very identity – apart from her being a Tibetan national – remained unknown for 29 years.

[pic: https://imgur.com/TThN65s ]
Above: the unknown Tibetan youth collapses from the effects of self-immolation as nearby citizens attempt to put out the flames.

The incident could not be ignored. Soon after, President Kemp met with former President Colonel Sanders to discuss options.

“I’m very disappointed by Deng’s disrespect for his fellow citizens,” said The Colonel. After several attempts, Sanders failed to make contact with the PRC Premier.

Kemp got down to business by revealing to the elder statesman his ideas. “This is tricky business. We can’t tolerate the treatment of the western minorities, but to oppose the domestic activities of another nation could be seen as imperialistic. Even with probable cause, this breakdown in communication,” referring to the PRC going silent on the matter, “could build up into a military confrontation. And since both of us have nukes, that could spell disaster. So, think economic sanctions could suffocate them into submission.”

The Colonel disagreed. “Economic sanctions hurt the people and businesses that benefited from both sides of open trade. You close up trade and you’ll hurt Chinese merchants more than the Chinese military. Don’t punish the people with economic sanctions – the cut-off could create a recession in China and one over here, too, which could spill over into effecting our Western trading partners. It’d be like cutting off the limb you’re sittin’ on.”

“Well troop mobilizations would be an overreaction, and a strongly-worded admonishment of their actions is practically nothing but hot air. Maybe I should call for a UN resolution? What do you suggest?”

The Colonel answered, “Punish the government, never the people. If you impose economic sanctions, the masses suffer, and it’s much easier for Americans to voice their complaints than Chinese masses can. So don’t punish them, punish the higher-ups.”

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (b. 1943)’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018



“These measures are long overdue, and will be kept in place for as long as the government of the People’s Republic of China continue these atrocious human rights violations.” The President said as he announced that his administration, with congressional approval, had placed sanctions on top Chinese government officials and business organizations that were involved, directly and/or indirectly, in the campaign to eradicate the culture and language of nearly 1 million Uyghurs and over 1 million Tibetans and other local ethnic groups in the provinces of western china.

Additionally, the White House blocked a number of Chinese officials involved in the suppression from gaining visas to the United States. The next week, Japan announced similar restrictions, with South Korea and the Philippines following suit in a showing of solidarity.

These “high-end” sanctions created a major chasm in US-Chinese relations. Several pro-PRC far-right conservatives admonished the Kemp White House for allegedly, in the words of Republican state party chairman Mitchell McConnell, “undoing twenty years of diplomacy in one foolish fell swoop.”

– Jonathan Applebaum’s Tackling What Ailed Us: The Trials And Triumphs of The Jack Kemp Presidency, Borders Books, 2010



DOW SEES “MINIMAL CASUALTIES” FROM US-PRC RELATIONS SHAKE-UP, SURPRISING ANALYSTS

– The Wall Street Journal, 8/11/1987



BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
Alternative title: POISONED WORLD: THE PIPES OF SLOW DEATH

Premiered: August 12, 1987

Genre(s): documentary

Directed/written by: investigative journalist Al Gore Jr. in his film directing debut

[snip]

Synopsis:
The documentary analyzes all evidence suggesting that the expulsion of fuel such as coal, symbolized by factory smokestacks (i.e., “the pipes”), into Earth’s atmosphere is influencing global temperatures, climate, and weather patterns. The narrator (Gore) visits several areas hit by natural disasters such as Botswana’s droughts, Oregon’s nuclear meltdown, Chicago’s heat waves, West Virginia and Tennessee’s coal plants, United Turkestan’s irrigation projects, and California’s oil spill recovery. Several prominent experts and personalities are interviewed such as then-EPA Administrator Ralph Nader, then-editor of Mother Jones and future politician Michael Moore [1], scientist Roger Revelle, and former Governors Victor Atiyeh and Julia Hansen Butler.

Production:
Al Gore Jr., the son of US Senator Al Gore Sr., served in the US Army from 1969 to 1971, serving in Laos for most of that time. He began working as an investigative reporter in 1971, saying “I can expose corruption and my father can help do something about it.” Seeing the impact the film “The China Syndrome” had on the US populace in the wake of the Trojan Tower Nuclear Disaster, Gore turned to filmmaking, and in 1983 began work on "an audio-visual exposé” on the effects of fuel on the environment. After roughly four years of “learnin’ the business” of creating a documentary – most importantly, how to make data analysis “exciting” to the typical American film-watcher – “Before It’s Too Late” was finally released in August 1987.

Reception:
Reactions from critics and audiences were overwhelmingly positive. Praised by the New Yorker as an “intellectual eye-opening work,” the documentary received substantial attention as it premiered shortly after the Alaskan Oil Spill Disaster of ’87... Moore later revealed that his experience being interviewed for this film encouraged him to become more involved in politics, leading to him stepping down from Mother Jones to run for public office in 1988…

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/Before_It’s_Too_Late



…Earlier today, Governor Tom Fink’s chief of staff, uh, a one Paul Fischer, was accused of taking illegal political campaign contributions from an oil field construction company during the 1986 campaign, which, in the wake of his piss-poor response to that freakin’ oil spill, is just more fuel for the fire that is the growing effort to recall Governor Fink…

– KBYR (AM) Anchorage, Alaskan news/talk radio, 8/23/1987 broadcast



Tim Berners-Lee actively pursued the idea of a “technological net,” shortened to “the technet,” that spanned the globe, connecting nations and creating a communications and info-sharing mechanical apparatus the likes of which the world had never before seen. Later that same year [1987], the first permanent technet link was made between the US (NSFNET at Princeton) and Europe (Nordunet in Sweden), soon followed by the first technet chat protocol.

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



...After eighteen years as MLB Commissioner, Bowie Kuhn’s anti-recreadrug policies and his attitude toward and handling of both unions and strikes had made him very unpopular. Ahead of the 1987 World Series, his contract was not renewed, but Kuhn was allowed to stay as Commissioner until November. In the meantime, MLB sought out a successor. George W. Bush, who was assistant coach for the Houston Astros at the time, expressed interest in the job, while the CEO of Trans International Airlines Peter Ueberroth was heavily considered. However, in the end, CEO of Chrysler Lee Iacocca was elected to succeed Kuhn, ushering in a new era for Major League Baseball…

– John Helyar’s Lords of the Realm: The Real History of Baseball, Ballantine Books, 1994



FINAL U.S. TROOPS IN LIBYA TO RETURN HOME IN DECEMBER

…With stability finally returning to the once war-torn nation of Libya, thanks to the establishing of what seems to be a functioning democracy, the President has determined that America’s military presence is no longer required in the northern African country…

– The Lexington Herald-Leader, 8/26/1987



THE ROCKET’S RED FLARE

Premiered: August 29, 1987

Genre(s): apocalyptic/survival/alternate history/action/drama

Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci

Written by: Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford

Produced by: Jer Thomas

Cast: Lukas Haas, Danny Glover, Max Sommer, Randy Quaid, Dennis Dun, Alexander Godunov, Viggo Mortensen, James Hong

See Full List Here

Synopsis:

In 1970, an American ship of merchant mariners are traveling near the disputed Paracel Islands during their trip from Saigon to Tokyo. There is clear tension between Sid Yun-Cho (Dun), who is of Korean descent, and a fellow mariner, the racist Bill (Quaid). Other merchant mariners include Jake the deckhand (Haas), Captain Morris (Glover), and Tony “The Greek” the chef and second deckhand (Sommer).

