Kentucky Fried Politics: A Colonel Sanders Timeline

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Post 41: Chapter 49:

Chapter 49: December 1981 – January 1983

“Wherever education does not take on a liberating role, the oppressed will dream of oppressing”

– Paulo Freire

– Time Magazine, 12/26/1981



ALLEGING LIBYAN STATE-SPONSORED TERRORISM, US PLACES EMBARGO ON LIBYAN OIL IMPORTS

…Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is firmly anti-Israel and supported acts of violence during multi-national peace talks in the Middle East during the 1970s. He called Palestine’s Nasser Arafat and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat “heretics” for signing the 1978 Atlanta Peace Treaty. Libyan support of violent organizations coupled with a still-ongoing war with the nation of Chad and multiple skirmishes with US jets above disputed territorial waters has made the situation tense…

– The Guardian, 12/31/1981



In 1982, Epstein took his connections and experience from advising high-net-worth clients on tax strategies for Bear Stearns to successfully found his own financial management firm, J. Epstein & Co.; with it, he sought to manage the assets of clients with over $billion in net worth. This was how Epstein got his foot in the door…

– Jeffrey Epstein: Profile of a Monster, 1995 documentary



Podgorny hoped that the Soviet intervention in Romania would be quick, as it was diverting elements that their troop leaders overseeing operations in Iran claimed were need for the “Ayatollah Front” down there. To try to personally oversee military efforts to keep Romania under the control of the Soviet Union, KGB leader Yuri Andropov board a private plane in Moscow, bound for Bucharest, on January 3. The plane hit turbulent weather, and the pilot lowered altitude to overcome it. He dived down too quickly, and he lost control of the aircraft. The wreckage – and the bodies of all onboard – was found strewn across a field outside of Kyiv, Ukraine… Gorbachev gave the eulogy at his mentor’s lavish state funeral, a ceremony meant to shore up patriotism for the politburo, only for its over-the-top ceremonial details to contrast the differences between the government and the suffering masses…

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



UPCOMING TEEN FLICK WILL TACKLE RECREADRUG DEBATE HEAD-ON

…Cheech Marin has begun working on a new pro-drug teen film. The former Frank Zappa bandmate and Hispanic Labor Rights organizer is teaming up with Hollywood actors to make a comedy about “four dudes – two deadbeats smoking pot, and two tightwads who accidently take pot and get freaked out because they like it.” Casting is still ongoing, but Marin expects the film to premier in the spring of 1983, “just in time for Spring Break”…

– The Hollywood Reporter, 1/5/1982



JAKE BUTCHER ACQUITTED OF BANK FRAUD; Opponents Cry “Mistrial” As Scandalous Governor Refuses To Resign

…Tennesseans waiting for Butcher to leave office will now have to wait another year, as the term-limited Governor’s term ends in January…

– The Washington Post, 1/10/1982



US-Libya agitation came to a head in the early hours of January 13, 1982. A routine flight from Tampa, Florida, to Jerusalem, Israel, flown away from Libyan airspace, was nevertheless greeted by Libyan Air Force jets. The pilot’s radioed in assistance before the jets shot down the passenger plane. All 238 passengers and 15 crew members were killed.

Above: the type of plane shot down

When contacted by American authorities, Gaddafi defended the actions of his air force pilots, claiming the American plane entered their airspace despite all instruments and recording arguing otherwise. US intelligence confirmed within the next hour that Libyan officials were aware that the plane was out of their own claimed areas, but chose to shoot it down anyway, officially using a vague “perceived threat” claim as justification of their action… During the incident, after learning only of an American flight being brought down by anti-American elements, the FAA instinctively grounded all flights until it could be confirmed that it was an isolated incident…

– William C. Martel’s Victory In War: Foundations of Modern Military Policy, Cambridge University Press, 2011



“War is not a game but a tool used when the pen has snapped and another party’s sword has been drawn. Libya is calling for engagement. Shooting down and killing American troops without just provocation, and a heartless and deliberate attack on innocent American civilians, is where we must draw the line. And this is where we must sound the battle horn. This is when we enter and finish what Muammar Gaddafi has started – a war between our two militaries, between our two peoples, between our two lands.”

– Jeremiah Denton, requesting congressional approval for a declaration of war on Libya, 1/14/1982; the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 1982 was passed almost unanimously in both chambers on 1/16/1982

“The US military is only striking targets within Libya, only raiding military locations, and only hitting government and military locations and utilities, not areas of concentrated civilian populations…”

– Dan Rather, CBS News, 1/23/1982



SUPER BOWL XVI: 49ers beat Bengals 27-20

– The Boston Globe, sports section, 1/24/1982



We have a breaking news story. Sources have confirmed the Mikhail Suslov, the Premier of the Soviet Union, has died. Suslov passed away while at the Kremlin from some sort of heart ailment, most likely a coronary incident from his suspected arteriosclerosis. Suslov was 79 years old…

– Peter Jennings, ABC World News Tonight, 1/25/1982



Despite aggressively overseeing the censoring of literature in the USSR, Suslov refused to recognize the significance of rumblings of revolution in Estonia, the Warsaw Pact nations, and the Turkestani soviets. He declined to send in the army to the USSR’s own soviets by arguing that “if troops are introduced, that will mean a catastrophe. I think that we all share the unanimous opinion here that there can be no discussion of any introduction of troops” [1], and instead established Marshall Law in the rebelling soviets. His hardline stance against détente came from his belief that America was oppressive and imperialistic, and that Russia was the center of the universe [2]. …The death of Suslov created yet another power vacuum that his leading subordinates clamored to fill. After two days of debate and political maneuvering over Konstantin Chernenko and initial frontrunner Yuri Andropov, the 78-year-old Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Nikolai Podgorny was declared Suslov’s successor. Concurrently, the nation found itself a second-in-command in the form of the USSR’s 73-year-old Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Dmitry Ustinov. Podgorny planned to rule with “a softer hand,” and chose Ustinov, a former ally of Suslov, to win over the Soviet military.

– Victor Cherkashin’s Adamant: The Rulers of the USSR and the KGB, Basic Books, 2005



BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS

…a proposal to “reign in the reckless spending” done by the Mondale administration was introduced in the US House today by Congressman Jack French Kemp (R-NY)… Already, the bill is winning the support of Senators such as Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barry Goldwater (R-AZ)…

– The Washington Post, 2/2/1982



The Chadian-Libyan conflict had been ongoing since 1978, but with US-Libyan relations being increasingly tense since the start of the Denton administration, the US invasion of Libya led to a pause in Libyan operations in Chad. The northern half of the landlocked nation of Chad was comprised primarily of the Sahara, non-agricultural land with some nomadic herding. The upper part of its southern half is grazing with some subsistence crops. Now, these rises in the land here, at the northern border, these are the Tibesti mountains, high cliffs on shield volcano with animal wildlife and, most importantly for Libya, a region rich with uranium deposits. After the 1982 US invasion, these northern population centers – Aouzou, Bardai, and Zouar – along with Ouadi Doum and Faya Largeau (or Faya) farther south and to the center, were the sites of a rise in anti-Libya activity as the locals sought to reconquer the land. Koro Toro, which lies farther to the south and to the east some more, uh – here – yes, this population center became the headquarters of US troops stationed in Chad. Sala, which lies at the 15th parallel here, was a base of local anti-Gaddafi operations. You don’t have to remember anything about the bottom southern half of Chad, “the Sahel.” It’s desert but with trees and water, sort of like a transitional divider between the deserts and the jungles, a region that produces millet, sorghum, rice, peanuts instead of grazing, and cotton in the very, very southern bottom portion here, along with fish from Lake Chad. And yes, I am glancing at some notes for this part of the lecture, see? Okay, moving on now…

– Transcript of former US Ambassador to Iran Lowell Bruce Laingen, geopolitics lecture at Columbia University, NY, 2001



Mulan is a 1982 American live-action action adventure film. The film was jointly produced by Shaw Brothers Studio, the largest film production company in Hong Kong at the time, and the US’s Walt Disney Productions. The film was primarily distributed by Buena Vista.

SYNOPSIS
The story closely retells the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a young woman who disguises herself as a man to take her aged father’s place in the army, despite death awaiting her if her fellow soldiers learn of her ruse.

CAST
Hua Mulan – Joan Chen
Captain Li Shang – John Lone
Shan Yu – Telly Salavas
Father Hua – James Saburo Shigeta
Mother Hua – Miyoshi Umeki
The Emperor – Kam Tong
The General – Benson Fong
The Matchmaker – Nancy Kwan
Soldier Chin Po – Tzi Ma
Soldier Ling – Jackie Chan
Soldier Yao – Mako Iwamatsu
Grandmother Hua – Ivy Ling Po
Mushu (voice role) – Marni Nixon
Head Ancestor – Jodi Long
The Schoolgirls – Lucy Liu and Karin Anna Cheung

PRODUCTION
The film came into existence due to the thawing of US-Chinese tensions after American President Harland D. “Colonel” Sanders’s famous 1968 visit to China and the subsequent westernization of China during the 1970s, especially after the 1975 Chinese Civil War. The opening of PRC markets, and the early success of MGM’s successful limited release of some of their classic films in Beijing cinemas in 1976 and 1977, convinced Disney Studio executives that making a film concerning Chinese culture would be financially beneficial for the company, which was hemorrhaging money after a string of cheap and unmemorable films that had followed the surprise success of “The Snow Queen.” After a year of research and development, production began on the film in 1979, with Chinese historians being consulted to ensure it would receive approval in China. This led to Hong Kong producers joining Disney in financing the project, led by Shaw Brothers Studio, the company behind the 1964 live-action Hong Kong operatic musical film “Lady General Hua Mu Lan.” The story was finalized in December 1980. Originally, the film was set to be animated in a watercolor style, in the same vein as “The Snow Queen”’s painted backgrounds. Several crowd scene test shot were animated by roto-scoping footage of real people and tracing over them to create a photo-realistic style similar to the 1981 film “Heavy Metal.” However, the technique was costly, and replaced with the live action approach in early. Principle photography was completed by August 1981.

PROMOTION
McDonald’s began selling Happy Meal toys in June 1979. To promote this film, McDonald’s launched a line of Happy Meal one-piece “action figures” based on the characters of the film. McDonald’s also developed Szechuan Sauce for their French Fries, a condiment that became popular enough to become a special item available in the United States every February (for Chinese New Year’s) since 1989. Kentucky Fried Chicken also heavily promoted the film at selected outlets with themed facades and special discounts for customers with ticket stubs from seeing the film.

PREMIER
The film premièred in February 1982 to critical acclaim. The film was praised for its atmosphere, the second Hun attack sequence, and the character Mushu, Mulan’s spirit guide who appears as stop-motion-paper-based dragon during two brief animated sequences. The film’s engaging characters and fast-paced but easy-to-follow plot were also praised.

CONTROVERSIES
The casting was notable as it contained primarily Asian-American actors, with the biggest American name tied to the project – Telly Savalas – portraying the film’s villain. Most extras were portrayed by Asian, Native American, and Native Alaskan actors and actresses. However, the film was criticized years later for its American crew being almost entirely white.

Most critics of the film on February 19, 1982, though, complained that it was too “pro-China,” with foot-binding being nonexistent in the film. Later critics also point to some background characters appearing as Asian stereotypes, and the Huns as being “severely vilified.” In fact, their depiction led to a souring of US relations with the nation of Mongolia, whom denounced the film as blatant propaganda. To make amends, the Huns were shown in a more humanizing manner in the lukewarm 1998 live-action strait-to-home-film sequel Mulan 2, which was a bomb with critics and audiences.

Another controversy surrounding the film was the rise in hostilities in Tibet and Xinjiang, occurring at its time of release, being ignored by American investors, leading to some protests at several American theaters. Nevertheless, Mulan was a box office success; Disney tripled the money they put into it.

– clickopedia.co.usa/Mulan_(1982_film)



…I will admit this now for I was blinded to its heartlessness before. With China’s population only two years or so away from reaching 1 billion [3], Xinjiang’s 11 million Uyghurs were placed in an avoidable predicament. Families were harassed out of their villages, threatened with death if they did not either convert to the language and the ways of the Han Chinese, or go to a “resettlement location” in the most foreboding parts of Central Asia. I have no excuse for the roles I played during these years…

– Bo Yibo’s personal memoirs, English translation, 2008



SINGER BOB MARLEY IS DEAD AT 38

…With the belief that “The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?” Marley brought people together with his beats, most famously at the One Love Peace Concert of 1978… A March 1977 injury on stage revealed that Marely was not a healthy young man: doctors were forced to amputate a part of his toe after discovering cancer under its nail. The procedure impeded his dancing style, making him create a new hopping-type of kick-dance to compensate. In June 1981, more caner was found in his torso, to which Marley finally succumbed earlier today...

– The Palm Beach Post, Florida newspaper, 2/26/1982



ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST DOROTHY GREEN KILLED IN POLICE RIOT

…Governor Jay Amyx, still criticized for his handling of the 1976 Teton Dam Disaster, is being admonished for his reaction to shoutniks protesting outside of the state capital building in Boise. Assembled in outrage after the CEO of an Idaho chemical company accused of being responsible for the record-high levels of poisonous material found in Idaho’s Snake River was spotted dining with Amyx over the weekend. In the face of over 400 activists with bullhorns and picket signs, Amyx called in city police to disperse the crowd. Though its origins are currently unclear, a riot nevertheless broke out between the shoutniks and the police, leaving one activist dead from blunt force trauma, according to the local hospital… “This is tragedy,” notes Linda Moulton Howe, an Idaho beauty pageant contestant-turned-environmentalist who participated in the protest and was among the dozens of people arrested in the wake of the riot…

– The Idaho Statesman, 3/3/1982



COLONEL SANDERS’ CAMEO IN STAR TREK PHASE TWO WAS BETTER THAN EXPECTED!

…The Colonel portrayed a fictionalized version of his younger self in a tongue-in-cheek plot where Klingons travel back in time and kidnap the Colonel in 1965, before he can lead American troops to victory in Southeast Asia. This leads to the Star Trek crew to rescue the Colonel and return him to his own time. Naturally, Sanders is unfazed by the events – though in a nod to his age, he complains the teleporter has “given [him] more wrinkles than [he] had on Earth” – even fending off a pair of Klingon guards with his cane by knocking their phasers out of their hands in one scene.

Pictured: Kirk, Spock, and Sanders discuss their escape plan in a hallway on board the Klingon ship [Picture Note 1]

– The Hollywood Reporter, 3/7/1982



Russia’s economy seems to always repeat itself. It was in shambles during the war-filled 1940s, it was finally getting itself together and picking itself up in the 1950s and 1960s, and it was roaring in the 1970s thanks to the oil. Then Suslov’s mishandling of the economy caused it all to return to the 1940s. The economy collapses on March 10, 1982, and the cracks in the levee only worsened…

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



March ’82 saw several peaceful protests in Moscow lead to rioting. Several were injured and even killed in fights that broke out in breadlines as supplied quickly diminished… It was masterful Italian builders whom erected the Kremlin walls and towers in the fifteenth century. The city held back foreign enemy attacks with those walls, from Napoleon and Hitler. But the walls could not keep out the shame Podgorny felt in seeing the reports of casualties as Russians did battle with their own people, people starving, dying for food and for their own voices to be heard.

At this time, Vladimir Putin was a KGB officer working at the First Chief Directorate, where he monitored foreigners and consular officials in Saint Petersburg, then known as Leningrad. During one of these riots erupting across the city, a stray bullet ricocheted off a building and struck young Putin in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. The bullet had been fired by a fellow KGB officer; he was struck down by his own side, and soon after fired by the government he supported. This, and his newfound need for wheelchair-accessible buildings, made Putin turn his back on the Soviet government, publicly joining the swelling crowds demanding reform commence…

– Victor Cherkashin’s Adamant: The Rulers of the USSR and the KGB, Basic Books, 2005



Podgorny agreed with the reform suggestions of two rising stars in the politburo, Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Yakovlev. With the former being a close ally of the anti-reform Andropov (and yes, that did lead to the two having a complicated political alliance), Podgorny agreed to reforms for the people of Poland in the wake of Romania’s government officially leaving the Warsaw Pact (though the country remained communist in the aftermath of the departure). Podgorny also agreed to backtrack on government demands that only the Russian language be taught in schools. Instead of uniting the soviets, it was fueling nationalistic passions and leading to clashes between the “local” ethnicities and the Russians present in said soviets. This was exceptionally true in Kazakhstan, where native-speaking Kazakhs began to resent the high number of Russians living with the soviets borders. Podgorny was aware that he was in a weak place after Romania left the Warsaw Pact for neutrality in the Cold War (a la Yugoslavia), and the Turkestani groups demanding reform as well only added to his problems… The details of the 1982 reform efforts were primarily overseen not by Cherenko or Gromyko, but by the younger and healthier Gorbachev and Yakovlev…

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



FLORIO TAKES ACTION AFTER NEW JERSEY LOSES BOTH SENATORS IN THE SAME WEEK

…Three days ago, US Senator Harrison Williams (D-NJ) officially resigned over his involvement in the ABSCAM scandal that rocked Washington, D.C. two years ago. Earlier yesterday, US Senator Clifford P. Case (R-NJ) passed away suddenly from natural causes at the age of 77, leaving the Garden State without representation in the US Senate. …Governor Florio responded to the double-vacancy today by immediately appointing two new senators, state politicians Richard J. Coffee and Frank Lautenburg, both Democrats, to the former seats of Williams and Case, respectively. The vacancies mean that New Jersey will hold two US Senate elections this November, one regular and one special…

– The Star-Ledger, 3/15/1982



…Earlier today in the Golden State’s capital of Sacramento, California Governor Phil Burton signed into law an electric vehicle tax credit bill to encourage the production of automobiles that run on a supply of electricity… Despite the technology not being a major player in the car industry, lobbyists from Ford and GM claimed the bill would cripple the state’s economy. Nevertheless, the state passed the bill, albeit by a narrow margin of votes…

– ABC News, 3/21/1982



The Turkestani Federation was not to be a single country, but rather a loose decentralized body of a federal government meant to be used as a protection force. Each former Russian soviet was to be self-administered, similar to the UK’s relationship with its territories. In fact, the major political supporters of the Turkestan Unification move – led by Kazakhstan’s Gennady Kolbin and Dinmukhamed Kunaev, and also by Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Miriziyoyev, Turkmenistan’s Chary Karriyev, Tajikistan’s Akbar Mirzoyev, Kyrgyzstan’s Ishenbai Kadyrbekov – backers based the Aktau Resolution outlining the union on Western autonomous regions. Only the Tajiks, led by Qahhor Mahkamov, were mostly opposed to the unifying. Uzbeks and Kazakhs instead led the charge, and many found support among the substantial number of Russians within their borders. The movement began over Moscow’ ignoring radiation from Aktau drifting into central Asia, and radiation affects anyone regardless of their ethnicity.

The alliance of anti-USSR groups seeking independence at a time of “revolution” led to the formal forming a united front in late March 1982, modeled off the American “join or die’” strategy that had worked for them over 200 years ago. When translated from Turkic into English, the name of the formal declaration became the “Common Revolution In Progress” Decree, with American media outlets referring to the relevant soviets as CRIP Soviets, or just as “CRIPS,” soon afterwards….

– Ke Wang’s Turkestanis Unite!: The Rise And Execution of An Idea, Cambridge University Press, 2013



PROCEDURE:

The successor to the retiring Heath was elected by the Parliamentary Conservative Party, with a majority of their 287 total members of parliament required. An exhaustive ballot system was used.

CANDIDATES:

Most party members fell into one of two ideology-based factions. The “wet” faction, which opposed cuts to public spending and was willing to compromise with unions, was led by candidate Jim Prior. Fellow “wet” candidate Sir Ian Gilmour was too divisive to unite the party, while “wet” candidate Evelyn Hester Macleod, the wife of the late Iain Macleod, lacked substantial support. A fourth major “wet” candidate was Michael Heseltine, a charismatic supporters of fair housing practices and nuclear disarmament.

The “dry,” or “hard-line,” faction of the party favored tax cuts, higher interest rates, tighter control of the nation’s money supply, and less government regulations overall. The faction was divided between MPs Margaret Thatcher and Geoffrey Howe. Airey Neave, a staunch ally of Thatcher, did not run, but his name was put into consideration as an alternative to Thatcher. The then-40-year-old Alastair Goodlad attempted to appeal to both factions, but was initially viewed as being closer to the “dry” side than the “wet” side. “Dry” MP Geoffrey Prime was an initial frontrunner until a month before the election, when he was remanded in custody on charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911 in an eerie near-repeat of the John Stonehouse Scandal that plagued the Labour party in 1968.

While wets began to unify around a single candidate, many dries – who feared the party would lose support to the far-right Moralist Party if a “dry” did not win the leadership election – were frustrated that said party faction failed to rally around a single candidate as the election process progressed.

MARCH 27 ELECTION RESULTS:

Round 1: 287 total
Thatcher: 84
Prior: 79
Howe: 56
Goodlad: 34
Heseltine: 25
Gilmour: 5
Macleod: 3
Neave: 1

Round 2: 287 total
Prior: 95
Thatcher: 85
Howe: 55
Goodlad: 35
Macleod: 13
Gilmour: 4

Round 3: 287 total
Prior: 105
Thatcher: 86
Howe: 57
Goodlad: 39

Round 4: 287 total
Thatcher: 121
Prior: 119
Goodlad: 53

Round 5: 287 total
Prior: 167
Thatcher: 126

– clickopedia.co.usa/1982_Conservative_Party_(UK)_Leadership_Election



MORALIST PARTY WELCOME MP BARONESS JANET YOUNG TO THE RANKS

…socially conservative MP Baroness Young has left the Conservatives over the selection of “wet” candidate Jim Prior as their new party leader…

– The Sun, UK newspaper, 28/3/1982

– UK newspaper front page, 4/3/1982



[UK PM Dingle Foot] had to respond to it with military force because it was a military action. Peacenik members of Foot’s party wanted to bring Argentine junta leaders to a negotiation table, but Foot instead gave the junta 24 hours to remove their troops from the islands, or else he would have to take military action. Leopoldo Galtieri, the leader of the Argentine Junta, spent those 24 hours by launching an invasion of the nearby South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Foot, sticking to being on the right ride of the party – I mean that in both way, both right-wing and correct – he immediately dispatched the Navy and Air Force to finish what Galtieri and the junta had started.

– Admiral George Michael Zambellas of the UK Navy, 2012 BBC Interview



…In early April, Umkhonto we Sizwe “Spear of the Nation,” the military wing of the ANC, operating out of Botswana, agreed to a ceasefire of cam bombs and other attacks to make way for negotiations between the SA government and their ally Steve Biko. It was a major breakthrough for the pro-peace leaders and lead to further, pivotal developments in the summer of that same year…

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016



DENTON QUIETLY SIGNS BILL LEGALIZING STOCK BUYBACKS [4]

…due to the recovery economy, expert advisors for the White House expect wages will continue to rise as the decade continues…

– The Washington Post, 4/9/1982



RETURN OF THE SHOUTNIKS?

…It’s really no surprise that anti-war protests are beginning to sprout up here and there in recent weeks. Seems our military can’t go for more than a few years before they have to yield to the urge to “intervene” somewhere. And what is it getting us? More injured and traumatized veterans, more foreigners wishing we’d learn from Korea and Angola that sometimes the might of our military can’t fix other peoples’ problems. More flag-waving to distract Americans from the problems that ail them back home…

– Hunter S. Thompson article, published 4/16/1982



EXTRA! TRIPOLI FINALLY FALLS! Gaddafi On The Run!

…Muammar Gaddafi has fled the city and his fortified palatial abode of Bab al-Azizia, as the US Army sweeps in to remove remaining Gaddafist fighterds and bring peace to the nation’s capital…

Above: US Air Force dropping bombs on pro-Gaddafi military strongholds in Tripoli

– The Miami Herald, 4/19/1982



STICK IT UP YOUR JUNTA, GALTIERI!: Dawn-To-Dusk Bombardments, Air And Sea Battles Rage On Over The Falklands

…Back in London, though, the war is widening a rift in the Labour party, as its far-left faction claims Foot “didn’t give the prospects of peace talks a chance”…

– The Sun, UK newspaper, 4/22/1982



In 1981, Denton established the President’s Commission on Families, Youth, and Children. Roughly a year later, the commission chair recommended, among a multitude of other things, an increase in awareness of the dangers of people with an S.I.F. Virus donating blood. Denton agreed and called on state and local government to work with the federal government to “spread the word to not spread SIFs” via blood donations. Denton also met with the Red Cross, the CDC, major blood banks, and others because he believed that these efforts would protect innocent people – “unconnected to ‘those types’,” as he called them – from contracting a SIF Virus from donated blood.

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



GOVERNOR CUOMO BACKS DIRECT U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN FALKLANDS FIGHT

– The New York Times, 4/25/1982



…The 1980s also saw hospital companies nationwide begin to merge with one another in order to cut costs. This allowed hospital bills to rise in states without “universal” healthcare systems in place, due to the new lack of local competition. This practices was either allowed or ignored under the Denton Administration…

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



PRINCE ANDREW KILLED IN COPTER ACCIDENT!

…serving aboard the aircraft carrier MS Invincible, the Queen’s son was serving as a helicopter co-pilot. He was assisting in an undisclosed transportation mission when he lost control of his air vehicle, culminating in it crashing into the side of the ship. Three others were injured; the prince was the only casualty of the terrible tragedy. …Andrew’s presence made the British Government apprehensive, but this was over fear of him being killed by enemy forces, and as a result, security forces were “not expecting this sort of possibility,” according to an anonymous source close to the Royal Navy grievances office…

– The Guardian, 5/2/1982



“I want to protect the American family unit, and the truth of the matter is that BLUTAGs have families, many of whom actually love them despite what they are. To deny this funding to them would be to make American families suffer, to prolong and worsen sadness afflicting American families with BLUTAG members. I don’t agree with the BLUTAG community, and I don’t support their lifestyle at all, but darn it, they are still my fellow Americans, and I cannot bring myself to harm them in this way. Denying drugs to teen punks is one thing, but denying health needs to sick and dying Americans, that’s another thing entirely!”

– US President Jeremiah Denton, 5/5/1982



…big news coming from the Denton Administration, as Deputy White House Chief of Staff Paul Weyrich, one of the most socially conservative members of President Denton’s inner circle, has just resigned over the President’s refusal to cut federal funds for SIF Virus research. S.I.F.V., or System-Immunity Failure Virus, has been a major health concern – even teetering on the brink of being a pandemic, according to some – for the BLUTAG community, especially Sexually-Acquired S.I.F. Viruses, also called “SASIF” Viruses, or simply “SASIFs.” Denton refused the backing of Weyrich and others to cut the funds in order to balance the budget for this year, saying, quote, “it’s the wrong answer to the budget question and to the homosexual question,” unquote…

– The Overmyer Network Night-Time News, 5/6/1982



Senator Goldwater supported Denton’s decision, understanding and acknowledging that it was a tough decision for the President to make, and voiced support for the removal of anti-sodomy laws in all fifty US states. In the next issue of “National Review,” the conservative publication harshly criticized Goldwater, writing “could this really be the same man who just 18 years ago when running for president was given the label ‘Mr. Conservative’?”

Goldwater replied to a reporter soon afterwards that the article had no effect on him whatsoever. “I stand by my statement. Like the article pointed out, it has been eighteen years. People and their opinions naturally can change over time. A ten year old boy doesn’t think girls are icky after another ten years, does he? Most don’t. Furthermore, while I’ve become more open about them over the years, my principled belief in personal freedom is still the same as it was twenty years ago. In fact, I wrote in my 1960 book,” referring to “Conscience of a Conservative,” Goldwater began to unroll sheet of paper from his chest pocket and began to read off of it, “and I quote, ‘let me remind you a conservative is one who fights to expand individual liberty and resist the accumulation of power by those who claim they know best.’ I wrote that 22 years ago, so I guess the National Review forgot about it.”

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



NASA BEGINS WORK ON “SKYLAB” SPACE STATION

…six years after the USSR launched the Salyut 5 “Stargazer” Space Station, the US is finally catching up… NASA sent its first “shuttleplane,” carrier vehicles developed under the Mondale administration, to transport the first load of materials for the project, as the station’s segments will be assembled in orbit. Denton greenlit the project early last year, and NASA Director Brown is optimistic about its prospects. “The brake-pumping of the past eight years was an opportunity to study the logistics and safety features of this ambitious endeavor.” While still unclear if the space station will be a permanent station run exclusively by the United Station or one meant for use for a certain number of years, we do know that it will not be able to occupy astronauts until “no more than” twelve months from now…

– The Houston Chronicle, 5/12/1982

[pic: imgur.com/nrMkM6z.png ]

– Bob Ross on the set of The Joy of Painting, c. May 1982; the PBS program grew in prominence and popularity among American colleges starting in the early half of the 1980s



...As states across the nation hold primaries to determine the nominees that will be on the ballot in this year’s November midterm elections, one such race received significant attention. Tonight, said primary was held, and it seems former Second Lady of the US has lost the GOP nomination for a US Senate seat from Pennsylvania to US Representative John Heinz. The result is not too surprising due to Heinz running on a well-funded anti-dynasty campaign and on a platform that was somewhat more conservative than that of the Scranton campaign, but just the same, the results – 52% for Heinz, 42% for Scranton, and 6% for all other candidates – are a disappointing blow to Scranton and her supporters...

– CBS Evening News, 5/18/1982 broadcast



WARREN MOON: MVP OF THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Interview Inside: Moon Talks About Playing Quarterback And Overcoming Differences With “Our Shared Love of the Game”

…Moon has played for the Seahawks since 1978, after playing for the University of Seattle from 1974 to 1978…

– Sports Illustrated, late May 1982 issue



WILLIAM KENNEDY SMITH, NEPHEW OF SENATOR EUNICE KENNEDY-SHRIVER, DIES IN PRIVATE PLANE CRASH

…Smith’s father, Stephen E. Smith, was killed in a car bombing in New Ross, Ireland, in 1966, at the height of The Troubles…

– The Boston Globe, 5/27/1982



GOVERNOR CALLS FOR BETTER SAFETY RULES AFTER FACTORY EXPLOSION IN HARTFORD KILLS 7

– The New Haven Courant, Connecticut newspaper, 6/3/1982



Fin, also called Jaws 3, People 0, is a 1982 parody film. Starring Bo Derek and Richard Dreyfuss, it is the third film of the Jaws franchise. The film was notable for its thematic departure from the first two films, and for launching the career of actor Rodger Bumpass.

(earlier poster for the film)
[snip]
After the success of the first two films, studio executives wanted a third “Jaws” film. With Spielberg declining to be involved, producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck decided to make the third film be a parody of the franchise. National Lampoon editor and Animal House (1978) producer Matty Simmons was brought aboard along with future screenwriting legend John Hughes, the man who would eventually craft masterpieces such as Sixteen Candles (1984) and The Breakfast Club (1985). Along with fellow National Lampoon writer Tod Carroll, Hughes was assigned by Simmons to write a script based off a pitch Simmons had ad-libbed at a dinner with David Brown. The entire film was green lit from a single improvised scene devised at the Friar’s Club in New York City, the editor pitching the idea of original Jaws novelist Peter Benchley taking a night swim in his own pool only to be eaten by a giant shark. From this snippet of conversation Hughes and Carroll crafted a script that not only parodies all the high spots from the original movie but also takes heavy digs at Hollywood and the executives of the movie industry. Jaws 3, People 0 reads very much like a comedy of the era. Aping scenes from the original classic but also full of satire and farce, it’s obviously inspired by the wildly successful Animal House and hits the same notes as comedies of the time such as Blazing Saddles (1974), Meatballs (1979), and Airplane! (1980) [5]
[snip]
After several years of development and reshoots, "Jaws 3, People 0" premièred on June 10, 1982. The film received lukewarm reviews from critics but was a financial success, leading to the studio soon requesting a fourth film a few years later…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Fin_(Jaws_film)



THRONGS FILL MANHATTAN TO PROTEST LIBYAN WAR AND DENTON SWELLING NUCLEAR STOCKPILE

…The Nuclear Disarmament Rally held in Central Park drew no less than 750,000 by the end of today... Even celebrities attended the occasion, including several musicians such as Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, John Bonham and Tim Hardin…

– The New York Times, 6/12/1982

– UK newspaper front page, 6/15/1982



...UK victory in the Falklands War led to Dingle Foot’s approval ratings surpassing 80%, I remember, and talk of holding a snap election within the year began immediately…

– Admiral George Michael Zambellas of the UK Navy, 2012 BBC Interview

– The New York Sunday News, 6/20/1982



The 1974 Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith combined with increasing disapproval of Apartheid by whites South Africans to set the stage for meaningful talks to commence in 1982. Possibly the biggest motivation for Botha and company, though, was that the South African economy was still suffering in the wake of the 1978 recession, making some fear a severe depression was just around the corner if the international boycotts were not lifted soon.

In a hotel room in Pretoria, on a cool day in mid-June 1982, PM Pieter Botha and Harry Schwarz sat down with “the fugitive Biko and the convict Mandela,” as some described it. Botha impressed Biko and Mandela by walking forward, extending his hand to each of them and pouring Mandela’s tea [6]. Botha confessed that the government was spending too much funding on maintaining segregated land and buildings. Botha also noted white fears of Black activists turning to communist rhetoric as another factor that would be truncated with the ending of Apartheid. In exchange for ending said system, Botha wanted all fighting to end, and for all bantustans that had declared independence – Transkei, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana, and Venda – to formally return to South African sovereignty. The four men agreed that all participants of violent activity, both white and black, would be given amnesty for all post-Soweto actions. The Prime Minister also, though very reluctantly, approved of granting immunity from prosecution for returning exiles and the release of political prisoners – conditions that were also absolute musts for the so-called “Botswana Biko” and “Inmate Mandela” duo, for obvious reasons.

As for government representation, a tricameral parliament – a house for Whites, one for Blacks, and one for all other groups – was rejected by Biko, with Schwarz and Mandela turning down the idea soon after. However, Botha did agree to a repeal discriminatory laws and a lift of the over-20-years ban on leading anti-apartheid groups such as the ANC, the PAC, the SACP (provided its leaders sign a nonaggression affidavit), and the UDF.

The final matter the four men agreed to was for a two-year transitional period from late 1982 to late 1984, which would culminate in new general elections in 1984 – the first ever to be held in South Africa to have universal suffrage.

Another pivotal moment then came in early August of that year, when a “whites-only” referendum on negotiations came back with an overwhelming ‘yes’ victory of 65%, giving Botha and his government the peace of mind to execute the two-year transitional period that would feature more peace talks and reforms.

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016



SOUTH AFRICA BREAKTHROUGH!: National Peace Accords Signed By 27 Groups In Formal Move To “Delicately Dismantle” Apartheid

People Worldwide Celebrate Start Of Peaceful Transition Period For South Africa

– The Montreal Gazette, Canadian newspaper, 6/24/1982



“WE LIKE MIKE”: Why Michael Rockefeller Should Be Our Senator

...Michael Rockefeller, the son for former Governor Nelson Rockefeller, served as a private in the US army in 1960. From 1961 to 1965, he focused on both studying Pacific Island cultures, visiting exotic locations such as Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, and working with organizers of several Cuban War refugee assistance programs in Florida. After working the University of California Berkeley’s cultural history department from 1965 to 1967, Rockefeller joined the Peace Corps and ultimately served as director from 1979 to early 1982...

…Rockefeller calls for a “helping hand” government ideology that is to the left of Denton’s GOP. In the Senate, he would work with members on both sides of the party divide to advance our causes and address our concerns...

…When you go to vote in the New York party primaries on September 23, be sure to vote for Michael Rockefeller!

– Mickey-Rocky’82 brochure, first distributed late June 1982



ANITA BRYANT’S HUSBAND FILES FOR DIVORCE!

…in an ironic twist of fate, the marriage of the socially conservative US Representative, (in)famous for supporting “family values” and the “preservation of marriage,” has ended with her husband leaving her over “irreconcilable differences”…

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 6/28/1982



LATEST REFORM ACT GRANTS TAX BREAKS FOR PHARMACEUTICALS AND MILITARY CONTRACTORS

– The Washington Post, 7/1/1982



“It is imperative that we remove Gaddafi’s regime from Libya because recent evidence captured in Tripoli show conclusively that Gaddafi has been attempting to violate international law by attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction. [7] The Gaddafi regime has reached out to Chinese, Pakistani, and even German scientists, army men and politicians since rising to power in his repeated efforts to build atomic warheads for use against Israel and anyone else that this dictator has perceived to be an enemy to his reign. We are working to remove his stain from the god nation of Libya, and we will continue to fight against his foolish follows until this is done.”

– US Navy Admiral Thomas B. Hayward, CNO 1978-1982, 7/9/1982



“The world is watching us in Libya to see if we’ll put our money where our mouth is. We say there’s possibly stored-up nukes or nuclear material in Libya? Everyone watching is thinking ‘Well alright, get them out of there!’ And that’s exactly what we’re going to do, no matter what or how long it takes!” [8]

– WH Chief National Security Advisor Curtis Emerson LeMay, 7/10/1982



CHEAHA WILDERNESS ACT PASSES SENATE, DENTON PROMISES TO SIGN IT INTO LAW

…the bill will designate the 7,245 acres of land in Clay County, Alabama, known for its beautiful hiking trails, under the administration of the US Forest Service… this will preserve the lush woodlands so future generations can enjoy them…

– The Atmore Advance, Alabama newspaper, 7/21/1982



On July 24, Elena Ceausescu was captured outside of Galati, a city close to the Soviet border. At the local jailhouse, Elena was allegedly tortured and even raped, despite footage filmed of her being brought in and then back out of the jailhouse suggesting that there was never any time for this. Thus, the claims are most likely rumors spread in the aftermath of her apprehension. In the show trial that occurred thirty minutes after being brought in and out of the jail house, Elena replied to every question with a barrage of anger and a tirade of curse words. She was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death by the same methods she forced on others. She would be first beaten and whipped, and then finally executed by firing squad. Allegedly, Elena’s last words were “You motherf@#king a$$holes!” Elena’s hour-long torture session and her execution were not filmed in time – the firing squad was in a hurry to carry out the sentence – but the aftermath, including echoes of the final volley, the pall of smoke, and the bodies immediately afterwards, were caught on camera. She was 66 years old. She remains the only woman ever executed by the modern state of Romania. [9]

Also put on trial soon after the death of Elena was Nicu Ceausescu, Elena’s 31-year-old son who was the heir apparent. Nicu was an abusive alcoholic rapist who hated reading yet studied physics, who wrecked sports cars several times, and was friends with former members of the Viet Cong who fled to Eastern Europe after the Fall of Hanoi. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing two in a 1977 car accident, but was killed by his own prison guards in 1990. Elena’s other two children, both sons – Zola Ceausescu Oprean, a mathematician; and Valentin Ceausescu, an apolitical nuclear physicist – were not tried for any crimes.

Elena Ceausescu was soon replaced by the man she once overthrew, Gheorghe Apostol. Reformed, he agreed with protestors that the Soviet Union shared some blame for the people’s misery, as Podgorny’s predecessors could have quite easily removed her from power years ago. While the nation remained communist in nature, Apostol agreed that the best way forward was for Romania to leave the Warsaw Pact altogether; this would be similar to Yugoslavia being communist but staying out of the USSR’s stranglehold of Eastern Europe – that is, if Romania could pull it off...

– Vladimir Tismaneanu’s Stalinism For All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, University of California Press, Third Edition, 2023



In August, after conversing with the US’s financial advisors, Mexico’s newest President, Miguel de la Madrid, asked the US for a hefty financial loan, as Mexico would likely be unable to pay off its large foreign debt in time without out. “If this happens, it will trigger a debt crisis that could spread across North and South America. It could even hit the US,” warned Crawford Parker, the US Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Not wanting to deal with recession returning, especially with the midterms only a few months away, Treasury Secretary Thelma Stovall produces a loan in exchange for American advisors having a say in the nation’s financial decisions over the next twelve months to ensure the US was paid back with interest.

According to Advisor Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson, Denton “Agreed to the deal with great reluctance. After things were made official, Denton said in my presence ‘They really should be left to clean up their own mess, but nowadays, everyone’s checkbook is somehow tied to everyone else’s. That’s the problem with international trade – one country sinks, the rest follow, meaning the strong have to lift up the weak.’ ‘How Christian for the strong to do such a mutually beneficial courtesy for the poor,’ was what I thought in my head when I heard that.”

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



PIZZA HUT FOUNDER TACKLES NEW CUISINE

Since its founding 23 years ago, Pizza Hut has become one of the biggest distributors of pizza in the United States. Horatio Alger would have applauded the Carney brothers, the boys from Wichita, Kansas, who founded the first Pizza Hut in 1958, built their investment into a million-dollar chain, and then sold it when they felt the company had gotten too big. The epilogue to this success story is that the brothers have returned to the operation of comparatively small enterprises, with Frank Carney keeping busy opening Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurants and Dan involved in the operation of 20 hotels around the country.

…Frank Carney now oversees five Chi-Chi’s restaurants in the nation’s capital of Washington, D.C. alone, each of which has an average volume of $2.8 million per year. Eleven outlets are scheduled for completion by the end of this year, with 24 more scheduled to be built in the mid-Atlantic state over the next five years…

Above: a Pizza Hut outlet in Burbank, California

– The Chicago Tribune, 8/7/1982 [10]



DENTON SIGNS ANTI-TERRORISM AND AIR SECURITY ACT INTO LAW

…the law aims to increase security measurements on all US commercial aircraft… the law also demands that all airport employs receive pre-employment investigative background checks…

– The Washington Post, 8/10/1982



…The passing of your beloved son has touched us all. However, he will not be forgotten to the men who served alongside him, as he was a soldier well-liked among the troops for his sense of wit and remarkable sharpshooting abilities. Take pride in his credit of making 16 confirmed sniper killings as part of his loyal dedication to ensuring Americans are safe and secure at home. Such courageous activity will likely result in him receiving a distinguished award fairly soon. It is truly a shame and an injustice, however, that he must receive it posthumously...

– Letter from the US Marines to the parents of a deceased soldier of the War in Libya, 8/12/1982



SENATOR MORTON IS DEAD AT 74

…Thruston Morton had served in the US Senate since 1957, running for re-election in 1962 and 1968 with optimistic attitudes toward the Cuban and Vietnam Wars ongoing during each election, respectively. …Morton’s health went into decline after the death of his brother, US Representative Rogers Morton (R-MD) in 1979… A special election will be held next November for the remainder of his 1981-1987 Senate term...

– The Paducah Sun, Kentucky newspaper, 8/14/1982



GOP PRIMARY FOR OK GOVERNOR: Neal McCaleb Wins, Anita Bryant Loses Badly

…The two-term congresswoman’s sudden fall from grace – in the wake of her husband divorcing her – has led to the former frontrunner coming in third place…

– The Oklahoma Daily, 8/24/1982



ISLAM SPIRITUAL LEADER ELECTED PRESDENT OF LEBANON

…Musa al-Sadr, 54, is a Lebanese-Iranian philosopher whom has given the Shias in Lebanon a sense of community after founding the “Amal Movement”…He won a narrow election with support from almost all Muslims in the country, even though his campaign has repeatedly sworn to continue the outgoing administration’s policy of equal treatment for all ethnic and religious people in Lebanon. He will enter office on September 23...

– The Toronto Star, 8/23/1982



It took a few decades before the link between trans fat-consumption and heart disease was fully accepted, by both food companies and the general population, despite the revelations of the 1970s Scranton report bringing it to national attention. The first scientific article suggesting the connection, published in 1957, received ridicule and being dismissed [11]. But in 1982, Margaret befriended the author of the study, Fred Kummerow. The biochemist had been opposing the use of artificial trans fats in processed foods for 24 years, and had been ignored for almost just as long. Margaret, though, believed in this man’s ideas, and soon she convinced us to give his proposals a chance via a three-year trial run. Just a year before McDonald’s introduced the McNugget, KFC began to lower or eliminate trans fat oils – “an unnecessary accompaniment to your dishes,” Fred told us – from KFC menu items. Ten years ago, we had removed hydrogenated vegetable shortening from our items and replaced it with animal fat. Fred convinced us to go further, to lower margarine content for several items by the end of the year and to begin experimenting with various FDA-approved kinds of fat oils, lard, and palm oil. With this, we inadvertently began to lead the charge of another health movement, one that came to partially define the somewhat turbulent ’80s, and would ultimately influence the eating habits of people in the US and worldwide who grew up or came of age during the ’80s decade…

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



STAR TREK PHASE II BEGINS FIFTH AND FINAL SEASON TONIGHT

…The franchise was in its doldrums during the mid-’70s. After the conclusion of the fifth season in 1971, creator Gene Roddenberry retained the rights to Star Trek and went on to produce “Genesis,” a crime thriller set in space for NBC in which John Saxon plays Darius Hunter, a police officer in a run-down space colony. The series lasted from 1973 to 1975. After the mega-blockbuster “Star Wars” premiered, TV studios became interested in Star Trek again, and many approached Roddenberg with offers for film or TV pilot deals. Even ABC tried to win Roddenberry back, and when they failed to do so, sued Roddenberry for the rights to Star Trek. Due to having retained the rights to his project, Roddenberry won the court case in early 1978. Roddenberry soon signed on with NBC to produce “Phase Two”… Returning for the final season are Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan, Gautreaux, Nichols, Khambatta, Koenig, Barrett, and Whitney, while San Francisco city councilman George Takei is scheduled for a least two guest appearances as Captain Sulu by the end of this year…

– The Hollywood Reporter, 9/9/1982



“Order the Libyans to stand down or we will strike,” Denton instructed over the line. The CO sought to keep the President informed minute by minute. A major supporter of Gaddafi, Defense Minister Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr had led a platoon of Gaddafist soldiers into an ambush orchestrated by American and anti-Gaddafi troops. His removal from the equation would weaken Gaddafist leadership and possibly better our chances of apprehending the dictator. He had to pay for the penurious conditions his fellow Libyans lived in while he had remained comfortable in his lavish fortress compound in Tripoli.

Defense Secretary Westmoreland and National Security Advisor LeMay sat attentively wit the President in the Situation Room, listening carefully to the sounds of gunfire coming through from the CO’s jeep radio. The men could hear the Gaddafists in the background, holed up in a bullet hole-riddled building in Misratah, responding back to American demands; as the soldier’s vituperation was not in English, it was lost on Denton and company.

“They won’t be taken alive, sir,” informed the main soldier on the ground to the Commander in Chief.

“Then now you know how to take them.” Denton ordered the assault on the building.

After several minutes of shouting, bullets, and explosions, the connection went quiet. Technicians assured Denton the line was not disconnected or lost in any way.

“Captain?” Denton asked “Captain!”

Finally, the reply confirming Defense Minister Jabr was no more ended the uneasy silence.

”Time to write that man’s elegy, then!” noted the President.

With a chuckle, Westmoreland observed “First Tripoli, now Misrata. If Gaddafi’s in Sitre – and I know he is – he’ll get an elegy soon enough, too!”

Above: Denton in the situation room, looking at wall maps of Libya and debating with Westmoreland over how to proceed into Sitre

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



CONGRESS AMENDS OLDER AMERICANS ACT

…the amendments revise the bill by granting appropriations and adjustments for the years that have passed since the bill was originally signed into law by President Colonel Sanders…

– The Washington Post, 9/25/1982



The Ayatollah’s supporters were scattered in an almost even distribution across the areas east of Semnan, southwest of Mashhad, and east and northeast of Shiraz. Progress was made in late September 1982, when a leading member of the Khomeini’s forces was captured outside of Esfahan. About this time, Iranian intelligence learned that the Ayatollah may have been holed up in Quetta or the autonomous region of Waziristan, over in the neighboring nation of Pakistan, and overseeing most operations from there. This gave rise to talks of invading Pakistan if they did not comply with US demands to release any information they had on the man who, if intelligence was correct, would be labelled an international terrorist. The US Ambassador to Pakistan, the seasoned Ron Spiers, tried his best to coerce his diplomatic counterparts to not egg on the US. After a staring contest that lasted for several weeks, the situation was defused when CIA agents reported that Khomeini had fled to Zahedan, Iran, but that the trail had died outside the city. Nevertheless, Pakistan’s lack of compliance during incident only worsened US-Pakistani relations…

– Transcript of former US Ambassador Lowell Bruce Laingen, geopolitics lecture at Columbia University, NY, 2001



After years of rewrites, the period action war musical comedy “1941” finally premiered in September 1982. …The film was used as a war protest film of sorts by peace activists during the Denton administration, as peaceniks enjoyed its depiction of the military as inept and trigger-happy. In response to this, supporters of President Denton boycotted the film and protested theaters that played it. However, any publicity is good publicity when you work in Hollywood. The ruckus made people become curious enough about the movie to go see it, and the studio considered the polarizing film to be a financial success...

– Norman Kagan’s The Cinema of Robert Zemeckis, 2003



Turkey went through a major shift in politics once more in 1980, when President Naim Talu, in office since 1974, lost his bid for a second four-year term (and third term overall) to the more left-leaning reformer M. Fethullah Gulen. A neo-Ottomanist scholar and preacher by trade, Gulen had been a Turkish state imam since 1959. At the age of 41, Gulen won on a “radical” platform that called for a greater separation of church and state, believing that a more secular Turkey would have a greater chance of joining European trade organizations. Gulen had won via a strong grassroots organization called the “Gulen Movement,” a volunteer-based movement focused on education and interfaith dialogue that was clearly inspired by the Chicken Dinner Summit Talks in Jerusalem.

As President, Gulen called for civilized arguments, championed religious tolerance, and worked hard to build social networks among diverse groups. His most popular move was the establishment of a “universal education” school system. His most controversial decision, however, came in early October 1982, when Gulen, in an attempt to prove he would maintain government transparency, officially acknowledged the Armenian, Kurdish, and Pontic Greek genocides while giving a speech at the UN.

The announcement was celebrated by Greek, Kurds and Armenians the world over, but sent negative shockwaves throughout the Turkish populace, many of whom had never even heard of the genocides before. The revelations that their own government had hidden the history of their country from them had mixed results among young and middle aged Turks. Many young people were either angry at the government for such deception, while others praised Gulen and idolized him for having the bravery to tell the truth; others still called him a liar and the traitor. Days later, a painter from Izmir fired a gun at Gulen but missed. Older Turks, especially Turks who witnessed or participated in the genocides, either denied vehemently, or confessed to the actions of the past. As Turks began to take a good, hard look at themselves and their true history.

Former President Naim Talu considered mounting coup against Gulen before he returned to Turkey, but planned stalled amid internal fighting among the would-be co-conspirators. By December, coup talks had broken down, leading to Talu calling for a recount of the 1980 election and mounting a campaign to defeat Gulen in 1984. As more Turkish citizens began to accept that the events that had occurred over sixty years ago, West Germany became a major ally of Turkey, and many West German historians and other experts offered advice to the Turkish government on how to proceed.

Gulen believed that airing out the nation’s dirty laundry would improve things, and in the long run, he was correct. Gulen’s reforms lead to the children of Turkey who grew up in the aftermath of “the acknowledgements” to become adults starkly more liberal than their parents and very much more in favor of pro-western idealism, acknowledging that the west isn’t perfect. “So we can easily best them at their own game,” was a common rebuttal. Gulen ushered in new era of moderate Islam, anti-communism, and moderate Turkish nationalism that only benefited Turkey as the years progressed…

– Stephen Kinzer’s Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds, Farrar and Giroux Publications Ltd, 2001



ZIMBABWE’S PM NKOMO REVEALS ZANU LEADER MUGABE WAS KILLED IN ARMY SHOOTOUT YESTERDAY

…President Canaan Banana remarked “let Mugabe’s inability to lead a peaceful campaign be a warning to all who wish to harm their fellow countrymen – such action is treasonous. Traitors and would-be dictators will not be tolerated in Zimbabwe.” …Under the supervision of Prime Minister Dingle Foot, the British government disqualified ZANU from participating in the 1980 parliamentary elections for flagrant violation of the 1978 Lancaster House Agreement, leading to Mugabe initiating a reign of domestic terror, attacking polls and campaign headquarters. These actions led to the elections being postponed for over two months. In April 1980, Joshua Nkomo of the ZAPU won against Ian Smith of the RF and incumbent PM Abel Muzorewa of the UANC. Mugabe was labeled a domestic terrorist, and went into hiding in northern Zimbabwe...

– The Times, UK newspaper, 10/15/1982



The Manson assassination attempt made John become even more political, calling for the US to ban concealed carry laws. Ringo later described him as having “grow up…he’s by far more mature than the rest of us when it comes to politicking.” John increased his political activism in 1982 by taking it to a new level – on October 23rd, he announced a bid for parliament. With the next elections set for no less than three years away, John set himself up as one of the most left-leaning members of the UK Labor party, a eyed the seat of his hometown…

– Pat Sheffield’s Dreams, Reality, and Music: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole Entire World, Tumbleweed Publications, 2000



“Wanton destruction and violence doesn’t change when some bigshot from D.C. calls them ‘strategic advancements’ and ‘military interventions.’ This is carnage and the loss of human life. We need to bring people together, not blow people up. We need peace abroad and we need it now!”

– Actor, political activist, and 1982 Progressive Party nominee for a US Senate seat Peter Duel, 10/27/1982 stump speech



While many liberal celebrities and activists derided the actions of the Denton Administration, this was not the return of the early 1960s that many of them saw it as; for one thing, the army was now all-volunteer, many the Iran Proxy War and the Libyan War had far less AWOL incidents than the Cuban War features. A more visual key that the people would not join the activists in the streets was the media coverage of soldiers coming home from war, running up to their loved ones and becoming enveloped in heartfelt hugs. These tear-jerker stories did much to help the war effort – and the GOP, come November ’82…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



United States Senate election results, 1982

Date: November 2, 1982
Seats: 36 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Howard Baker (R-TN)
Senate minority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Seats before election: 54 (R), 45 (D), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 58 (R), 40 (D), 1 (P), 1 (I)
Seat change: R ^ 4, D v 5, P ^ 1, I - 0

Full List:
Arizona: incumbent Barry Morris Goldwater (R) over Dennis DeConcini (D)
California: incumbent Richard M. Nixon (R) over Leo Ryan (D) and Peter Duel (Progressive)
Connecticut: incumbent Antonina P. Uccello (R) over Toby Moffett (D)
Delaware: incumbent William Victor Roth Jr. (R) over David N. Levinson (D)
Florida: incumbent Lawton Chiles (D) over Van B. Poole (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Patsy Mink (D) over Clarence J. Brown (R) and E. Bernier-Nachtwey (Independent)
Indiana: Earl Landgrebe (R) over incumbent Vance Hartke (D) and Floyd Fithian (Progressive)
Maine: incumbent Edmund S. Muskie (D) over Edward I. Bernstein (R)
Maryland: incumbent Paul Sarbanes (D) over Lawrence Hogan (R)
Massachusetts: incumbent Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D) over Ray Shamie (R)
Michigan: incumbent George W. Romney (R) over Walter Reuther (D)
Minnesota: incumbent Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (D) over David Durenberger (R)
Mississippi: incumbent John C. Stennis (D) over Haley Barbour (R)
Missouri: incumbent Jerry Litton (D) over R. Wendell Bailey (R)
Montana: Ron Marlenee (R) over incumbent John Melcher (D)
Nebraska: incumbent Ted Sorensen (D) over Jim Keck (R) and Virginia Walsh (Independent)
Nevada: incumbent Paul D. Laxalt (R) over Harry Reid (D)
New Jersey: Mary V. Mochary (R) over incumbent appointee Richard J. Coffee (D)
New Jersey (special): Frank X. McDermott (R) over incumbent appointee Frank Lautenberg (D)
New Hampshire (special): incumbent appointee Hugh Gregg (R) over John Rauh (D)
New Mexico: incumbent Pedro Jimenez (D) over Lee Francis (R)
New York: Michael Rockefeller (R/L) over incumbent Paul O’Dwyer (D), Florence M. Sullivan (C) and Allard K. Lowenstein (Progressive)
North Dakota: incumbent Arthur Albert Link (D) over Gene Knorr (R)
Ohio: incumbent John Glenn (D) over Paul Pfeifer (R)
Pennsylvania: John Heinz (R) over incumbent Bill Green (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent Robert Owens Tiernan (D) over Vincent Marzullo (R)
Tennessee: incumbent Albert Gore Sr. (D) over Robin Beard (R)
Texas: James M. Collins (R) over incumbent Lloyd Bentsen (D)
Utah: incumbent Frank E. Moss (D) over David Daniel Marriott (R)
Vermont: Phil Hoff (Progressive) over incumbent Robert Theodore Stafford (R) and James A. Guest (D)
Virginia: incumbent Harry F. Byrd (I) over Dick Davis (D) and Maurice A. Dawkins (R)
Washington: incumbent Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (D) over Doug Jewett (R) and King Lysen (Independent)
West Virginia: incumbent Robert C. Byrd (D) over Cleveland Benedict (R) and William B. Howland (Progressive)
Wisconsin: incumbent William Proxmire (D) over Scott McCallum (R)
Wyoming: incumbent John S. Wold (R) over Rodger McDaniel (D)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States House of Representatives results, 1982

Date: November 2, 1982
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218
New House majority leader: Robert H. Michel (R-IL)
New House minority leader: Hale Boggs (D-LA)
Last election: 239 (R), 196 (D)
Seats won: 248 (R), 187 (D)
Seat change: R ^ 9, D v 9

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



…Public approval of the war in Libya was seen as the main cause of the OP expanding their numbers in the House and Senate. However, the victory of several progressive and anti-war candidates – five in the house and two (Hoff and Chavez) in the senate – also made it clear that the “Gravel faction” of the party was not as dead as once thought to be by most political pundits… Foreign policy was not a main focus in the gubernatorial races, resulting in Democrat favoring better them overall…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



United States Governor election results, 1982

Date: November 2, 1982
State governorship elections held: 36
Seats before: 27 (D), 22 (R), 1 (I)
Seats after: 28 (D), 21 (R), 2 (I), 1 (P)
Seat change: D ^ 1, R v 1, I ^ 1, P ^ 1

Full list:
Alabama: Ann Bedsole (R) over Mary Texas Hurt Garner (D); incumbent Charles Woods (D) lost nomination
Alaska: incumbent William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton Sr. (D) over Terry Miller (R) and Richard L. Randolph (Alaskan Libertarian)
Arizona: Richard Kleindienst (R) over Bruce Babbitt (D); incumbent Sam Steiger (R) retired
Arkansas: incumbent Orval Faubus (D) over Marshall Chrisman (R)
California: incumbent Phillip "Phil" Burton (D) over Edward M. Davis (R)
Colorado: incumbent Bill Daniels (R) over Raymond Kogovsek (D), Paul K. Grant (Libertarian), John D. Fuhr (Country), Earl Dodge (Prohibition)
Connecticut: incumbent Robert K. Killian (D) over Julie Belaga (R)
Florida: incumbent Jack Eckerd (R) over Earl Hutto (D)
Georgia: Hal Suit (R) over Larry McDonald (D); incumbent John Skandalakis (D) was term-limited
Hawaii: Jean King (D) over David M. Akui (R) and incumbent Tokio Ige (Independent)
Idaho: Larry Jackson (R) over Compton Ignatius White Jr. (D); incumbent Jay S. Amyx (R) retired
Illinois: incumbent John B. Anderson (R) over Adlai Stevenson III (D)
Iowa: Jo Ann McIntosh Zimmerman (D) over incumbent Chuck Grassley (R)
Kansas: incumbent Robert Frederick Bennett (R) over John Carlin (D)
Maine: Helen Longley (Progressive) over incumbent Linwood E. Palmer Jr. (R) and Joseph E. Brennan (D)
Maryland: incumbent F. P. Blair Lee III (D) over Robert A. Pascal (R)
Massachusetts: incumbent Michael Stanley Dukakis (D) over Christopher A. Iannella (R) and Paul Tsongas (Liberty)
Michigan: Elly M. Peterson (R) over incumbent Soapy Williams (D), Don Riegle (Progressive) and Jimmy Hoffa (Workers’)
Minnesota: incumbent Coya Knutson (D) over Wheelock “Whee” Whitney Jr. (Independent-Republican-Liberty)
Nebraska: incumbent Charles Thone (R) over J. Robert “Bob” Kerrey (D)
Nevada: Joseph Yale Resnick (D) over Clarence Clifton Young (R); incumbent Rex Bell Jr. (R)
New Hampshire: incumbent Walter Rutherford Peterson Jr. (R) over John William King (D)
New Mexico: Toney Anaya (D) over John B. Irick (R); incumbent Joe Skeen (R) was term-limited
New York: incumbent Mario Cuomo (D) over Lewis Lehrman (R)
Ohio: incumbent James "Jim" Rhodes (R) over Dick Celeste (D)
Oklahoma: Neal McCaleb (R) over incumbent George Nigh (D) and Howard L. Bell (P)
Oregon: incumbent Victor Atiyeh (R) over Ted Kulongoski (D)
Pennsylvania: Stewart Greenleaf (D) over Bobby Butera (R); incumbent Milton Shapp (D) was term-limited [12]
Rhode Island: incumbent Lincoln Almond (R) over Hilary R. Salk (D) and Peter Van Daam (Progressive)
South Carolina: Nancy Stevenson (D) over W. D. Workman Jr. (R); incumbent Richard Riley (D) retired
South Dakota: Clint Roberts (R) over Harvey L. Wollman (D); incumbent Benjamin “Ben” (Lone Feather) Reifel (R) retired
Tennessee: Buford Pusser (R) over Ned McWherter (D); incumbent Jake Butcher (D) was term-limited
Texas: Ross Perot (I) over incumbent Bill Clements (R), Ray Allen Mayo II (D) and Mario Compean (La Raza Unida)
Vermont: incumbent Richard Snelling (R) over Madeleine Kunin (D) and Richard Gottlieb (Progressive/Liberty Union)
Wisconsin: Paul R. Soglin (D) over Terry Kohler (R); incumbent Bronson La Follette (D) retired
Wyoming: Dick Casull (R) over Harry Leimback (D); incumbent Thyra Thomson (R) retired

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



STERLING TUCKER ELECTED MAYOR OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

…After incumbent Mayor Clifford Alexander Jr. announced his retirement, Tucker joined a crowded field of candidates as a Democrat. Tucker, the former Council Chair for D.C., defeated fellow Democrat Jesse Jackson, and independent candidates Patricia Roberts Harris and Charlene Drew Jarvis in a landslide, winning roughly 51% of the vote, versus Jackson’s share of roughly 28%, Harris’s roughly 12%, and Jarvis’s almost 9% of the vote…

– The Chicago Tribune, 11/2/1982



By the end of 1982, Pierre Mauroy’s average approval rating was consistently under 40%. Despite adjusting the minimum wage to better match inflation after Mitterrand had raised the minimum wage, and protecting the other popular parts of Mitterrand’s legacy – a shorter work week, more national holidays and a restructured tax system – Mauroy was facing heavy opposition from the national legislature.

The people of France were tired of taxes. Unemployment was on the rise as employees couldn’t afford large numbers of workers due to the high minimum wage, leading to CBA negotiation breakdowns and union strikes throughout the country. The thought of establishing an even-greater “welfare state” by raising taxes overall angered conservatives and moderates alike alongside many citizens across the economic and social classes. The same could be said about a dispute over the proper retirement age.

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



NELSON ROCKEFELLER, FORMER H.E.W. SECRETARY AND FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR, IS DEAD AT 74

– The Washington Post, 11/23/1982



“Thriller” is a wonderful pop record, the latest statement by one of the great singers in popular music today. But it is more than that. It is as hopeful a sign as we have had yet that the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music - and between whites and blacks - in this culture may be breached once again. Most important of all, it is another signpost on the road to Michael Jackson's own artistic fulfillment.

There were solid reasons for such success. Chief among them is Mr. Jackson's ethereal tenor. His deployment of that voice, which he mixes subtly with all manner of falsetto effects, is the greatest example of this sort of erotic keening since the heyday of Smokey Robinson. Ever since the craze for the castrato in the 17th century, high male voices, with their paradoxical blend of asexuality and sensuousness, ecstasy and pain, have been the most prized of all vocal types, and Mr. Jackson epitomizes such singing for our time better than anyone, in any musical genre. Even in the few slow-moving, easy-going songs found here, likely influenced by his association with you Reeflex Rock artists, you can hear this range.

A second reason for his success is his personality. One may legitimately wonder how Mr. Jackson, locked inside a celebrity's cage since childhood, could possibly understand the everyday dilemmas of life. An acquaintance of Mr. Jackson, guitarist Tommy Chong, claims Jackson is “troubled, but doing his best to be in a good place. He’s finding solace by having a good time with good friends and people who love him.” But most of Mr. Jackson’s concerns are universal, and artistic empathy is hardly the prerogative of poor folksingers. Mr. Jackson seems, on the basis of his interviews, to have a genuinely childlike and emotionally open attitude toward life. Sometimes his fame seems to insulate him, but it also elevates him to fantasy status for his fans.

Mr. Jackson's appeal is so wide, however, that white publications and radio stations that normally avoid ''black music'' seem willing to pretend he isn't black after all. On one level, that's admirable, in that color distinctions are often best avoided altogether. But Mr. Jackson is black, and while he sings a duet here with Paul McCartney, enlists Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo for one song and Tommy Chong for a guitar on another track, Mr. Jackson continues his off-stage laid-back style of observing no color exclusivity in his choice of backup musicians. But he remembers his roots, and still works honorably within the context of contemporary black popular music at its fervent, eclectic best. If this album is anywhere near as successful as ''Off the Wall,'' it may remind white audiences of what they are missing elsewhere. [13]

– The New York Times, review of the 12/19/1982 release of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album



After graduating from Bayside High School in Brevard County, Florida, in 1979, Hillenburg held numerous jobs, such as working for the state public park service in Utah one summer and as an art director in San Francisco at one other point, until finally getting a job at Humboldt State University in California. After two years of living frugally, Hillenburg could finally afford to attend California State University’s business school nearby, beginning to take classes there in January 1982.

When studying in one marine biology class in December 1982, a colleague asked him why he wasn’t in art school, due to the impressive painted surrealist landscapes Hillenburg had made for a group project. Hillenburg explain it was “just a hobby” for him. [14]

– The New York Times, 1999 article



ARE FLYING CARS ON THEIR WAY YET?

…the thought of soring overhead busy traffic-jammed highways may be a daydream for commuter for now, but Boeing engineers led by Fed Barker are working to bring flying cars out of fiction and into our garages… He and his team have begun designing a “Sky Commuter” aircraft, a 14-foot-long two-seater… The main obstacles to flying cars are zoning laws and responsible “driving.” The Federal Aviation Administration strictly regulates civil aviation, meaning that in order for flying cars to enter the public markets, they will first have to meet federal guidelines. Safety features must be in place, and the flying skills of the drivers – if they are to be called that – will be treated with the same level of seriousness as private plane pilots… Even if the technology allows for the compartmentalizing of airplane mechanics into the size of an average car, and the FAA approved of its use in cities and suburbs, financial affordability would be the final obstacle. Due to how much these prototypes are likely to cost, only the wealthiest of certified licensed pilots would be able to afford one of their own. Perhaps these future sky-drivers will have to “carpool” to afford the future cars of the sky…

– Popular Science magazine, December 1982 issue



“I didn’t endorse Hoff’s Progressive Party in 1980 or 1982 because I turned my mind off to it. After losing the nomination, then Rita, and my kids weren’t speaking to me and the Democratic establishment wouldn’t talk to me, I decided to take a year or two off of politics. I had enough money after the divorce. I went back to Alaska. Did some camping. I don’t like to fish, so instead I spent the days doing a lot of soul searching. A lot of thinking. And in December 1982, after joining a progressive think tank in D.C. and seeing how well progressive candidates had done in the midterms, I decided something – it was high time that I swallowed crow and started repairing the bridges I had burned.

– Mike Gravel, KNN interview, 1999



The bad men have killed two policemen. Mother says we will get new soldiers to protect us. She says the Shah will not abandon us. Father says the Shah is no better than the old Shah because we are still suffering only differently. Before, we were hungry. Now we have food but get killed before we can enjoy it. He thinks maybe America really is the Great Satan. Mother says to have faith. And patience.

– Diary of 10-year-old Said in Kerman, Iran, 12/28/1982 entry



JIM CROCE STEPPING OUT OF RETIREMENT!

The writer and singer of hits such as “I Got A Name” and “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” has announced that he has begun working on material for a new album, which will be his first since retiring from the music scene in 1973 to focus on raising a family. Croce says his oldest son, Adrian James “A.J.” Croce, “encouraged me to get back into writing, so long as my beloved Ingrid approved,” saying his wife Ingrid thinks they can “afford going back to the long trips and time spent apart, but only for a little while.” The Croce family has been living off of Jim’s royalties in rural Pennsylvania, though Jim has occasionally published short stories and has co-penned scripts for some independent films…

– The Hollywood Reporter, 1/3/1983



10 January 1983: On this day in history, Jim Henson’s “Fraggle Rock,” a program advocating tolerance, launches in the US and Canada. …Former American President Harland D. “Colonel” Sanders praises the show’s promotion of peace, which helps boost the series’ ratings in its first year…

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



HOW DID COLONEL SANDERS, WHO OVERSAW THREE WARS, BECOME A MAN OF PEACE?

…his experience with the heads and inner workings of the US military, and visiting of the areas hit by terror attacks in the Middle East, cemented in him an urge to chance how his fellow human beings interact with each. “It’s not good business to go around hurting one another. So much can be accomplished if we can get everyone to get along.” The Colonel believes this begins at youth, saying “WE can nip hatred in the bud if we get troublesome kids the help they need. Children need good parents and safe home,” the former President puts his money where his mouth is by being annually generous to various charities…

In a CBS interview filmed late last year, the Colonel tellingly defended his actions in Vietnam as President. In said interview, Sanders states “I did what I had to do at the time. The Viet Cong did not want to shake hands, and I wanted their oppression of the Vietnam people to end as soon as possible. Of course I felt bad about the boys we lost over there. I feel terrible, awful. I still do.” Perhaps the Colonel’s actions are more guilt-driven than he would like to admit to...

– Tumbleweed magazine, mid-January 1983 issue



…We’ve just received confirmation that Muammar Ghaddafi, the dictator of Libya whose repeated acts of aggression against the United States led to American forces toppling his regime early last year, has been captured alive in Murzuq, a Libyan village near to country’s border with Niger. As the dictator was traveling south, US military ambushed his convoy, took out his security forces, and apprehended him. Ghaddafi was reportedly injured during the incident, as US troops shot him in the hand while he was firing a rifle. Ghaddafi’s current location is unknown...

– Dan Rather, CBS News special bulletin, 1/15/1983



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Suslov quote found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Suslov#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBrown2009435-38
[2] OTL information acquired in this source here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Suslov#cite_note-FOOTNOTESchmidt-Häuer198678-33
[3] A few years later than IOTL, because you have to take into account the probable casualties of the 1975 Civil War.
[4] To see why this is bad, watch this video, starting at the 5:00 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Tv5mnMLVI
[5] Most info here is from Rodger Bumpass’ wiki page, and the italicized passage is from here: https://diaboliquemagazine.com/jaws-never-jaws-3-people-0/
[6] Line from wikipedia’s “History of South Africa” article
[7] Apparently true: https://web.archive.org/web/20130420212851/http://www.wisconsinproject.org/countries/libya/trouble.html
[8] Italicized parts of this quote are, almost verbatim, what he said starting at the 53:50 mark of the Vietnam documentary “In the Year of the Pig” in OTL
[9] Same as OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Ceau%C8%99escu#Execution
[10] These italicized passages are actually from the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/02/01/pizza-hut-founder-tackles-new-cuisine/9aabd4bc-4909-4bf9-bd4b-be34d2ad2438/
[11] Lifted from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Kummerow#Career
[12] Per the conditions of a 1975 amendment of the state constitution (ITTL), which limits governors to no more than two (consecutive) terms
[13] Apart from the non-italicized bits, this whole passage is from an OTL review of Thriller from 1982: https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/19/arts/michael-jackson-s-thriller-superb-job.html
[14] IOTL, he decided to pursue animation over painting after seeing pictures from a Cal-arts at an art exhibit. But since he grew up in Florida and doesn’t end up going to Cal-arts due to developing an interest in business school instead, he doesn’t see such an exhibit even if one such exhibit even happens here due to butterflies!

[picture Note 1] On second thought, I think this version of this picture is much, much better for use in this chapter:

[pic: imgur.com/5QuZH2m.png ]
Any thoughts?

 

[gap80]

Post 42: Chapter 50

Chapter 50: January 1983 – December 1983​

“God gave us relatives. Thank God we can choose our friends.”

– Ethel Mumford



EXTRA! KREMLIN REVEALS PODGORNY DIED THREE DAYS AGO

– The New York Times, 1/15/1983



…The premier of the Soviet Union passed away at the age of 79 after battling some undisclosed form of cancer for several months, taking a plethora of medical cocktails and various therapies while also overseeing a potential cooling of tensions between the politburo and rebelling soviets. Upon his death, the politburo opted to withhold the news of his passing until a successor could be confirmed. However, doing so only added to the rising number of voices accusing the government of being deceitful and dishonest.

Despite Gorbachev and Yakovlev becoming the two most visible members of Podgorny’s inner circle during the past year, the party’s Old Guard preferred one of their own, and with Andropov dead, the two reform-minded men lacked adequate support from other members at this point in time. After three days of discussions and maneuverings, a troika was formed. Representing a diplomatic but pessimistic approach to the West was the conservative Andrei Gromyko; representing the pro-reform faction of the party was Yegor Kigachyov, whom Gorbachev feared would promote watered-down and ineffective versions of the reformist policies of “perestroika” and “glasnost;” and representing a militaristic approach to issues both inside and outside of the nation was Marshal of the Soviet Union and Minister of Defense Dmitriy Fyodorovich Ustinov. With a few weeks of this assembly, though, it became perfectly clear that Ustinov was the leader of the three-man group.

Above: Ustinov

Assigned to be his bodyguard in early 1983, I quickly became aware that Ustinov was opposed to Podgorny’s reforms on a deep and personal level. He truly believed that brute strength was what would be needed to keep the country together, not a “corruption of our ideals,” as he put it.

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



…As the Gaddafi chapter of Libya’s history comes to a close, the next chapter has yet to be written, but it is starting off chaotically as multiple nationalist groups seek to fill the void. Several militias are still plaguing Libya’s villages and towns. 39-year-old activist Aguila Saleh Issa leading a slightly pro-west but still anti-US faction, and an anti-US and anti-west faction is being led by a one 41-year-old Sadiq Al-Ghariani. The current leader of Libya, as recognized by the US and most UN nations, is former Prime Minister Mustafa Ben Halim, who wants to develop and modernize Libya in order for its people to, quote “move forward from today into tomorrow.” However, many are taking Ben Halim’s rhetoric to mean “westernization,” including Gaddafi’s former Prime Minister, Islamic socialist Jadallah Azzuz at-Talhi, who was deposed and apprehended two months ago. Additionally, 40-year-old secularist Field Marshall and Gaddafi’s military chief of staff, Khalifa Haftar, remained at large and is leading the largest militia faction still operating inside Libya. While Denton has stopped himself short of outright declaring victory in the northern African nation, he has promoted Ben Halim as the legitimate successor to Gaddafi, and will remain in charge, quote, “until free elections can be held.” However, such talk is causing a stirring among the most conservative factions of Libyan society. Already, KNN can confirm the outbreak of minor riots in Benghazi and Tripoli over the President’s comments. It also seems that even many pro-US Libyan citizens do not approve of Ben Halim, even as a placeholder…

– KNN World News, 1/19/1983



Khomeini’s followers took things too far on January 20th when they took advantage of a member of the royal family making a fateful trip to Isfahan. The Shah’s younger sister, Princess Farahnaz Pahlavi, was visiting friends when her and her bodyguards were set upon by Islamic conservative radicals. Soon the Shah had learned that this party of men had kidnapped her in exchange for the release of prisoners vital to their cause.

The Shah and his advisors were in agreement. “We must not let them get away with this,” went the common phrase.

“I will never negotiate with them,” said the leader, “As far as I’m concerned, the Ayatollah and his followers killed my father," referring to his predecessor's assassination.

Instead of giving in the demands, the Shah sent in Iran’s Special Forces. The rescue operation fell through, though, when the troops fell into an ambush.

Back at the palace, the Shah and his advisors listened in on the radio for confirmation that the princess was safe.

“What’s happening?” the young ruler demanded a reply in the midst of gunfire and shouting filling up the airwaves.

“They spotted us as we were getting into position” the team leader shouted over the cacophony surrounding him. “Wait, I see the princess now and, what, oh Allah no – ”

As one of the radicals in the distance called out “This is what you get when you betray the Koran!” more gunfire and shouting overwhelmed the place until finally the discord died down.

Eventually, a soldier got to the radio.

“Did you get her? Is Farahnaz alright?” the Shah asked.

“We…we were too late, your highness. They killed her, they took her outside and shot her. We killed as many of them as we could but some of them got away in a truck. They’re heading south…”

The Shah stopped listening as he somberly slumped into his chair next to the radio. He could not believe that just five years after the death of his father, another family member was set to be buried.

Above: Princess Farahnaz, 12 March 1963 – 26 January 1983

The Shah’s advisors gave him a minute. After that, one of them asked “Sir?”

The leader sprang up. “Enough of this.”

“What is the plan, your highness?”

“To end this.”

Within a few hours, the men who had kidnapped and executed the princess were surrounded, holed up in a shack 10 kilometers south of Yasuj. In a demonstration of dramatic overkill, Iranian ground forces pulled back to make way for a massive air strike on the location. The lethal bombardment lit up the night sky. Herdsmen a few miles away saw what seemed like a second sunrise at 2:40 AM, local time.

The death of the princess and the immediate presentation of military might swelled support for the Shah even further. While his father’s death was celebrated, his sister was presented as being an innocent in all of it. The Iranian people now had a martyr to idolize, a leader to adore, and an enemy to bring to justice.

– Michael Axworthy’s A History of Iran: 1978-2008, Basic Books, 2019



SUPER BOWL XVII: REDSKINS BEAT DOLPHINS, 25-19

– The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/30/1983



CASUALTIES ON THE RISE ON BOTH SIDES OF IRAN CONLICT

– The Washington Post, 2/1/1983



“With Denton in the kitchen, the Cold War’s rising in temperature to a boiling point that could consume us all in scalding-hot doom. …War is never the answer, and war is never unavoidable, for war is not an occurrence found in nature but is in fact made my man – and so it can be controlled by man. Leaders can start wars or oversee wars, but truly good leaders are those who end wars, or even better, prevent war from starting in the first place.”

– Mike Gravel at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., Thursday, 2/3/1983



“It is useless to discuss peace when dealing with an enemy that objects to peace. The Ayatollah Khomeini objects to negotiations, to armistices, to treaties, and to compromise. That is why the Shah has our support.”

– President Denton to a reporter, 2/4/1983



DENTON APPROVES HUMAN SERVICES REAUTHORIZATION ACT

…the legislation authorizes budget appropriations for the carrying out of the Head Start program, the Follow Through program, and the Negative Income Tax Rebate. Attempts by liberal Congressmen and Senators to boost the budget for community services block grants, and several federal community food and nutrition programs, bore little fruit during the last several weeks...

– The Boston Globe, 2/7/1983



CAM BOMB KILLS 12 AT TRIPOLI INTERNATIONAL

…Continuous cam bombs are slowing the “opening up” of Libya, as foreigners are being discouraged from traveling to the country as the security situation remains too disruptive…

– The New York Post, 2/9/1983



THE TRIAL OF GADDAFI SET FOR MAY

…There was much controversy over where to try Gaddafi, as he is a Libyan citizen held responsible for the deaths of the over 200 Americans in the plane shot down in January 1982. The International Law Commission, a body of experts who codify international law, held a special session ahead of their 35th regular session from May to July 1983, to discuss the situation. Earlier today, the ILC permitted the US to trial Gaddafi with the understanding that he be extradited back to Libya to face trial for crimes committed over there. Additionally, the controversy has led to the UN establishing an “International Tribunal” rule for future international trials...

– The Washington Pot, 2/18/1983



CAM BOMBS HIT US EMBASSIES IN EGYPT, SAUDI ARABIA: At Least 2 Officers Killed, 9 Others Injured In Total

– The New York Times, 2/27/1983



“The people of the Middle East stand in solidarity against the radicals of our lands. They do not represent us and they will not control any of us.”

– Tahir Yahya, President of Iraq (1979-1986), 2/28/1983



By early 1983, people were saying that I had made the EPA “my” department, but I disagree – I simply took charge of it, and kept it from falling into disarray. I ran a tight ship to ensure efficiency, emulating a fire station-type atmosphere in that workers were always instructed to be ready in a pinch. I also instructed that all incidents and reports, no matter how small, be given proper vetting and be investigated down to the smallest of details. This is how I was able to address The Times Beach Incident of the early 1970s while serving as Administrator of the National Roadways Safety Administration.

The chemical company NEPACCO produced herbicides [1] near the town of Times Beach, Missouri, starting in the late 1960s. The eastern Missourian town soon became the site of grossly incompetent waste disposal operations. In 1971, a thick waste oil with a pungent, burning odor began to kill birds and sicken horses in the nearby Shenandoah Stables. Within seven months, sixty horses were dead, and children in the area began to be diagnosed with dioxin poisoning. The CDC began investigations in 1971; as the situation involved the company hazardously transporting dangerous waste via roadways, the NRSA intervened in early 1972. I continued to play a role in seeking statewide and federal assistance in cleaning up the contaminated parts of the town as Secretary of Transportation while Missouri’s Justice Department worked with the federal Justice Department to persecute those responsible for creating the mess in the first place. Times Beach was also one of the first areas to be addressed upon my becoming EPA Director in early 1977. As a result, the agency was able to remove all the waste by the end of the 1970s. In 1983, all inhabitants ordered to temporarily move out were finally allowed to return, as contamination and sanitation levels had finally reached pre-1971 levels, the crisis having been corrected thanks to the collaborative efforts of watchful and responsible government agencies. [2]

– Ralph Nader in his autobiography All For The People: A Life’s Journey, 2019



On February 24, 1983, another historic achievement unfolded in Bermondsey, South London, UK. Following the resignation of Labour MP Bob Mellish, a special election (or “by-election” in the UK) was held to fill the role, with Peter Tatchell of the Labour Party running primarily against Simon Hughes of the Liberal Party. Rather than use the race as platform for his feud with the “old left” of the Labour party, Tatchell was convinced to instead campaign on local issues. Privately confessing to be a terrible campaigner himself, his bid was helped by endorsements from PM Dingle Foot, former PM Michael Foot, and even musician-turned-political activist John Lennon, while Hughes was criticized for having only moved to the constituency only in the past few months. As the campaign progressed, homophobic graffiti and hate mail led to Tatchell receiving sympathetic support from UK and even some American newspapers. A week before the election, Hughes was accused of being a homosexual himself, but this seemed to be a counter-claim that seemed to be ineffective, and one that would not be looked into further until years later. Capitalizing of PM Dingle Foot’s high approval ratings, Tatchell won the seat with 51.0% of the vote against Simon Hughes’ 47.1%, which represented a 40% swing in Liberal vote from the last election, one of the largest by-election swings in British political history. The Liberal Party blamed their loss on the presence of another Hughes on the ticket – Conservative candidate Robert Hughes – as possibly confusing some voters who voted for the wrong Hughes on election day. Nevertheless, the fact remained that despite the bitter and bigoted campaign that Simon Hughes had run on against Tatchell, Peter Tatchell became the first openly gay Briton ever elected to Parliament.

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



“THE ‘LEPENIZATION’ OF SPIRITS”: Is The National Front Entering The Mainstream?

…As NF leader Jean-Marie Le Pen won re-election to the National Assembly last night, his hard-right party also won approximately 10.1% of the vote in the legislative elections, its best-ever showing…

– Le Monde, French newspaper, 2/28/1983



M*A*S*H Finale Draws Record Number Of Viewers

…reaching a total audience of roughly 125 million, the series has broken the record for most watched television episode in history…

– The New York Times, 3/3/1983



In March of that year, [John Y.] Brown [Jr.] took a leave of absence from running the Buffalo Braves and from working as a panelist on The Overmyer Network to run for the US Senate (again) in that year’s special election. With Senator Morton dead, Brown saw one last opportunity to give politics a final try. The odds were against him from the get-go that he would lose, but his initial support and positive media attention made me believe that he would win.

I could not have that. Brown was not the man Kentucky deserved to have representing them in the US Senate. Throughout his life, Brown had always looked out exclusively for himself. He proved that whenever he abandoned a project the moment the weather stopped being fair for him. His betrayal of Ollie of Ollie’s Trolleys was the most recent example of this. Furthermore, the underhanded tactics he used to try and take over McDonald’s back in 1967 proved that he was not a man of ideals or principle. Kentuckians deserved a better candidate in the race.

And it just so happened that I was available, and that I still had the political bug in me, urging me to give election politics at shot…

– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991



Harley decided to kill three birds with one stone right before the filing deadline. He wanted to assure that a rational conservative with principles and morals won the election, he wanted to ensure that Brown didn’t take one foot in DC as a Senator, and he wanted to capitalize on the opportunity to pursue his political interests in the electoral sense, after spending almost eight year’s as Dad’s assistant during his time in the White House.

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



…In the world of politics, Harley Sanders, the 70-year-old former assistant to his father, US President Colonel Sanders, is taking leave of absence from the KFC parent corporation “Finger Lickin’ Good, Incorporated,” to launch a bid for an open US Senate in Kentucky. The businessman's candidacy seems to center on economic issues such as "responsible regulations" that protect public health, safety and interests without inhibiting entrepreneurial growth and developments…

– ABC Morning News, 3/10/1983



HAFTAR BOMBS KEY US-CONTROLLED OIL EXPORT TERMINAL IN EASTERN LIBYA: US-Backed Libyan Government Declares A State Of Emergency After Dozens Killed

– The New York Post, 3/21/1983



With American plans for their own permanent Space Station being launched in parts and assembled in space, Podgorny was hesitant to approve of Star City’s proposal for a new, permanent version of the temporary Salyut 5 Space Station that we had once had in space. He wanted to focus on keeping the country together, and believed this was only possible through moderate reforms; he once told me, “We already lost Romania, do we want more to follow?!” However, under Ustinov, Star City’s budget for a planned “Mir” space station was approved, and scheduled for a 1986 completion date. In sharp contrast to Podgorny, Ustinov believed that heating up the space race was just what was needed to unify the people of the Soviet Union.

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



DENTON SIGNS COMPREHENSIVE CRIME CONTROL ACT INTO LAW

…The bill revises the US criminal code concerning a wide range of topics, most notably focusing on heightening the penalties for vandalism, credit card fraud, possession of illegal recreadrugs, hostage taking, and civil forfeiture when such activities fall into federal jurisdiction…

– The Washington Post, 4/2/1983



…this just in – Phillip Burton, the Governor of California since 1979, has died. The Governor was found unresponsive in his office and promptly taken to a local hospital, where doctors confirmed his death, most likely from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. …The new Governor of California is George Christopher, the Republican Lieutenant Governor from 1963 to 1975 and since 1979, who previously served as the moderate Mayor of San Francisco from 1956 to 1963 before briefly running for Governor in 1966 and again in 1970...

– KNN, 4/10/1983 broadcast



OMAN, ISRAEL LEADERS SIGN HISTORIC “SUN FARM” AGREEMENT

…the solar energy deal is a landmark achievement for the two nations… Israel will the supply the technology for massive “sun farms” in the middle of Oman. In turn, Oman will supply Israel with oil. …At the ceremony, Sultan Qaboos called the agreement “a mutually beneficial accord,” and added “Other regional powers who didn’t sign the [1978 Atlanta] Peace Treaty are missing out on incredible opportunities – they all could benefit greatly from working with Israel to promote their own interests. I urge my fellow Muslim leaders to put their people above religious differences. We can kill each other after we feed our families, not before.”…

– The New York Times, 4/12/1983



DENTON SIGNS YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION BILL INTO LAW

– The Washington Post, 4/19/1983



ETHIOPIAN EMPEROR ZERA YACOB SELASSIE OFFICIALLY BEGINS RULE TODAY

…Emperor Amha Selassie abdicated the throne to his 29-year-old son due to the steadily continuous unpopularity of Amha over his role in ending the civil war that encumbered the African nation during the mid-1970s…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 24/4/1983



A major development occurred earlier tonight in the central European nation of Austria. Taking to the polls for their first legislative parliamentary elections since 1979, the Austrian people have narrowly given victory to the Austrian People’s Party, a Christian-Democratic political party led by the conservative Alois Mock, in a rejection of the incumbent Chancellor of Austria Bruno Kreisky of the Socialist Party. This shift in Austrian politics demonstrates the continuation of a trend in recent years of central and eastern European nations opposing or even outright rejecting socialist incumbents…

– BBC, 24/4/1983 broadcast



“When I was five, I sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth telling her how much I admired her. Five years later, I sent a letter to Dmitriy Ustinov. I didn’t get a reply back to either one, but it was understandable. I knew they were both leaders with important work to do, taking care of their respective countries. Ustinov was especially busy at the time. I wrote to him because everyone in the media and in town kept saying Ustinov was going to start a war. Denton and Dmitriy were playing chicken with our planet, trying to put missiles on satellites or fighting a proxy war in Iran. It was a busy and hectic time, but a lot of people were getting apprehensive over what would happen next. So, after weeks of waiting for a reply but to not avail, I wrote to Senator Muskie, and I did get a reply back. He even invited me to his office in D.C., and my parents and I accepted. We sat in on a meeting of the Senate foreign affairs committee, of which Muskie was a member, and we took in the sights. The part of the trip that reassured me that our politicians were everything they could to prevent war with Russia was getting to meet Russia’s Ambassador to the US. That convinced me that things were going to be alright, and the trip's affect on me was really long-lasting...”

– Samantha Reed Smith, 2020 interview [3]



Protestors converged on the streets of Moscow in early 1983 when the nation’s longtime decline in tobacco production finally led to a shortage of cigarettes. Demonstrations were held, and the Minister of Agriculture, Vladilen Nikitin, was sacked for failing to stop the decline in tobacco production. However, despite announcing Nikitin’s dismissal to them, the crowds would not disperse. Instead, more protestors arrive, only these new activists were angry about other shortages such as food and basic necessities such as toilet paper.

Soon, Ustinov introduced yet another Five-Year Plan to combat the seemingly-perpetual popular unrest and economic stagnation. While Podgorny had sought to restructure the Soviet economy through moderate reform to decentralize production and distribution systems, Ustinov believed this would encourage secession from the Soviet Union, and instead went in the exact opposite direction – complete central control over all aspects of the economy. This only worsened the situation and turned even more Russians against Communist rule, as riots again sprung up in the spring.

Once again, Alex Yakovlev, the former Soviet Ambassador to Canada and the intellectual force behind the reform efforts of 1982, sought to convince Ustinov to give reforms a try. And once again, Ustinov refused, seeing the notion of liberties of individual and marketplace variety to be part of a Western imperialist plot to undermine the country. Instead of dismissing the May demonstrators, Ustinov listened to the advice of fellow military man and the new Minister of Defense, Marshal of the Soviet Union Viktor Kulikov, believed that a military response to the demonstrators would “weed out” the misinformed from the true dissenting “traitors.” This “intervention” led to Red Army tanks and men rolling into the streets of Moscow on May 2, in turn leading to the protests and demonstrations turning into riots. Rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown, glass windows were broken and soldiers were bruised. Ultimately shots were fired. By May 3, at least 31 people have become a part of history by being the casualties of the 1983 “Moscow Massacre.”

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



DOZENS OF DISSENTERS CONFIRMED KILLED IN MOSCOW MASSACRE!

Denton: “I Pray For Our Russian Brothers That Such Senseless Ceases Over There”

– The New York Times, 5/3/1983



HAFTAR ADVANCES ON LIBYAN CITY OF DERNA

– The Sacramento Union, 5/4/1983



…Oh, yes, I remember the controversy surrounding my winning the Hosea Williams Humanitarian Award in 1983. Everyone remembers the actions of my husband, but seem to purposefully forget or overlook that’s happened since then. The tours promoting world peace, all proceeds from my autobiography going to children’s hospitals and low-income housing projects, that time in ’82 when I spoke on the House floor about police gun violence. I worked hard for forgiveness and will not apologize for earning that award…

– Marceline Jones (1927-2018), 1990 interview



DENTON SIGNS NATIVE AMERICAN CHILD PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW

…this new law aims to crack down on the sexual molestation of children on Indian reservations… the law stems from the 1970 trial and conviction of William "Bill" Janklow, a South Dakota lawyer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation who was accused and ultimately found guilty of and imprisoned for raping a 15-year-old Lakota Indian schoolgirl in 1967…

– The Washington Times, 5/16/1983



IT’S LARRY!: Labour Candidate, A Jewish Immigrant From The States, Makes It To Parliament In Upset

– The Daily Sketch, UK newspaper, 17/5/1983



AMERICAN REINFORCEMENTS OUST HAFTAR FROM DERNA

– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 5/21/1983



GADDAFI PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN TAMPA COURT TRIAL [4]

– The New York Times, 5/22/1983



In the May 24 primaries, Governor Martha Layne Osborne won the nomination for a full term with only token opposition, pitting her in November against Jim Bunning, who won the GOP nomination over two minor candidates, Ben Auxier Jr. and Elizabeth Wickham. The primaries for the Senate special election, though, garnered considerably more media attention. In them, John Y. Brown Jr. won over Mayor of Louisville Harvey I. Sloane and W. Grady Stumbo in a narrow three-way race, and Harley Sanders won over Lester H. Burns and Don Wiggins in a landslide.

– Lowell Harrison and James Klotter’s A History of Kentucky, University Press of Kentucky, 1997



CLASHES WITH REBELS PUT CITY OF BENGHAZI ON LOCKDOWN

– The Los Angeles Times, 5/30/1983



GADDAFI FOUND GUILTY OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON FOR CRIMES

…the deposed dictator was unruly throughout the trial, repeatedly describing the process as a sort of “kangaroo court,” and claiming “my Muslim brothers sold their souls,” both by signing the 1978 Atlanta Peace Treaty and by not opposing US forces in Libya. …Gaddafi will be extradited to Libya once security forces can be assured in order for him to stand trial for crime committed in his home country. In the meantime, the ousted leader will be kept at an undisclosed maximum security prison inside the United States…

– The San Antonio Express-News, 6/7/1983



REGIONAL SOLIDARITY EMBOLDENS U.S. EFFORTS IN LIBYA

…After Gaddafi supporter Khalifa Haftar replied to the conviction of Gaddafi by launching a ground-and-air attack on US troops in Benghazi two days ago, an attack which killed 22 U.S. soldiers, several Muslim leaders have condemned Haftar for prolonging the conflict inundating Libya…

– The Washington Post, 6/10/1983



THE GREEN PARTY: A Positive Idea With Negative Roots

…On June 17, 1983, environmentalists, conservationists, and former supporters of the 1980 Progressive Party gathered together in Oregon’s Willamette National Forest to found a political party dedicated first and foremost to “the protection and preservation of all aspects of nature on this, our only home planet.” …The party was named after activist Dorothy Green, the martyr of the March 3, 1982 Snake River Riot Incident, “not the color of grass, because Mother Nature is more than just green. When left unviolated, her water is blue, her canyons are red, her deserts are golden, her soil is brown, and her mountains are purple and her snow is pure-white.” …The party leaders took the wise decision of fielding candidates in local and statewide elections in 1983 and 1984 before mounting bids for federal offices, starting in 1986 and in earnest in 1988 and 1990...

– minorpartiesmatter.co.usa/history/1980s/article#43249723



After Arias retired, he was succeeded by Demetrio Lakas, the son of Greek immigrants. However, the former military leader Manuel Noriega was displeased with Lakas’ approval of continuing the 1970 agreement to hand over control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanians in 1979 and 1980 in exchange for US preference in Panamanian markets via trade deals. After a bombing campaign (mainly minor dynamite explosions in pro-US Panama offices, killing one and injuring five in the long run) against the U.S. was overshadowed by the U.S. invasion of Libya, Noriega planned to bomb the Panama Canal’s locks. After over two years of attempts, Noriega abandoned the endeavor. Instead, Noriega launched a second coup against the Presidency on June 24, 1983. This time, the attempt was successful. Lakas, out of the country on a diplomatic trip to Cuba, soon found himself in exile, unable to return to the capital, and with his former ally turned rival declaring himself the new ruler of Panamas.

– Ashley Carse’s Beyond the Big Ditch: Politics, Ecology, and Infrastructure at the Panama Canal, MIT Press, 2014



Late June of that year saw Mexico’s President Miguel de la Madrid formally declare a “War on Recreadrugs” by launching police investigations into the rise in recreadrug-related crime. Mexico, still in shambles after the ’78 economic crash, also received millions of dollars from the US to combat drug transportation endeavors. A second funding request less than a month later infuriated the US Treasury Department, as American overseers of the money initially assumed that the Mexican government was being irresponsible with the money. They did not anticipate the war to be so costly...

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



UP IN SMOKE: Good For Laughs And Good For Its Base, But Less So For Its Cause

…Comedian George Carlin co-stars as Tony Stony, a marijuana-loving guitar player who can’t keep a job, and is best friends with Pedro de Pacas (fellow writer, producer and co-star Cheech Marin). In their efforts to find the most secure place to smoke marijuana, the two end up crashing a wedding at a lavish estate in northern California, leading to two hot-tempered New England elitists (played by Mills Watson and Stacy Keach) to accidently consume “pot bronwies” and become laid-back and understanding humanitarians. Soon I.N.S. agents (led by SNL star John Belushi in a “special guest” role) chase after Tony and Pedro, leading to fears of being deported to “the bad part of Mexico,” and a plan to smuggle “fiberweed” into America.

This late summer release utilizes claims of the “War on Recreadrugs” being unfair to wealthy users of recreadrugs to highlight the positive effects of marijuana usage. However, by focusing primarily on “Mary Jane,” the filmmakers ignore the dangers of using illegal drugs, especially heroin and cocaine, to instead celebrate the rewards. Like Mr. Marin, the film’s protagonists throw caution (and some smoke, “real good air” as Tony calls it) to the wind in a road trip adventure that may appeal to pro-recreadrug audiences, but may do little to win over anti-recreadrug viewers. Nevertheless, Mr. Marin must also be applauded for assembling a star-studded work on his first filmmaking outing, with Frank Zappa for music and cameo appearances by several leading labor organizers, and for the film’s on-set crew consisting almost entirely of immigrant workers…

– Richard Schickel, author and film critic, Time Magazine article, early August 1983 issue



HAFTAR KILLED IN AIRSTRIKE: Anti-Ben Halim Militias In Disarray

– The Boston Globe, 7/8/1983



SECOND QUARTER RESULTS SHOW SOLID GROWTH FOR FISCAL YEAR

…As the US economy grows, economic prosperity is spurring growth across the Middle East as well. Regional outlook reports project growth to rise 1.7% next year, compared to just 0.4% last year. Increased activity in the oil, gas, and solar sectors is expected to generate this growth. Other projections are even more optimistic. Reports take into account imports and exports... Oil-producing regional countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia are not feeling the effects of this growth. As non-signatories of the 1978 Atlanta Treaty, they are excluded from the economic deals from which Jordan and Egypt businessmen are benefiting. …Conversely, crude oil prices have lowered in the US but have risen in Saudi Arabia, prompting some members of the House of Saud to denounce the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Iraq for doing business with Israel, while the Saudi’s new Sultan, the possibly anti-American Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, remains publicly neutral, saying recently that his country is “above” Cold War politics. …OPEC’s leaders whom are more permissive of doing business with Israel, though, are looking to continue working with American oil companies and to continue expanding business prospects and opportunities with the governments of Red China and the Soviet Union…

– The Houston Chronicle, 7/14/1983



In July 1983, Ben and I moved to Perth, Western Australia to work as senior registrar at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital there. It was truly fun discovering firsthand all the wonderful things we had only heard about before. We noted with fascination the way the water circled down the drain in the opposite direction from the way it does in the Northern Hemisphere… I also love Western Australia’s nursing centers where new mums could get advice on child care, have their babies weighed, get diaper rash cream, et cetera, all for free and on a daily basis… [5]

– Candy Carson’s A Doctor In The House: My Life With Ben Carson, Penguin Random House, 2012



Historians are quick to note how the Colonel’s likeness is so well reserved all these years later, most likely due to his public fame and historical importance. When alive, the Colonel allowed studios to use his likeness in works not even related to KFC, stating “there’s fifty years of material to cover before you even get to the start of my chicken.” This unofficial blessing of his led to the 1983 theatrical film “The Colonel President,” starring Howard Duff (1913-1990), a tough and ruggedly handsome character actor which facial hair similar to the Colonel’s, as Harland Sanders during his time as President from 1965 to 1972. KFC is never mentioned by name, and no visual references are made to it outside of some archival footage from the 1968 campaign. The real-life Colonel praised the film but it did not receive such positive reviews from others, most likely due to liberal Hollywood disliking the film’s religious elements and themes. Indeed, the film focuses greatly on the Colonel’s devotion to his faith during several trying times…

– Mark Pendergrast’s “For God, Country, and Kentucky Fried Chicken,” Perfect Formula Publishing, 2027 edition



DENTON ADDING TO CRUISE MISSILE STOCKPILE AS US-SOVIET TENSIONS RISE: Pres. Approves of 500 More Warheads For “Defense Purposes”

...the Soviet buildup of nuclear arms slowed during the pro-détente policies of Kosygin, leading to them having less than 15,000 warheads at the time of Kosygin’s death in December 1976. Since then, the USSR has nearly doubled that number, reaching 28,000 by December 1982. Meanwhile, the United States actually saw its number of warheads drop under President Mondale, from 25,000 in December 1972 to 22,000 in December 1980. Under Denton, America’s warhead supply has jumped to its current number, which is estimated to be somewhere between 26,000 and 31,000… [6]

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 7/29/1983



Governor Dukakis began the month of August 1983 by holding a press conference to announce that he was not going to run for President next year. “Mike could have easily won the primaries,” the Duke’s longtime campaign manager John Sasso told us, “but he simply doesn’t want the job. His entire early life, he aimed for one job, and that was Governor of Massachusetts. Now that he’s got it, he’s not giving it up unless the people vote him out.” A feat that seemed impossible in 1983, when Dukakis’ approval ratings were above 70 percent… Already, news pundits were projecting a crowded field for the 1984 Democratic primaries…

– Charles Kenney and Robert L. Turner’s Dukakis: An American Odyssey, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1988



On August 18, the small but powerful tropical cyclone Hurricane Alicia hits the coast of Texas. …During the intense storm, only 12 people were killed, thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Governors of Texas and Louisiana to peaceful evacuate the roughly 60-to-80 thousand people endangered by Alicia. However, in its aftermath it became apparent that $3.5 billion dollars in damage was done during the storm’s rage. Thousands of home were destroyed, power outages were widespread, and streets were littered with debris. Immediately, ODERCA went into cleanup operations. US Senators Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) and Jack P. F. Gremillion Sr. (D-LA) worked tirelessly to obtain federal assistance funding for the needed cleanup services. Notably, US Senator Ron Paul (R-TX) opposed the call for federal intervention, claiming the Texas people “are tough enough to take what Mother Nature dishes out.” This sentiment received much backlash, and possibly contributed to him deciding against mounting a primary challenge against President Denton in 1984 to instead run for a second term that year...

– Charles L. Sullivan’s Hurricanes of the Mississippi Gulf Coast: 1717 to Present, Gulf Publishing Company, 1985



USTINOV LAUNCHES AIR STRIKE AGAINST “INSURGENTS” IN TURKESTAN!

…Karaganda, one of the largest cities in the Russian soviet of Kazakhstan, was the site of massive anti-Soviet demonstrations… The city’s population is split almost evenly between ethnic Kazakh and Russian, but the Soviet politburo considered the region to be, to use Ustinov’s own alleged words, “swarming with traitorous disruptors of our ideals.” …The Soviet military’s low-range missiles, whether intentional or not, hit two civilian hospitals in Karaganda… at least 23 people have been killed in this bombardment on alleged gathering places of pro-reform and pro-secession activists and other alleged “hot spots” of anti-Soviet activities…

– The New York Times, 8/19/1983



UN CONDEMNS DMITRIY USTINOV FOR AIR STRIKE ON KARAGANDA

…Article 25 of the Hague Convention of 1907 clearly states that “The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited.” Furthermore, Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention clarifies that “Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.” …The atrocious “overreaction,” according to US Defense Department experts, is a show of force that may have many consequences for the Ustinov-Gromyko- Kigachyov Troika. With 36 people killed – 19 of them being ethnic Russians, local Russians are reportedly voicing criticism of the soviet leadership. “Many of these locals may even be starting to side with the local separatists now,” according to our foreign affairs correspondence office…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 8/20/1983



DOCUMENTS REVEAL THOUSANDS KILLED DURING GADDAFI’S REIGN

…in the lead-up to Gaddafi’s trial in Libya, the Ben Talim Government was released documentary evidence that non-Muslims hailing from over a dozen middle eastern nations were systematically rounded up and executed during Gaddafi’s reign. Egyptian Christians, Syrian Christians, and even pro-western Muslims were targeted by Gaddafi’s strict dictatorship regardless of their exact citizenship and/or allegiance(s)…

– The Washington Post, 8/23/1983



The Ayatollah once said that he would surrender “When fish climb trees,” quoting a common Iranian saying. The Shah Reza Pahlavi never planned to wait that long. The king’s vengeance was exacted on August 30, 1983, when the Ayatollah Khomeini was finally killed in a raid on his base of operations 20 kilometers outside of the city of Zahedan, just outside of the border of Pakistan. Khomeini was attempting to flee to the Baluchistani region of Pakistan when the jet flew in, bombing him into oblivion. With his preferred successors previously killed or captured, the anti-Shah militias and organizations were left with a martyr, but without an effective leader. In the void, several small local elders attempted to obtain influence outside their respective spheres of interests, leading to internal fighting. Leaderless and inept, the anti-Shah forces were easily dealt with – by the end of 1983, the war was coming to a close.

Princess Farahnez Pahlavi would be remembered as a symbol of lost youth and innocence. Due to her beauty, the Disney Corporation used her likeness as a model for the character of Jasmine in the 1992 animated film “Aladdin”…

– Michael Axworthy’s A History of Iran: 1978-2008, Basic Books, 2019



…Ustinov’s chaotic reign continued to be on-brand at the start of September when an improperly stored collections of munitions created a fire that broke out at a munitions depot at the Baltic Fleet’s headquarters in the city of Kaliningrad. The fire quick grew out of control and caused 2/3rds of all munitions stockpiled at the naval shipyard to detonate, creating a giant fireball that damaged several buildings and killed at least 120 soldiers before the fire was put out. [7]

The silver lining – that no nuclear weapons were hit by the fire – was overshadowed at the Kremlin as Ustinov threw a fit. During some of these angry tirades, he complained about the perceived incompetence of his nation’s military leaders. In others, he convinced himself that the fire was the result of American sabotage, as were the Moscow riots from earlier in the year. But then he’d correct himself, as claiming foreign trickery would, in his eyes, be admitting that American intelligence had penetrated security measurements and had infiltrated the system, a sure sign of weakness that Ustinov would not accept. Strength was the word of the day all year long, as far as he was concerned…

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

– On his 93rd birthday, Colonel Sanders prepares chicken at a charity dinner in Prestonsburg, eastern Kentucky, while wearing a Chef’s hat, 9/9/1983



…After less than three months in power, Noriega’s reign’s human rights abuses were exposed by investigative reporters on September 10th. Over a month later, as the situation worsened and economy-based fears rose over the possible risks that Noriega posed to the Panama Canal, President Denton decided to nip the situation in the bud the same way he did with the situation in Grenada. Denton and Congressional leadership immediately approved of Operation Talonbeak, which culminated in Noriega being killed in a US-backed countercoup in late December 1983. Lakas was reinstated President, but quickly announced that new elections would be held in 1984 to “confirm the peoples’ democratic desires”…

– Ashley Carse’s Beyond the Big Ditch: Politics, Ecology, and Infrastructure at the Panama Canal, MIT Press, 2014



“American security forces will remain in Libya until internal divisions are healed and general elections are held, most likely in the spring of 1984.”

– White House Press Secretary Donald Lambro, 9/12/1983



Dingle Foot was old and tired. At 78, he had served as UK’s PM for just over ten years, since April 7, 1973. His party wanted him to call a snap election, but Foot knew that he could not mount one, let alone spend more time in office, without only worsening his health. Having suffered pneumonia in December 1982, Foot decided the best thing for him to do was to ensure his country had a leader that was not so pre-occupied with their own health that they could not properly govern. On August 1, Sir Dingle M. Foot announced that he was stepping down as Prime Minister and as the head of the Labour party.

Immediately the party organized a leadership election. Foot’s preferred successor was fellow moderate MP Shirley Williams, age 53, who if selected, would become the UK’s first-ever female Prime Minister. The growing number of left-wing members of the party were very unhappy with her likely ascension, but failed to rally behind a more popular opponent such as former moderate Tony Benn. On September 15, Williams officially entered office.

– Kenneth O. Morgan’s Putting Our Foots Down: The Days of Michael And The Years of Dingle, Guardian publications, 2011



MUSA AL-SADR, KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT CHICKEN DINNER SUMMIT, MAKES THE CASE FOR “RESPECTFUL PEACE”

…while past Presidents were typically of the Christian religion, Lebanon opted for a shift in unofficial policy due to al-Sadr’s message of unity. …President Al-Sadr received praise for saying “all government representatives here are very much aware of the fact that, were it not for these meetings opening up channels of communication between our governments and their people, any one of our lands could look like Libya’s right now – torn and divided, with death and madness reigning supreme.”

– The Los Angeles Times, 9/22/1983



BIAGGI ANNOUNCES RUN FOR PRESIDENT

…After running in 1968 and 1972, US Senator Mario Biaggi (D-NY), 66, has decided to mount a third bid for the US Presidency after months of speculation that he would not do so due to Biaggi’s support of President Denton’s socially and fiscally conservative policies, and of his handling of foreign affairs. Such approbation puts the conservative at odds with the more left-leaning Democratic Party base. However, that very well may be the reason behind his run: to push the party further to the right and to win Denton supporters over to the Democratic Party…

– The New York Post, 9/30/1983



On October 1, Gravel announced a Presidential bid that sought to rebel against the complex and embarrassing “Imperial Imbroglio that is America’s foreign policy.” The message was fierce, but the messenger was certainly of a more humble manner. Perhaps his 1981 divorce has made him take stock of his life’s priorities, along with the damage he made to his political connections in the years prior in order to remain loyally committed to his ideals, refusing to compromise despite it leaving him with nothing instead of with something. This refection, which he took during his two-year hiatus from politics, may have also been the inspiration behind the site he chose at which to announce his candidacy. Gravel launched his progressive campaign at an unconventional and seemingly non-noteworthy place – an average soup kitchen in Queens, the New York City borough in which Gravel worked as a cab driver during the 1950s. “As President, I will do more to help the families struggling day to day,” Gravel told the assembled crowd, “We have unprecedented prosperity and wealth in this country, and it is high time we finally share it with those in this country who still have none or not enough!”

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



JAPAN’S TECH BOOM: What The US Could Learn From Japan’s Newfound Prosperity

…With record-low unemployment and advancements in technology, Japan is leading the world in several markets and industries… their “lean production” method of perfecting items by listening to the critiques and comments of workers at every stage of the production and development process is trumping the US’s current “mass production” system…

– Businessweek, early October 1983 issue



Additional peace talks in October 1983 culminated in two more milestones ahead of the 1984 elections: press freedom being introduced, and prisoners not guilty of common law crimes being released, including Nelson Mandela. After 21 years behind bars, the leader became a free man once again. To most, the iconic image of him exiting the prison to an adoring crowd led by his wife Winnie was uplifting and hopeful. To some hard-right whites, it was the final straw: several small riots occurred, and several conservative members of the National Assembly left Botha’s party for several fringe radical parties. In the streets, white activists became more violent while Black activists, inspired by Mandela, became more nonviolent. This shift in actions only increased South African public support for the end of Apartheid.

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016



AVIATION DRUG TRAFFICKING CONTROL ACT SIGNED INTO LAW

…the new federal law raises criminal penalties for the unlawful aerial transportation of controlled substances and for the transit of illicitly used drugs, and extents the statute of limitations for the reissuance of airman certificates by the US Secretary of Transportation…

– The Washington Post, 10/12/1983 [8]



Each time the media reported American casualties in Iran or Libya, Gravel would see his polling numbers rise as the perceived impasse in Libya reminded older voters of Cuba…

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



…In late 1983, Bowie Kuhn, MLB Commissioner since 1969, had his contract renewed for three years; he would finally retire in early 1987…

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



PAKISTAN’S DICTATOR CRITICIZES US’S HANDLING OF POST-GADDAFI LIBYA

…Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who rules Pakistan with an iron fist, was at times a supporter of Gaddafi, and reportedly offered political asylum to Gaddafi and his family before they were captured in January of this year…

– The New York Times, 10/26/1983



On November 2, 1983, we [at Chrysler] introduced the Dodge Caravan, the very first “minivan” automobile...

– Lee Iacocca (with William Novak)’s Iacocca: An Autobiography, Bantam Books, 1984



…Tonight, Americans in several cities and two states – Mississippi and Kentucky – went to the polls for various offices… On October 22, Louisiana elected Democrat Gillis Long to a second, non-consecutive term over Republican challenger Henson Moore with 55% of the vote. Tonight saw similar results unfold in Mississippi, as the people of that state voted for Democratic state senator Cliff Finch over Republican challenger Wayne Dowdy...

– The Overmyer Network, 11/8/1983



Kentucky’s elections were most-watched races of the night. In the end, Kentuckians split their ballots: Democrat Martha Layne Osborne won a full gubernatorial term over Republican Jim Bunning by a 5% margin, but Republican nominee Harley Sanders defeated the Democratic John Y. Brown Jr. in a landside, 62%-to-37%.

Above: Harley Sanders celebrating victory

– Lowell Harrison and James Klotter’s A History of Kentucky, University Press of Kentucky, 1997



JAMES CARTER ANNOUNCES PRESIDENTIAL BID

…Judging by Carter’s speech, it seems the former Secretary of State is seeking to appeal to conservative and highly-religious voters, offering himself up as a Democratic alternative to the socially conservative President Denton…

– The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11/18/1983



…Director Nicholas Meyer presents a sensationalized exaggeration of nuclear war to frighten Americans into tuning in to ABC… why is Meyer doing the work of the KGB instead of supporting the work of the President? I thought yellow-journalism-like fearmongering tactics went out of style a long time ago…

– The New York Post’s negative review of “The Day After,” opinion section, 11/21/1983



Only occasionally do motion pictures directly influence Presidential campaigns. In 1948, the Spencer Tracy drama film “State of the Union” encouraged Harry Truman to run for a full term [9]. In 1983, “The Day After” jumpstarted the Gravel campaign.

ABC aired the grim depiction of the aftermath of a nuclear exchange NATO and the Warsaw Pact on November 20, and over 100 million people and nearly 39 million households watched it. An impressive but controversial undertaking, [10] production on the well-budgeted two-and-a-half-hour coast-to-coast TV presentation fought with ABC censors over the amount of bodies and burn victims allowed to be shown. While some frightening graphic imagery such as melting eyes and limbs blown off were cut from the film, other imagery such as hanging skin and people set on fire are in the film, however briefly.

While President Denton called the film “a disturbing look at what could be if our enemies are left unchecked,” Gravel’s response to it was much more on the mark as to what reaction the filmmakers had hoped to stir up in major politicians. Appearing in a live post-film debate on ABC’s Nightline alongside scientist Carl Sagan, former US Ambassador to the USSR Joe Karth and others, Gravel exclaimed “This is exactly what I’ve been talking about – politicians on both sides of the Iron Curtain must cease and desist this irresponsible and childish missile-measuring contest before it is too late.” In retrospect, such a comment seemed like that of an alarmist, but in the immediate hype of the record-shattering realistic portrayal of the US-USSR Arms Race spun out of control, it not only was appropriate, but it shot Gravel to the top of the polls.

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



…In November 1983, under the advice of his Ministry member Pierre Trudeau, PM Jean Chretien began to renovate 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the PM of Canada – a long and costly endeavor that would soon prove to be very unpopular to the people of the dominion…

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



BALANCED BUDGET CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT GAINING MOMENTUM

…The House is set “most likely” to vote on the controversial bill early next year, followed it progressing on to the Senate, which will also likely pass the bill. If this happen, 38 state legislatures will have to approve of it within the next seven years in order for it to become a part of the US Constitution…

– The Washington Post, 11/21/1983



…In late November 1983, Dad toured the country of India to see if KFC would do well in the less known/touristy parts of the country. He told me he did not enjoy most of the trip due to Indian sanitation levels being less than satisfactory to him more times than not. He did, however, get the chance to another Colonel Sanders – specifically, Colonel Peter Sanders (b. 1911), a retired Indian Army officer – for a photo-op and a brief discussion on the growing tension in India over Pakistan’s dictator and the disputed Kashmir region. Dad told the other Colonel, and several other military officials preset at the photo-op, that “swords can’t sign treaties any more than you can keep water in a sieve. The people in charge have to at least try to find a peaceful resolution before resorting to warfare.”…

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



RATHER: …We now have an update on tonight’s Presidential election in Venezuela. It appears that Jose Rangel, a journalist, a state senator, and a populist independent candidate, has defeated the two dominant political parties in a major upset. Rangel, who has previously run for President in 973 and 1978, received international attention for his coverage of the Jeb Bush kidnapping story that dominated headlines in 1977. What does his election mean for the US election next year? Does it mean anything at all? And what can we learn from it? CBS’s Martin Agronsky, live from Venezuela, has more on this story. Martin?

AGRONSKY: Thanks, Dan. The people here in the pro-Rangel city of Caracas are ecstatic about the underdog’s surprise victory, likely brought about by both Rangel’s energetic campaign and a series of scandals that plagued the campaigns of Jaime Lusinchi and Rafael Caldera…

– CBS World News report, transcript, 12/4/1983



LOUISVILLE RANKED 3RD-SAFEST URBAN AREA IN KENTUCKY!

…thanks to local and statewide low-income assistance policies lowering youth crime, not mention the business incentives set up during the late 1960s and early 1970s keeping vices such as casinos and prostitution from sullying the streets of Louisville…

– The Courier-Journal, Louisville-based Kentucky newspaper, 12/8/1983



DENTON AND KING ZERA YACOB SIGN GRAIN DEAL TO ADDRESS FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA

... As the royal family came close to losing power during the Ethiopian Civil War of the 90s, Ethiopia’s Kings have since ended the ethnic persecution of minorities in order to maintain popularity and redirect resources to water- and energy- based projects… while drought is a historical problem for Ethiopia, the most recent one to hit the Horn of Africa threatens the lives of over half-a-million people [11] unless immediate and relief is brought into the region…

– The Washington Post, 12/12/1983



…Whenever state congress is not in session, Governor Coya Knutson likes to keep herself busy by doing both large and small tasks. Keeping herself immersed in the lives of her employees, she often attends the weddings and wedding receptions of past and current interns and aides that get married – a habit of sorts that she has performed ever since doing so for a staff worker in 1957…

– ABC News report, “Meet the candidates” [12] segment, 12/15/1983



Soap was an American sitcom satirical dramedy TV series that aired 115 episodes over five seasons from September 13, 1977 to March 29, 1982, with a Christmas Special airing on December 21, 1983. The series parodied soap operas and their tropes, and featured a large ensemble cast of regular and recurring characters.

[snip]

Cast:
[see regular cast list here, and guest star list here]

[snip]

List of Episodes:

SEASON 1 (9/13/1977-3/28/1978, 25 episodes)
[show]

SEASON 2 (9/14/1978-3/15/1979, 23 episodes)
[show]

SEASON 3 (9/13/1979-3/27/1980, 23 episodes)
[show]

SEASON 4 (9/25/1980-3/21/1981, 22 episodes)
[show]

SEASON 5 (9/29/1980-3/29/1982, 22 episode)

Episode 1
The season picks up right where the last season left off – with Jessica Tate being seemingly shot by a firing squad led by Communist Gen. Sandria (the dictator of Malaguay), Chester holding his son Danny and Chester’s new wife Annie at gunpoint in a jealous rage, and Burt Campbell the Sheriff walking into an ambush. The opening scene reveals that resistance leader El Puerco and his men are the ones that fired the bullets, hitting the executioners. This makes sense, as El Puerco and his men were strangely absent from the latter half of the last episode; they were also three days absent within the episode’s timeline; this suggests that they went ahead with the suggested rescue mission after all.
Back home in Connecticut, Chester is about to pull the trigger when Chuck swings open the door to asks them if they have seen Bob the Ventriloquist Dummy before quickly leaving due to being preoccupied with looking for his ventriloquist dummy, Bob (Chester was standing next to the door, after all; and this makes sense because Chuck and Bob were absent for most of the episode, and the last time they were mentioned, Bob was looking for Chuck). The door knocks over Chester and the gun falls out of his hand onto the bed, allowing Annie to grab it. Chester immediately states he was only kidding, but they do not buy it; but instead of calling the police, they order him to leave, and he reluctantly does so. Before the scene ends, Chuck returns to the room once more to inform Danny and Annie that he found a “drunk” Bob.
At the ambush, Burt trips on the “one size hits all” Bat Campbell baseball bat in his leg holster, causing him to stumble into the room and onto the floor while still holding onto the door handle. The assassin behind him lunging forward with a knife falls forward into the line of fire, and is killed by the assassins waiting for Burt in the room; one replies “oops. Sorry!” Burt quickly skedaddles out of the room (while closing the door behind him) as the assassins renew firing at him, and, fearing for his life, Burt runs away while making his typical high-pitched squealing noises (which, interestingly, haven’t been heard since he became Sheriff). Turning around the corner, though, he becomes aware that he was hit, and collapses.
Distraught over everything, Mary gets drunk at a bar, where she punches out a man who hits on her; right after leaving the bar, she is hit by a car (off-screen). At the hospital, her bed is placed right next to Burt’s bed, giving them the chance to spend time talking to each other, and they promise to work to save their marriage.
Roaming the streets in despair, a despondent Chester attempts to shoot himself in an alley, but Dutch spots him and tries to stop him, causing Dutch to be accidently shot; Chester takes Dutch to the hospital, where they meet up with Burt and Mary just as Annie and Danny arrive to check on Burt and Mary. Chester again apologizes for the homicidal outburst but is still not forgiven.
Back in Malaguay, fellow revolutionaries Juan One, Juan Two, Juan Three, Billy, the Major, and Saunders capture the Communist leader, General Sandria, and they cheer, but then Jessica collapses. They soon realize that Jessica did not faint at the start of the episode from the excitement as believed, but instead was hit by one of the bullets via ricochet and after a delayed reaction has slipped into a coma.
Benson, who still had the spinoff series “Benson,” does not appear in this episode.

Episode 2
During the preparation of moving the comatose Jessica back to Connecticut, she is kidnapped by surviving Communists and is spirited away to a hideaway deep in the dense jungle. To the surprise of everyone, Saunders the butler leads the charge into the rugged terrain, revealing a bit of his mysterious past.
Upon hearing the news of the kidnapping via a phone call from Juan One, Chester is distraught, but suddenly moves to declare her legally dead after learning she left money to him in her will. Soon afterwards, though, Benson (in connection to the episode of the TV show “Benson” where Jessica, in an out-of-body experience, appears to him as a specter and tells him where she is) reappears at the Tate mansion to help the gang in the jungle coordinate searching for Jessica over the radio.
At the hospital, Burt apologizes to Mary; “while trying to protect other people’s families, I’ve hurt my own more than any bullets could. Well, unless there were a lot of bullets, but you know what I mean.” Soon after release from the hospital, a TV report broadcasts security camera footage of Burt screaming while in retreat, and claims that Burt is a coward. With his reputation now in question, the Governor rescinds his offer to make Burt Lieutenant Governor, and tells Burt he’s “Well done. Wait, that’s for my burger. You, Bat, you’re just done.”
Meanwhile, Danny and Annie interact with Jodie, who still thinks due to the botched hypnosis that he is an elderly man named Julius.

Episode 3
The Tates and Campbells in Malaguay find the comatose Jessica at a temple the jungle, guarded by diminutive natives that quickly take offense to the group’s stereotypical assumptions about them.
Back in the US, Mary channels her frustrations into boxing after the bartender from the bar from before visits her at the hospital. While practicing boxing moves, Mary accidently strikes Jodie (there to cheer her on) and sends him falling down a long flight stairs (off-screen), causing him to regain his memory (alongside seeing Wendy again, since Jodie’s “Julius” identity never saw Wendy).
Meanwhile, the embarrassing video causes the criminals to no longer consider Burt a threat, but Burt is upset that his fame and career are practically over.
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 4
With Jodie Dallas having regained his memory after Mary knocked the Julius Kassendorf right out of him, he returns to trying to determine his sexual identity.
The “jungle gang” bring Jessica back to Connecticut but fail to bring her out of the coma. Blaming El Puerco for her condition, an enraged Chester tries to duel with El Puerco, only to fail to shoot himself, which Juan One considers to count as a duel. Unsatisfied, Chester demands a second duel. El Puerco takes him up on this offer, but Chester decides to run away (“well, limp away”) in fear.
Finding little in common, Danny and Annie decide to break up but remain friends, with a guy and a girl being friends being a new concept for Danny.
Distraught over Jessica’s condition, Benson, having a moment alone with Jessica, reveals his love for her and kisses her hand. This wakes her out of her coma, but she does not know exactly what Benson said. Fearing how she would react, Benson claims he said he “misses” her.

Episode 5
El Puerco decides that the life he lives is too dangerous for Jessica, and he tearfully prepares to return to Malaguay. Billy reveals to Benson that he overheard his confession and calls him a coward for hiding his feelings. Benson replies he believes Jessica would lose her social standing should she date him, her African-American former butler, and that perhaps they are better off as friends.
Meanwhile, Chester finally agrees to duel El Puerco over Jessica, but Jessica demands they not. Despite this, the two men fire at each other as soon as she leaves the room. They shoot each other in the foot, but pretend that everything is fine when Jessica returns upon hearing the gunshots.
Tired of marriage to Dutch, Eunice leaves Dutch again (and thus leaves the show, as suggested by her unhappiness married to Dutch shown in the last season).
And Jodie decides (after meeting gay character Sal Vadore (guest star Ron Palillo), who tells him “you’re you” to address Jodie’s frustration over his unclear sexual preferences) that labels (gay, straight, etc.) don’t matter as he is comfortable being himself, regardless of how others and society may label him.

Episode 6
Billy decides to return to Malaguay to rebuild democracy with El Puerco. Mary reveals to Jessica that she overheard Benson telling Billy that he “love that woman,” believing erroneously that he is talking about her (Mary). This leads to Mary having a humorous and well-written conversation with and turning down a confused Benson.
Annie divorces Chester over him attempting suicide several times over her infidelity with Danny. After failing to win back Eunice, Dutch join Chester on a ledge during Chester’s latest suicide attempt, but each convinces the other to step down off of it.
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 7
Chester overhears Billy talking to Danny about Benson loving Jessica but only hears certain parts of the conversation, making him believe that Billy is in love with Annie and that Danny supports it. Enraged, Chester gets into a fight with Annie over it in public and gets arrested. Chester agrees to finally seek some professional help.
Meanwhile, Mary and Burt reconnect and strengthen their love for each other in several ways, and Jodie dates a person who has no gender, and Saunders and the Major form an unlikely rapport.
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 8
During his therapy sessions, Chester claims his rage issues is due to PTSD only for it to be revealed that he was a draft dodger during the Cuba War; this leads to him being booted from the therapy group, leaving the source of Chester’s anger issues still unknown.
Back at the Tate mansion, Benson discusses his feelings for Jessica with Saunders, who advises that he “proceed with caution.”
Meanwhile, Burt considers resigning from being Sheriff, but this would make Danny the new Sheriff. However, after a few instances where Danny shows that his unorthodox thought process is effective in combating crime, Burt hands over the badge and announces his decision to return to his construction company, much to the relief of Dutch, whom had been struggling to run the company with the mentally preoccupied Chester.

Episode 9
Jessica mishears a discussion Dutch is having with Burt about Benson being in love with Jessica and mistakenly believes Eunice is in love with Benson, leading to another series of misunderstandings during a family get-together.
Jodie forms a new religious movement that quickly devolves into a cult.
Chester is haunted by the ghost of Peter (from Season 1), only for Peter to forgive him for murdering him after Chester helps him with his unfinished business so that he can move on.
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 10
Jodie disbands his cult and renews a relationship with Maggie, while Burt meets a man who claims he is his long-lost son.
El Puerco returns to court Jessica, revealing that due to Billy’s intelligence and youthful charm, he has become more popular among the people than El Puerco.
After another misunderstanding concerning Benson’s love for Jessica, the family and El Puerco gets into an argument during their time at a fancy fundraiser event where Chuck and Bob are the entertainment. The arguing causes a chain reaction of calamities (including the Major accidently caning the fundraising organizers (guest stars James Garner and Jack Elam)) that escalates the disarray and results in the whole family being arrested (including Chuck and Bob, for “crimes against comedy”).
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 11
This is a “bottle episode” that times place entirely within the town’s jail. After everyone is place in a holding cell in jail (including Burt the ex-sheriff and Danny the new sheriff), their conversation leads to accusations and counteraccusations of characters being in love with other characters. The arguing ends when Benson finally confronts his feelings for Jessica, and she reciprocates them. The two share an on-screen kiss (one often erroneously cited as the first interracial kiss shown on a national TV show). The group is then let out on a technicality, after Bob the Ventriloquist Dummy takes the blame for all the trouble.

Episode 12
Jessica experiences culture shock when she decides to visit Benson’s hometown in the run-down section of Bridgeport, causing her to re-examine her lifestyle of wealth and splendor. She goes overboard by selling off her antique furniture, leading to Benson having to convince her to not sell the house. Jessica instead founds and funds a charity for low-income families.
Meanwhile, Burt discovers his long-lost son was actually a con artist trying to use his construction business as a cover for a jewel heist, while nobody believes the Majors claim that the next-door neighbor is a Nazi.

Episode 13
Ingrid Svenson returns to the series and teams up with Carol David to try to win custody of both Wendy and Scott by claiming the Tates’ connections to Malaguay and the Campbell’s connection to crime-related violence prove the babies are in dangerous living quarters. The Major walking in with the neighbor tied up and gagged only worsens the situation.
Meanwhile, Jodie marries Maggie in an impromptu manner and Chester takes up Jessica’s advice of going under hypnosis to discover the reason behind his anger issues.
Benson does not appear in the episode.

Episode 14
Authorities inspect the Tate and Campbell houses and threaten to take the children away if certain aspects are not amended.
In a clear jab at the TV show Dallas, Dutch and Burt get into the oil business, where they meet several colorful characters that unintentionally scare them into abandoning their idea of making it big in oil.
The neighbor from before reveals to the Major that he is in fact a former Nazi, but in a twist it is revealed that the moment was a set-up, and the police have caught his confession on tape after Saunders and Danny came to the Major’s defense.
Meanwhile, in a dramatic moment, Chester travels to his family home to confront his aging father’s history of violence and alcoholism.
Benson does not appear in the episode.

Episode 15
Having addressed his anger issues and believing he is now a better man, Chester once more tries to reconcile with Jessica. Benson sees the two interacting and gets the wrong idea, walking away sadly.
Mary serves a supportive role for Burt, Dutch, and Danny, and possibly becomes accepting of the fact that so far nobody has seen her baby Scott demonstrate any “extraterrestrial” capabilities.
Meanwhile, Jodie deals with the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood, while Burt deals with a rival architect using underhanded tactics.

Episode 16
The custody court case rules in favor of the Campbells and leads to Ingrid and Carol receiving restraining orders.
Mary and Burt try to help Chuck deal with being separated from Bob while the dummy is in the shop for repairs by getting him a temporary replacement dummy that Bob reportedly grows jealous of quickly.
Jessica tells Benson that because Chester will not leave her alone she wants to hire security guards, but the Major is instead given a hyper-realistic prop gun and is convinced that Chester has “joined the Axis powers.”
At the end of the episode, Benson proposes to Jessica in the family kitchen.

Episode 17
An elated Jessica says she will marry Benson. Chester becomes even more depressed over his ex-wife remarrying, and ends up in the seedy business of adult film production, where he sleeps with several adult film actresses, all of whom remind Chester in some way or another of Jessica.
After Jessica chooses Benson over El Puerco, El Puerco returns to Malaguay, where “El Billy” tries to help him move on, but because his presence only reminds El Puerco of Jessica, Billy voluntary moves back to Connecticut, much to the dismay of the Malaguayan people. El Puerco is last shown trying to win over the people of Malaguay; him being barraged by vegetables suggests that while democracy is popular, El Puerco is not as popular as he thought he was.
Meanwhile, Dutch mistakenly believes that he has been drafted to fight in the Libya War at a time when Burt’s business is suffering from his rival’s increasingly aggressive advertising tactics.

Episode 18
Danny digs up dirt on Burt’s rival and Burt faces a moral dilemma over whether he should use the information to get said rival off his back, or confront the dishonest competition in a more honest way.
Chester begins an unlikely friendship with a brothel owner, Maxine.
Jodie and Maggie argue over both of them checking out the same guys at a restaurant, but in the end they reaffirm their love for each other.
Meanwhile, impressed by his combat skills when dealing with a bank robber, Dutch and Billy bond over their respect for Saunders’ feats during his “earlier years,” as demonstrated during their time in Malaguay.
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 19
Jessica plans her wedding to Benson with Mary. She soon meets his family, leading to tension over racial concerns in a self-aware retread of a previous episode’s premise and themes.
Maxine and Chester sleep together, but when she sleeps with another man an hour later, Chester finally knows how Jessica felt about his infidelity.
Eunice and Corrine return home for Jessica and Benson’s wedding, creating an awkward situation for them and Dutch.
Mary finally stops making the claims that her baby is part-alien, shrugging to a floating pacifier under the belief she is simply imagining it.
To the surprise of Burt, who chose to not use the dirt he had on his business rival, said rival is arrested for tax evasion, which Burt reveals to Billy “was nothing” when compared to the dirt that Burt did have on him (but did not include the tax evasion).
Benson does not appear in this episode.

Episode 20
After months of being separated, Chester and Annie divorce off-screen, allowing her to remarry. While trying to prove himself as Sheriff, Danny visits the alleged attackers of Burt from the start of the season and promise to come after them if they ever attack his family again. His biological father’s attempt on his life at the start of the season also has kept a strain on their relationship, but Danny now shows that he forgives Chester by not arresting Chester during a raid on an adult film set.
The family tries some experimental anti-senility drugs on the Major, but it has several highly unusual side effects that make life with him unbearable; the family rejects the medication to bring back the old Major they all know and love.
Just before the festivities, Jessica is kidnapped by unseen individuals on her wedding day, making everything think she stood up Benson, who doesn’t know if something has happened to her or if she has broken his heart.

Episode 21
The Tates and the Campbells put their plotlines on hold to work together to follow a series of clues that lead them to Jessica, who was kidnapped by former members of Jodie’s cult as part of a ploy to lure Jodie to their hideout so they could sacrifice him. Jodie gives a speech condemning misguided religion and blind faith (a speech which received much controversy from religious groups) that distracts the cult members and allows everyone to escape, including Jodie.
A despondent Benson is about to leave at the airport when Jessica arrives and explains she was kidnapped. The wedding is back on.
Believing Maxine is actually good for her, Chester and Maxine begin an open relationship.
Both Eunice and Corrine reconcile after Dutch rejects both of them for a new girlfriend that shares both of their personality traits (quite literally, as she seems to be schizophrenic).
Ingrid and Carol sneak into the Campbell’s house to steal the babies while only Bob and Chuck are home. Off screen, after the two have crept upstairs, we hear slapping and crashing noises, followed by the two falling down the stairs and running away from the house with looks of shock and horror on their faces; Ingrid proclaims “this time, you really have seen the last of me!” Chuck and Bob then walk down the stairs while talking about Baby Scotty’s strength, and it is again left ambiguous whether Chuck scared them away somehow and is pretending/goofing off with Bob (as Chuck talks to Bob like he’s real even when nobody else is in the room), or if Mary’s baby does indeed have incredible alien powers and that Chuck and Bob have been aware of them for some time.

Episode 22
In the series finale, Benson and Jessica marry at the Tate house, with Saunders revealing that he is an ordained minister after a previous character meant to marry them off is called away on an emergency exorcism.
On the day of the wedding, Mary denies ever having made the alien baby claims; this makes Dutch wonder aloud if the claims were real, or if they were an expression of Mary’s subconscious fears that Burt’s political career would lead to him not being a father to the child, which would be alright if the baby’s real father was actually Alien Burt.
Just before the wedding starts, Mary and Jessica discuss the importance of love and family in a private conversation.
Maxine discusses the possibility of Chester marrying her, but Chester indicates that he has been diagnosed with an STD (Billy is seen in attendance at the wedding, flanked by Malaguayan groupies, and Chester warns him “it’s a slippery slope…that becomes an itchy one.”).
A terrorist attack at the wedding, led by a former ally of General Sandria, is thwarted – by the Major, no less, as his prop gun was real the whole time – and the wedding continues on.
Benson and Jessica are married and kiss. In one final showing of his Sheriff Skills, Danny punches out cold a now completely unhinged Leslie before she can try to kill Billy again; it is implied that she’ll be sent to therapy.
The series ends on Jessica and Benson leaving on their honeymoon, only for the rest of the family to be told by a panicked Chuck that Bob has run away with another ventriloquist and he needs their help to get him back, causing the Tates and Campbells to all groan and roll their eyes – except for the Major, who simply shouts “onward!” before crashing into some furniture.

[hide]

Christmas Special

Jodie, Mary, Jessica, Burt, and other cast members return to the set to conclude lingering questions and plot-points in in-universe "shorts" and with the actors revealing behind-the-scenes footage and their favorite moments. The special ends with an extended short showing the aliens from Season 3 arriving to wish Mary and Burt happy holidays while the other characters are preoccupied with various yuletide activities.

– digitalmedia.co.can [13]



After months of debate, after years of lies from the Kremlin concerning the radiation poisoning our people and our land, after the heartless killing of innocents in Karaganda, and after decades of oppression and persecution, the time had finally arrived. On December 27th, 1983, in a showing of solidarity and unity, the respective aforementioned “rebel” leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan together formally declared independence from the Soviet Union...

– Ke Wang’s Turkestanis Unite!: The Rise And Execution of An Idea, Cambridge University Press, 2013 [14]



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] IOTL, the company also created Agent Orange starting in the late 1960s, but here, as covered way back when, President Sanders ended the use of Agent Orange and as such NEPACCO produces chemical agents for herbicidal purposes.
[2] IOTL, the EPA did not become heavily involved until 1979, but by then it was too late; in February 1983, the feds had to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community, the place left a deadly Ghost Town.
[3] As for what Samantha’s career turns out to be, Wikipedia suggests the following (sources 59 and 60 on Smith’s page): “Speculation as to what a surviving Samantha might have done in adulthood was dismissed by her mother Jane as unanswerable in 2003, given Samantha was only thirteen when she died and her ambitions had varied from a veterinarian working with animals to a tutu-and-tights-clad ballerina.[59] The notion, which had been put to Samantha herself in the eighties, that she could be President of the United States in adulthood, was dismissed by her in the Disney Channel special that she hosted, with the words "being President is not a job i would like to have".[60]” The point here that I’m making is simply this: at least she’s still alive ITTL.
[4] Based on what we did with Noriega. The shot-down plane was from Tampa and belonged to Tampa airlines, and so that’s where he’s being tried; even though it technically is a federal case, the rules as to its physical location for the trial is kind of ambiguous as far as I can tell (I’m not an expert on international law – is there a lawyer here that can weigh in on this?).
[5] OTL, and italicized parts are from here: https://books.google.com/books?id=I0bZCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=candy+carson+autobio&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwis4bLUwvDmAhVKrVkKHZ4PCYwQ6AEwA3oECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=australia&f=false
[6] Statistics based on OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_arms_race and adjusted to account for butterflies such as the détente of the Sanders and Mondale administrations (1968-1977).
[7] Similar to the Severomorsk Disaster of May 1984: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severomorsk_Disaster
[8] One year earlier than in OTL due to more immediate concern by President Denton and a higher number of Republicans in Congress than in OTL.
[9] Apparently so!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_(film)#cite_note-12 (the article “Film That Changed History?” (in the bottom-right corner of the page): https://archive.org/stream/variety173-1949-01#page/n3/mode/2up )
[10] Interesting tidbit: When doing research for the film, Director Nicholas Meyer found FEMA’s survival plans to be inept and called the organization “a complete joke,” according to Wikipedia. But ITTL, ODERCA is a bit more competent and Meyer is a bit less pessimistic about them.
[11] So it’s still a problem, but not nearly as bad as the OTL famine of 1983-1985, which was so bad because a naturally-occurring problem was worsened by the Derg dictatorship restricting food supplies and mismanaging the whole thing in general.

[12] Speaking of which, ahead of the 1984 Democratic primaries, I made a preference poll. Please vote now! : https://www.strawpoll.me/19182152

A quick breakdown of the 20 candidates on the poll:
Mario Biaggi, 67, was Governor of New York from 1966 to 1981 as has been a US Senator since 1981; an unapologetic conservative, he agrees with Denton on most things except Biaggi is further to the left on civil/equal rights, and is more to the left of Denton on the issues of taxes and government regulations.
Bill Bradley, 41, a former professional basketball player for the New York Knicks, has served as the Governor of his home state of Missouri since 1977; term-limited, he is running for President on a liberal campaign with a focus on campaign finance reform.
George L. Brown, 58, the most prominent African-American politician in the race, is a former Tuskegee Airman first elected to the Senate from Colorado in 1975, after spending eighteen years in the state senate; his campaign covers a wide array of topics and is hard to place into a single ideology due to his maverick voting record; he is known for allegedly having trouble working with and/or getting along well with several other Senators.
Jimmy Carter, 60, the former US Secretary of State and former US Senator from Georgia, can easily tout his foreign policy expertise and diplomatic achievements; a social moderate, he believes he can win over the relatively new evangelical vote and secure Southern States for the Democratic column.
Happy Chandler, 86, the former Governor of Kentucky, US Senator, MLB Commissioner, and, most recently, US Ambassador to Argentina, is running a somewhat moderate-to-conservative “low-key” campaign using the outdated tactic of winning delegates instead of primaries.
Bill Clinton, 38, the young and energetic “carpetbagger” centrist Governor of Alaska since 1978, believes he can break through the lack of name recognition outside of Alaska to win the election by running a campaign focused more on his "unifying" personality than any one specific policy.
Linda Ellerbee, 40, is a progressive author and investigative reporter hailing from Texas; she is calling for government transparency and more defense of women's rights and minority rights, among other issues.
James Florio, 47, the Governor of New Jersey since 1978, is running on his success combating the Garden State’s tax-and-services problems during his first term; he has also been praised for separating state school funding from local property taxes, and will likely campaign on it as being a means of lessening urban-rural and white-nonwhite wealth gaps; he believes he can win over white suburban voters, minority voters, and young voters.
Nick Galifianakis, 56, the junior US Senator from North Carolina since 1975, is running on a moderate campaign designed to broaden the base of the party; he aims to appeal to minority and immigrant voters in "a celebration of America's past, present, and future."
John Glenn, 63, the former astronaut, first American to go to outer space, and a US Senator from Ohio since 1971, is a moderate technocrat with mid-western appeal and is an obvious supporter of NASA; having won elections in 1970, 1976, and 1982 by large margins, he seems to be an excellent candidate on paper; his leadership skills in the Senate, however, may have difficulty translating from campaigning in Ohio to campaigning nationwide, especially since debates are a weak spot for him.
Mike Gravel, 54, the former US Vice President and a US Senator from 1970 to 1973, is more cautious and less divisive this time around, and is seeking to convince primary voters to give him one more chance, as each time his candidacy has pushed the Overton Window a bit more to the left; ergo, his “peace abroad and freedom at home” campaign is considered to be very much progressive, but very possibly no longer so progressive that Democratic primary voters reject it outright.
Jack P. F. Gremillion Sr., 70, a US Senator from Louisiana, is one of the most socially conservative candidates in the race, if not the most socially conservative, but nevertheless received praise for obtaining federal relief funds for Texas in the wake of Hurricane Alicia.
Daniel Inouye, 60, the senior US Senator from Hawaii since 1963, is running a moderate-leaning campaign focused on “sensible defense” and combating “domestic prejudice;” he is being passionately endorsed by many war veterans and Asian-American groups and individuals.
Maynard Jackson, 46, the African-American Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia from 1974 to 1982, is running on his civil rights activism and his executive experience; he aims to appeal to all ethnic groups, but also wishes to reach out to white voters as well.
Coya Knutson, 72, recently elected to her fourth non-consecutive term as Governor of Minnesota, has both feminist and Mid-Western appeal; a moderate who survived marriage to a violently abusive alcoholic husband, she is a regional icon to many women's rights groups.
John Kerry, 41, has continuously served in the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts since his first election to Congress in 1968 at the age of 25; he is a moderate and a war veteran who could end up being on a national ticket with Inouye in one way or the other.
Peter Kyros, 59, the Governor of Maine from 1971 to 1979, is a progressive technocrat looking “long term,” wanting to prepare the nation for the 21st century before it leaves the 20th century by investing in science, medical. research and technology.
Albert Rossellini, 74, the Governor of Washington from 1957 to 1965 and the US Secretary of Education and Welfare from 1973 to 1981, seeks to inform undecided voters of his time as Governor, and that he is the same age as the Colonel when Sanders was elected President.
Louis Stokes, 59, an anti-corruption African-American candidate, has continuously served in the US House of Representatives from Ohio since 1969; he believes he could appeal to suburban voters "of all kinds."
Charles Woods, 64, the Governor of Alabama from 1981 to 1983, is a WWII veteran whose face and hands were severely burned in a plane accident in 1944; with disabled hand and his iconic eyepatch, he is mounting a grassroots campaign in a rejection of "corporate money;" he is running on a moderate-to-conservative platform and, like Biaggi, is supportive of some of Denton's policies, most noticeably agreeing with most of the President’s law-and-order decisions.

Also: OTL candidates in this TL: Walter Mondale can’t run for a third Presidential term; Gary Hart lost two Senate bids and has been a US Congressman since 1981; Jesse Jackson lost a bid for Mayor of Washington, DC in 1982; Fritz Hollings underperformed when he ran for President in 1980; Alan Cranston has not been in office since the 1960s; Reubin Askew and George McGovern keep losing elections.

[13] So I recently finished re-watching the old satirical TV show “Soap,” and I’m still kind of disappointed that there’s very little information online on how Season 5 would have gone had it not been cancelled after Season 4, so here’s my take on it. (caution: spoilers).
[14] EDITED (Removed Tajikistan from the list)

EDIT: Oh, and one other thing: @farmerted555, about that prior comment over the fates of Henry Lee Lucas and Richard Ramirez:
IOTL, Henry Lee Lucas was sentenced to 20-to-40 years in prison in 1960, but was released in 1970 due to prison overcrowding. ITTL, crime rates in Michigan were not so bad (as the late ’60s were less turbulent ITTL), and with Governor Biaggi talking about how building prisons creates jobs to his fellow Governors such as Romney and Romney’s successors during NGA meetings, the overcrowding is at the least not big enough of an issue to merit his early release. As a result, ITTL, Lucas stays in prison until 1971, when his attempt to copycat the hostage crisis at Attica leads to him being killed via blunt force trauma from a security guard he tries to shiv during a quickly-subdued prison riot.
Meanwhile, IOTL, Richard Ramirez’s father was a physically abusive police officer and later railroad laborer. However, Ramirez became messed up primarily by hanging out with an older cousin, Miguel. Miguel was a Green Beret who bragged about the atrocities he performed while serving in the Vietnam War, even showing Richard in 1972, when he was 12, photos in which Miguel posed with the severed heads of Vietnamese women that he had raped and killed. ITTL, though, Miguel was killed during the Invasion of Hanoi in early 1967. As a result, Richard Ramirez grows up less disturbed (possibly idolizing the deceased Miguel for dying for his country without knowing much about him), but he still has some troublesome tendencies. For example, he joins the Army upon turning 18, but is repeatedly reprimanded for violent outbursts. He is currently stationed in Benghazi, Libya, contemplating a career in the armed forces.

 

[gap80]

Post 43: Chapter 51

Chapter 51: January 1984 – July 1984

“In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams.”

– Nigerian proverb, c. 1650



“New business for a new year,” Denton described the situation at the close of the cabinet meeting. “So let’s see – we’re keeping an eye on recreadrugs coming in from Mexico, and we’ll meet with more Governors over school delinquency laws,” Denton thought aloud.

“Especially in the summer, during the state legislative session breaks,” Vice President Alexander noted.

“Right, right,” Denton mused before addressing another topic: “how’s work coming on that bill to make it illegal to outlaw prayer in public schools?” He directed the question to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-TN).

“We’re getting it through the committees. We’ll likely vote on it by the end of the year, before November. Same with the Balanced Budget Amendment,” the moderate loyalist informed his President.

Secretary of State Lukens added, “If it helps, I can talk to Nixon; we go way back. I can get him to draw up the support we need on it from some of the more conservative Democrats.”

“Thank you Buz, any little bit could help,” Denton acknowledged the offer, “Lamar, you should drum up some allies too if you find the time.”

Alexander assured his friend, “Sure thing!”

“Okay then, now – any other business before we retire for the evening?” Denton asked the room.

“Yes, sir,” his Communications Director Newt Gingrich (R-GA) chimed in from nearby, “the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio want to meet with someone – anyone, really, but preferably you – to discuss issues they’ve had with selling cookies overseas. They want to meet ASAP.”

Rolling his eyes, Denton inquired, “Alright, who wants to tackle international cookie-selling?”

“I’ll do it,” answered Lukens, the Ohioan Secretary of State.

“Really. You sure?” Denton queried.

“Oh, I know you’re busy, most of us here have full plates, but I have a little pocket of time later on in this week. I’ll be glad to see them then.”

“Alright then, thank you, Buz.”

“It’ll be fun to meet with them. I like their…cookies.”

As the room emptied out, Denton proclaimed quietly to Alexander, “You know, buddy, he may be rough around the edges, but Buz is a real class act.”

“If you say so, Jer,” the mentally-preoccupied Vice President said as he went to deal with his own full plate.

[pic: https://imgur.com/igTG8eq ]

Above: Then-Congressman Buz Lukens and Senator Richard Nixon in 1968

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



“Just as President Denton broke the political barrier on religion and destroyed once and for all anti-Catholic political bigotry in 1980, I am seeking to try and break the political barrier on gender and win the Democratic nomination for President. This is a serious campaign, but if I do not win, then I will have at least paved the way for more American women candidates for President in the future.”

– Governor Coya Knutson (D-MN) at the Women’s National Press Club, Washington DC, 1/5/1964



GRAVEL CALLS FOR AN INTERNATIONAL BAN ON CHEMICAL WEAPONS

– The Washington Post, 1/6/1984



REPORT: U.S. ECONOMY ADDED 18,000 JOBS IN DECEMBER, WAGES AND PRICES ARE STEADY

– The Wall Street Journal, 1/7/1984



…as their populations grow more hostile and actively against their communist governments in an expansive expression of political dissent, the nations of Eastern Europe are experiencing significant political reforms in regards to individual liberties and market liberalism. …In reaction to this, communist attempts to isolate the people in East Berlin from these external development has led to unrests in the city becoming a daily element, ranging from graffiti and gestures to more violent acts of vandalism; arrests are becoming commonplace. …Even Western Europe is feeling the effects of what Prime Minister Williams has called “the continental sentiment.” In France, for instance, socialist President Mouray is facing protests to suggested tax hikes and more red tape for small businesses as his approval ratings consistently stay below 50%... A glimmer of hope shines for the freedom-loving people of Yugoslavia, as Grand Marshal Josip Broz Tito is laid to rest in a lavish state funeral at the age of 91, having spent the last thirty of his years as the President of the diverse Balkan country. Tito had spent the final years of his life working hard to rebuild his nation’s economy through decentralization while concurrently promoting national unity to keep all provinces together after his passing. Tito’s successor, the more moderate Montenegrin politician Veselin Duranovic, today gave what is being called the “Six Peoples, One Flag” speech, in which Duranovic called for the country to be, quote, “one where Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Slovenians, Montenegrins, and Macedonians are free together and equal together.”

– Transcript of BBC World News, 1/9/1984 newsreel broadcast



WHO WILL SCOOP ENDORSE?

…Since suffering a minor heart attack this last September [1], the senior US Senator of Washington has cut down on his Senate duties and campaign trips. His endorsement could nevertheless still carry much weight in the primaries. It seems the candidate most likely to win his support will be either former Secretary of State Jimmy Carter, Senator John Glenn, or Senator Daniel Inouye…

– The Spokesman-Review, Washington state newspaper, 1/11/1984



RAY KROC DIES AT 81, HEART AILMENT; BUILT MCDONALD’S INTO GLOBAL CHAIN

– The New York Times, 1/14/1984



"I'm honestly gonna miss fightin' with the ol' devil ...may he and his soul rest easy now and in heaven and in peace forever."

- Colonel Sanders, 1/14/1984



CARTER: “We need a candidate who can win over not just Democrats, but Republicans and Independents as well.”

MODERATOR: “Congressman Stokes, you wish to rebuttal?”

STOKES: “Yes. Jimmy, the last time we nominated a centrist, we lost the progressive voters and we lost the election. We need a candidate who can keep this party strong and united, and that will lead us to victory.”

[snip]

GRAVEL: “As President, I will issue a freeze on all testing and production of nuclear weapons.”

[snip]

CARTER: “I’m a realist. In fact, I think I’m the most realistic candidate on this stage.”

GRAVEL: “And I think I’m the boldest candidate on this stage.”

MODERATOR: “Mr. Vice President, please wait your turn.”

[snip]

GLENN: “Congressman, your proposals are outlandish and, with all due respect, ridiculous.”

STOKES: “John, sending a man to space was a ridiculous proposal no more than fifty years ago, and yet, there you sit, the first American to go to space, saying that America cannot afford to try brave new things. In light of this, I must correct an earlier statement: your campaign isn’t uninspiring – it’s uninspiring and ironic.”

[snip]

BIAGGI: “As a member of several the Senate’s committees and subcommittees pertaining to foreign policy, I think I can look at this situation on Capitol Hill with fresh eyes. [snip] This election needs to be about domestic policy, about who gets what and much how of it, and we can’t do that if we are constantly talking about the problems we have with the President. He is our commander-in-chief, and while we can all disagree with him, I think we are still all obligated to respect him.”

[snip]

GLENN: “The events unfolding in Russia make us pause and reflect on the very fragile and very grave state of world affairs that lie before us all today. When Premier Podgorny died last year, our President had never met with him, spoken to him, shaken his hand, or even looked him in the eye. Relations with Russia have never been as bad as they are now. Our foreign policy record during the past year was not good either, as our men remain in Libya. The president says he is withdrawing our troops from overseas, only for Westmoreland to say pre-deployment home could take months, even though it could be done in just a matter of hours. [snip] Radical retribution from deadly local extremists endangers the lives of not only our men stationed overseas but also the lives of the men, women and children in the countries that have allied with us against dangerous local elements in these countries.” [2]

[snip]

INOUYE: “Prudently invested contributions to the Social Security fund may bring greater dividends, but those contributions would also face a greater risk. It would be like gambling. We should not gamble with the investments and the future of the citizens of this land.” [3]

– First Democratic Primary Debate of 1984 transcript, University of Cambridge, MA, Tuesday 1/24/1984



POLL: GRAVEL IS DUBBED THE “WINNER” OF YESTERDAY’S PRIMARY DEBATE; Glenn Stumbles, Stokes Sours

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 1/25/1984



HOUSE PASSES BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT BILL!