As the ship passes near the islands claimed by the PRC and several other nearby countries, radio reports inform the crew of an escalation of tensions between the US and China over a vague international incident. After discussing the situation over a private line with his superiors, Morris agrees with Jack and Tony that it is best for them to continue to head to Tokyo.

That night, the radio reports that Red China has launched a nuclear attack on US naval forces in Taiwan and the crew sees streaks of light in the night sky, followed by faint booms way off in the distance, the closest (implied) nuclear explosion being a faint ball of light on the horizon.

As radio contact goes silent, the crew begins to believe that a M.A.D.-style nuclear exchange unfolded. Upon arriving in Kagoshima, Japan in the morning, they find the city a state of havoc, and receive little information on what has unfolded. Morris fails to contact the American embassy, and again fails to contact his superiors. Amid the chaos of people trying to leave on boat, the crew only stay long enough to acquire some supplies.

They then sail to Tokyo, where they are shocked to discover it has been hit by a nuclear device, confirming the crew’s suspicions. Traveling north to Sendai, they are attacked by rogue members of the Japanese merchant marines. Boarding their boat, their leader (Hong) explains to Sid that they believe it is The Endtimes, and that the “new world” must be “cleansed of all Americans.” The rogue mariners hold the crew at gunpoint, but Bill manages to disarm their leader, enabling the rest of the crew to overpower the rogue mariners. However, as they make their escape, Jack is mortally wounded.

During their voyage across the Atlantic to return to the US and re-establish contact with American authorities, Bill blames Jack’s death on Sid, leading to an intense fight between them. Captain Morris breaks up the fight, reminding them that they have to work together to survive “whatever the hell has happened to the world.” After holding a more formal memorial service for Jack, a typhoon soon hits and their boat becomes extremely damaged. With their navigation equipment no longer functioning, Morris must track the star to avoid becoming lost at sea.

As much of their food was lost during the typhoon, the crew begin fishing, but are soon attacked by a shark Bill caught on his line. Sid manages to kill it, saving Bill’s life, but not before the shark severely injured Sid. Bill tries to help Sid recover from the injury, but Sid dies from the blood loss.

The next day, Morris and the crew finally make it to Seattle. They soon see that the place is hustling and bustling with emergency crews trying to help everybody and anybody. They finally see on a TV set that China, the US, and the USSR all hit each other with nukes in a Mexican standoff-the event. The TV shows how much damage has occurred from the Mutually Assured Destruction. As Morris, Tony and Bill sit down at the city’s merchant marines office, Bill politely offers Tony a beer, contrasting to an earlier scene showing Bill being racist to Tony as well as Sid, thus completing Bill’s story arc.

A few years later, the surviving crew members all meet up at a bar, and we see how the US is slowing rebuilding itself from the devastation of the war’s nuclear bombardment and subsequent nuclear fallout. Despite Morris’s optimism, both Bill and Tony are pessimistic that the wounds of WWIII will ever heal.

Reception:

The film almost doubled the amount of money put into it, and so was and still is considered a box office success. Praised by critics and audiences for its acting, atmosphere, and social commentary, but criticized for its uneven pacing, the film has garnered a small cult following.

Trivia Facts:

Trivia Fact No. 1:

The original script for the film, released ontech in 2007, mentioned a “President Westmoreland,” suggesting the backstory to the film is that Colonel Sanders declined running for a second term, leading to General Westmoreland being elected President in 1968 and escalating tensions with China. Neither of the film’s writers have confirmed or denied this theory.

– mediarchives.co.usa



“Popeye Doyle ran from 1987 to 1993, but the pilot was made back in 1986. Doyle was based on the character Gene Hackman played in The French Connection, but soon after we starting making Season 1 we realized we needed to add some humor and some kind of an edge to the character to keep the show interesting and more distinct from shows like Colombo and Quincy, MD. …Christopher Jones did a wonderful job playing Chief Franklin, and it think it was the role that encouraged him to get back into the acting game full wing, because he left semi-retirement just a year later…”

– Ed O’Neill, 2006 interview [2]



The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Second Ark Wave affected popular culture in the United States and Europe toward the end of the decade. For example, thriller novels more critical of established institutions became more common, while more geopolitical thriller literature set in the new post-Cold War era suffered from what L. Brent Bozell III has described as “an enemy deficit”: “Who were we at war with? Nobody! The US had losing its way, its importance on the world stage, because we had nobody to fight against, no perceived enemy to take down.”

The Music industry saw the award-winning Michael Jackson became a definitive icon of the decade, while MTV hosted music videos from Prince, Duran Duran, and other major performers of the day that heralded them into fame. The slow economic growth of the 1980s led to a rise in new wave, synthpop, neo-punk and new-reeflex art styles with anti-establishment and anti-tradition undertones/overtones. On “the other side of the music spectrum,” country music skyrocketed in popularity among old and young alike, making Hank William Jr., Reb McEntire and Randy Travis nationally famous, along with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard Dolly Parton and others.

Movies and Television programming reflected the perceived instability of the decade. The filmmaker-driven films of the 1970s continued into the decade while the post-’78 Crash economic recovery allowed studio-driven films to finally return to prominence. Big-budget film franchises such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Beverly Hills Cop dominated the box office, but low-budget and experimental/high-concept independent films were still prominent as well, and appealed to younger audiences by tackling or reflecting contemporary issues such as government corruption, BLUTAGOism and the Second Ark Wave. The “Teen flicks” of the 1970s were seemingly replaced by “revolutionary” films that reflected said social unrest of the decade, especially in its second half.

Similarly, the animation saw a rise in more grim and low-budget works, clearing the way for animator Don Bluth (who would later collaborate with Tim Burton of several projects) and others. Meanwhile, Disney Animation Studios executives, remembering the success of their lighthearted 1974 classic “The Snow Queen,” bucked the “dreary drawings” trend by producing more uplifting works such as “Midnight Madness” (February 1980), the live-action “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” (June 1989), and the long-awaited animated classic “Don Quixote” (September 1987). Japanese animation saw a resurgence in prominence domestically and on the world stage as Japan continued on through its “two decades of bliss” economic period.

– clickopedia.co.usa/The_1980s/popular_culture



The animated series “Life In Heck And Other Fun Places” premiered on September 4, 1987. It was one of the first original series programs of The Overmyer Network’s “TON-TV” and based on your comic strip “Life In Hell.”

SMITH: Life In Heck And Other Fun Places Follows the Binky family and their misadventures, and is known for being heavily critical of nuclear power – more than half the episodes have something to do with it or its effects. How did that come about?