– The Washington Post, 1/29/1984



…In the race for the White House, the GOP’s Organization For Re-electing Denton (or OFRED) has announced that it has pulled in over $13million [4] in the past two months...

– NBC News, 2/1/1984



The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 is a federal law in the United States that punishes every state that allows persons below 22 years of age to purchase, publicly possess, and/or publicly distribute alcoholic beverages by reducing any part of the state’s annual budget apportionment or apportionments by as much as 20 percent. The bill was narrowly passed in both chambers of the US Congress despite fiery opposition from dissenting politicians and signed into law by President Denton on February 2, 1984. The age of 22 was chosen in order for it to coincide with the age at which most American students graduate from college, and thus in order to lower intoxication incidents on school campuses nationwide, which – the lawmakers hoped – would lead to higher test scores. The key reason for it passing was the fact that the act did not outlaw direct or indirect consumption of alcoholic beverages by those under the age of 22 – only its purchase, public possession and/or public distribution by those under said age. Soon after the act’s passing, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia extended the law into an outright ban on underage drinking. Conversely, other state legislatures took advantage of the bill’s wording to allow underage consumption when under adult or parental supervision or written consent.

– clickopedia.co.usa



PAUL SIMON AND RON PAUL TO LEAD BIPARTISAN CHARGE FOR BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

…after approval by the House by the narrow margin of 225 voting “yea,” 204 voting “no,” and 2 voting “present” (some seats are vacant, which is a very common occurrence) on January 29, the Senate is now set to vote on the bill prior to the chamber’s Summer Break. The Senate will most likely pass the bill…

– The Washington Post, 2/3/1984



…we have the latest update on the terrible tragedy. Again, for those just tuning in, an American Airlines commercial passenger flight has just crashed 20 miles outside Vancouver, Canada. Many if not most of the people onboard were travelling to Vancouver to be spectators watching the Winter Olympics being held there in four days. …The names of the victims that have been cleared for public release so far are the following: Margaret Corfield, Milton Hamilton, James Hartford, Stephanie Jamieson, James Millerton, Lawrence Nassar, Abigail Smith, and Maryanne Thomson. We will continue to keep you updated on this terrible tragedy as it is developing story…

– The Overmyer Network, Nighttime News segment, 2/4/1984 broadcast



…and over in Central Asia, the army of the Soviet Union has taken the city of Makirsk in their war with United Turkestan. Five weeks ago, the red army’s tanks rolled into the western and northern borders of United Turkestan, a loose and decentralized confederation of breakaway soviet republics, declaring their secession from the USSR to be illegal. Soviet troops and heavy truck and tank units have been combating anti-Soviet locals primarily in the more populous northern half of the region known as Kazakhstan, and in southern Uzbekistan and southwestern Kyrgyzstan…

– CBS Morning News, 2/9/1984 broadcast



Ustinov hoped the war would reinvigorate patriotism back on the western side of the Ural Mountains. Instead, it only deepened the divide, with even some supporters of the USSR criticizing Ustinov’s “warmongering-like” action against “our wayward comrades”

Back in Moscow, one more member of the old guard bit the dust when Andrei Gromyko died from pneumonia after leaving a politburo meeting to discuss the war effort without closing up his jacket and without a proper hat. This left only the increasingly ineffective Yegor Kigachyov to oppose Ustinov’s policies, meaning Ustinov seemed to effectively dominate inner party decisions in the aftermath of Gromyko’s demise. Those of the old guard still remaining, old enough to have fought in WWII, were increasingly at odds with the younger generation of would-be premiers such as Minister Gorbachev, and the rising star that was Alexander Yakovlev…

– Ke Wang’s Turkestanis Unite!: The Rise And Execution of An Idea, Cambridge University Press, 2013



…Oh, yes, Harland and I were in the audience during opening day of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I want to say the eighth, February I think. Oh, Harland was always a huge fan of our neighbor to the north, and visited Canada several times while President and businessman, but always on politics- or business- related issues. But at least not then, during the Olympics. That time, it was for fun. When we went then, Harland really got to see Canada, the sights and all. “It’s a beautiful country with wonderful people and excellent food!” Is what I remember him saying at one point… [5]

– Claudia Price Sanders, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) interview, 1992



WINTER OLYMPICS END IN CANADA

…Alongside Canada, the U.S. did exceptionally well, winning more gold medals than Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and even the usually-formidable nation of Austria…

– The New York Times, 2/19/1984



…Peace talks were suspended for six weeks after hardline white radicals killed 14 unarmed blacks in Grahamstown on the 20th of February. However, the large public showing of sympathy from white community leaders led to Mandela calling for the peace talks to continue on again, leading to negotiations resuming in early April, the schedules for the 1984 election and the slow dismantling of Apartheid being left unaffected by the Grahamstown Massacre...

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016



The Gravel campaign received more press attention on February 22, when a reclusive and destitute former P.O.W. veteran from the Korean War was arrested outside of a Gravel rally in Janesville, Wisconsin, for attempting to smuggle a pistol past security. The man, a one 69-year-old Ralph O. Davis of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, [6] confessed to police that h wanted to kill Gravel he was outraged at the former Vice President’s allegedly “un-American” language. Gravel reacted to the incident in a dignified and forgiving manner, claiming Davis was “a product of jingoism.” In a speech on the 24th, Gravel explained that Davis was “misguided,” as “questioning the morals and priorities of your country and/or even its leaders, is not treason. It is proof that you are observant enough to see that there is something you don’t agree with, and care enough about your country to try and look for a way to do something about it. Violence, though, is never the answer to the problems found in any country. The answer, I believe, is transparency, honesty, integrity and building the ability to tolerate those whose opinions are not the same as yours. Collaborations, cooperation, and the bravery to pursue these things allowed the people of the free world to come together during World War Two, and allowed the people of the USA to come together to put men and women on the moon. All I had suggested is that we should have more of this transparency, honesty, and integrity and a peaceful collaborative building of greatness, both at home and abroad. To share with the world the best America that America can offer. How’s that un-American?”

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



DENTON SIGNS ACID RAIN PREVENTION AND PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW

…The bill was introduced by Congressman Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) in response to the feared long-term effects of the Trojan Tower Nuclear Meltdown disaster that hit northern Oregon and southern Washington five years ago …Sulfur dioxide is a main cause of acid rain and is a major health concern. This new federal law regulates the use, transportation, and disposal of such chemicals in the US and requires all public schools to teach acid rain avoidance and prevention in health class. …Critiques of the bill range from those who say it goes too far by imposing elements onto school curricula while other claim it does not go far enough to address the potential dangers of nuclear power plants. Others also call it an overreaction, especially when one considers the possible influence of generic and campy acid rain B-movie horror films of late, most infamously the film “Deadly Cloud Tears” that came out in 1981...

– The Billings Gazette, Montana newspaper, 2/25/1984



GRAVEL WINS NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY: Kyros Comes In Second, Glenn In Third

– The New York Times, 2/28/1984



AFTER COMING IN FIFTH PLACE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, FLORIO HIRES NEW CAMPAIGN MANAGER IN STAFF SHAKE-UP

– The Star-Ledger, 2/29/1984



“…the committees and reforms that Carl [Sanders of Georgia] and I pushed through created the modern primary system, with New Hampshire as the first election of the primary season and being followed by Maryland, then Nevada and Georgia as the 3rd and 4th primaries, right before the ‘March Cluster’…”

– F. Grant Sawyer, KNN interview, 1995



CONSERVATIVES, RELIGIOUS RIGHT, RALLYING BEHIND DENTON

…one passionate supporter loudly claims “Our War Hero President is a good ol’ home boy who’s fighting for us against the communism, atheism, abortionism, BLUTAGism, divorceism, and Free Love-ism peacenik bunk that’s been spreading diseases everywhere.”…

– The New York Post, 3/1/1984



STATE A.G. “LOOKING INTO” GREMILLION’S TIES TO FAILED SAVINGS AND LOAN

…discrepancies concerning the Presidential candidate’s connections to a savings and loan business that failed in 1972 are the source of the inquiry…

– The Times-Picayune, 3/2/1984



HOLLYWOOD ENDORSEMENTS: Do They Help or Hurt Presidential Campaigns?

...As the actor/activist Peter Duel joins Mike Gravel on the stage at a campaign rally in Bethesda, one might be reminded of Bob Dylan speaking at the 1968 RNC, and how that allegedly contributed to the Colonel winning over the youth vote that November. One might also think of Ronald Reagan, who went from being a character actor in several embarrassing b-movies to leading the GOP to an embarrassing defeat in 1976.

In this election cycle, Hollywood stars and starlets have shown their political side by endorsing several politicians at the state and national level, from the flighty Shirley MacLaine to the grounded Charlton Heston…

[snip]

…“Celebrities have no place in politics because it is not their profession. They are not experts, so they don’t fully know what they are talking about, but because people recognize who they are, people listen to what they have to say,” suggests former Congressman Walter Judd (R-MN), “and as a result, they delegitimize the very campaign they support.”

The former campaign manager of the Elmo Zumwalt Presidential campaign of 1980 differs, telling us “they can introduce more voters and potential supporters to the candidate, and bring that showmanship style of pizzazz and excitement to the race. It makes the talk of economics that can be dry and boring to the average voter and make it seem exciting to them.”

With the primaries’ “March Cluster” set for the 20th, we’ll find out soon enough how much weight a celebrity endorsement carries…

– The Dayton Daily News, 3/4/1984



GLENN WINS MARYLAND PRIMARY; Gravel Easily Carries Vermont

…the astronaut-turned-Senator’s centrist campaign won over many Republican-leaning primary voters in Glenn’s first victory of the Democratic primary season…

– The Grand Rapids Press, 3/6/1984



DEM. PRIMARIES: Carter Wins Home State of Georgia, Gravel Wins Nevada

– The Oregonian, 3/13/1984



“I don’t see that I’m any less religious that I can appreciate the fact that science just records that we change with evolution and time, and that’s a fact. It doesn’t mean it’s less wondrous and it doesn’t mean that there can’t be some power greater than any of us that has been behind and is behind whatever is going on.” [7]

– John Glenn, at a campaign stop in Demopolis, Alabama, 3/17/1984



March 20th saw the voters of ten states go to the polls in what the media labeled a “cluster” of primary contests. Denton won all of the GOP elections without incident. In the Democratic Party, Stokes made history by becoming the first Black Democrat to win a primary via achieving victory in Mississippi. Carter edged out Glenn in Iowa, but the former Secretary of State failed to win any other contests that evening. Some conservative Democrats such as Gremillion and Biaggi failed to make inroads in any of the southern states. Glenn, on the other hand, handily won Alabama [7], Florida and Michigan, but failed to catch on in any other states. In fact, the night was clearly Gravel’s from the beginning: after the former Vice President achieved first place in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Gravel proved he had Midwestern appeal by winning Illinois and Minnesota, then proved he could win over western state voters by coming in first in Wyoming (albeit by a very narrow plurality, with Carter and Glenn spitting the more conservative vote – a recurring theme for several primaries in this election cycle)…

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



CLINTON DROPS BID FOR PRESIDENT

…the announcement comes days after the Governor of Alaska failed to even reach third place in any of the several primary contests held in this month’s primary “cluster”…

– The Washington Post, 3/23/1984



“Yeah, big news coming in from Louisiana today, with Glenn winning in Louisiana last night. Apparently, uh, Stokes came in second place, Carter in third, Gravel wasn’t on the ballot, but Gremillion – the Senator from Louisiana – came in fourth place, and that was so bad that he just announced that he’s quitting the race. Now, uh, so what do you think this means for the race going forward, Senator?”

“I think the narrowness of the contest – Stokes came within striking distance of winning – proves that the party has to win over lack voters. They are a powerful voting block, one that could make or break the election for the Democrats in November.”

– Colorado talk show host Alan Berg (1934-2018) and US Senator George L. Brown, KOA-AM (850 kHz) radio, 3/28/1984 broadcast



GRAVEL MAKES THE CASE FOR MISUNDERSTOOD ISSUES

…”Prisoners serving life, even for violent crimes, should have the chance to get parole because any of us can be saved from sin or failure,” the leading Presidential candidate proposed in a very controversial speech in Brooklyn… The belief in human redemption is behind the proposal, but so is a genuine fiscal concern. Allowing remorseful prisoners to be paroled would allow state and federal governments to save money on housing inmates costs. …Gravel may be either ahead of his time, or out-of-touch with the priorities of the voter. In what may be very ironic, “Family Safety” advocacy groups are already calling Gravel “dangerously uniformed”…

– Paul Schrade in Newsday, New York newspaper, 3/29/1984



…In the midst of political instability, Star City shut out the trouble and pressed on. On April 2, 1984 – in the last major action performed by Star City that year – the Indian Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma was launched into space aboard the Soyuz T-12…

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



…Alright, tonight has been a hectic night for the Democratic Party, but here is the breakdown of how the American people voted tonight. On the Republican side, President Denton won all states with ease. On the Democratic side, two contests were held – one in New York, the other in Wisconsin. In New York, Gravel, with the endorsement of Mayor Bellamy of New York City and several blue-collar unions, defeated Senators John Glenn and Mario Biaggi in a narrow three-way split. Biaggi, who came in third place in his only strong showing of the primary season thus far, seems to have split the state’s anti-Gravel vote. A fourth candidate, Jimmy Carter, underperformed significantly. In the anti-war state of Wisconsin, Gravel fared better, as did Carter, who came in second place behind Gravel, while Senator Glenn underperformed…

– NBC News, 4/3/1984 broadcast



DENTON SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL IMMIGRATION BILL INTO LAW

…the new law will prohibit all family members of known recreadrug users and transporters from immigrating to the US unless the relatives in question agree to be “actively helpful” in “combating the recreadrug epidemic” as described by the bill’s most supportive co-sponsor, Senator Dick Obenshain. The bill was derided by some politicians such as Senator Pedro Jimenez, who claims “this [law] appeals to suburban voters easily scared of Hispanic stereotypes and goes against the inclusive and welcoming nature of the United States government.”…

– The Washington Post, 4/4/1984



..With Jeb’s experience in Venezuela in mind along with the fact that the situation had been long overlooked by Denton, I sat down with the President and convinced him that we needed to intervene in Colombia. The violence, spilling into the neighboring countries and tearing Colombia apart, had been ongoing for over twenty years by then, and to do nothing would be to drag through the mud the principles and concepts of the Monroe Doctrine. However, since the Denton administration’s primary focus at the time was on “urban youth malaise,” and the situations in Libya and Iran, Denton instead instructed US diplomats to organize peace talks with the help of Colombian President Belisario Betancur, who had been attempting peace talks with several guerilla groups since taking office in August 1982...

– George H. W. Bush’s autobiography, 2015 edition



TWO US NEGOTIATORS KILLED IN M-19 BOMBING IN BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

– The New York Times, 4/5/1984



The violent bombing forced Denton to take note, and within a few weeks, the US military was leading U.N. peacekeeping forces wanting to “intervene” on the Colombia Civil War…

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



SENATOR FRANK CHURCH DIES FROM CANCER, AGE 59

– The Idaho Press-Tribune, 4/7/1984



…In tonight’s Presidential primaries, President Denton easily won in Pennsylvania and Indiana, while the situation was starkly different for the Democrats, as Mike Gravel won Pennsylvania in very narrow margin over John Glenn, whom many assumed would win the state contest. Glenn did win Indiana over Gravel, though, but this too was a narrow contest due to a strong third-place showing by former Secretary of State Jimmy Carter…

– KNN, 4/10/1984 broadcast



SENATOR FLOWERS DIES FROM HEART ATTACK ON 51ST BIRTHDAY

– The Birmingham News, 4/12/1984



Well, on April 18 – well, it was the early hours of April 19 for them, late hours of the 18th for us – the people of western Ukraine experienced a massive power outage. Similar to America’s own power outage back the 1960s – the big one that plunged New York and several other states into darkness – this outage knocked out all power from Kyiv to Lviv, including Derazhnia. Now the USSR’s Minister of Energy and Electrification, an old guy named Pjotr Neporozhny, who’d held that job since late 1962, he was busy vacationing in Crimea when this went down, so when this happened, the relatively less experienced Minister of the Gas Industry, I believe his name was Vasili Dinkov, tried to oversee things, get some backup generators started at whatnot. Now that should have been it, just another example of how the Soviet government had fallen into such inefficiency that they couldn’t even power the towns and cities anymore.

Except that the blackout hit Derzhnia. And Derzhnia was the location of secret nuclear missile bases for SS-19 ICBM missiles at the time [8]. When the power went out there, the Soviet military went on full alert because several nuclear bomb detectors being used at the time could not distinguish between a regular power outage of this unusually large scale and an outage caused by a nuclear attack.

– Lt. Gen. (retired) Arthur D. Nicholson (1947-2027), US military intelligence expert, 2004 interview



Just past midnight, at 12:23, Moscow Time, The Great Ukrainian Blackout created malfunctioning circuit breakers and other circuit errors that in turn created the illusion in Moscow that their silos in Derzhnia, western Ukraine, had gone dark due to a nuclear attack. Ustinov, upon being informed of the inability of the Kremlin’s communications operators t contact Kviv, immediately believed it to be an act of war. “I knew, only a matter of time before that crazy Admiral snapped,” Ustinov thought aloud about his American counterpart. Ustinov was already paranoid, convinced the “uprisings” in the Warsaw Pact, the Baltic soviets, and Central Asia were all founded and funded by American agents when they had actually developed organically and were merely supported by the US. With Soviet nuclear submarines carrying ICBM missiles, non-military missiles, and other missiles within striking distance of several cities along the western coast of the United States, Ustinov declared “A nuclear counter-strike must be launched!”

ICBMs, even those of 18 years ago, are practically impossible to shoot down, especially when initially launched. Simply put, the velocity is too fast for them to be shot down by antiballistic counter-weaponry. When at the middle of the projected voyage or on descent, there is a better chance, but even then, it is a very narrow window of opportunity.

In Washington, D.C., Denton was called into the White House War Room and informed that increased activities and mobilizations had been detected. The U.S. military monitored the situation closely while Denton repeatedly attempted to contact Ustinov through the Moscow-Washington hotline. However, Ustinov refused to engage in conversation with “the enemy…unless they are willing to surrender.” To the lack of communication, Denton frustratingly asked “Didn’t they learn anything from the Turkish Missile Crisis?!”

With Westmoreland calling for a pre-emptive strike to “make ’em learn,” Denton instead had the cruise and Pershing II missiles the U.S. had deployed in Europe placed on standby as a precaution.

The final step of the launching of a nuclear strike was the captain of the submarine carrying out the order, whom was to be given the order by his commanding officer. This man in question, the man in charge of the Soviet submarines lying in wait in the Pacific Ocean, was a man named Vasiliy Ivanovich Petrov, the 67-year-old Commander of the Far East Military District [9]. An Army General, Petrov had overseen the region’s activities since his appointment to the position in 1972, and was an experienced leader. As a result, Petrov questioned the bombing of only one nuclear silo, and soon contacted the USSR’s commander of the Air Defense forces in the Ukraine, who could not visually confirm that Derzhnia had been destroyed. A request to send out an aerial recon team was denied by the Air Defense forces leader, who explained “The Americans must be punished now, before they strike again.”

To this, Petrov asked “Why again? Why not wipe us out in one fell swoop. If they’ve really attacked us, they’ve done so very stupidly.” With this in his mind, Petrov ordered the submarine captains to hold fire until Derzhnia’s destruction could be visually confirmed.

Meanwhile, Gas Minister Dinkov, having failed to contact Electrification Minister Neporozhny at the Crimean resort of Foros, in an opulent dacha, and was granted permission by local law enforcement to temporarily oversee the restarting of the local power grid. As the minutes passed in a way that felt like an eternity for Petrov as he awaited confirmation, Ustinov demanded an explanation for Petrov’s “procrastination,” and threatened to have him tried for treason if he did not launch the missiles by 3:00 AM.

At 2:53 AM, Moscow time, Kviv phone line operators finally made contact with Kiev, who immediately contacted Moscow with the revelation that the missile silo had gone undisturbed in what had just been another power outage. It was been commonly told that when informed of the misunderstanding, Ustinov was found sleeping at his desk, having exhausted himself with rants about the assumed attack. However, this may be merely anecdotal.

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



US MILITARY SPOKESMAN CLARIFIES RECENT MOBILIZATION AS “A VERY EXTENSIVE” DRILL TO TEST TROOP READINESS

– The Washington Post, 4/19/1984



The Power Outage Nuclear Scare may have been the final straw for many within the politburo, as General Petrov was seen as having better reasoning and leadership skills than Ustinov. Behind closed doors, talks quickly began of “coercing” Ustinov into early retirement…

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



MODERATOR: “Senator Glenn, do you agree with former Vice President Gravel’s statement from before that we need a freeze on plutonium production?”

GLENN: “I think we need to ensure a more secure future for ourselves and our children, and, possibly, that may include briefly limiting the building our nuclear defenses, though, albeit briefly. I mean, of course, our military and scientific leaders would have a say in it, I mean in regards to such a freeze being implemented if proposed under a Glenn Administration.”

[snip]

BIAGGI: “If I’m President during an international incident, trust me, nothing’s off the table.”

GRAVEL: “Mario, when you say ‘nothing’s off the table,’ I hope to God you do not mean nukes” [10]

GLENN: “And I hope you don’t mean surrender.”

MODERATOR: “Gentlemen, please wait for your respective turns.”

[snip]

CARTER: “Whether the borders that divide us are picket fences or national boundaries, we are all neighbors in a global community.” [11]

– Transcript snippets of the final Democratic Presidential primary debate of 1984, Tuesday 4/22/1984



…The Democratic Party hosted several Presidential primaries today, and it has become clear that former Vice President Mike Gravel is well on his way to winning the nomination. Gravel has been declared the winners of Colorado and Idaho, while Senator John Glenn won Utah and Virginia. Former Secretary of State Jimmy Carter edged out both men in Arizona. But the biggest win of the night was Texas, where all three frontrunners vied for top place. In the end, it seems Carter may have acted as a spoiler to Glenn, as Gravel has won the Lone Star State in a plurality. The upset victory may very well knock the wind out of the Glenn and Carter campaigns, who have been claiming that former Vice President Gravel cannot win the southern states in a general election…

– The Overmyer Network Night-Time News, 4/24/1984 broadcast



TONIGHT’S DEMOCRAT PARTY PRIMARIES: Carter Wins Tennessee By A Hair, Stokes Wins D.C. In Landslide

– The Courier-Journal, Louisville-based Kentucky newspaper, 5/1/1984



INOUYE WINS WASHINGTON STATE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

…the candidate that was often called the “friendliest” to Senator Scoop Jackson carried Scoop’s state by a narrow plurality despite receiving kind words from Jackson must never an official endorsement…

– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 5/4/1984



…On May 5, 1984, South Africa, Mozambique and Portugal signed a multinational energy treaty. As determined by this agreement, Portugal assisted Mozambique in the distribution of electricity generated from Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa Lake Dam in exchange for a share of the profits and other energy company investments. The jobs and higher quality of living created by this and other public works projects gave momentum to the Namibia-Botswana waterworks building plans supported by South Africa politician Steve Biko during his stay in Botswana during the late 1970s. In turn, the Botswanan and Mozambique governments began developing stronger relations in the hopes of linking the two nations together via an ambitious water transportation system similar to the one developed by Gaddafi in Libya. The only thing in their way was a literal one, the country of Zimbabwe. As a result, that nation, led at the time by Prime Minister Joshua Nkomo, was brought in on the multinational project as well…

– clickopedia.co.uk/The_Kalahari-Zambezi_Waterworks_Project



CITING LOW FUNDS, CARTER DROPS PRESIDENTIAL BID

– The Washington Post, 5/6/1984



FORMER CARTER BACKER SCOOP JACKSON ENDORSES GLENN

– The Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/7/1984



“These past few years have brought about massive changes, and like most historic moments that affect entire nations, they have been important but exhausting. The people of South Africa are aware of the responsibilities that this government has laid own before them. They are humble in the face of the challenge of reconciliation, but are determined to move forward with conviction and faith in their fellow countrymen. I have already played my part in moving forward this country that I love, and a such I will not request for any more time in this office.”

– South African President Pieter W. Botha, announcing his decision to not run in the upcoming South African Presidential election, 5/7/1984



GALIFIANAKIS WINS HOME STATE PRIMARY; Glenn Beats Stokes In Ohio

– The Atlantis, Greek-American newspaper, 5/8/1984



USTINOV OUSTED! Forced Out Of Kremlin With Armed Escort As Tanks Line Moscow’s Streets

– The New York Times, 5/9/1984



…reports are coming in of a changing of the guard that comes with the support of the Soviet military, ironic given Premier Ustinov’s military background, but the shift in loyalties for the Soviet Union’s military leaders most likely stem from Soviet forces facing stronger-than-expected resistance in the war being fought in United Turkestan…

[pic: https://imgur.com/5PfQNja ]

– CBS News coverage of the May 1984 Soviet Leadership Coup, 5/9/1984



The “New Generation” Coup of May 1984 replaced Ustinov and his fellow hardliners in response to Ustinov’s perceived incompetence during the Power Outage Nuclear Crisis. At the age of 75, Ustinov was rumored to be feeble and possibly senile, and members of the politburo were starting to believe that he was not the symbol of strength for the nation that they thought the man would be.

Aided by initial Anatoly Lukyanov, alongside Boris Gostev, Nikolai Ryzhkov, Valentin Pavlov and other younger members of the political establishment along with the leaders of the Soviet military, Yakovlev and Gorbachev confronted Ustinov and demanded he step down. When he refused, he was arrested. Ustinov officially was “forced into retirement,” but he was effectively placed under house arrest, as the bellicose leader was followed at all times.

Ahead of the announcement of the sudden changing of the guard, the Red Army took the cautious step of lining Moscow’s streets with tanks to intimidate would-be rebels into submission. However, upon learning of Ustinov’s ousting, the response was much more positive, with many locals hoping with would be a positive change of pace. Most however, were ambivalent to the event, and continued on with their day.

The new temporary leader, serving for only a few days, was pro-Vakovlev career politician Vladimir Orlov. On May 15, Yakovlev was named the new premier. He then shocked the military that had brought him to power by announcing a withdrawal of soviet military forces from Turkestan. Yakovlev believed the union could be preserved if the Kremlin made reparations to the wars fought, and believed that “send[ing] our men back to work” in factories and farmlands would revitalize industries and in turn the economy, only for the military and for veterans to view the withdrawal as a betrayal. The high casualty count made it seem like a retreat. Furthermore, the withdrawal – a seemingly greatly victorious outcome for Turkestan – only grew further nationalist and anti-politburo sentiments and public protests. Yakovlev upset both the military and conservative members of the politburo by releasing the USSR’s political prisoners…

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



“What do you think about what’s happening?” the official asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Ustinov has been overthrown.”

“You’re joking.”

When the official assured him that he was serious, they returned to Latishev’s car, turned on the engine, and began listening to the news on the car radio, which featured the mechanical repetition of the first proclamations of the coup committee. The committee was promising to reduce prices and to give land to city dwellers by the end of 1985. Listening to the announcements, Latishev became enraged. He knew it was absurd to talk about reducing prices when there were no goods in the stores. [12]

– David Satter’s Age of Delirium: The Decline And Fall of The Soviet Union, Random House, 1996



GRAVEL CLINCHES NOMINATION WITH PRIMARY WINS IN NEBRASKA, OREGON!

…recent geopolitical develops failed to give Glenn a last-minute boost strong enough to overpower Gravel’s lead in the delegate count…

– The New York Times, 5/15/1984



HAWAII PASSES MASSIVE HEALTH CARE ACT IN GROWING TREND

…A major piece of legislation was approved by Hawaii’s Governor Jean King earlier today, one that will restructure the state health care system into one the is “universal” in nature that covers pre-existing conditions, military-related issues, daycare, dental, and other aspects of medical care... Hawaii joins Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and California in an unofficial universal healthcare “pact” of sorts, in that all the aforementioned state governments have passed laws that allow citizens to, for example, not have to worry about health insurance issues if they live in Vermont but are injured in Maine. …This universal health care movement has its origins in the health care system established in Canada under then-Prime Minister Paul Hellyer in 1969. The immediate popular of the system in Canada led to then-Governor Phil Hoff passing a similar healthcare system in Vermont in the early 1970s…

– The Los Angeles Times, 5/19/1984



GRAVEL WINS KY, PR CONTESTS AHEAD OF FINAL PRIMARY “CLUSTER”

– The Dayton Daily News, 5/22/1984



PUSSER LAUNCHES “PRECAUTIONARY PROBE” INTO PAST 3 TENNESSEE GOVERNORS; Anti-Corruption Crusade Continues In Sweep Of All Federal Offices

– The Knoxville News Sentinel, 5/25/1984



FLASH FLOOD KILLS 9 IN TULSA, OK: Gov. McCaleb’s Swift Response Is Praised

– The Los Angeles Times, 5/27/1984



JOHN GLENN BOWS OUT OF PRIMARIES

– The Chicago Tribune, 6/1/1984



SCOOP ENDORSES GRAVEL IN “BURY THE HATCHET” SPEECH

– The Washington Post, 6/2/1984



Harley always sought to come to work early, laying out photocopies of the latest version of the bills he was supporting or had yet to form an opinion on in piles across his desk. He kept things less tidy than his father would, but as the Colonel sought to be the cleanest person in the room – to the point of it almost being seen as an obsession with him by some folk – this was not unexpected [13]. So rather than spend his time on something as persnickety as avoiding clutter the younger Sanders man focused on securing finances for Kentucky in order for the commonwealth to be capable of building new roads, hospitals and colleges.

[snip]

With the Father’s pride, and the Son’s optimism, Harley introduced legislation in 1984 and was working to get other Senators to sign onto it; it was a bill concerning insurance and protection for firefighters that was being supported by Ralph Nader, Senator Michael Rockefeller and several statewide and national unions.

[snip]

[pic: https://imgur.com/2Zri48y ]
Above: Senator Harley Sanders meets with his father in Harley’s office in early June 1984.

In June 1984, southern Democrat leader Robert C. Byrd informally accused Harley of “being up to something” on Meet the Press after Colonel Sanders visited Harley’s office, with Byrd claiming the meeting was “possibly” over Harley’s connections to KFC. Harley rebuked the accusations, and announced in a press statement “I have in the past and always will in the future excuse myself from voting on any laws that directly benefit me. I sold my shares in Finger Lickin’ Good Incorporated when I got this job in order to serve my country with a clear and impartial mind – not to be distracted from doing my job by having to address the baseless lies of badgerin’ jack-a-dandies [14].”

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



On June 5, in the final cluster of primaries, Denton once again faced token opposition from Bergland and McCloskey. On the Democratic side, Gravel easily won California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and West Virginia. The former Vice President’s only opposition came in the form of “favorite son” candidate Jim Florio, who only received 25% of the vote in New Jersey.

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



WISCONSIN TWISTER LEAVES 9 DEAD, ALMOST 200 INJURED

…the first F5 tornado to hit Wisconsin since the 1958 Colfax Tornado has cost the state millions in damages. Fortunately for many residents, early warning sirens and emergency response procedures implemented during the administrations of former Governor Bronson La Follette and incumbent Governor Paul Soglin assured an orderly organized evacuation of endangered areas and helped rescue dozens of people injured or trapped in the post-twister wreckage…

– The Chicago Tribune, 6/8/1984



FIERCE GUNFIGHT AT GOLDEN TEMPLE LEAVES OVER 70 DEAD; Religious Leader Bhindranwale Killed In Operation Blue Star; Sikh Communities Are Outraged

– The Hindustan Times, 6/8/1984



…It seems India’s leaders may have taken note of what Dad said that November, as just a few months later, Indian President Indira Gandhi attempted to negotiate with the controversial Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale over his stockpiling of weaponry in Amritsar, Punjab, with the support of Pakistani elements. However, these negotiations failed, and the Amritsar complex was besieged by the Indian Army. The intense week-long battle saw several hundred people killed in what some viewed as an attack on the Sikh religion, while others saw it as a defense of India from Pakistani machinations.

Dad’s response to the subcontinent’s problems throughout the years was consistently one of cautious admonishment. After US-Indian relations soured under Lyndon Johnson over his disapproval of India’s military buildup [15], Dad treated both Pakistan and India fairly and equally, without picking a clear favorite. However, when India went to war with Pakistan in December 1971, Dad urged both governments to call a ceasefire; instead, India defeated Pakistan after 13 days of fighting, a blow to Pakistan that contributed to Zia ul-Haq rising to power years later. Even after leaving office, Dad was critical of both nations’ leaders’ inability to be “civil” and “get along with one another;” his response to India developing nuclear weapons in 1974, and Pakistan failing to follow suit, reflected this rebuking of the subcontinent’s recalcitrant ways…

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



…“Used Cars” was a Columbia Pictures satirical black comedy film about a pair of rival used car salesmen outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The idea for the film came from producer John Milius, who pitched it to Gale and Zemeckis while they were writing the script for “1941,” which came out to critical acclaim but mixed box office results in 1981. After years of script rewrites to properly balance the tone of the film – ensuring the jokes worked, the satire was sharp, and the characters had redeeming qualities – the film was finally released in June 1984. It was less successful than 1941, but still received fair reviews and made just enough money for the studio to consider the work successful. With “Used Cars” finally behind him, Zemeckis finally returned his focus to another film that had been “on the back-burner” for a very long while – a science fiction project entitled “Back to the Future”…

– Norman Kagan’s The Cinema of Robert Zemeckis, 2003



GRAVEL WINS NORTH DAKOTA IN FINAL DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY

– The Argus Leader, South Dakota newspaper, 6/12/1984



June 19, 1984: as part of the Pacific Northwest's efforts to minimize families and businesses leaving the region in the aftermath of the Trojan Tower Nuclear Disaster of the late 1970s, the Portland Trailblazers successfully choose the increasingly-impressive player Michael Jordan in their NBA draft [16]

– basketballreference.co.usa



AHEAD OF SUMMER BREAK, SENATE NARROWLY PASSES BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT BILL, SENDING IT TO THE STATES FOR RATIFICATION!

– The Washington Post, 6/23/1984



…US Senator Mario Biaggi of New York, who ran for the Democratic nomination for President this year, today announced that he would not run for President on a third-party ticket, effectively putting an end to weeks of speculation that the maverick conservative Democrat would form a bipartisan “unity ticket” with Republican politician Louis Bafalis, the like-minded former Governor of Florida…

– NBC News, 6/25/1984 broadcast



LIBYAN COURT SENTENCES GADDAFI TO DEATH FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

The Sentence Conflicts the US Sentencing Gaddafi To Life In Prison In June 1983

Tripoli, LIBYA – An international dispute has erupted over the sentencing of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The former ruler of Libya is to be put to death according to a Libyan court ruling, but he also is to spend the rest of his life behind bars according to a U.S. court ruling. …Libyan representatives claim the Libyan ruling carries more weight as Gaddafi is still a Libyan national… Representatives of each legal team are currently set to meet with members of the UN in "a few weeks or months" to discuss a possible resolution to this problematic issue...

– The New York Times, 6/26/1984



GADDAFI DECLARES HIMSELF AN AMERICAN NATIONAL

…In a startling announcement, the imprisoned ex-leader of Libya claims that he identifies as an American. An obvious ploy, the announcement comes just over two weeks after a Libyan court sentenced Gaddafi to death, which clashes with a US court sentencing him to life in prison…

– The Washington Post, 7/12/1984



On July 19, 1984, a record-breaking earthquake was felt across the British Isles, the 5.4 quake’s epicenter being in northern Wales. While nobody was killed, it was nevertheless the largest onshore earthquake to ever occur in the UK. More importantly, the post-quake efforts collaborated between the UK and Ireland highlighted how far the two nations had come since the Troubles of the 1960s and early 1970s, and highlighted the successful pro-peace Foreign Policy endeavors of PMs Foot and Williams...

– Andrew Marr’s Modern Britain: A History, Pan Macmillan Publishers, 2002 edition

[pic: https://imgur.com/m7OG2Yz ]
PRIMARY VOTING:
[snip]
Peter Kyros – 580,370 (3.2%)
Mario Biaggi – 562,234 (3.1%)
Nick Galifianakis – 362,732 (2.0%)
Bill Bradley – 344,595 (1.9%)
Jim Florio – 272,048 (1.5%)
Coya Knutson – 163,229 (0.9%)
Jack Gremillion – 54,409 (0.3%)
All other votes cast – 0.4%

CONVENTION VOTING:
Total Delegates: 4,105
Votes Needed for Nomination: 2,054
Results (President):
Mike Gravel – 2,981 (72.6%)
John Glenn – 767 (18.7%)
James Carter – 213 (5.2%)
Louis Stokes – 88 (2.1%)
Mario Biaggi – 41 (1.0%)
All others – 15 (0.4%)
No. of Ballots: 1

– clickopedia.co.usa/1984_Democratic_National_Convention



…Prior to the official counting, former candidate Peter Kyros relinquished his delegates to Gravel, but declined Gravel’s offer to be his running mate in order to instead continue his focus on running for the US Senate that same November. Stokes was also a speculated candidate for the number-two spot on the ticket, until he publicly declined the offer on July the 14th...

The party’s progressive platform called for a National Initiative And Referendum Amendment and a vague foreign policy plank that called for a policy of "wiser warfare;" advocated investments into science, medicine and technology (thanks to the Kyros delegation); promised a higher budget for NASA (thanks to the Glenn delegates); and called for separating state school funding from property taxes in all states and territories in order for school funds to be determined by performance and necessity instead of legal loopholes that led to systemic discrimination, in order to lower the wealth gaps among races, between men and woman, and between urban and rural communities (thanks to the Florio delegation). The work of Congresswomen Barbara Jordan and Marcy Kaptur also led to the DNC’s passage that called for “fair and equal treatment of all Americans regardless of race, religion, creed, or orientation,” the last part referring to the BLUTAG community.

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa/Democratic_National_Convention_1984



GRAVEL PICKS US REP. J. CHARLES JONES FOR RUNNING MATE: Will Be First-Ever Black VP Nominee of A Major Party Ticket

…Joseph Charles Jones, D-NC, was born on August 23, 1937 in South Carolina. Jones was a civil rights leader, attorney and freedom rider in Alabama during the 1950s and 1960s. After passing the North Carolina state bar in 1970, he served as the first Black mayor of Charlotte, N.C., from 1977 to 1981, before winning election to the US House of Representatives in 1980 and again in 1982. A consistently liberal voice in a relatively moderate Southern state, Jones could help Gravel win over Southern voters, minority voters who backed Stokes in the primaries, and quite possibly some more moderate voters as well. …Other names rumored to have been considered for running mate included former Governor Peter Kyros of Maine, U.S. Representative Parren Mitchell of Maryland, U.S. Representative Louis Stokes of Ohio, former Governor Jim Florio of New Jersey, Governor Coya Knutson of Minnesota, former US Secretary of Commerce John Moss of California, and former Governor Bronson LaFollette of Wisconsin…

– The New York Times, 7/16/1984

[pic: imgur.com/geEAtV3.png ]

– Governor Coya Knutson (D-MN), attending the 1984 Democratic National Convention, 7/17/1984



“No More Wars” / “Give Peace A Chance” / “Let The People Decide” / “Power To The People” / “Go Gravel Go”

– Slogans for the Gravel/Jones’84 campaign, first seen on 7/18/1984, the day Gravel and jones were officially nominated (the third day of the 1984 DNC)



DENTON MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO US TROOPS IN LIBYA

Benghazi Air Base, Libya – President Denton visited Libya for the third time since entering office, arriving unannounced on Air Force One to congratulate remaining forces for helping the freedom-loving natives keep the peace. “Y’all are doing an amazing job, and if all goes well, y’all will be back home before you know it!” the President declared…

– The New York Post, 7/21/1984

[pic: https://imgur.com/0B1yuGU ]
[snip]

The strongly anti-communist Armando Valladares of the Conservative Party, age 47, was anti-Castro from the start of the 1950s conflict, and was imprisoned by the Castro regime from 1960 to 1965, during which time he became an accomplished poet. Released from prison after the fall of communism on the island in 1965, he became a diplomat and human rights activist. After serving as Cuba’s Ambassador to the UN under Cuban President Erneido Oliva from 1975 to 1978, Valladares became a member of Cuban parliament by winning a seat in a 1979 special election.

Dr. Emilio Ochoa of the New Authority Party, age 77, was a signer of the 1940 constitution. For being opposed to both Batista and Castro, he was arrested multiple times under the first and exiled under the second. Ochoa served in the nation’s parliament from 1967 to 1981, and previously ran for President in 1972 and 1978.

The controversial Huber Matos of the Stability Party, age 65, was a polarizing figure, as he fought alongside the Castro brothers, Guevara, and Cienfuegos, but then was imprisoned in 1959 for opposing the leaders’ turn to Marxist principles. Matos apologized for his early role as a military leader, and campaigned on his work as a political dissident, activist, writer, editor, publisher, party secretary, two terms in the national assembly, and a stint as Chief of Staff to outgoing President Boitel.

[snip]

While Huber’s surprising success in the weeks leading up the election worried some, enough voters were discouraged by Ochoa’s advanced age for Valladares to win the July round with over 50% of the voting, meaning that an August 10 runoff was not required for this election…

– clickopedia.co.cuba/1984_general_election/English_translation



“That Denton visit to Libya the other day just completely stole the thunder away from the post-DNC poll boost. You’ve seen the polls, it was just a blip. Very clever of Denton, very clever, I’ll give him that.”

– Gravel/Jones supporter Warren Beatty, 7/28/1984 KNN interview



Sergei Latishev had not doubted that all the blood that was spilled in Turkestan was justified in the interests of protecting the Soviet Union from treasonous domestic terrorists, but as he looked for work and a place to live in his hometown of Nikopol in the Ukraine, he became aware of his rightlessness in dealing with bureaucratic organizations. He saw that they were completely independent of him, would not listen to him, and that at the head of every bureaucratic organization was a member of the Communist Party. He began to wonder if, when he fought in Turkestan, he had been defending the patriotic Turkestan people or only the Communist Party leaders of the seceding soviets that made up Turkestan. …He had left part of himself in Turkestan and he believed that he had fought for a worthy cause, but his sacrifice seemed to melt away in the face of the inertia of a system run by the few for the few, with little regard for anyone else. He began to be overwhelmed with the feeling that nothing could ever change in the Soviet Union. [12]

– David Satter’s Age of Delirium: The Decline And Fall of The Soviet Union, Random House, 1996



Freedom of the press exposed the motives behind Soviet actions in Cuba, Indochina, Angola, Ethiopia, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Turkestan during the previous 24 years, primarily concerning the initial lack of popular support for Soviet actions, and the atrocities committed by Soviet soldiers in these countries. This frank openness had a traumatic sort of effect on many former soldiers, making them feel and grow increasingly disillusioned. Many veterans began to discuss amongst themselves the possibility that they had participated in immoral warfare. Questions began to rise: were these wars necessary? Had Soviet soldiers died in vain? And what should be done about all of this?

With the domestic struggle for human rights only growing in strength, and decades of international tension running its course, the country was becoming unmanageable. In July 1984, Yakovlev formed a Committee for the State of Emergency that was given the task of searching for solutions to the issues threatening to liquidate the country. The committee’s official findings were declared “inconclusive,” but behind closed doors, it was understood that the consensus was that the currently outdated and corrupted system needed either to be completely reconstructed, or completely discarded.

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



“COMMUNISTS FOR DEMOCRACY” MARCH INUNDATES MOSCOW’S PAVELETSKY STATION AND VARSHAVSKY HIGHWAY; Millions Continue To Oppose Soviet System Across The USSR

– The Washington Post, 7/31/1984



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Jackson’s health is a bit better ITTL because he cut down on inner-party activities after losing the Presidential election. Plus, the lack of the USSR shooting down Korean Air Lines Flight 007 or any other plane like in OTL means Jackson pays more attention to any pain in the left side of his chest that day, as in OTL he was likely distracted by the aforementioned OTL international incident, at least contributing marginally to his OTL death from an aortic aneurysm. OTL.
[2] Based on what he said here, with italicized parts being verbatim or near-verbatim, starting at the 2:11 mark: youtube.com/watch?v=MX8rm0LskzQ&t=8s
[3] OTL Inouye quote, found here: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/daniel-inouye-quotes
[4] The OTL 2019 equivalent of $34,000,000, according to the inflation calculator on dollartimes.com
[5] IOTL, the Colonel actually moved to Canada and lived there from 1965 until his death; he purchased and lived in a bungalow at 1337 Melton Drive in the Lakeview area of Mississauga, Ontario, from 1965 to 1980, according to this: https://www.niagarathisweek.com/news-story/3895985-kfc-nixes-mississauga-s-col-sanders-for-new-upmarket-restaurant/. Interestingly, though, in 1957 IOTL, the Colonel thought Canadian cuisine had potential, saying the locals should capitalize on the fish in local lakes and season the food sooner so it can “permeate” the dish more before it is served, but he was overall seemingly disappointed by the food not being very exemplary. However, since he moved there eight years later (again, IOTL), my guess is either he though Canadian cuisine needed his presence, or he came around to the food or found Canadian food that he did enjoy in the end: https://www.cbc.ca/archives/kfc-s-colonel-sanders-didn-t-like-canadian-food-1.4748949
[6] Who? This guy: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/12/us/killing-in-council-chamber-stuns-city-in-rural-iowa.html
[7] Glenn said the italicized bit IOTL according to the source given on his wiki page, and he actually won a large chunk of the vote in the Alabama primary IOTL!
[8] At least according to the map found here: https://fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/facility/icbm/index.html
[9] This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Eastern_Military_District
[10] Based on a Gravel line found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBcMUZAXMW4
[11] OTL Quote!
[12] All of these italicized bits are pulled directly from here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=0YtaDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+collapse+of+the+soviet+union&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEtInol5PnAhWvg-AKHQG3DkkQ6AEwAnoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20collapse%20of%20the%20soviet%20union&f=false
[13] Italicized bits found here: www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/travel/ct-kfc-recipe-hometown-corbin-kentucky-travel-20160818-story.html : “Sanders’ nephew, Joe Ledington, says he worked in his uncle’s café as a young boy in the ’50s. ‘He was absolutely the cleanest person,’ added Ledington. ‘It was an obsession with him.’”
[14] “Jack-a-dandy” (noun): a little foppish impertinent fellow
[15] According to this wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_States_relations
[16] I know even less about professional basketball than I do about professional baseball; GentlemanBiaggi requested this, but since he’s gotten himself banned since then, please let me know if it is too ASB-ish, so that way I can change or delete it.

 

[gap80]

Post 44: Chapter 52

Chapter 52: August 1984 – January 1985

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there”

– Lewis Carroll

[pic: imgur.com/NtDNoZU.png ]
– Colonel Sanders overlooks a preserved field outside of Hong Linh, Vietnam, the site of a bloody 1965 battle between US-allied and Communist forces, during a business-oriented visit, 8/3/1984



CONSTANTINE II SEES POTENTIAL ECONOMIC PROSPECTS IN GREECE HOSTING THE OLYMPIC GAMES

…As the 1984 Olympics continue on in Athens – the first Olympic Games held in the Balkans since the first modern Games were held in Athens in 1896 – support for the Greek royal family is at its highest in decades… The King of Greece’s hard-fought battle for the games in 1977 boosted support for the monarchy among the Greek populace at a much-needed time, with Greece suffering from “pockets” of recession during much of the 1970s amidst Greece absorbing Cyprus. Under King Constantine II, Greece has strengthened its connections within the EEC, controversially “Americanizing” the value of the Greek drachma currency, but has allowed Greek businesses to expand into European markets and afford large-scale endeavor – including construction of the Athena Stadium built for these games...

– The Atlantis, Greek-American newspaper, 8/9/1984



…With the conclusion of the 1984 Summer Olympics on August 12, white South Africans had once again been reminded of what they were missing out on by maintaining Apartheid, and the prospect of being in the Olympics once the policy was lifted only increased their support for the end of the system…

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016



US POVERTY RATE REACHES RECORD LOW OF 9.5%

…Former US Commerce Secretary Milton Friedman credits the Negative Income Tax Rebate law passed under President Sanders for the historic drop over the past several years [1], although others point to the Great Society programs of the Lyndon Johnson Presidency lowering the rate considerably during the 1960s as a major factor as well…

– The Wall Street Journal, 8/13/1984



DENTON: 42%
GRAVEL: 40%
UNDECIDED: 18%

– Gallup poll, 8/14/1984



As Podgorny’s and Yakovlev’s loosening of individual and market freedoms throughout 1982 and in mid-1984 had proven to only empower anti-Soviet activities, KGB leader Vitaly Fedorchuk failed miserably to lead a military coup against Yakovlev on August 17, 1984. While the military leaders had lost the respect of many of their soldiers, even fellow generals and admirals were at odds with one another, as, under Ustinov, competition for promotions had trumped collaboration and trust, which also factored into the Soviet military underperforming in Turkestan.

[snip]

Amid international tension, Yakovlev also failed to return the nation to détente. Years later, in 1995, Yakovlev would claim that Denton was unwilling to meet with him until stability returned to the Kremlin, as Yakovlev was the USSR’s fourth leader in three years…

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



…Denton’s sole opponent in the primaries were two anti-war candidates, both of whom were former Republican U.S. Congressmen from California: Pete McCloskey (who served from 1967 to 1981) and David Bergland (who served from 1979 to 1983). While McCloskey ran to promote “Rockefeller Republican” ideas in his party, Bergland was recruited to run by Senator Ron Paul, who opted to run for a second term in the US Senate amid troublesome approval ratings coming in from the Lone Star state. Neither McCloskey nor Bergland won a single primary, with both of their strongest showings being in New Hampshire, where each won roughly 7% of the primary vote. …The Republican National Convention of 1984 lasted from August 20 to August 23. Denton received over 90% of the convention delegates, with the remaining 10% being split almost evenly between Bergland and McCloskey. As a small collection of anti-war protestors outside the convention floor failed to make a lasting impression on the delegates, Denton was re-nominated without major incident...

– Ted White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



“On Your Side” / “Control Your Destiny” / “Always On Duty” / "Presidenton"

– Slogans for the Denton/Alexander’84 campaign, first seen 8/22/1984



…By 1984, “food insecurity” had risen from a very minor issue in America to being a national crisis that was being completely ignored by the media due to more exciting events occurring both at home and overseas…

– Jim McGovern, 2009 interview



Called early, as one was not required until five years after last one, South Africa’s first general election to have universal adult suffrage was held on August 25, 1984. With incumbent Botha stepping down, there was no clear frontrunner. F. W. de Klerk of the National Party was tied to unpopular former backers of Apartheid; while Constand Viljoen of the Freedom Front was commended for his role in cooling tensions in the months leading up to the election, he nevertheless had limited support; Zach de Beer of the Democratic Party was uninspiring; Harry Schwarz of the Progressive Party suffered from anti-Semitism; and Helen Suzman of the Democratic Alliance suffered from sexism. Nelson Mandela of the ANC and Steve Biko of the BCM/Inkatha Freedom (People’s) Party, however, were seen as the top contenders.

As de Klerk, Viljoen, de Beer, Schwarz, and Suzman divided the white vote, the race essentially came down to just Biko and Mandela. Soon it became a debate between two generations of activists and two different pools of thought – two groups that nevertheless had both removed Apartheid from South Africa. Biko, at the age of 37, appealed to younger voters, but was considered too controversial and belligerent to many whites. Mandela, on the other hand, convinced enough whites to sign on to his candidacy via reconciliatory rhetoric, but was rejected by remaining radicals for that same rhetoric. The US favored Mandela to Biko, as most radical members of the ANC had shifted to the BCM during the preceding years. After the counting concluded, it was clear that Mandela had been elected South Africa’s first Black chief executive, winning 58% of the vote against Biko’s 30%, and the five other candidates making up the remaining 12%.

Walter Sisulu, a leader of the ANC who, like Mandela, had spent over 20 years in prison for political activism, became the nation’s new Deputy President soon afterward. The new rules gave no term limits to either the President or the Deputy President in order to encourage the incumbent to do a good job in order to win re-election. There was also a new law that allows the people to “recall” the President at any point in their term. Impeachment, requiring three-fourths of the members of parliament agrees to remove one from power, became another option as well.

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016



“Rather than impose government regulation and 'overtaxation' onto the economy and the American taxpayer, Denton has utilized the tax code to incentivize economic expansion. At lower tax rates, the economy has flourished, and collections into the US Treasury has actually increased for the first time since Colonel Sanders left the White House.”

– William F. Buckley Jr. on Meet the Press, 8/26/1984



F.A.A.’S BUDGET BOOST BRINGING SHORT LINES BACK TO AIRPORTS

…When the Cuban War began in 1961, the Federal Aviation Administration raised security measures over fears of Communist Cuban terrorists planting bombs on airplanes. Since then, long lines and multiple restrictions at airports have significantly lowered American air travel rates. Fearing a further decline in profits, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and other carriers successfully lobbied for the lifting of discouraging security measurements, citing the lack of major incidents over the last twenty years, which saw American military forces go to war in several nations in Indochina and Africa. “We may just see a return to the golden age of flying,” says the CEO of American Airlines… Denton solved the debate between convenience and safety by increasing funding for airport security programs via the F.A.A. and deregulating the airline industry, allowing airports to hire more employees for checkpoints and desks in order to shorten lines. …Airports are also now purchasing more sophisticated X-ray machine so passenger may no longer have to unpack their belongings before boarding flights...

– The Miami Herald, 8/30/1984



DENTON: 44%
GRAVEL: 41%
UNDECIDED: 15%

– Gallup poll, 9/1/1984



The members of the crowd sang Russian folk songs, recited poetry, and prayed. …The sky was iron gray and it was freezing cold as the bells of the St. Yuri Cathedral announced the victory of independence in the September 1 referendum. The Ukrainian population had voted everywhere for an independent state, officially confirming the decision of the parliament. In Lvov, the vote in favor was 92 percent. In some parts of the Lvov district, the vote for independence reached 99.5 percent. …Thousands of people were packed together in the interior of the church holding candles or kneeling on the stone floor. In the courtyard, thousands more stood in furs and greatcoats in the slowly falling snow. In the crowd were former human rights campaigners as well as the resisters of an earlier generation, partisans who had fought in the woods after the Second World War and, after years in Soviet labor camps, were only now beginning to speak in public about their previous role. [2]

– David Satter’s Age of Delirium: The Decline And Fall of The Soviet Union, Random House, 1996



LITHUANIA AND LATVIA JOIN UKRAINE, ESTONIA AND TURKESTAN IN DECLARING INDEPENDENCE

…with the Soviet economy continuing to worsen, it seems the reformers in the Kremlin have completely lost the ability to influence or even oppress the populations of USSR’s republics…

– The New York Post, 9/3/1984



“I would like to make it clear that it completely went against the wishes of Gorbachev and I. But at the time, even the military was losing faith in the system. There was nothing left for us to do in the moment of crisis but to yield to the clamoring masses.”

– Alexander Yakovlev, 1995 interview



SOVIET UNION DISSOLVES!: Provisional Government Assembled In Its Wake In Moscow!

[pic: imgur.com/cn547g4.png ]
Above: a map of the new nations born out of the USSR

– The New York Times, 9/15/1984



Legally speaking, there was nothing to stopping secession of the soviets of the Baltic and other regions after the September collapse because it is not possible to secede from an entity that no longer exists.

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



YAKOVLEV, EMBATTLED SOVIET LEADER, RESIGNS; U.S. RECOGNIZES REPUBLICS’ INDEPENDENCE

Communist Flag Removed; New Interim Russia Leader Vlad Orlov Gets Nuclear Controls, Claims Will Begin Dismantling Arsenal “Soon”

[pic: imgur.com/YWt8k68.png ]
Moscow, former USSR – Alexander Yakovlev, the cerebral trailblazer of the USSR’s retreat from the Cold War and the catalyst for the democratic reforms that have inadvertently ended 67 years of Communist tyranny, told Russians tonight that he was stepping down from power after failing to preserve the union. “I hereby discontinue my activities at the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, declared the 60-year-old politician, the last leader of a totalitarian empire that was undone across the past six years as soviets declared independence and ethnic Russians across the union’s lands demanded an “end of the old ways” and the “start of newer, better ways” amid political turmoil in the Kremlin, the crumbling of the Eastern Bloc, and a military quagmire engulfing Central Asia.

“Yakovlev ending the mad militarization seen under Suslov and Ustinov and advancing the reform of Podgorny only hastened the inevitable pace of the Russian people capitulating their abusive and destructive government,” suggests political commentator William J. Buckley Jr. …

…party leader Vladimir Orlov will serve as the head of a provisional government for Russia proper, once called Russian SFSR, which will now likely be reconstituted into another political composition, though the exact nature of Russia’s new government remains to be seen…

– The Washington Post, 9/16/1984



HOST: “You seein’ this? Apparently the Soviet Union’s just up and freakin’ collapsed!”

GUEST 1: “Whoa, this is unreal.”

HOST: “I know, that was my reaction, too. I mean, wow, it’s crazy.”

GUEST 2: “Eh, the signs were there. Been there for years in fact.”

GUEST 1: “What signs?”

GUEST 2: “The Sino-Soviet split, repeated failures to expand communism to other areas, and all those ethnic groups around Russia’s, like, edges, all demanding more autonomy, especially over the Aktar Disaster. Moscow’s handling of that fiasco really struck a nerve with the locals, it seems. You also had the Russian people being upset over the food shortages – breadlines, toilet paper running out – stuff like that was commonplace. Every day, I mean, heck – a whole bunch of ’em got slaughtered last year when the government ran out of cigarettes, for crying out loud! You remember that? It was inevitable!”

HOST: “Yeah, they also had all that political instability. Just think of how many leaders they’ve gone through recently. Suslov, he died in ’82. Then that bald guy, Podgorny, ran things until he died about a year later in ’83. Then Ustinov takes over but gets overthrown in ’84. Then finally they had that other bald guy, Orlov, then Yakovlev, with the glasses and the wild hair on the sides, and now he’s been replaced with, uh, Orlov again, as a placeholder of sorts, right?”

GUEST 1: “Well I for one am just glad it’s finally over – the Cold War’s kept everyone on edge for, let’s see, 40 years or so. About time it came to an end!”

– WRKO AM 680 casual talk radio, 9/17/1984 broadcast



DENTON: 61%
GRAVEL: 34%
UNDECIDED: 5%

– Gallup poll, 9/22/1984



U.N. COURT DECIDES TO DECIDE GADDAFI’S FATE IN FEBRUARY, CITING “UNIQUE NATURE” OF CASE

– The New York Post, 9/23/1984



DENTON LAUDS NEW VISION FOR SOVIET PEOPLE

President Cites Yakovlev And Gorbachev’s “History-Making” Roles

– The Washington Post, 9/28/1984



THE USSR IS BURIED: BUT WHAT’S BEING BORN?

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 9/30/1984



The collapse of the USSR put the “Mir” Space Station project on hold. Meanwhile, the British space agency UKSA began working with us on our Skylab Space Station. Soon after, talks of a possible international space station, or, alternately, a space program for the UN, began to make their rounds among the international community…

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



NEWBORN TURKESTANI GOVERNMENT INHERITS FUNCTIONS OF PREVIOUS AUTHORITIES, BUREAUCRACIES

In a series of statements issued after a two-day meeting at a government retreat, leaders of the Yugoslavia-style Central Asia confederation have declared a new “commonwealth of independent states” with the former soviet republics of Tajikistan, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. The declaration puts into place “a new coordinated body of defense” against any and all hostile elements and to create stability for a region still reeling from the collapse of the Soviet Union...

– The New York Times, 10/4/1984



On October 5, the 1984 American League Championship Series saw the East Division Kentucky Colonels go up against the West Division San Diego Padres. The Colonels underperformed unexpectedly, and lost 4-to-3. That night, amidst the rowdy victory celebrations across the city of San Diego, an unidentified group of Padres fans – likely inebriated by both booze and euphoric elation – vandalized a local KFC outlet that featured a life-size statue of the Colonel himself. After damaging a window, the assailants removed the Colonel statue from its base and drove away with it. The left hand of the statue was found on a riverbank roughly 20 miles northeast of the city the next morning, alongside tire tracks, spilled beer cups, and a Padres ball cap. Most believe the statue was pushed into the river and floated away from the area during the night.…

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



“Somethin’s not right here. For the last fifteen years or so we’ve lost every game of the series by at least 5 runs, and we’ve only finished above .500 once since 1985 or so. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s like we’re f@#kin’ cursed or somethin’!”

– Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres, 1999



…all attempts to locate the allegedly cursed Colonel statue have failed, leading to Padres fans creating a wide multitude of theories and speculations concerning how “The Colonel Curse” can be lifted…

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

[pic: imgur.com/fejrzTV ]
– Colonel Sanders attending the 1984 Chicken Dinner Peace Summit in Jerusalem, 10/6/1984



The first of two Presidential debates was held on Tuesday, the 9th of October. Despite the collapse of the USSR being on everyone’s minds, moderator Barbara Walter firmly stuck to the previously-determined topics, all of which focused on domestic policy. While Denton repeatedly shifted focus to matters overseas, Gravel took the opportunity to express his progressive ideas and proposals.

The most noteworthy parts of the debate were as follows:

GRAVEL: “Does anyone here think that it is an accident that the wealthy are no longer paying their fair share? The only way they are going to is to reverse the tax policies of the past four years or to wipe out the income tax, because it is corrupting our society. If we need a tax, we need a retail sales tax.” [3]

DENTON: “We're in a ball game at a certain juncture, at this point, where we have to continue efforts in bipartisanship in looking at not only domestic policy but also foreign policy, be we conservatives or liberals, or Democrats or Republicans, lest we allow our nation to erode away into nothingness, like a rather paralyzed giant, one ripe to fall off the tree like an over-ripe plum, like what has happened to the USSR.” [4]

GRAVEL: “I’m a political maverick, and while I am forever grateful to the Democrats for their support in this race and in my past endeavors and accomplishments, let me remind the audience here that I worked with Republicans during my time in the Senate, and let me be clear that as President I would not be an enemy to the Republicans, because I care more about getting things done and doing what’s right than I do about any sense of blind partisan loyalty.”

DENTON: “With the woes of the ’78 crash behind us, we have been in a process of attaining a great degree of luxury, degrees of luxury which distract us from the dangers of vices. As we are consumed with such matters as cordless phones and eight-track tapes and the most popular automobiles and so forth, we are becoming quite sophisticated with respect to non-necessities. This has happened to nations in the past, and it is my belief that man can cope with adversity, and that his most difficult problem in the forthcoming years will be coping with prosperity.” [4]

GRAVEL: “America is a representative government, not a direct democracy, but it can be if we give the American people the ability to introduce law proposals at the federal level. We need to implement a Constitutional Amendment that is far more important than the Balanced Budget Amendment set to go to the state legislators fairly soon. We need a Direct Democracy Amendment to make America’s voices heard through a two-step Power Process: the ability to introduce an initiative, and then the ability to vote on it, via a referendum, something the Europeans call a plebiscite. Some states have this sort of this, but that’s just it, it’s only at the state and local level. And most of the time, it is just a referendum a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on content decided by legislators, not directly by the people themselves. If we are to truly be a democracy, then the people must be able to bypass the slow pace of congress and implement the laws and freedoms that they want implemented at the federal level.” [5]

DENTON: “I know what it is like to be in a hopeless situation. I know how it feels when it feels you’ve been dealt a bad hand. I respect Mike for his service in the Armed Forces, but while he was serving in Alaska’s state congress, I was being tortured and imprisoned during the final years of the Cuba War, and despite everything, I held onto my faith in my God and my belief in this country. And I still have faith in the opportunities that this country has to offer anybody willing to show up and work hard for them.”

Additionally, Gravel called for a change in voter registration so that a citizen who registers to vote is registered for life, and does not have to re-register when they move. The former Vice President also made the claim that Denton was “dangerously infringing on the rights of the people” by supporting legislation that attacked “entertainment mediums depicting sexual promiscuity,” spent millions of dollars in an effort to “enforce sexual restraint” onto the nation’s youth (a.k.a., the controversial “Chastity Bill”) [6], and raised the federal drinking age to 22, which Gravel confessed “has made even more young Americans register as Democrats.” Gravel was clearly the favorite of young people, both in the audience and nationally, for openly opposing Denton’s handling of youth crime and “the recreadrug epidemic,” causing Democratic US Senator Mario Biaggi of New York to finally openly endorse the incumbent Republican President on October 10.

Initial post-debate polls showed that Gravel had significantly narrowed the gap between the two men, but alas, Gravel still trailed the President by roughly five points.

– Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



DENTON: 50%
GRAVEL: 45%
UNDECIDED: 5%

– Gallup poll, 10/10/1984



CONGRESS PASSES BILL CREATING NEW CABINET DEPARTMENT TO ADDRESS VETERANS’ ISSUES

…The Department of Veterans’ Affairs will provide healthcare services and assistance in regards to education, insurance, and financial concerns, along with other veteran needs…

– The Washington Post, 10/11/1984



76 YEARS IN THE MAKING: THE CUBS WIN THE PENNANT!

– The Chicago Tribune, 10/14/1984



ALEXANDER: “…And that’s why same-sex relationships should not be encouraged.”

MODERATOR (Sander Vanocur): “Congressman Jones, your rebuttal?”

JONES: “Thank you. Lamar, you have made many remarks in the past that are libertarian in nature [7]. But isn’t it anti-libertarian and a violation of one’s right to privacy to force fellow Americans to behave exactly how someone else might behind closed doors? And does it not contrast with your anti-regulations rhetoric to try to regulate what goes on in the privacy of one’s own home?”

[snip]

MODERATOR: “Mr. Vice President, last year you led the call for organized voluntary prayer in public schools, an action defended by a recent bill passed by congress after the Supreme Court declined to hear a case against it. Do you think this bill is an infringement on others who do not wish religion to enter school any more than others do not wish evolution and science be mentioned in church?”

ALEXANDER: “No, because ensuring the First Amendment right to free speech for someone is not the same as removing said right from someone else. The bill promotes keeping God in the public sphere, but it does not demand allegiance to any specific God, far from it. It protects freedom of religion and that’s that.”

[snip]

JONES: “I agree with Lamar over here that prayer is important, but I think it is more important that our children are taught to do more than to pray at church and provide lip service. They should feel compelled to do good deeds outside of church, in their communities, to do more than to just do what we tell them to do.”

[snip]

JONES: “We need to ensure every child in this country has access to learn. Greater access to books, through bookmobiles, better funding for public libraries and school libraries, and the establishing of more bookstores.”

ALEXANDER: “And how are you possibly going to regulate such a thing?”

[snip]

ALEXANDER: “In fact, Denton and I are working on a possible Constitutional Amendment that would ban the desecration of the American flag. That’s the destruction of the flag, mainly, not patriotically wearing the flag – or at least not wearing it in a respectful manner, that is.”

JONES: “And how are you possibly going to regulate such a thing?”

[snip]

JONES: “I applaud the efforts of several states that are passing state universal health care laws and forming pacts together so someone injured in one state will not have to worry about their out-of-state insurance. We need to expand this idea to all fifty states.”

MODERATOR: “Mr. Vice President, I see you raised your hand, you wish to rebuttal?”

ALEXANDER: “Yes. I have the responsibility to reveal to this audience that this public option, this ‘all-inclusive’ idea would cost American voters large tax hikes that they would never agree to, as a government cannot possibly afford such a massive medical payments coverage program without substantially raising taxes overall. I support additional church-based Health Care Networks instead [7]. Additionally, we should also really crack down on medical insurance fraud and allow certain groups such as religious groups and tribal Indians to opt out of any federal healthcare laws, period.”

[snip]

ALEXANDER: “We should allow workers to manage their own retirement funds, and allow for individual security accounts [7].”

[snip]

ALEXANDER: “Congressman Jones, we won’t have to regulate recreadrug use once – I mean if – if we ban recreadrug use altogether.”

[snip]

ALEXANDER: “On this, I actually agree with Congressman Jones – we should expand health insurance programs for children, but to expand healthcare overall is too much. We should instead continue doing what Denton and I and the rest of the good people in the White House today are doing – cutting taxes and spending to stimulate market growth.”

[snip]

JONES: “Let me finally just say this – we need to have mutual respect for each other, for our fellow Americans, and for people in all other countries because the American government never goes to war with the people, but with the other governments. This is important to remember, because under a Gravel Administration, Gravel will fight for democracy to flourish around the world – and the mighty pen will be his sword.”

– Transcript snippets of the Alexander-Jones debate, the US’s first-ever (televised) Vice Presidential debate, Tuesday 10/16/1984

[pic: imgur.com/qPsjP7H.png ]

– In a demonstration of placing personal friendship above partisan politics, former US President Colonel Sanders, a “compassionate conservative” Republican, campaigns for his longtime friend and political ally, US Senator Lawrence Wetherby, a moderate Democrat; here, he meets with locals at an antique store in Paducah, KY to stump for Wetherby’s re-election bid (but, noticeably, without ever truly criticizing Wetherby’s GOP opponent, or even mentioning him unless The Colonel is directly asked about him), 10/17/1984



EXTRA!: EAST GERMANY BEGINS DISMANTLING BERLIN WALL!

As USSR Deflates, East Berlin's Communist Regime Bows To International Pressure And Years Of Internal Unrest!

…while West Germany’s economy is very prosperous, the same could not be said for the thousands trapped behind the Berlin Wall, held hostage by their government until now… It has been suggested that, under the right leadership, Germany could even capitalize on this stunning event’s momentum to become a united country once again, though its leaders would likely try to stay away from inviting the economic recession and turmoil to which Russia has succumbed…

– The Washington Post, 10/20/1984



“The people of West Germany have stood up to tyranny despite not having any weapons, let alone any nuclear weapons. If anything, the true weapon they wielded was their bravery and their resolve to stand firm and oppose their oppressors.”

– Mike Gravel, 10/21/1984 stump speech



The second Presidential debate was held on Tuesday, the 21st of October, and moderated by Edwin Newman, with Georgie Anne Geyer, Morton Kondracke and Marvin Kalb as panelists.

Gravel crumbled in this second debate, as it focused entirely on foreign policy. Denton claimed repeatedly that Gravel had poor judgement when it came to “what’s necessary to protect and defend this nation.” To drive home the point that Gravel was at times at odds with even pro-détente policies, Denton brought up the rhetoric of Gravel’s 1968 presidential run, in which the then-US Congressman asserted in a stump speech that the historic US-Soviet arms reduction treaty of 1968 was “an organizing of the rules of war and death,” [8] despite many analysts recently praising it as a contributing factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Gravel countered with “It is immoral and arrogant to tell others how to run their country. Already, this government is trying to undermine the efforts of Gorbachev and Yakovlev to get the Russian people out of poverty but opposing the Interim Russian Government’s Ambassador at the UN. We shouldn’t ever kick a country when it’s down. …It’s their country, not ours.” He later swore that “America will have no further enemies if we treat the Russians – if we treat everyone, in fact – if even treat them as equals, as fellow human beings.” [9]

Later on, Gravel ended an anti-war rant by turning to President Denton and asking him, “Who are you going to tell us to be afraid of now, now that the Soviet Union is gone?” Denton ignored the question as the audience let out a combination of cheers and jeers. While praised years later, the statement at the time was considered petty and unprofessional, as it seemed Gravel was accusing the President of fearmongering at a time when his approval ratings were at an all-time high.

In his defense, Gravel did have his moments once the panelists brought up the situations in Libya and Iran, along with American support for anti-socialist groups in Nicaragua. “How do these wars benefit the U.S. if it leads to our boys in uniform coming back in caskets? …If I was President, I would make it illegal for American troops to occupy any foreign power without congressional support and just cause, no matter how hostile.”

In the end, though, Denton successfully presented himself as a wise and strong leader on the world stage, almost taking personal credit for the end of the Cold War – but stopping himself short by crediting “America’s armed forces and diplomats” for doing so – and presented Gravel as an out-of-touch peacenik with ideas that had not been updated in 16 years.

Days later, in the response to William F. Buckley’s claims that a Gravel Presidency would prove to be “an incompetent mess,” Gravel’84 supporter Shirley MacLaine infamously told a reporter and TV cameraman “I’d rather follow an incompetent hero than a competent villain,” a gaffe that was soon picked up by the Denton campaign, and not exactly to Gravel’s advantage.

– Theodore H. White’s The Making of the President: 1984, Atheneum Publishers, 1985



DENTON: 53%
GRAVEL: 43%
UNDECIDED: 4%

– Gallup poll, 10/22/1984



When Indian President Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by her own Sikh security guards to avenge the Amritsar Siege that killed dozens of Sikhs several months earlier, President Denton offered his condolences but kept his mind on his re-election bid. Former President Mondale also voiced his sympathies but otherwise remained focused on his Presidential library’s recent renovations. Former President Colonel Sanders, however, was saddened by the loss of life, while privately (and, years later, quite controversially), angrily fumed “She shouldn’t have brought this upon herself, but she did – the chickens came home to roost for her – and now, if I was a gamblin’ man, I’d bet things will only get worse for them Sikh folks.” Indeed, the Indian government responded to the assassination with a wave of anti-Sikh persecution in India, affecting thousands.

Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq considered taking the moment of chaos to “liberate” Jammu and Kashmir from India as Pakistan’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) believed that the country was in enough disarray to be taken. India’s new President, Rajiv Gandhi, suspected as much, and mobilized Army forces to indicate that an invasion would be met with a swift counter-invasion. Not wanting a repeat of the 1971 India-Pakistan War, in which Pakistan failed to overcome India’s superior firepower, Zia ul-Haq put the “liberation plans” for Kashmir on hold. Metaphorically-speaking, he put the option down, but did not remove it from the table.

Concurrently, seeing the UN as being partially at fault for negotiating a stalemate in 1965 that ultimately failed to resolve the conflict in Kashmir, and rightfully believing that Zia ul-Haq was “just buckin’ to try an’ pull something now,” Colonel Sanders contacted the multinational Chicken Dinner Jerusalem Summit Planning Organization, and the heads of state of several relevant Middle Eastern nations. The contacts concerned the feasibility of both India and Pakistan officials being invited to the 1985 Summit in order to encourage a peaceful solution to the recurring conflicts over Kashmir. The suggestion was encouraged by some international leaders, but initially received lukewarm responses from most Indian, Pakistani, and Middle Eastern leaders...

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy in the Cold War: Negotiation & Confrontation, Routledge, 2017



DEFENSE SECRETARY WESTMORELAND: TROOPS SHOULD BE LEAVING LIBYA “ANY DAY NOW”

– The Washington Times, 10/31/1984



OBSERVERS CONFIRM NICARAGUA ELECTION WAS “FREE AND FAIR”

…The U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua Bert Nettles agrees with international observer groups such as the E.E.C. and several religious organizations that claim the yesterday’s Presidential Election in Nicaragua was a “free and fair” execution of the democratic process... …With the collapse of the USSR, some pundits believed that incumbent President Daniel Ortega of the socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front would lose to the Democratic Conservative party’s nominee, Clemente Guido Chavez. Instead, Ortega won the election with 61.7% of the vote…

– The Washington Post, 11/5/1984



DENTON: 56%
GRAVEL: 41%
UNDECIDED: 3%

…It seems yesterday’s re-election of a socialist President in the diminutive nation of Nicaragua has had minimal to no effect on the numbers…

– Gallup poll, 11/5/1984



“As more troops return home from Iran, reuniting American heroes with their families and loved ones, President Denton’s approval ratings continue to rise.”

– CBS News, 11/6/1984



“F@#k. I am going to lose badly tonight, aren’t I?”

– Mike Gravel, to campaign worker Warren Beatty, upon seeing the latest Presidential poll numbers, 11/6/1984

[pic: imgur.com/W6gf8IC ]
…California, Wisconsin, Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Delaware, Illinois, and New York all had a margin of victory of less than 5%... The electorally bulky state of California was too narrow to determine until 7:13 AM the next day – roughly eight hours after Denton surpassed the 270 threshold – with Denton winning it by a margin of 1.15%...