GROENING: Well it didn’t start out that way. I started making “Life In Hell” in ’77 as a way of taking on the problems faced by young adults – college, finding work, living on your own, making friends and looking for love. Then Trojan Tower Disaster of ’79 hit my home state. I went back up there to help get out some family members freaking out over the radiation. That experience made me take the comic in a more political direction, and that actually led to me fleshing out the characters and build up their word a bit more. And you know the rest – after a co-worker at the L.A. Reader got a collection of them published in book form in ’83, it started to get more attention. In ’85, Richard Sakai of the Overmyer Network contacted me about making the comics into animated shorts as filler for the network. After about a year of haggling with lawyers, I signed a contract with them that allowed me to keep the publication rights. That way, I could keep making the regular comics regardless of how the shorts ended up.

SMITH: The shorts were aired starting in late 1986 and continued until September 1987. But how exactly did the shorts become a regular TV show?

GROENING: Well it’s certainly not a “regular” show, far from it, it broke a lot of “rules” and mores at the time of its debut, but to answer your question, the network was very impressed with how popular the quick, non-sequitur shorts were – they contained a high amount of political commentary masked behind twisted and edgy humor. Daniel Overmyer lacked that it turned heads, and thought it was just what the network needed to stay afloat in an increasingly saturated market.

SMITH: Which characters in the show do you identify with or agree with the most?

GROENING: When I started this, I was a lot like Bongo, the one-eared rabbit – rebellious, politically active, and angry about how things were but hopeful that they’d get better. Now that I’m 40, though, I think I can relate more to Bongo’s dad, Binky. He’s just trying to keep everything together. I’m not as jaded as Binky, though.

SMITH: The show was controversial immediately for the characters Jeff and Akbar being implied to be homosexuals. Do you think this issue was detrimental, or distracting, in any way, to the show’s other messages, with its most notable ones being anti-nuclear power and pro-environmentalism?

GROENING: No, because it brought attention to the show. People like Anita Bryant, Terry Rakolta, and Pat Robertson railed against it, and that made people curious, so they tuned in and you know what they saw? Two guys who cared for each other. Not debauchery, but two guys who lived next door to a family of anthropomorphic bunnies – the effects of nuclear radiation – disguised as regular human people. And they got to see the social and political messages and the jokes and gags and stories that made the show so popular.

– usarightnow.co.usa, 2005 interview

[pic: https://imgur.com/wFObwRT ]

– Early incomplete (note the main characters are not colored yellow) concept art for “Life In Heck And Other Fun Places,” c. 1986



JAMES TAYLOR ANNOUNCES LONG-SHOT BID FOR PRESIDENT

…the singer-songwriter famous for hit singles “Fire And Rain” and “You’ve Got A Friend,” plus many folk rock albums, says the US “has to get out of this rut we’ve been in” since the Great Potomac Scandals. Taylor, who himself recovered from drug abuse and a nasty public divorce in 1985, says he wants to “restore trust, dignity and pragmatism to Washington”…

– The Fayetteville Observer, North Carolina newspaper, 9/5/1987



BUZ LUKENS BEGINS PRISON TERM TODAY

…sentenced to 3 months in jail for minor-related charges and an additional eight months for misusing State Department funds, Lukens has already paid thousands of dollars in fines to state and federal courts…

– The Cincinnati Post, 9/7/1987



“Unions are the best line of defense for labor as they protect workers from exploitation and oppression. If I am elected President, I will implement the same kind of pro-union, pro-labor policies that I have implemented in Wisconsin.”

– Wisconsin Governor Paul Soglin, announcing his bid for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, 9/9/1987



KEMP SIGNS VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN BILL INTO LAW

– The Washington Post, 9/12/1987



Only a few nations of the world remained “in the red,” as President Kemp once called it, long after the collapse of the USSR: the “final five” of South Yemen, Yugoslavia, Mongolia, China, and North Korea all maintained socialist governments of various degrees, but the truly surprising nation of the group was North Korea. The phrase “the North will fall any day now” was initially an honest prediction in South Korea in 1985, but by the end of the decade had become a joke of sorts. Analysts had predicted that the fall of the Soviet government, a major financial and agricultural supporter of North Korea, would spell disaster for the North, culminating in its demise alongside the communist governments of Poland, Hungary, and the rest. As the Hermit Kingdom’s famine crisis grew from bad to worse, it seemed to outsider eyes that the fall of Kim Il-Sung was fast approaching.

But Kim’s popularity among his nation’s practically-brainwashed masses, and among its military and wealthy classes, never faltered. In late 1986, North Korea secured aid from China, and the nation turned inward even further. In September 1987, the North Koreans began mining heavily for precious metals. However, annual droughts and famines continued to devastate the lives of all North Koreans outside of the nation’s top elitist circles, as any offerings of humanitarian aid were rejected outright.

As President, Kemp offered a grain deal to Kim Il-Sung in September 1987. When Kim rejected considering such a proposal, Kemp sought to use the moment to tout being more humanitarian and caring than Kim, in an effort to win over Republican doves and undecided voters. However, the very public debacle of deliberately offering a proposal that all involved parties knew would go nowhere made Kemp seem weak on foreign policy to uninformed voters. Kemp coming off as seemingly unwilling to start a war with a non-nuclear [3] nation also made him lose support among GOP war-hawks…

– Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes’s Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America, Sentinel Books, 2015



POPE JOHN PAUL II VISITS L.A. IN HIS TWO-DAY TRIP TO THE U.S.

– The Fresno Bee, 9/15/1987



Le Pen’s efforts to withdraw France from the EEC were repeatedly blocked by Parliament, which resulted in him declaring by Presidential Decree, sort of the French equivalent to a US President’s Executive Order, the scheduling of a national referendum [4] in order “to prove to parliament that it is what the people want.” Parliament relented, with PM Marchais later explaining, “After months of belligerency, we figured, ‘alright, we will give you your stupid referendum,’ because we knew it would fail. We were that confident.”

On September 25, 1987, the voters of France were asked simply “should France withdraw from the European Economic Community?” The people rejected the proposed move in a landslide: 32.2% “yes” versus 67.8% “no.” Voter turnout was above 90%.

– Jonathan Marcus’ Le Pen: The Impact of The National Front on French Politics, Second Edition, New York University Press, 1999



HOUSE REJECTS MILITARY FUNDING RAISE

…The Democratic-controlled House Budget Oversight Committee tonight struck down President Kemp’s request for the allocation of $31million for the US military, citing the fact that the Armed Forces already received significant funding boosts twice earlier this year...

– The Omaha World-Herald, 9/30/1987



Kemp continued trying to make the GOP more attractive to minorities. In the autumn of 1987, he backed a lengthy extension of the Voting Rights Act, which passed, and an effort to enact a comprehensive immigration law, which did not. Kemp had favored the bill as it would offer ‘earned citizenship’ to illegal immigrants… [5]

– Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes’s Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America, Sentinel Books, 2015

[pic: https://imgur.com/HMzcd7t ]

– Bob Ross, on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN, as part of a post-Chevron Oil Spill cross-country anti-pollution campaign, 10/2/1987



“Denton was framed in an elaborate scheme concocted by FBI Director Felt and carried through by Dark Agents in the Republican and Democratic parties. …We need to impeach President Kemp, we need to withdraw from the UN, we need to cut all foreign aid and assistance, and we need to blunt the subversion of our way of life and culture.”

– former U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald of Georgia, announcing his run for President on a “Western Goals” third-party ticket, 10/2/1987



SOUTH DAKOTA JOINS U.H.C. PACT

…the state legislature-approved bill was signed into law by Governor Farrar, after years of former Senator George McGovern and other natives of the state co-leading the charge for joining the healthcare pact…

– The Virginia Gazette, 10/8/1987



…After months of speculation, Governor Mario Cuomo has declined to mount a bid for President…

– NBC News, 10/9/1987



…As US-PRC tensions continued, the memories of 1975 – the first KFC in China being vandalized, employees fearing for their lives as the Chinese people took their anger out of an establishment the world had come to see as the embodiment of Americana (which was either a good or a bad thing, pending whom you asked) – returned to the forefront of our minds. In October, Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc. sent updated instructions on what to do in case of violence to all PRC-based outlets of KFC, Wendyburger, H. Salt Esq., and other franchises in the nation whose government officials (but not necessarily its citizens) were becoming increasingly critical of the United States…

– Mildred Sanders Ruggles’ My Father, The Colonel: A Life of Love, Politics, and KFC, StarGroup International, 2000

[vid: watch?v=eKPQLl5rupg ]

…The Great Storm of October 15-16, 1987 hit the UK and parts of France, Spain, Belgium and Norway, killed 19 people, destroyed thousands of buildings and created major transportation problems…

– BBC compilation video, 2017



…In other news, Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware has today announced that he will not run for President next year after months of speculation. The statement comes less than a month after the first-term Senator and former two-term Governor suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm, a health scare from which is reportedly still recuperating...

– CBS News, 10/19/1987



GOP LEADERS UNEASY AFTER KEMP VETO OVERRULED

…As the Democrats maintain majorities in both chambers of Congress, the 1987 Tax Reform Bill, meant to reverse parts of the 1981 Tax Reform Act, was passed by a fairly comfortable margin… President Kemp vetoed the bill on the fourth of this month, only for congress to overrule said veto on the fifteenth. ...A rising number of politicians, ranging from the conservative Senator Dole to the liberal Senator Mike Rockefeller, are voicing concerns over Kemp’s leadership capabilities. “Jack [Kemp] is showing himself to be too ineffective to deserve a term of his own,” says Arthur Fletcher, the former Secretary of Education under both Denton and Kemp…

– The Washington Post, 10/21/1987



KIRKPATRICK ELECTED FIRST FEMALE GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA IN FIRST-ROUND LANDSLIDE

…Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick (b. 1918), a Democrat, was the state Board of Regents for Higher Education from 1977 to 1984 before being elected to the state senate in 1983… Kirkpatrick, a moderate with wide appeal, easily defeated conservative Democratic US Representatives Billy Tauzin and Speedy Oteria Long, along with progressive Democratic state Secretary of State Democrat James H. “Jim” Brown, and Republican Bob Livingston, in tonight’s blanket primary. Because Kirkpatrick received a majority of the vote – with her closest challenger, Tauzin, winning only 20% of the vote to her 55% – there will be no need for a runoff election. ...Kirkpatrick, who turns 69 next month, will be sworn into office early next year…

– The Beauregard Daily News, Louisiana daily newspaper, 10/24/1987



CHAMPIONS! Twins Make Minnesota No.1!

…This year’s World Series ended tonight with the Minnesota Twins defeating the San Francisco Giants 5-to-2…

– The Star Tribune, Minnesota newspaper, 10/25/1987



On October 25, [1987,] Barry Goldwater formally announced that he would challenge Kemp in the next year’s primaries, after previously failing to win the GOP Presidential nomination in 1964, 1972, 1976, and 1980. Running on an almost entirely libertarian platform, Goldwater by then was already a divisive and polarizing figure within the GOP for criticizing the party’s religious arm, and for being the most prominent Republican to support BLUTAGO rights at the time. Announcing his bid at the age of 78, he promoted the idea of “let[ting] the people keep their money and spend it how they like,” even for morally subjective uses like abortion and recreadrugs. Widowed for over a year, the elder statesman was joined on the campaign by his children and adult grandchildren…

– Paul F. Boller’s Campaign’88: An American Melodrama, Viking Press, 1989



With expenses for farm equipment and farmland on the rise for years, along with high interest rates despite a strong US dollar, the Farm Credit System successfully lobbied for a federal financial assistance package for vulnerable institutions. Kemp signed into law the Farming & Agriculture Relief Management Act, also known as the FARM Act, which essentially bailed out small bankrupt farms and lowered rates for struggling farms through the FCS. This led to Kemp’s approval ratings rising considerably among rural voters.

– Joseph Perkins’ The Bleeding-Heart Heartland: Agricultural Politics in America Since 1985, Simon & Schuster, 2015



“THE FACES OF THE NEW SOUTH”: Liberal Democrats Dominate Elections In MS, KY

…In the Bluegrass State, state senator Bucky Ray Jarrell [6] was elected Kentucky’s 55th Governor. Running a “progressive populist” campaign, he supports passing a variation of free universal healthcare at the federal level “that allows anyone to drop out if they dislike it.” Jarrell, 45, won over Republican nominee John Harper by an impressive margin of 22%; he will be inaugurated in December…

…In Mississippi, Evelyn Gandy, who has been Governor ever since Governor Cliff Finch died in office from a massive heart attack last year, was not a candidate for a full term. The election came down to state auditor Ray Mabus, a 39-year-old Democrat with wide appeal and an ambitious campaign platform, versus Republican nominee Rex Armistead [7], a former state Highway Patrol officer, private detective, and last year’s GOP nominee for the state’s 1st Congressional District. Mabus won the election by a margin of roughly 9.5%...

– The Rocky Mountain News, 11/3/1987



...Officer Thompson's additional attempts to apprehend suspect/assailant Vernon Wayne Howell proved successful. Upon Howell firing addition rounds at Roden, Thompson, and myself, Thompson fired back. Thompson killed Howell via a single gunshot to the forehead... Upon Roden surrendering, he informed Officer Thompson that the shoot-out between rival Branch Davidian sect leaders Roden and Howell was over the jurisdiction of local establishment Mount Carmel Center...