– clickopedia.co.usa

[pic: imgur.com/zjWCZ8M.png ]
– Mike Gravel on Election Night '84



United States Senate election results, 1984

Date: November 6, 1984
Seats: 35 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Howard Baker (R-TN)
Senate minority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Seats before election: 59 (R), 40 (D), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 58 (R), 41 (D), 1 (I)
Seat change: R v 1, D ^ 1, I - 1

Full List:
Alabama: Albert Lee Smith Jr. (R) over Howell Heflin (D); incumbent John Sparkman (D) retired
Alabama (special): incumbent appointee William Jackson “Jack” Edwards (R) over Richard Shelby (D)
Alaska: incumbent Hazel P. Heath (R) over Steve Cowper (D) and William D. “Bill” Overstreet (Independent)
Arkansas: incumbent Jim Guy Tucker (D) over Ed Bethune (R)
Colorado: incumbent William L. Armstrong (R) over Nancy E. Dick (D)
Delaware: Joe Biden (D) over incumbent J. Caleb Boggs (R)
Georgia: incumbent Sam Nunn (D) over Jon M. Hicks (R)
Idaho: incumbent George V. Hansen (R) over Peter M. Busch (D)
Idaho (special): incumbent appointee Bethine Clark Church (D) over Donald Billings (R)
Illinois: Paul Simon (D) over Paul Findley (R); incumbent Charles Percy (R) retired
Iowa: incumbent Roger Jespen (R) over Tom Harkin (D)
Kansas: incumbent Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R) over James R. Maher (D)
Kentucky: incumbent Lawrence W. Wetherby (D) over Harold Dallas “Hal” Rogers (R)
Louisiana: Clyde Cecil Holloway (R) over Jerry Huckaby (D); incumbent Jack P. F. Gremillion Sr. (D) retired to unsuccessfully run for President
Maine: Peter Kyros (D) over incumbent William Cohen (R)
Massachusetts: incumbent Ed Brooke (R) over James Shannon (D)
Michigan: Jack R. Lousma (R) over Donald J. Albosta (D); incumbent Robert Griffin (R) retired
Minnesota: incumbent appointee Mark Dayton (D) over Tom Hagedorn (R)
Mississippi: incumbent James H. Meredith (R) over Maurice Dantin (D)
Montana: incumbent Larry Williams (R) over John Driscoll (D)
Nebraska: incumbent Orrin Hatch (R) over J. James Exon (D)
New Hampshire: Endicott Peabody (D) over incumbent Hugh Gregg (R)
New Jersey: incumbent Mary V. Mochary (R) over Alexander J. Menza (D)
New Mexico: incumbent Roberto Mondragon (D) over Pete Domenici (R)
North Carolina: incumbent Terry Sanford (D) over Jesse Helms (R)
Oklahoma: incumbent Bud Wilkinson (R) over David Boren (D)
Oregon: incumbent Mark Hatfield (R) over Mary Wendy Roberts (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent Claiborne Pell (D) over Barbara Leonard (R)
South Carolina: incumbent Strom Thurmond (R) over Melvin Purvis Jr. (D)
South Dakota: incumbent Larry Pressler (R) over George V. Cunningham (D)
Tennessee: incumbent Howard Baker (R) over Jane Eskind (D) and Ed McAteer (Salvation)
Texas: incumbent Ron Paul (R) over Sam Johnson (D) and Silvestre “Silver” Reyes (La Raza Unida)
Virginia: incumbent Richard Dudley Obenshain (R) over Edythe C. Harrison (D)
West Virginia: John Raese (R) over Jay Rockefeller (D); incumbent Jennings Randolph (D) retired
Wyoming: incumbent Gale W. McGee (D) over Gordon H. Barrows (R)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



Biden decided to run for the US Senate again because he was aware that he was not relevant on the national level even among Democratic politicians; according to his son Hunter, “Even some of his fellow Governors couldn’t remember who he was.” Biden considered a run for the Senate, a body closer to more nationwide issues, would be an easier undertaking than facing off against the candidates running in the crowded Democratic primaries. Additionally, incumbent Senator J. Caleb Boggs was now 75, and considered vulnerable due to recent health scares and his record of missed votes. Finally, Biden’s wife, Neilia Hunter, did not think their family was “ready” for the White House. With five children – Beau, b. 1969; Hunter, b. 1970; Naomi, b. 1971; Catherine, b. 1973; and Mary, b. 1975 – and their youngest suffering from numerous health issues, Neilia believed that a run for the Senate would place considerably less pressure and stress on the family than would a Presidential run “at that point in time,” according to Hunter Biden, “but if things got better, Ma thought, then Dad could run ’88 or ’92.”

– clickopedia.co.usa/Joseph_Biden_(Delaware_politician)/1984_Senate_campaign



United States House of Representatives results, 1984

Date: November 6, 1984
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218
New House majority leader: Robert H. Michel (R-IL)
New House minority leader: Hale Boggs (D-LA)
Last election: 248 (R), 187 (D)
Seats won: 254 (R), 181 (D)
Seat change: R ^ 6, D v 6

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



Another notable Democratic loss in the South was that of Victoria Gray Adams, Democratic Representative from Mississippi since 1977. The African-American female politician called for people to “vote, vote, vote [their] way out of poverty,” and as such was an early supporter of Mike Gravel and his “direct democracy” National Initiative proposal. She lost her seat during the Denton Wave of ’84 by a four-percent margin...

[snip]

In Texas, former state representative Democrat Sarah Weddington lost her bid for a third term. A member of the US Congress since 1981, Weddington was an openly progressive and feminist mother of two who was both a fierce critic of President Denton in a pro-Denton state, and an early advocate of legalizing abortion in all fifty states despite hailing from a strongly anti-abortion state. Her loss was considered tragic due to her being labeled a rising star in the progressive wing of the party, with there even being rumors of her planning to run for Governor in 1986; those plans, if even true, were dashed in light of her defeat. Weddington went on to became a more outspoken advocate for legalizing abortion in all 50 states in the late 1980s and early 1990s culminating in...

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



United States Governor election results, 1984

Date: November 6, 1984
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 12
Seats before: 28 (D), 20 (R), 1 (P), 1 (I)
Seats after: 26 (D), 22 (R), 1 (P), 1 (I)
Seat change: D v 2, R ^ 2, I - 1, P - 1

Full list:
Arkansas: incumbent Orval Faubus (D) over Elwood A. “Woody” Freeman (R)
Delaware: Michael Castle (R) over William J. Quillen (D); incumbent Joseph Biden (D) was term-limited
Indiana: incumbent Dan Quayle (R) over Richard Gordon Hatcher (D)
Missouri: Betty Cooper Hearnes (D) over Gene McNary (R) and Ken Rothman (Independent); incumbent Bill Bradley (D) was term-limited
Montana: Dorothy Bradley (D) over Pat M. Goodover (R) and incumbent Martin J. “Red” Beckman (Independent after losing re-nomination to Bradley)
New Hampshire: Calvin Warburton (“Dove” R) over Chris Spirou (D); incumbent Walter Rutherford Peterson Jr. (“Hawk” R) lost re-nomination
North Carolina: Elizabeth Gardner (R) over Rufus L. Edmisten (D); incumbent Jim Hunt (D) was term-limited
North Dakota: incumbent Ruth Meiers (D) over Anna Bourgois (R)
Utah: Wayne Owens (D) over incumbent Vernon Bradford Romney (R)
Vermont: incumbent Richard A. Snelling (R) over Madeleine M. Kunin (D), and Peter Diamondstone (Liberty Union)
Washington: incumbent Daniel J. Evans (R) over Booth Gardner (D)
West Virginia: Cecil Underwood (R) over Clyde M. See Jr. (D); incumbent Jay Rockefeller (D) retired

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



PA’S OWN ROBERTO CLEMENTE ELECTED GOVERNOR OF PUERTO RICO!

…The humanitarian former MLB right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates served as Goodwill Ambassador under Mondale, and was the Chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports from 1981 to 1983… Clemente, running on the Popular Democratic ticket (the Commonwealth’s version of the Democratic Party), defeated incumbent Carlos Romero (NP), who was running for a second term, by a five-percent margin…

– The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/6/1984



…As such, instead of forming a Presidential ticket, the Green Party worked to secure seats on city councils and state legislatures, elected either directly as Green nominees or with party endorsement/fusion tickets, such as in NYC, where, for example, two Green nominees became city aldermen...

– minorpartiesmatter.co.usa/history/1980s/article#43249723



Bernhard “Bernie” Goetz (b. 11/7/1947 in Queens, NYC, NY)… [snip] …Goetz was raised in upstate New York, where his father ran a dairy farm and a bookbinding business. At the age of twelve, Goetz was sent to Switzerland for boarding school, and returned to the United States in 1965 for college, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and another in nuclear engineering from NYU. By this time, his family had moved to Florida, and so Goetz began working at his father’s new residential development business there in 1969. In November 1984, Goetz moved to Denver, Colorado for “a change of scenery,” soon after the “bitter” conclusion of a romantic relationship. According to some historians, Goetz also moved to Colorado to “get away from the high number of Hispanics in Florida and the higher number of non-whites in New York City.” Goetz used his savings to invest in a local hardware store; he took over the business and made it his own “Bernie’s Bolts And Stuff” by mid-1987, and soon after began to use business connections and a loan borrowed from his father to expand into residential housing in Denver…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Bernie_Goetz



THE OVERSEERS

Premiered: December 1, 1984
Genre(s): war-action-drama
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Written by: Michael Herr, Bo Gritz, Gustav Hasford

Cast:
Robert Vaughn as William Westmoreland
Steve McQueen as Creighton Abrams
Dale Alan Dye Jr. as George Scratchley Brown
Leonard Nimoy as Che Guevara
Nestor Serrano as Camilo Cienfuegos
James Woods as Fred Wayand
Caitlyn Jenner (billed at the time as Caitlyn Jenner) as Bruce Palmer Jr.
Don Patrick Harvey as Charles Whitmore
See Full List Here

Synopsis:
The key events of the Cuba War and the Indochinese Wars of the 1960s are told from the eyes of the pivotal American military personnel involved in them.

Reception:
While some critics called the film “blatant propaganda,” most celebrated its portrayal of both the drama of military leaders with opposing views and ideas and the intensity of the on-the-ground battles. Premiering at a time when the US was exiting foreign disputes in Libya and Iran, the film was a fairly decent hit with audiences. The film’s profits almost doubled its budget, and it quickly gained a large cult following.

Trivia Facts:
1) This was McQueen’s final film role, succumbing to pleural mesothelioma roughly two months before the film’s release. [10]
2) This was the film many claim launched the acting career of Caitlyn Jenner, billed at the time as Bruce Jenner; the thespian would act in several major films in the 1980s and 1990s. Jenner is the only person ever to win both an Oscar for Best Actor and an Oscar for Best Actress...
– www.mediarchives.co.usa/The _Overseers



PUSSER PROBES FIND WRONGDOING ON BOTH SIDES OF POLITICAL AISLE

…the state lawmakers involved in new official state investigations include state representative Robert J. Fisher (R), accused of accepting a bribe to oppose a state bill in 1980; state representative Emmitt Ford (D), accused of some undisclosed form of fraud; and state representative Tommy Burentt (D), accussed of tax evasion…

– The Chattanooga Times Free Press, 12/3/1984



REPORT: GOP CONGRESS LEADERS WORKING ON “AMBITIOUS AGENDA” FOR NEXT TWO YEARS

…Senate leader Howard Baker and House Speaker Michel lead a party looking forward to another two years of political domination in D.C., with President Denton meeting with prominent House and Senate members in recent weeks to discuss legislation proposals for the 99th (1985-1987) congress…

– The Washington Post, 12/10/1984



Janice R. Fine was eight years old when the Ms. Arkansas Scandal broke out. She thought back to how her parents reacted to the revelations, causing her mind to think back to how her mother, before she lost her to cancer, and to her father, before he lost himself after losing the love of his life to cancer. Returning to her tiny workspace, Janice sank into her chair, discouraged by what felt like her ten-millionth phone call of the day. Another attempt to confront an alleged pervert through court procedural justice had ended in failure, the judge ruling the evidence was too “she said-he said” in nature. She thought of going outside despite the cold to light a cig, or sneaking in a sip of scotch before the lunch break. Any little thing to distract her from the fearful buzzing voice in the back of her mind suggesting to her that the naysayers were right, that she truly was wasting her time here in D.C.

Born in mid-November 1961, Janice, the 23-year-old daughter of a G. I. Bill-using WWII veteran, who was originally from Long Island, but later based in Brooklyn, had graduated from law school just the year before. [snip] Janice got her start working against redlining in the late 1970s and early 1980s, organizing and mobilizing black-majority areas in NYC. She beamed with pride over her contributions to the cause when Governor Cuomo passed a law making it so when banks merge, they have to disclose all information, allowing studiers to access data to prove violations. From this, she shifted back to more feminist-based causes, landing a job at a D.C. law firm.

Janice also dabbled lightly in politics from time to time. However, apart from being a face in the crowd at several rallies against Governor-turned-Senator Mario Biaggi and several other rallies for NYC Mayor Carol Bellamy, she had never been a prominent player.

Then, on that fateful December morning, a woman entered the law firm requesting she become a client. The woman had what Janice would call “some major beef” with a high-ranking member of the Denton White House. Unfortunately, nobody believed the woman’s claims but Janice. Now, she could have let the buzzing voice in the back of her head tell her to not pursue the claims, to assume the woman was an attention-seeking liar. But how would that make her any better than the enablers of the perverts Janice was just bucking to take down?

Janice’s decision to run after the woman, get her phone number, and promise her that she would look into the matter was in of itself a simple task, but, in larger context, it was the spark that began one of the biggest and most defining events of the 1980s.

– Andrew Boyd and D. O. Mitchell’s Glorious Chaos: A Guide for The Revolutionary in You, Sparkstarters Publications, 2013



DMITRIY USTINOV IS DEAD; Ousted Ani-Reform USSR Leader Was 76

…reportedly having contracted pneumonia shortly after being overthrown earlier this year, he was granted emergency surgery to correct an aneurysm in his aortic valve weeks ago, only for him to die from cardiac arrest. At the time of his surgery, his liver and kidney were reportedly deteriorating…

– The New York Times, 12/24/1984



The perceived victory of United Turkestan in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet stranglehold on them gave rise to similar calls for independence in other, even less populous ethnic regions within Russia proper. Bashkortostan, a region just to the northwest of Kazakhstan, had been the victim of Red Tanks plowing through on their way to Turkestan; in December 1984, pro-independence rallies began to sprout up in earnest. This contrasted with the rhetoric that came from the Buddhist region of Kalmykia, which favored peaceful measures to obtain further autonomy if not full independence. Calls for North Ossetia to become united with Georgia’s South Ossetia region began to be heard around this time as well. Before the year was out, the loudest people of the regions of Tuva, Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Karelia were mirroring “the voices of Turkestan.”

At the time, it looked as if all of these efforts could feasibly succeed as “Russia proper” was in complete shambles, still attempting to fix themselves and re-establish a stable and popular government. However, the secession efforts had many obstacles in their ways. First off, many of these regions had low populations, low military weaponry or military experience, little diplomatic relations or even immediate recognition, and poor geographic locations. Most importantly, though, was the lack of majority support in many of these regions, where a large chunk of the populations were of Russian descent or spoke the Russian language. Not only were nearly all of these ethnic/linguistically Russian citizens opposed to the further splintering of the former USSR, but it seems that even large slices of the respective “local” ethnic groups of each region were opposed to secession, creating internal debates over how to proceed as the new year – and the new era of Russian history – began…

– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016



Deng Xiaoping was shocked, but not saddened, by the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was convinced in the end that the USSR fell because they refused to open up their markets to the US and Western Europe. Concurrently, the Chinese Communist Party members had mixed emotions overall as national leaders weighed the positive and negative consequences of their geopolitical frenemy. On the one hand, some such as Bo Yibo saw it as a warning of what could happen in China if they did not reform; Russia’s downfall also meant that China would now be the number-one go-to nation for aspiring communist and socialist groups and individuals, which had good and bad aspects on its own. On the other hand, the Chinese military believed the collapse would encourage anti-communist elements within China to rebel, seeing as it turned out rather well for the people of Central Asia.

Speaking of which, this latter concern was likely the reason behind Xiaoping increasing efforts to “conform” the native people of Xinjiang into Red China society. Now that China was to be dealing with a new neighbor in the form of United Turkestan, the need to make Red China’s westernmost province “fully” Han Chinese became an even greater “high-ranking priority.”

– Thomas DuBois’ Chinese Modern History: A Look At The People And Their Narratives, 2019



PROSECUTORS “INSPECTING” ACTIONS TAKEN DURING VP ALEXANDER’S GOVERNORSHIP

– The Knoxville News Sentinel, 1/14/1985



This ceremony takes place for each new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for a second term. Since 1937, it has taken place at noon EST on January 20, the first day of the new term, some 72 to 78 days after the presidential election, except for those occasions when January 20 falls on a Sunday. In those years, the presidential oath of office is administered on that day in a private ceremony and then again in a public ceremony the next day, on Monday, January 21. [11]

– clickopedia.co.usa/United_States_Presidential_Inauguration



“The next four years are going to be another four years stability, high morality, community camaraderie, peace, and prosperity, both at home and abroad, only to an even greater and more glorious extent. Thank you, and God bless you all!”

– President Denton’s Second Inaugural Address, 1/21/1985



JEREMIAH DENTON’S ADMINISTRATION AT THE START OF 1985

Cabinet:
Secretary of State: incumbent Secretary of State and former Governor Donald Edgar “Buz” Lukens (R-OH)
Secretary of the Treasury: incumbent Secretary of the Treasury and former Undersecretary of the Treasury Thelma Stovall (R-KY)
Undersecretary of the Treasury: incumbent Undersecretary of the Treasury and former C.O.O. of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board Preston Martin (R-DC)
Secretary of Defense: incumbent Secretary of Defense and former Governor William Westmoreland (R-SC)
Attorney General: incumbent Attorney General Providence Mayor Vincent Albert “Buddy” Cianci Jr. (R-RI)
Postmaster General: incumbent Postmaster General William F. Bolger (D-WI)
Secretary of the Interior: actor, preservation activist, conservation philanthropist and former President of the Screen Actors Guild Charlton Heston (R-CA) (incumbent Jay Hammond retired)
Secretary of Agriculture: former director of the US Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee and incumbent Undersecretary of Agriculture Harold Guy Hunt (R-AL) (incumbent Richard Roudebush retired)
Secretary of Commerce: incumbent Secretary of Commerce Alfred Hayes Jr. (I-NY)
Secretary of Labor: US Representative William David Ford (D-MI) (incumbent Whitney Young retired)
Secretary of Health and Welfare: US Representative Virginia Dodd Smith (R-NE) (incumbent Robert John Cornell retired)
Secretary of Education: head of the United Negro College Fund and former Governor Arthur Allen Fletcher (R-WA) (incumbent William S. Broomfield retired)
Secretary of Transportation: incumbent Secretary of Transportation James D. Martin (R-AL)
Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs: actor, songwriter, rancher, former US Ambassador to Morocco, guest lecturer at The Citadel and West Point, and Veterans’ Rights activist First Lieutenant Audie Leon Murphy (R-TX) (position created in late 1984)

Cabinet-Level Positions:
Director of Central Intelligence (the CIA): incumbent Director George H. W. Bush (R-TX)
Director of the Federal Bureau of Information (FBI): incumbent Director William Mark Felt Sr. (D-ID)
US Trade Representative (TR): financial author, former US Representative, conservative advocate, and legal counselor for the US Department of the Treasury Robert E. Bauman (R-MD) (incumbent Hugh Gallen retired)
Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA): incumbent Administrator Thomas Beverley Evans Jr. (R-DE)
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): incumbent EPA Administrator, former NRSA Administrator, and former Secretary of Transportation Ralph Nader (I-CT)
Administrator of the Overwhelming Disaster Emergency Response Coordination Agency (ODERCA): incumbent Administrator Rudolf Anderson Jr. (R-SC)

The President’s Executive Office:
White House Chief of Staff: former state senator and outgoing Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget Richard E. Schermerhorn (R-NY) (incumbent Cliff White retired)
White House Counsel: political organizer Jesse Helms (R-NC)
Counselor to the President: former RNC Chairperson Mary Louise Smith (R-IA)
Chief Domestic Policy Advisor: professor of surgery at the Boston University School of Medicine and political activist Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson (R-MA)
Chief Economic Policy Advisor: banker and former Undersecretary of the Treasury for International Affairs Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (D-NJ)
Chief Foreign Policy Advisor: retired US Army Colonel and former advisor to California Governor Ronald Reagan Louis O. Giuffrida (R-CA)
Chief National Security Advisor: retired US Air Force General and former US Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis Emerson LeMay (R-OH)
Director of the Office of Management and Budget: former Governor Crawford Fairbanks Parker (R-IN)
White House Communications Director: political activist and GOP nominee for a US Congressional seat in 1978 and 1980 Newton Gingrich (R-GA)
White House Press Secretary: journalist and syndicated columnist for The Wall Street Journal Peggy Noonan (R-NY) (incumbent Don Lambro retired)

Other Notable Members:
Solicitor General (representative of the Federal Government before the US Supreme Court): Dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School Rex Edwin Lee (R-UT)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: US Army Major General John Kirk Singlaub (R-CA)
Federal Reserve Chairman: academic heterodox economist and political theorist Murray Newton Rothbard (R-NY)
NASA Director: community advocate, academic trustee and consultant, former Chairman of Caltech’s Board of Trustees, head of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, former First Lady of Pennsylvania and former Second Lady of the United States Mary Lowe Scranton (R-PA); incumbent Harold Brown retired)

Notable US Ambassadors (in alphabetical order):
To Austria: outgoing Ambassador to Indonesia and former Ambassador to Ghana Shirley Temple Black (R-CA)
To China: incumbent Ambassador Caspar Willard Weinberger (R-CA)
To France: incumbent Ambassador Joan Margaret Clark (I-NJ)
To Ireland: incumbent Ambassador John L. Saltonstall Jr. (R-MA)
To Mexico: incumbent Ambassador Benjamin “Boxcar Ben” Fernandez (R-CA)
To Russia: former Ambassador to Turkey Robert Strausz-Hupé (R-DC)
To South Africa: political science professor Merwin Crawford Young (I-WI)
To the UK: incumbent Ambassador J. Herbert Burke (R-FL)
To the UN: incumbent Ambassador Rozanne Lejeanne Ridgway (R-MN)

– DentonPresidentialLibrary.org.usa/cabinet_members/1985



NEBRASKA BECOMES 1ST STATE TO RATIFY BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

…with the support of Governor Charles Thone and both chambers of the state legislature, the amendment very well could become a part of the US Constitution “by the end of the decade,” says Senator Orrin Hatch (R-NE)…

– The New York Times, 1/28/1985



“For a moment, America was on top of the world. Then the s#*t hit the fan.”

– Professor Alan Ira Abramowitz, political scientist and author, class lecture at Stanford University, early 2002



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Based on this article: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/08/02/negative-income-tax-to-eradicate-poverty/. Also, for comparison’s sake to OTL, the poverty rate in the US was at its lowest in 1973 at 11.1% according to https://www.debt.org/faqs/americans-in-debt/poverty-united-states/
[2] All of these italicized bits are pulled directly from here: https://books.google.com/books?id=0YtaDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+collapse+of+the+soviet+union&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEtInol5PnAhWvg-AKHQG3DkkQ6AEwAnoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20collapse%20of%20the%20soviet%20union&f=false
[3] Based on what he said at a debate in 2007 IOTL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQWE3GD-uc
[4] Italicized bits are OTL quotes found here: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Denton
[5] Based on what he discusses here: youtube.com/watch?v=dU0qilkFO_8
[6] OTL!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolescent_Family_Life_Act
[7] Source: https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Lamar_Alexander.htm
[8] See late June 1968 entry in this TL.
[9] Based on a line from here: youtube.com/watch?v=uBcMUZAXMW4
[10] Died four years later than in OTL due to Admiral Zumwalt’s 1976 campaign raising awareness of asbestos exposure, prompting McQueen to get an early medical checkup. This, and some butterflies, prolongs his death by a few more years, long enough to star in just a few more films.
[11] Entire passage pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_inauguration

(also posted a day earlier due tomorrow being busy for me)

@Frank_Hart – whoops, that’s a typo: that should say Makinsk, a town in north-central Kazakhstan, a ways north of the capital!

 

[gap80]

Post 45: Chapter 53

Chapter 53: February 1985 – December 1985 ​

“There’s more going around in the dark than Santa Clause, and hanky-panky is its name!”

– Henry Howell



Moderator ROGER MUDD: Well, gentlemen, today’s question is what the future holds for the Democratic Party. How should the party proceed in the wake of Gravel’s defeat?

Governor PAUL SOGLIN: I’d like to start by saying that while Gravel’s candidacy flopped, his ideas did not. George, you can point to the statistics Gallup published last month showing a majority of Americans support a National Initiative and Referendum Amendment.

Analyst GEORGE GALLUP JR.: That I can, so you’re saying “right message, wrong messenger?”

SOGLIN: Oh, no, let me be clear – Gravel lost because the Soviet Union collapsed.

Prof. WILLIAM SCHNEIDER: No, Gravel’s campaign was too far to the left to win over moderates and undecided voters.

GALLUP: Actually, our research favors the Governor’s view – most undecided voters voted based on foreign policy issues, not domestic ones, and Gravel’s strength was in domestic issues.

MUDD: Then perhaps the Democrats may want to consider focusing on foreign affairs going forward.

SOGLIN: I disagree. As the situation at home worsens, and believe me, under Denton, it will, more people are going to return their focus to domestic affairs, and the Democrats can solve those kind of problems by sticking to Gravel’s policies.

MUDD: Do you think that strategy will win them the White House in ’88, or at least win more congressional seats in ’86?

SOGLIN: Yes, especially if we go even farther with Gravel’s vision.

SCHNEIDER: What, and alienate more Denton voters? At this point, it’d make more sense for the Democrats to veer back to the center!

SOGLIN: What makes sense and what will work are not always the same thing!

– Meet the Press, 2/1/1985 discussion [1]



IRAQ PRESIDENT SIGNS RENEWED TREATY WITH NATION’S KURDS

…Iraqi president Tahir Yahya, 68, with the support of the Shah of Iran and former President of Iraq Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, seeks to continue the nation’s stability among its ethnicities, which has defined relations within Iraq since the signing of the original 1970 Peace Accord…

– The Globe and Mail, 2/5/1985



…The President of Colombia is seeking to dismantle his nation’s large illicit cocaine-trafficking industry plaguing the cities and countryside of the South American nation, a problem that has developed as Colombia’s civil war continues on with seemingly no end in sight…

– CBS News, 2/6/1985 report



UN RULES IN FAVOR OF US!: GADDAFI TO SPEND LIFE IN PRISON

…Due to American forces being the ones who apprehended Gaddafi, effectively making them the victors of the War in Libya, the U.N.’s Special International Justice Committee ruled in favor of the United States, overriding a Libyan court sentencing Gaddafi to death. …US diplomatic experts fear that the ruling may jeopardize the level of support US troops have in Libya, as many of our allies over there are seeing the ruling as “American Imperialism imposing imperialistic injustice,” as the leader of the Libyan congressional opposition called it earlier today…

– The Washington Post, 2/8/1985



WILLIAMS LEADS LABOUR TO NARROW VICTORY!

…Elections were held for all 650 seats… Williams of the Labour party won 339 seats, a downward swing from the 352 it held before the election, while the “wet” Conservative leader Jim Prior led his party to winning 268. The centrist SDP-Liberal Alliance, meanwhile, picked up 10 seats, bringing their total to 25.

…due to the growth of left-wing members of the party, and with many of said members remaining unhappy by the ascension of the moderate Shirley Williams to the office of Prime Minister, several progressives departed from Labour late last year to form a new party: the United Kingdom Intrepid Progressive party, or U.K.I.P. for short. Tonight, the UKIPs won 5 seats. …The Moralist party, however, seems to have imploded in the wake of the Prior candidacy appealing to the party’s base; the socially conservative party has gone from holding 4 seats to just 1, the one held by its leader, Mary Whitehouse. 12 other seats went to smaller parties.

…The most-watched race of tonight, though, was the Liverpool election that saw famous musician and political activist John Lennon win a seat in parliament…

– The Guardian, 2/11/1985



…John Lennon, having just won a seat in parliament from Liverpool, was conflicted over the breakaway UKIP party. He agreed with their passion and ideology, but believed that such progressive stances would have a better chance of being implemented via through the Labour party, as it was already a well-established major party. As a result, John feared the existence of UKIP would siphon more progressives out of the Labour party, emboldening the moderate plans of Prime Minister Williams and her allies…

– Pat Sheffield’s Dreams, Reality, and Music: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole Entire World, Tumbleweed Publications, 2000



…On February 16, 1985, voluntary abortion became legal across Canada via striking down an abortion-when-necessary law stemming from the June 27, 1969 Criminal Law Amendment Act. Soon after, the US phrase “taking a trip to Canada” became synonymous with getting an abortion, as many Americans would take “extended vacations” to the Great White North to get “voluntary” abortions…

– Mary Ziegler’s Abortion: A History, Harvard University Press, 2015

[pic: imgur.com/GdT5GlF ]
– Colonel Sanders, age 94, receiving an award from an old-fashioned Women's Club in Louisville, Kentucky, 2/18/1985



President of Mexico Miguel de la Madrid’s actions were brought into question when a February 1985 Internal CIA report revealed that the federal government of Mexico had spent much of American assistance funding on wealthy donors instead of on the US’s efforts to fight the recreadrug “epidemic” plaguing the US, Mexico, Colombia, and several other nations of the Western Hemisphere. In response to this Denton ended the financial help, claiming the money was needed for domestic programs at a press conference the next day, February 19. That same day, Denton privately “told off” de la Madrid for “betraying” him, and, according to former Secretary of Defense William Westmoreland, adding “I should carpetbomb your mansion into dust. It seems we paid for it, so there’d be nothing wrong with it! But I’m not an unhinged man, so instead, I’ll just tell you one thing – never f*ck with me again, Miguel, because when you f*ck with me, you are f*cking with all of United States and all of its firepower. Good day.” Regardless of the accuracy of this quote, the fact does remain that US-Mexico relations under Denton became ice-cold after February 1985…

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



VP ALEXANDER’S INITIATIVES ARE TAKING FORM: A Review

…In stark contrast to the freezing-cold relationship of President Mondale and Vice President Gravel, Denton and Alexander have grown closer over the past four years, to the point that Alexander is being seen as a “Assistant President” of sorts. The label rings true especially in the wake of Alexander’s latest efforts on Capitol Hill. The Vice President has worked with conservative lawmakers – mostly Republicans, but also including conservative Democrats – to pass a string of new laws…

…One of these new bills will allow firearms in checked baggage to be transported on all public train systems… Alexander is a promoter of a new tax bill that will most likely be passed despite Democratic and liberal opposition. Alexander advocates for a “flatter, fairer, simpler federal income tax,” a reduction of estate tax, a “family-friendly” tax code, and the continuation of the federal reduction of capital gains taxes and dividends. Alexander has also opposed higher taxes on the wealthy, and has backed a plan to implement $100billion in tax breaks over the next four years to continue the nation’s growth.

…In regards to less economic concerns, Alexander is supportive of a recent bill that calls for making English the official language of the United States and the U.S. government, and replacing bilingual schools with English-only schools in order to “strongly coerce” non-English speaking Americans to learn the language. “We can’t be a united country if so many of us can’t even understand the rest of us,” claims Congressman Bob Dornan (R-CA), one of the bill’s more outspoken co-sponsors. …The Vice President has also called for more severe punishments for illegal aliens, and is opposed to “widening the pathway” to citizenship for illegal aliens in general, though he has gone on record as saying that he is “okay” with “the legal ones going through the process.”

– The Atlantic, 2/27/1985 issue [2]



ANTI-SECRECY CONGRESSMEN SET SIGHTS ON SANDERS’ SPICES

…A group of five US Representatives – all Democrats – are lobbying the FDA to inspect Kentucky Fried Chicken, demanding that the multinational brand and its parent company, Finger Lickin’ Good Inc., reveal the contents of its famous “trade secret” eleven herbs & spices! “The American people have the right to know what’s in that stuff,” says de facto group leader John Donald “Don” Fuqua (D-FL-2)… Another congressman even goes so far as to suggest that the presence of Harley Sanders in the Senate constitutes a “conflict of interests” in regards to Senate votes concerning business regulations that would affect Kentucky Fried Chicken. This claim, however, conflicts with Harley Sanders having severed all ties from KFC upon being elected to the US Senate…

– The New York Post, 2/28/1985



Denton approval rating shatters record high at 91%

…“The President is ushering in a new post-Cold War era with another four years of unquestioned American greatness,” says Senator Jack Edwards (R-AL)…

– The Washington Post, 3/1/1985



…In a formal statement, the CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Lee Cummings has announced that the multinational corporation will not, quote, “violate the sanctity of respecting trade secrets,” unquote, and will not disclose the company’s famous 11 Secret Herbs and Spices to, quote, “any inquiring FDA officials,” unquote. The statement comes after members of the US House of Representatives requested the FDA inspect the famous Trade Secret. The statement also stated the company’s belief that revealing the secret composition of flavoring applied to the company’s famous chicken would jeopardize the nation’s economy and markets by creating, quote, “an unprecedented breach in the trust of businesses big and small,” unquote. As U.S. District judges for Kentucky awaits additional replies from KFC’s attorneys, sources state that at least one circuit judge favors an FDA inquiry in order assure consumer safety…

[snip]

…We now have an update on the KFC Spices controversy. Attorneys for KFC have released to the FDA documents pertaining to the specific procedures used by KFC when employees and contractors handle the herbs and spices, along with citations for the, quote, “impeccably high ratings,” unquote, that Finger Lickin’ Good Incorporated has received from various sanitation inspection entities for the past ten years alone...

– The Overmyer Network, 3/2/1985 broadcast



…We can confirm that a powerful earthquake has pummeled the nation of Chile. Measured roughly at 8.0 on the Richter Scale, it appears that the quake has left at least hundred people dead, and over one thousand injured, along with having destroyed thousands of homes in a significant crisis for the South American country…

– CBS, 3/3/1985 broadcast



COLONEL SANDERS PLEDGES $1MILLION TO CHILE EARTHQUAKE RELIEF EFFORT

– The Wall Street Journal, 3/4/1985



On March 7, the “Big Five” of television – ABC, NBC, CBS, Overmyer and KNN – all reported on major breaking news: a bombshell scandal had hit D.C. as a Tennessee state investigation revealed that Vice President Lamar Alexander, while serving as Governor of Tennessee, had improperly accepted donations from several Christian colleges and schools, via members of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. The education-oriented institutions hoped to gain favoritism with the Governor in order to receive accreditation under his administration. Once out of office in 1979 but before he decided to launch a presidential bid later that same year, Alexander joined the board of the religious Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee, for a salary that was 200 times above average for his largely advisory role.

While this controversy alone may have not been so damaging, the investigation into this action also led to state prosecutors, overseen by attorney general W. J. Michael Cody, discovering that the Vice President had frequently shifted his personal assets between banking accounts, mainly between one in his name, one in the name of his wife, a “family account.” [3]

While Alexander both publicly and privately proclaimed that there had been no wrongdoing, his initial fumbling at a press conference held the next day – in which he said “If I did anything illegal, I had nothing to do with it” – the Tennessee justice department nevertheless continued the investigation as it became more apparent that the “shifting funds” patterned had continued until 1982, after Alexander had entered his current occupation. This meant that charges could still be brought against Alexander if necessary because, while the statute of limitations for any wrongdoing committed while Governor had expired, said statute did not protect Alexander from any wrongdoing committed during any point in his Vice-Presidency.

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DIES AT 56; Famous Civil Rights Leader Suffered From Heart Failure

…his wife of 32 years, Coretta Scott King, noted that “he had so much of his heart to give that the doctors said Martin had the heart of a 90-year-old”…

– The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/15/1985



EXPO ’85 OPENS IN JAPAN TODAY

…with the theme being focused on the application and use of the latest science and technology in future homes, several tech companies big and small are attending this celebration of human accomplishments and aspirations…

– The Los Angeles Times, 3/17/1985



THE RISE OF THE PROGRESSIVE TOMORROWISTS

…The party was formed in 1969, when the New Democrats merged with the waning Social Credits…the interim party name was the “Leftward Tomorrow” Party, but this was changed to the current name in 1971… Under Ed Broadbent’s leadership, the PTs (sometimes pronounced “Peteys”) have slowly gained a sizeable amount of support among left-leaning and populist-leaning Canadians…

– The Toronto Star, 3/17/1985



CHRETIEN WINS SECOND TERM BY A HAIR; PTs Almost Beat PCs For Second Place

…Despite winning by a margin of victory much narrower than his 1980 election, Jean Chretien (L-QC) will remain Prime Minister Canada thanks to a plurality in the popular vote …Opposition leader Erik Nielsen (PC-AB) fared better than expected, but the real winner of the night very well may have been Ed Broadbent (PT-ON), who breathes fresh air into the far-left Tommorrowists to come within five seats of becoming the leader of the opposition…

– The Globe And Mail, 3/20/1985

[pic: imgur.com/iPtxhus.png ]
Above: Governor Coya Knutson (D-MN) reflecting on Humphrey’s legacy in a KNN interview, c. March 1985; Knutson worked with Humphrey on multiple projects during their time in election politics, and was “always grateful” of his early support of her career.

Humphrey passed away from the cancer two months shy of his 74th birthday. His body laid in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol before being buried in Waverly, Minnesota. Both foes and friends, from William Scranton, Mario Biaggi, John F. Kennedy and Colonel Sanders, to Walter Mondale and Coya Knutson, paid their final respects; the funeral was the first time in which Kennedy and Sanders were in the same place at the same time since the 196 debates… In the US Senate, Governor Knutson appointed state Secretary of State Joan Growe to the vacant desk, after the widowed former Second Lady of the United States Muriel Humphrey declined the offer to do so herself.

– Carl Solberg’s H.H.H.: A Biography, Borealis Books, 2001 edition

[pic: imgur.com/q6YOjC3.png ]
– clickopedia.co.usa



FURTHER EVIDENCE OF VP WRONGDOING PUTS STRENGTH OF SUPPORTERS’ “STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS” CLAIMS TO THE TEST

– The Chicago Tribune, 3/23/1985



Under increasing pressure to settle the matter, Alexander looked to the precedence set by John C. Calhoun, who had faced a similar scandal while serving as Vice President in 1826, in order to argue that a sitting Vice President cannot be indicted. Alexander also tried to rally public opinion, giving a speech before a friendly audience in Los Angeles asserting his innocence. [4]

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



“People sure plumb forgot all about the Jake Butcher Scandal in a hurry, didn’t they?” [5]

– Barry Goldwater, 3/25/1985



On April 3, 1985, the interim government organized an All-Russia referendum about the introduction of the proposed posts of “President” and “Vice President” for the purpose of decentralizing power from the Interim National Assembly while still providing a clear leader for national unity and leadership on the world stage. The positions would have the power to introduce mandates and speak before congress, but would have little veto power. The RSFSR, by popular vote, went with “yea” with 68.1%, while “nay” received 31.9%. With turnout being 81.2%, the vote stood and the motion was carried.

With the position introduced, the head of the I.N.A. and the de-facto leader of the country since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Orlov, served as interim President until a Presidential election could be held three months later…

– Risto Alapuro and Oleg Kharkhordin’s Community Building in Post-Soviet Russia, Routledge Books, 2011



With the Soviet Union gone, Yugoslavian politicians began looking to the U.S. government. Former Tito ally Veselin Duranovic noted in April 1985 “I should not be so surprised. America had lasted for over 200 years. The USSR could not make it to 70. What is it about America that gives that country such longevity?”

It was on a sunny April morning when Duranovic announced that he had ultimately decided that it was the “melting pot” sense of unity that kept the US strong and united. He also had come to believe that people “work better when neighborhoods think more broadly about their shared city and desires,” and so began to push for unity relationships with the US.

To China, this was seen as another loss for the cause of communism, as Yugoslavia was the last pinnacle of communism left in Europe…

– Leslie Benson’s Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Palgrave Publishers, 2001



April 4, 1985 was not a good day for Buz Lukens. That morning, The Washington Post published the story of a woman from Cincinnati, Ohio, who, under the pseudonym Anna Mason (after two towns on Ohio’s Route 75), claimed that the US Secretary of State and his lawyers had given her $100,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement about an “unprintable sexual incident” regarding Lukens and Mason’s 14-year-old daughter, who was given the pseudonym Sidney after another location on Route 75. The incident, Anna stated, had occurred in June 1984, and Anna was “coerced” into signing the agreement in August. Naturally, Lukens denied it all, claiming to be the lies of a woman desperate for fame and fortune. The next day, Anna filed a civil suit in Ohio to nullify the nondisclosure agreement on the claim that she signed it under great duress and intimidation.

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



The initial reaction to the accusations made against Lukens was minor, but as it made its way through the news cycle, a familiar atmosphere return to the United States. Feminist activists began to circulate the story and repeatedly refer to it on public radio and public access TV stations and talk shows, spreading their support for the ones known as Anna and Sidney Mason.

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



“Uh, Buz, this ain’t gonna be some kind of problem, right?”

“Not at all. I promise – there’s nothing to worry about here.”

– Conversation between President Denton and Secretary Lukens, c. mid-April 1985 (multiple sources, but still possibly anecdotal)



KEMP LEADS EFFORT TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS

…Led by House Whip Kemp, and reportedly tacitly supported by House Speaker Michel, House Majority Leader Polonko, and leading House Deputy Whip Emery, the conservative lawmakers are gaining ground in their call for cutbacks on Social Security benefits in order to “alleviate [a] federal burden”…

– The Wall Street Journal, 4/10/1985



ENVER HOXHA, LEADER OF ALBANIA SINCE 1944, DIES AT 76

…Hoxha isolated his nation from the rest of the world with fear and paranoia, which saw him install an extraordinary number of fallout shelters across the nation’s countryside and cities. …With Albania being economically in shambles, Hoxha’s successor, Ramiz Alia, will have his hands full…

– The New York Times, 4/11/1985



FEMINIST GROUPS ACROSS CA & NY CALL FOR LUKENS TO RESIGN AMID UNDERAGE RELATIONS CLAIM

– The Los Angeles Times, 4/12/1985



SEC. OF STATE LUKENS MEETS WITH U.K. DIPLOMATS IN LONDON AS CONTROVERSY BACK HOME CONTINUES

– The Washington Times, 4/22/1985



“It is with great sadness that I confirm that Supreme Court Associate Justice Sarah Tilghman Hughes has passed away earlier today at the age of 88. Despite suffering a stroke three years ago, she remained mentally sharp, and continued to support the policies she believed in until the very end. Hughes was an inspirational leader that I had the pleasure to work for during most of her 23 years on the bench. She was a passionate and level-headed justice, a steady and determined force on the bench who will be missed greatly by all who had the pleasure to know her and know of her.”

– Linda Coffee, former personal secretary and personal assistant to Justice Hughes, 4/23/1985 press statement



COMMERCIAL SANTE FE-TO-NEW YORK FLIGHT MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING AT O’HARE: Delta Air Lines’ Lockheed Plane Survives Microburst “Near-Miss”

…The incident comes just days after the FAA released a report calling for a “severe need” to update pilot, emergency situation, and mechanic repairs training programs. Last year, the Denton White House relaxed F.A.A. security measures in order to better the air travel industry. This move freed up funds for the F.A.A., allowing it to launch an expensive investigation into the quality of procedures and training that pilots go through to equip them for emergency situations…

– The Albuquerque Journal, 4/25/1985



LOUISVILLE AIMS FOR MORE RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES IN CITY/COUNTY MERGER

…the city of Louisville has merged with Jefferson County, creating what is being called a “metro government” in an effort to maintain the inflow of employers and revenue that both areas have enjoyed (for the most part) since the early 1970s…

– The Paducah Sun, 4/29/1985



FORMER SENATOR GREMILLION ACQUITTED ON PERJURY CHARGE

– The Washington Times, 4/30/1985



Needing to make the second Supreme Court nomination of his administration, Denton studied the court’s composition. The justices were almost evenly split between four right-leaning justices (Denton’s 1981 pick Herb Fogel of Pennsylvania, Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson of Alabama, Sylvia Bacon of California, and Edward Hirsch Levi of Illinois) and four left-leaning justices (A. Leon Higginbotham of Pennsylvania, William Nealon of Pennsylvania, Miles W. Lord of Minnesota, and William Brennan of New Jersey). His personal secretary would later reveal that Denton did not consider gender or race when seeking out a nominee due to a woman and an African-American already being on the Supreme Court. Instead, due to the lack of western and southern representation on the court, Denton looked at potential nominees from the Court of Appeals Circuits 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 for geographical balance. With almost a third of the Senate held by Republicans and a majority by conservatives, Denton also sought out a strong social and fiscal conservative justice for the vacant seat.

The eight Court of Appeals Circuit Judges considered the most were 60-year-old Charles Clark of Mississippi, 63-year-old James Barrett of Wyoming, 65-year-old Joseph Tyree Sneed III of California with deep Texas roots, 52-year-old Alfred Goodwin of Oregon, 52-year-old former Brigham Young University President Dallin Oaks of Utah, 56-year-old Peter Fay of Florida, anti-capital punishment 60-year-old Warren Urbom of Nebraska, and the Illinois-born 63-year-old Carl Olaf Bue Jr. of Texas. Also considered were the incumbent Attorney General of California Anthony McLeod Kennedy, a mainstream moderate; Judge Gerald Tjoflat of Florida; 69-year-old Judge Robert Hugh McWilliams Jr. of Kansas; Assistant US Secretary of Defense, former FBI Assistant Director, and former Circuit Judge William Hedgcock Webster of Missouri; Assistant Attorney General of US Fern Meyerson Smith from California; Puerto Rican Judge Mark Americus Constantino of New York; 79-year-old Senior D.C. Court of Appeals Judge George MacKinnon of Minnesota; and Court of Appeals Judge and follower of the Baha’i Faith Dorothy Wright Nelson of California.

Ultimately, Sneed was nominated on the third of May. Denton preferred Sneed in the end due to his conservative record on law-and-order issues, recreadrugs, and BLUTAGO rights. [6] Senators Hoff and Kennedy-Shriver launched a “No Need For Sneed” campaign almost immediately afterward for that same record.

– Linda Greenhouse and Morton J. Horwitz’s Upholding Liberty: The Supreme Court Under Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson, Sunrise Publishing, 2019



…KFC’s parent corporation, Finger Lickin’ Good Inc., has teamed up with the US-based Bread for the World organization to launch an anti-hunger campaign aiming to drop food insecurity levels in the “hungriest” counties in the US…

– ABC News, 5/5/1985



EX-PROFESSOR ACCUSES VP OF ACCEPTING “THE EQUIVALENCE OF A BRIBE”

A former member of the faculty at Trevecca Nazarene University has formally alleged that Vice President Lamar Alexander received payments from TNU in September 1981 in exchange for supporting a federal bill that sought to impose higher regulations on the activities of Christian schools… The placement of the payments – repeatedly switched between three different accounts – could also mean that Alexander could be charged with tax fraud…

– The Chicago Tribune, “exposé” article, 5/6/1985



FULL COPY OF LUKENS’ NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT RELEASED! Includes Lukens’ signature!!!

…the copy of the agreement about the Secretary’s “night of sexual intimacy” with an underage girl is authentic according to several analysts… Mrs. Mason claims the documentation was made in triplicate, and that Lukens and his lawyers forgot to leave with this copy… ...one subsection of the legal document includes a bit about additional payments “if the situation requires [the daughter] to obtain an abortion.”

– The New York Post, 5/9/1985



…You may not remember where you were when the papers reported that President Denton was furious, positively outraged, they said, at Lukens and his discretion. You also may not remember the additional reports claiming that the Secretary was repeatedly kept out of cabinet meetings immediately after the scandal grew in seriousness. You may not even remember where you were when Lukens filed a defamation lawsuit against Mason.

That’s alright, because what mattered more was the outrage. The fury that rose up over the revelation that the man fourth in line for the Presidency was a degenerate lowlife. …But it was not just the far-left that was enraged. In fact, conservative women being incensed by Lukens’ “abortion” stipulation was a political hit much closer to home for Denton. Some contributors to the National Review condemned the President for having “such an immoral man work for” him. Pundits were sure to take note that, indeed, there are women in both major political parties, and that women can in fact be conservative. For the first time in ages, far-left pioneers like Congresswoman Trudy Cooper and far-right talking heads like Phyllis Schlafly agreed on something – Lukens was scum.

– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 1988



LUKENS LEGAL TEAM REVEALS ANNA MASON HAS CRIMINAL PAST

– The Dayton Daily News, 5/12/1985



Anna Mason’s police record showed that she had shoplifted in her teens, which Anna claimed was the result of “hanging out with the wrong kind of crowd.” A report of crashing her car and another incident of disturbing the peace revealed Anna’s temperamental side. Fine was sympathetic, telling her firm’s “biggest” client “Don’t cry, and don’t apologize. We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.”

On May 20th, in Washington, D.C., the “Citizens For Women’s Justice” organization was officially launched. Officially, it was co-founded by women’s rights attorney Gloria Bloom Allred and several other big names (many being “veterans” of the Ms. Arkansas Scandal and its subsequent “Ark Wave”), but it was unofficial co-founded by them and by Anna Mason’s “number one” supporter Janice Fine, her older sister Marjorie, 49-year-old activist Doris Lake, and several others as well. Initially meant to mobilize support for the Masons at a time when many still did not believe their story, despite the evidence in their favor, due to her police record, the organization soon expanded to cover all aspects of protecting women’s rights.

– Andrew Boyd and D. O. Mitchell’s Glorious Chaos: A Guide for The Revolutionary in You, Sparkstarters Publications, 2013



EXTRA! LUKENS INDICTED BY OHIO COURT!

…An Ohio court has indicted the former Secretary of State on the charges of contributing to the delinquency and unruliness of a minor and of having sex with a minor. Both of these are serious crimes in the state of Ohio, described as “degenerate crimes worthy of high punishment” by Lukens in 1973. In that year, Lukens, as the Governor of Ohio, successfully pushed for the raising of the penalties and severity of sentences for both crimes as part of a tough-on-crime initiative ahead of his 1974 re-election campaign... The decision comes days after being subpoenaed for an unrelated, and newer, charge of workplace pestering that alleged occurred in 1978, during his last year as Governor…

– The Los Angeles Times, 5/22/1985



OHIO JURY BRINGS CHARGES AGAINST LUKENS; THE US SECRETARY OF STATE MUST APPEAR IN COURT

– The Madras Pioneer, 5/22/1985



Even [White House Counsel] Jesse Helms suggested Lukens be forced to resign. Denton still would not budge from his position.

“Buz is an invaluable member of this team,” Denton again defended his decision to not accept a resignation from Lukens, claiming, “He’s proven himself to be a very effective diplomat on the world stage. And now, with that mad man in Pakistan and our boys in uniform in Colombia and still in Libya, we can’t afford a destabilizing shake-up in our diplomatic line of defense against the enemies of freedom.”

Ugh, this isn’t a battle!, I remember thinking to myself, almost wanting to roll my eyes at the ridiculously over-the-top rhetoric.

Denton also defended Lukens by bringing up how his marriage had fallen apart in early 1984. “The man’s wife had left him. She'd filed for divorce, and was eyeing half of everything. He was in a bad way. If he truly did some of the things he did, he likely wasn’t thinking clearly when he did them.” From that statement, [Chief of Staff] Richard Schermerhorn came up with what “a solution” – have Lukens take a short leave of absence for “exhaustion,” and claim his previous actions to be the result of “fatigue.” I thought this was a horridly poor excuse – and, thankfully, many in the media thought so too – but my opposition to the notion fell on practically deaf ears.

By this point in time, it was becoming increasingly obvious that my presence in the White House was not nearly as effective and impactful as it had been before. [snip] I handed in my letter of resignation that November.

– Former White House Chief Domestic Policy Advisor Dr. Mildred Fay Jefferson’s Behind Closed Doors: The Machinations of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1986



SENATOR NIXON TURNS ON FORMER ALLY LUKENS!

…Nixon stated “I think it’s important for it to be known what the Secretary did and how he did it.” …Nixon further stated, “if the Secretary did do what they’re saying he did, just because he’s the Secretary of State doesn’t make it legal, allowed, or alright.”

– The Dayton Daily News, 5/26/1985



…The last manned moon mission of NASA’s Aries program before finally shifting its full focus onto shuttleplanes and the I.S.S. saw Aries 13 launch on May 28, 1985, and land on the lunar surface with four people on board – a white man (53-year-old veteran astronaut and this mission’s commander Clifton Williams), a white woman (and the fifth woman to land on the moon overall; 36-year-old Anna Lee Fisher), an African-American man (the third Black person to land on the moon overall; 39-year-old Charles Bolden), and the half-Chinese, half-Latino 35-year-old pilot Franklin Chang Diaz...

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



…After a very quick and speedy hearing process, the US Senate has confirmed Joseph T. Sneed the Third for the US Supreme Court’s vacant seat, with a vote of 55 yea, 43 nay, and two Senators – Maureen Reagan of California and Mario Biaggi of New York – abstaining from voting…

[pic: imgur.com/6yAmgjB ]
[picture of Sneed shown]
– CBS Evening News, 5/30/1985



GOVERNOR GREENLEAF VISITS WESTERN PARTS OF STATE AFTER TWISTER OUTBREAK RAVAGES REGIONS

…dozens of tornadoes touched down in areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario for roughly eight hours yesterday, killing dozens and inflicting hundreds of injuries of varying degrees...

– The Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/1/1985



LUKENS ACCUSSER TESTIFIED IN OHIO TODAY

Cincinnati, OH – A teen-ager who says she had sex with the US Secretary of State Donald E. Lukens testified today that she appeared at his apartment in Washington, D.C. along with a female friend, and that the three of them went to bed together. [7] The accuser, Sidney Mason said that she first met Mr. Lukens in 1983, but did not see the Secretary of State again until May 28, 1984, when she and a friend of hers, one Celina Troy, whom had also met Lukens separately, were invited to his D.C. apartment.

The age of consent in Ohio is 16, but Sidney was days away from turning 15 when the alleged sexual encounter occurred. A misdemeanor statute in Ohio states that “no person shall…aid, abet, induce, cause, encourage, or contribute to a child or ward of the juvenile court (into) becoming an unruly or (delinquent) child.” [8] As a result, the US Secretary of State is on trial on two charges of contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor.

While on the witness stand, Ms. Sidney Mason said that her and Ms. Troy took a cab to the Secretary’s apartment. He met them at the door in boxer shorts, she said, and gave her a $20 bill to pay the driver of said cab. Mr. Lukens, who once represented a district north of Cincinnati, shook his head repeatedly during her testimony. Ms. Mason said Mr. Lukens showed the two around his apartment and took them to a guest room.

“He told us to get undressed and put on two black robes,” Ms. Mason said. She asked him why they could not wear two white robes she saw in the room. “He said those were for white people,” she said.

Ms. Mason and Ms. Troy are black. Mr. Lukens is white.

Ms. Mason testified that they got into bed with the Secretary of State. She testified that they then had oral sex and intercourse with Mr. Lukens. She said Mr. Lukens gave her two $20 bills and paid Ms. Troy $30. Ms. Mason said Mr. Lukens also gave her a glass of brandy and two gifts – a pink lace fan and a silver pillbox – and gave Ms. Troy a bottle of perfume and a diamond pendant.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, Mr. Lukens, who is divorced, could be sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000. Before Ms. Sidney Mason testified, Mr. Lukens’s lawyer, Thomas Tyack, attacked the testimony of the girl’s mother, describing the woman as continually unemployed and desperate for notoriety and money. Mrs. Anna Mason testified yesterday that, in August 1984, she contacted Mr. Lukens after the incident and confronted him in a meeting in Washington, D.C. “I told him how old she was,” Mrs. Mason said, adding that she showed Mr. Lukens pictures of the girl. She said Mr. Lukens told her he thought her daughter was 18. [7] The Washington, D.C. meeting was soon followed by a second meeting at a Holiday Inn just outside of Middletown two weeks later, where she claimed she was intimidated into signing a non-disclosure agreement and into accepting a check that Mrs. Mason repeatedly referred to as “hush money.”

– The New York Times, 6/10/1985



Reports of sexual pestering began to rise; it seems the Lukens Scandal exposed a side of America that most wanted to believe was no longer a lingering situation for women. It soon began to feel like 1985 was turning into 1970.

– Andrew Boyd and D. O. Mitchell’s Glorious Chaos: A Guide for The Revolutionary in You, Sparkstarters Publications, 2013



F.E.C. LAUNCHES INQUIRY INTO ORIGINS OF LUKENS’ “HUSH MONEY”

…the Federal Election Commission has launched an official inquiry into where the Secretary of State obtained funds for a “hush money” payment of $100,000 in August of last year. Working with Ohio’s state Attorney General Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr.’s justice department, the FEC, an independent federal agency, has formally requested access to any and all executive files, general files, legislative files, personal files, political and campaign files (including senatorial, congressional, gubernatorial, vice presidential and presidential files), public relations files, sound and visual materials (photographs and videos), speeches, banking and monetary transactions, and any and all other materials and paper trails relative to their inquiry...

– The Washington Post, 6/19/1985



Lukens only worsened the situation by lambasting “all” media outlets for “blowing things really out of proportion” at a press briefing on June 22. During one strange moment during his criticisms, he was sure to single out Evan W. Thomas III, a journalist for Time Magazine at the time, for “not [being] a patriot” due to the fact that his father was Norman Thomas, a known Socialist politician.

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



Supply and demand dictated that the rise in mothers working outside the home would lead to a rise in day-care centers. What economics did not predict was a rise in anxiety, guilt and fear experienced by said mothers leaving their young with people who could quite easily be considered – by the parent or the child – as strangers. The resulting paranoia created a tense atmosphere that was set aflame upon the sordid details of the Lukens Scandal coming to light. “If we can’t trust the Secretary of State – the man fourth in line for the Presidency – who can we trust?” was the general feeling. As a result, an unforeseen consequence of the Lukens Scandal was a sudden drop in women in the workforce rates as women began becoming more reluctant to leave their children. Feminist activists such as former US Congressman Sarah Weddington (D-TX) sought out alternatives as the situation continued. Talks of things such as onsite daycare – and to lesser extent (at the time), at-home work – began to work their way around, being promoted on radio and then on TV programs and in newspapers, books and professional articles...

– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 1988



So after that bizarre accusation, the U.S. Attorney General, Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, declined to lead the federal Justice Department into an investigation into an alleged misuse of federal funds. Instead, after the releasing of the results of a quick inquiry into the State Department, Cianci issued and, in late June, fully released a small report claiming there was “too little evidence” to merit a full-on investigation.

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



…After almost three months [9] of protests, the scandal-stricken Buz Lukens has finally stepped down as the US Secretary of State in order to appear before an Ohio court on two charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor…

– CBS News, 7/1/1985



In 1979, both Harvey and Robert Weinstein, using the profits saved from their concert-promoting business, founded Miriamax, an independent film distribution company named after their parents Miriam and Max Weinstein. With various music and arthouse films, the company was slowly and steadily growing when

Shortly after the Fourth of July celebrations of 1985, a former assistant for Miriamax accused Harvey Weinstein of workplace pestering. This was soon followed by several former interns and a former appointments secretary stepping forward to describe either experiencing or knowing of similar instances of inappropriate behavior and sexual assault from Harvey. These accusations led to Bob firing Harvey from Miriamax in order to keep the company from being financially ruined from the scandal. [snip] Bob Weinstein continued to run the company while Harvey was imprisoned on sexual assault charges, serving three sentences from 1989 to 2014. [snip] In 2015, Bob’s brother Harvey was controversially made a silent partner in Miriamax 18 months after being released from prison on parole, and later took on an advisory role in the company. In 2016, however, Harvey stepped down from said role in the midst of increased controversy over his presence in the company, possibly due to the 2016 film “Anna Mason” reviving public interest in Harvey’s 1980s court cases; Harvey currently (as of early 2020) works as a self-hired diabetes research advocate in Montauk, Long Island.

– clickopedia.co.usa/Bob_Weinstein



LUKENS FOUND GUILTY ON BOTH CHARGES; In Lenient Ruling, Sentenced To 3 Months In Jail And $5,000 Fine

– The New York Times, 7/8/1985



It began with the oil. Under Chairman Jerry John Rawlings, a structural adjustment plan had been negotiated to combat the nation’s economic slump that had contributed to Rawlings rising to power. Understanding the need to change many old economic policies, Rawlings invited foreign energy companies to invest in the nation during the early 1980s. With US companies seeking to recover from the crash of ’78, several took Rawlings up on the offer. The investing paid off in 1985, when the Jubilee Oil Field was discovered [10] off the coast of Ghana’s Western Region by an American oil company. Estimates at the time suggested that at least 2 million barrels of sweet crude oil was in the Atlantic, waiting to be used. Ghana found itself swiftly entering a new, more prosperous era, as oil and gas exploration came to dominate the economy, fueling national projects such as the construction of roads, hospitals and schools.

– Historian Roger Gocking’s The Modern History of Ghana, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005



As the US Justice Department and the Ohio A.G. collaborated with each other, FBI officials seized documents and business records in a clandestine raid on Lukens’ office in D.C. and Cincinnati on July 15. Concurrently, Denton was optimistic that “the situation with Buz,” as the President called it, would blow over “soon enough,” and so approved of his Attorney General, Buddy Cianci, appointing a special prosecutor to the source-of-funds investigation. The man Cianci hired for the role was named Stephen S. Trott, a 45-year-old former D.A. for L.A., California, then working as the Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.

– David Frum’s political textbook How We Got Here: The ’80s, Basic Books NY, 2007



…Despite swearing innocence, the scandal surrounding Vice President Alexander just took another incriminating turn. Earlier today, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Eastern Tennessee John W. Gill Jr. formally gave Alexander’s office a letter stating that he is under federal investigation for fraud…

– The Overyer Network, 7/10/1985 report



COLONEL SANDERS BECOMES GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER WITH THE BIRTH OF HARLAND V

Five Generations of Greatness Gather In One Room At Hospital – See Inside for Photos!

…Harland David Sanders V (the fifth) was born in Florence Medical Center in Florence, Kentucky, to Harland David “Davey” Sanders IV and Samantha Lee. Davey (b. 1959) is the son of Harland “Lando” Sanders III (b. 1939), who is the son of Senator Harley Sanders, Colonel Sanders’ son, making Davey the Colonel’s great-grandson…

– The National Enquirer, US tabloid “grocery store” magazine, 7/15/1985



We knew the competition was getting more serious when the Amiga personal computer came out in July of ’85, and it was a better seller than expected. About, what was it? I want to say, six? Yeah, six months later the Microsoft Corporation releases the second version of Windows, Windows 2.0 [11], and all these other, newer computer companies start entering the market. Sinclair Research, Eagle Computers, Packard Bell, Prime Computer, Texas Instruments, they all start trying to make the best computer. I mean, I wasn’t partial to so much competition, but it did spur research and development of computer technology, so in the end it was a really good, a great thing to have happened, and I’m really happy that it did.

– Bill Gates, KNN interview with Bill Gates and Kent Allen, 9/1/1995

[pic: imgur.com/wnvjDm9 ]
– Commodore International’s 1987 Amiga 500; this model would be an even better seller than its 1986 predecessor due to its potential for efficiency in offices during the mid-to-late 1980s



The 1985 FDRR Presidential Election was held in the Federal Democratic Republic of Russia on July 27, 1985. Several candidates ran for a five-year term in a first round-runoff election system similar to the ones used by the nations of France and Cuba. The incumbent interim President, Vlad Orlov, declined to run, making for an open election. The lack of established political parties made for a largely non-partisan election season.

[snip]

Candidates (8):

Vasily Arkhipov b. 1926 (Communist (“conservative” faction)), a Vice Admiral during the Cuba War and the Minister of Defense under Podgorny, came out of retirement to defend the past actions of the USSR.

Oleg Baklanov, b. 1932 (Independent), was the Minister of General Machine Building under Podgorny and Ustinov, and was responsible for overseeing the developments of the Soviet space industry during that time. He opposed the coup that overthrew Ustinov and opposed the collapse of the Soviet Union, but ran on a platform focused on scientific advancement and on getting foreign businesses to invest in Russia.

Vladimir Bukovsky, b. 1942 (Progressive), was a human rights activist who was expelled from the USSR in 1976 for being a dissident since the 1950s; now that he had been allowed back in, he ran on a platform focused on, along with other issues, mental health care and government reparations for survivors of the USSR’s “horrific” mental hospitals, labor camps and prison systems.

Gennady Burbulis, b. 1945 (National), had organized public forums to discuss local issues under Podgorny and Yakovlev. A supporter of democratic reform, he sought to carefully walk a fine line between institutional change and alleged “radicalism” many remaining hardliners blamed for the collapse of the USSR.

Vladimir Chub, b. 1948 (Independent), was the youngest candidate in the race, and called for major socio-economic development, government transparency, and other changes to assure Russian prosperity in both the short term and the long term.

Mikhail Gorbachev, b. 1931 (Communist (“glasnost” faction)), ran on a platform of “openness and helpfulness, but still communist,” but his closeness to Anatoly Lukyanov made him very unpopular.

Sergey Sokolov, b. 1911 (Independent), was the Minister of Defense under Dmitriy Ustinov and a defender of his actions who called for slow and gradual reform, starting locally and building up to nationwide, believing this to be the best way to “observe and adjust such impactful changes.”

Vladislav Volkov, b. 1935 (Democratic), was an engineer and former cosmonaut, first elected to the National Assembly in 1984; he supported investing in the I.S.S. project and in removing “as much poverty and famine as possible” from Russia via agriculture and urban development reform as a step “we need to take before we can even consider going to Mars.”

[snip]

Results:

Sokolov won over enough elder voters and fiscal conservatives to advance to the runoff, while Volkov’s “pragmatic” and “forward-thinking” campaign energized younger Russians, allowing him to make it to second place, behind Sokolov. In the July 27 runoff, former supporters of Baklanov, Bukovsky, and Chub rallied behind Volkov, leading to him winning the election by a margin of 12%. Sokolov, in a historically important moment went on Russian TV and radio to applaud Volkov for a well-run campaign.
[snip]

After the election, there was some more lighthearted debate over the well-known “Bald-Hairy” Pattern [12]. Former Primer Yakovlev was often counted as either hairy or bald, as he had long and wild hair, but only on the sides of his head, and was bald on top. If Vladimir Orlov, who was merely the “interim” head of state (both before and after Yakovlev), was counted in the hairy-bald pattern, then Yakovlev was considered hairy in order to maintain the pattern; if Orlov was not counted, Yakovlev was considered “bald” to maintain the pattern. Some voters decided that the election helped “clarify” the situation by a “hairy” candidate winning the election.

– clickopedia.co.usa

[pic: imgur.com/6kYIi50 ]
– Vlad Volkov, c. 1971



…After the Soviet collapsed, the Khalq and Parham Communist parties in Afghanistan’s bicameral legislature, both of whom were funded by the Soviets, fell out of favor as funding dried up and American mining and research companies boosted the nation’s economy, making the 1980s a “Golden Decade” for Afghanistan…

– Tamim Ansary’s Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan, Hachette Book Group, 2012



An insurrection in Jammu and Kashmir broke out in early July 1985. Inspired by the successful war of independence fought by the people of United Turkestan, anti-India demonstrations erupted in the disputed region’s urban centers of Rajauri and Srinagar. Indian police used batons and pepper spray on the crowds and established a curfew for night hours. Pakistan soon intervened by providing arms and training to Kashmir militants, prompting a mass exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the Kashmir valley. Further unrest was provoked when dozens were protestors were killed on July 30, when Indian police fired on them during the second straight week of civil disobedience, leading to thousands, if not millions (sources and eyewitness accounts vary) taking to the streets, demanding the region separate from India. As the weeks continued onward, thousands of more youths traveled into Pakistan, repeating a vicious cycle of violence leading to more violence. Human rights violations were committed on all sides.

Disgusted by the violent tendencies of both nation’s governments, former US President Colonel Sanders, along with several anti-war organizations, sought to convince “all” relevant companies to end, or at least threaten to cease, all business activities with both countries unless both sides agreed to a ceasefire... International pressure would continue to develop over the months and years that followed until…

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy in the Cold War: Negotiation & Confrontation, Routledge, 2017



…Breaking News: the F.E.C.’s investigators have confirmed that Secretary of State Buz Lukens used political funds for the Cincinnati Hush Money payment, which is a clear violation of federal finance use laws as it was not disclosed to the IRS, or to the FEC, or on US State Department records… another news bulletin concerning Secretary Lukens has just come over the wire… the judge overseeing Lukens’ defamation charge has ruled against the lawsuit, effectively throwing it out of court...

– KNN, 8/3/1985 report



DENTON STILL REFUSES TO CRITICIZE LUKENS, CLAIMING “NO MAN IS PERFECT”

– The New York Times, 8/7/1985



PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN 50+ CITIES OVER DENTON’S COMMENTS DEFENDING LUKENS

– The Los Angeles Times, 8/7/1985



ASSISTANT HEALTH AND WELFARE SECRETARY RESIGNS IN PROTEST OF LUKENS STILL STAYING ON

…the strongly pro-life Assistant Secretary Marjory Mecklenburg remarked that she is “outraged” at Denton’s “woefully unwise” decision to allow Lukens, whom she described as “a man with no remorse and no regard for the unborn or for minors” to retain his position of Secretary of State for so long…

– The Washington Post, 8/9/1985



AT LEAST 1,000 ARRESTED IN XINJIANG AND TIBET AFTER CAM BOMBS KILL FIVE CHINESE OFFICERS IN URUMQI AND LHASA

– The San Diego Union-Tribune, 8/10/1985



SOURCE: MCDONALD’S IS AIMING TO BEAT KFC AND OTHERS TO BEING THE FIRST U.S. FOOD CHAIN TO OPEN AN OUTLET IN RUSSIA!

– The New York Post, 8/11/1985



In early August, Alexander entered into negotiations for a plea bargain on the condition that he not serve any jail time for what he insisted was “an honest and simple…mishandling of funds.” Alexander informed prosecutors and investigators that he wanted to protect his family and the American people from “a national embarrassment,” according to his memoirs. On August 12, Alexander informed Denton of his decision to resign. Denton initially opposed the notion, telling his second-in-command that it was “out of the question.” Alexander reportedly reminded the President of his low approval ratings, and he damage his continuation in the office could do to the Denton White House. After a lengthy debate, Denton finally yielded. With a sigh, Denton uttered “Things won’t be the same around here without you, dear friend.”

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



…Tonight’s top story: the Vice President of the United States Lamar Alexander has resigned amid investigations into his accepting of donations from lobbyists working for a Tennessee University, donations that have been described as bribes due to the timing of their delivering and of Alexander’s opposition to a Christian schools regulation bill. The announcement comes hours after the Vice President appeared in a federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, where he pleaded nolo contendere, or “no contest,” to one felony charge of tax fraud for the year of 1981, after which he paid a $50,000 fine and was sentenced to five years’ supervised probation, a sentence raised in 1983 from merely $5,000 under President Denton. Hours later, Alexander submitted a formal letter of resignation to President Denton. A few minutes ago, the White House Press Secretary made the following statement.

[cut to footage of Press Secretary Peggy Noonan]

NOONAN: Lamar Alexander, a patriot dedicated to improving the welfare of his fellow countrymen, has resigned from the office of the Vice Presidency in order to better focus on clarifying a discrepancy concerning activities that occurred in his gubernatorial and post-gubernatorial years.

[cut back to the newsroom]

ANCHOR: The resignation leaves the office of the Vice Presidency vacant until the House and the Senate can confirm Denton’s nominee for the rest of Alexander’s term, as laid out in the 26th Amendment of 1971…

– CBS Evening News, 8/15/1985 coverage



The Russian economy often seems to go through a three-part cycle: collapse, recovery, and prosperity. It was in shambles in the 1940s (collapse), it got itself together and picked itself up in the 1950s and 1960s (recovery), was roaring prosperously under Kosygin in the 1970s (prosperity), but then collapsed in the 1980s. Now, it was starting to pick itself back up again…

Advice from American and Western voices was conflicting: conservative economists and politicians urged the new President to hold off on regulations in order to allow Russian enterprises to flourish. Others told them to invest in the private sector in order to encourage other aspects of capitalism. More liberal analysts, however, urged the new President to implement privatization slowly, warning that it happening too quickly would actually hurt the newly non-communist nation’s economy [13] Vice-President-Elect Nikolay Travkin was torn…In a telephone call to President-Elect Vladimir Volkov, the US Secretary of Commerce Alfred Hayes Jr. explained that “a nation can’t go from a command economy to a free market one too quickly. It’s crash if it tries to. It requires a well-thought-out and well-guided transitional period that is planned out long-term.”

– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016



VLADIMIR VOLKOV SWORN IN AS NEW RUSSIAN PRESIDENT TODAY: Former Cosmonaut Is The First-Ever Democratically Elected Leader of Russia

– The Guardian, 17/8/1985



To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of hosting “The Joy of Painting,” [originally titled “The Magic of Oil Painting,”] an article in the New Yorker covered the “unexpected rise” of Bob. Calling him “a perplexing fixture in the art world,” the journalist described, likely with his nose held up high, how Bob was much more popular with the average Joe Six-Pack kind of the American, and how more traditional artists of the Art World did not appreciate Bob “making art look easy.” This, however, only highlighted why Bob was so popular with the working class – anyone, from a blue-collar worker to a college student to an independent single mother – could enjoy his instructional showcasing of the wet-on-wet style, and is they so desired create a work of art that was all their own…

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



CAM BOMB KILLS 32 IN TRIPOLI

– The Boston Globe, 8/27/1985



“DENTON KNEW!” LATEST CLAIM ALLEGES THE PRESIDENT OK’D HUSH MONEY MOVE

Washington, D.C. – Thomas Tyack [14], a former employee to Buz Lukens has come forward with the claim that he, as Lukens’ assistant, was present when White House officials, including President Denton, approved of Lukens’ decision to offer the now-infamous money payment… The former employee, who worked as Luken’s legal advisor, claims that the alleged meeting was in compliance with Denton’s wishes to know the goings-on in all cabinet and cabinet-level departments…

– The New York Times, 8/29/1985



DENTON DENIES NEW ACCUSATIONS AS WHITE HOUSE PERSONNEL KEEP QUIET

– The Washington Post, 8/29/1985



RUSSIA AGREES TO PARTIALLY COVER NUCLEAR WASTE CLEANUP COSTS

…The Russian government has agreed to cover 60% of the costs for the cleanup of lingering amounts of radiation at the nuclear meltdown site at Aktar, United Turkestan. …Iran and other nations have pledged to help clean up the Caspian and Aral Seas, where a 1984 U.N. study found that the fish in both bodies of water have been negatively affected by the deposits of nuclear material in their water.

– The Guardian, 31/8/1985



“We must stay vigilant. We must protect the moral necessities in these times. Not even our Vice President and Secretary of State are immune to the temptations of sin. No one is exempt from the devil’s plans, and that is why protecting people’s souls is a daily duty of ours. Going to church is not enough. Nodding along during the service won’t save your soul from temptations of the flesh and of the coin. You must act on what you say! You must practice what I preach!”

– Southern Baptist clergyman Billy Ervin McCormack of Louisiana, CBN broadcast, 9/1/1985



GOVERNOR LARRY JACKSON BACKS STATE-LEVEL “COMMON SENSE” ABORTION CONTROL BILL

…the proposed publicly-funded program would include a “punishment” feature of sorts for “unwarranted,” or completely voluntary, abortion. “The later the term, the stricter the law,” explains one state senator …On the other side of the issue, in an acknowledgement of the financial and emotional concerns that come with a pregnancy, Jackson supports a financial aid program meant to monetarily compensate employed women for income lost due to a pregnancy. …Jackson also encourages putting babies up for adoption as a humane alternative to aborting them when they are “at the fetal stage of life, [as abortion] deprives them of even a chance at life.”

– The Idaho Press-Tribune, 9/5/1985



“I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C’ and ‘D.’ Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? …I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of ‘conservatism.’”

– Barry Goldwater, Meet the Press interview, 9/6/1985 [15]



“Not sure to what extent, if it was Denton’s idea or if he simply knew it and he just turned a blind eye to it, but I know for a fact that Denton knew about the hush money scheme because I overheard him and Buz discussing it in the White House. I heard them use the phrases ‘the offer’ and ‘the money.’”

– Thomas Tyack, former legal advisor to Buz Lukens, KNN interview, 9/10/1985



Returning from Expo ’85 shortly before its conclusion, and having perused its showcases and ideas in its last month, the Colonel immediately voiced his concerns over future technologies. He worried, “the dawn of the compers,” his word for computers, “will replace honest work! How will honest folks get by if one bot can do ten jobs and the only job left is the guy hired to hit the bot’s ‘on’ switch?” However, he did approach his worries with a bit of levity, saying a few weeks later at a KFC in Detroit, “I know big companies are working on bots and compers that can do things better than how most people can. But compers can never replace folks like you and me – cooks and politicians will always be needed. A bot can’t make food with love – they certainly will never make and serve KFC with love, not like you folks can, I can tell ya tat much – and I tell ya, the robots are going to end up being way too smart to go and dabble into politics.”

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



…When Mexico City was struck by a 7.5-magnitude earthquake on September 19, the US government was reluctant to send aid due to “what happened last time,” referring to the misuse of anti-recreadrug funds under Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid. As a result, the Mexican government sought out aide from Mexican-American organizations and companies, and on any international aide they could obtain. The campaign saw Mexican organizations at the national, state, and local level mobilize relief workers and reach out to other humanitarian organizations. Soon funding for earthquake relief found a supporter in Governor Toney Anaya of New Mexico. After getting both US Senators from New Mexico – Pedro Jimenez and Roberto Mondragon – to join him, Anaya led an effort that saw thousands of American citizens sending small donations – anything they had, from spare blankets and Band-Aids to pocket change – to the people of Mexico City. This would lead to a strong and friendly relationship developing between the people and governments of New Mexico and central Mexico as the years went by, culminating in Mexico City and Santa Fe officially becoming “sister cities” in 1995…

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



AUSTRALIA ELECTION: SNEDDEN BEATS CROSS IN LIBERAL SWEEP

…Sir Billy Snedden is set to become Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister after defeating incumbent PM Manfred Cross by a very comfortable margin. Snedden, who won the 1983 Liberal coalition leadership election over Andrew Peacock and John Howard, likely won the election due to Cross’s unpopularity more so than Snedden’s active campaign. Cross’s approval ratings steadily dropped down to 41% on election day as he failed to defend his controversial introduction of a capital gains tax in May of this year…

– The Sun, UK newspaper, 20/9/1985



The VP selection process took weeks because Denton wanted to carefully consider his options. He had no need to worry about electability because he was not forming a ticket, but instead was seeking out a competent and well-functioning first-mate who he could get along with professionally and as someone that he could call friend.

Going out the box a bit, Denton considered picking a fellow Alabaman like Senator Jack Edwards or former Senator Martin. He considered picking someone that the GOP would not miss being sent to 1 Observatory Circle, like Ron Paul, or Barry Goldwater or some other controversial lawmaker. He considered Charlton Heston and Mario Biaggi, both Democrats, but both declined. Denton even seriously considered nominating Harley Sanders at one point, only for the 73-year-old to take too long to respond, and he was passed over. Years later, I remember, Harley revealed in his memoirs that he had decided to accept the position when he was informed that Denton had already been convinced by his advisors to nominate someone else.

Because Denton’s advisors had sought out a member of congress, or at least a congressional connection, figuring that it would be easy to confirm one of their own. That led to their eyes passing over Governors and instead turning onto the House leaders – Kemp, Michel, Emery and Polonko. Of the four men, Kemp was the most conservative. A bit to left of Denton in some places, but not so much in others. Actually, it’s hard to pin down where Kemp stood politically, but to Denton, it was more important that Kemp was a team player.

– historian and former political strategist K. Christian Rove, KNN Interview, 2019



JACK KEMP, CONGRESSIONAL HOUSE WHIP, NOMINATED FOR V.P.

– The Washington Post, 9/20/1985



On September 22, the FBI began a new investigations into claims that President Denton greenlit improper use of State Department funds in connection to the Buz Lukens “hush money” payment scandal. When asked about it, Denton strongly denied the “baseless accusations” from “a disgruntled former employee,” as the President put it. As the Justice Department expanded its ongoing Lukens investigation to include White house personnel, all members of the White House staff were one-by-one brought in for questioning...

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



CRISIS IN XINJIANG: China’s Expulsion of Native Muslims “Finally” Gaining International Attention

…the authorities are attempting to relocate millions of native inhabitants through heartless procedures that include separating children from parents. Millions of adult Uyghurs, the main ethnic group of the region, are being sent to prisons for refusing to move away to make way for Han Chinese newcomers attempting to flee from China’s highly-overcrowded coastal cities in order to resolve the country’s growing overpopulation crisis. …The children, meanwhile, are sent to state-run schools, including boarding schools and universities, with the intention of cracking down on these locals’ devotion to Islam. “Their orders are to assimilate them, to indoctrinate them into the mindset laid out by the state,” says one anonymous expert, describing how Red China’s government is doing essentially everything short of outright and direct brainwashing to control the masses within its. “They want to the next degeneration of Uyghurs to be loyal to the party above all else.” …Despite constant surveillance and threats of mass arrests and violence, many Uighurs are fighting back...

– Follow-up article to investigative reporter Don Bolles’ August expose, The Arizona Republic, 9/29/1985



CAM BOMB KILLS 19 IN SABHA, LIBYA, AS ANTI-US FORCES FORM UNITED FRONT

– The Chicago Tribune, 9/30/1985



NASA: U.S. TO JOIN U.K. & FRANCE IN I.S.S. “MEGA-PROJECT”

…In a formal announcement, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration revealed that the U.S. will contribute to a non-military International Space Station project currently underway and led jointly by the U.K. and France…

– The Miami Herald, 10/1/1985



Privately, Denton hoped that the latest developments by NASA would distract the media and their avid audiences from the scandals plaguing hid administration of late. He wanted to return the nation’s attention to “the more important issues of our times,” as his Press Secretary put it…

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



...In the world of sport, Gerald Sandusky, the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions football team, has died in a car accident. According to several eyewitnesses, Sandusky was pulling out of his driveway when a truck carrying metal rods for a construction site swerved out of the way of a third vehicle, most likely a drunk driver according to witnesses. The truck with the rods collided at a high speed with Sandusky’s vehicle, causing the rods to slide off the truck and into Sandusky’s car. Some witnesses have stated that Sandusky was run clean through by the metal rods, but out of respect for the Sandusky family we will refrain from releasing any such grisly details. …The death of Coach Sandusky comes shortly after the Rutgers’ Scarlet Knights almost upset Penn State in a college football contest held in the Meadowlands… Sandusky, 41, is survived by his wife Dottie and their six young children… “This is truly a tragedy for football and for sports. Jerry never hurt nobody,” says Rutgers coach Dick Anderson, a longtime colleague, former teammate, and mentor of Sandusky…

– NBC, local news report, 6/17/1985 [27]



AG CIANCI STEPPING DOWN TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND

Washington, DC – Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, the controversial Attorney General of the United States, has announced his resignation in order to “focus fully” on running for governor next year. The timing of the announcement is somewhat puzzling as it comes in the midst of continued investigations into the alleged misuse of government funds by the State Department in a “hush money” scandal …Cianci previously served as the Mayor of Providence from 1975 to 1981 as a Republican before being tapped for Attorney General in 1981, but due to his known independent streak, he has not confirmed that he intends to run as a Republican.

– The Newport Daily News, 10/3/1985



Denton’s Deputy Attorney General Delwen Lowell (D. Lowell) Jensen of California, became his new Attorney General. Jensen immediately announced that he would oversee the “effectiveness” of the special prosecutor, Stephen S. Trott, in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal.

[snip]

…Behind closed doors, however, certain members of the Denton White House were jumpier than others. In early October, White House Counsel Jesse Helms suggested to Denton that Communication Director Newt Gingrich should be fired for not keeping Denton informed of Lukens’ activities.

“I like the guy, I really do, but we have to think about what’s best for this administration – and that would be moving on from this farcical scandal,” Helms reportedly said. Despite Helms’ logic holding less logic than a sieve holds water, Denton eventually agreed that the Newt would, reluctantly, have to be thrown under the bus.

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



DENTON FIRES COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR!

…the White House Press Secretary claims Director Gingrich “failed to properly monitor the activities of Denton’s cabinet members in a clear breach in his duties of communicating information to the President, and of promoting and developing the policies and ideals of the President to and with the members of the cabinet.”

– The Washington Post, 10/9/1985



LIBYAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION POSTPONED SIX MONTHS AMID RISE IN TERROR ATTACKS

– The Boston Globe, 10/13/1985



Lukens showed no remorse over his sexual relations. He even smirk once during a mid-October encounter with the press, in which he suggested he would face no major consequences for his actions. Then, just days later, more women finally came forward. It became clear from these further claims that the 1984 relations was not his first instance of sexual pestering. By the end of the month, seven women painted a lugubrious and sleazy picture. Lukens often fondled and groped low-ranking workers such as janitors and elevator operators, and even slept with interns going as far back as 1971. The alleged incidents of workplace misbehavior that occurred while he was Governor were all made ironic by the fact that he had run for Governor in 1970 on an “anti-pestering crusade,” rebuking politicians accused of “immoral behavior,” during the year of the Ms. Arkansas Wave.

Lukens again called the accusations to be all hearsay, but he no longer said it with a smirk.

– Radical feminist Catharine Alice MacKinnon’s More Than Words: Women’s Lives Under Men’s Laws, 1988

[pic: imgur.com/Dv0PX0k ]
– Buz Lukens, then Governor, visiting Washington, D.C. with two interns, c. October 1976



The U.S. Senate confirmed Kemp as the new V.P. by a wide vote of 71-28-1 on October 10. The U.S. House of Representative did the same a few days later, on October 18, by the even wider vote of 340-93-2.

– clickopedia.co.usa/Jack_French_Kemp



As more women stepped forward, Lukens decided to file another lawsuit against Anna Mason, the mother of the 14-year-old, claiming that Mason had violated their nondisclosure agreement, essentially confirming Mason’s testimony. Lukens demanded Mason return the $100,000. Having never spent it, Mason instead returned the money directly to the State Department, taking a train to their headquarters in D.C. and dramatically slapping the check onto the receptionist desk.

– David Frum’s political textbook How We Got Here: The ’80s, Basic Books NY, 2007



Because of his business deals with wealthy clients around the world, Epstein traveled extensively. He kept fake IDs and passports for places such as Australia, Saudi Arabia, and the UK, in case of emergency. …In the midst of the social fallout of the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, Epstein, and Jean Luc Brunel decided to cut down on the frequency of their procuring and trafficking activities, but it seems this pledge was not enough to keep Epstein at bay, and in 1986, he got sloppy…

– Jeffrey Epstein: Profile of a Monster, 1995 documentary



CONGRESSMAN NICHOLAS INTRODUCES DEFENSE RESTRUCTURING BILL INTO HOUSE

– The Washington Post, 10/24/1985



...Abortion had not become a major topic of debate in D.C. until its inclusion in Buz Lukens’ non-disclosure agreement allowed it to rise to national prominence. Concurrently, the same agreement’s contents led to members of the religious right pushing even more rigorously than before for anti-abortion legislation at the state level in several liberal states, including in Senator Kennedy-Shriver’s home state. [16]. …Naturally, being a Catholic, President Denton was a firm opponent of Abortion, and denounced Lukens’ inclusion of “the very thought” in the non-disclosure agreement. The senior US Senator from Massachusetts agreed with the President’s views, as she belonged to America’s dwindling population of outspoken pro-life liberals. Like her church, she saw a continuity, rather than a contradiction, between championing the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed and protecting unborn human life [17]. Due to her years of work with the developmentally disabled, a group of Americans who had once been marginalized and hidden away – or lobotomized, like her sister Rosemary – was ushered closer to full participation in ordinary human life further and further each year Kennedy-Shriver spent in the Senate [17]. …In a late October 1985 CBS debate held on the subject between her and a pro-choice Republican political activist from California, Kennedy-Shriver famously remarked “A poor person has no right to kill their own child... I just cannot support the notion that someone being a burden on you is justification for you killing them. Every child has the potential, especially in this country, rise above the conditions of their upbringing, and every unborn child has the potential to live. This is the same reason why we don’t unplug every comatose patient. The potential and the right to live is still there in the coma patient, just as it is in the on-the-way baby.”

– The New York Times, 2001 article



GLORIA DECKER ELECTED GOVERNOR

…in the first gubernatorial race to feature two female main-party candidates in the history of the Garden state, state senator Gloria A. Decker, a conservative Democrat from Phillipsburg, was elected Governor over state senator Barbara A. Curran of the Republican party. Former state senator Gertrude Berman ran as a liberal independent; together, the three women split the vote 54.5%-40.2%-3.1%, respectively, with the remaining votes going to all the other candidates on the ballot…

– The Star-Ledger, 11/5/1985



BELLAMY RE-ELECTED MAYOR IN LANDSLIDE

…with roughly 75.8% of the vote going to Carol Bellamy of the Democratic party (and endorsed by the Liberal, Progressive, and Natural Mind parties of New York), the incumbent Mayor of New York City was declared the winner before midnight. Her biggest challenger tonight, US Congressman from Staten Island Gaetano “Guy” Molinari of the Republican Party (and endorsed by the Conservative party of New York) received roughly 20.5% of the vote, with several minor third-party and independent candidates dividing the remaining 3.7% of votes…

– The New York Times, 11/5/1985



TYLER WINS GOVERNOR’S SEAT

…state senator Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr., a Democrat, is the 60-year-old grandson of John Tyler, who served as US President from 1841 to 1845. Before election to the state senate in 1981, Governor-Elect Tyler was an attorney who shifted to a career in academia in 1967, and spent the succeeding 14 years teaching history at the University of Richmond and the Virginia Military Institute [18]. Tyler won over the Republican nominee, US Congressman Stanford Elmer “Stan” Parris, by a margin of 4% in a night that has been very fortuitous for Democrats…

– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/5/1985



On November 6, 1985, three vehicles carrying 35 M-19 Marxist guerillas drove to the Palace of Justice of Colombia, the judiciary center for the nation and the workplace of Colombia’s national court’s justices, and attempted to enter the basement while a second group of guerillas sought to storm the building from the front. However, American and UN security forces in the capital and at the building prevented the vehicles from entering, leading to the “basement group” opening fire and attempt to enter through the basement by force. Upon hearing the gunfire, the second group attacked the first floor, only to be met by counter-guerilla security forces. After two hours of firefighting, the US/UN forces repelled the outnumbered, outgunned and outmaneuvered M-19 Marxist guerillas, but not before their detonation of a “nail bomb” (explosives surrounded by scrap metal and other dangerous projectiles). In the end, 20 guerillas were dead, but so were 15 US soldiers, 12 UN security officers, and 4 civilian bystanders. However, U.S. intelligence soon afterward declared the attack on the building to be a “final stand for them,” as the fall of the USSR “has taken the air out of their tires.”

– Miguel LaRosa and German R. Mejia’s Colombia: A Concise Contemporary History, Chronicle Books, 2013



On November 9, Garry Kasparov defeated Anatoly Karpov in all-Russian chess match for World Chess Championship. The competition of strategy and intelligence lifted the spirits of the Russian people as they tried to move on from the Soviet Era and create a new chapter in their people’s history.

– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016



MAUROY CRISIS: SUPPORT PLUMMETS AMID SCANDALS AND LEGISLATION IMPASSE

Scandal!: Mitterrand Had False Health Reports Published While President To Hide Early Cancer Diagnosis [19]! His Former Physician, Dr. Claude Gubler, Claims Mauroy Knew!

– Le Parisien, French newspaper, 11/11/1985



NEW HOMOSEXUAL LAW REFORM ACT ENACTED; Amends The Crimes Act Of 1961

…in a move celebrated by the BLUTAGO Zealanders nationwide, the new reform act legalizes the act of consensual sex between men aged 16 [20] and older…

– The New Zealand Herald, 11/11/1985



A week after one chaotic calamity hit Colombia, another one arrived. On November 13, the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano violently erupted, killing at least 20,000 people, most of them in the neighboring town of Armero. The deadly tragedy’s high casualty count was avoidable, as seismologists had distributed maps of the likely lava flood zones over month before the eruption, only for them to be ignored by many local authorities who accused the scientific and civil defense agencies of fearmongering at a time of high-intensity guerilla warfare. UN workers already in Bogota immediately began the process of rescuing and treating injured survivors, but continued to deal with internal fighting as guerilla fighters accused the government of being corrupt and “dangerously inept.” It seems as if not even thousands of their fellow countrymen burning alive in lava flows could impede the violence. If anything, this as the moment when the UN decided to work more closely with the Colombian government to put an end to the guerilla warfare…

– Miguel LaRosa and German R. Mejia’s Colombia: A Concise Contemporary History, Chronicle Books, 2013



JACK KEMP IS SWORN IN AS OUR NEW VICE PRESIDENT

– The New York Times, 11/15/1985



EXTRA! DENTON FIRES SPECIAL PROSECUTOR STEPHEN S. TROTT ON “PROCEDURAL MISCONDUCT” CLAIM!

– The Washington Post, 11/17/1985



FIRED W.H. COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: “DENTON HELPED LUKENS”!

…“In August or so of last year, Lukens spoke to Denton directly about paying off the mother of an underage girl he’d slept with back in June of last year. I was in the adjacent room when it happened, and I overheard everything. Neither Buz nor Jer spoke to me about it, though. They didn’t speak to me, and they didn’t speak through me. I’m just a scapegoat for them.” Gingrich has stated that he is willing to testify if called to do so…

– The Atlanta Constitution, 11/19/1985



BLOOMBERG L.P. CEO ACCUSSED OF WORKPLACE PESTERING

– The Wall Street Journal, 11/20/1985



“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Chief of Staff Richard Edward Schermerhorn said to Denton. “To think that Buz would consider aborting a bastard child – it’s disgusting! All life is sacred, including the lives of the unwanted,” the firm anti-abortion conservative expressed his beliefs to a disheartened Commander-In-Chief.

“Richard,” the President contemplated as he stared out at the early snowflakes beginning to stick to the window sill, “if I could misjudge Lamar and Buz, who else am I misjudging?”

“These past few months have been unsettling for all of us, sir. But the good thing about having an important job – like Governor, Senator, or President – is that not every call has to be made on your own. You still have us – Helms, Louie [Giuffrida], Curt [LeMay], me. And there’s at least one thing you have, Jer, that can’t be second-guessed – your morals. Your conviction to your principles. That’ll get us through this, Jer, you’ll see. You – ”

A buzz from Denton’s desk cut short Schermerhorn’s monologue. “Mr. President,” the personal secretary informed her boss, “Some F.B.I. agents are here.”

“Again?” Denton asked, “Listen, we already told them everything we knew about Lukens’ – ”

“They’re here for Richard, sir,” she quickly explained.

“Me?” the Chief of Staff’s eyes widened.

The agents were let into the room. Skipping the customary exchanges of pleasantries, the lead agent spoke directly to the Chief of Staff. “Richard Schermerhorn?”

“Yes?”

“We have reason to believe that you directly interfered with a federal investigation.”

“What?”

“Richard?” the President looked at his advisor with curiosity and shock clearly visible on his face.

“You need to come with us, sir.”

“For what?” Schermerhorn inquired.

“You need to answer a few questions for us, sir.”

By the end of that week, Denton was again questioning his judgement abilities, as Schermerhorn was ultimately arrested on the charge of directing assistants to destroy documents concerning the Lukens Hush Money Scandal back in late April of 1985. An FBI task force, performing a sweeping overview of White House activities in conjunction with the FBI’s investigations into the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, had received a tipoff from a former White House employee (a former paid intern for Schermerhorn) that the Chief of Staff had instructed employees to shred a “large pile” of document papers...

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



…In political news, another scandal has broken concerning a member of Denton’s Cabinet. This scandal features the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, former US Representative Thomas Beverley Evans Jr. of Delaware, and lobbyist and former nude model Paula Parkinson, the latter of whom is being accused of engaging in sexual favors in exchange for political influence…

– ABC News, 11/30/1985



After 21 years of Mitterrand, the scandal-riddled Socialist Alliance’s poor excuses for graft and cover-ups, and the ineffective multiple conservative parties not making things better, a general strike over another tax hike by President Mauroy to pay for social programs saw support for Le Pen and his National Front to rise even further as December 1985 began. Not even Le Pen’s claims that Mauroy was a puppet, that former President Mitterrand was controlling the Mauroy administration, and that “Mitterrand is also a puppet by being on the payroll of Jewish organizations, and particularly of the B’nai B’rith” [21] could slow his momentum as the weary post-Cold War people of France turned more inward. Some of his more avid followers even reportedly enjoy hearing news reports that Le Pen practiced torture on prisoners while in French army during the Algerian War of 1954-1962 [21]. Of course, Le Pen denied committing war crimes, but he also launched several defamation lawsuits over the reports...

– Jonathan Fenby’s The History of Modern France, Scholastic, 2015



WALL STREET TECH CEO IS SERVED CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT PAPERS AMID WORKPLACE PESTERING CLAIMS

New York City, NY – Michael R. Bloomberg, the millionaire founder and CEO of the data software company Bloomberg L. P. of New York City, has been formally served a filed class action lawsuit, the petition of damages laying out accusations of gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and workplace pestering. The lawsuit was organized the legal representatives of a group of 23 female former and current employees of Bloomberg L.P., some of which are currently remaining anonymous. The women claim Bloomberg directly pestered them and supported a workplace environment at Bloomberg L.P. that they described as “aggressive” and “hostile” to female employees. [22] “Behind closed doors, in the office, he is constantly insulting to women he deems to be ugly,” says one member of the lawsuit, describing the CEO making “degrading comments” on various physical features on various women workers, and more than once telling a woman he deemed to be ugly to “kill it” upon being told that she was with child [23]. Bloomberg and a spokesperson for his company could not be reached for comment…

– The Financial Times, 12/6/1985



…The FBI has announced that it is expanding its investigation into the Lukens Hush Money Scandal in light of President Denton’s November 17 firing of Special Prosecutor Stephen S. Trott …Also in political news, SBA Administrator Thomas Beverley Evans Jr. has stepped down over revelations concerning his years-long unprofessional relationship with a D.C. lobbyist…

– The Overmyer Network, morning news brief, 12/9/1985



“The President knows that the people of this country are behind him and will continually support him over baseless accusations of wrongdoing.”

– White House Press Secretary Peggy Noonan, 12/9/1985



On December 12, House Majority Leader Bob Michel, with minority leader Hale Boggs, jointly announced the formation of formal hearings to clarify the extent of President Denton’s knowledge of the Lukens and Alexander payments. “We simply seek to determine for the sake of justice and clarification whether or not the President’s actions were unquestionably legal. If we is innocent, he has no reason to not comply with the legal process,” Michel explained, confident that the sooner the justice department cleared matters up, the sooner Capitol Hill could return to other matters. House Ethics Committee chairman Louis Stokes was chosen to co-head the hearings with House deputy whip David Emery, creating a bipartisan panel of experience legislators.

[snip]

On December 16, Senate leader Howard Baker yielded to Democratic leader Robert Byrd’s demands and greenlit the formation a Special Senate Committee to investigate the extent of President Denton’s involvement in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal...

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



DENTON DEDICATES MORE TROOPS TO U.N. CAUSE IN COLOMBIA

…more advisory troops and supplies are being sent from the U.S. to Colombia as American military leadership takes the lead in an international effort to end the combination civil war/drug war conflict ravaging the northern South American nation...

– The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/18/1985



DENTON MEETS WITH RUSSIA’S VOLKOV IN GENEVA AS US-RUSSIAN RELATIONS KEEP IMPROVING

– The Chicago Tribune, 12/21/1985

vid: youtube.com/watch?v=6XJZeW9IQZc

– A Christmas-themed KFC commercial, circa December 1985



With a raspy voice, Lukens requested that the start of his newest trial – this time for the illegal use of State Department funds – be postponed in order for him to seek treatment for throat cancer. The former chain-smoker claimed he needed surgery to correct a saliva gland deficiency and trouble speaking. As his cancer was in the early stages and the “saliva gland surgery” was actually an elective therapy of sorts, the judge overseeing the case against him declined to delay the case – it was still set for January ’86. …In his later years, Lukens would try in vain to become a “poster boy” for various anti-smoking organizations...

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Based on comments made by Igeo654 and President_Earl_Warren on page 31 of this thread!
[2] All of his positions here are OTL: https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Lamar_Alexander.htm
[3] Source 31 on his wikipage states “Alexander frequently shifted assets to his wife's name, yet such transfers are not legal under federal ethics and security laws,” so I don't think this is too implausible.
[4] Italicized parts are from Agnew’s wikipage.
[5] Similar to an OTL quote on his from 1973: “I think the country sure as hell forgot about Chappaquiddick in a hurry, and I think that’s worse than Watergate.”
[6] His wikipage states he ruled “in favor of three-strikes law; LGBT employment discrimination; and the eviction of substance abusers by their landlords,” and cites this article which goes into further detail on said subjects: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-04/is-carly-fiorina-a-chip-off-the-old-block-
[7] italicized parts are from here: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/25/us/teen-ager-in-ohio-testifies-to-sex-with-a-congressman.html
[8] italicized parts are from Source 6 of Luken’s wiki page
[9] The timing/chronology of events here is based on how quickly things went down in OTL (Nov: event; Feb: story breaks; May: testimony; June: conviction)
[10] This oil was not discovered until 2007 in OTL!
[11] Microsoft had only released Windows 1 by this point in OTL (11/20/1985)
[12] The what? This!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald%E2%80%93hairy
[13] Like it did in OTL.
[14] Who? Some guy who defended Lukens in court in OTL: https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/25/us/teen-ager-in-ohio-testifies-to-sex-with-a-congressman.html
[15] An OTL quote he said to the US Senate in September 1981
[16] In case you missed it: As I mentioned in Chapter 27, the “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade (birth name: Norma Nelson) was killed by a jilted lover in October 1967; as a result, lawyers Weddington and Coffee failed to find a client whose case could be brought to the Supreme Court (leading to Weddington serving two terms in the US HoR, as previously mentioned), meaning abortion is still a state-by-state thing at this point in the TL...
[17] This/these italicized part(s) is/are from here: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/opinion/31douthat.html
[18] Age and OTL bio found here: http://wikibin.org/articles/lyon-gardiner-tyler-jr.html
[19] OTL!
[20] They picked that age IOTL; I don’t know why…
[21] OTL, according to his wiki article.
[22] OTL: https://www.businessinsider.com/bloomberg-built-a-toxic-sexually-charged-nightmare-for-women-2019-11
[23] OTL, according to this QT politics video, near the 15:30 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGzaJP3KWrw
[27] It couldn't find a source stating that Sandusky began doing what he did any earlier than in the 1990s.

Also: @Bree, the Baltodome wasn’t built because Governor Mandel still pulled the plug on it in early 1974; ITTL, the recent oil shock creating a dip in the economy and renewing concerns over unnecessary spending were contributing factors on top of the OTL problems.

 

[gap80]

Post 46: Chapter 54

Chapter 54: January 1986 – June 1986 ​

“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else”

– Booker T. Washington



“First the Vice President, then the Secretary of State, and now the Chief of Staff? This is a crime wave! And somebody’s got to wave back! Let’s Return Dignity To D.C.!”

– Mario Biaggi (D-NY), announcing his bid for a second term in the US Senate, 1/3/1986



PEROT’S APPROVAL RATINGS TAKE ANOTHER DIP IN FIRST POST-HOLIDAY POLL

…Governor Perot’s approval ratings have dropped down from 45% last month to 37%, lower than the 38% recorded in July 1985. …While Perot was elected on a platform calling for more domestic production and technology-driven innovation – being a longtime supporter of leaders of technological advancement such as businessmen Steve Jobs and Bill Gates [1] – the restricting realities of the limited office of the governorship of Texas have stymied his efforts to curb outsourcing to other countries such as Japan and, more recently, Mexico. In order to balance the state budget, Perot signed into law a substantial fuel tax (passed by the Democrat-dominant state legislature) in July 1984, raising prices for oil and at gas stations across the state of Texas. This, and his support of the Denton administration implementing cutbacks to Social Security, has alienated Perot from lower-income Texans. [2] …It seems that not even his June 1985 visit to Mexico, unsuccessfully calling for the nation to raise wages to match American wages, has improved his approval ratings… …Texans are also concerned over the Governor’s leadership skills. Perot has already gone through two chiefs of staff, both of whom claim Perot is “incredibly” unwilling to follow advice from others, insisting on full control of all gubernatorial operations – leading to multiple private and public feuds with the Lieutenant Governor over their respective levels of power in Texas – and Perot even forces staff members to sign loyalty oaths, according to several other sources [3]. If Perot does not resolve these issues, his prospects of winning re-election this November year will remain low…

– The Antonio Express-News, 1/4/1985



Oprah Winfrey led the charge on the talk show front. Her half-hour morning talk program, WLS-TV’s AM Chicago, allowed her to share with her audience her own experiences of sexual abuse in the 1960s and 1970s as 1985 came to a close. Opening up like this made her audience comfortable enough to share their own experiences as well, and this gave strength to those who sought to confront those who have wronged them. This “Second Arkwave” catapulted Oprah to national fame seemingly overnight, a led to The Oprah Winfrey Show premiering on January 12, 1986.

– Feminist writer Eleanor Clift’s The Way We Never Were, Simon & Shuster, 2002



…The Ohio court jury found Lukens guilty after only an hour of deliberating. Soon Lukens’ instincts kicked in and he began to shout at the judge, but quickly calmed down after being threatened with being held in contempt of court. Eventually, he was escorted out of the courtroom, a scowl still on his face.

Lukens had pleaded guilty to bank fraud to receive a light sentence, but the former diplomat had found the reduction to be insufficient. The Judge had given Lukens a sentence of 180 days in jail and a fine of $20,000, plus an order for him to attend sex offender classes and to be tested for all known STDs for good measure. Some D.C. bigwigs and conservatives called the sentencing harsh; most pundits, however, held the opinion that Lukens had gotten off easy. The former Secretary of State appealed several weeks later for a shorter amount of time in prison, arguing that his throat cancer worsening. The lobbying was successful, by only partially – the sentence was only cut down to just 100 days, instead of Lukens’ preferred 60. Additionally, Bond was still set at $100,000, an amount set by a state bill signed into law by then-Governor Lukens in 1975…

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



DEMOCRATS ARE GEARING UP TO CHALLENGE A POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL PARDON FOR LUKENS

…due to the President’s past support for Lukens, congressional lawmakers are preparing for the possibility of the former Secretary of State being pardoned by President Denton. While the White House Press Secretary has stated twice earlier this week that Denton is not “even remotely considering” pardoning Lukens, U.S. Congressman and Senators are “not taking any chances,” according to our D.C. correspondent…

– The Baltimore News-American, 1/15/1986



PRESIDENT OF FINLAND WINS A SECOND SIX-YEAR TERM

…incumbent Mauno Koivisto, 62, of the Social Democratic party won over Harri Holkeri, 48, of the National Coalition…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, side article, 16/1/1986



FBI DIRECTOR FELT: WH Counsel Jesse Helms “May Have” Lied To FBI Investigators

…also being questioned is other testimony pertaining to the extent to which former members of the White House’s inner circle, Richard Schermerhorn and Newton Gingrich, were involved in obtaining the “hush money” funds, as new evidence suggests that some testimony may have been perjured “under pressure.” When asked to elaborate on this, the FBI Director declined to due to it pertaining to matters of security and due to the “sensitive nature of the situation”…

– The New York Times, 1/19/1986 report

[pic: imgur.com/icPpmui.png ]

– painter Bob Ross signing autographs in Paducah, Kentucky, during a tour promoting his latest book on painting tips, c. January 1986



HELMS OUT, BUCHANAN IN

…Presidential speech writer Pat Buchanan began his new job as White House Communications Director just earlier today. At the same time, White House Counsel Jesse Helms was clearing out his office, having announced that he was stepping down from the position to “focus fully on helping federal authorities reconstruct the details of the questionable activities of former colleagues,” as Helms put it in a brief statement. In other words, Helms has agreed to cooperate with DOJ authorities investigating his role in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal...

– The Washington Post, 1/22/1986



BELL: “Okay! So, what have you got for us tonight, Conspiracy Joe?”

JOE: “It’s being called the Denton Death Count.”

BELL: “Alright, first off, it’s called that by whom?”

JOE: “By me.”

BELL: “I see, and what is it?”

JOE: “A list of people that have all had connections to President Denton and are now all dead.”

BELL: “Alright, I’ll bite.”

JOE: “First off, Senator Walter Flowers of Alabama, a Democrat and early critic of Denton, who up and died suddenly on his 51st birthday in 1984. Then there the singer Elton John. He passes away, and now there’s a dead liberal for the anti-drug brigade to parade around just as anti-drug legislation is underway? How convenient.”

BELL: “But Denton’s platform in 1980 had an anti-recreadrug plank, and – ”

JOE: “And next is Congressman John East, who butted heads with the President while on an ethics committee, and then shot his brains out in early ’85.”

BELL: “Well he did suffer from depression from being paraplegic.”

JOE: “Don’t believe everything you hear, Art. Now listen – Senator Hubert Humphrey, a former V.P. and a big early critic of Denton, died last year, leaving Minnesota with a weak appointee. Senator Frank Church of Idaho – another big-time critic of Denton – died in 1984. Both of those Senator guys were Democrats. And don’t forget Phil Ochs – he wrote many songs criticizing the President, accusing him of war crimes for sending troops to Libya, then, uh, Iran, and then to Colombia – he also died in mid-1984.”

BELL: “Now hold on, there, Joe. Ochs was a drug addict who blew his head off with a shotgun because he thought an alien had crawled into it.”

JOE: “Which is just what a government implant would feel like! They were monitoring him, experimenting on him! The same thing happened to Bob Marley.”

BELL: “Oh come on! Where’s the evidence for any of that?”

JOE: “The government’s spies destroyed all the evidence.”

BELL: “Then how do you know it happened?”

JOE: “I know it happened because of the lack of evidence! Now, let me tell you about the strange and mysterious 1983 disappearance of Bob Lazar…”

– Host Art Bell and recurring caller Conspiracy Joe on KDWN’s late night political call-in talk radio program West Coast AM, Sunday 1/26/1986 [4]



“FOCUS FORWARD”: Denton State Of The Union Address Paints Optimistic Picture Of Current Affairs

…”America’s standing on the world stage give its citizens an unprecedented opportunity to make the world a better place, especially with the economic prosperity Americans are relishing in now, from Maine to Alaska, from San Diego to Miami. Now is the best time for giving back to our communities, when people can afford to contribute to charity, and to stand up for the oppressed, for there are less excuses now than ever before.”…

– The Detroit News, 1/29/1986



February 2, 1986: On this day in history, the U.S.’s Senate Middletown Committee, officially entitled the Senate Select Committee on Contentious Presidential Activities, began its nationally televised hearings; it was named after the Middletown, Ohio inn in which a woman known as Anna Mason was given and accepted $100,000 (funds that were illegally taken from the US State Department) for signing a nondisclosure agreement.

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk

Vid: youtube.com/watch?v=9Qlnv3ATgZg

…Halley’s Comet, its last visit being in 1910, is expected to pass us on the 13th. Its next visit will not be until July 2061...

– The Overmyer Network, 2/9/1986 report



ANOTHER LAWMAKER IS “BUZZED OUT”: House Votes To Censor Rep. Packwood

[snip]

While running for a sixth term in the House in 1980, Bob Packwood was eager to meet his campaign chairwoman for Lane County, Ore. The Congressman invited Gena Hutton to dinner at the motel where he was staying in Eugene for a get-acquainted meeting. Hutton, a 35-year-old divorced mother of two, had brought along pictures of her children and even her cats. Then it was time to go and Packwood offered to walk her to her car. "As I started to put the key in the car door," Hutton recalls, "he just reeled me around and grabbed me and pulled me close to him." For an instant, she thought he was offering a good-night hug. But then the Senator planted a full kiss on her lips, wriggling his tongue into her mouth.

Hutton's first reaction was shame: she didn't think she had given any hint of a come-on. Then she thought of the scandal that might ensue if Packwood, a married man, was recognized by a passer-by. Hustling him into her car, Hutton drove the Congressman across the motel parking lot to his room, where he tried to talk her into coming inside. "You really don't want me to do that," she said firmly. Eventually Packwood retired alone.

"I knew, without a doubt, I was not going in the room," Hutton says. "I was mortified that he would be willing to risk his reputation and everything he'd done by sexually coming on to his campaign chairperson. It was so totally inappropriate."

A political novice in Oregon, Hutton hadn't heard the rumors swirling for years around Bob Packwood, the graying boy wonder and maverick of the United State House of Representatives. Tales of Packwood's exploits as a masher, often involving members of his staff, had long been served up for the delectation of insiders, like canapes at a political cocktail party. In the years before sexual pestering became a national catch phrase in 1970, such incidents were usually winked away.

Then came that change in at the dawn of the 1970s, that seismic shift in social values that relocated the fault line between what was private and what was seen as justifiably public. For Packwood, the shift finally caught up to him when the rumors acquired flesh and blood last November, when an article in The Washington Post cited 10 women who accused Packwood of making unwanted sexual advances, spanning from 1969, a year after an unsuccessful run for the US Senate, to last year. Amid angry calls for his resignation, Packwood fled from sight, checking into the Hazelden Foundation clinic for alcoholism in Center City, Minn. He had reportedly been drinking before several of the harassment episodes. In December, he reappeared at a nationally televised news conference and unenthusiastically apologized to his accusers, admitting "My actions were just plain wrong." At the same time, he testily refused to discuss details. "I'm apologizing for the conduct that it was alleged that I did," he said, an utterance that struck critics as a gem of obfuscation. …It seems that, if anything has become clear in the six years since Hutton’s agonizing confrontation, it's that the national debate over sexual harassment is far from over.

Is ardently kissing a woman goodbye, when a handshake would be expected, a form of harassment? Is telling a dirty joke? Is there a clear line between illegal harassment and simply an awkward and boorish pass?

Does it matter that most of the incidents in the Packwood case took place from the late 60's through the mid-80's, years after society had seemingly widely agreed to condemn sexual pestering? Does it matter that among the women who worked for Packwood and are prepared to testify, no one is claiming the Congressman penalized her for refusing his advances, and that some even continued serving amicably in his organization?

The 54-year-old Packwood is cast in the unlucky role of lightning rod just when Washington, D.C. is under pressure to prove its newly awakened sensitivity to the issue of sexual pestering, following the rough, inquisitorial testimony of Anna Mason last year, which prompted 58 Senators and 112 Representatives to adopt anti-sexual-misconduct guidelines framed by the Capitol Hill Women's Political Caucus. Packwood, in an irony no one's failed to note, was an early signer. The fire from women's groups at late is now being fueled by a sense of personal betrayal. For years, Packwood, who is a socially progressive Republican, has been a strong supporter of women's causes. A leader of the abortion-rights brigades, he introduced the first House bill to legalize abortion in 1972, but was unable to attract a cosponsor. He has also regularly hired women to run his campaigns and to serve as his top aides. But after the first wave of news accounts, many more women came forward with accusations of sexual misconduct.

"He's not a warm and fuzzy person," says his ex-wife, Georgie Packwood, whose marriage to the Congressman ended last December after 22 years and two grown children. She says her husband was never comfortable discussing intimate matters. It was probably no coincidence that he chose as his chief area of expertise the United States tax code. "The intellectual idea of tax reform is absolutely the most titillating thing in the world to him," says Georgie Packwood. "How it affects Mrs. Jones on 13th Street, he doesn't give a darn about."

Packwood lives alone in a two-bedroom basement apartment in Northwest Washington. At the time of his divorce, he testified that his combined checking and savings accounts held $700. He has never been driven by the need for money. Only power.

According to Packwood's accusers, the Congressman’s advances consisted chiefly of dropping sudden, surprise French kisses on women, usually after forcefully seizing them by their arms or waists. The women, most of them members of Packwood's staff, lobbyists and campaign volunteers, deny sending any signals of romantic interest. When they acted shocked and resisted, Packwood invariably backed off.

Some of Packwood loyalists argue he's being judged ex post facto by newly sensitive standards. …"Not to say it's right, but there was a mind-set then that was totally different than today," says Ed Westerdahl, a member of the steering committee for Packwood's 1968 Senate race and his first successful run for the House in 1970. "Before the Ms. Arkansas Scandal, at parties, I'd see people doing much more than he's being accused of and nobody gave it a second thought. The pinching, touching, feeling was considered to be friendly, not pestering."

However, in the wake of the Ark Wave of 1970, Packwood's innermost circle continuously feared he might one day step over the line and create a genuine scandal. The scandal has arrived, and has led to Packwood being censored, isolated, and abandoned by his fellow Representatives.

– The Washington Post, 2/10/1986 [5]



“It’s my belief that – and this is right on par with the Denton White House’s lack of any government transparency – I believe Denton allowed, or approved of the money payment proposal in order to keep the incident from upending his re-election campaign. If Anna or Sidney Mason had talked before November, you know, gone to the press before then, it could have been curtains, he could have lost re-election, and we could’ve gotten stuck with, ugh, President Gravel. Blech. Denton allowed that non-disclosure agreement meeting to happen to protect us from suffering that kind of fate. That’s what I think.”

“But the Masons did eventually go to the press.”

“Yes, eventually. The non-disclosure agreement made them decide not to, but then they changed their minds.”

“Anna Mason testified she felt intimidated during the August meeting.”

“And Helms told me he would never stab me in the back. People can lie, you know.”

“Did you just call Anna Mason a liar?”

“No, I said people can lie. What really happened in ’84, we may never know, but I think the President did what he thought was the best thing for him to do, whatever that was, back when whatever happened had happened.”

– Newton Gingrich and interviewer, “exclusive” KNN interview, 2/12/1986



THE RISE OF LE PEN: Hard-Right Populist To Challenge Mouroy In Runoff For French Presidency

Tonight, the citizens of France partook in their septennial tradition of choosing whom should be their President. It results saw no candidate receive a majority of votes, requiring a runoff to be held on 28 February between the top two candidates. To the surprise of most analyst, the candidate of the National Front party outperformed his fifth-place standing in most polls to narrowly defeat Republican party nominee Jaques Chaban-Delmas for second place, meaning that he and incumbent President Pierre Mauroy will now face off against one another in two weeks’ time. …Despite Le Pen’s vitriolic past statements, he has amassed a coalition of lower- and middle- income voters, disgruntled and disillusioned by Mauory’s party’s own scandals and in his inability to capitalize on the economy. …The fourth-place finisher in the race was Valery Giscard d’Estaing (MRP), while the fifth-place finisher was Jean Royer (Conservative). The other candidates were Arlette Laguiller (Workers’), Rene Dumont (Independent), Michel Rocard (Independent Socialist), Marie-France Garaud (Centrist), Georges Marchais (French Communist Party (PCF)), and Michel Crepeau (Radical Party of the Left (PRG))…

– The Guardian, 14/2/1986



…On February 19, 1986, New York’s Governor Mario Cuomo, running for re-election and wanting to show concerned constituents that he was politically closer to the liberal Democratic NYC Mayor Carol Bellamy than to the conservative Democratic US Senator Mario Biaggi of New York, allowed the state legislature to pass a Universal Health Care Bill…

– T. R. Reid’s Healing America: Medicine and Healthcare in the United States, Penguin Books, 2010



… The “People Power Revolution” of the Philippines began in earnest on February 22, 1986. The overall nonviolent wave of civil resistance and disobedience saw the national Armed Forces fail to carry out Ferdinand Marcos’ orders to disperse the crowds. …One dissenting activist was famously quoted as saying “we have KFC, but we don’t have freedom.” Such criticisms had in recent weeks renewed some greater focus on American companies doing business with controversial governments. KFC was especially criticized for basically shying away from their controversial neutral stance in the matter; Lee Cummings, the CEO of its parent company, Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc., repeated the cliché “no comment” over the next four days, while the company founder retained focus on the ongoing events in India and Washington, D.C. The situation was resolved for both American enterprises and the people of the Philippines three days later, on February 25, when, after nearly two decades of oppressive totalitarian rule, President Marcos and his family fled the country to exile in Hawaii. Corazon Aquino, the widow of resistance leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., immediately became the nation’s new President. To make amends for his hands-off approach to the revolution, Cummings agreed to raise wages and family health benefits for all Philippine citizens employed by Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc. …

– Mark Pendergrast’s “For God, Country, and Kentucky Fried Chicken,” Perfect Formula Publishing, 2000



As February 28 approached, President Mouroy began to worry. Le Pen’s campaign was divisive and his rhetoric was often vitriolic, sure, but his treasury was growing faster, his base was more energized, and the uninformed and undecided voters of the nations seemed to eat it all up. In an effort to win over former backers of Jacques Chaban-Delmas and Valery Giscard d’Estaing, Mouroy attempted to moderate, only to lose support from the far-left. Mouroy then switched back to more left-leaning policies, angering moderate backers. The President seemed to be flip-flopping and thus failed the win over more support.

Le Pen, on the other hand, stood firm on his political positions, held on strongly to his beliefs, and utilized his eye-catching oration, folksy attitude and crude humor that touched the lower-class French voters. On Election Day, polls showed Le Pen trailing by only 4%; on Election Night, Le Pen was declared the winner by a margin of 2.8% (51.4%-to-48.6%).

[pic: imgur.com/omIL6x6 ]
Above: Jean-Marie Le Pen

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



PM OLOF PALME RETURNS HOME AFTER “PRODUCTIVE” 3-DAY TRIP TO THE US AND CANADA

– The Vestmanlands Lans Tidning, Swedish newspaper, 3/1/1986



LE PEN IN BRUSSELS TO DISCUSS LEGAL OPTIONS FOR FRANCE LEAVING E.C.

…The new President of France, staying true to one of his key campaign promises, is beginning an efforts to get his nation out of the European Economic Community…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 6/3/1986



DUVALIER FLEES HAITI! 28 Years Of Family Rule Ends With Dancing Crowds As “Baby Doc” Goes To France!

…Like the people of the Philippines last month, the Haitian people are overjoyed as the nation’s dictator has finally relinquished power after several weeks of revolutionary turmoil engulfed the island nation’s streets with rebel warfare and riots… Duvalier has scurried off to France due to “Baby Doc” Duvalier “feel[ing] safe hiding behind Le Pen,” says one member of Haiti’s temporary emergency government…

– The Miami Herald, 3/8/1986



SAN FRANCISCO CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERING LEGALIZING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE!

– The New York Times, 3/10/1986



In early March, another scandalous revelation rocked the Denton White House. On the eleventh of that month, The Birmingham News reported that the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, H. Guy Hunt, has expended more than $500,000 of department funds for his own air traveling expenses, and for purchasing lavish items for his Alabama home, such as marble showers and custom lawnmowers [6]. The House Oversight Committee soon opened a bipartisan investigation into Hunt’s activities. By the end of the month, the Secretary had resigned from his post. He was succeeded by Reagan Veasy Brown, the former state Agriculture Commissioner of Texas.

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



…I remember being sixteen and having this big argument with my parents. This back in, like, early March of ’86, so before my dad died that August... I’d been sucked into my generation’s hatred of the Republican Party, and I somehow got to arguing with both of my parents about Denton. I thought he should resign, at the very least, but Mom was adamant the President couldn’t be guilty of anything just by having that office. Patriotism is one thing, but blind patriotism is dangerous; false prophets have an easier time when that happens. On the other hand, maybe it was just a reaction to the amount of disrespect that young people, including myself, showed to Denton. …Like many parents who remembered the ’60s, my mother was really unnerved by how similar the anti-Denton protests were to the shoutnik movement’s anti-Johnson protests that President Johnson had had to deal with over twenty years prior. Mom hoped no more elements from that decade would come back…

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



EXTRA! SHOTS FIRED AT DENTON LIMO IN D.C.

– The Washington Post, 3/19/1986



UPDATE: SUSPECT WOUNDED IN CAPTURED AFTER HALF-HOUR STANDOFF

…the man who allegedly fired a round of bullets at the President’s limousine motorcade at roughly 9:15 A.M. earlier today has been apprehended by a SWAT team unit collaborating with Secret Service…

– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/19/1986



HUBERTY: WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR ABOUT THE WOULD-BE KILLER

James Oliver Huberty – the detained man who allegedly tried to kill President Denton yesterday – was reportedly uncooperative with law enforcement officers during his interrogation in DC. Nevertheless, here is what we have learned about the man so far:

1. The alleged act was for “revenge” – Huberty reportedly told police that he wanted to “settle my debts owed to those who have wronged me.”

2. He claims to have acted alone – Huberty has not confessed to attempting to kill the President, but he has confessed “I let no one in on this.”

3. He once supported Denton – According to his former co-workers, Huberty claimed that he voted for Denton in 1980 and 1984, but had since grown to believe that the President’s “softness for China” had cost him his job in late 1985 to workers overseas (although his former employers claim that he was let go due to his aggressive behavior on the job). Furthermore, Huberty reportedly believes that Denton and the United States government were conspiring against him [7].

4. He believes the Endtimes are near – A relative of Huberty informed us anonymously that Huberty believed that the recent wave of “Potomac Scandals” were leading to the breakdown of society and the start of the apocalypse.

5. He is a former funeral director, welder and security guard – Huberty worked as a licensed embalmer during the 1960s, then for a welding outfit in Kentucky before moving back to Ohio in the late 1970s. He briefly failed to work as a “pimp” in Tiajuana in 1979. After that, he worked as a security guard. He then moved again in northern Virginia in 1983, where he found work in construction until he was fired five months ago.

6. He has a record of mental health issues and domestic violence incidents – frequent bouts of anger led to his wife leaving him, divorcing him and moving to another state with their two daughters, in 1977. After this, Huberty failed to commit suicide. Multiple former coworkers claim that Huberty was a quiet worker, “but at the same time always had an attitude problem,” as one put it anonymously.

– The New York Post, 3/20/1986



Born in Ohio in late 1942 to devoutly religious Methodists, Huberty was emotionally crippled by his mother abandoning the family when he was eight years old. Temperamental and paranoid, he often made dark jokes about murder, and alleviated his consistent rage on the gun range. Fanatic of firearms since his early youth, his home contained no less than one gun every two feet, making his tiny Fairfax, VA apartment seem like it was haphazardly painted black.

[snip]

Early in the morning on March 19, Huberty piled two semi-automatic rifles, one uzi, five handguns and 28 magazines and rounds into the back on his truck. He drove into Washington, D.C. looking for a something to shoot up. Approaching Constitution Avenue NW at 9:14 AM, Huberty spotted a motorcade of limousines flanked by motorcycles and deduced it was someone important. Not wanting to miss out on killing an important figure, fired a semi-auto upon the first limousine in the motorcade from his truck. Unbeknownst to him, the second limousine was carrying President Denton, and so the “important figure” in question went uninjured in the shooting. Huberty also was not aware that all Presidential limousines had been bulletproof since 1964.

The Secret Servicemen and D.C. police officers present immediately fired back when Huberty’s location was spotted. Not having the time to fire upon the rest of the motorcade, Huberty began to drive away. He received a minor shot across his left arm, and, believing he had killed the limo’s occupants, decided to “take the battle elsewhere.”

Suffering a mild limp, a permanent result of recovering from polio he contracted when he was three, Huberty drove his truck, police in hot pursuit, to a housing zone outside of Annandale that had recently lost funding mid-project, making for a graveyard of skeletal building frames. Huberty held his ground on the second floor of the first house, leading to an intense gunfight with police that culminated in a sniper winging Huberty him in the shoulder, causing him to fall from his “sniper’s nest.” Police immediately jumped him before he could reach another firearm. In total, seven law enforcement officers were injured, one severely.

– Ron Franscell’s Troubled: The Stories of Angry Men, Their Evil Plans & Their Violent Actions, Fair Winds Press, 2011



“Huberty turned to guns after his mother left the family. He is not an isolated incident. By encouraging mothers to abandon their families to pursue selfish careers, we are turning a generation’s worth of American youngsters into little Hubertys.”

– conservative activists, author and commentator Phyllis Schlafly, The Overmyer Network, 1988 interview



While physically unharmed during the kerfuffle, Denton’s private secretary wrote that the President behaved “in an increasingly paranoid” manner. Veteran White House staff members later claimed Denton’s behavior had “eerie similarities” to that of President Johnson after the latter survived an assassination attempt in November 1963. After surviving said incident, Johnson was the center of an infamous incident involving the President tackling a Christmas tree. “He [Denton] would stop in mid-sentence, and after a few seconds of silence, ask something along the lines of ‘did you here footsteps’ or “do you hear someone breathing,’” one former intern revealed in 2003. First Lady Katherine once allegedly found Denton trying to smash in a part of a load-bearing wall at the White House, believing a “damn journalist” was hiding behind it, though this claim has been disputed. Others, such as Denton’s oldest son, claimed the President was actually more sullen and distant than wiry and stressed-out, telling KNN in 2001 that the “perils” and challenges of the office were “beginning to overwhelm him and diminish his confidence in his judgement skills. Being that unsure of yourself can make you second-guess anything if not everything.”

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



Denton’s worries began to subside after Director Felt informed him on March 28 that the FBI investigation had confirmed that the “hush money” payoff funds had been entirely from Lukens’ State Department and not from members of the GOP’s Organization For Re-Electing Denton (OFRED). Upon hearing this – and upon being informally told by Felt that it seemed likely that the investigation would conclude within a few days or weeks – the President told Attorney General Jensen “You know, I really think our problems are almost over.”

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



…breaking news from Washington, D.C., where a former worker for Congressman Robert Packwood claims that the Oregon lawmaker has written documentation concerning the Lukens Hush Money Scandal. The former worker, who is currently anonymous, claims that Packwood has in his possession an extensive collection of diaries – diaries that include both his history of sexual pestering and a meeting Packwood had with Secretary Lukens and President Denton in August 1984 – allegedly, the same meeting in which Lukens and Denton discussed coercing one Anna Mason to sign a non-disclosure agreement and using State Department funds for it. If these claims are true, then it is possible that there is a first-hand, primary account of what exactly actually transpired in August 1984…

– The Overmyer Network, “Breaking News” Alert, 4/3/1986



PACKWOOD DENIES HOARDING DIARY COLLECTION

…Nevertheless, the US Justice Department has given the embattled Congressman a subpoena for the diaries, while a House subcommittee has subpoenaed two members of Packwood’s inner circle to “clarify the situation.”…

– The Washington Post, 4/4/1986



…In the midst of the media’s latest “smoking gun,” Senate leader Baker asked for advice from “The Lion of the Senate,” the respectable Richard Nixon. A man with a firm grip on how the Senate approached and addressed foreign affairs, Baker valued Nixon’s opinions. Remembering Nixon’s own head-butting with the media – from “checkers” to his unsuccessful bids for President in 1960 and for Governor in 1962 – Baker was certain Nixon’s view of the situation would benefit the Denton White House.

“Don’t let them get to you,” Nixon told his fellow Senate leader. “We just have to prove to them that the President is not a crook.”

Alone with me, Nixon laughed at the situation, calling it “ridiculousness.” He thought about his use of tape-recording equipment in his senate office, and said that they were “much more accurate,” “reliable,” and “much easier to hide or destroy if sh*t ever hits the fan” than “wimpy little diaries.”

By then, Nixon had expanded the number of people aware of his tapes to a total of five closely trusted individuals – Pat, [E. Howard] Hunt, Bebe, [former Secretary of State Carl] Curtis, and myself. Due to recent calls for Denton "just tell the truth" and "reveal whatever [he] know" in an apparent campaign for government transparency, not even his good friend The Colonel knew about the tapes (Nixon once said to me "We all have secrets that not even those closest to us know about. The Colonel refuses to share with me his secret herbs and spices formula, so why should I share these [his tapes] with him? The Colonel's a good man, I know, but, listen, he really doesn't need to know about this sort of thing, now does he?"...

– Bob Halderman’s The Haldeman Diaries: Three Decades of Tough Decisions and Tricky Dick, Barnes & Noble Press, 1994

[pic: imgur.com/LDOJ8FX ]
– former US Vice President, US Senator and elder statesman Richard Nixon, c. April 1986



…One policy from the Mitterrand and Mouroy years that Le Pen did continue and promote was the policy of decentralization, both for France’s remaining territories and for France proper. The creation of administrative regions to make the nation less centralized, and the placing of taxation duties, government spending, and other functioning aspects on the shoulders of local, municipal and provincial divisions allowed for greater autonomy and less dependence on the federal government…

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



WrestleMania 2 was the second annual WrestleMania pay-per-view professional wrestling event that was the World Wrestling Federation and held on Sunday, April 6, 1986. The event’s use of three separate venues was criticized and is often blamed for its poor reception, but is now seen as an important lesson for WWF – ever since WrestleMania 2, all major WWF events have gone with just one arena/venue per event…

– clickopedia.co.usa/WrestleMania_2



“With all the sh*t coming out of D.C., Americans needed an all-American persona like mine more than ever. [8] We as a nation needed renew our confidence in our country. We needed to keep strong the spirits of liberty, equality and justice for all.”

– Hulk Hogan reminiscing in a 2019 interview



Lee Cummings decided to become more involved in KFC by launching a product of his own design and labor. “Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken” was more commonly known as “the Lee Special” in the Midwest; due to its fairly decent regional success, Cummings convinced Margaret, myself, and the rest of the board members that perhaps “maybe now is its time.” Lee’s “alternate recipe” received tepid approval from Dad over concerns that it was too similar to current menu items. This concern led to it being introduced in select outlets before being released nationwide. The new offering of a special combo deal of chicken, home-style fries, and biscuits to customers outside of the Midwest ended 23 years of regional exclusivity. While Lee’s own catchphrase – “It’s Lip-Smackin’ Good” – never caught on, the “Lee Special” had found its place in a niche pocket of KFC customers by April 1986.

[snip]

[pic: https://imgur.com/BFmsSuJ ]
…The introduction of the Lee Special was paired up to be concurrent with the revamping of several menu items in 1986. These items were known for having poor sales records. For example, the original recipe for The Colonel’s Scalloped Tomatoes (above) was finally updated to a healthier alternative, leading to a sharp uptick its sales, especially in the southern U.S. and in several Latin American countries…

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



Now, I am fully aware that there have been some concerns over recent sentiments that KFC is a “globalist” corporation when compared to Chick-fil-A, our largest domestic competitor, which has yet to expand outside U.S. states and territories. I am aware that Chick-fil-A’s sales rate has been higher of the past three years than our own. I am also aware, however, that Chick-fil-A has seen a shift in demographic that sharply differ from our own customer base. Chick-fil-A’s founder, a deeply devout Southern Baptist, has “pulled a Colonel” and has been in the news in recent years for supporting far-right conservatism and national figures such as Jerry Falwell and Paul Weyrich. This has caused many of our patrons and customers in deeply conservative areas such as rural parts of the Deep South to switch to supporting them over us. Additionally, their closing of all of their locations on Sundays and the fact that the company's official statement of corporate purpose says that the business exists "To glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A” [9] has won over many deeply religious consumers of fried chicken.

Our research department’s official report, which will be released on the 12th, shows that this trend has not negatively affected our sales. Nevertheless, there are fears of a loss of regional jobs. As the CEO of this company, it is my duty and responsibility to do what is best for the customers, the stockholders, and the livelihoods of all of this company’s employees past and present. As a result, to ease fears of layoffs, I am re-allocating marketing funds to four regional departments – KFC Deep South, KFC South Atlantic, KFC Florida, and KFC Texas – in order to boost sales with a an extensive ad campaign focusing on regional loyalty and KFC’s longstanding love for America and its values and ideals.

– KFC CEO Lee Cummings, KFC internal memo on KFC first-quarter sales report, KFC headquarters in Florence, KY, 4/9/1966



SUPREME COURT ALLOWS GREEN CARD DENIAL IN 5-4 RULING

…In a 5-to-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court will allow a White House plan to deny green cards to potential immigrants who may need government aid but may have no clear intent to become permanent residents of the US…The Department of Defense raised concerns in 1981 that “an overwhelming number” of people who immigrate to the US depend primarily or entirely on federal government assistance programs without clear intent of permanent residence. With Justices Fogel, Sneed, Nealon and Levi, and Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson voting in favor of the measure, and Higginbotham, Bacon, Lord, and Brennan voting against the measure, the Denton administration is now set to impose higher limits on immigrants with “confirmed histories” of “excessive dependence” on government assistance programs in their previous country or countries of origin...

– The New York Times, 4/18/1986



“There needs to be a paradigm shift – a fundamental change in approach – to how women, minorities, and immigrants are treated in the workforce. …We mustn’t lose our momentum. We mustn’t lose this fight for our rights. We mustn’t let corrupt and bigotry win the day, write the past, control the present, or decide the future.”

– Attorney and activist Janice Fine, Citizens for Justice rally, 4/19/1986

[pic: https://imgur.com/hitYYUB ]
– Kemp shaking Denton’s hand after a US Cabinet meeting, Friday 4/25/1986



KENTUCKY BECOMES 14TH STATE TO JOIN “HEALTH PACT”

…Governor Martha Layne Osborne today signed into law a bill to switch Kentuckian healthcare coverage to a “universal” model adopted by thirteen other states. The Free Universal Health Care “Pact” began in the 1970s as a response to issues concerning federal health insurance and health care laws...

– The Lexington Herald-Leader, 4/29/1986



…Another politician to be “Buzzed Out” of an important occupation or role was Henry Hyde, a Republican U.S. Congressman from Illinois whose 1965 extramarital affair (between him and a married woman, leading to the woman’s husband divorcing her two years later) was revealed in late April 1986. Hyde called the affair a “youthful indiscretion” despite him being 41 when it occurred. When Hyde then refused to step down from the House Subcommittee investigating Denton’s alleged wrongdoing in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, Republican House leadership removed him from it, reassigning him to a subcommittee concerning national parks and forests…

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



On May 2, we fed the media sharks another satisfying bucket of revelations. Our investigation had found that Packwood had destroyed his diaries prior to our searching of his congressional chambers, his apartment in D.C., and his second apartment in Oregon. The home of his ex-wife was also searched for good measure. What we found were the burned remains of diary pages in a wastebasket outside his D.C. apartment. Packwood was brought in for questioning but was not held as he was not yet formally charged with a crime.

The next day, Denton summoned me to the White House to inform me that I was fired. “Mark,” he explained politely, “you mishandled the overseeing of this here Packwood investigation. Your search took too long and the whole thing was very poorly executed. Very sloppy work.” I suspected, however, that Denton was using my agency’s failure to obtain the diaries as an excuse to fire me for my investigating of the Lukens Hush Money.

On the ninth, Denton nominated Assistant Attorney General Robert H. Bork to lead the F.B.I., passing over the traditional second-in-command, Associate Director James Blackburn Adams. Adams considered resigning in protest, but I convinced him not to do so.

On the twelfth, I received a cryptic letter in my mailbox…

– J. Mark Felt’s Looking For Light Under The Cover Of Darkness, Sunrise Publishing, 1987



JUDGE THROWS LUKENS’ LAWSUIT AGAINST ANNA MASON OUT OF COURT!

– The Dayton Daily News, 5/4/1986



…Tonight’s primaries for the Democratic and Republican nominations for Governor have yielded these official results. With a narrow plurality, Republicans chose US Congressman Bud Brown over state senators Paul Gillmor and Paul Pfeifer. Again, that’s Bud Brown for the Republican column, winning roughly 44% to Gillmor’s roughly 39% and Pfeifer’s roughly 17%. On the Democratic side, primary voters chose US Congressman Jerry Springer over state senator Richard Celeste by a roughly 7% margin. Springer, elected to the Buckeye State’s Second U.S. Congressional district in the Arkwave year of 1970, was a very notable and attention-grabbing candidate in this race, as he ran on the campaign theme of “brutal honesty,” admitting that he had on occasion visited brothels during his first two years in Congress, but quit after marrying in 1973. Apparently, such openness has worked. Springer has certainly captured support from voters looking for honesty from their elected leaders, especially in the wake of the Lukens Hush Money Scandal...

– The Overmyer Network, 5/6/1986 news broadcast



As protests continue, talk of impeaching Denton begins in earnest in D.C.

– The Boston Globe, 5/9/1986



COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF K.F.C. IN TRADE SECRET DISPUTE

…The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the billion-dollar company has the right to refuse to divulge its famous 11-herbs-and-spices trade secret, citing the Fourth Amendment’s allusion to the right to privacy extending to businesses and well as to people, and the lack of evidence that the unknown elements “pose any significant, deadly, or dangerous threat to public health and safety,” as had been previously suggested…

– The Wall Street Journal, 5/12/1986



HOUSE INTRODUCES HEALTHY GUN OWNERS BILL

…in response to the attack on the President’s life in March, the House is set to sign off on a bill that will demand that states and territories of the U.S. make would-be gun owners take some form of mental health test before being allowed possession of a firearm. The bill means to address concerns over the mental health of James O. Huberty, who possessed “an extraordinary” number of rifles, semi-autos, uzis and pistols despite suffering from known mental health issues, most notably violent bouts of senseless anger, episodes of blind and unfounded rage, and troubling thoughts of both suicide and homicide… Huberty is still awaiting trial for multiple charges…

– The Chicago Tribune, 5/13/1986



Just days after the release of Top Gun [on May 16], the reputation of one of its producers, Don Simpson (b. 1943), came under intense media scrutiny. Simpson’s brash demeanor, constant drug use, and “colorful [10] and aggressive” rhetoric was an open secret in Hollywood, but the Second Ark Wave led to further exposure of his unchecked lifestyle of cocaine parties and S&M orgies. Formal accusations of threatening struggling actresses into having sex with him in exchange for film roles [11] prompted Paramount Pictures to remove Simpson from work being done on Beverly Hills Cop II later that month. After refusing to enter rehab, collaborator Jerry Bruckheimer terminated their partnership in June, and Simpson was fired by Paramount in July. Simpson was ultimately found guilty of two counts of sexual pestering in 1988...

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/Top_Gun_(1986_film)



HOUSE MINORITY WHIP O’NEILL: IMPEACHMENT IS “CERTAINLY A POSSIBILITY”

…The congressional leader pondered further by adding, “an impeachment process, if one even occurs, would likely be on two counts of obstruction of justice – one for trying to limit an FBI investigation by instructing Attorney General Buddy Cianci to fire the special prosecutor, and another for firing FBI Director Felt for the same motive. Both of those firings could even be considered an overstepping of power”… “However, nothing is official, at least not yet anyways.”…

– The New York Times, 5/22/1986



“The President can only be impeached for bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, and President Denton has not done anything even remotely close to any of those things. Period.”

– Roy Black (b. 1945), President Denton’s personal lawyer, during a KNN interview, 5/23/1986



LUKENS-DENTON GO-BETWEEN SUBPOENAED TO TESTIFY BEFORE HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE

…Theodore Bevry Olson, the 45-year-old Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, is the officeholder who functions as a legal adviser to the President as well as to all the executive branch agencies, and so worked as an intermediary, or “middleman,” for the offices of Denton and Lukens...

– The Washington Post, 5/24/1986



MILLIONS JOIN HANDS ACROSS U.S. TO AID THE HOMELESS AND HUNGRY: Reach Exceeds Grasp in “Hands Across America” Nationwide Event

…at least 5,500,000 people formed a winding and mostly-continuous human chain from San Diego, California, to Houlton, Maine. The major public event was created in order to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness worldwide, but with a focus on Africa and the US, as the event was organized by the “USA for Africa” program and the “End Food Insecurity” program, with support from “Sport Aid,” the Red Cross, and numerous other organizations…

– The New York Times, 5/25/1986



CONGRESSMAN DORNAN SIGNS ONTO PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE ACT

…the bill was introduced in the House last month, in response to San Francisco’s city council announcing that they were leaning in favor of making it legal for members of the BLUTAGO community to marry each other within the city’s jurisdiction. …If passed and signed into law, this conservative bill would allow states to refuse to recognize any same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states…

– The Los Angeles Times, 5/27/1986



One of Denton’s most passionate defenders in the House was Earl Landgrebe, a Republican who had represented from Indiana’s Second District since 1969. A law-and-order Republican war hawk, Landgrebe refused to budge from his stalwart position, once famously stating on The Overmyer Network “No amount of so-called evidence is going to change my allegiance to my President. Show me an impeachable offense, and then compare it to the wonderful things for this country this man has done.” [12]

[pic: https://imgur.com/EqtF2ia ]
Above: President Denton, c. June 1986
– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



I was told to meet her at the John Marshall Park at midnight. In some ways, it was like something out of a Humphrey Bogart film. However, the park was fairly well-lit in most parts, and due to its location next to the National Mall, it was not a secluded or secretive place.

Each time I received a letter, I followed it and the informant’s instructions carefully. This time, I sat on the third bench to the right of the northwestern-most corner.

Within minutes, I spotted her out of the corner of my eye. She stepped out from behind a tree and next on the bench behind mine. “Ricky.”

“Lucy,” I kept my eyes forward and my head down as we repeated our cover names (Her idea, not mine).

“Here,” she stealthily handed me an envelope, poking the left side of my torso as she slipped it through the bench rails.

How clichéd. Matches the trench coat, I thought. “What is this?”

“Information as to where Packwood hid his diaries.”

“Hid? Packwood burned them. The investigation found burnt pages in his garbage.”

“He only burned some of them. Not even half of them. And not The Big One.”

Curious, I inquired, “How on Earth is Packwood connected to Lukens and Denton?”

“Lukens and Denton have known each other since both were governors in the latter half of the ’70s. Packwood began a rapport with Lukens in early ’81 when Packwood was on a foreign affairs committee and had to meet with Lukens several times to discuss policy. They ended up also telling each other about their - heh! - their ‘sexual conquests,’ as Packwood referred to them as once," she quietly answered.

“But why did Packwood keep these diaries if they really are so damaging?”

“Pride in his exploits. Or maybe he indents to use them in his autobio.”

I pondered semi-seriously, “Maybe he planned to blackmail others with other entries we don’t know about.”

Judging by the ruffling sound across from my neck, I believe she nodded lightly. “Maybe. He tried to seek higher office before. Ran for the Senate in ’68 and again in ’74. No dice. Thought of running for President six years ago, but nixed it due to his severe drinking problem. Then he tried to become Denton’s running mate, and then tried to become VP last year. He was even going to try to run for House Speaker next year, or possibly even for President in ’88. You’d think, given how conservative the party’s becoming, he’d have given up that ghost years ago.”

The character assessment matched what I knew of the man.

With a sigh, my mysterious contact added “He seems to have forgotten why he got into this game to begin with.” After a pause, during which I must only assume that she checked her watch, she said, “I’ve got to run,” and hastily traversed the park. I turned around in time to see her move past the tree line and disappear around the corner.

– J. Mark Felt’s Looking For Light Under The Cover Of Darkness, Sunrise Publishing, 1987



“…It is absolutely shameful that Democrats are actively discussing introducing articles of impeachment against the leader of our country for something that can’t even qualify as a high crime or misdemeanor, and after surviving an attack on his, no less! …This unreasonable behavior has undeniably doomed their midterm prospects…”

– Rush Limbaugh, KFBK-AM radio, 6/10/1986



“I think the President of the United States should let the judicial system run its course. Political interference and persuasion have no respectable place in a court of law, even if that court is the senate, as it so happened to become 118 years ago, when President Andrew Johnson was tried and acquitted in 1868. The importance of placing law above political allegiance is why I have high regard for Congressmen Stokes and Emery, the Chairman and Co-Chairman, respectively, of the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. Stokes oversaw the ABSCAM scandal, and has consistently proven himself to be a man of strong moral character. …If politics do end up impeding the system of due process, do not worry – the United States Supreme Court can review an unfair impeachment trial…”

– Robert Swan Mueller III, assistant US Attorney for the District of D.C., while on a CBS panel, 6/11/1986



The 1981 repeal of the F.E.C.’s Fairness Doctrine, which required radio stations to provide coverage of both sides of an issue, or, at the very least, provide free airtime for responses to any controversial opinions broadcast, allowed pro-Denton stations to support the President without needing to even include any opposing viewpoints. This liberated the members of both the far-right (Rush Limbaugh, Larry McDonald, Pat Robertson and others) and the far-left (Bern Sanders, Noam Chomsky, and Pete Diamondstone) to express their thoughts on the Great Potomac Scandals of the mid-1980s without any counterarguments. Unfortunately, this exercise of the First Amendment could be, at the least partially, responsible for the rise in political extremism that occasionally plagued the 1980s and 1990s.

The most notable early example of this would be the actions of the right-wing extremist David Lewis Rice (b. 1958), who, on June 13, 1986, bombed a synagogue in Seattle. Rice, an anti-Semite who believed Israeli agents to be behind the then-recent scandals in D.C., planned to detonate the bomb on Saturday the 14th, when the building would be full of people practicing the Sabbath, but accidently clicked the triggering mechanism while planting the bomb, killing only himself and damaging much of the building. The incident sparked another wave of activism as the city community came together to support the local Jewish population and fund the rebuilding of the synagogue. Nationally, conservatives distanced themselves from the radio programs of which Rice had known to be an avid listener. Limbaugh was not one of those programs...

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



…After months of student demonstrations in the capital of Tirana calling vehemently for free elections, the new leader of Albania, Ramiz Alia, agreed to their demands. He privately admitted that his slow and steady attempts to gradually introduce economic reforms and open diplomatic ties to Western Europe is taking too long to yield results. The elections were set to be held in less than a year, giving Alia ample time to make his case for “moderate progress” to the people of Albania…

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



HOUSE PASSES PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE ACT: Senate To Vote On It After Summer Break

– The Washington Times, 6/17/1986

[pic: imgur.com/mJ5faKj.png ]

– Colonel Sanders leading a prayer group, c. June 1986



“The battle for justice is underway, but it must pick up its pace! We cannot allow the Republicans to run out the clock! Why we must branch out to the suburbs. To the ‘family people’ who think that somehow these Dentonian Scandals in no way affect them or their families. Except Dentonia does. It affects all of us, and all of us have to be aware of that. This is organizing 101, people. We must always be able to identify the specific forms of power we have and then learn to concentrate it in specific tactics while at the same time expanding it through building the organization. [13] We have the moral power, we have the informative power, we have the media power, and we have the influential power needed to finally bring forth justice, to right what Denton has wronged, and to make Denton be brought to trial and pay for his crimes. To prove to all whom seek to abuse the American people that the American people will never stand for it! Through the expansion of this organization we shall see Denton buckle under the pressure of our voices calling for justice to prevail!”

– Janice Fine, at a Citizens For Justice rally in Washington, D.C., 6/23/1986



MUSICIAN TED NUGENT ACCUSED OF SLEEPING WITH UNDERAGE GIRLS

…His 1984 song “Jailbait” does exactly help with lines such as “Well I don’t care if you’re just thirteen, you look too good” [L1], neither do other offensive songs such as “Drinking Tap Water In Mexico” and “Each Black and Blue Means ‘I Love You’”…

– The Associated Press, 6/25/1986 [14]



…As the Senate prepares for summer break, the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Bill remains lingering. The Senate Democrats are keeping this large defense restructuring bill under Committee Consideration indefinitely. In other words, they are using it as a bargaining chip against the

President. The Senate Democrats are fully aware that Denton has the votes to get the bill passed, but hope to win some of them over. …For the continued protection and safety of this nation, spend this summer writing to your Congressman and to both of your Senators. Hold them accountable for their actions by demanding that they support the Department of Defense Reorganization Bill…

– The National Review, late June 1986 issue



CONGRESSMAN LANDGREBE SUFFERS HEART ATTACK ON LIVE TV

…in the middle of an argument with CBS correspondent Leslie Stahl during an on-air political news segment, Congressman Earl Landgrebe (R-IN), 70, stopped angrily criticizing the Senate Middletown Committee, grabbed his chest, and collapsed out of his chair, leading to CBS cutting to commercial. …Landgrebe was rushed to a local hospital… he is expected to recover due to the quick actions of paramedics and EMTs…

– The Kokomo Tribune, Indiana newspaper, 6/29/1986



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] According to Source 21 on Ross Perot’s wiki page
[2] Policies that he supported according to his page on that “ontheissues” website, and according to Source 30 on his wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Perot#1992_presidential_campaign
[3] According to Sources 32 and 33 on his wiki page (see Source/Note 2 for link).
[4] The character Conspiracy Joe is inspired by Conspiracy Bob, a frequent caller on N.J.’s 101.5 radio station back in 2011 or so. Also, the radio program Coast-to-Coast AM was founded by Art Bell and Alan Corbeth in 1978 as KDWN’s late night political call-in talk radio program entitled West Coast AM, and they renamed it “Coast-to-Coast AM” in 1988.
[5] Okay, so apparent from the un-italicized edits, this entire chunk of this chapter is from here: https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/29/magazine/the-trials-of-bob-packwood.html
[6] OTL!
[7] From here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ysidro_McDonald%27s_massacre#cite_note-99
[8] During the early 1980s, “The WWF became the most colorful and well-known wrestling brand to children because of its child-oriented characters, soap opera dramaticism [sic] and cartoon-like personas. Most notable was the muscular Hulk Hogan, who marked the 1980s with his ‘all-American’ persona. His sheer size, colorful attire, charisma and extravagance made his main events into excellent ratings draws. By January 1984, Hogan's legions of fans and his dominant role in the industry was termed ‘Hulkamania,’” as pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_in_the_United_States#Explosion_(1980–2001)
[9] Line found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A#Corporate_culture
[10] Possibly (likely?) anti-Semitic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Simpson#Personality
[11] Apparently, this guy was the Harvey Weinstein of the late ’80s/early ’90s IOTL!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Simpson#cite_note-filmstarfacts_producer-11
[12] He really did say the italicized parts, though about Nixon, in a 1984 interview IOTL.
[13] PRIMARY SOURCE! Janice Fine was my professor in college, and I can confirm that she really did say this at the beginning of the January 2018 semester!
[14] OTL song and OTL lyrics

 

[gap80]

Post 47: Chapter 55



Chapter 55: July 1986 – December 1986​

“We are commanded to always overcome evil with good”

– Romans 12:21



The first Farm Aid benefit concert was organized by Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and Jeff Bridges and led by Bob Dylan in an effort to end the mortgage debt of American farming families and to address “food insecurity” concerns in rural parts of the country. In response to the money raised during the original September 22, 1985 concert, and as its organizers began to understand the complexity of the issues, a second one was held on Independence Day ’86, starting an annual tradition.

For “Farm Aid II,” the venue was the Manor Downs Racetrack in Manor, Texas. The lineup was an impressive assemblage of a wide variety of bands and singers: The Beach Boys, Tommy Chong, Jim Croce, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Elvis Presley, Julio Iglesias, Rick James, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Nicolette Larson, Gordon Lightfoot, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker, Queen, C.C.R., Steppenwolf, The Unforgiven, Joe Walsh, Neil Young, Frank Zappa, and Led Zeppelin (in alphabetical order).

Wanting to help out his farmers too, Colonel Sanders donated $1million and convinced his company to (albeit slightly) raise wages and benefits for employees of KFCs in rural communities in order to more directly alleviate low-income communities. To this end, the Colonel also convince his good friends Richard Nixon and Jerry Lewis to get involved in the cause as well. While Lewis donated $100,000 and promoted Farm Aid II in a TV promo aired ahead of the concert, Richard Nixon used his power over the Senate to “beef up” the 1987 federal budget for the US Department of Agriculture.

[pic: https://imgur.com/K8JBZyD ]
Above: Farm Aid II, before attendance peaked.

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



The “Food For All” Movement, as it was beginning to be called after that, began to focus on the political side of things as the midterms neared. I think Human rights activist Cheri Lynn Honkala said it best at an anti-hunger rally, when she was lambasting Republicans who had supported cutting funding for Food Stamps and other anti-hunger programs: “If you are not with us on ending hunger, we are not with you on re-election.”

– Jim McGovern, 2009 interview



Presidential Approval Rating
Yes (Approve): 39%
No (Disapprove): 45%
Unsure: 16%

– Gallup Poll, 7/5/1986



On July 6, the FBI revealed that a collection of diaries belonging to Congressman Packwood, with entries from both July-to-December 1984, had been discovered in a search of a P.O. Box belonging to a “William Robert Woodpack” in Grants Pass, Oregon, a city within Packwood’s congressional district. The tape was obtained under the direction of acting FBI Director Adams. …As the diaries returned to the public spotlight, Senate leaders decided to hold off on confirming Bork for the position of permanent FBI Director “just yet”…

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



RUSSIANS RELISHING KFC’S GRAND OPENING IN MOSCOW

…With balloon, streamers, free samples and a surprise visit from The Colonel himself in his first-ever trip to Moscow, the first Russian KFC outlet marks the first time an American capitalist enterprise has opened up shop in Russia since 1917. …The outlet’s grand opening comes at least two full weeks before McDonald’s plans to open their own outlet 0.5 kilometers (0.311 miles) away (McDonald’s was set to open last month, but a zoning conflict and a local business concern stalled construction earlier in the year). …“A landmark achievement and a symbolic confirmation that the free market system has been victorious in its fight against Russia’s former political ideology,” says former US Secretary of Commerce Milton Friedman, “this grand opening is a testament to capitalism and its limitless possibilities when paired with human ingenuity and perseverance.”

– The Los Angeles Times, 7/17/1986



“Denton wanted [Special Prosecutor] Trott to keep investigators away from what Denton called ‘sensitive information,’ which if you ask me, is pretty suspicious behavior. …I think Denton knows more than he is letting on. …Maybe he [the President] should testify before the Senate Committee. I mean, if he’s so innocent, then what’s the problem, right?”