– Police report on George Roden's 11/3/1987 arrest, Axtell, TX, submitted and filed 11/5/1987

[pic: https://imgur.com/DEKp7QK ]

– Mario Biaggi at his US Senate desk, reading the latest issue of UFO Magazine, shortly before announcing his latest bid for the US Presidency, 11/8/1987



ELECTION ’87: LABOR BEATS LIBERAL: Manfred Cross “Set All” To Be Prime Minister Again

…incumbent Prime Minister Shirley de la Hunty (Liberal) failed to lead her party to victory tonight…

– The Canberra Times, Australian newspaper, 11/11/1987



RON PAUL TO CHALLENGE KEMP FOR G.O.P. NOMINATION

…The two-term US Senator opposes the President’s housing reform endeavor on the principle of minimal government…

– The Houston Chronicle, 11/12/1987



Ishtar is a 1987 action-adventure-comedy Columbia pictures film starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman. In the spirit of the Hope-Cosby “Road To…” films, the plot follows an untalented duo of American songwriters who travel to Morocco for a gig, only to accidently begin a four-part revolution in said country. After extensive rewrites and reshoots delayed its release by several months, the film finally premiered on November 18, 1987. While the reviews were lukewarm, the film was ultimately considered to be a sleeper hit. After its success at home video sales, the film was theatrically re-released on July 4, 1988, and it finally turned a profit for Columbia. A proposed sequel, however, was never made…

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/Ishtar



…Across the channel, more scandals are shaking the Le Pen Presidency of France. Several more groups have come forward with claims that Le Pen allies have attempted or are attempting to suppress certain freedoms, claiming it is, quote, “for the sake of security,” unquote… With Le Pen’s anti-immigration campaign dead in the water, his Presidency still reeling from an unsuccessful EEC Withdrawal referendum, his abysmal response to the Great Storm that ravaged parts of his country’s northern areas in October, and two members of his inner circle departing from his administration last week over accusation of bugging the offices of the Prime Minister, it is of no surprise that Le Pen’s approval rating has gone from 42% in March 1986 to its current rating of 28%…

– BBC World News report, 19/11/1987



CAN LABOUR SURVIVE WITHOUT ITS UKIP WING?

…the departure of EEC supporters, environmentalists, peaceniks, and the most far-left of social progressivists from the Labour party to the United Kingdom Intrepid Progressive party could have been an opportunity for Labour to shift focus to middle-class issues. However, the real issues of our times have been overshadowed during the past several weeks, which have instead seen Prime Minister Williams fail to unite the remains of her party – especially a minor faction skeptic of the EEC – going into the general election…

– TODAY, UK tabloid, 21/11/1987



NOW THERE’S A GOODLAD! Conservatives Win Thin Majority; Leader Alastair Goodlad to Become Next PM

…Alastair Goodlad (b. 1943), of the moderate “dry” wing of his party, was first elected to Parliament in a 1970 by-election, and has led the Conservatives ever since the previous “wet” conservative party leader, Jim Prior stepped down after losing the previous general election in February 1985… The Conservatives won 329 seats, three more than needed to obtain a majority, while Labour (led by PM Shirley Williams) won 294 seats, a downward swing of 45 seats. The SDP-Liberal Alliance saw their total number of seats plummet from 25 to 14, while UKIP (led by Eric Heffer) doubled their number of seats, from 5 to 10. The Moralist party retained their 1 seat, while the SNP and SDLP each won only 1 seat, and all other parties won no seats. …when asked for comment, Labour MP John Lennon stated “this is a sign that Labour’s got to shift back to the left and return to focusing on the needs of the poor, the working-class, and the middle-class; we as a party have got to stop the infighting - it didn't keep together the last group I was in - and promote the messages of care and love. That’s the way to go.”

– The Guardian, 24/11/1987



HAROLD WASHINGTON DIES! Beloved Mayor’s Sudden Demise Stuns City!

– The Chicago Tribune, 11/25/1987



MARTHA OSBORNE MAKES WHITE HOUSE BID OFFICIAL

[pic: https://imgur.com/d65tLyn.png ]

…the self-proclaimed anti-corruption D.C. outsider, former Governor of Kentucky Martha Layne Osborne, already in the throes of organizing campaign headquarters in the early primary states, today officially announced her bid for the Democratic nomination for US President in Baghdad, Kentucky, the place of her birth, earlier today…

– The New Hampshire Gazette, 11/27/1987



“She’s The One”

– Osborne for President slogan, used from late November 1987 to early December 1987



On December 1, exactly twelve years after rising to power, Chairman Deng Xiaoping left office to enjoy a comfortable and influential retirement. At the age 79, Vice Chairman Bo Yibo had long anticipated to take the reins. The party’s old guard had other intentions.

Several within the party, and even some within Deng’s inner circle, opposed Bo Yibo’s pro-reform positions. They instead promoted a man who had work closely with Deng during the 1975 Civil War and had become a major supporter of orthodox central planning and sociopolitical conformity. Planning to shift the nation’s focus away from the events in its west by redeveloping the north via heavy industry and energy production projects, Li Xiannian (b. 1909) called for the PRC government to, essentially, “double-down and stick to their guns,” as the famous Colonel Harland Sanders put it. Deducing the power struggle between him and Li Xiannian could lead to bloodshed, Yibo accepted the position of Chairman of the Communist Party instead.

However, in order to maintain party unity, which conservative party members believed would best prevent another Civil War from breaking out, as the 1975 war still within the nation’s memory, Bo Yibo’s most influential ally was allowed to become the new Vice Chairman – Lee Teng-hui. Born in 1923, Lee, 65, was considered “young blood,” and privately supported full democratization of China’s markets and the gaining allies around the world to improve their international reputation and trading possibilities. This meant that the Premier and his second-in-command were often at odds; most notably, Li Xiannian found no faults in the “Xinjiang Restructuring Plan,” while Lee Teng-hui supported a “change in strategy” that called for redesigning the Han Chinese-majority provinces in the center of the country.

In addition to Lee Teng-hui, Wan Li (b. 1916), a moderate and advocate for constitutional reforms, was promoted from Minister of Railways to Minister of Internal Affairs, while the more unifying Zhao Ziyang (b. 1919) became third in line for the Premiership. …In a possible sign that even the People’s Republic of China was not immune to the politics of the Second Ark Wave, Mao Zedong’s daughter Li Na (b. 1940), a worker for the state-run newspaper the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) Daily since 1965 and a Communist party official since 1973, was promoted to the heading the state’s “Publicity Department”…

– Shan Li’s China in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge Press, 2003



…After discussions with family over the Thanksgiving break, former Senator and former US Ambassador to the UK Maureen Reagan has announced her intention to challenge President Kemp for the Republican nomination for President, calling for a, quote, “return to common-sense conservatism and holding those in power responsible for their wrongdoings,” unquote. Her announcement speech jabbed at Kemp’s recent legislative failures and his connections to former President Denton...

– CBS News, 12/5/1987



SOURCE: MAUREEN’S AILING FATHER WANTED TO SEE HER RUN

...an anonymous source close to the Reagan and Davis families claims the ageing former Governor Ronald Reagan urged her daughter to run. The claim, if true, clashes with Maureen’s voting record being notably more to the left than Ronald’s, and conflict with other recent claims that the elder Reagan either opposes Maureen’s run, or is not confident that Maureen can win the nomination…

– The New York Post, 12/7/1987



PHILIPPINES STILL RECOVERING FROM LAST MONTH’S TYPHOON NINA

…the nation’s President Aquino is overseeing rescue and repair efforts in 17 provinces where Typhoon Nina, locally known as Typhoon Sisang, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed several dozen people. …The American Red Cross, The Roman Catholic Church, and dozens of charities have donated thousands of thousands of dollars to help house and feed the displace and remove the wreckage and debris that the powerful storm heaped onto the island nation…

– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 12/8/1987



“Universal healthcare for children and the elderly is decent, but we can do even better than that! 16 states have already formed a universal healthcare pact to ensure coverage for everyone in those states – and we need universal healthcare in every state and territory for every American! Wealthy elitists and conservative pundits claim such a policy would bankrupt the economy, but they are wrong. Last month’s elections proved that the people want progressive and forward-thinking policies, and I plan to deliver these policies to the American people!”