– Republican nominee for Rhode Island governor Buddy Cianci, KNN interview, 7/18/1986



…In Washington, D.C., the F.B.I. has declined to publicly release the Packwood diaries, sparking speculation as to the nature of the contents found within their pages…

– ABC News, 7/19/1986



Boldly Into Hell is a 1986 American action/drama war film directed by Clint Eastwood. It is based on a chapter of a 1981 anthology book on POWs that discussed the experience of future US Navy Admiral John McCain III, who, after taking out the Castro brothers in a bomb raid, was shot down over enemy territory and spent 11 months in a Cuban POW prison before leading a successful “jailbreak” and surviving several days in the Cuban jungles before returning home. Bruce Willis played McCain in a breakout role for him. The film premiered on July 19 and was a success with critics and audiences.

[snip]

Variety called it a “captivating and harrowing story of perseverance and survival,” while The Atlantic wrote it “will remind you what this country is all about…a moving tribute to former P.O.W.s and their families.” The real-life McCain, who was called on to approve certain segments during production but was not otherwise heavily involved in the film’s production, voiced approval of the finished product. McCain would even use the film’s title for his 1996 autobiography…

[snip]

…The film’s central character was a breakout role for actor Bruce Willis, who went on to have an extensive career in a variety of projects. The film also boosted the career of actor and future Oscar winner Hector Elizondo, who played Valladares, McCain “first mate” in the prison…

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/Boldly_Into_Hell



GUEST HOST ALAN MASSENGALE: So what you all think of the big news coming from the Houston Astros? It seems their pitcher, the right-handed George W. Bush, has decided to retire after the World Series. Any thoughts, gentlemen?

GUEST 1, SAL MARCHIANO: Well I’m somewhat surprised. I mean, he’s not that young, but I thought he had a few more years in him.

GUEST 2, LEE LEONARD: Yeah, I mean, he just turned 40 on the sixth.

MASSENGALE: Well, apparently, Bush wants to try and stop drinking, as past alcohol-related incidents have been embarrassing and stressful to his wife, Tricia Nixon Bush.

LEONARD: Oh yeah! I remember the time he tried to ride a horse while drunk. He almost broke his neck falling off it.

MARCHIANO: Ah, he’ll be fine. He’s the son-in-law of the most powerful man in the Senate, for crying out loud.

– WPHL-TV discussion, 7/24/1986



2 WOMEN ACCUSE US REP. BUD BROWN, GOP NOMINEE FOR OHIO GOVERNOR, OF SEXUAL PESTERING

…Clarence John “Bud” Brown Jr. has represented Ohio’s seventh U.S. Congressional district since winning a special election in 1965, after his father, Congressman Clarence Brown Sr., died in office. …Brown greeted news reporter Mary Anne Sharkey, who had arrived for a scheduled interview, with the statement "step into my parlor and take off your clothes” [1] …and a similar incident happened roughly a week later with a campaign staff member…

– The Chicago Tribune, 7/25/1986



HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE LAUNCHES “EXTENSIVE” INVESTIGATION INTO BUD BROWN PESTERING CHARGES AS MORE WOMEN STEP FORWARD

Rep. Brown Still Claims Incidents Were “All…Simple Misunderstandings”

– The Washington Post, 7/28/1986



…In confidence, Brown told his personal secretary that “If the liberals are going to take me down, then I’m taking with me as many of their beloved idols as I can.”

On the 29th, Brown accused fellow Congressman Neil Goldschmidt of using funds to cover up an affair that Goldschmidt had had with an underage girl during the 1970s, in a speech in which Brown claimed “there are two things D.C. never runs out of – hot air, and backs that can be stabbed.” ...As the evidence against him mounted, Goldschmidt withdrew from his own gubernatorial bid soon afterward…

– Jack N. Anderson and Katharine Graham’s Discretions & Disgrace: The Great Potomac Scandals of the Denton White House, Simon & Schuster, 1988



“Seriously, did men in power learn nothing from Ms. Arkansas?”

– D.C. lawyer, feminist and progressive Human Rights activist Janice R. Fine, Meet the Press interview, 7/29/1986



“In early August, Denton discovered that I was still friends with Hunter S. Thompson [2]. In a rash fit of paranoia, he came to believe that this meant that was ‘the insubordinate’ that had informed the press about Chief of Staff Schermerhorn, and/or the other indiscretions that had seemingly slipped past his vigilance. So he fired me, too!”

– former White House Communications Director (1986) and author of the book “Me Too! My Truncated Time in the Denton White House” Pat Buchanan, 2015 interview



Presidential Approval Rating
Yes: 35%
No: 49%
Unsure: 16%

– Gallup Poll, 8/4/1986



COLONEL SANDERS: Denton Should “Take It Like A Man”

[pic: imgur.com/jnL42cV.png ]

Washington, DC – Former President Harland "Colonel" Sanders is receiving some controversy for using allegedly “sexist” language when describing President Denton in a radio interview in the nation’s capital. Sanders, age 95, remarked the President Denton “Has to confess to what he’s done. He has to come clean and face the consequences and take it like a man.” Sanders also said that Denton should “man up” during the ongoing scandals plaguing the current White House administration…

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/5/1986



G.O.P. REPLACES ALLEGED CHILD PESTERER HASTERT ON US REP. BALLOT

…the former candidate for Illinois’s 14th U.S. Congressional seat, Dennis Hastert, has been accused by several separate individuals of sexually pestering students during his time as the football and wrestling coach of Yorkville High School during the late 1960s and all of the 1970s…

– The Washington Post, 8/6/1986



By the mid-1980s, Epstein’s variety of clientele allowed him to travel often between the US and several places in Europe and Southwest Asia. With fake IDs for Australia and Saudi Arabia, thousands in cash, plus diamonds and other transportable riches, Epstein was ready to leave at a moment’s notice. On August 11, Epstein had just finished a business meeting with Saudi Arabian businessman Adnan Khashoggi when he received a phone call on his private line. His longtime associate, real estate investor Tom Barrack, called him to inform him that police had obtained incriminating evidence on both of them. Encouraged and emboldened by the Second Ark Wave, Barrack’s own personnel had handed over Barrack’s private tapes to police, and officers were on their way up to Barrack’s penthouse to arrest him. Barrack warned Epstein that police would be meeting with him soon, too. Epstein had another idea – he had a plane to catch.

– Jeffrey Epstein: Profile of a Monster, 1995 documentary



EXTRA!: MILLIONAIRE CAUGHT ON CAMERA ASSAULTING UNDERAGE GIRLS!

Associate Arrested; Staff Claim “This Is Not The First Time This Kind Of Thing Has Happened”!

…wealthy financial consultant Jeffrey Epstein, 33, is wanted in connection to video evidence showing a man identified as Epstein with two accomplices, likely assistants, and two girls, estimated to be roughly 13 and 14 years old [3]… The jarring photographic evidence of battery, rape, and sexual abuse was captured on a hidden camera in the private bathroom of the apartment belonging to real estate investor Tom Barrack. Barrack’s security personnel handed over the tape to police upon the two girls informing their parents of the incident and its location… Barrack has been arrested on suspicion of filming people without permission. Epstein is wanted for questioning…

– The New York Post, 8/11/1986



Epstein had decided to flee to a nation without an extradition treaty with the US, and live off the millions he had stored away in offshore accounts. In his hurry, the pilot of his private plane failed to close the landing gear, creating turbulence problems. 17 miles east of New York City, the pilot attempted to climb higher, in order to minimize damage from closing the landing gear in mid-air. Unfortunately for Epstein, the pilot was inexperienced and climbed too quickly. The engine stalled, and the plane began a sharp decline. The pilot steadied the plane at low altitude and managed to keep it steady at first, but it was not enough to stop the plane from crashing into the ocean after another minute of flight. At its speed and velocity, it was the equivalent of a bus hitting a concrete wall at 90 miles per hour.

Somehow, he beat the odds. As Epstein was in the back of the plane, he survived – barely. In the destruction of the plane, Epstein’s right foot was ripped off and his left arm was dislocated from its socket. He received lacerations to his back and burns to his face and crotch. Epstein clung to debris from the tail section of the plane as the rest of the vehicle, and its pilot, sank down into the choppy waters. Epstein remained on the wreckage – tying his belt to a piece of metal at some point – until he slowly bled to death from his injuries. By the time the Gulf Stream had washed his body and the wreckage it was still laying on onto the shore of Barrington, Nova Scotia, on September 23, seagulls had eaten his eyeballs, and algae had begun to grow around his leg stump and crotch. As lacerations were found around his neck, the official cause of death was ultimately ruled to be suicide.

A sickening demise for a sickening individual.

Back in New York City, the disappearance of Epstein led to the cooperation of his employees in locating additional evidence of the malicious millionaire’s machinations. In his short time as the manager of his own investment firm, connections he had made with elite businessmen had led to no less than 15 other victims of what Epstein and associates were trying to turn into a major human trafficking operation, only to be stopped by their own employees who, swept up in the anti-pestering feelings of the times, decided to do the right thing.

– Jeffrey Epstein: Profile of a Monster, 1995 documentary (part of a larger series on the Second Ark Wave)



The calls for North Ossetia to become united with Georgia’s South Ossetia region increased in volume throughout the post-Soviet years until South Ossetia’s governor declared the Georgian region to be an independent country on August 14, 1986. Fearing this would only encourage talks of secession continuing on in North Ossetia, Volkov put the less active secession movements of Kalmykia and Bashkortostan on the back burner and deployed national troops to North Ossetia. This troop deployment, however, only heightened fears among locals of a return to “the old ways,” and support for Volkov and Russia soon dropped even further in the region.

Soon guerillas demanding the recognition of South Ossetian independence began actively attacking local police in order to intimidate the Georgian government into submission. They were met with hostility as Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia launched a “counter-terrorism initiative.”

…Of all the post-Soviet Russian region contemplating secession, North Ossetia had a decent population favoring the nation, was not that low on military weaponry or military experience, had diplomatic relations with South Ossetia – to the point that there was talk of the two regions unifying into one entity if both managed to secede – and had fairly a decent geographic location, nestled within the Caucasus Mountains…

– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016



Senator Nixon dissuaded Denton from sending troops overseas to Georgia, telling him, “It’s been too soon since the collapse of the Soviet Union for us to be making our moves on Red Russia’s remains.” The US government was still trying to maintain trust and an unfortunately-uneasy sense of camaraderie between them and the fragile Volkov government. Sending troops to a nation “right on Volkov’s doorstep might be taken the wrong way, even with a phone call telling them otherwise.” Instead of intervening in the region militarily, the US instead offered diplomatic assistance to Volkov, Gamsakhurdia, and the leaders of North and South Ossetia. Volkov politely declined, saying “international intervention for a local issue like this.” US-Russian relations were maintained, but the hostilities in the Caucasus continued nonetheless…

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



Presidential Approval Rating

Yes: 38%
No: 48%
Unsure: 12%

– Gallup Poll, 8/15/1986



HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE STARTS HEARINGS ON THE MERITS OF IMPEACHMENT TODAY!

– The Washington Post, 8/16/1986



On August 19, 1986, former Governor Thyra Thompson defeated incumbent Governor Dick Casull in the Republican primary, 70%-to-25%. The results made it clear that Wyomingites had not forgiven Casull’s previous attempts to get rid of the state’s Permanent Mineral Fund. The PMF worked with the federal NITR to supplement income for the state’s poorest residents, many of whom were Republicans who did not care for Casull’s “small government” ideology when it negatively interfered with their finances.

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

[pic: https://imgur.com/dv0RC1k ]
– Painter Bob Ross, helping a nonprofit organization build affordable housing for low-income families in Fairbanks, Alaska, c. late summer 1986



Presidential Approval Rating
Yes (Approve): 35%
No (Don't Approve): 47%
Unsure: 18%

– Gallup Poll, 8/25/1986



…Gaddafi’s sentence of incarceration was unique because he was recognized as an international criminal. As a result, his trial sparked a conversation at the United Nations that ultimately led to the UN Detention Unit being established in Helmond, a city in the province of North Brabant in the southern part of The Netherlands, in 1991. In the meantime, Gaddafi began his prison term at Guantanamo Bay, a US Navy Base located in Cuba. …Gaddafi was relocated to Helmond in 1992…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Muammar_Gaddafi



U.S. ARMY AND AIR FORCE CRUSH PRO-GADDAFI UPRISING ATTEMPT IN SIRTE!

– Stars and Stripes, US military newspaper, 8/30/1986



…a federal circuit court has thrown out a case regarding Congressman Packwood attempting to keep the FBI from publicly releasing copies of his private diary. Packwood argued that it was a violation of his First-Amendment rights and a violation of his privacy, but the judges disagreed, stating that the materials in question are admissible as evidence in a federal court of law…

– CBS News, 9/2/1986 report



VETERANS’ AFFAIRS SECRETARY AUDIE MURPHY RESIGNS; Says He Protests “D.C.’s Air of Corruption”

…“President Denton always had the best of intentions. However, as he aimed to be another George Washington, he has instead ended up another Warren G. Harding,” Murphy said in a sharp rebuke of the Denton White House’s “gross misplacement of priorities”...

– The Austin American-Statesman, 9/4/1986



ANCHOR: …Well it seems that not even Alaska is immune from political controversy, as a Democratic nominee for governor is in hot water in the coldest state in the union.

[cut to footage of special report]

NARRATOR: In Alaska’s open primary on August 26, state senator-turned-state chief of staff George H. Hohman Jr. won the Democratic nomination with ease over the likes of Steve Cowper, Bill Sheffield, and Red Boucher, while former state House speaker Fink won the Republican nomination over the likes of Arliss Sturgelewski, Terry Miller and Don Wright. Now, Hohman has been accused of bribery. Specifically, the claim goes that in 1982, before becoming retiring Governor Bill Clinton’s chief of staff in 1983, Hohman agreed to accepting money in exchange for unlawfully appropriating anti-forest fire “water bomber” aircraft for a private company. Hohman denies the charge and Governor Clinton has come to his defense. At the moment, it seems the state Democrats are not compelled to remove him from the ticket…

– CBS News, 9/10/1986



IOWA CONGRESSMAN JOINS GROWING LIST OF ANTI-DENTON REPUBLICANS

…US Rep. Edward M. “Edd” King [4], 53, has joined a list of Republican congresspersons who either openly support impeachment hearings or openly oppose Denton’s handling of the Lukens Hush Money scandal. …The Mayor of a southeastern Iowan town of from 1975 to 1981, King is widely known in Congress for working to improve and diversify Iowa’s economy, an aspect of his career dating back to when he began working for a direct mail company in 1960. Since winning election to the U.S. Congress in 1980, King has kowtowed the party line. But now, King is become part of a growing faction of legislators who believe that, at the very least, the President “severely mishandled” a 1984 incident regarding the Secretary of State. “The pressure of running for President is no excuse for partaking in a hush money scheme,” King argues. "Denton needs to clarify what happened, and if he will only do so if threatened will impeachment, then so be it."

– The Des Moines Register, 9/15/1986

[pic: https://imgur.com/vVQ71Sx ]
– President Denton deflecting questions from reporters during a brief appearance at the White House Press Briefing Room, 9/16/1986



Former U.S. Senator ROBERT GRIFFIN (R-MI): “Denton is going to protect himself with a circle of loyalists until he leaves office. He’s a fighter, and like an animal in a corner he’s going to fight this all the way.”

Correspondent ROBERT NOVAK: “All the way to where?”

GRIFFIN (R-MI): “We’ll find out!”

– KNN round-table discussion, 9/20/1986



“I agree he did something inappropriate, but I don’t agree he did anything akin to treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors”

– Lamar Alexander, 9/22/1986 [5]



“He’s the only president we have, so why does the justice department want to weaken his hand in negotiating with other countries? The president says he is innocent, and I for one believe him, because as president he is compelled by the office to be truthful to the American people at all times.”

– US Senator Strom Thurmond in a “media-friendly” White House meeting with Denton to reaffirm GOP support for the President, 9/27/1986



When asked something along the lines of “Should the President be impeached for either his alleged actions in the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, his firing of the Special Prosecutor, or both,” the preliminary internal polling of US Senate showed the following breakdown on September 29:

Jack Edwards (R-AL) – no 1
Albert Lee Smith Jr. (R-AL) – no 2
Hazel P. Heath (R-AK) – yes 1
Frank Murkowski (R-AK) – undecided 1
Paul Fannin (R-AZ) – no 3
Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) – undecided 2
J. William Fulbright (D-AR) – yes 2
Jim Guy Tucker (D-AR) – yes 3
Maureen Reagan (R-CA) – undecided 3
Richard Nixon (R-CA) – no 4
George L. Brown (D-CO) – yes 4
William L. Armstrong (R-CO) – yes 5
Chris Dodd (D-CT) – yes 6
Antonina Uccello (R-CT) – yes 7
William Roth (R-DE) – yes 8
Joe Biden (D-DE) – yes 9
Lawton Chiles (D-FL) – yes 10
Paula Hawkins (R-FL) – no 5
Sam Nunn (D-GA) – yes 11
Mack Mattingly (R-GA) – no 6
Patsy Mink (D-HI) – yes 12
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) – yes 13
Bethine Church (D-ID) – yes 14
George Vernon Hansen (R-ID) – no 7
Paul Simon (D-IL) – yes 15
Alan J. Dixon (D-IL) – yes 16
Vance Hartke (D-IN) – yes 17
Richard Lugar (R-IN) – undecided 4
Roger Jespen (R-IA) – no 8
Harold Hughes (D-IA) – yes 18
Bob Dole (R-KS) – undecided 5
Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) – undecided 6
Lawrence Wetherby (D-KY) – yes 19
Harley Sanders (R-KY) – yes 20
Russell B. Long (D-LA) – no 9
Clyde Holloway (R-LA) – no 10
Ed Muskie (D-ME) – yes 21
Peter Kyros (D-ME) – yes 22
Charles Mathias (R-MD) – yes 23
John Sarbanes (D-MD) – yes 24
Ed Brooke (R-MA) – yes 25
Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D-MA) – yes 26
Jack Lousma (R-MI) – undecided 7
George Romney (R-MI) – yes 27
Joan Growe (D-MN) – yes 28
Mark Dayton (D-MN) – yes 29
James Meredith (R-MS) – undecided 8
John Stennis (D-MS) – no 11
Thomas B. Curtis (R-MO) – no 12
Jerry Litton (D-MO) – yes 30
John Melcher (D-MT) – undecided 9
Larry Williams (R-MT) – yes 31
Ted Sorensen (D-NE) – yes 32
Orrin Hatch (R-NE) – undecided 10
Paul Laxalt (R-NV) – undecided 11
Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV) – undecided 12
Endicott Peabody (D-NH) – yes 33
Norris Cotton (R-NH) – no 13
Mary Mochary (R-NJ) – yes 34
Frank X. McDermott (R-NJ) – yes 35
Pedro Jimenez (D-NM) – yes 36
Roberto Mondragon (D-NM) – yes 37
Mike Rockefeller (R-NY) – yes 38
Mario Biaggi (D-NY) – no 14
Terry Sanford (D-NC) – yes 39
Nick Galifianakis (D-NC) – yes 40
Mark Andrews (R-ND) – no 15
Arthur Albert Link (D-ND) – undecided 13
John Glenn (D-OH) – yes 41
William B. Saxbe (R-OH) – no 16
Mickey Edwards (R-OK) – no 17
Bud Wilkinson (R-OK) – undecided 14
John R. Dellenback (R-OR) – no 18
Mark Hatfield (R-OR) – yes 42
Bob Casey Sr. (D-PA) – yes 43
H. John Heinz III (R-PA) – undecided 15
Bob Tiernan (D-RI) – yes 44
Claiborne Pell (D-RI) – yes 45
Fritz Hollings (D-SC) – undecided 16
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) – no 19
Frank Farrar (R-SD) – undecided 17
Larry Pressler (R-SD) – yes 46
Al Gore Sr. (D-TN) – yes 47
Howard Baker (R-TN) – no 20
Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) – yes 48
Ron Paul (R-TX) – undecided 18
Jake Garn (R-UT) – undecided 19
Frank Moss (D-UT) – yes 49
Phil Hoff (D-VT) – yes 50
Peter P. Smith (R-VT) – yes 51
Richard Obenshain (R-VA) – no 21
Harry Byrd Jr. (I-VA) – no 22
Scoop Jackson (D-WA) – yes 52
Catherine Dean May (R-WA) – yes 53
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) – yes 54
John Raese (R-WV) – no 23
Roman Blenski (R-WI) – no 24
William Proxmire (D-WI) – yes 55
John Wold (R-WY) – no 25
Gale McGee (D-WY) – undecided 20

Thurmond glowered at the composition, “25 are in your corner, Mr. President. 55 are not, and 20 are undecided.”

Denton inquired, “Who are the 20?”

Baker read from off the list, “Murkowski, Goldwater, Reagan, Lugar, Dole, Kassebaum, Lousma, Meredith, Melcher, Hatch, Laxalt, Vucanovich, Link, Wilkinson, Heinz, Hollings, Farrar, Paul, Garn, and McGee. 16 Republicans, 4 Democrats. Seven of them – Murkowski, Lugar, Dole, Vucanovich, Hollings, Farrar, and Garn – are running for re-election this year, all on local issues.”

After a moment of though, Thurmond took a pencil and began to circle 12 of the undecided names. “I think we can rely on Murkowski, Reagan, Lugar, Dole, Kassebaum, Lousma, Hatch, Laxalt, Vucanovich, Wilkinson, Heinz and Garn to all fall in line when the time comes, especially if we pour support into the campaigns of the seven running for re-election. That brings the total to 37. That’s enough to block a conviction.”

Denton shook his head lugubriously. “That’s too close for comfort, in my opinion. Goldwater, Paul, Farrar, and Meredith need to be worked on. Even reaching out to Melcher, Link, Hollings and McGee wouldn’t hurt.”

Baker, though, was optimistic, reminding the small gathering of loyalists, “But we also have to factor in the 12 candidates against impeachment that we’ve got facing off against several pro-impeachment Senators.” He read the last names off his second list. “Mecham, Wilson, Kramer, Eddy, Symms, Koehler, Grassley, Moore, Shaw, Broyhill, Gekas and Olson.”

Thurmond viewed the list and remarked, “If they all win, that’s a gain of 49 from 37 in our corner.” He grinned, and added, “We’re gonna beat this, Jeremiah. I’m just sure of it.”

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



On October 4, Charles Goff, the cousin of the GOP nominee for Governor of Texas – 34-year-old state senator Michael Wayne “Mike” Martin – hastily assembled members of the media for a startling revelation. Goff revealed that he had helped Martin orchestrate a shooting incident in 1981 by firing a gun at his home in a staging of an assassination attempt. The incident, in which several bullets were fired into Martin’s home in an apparent attempt on the conservative populist’s life, was an event that many believed had contributed to Martin winning a state senate seat in 1982 (i.e., the sympathy vote). Goff had recently had a falling out with Martin, and had decide to “tell the truth” about Martin, adding that “Mike’s not fit for even his current job.”

Observant of the anarchy overwhelming Oregon and Ohio, the TXGOP sought to follow suit and replace their “appalling” candidate with a more respectable alternative. Unfortunately, with just a month left until Election Day, the party found it impossible to issue new ballots for its 16 million citizens. As a result, the party launched a write-in campaign for their new official nominee, state senator Ray Hutchison…

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



FBI “STILL NOT READY” TO PUBLICLY RELEASE PACKWOOD DIARIES

– The Washington Post, 10/1/1986



Presidential Approval Rating

Yes (Approve): 36%
No (Don't Approve): 45%
Unsure: 19%

– Gallup Poll, 10/5/1986



WHY ARE WE STILL IN NICARAGUA AND COLOMBIA?

…in the midst of scandals pouring continuously out of Washington, D.C., too many of us seem to be overlooking the casualties resulting from the presence of American forces in two democratic Latin American countries…

– Tumbleweed Magazine, opinion article, early October 1986 issue



…The International Olympic Committee today announced that they have chosen Yugoslavia to host the 1992 Winter Olympic Games. The city of Albertsville, France was a close second place finisher. …In an unprecedented [6] decision, the IOC has allowed hosting duties to be split between two cities – Zagreb and Belgrade…

– ABC News, 10/16/1986



…Earlier tonight, the US military announced that the last of Gaddafi’s supporters had been removed from Libyan territory, having been killed in action, arrested, or forced into surrendering. With the war against these extremists successfully concluding, the US Secretary of Defense has announced that American troops are set to leave Libya, quote, “fairly soon if not very soon,” unquote...

– CBS Evening News, 10/17/1986



DENTON SIGNS INTO LAW THE NEW PROTECTION OF MARRIAGE ACT

…this socially conservative legislation is a blow to the BLUTAGO community, coming months after several municipalities in California, Massachusetts and New York saw steps taken to recognize/legitimize same-sex relationships in documentation relating to inheritance, insurance, and other elements…

– The San Francisco Tribune, 10/18/1986 [7]



DENTON APPROVAL RATINGS RISING

…a Gallup poll shows a rise in the President’s approval ratings, from 35% two weeks ago to 40% now. This marks the first time that the President’s aggregate approval rating has been at or above 40% since early April…

– The New York Times, 10/20/1986



“I think we’re finally getting out of the woods now.”

– Jeremiah Denton to Secretary of State (since January 1986) Morton I. Abramowitz, 10/20/1986 (possibly anecdotal)



Then came the “October Game-Changer.” On October 21, under the direction of Director Adams, the F.B.I. finally published the Packwood Diaries, including the soon-to-be-infamous August 11, 18 and 28 Entries.

The August 11 entry describes in lengthy detail Secretary Lukens meeting with Packwood at Luken’s D.C. home for dinner and drinks. Packwood writes “I expected Buz to brag about his latest sexual conquests, but this time, he was distant and distracted. I finally got it out of him, and it looks like he’s actually gotten himself into some real trouble this time around. ‘You have to go for the older ones, Buz,’ I told him. ‘Younger ones always squeal.’”

Packwood then describes how Lukens revealed to him how the woman known as Anna Mason had confronted him over his sleeping with her underage daughter over two months prior. Packwood uses a cornucopia of misogynistic curse words to describe both Anna and Sidney Mason.

The August 18 entry describes discussing the matter with Lukens again, this time during a quick lunch break near their respective offices. In it, Packwood describes Lukens revealing to him that the President had somehow learned of Anna Mason’s threat to press charges against him and had confronted Lukens on the matter earlier that day. Specifically, Packwood writes “I’m not too surprised Denton found out about it. He keeps a tight ship on his Cabinet. Buz says Mason confronting him over the incident at his office must have caught the attention of Denton’s loyalists in the department. I agree. You just can’t keep a scandal that big and damaging away from the President, not during an election year. I hope he finds which snitch squealed. Happy hunting, Buz!” Packwood continues, “He’s in a much better mood now; he’s bragging that he’s too important to be fired. No doubt. Buz would be on his way out the door if he wasn’t needed so badly right now.”

This line refers to the major geopolitical development ongoing at the time. The entry is dated August 18, 1984 – less than 24 hours after KGB head Vitaly Fedorchuk had launched a coup against Premier Yakovlev of the Soviet Union. The coup would be an abysmal failure, but only after four days of struggle. In the meantime, Lukens reportedly kept the President updated on the situation hourly, making Denton praise Lukens’ dedication to the office. In gratitude, he agreed to help him “solve his personal problem” at a meeting at the White House on August 27.

Packwood’s August 28 entry reads “Buz is bragging that he convinced Denton to even use State Department funds and write the payment off as ‘miscellaneous’ expenditures!” This matched the evidence found in the July 1985 raid of Luken’s offices, and matched the August 1985 testimony of Thomas Tyack, Luken’s legal advisor and assistant who swore Denton approved of Lukens’ hush money scheme on the August 27 meeting, after Denton had asked for a status report on his department ahead of the August 18 encounter. In compliance with Denton’s wishes to know the goings-on in all cabinet and cabinet-level departments, Tyack admitted that he could not recall if Lukens voluntarily disclosed the situation, or if the President brought it up first during the August 18 meeting. Either way, both the diaries and Tyack claim that Lukens was the one who suggested on the second Denton-Lukens meeting the using of state funds, while Denton approved, telling Lukens “Yeah, yes, that’s fine. That’s all right, just do what you have to do. Loose lips sink ships,” according to both Packwood’s August 28 diary entry and Tyack (both accountant state this almost verbatim, except Packwood writes “Yep, yeah, that’s just fine. That’s all right, just do what you have to do. …Loose lips sink ships” is what Lukens claims Denton told Lukens).

Later diary entries from May 1985 hinted that Packwood learned that Denton was outraged at Lukens’ inability to “keep the lid on” the incident once “the news hit the pavement.”

[snip]

As the diary passages were read and shown on TV screens across America and the world for all to see, read and hear, the Denton White House went silent. No official response came until a full day later, which simply read the vague statement, “The President has always done what he believes is right for the safety and security of the nation.” Press Secretary Peggy Noonan resigned two days after that. Soon enough, all five major TV networks – ABC, CBS, NBC, The Overmyer Network, and KNN – were accusing Denton of committing various “impeachable” crimes, repeatedly discussing abuse of power, bribery, intimidation, conspiracy, misuse of assets, dereliction of duty, failure to supervise, conduct unbecoming of the office of the Presidency, and other legal term phrases. Despite his closest supporters' attempts to either downplay our dismiss entirely the releasing of the diaries, Denton's approval ratings plummeted even further. As did the hopes and odds of several Republicans running for office that November, even after most shifted focus to more local issues…

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



N.R.A. BACKS GUN REFORM BILL

...the Nation Rifle Association, an organization that primarily focuses on sportsmen, hunters and target practice [8], has come out to favor of a broad Gun Reform bill meant to address the ability of citizens with known mental issues to purchase firearms. “Rifles are for hunting animals, not people; pistols are for protecting loved ones, not for killing people; semi-automatics are for military officers in combat overseas, not for unwell people,” a spokesperson for the typically nonpartisan organization said earlier today…

– The Washington Post, 10/26/1986



WORLD SERIES: ASTROS BEAT ANGELS 4-3!

…for pitcher George W. Bush, the game was the last for his career. “What a way to end it!” Bush says…

– The Houston Chronicle, 10/27/1986



When I got out of playing baseball, I decided to follow an early passion of mine. I joined my father’s real estate company, E. Trump & Son, and convinced it to go big. For me, it was not enough to just follow in my father’s footsteps, and work the family business in Queens. I had bigger plans. Much bigger.

I remember being amazed at the age of Fenway Park in my second home town of Boston. The stadium had been around since 1912. That was just too old. And it wasn’t spectacular-looking, either. Kinda ugly, kind sad-looking, like it needed to be put out of its misery. Yeah, people were angry, very angry about replacing it, saying it was iconic and all, but let me tell you - if you stand in front of progress, you're going to get run over by it. Deal with it. The Red Sox guys were badly in need of a new stadium to keep the team from moving, and within two years I got the team to sign off on E. Trump & Son’s first Boston venture.

Besides, I wanted the new park to look modern. Sleek and stylish. And Gold. And with a big “T” somewhere on the premises. “T” for “Trump Stadium.” We broke ground right before Halloween, 1986, and we got it built ahead of time and under budget. That's what success looks like. It was a tremendous success, even without the gold or the giant "T." And hey, at least, everyone calls it Trump Stadium!

– Donald Trump, 2001



United States Senate election results, 1986

Date: November 4, 1986
Seats: 34 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Howard Baker (R-TN)
Senate minority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Seats before election: 41 (D), 58 (R), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 53 (D), 46 (R), 1 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 12, R v 12, I - 1

Full List:
Alabama: Mary Texas Hurt Garner (D) over incumbent Jack Edwards (R)
Alaska: incumbent Frank Murkowski (R) over Glen Olds (D)
Arizona: Eddie Najeeb Basha Jr. (D) over Evan Mecham (R); incumbent Paul Fannin (R) retired
Arkansas: incumbent J. William Fulbright (D) over Asa Hutchinson (R)
California: Mario Obledo (D) over Pete Wilson (R); incumbent Maureen Reagan (R) retired
Colorado: Pat Schroeder (D) over Ken Kramer (R); incumbent George L. Brown (D) retired
Connecticut: incumbent Chris Dodd (D) over Roger Eddy (R)
Florida: Michael Bilirakis (R) over Bill Nelson (D); incumbent Paula Hawkins (R) retired
Georgia: John Skandalakis (D) over incumbent Mack Mattingly (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Daniel Inouye (D) over Frank Hutchinson (R)
Idaho: incumbent Bethine Clark Church (D) over Steve Symms (R)
Illinois: incumbent Alan J. Dixon (D) over Judy Koehler (R)
Indiana: incumbent Richard Lugar (R) over Jill L. Long (D)
Iowa: incumbent Harold Hughes (D) over Chuck Grassley (R)
Kansas: incumbent Bob Dole (R) over Guy MacDonald (D)
Kentucky: incumbent Harley Sanders (R) over William P. Curlin Jr. (D)
Louisiana: Buddy Roemer (D) over Henson Moore (R); incumbent Russell B. Long (D) retired
Maryland: Barbara Mikulski (D) over Linda Chavez (R); incumbent Charles Mathias Jr. (R) retired
Missouri: Bill Bradley (D) over incumbent Thomas B. Curtis (R)
Nevada: incumbent Barbara Vucanovich (R) over Myron E. Leavitt (D)
New Hampshire: Emile Dorilas Beaulieu Jr. (D) over Robert F. Shaw (R); incumbent Norris Cotton (R) retired
New York: incumbent Mario Biaggi (D) over Al D’Amato (R), Mark Green (Green) and John S. Dyson (Liberal)
North Carolina: incumbent Nick Galifianakis (D) over Jim Broyhill (R)
North Dakota: Kent Conrad (D) over incumbent Mark Andrews (R)
Ohio: Carl Stokes (D) over Tom Kindness (R); incumbent William B. Saxbe (R) retired
Oklahoma: incumbent Marvin Henry “Mickey” Edwards (R) over James R. Jones (D)
Oregon: Walter Leslie “Les” AuCoin (D) over incumbent John R. Dellenback (R)
Pennsylvania: incumbent Bob Casey Sr. (D) over George Gekas (R)
South Carolina: incumbent Fritz Hollings (D) over Henry D. McMaster (R)
South Dakota: incumbent Frank Farrar (R) over Tom Daschle (D)
Utah: incumbent Jake Garn (R) over Craig Oliver (D) and Mary Zins (Independent)
Vermont: Madeleine M. Kunin (D) over incumbent appointee Peter Plympton Smith (R)
Washington: incumbent Catherine Dean May (R) over Deborah Senn (D)
Wisconsin: Bronson La Follette (D) over Russell Olson (R); incumbent Roman R. Blenski (R) retired
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



…The Republican Party’s loss of both American congressional chambers tonight clearly shows that the American people have lost faith in their President…

– BBC World News, 11/4/1986



Promoters of diversity could consider 1986 to be a boon to their cause. With Maureen Reagan and Paula Hawkins retiring but Mary Texas Hurt Garner, Patricia Schroeder, Barbara Mikulski and Madeleine Kunin winning seats, the night led to the Senate getting a net gain of two more female Senators, making for a historic first of fourteen woman serving in the Senate at the same time. The House also achieved a historically high number of women Representatives, going from 26 (4.9% of the House) to a whopping 59 (11.0% of the House). This was a larger jump in women composition than experienced in the original Ark Wave of 1970, which saw the number of female Representatives leap from 14 (2.6%) to a high of 25 (4.7%).

[snip]

In early 1987, freshmen newcomers Mike Bilirakis of Florida and John Skandalakis of Georgia met with three of their now-fellow Senators – Peter Kyros of Maine, John Sarbanes of Maryland and Nick Galifianakis of North Carolina – to form the semi-serious “Greek Caucus.”

A more serious group of Senators that was expanded by the midterms was the “Hispanic caucus,” comprising of Senators Pedro Jimenez and Roberto Mondragon of New Mexico, and their then-newest member, Senator Mario Obledo of California...

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



United States House of Representatives results, 1986

Date: November 4, 1986
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218
New House majority leader: Hale Boggs (D-LA)
New House minority leader: Robert H. Michel (R-IL)
Last election: 181 (D), 254 (R)
Seats won: 232 (D), 202 (R), 1 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 51, R v 52, I ^ 1
– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



“A DONKEY TIDAL WAVE!”: REPUBLICANS BURIED AS DEMOCRATS RETAKE BOTH CHAMBERS IN MIDTERM ELECTIONS LAST NIGHT

– The Los Angeles Times, 11/5/1986



The 58-year-old Mexico-born L.A. Times journalist-turned-editor, progressive member of the Chicano community, and former Civil Rights activist Ruben Salazar was elected to an open US Congressional seat from California. ...Another female California Democrat to win a U.S. Congressional seat was the centrist-leaning Cammie King, a 52-year-old former child star from northern California who worked as the marketing coordinator for the Fort Bragg-Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce before election to said chamber in 1984.

[snip]

Democrat Charlie Dean was elected to a US House seat from New York’s 2nd District at the age of 36. The brother of state congressman Howard Dean of Vermont, Charlie Dean was a life-long peacenik who had worked as a coordinator for the Presidential campaign of Mike Gravel in 1972. After backpacking across Southeast Asia without incident, Charlie Dean joined the Peace Corps, served from 1975 to 1981, and then entered private practice upon passing the New York state bar exam in 1982.

[snip]

The sole independent elected to the House in ’86 was William Sorrell of Vermont. Sorrell was Chittenden County State’s Attorney from 1977 to 1978 before election to the state senate in 1980, switching from Democratic to Independent in 1982 to protest the state Democratic Party chairman’s support of a less progressive primary challenger to Sorrell’s re-election bid that year.

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



United States Governor election results, 1986

Date: November 4, 1986
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 36
Seats before: 26 (D), 22 (R), 2 (I)
Seats after: 35 (D), 15 (R), 0 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 9, R v 7, I v 2

Full list:
Alabama: William J. “Bill” Baxley II (D) over John Hall Buchanan Jr. (R); incumbent Ann Bedsole (R) was term-limited
Alaska: Tom Fink (R) over George H. Hohman Jr. (D), Don Wright (Green), Andre Marrou (Liberty) and Bill Hudson (Alaskan Indep.); inc. Bill Clinton (D) retired
Arizona: Carolyn Warner (D) over incumbent Richard Kleindienst (R)
Arkansas: Lynn Lowe (R) over incumbent Orval Faubus (D)
California: fmr Stanford U Pres. Donald Kennedy (D) over Anthony M. Kennedy (R); incumbent George Christopher (R) retired
Colorado: Byron L. Johnson (D) over Bob Leon Kirscht (R); incumbent Bill Daniels (R) retired
Connecticut: incumbent Robert K. Killian (D) over Julie Belaga (R)
Florida: Bruce A. Smathers (D) over Louis Frey (R); incumbent Jack Eckerd (R) was term-limited
Georgia: Billy Carter (D) over Guy Davis (R); incumbent Hal Suit (R) was term-limited
Hawaii: incumbent Jean King (D) over Dominis Garrida “D. G.” Anderson (R)
Idaho: incumbent Larry Jackson (R) over Marjorie Ruth Moon (D)
Illinois: incumbent John Anderson (R) over Adlai Stevenson III (D)
Iowa: incumbent Jo Ann McIntosh Zimmerman (D) over Roxanne Conlin (R)
Kansas: Jim Slattery (D) over incumbent Robert Frederick Bennett (R)
Maine: Libby Mitchell (D) over John McKernan (R) and Sherry Huber (I); Helen Longley (I) retired
Maryland: William Oswald Mills (R) over Stephen H. Sachs (D); incumbent F. P. Blair Lee III (D) retired
Massachusetts: incumbent Michael Dukakis (D) over George Kariotis (R), John Cassavetes (Liberty), Christy Mihos (I) and Nick Paleologos (I)
Michigan: incumbent Elly M. Peterson (R) over William B. Fitzgerald Jr. (D)
Minnesota: incumbent Coya Knutson (D) over Jon Grunseth (Independent-Republican-Liberty) and Florian Chmielewski (I)
Nebraska: Helen Boosalis (D) over Kay Orr (R); incumbent Charles Thone (R) retired
Nevada: incumbent Joseph Yale Resnick (D) over Ed Fike (R)
New Hampshire: incumbent Calvin Warburton (R) over Paul McEachern (D) and Paul N. Gagnon (Independent)
New Mexico: Fabian Chavez Jr. (D) over Joseph H. Mercer (R); incumbent Toney Anaya (D) was term-limited
New York: incumbent Mario Cuomo (D) over Paul J. Curran (R), Denis Dillon (Life) and Lenora Fulani (Green)
Ohio: Jerry Springer (D) over Paul E. Gillmor (replaced Bud Brown) (R); incumbent Jim Rhodes (R) was term-limited
Oklahoma: Mike Turpen (D) over Robert N. Goodhead (R) and Mike Fair (I); incumbent George Nigh (D) retired
Oregon: Norma Paulus (R) over Edward Fadeley (D (write-in)) and Neil Goldschmidt (D (withdrew)); incumbent Victor Atiyeh (R) retired
Pennsylvania: William W. Scranton III (R) over incumbent Stewart Greenleaf (D)
Rhode Island: Buddy Cianci (“Anti-Denton” R) over Anthony J. Solomon (D), Robert J. Healey (I) and Tony Affigne (I); incumbent Lincoln Almond (R) retired
South Carolina: Jesse Jackson (D) over Floyd Spence (R); incumbent Nancy Stevenson (D) was term-limited
South Dakota: Lars Herseth (D) over incumbent Clint Roberts (R)
Tennessee: Frank Goad Clement (D) over H. D. Patty (R), Charles G. Vick (Country) and Gentry Crowell (ID); incumbent Buford Pusser (R) was term-limited
Texas: Rick Perry (D) over incumbent Ross Perot (I), Ray Hutchison (R (write-in)), Mike Martin (R) and Maria “Rosie” Castro (La Raza Unida)
Vermont: incumbent Richard Snelling (R) over Ralph G. Wright (D) and Richard F. Gottlieb (Liberty Union)
Wisconsin: incumbent Paul R. Soglin (D) over Robert Walter Kasten Jr. (R)
Wyoming: Thyra Thomson (R) over Al Hamberg (D); incumbent Dick Casull (R) lost re-nomination

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



In an “all-Greek” race, Dukakis achieved a third full term in a landslide victory over his four challengers:

Incumbent Michael Dukakis/Demo. Party organizer Joyce Spiliotis (Democratic) – 58.25%
Businessman George Kariotis/businessman developer Nicholas M. Nikitas (Republican) – 27.29%
Actor-activist John Cassavetes/fmr US Rep. Nick Mavroules (Liberty) – 9.06%
Businessman Christy Mihos/lawyer-activist Gale D. Candaras (Independent) – 4.14%
Fmr state rep. Nick Paleologos/fmr GOP Party Chairman Andrew Natsios (Independent) – 1.12%
Others tickets/Write-in candidates/blank votes – 1.14%

– clickopedia.co.usa/Massachusetts_gubernatorial_election,_1986/results



PERRY BEATS PEROT! GOP Blames Martin Scandal For Loss

[pic: imgur.com/Y6Ge2WZ.png ]

…Perry, b. 1950, won a Purple Heart in 1976, at the age of 26, while being a member of the “Uganda Rough Riders” ground forces that overthrew the dictator Idi Amin from the African nation of Uganda in an international effort that year. Returning home to a hero’s welcome, Perry was soon elected to the state senate, serving there from 1979 to 1983, before being elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982, after defeating 10-year-incumbent Bill Hobby in an upset. Perry often sparred with Governor Perot, most noticeably over tax hikes and Perot’s apparent indifference to agricultural concerns. Perry, a conservative Democrat, campaigned on his deep Texas roots and humble rural upbringing to win a decisive victory last night over incumbent Governor Perot, an Independent. …The GOP vote, still reeling from the scandal concerning their original gubernatorial nominee, ended up split between the controversial and deeply conservative and Martin, who remained on the ballot, and the relatively more moderate Hutchison, the state party’s official write-in candidate…

[snip]

…in the race for Lieutenant Governor, the Democratic nominee, incumbent San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, defeated Republican challenger, David Davidson, by a five-point margin. Cisneros will be the state’s first Hispanic Lieutenant Governor…

– The Dallas Morning News, 11/5/1986



ROWLAND EVANS: …as you can see by this chart, the upcoming composition of the Senate will be much like the upcoming House composition – unfriendly to the President.

CHART: “Should the President Be Impeached?”
Jack Edwards (R-AL) – no; (Senator-Elect) Mary Texas Hurt Garner (D-AL) – leaning to yes
Paul Fannin (R-AZ) – no; (Senator-Elect) Eddie Basha (D-AZ) – yes
Maureen Reagan (R-CA) – undecided; (Senator-Elect) Mario Obledo (D-CA) – yes
Paula Hawkins (R-FL) – leaned to no; (Senator-Elect) Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) – yes
Mack Mattingly (R-GA) – no; John Skandalakis (D-GA) – yes
Russell B. Long (D-LA) – no; (Senator-Elect) Buddy Roemer (D-LA) – yes
Thomas B. Curtis (R-MO) – no; Bill Bradley (D-MO) – yes
Norris Cotton (R-NH) – no; (Senator-Elect) Emile Beaulieu (D-NH) – yes
Mark Andrews (R-ND) – no; (Senator-Elect) Kent Conrad (D-ND) – leaning to yes
William B. Saxbe (R-OH) – no; (Senator-Elect) Carl Stokes (D-OH) – yes
John R. Dellenback (R-OR) – leaned to no; (Senator-Elect) Les AuCoin (D-OR) – yes
Roman Blenski (R-WI) – no; (Senator-Elect) Bronson La Follette (D-WI) – yes

EVANS: When it comes to the subject of impeachment, the midterms have given the Senate twelve more politicians who either believe the President is guilty or at the least favors the House voting for impeaching President Denton. That raises the number of pro-impeachment Senators, or anti-Denton Senators, pending on how you look at, from 59 to 71 – more than enough for the Senate to convict the President and remove him from office if the new House does indeed vote to impeach, which will likely happen.

ROBERT NOVAK: Hm, well I agree that last night spelled bad news for the Denton White House, but we can’t confirm that a lot of these Senators will stick to what they’ve said. Senator-elect Garner, for example, is from Denton’s home state, where he’s still fairly popular.

EVANS: The results clearly show that Denton’s lost the support of the American people. It’d be political suicide to continue for even someone from Alabama to stick by the President after such a pro-impeachment mandate…

– KNN, 11/5/1986 broadcast

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

– President Denton on the White House grounds, reportedly deep in somber contemplation, 11/5/1986



NEBRASKA STATE LEGISLATURE OK’S BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT

…Nebraska became the 11th state to ratify the proposed U.S. Constitutional Amendment earlier today. The BBA was passed by both chambers of the U.S. Congress two years ago, but its ratification process has slowed in recent years over multiple concerns… [9]

– The Boston Globe, 11/9/1986



DENTON APPROVAL RATING REACHES NEW LOW OF 25%

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 11/14/1986



SENATE STRIPS MENTAL HEALTH TEST FROM GUN REFORM BILL OVER ABUSE FEARS

…Senate leaders have agreed to replace the mental health test measure with one demanding background checks and waiting period requirements instead… there is also ongoing debate over the extent of responsibility that state governments would have in enforcing such a bill…

– The Chicago Tribune, 11/23/1986



THE N.F.U. & YOU: Why Kansas Workers Are Joining Unions In Droves

…an increasing number of farmers are unionizing, joining the Nation Farmers Union, and other organizations, as Governor-Elect Jim Slattery promises to work with such groups to solve the current crisis facing Kansas’ rural workers. More cooperatives are also being unionized as outgoing Governor Bennett’s hands-off approach to farm debt led to a rise in approval of government intervention in recent years across the state.

…Over two years of mobilizing to implement pro-farmer policies akin to economic agrarianism culminated in a fairly liberal Democrat (Slattery) being elected Governor earlier this month in a two-man, scandal-free campaign focused almost entirely on local issues…

– Time Magazine, late November 1986 issue



“There will be at least one Article of Impeachment will likely be for one count of conspiracy with Donald E. Lukens to control the unlawful disbursements of monetary funds appropriated solely for the Department of State,” GOP Representative and House Ethics Committee member Doug Bereuter (R-NE) informed the President.

“Congress’ house judiciary committee members are planning to form the articles – er, or article – in January,” House Whip David Emery added. For only the second time in American history, an impeachment vote was indisputably going to be held. “From what I’ve gathered, though, they’re actually looking to go with two articles: obstruction of justice and abuse of power.”

“Affirmative,” White House Counsel Mitchell Kobelinski agreed with Emery. “The new Democrat-led House leadership, headed by that Boggs b@stard, plans to schedule Impeachment Hearings for January, and expect to hold a vote on them by the end of February. After that, it’ll be up to the Senate to either convict or acquit.”

“Furthermore,” Emery offered additionally details, “it’s projected to be on bipartisan lines, as some Republican elected in November won on anti-Denton platforms.”

Kobelinski continued, “And as I was saying, the Senate’s planning to start the impeachment trial as soon as the House votes to impeach, and the Senate won’t be slow to act. They have the diaries as evidence, they have people willing to testify, and they have the votes. Some of them even think they’ll vote before the end of April, but I think we can push that date farther down the calendar when the time comes.”

“If the time comes,” Denton sullenly thought aloud. “Any other bad news?”

Bereuter sighed before answering. “Inner-party support for you has fallen considerably. Several former supporters have switched to the pro-conviction side. Even some Party Leaders and members of the G.O.P.’s “old guard” – Dole, Wilkinson, Goldwater, and even Richard Nixon – have hinted as much.”

“Yes, I spoke with Nixon earlier today on the phone,” Denton remarked, “He said resigning would allow me to save face and control the narrative.”

“He wants you to resign?!” Emery replied with a slight startle.

“He didn’t rule it out as a possible solution. Neither did I. He just thinks I shouldn’t be impeached, that much was made clear by our talk.” After a beat, the President asked, “Well, let’s just see how bad the damage is.”

Kobelinski went first with his breakdown of the Senate. Preliminary internal polling of the 100th Congress (the 1987-1989 session), counting Senator-Elects instead of outgoing Senators, showed the following breakdown as of the start of December:

Query asked (essentially) “Should the President be impeached for his alleged impeding of FBI investigators and/or other actions of his that pertain to the cover-up of former Secretary of State Buz Lukens’ sexual impropriety via an improper use of State Department funds?”:

Mary Texas Hurt Garner (D-AL) – yes 1
Albert Lee Smith Jr. (R-AL) – no 1
Hazel P. Heath (R-AK) – yes 2
Frank Murkowski (R-AK) – yes 3
Eddie Basha (D-AZ) – yes 4
Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) – yes 5
J. William Fulbright (D-AR) – yes 6
Jim Guy Tucker (D-AR) – yes 7
Mario Obledo (D-CA) – yes 8
Richard Nixon (R-CA) – no 2
William Armstrong (R-CO) – yes 9
Pat Schroeder (D-CO) – yes 10
Chris Dodd (D-CT) – yes 11
Antonina Uccello (R-CT) – yes 12
William Roth (R-DE) – yes 13
Joe Biden (D-DE) – yes 14
Lawton Chiles (D-FL) – yes 15
Mike Bilirakis (R-FL) – yes 16
Sam Nunn (D-GA) – yes 17
John Skandalakis (D-GA) – yes 18
Patsy Mink (D-HI) – yes 19
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) – yes 20
Bethine Church (D-ID) – yes 21
George Vernon Hansen (R-ID) – no 3
Paul Simon (D-IL) – yes 22
Alan J. Dixon (D-IL) – yes 23
Vance Hartke (D-IN) – yes 24
Richard Lugar (R-IN) – no 4
Roger Jespen (R-IA) – no 5
Harold Hughes (D-IA) – yes 25
Bob Dole (R-KS) – undecided 1
Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) – undecided 2
Lawrence Wetherby (D-KY) – yes 26
Harley Sanders (R-KY) – yes 27
Buddy Roemer (D-LA) – yes 28
Clyde Holloway (R-LA) – no 6
Ed Muskie (D-ME) – yes 29
Peter Kyros (D-ME) – yes 30
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) – yes 31
John Sarbanes (D-MD) – yes 32
Ed Brooke (R-MA) – yes 33
Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D-MA) – yes 34
Jack Lousma (R-MI) – undecided 3
George Romney (R-MI) – yes 35
Joan Growe (D-MN) – yes 36
Mark Dayton (D-MN) – yes 37
James Meredith (R-MS) – yes 38
John Stennis (D-MS) – no 7
Bill Bradley (D-MO) – yes 39
Jerry Litton (D-MO) – yes 40
John Melcher (D-MT) – undecided 4
Larry Williams (R-MT) – yes 41
Ted Sorensen (D-NE) – yes 42
Orrin Hatch (R-NE) – undecided 5
Paul Laxalt (R-NV) – undecided 6
Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV) – undecided 7
Endicott Peabody (D-NH) – yes 43
Emile Beaulieu (D-NH) – yes 44
Mary Mochary (R-NJ) – yes 45
Frank X. McDermott (R-NJ) – yes 46
Pedro Jimenez (D-NM) – yes 47
Roberto Mondragon (D-NM) – yes 48
Mike Rockefeller (R-NY) – yes 49
Mario Biaggi (D-NY) – no 8
Terry Sanford (D-NC) – yes 50
Nick Galifianakis (D-NC) – yes 51
Kent Conrad (D-ND) – yes 52
Arthur Albert Link (D-ND) – undecided 8
John Glenn (D-OH) – yes 53
Carl Stokes (D-OH) – yes 54
Mickey Edwards (R-OK) – no 9
Bud Wilkinson (R-OK) – undecided 9
Les AuCoin (D-OR) – yes 55
Mark Hatfield (R-OR) – yes 56
Bob Casey Sr. (D-PA) – yes 57
H. John Heinz III (R-PA) – undecided 10
Bob Tiernan (D-RI) – yes 58
Claiborne Pell (D-RI) – yes 59
Fritz Hollings (D-SC) – undecided 11
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) – no 10
Frank Farrar (R-SD) – yes 60
Larry Pressler (R-SD) – yes 61
Al Gore Sr. (D-TN) – yes 62
Howard Baker (R-TN) – no 11
Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) – yes 63
Ron Paul (R-TX) – yes 64
Jake Garn (R-UT) – yes 65
Frank Moss (D-UT) – yes 66
Phil Hoff (D-VT) – yes 67
Madeline Kunin (D-VT) – yes 68
Richard Obenshain (R-VA) – no 12
Harry Byrd Jr. (I-VA) – no 13
Scoop Jackson (D-WA) – yes 69
Catherine Dean May (R-WA) – yes 70
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) – yes 71
John Raese (R-WV) – no 14
Bronson La Follette (D-WI) – yes 72
William Proxmire (D-WI) – yes 73
John Wold (R-WY) – no 15
Gale McGee (D-WY) – undecided 12

“What’s the total?!” Denton asked in disbelief.

Kobelinski re-read the sheets laid out on the coffee table before him. “73 are favoring conviction, 15 are still on your side," including Biaggi, who still claimed Lukens duped Denton in spite of Tyack's claims, "and 12 are still on the fence.”

“F@#, just 15?!”

“And 12 more on the fence, so, 27 at the most,” said Kobelinski.

“At the most,” noted Emery.

“Don’t try to sugar-coat it, Dave,” said the President. “I know a chopping block when I see one, and they’re putting my head to one come January.” After a moment of contemplation, Denton continued. “I refuse to go out that way. A pack of traitors, the lot of them! Going AWOL and abandoning me like this, feeding me to the wolves to protect their cushy career. I know what they’re saying. That this is it. They’re going to abandon the past six years of unprecedented success, all because I made one little error in judgement.” He sighed, “Why did I pick Lukens for State? That’s all it took. A misjudging of character…” After another pause, he concluded his monologue. “They want to put me in a keyless cell and drag me and my name, my family, and our policies, our accomplishments, our legacies – our country – through the mud. Through their sh*t. No. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. They’re not doing that. They don’t get to decide how this administration comes to an end; I do!”

– John Ehrman and Michael W. Flamm’s Jeremiah: The Denton Presidency, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2002



AFTER WEEKS-LONG EXTENSION, CONGRESS FINALLY ADJOURNS FOR WINTER RECESS

…In the final days before the holiday break, the House and Senate managed to pass several bills in the typically low-action winter period, including several conservative bills that would likely failed to be passed in the new Democratic-majority congress that will convene in January. …Two of these bills were the controversial Gun Reform bill and the Mental Health Research bill, both introduced earlier this year in response to the violent “Motorcade Incident” of March 1986. Originally one bill on demanding mental health tests for all gun purchasers, fears of the bill being abused to deny citizens their Second Amendment rights led to the contents being split into two bills – one calling for background checks and waiting periods for gun purchasers, and another boosting federal funds for research into mental health treatment…

– The Washington Post, 12/8/1986



Denton agreed with Senate and House leaders to do it in exchange for him being allowed to sign into law several key pieces of legislation, including the Mental Health Act, the Gun Reform Act of 1986, The Nuclear Waste Repository Act, and a bill that was possibly most important to him, the massive Goldwater-Nichols Defense Bill…

– Paul Kengor and Peter Schweizer’s The Denton Presidency: Assessing the Man and His Actions, Simon & Schuster, 2005



[First Lady] Katherine [Jane Maury Denton] wanted to spend one more Christmas at the White House, as she had been overseeing the plans for a celebratory extravaganza for weeks, if not months. …On Christmas Eve, after the festivities had come to an end, Katherine and I, with all seven of our children, gathered around the tree set up in the Yellow Oval Room. We shared stories, sang hymns, and relished in the ambiance. Instead of lamenting the close of this chapter of our lives, I did my best to give thanks to our Lord and Savior for giving me and my family an experience shared by only thirty-six families before us.

– Jeremiah Denton’s Take My Yoke Upon You And Learn From Me: My Memoirs, Simon & Schuster, 1991



“Ladies and Gentlemen, and the press, I would like to thank you all for being here.

For the past five years, eleven months and eight days, I have overseen an administration and a Congress that has accomplished many amazing feats of greatness and glory. Together, we tackled a runaway budget. We improved the economy by decreasing the poverty and unemployment rates by taking an ax to unnecessary taxes. We expanded the possibilities of the free market system. We protected the environment and preserved our national landmarks. We preserved family values and valiantly fought back crime and teenage delinquency plaguing our communities. We defended our allies in Latin America, brought peace and justice to North Africa, and ensured American victory in the decades-long standoff that was the Cold War.

Unfortunately, my fellow Americans, it has come to my attention that my Presidency has been compromised. The past several months have been tiring on us all, as the unfortunate details of the actions of members of my administration – including my own misjudgments – have come to light, dragging the names of people through the mud regardless of their innocence or guilt and placing them before the court of public opinion, clogging up America’s judicial system in a show that distracts us all from more important issues. Ending disease and hunger, strengthening national defenses, lowering taxes even further, ending inequality, and combating crime – all more important matters that require far more greater attention than this administration has given them as of late. We all need to focus and work on curing these social ailments, but I myself can no longer fight these good fights in this compromised office. And so, I am shutting down this media circus, and, with it, regrettably, my Presidency.

A good soldier never surrenders in the middle of a battle; a soldier keeps on fighting until the battle is won or lost. It is with shame and reflection that I confess that the battle to execute the agenda of this White House has been lost.

To make myself perfectly and legally clear: in order to better focus on strengthening America from a freer vantage point, and to return the attention of this country that I love so much to the real issues that matter and affect us all, I hereby resign from the office of the Presidency, effective noon today.

Good luck, Jack.

Thank you all for listening, God bless you all, and God Bless the United States of America.”

– Jeremiah Denton in a live televised announcement, White House Press Briefing Room, 1/28/1986, 7:30 A.M. EST

[pic: https://imgur.com/qj2d3wG ]
Jack French Kemp, the 39th President of the United States​

“Denton was, is, and remains an innocent man who resigned to spare the nation he loves, then, now, and forever more, from having to go through the awkwardness and embarrassment of seeing an incumbent President be forced to sort out the sordid affairs of those who betrayed his trust in front of the insensitive media, a sorting that would have continued to drag on for months on end, impeding his ability to serve his country as its leader. He took a bullet for us all!”

– Southern Baptist clergyman Billy Ervin McCormack of Louisiana, CBN broadcast, 9/9/1989



“In retrospect, maybe I should have seen it coming. I mean, I met the man now an’ again. Didn’t really talk to me that often about foreign or domestic policy, though. I guess he wanted to make his time in the White House different than how mine was. Distinct. And it did end up like that, I guess. I mean, I was aware that he could fly off the handle at times, but I am still surprised by just how badly he muddied everything up! I just hope this new fella, Kemp? I hope he’s a better and more open and transparent kind of leader than Denton. That’s what should have tipped me off – when the scandals started coming out, he didn’t step up and confess what he knew like what I did. Well, what’s done is done. His chickens came home to roost, and that’s that. I just wonder what’ll happen to ol’ Jer next, now that he’s out of a job an’ all.”

– Colonel Sanders to a reporter, 12/29/1986



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Italicized snippet pulled from here: https://www.geni.com/people/Bud-Brown/6000000074076944025
[2] Real thing!: https://books.google.com/books?id=1GIZqyemR3UC&lpg=PA360&ots=PR0TwfX... “Ancient Gonzo Wisdom” book, page 360).
[3] In OTL, in December 2019, a lawsuit was filed in New York on behalf of nine anonymous accusers for battery, assault, and intentional emotional distress, with the claims dating from 1985 through the 2000s, and included individuals who were 13, 14, and 15 when they first encountered Epstein. These are the only publicly disclosed accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein that actually date back to the 1980s, suggesting his reign of evil did not truly begin until the early 1990s: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeffrey-epstein-new-sexual-harassment-accusers-push-new-law-giving-protections-for-adult-sex-abuse-survivors/ So, yeah, it’s getting nipped in the bud here.
[4] Who? This guy: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/12/us/killing-in-council-chamber-stuns-city-in-rural-iowa.html
[5] OTL quote from early 2020!!!
[6] But it will happen OTL for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy!
[7] TTL’s 1986 P.O.M.A. is based on OTL’s 1996 D.O.M.A., F.Y.I.!
[8] ITTL Harlon Carter died in an accident in October 1975 (see corresponding chapter for further details), and without him Neal Knox and the pro-politicization faction of the NRA failed to take over the organization’s leadership ranks!
[9] To be covered in the next chapter, along with more stuff concerning Le Pen and what will happen with Denton and all that (E.T.A.: no later than the 24th)

NHobson said:
Uh, when exactly did the White Sox and Comiskey Park move to Boston? Did the Red Sox and Fenway Park move to Chicago at the same time?

D'oh! Sorry about that, I think I confused the White Sox for the Red Sox (meant for it to be the Red Sox (maybe)) - I'll fix that!
EDIT: fixed (I think...)

FDRFan1943 said:
How did Elton John die?

Drug overdose in the early 1980s, a death used by anti-recreadrug persons as an example of the danger/consequences of using such drugs.

Thanks for the comments; I really appreciate them!

 

[gap80]

Post 48: Chapter 56

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.

 

[gap80]

Post 49: Chapter 57

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.

 

[gap80]

Post 50: Chapter 58

Chapter 58: January 1988 – August 1988​

“Mud thrown is ground lost.”

– Texan proverb



HOT ON THE TRAIL!: Presidential Candidates Make Their Cases To Early Primary Voters

…The Democrats have a wide field, with the Gravelite progressive wing (led by Soglin, Bellamy, and Alexander) vying for voters against liberals (led Kennedy-Shriver, Osborne, and Florio) and centrists (led by Glenn, King, and Simon), with candidates like James Taylor and Andrew Young running on unique campaign platforms …In the GOP, President Kemp is attempting to fight off several challengers – most notably Pastor McCormack of the “deeply conservative” wing, Governor Thomson of the Colonelite “rational conservative” wing, Senator Goldwater of the growing "libertarian" wing, and former Senator Reagan of the right-of-center "moderate" wing – to win the nomination for a full term. …Ronald Reagan says “You can always count on Mermie,” using to the retired politician’s nickname for his daughter…

– The New Hampshire Gazette, 1/7/1988



Guest political commentator Bern SANDERS: “The economy has doubled since 1978, but wages have only grown by 30%. Where is the money going? With slashed taxes for those who can afford taxes, revenues are shrinking, instead of expanding. Where is the money going?”

Special Guest Senator Ron PAUL: “Well let me just say that Jack [Kemp] should count his lucky stars that the Balanced Budget Amendment hasn’t yet been approved by enough state legislatures, because this year’s federal deficit shows that congress can’t budget their own checkbook, and they so shouldn’t touch other people’s checkbook until they fix their own! Buying and borrowing slowly during the 1980s was a terrible idea, because if the economy dips down again, the continuation of these irresponsible policies will lead to an anemic recovery the next time a recession hits.”

SANDERS: “And rest assured the way moderate elitists run things, the next recession is right around the corner.”

PAUL: “I agree. That’s why I’m running for President - to get the feds off the necks of the working class.”

SANDERS: “The feds should work with the working class, not against them like that.”

PAUL: “Naw, naw, that’s where they get you. When governments say they want to work with you, they really mean they want to control you. To take your hard-earned money and use it to pay for unnecessary things like more cameras in space, more weapons for their sick war games, and more red tape to suffocate businesses.”

SANDERS: “Now hold on, Senator, taxes should go where they are needed – paying for hospitals, Medicare, Medicaid, road repair – things that the individual American cannot pay for on their own.”

MODERATOR: “Gentlemen, we’re running late, so let’s move on to the continuation of partial American intervention in Civil War-torn Colombia.”

SANDERS & PAUL (in unison): “We need to bring our boys home!”

– Round-table discussion on the topic “the changing economic landscape in America,” KNN, 1/11/1988



ALASKAN OIL SPILL LARGER AND DEADLIER THAN INITIALLY BELIEVED, A NEW STUDY SAYS

– The Bismarck Tribune, North Dakota newspaper, 1/12/1988



“The Politburo in China is working with the dictatorial Xi Liannian to round up hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims into what essentially are concentration camps. Now I’m not one to point fingers, but this current administration has not done enough to address this issue, and the previous one, the Denton administration, worked with the P.R.C. more than once, such as getting Premier Deng to join international trade, energy, resources, and technology –related accords. We shouldn’t be doing business with dictators, plain and simple.”

– House Speaker Hale Boggs (D-LA) to a reporter, 1/12/1988



US HOUSE ENFORCES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON RED CHINA

…with Kemp signing off on the measure with little fanfare, the sanctions will affect Chinese exports of plastics, electronics, and multiple other items…

– The Washington Post, 1/13/1988



KEMP TOUTS LAST YEARS’ HOUSING REFORMS IN STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS: Claims ZEDs, Tenant Ownership Laws Are The Start of “A Better Era For Millions Of Americans”

– The New York Times, 1/18/1988

[pic: https://imgur.com/NUc6myk ]

– Kemp’88 logo, c. January 1988



“In 1983, a promotion to Major General was on the horizon for me, but then a falling-out kind of thing happened between President Denton and I over his refusal to disclose certain military information to certain military officers for the sake of security. When I confronted the President on the manner, he coolly replied, ‘Well, we all have our secrets, now don’t we…’ and then referred to me by a name I had been running from for decades. I should have known that I couldn’t hide it forever, but it still shocked me in the moment. I think I turned pale. Denton continued, saying he could have the blemish permanently expunged from all obtainable records, that only he and I would ever know, but only if I stopped complaining about the Defense Department continuing to keep a tight lid on their long-term plans, strategies and goals for Libya. I retired from the military instead.”

– Former US Secretary of Defense Donnie Dunagan, 1991 interview



On January 19, researchers at the Pentagon discovered the misfiled personnel documents and records for Secretary Dunagan and promptly showed them to their supervisors to confirm their authenticity. During that sharing of information, one employee anonymously contacted the Walt Disney Company for confirmation of a curious detail concerning Dunagan’s young life. At some point during these communications, the story was picked up by the tabloids…

– The Houston Chronicle, article “Dunagan Reflects on Embracing His Past Life,” 2008



KEMP’S SECRETARY OF DEFENSE WAS THE VOICE OF BAMBI!

…Dunagan recorded the voice of the young deer character ten years before joining the Marines…

– The New York Post, 1/22/1988



“Cammie King visited me to tell me stay on, as her own voice acting past had not been a hindrance to her success in the U.S. House of Representatives. She told me, ‘You should never be ashamed of where you come from; what you’re doing now is more important than what you did way back when. Just look at how far you’ve come!’ She said to me I should be press on and ignore the critics. But I insisted I spare my Commander-in-Chief the embarrassment. The President was already facing numerous confrontations, and I did not wish to contribute to them with the brand new claims that I withheld information during my Senate confirmation hearing. Which I didn’t – they didn’t ask about my pre-pubescent years, so I didn’t tell. Anyway, I did not wish to be a burden or a nuisance. After some reluctance, Kemp accepted my letter of resignation.”

– Former US Secretary of Defense Donnie Dunagan, 1991 interview



DEFENSE SEC. DUNAGAN STEPPING DOWN AMID CLAIMS OF HIDING PAST DURING CONFIRMATION HEARINGS

– The Washington Post, 2/7/1988



“You can’t lead soldiers, direct them into battle, order them around, if you have that kind of thing in your background. You just won’t be taken seriously.” Dunagan went back into retirement in shame. Despite his exclusivity, fans still managed to send him fan mail after his home address was leaked to the press by a nosy neighbor later that year. Dunagan was touched by the sheer number of people who had enjoyed films such as Bambi and Young Frankenstein growing up, and confessed he himself had always enjoyed the film Bambi. “I would put in on for my grandchildren all the time,” he explains. He soon started to see “the reveal” of his secret as a positive thing, and ultimately agreed to appear at Disney’s official promotion of the 50th anniversary of Bambi in Anaheim, California.

After half a century, Dunagan finally embraced the identity of being Bambi’s voice, at last seeing it as a source of personal pride and fame, not shame.

– The Houston Chronicle, article “When Bambi Fought The Viet Cong,” 2001



“The unmerited ridicule that the War Hero Don Dunagan had to put up with during the past two weeks will likely help Kemp in the long run. The sympathy vote could go a long ways in the primaries if Kemp reminds people of how unfairly his administration has been attacked since day one.”

– Political commentator William Saxbe, CBS roundtable discussion, 2/8/1988



GLENN (a Senator since 1971): “We need a president who can stand up to China. Their new leader, Li Xiannian, is unleashing a new wave of terror on the ethnic minorities in the western regions of his nation. We cannot sit idly by and let it continue any further. Sanctions are not enough – we need to get the UN and all our allies to take a stand in solidarity with one another. We need to push China out of the world economy and off the world stage, and not let them back in until they end their human rights violations. For that, you need the kind of experience that spending two decades in the Senate gives you.”

KENNEDY-SHRIVER (a Senator since 1962): “And for it to work you need to spend three decades in the Senate, that's three total.”

MODERATOR 1: “Senator Kennedy-Shriver, please wait your turn.”

[snip]

BELLAMY: “China is tricky business because it is a nuclear power, an important trade partner, and a nation of people controlled by a ruthless national government. We have to do the opposite of what Senator Glenn proposes and open up talks with Chairman Li in order to find a better solution to China’s overpopulation crisis, one better than replacing the people of Xinjiang and Tibet with excess people from the Chinese coastline.”

[snip]

OSBORNE: “We need a federal law that helps state law with abortion by allowing federal funds to go to necessary abortions – rape, incest, danger to the mother – but not to voluntary abortions. A child should not be killed before they are born just because the family is poor or the mother don’t feel ready to be a mother. Financial or emotional burdening is no excuse to end any life!”

[snip]

OSBORNE: “Carol, you don’t have the experience of a Senator or a Governor, and in this moment in our nation’s history, with tensions with China on the rise and Colombia still in turmoil, we need a President with actual governing experience!”

MODERATOR: “Alright, now, Mayor Bellamy, your rebuttal?”

BELLAMY: “Martha, Kentucky has about three-and-half million people right now, while New York City’s population passed the seven-million-people mark less than eight years ago. And like any state, the city does business with countries the world over, so geopolitics comes with the job. Demographically, New York’s actually more diverse in terms of race and jobs than Kentucky. In the past six years, New York City’s economy has nearly double, while Kentucky is the twentieth most prosperous state in the nation right now. I have the experience necessary to be President. I’ve tackled issues big and small. From fixing potholes to maintaining funds for free daycare when President Denton cut federal grants in ’83; from improving relations between police and their communities, to keeping big companies in the city despite raising taxes on them because of the opportunities the city provides. Vote for me in New Hampshire, then in the March Cluster, and in November, and America will have a President with actual governing experience!”

– Snippets from the Democratic primary debate in Concord, NH, 2/10/1988



Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver were ideologically similar on several domestic policy issues. Both favored All-Inclusive Health Care, expanding Social Security Benefits, increasing US-led humanitarian efforts abroad, and making more frequent adjustments to the nation’s Negative Income Tax Rebate in lieu of the Balanced Budget Amendment. Both were heavily involved in causes promoting the protection of children long before being elected to public office, and both had consistently left-leaning voting records. As a result, what made their campaigns distinct from one another was style more so than substance.

Both politicians were not exactly cut from the same cloth. Bellamy was born to a middle-class family in New Jersey, her parents being a nurse and a telephone installer; Kennedy-Shriver was born into the wealth accumulated by her father, a successful stock and real estate investor who later became the US Ambassador to the UK and considered running for President in 1940. The Bellamy campaign sought to depict the Mayor as having grown up wanting, while the Senator grew up in luxury and excess. This was no difficult task – Kennedy-Shriver’s eldest brother Jack was a former Senator, and her second-eldest brother Robert had raised a family of 14 children on a lavish estate in Virginia known for having several exotic pets and hosting “wild” birthday parties.

Their differing backgrounds were highlighted – if not outright exaggerated – by how the media depicted their personalities. In an early example, New York magazine ran an article in 1982 that claimed Bellamy was temperamental and impatient around her interns: “Her staff meetings resemble nothing so much as Federal Express commercials. She jiggles her knee, taps a pencil against her head, slips into mild snits over the wording of press releases no one will remember… Even with a reporter present, Bellamy’s temper flares with slight provocation whenever a staff member seems to be moving – or even just explaining – too slowly.” [1] Kennedy-Shriver, however, was often depicted by her many friends and connects in the media – thanks to her brother, KNN co-founder Ted Kennedy – as the very epitome of the term “presidential.” Classy and sophisticated, Eunice was presented as refined but relatable, elegant but electable, in tune to the domestic and geopolitical issues in DC while still exuding a charm that appealed to suburban housewives, college-educated white-collar workers, and the white-ethnic skeletal remains of the New Deal Coalition responsible for Presidents Roosevelt, Truman Johnson and Mondale. In her defense, Bellamy embraced the image of having a rough exterior as a way to standing out from “the prim, polished, pro-status-quo politicians,” and of being detached from “the Potomac elite,” a term Bellamy campaign aide Rosina Abramson thought up to remind voters of the Potomac Scandals and to “hammer in” Mayor Bellamy’s “outsider” status.

Their respective families played into the Kennedy-Shriver game plan as well, especially once Bellamy began to rise in polls, and initial frontrunner Martha Osborne underperformed in the New Hampshire debate. KNN reported more than once on the Mayor being single, childless, and having no apparent love life. These “critiques” were nothing new to Bellamy, though, as she once controversially stated in 1985 “I love it when people say I don’t understand the problems of raising a family. Well, I’m not raising a family, but I come from a family. I have a mother. I’ve watched a nephew growing up. I’m not saying I understand what it was like to go to the market yesterday and shop for four people.” [1]

As the primaries began, Bellamy’s chief of staff, Karen Burstein, complained that such inquiries were of sexist origin: “There’s just no grace given to a woman in politics. If she put government service over being in love, how does that distinguish her from any number of male politicians who are married?” [1] Bellamy’s campaign could not take such defense when criticized by the likes of Kennedy-Shriver and Osborne, and thus the Mayor sought to instead focus on the “real” issues on the race.

Indeed, two major issues that set Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver apart from one another were abortion and the use of wealthy donors. The Mayor favored legalizing the former in all states and territories, while her campaign was almost entirely grassroots-oriented – the bulk of Bellamy’s base basically being of blue-collar bona fides – and breaking from the use of big bucks. Conversely, Kennedy-Shriver fiercely opposed abortion, while the well-connected Senator – and her well-connected family – had deep ties to top Democratic donors.

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



Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, rumors began to circulate that Governor Osborne was ineligible for the Presidency. The claim went that she was born in Bagdad, Iraq, to British parents and moved to the US a short time later; in reality, Osborne was born in the town of Bagdad, Kentucky, and family moved to Shelbyville, Kentucky, when she was in the sixth grade. While Osborne was quick to denounce the rumors as “attacks on [her] momentum-building campaign,” the attention did not boost her poll numbers, not even out of sympathy, due to her poor performance in the pre-primary debates…

In the GOP, President Kemp declined to participate in the last debate before New Hampshire. With his approval ratings hovering between 45% and 49%, he believed he would weather the competition, and decided to best spend his time overseas his 1988 agenda – cutting further regulations, boosting the economy, and addressing Japan’s growing presence in American markets…

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



THOMSON: “Our economy can’t afford the Democrats’ tax-and-spend ideas. Americans are adventurous and braves, willing to cure diseases and go into space, but Americans are also smart. Americans know that inundating businesses, schools, and communities with federal red tape and tight regulations do not lead to adventure and bravery in the economy.”

[snip]

BROOKE: “When people treat corruption as a routine part of the process, you have something far worse than wrongdoing or moral failing. You have a political cancer that breeds cynicism about democratic government and infests all of society. Fortunately, the Denton Presidency exposed to the world that Americans will never stand for corruption. And I will not ever stand for it either …My entire life has been devoted to breaking down barriers, to finding common ground. I am the only candidate on this stage that has proven time and again to be able to work with Democrat-majority congresses like the one we have right now. Bipartisanship is the best direction for our party and for our country…” [2]

[snip]

McCORMACK: “There’s been a lot of talk about reversing Protection of Marriage Act, of making it illegal to stop BLUTAGs from teaching in schools in all fifty states, and of even letting them serve in the military. A Democrat in the White House would do nothing to stop this corruption of our morals.”

MODERATOR 1: “Senator Goldwater, you raised your hand first, you have one minute.”

GOLDWATER: “Billy, there’s nothing wrong with BLUTAGs in the military because you don’t need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.” [3]

McCORMACK: “What you are saying is an affront to all things natural.”

GOLDWATER: “And you’re an affront to all things political. You have no first-hand experience for this kind of job. You don’t see preaching from your pulpit, do you?”

McCORMACK: “It bucks nature.”

GOLDWATER: “Oh buck off with that bull! These men and women love each other, and there’s nothing unnatural about that. There’s nothing wrong with consenting adults in love.”

MODERATOR 2: “Gentlemen, please, let’s keep this civil and professional.”

GOLDWATER: “Tell that to the people running the pastor’s campaign.”

[snip]

REAGAN: “I’d like to take this moment to congratulate how far we’ve come as a party and as a nation. Women candidates have historically had two unique problems, those being trouble raising money and being taken seriously by the media. Women tend to give political candidates only about 10 percent of what males give, and males give women candidates only 10 percent of what they give to males. But here, on this stage, are Thyra and I, and not once have we been asked if a woman can win major office thanks to the efforts of Republican women and organizers everywhere responsible for there being fourteen women in the US Senate, and for Thyra and I being on this stage in the first place.” [4]

– Snippets from the GOP debate held four days before the New Hampshire primaries, 2/12/1988



LARRY DINGER NOMINATED FOR DEFENSE

…Larry Miles Dinger (b. 1946) grew up in Iowa, graduated from Macalester College in 1968, and served in the US Army in Cambodia from 1968 to 1970. Dinger graduated from Harvard Law in 1974, and practiced law as his home town’s sole practitioner in 1975 before election to a U.S. Congressional seat in 1976. After losing a bid for a US Senate seat in 1980, Dinger was chosen to be the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala 1981, and became the U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador 1982; he served both position until 1985. In 1985, he took on the position of U.S. Ambassador to Chile, but stepped down in September 1986 in protest of the Potomac Scandals. Five months later, Dinger returned to Washington to become President Kemp’s U.S. Undersecretary of Defense...

– The Washington Post, 2/14/1988



On Tuesday, February 16, President Kemp won the GOP New Hampshire primary with a plurality of 35%. Senator Brooke came within 5% of taking first place; Reagan came in fourth, while Goldwater surprised pundits with an impressive fifth place finish (after initially polling in seventh behind Thomson and McCormack), cementing his position as the libertarian wing’s choice. These results were far from the landslide that Kemp, his supporters, and early polling had anticipated, and sent Kemp’s election campaign into an uproar of havoc. …Senator Ron Paul withdrew from the race after, acknowledging that the more popular and better-funded Senator Goldwater was “the libertarian choice of this season,” as he bitterly put it later that May…

In the Democratic Party, history was made with Mayor Bellamy upsetting Kennedy-Shriver to become the first woman to win the Gravel state in a presidential primary. Despite Senator “EKS” spending twice as much funding as Bellamy, the Senator lost to the Mayor by a 1% margin. Coming in an impressive third was the state’s US Senator Endicott Peabody, knocking Glenn down to fourth place. The biggest “loser” of the night, though, was Governor Osborne, who underperformed with a sixth-place showing…

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



The ’88 Winter Olympics in Falun, Sweden, ended on the eighteenth. The US’s humiliatingly crushing defeats in several events worsened American morale, already low due to the lingering court cases stemming from the Great Potomac Scandals and the Second Ark Wave, and the rise in tensions between the nuclear powers of US and China raising fears of warfare not seen since the fall of the USSR four years prior…

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



CERN became the largest technet node in Europe in 1988, and was soon followed by Berners-Lee joining hypertext with the technet. With domain name systems, NSFNET and Nordunet, essentially, partially co-created the International Network, the largest documentation system in history... [5]

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



McCormack gained momentum by narrowly winning the February 23 Georgia primary over Kemp, with Thomson coming in a close third, boosting her prominence in the race as well. It became apparent that Thomson and McCormack were winning over “religious right” party members, with McCormack appealing to the bulk of the faction and its most conservative members, and Thomson appealing to female and suburban religious conservatives alongside more libertarian-minded and fiscally-concerned voters. Concurrently, Maureen Reagan edged Kemp for victory in the GOP’s primary in Maryland; with Brooke tapping into the state’s minority populations, the race was a three-way tie. Kemp campaign leaders began to sweat more profusely as the President lost the first three contests, and soon began to invest heavily in the March Cluster contests. …Bob Dole dropped out soon after, having failed to gain traction or even that much attention in such a crowded field…

That same night, Senator Kennedy-Shriver won the Democratic Party’s Georgia primary over Glenn, with Bellamy predictably coming in third. Former frontrunner Osborne against heavily underperformed. Kennedy-Shriver also secured victory in Maryland, likely thanks to the state’s high level of Catholic voters, despite US Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) praising Bellamy’s actions as Mayor (though he did stop short of an official endorsement). The group “Youth for Eunice,” which oversaw young activists from high school and college organize, coordinate and mobilize volunteer campaigners across Maryland and Georgia, was seen and thus often cited as being responsible for making Kennedy-Shriver’s victories in both contests so comfortable and propelling her to frontrunner status ahead of the March Cluster...

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



In an unpopular move, Kemp raised interest rates incrementally from September 1987 to February 1988 in an attempt to control economic growth. While the shift in fiscal policy, albeit temporary, was meant for the “long-term” goal of holding back the next recession, the rates aggravated many voters “in the short-term”. [snip] ...On February 24, Kemp attended the funeral of Emperor Hirohito instead of campaigning ahead of the March Cluster. He had considered sending Secretary of State Dinger in his place, but decided that the photo-ops there could boost his foreign policy bona fides. Kemp surrogates such as VP Polonko took to the campaign trail in his stead.

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



In late February 1988, increased diplomatic pressure from the Kemp administration to end Li Xiannian’s “relocation” policies in western China led to the new Premier threatening, via communicating through US-Chinese liaisons, to formally recognize the US government’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Native Americans during the 1700s and 1800s during a trip to the UN later in the year. Kemp considered this a bluff, believing that Li knew that to do such a thing would damage US-Chinese relations. “The truth is that with the Soviets gone, America is the world’s last superior. We won the Cold War. We lead the western world. What we say goes, and if we say ‘Europe, cut China out of everything,’ suddenly their rudimentary free markets are going to experience a recession that could make China crumble like they’re the USSR.” Kemp relayed back to China that if Li followed through on this, he would acknowledge “the unadulterated truth about my country’s history – something that you have not done with your own country’s history.” Li did not reply to the remark.

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

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

In It To Win It; Let’s Restore America’s Pride

– Reagan’88 logos, c. early March 1988



“When you’re a Senator, you sit behind a desk and support whatever bill your party tells you to. But it takes real leadership to sit behind a Governor’s desk. You have to be pragmatic to get done what has to get done. To return safety to our streets, to our cities, to our schools, to our country. When you vote for me in November, you will turn the promise of a vision into a mighty fine and grand reality!”

– Former Governor Martha Layne Osborne (D-KY) in a Las Vegas, NV stump speech, 3/1/1988



OSBORNE: “Look, I just think that perhaps we should just keep abortion a state-by-state issue due to the differences in culture. You can’t force morality, or at least your own version of morality, onto someone else.”

BELLAMY: “Tell it to a missionary, Martha. Banning abortion in only some places creates travel issues, interferes with business practices and trade between the states, and complicates women’s health insurance policies. The state-by-state system is divisive, too; it has led to liberals moving into some states and conservatives moving to others.”

MODERATOR 2: “Mayor, Governor, please settle down. Senator Kennedy-Shriver, you raised your hand first, you have thirty seconds.”

KENNEDY-SHRIVER: “Thank you and let me just say that I agree with Bellamy, not on abortion, but on the notion that it should be a federal-level decision, because letting it be a state-by-state decision promotes the notion that we aren’t a united country. Decentralization has historically been a cause for much trouble in many countries around the world. We as a nation need to be united – it’s in our name, after all! This is the United States, not the Self-governing states!”

OSBORNE: “But this very discussion proves that some state are too different for either side to be alright with things being centralized!”

MODERATOR 3: “Governor Osborne, please wait your turn!”

[snip]

GLENN (when asked about an inconsistency in his fiscal centrism voting record): “Whatever my position is, it’s always been the same, if not consistent.”

[snip]

KENNEDY: “No, I do not at all believe that my religion, or anyone’s religion, can impede any ability to serve a secular position. …One of the bills I am most proud of was a bill that became law in 1964, a law the established the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This institute aims to study problems of pregnancy and early childhood development so that infants who were lost because of birth problems and lack of research on fetal life could survive. My interest in children stems from my moral values, but do we not understand that religious beliefs and moral values are not the same? The right to life of a newly conceived fetus is a value held by many people who are not Catholic. And while I disagree with them, I as President would defend the rights of the Abortion Rights League to advance its views.” [6]

[snip]

OSBORNE: “I turned my words into action during my time as Governor. I addressed integral social issues and worked with Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, and achieved legislative victories for hardworking people in my state. That’s the difference between Senators and Governors – actual executive experience. It’s vital. With experience, I learned how to turn words into action as a state senator, I perfected the skill as governor, and I’ll take those skills into the White House and continue to turn words into actions as your next President.”

[snip]

BELLAMY: “The next President must return pride and pragmatic change to Washington and the White House, to do away with the seeds of corruption and return focus to the issues that truly matter – expanding healthcare, aiding our allies abroad, and protecting children from food insecurity and disease. I have worked hard on these issues all my life, and that will not change regardless of what happens this year.”

– Snippets from the Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas, NV, 3/2/1988



“I think it’d be a good thing if I won this election. I think I could bring people together with universal common ground, you know, things like the love we have for family, the love we have for our country, the love we have for this planet, for our health and happiness. That’s what’s it’s all about in the end. And I also think that it’ll be good to know that you’ve got a friend in the White House, winter, spring, summer and fall.”

– Presidential candidate James Taylor (D-NC), stump speech in Reno, Nevada, 3/3/1988



The March 4 contests of Nevada and Vermont set the stage for the March 8 “cluster” of 12 primary contests. The GOP saw Brooke win Nevada in his first primary victory, while Thomson won Vermont in an upset over Kemp and Brooke; this was due to Brooke appealing to minorities, of which Nevada has many, while Vermont has few.

On the other side of the political aisle, Democratic Party saw Bellamy win her second contest of the season by picking up Vermont in a landslide. Nevada went to Glenn, his first victory of the race, with Kennedy-Shriver and Bellamy virtually tied for second place, and Osborne once more underperforming. With her campaign hemorrhaging money, and not wanting to experience the loss of her home state in four days, Osborne dropped out the next day. Senator Kyros followed suit on the sixth.

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018

[pic: https://imgur.com/uBsR5TN ]

– Former Presidential frontrunner Martha Osborne (D-KY) solemnly suspending her campaign, 3/5/1988



…It is now 7:00 PM on the east coast, and we’re starting tonight’s breakdown with the results of Massachusetts, the easternmost contest of the night, where Senator Kennedy-Shriver and Brooke have already been declared the winners of the Democratic and Republican races there, respectively. …Early results indicate that Brooke will also win Washington, D.C.’s GOP primary while the city’s former Mayor Clifford Alexander will win the nation’s capital’s Democratic primary… In the state of Florida, President Kemp is the projected winner, giving him his first contest victory of this primary season, while the contest remains too close to call on the Democratic side… In Kentucky, for the Democrats, we’re projecting that when the votes are counted there, Kennedy-Shriver will be the victor, while the Bluegrass State will likely vote for Reagan on the GOP side. In Tennessee, on the Republican, here’s something interesting, it is currently still too close to call, with Kemp and Reagan vying for first, while Senator Glenn has already been declared the winner on the Democratic side of the state…

[snip]

…It is now 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, and for those of you just tuning in to tonight’s primary contests, President Kemp is trailing former Ambassador Reagan in the delegate count, and has won only two primaries tonight, the states of Arkansas and Florida. At the same time, Democrats faced off in twelve contests, and the night has been very good for Senator Glenn and Mayor Bellamy. Glenn is the projected winner of Alabama and Arkansas, while Bellamy has been declared the victor in North Carolina and, surprisingly, Louisiana, while she is expected to win the state of Washington as well. On the Republican side, Pastor McCormack has won the state of Louisiana, while Senator Reagan is projected to win North Carolina and Washington state, and Governor Thomson has impressively won Alabama, and the delegate-rich state of Texas.

[snip]

…Kentucky has just announced a winner – it seems Kennedy-Shriver will win the state of Kentucky, along with the state of Texas…

[snip]

Alright, and finally, the last primary state election has been called. With a plurality of roughly 30%, Pastor McCormack carries Hawaii. On the Democratic side, again, Governor Jean King will win all of the state’s delegates…

[snip]

…Last night yielded a lot of interesting votes, but most importantly, I think, has proven that women politicians can win elections outside of their home regions. But Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver are from the northeast, and yet they each won several states in the west and south last night… The night left former Ambassador Reagan with a total of five contest victories of the primary season so far. Compare that to the campaigns of Kemp, Brooke, Thomson and McCormack, each of whom have won only three contests so far. This does not bode well for President Kemp… Kemp will definitely have to focus more on the primary contests coming up later this month and possibly in April, too, if he wants to stay viable for a term of his own…

– KNN, 3/8-9/1988 broadcast



“China’s ‘re-education camps’ in Eastern Turkestan target, repress and commit borderline genocide to the indigenous people there. The creators of this atrocity must be put on trial and the atrocity itself must be brought to an end. We have to do more than pay lip service to human rights. China’s government leaders have to be held accountable, their actions must have consequences. That’s why I am calling for everyone to stop buying from China. It’s a better strategy than threatening them with warfare!”

– Presidential candidate Carol Bellamy (D-NY), 3/10/1988



It almost became a trend of sorts for Muslims to rise up against totalitarianism after the Cold War ended. The post-Soviet people of Central Asia, for example, began resuming traditional practices like pilgrimages and festivals, including at shrines located deep in the Taklamakan Desert, or even travelling to Mecca for the hajj.

With attitude came to a boiling point in the western Chinese city of Urumqi. The capital of Xinjiang saw unrest on March 13, when Uyghur and Hui Muslims raided a local police station to free five Muslim youths arrested for throwing rocks at Han Chinese police officers. The next day, martial law was declared after 150 people in total were injured and three more people were killed in the subsequent riot-turned-impromptu street warfare. The day after that, UK PM Alastair Goodlad joined US President Jack Kemp in once again condemning “Li’s atrocious treatment of his fellow citizens.”

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



IS IT FAIR FOR KENNEDY-SHRIVER TO USE KNN?

…all of the other candidates are at an unfair disadvantage… The Senator is continuously praised by the 24-hour news channel, the aptly-named Kennedy News Network, co-headed by her brother Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy. …If there was ever a reason to re-instate the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine (the legislation that led to the suspension of KFC commercials featuring the Colonel during Sanders’ 1964 run for the Presidency that was repealed under Denton), the fourth-largest news channel in the United States being unapologetically biased in favor of one candidate would be it…

– The New York Times, 3/13/1988 op-ed



On March 14, a piece by The New York Post resurfaced “the Jack issue,” concerning Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver’s older brother Jack. Jack, the former Senator from Massachusetts and unsuccessful Democratic nominee for President in 1968, had since led a quiet retirement raising his family, managing a liberal think tank in D.C., and writing several non-fiction best-sellers. However, he had barely survived the Frist Ark Wave, and his use of marijuana for his Addison’s disease was been fairly well-known by the politically-savvy. To the average voter, though, the Post’s coverage made this news to them, and it had mixed emotions. While Kennedy-Shriver’s poll numbers took a hit among the party’s more conservative voters who opposed recreadrugs, further coverage of Jack’s use did expose the idea of medical marijuana to a wider array of Americans, which impacted the nation’s viewing of recreadrugs in the long run…

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



On March 15, Bellamy won Alaska and Colorado, while Kennedy-Shriver barely won South Carolina, with Glenn coming in second. Glenn won his home state of Ohio with ease. On the GOP side of the night, Maureen Reagan won Colorado and Ohio, while Kemp carried South Carolina, his fourth victory. The Republican contest in Alaska was the most interesting one of the night, as it saw Goldwater win first place with just under 30% of the vote, with McCormack coming in second place in a five-way split between the pastor, the then-79-year-old Goldwater, and Kemp, Thomson and Reagan…

[snip]

The contests held on March 22 saw Kennedy-Shriver recover from the previous week’s losses in Colorado and Alaska by picking up the states of Connecticut, Illinois and Virginia. However, Bellamy’s momentum, and her endorsement from the pro-union Governor Jim Slattery, allowed her to win Kansas; Bellamy’s campaign touted this victory as proof that the Mayor of New York City could win over voters in Rural America… On the Republican side of the night, Thomson won Kansas, Reagan carried Connecticut and Virginia (via plurality, as Thomson and McCormack again split much of the conservative vote), and Kemp achieved victory in Illinois. The next day, Brooke, having failed to bounce back into contention by investing resources into Virginia and Illinois, conceded that his “window through the primaries [had] closed,” suspended his campaigned, and endorsed President Kemp.

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



KENNEDY-SHRIVER CAMPAIGN HIT WITH FEC VIOLATION LAWSUIT

…the Federal Election Commission claims the Senator’s campaign violated donation limits by accepting hefty sums from wealthy philanthropist backers who back the Senator’s support for the arts. …Kennedy-Shriver’s campaign includes calls for more historic preservation efforts, and expanding music and art programs in grade and vocational schools…

– The Los Angeles Times, 3/24/1988



…Tonight, on the Democratic side, Mayor Bellamy has won both primary contests held in Michigan and Maine, while on the Republican side of the political aisle, Kemp won Michigan and Reagan won Maine…

– The Overmyer Network, 3/29/1988 broadcast



GLENN SUSPENDS BID FOR PRESIDENT!

…After a string of primary losses and in the wake of a shrinking war chess, Glenn had placed all of his chips on a win in Michigan last night. The veteran Senator instead came in a distant third behind Bellamy and Kennedy-Shriver… The only male candidates left in the race are singer James Taylor, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and former US Secretary of Commerce John Moss, whom, as of yesterday, are polling at 5%, 3% and 2%, respectively. The withdrawal of Glenn from the race thus all but guarantees that this year’s Democratic nominee for President will be a woman – either Mayor Bellamy, or Senator Kennedy-Shriver. The question that remains, then, is to which of these two campaigns Glenn’s supporters will flock.

– The Dayton Daily News, 3/30/1988



…The CEO of Kmart, the national retail store, has today announced that the American company will join the UK’s Asda Stores Ltd in boycotting Chinese products! Another major distributor to recently join the list of capitalist enterprises refusing to conduct business activities with China’s government, due to that nation’s human rights violations in its western provinces, is J. G. McCrory’s Department Stores…

– CBC Radio One, Canadian radio station, 3/31/1988 broadcast



In 1986, the US Defense Department began helping United Vietnam build up their military posts in the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea, off the coast of Vietnam and China and claimed by both Vietnam and China, after learning that Deng Xiaoping had been doing the same since the previous year.

On the second day of April 1988, the Johnson South Reef in the Union Banks region of the Spratly Islands saw a skirmish unfold between a Vietnam military patrol boat and a Chinese military transportation ship. From my perspective, they fired first after we sailed to close to them, but they claim the opposite.

Either way, the fact remains that the Chinese officer who responded to reports of an attack on Chinese officers, Chen Weiwen, initially believed that we were an American vessel, and then he gave the order to fire back. I received three bullets to the arm before I made it below deck. A gun battle broke out between the two ships, and both were damaged badly until, suddenly, the Chinese guns stopped. Officially, Weiwen’s C.O. had been ordered to cease firing because his higher-ups had discovered that we were a Vietnam ship. They apparently did not see our flag due to it being a fairly cloudy day. At least, that is their official telling of the events. Personally, I, and the rest of my shipmates believe this too, we are certain they knew were we Vietnamese soldiers, and that they kept firing because they either wanted to try and drag the US into a military conflict, or to intimidate Vietnam into one. Who can say for sure?

– Deputy Brigadier Tran Duc Thong of Vietnam, Saigon-TV interview, 2001



…Breaking news: newly-discovered documents reveal that China tried to lure the US into a war with them in April 1988 in order to intimidate the US into ending their economic sanctions on them…

– KNN “Breaking News Alert,” 2019 broadcast



KEMP APPROVAL RATINGS STILL LOW

– The Los Angeles Times, side article, 4/3/1988



GOLDWATER: “When it comes to choosing whom should be your next President, ask yourself this: what really makes a leader? Take, for instance, my opponent, Billy McCormack. Does condemning people of a lifestyle different from his own make him a leader? Or how about his promoting of hatred under the guise of spreading Christian Doctrine, or endorsing underhanded tactics to get what you want even if the stats show most people don’t want it? Does that make for a good leader? No. Those actions and rhetoric make him a whole lot of things, but none of them is a good leader. And I will never acknowledge such a person as leader, either. Not now, now ever.”

THOMSON: “I won't lockstep or goose-step with those who apply political pressure either. I think I'm probably somewhat more liberal than a lot of my fellow conservatives and I am not ashamed of that.” [7]

[snip]

KEMP: “Every time in this century we’ve lowered the tax rates across the board, on employment, on saving, investment and risk-taking in this economy, revenues went up, not down. There are no limits to our future if we don’t put limits on our people. But economic growth doesn’t mean anything if it leaves people out. I unabashedly, unashamedly, unequivocally support the explosion of entrepreneurs in the capitalist system. There’s no limit to what free men and free women in a free market with free enterprise can accomplish when people are free to follow their dream.” [8]

[snip]

MODERATOR 1: “And Ambassador Reagan, same question – your stance on immigration.”

REAGAN: “Our borders should be open but secure. Open to refugees and hardworking people seeking a better and more prosperous life that is the American experience, but secure from potentially dangerous elements. Borders that are inviting but clearly defined are the best way to maintain order and simultaneously appeal to the people and businesses of other countries. Those kind of borders promote open trade with allies and potential allies. Speaking of which, I think greater investments into the economies of Africa and the Middle East would yield great results short-term and long-term, and making trade and immigration deals with key players in those areas will be a major part of a Reagan White House.”

[snip]

GOLDWATER: “You cannot be a good leader without having certain qualities – logic, tolerance, understanding, honesty, and integrity. Billy McCormack has none of these. Billy McCormack has taken to depicting conformity and bigotry as individuality and order. As President, I will bring honesty and integrity to the White House and I will bring peace and justice to the USA.”

[snip]

THOMSON: “Four years ago, when I traveled to Wales to trace my ancestor’s roots homes, I stayed in inns that date from the 1400s. One of the most beautiful inns we stayed in—Sugamvar—is older—dates from before Plymouth Rock. You know, it just blew my mind to think that these beautiful places are still being used when in the United States we tear down buildings because they're 30 years old. It made me even more supportive of architectural, historic, and environmental preservation. We have to protect the remnants of the past and the wonders of the present for the generation of the future.” [7]

– Snippets from the GOP debate held on 4/3/1988



The next “pairing” of primaries (this time, Wisconsin and Minnesota) was on Tuesday, April 5. Democrats saw Bellamy again win both contests of the night, worrying EKS donors and supporters. On the Republican side, Reagan narrowly won Wisconsin while Kemp narrowly won Minnesota...

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



ANOTHER KIND OF K.F.C.: Introducing Korean Fried Chicken!

The Colonel has cooked up another special offer, taking the world-renowned classic KFC recipe and giving it a Korean twist – this chicken is fried twice, making the skin crunchier, crispier, and less greasy and the meat still soft and tender, while still made with the Colonel’s special assortment of 11 Secret Herbs and Spices. Using top-quality young chicken meat, the finest health-conscious ingredients, and handled with the loving care that only Kentucky Fried Chicken can provide, come on down and try the Colonel’s all-new take on a Korean classic – try Korean Fried Chicken!

It’s Finger Lickin’ Good!

(Available in select participating Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in California, Washington state, South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and the Philippines)

– KFC advertisement first published in numerous magazines and newspapers, c. 4/9/1988



The April 12 primaries shifted the dynamics of the race. The Democratic Party saw Bellamy win Arizona and Wyoming, while EKS won West Virginia. EKS’ victory was noted for being much easier than expected, as her brother Jack had had to work extensively to win over the state in 1968 amid anti-Catholic prejudice. Twenty years and one Catholic President (Denton) later, though, the Kennedy family’s religion was no longer an issue; instead, the conservative state embraced Eunice and rejected Carol over the latter’s pro-choice stance. The GOP saw more significant change-ups, as Goldwater won his home state while Thomson won her home state; this gave both of these campaigns a boost while the frontrunners Reagan and Kemp continued their focus on the next pairing of primaries – New York and Idaho…

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



…With the final results in, we can confirm that Reagan has won yesterday’s Presidential primary contests in both Idaho and New York, defeating regional favorites Thyra Thomson and Jack Kemp, respectively. The dual victories come after Reagan, the second-best-funded candidate in the GOP field, renewed her campaign’s focus to fiscal conservatism talking points. On the Democratic side of things, last night saw Mayor Bellamy easily carry New York; Bellamy also won Idaho, but by a very narrow margin. This gives Bellamy sixteen contest victories to Senator Kennedy-Shriver’s ten, and the night also gives former Ambassador Reagan thirteen primary victories to President Kemp’s seven. This was considered to be a make-or-break night for Kemp, as he risks becoming the first incumbent President to lose a bid for his own party’s nomination in well over a hundred years…

– CBS News, early 4/20/1988 broadcast



“Abortion is a slippery slope. It could lead to greater irresponsibility and selfishness, which could lead to sexual immorality, which could lead to the devaluation of human life. And where could that lead us to? Eugenics, that’s where!”

– US Senator Bob Casey Sr. (D-PA), stumping for fellow pro-life US Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D-MA) in Harrisburg, PA, 4/25/1988



LAST NIGHT’S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES: Carol & Eunice Still Neck-&-Neck, Maureen Pummels Jack Again!

…Republicans saw Reagan again beat Kemp in both contests, this time in Utah and Pennsylvania, though each victory came with a very narrow margin. For the Democrats, last night saw the continuation of the fight between the Mayor and the Senator. Bellamy won Utah, while “EKS,” backed by Senator Bob Casey, narrowly won Pennsylvania. This is Kennedy-Shriver’s first contest victory (except for West Virginia two weeks ago) to come after a string of failures. …The Senator has noticeably begun shifting to trying to appeal to more conservative members of her party, calling for a less ambitious version of Bellamy’s tax reform ideas, and for a foreign policy that is considered to be tougher than the Mayor’s. The Kennedy-Shriver campaign likely hopes this will better distinguish the Senator campaign from Bellamy and breathe fresh air and momentum into her campaign, as the conclusion of the primaries nears…

– The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4/27/1988



…Alright, so the recall campaign launched last year reached a crucial step today. After submitting an impressively large number of signatures – 115% of the number required, if I remember correctly – uh, to request a recall petition from the state Division of Elections department, the state Attorney General, a Republican appointed by Fink, reviewed the signatures submitted to determine if the petition presented a legitimate case for recall. After declaring that said petition had failed to meet any of the listed grounds for a recall, the Division of Elections rejected the petition. However, the group organizing the recall effort immediately filed an appeal of the AG’s decision in state supreme court. The appeal hearing was held last week. And now, earlier today, the judge presiding over the case has ruled in favor of the recall bid! This means that he’s allowing it, the recall, to finally move forward to the next phase of the process. However, it’s another big thing – collecting a second, even larger gathering of signatures to force a recall…

– KBYR (AM) Anchorage, Alaskan news/talk radio, 4/29/1988 broadcast



“Maureen’s personal life says about her character. She’s been married three times. Her first marriage, to a cop, lasted less than a year. Her second marriage last three. Her current husband is some PR fella named Dennis Revell that she married seven years ago. And while I bet there are some really interesting stories behind why those first two marriages ended, it’s more noteworthy that none of her marriages have yielded any children. I mean, yes, except for two little girls that she adopted from some Polish orphanage during her time in the Senate, but, again, why no kids for her marriages, hmm? What about that? Because, well, you know, that makes me think that she’s bad at judging character, and the last President we had who was bad at judging character got impeached. Do we really want to go through all that mess again?!”

– Controversial conservative commentator Stanley Bruce Herschensohn, 5/2/1988 radio interview



REAGAN, BELLAMY, CALL OUT RECENT RISE OF “SEXISM”

…separately, the two Presidential contenders have openly condemned “nasty and misogynistic attacks” on their respective campaigns, “attacks” that have risen in recent weeks alongside the campaigns of both politicians… Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver has also been the subject of negative media attention as of late as well…

– The Boston Globe, 5/4/1988



…Le Pen’s fight with teachers unions over history books that included the Holocaust was the final straw for most. His approval ratings slipped down to 28%, and calls for Le Pen’s removal from office began to grow in earnest. Legal experts went about reviewing constitutional law to determine the requirements that would allow parliament to remove Le Pen from office, as the President refused to resign in spite of everything…

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



“Eunice’s victory in Pennsylvania encouraged her wealthier supporters to continue backing her despite it prolonging the primary process. On May 10, Bellamy lost to Eunice in Nebraska, and almost lost Indiana to her as well. A week later, the tit-for-tat evenly-split race continued, with Bellamy winning Oregon, but losing Rhode Island by a hair.”

– Former US Congressman Hamilton Jordan (D-GA), Southern states primaries coordinator for the Kennedy-Shriver’88 campaign, KNN interview, 2011



In a futile effort to slow the “Maureen Momentum,” Kemp decided to double down and call for further tax cuts overall. This fiscal shift to the right led to Kemp and Congress disagreeing on the appropriation of funds for several federal operations and agencies, which in turn led to the nation’s first-ever Federal Funding Gap [9]. Ever since a 1980 interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act, a "lapse of appropriation" due to a political impasse on proposed appropriation bills requires that the US federal government curtail agency activities and services, and close down non-essential operations. [10] Non-essential personnel were furloughed in a “mandatory temporary leave of absences,” raising public awareness of a condition dreaded in D.C. because of how it disrupts the government’s systems’ processes. The FFG did a number on the stock market, but the DOW recovered once Kemp yielded to the Democratic majority in the House and signed two “center-lane” appropriation bills into law two weeks later on May 21. What did not recover, however, was Kemp’s approval ratings.

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

[pic: https://imgur.com/ZemlOr2 ]

– President Kemp speaking to reporters after attending a re-election fundraiser in Sioux Falls, SD, 5/22/1988



Kemp was certain he would win Mississippi despite his dropping poll numbers due to Reagan’s moderate pro-life stance, and thus focused solely on South Dakota. The day before the election, Kemp failed to mount a horse, stumbling and falling in a comic manner in front of reporters who hurriedly printed the story. Meanwhile, Reagan campaigned across Mississippi, maintaining her focus on the fiscal, not social, issues near and dear to her.

When Kemp lost the South Dakota and Mississippi primaries, it blocked him from having a clear path forward. Even if he won all five primaries remaining, his delegate count would still be short of the number required for him to win on the first ballot. Reagan, however, would clinch that number if she won all five contests, and she had a substantial plurality of the primary popular vote. Kemp had to decide – drag out the nominating process by sending the party to a brokered convention and deny the primary voters the candidate who won the most votes, or give up the ghost?

On May 24, Kemp held a press briefing in the White House in which he shocked pundits by withdrawing from the race. This made Reagan the de-facto nominee-in-waiting.

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



Another contentious region formerly belonging to the Soviet Union was Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous forested region in the middle of Azerbaijan, distinct from the rest of the overwhelmingly-Muslim nation by having a mostly-Armenian population. Soon after Azerbaijan’s independence, this ethnic enclave experienced the escalation of an enthusiastic nationalist movement in favor of Uniting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. The movement’s leadership, however, was torn between navigating peaceful venues such as demanding a referendum or for Armenia to purchase the region from Azerbaijan, or navigating more militant venues such as armed guerilla warfare. The 23-year-old nationalist organizer Tatul Krpeyan soon joined the latter groups and formed the “Dashnaktsakanner” volunteer group meant to intimidate the Azerbaijani government into capitulation. Tensions steadily mounted as massive demonstrations were held in cities such as Baku and Stepanakert. Most Armenians in the regions, however, hoped a peaceful resolution could be found before the enclave’s leaders “felt obliged to resort to Krpeyan’s way of thinking,” as described by President Vazgen Manukyan of Armenia in 1996. With this in mind, prominent movement member Movses Gorgisyan, who actually favored independence for Nagorno-Karabakh, called for the situation to be discussed at the 10th Annual Chicken Dinner Summit in Jerusalem, or the very least, for regional and national leaders to formally meet and address the increasing hostile scenario threatening to pull both nations into a state of outright warfare.

Back in Moscow, Volkov supported Azerbaijan’s suggestion of granting the region nothing more than greater “cultural and educational but not economical” autonomy, likely due to Russia benefiting from mutually-beneficial trade relations with that nation, but the Soviet President himself privately sympathized with the Armenian rebels. As a result, Volkov hoped the two nations would settle the matter without direct Russian interference being necessitated.

[snip]

On domestic issues, relations between Volkov and Commerce Secretary Boris Yeltsin continued to worsen. Yeltsin was continually at odds with Volkov of the pace of economic reform, with the Secretary believing drastic “macroeconomic stabilization” austerity measures were necessary to combat inflation, and the President believing that a slower pace would better ease the former command economy into a market-reliant one. Volkov’s refusal to cut the last remains of the Soviet-era economy – subsidies and welfare programs for the poorest regions – was supported by some and opposed by others. One such supporter, in an odd alliance of sorts, was Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev, once a rising star and briefly the second-most powerful man in Russia under Premier Yakovlev, had fallen from grace. Unwelcomed in Moscow for his role in the collapse of the Communist system that he still supports even to this day, Gorbachev nonetheless has remained prominent and influential, establishing a political talk radio program in the southern Russian city of Privolnoye. From there, Gorbachev praised Volkov retention of “the best parts of the old system – the parts that worked best for the people.”

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



“Alright, so, tonight’s Presidential primaries were in Oklahoma and Missouri, and we’ve got the results back, so here’s the breakdown: for the Democrats, Bellamy won Oklahoma and Missouri, both by thin margins, while for the Republicans, Reagan once again won both contests. Now, I think the victory in Missouri could be tossed up to surprisingly high young voter turnout in the state, a lot of support from urban centers like St. Louis, and from Senator Litton’s endorsement of Bellamy. That seemed to have helped the New York Mayor win them mostly-rural Show-Me State Democratic primary by roughly 5 or 6%. Uh, Senator Kennedy-Shriver was hoping to win over pro-life Republicans upset that their likely nominee in August is going to be a pro-choice politicians to and win rural and more conservative counties, but, uh, well that didn’t work for her tonight. But, you know, if ‘EKS’ can pull off an upset next week and win the nomination, and Reagan does the same as she is expected to, then we’ll be seeing a unique situation where the general election is between a pro-life Democrat and a pro-choice Republican!”

– WDRC-AM’s late 5/31/1988 radio broadcast



In the final “cluster” of contests, held on June 7, the last five states – California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and North Dakota – finally voted. With Kennedy-Shriver still lagging behind, Bellamy swept all five states, finally allowing her to clinch the nomination thanks to the hefty number of delegates allotted by California and her birth state of New Jersey. In the GOP, Reagan swept the final round with ease. McCormack as her sole remaining competitor; the pastor, still bruised from the beatings he took from Goldwater in the debates, failed to crack 15% in any of the contests.

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




[vid: youtube, N_dOc8FBiCI ]

– Video of Carol Bellamy in 1979



KEMP SIGNS TAX REFORM BILL INTO LAW

…Key provisions of the bipartisan-approved “Fair and Simple” Tax bill include reducing the tax rate for 8 out of 10 Americans to 15% while increasing the personal exemption to $2000... At the signing ceremony, Kemp noted “I want to challenge my fellow Americans to reach our highest ideals and greatest potential. I believe in a future of unlimited and boundless opportunity for all Americans. I believe that this law, along with the many other bills I’ve signed into law during these past 18 months, will make this future a reality.” [11]

– The Washington Post, 6/17/1988



REPORT: SECTORAL BARGAINING IS ON THE RISE IN POST-SOVIET EUROPE!

– The Wall Street Journal, 6/18/1988



FRANCE’S “SOCIALIST” SOCIAL STRUCTURES UPHELD IN COURT RULING

…France’s highest judiciary court, the Supreme Court of Appeals, has struck down French President Le Pen’s latest round of efforts to end funding for publicly-owned institutions and subsidized cooperative businesses… the ruling also favored French parliament’s decision to reject Le Pen’s latest attempts to expand the powers and law exemptions of private businesses… The ruling is a boon to the people of France who are empowering unions by forming a united front against Le Pen’s presidency… Le Pen’s approval ratings have already sunken below 30%...

– The Guardian, 20/6/1988



…Governor Fink’s misuse of funds, accounting errors in budget vetoes costing the state millions, and his lowering of oil and gas transportation regulations both before and after the Chevron Oil Spill, and other improper authorizations and actions, qualify as recallable actions of “incompetence,” “negligence of duty” and, possibly, “corruption.” [12] And the people of this great state are clearly frustrated with Fink’s frequent failures to lead. His approval ratings are in the proverbial toilet, and even major state Republicans are distancing themselves from him. That’s why I’m happy to report some really big, big news to all of you out there listening to KBYR radio this morning. The big news of the day is this – the date for the recall has finally been set! State law says it has to fall on a regularly scheduled election unless one is more than 180 days away, in which case it may be held as soon as 80 days after the recall’s certification. However, after Lieutenant Governor John Lindauer, a Republican crony of Fink, dragged out the inspection of the second petition, he’s now announced today that the recall has been certified, as we expected it would, but since the Alaskan presidential primaries have already passed – we can thank Lindauer for that – and since the next regularly scheduled election – which is the Presidential Election in November – is now less than 180 days away, Alaskans will vote for a new Governor the same night they will vote for a new President. The first part of the recall ballot – hold on, I got the sample right here, fresh off the presses – yeah, the question “Should Governor Tom Fink be recalled?” will be the first of two parts of the ballot. And the second part is the vote for Fink’s replacement should the first part lead to his recall. A majority of the votes is not needed; a plurality victor will be declared the winner even if receiving less votes than the “yes” column of the first part of the ballot. [12] So, yeah, basically, it’s now just a matter of who will run for the job, and who will convince us they’re the best person for the job…

– KBYR (AM) Anchorage, Alaskan news/talk radio, 6/21/1988 broadcast



Prime Minister Chretien faced further criticism for his handling of multiple cases of First Nations protests, an off-shoot of the Second Ark Wave, in which First Nations began calling for better treatment from Canada’s government. Former MP Annie Aquash supported the growing Fist Nations movement for equal treatment, pushing for a string of laws that both Conservatives and Liberals opposed for being too extreme. While Chretien simply claimed that Aquash “want[ed] the government to redefine its powers and position, to overstep the boundaries and interfere with the MPs, and to do the job of Premiers of the Provinces,” MP Erik Nielsen accused her of “treason” for “putting radical ideology ahead of her country.”

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



FORMER CHINESE POLITBURO MEMBER REVEALS LI “WORRIED” ISOLATION WILL PLUNGE CHINA INTO RECESSION!

…Hu Yaobeng, a high-ranking member of China’s Communist Party until his rival Li Xiannian rose to power, now lives in an undisclosed location in Australia. …Hu’s claims match those made by members of the South Korean intelligence community and anonymous members of the CIA – that the global movement to reject doing business with China is beginning to have its intended effect on China’s ruthless leader…

– The Los Angeles Times, 6/24/1988



It is now clear that Chinese leaders are concerned that their Orwellian experiment in Xinjiang will come undone if it is met with broad censure from the international community. A stronger, more coordinated effort is thus required to force them into finally capitulating to international pressure and cease their actions in Xinjiang. We owe it to the courageous people who are speaking out in the face of direct harassment by China’s security forces to keep this situation firmly on the international agenda until that time comes. [13]

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 26/6/1988 op-ed



...With the film Used Cars finally joining the other notches on his metaphorical belt upon its release in June 1984, Zemeckis returned his focus to another film that had been “on the back-burner” for a very long while – a science fiction project entitled “Back to the Future.” …The film follows the adventure of an 18-year-old High School student named Marty McFly (played by a then-25-year-old Michael J. Fox) who accidently time travels to 1958 via going 99 mph in his eccentric scientist friend’s "time-car," a modified DeLorean. Bob Gale considered 1958 to be “an excellent year for a time travel story – it’s at the rise of the beatniks, it’s at the apex of the idealistic teen era of malt shops, Rock-and-Roll, civil rights, and suburban expansion – it’s a time right before all hell broke loose in the early ’60s.”

[snip]

The film was originally conceived in 1980. The first draft of the Back to the Future script was finished in February 1981, but every major film studio rejected the script for the next four years for not being what studio executives were looking for, as the film did not match the popular risqué “anti-establishment” teen films of the day [14]. Meanwhile, Zemeckis worked on other projects. He was convinced to work with Spielberg again after producing the successful Romancing the Stone film of 1985 [15], which to Zemeckis proved that he wasn’t successful just because of working with Spielberg. Additionally, legal problems concerning ownership of the script and who owned the rights to the film and ideas thought up for film while under Columbia came up after the film switched over to a Universal Studios Production in 1985.

[snip]

Filming did not begin until 1986, by which point original cast members John Lithgow (as Doc Brown), Eric Stoltz (as Marty McFly) and Claudia Wells (as Jennifer Parker) had moved on to other projects, their roles being filled by Christopher Lloyd, Michael J. Fox, and Courteney Bass Cox (after Bridget Fonda also left production), respectively. …The film was finally released on July 3, 1988.

[snip]

…Another famous, though somewhat dated, set of lines was the following exchange that reveals Doc Brown’s knowledge of football:

Brown: “Then tell me, Future Boy, who’s President of the United States in 1988?”

McFly: “Jack French Kemp.”

Brown: “Jack Kemp? The new quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Ha! And who’s Vice President, Alan Ameche? …And I suppose Elroy ‘Crazy Legs’ Hirsch is the Secretary of the Treasury!”

– Norman Kagan’s The Cinema of Robert Zemeckis, 2003



LUIS H. ALVAREZ ELECTED PRESIDENT OF MEXICO

Mexico City, MEXICO – Luis H. Alvarez of Chihuahua, 66, leader of the “Christian Democrat” center-right National Action Party (PAN), secured roughly 62% of the vote in last night’s elections. Running on a platform of government transparency and a zero-tolerance stance on crime, Alvarez will be the first President to not be of the National Revolutionary Party (PRI) in over 50 years. Alvarez won over the initial frontrunner, PRI nominee Carlos Salinas, after Salinas became embroiled in a scandal concerning an alleged plot to rig the election in his favor; he came in second place with roughly 29% of the vote. Another prominent candidate in the race was Cuahtemoc Cardenas of the newly-formed National Democratic Front (FDN), who underperformed and received roughly 8% of the vote in the end. …The term-limited incumbent President Miguel de la Madrid could be seen as the reason for Alvarez’s stunning rise to power, as de la Madrid presided over several economic and foreign policy crises, a devastating earthquake, uneasy relations with the US, and an increasingly problematic and deadly recreadrug-related crime spike, all problems that de la Madrid apparently failed to handle, tanking his approval ratings…

– The El Paso Times, 7/6/1988



Two years ago, the United States spent months contemplating removing their President from office via the process of impeachment. In France, this procedure is called “destitution.” As French Parliament apparently believes that their President, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has willingly and willfully violated France’s national laws and Constitution, both the French National Assembly and the French Senate are seeking to begin the process of Le Pen’s destitution. Upon both bodies completing the process of “acknowledging” this impeachment process and both the upper house and lower house have agreed to it, said houses will unite to form the High Court, which will ultimately decide whether or not to declare the impeachment of President Le Pen…

– BBC World News, 7/7/1988 report



Bellamy chose her running mate carefully. The most commonly discussed were US Senators Paul Simon of Illinois and John Glenn of Ohio, Governor Paul Soglin of Wisconsin, and US Congressman Itimous Valentine Jr. of North Carolina. Simon, like Glenn and Soglin, could win over crucial states in the Midwest; however, a fact that many pundits overlooked was Bellamy’s opposition to the Balanced Budget Amendment (which was still working its way through the state legislatures at the time), for which Simon’s legislative work was often credited. Glenn, on the other hand, had spent nearly twenty years in the Senate, was a popular figure among supporters of NASA and the military, and could win over undecided and less left-leaning voters with his experience and name recognition. Be that as it may, the fact remained that Glenn disagreed with several of Bellamy’s campaign platforms; no love was lost between the two when Bellamy declined to select him in the end, reportedly telling his people that he would be more helpful if he remained in the Senate. The same could be said about the uninspiring Valentine. Soglin, on the other hand, was a strong surrogate for Bellamy in the early primaries, after the former peacenik suspended his own Presidential bid in January due to low funds and polling; however, Soglin as running mate would fail to win over more center-leaning members of the party, and was dislike by military veterans for his life-long opposition to the army forces, most notably his controversial 1962 arrest for partaking in a sit-in at an Army recruitment office in Milwaukee to protest the Cuban War.

Ultimately, though, Bellamy believed that the four men had been reviewed so often by the news that selecting any of them would be unexciting and not even interesting, minimizing the affect their selection would have on the typical post-selection boost in polls. As a result, the Mayor began to think outside the box as the DNC neared. The Mayor wanted someone ideologically close to her, and would counter her urban appeal and alleged inexperience; most importantly for her, she wanted a second-in-command with whom she could enjoy working on policy. With this last note in mind, she initially considered veteran politician Ralph Nader, officially an Independent, of Washington, D.C.; both were progressive-leaning, anti-corruption, pro-reform, and career-obsessed politicians. However, as both were dedicated entirely to their jobs, neither had a spouse or children, and so such a pairing would turn away parents at the polls; Bellamy ultimately decided to keep him in mind for a Cabinet spot. Governor Jim Slattery of Kansas was a major supporter of the Mayor and would bring in rural support, but he had been in office for less than two years, and was roughly seven years younger than Bellamy, as so he was not chosen, either. Then, after heavily considering US Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, US Senator Nick Galifianakis of North Carolina, former Governor Jim Hunt of North Carolina, and US Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota, Bellamy ultimately decided to go with a populist from a rural background – US Senator Jerry Litton of Missouri.

With folksy charm and demeanor, the 50-year-old Litton had served on the Senate Budget Oversight Committees and on the chamber’s military-related committees. After mulling a bid for the Presidency in 1984, he decided against running for President in 1988 to instead run for a third term in the Senate, due to the anti-D.C. mood that had followed the Potomac Scandals. Litton had endorsed Glenn prior to the March Cluster despite being closer aligned with Bellamy and EKS, and had endorsed both women prior to the Missouri primary. Bellamy’s campaign believed that Litton could appeal to both the west, the Midwest, and the south, to rural voters, and to parents due to Litton’s large family. Litton would also give the ticket more experience without creating a “bottom-heavy” ticket, as Litton was, surprisingly to many who worked on his first Senate campaign, not that major of a player on the national scene, instead finding that his job was easier to actually do if he did not, let’s say, stop to smile for the cameras.

– Jules Witcover’s The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, Colonial Press, 2014

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

CONVENTION:
Date(s): July 18-21, 1988
City: Atlanta, Georgia
Keynote Speaker: Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire of Texas

PRIMARY VOTING:
[snip]
Alexander – 990,456 (4.1%)
King – 845,512 (3.5%)
Young – 362,365 (1.5%)
Simon – 338,201 (1.4%)
Taylor – 265,732 (1.1%)
Peabody – 193,264 (0.8%)
Osborne – 72,485 (0.3%)
All other votes – 48,114 (0.2%)

[snip]

CONVENTION VOTING:
Total Delegates: 4,105
Votes Needed for Nomination: 2,054

Results (for President):
Bellamy – 2,516 (61.3%)
Kennedy-Shriver – 1,215 (29.6%)
Glenn – 325 (7.9%)
All others – 49 (1.2%)

No. of Ballots: 1

– clickopedia.co.usa/1988_Democratic_National_Convention



…Bob’s sister-in-law June later revealed in an interview, “Not too many people know this, but in 1988, Bob attended the D.N.C. in disguise and nobody knew. He had his hair straightened for the occasion, he wore sunglasses, and he put on a baseball cap.” Bob was reportedly interested in Bellamy’s environmental policies, and did not want his presence to distract from the political goings-on. In truth, Bob was actually a fairly shy man. In an interview that Bob gave with Egg Magazine, who specifically sought him out because they realised nobody knew anything about him, Bob sheepishly admitted that he liked to “stay hidden” adding that he was “sort of hard to find” [16] whenever he was not on camera, making his latest tutorial or promoting a cause…

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



LATEST POLL SHOWS 57% SUPPORT FOR BELLAMY/LITTON

– Gallup, 7/28/1988



DAN RATHER: History was made tonight when former Senator and former Ambassador to the UK Maureen Reagan officially received the Republican nomination for President of the United States. This marks the first time that an incumbent President was denied his party’s nomination since Chester A. Arthur lost a bid for a full term of his own in 1884. More importantly, this nomination confirms that for the first time in our nation’s history, both major party nominees are pro-choice women, and all but assuring that the next President of the United States will be woman. Joining us now live is Bob Schieffer, who’s our correspondent at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans. Bob, what does Reagan’s nomination mean for the general election?

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well one thing I can tell you, Dan, is that the matchup of Bellamy and Reagan is dissatisfying to many social conservatives in the party. Even at the convention tonight, a small group of former McCormack were protesting Reagan’s ascension, jeering at the candidate they consider too liberal for them. The former Senator’s stance on abortion was a tricky issue during the primaries, and the controversy surrounding it does not seem to be going away anytime soon. I was surprised no walkout occurred tonight, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a more conservative third-party candidate, like former Congressman Larry McDonald, started to gain more support after this, or if even a new candidate entered the general election.

RATHER: Any word yet on the President’s reaction to Reagan’s official nomination?

SCHIEFFER: The White House has been mute thus far, Dan, but the President is expected to give a speech on the final day of the convention. We spoke to a former member of the Kemp campaign who told us that he will endorse Reagan. I’ve heard rumors that Kemp will not give a boisterous, stirring speech, but a milquetoast, lukewarm-like speech, but is yet to be seen.

– CBS News, 8/16/1988 broadcast



As Maureen Reagan had expected Bellamy to select John Glenn for running mate, another astronaut-turned-Senator, Republican Jack Lousma of Michigan, had already been vetted and expected to be chosen for the number-two spot on the GOP ticket. Earlier in the race, Reagan considered picking early drop-out Bill Daniels, the former Governor of Colorado with many media connections, to combat EKS’s media advantage should she had won the Democratic nomination.

Once Litton picked, though, Reagan began to consider other potential picks. The conservative US Senator Richard Obenshain of Virginia was known for supporting tax cuts, “preserving and expanding the realm of personal freedom in the life of this country,” [17] but was also known for opposing immigration and the Democratic Party in general. US Senators William Armstrong of Colorado, Bob Dole of Kansas, Roger Jepsen of Iowa, and Clyde C. Holloway of Louisiana were all considered as well. Moderate Governor Lyon G. Tyler Jr. of Virginia, pro-Balanced Budget Amendment former Governor Charles Thone of Nebraska, and former Governor Hal Suit of Georgia each could appeal to Southerners – if they were not so uninspiring, that is. Former Governor Vernon B. Romney of Utah received some support from Reagan herself, but her campaign ruled it out due to the regional proximity of Utah to Reagan’s home state of California. Governor-turned-Congressman-turned-former US Ambassador to Panama James Carson Gardner of North Carolina could win over conservative Democrats in the eastern South, but it was uncertain how influential he would be. Buford Pusser, who underperformed in the primaries and dropped out before the March Cluster, was briefly considered, too.

Ultimately, Reagan decided to mimic Bellamy’s decision, and looked for a politician that she could work with, and got along well with when “off the clock.” Reagan found that in fellow Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana. One of the few Republicans to survive re-election in 1986, Lugar and Reagan had gotten along well together in the Senate, working on legislation well and visiting each other’s families on occasion. The Reagan/Lugar ticket was announced two weeks before the convention and made official on the second day of the RNC, the 16th of August.

– Jules Witcover’s The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, Colonial Press, 2014

[pic: https://imgur.com/mgVF5nt ]

– Colonel Sanders attending the 1988 Republican National Convention, 8/17/1988



“Folks, we ain’t going to fly if we flap around with two right wings. That’s why I think Reagan is our best chance at winning in November. Her campaign, I think, has found the correct balance between liberalism and conservatism. Maureen Reagan supports moral values without trying to tie any particular church to any particular state, seeing how this here nation is a democracy, not a theocracy. Maureen Reagan understands that businesses big and small are like wild stallions; they’ll flourish if let out of the barn that if federal red tape, but will become careless, wild, and harmful to the people around if they’re not fenced in. And Maureen Reagan knows that divisive distractions, backward backroom deals, and unpopular pernickety proposals will not win in November. But if we all get together and get behind them and support them, the Reagan/Lugar ticket will win in November, or my chicken ain’t fried!”

– Colonel Sanders’ speech on the penultimate day of the RNC, 8/17/1988

[pic: https://imgur.com/C8Wq3nw ]
All other votes – 277,924 (1.4%)

– clickopedia.co.usa/1988_Republican_National_Convention



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Italicized quote/claim found here: https://books.google.com/books?id=qecCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=%22Carol+Bellamy%22+%22scotch+plains%22#v=onepage&q=scotch%20plains&f=false
[2] Found here: https://www.azquotes.com/author/56931-Edward_Brooke
[3] He said this IOTL, as quoted in “Goldwater Backs Gay Troops” in a June 11, 1993 NYT article.
[4] Pulled from here: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/maureen-reagan-quotes
[5] Full disclosure: I’m not entirely sure what the heck I’m talking about here; basically, the long-term effects of the pro-entrepreneur policies of the Sanders administration has led to TTL’s internet assembling/being co-created/forming earlier than IOTL…
[6] OTL quote from 5/8/1990 opinion piece (found through her Wikipedia page)!
[7] Italicized part is quote found here: https://www.wyohistory.org/oral-histories/thyra-thomson-wyoming-secretary-state-1963-1987
[8] Quote is a compilation of quotes from here: https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/jack-kemp-quotes
[9] TTL’s version of/term for a government shutdown
[10] Italicized part is from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States
[11] The part in italics was grabbed from here: http://www.4president.org/brochures/1988/jackkemp1988brochure.htm
[12] Details from here: http://www.elections.alaska.gov/Core/petitionrecallprocess.php
[13] Italicized passages (or, at least, the second passage (the first one was from The Guardian for sure)) are from The Guardian’s OTL article “Bulldozing Mosques: The Latest Tactic in China’s War Against Uighur Culture” by Rachel Harris, 7 April 2019
[14] Like in OTL, only here, it’s that but even more so, as Denton anti-teen “moral crusade” made for more antiestablishment films to be more popular among anti-Denton teen crowds.
[15] Released a year later than OTL due to production problems of its own.
[16] Italicized quote nabbed from here: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/09/surprisingly-mysterious-life-artist-bob-ross/
[17] OTL quote found on his wiki page.

Also: the primary results here are based on the previous post's polls' results on/as of Thursday (noonish), which showed Bellamy leading EKS by 1 vote and Reagan leading Kemp by 2 votes.

The next chapter's E.T.A.: early March 14 at the very latest.

Clorox23 said:
It's good to see Back to the Future finally get made ITTL, even if it's three years late. However, and this is going to sound nitpicky, but changing the speed of the DeLorean from 88 to 77 feels... off to me. Like, I understand there's practical reasons why (the movie's production was delayed three years, meaning this isn't 100% the same script as IOTL; having the top speed be 88MPH in a movie made in 1988 is a little too on the nose; possibly some aspect of the production of "Used Cars" meant that Zemeckis decided to lower the speed), it just... feels weird, is all, feels too slow...

You're right; I'll change it to 99 mph, @Clorox23

Ogrebear said:
Click to expand...

1) I'll look up if veggie burgers were around / a thing back in the 1980s...
2) Good to know, thanks! Maybe here, PM Goodlad will, in a twist, implement it based loosely on or inspired by the US model!
3) Yeah, I mentioned before that they both were high-ranking congressmen (both were first elected in 1970, in fact) and have worked well with each other for years. It's also an example of the ripple/domino/for-want-of-a-nail/butterfly effect, a result of the Colonel's handling of Vietnam in the late 1960s (see Polonko's link for detail)
4) Thank you! I wasn't certain how realistic this was
5) Good idea!
6) Maybe. . .
7) It's an acquired taste

Ogrebear said:
Click to expand...

1) I'm honestly not sure, but an anthology series focused on exploring places and the non-main characters could work. I'll look into it, and thanks for the suggestion!
2) Yes, the age question will be brought up, but in Goldwater's defense is the fact that the Colonel was President from the age of 74 to the age of 82.
3) Sinn Fein won 1 seat (Adams') while Plaid Cymru won 3, IIRC.
4) Maybe not immediately due to Li Xiannian's anti-reform attitudes, but long-term? We shall see...

Unknown said:
Good updates; glad Strauss got exposed, BTW...

I'd probably like living in this version of the US; New York is probably not completely "crime-free", but the crime rate is likely similar to NYC in the late 1990s IOTL (and without some of the...questionable policies that made NYC have a lower crime rate in the late 1990s IOTL)...

And congrats for going over 500k words--this TL is a doorstopper...

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying this!

Igeo654 said:
I cannot believe that Carol managed to pull off this kind of upset.

What? @Igeo654 Dude, either I didn't explain it well in the write-up despite putting a lot of thought into it, or possibly you misread it. Your inability to entertain the idea of Bellamy mounting a successful primary bid (based on her "outsider" status/executive experience/urban appeal coupled with Democratic voters rejecting the "elitist"/much-closer-to-DC Eunice in the aftermath of the Great Potomac Scandals) makes me wonder why you were so enthusiastic about her candidacy before, and it also makes me wonder if you read the bit at the end mentioning how these primary results were based on the results of the poll. And it was never a surefire thing that EKS would "have a coronation" or anything like that, in neither the TL nor the poll. Again, the whole romanticization of the Kennedy dynasty never happened here. Basically what I am saying is that I think this is a realistic scenario, and that you have given no explanation as to why you "cannot believe" it. So...why can't you believe it?

Igeo654 said:
I have no doubt in my mind that, even with the colonel supporting Maureen, Bellamy will in fact become the president for 1989 onwards and I'd be willing to vote on that in another straw poll.

I don't make polls for the November elections; otherwise the entire TL would be one big unrealistic liberal-wank. Didn't you notice their absence in all the previous November Election-related posts?

Igeo654 said:
As for Litton, It's great to know that he and his family survived that crash.

@Igeo654 I mentioned Litton being elected to the Senate in 1976 and 1982. Did you miss those parts?

Igeo654 said:
Isn't it high time that Britain had it's first female PM, for better or for worse? I nominate either Edwina Currie or Virginia Bottomley.

Shirley Williams was the UK's PM from 1983 to 1987. She was discussed in the last chapter (late 1987).

I'm beginning to suspect you're not actually reading this TL. If true, it's a bit disappointing, but I'll get over it...

Igeo654 said:
Click to expand...

Don't worry about it, @Igeo654 ; no harm no foul!
[Insert sympathetic/understanding smile emoji thingy here].

Igeo654 said:

"Sonny, you're putting the cart before the horse there," is what I think the Colonel would say.
I think we should see how the primaries (remember: the early primary states (the ones prior to the "March Cluster" (a.k.a. "Super Tuesday")) are NH, MD, NV, and GA) unfold first.

Both Democratic frontrunners have good points and bad points: Bellamy is unapologetically dedicated to progressive/humanitarian causes and comes from humble origins, but (as documented in Source 2 of her wiki article) she is temperamental, childless, and single (the latter two bits will likely hurt her polling among mothers / older / married voters); Eunice, on the other hand, supports universal healthcare and can appeal to suburbanites with her pro-life/pro-family views, but hails from a very wealthy/elitist/well-connected family (one that, remember, never had OTL's romanticizing "Camelot" era in this TL).

Regardless/nevertheless, I appreciate your enthusiasm for and interest in this TL's upcoming primaries; thank you for the videos and for the comments!

 

[gap80]

Post 51: Chapter 59

Chapter 59: August 1988 – January 1989



“An artist is anyone who is ahead of his time and behind on his rent”

– Kinky Friedman [1]



As Alaska Gubernatorial Recall Election required entrance fees that were much more affordable than those of regular gubernatorial elections, a record-breaking number of Republican, Democratic, and third-party candidates sought to replace Governor Fink in the event that he was, in fact, successfully recalled. Five Republicans – businessman Joseph L. Hayes, state senator Arliss Sturgelewski, retiring US Congressman Jalmar “Jay” Kerttula, State Senator Robert W. Ward, and Lieutenant Governor John Lindauer – entered the primary-free race. Three members of the conservative-leaning libertarian third-party “Liberty” party – former State Representatives Dick Randolph and Andre Marrou, and activist Kathleen Dalton – followed suit, as did two members of the Green party – former State Senator Kathryn “Kay” Kennedy-Poland-Silides, and activist Jeanmarie Larson-Crumb. The seemingly most prominent third-party in Alaska, the Alaskan Independence Party, saw four from their ranks – State Representative Bill Hudson, activist Roger Dee Roberts, party founder and perennial candidate Joe Vogler, and former State Trooper Al Rowe – entered the chaotic and clustered free-for-all run, joining two independent candidates, too – former President of the Alaska Federation of Natives Don Wright, and former Mayor of Juneau William D. “Bill” Overstreet.

Democrats, however, were considered most likely to win in November, and thus eight candidates – former US Congressman William L. Hensley, State Commission on Judicial Conduct member Georgianna Lincoln, state senate leader Benjamin Franklin Grussendorf Jr., state senator Sarah J. “Sally” Smith, former state senator Steve Cowper, former Lieutenant Governor and technet enthusiast Red Boucher, state representative Olga Katherine Torkelsen “Katie” Hurley, and businessman Bill Sheffield – entered the race.

While early polling showed no clear frontrunner, it did show that only six of these candidates – Hensley, Overstreet, Lindauer, Sheffield, Grussendorf and Kerttula – had enough funding and/or name recognition to have a shot at winning. However, not one of these “careerist” candidates appealed to Bob…

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



…Earlier today, Air Force One touched down in Cairo, Egypt, as part of President Kemp’s “camaraderie crusade” across several nations meant to strengthen US relations abroad. Kemp reportedly seeks to do, quote, “as much good as he possibly can,” unquote, before leaving office in January…

– CBS News, 8/20/1988 report



“In an odd way, I was actually almost glad that I had lost re-election. It freed me of having to balance between campaigning and governing, and it allowed me to focus more on the issues that I cared about, political consequences be damned.”

– Jack French Kemp, KNN interview, 2003



DECISION’88: ARE WE READY FOR A WOMAN PRESIDENT?

– Time Magazine, special August 1988 issue



IT’S ABOUT TIME! Finally, America Will Have a Madame President

…furthermore, both nominees being female will mean the voters’ decision will be based on which candidate and her policies seem best for the next four-to-eight years, not on which is more “historic”…

– The New York Times, 8/22/1988 op-ed

[pic: https://imgur.com/FMlCH1S ]

– Mayor Bellamy campaigning with former President Mondale and US Congressman Ed Koch (D-NY) in Republican-leaning upstate New York, 8/23/1988



BEIJING MARKETS COLLAPSE AS FOREIGN INVESTORS PULL OUT, “GUTTING” KEY EXPORT INDUSTRIES!

…the rise in international sanctions against China has sent markets in Beijing and Shanghai into a sharp decline that may best be described as a recession if not a full-on depression… The PRC’s currency, the renminbi, which is called the yuan when referring to the unit of currency, has plummeted in value… It seems the people of China are very well going to experience some of the worst economic detriments of the capitalist system for the first time since the nation’s market reforms were implemented in the early 1970s…

– The Wall Street Journal, 8/25/1988



MILLIONAIRE TACO BELL FOUNDER GLEN BELL ANNOUNCES INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL BID

San Bernardino, CA – Perhaps the idea to run for the White House began as a play on his former company’s newest slogan, “Make a Run For The Border.” [2] Or maybe he's inspired by Colonel Sanders. Regardless of its origin, the fact remains that 64-year-old businessman Glen Bell officially launched an independent bid for President earlier today at a formal event in his home town of San Bernardino, California. The wealthy restauranteur and railroad investor plans to immediately begin taking the steps necessary to appear on the ballot in all fifty states in November. Bell also plans to launch “a wave” of television and radio advertisements nationwide.

Rumors and speculation had circulated since the conclusion of the primaries that a prominent conservative would defy the GOP’s official Presidential ticket out of opposition to Presidential nominee Maureen Reagan’s socially-moderate-to-liberal views. Her selection of the more conservative Senator Lugar for running mate, and her recent support of a more libertarian proposal to “give women complete access to abortion clinics, but heartily discourage their use except in cases of rape, incest and endangerment to the mother,” were meant to win over bitter conservatives.

At least one socially conservative individual – Mr. Bell – finds these decisions to be “weak” and unacceptable. “Life begins the moment the stick-thing turns blue,” Bell says in his first-ever run for public office. “Neither major-party candidate understands this. We are better than this; we deserve a better option.” At the launching event, Bell also discussed several fiscally conservative positions, especially his support of further business deregulation.

Glen William Bell Jr., who was born in Lynwood, California, in 1923, is the California-based businessman who in 1962 founded Taco Bell, a restaurant chain that sells “Mexican-inspired meals,” derived by some as “Mockxican” food. Taco Bell expanded to 300 locations by the start of the 1970s, and is now a well-known fast-food brand. After selling Taco Bell to PepsiCo in 1978, Bell, a lifelong railroad enthusiast, invested in railroad companies across the West Coast. While suffering financially immediately after the Trojan Tower Disaster scared investors away from the Pacific Northwest, Bell has since bounced back by investing in infrastructure projects across the southwestern states. According to Forbes magazine, Bell was worth over $250million in 1986…

– The Houston Chronicle, 8/26/1988



DROUGHT CAUSED OVER $50BILLION IN CROP DAMAGE THIS SUMMER

…the at-times deadly heat waves that characterized the past four months for many parts of the U.S. took a toll on domestic production and exports, which could weaken the economy if not rectified soon...

– The Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Oklahoma newspaper, 8/27/1988



TONY FRANGIEH ELECTED PRESIDENT OF LEBANON

…set to enter office next month, Antoine “Tony” Frangieh is the 46-year-old son of former President Suleiman Frangieh. Due to his ties to Syria, Frangieh fought back attacks from his opponents during the campaign that claimed he would “upset Our Delicate Peace,” referring to the region’s relative stability over the past ten years. Frangieh countered the claims by hosting “peace meetings” with Jewish, Christian and Muslim community organizers in Beirut in a publicity stunt clearly modeled off the annual Chicken Dinner Summits in Jerusalem. …The popular (but term-limited) outgoing President, Musa al-Sadr, 60, made headlines six years ago when he became the first leader of modern Lebanon to not be a Maronite Christian. His historic tenure was market by expanding the nation’s electric power grid and water systems, along with partial education reforms, and most notably by steady economic progress and stable relations with Israel…

– The Guardian, side article, 28/8/1988



“The final straw for me was when the Governor decided to cut state funding for art programs by 80%. He thought it would win him support from voters who don’t care about those sort of things. I went on radio programs like this one and called him out for it, saying that I was disappointed in him, but decides talking about, I couldn’t do anything about it on my own. My show, The Joy of Painting, it can be seen nationwide, but that doesn’t mean it turns that much a profit. Residuals from the works of mine that are in Disney’s The Snow Queen are something, but not that much. People see you on television and they think you make the same amount of money that Clint Eastwood does. But this is PBS. All these shows are done for free. [3] That’s what I’d say. But people at least know me, and I know the people of Alaska. That’s what it came down to; that’s what clicked. I’ve been here long enough to know this state, to love this state, to love its beauty and its possibilities and potential and its people. And by golly, when the people you love and the place you call home is in danger, well, you just have to do something about it. Some problems are brushes – you just have to beat the devil out of them. Hah, and I also thought that I would do a really better job than the politicians in Juneau.”

– Bob Ross, NBC KTUU-TV interview, early 1989



He had given it so much thought. He had studied the other candidates, and he talked about it with Jane and Steve, and with Walter and I about it. One morning, he finally had made up his mind. After the wrap-up of The Joy of Painting’s latest episode, he walked over to Jane nearby, and he said to her, “Honey, for years I’ve been painting own little happy worlds, while the real world falls apart. I can’t ignore the badness anymore. And if painting has taught me anything, it’s that you have to do the work yourself – nobody can paint your world for you.” A few days later, Bob went on TV with a plan and a message: “Hi. I’m Bob Ross. And I’m running for Governor.” …The Joy of Painting took an indefinite hiatus…

– Annette Kowalski’s One Happy Man, Borders Books, 2007



FAMOUS PAINTER BOB ROSS LAUNCHES BID FOR ALASKA GOVERNOR

…At the campaign launch, Ross stated “I often say that if it’s not what you want, stop and change it. Don’t just keep going and expect it will get better. Well, I don’t think thing will get better unless we have a governor that truly loves this state, understands its problems, and wants to try and do everything possible to make things better for Alaska and all who live here. …We each see the world in our own way. That’s what makes it such a special place. I will admit that mounting a statewide campaign like this is very intimidating for me, as I’ve never done something quite like this before. But you know what? One shouldn’t be afraid to go out on a limb, because that’s where the fruit is!” [4] …The environmental activist and host of a public-access TV show that has a large niche following can captivate audiences with his soothing voice and impressive artistic skills, but can he captivate the voters of the Last Frontier?

– The Los Angeles Times, 8/30/1988

[pic: https://imgur.com/3myrcEd ]

– Bob Ross campaigning in Fairbanks (the warmest city in Alaska), c. early September 1988



UNITED AMERICANS FOR LIFE ENDORSES BELL FOR PRESIDENT

…The Pro-Life organization’s backing of independent candidate Glen Bell over major party nominees Maureen and Bellamy marks the first time the Anti-Abortion group has ever endorsed a third-party over a major party… Similar groups such as Feminists For Life (which endorsed Senator Kennedy-Shriver during the Democratic primaries), the National Right to Life Committee, and the Pro-Life Action League, have not endorsed any Presidential tickets – for now…

– The Washington Times, 9/2/1988



To win over former primary voters still bitter about Kennedy-Shriver’s “unexpected” loss, Bellamy’88 adopted a “conciliatory” plank meant to appease anti-abortion members of the party and former Kennedy-Shriver supporters. The campaign mirrored the 1964 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Act that Kennedy-Shriver had headed, as it called for expanding funding for examining problems of birth defects and intellectual and developmental disabilities in children, infants, and the soon-to-be-born; improving funds for understanding reproductive health; enhancing function across the lifespan through rehabilitation research, research aimed at improving the health of children, adults, families, and communities, including reducing infant deaths, promoting healthy pregnancy and childbirth, and investigating growth and human development. [5]

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



COLONEL: “There’s no reason you can’t maintain social programs without raising taxes or breaking a budget. If I figured out how to for eight years without a college education, than it shouldn’t be any problem at all for D.C.’s computer-heads!”

BERN: “Alright, but here’s the thing, Colonel, with all due respect, being fiscally conservative won’t keep the economy from dipping as it inevitably will. Social programs are investments on our country’s future. It’s acceptable to end one year with a deficit if the social programs from that year more than makes up for it in the second or third year. The Balanced Budget Amendment, if ratified, will confine and severely limit the scope and capabilities of social programs like Medicare & Medicaid. We can’t afford to keep a balanced budget every single year.”

COLONEL: “We could during the 1960s.”

BERN: “Yes, because the situation was different, then. The economy was on the rebound from the Salad Oil Scandal. It had nowhere to go but up. But right now, Colonel, it’s been up. It’s only a matter of time before it goes back down again. That’s the thing about capitalist markets, it continuously cycles between feast and famine.”

COLONEL: “And it self-adjusts along the way. The economy dips, the government opens the markets and urges people – and I mean everyone, including the wealthy – to spend and invest into the economy to get themselves out of recession.”

BERN: “Except wealthy people do not so easily give up the fortunes they’ve hoarded. Except for you, Colonel, you are one of the exceptions, and for that, do you have my respect.”

COLONEL: “Thanks, I like the cut of your jib, too.”

BERN: “Your wealthy friends, though, they have got to start understanding that to keep money to yourself instead giving it back to the people who gave it to you in the first place is not a fair system. High taxes on the rich –”

COLONEL: “Well forcing them to give up the money they worked hard for is not going to win them over –”

BERN: “And yet they keep their fortunes when left alone. Money hoarding doesn’t help the economy, Colonel.”

COLONEL: “I agree, but raising taxes will spook ’em; startle a donkey, expect a kick to the face. Suddenly, the Cayman Islands will be looking mighty nice to ’em.”

– CBS roundtable discussion with Colonel Sanders, media magnate Bern Sanders, and moderators, 9/7/1988



GLEN BELL SELECTS BILL DANIELS FOR RUNNING MATE

…Daniels was the Republican Governor of Colorado from 1979 to 1987, briefly ran for President last year, and is the brother of Democratic US Congressman Jack Daniels of New Mexico. One of the country’s wealthiest ex-Governors, Daniels was most likely chosen due to his executive experience and his deep financial pockets from his time as a cable TV executive and professional sports team owner…

– Financial Review, 9/9/1988



BILLY GRAHAM ENDORSES BELL/DANIELS

…“As Governor, Daniels backed up his religious rhetoric [6] with meaningful action, as has Mr. Bell throughout his years as a businessman”…

– The Charlotte Observer, North Carolina newspaper, 9/10/1988



…The rise in the power and control of drug lords over towns across northern Mexico became a contentious, but somewhat second-tier issue in the election. It received a high amount of attention, however, in September, when Colombia witnessed an increase in intensity their own drug crisis. On September 12, the Medellin Cartel, the international drug cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, detonated a remote-controlled cam bomb in Bogota in an attempt of the life of Colombia’s President, the anti-cartel/anti-corruption/pro-US Virgillio Barco Vargas. While the President survived with merely a broken arm, the explosion partially wrecked his car and destroyed a bridge. The damage from the bomb made the front page of American newspapers, more American became concerned that the next President needed foreign policy experience. With Reagan having previously served as the US Ambassador to the UK as well as serving on some foreign affairs-related committees in the US Senate, the GOP nominee received a boost in the polls, Reagan seemingly had much more diplomatic experience than Mayor Bellamy...

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



…in the state recall election, one underdog is standing out in a crowd of candidates with his optimistic and reassuring personality. Fairbanks resident Bob Ross, a painter with a nationally-televised public access show, has risen from just 4% in the polls on September 1st to nearly 20%, outperforming political bigwigs such as former US Congressman Will Hensley, and several state legislators. Ross is currently running a grassroots campaign heavily reliant on radio to get out his nonpartisan message of improving education and environmental protection…

– KAKM Channel 7, Alaskan news station, 9/16/1988



ALASKA GREEN PARTY ENDORSES ROSS

– Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Alaskan newspaper, 9/18/1988



“RING THE BELL OF LIBERTY!” The Rise of Glen Bell?

…The Bell campaign is becoming increasing appealing to both “hard-hat” workers and business-owning voters, along with other members of the working class, middle-income suburban voters, and even some independent-minded high-income voters, which could be vital to expanding the campaign’s message and mobilizing more campaign workers… Polls currently show Bell rising in popularity; the most recent Gallup poll shows Bell is currently at 11%, with Bellamy at 41%, Reagan at 38%, and Undecided/Other at 10%...

– The Wall Street Journal, 9/22/1988



“When was the last time YOUR voice was heard? When was the last time YOU trusted the Government to do the right thing? When was the last time YOU received your fair share? When was the last time YOU didn’t worry about paying a medical bill? When was the last time YOU didn’t fret over your children’s safety? These situations should not exist. We are America. We are strong, we are smart, and we are bold. It’s time YOU had a President that solves problems. A transparent President that will pass universal health care and protect children, humanity’s greatest asset. A President for YOU. Vote for Carol Bellamy for President of the United States. Because YOU deserve the best.”

– narration from a Bellamy/Litton ’88 TV ad, first aired 9/24/1988



MIDDLE EAST CELEBRATES 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ATLANTA PEACE TREATY

– The New York Times, 9/26/1988

[pic: https://imgur.com/4YbYMr8 ]

“A painting of Colonel Sanders in a home in Beirut, Lebanon. Many Christian, Jewish, and even some Muslim families across the Middle East are often found to keep an image of the Colonel in their homes to honor the man they see as contributing to the making of the current but precarious ‘era of delicate peace’ in the Middle East that began in the mid-to-late 1970s”

–National Geographic, September 1988 issue



Putting America First; Join The Fight to Protect Your Rights

– Bell’88 logos, c. September 1988



BELL CAMPAIGN, SUPPORTERS, ACCUSED OF SEXISM

...An alleged “undertone” of millionaire businessman Glen Bell’s independent run for President has caught the ire of three women’s rights group, who claim Bell’s campaign – consisting almost entirely of male workers (and of male supporters, according to polling) – is misogynistic and “unwelcoming” to women. …Sometimes the tone is not so subtle. Last week, a banner reading “send ’em back to the kitchen,” likely referring to Bellamy and Reagan, was seen at a Bell rally in Bethesda...