– NYC Mayor Carol Bellamy announcing her bid for President, 12/9/1987



H. SALT ESQ. OPENS 100TH STORE

Tarpon Springs, FL – After 22 years, 18 of which have been under Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc., H. Salt Esquire Authentic English Fish and Chips opened its 100th location today in a grand ceremony. The “Big Fish Fry” celebration in Tarpon Springs, northeastern Florida, featured food-theme activities and contests and an appearance from the Salt man himself. The founder of the fish-and-chips mega-chain, Haddon Salt, is often called the British version of the Colonel in terms of appearance. Donning a bowler hat atop his now-grey head and black suit, Salt swings his cane like a British Bat Masterson, the yin to Colonel Sanders’ “antebellum South” yang...

– The Miami Herald, 12/15/1987



In 1987, I was still with the company. After I seriously considered retiring in 1982 and again in 1985, I was convinced to stay until the company was doing better. Thus, in order to retire, I increased our advertising expenses.

[snip]

I began appearing in commercials, starting with the holiday season of 1987, in order to compete against the brand recognition of McDonald’s, Burger Chef, the “roller-coasting” (as in repeatedly alternating between doing wonderfully and teetering on the edge of collapse, going up and down like being on a roller coaster) Burger King, and even the niche Ollieburger of Ollie’s Trolleys. Because of all the time I had spent with the Colonel, I had also spent enough time around cameras for me to think that I would be comfortable in front of them. Instead, I was incredibly nervous, and to offset it, I would throw into the mix some self-deprecating humor that test audience reacted positively to, leading to us keeping it for the early Christmas ’867 commercials. This style of promoting Wendy’s was successful, I believe, because it contrasted enough with the Colonel’s boisterousness and Salt’s merry-go-lucky demeanor for me to stand out and be popular with consumers as well.

– David Thomas’ Dave’s Way, Penguin Group USA Inc., 1992 [8]



PROUDLY ON THE SIDELINES: The Kemp Family

Washington, D.C. – While Jack loves the spotlight, bear-hugging supporters and giving fiery speeches, Joanne is fine being on the sidelines, cheering him on. She knows she is the solid rock, the unwavering touchstone for her busy family and frenetic husband’s very public life. There is a reason her secret service name this fall is “Cornerstone.”

“I’m a very common-sense person. I’m comfortable out of the limelight but not uncomfortable in the limelight,” Kemp said during an interview last week. “I think that’s why I get along so well with [former First Lady] Katharine [Denton]. We have very similar interests.”

A deeply religious person, Kemp grew up Presbyterian and went to school to become a schoolteacher, but stopped working to raise a family. She has been a gracious White House hostess maintains a sense of modesty and dignity that becomes her and her new residence.

However, Joanne Kemp’s self-effacement and complete lack of gamesmanship is not only refreshing, it’s almost disconcerting. She’s been known to turn her back on a TV camera – unheard of in campaign sound-bite land. Joanne Kemp has none of the plastic, practiced air of camera-ready spouses. Instead, our First Lady seems to work more efficiently – and, possibly, much more comfortably – behind the scenes. Joanne is active in several national organizations, including Community Bible Study, Prison Fellowship and the Best Friedns Foundation, which encourages teens to postpone sex and reject recreadrugs and alcohol. When she is not traveling, Kemp hosts a weekly philosophy and Bible study group in her home for wives of congressmen, Supreme Court justices and Cabinet members.

Since becoming First Lady, she has also used her post to pursue issues involving “families and youth and relationships.” [9]

The Kemp’s two sons, Jeff and Jimmy, are 28 and 16, respectively; Jeff plays quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks while Jimmy plays football in high school. With Jimmy living in the White House, the brothers visit each other as often as they can. The First Couple’s daughters Judith, 26, who is seeking a medical career, and Jennifer, 24, who is pursuing academic and journalism interests, plan to join their parents on the campaign trail next year, optimistic that 1988 will be “a good one... After a tumultuous first year, Dad’s second year in office will likely fare better,” argues Jennifer.

– Time Magazine article, December 1987 issue



SENATOR KENNEDY-SHRIVER LAUNCHES PRESIDENTIAL BID: “We Are Ready For A Woman President”

…Eunice Kennedy-Shriver, 67, has served as the senior US Senator from Massachusetts since 1962. A devout Catholic, she opposes abortion… she is a firm supporter of “all-inclusive” healthcare, which she has advocated for over twenty years... She joins a crowded field of progressives, moderates, and conservatives [11]

– The New York Times, 12/19/1987



“The real issue is not whether you’re black or white, whether you’re a woman or a man. In my view, a woman could be elected President of the United States. The real issue is whose side are you on? Are you the side of workers and poor people? Or are you on the side of big money and the corporations?”

– media mogul Bern Sanders, co-founder of Tumbleweed Media, KNN interview in which he ruled out a Presidential run of his own, 12/20/1987 [10]



Tim Berners Lee, contributing to earlier work, continued to be a major player in the concept of a pan-global technological network, or “tech-net,” for information/data-sharing computer systems. …Soon, extensive transoceanic satellite links and nodes began to be placed across the floor of the Atlantic to connect computer networks in Europe and the United States to each other...

– Joy Lisi Rankin’s Computers: A People’s History of the Information Machine, Westview Press, 2018



The Colonel was amazed by how much KFC had become a yearly tradition in Japan over the years. Upon reading a December 1987 Newsweek article describing many consumers in Japan viewing the 97-year-old self-made man as a wise “sensei”-type figure, Sanders had mixed emotions; he was glad they enjoyed his food, but did not want to relish in the sin of pride. A more pressing issue for the Colonel, though, was how it appeared that KFC had essentially become synonymous with December 25 in the predominantly atheist nation of Japan. In a recorded conversation with his friend Richard Nixon, the Colonel laments “not many of them are turning to Christianity,” and even suggests “maybe plasterin’ my face all over everything – the signs, the buckets, everything – it may have been a mistake,” explaining “My name is overshadowing the Lord’s birthday. That’s sacrilege!”

In a 1991 interview, wife Claudia Sanders claims she got her husband to at least try and see the situation differently. “I said to him, ‘Look at the pictures,’” referring to the photographs accompanying the article. “I asked him, ‘What do you see? You see people, lovers, friends,, amilies. All smiling, all getting along, and all giving thanks in their own way. Before you brought KFC to Japan, December 25 was just a regular ol' day for them, but now, it is a day more like Christmas for them, a day of thanks and being together. I think the Lord approves, Harland.’ And I think I got Harland to think about it like that from then on...”

– Josh Ozersky’s Colonel Sanders and the American Dream, University of Texas Press, 2012



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] IOTL, Moore was elected to the Davison, MI school board at age 18 (1972), then founded a weekly magazine in Flint, MI, then became the editor of Mother Jones in 1986. Here, though, he isn’t fired from said publication after a few months, and instead steps down in early 1988 to seek public office!
[2] IOTL, a Popeye Doyle pilot was filmed but never greenlit into a TV series, leading to O’Neill needing to look for other work; he was chosen for the role of Al Bundy in “Married…With Children” because a casting agent saw him performing in Connecticut in 1986, shortly after filming the Popeye Doyle pilot. Because of how incidental it was (as described here: https://www.youtube.com: /watch?v=GGD83M4e0vc?t=1155 ) I doubt the same situation would play out here, given the POD was over 50 years ago by this point in the TL, especially if the show gets greenlit (which it does here due to the Potomac Scandals increasing interesting in crime dramas). If “Married…With Children” still came into existence here, though, I’m at a loss for who could portray the misanthropic character Al Bundy as greatly as did O’Neill.
[3] IOTL, they didn’t get their first nuke until 2006.
[4] It turns out they have these in France, too!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendums_in_France
[5] Italicized passage from here: https://books.google.com/books?id=EwUbBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=jack+kemp&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjezZrDh9PnAhVlTd8KHTi-C0AQ6AEwAHoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=jack%20kemp&f=false
[6] IOTL, Jarrell died in the Prestonville Bus Disaster of 1958 (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73189966/bucky-ray-jarrell), but here, as mentioned way back in the 1958 chapter, the crash didn’t happen because the Colonel, who was Governor of Kentucky at the time ITTL, implemented road repair programs, leading to there being traffic-slowing construction crews on the road that day, which in turn prevented the bus from fatally crashing.
[7] Who? This guy!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Armistead
[8] OTL book: https://books.google.com/books?id=Y1j8bD6SQrAC
[9] Italicized passages are pulled from here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-09-29-9609290282-story.html
[10] OTL quote!



[11] Speaking of which, ahead of the 1988 primaries, I made two preference polls. Please vote! :

The Republican Primary: https://www.strawpoll.me/19390310

The Democratic Primary: https://www.strawpoll.me/19390384

And here’s a quick breakdown of the 14 candidates on the Republican primary poll:
Ed Brooke, 69, is the junior US Senator from Massachusetts; he is running on a liberal platform that stands out in the increasingly conservative GOP but could prove to be able to win over a diverse coalition of voters in both the primaries and the general election, but not without precision and care.
Bill Daniels, 68, was the moderate/centrist Governor of Colorado from 1979 to 1987 and is a sharp critic of Kemp “butting heads” with the People’s Republic of China; a former sports team owner and television network executive with many connections to political donors and prominent media personalities, he seeks to rely on Cable TV ads to make his name a household one.
Bob Dole, 65, a US Senator from Kansas since 1969, is running on a conservative platform with some thin moderate streaks; having run for the Presidency before, he is hoping his Senate record can win over voters in key primary states, but he is also hoping to win over the party establishment ahead of said states.
Arthur Fletcher, 64, is the former head of the United Negro College Fund who served as the US Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1987, Lieutenant Governor of Washington state from 1969 to 1975, and Governor of Washington state from 1975 to 1977; despite having a conservative record, he is often described and misidentified as being a moderate due to him being from a left-leaning state; his Presidential campaign is focused on lowering unemployment, improving education standards, and improving housing issues.
Barry Goldwater, 80, a US Senator from Arizona since 1953 and running for the White House for the fifth time, is doing so on an almost entirely "moderate libertarian" platform this time around; he now defends "a woman's right to choose," regulations to protect the environment and public lands, and "diminishing the number and prominence of our troops stuck abroad."
Paula Hawkins, 61, a consumer advocate-turned-former US Senator from Florida, is a conservative member of the D.C. "establishment" who is focused on child welfare "at the state-by-state level" and opposing all recreadrugs; while praised for being the first Senator to demand Lukens resign, she was criticized for staying on the fence during the “should Denton be impeached” debate and for lacking a concise foreign policy record due to focusing almost entirely on domestic economic issues and domestic social issues since entering the US Senate chamber.
Carla Anderson Hills, 54, the state Attorney General of California from 1975 to 1983, and a US Congresswoman since 1983, has begun a fairly moderate bid that is considered a longshot but could still win voters over by her playing into the "underdog" image.
Jack French Kemp, 53, the incumbent President is politically all over the map, from being pro-life and economically conservative on the one side, to being pro-immigration and pro-“economic zones” on the other side; he is trying to walk a thin line of balance between the moderate, libertarian, and conservative factions of the party to be a “unifying” candidate, but in doing so runs the risk of not appealing to any of the factions.
Billy Ervin McCormack, 60, a South Baptist clergyman from Louisiana and a leader of the “Religious Right,” is running a socially hard-c conservative campaign already endorsed by Pat Robertson, Ben Kinchlow of the Christian Broadcasting Network, and other prominent religious figures in the US in a call to “return morality to the White House;” he could win over suburban voters, especially mothers with young children, with his "child protection" talking points.
Ron Paul, 53, the polarizing two-US Senator from Texas who previously ran for President in 1980, is the effective leader of the Libertarian movement within the GOP, but has been sharply criticized and praised for his dramatic but ineffective actions in the Senate, his lackluster voting record, and his inability to get meaningful legislation passed; nevertheless, his supporters could very possibly aid him in his quest to clinch the nomination, or, at the very least, play kingmaker at a brokered convention.
Buford Pusser, 51, the sheriff-turned-constable-turned-Mayor who served as Governor of Tennessee from 1983 to 1987, is running a tough-on-crime/anti-corruption campaign, as supporters convinced him to do so; he is vilified by some members of the GOP for launching the investigation that took down VP Alexander; nevertheless, he could win over a wide array of voters, including supporters of Democrat Mario Biaggi, another well-known law-and-order politician.
Maureen Reagan, 48, is the former US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and was the US Senator from California from 1981 to 1987; as the daughter of the party’s 1976 nominee for President, she is well-connected in the electorally-rich Golden State; she is a pro-choice social moderate who is also strongly fiscally conservative, and thus has some libertarian appeal and could potentially form a wide coalition ahead of or even during the primary season.
Thyra Thomson, 72, is running on her impressive record of accomplishments while serving as the Governor of Wyoming from 1975 to 1983, and again since 1987, such as bringing in businesses, lowering unemployment and poverty rates, and even overseeing some "clean coal" initiatives; she is a soft-c conservative who could easily appeal to moderates and libertarians.
Antonina Uccello, 66, a US Senator from Connecticut since 1971, is running a centrist campaign focused more fiscal issues than social issues, as well as highlighting her record on several US Senate committees.

And here’s a quick breakdown of the 20 candidates on the Democratic primary poll:
Clifford Alexander Jr., 55, was the first African-American Mayor of Washington, D.C., serving 4 progressive terms from 1966 to 1983 that saw the city improve its relations with international businesses, and saw him oversee social programs being implemented to curb "urban decay" and oversee the city's government be reformed; he currently lives in NY.
Carol Bellamy, 47, has been the very progressive Mayor of New York City since 1982, winning election in 1981 and 1985 by wide margins; she is running on her record of lowering unemployment and food insecurity as well as her being in office during a period of declining crime rates.
Mario Biaggi, 71, in his fifth campaign for President, hopes his longtime anti-corruption crusade as "the law-and-order candidate" may actually appeal him to primary voters this time around despite his noted camaraderie with Denton and several other Republican politicians, which he sees as a sign that he could bring together a bipartisan coalition for the November election; a conservative, he served as Governor of New York from 1967 to 1981, and has been a US Senator since 1981.
Julian Bond, 49, is an African-American human rights activist, former Civil Rights activist, and shoutnik who served in the Georgia state House of Representatives from 1967 to 1974, the Georgia state Senate from 1974 to 1980, and has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981; strongly progressive, he supports the BLUTAGO community and the legalization of certain recreadrugs; he believes he can win over enough African-American, white ethnic, and Hispanic voters to win in both the primaries and the general election.
Jim Florio, 51, the left-leaning moderate Governor of New Jersey from 1978 to 1986, hopes to perform better in what will be his second Presidential run; he is running on his financial accomplishments while governor and believes he can win over urban and suburban voters better than any other candidate in the race.
John Glenn, 67, the centrist US Senator from Ohio and famous former astronaut, plans to build on his second-place finish in the 1984 Democratic primaries by appealing to middle-class and "fiscally conscious" primary voters.
Eunice Kennedy-Shriver, 67, the senior US Senator from Massachusetts and sister of the party’s nominee for President in 1968, is finally running for President, and is doing so on her consistent voting record; a pro-life progressive, she is focusing on single-payer “all-inclusive” (“universal”) healthcare, an idea she has promoted since the early 1970s; with deep pockets and extensive political fundraising connections, she can easily prove herself to be a formidable candidate in this race.
Jean Sadako McKillop King, 63, the pragmatic, female and multiracial Governor of Hawaii since 1982, is running on a broad left-leaning moderate platform dubbed “inclusive centrism” that aims to win over disillusioned Republicans as well as moderates and progressives in both the primary contests and the autumn campaign.
Peter Kyros, 63, who served as the Governor of Maine from 1971 to 1979, has been a very progressive, NASA-loving technocrat since becoming a US Senator in 1985; he is doubling down on the platform he ran on in the 1984 primaries, and seeks to win over former Gravel supporters.
Roberto Mondragon, 48, has been a progressive US Senator from New Mexico since 1973, and is running with a focus on environmentalism and labor rights, and could assemble a winning coalition consisting of not only Hispanic-American voters but rural voters, white voters, African-American voters, and middle-class voters as well.
John Emerson Moss, 73, served as a US Congressman from California for 20 years before serving as the US Secretary of Commerce from 1973 to 1981; a progressive, he is especially focused on defending the First Amendment and on calling for greater government transparency
Martha Layne Osborne, 52, was the Governor of Kentucky from 1980 to 1987; a pro-life liberal with rural and blue-collar appeal, she has made it very clear that improving education by funding schools better, protecting unions to protect worker rights, and reforming healthcare (but in a moderate matter) are her top three concerns.
Endicott Peabody, 68, the former Governor of Massachusetts recently elected to the US Senate from New Hampshire, is running a progressive campaign; while it is a long-shot bid, he is confident that is self-proclaimed status as a political "outsider" will appeal to party voters dissatisfied with the likes of "moderates such as Glenn and Osborne."
Fred Shuttlesworth, 66, an influential Reverend from Alabama and a progressive former Civil Rights activist, is calling for higher living standards for everyone; he discourages abortion, but supports freedom of choice, and one using one’s own morals to decide when abortion should be used, and thus is pro-choice.
Paul Simon, 60, the US Senator and former Governor of Illinois, is running as a fiscally-conservative moderate who supports the Balanced Budget Amendment, but has also demonstrated and performed a multitude of progressive stances and actions throughout his political career.
Paul Soglin, 43, the very progressive Governor of Wisconsin since 1983, was the very progressive Mayor of Madison, WI, from 1973 to 1981, and before that was an anti-war shoutnik during the 1960s; he blames Gravel’s loss in 1984 on the hype of the USSR falling and promotes many of the former VP’s policies.
Nancy Stevenson, 60, the former Governor of South Carolina, is a conservative who supports intervention overseas, historic preservation, and education, as his running as a "conservative feminist," hoping to appeal to blue-collar, middle-class, rural and suburban voters who had voted for Denton but had become disillusioned with the "integrity" of the Republican party.
Louis Stokes, 63, the liberal US Congressman from Ohio, became a household in the mid-1980s by overseeing the investigations into the Great Potomac Scandals as Chair of the House Ethics Committee; championing his midwestern appeal, it is yet to be determined if he can retain support as the time for actual voting approaches, or if his opponents are correct and he proves to be a flash in the pan.
James Taylor, 40, the famous singer-songwriter from North Carolina, has been politically active for years, and is running a “unifying outsider” campaign that only Taylor himself seems to take seriously, as so many believe it to be some odd stunt to promote his latest record, “Never Die Young.”
Andrew Young, 56, an African-American US Congressman from Georgia since 1973, is a left-leaning moderate centrist seeking to revive the Guaranteed Basic Income concept first promoted by MLK and supported by President Sanders in 1965, in order to win over both progressives and conservatives.

The next chapter's E.T.A.: Soon!

 

[Igeo654]

Welp, I left my vote for Carol and best of luck to her. Although she doesn't appear to be falling behind in early polling.

 

[Windhover]

I think it should come down to Thyra Thomson vs Eunice Kennedy-Shriver.

The republicans need a unifying figure. Someone who is untouched by the Denton scandals and who can, to some degree, appeal to all wings of the party. Because they really cannot head into the election as a house divided after everything that has happened. Thomson has shown herself to be pro business and pro trade but she also have moderate accomplishments such as the Permanent Mineral Fund. She was also an incredibly popular governor and can say that she can get things done, something their incumbent has struggled with.

Kennedy-Shriver is a progressive who can mobilise the Democratic base, but she is not progressive to the extent that the conservative faction of the democrats and moderate independents would not vote for her. She has been a senator for a long time which has given her a lot of experience, not least in foreign policy. And as mentioned she has a consistent voting record which never hurts. And let us be honest, she will be having KNN completely on her side which will be immensely useful in order to win.

 

[Igeo654]

I agree with letting Thomson be the GOP Nominee, but Bellamy is the only one who can help the BLUTAGs regain their dignity in this time of need for them. Eunice would, at best, make a good running mate for Carol who, TBH, has the capacity to become TTL's head progressive and turn the country away from the Christian-Democratic policies of her predecessors and towards a more secular and uncensored tomorrow.