– The Boston Globe, 9/28/1988

[vid: youtube.com/watch?v=z4teeePtSuE ]
– Carol Bellamy participating in a magic act years earlier; this footage was recirculated by the Bellamy campaign to show off her fun side, amid concerns her serious campaign was too cold and impersonal; first re-aired 9/30/1988



SUMMER OLYMPICS END TODAY: U.S. Teams Again Underperformed

– The Miami Herald, 10/2/1988



"Getting this nation's schools back on the track will be one of the top priorities of the Bellamy Administration. Everything depends on strong schools and strong colleges; a healthy economy, a strong defense, social justice, opportunity for all. There is no reason whatsoever why the next generation of Americans cannot be the best educated and trained in this nation's history. Give the nation's laboratories, libraries, and research centers the support they must have. Start a crash effort to give our kids better training in math, science, and languages. That's where tomorrow's jobs will be. Strengthen programs for rural and inner-city schools to give poor children an even break. Make sure that every American family, and not just the wealthy few, can afford to send their kids to college. Stop the loss of talent that occurs because of discrimination and sex stereotyping in schools. That’s what we must do and it’s what Carol Bellamy will do once we send her to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!" [7]

– Former President Walter Mondale, stumping for Bellamy at a rally in Minneapolis, MN, 10/1/1988



PEPSICO CEO ENDORSES REAGAN

– The Wall Street Journal, 10/2/1988



…leadership at PepsiCo seem to be distancing themselves from Glen Bell in the face of accusations that the millionaire Presidential candidate is at the very least turning a blind eye to claims that his campaign harbors misogynistic supporters. The company reminded reporters that “Mr. [Glen] Bell sold Taco Bell to PepsiCo in 1978” three times at a press conference earlier this week. …PepsiCo also recently began converting several Taco Bell locations in California and Texas into Zantigo Mexican Food outlets, the official reason for it being “the need to expand the Zantigo brand takes priority over the well-established Taco Bell brand,” and reportedly over the rise of Chi-Chi’s, a rival Mexico-themed outlet…

– Nation’s Restaurant News, monthly trade publication, October 1988 issue



…The radical campaign of former Congressman Larry McDonald was overshadowed by the Bell campaign, depriving McDonald of all but the most right-wing of politically-interested Americans. McDonald’s anti-corruption policies, in the wake of the Great Potomac Scandals appealed to many others, though, and that is what made it catch on among fringe communities, to the point that in early October, 1988, C. Farris Bryant, the former Governor of Florida who ran against Sanders and Johnson in ’64, endorsed McDonald over all the other candidates…

– research analyst Chip Berlet, CBS interview, 2000



TACO BELL ACCUSED OF LABOR LAW VIOLATIONS!

...Taco Bell has come under fire over its contract with tomato farmers that use underpaid illegal workers in their Florida fields...

– The New York Times, 10/8/1988



“Hey, don’t look at me – I sold Taco Bell to PepsiCo in 1978!”

– Glen Bell to reporters, 10/8/1988



COLONEL SANDERS ADMONISHES TACO BELL ON WORK ETHICS

“It’s disgraceful. These folks are willing to work their rear ends off to become our fellow Americans; all they want is a reasonable salary, not threats of deportation. No amount of profit is worth the dehumanizing of people, especially the people who work for you and make your profit even possible in the first place.”

– The Courier-Journal, Louisville-based Kentucky newspaper, 10/10/1988



The first Presidential debate of the 1988 general election drew in a record-breaking number of viewers, making for the highest ratings for a Presidential campaign in 20 years, when Colonel Sanders and Jack Kennedy debated in 1968. With Bell polling between 10% and 15%, he was allowed to participate; while he received the highest amount of airtime, most of it came from ranting about the “establishment candidates” and failing to answer questions about the economy and foreign affairs. Bell also voiced support for maintaining Denton-era proposals such as higher “monitoring” of violence in books, films and television shows meant for young audiences; praise for the Balanced Budget Amendment; and support for deregulating if not eliminating the US Department of Education. Bellamy was considered the most lucid and professional of the three, but often went over her time limit when describing policy proposals. Reagan, meanwhile, sought to cast herself as a “new” Republican, one more transparent and socially moderate than both Denton and Kemp. The most notable of the exchanges between the major party nominees pertained to the cost of Universal Health Care, with Bellamy pointing to the 19 states already covered by state-level UHC insurance, all but two of which had joined the UHC Pact without significant financial shortfalls. Both Bellamy and Reagan, however, were almost on the same side when the issue came to abortion; Bell denounced its practice and called for it to remain “a state-by-state issue” and Reagan focused on examples of “necessary abortion” such as birth defects and the health of the mother, while Bellamy described “self-determin[ed] motherhood” as “a right,” which received both cheers and jeers from the audience. Bellamy and Reagan were again on the same side when the issue of Bell’s reportedly “chauvinistic” campaign was discussed; Bell failed to deflect the subject, leading to scrutiny from the two other candidates on stage, especially from Bellamy.

The debate was considered a draw for Bellamy and Reagan and a loss for Bell. Bellamy, though, received scrutiny from some media figures for allegedly being “too aggressive” or “hostile” toward Bell, though her supporters described her as “fiery,” a “spitfire,” and other, similar descriptions. Claims that she was “emotional” led to former Vice President Mike Gravel chastising these sort of comments as being biased, saying in an appearance on CBS “If a man acts stoned-faced, he’s ‘strong’ or ‘reserved,’ but if a woman acts like that, she’s ‘cold’ and ‘unwelcoming.’ If a man calls an opponent out on something like that, he’s called ‘passionate,’ while a woman is called ‘emotional.’ This is a clear double-standard that should not be tolerated anymore. The American public, the consumers of these kind of programs, they deserve better. They deserve reporters who stick to the principles of unbiased journalism and proper professional conduct.” KNN and CBS soon responded to this and further complaints by sending more female reporters to cover the Democratic and Republican campaigns.

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



DARK HORSE CANDIDATE WOWS PUNDITS IN DEBATE PERFORMANCE

Juneau, AK – The sole gubernatorial debate to be held ahead of next month’s recall election surprised pundits and exposed audiences to a promising political newcomer. Earlier tonight, with Lieutenant Governor John Lindauer declining to participate and all other candidates not being invited, the top five candidates in the polls – former Congressman Will Hensley (D) in fifth place, TV show host Bob Ross (I) in fourth, retiring US Congressman Jay Kerttula (R) in third, former Juneau Mayor Bill Overstreet (I) in second, and businessman Bill Sheffield (D) in first – discussed the merits of the Alaska recall and their cases for why they should replace Governor Fink. …While a heated exchange broke out between Sheffield and Overstreet, Ross stood poised and collected, likely due to his many years working on TV. His call for “less squabbling, more speaking” made him come off as gubernatorial material…

[pic: https://imgur.com/KJcN8vL.png ]
Above: Bob Ross (I-AK) stood out in tonight’s debate with both his unique getup and his mesmerizingly convincing rhetoric

– The Los Angeles Times, 10/15/1988



OUTSIDERS ON THE RISE, NEW RECALL POLLS REVEAL

…Ross has risen to third place in the polls, behind businessman Bill Sheffield and former Juneau Mayor Bill Overstreet. Sheffield and Ross have never held public office before; both Ross and Overstreet are Independents while Sheffield is a Democrat…

– Juneau Empire, Alaska newspaper, 10/18/1988



REAGAN: “An issue that isn’t getting enough attention is the farming crisis in the Great Plains. Coupled with a drought ravaging the Midwest, the rural workers of the US need a break – a tax break. That will free them from the burden of unruly taxation and in turn give millions the independence to tackle the problems they are facing.”

[snip]

BELLAMY: “Social Security was called communistic. Medicare was called communistic. Peaceniks and Civil Rights activists were even called communistic. Now the naysayers, including Maureen and especially Glen, call Universal Healthcare communistic, even after communism collapsed in Russia. The Soviet Union is gone; the people are moving on, and so must we. We have to rise above the false narratives of the opponents of positive change. The rest of the world is adopting Universal Healthcare; it’s proving and proven to work across Europe, in Canada, and elsewhere. It is a new chapter in world history, and I think America should join the rest of the world, if not lead the rest of the world, onto the new pages that lay ahead of us.”

[snip]

BELL: “A job – an honest living – is when an employer buys your work, your abilities, your talent. When you’re starving, you work for food, when you’re thirsty you work for water. Government bureaucracy interferes with that whole thing. [snip] Me, though, I’m a hard worker – I was a farm kid, I don’t know when to stop working – and if you elect me President, I’ll work for you, the custo- uh, the American people.”

– Transcript of the Second Bellamy-Reagan-Bell Presidential debate, 10/20/1988



Guest Star JANE CURTIN (as Carol Bellamy): “I know what you’re thinking, America – how did the bookworm behind the desk at your local library end up as your next President? Well that’s the magic of the Big Apple. One minute you’re fighting down contractors trying to rip you off over the hack job they did filling in potholes, and the next minute you’re on the cusp on having the nuclear launch codes, and the well-being of a country of over 245 million people, right in the proverbial palm of your hands. Ah, we’re in for some fun times here, people!”

[snip]

Regular cast member JAN HOOKS (as Maureen Reagan): “But Daddy, I want the White House. Women can be terrible Presidents, too!”

Regular cast member PHIL HARTMAN (as Ronald Reagan): “No offense, Mermie, but if I couldn’t get the White House, and I had most of the GOP’s support, what chance do you have?”

HOOKS/REAGAN (sing-song, to the tune of Veruca Salt's "I want it now" song from the 1971 film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory"): “I want the house, I want the White House. Executive orders, and cens’ring reporters, and closing the borders, all now! Don’t care how, I want it now!”

[snip]

Regular cast member VICTORIA JACKSON (as Moderator 1): “Mr. Bell, what do you have to say about accusations that your campaign offices are glorified man caves and that your regional managers are all sexist pigs?”

Regular cast member JON LOVITZ (as Glen Bell): “Heh-heh, hey, easy there. Down, girl. Ha – ” (booed by audience) “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, come on, can’t you women ever take a joke? Heh! But seriously, I think women – I mean woman reporters – I mean women – I mean reporters, they’ve got it all wrong. A lot of my supporters like my image more than they regret marrying their wives or resent their erectile dysfunction.” (counts on fingers) “I like beer, I like football, I’m a simple Colonel Sanders-like farm boy from coastal California, I’m a successful businessman who likes trains like Colonel Sanders, I’m not some chick wanting to be in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal, and even though I’m loaded, I don’t drive a Cadillac – my chauffeur does. And did I mention I like beer and football? And that I’m like the Colonel? Because I’m practically a wealthy version of Jack Kemp plus Colonel Sanders. A Jacknel Kempders if you will.”

Guest Star JOHN BELUSHI [8] (as Jack Kemp): (jumps onto stage): “Hold it right there!”

Cast member DENNIS MILLER (as Moderator 2): “President Kemp! What are you doing here?”

BELUSHI/KEMP: “If any meathead is going throw a wrench into the works here and mess up this election, it’s going to be me! Gimme that!” (grabs entire podium prop away from Lovitz/Bell, places it in center of stage and stands behind it) “People, you’re all regretting not voting for me now, aren’t ya? Now that tensions are heating up in India, China, and some fantasy realm called Armenia, suddenly having to choose between these people – a schoolmarm lookalike, a do-nothing ex-Senator, and a guy who can’t even make a real Mexican taco – doesn’t sound too great now, does it? Listen, if I can keep track of four sons all named ‘Jay,’ I can keep track of the economy and foreign affairs. So let’s just write-in my name in November and we can go back to the way things were – terrible, but predictably terrible! Nothing more American than that, right?!”

CURTIN/BELLAMY: “Hey, Jack, maybe people don’t want to go back in time to the primitive and backward days of 1985. Unlike the others here, I want to upend the status quo." (dramatic lighting) "I want all of my fellow Americans from every corner of the country – from the Bronx to Staten Island – to have universal health coverage via a cost-effective healthcare system, to have women’s rights and children’s health protected, to win the fight against poverty and hunger nationwide and worldwide,” (sing-song) “to dream…the impossible dream…to reach…the unreachable…stars!” (cheers from audience)

LOVITZ/BELL: “You know something, Carol? You’re kinda hot when you’re feisty!”

– Snippets of Saturday Night Live comedy sketch, Saturday 10/22/1988



BOB ROSS: An Unexpected Insurgent

…Standing tall a 6-foot-2 (and even taller if you include the iconic 'fro), Ross is utilizing his captivating speaking voice with a massive public radio campaign. Feeling no shame in being a ninth grade drop-out (in order to better support himself and his family by becoming a carpenter with his father), a tidbit with which he compares himself to President Sanders to prove “you don’t have to be in academia to be smart,” Ross nevertheless promotes more funding for public schools all across Alaska. A naturally shy man who does not like to toot his own horn too much, he only occasionally mentioning his military service during the Cuba War, which nevertheless has led to him winning the support of pro-peace war veterans across the state. Ross does not even talk about is small percentage of Cherokee Nation DNA despite it possibly helping him win over Native Americans in the states, says business associate and friend Annette Kowalski: “Bob doesn’t like to brag about himself too much.” In regards to Ross’ surprisingly significant amount of support from middle class Alaskans, Kowalski adds “Bob could be a steward of nature, a healer, a democratic builder of communities, and a magnetic teacher, and the Alaskan people are beginning to take note of this.” …Ross says, “You won’t find my paintings in a museum because most painters want recognition, especially by their peers. I achieved that a long time ago with TV. I don’t need any more.[9] This campaign is like that – this is not for me but for the people of Alaska, because they deserve a governor who cares. They deserve a pragmatic Governor that will address the major and minor concerns of all who live and work and play in this beautiful and blessed state.”

– Time Magazine, late October 1988 issue



…the latest polls show that businessmen Glen Bell’s numbers are continuing to slide amid claims of sexist bigotry from surrogates as well his subjectively poor performances in both Presidential debates. The latest numbers have Bell at roughly 8.3%, with Bellamy still leading at roughly 42.4%, but with Reagan narrowing the gap between her and the Mayor, as the former Ambassador's numbers have risen to roughly 41.1%. The remaining roughly 8.1% is undecided…

– NBC News, 10/25/1988 broadcast



COLONEL SANDERS STUMPS FOR REAGAN IN APPALACHIA

…despite being 98 years old and suffering from diabetes, The Colonel still has a spring in his step. Travelling first to Nashville, Tennessee today in a five-state sweep, the living American icon aims to aid Reagan in her bid to keep the GOP in the White House…

– The Dayton Daily News, 10/26/1988



DESPITE POLL DEFLATION, BELL’S CORE SUPPORTERS ARE STILL CONFIDENT HE’LL WIN

…says one supporter certain that Bell’s victory is inevitable, “People will go to the polls, see who the major parties are offering, and turn them down.”…

– The Washington Post, “exposé” article, 10/28/1988



“Build a Better Future Today” “Democracy Calls”

– Reagan/Lugar slogans, c. late October 1988



…It’s 11:30 PM. Bellamy is leading Reagan in the popular and electoral vote. While several states in the Midwest are currently leaning to Bellamy, several states farther west are still too close to call, while the electorally-rich state of California is still too early to call... As you can see on the map here, where we are using blue for Bellamy and red for Reagan [10], the Mayor of New York City is doing very well in the east… Senator Litton can be credited for Bellamy winning the state of Missouri…

– CBS Evening News, 11/8-9/1988 broadcast

[pic: https://imgur.com/L71nIzN ]

Tickets:
Carol Bellamy (NY) / Jerry Litton (MO) (Democratic) – 44,593,331 (46.5%)
Maureen Reagan (CA) / Richard Lugar (IN) (Republican) – 39,894,249 (41.6%)
Glen Bell (CA) / Bill Daniels (CO) (Independent) – 7,288,371 (7.6%)
Larry McDonald (GA) / James B. Irwin (CO) (Exposure) – 1,630,293 (1.7%)
Utah Phillips (UT) / Robert Edmund Poli (OH) (American Democratic Labor) – 1,054,896 (1.1%)
Danny Davis (IL) / Dorothy Ray Healey (DC) (Progressive Society) – 479,498 (0.5%)
Robert Franklin Williams (NC) / Angela Davis (CA) (Communist Party USA) – 383,598 (0.4%)
All others – 191,799 (0.2%)
Total – 95,516,035 (100%)

– clickopedia.co.usa



Voter turnout among male voters was lower than usual, while young voters and female voters showed up at the polls in record-breaking numbers. The narrowest states of the night were California, North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, and Ohio in that order. Bell underperformed; his support spread practically evenly across the nation, his highest state-level shares of the vote came from his running mate’s home state of Colorado (10.0%), and the conservative state of Utah (9.1%).

McDonald’s Exposure Party – a broad conservative anti-establishment party meant to unite the former backers of the “Country,” “Defense” and “Heritage and Independence” parties of yesteryear – sought to capitalize on Bell’s drop in support. Utah Phillips of the Democratic Labor party (listed as Labor or American Democratic Labor in some states) received some media attention during the race, as well as fellow candidate Robert Franklin Williams (a controversial African-American “radical” heavily supportive of China’s government and Li Xiannian).

The commonly-stated claim that Bellamy would have lost the election if Bell and McDonald had not split the conservatives are unfounded. While Reagan and Bell’s combined total was 49.2%, compared to Bellamy’s 46.5%, exit polling in November revealed that nearly a third of Bell’s supporters were conservative Democrats, most of whom stated Bellamy was their second choice due to party loyalty. Bellamy’s numbers (46.5%) combined with that 30.0% of Bell’s total of 7.6% (2.3%) creates 48.8%, while Reagan’s numbers (41.6%) combined with Bell’s remaining votes (5.3%) and McDonald’s votes (1.7%) equals 48.6%, meaning that theoretically Bellamy still would have won more votes (albeit only roughly 0.2% more of the total vote) than Reagan if Bell had not entered the race. That does not even take into account the number of liberal voters who voted for Reagan, as those figures are muddled by conflicting polling data. However, adding the votes won by left-leaning candidates Phillips and Davis to Bellamy’s total rises it even further, to a majority of 50.4% of the total popular vote.

Additionally, polls prior to Bell’s entry showed Bellamy leading by five points on average, though “undecided” voters received 20% on average in said polls as well...

– Steven J. Rosenstone and Edward H. Lazarus’ Third Parties in America: Citizens Responding to Major Party Failures, Princeton University Press, 1992



United States Senate election results, 1988

Date: November 8, 1988
Seats: 33 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Senate minority leader: Bob Dole (R-KS)
Seats before election: 53 (D), 46 (R), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 54 (D), 45 (R), 1 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 1, R v 1, I - 0

Full List:
Arizona: incumbent Barry Goldwater (R) over Harry Braun (D) over Peter Dunn (Independent Republican)
California: incumbent Richard Nixon (R) over Stetson Kennedy (D), Stanley Bruce Herschensohn (Conservative), Hugh G. Bagley (Independent), Maria E. Munoz (Natural Mind) and Merton Short (Country)
Connecticut: incumbent Antonina P. Uccello (R) over Rosa DeLauro (D)
Delaware: incumbent William Victor Roth Jr. (R) over Shien Biau Woo (D)
Florida: incumbent Lawton Chiles (D) over Louis Frey Jr. (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Patsy Mink (D) over Maria M. Hustace (R) and Ken Schoolland (Liberty)
Indiana: Katie Hall (D) over incumbent Earl Landgrebe (R)
Maine: incumbent Edmund S. Muskie (D) over Jasper S. Wyman (R)
Maryland: incumbent Paul Sarbanes (D) over Alan Keyes (R)
Massachusetts: incumbent Eunice Kennedy-Shriver (D) over Joseph Malone (R)
Michigan: Elly Maude Peterson (R) over Milton Robert “Bob” Carr (D); incumbent George W. Romney (R) retired
Minnesota: incumbent Joan Growe (D) over Arlen Overvig (R)
Mississippi: William Webster “Webb” Franklin (R) over Dick Molpus (D); incumbent John C. Stennis (D) retired
Missouri: incumbent Jerry Litton (D) over Norvell William “Bill” Emerson (R)
Montana: Jack Mudd (D) over incumbent Ron Marlenee (R)
Nebraska: incumbent Ted Sorensen (D) over David Karnes (R) and Ernie Chambers (New Alliance)
Nevada: incumbent Paul Laxalt (R) over Richard Bryan (D)
New Jersey: Mary V. Mochary (R) over Jim Florio (D)
New Mexico: incumbent Pedro Jimenez (D) over Bill Valentine (R)
New York: incumbent Michael Rockefeller (R/L) over Edolphus Towns (D), Adelle R. Nathanson (Conservative) and Charlene Mitchell (Progressive)
North Dakota: incumbent Arthur Albert Link (D) over Kenneth C. Gardner (R)
Ohio: incumbent John Glenn (D) over John R. Kasich Jr. (R)
Pennsylvania: Darcy Richardson (D) over incumbent Bud Shuster (R)
Rhode Island: Claudine Schneider (R) over incumbent Robert Owens Tiernan (D)
Tennessee: incumbent Albert Gore Sr. (D) over Bill Anderson (R)
Texas: Ann Richards (D) over Audie Murphy (R), Eldon Boulter (Liberty), Albert G. Bustamante (La Raza Unida); incumbent James M. Collins (R) retired
Utah: incumbent Frank E. Moss (D) over Wilford V. Oveson (R)
Vermont: incumbent Phil Hoff (D) over Mike Griffes (R) and Jerry Levy (Liberty Union)
Virginia: incumbent Harry F. Byrd (I) over Abner Linwood “Lin” Holton Jr. (R) and Gerald Baliles (D)
Washington: Jolene Unsoeld (D) over John Spellman (R) and Floyd Hicks (Independent Democratic); incumbent appointee Norm Dicks (D) lost nomination
West Virginia: incumbent Robert C. Byrd (D) over M. J. Wolfe (R)
Wisconsin: Susan Engeleiter (R) over Herb Kohl (D); incumbent William Proxmire (D) retired
Wyoming: incumbent John S. Wold (R) over John Vinich (D)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States House of Representatives results, 1988

Date: November 8, 1988
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218
New House majority leader: Hale Boggs (D-LA)
New House minority leader: Robert Smith Walker (R-PA)
Last election: 232 (D), 202 (R), 1 (I)
Seats won: 235 (D), 198 (R), 2 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 3, R v 4, I ^ 1

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States Governor election results, 1988

Date: November 8, 1988
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 11
Seats before: 35 (D), 15 (R), 0 (I)
Seats after: 38 (D), 11 (R), 1 (I)
Seat change: D ^ 3, R v 4, I ^ 1

Full list:
Alaska (recall): Bob Ross (I) over various others; incumbent Tom Fink (R) successfully recalled
Delaware: incumbent Michael Castle (R) over Jacob Kreshtool (D)
Indiana: Evan Bayh (D) over John Mutz (R); incumbent Dan Quayle (R) retired
Missouri: incumbent Betty Cooper Hearnes (D) over Mike Roberts (R) and John Ashcroft (Country)
Montana: incumbent Dorothy Bradley (D) over Stan Stephens (R)
New Hampshire: incumbent Calvin Warburton (R) over Paul McEachern (D)
North Carolina: Harvey Gantt (D) over incumbent Liddy Gardner (R), Ruby T. Hooper (Independent) and Jesse Helms (Exposure)
North Dakota: incumbent George A. Sinner (D) over Rosemarie Myrdal (R)
Utah: John Huntsman Sr. (R) over incumbent Wayne Owens (D)
Vermont: Jan Backus (D) over David Gates (R) and Richard F. Gottlieb (Liberty Union); incumbent Richard A. Snelling (R) retired
Washington: Ellen Craswell (R) over John Jovanovich (D); incumbent Daniel J. Evans (R) retired
West Virginia: Gaston Caperton (D) over incumbent Cecil Underwood (R) and Jack Fellure (Exposure)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



Reagan’s “Rational Conservativism” renewed faith in the GOP’s electability for many Republicans, leading her candidacy to perform better than expected in November. Furthermore, in states that had voted for Reagan, Republicans actually saw some gains in respective state legislatures. The narrowness of the election was credited to the campaigning of former President Colonel Sanders and other “rational conservatives” who made up most of what few Republicans had won election to the federal and state legislative elections. A week before the election, The Colonel stated, “There’s no sense in only focusing on candidates in some states here or there. There’s only 50 states. It’s not like in Russia where they have, I think, over 70 states and several different types of states. You don’t have to be from Kentucky to know to not put all your eggs in just a few baskets. That’s why I’m supporting Republican candidates everywhere, from Oregon to Maine.” In total, Sanders spent more than twice as much time campaigning for congressional and gubernatorial candidates – most notably Webb Franklin and Jon Huntsman Sr. – than for Maureen Reagan. However, the victories of moderate Republicans such as Susan Engeleiter and Claudine Schneider made many Republican donors, pundits, and bigwigs begin to suspect that the GOP would benefit from leaning further to the center than to the right, causing some party organizers to begin to plan accordingly in preparation of races in 1989 and 1990…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019



TOM FINK RECALLED! BOB ROSS ELECTED TO SUCCEED HIM IN STUNNING UPSET!

…One of the most closely-followed elections this year finally ended this morning, at 2:00 AM EST, when art instructor and environmental activist Bob Ross was declared the victor in the race to recall Governor Tom Fink of the state of Alaska. His stunning victory comes after polls on the eve of the election showed a close three-way-tie between Ross (I), the more conservative Bill Overstreet (I), and the moderate Bill Sheffield (D), with Congressman Kerttula in a distant fourth… Ross’ campaign appealed to progressives, liberals, and libertarians due to its apolitical tone and its positive and optimistic demeanor that dominated Alaska talk radio for the past several weeks…

– The Los Angeles Times, 11/9/1988

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

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



BOB ROSS SWORN IN AS NEW GOVERNOR OF ALASKA

– The Washington Post, 11/15/1988



What the American people did not know was that over the course of the campaign, a troubled man had been lurking in the shadows, trying to disrupt the democratic process. George Pierre Hennard, a 32-year-old unemployed former member of the US Merchant Marines from Texas, known for being belligerent and temperamental, had tried and failed to find an opportunity to assassinate either Maureen Reagan or Carol Bellamy several times throughout the general election. In late November, he decided to try and assassinate Bellamy on her inauguration day. However, Hennard, living out of his car in Baltimore, Maryland, was running low on cash, and so attempted to hold up a convenience store on November 23, only to be tackled to the ground by two women customers – one of them being an off-duty police officer. His journals found soon afterward revealed his desire to kill women he deemed to be “evil vipers,” and described how it was easier to “get close to” Bellamy due to her being more welcoming with crowds of supporters, and due to her having less security, while Reagan, who was both a former Senator and part of a political dynasty, was often well-guarded. It was these revelations that lead to the passing of a federal law in 1990 that allowed presidential candidates to obtain Secret Service protection. Also in 1990, Hennard was found guilty of attempted murder and other charges relating to previous incidents of misogynistic pestering and threats. He was sentenced to life in prison, and died of colorectal cancer last year.

– Caroline Heldman’s Historic: The Unfolding of the Presidential Election of 1988, Meredith Books, 2018



…Tonight in South America, the people of Venezuela took to the polls to pick for their nation a new President. The results are in, and it appears that neoliberal economics professor, former Commerce Secretary, and former member of congress Teodoro Petkoff has won the election with roughly 55% of the vote. Petkoff, who is of Bulgarian, Jewish and Polish ancestry, was supported by the popular-but-term-limited incumbent populist President Jose Rangel as rival political parties, quote, “fail to understand the issues as expertly as Petkoff,” unquote. The runner-up, Carlos Andres, is calling for a recount despite winning only roughly 30% of the vote earlier tonight…

– BBC World News, 4 December 1988



China’s recession led to anti-Li sentiment arising within the politburo, making the Premier and his followers finally take note of the reality of their situation. The coastal cities were becoming less overcrowded not because of sending former Lin Biao supporters to live out west, but because housing reform under the supervising of Deng’s Minister of Housing had led to the populations of Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Foshan and Shenyang to become more evenly spread out among the surrounding areas. An excellent example of this was actually found in Chonqing, which is closer to the center of the country than to the coast; this urban municipality (and its corresponding province) saw its population nearly double from 1977 to 1987, but it received little fanfare. Regardless, the fact remained that the catalyst for the genocide against the western ethnicities – the overcrowded coastal cities – was dissipating, and with it, the “need” for the genocide. Deciding to stay the course, Li opted to hold out on making any major moves on the world stage until America’s Carol Bellamy was sworn into the office of the US Presidency, in order to better see if she would be a weak leader to confront, or a strong leader to which Li would be forced to in some way yield.

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



MEXICO’S PRESIDENT-ELECT ALVAREZ PRAISES KEMP’S LATEST IMMIGRATION REFORM

…with this year’s Presidential election dominating the airwaves, President Kemp has been busy on the sidelines getting several bills passed and improving America’s standing and influence abroad. Earlier today, Kemp visited Mexico City on a diplomatic trip, and was highly celebrated in a speech given by President-Elect Luis Alvarez for Kemp’s recent immigration policies. Most recently – last week – Kemp extended working visas for workers with families living with them in the US, and ordered his Attorney General to investigate accusations of labor abuse law violations in Florida. Since Alvarez’s election this past July, US-Mexico relations have been increasingly friendly, with Kemp calling his counterpart “the good kind of game-changer [for] America’s next-door neighbor.” Kemp has also stated he hopes Alvarez and Bellamy will retain this relationship come January 20…

– The Santa Fe New Mexican, 12/9/1988



…talks between the heads of state of Azerbaijan and Armenia have broken down as militant groups overwhelm Azerbaijan officials in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh…

– The Overmyer Network, 12/10/1988 news report



BELLAMY MEETS WITH KEMP IN D.C. AS NEW CABINET BEING ASSEMBLED

– The Washington Post, 12/11/1988



ANTI-ABORTION BILL FAILS TO ADVANCE IN SENATE VOTE

Washington, DC – Just ahead of their winter recess, the US Senate failed to advance an anti-abortion bill earlier today, the first vote on an abortion-related bill Congress has held this year, in an election year that saw abortion access become a major playing role in campaigns at the federal, state and even local levels. The vote failed on bipartisan lines, demonstrating the complexity of the topic in regards to our lawmakers’ political positions concerning it…

– The Washington Times, 12/14/1988



ELECTORAL COLLEGE CONFIRMS THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

…The nation awaits the administration of its first Madame President...

– The New York Times, 12/21/1988



In 2003, Kemp’s former Attorney General revealed that Kemp had considered resigning from office prior to the two-year mark of his Presidency. “The 22nd Amendment makes it so no President can serve two full, or four-year, terms if they have already served for more than half of a term, or two years, meaning that Kemp 'missed' qualifying for a second full term by just under a month. Jack was considering running for President again in 1992, and believed that if he resigned before December 28th, before serving more than half a term, he would become eligible for two full terms instead of for just one. I agreed with his interpretation of the law, but informed him that others might not, and thus could potentially create a constitutional crisis.” Apparently, the situation was rendered moot when First Lady Joanna and Vice President Polonko, both of whom opposed the idea, talked Jack out of it, the latter worrying that it would create a “dangerous precedence” of some sort.

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



…On January 1st, 1989 [11], the first technet companies catering to commercial users began selling technet access to commercial customers in the United States and the Netherlands…

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



…After working for several veterans’ affairs non-profit organizations and going on a book tour, Murphy announced on January 30, 1988, that he would run for the US Senate. He ran on foreign policy issues, emphasizing his war record and the positive aspects of his time in the Denton Cabinet. After winning the GOP primary by a sizeable margin, the 63-year-old faced state treasurer Ann Richards in the general election, along with right-leaning Liberty party nominee Eldon Boulter, and left-leaning La Raza Unida party nominee Albert G. Bustamante. In two debates with Richards, Murphy was described as more charismatic and charming, but failed to efficiently answer questions on domestic policy issues; Richards was declared the winner of both debates. Murphy’s campaign was damaged further when Boulter began criticizing his former gambling issues. The election was one of the most closely-watched of the November 1988 races, with Richards winning by a 4.1% margin and both prominent third-parties underperforming; Bustamante received 2.1% of the vote, while Boulter received 1.7% of the vote.

In early January 1989, Murphy re-entered military academia by accepting a professorship position at West Point…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Audie_Murphy



RUSSIA AND TURKESTAN SIGN SATELLITE LAUNCHPAD TREATY

Minsk, BELARUS – United Turkestan’s Mukhtar Ablyazov and Russia’s Vladimir Volkov today signed an international deal in which United Turkestan will lease old formerly Soviet space exploration-related factories and sites, most noticeably satellite launching locations in the UT’s northern “nation” of Kazakhstan, in order for Russia’s space agency to continue projects upended by the breakup of the USSR. Ablayazov believes leasing the launch sites will be an “exemplary” source of income for the budding young nation, which is low in population but geographically vast and “full of natural resources and opportunities,” Ablyazov said at the signing ceremony in Minsk, Belarus, earlier today…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 13/1/1989



Despite spending less than 25 months in office during the late 1980s, Kemp played an instrumental role at a most pivotal time in American history. The Cold War had come to a close two years earlier, but America risked losing the title of “World’s last superpower” as the Great Potomac Scandals damaged both Americans’ faith in their government and the world’s romanticizing view of America. Kemp righted the ship by running an open, honest, and pragmatic administration, with its worst scandal being the one concerning his Secretary of Defense. A scandal that, in retrospect, is considered so petty and superfluous that not only does it highlight the difference between the Denton and Kemp administrations, but our current Secretary of Defense once remarked “If today’s political climate was around back then, Dunagan could have run for President on it.” Kemp greatly improved US relations abroad, becoming the most-traveled President since the Colonel Sanders administration. His “gentle hand” approach to Russia kept it economically afloat, and his firm, if not delayed, approach to China influenced future events.

Domestically, Kemp’s signature ZEDs and tenant ownership policies were instrumental to several urban cities. Reportedly, more Americans felt a greater sense of pride is owning their homes. Areas once plagued by petty crime and eyesores such as broken windows, graffiti and unkempt building facades saw impressive turnarounds as residents began investing more into their homes, neighborhoods, and local communities, which in turn helped bring in more businesses and residents. The quality of life improved on average nationwide between 1986 and 1988, with the two policies often being cited for it.

Politically, Kemp’s broad multi-lane ideology has been retrospectively seen as a “watershed event” in the history of the Republican Party. Kemp’s presidency came to a close at a time when (in wake of Maureen Reagan’s election loss) the GOP’s moderate wing was shrinking, while its three “conservative” branches – rational (moderate-to-conservative), populist, and libertarian – were growing in terms of prominence, support, and influence.

In his 1989 farewell address, Kemp praised the American people for making his two years as their President “the most wonderful and most productive years of [my] life,” and called for “sensible governance” and “vigilance from the people” in the years ahead, warning, either in a jab at the President-elect’s pro-choice policies that he opposed, or in a reference to President Denton, “Democracy without morality is impossible.” [12]

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



“Tremendous change can be intimidating; the fear of the unknown always is. But change for the better is an American tradition. …This administration will seek to end a situation that violates the innocent – the use of child labor. …My fellow Americans have demonstrated time and again that their financial resources, leadership and expertise can bring about real and lasting benefits for the world. …This administration will build alliances, advance health efforts, expand employment opportunities and access to education, ensure basic services for and improve the incomes of the poor and provide their children with decent education. This administration will improve equality, equity, and protection for all... We are Americans; we are ready, we are willing, and we are capable of addressing, overcoming and defeating challenges that stand before us as we create a bright new future for us all.” [13]

– Carol Bellamy, 1/20/1989

[pic: https://imgur.com/zIsRNLS ]
Carol Bellamy, the 40th President of the United States​

THE BELLAMY ADMINISTRATION AT THE BEGINNING OF 1989

Cabinet:
Secretary of State: former Mayor of Pittsburgh, former Assistant Attorney General, and US Representative Peter Francis Flaherty (D-PA)
Secretary of the Treasury: incumbent President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minnesota Gerald E. Corrigan (D-MN)
Secretary of Defense: US Representative and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Robert J. Lagomarsino (R-CA)
Attorney General: African-American female Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Amalya Lyle Kearse (I-NY)
Postmaster General: FedEx Corporation founder and CEO Frederick Wallace Smith (R-TN)
Secretary of the Interior: former Governor Tony Anaya (D-NM)
Secretary of Agriculture: former state Agricultural Commissioner John Coyle White (D-TX)
Secretary of Commerce: US Representative Andrew Young (D-GA)
Deputy Secretary of Commerce: Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Manuel Holman “Manley” Johnson (R-AL)
Secretary of Labor: former Administrator of the National Roadways Safety Administration, former US Secretary of Transportation, and incumbent EPA Administrator Ralph Nader (I-CT)
Deputy Secretary of Labor: African-American teachers’ union leader Mary Hatwood Futrell (I-DC)
Secretary of Education: President of the Children’s Defense Fund Marian Wright Edelman (D-DC)
Secretary of Health and Welfare: US Under Secretary of Education Ann Dunham (I-HI)
Secretary of Transportation: state secretary of Transportation Frederick P. Salvucci (I-MA)
Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs: US Representative, former state secretary of Human Services, and former state representative Philip W. Johnston (D-MA)
Secretary of Energy and Technology (position established in February 1989): US Senator Peter N. Kyros (D-ME)

Cabinet-Level Positions:
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency: African American attorney, form Chief National Security Advisor and former assistant to the US Secretary of Defense Togo D. West Jr. (I-NC)
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation: lawyer, former US Undersecretary of State, former Special Counsel for the US House, and former US Secretary of Labor Robert F. Kennedy (D-VA)
US Trade Representative: Harvard professor of economics Myer Rashish (R-CT)

The President’s Executive Office:
White House Chief of Staff: global systems research scholar and analyst Joan E. Spero (D-NY)
White House Counsel: state chief of staff Bill Kjeldahl (D-MN)
Counselors to the President: education policy analyst Diane Silvers Ravitch (D-NY) and economist James McGill Buchanan Jr. (I-VA)
Chief Domestic Policy Advisor: author and First Amendment defender John Seigenthaler (D-TN)
Chief Economic Policy Advisor: African-American attorney and antitrust law specialist Charles Albert James (I-AZ)
Chief Foreign Policy Advisor: former Director of A.C.T.I.O.N. and former Director of the Peace Corps Sam W. Brown Jr. (G-IA)
Chief National Security Advisor: former district court judge and outgoing US Deputy Attorney General Elmo Hunter (I-MO)
Director of the Office of Management and Budget: Director of the US Congressional Budget Office Georgianna Alice Mitchell (D-PA)
White House Communications Director: former campaign organizer John Sasso (D-MA)
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: former US Representative Carey Peck (D-CA)

Other Notable Members:
Solicitor General (the Federal Government’s representative in Supreme Court cases): constitution law professor and scholar Ronald Myles Dworkin (I-RI)
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: former US Secretary of the Army and outgoing US Undersecretary of Defense Col. John W. Shannon (I-KY)
Federal Reserve Chairman: Stanford University law professor and former Harvard University law professor John Hart Ely (I-FL)
NASA Director: NASA scientist and incumbent Director Farouk El-Baz (I-TX) retained

Notable US Ambassadors (in alphabetical order):
To Argentina: former Governor and former US Secretary of the Interior Jay Hammond (R-AK)
To Canada: US Representative Don Edwards (D-CA)
To China: retiring US Representative Itimous Thaddeus Valentine Jr. (D-NC)
To Colombia: outgoing US Ambassador to Mexico Benjamin Fernandez (R-CA)
To Russia: former US Representative and former Special Liaison to Russia for the US State Department Claude Gilbert “Mike” McCormack (D-WA)
To the U.K.: outgoing US Representative, former state Comptroller and former US Deputy Secretary of Education Michael Bakalis (D-IL)
To the U.N.: outgoing US Secretary of Defense Larry Miles Dinger (R-IA)

– CarolBellamyPresidentialLibrary.org.usa/cabinet_members/1989



Dunham’s time at the Department of Education under Presidents Denton and Kemp saw her oversee successful projects concerning rural development in the Midwest, women’s rights, microcredit programs for low-income families with grade-level children and the poor, human rights, and improving the quality of life for Native American nations. Dunham also worked with the World Food Bank, and had been an early supporter of Bellamy’s grassroots campaign... [snip] …Dunham got along well with Robert F. Kennedy, whose own nomination process had been even more contentious than Dunham’s. Either a concession or a peace offering to Senator Kennedy-Shriver, Robert F. Kennedy was the US undersecretary of State from 1961 to 1965, the US Secretary of Labor from 1973 to 1981, and had served as a special counsel during the early stages of the Lukens Hush Money. Nevertheless several Democrats and Republicans on the Hill alleged he was “unqualified” for the position of FBI director. However, Kennedy demonstrated an encyclopedic understanding of the bureau’s inner workings, and he was confirmed by a narrow margin.

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] OTL quote!
[2] As seen here, in this Taco Bell commercial from 1988: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltXZD3sXcpA
[3] Italicized passage is an OTL quote!
[4] Italicized parts are OTL quotes!
[5] Italicized passages are taken from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Wikipedia page.
[6] The site philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/people/hall-of-fame/… claims Daniels “reached out to those down on their luck, those who abused slochol and drugs, and those who suffered from mental and physical disabilities. He provided scholarships,” etc, and the site has the following quote from Bill Daniels: “I think God told me as a young man to share my good fortune with others…Believe me, it is a real joy to me to be able to help people.”
[7] Italicized parts are from an OTL Mondale’84 brochure: http://www.4president.org/brochures/1984/mondale1984brochure.htm
[8] ITTL, he’s been slowly trying to overcome depression and his drug addiction since almost dying from the latter via overdose in 1981. My apologies for forgetting to mention this back in the 1981 chapter(s); I’ll cover it more in the next chapter if anyone’s interested in it.
[9] OTL Bob Ross quote!
[10] Based on the OTL “R – red – Reagan” coloring bit from 1980: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IS7W9XSoq8
[11] One year earlier than in OTL.
[12] OTL Jack Kemp quote.
[13] Italicized parts are OTL Carol Bellamy quotes.

Igeo654 said:
OK, so, the Internet is gonna be called the ''TechNet'' eventually ITTL? Seems like a catchier name, (even though I have seen at least one instance of it being called the Internet on this page.) Makes one wonder if the term ''The Information Mine'' could end up conquering the name ''World Wide Web.'' (Please correct me if I'm wrong or forgetting something.)

Whoops, that's a typo; it should be technet. Fixed it; thanks!

 

[gap80]

Post 52: Chapter 60

Chapter 60: February 1989 – December 1989

“Learning is not attained by chance…It must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”

– Abigail Adams [1]



…Bellamy laid out her ambitious left-wing agenda in her first State of the Union address, which occurred on February 9, 1989. Her call for implementing guaranteed employment, a National Initiative and Referendum Amendment, and, most importantly in her eyes, the passing of Universal Health Care. She pointed to the stability of the economy as being a sign that the US could afford to make “our next giant leap.” While conservative and libertarian economists, most vocally Murray Rothbard, feared the UHC’s passing would lead to a rise in inflation, Bellamy privately believed that should this occur, a slight tax hike on “wealthier” Americans would offset the situation. Bellamy also called for raising the minimum wage, leading to like-minding politicians proposing such legislation weeks later at the federal level and the state levels...

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017



Ross had the nickname “Bust ’em up Bobby” in the military for a reason. …After leaving behind a public access show watched by over 80 million people [2], Ross met with state legislatures to win over as many allies as possible. Alaska was suffering from high domestic violence/rape rates due to remote locations and poor transportation capabilities that limited delayed the enforcement of laws. A National Geographic Article from 1983 describe conditions under Governor Bill Clinton that had not changed since: “Self-Dignity suffers daily along the strip of seamy honky-tonks on Anchorage’s Fourth Avenue… Alcohol abuse here makes no distinction between city and village, native or nonnative. One of every nine Alaskan adults has an alcohol problem, one of the worst rates in the country. Now a dry movement sweeps native communities in revulsion against days-long group binges. More than 50 villages have adopted prohibition laws amid drug and alcohol abuse studies supported by the Denton administration. Says Dr. Red Mala, an Eskimo physician… ‘We thought we’d get resistance, but people are so concerned that most communities support it. And we’re going to succeed because we have our roots here, and we have to live with the results.’” [3]

Ross strongly supported the dry movement, and sought to address these concerns by opening up at least two health clinics in every state county, and urged afflicted people to address their recreadrug and alcohol addictions. To this end, Ross also worked with state lawmakers – pressing the more reluctant of them with examples from their respective districts – workers suffering from alcohol, women suffering from violence – that demonstrated how they and their constituents would benefit from reforming the state’s mental health care system – to overhaul the state’s handling of the situation before the end of February 1989. Additionally, Ross donated 50% of his salary to homeless shelters and mental wellness centers across Alaska.

Ross faced difficulty convincing doctors to work in remote clinic locations, and so offered a tax breaks program for out-of-state medical students and physicians willing to relocate to these clinics. Ross also began looking into how to improve police response times in domestic disturbance calls…

– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012



…The U.S. President finally address the “Food For All” movement when Carol Bellamy reversed Jeremiah Denton’s food program policies, returning the flow of funds to food stamps and the federal W.I.C. Special Supplemental Nutrition Program. I joined Jeff Bridges, Willie Nelson, Cheech Marin and others in rejoicing the turnaround…

– Jim McGovern, 2009 interview



The battle over passing UHC raged across Washington D.C. Its endorsers took to citing historic precedence of recent years. For instance, the United Kingdom launched its universal National Health Service all the way back in 1948. Universal health care was next introduced in the Nordic countries of Sweden (1955), Iceland (1956), Norway (1956), Denmark (1961), and Finland (1964). Universal health insurance was then introduced in Japan (1961), and in Canada through stages, starting with the province of Saskatchewan in 1962, followed by the rest of Canada from 1968 to 1972. Even the Soviet Union extended universal health care to its rural residents in 1969, with Italy following suit in 1978. [4] Universal Healthcare coverage was introduced in South Korea in 1989, and was in the process of being introduced in Taiwan, Israel, Palestine, and Thailand at the time as well. “Most of the former Soviet nations have adopted some form or another, and even developing countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa are working on bringing their respective populations under universal health care systems. America used to lead the world in innovative ideas; now it’s going to have to play catch-up if it wants to lead the world into the 21st century,” proclaimed US Senator Katie Beatrice Hall (D-IN).

Opponents were often quick to note the differences between the US and other nations, arguing that the US was somehow too unique or complex to properly manage the perceived weighty cost of the UHC. Supporters, however, often countered such notions by pointing to the 18 states that now made up the multistate “Health Pact,” a collection of states with matching universal healthcare coverage. Studies showed that most of these states were better off financially that the states without any form of UHC. Senator Phil Hoff, who brought the Health Pact about by passing UHC in Vermont when he was said state’s governor, received high praise for inadvertently creating a “platform” of sorts on which the positive and negative aspects of UHC could be studied at the state and multistate levels before potential implementation at the federal level…

– T. R. Reid’s Healing America: Medicine and Healthcare in the United States, Penguin Books, 2010



…Per the request of President-Elect Carol Bellamy, Democratic lawmakers established the US Department of Energy and Technology via the aptly-named Department of Energy and Technology Act of 1989. The Senate approved the act 56-39 in early February, allowing for the nomination process of US Senator Peter Kyros to occur swiftly; he entered office on February 28. As the inaugural holder of the newest US Cabinet position, Kyros oversaw the implementation of federal tax breaks for charging power grids with wind-powered or solar-powered electricity instead of nuclear power. An ambitious project, it nevertheless was a transformative milestone in America that was met with fierce opposition from lobbyist from the oil/natural gas, coal, and nuclear power industries…

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017



HISTORIC SUMMIT FUELS PUSH FOR HIGHER K-12 STANDARDS

Charlottesville, VA – This weekend, the chief executives of 48 states and 3 territories gathered with President Bellamy at the University of Virginia in a muddle of bipartisan fellowship. Determined to bring about consensus on education goals in the U.S. over the next four years, in an effort co-led by Governors Edith Kirkpatrick (D-LA) and John Bayard Anderson (R-IL), the summit aims to establish exact goals for federal and state-wide education programs, and how they could be reached. And, most importantly for D.C., who should foot the bill for the education of the next generation of American citizens?

– The Washington Post, 3/5/1989



Dedicated to the job above all else, Carol was a 24-7 President. Burning the midnight oil was common, and calling people as late as 4:00 AM was not unheard of. She would often pretermit pleasantries and instead jump right into the meat of whatever matter she wanted to address …Carol spend hours every day sitting down with congresspersons and cabinet members as Republicans began to mount opposition to key parts of her education reform omnibus package…

– Mary Hatwood Futrell and Diane Silvers Ratich’s Within The Fray: Our Time Inside The Bellamy White House, Cornell University Press, 2014

[pic: imgur.com/UQtk3Kc ]
– President Bellamy in the Oval Office, 3/11/1989



JAN HOOKS NAILS IT AS BELLAMY IN LAST NIGHT’S SNL EPISODE

…the sketch saw Hooks play President Bellamy, presented like an impatient schoolteacher who treats congress and their leaders Bob Byrd (played by regular cast member Dana Carvey) and Bob Dole (played by guest star Norm McDonald) like a classroom of uncooperative students. Trying not to give up hope, Bellamy/Hooks repeatedly tempts to down a swig from a flask on her desk. Finally, the “teacher’s pet,” Senate Education Committee Chair Bronson LaFollette (played by regular cast member Phil Hartman) convinces the class to work on the class project (that being “how to keep Mr. Snuggles from dying without losing our lunch money”) in a purposely-convoluted metaphor for the complexities of converting the nation to universal healthcare without raising taxes...

– Variety magazine, 3/12/1989 issue



…Ross reversed Governor Fink’s policy of selling out state land which increased oil production but also timber deforestation. The new Governor reformed oil regulations, expanded restrictions on activities in nature preserves, and established Ecological Protection Zones, or “no tanker” zones, along 75% of the state’s coastline. In Juneau, he worked with moderates in the Republican-majority state legislature to pass an omnibus rural development package in March 1989 that incentivized schools to host smaller classroom sizes and establish one-on-one after-school tutoring programs, and aimed to establish safer-functioning roadways between Fairbanks and Anchorage, and between Juneau and Ketchikan. Concerned for the state’s animals, Ross also became an avid promoter of large wildlife crossings [5] in order to create major public works projects that would lower employment without disturbing local habitats and land migration patterns...

– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012



America’s President Bellamy responded to most foreign affairs with aid and relief packages. Their Peace Corps returned to the forefront of political news as Bellamy began humanitarian efforts in several countries in Africa and Asia affected by drought and other disasters. However, many Russians did not appreciate her offer to send medical supplies to the cities surrounding Yaroslavl during the flu epidemic that swept the region in 1989. The idea of a former world superpower receiving basic necessities from a former adversary was insults to enough Russians for a few pro-communist demonstrations to occur that year in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other urban areas. Their leaders alleged that the implementation of capitalist democracy was not working as the economic system was “in out-of-control disarray,” referring the Russian recession of 1989. “We [Russians] have lost our sense of identity. No longer are we a great power; we are a shell of our former selves,” said Alexander Rutskoy. One of many vocalizing support for a more socialist welfare system, Rutskoy, a Brigadier General [6], a veteran of the Soviet-Turkestani War, and a founding member of the communistic Patriotic Force political party, famously complained on Gorbachev’s talk radio show “Everyone had everything under communist rule, so everyone got something. We didn’t have the best apartment, but at least everyone had one. Now, privatization has transformed our town, including this very town, for the worse. Homeless people seen are everywhere! I think more people live outside than inside nowadays!” Volkov persevered, believing that the economy would recover once the long-term effects of public works projects and investments came about.

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

[pic: imgur.com/ifl8c8Z ]
– President Bellamy (far left) speaks with her four predecessors (left-to-right: Kemp, Denton, Mondale, and (seated) Sanders) ahead of a White House photo-op, 3/21/1989



“ARKED OUT” DOCTOR TO GET 30 YEARS FOR ABUSING MICHIGAN U STUDENT ATHLETES, JUDGE RULES

Ann Arbor, MI – Dr. Robert E. Anderson [8], the former director of the Health Services department of the University of Michigan, has been denied appeal and will soon begin the 30-year prison sentence he was given at his trial late last year. Anderson was “arked” out of his position at Michigan U in the summer of 1987, after several former athletes, encouraged by news reports concerning similar revelations concerning Dr. Richard Strauss of Ohio State University, came forward with claims that Anderson sexually abused them during medical exams. Police immediately investigated the reports, soon leading to Anderson being arrested in October of said year…

– The Detroit Free Press, 3/26/1989



…Labor Secretary Ralph Nader was incredibly active right off the bat, working closely with the President to combat worker abuse. Nader centralized the department, wanting to be aware of anything and everything that went on under his watch. Both cheap and humble, Bellamy and Nader preferred libraries to spotlights, though the latter was even more camera-shy. Still, the two soon became known for establishing a friendly rapport with one another. The fact that the two unmarried workaholics were often photographed sitting near or next to each other in cabinet meetings, though, led to some reporters, most infamously from the Hollywood Reporter, claim that a budding romance was unfolding. Such rumors went unsubstantiated, with Nader later revealing that he found such postulations to be “frustrating distractions” from “the issues at hand.” Speaking of which, as Labor Secretary, Nader came out against several popular activities over fear of worker safety – Monster truck rallies can damage hearing, sunbathing can give you cancer, and employment at retail stores, in a controversial 1989 study, was linked to depression and alcohol rates. Nader was most relentless, though, when it came to violations of the Occupational Unsafe Conditions and Hazards Act, or OUCHA, of 1966. Updated and expanded twice, Nader believed higher penalties were necessary to incentivize employers of guest visa employees to follow safety regulations, and began work on this front in March 1989…

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017

[pic: imgur.com/sgvvzAT.png ]

– U.S. Labor Secretary Ralph Nader, announcing a probe of the WWF’s safety features amid concerns of OUCHA violations, 4/4/1989



BELLAMY SIGNS WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW

– The Washington Post, 4/10/1989



…New reports reveal that support for ending Beijing’s actions in Xinjiang is growing considerably among Chinese merchants major and minor, and among politicians large and small, as the People’s Republic of China continues to reel from recession brought on by the international trade embargo…

– BBC World News, 4/11/1989

[pic: imgur.com/XrJYyme ]
– US Senator Harley Sanders walking with his father at the latter’s ranch home in Corbin, Kentucky, 4/12/1989



D.C. LAWMAKERS PONDER IF ABORTION SHOULD BE “A ‘FEDERAL’ ISSUE”

…concerns over the federal government’s in the debate over abortion – a complicated issue, with details ranging from healthcare coverage to when in the gestation period can or should a pregnancy be terminated to inter-state concerns – are dominating political discussions…

– The Washington Post, 4/15/1989



…FBI Director Robert F. Kennedy, with support from Attorney General Amalya Kearse, reformed counter-terrorism procedures, looking to conduct more collaborative missions with state and local law enforcement departments that addressed suspected activities without harming or endangering innocent local civilians. Criminal Justice reforms were much bolder, consistent with the new Director’s long-held attitudes toward corruption of labor workplaces, dating back to as early as his interrogation of James R. Hoffa (1913-1989), a labor leader later imprisoned for twelve years for various crimes, while working as counsel on a US Senate committee in 1957. In April 1989, a month after Hoffa's death from colorectal cancer, Kennedy began to increase taking aim at multiple suspected mafia members across the Eastern Seaboard…

…Agriculture reform under Secretary White to address food insecurity, farm debt, and other concerns culminated in the Agriculture Trade and Conservation Act of 1989, a broad market-oriented bill that temporarily froze target prices and allowed for more planting flexibility among other things. A lingering concern that received greater attention under White was wasted produce – crops lost in shipping and storage, and produce discarded for being too aesthetically unappealing for consumer purchase often being thrown away. White sought to address the former by calling for local sourcing to cut down on transportation measures; the latter issue led to the department launching a media campaign to promote consumer consumption of fruits and vegetables that are “ugly but still delicious”…

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017



“Education extents to the parents of the children. The phrase ‘it takes a village’ is not an exemption or an exclusion of city dwellers. There are many vital aspects of good child-rearing that cannot be taught in public school or private school. Parents must raise their children with good values, they must appreciate them for who they are and encourage them to enjoy learning. Parents must makes children feel safe, important and loved, and must give their children to ability to attend events important to them in some way or another. A parents must be there when their child is sick; they must spend time talking to them, with them, not merely at them. And parents must be involved in their children’s lives; not just in their school life, but in their personal lives as well. These methods prove time and again to create attentive students and, very importantly, well-adjusted children who can grow to be well-adjust adults.”

– US Secretary of Education Marian Wright Edelman speaking before the US Senate, 4/23/1989



…After just over three years of scandals and controversies – from attempted suppression of freedoms for “security purposes,” to anti-foreigners/anti-immigration executive orders, to wiretapping political opponents, to fighting with teachers unions over books on the Holocaust, to unsuccessful efforts to leave the European Economic Community – President Le Pen faced a High Court impeachment trial with the odds stacked heavily against him. The two charges of the President willingly and willfully violating the constitution were reviewed by the members of the National Assembly, who with the nation’s Senate, acknowledged the impeachment and (in accordance with the 68th Article of the French Constitution) united to form the High Court, which then decided to declare him impeached. The trial began immediately…

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



V. P. SINGH ELECTED INDIA’S NEW PRIME MINISTER

…the scandal-ridden incumbent Rajiv Gandhi has lost his bid for re-election in the face of Singh’s unifying anti-Gandhi “Third Front” alliance…

– The New York Times, 5/2/1989, 1989 [9]



USAID OVERSEAS HUMANITARIAN AID DISTRIBUTION TO COLOMBIAN REFUGEES IN CARACAS

Washington, DC – The United States Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency responsible for the administering of civilian foreign aid and assistance, today announced that it has successfully sent humanitarian aid to Venezuela to help thousands of refugees there, nearly all of whom stem from Colombia, Venezuela’s western neighbor entrenched in a long-ongoing Civil War. The agency announced that the relief landed in Caracas under the direct supervision of the USAID’s Administrator, former Governor of Puerto Rico Roberto Clemente. “These people need food, medicine, and the opportunity to get their lives together and to keep their families safe until peace returns to their homeland,” Clemente said to reporters in Caracas; he is expected to return to D.C. within the week. The US State Department also reported to have coordinated this shipment of aid with the assistance of military cargo planes in order to assure the fair distribution of supplies such as non-perishable food, medical kits, and hygiene supplies.

– Associated Press, 5/11/1989



LE PEN CONVICTED OF DERELICTION OF DUTY; 21st President of France Removed From Office, Making Poher Acting President

…in accordance with the French constitution, the new interim “acting” President is the incumbent President of the senate, Alain Poher. Poher, who turned 80 years old last month, previously served as Acting President in 1965, after President de Gaulle resigned from office over his support for the US-Cuban War… The removal of Le Pen shifts the nation’s voting schedule. Instead of holding the next Presidential election in February 1993 as initially planned, it will be held later this year, “in either June or July,” according to an anonymous member of new Poher government. It is currently unknown whether or not Poher will run for a full seven-year term...

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 17/5/1989



“Although I have lived a far from perfect life, my heart and soul belonged wholeheartedly to God, country, and family long before the Navy got hold of me, and long before politics got hold of me, and way long before the Presidency got hold of me.” [10]

– Jeremiah Denton, in his first interview since leaving the White House, KNN, 5/20/1989



…in political news, controversial tech businessman Michael Bloomberg has bowed out of a long-shot bid for Mayor of New York City in the wake of renewed criticism connected to several discrimination and sexual pestering lawsuits from last year. A related class action lawsuit by over a dozen women, all claiming they experienced pregnancy discrimination from Bloomberg, is set to be settled in court later this year…

– NBC News, 5/22/1989 broadcast



NARRATOR: “After graduating from the Polytechnical University of Kabul in 1976, he was conscripted into the military and sent to the Soviet Union to become a pilot; by 1983, he was a chief navigator. During the Soviet-Turkestani War, Mohmand saw active duty but failed to rise in rank above Colonel as Soviet forces ultimately lost the war. After the collapse of the USSR, Mohmand returned to Afghanistan a hero to his home town, and with that status began calling for Afghanistan to invest in technological pursuits. During the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union began to re-invest in space travel, Mohmand became a candidate for cosmonaut training.”

MOHMAND: “I saw an opportunity and I took it. …My mother was distraught over my safety, terrified of me burning up or blowing up, but I told her, ‘I survived warfare. Outer space is a lot more peaceful than warfare, so by that logic I should be fine.’”

– Abdul Ahad Mohmand: The First (But Not Last) Afghan In Space, 2010 Saudi Arabian mini-documentary



INDIAN PM V. P. SINGH CALLS FOR TEMPORARY ARMISTICE TO START PEACE TALKS OVER KASMIR

…intense fighting between ethnic groups in the disputed mountainous region of Jammu & Kashmir has seen logistical problems and high civilian casualties for all factions (Pakistan-backed Kashmiri nationals; Indian military; Muslim, Hindu and even Buddhist militants)… Singh hopes that Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq can be convinced to enter talks over how to best resolve the decades-long conflict – if he even agrees on a temporary truce…

– The Chicago Tribune, 5/29/1989



REP. CLAUDE PEPPER, LIBERAL CRUSADER FOR THE ELDERLY, DIES AT 88

...the “Grand Old Man of Florida” known for his defense of Social Security and Medicare, as well as his strong support for President Bellamy’s UHC Bill plan and for his role in the passing of the Elderly Rights Act of 1971, passed away from cancer earlier today…

– The Orlando Sentinel, 5/30/1989



SHIRLEY’S BACK! Rematch Returns de la Hunty to 5 Adelaide Avenue

…former PM and opposition leader Shirley de la Hunty led the Liberal Party to victory tonight over incumbent PM Manfred Cross of the Labor Party. …Labor may have been hurt by the presence of Charles Blunt of the National Party. Blunt received controversial support from far-right individuals such as former Army Minister Bob Katter Sr., MP Bob Katter Jr., and, most notably, media magnate Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, who owns several newspapers and TV programs in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, supported Blunt “to the point of nausea,” says one Cross supporter “I think a lot of folks turned away from Blunt because of the kind of people he was winning over.” The loss of over half of their seats tonight in a poor showing – winning only 7.1% of the total number of votes cast – may be the final nail in the coffin of the National Party…

– The Canberra Times, Australian newspaper, 6/6/1989



BELLAMY SIGNS OIL POLLUTION PREVENTION AND MONITORING BILL INTO LAW

– The Washington Post, 6/11/1989



…The international “don’t buy from China” campaign that began in 1988 led to some energy companies turning to domestic suppliers to meet demands, if only for the short term. In the US, this shift in economic positioning benefited states such as Wyoming, Texas and Alaska that were rich in natural resources. Wyoming and the plains, especially Kansas, were also quick to capitalize on President Bellamy’s federal subsidies for solar and wind power investments… However, its effect on the economy was a delayed reaction of sorts, possibly being at least partially responsible for the accumulative gradual buildup of socio-economic waffling at the close of the 1980s…

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



The Education Reform Bill of 1989 finally made it to the Senate committees, where its basics were reviewed. The bill called for increasing homework loads, and for encouraging parent involvement in the learning process. The most ambitious aspect was its imposing of a “cap” on the number of students per teacher in a single classroom to 25, lower than the national average at the time. The bill also raised the number of required standardized tests per year from typical one to at least two, but also limited the number of tests to no more than four.

As a compromise to conservative Democrats who supported deregulating education entirely – which would potentially lead to a re-opening of the old dispute of teaching evolution in schools – Democrats agreed to impose trade school courses as alternative classes during high school for students focused more on employment than academia. This part was praised and endorsed by “big name” politicians such as Governors Bob Ross (I-AK) and Edith Kirkpatrick (D-LA), and even led to many Republicans finally signing onto the omnibus package.

The bill passed the Senate on June 18, then went to the joint conference committees for fine-tuning in October…

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017

[pic: imgur.com/DypoQcw ]
– Governor Bob Ross (I-AK) at his office desk, circa June 1989



New Jersey Gubernatorial Primary Election Results:

Democratic Primaries:

Initial, 6/6/1989:
Incumbent Governor Gloria A. Decker – 235,601 (71.43%)
Former state General Assembly Speaker Alan J. Karcher – 94,234 (28.57%)
Total votes cast: 329,835 (100.00%)

Runoff, 6/20/1989:
Not held; cancelled due to Initial Primary winner receiving over 50% of the vote in that contest

The moderate first-term incumbent deflected a challenger who was to the political left of her. Karcher, who was 46 at the time of the election, had previously served in the state Assembly since 1970, and had served as that chamber’s leader since 1986; he forwent re-election to try and primary Decker, but continued to be involved in state politics after leaving office. During the race, Karcher criticized Decker for not being “ambitious” enough in attempting to resolve the state’s budget issues; while on the campaign trail, Karcher lambasted Decker for agreeing with Republicans to cut spending to “alleviate the tax burdens,” but in doing so allegedly negatively impacted the quality of the Garden State’s social services. Karcher ended up performing stronger than expected, winning almost 30% of the vote; these results suggested that Governor Decker’s support within Democratic party was much weaker than many initially thought to be. Decker responded by incorporating more “pragmatic” elements to her campaign as the race entered the general election season.

Republican Primaries:

Initial, 6/6/1989:
former US Rep. James Andrew “Jim” Courter – 105,217 (27.17%)
state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards – 103,049 (26.61%)
state Rep. Charles Leighton “Chuck” Hardwick – 68,002 (17.56%)
businesswoman Lois Rand – 45,037 (11.63%)
state Sen. William Gormley – 38,145 (9.85%)
state Sen. Gerald “Jerry” Cardinale – 15,994 (4.13%)
Capt. Hubert Thomas “Tom” Blomquist – 6,389 (1.65%)
activist James A. “Jim” Kolyer III – 5,422 (1.40%)
Total votes cast: 387,255 (100.00%)

Runoff, 6/20/1989:
state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards – 169,599 (54.42%)
former US Rep. Jim Courter – 142,049 (45.58%)
Total votes cast: 311,648 (100.00%)

The centrist Edwards won the GOP nomination over initial frontrunner, the more right-leaning Congressman Courter. Edwards, from Oakland, had been the Attorney General since 1986 and had recently clashed with Decker over the “proper” interpretation of the state constitution. Courter, a member of the US House of Representatives since 1979, was lambasted by opponents Edwards, Hardwick, and Rand for being a “D.C. insider” in a possible effort to form a connection in the mind of voters between Courter and the scandals that plagued D.C. in the mid-to-late 1980s. Hardwick, representing Westfield in the state assembly since 1978, received criticism of his own from the likes of Courter, Edwards, and Rand for his many corporate ties. Gormley, representing Atlantic County since 1978, proved to be a poor campaigner at the state-wide level; in April, he made a gaffe when he referred to The Pine Barrens as “hillbilly territory,” costing himself support among rural New Jerseyans. Meanwhile, Cardinale, representing District 39 since 1982, entered the race late and failed to win voters away from Edwards and Hardwick. Businesswoman Lois Rand from Bernardsville, however, ran an insurgent “outsider populist” campaign that performed better than expected. Two other candidates, Blomquist, a far-right conservative Coast Guard veteran, and Kolyer, who repeatedly called himself “The Middle Class Candidate,” struggled to stand out in the crowded field.

Upon the race advancing to a runoff, Rand threw her support behind Edwards in an effort to “keep D.C. out of N.J.,” with Gormley also endorsing Edwards soon after. However, lower turnout in the second round suggests that many voters who had cast ballots in the Initial election chose to sit out the runoff. Nevertheless, former Rand and Gormley supporters seemingly tipped the race away from Courter, after polling suggested he and Edwards were virtually tied heading into the second round. These results were worrisome to some Republicans who believed that the runoff results strongly indicated that former Courter supporters would not support Edwards in the November election.

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



POST-SCANDAL SCATTERING OF LABORERS REVEALS NEED FOR MORE IMMIGRATION REFORMS

…last year, Taco Bell came under fire for its contracts with tomato farmers that used illegal workers in their Florida fields. Now those workers face new problems. Tomato production industry took a hit this spring after hundreds of workers were deported in November and December 1988, with only some opting to re-enter the country through legal means due to how long the process still takes... Most of the farm workers have instead returned to their native Cuba, and are now suffering under worse conditions. …“I left Cuba because the American sweatshops there had no air, no room… I cannot go back there.” Gael now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his brother Vicente, who finally became an American citizen last year. Gael has found work as a roof shingles installer. “It’s another hot, sweat-making job, but it still beats the shops.”…

– The Santa Fe New Mexican, exposé article, 6/25/1989



Batman is a 1989 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton based on the DC Comics character of the same name, the first of Warner Bros.’ fist Batman film franchise.

[snip]

Casting for the film was long and complex. Script writer Tom Mankiewicz had wanted an unknown actor for Batman, William Holden for James Gordon, David Niven as Alfred Pennyworth, and Peter O’Toole as the Penguin, whom Mankiewicz wanted to portray as a mobster [11]. Willem Dafoe was cast as the Joker after Jack Nicholson bowed out, after the latter failed to win a higher salary during contract negotiations. African-American actor Demond Wilson was cast as Harvey Dent, a supportive role, while Sean Young as cast as the feminist reporter Silver St. Cloud. Tom Hulce was cast as Alexander Knox, while O’Toole’s Penguin character devolved into a camo appearance.

The most controversial casting choice, however, was the selection of Nicolas Cage for the role of Batman. After Kevin Costner, Christopher Jones, Randy Quaid and Harrison Ford were considered, Cage’s performances in several recent successful films such as Racing With The Moon (1984), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Raising Arizona (187) and Moonstruck (1987) convinced Burton to give Cage his first prominent “serious” role. With Cage being 25 at the time of production, the film depicted Bruce Wayne as “being in the earlier years, at the beginning of his years as Batman and at the real start of his adversaries’ origin stories,” described co-writer Warren Skaaren. As a result, many elements were borrowed from the popular “Batman: Year One” comic of 1987. The casting was highly controversial at the time, as many comic book fans believed Cage would not do the role justice. While enthusiastic to play a superhero role, Cage later admitted that as a comic book fan he privately preferred Superman to Batman.

[pic: imgur.com/GVKQGrP ] [12]
[snip]

The film was released in US theaters on June 29, 1989 and was a critical and financial success, earning $444million in box office totals against a budget of $39million [13]. A summer blockbuster and a hit with critics and audiences, much praise was given to Burton for his directing work, while many others were surprised at actors Nicholas Cage and Demond Wilson being able to successfully carry serious, dramatic roles. Cage depicting Bruce Wayne as a quirky eccentric billionaire in order to “reconceive the character” as a caring hero out of touch with normal human behavior was praised by critics for adding depth to Wayne/Batman, while some audiences considered it “disrespectful” to suggest Wayne/Batman is a “flawed” character. Nevertheless, the film boosted the careers of several actors involved and led to several sequels as public interest in the Batman character increased. In 1990, a prequel, “Batman: Year One,” set five years before the first film and again starring Nicolas Cage, was greenlit…

– clickopedia.co.usa



20,000 ARMENIANS FLEE FROM BAKU AS ETHNIC VIOLENCE OVERWHELMS AZERBAIJAN’S CAPITAL CITY

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 30/6/1989



…Albania’s movement to join Yugoslavia is being met by two other movements – one that calls for a restoring of the monarchy, and another calling for the southeastern European nation to become a part of the United States [14]. The monarchist movement is gaining traction as the newly-capitalist country contemplates taking a step back, or returning to what has worked for them in the past… In the United States, support for Albania becoming their 51st state is being met with lighthearted support as more Americans are becoming aware of the European nation’s existence, with it becoming a focus of interest to some who are perplexed and/or humorously entertained by the country’s seemingly serious notion…

– BBC World News, 1/7/1989 report



TALKS OVER QUEBEC’S PLACE IN CANADA BREAK DOWN AS J. J. CHRETIEN AND ROBERT BOURASSA REACH AN IMPASSE

…the breakdown of negotiations over possible changes to the 1982 constitution comes in the midst of disapproval of Chretien’s latest tax proposals. Already suffering from poor approval ratings for his labelling his tax hikes as “tax shifts” and other issues, Chretien is facing rising pressure from fellow members of the Liberal party to either change course or step down, according to a source close to parliament…

– The Calgary Sun, Canadian newspaper, 7/5/1989



REP. CHARLES DEAN (D-NY) CO-INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REPEAL P.O.M.A.

– The Washington Post, 7/6/1989



Music during America's "Bellamy Years" definitely saw some major shakeups. More victorious-sounding music from feminist rockers. Cyndi Lauper I think wrote an album on women empowerment, and some of the beat were actually pretty catchy. Riot Grrrl became a thing, so, yeah I think Bellamy really did a number on gender stereotypes, only this time the feminists were, like, they didn’t want to become complacent, you know? It was like they thought they took their eyes off of sexism after the first Ark Wave, and that had necessitated a second one, I guess. Anyway, I mean, I was more into the punk rock groups popping out of the former Warsaw Pact nations. The Hungarian band group Locomotiv GT, and the “pleasing” style of that Klari Katona, she and Locomotiv GT had this nice mix of Tommy Chong’s reeflex rock and newer jazz styles. They really took off internationally.

– Hungarian singer-songwriter Linda Kiraly, 2018 interview



TEXAS PASTORS ARE REFERRING TO PRESIDENT BELLAMY AS A “JEZEBEL” IN THEIR SERMONS!

– The Associated Press, 7/9/1989



UHC CORE, THE PATIENT PROTECTION BILL, ENTERS WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE FOR CONSIDERATION

– The Washington Post, 7/12/1989



PRESIDNT OF PAKISTAN AGREES TO 2-MONTH ARMISTICE, OPENING “PATH” FOR U.N.-BACKED PEACE TALKS

– The New York Times, 7/15/1989



Pundits were mostly correct in assuming that the 1989 election would see a return to more traditional contests of the past, with the exception of the unexpected rise of the French Green party. Heading into the first round, the parties watched the most closely were the UDF and the Socialist Alliance. The Union for French Democracy (UDF), a big-tent party that was right-of-center for domestic, social, and economic policies (essentially supporting classical liberalism), but was also heavily pro-NATO and pro-European, was founded in 1978 soon after the election of President Mouroy. National Assembly member Jean-Claude Gaudin, a 50-year-old centrist with liberal and conservative appeal, became their standard bearer. The Socialist Alliance, meanwhile, saw a heated debate over who to nominate: former foreign policy advisor Jean-Christophe Mitterrand (b. 1946); progressive National Assembly member Michel Rocard (b. 1930), noted for often sparring with Le Pen; and Henri Emmanuelli (b. 1945), former Secretary of State for Budget and former Secretary of State for Consumption were the top three contenders. Ultimately, the socialists rallied behind former member of European Parliament, former member of National Assembly and French Senator since 1986 Claude Estier (b. 1925). The candidate of the far-right was National Front nominee and Le Pen advisor Maurice Papon, while the progressive National Assembly member Brice Lalonde (b. 1946) ran as the Green party’s nominee. Two centrist candidates – Rene Monory (Center) and Raymond Barre (Independent) – were on the ballot as well.

On 9 July 1989, Estier came in first, while Gaudin underperformed and came in third behind Lalonde. Many pundits pointed to center-right candidate Raymond Barre, the former PM of France who ran as an Independent, possibly siphoning votes away from Gaudin, while others noted Gaudin’s campaign as being too milquetoast and uninspiring in his effort to present himself as a calm and lucid politician. Others still believed Lalonde winning endorsements from several French and international celebrities, from Jean-Marc Barr and Charlotte Gainsbourg to John Lennon, brought greater attention to his campaign, possibly explaining his rise from 5% in early June to 20% in early July.

Ahead of the 23 July 1989 runoff, Estier and Lalonde ran positive campaigns that uplifted the nation’s spirits. While Estier won the second and final round of voting by a 15% margin, Lalonde advancing to the runoff in the first place was a boon to the country’s newly-established Green party. Estier assumed office a week later, on 30 July.

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



CHRETIEN CALLS IT QUITS!: Will Step Down In Three Months!

…In the face of declining popularity and indications that the Liberals will lose the next federal elections if he remains said party’s leader, Prime Minister Chretien has succumbed to the private urgings of his political allies, says one anonymous source. Chretien has announced that he will retire from the office of Prime Minister on September 29, giving his party roughly three months to find a successor…

– The Daily Courier, Canadian newspaper, 7/31/1989



Virginia Gubernatorial Primary Election Results:

Democratic Primary:

Initial, 7/13/1989:
State Attorney General Mary Sue Terry – 188,201 (38.59%)
former US Ambassador to New Zealand William Battle – 173,326 (35.54%)
Lieutenant Governor Frederick Carlyle “Rick” Boucher – 92,367 (18.94%)
former Mayor Charles E. “Chuck” Beatley Jr. – 28,823 (5.91%)
former state Senator J. Lewis Rawls Jr. – 4,975 (1.02%)
Total votes cast: 487,692 (100.00%)

Runoff, 7/27/1989:
State Attorney General Mary Sue Terry – 245,686 (51.90%)
former US Ambassador to New Zealand William Battle – 227,697 (48.10%)
Total votes cast: 473,383 (100.00%)

Battle, who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1977, was the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1970 to 1974, and had served several “low-key” diplomatic roles under Presidents Walter Mondale, Jeremiah Denton, and Jack French Kemp; he claimed during the campaign that he was the most experienced candidate in the race, and the only one that could work well with both parties. Terry, on the other hand, focused on local issues and touted her accomplishments as Attorney General. Boucher had a similar campaign, but he was not as energetic as Terry was on the campaign trail. A fourth prominent candidate, Beatley, had been the mayor of Alexandria from 1967 to 1976 and from 1979 to 1985; he focused almost entirely on local affairs and appeared informal at the three debates held between the top four candidates. A fifth candidate, Rawls, struggled to gain much media attention. Ahead of the debates, the top three candidates were practically tied in most polls, with Beatley seemingly siphoning votes away from Boucher. However, most psephologists credit Boucher’s poor performance in the final gubernatorial debate for his sudden faltering in polls in the final weeks of the campaign, turning the race from a three-way split to a two-person matchup.

In the runoff, the competition seemed to be between a candidate with superior foreign policy experience and a candidate between superior knowledge of state laws, regulations, and customs. Appealing to suburban housewives, college students, and Ethnic minorities, Terry won the nomination by a narrow margin, making for the state’s first female major-party candidate.

Republican Primary:

Initial, 7/13/1989:
Former Lieutenant Governor Stanford E. Parris – 151,568 (35.12%)
State Senator J. Marshall Coleman – 144,619 (33.51%)
Former state Attorney General Mills Godwin – 116,871 (27.08%)
Activist Frank Miller Ruff Jr. – 18,514 (4.29%)
Total votes cast: 431,572 (100.00%)

Runoff, 7/27/1989:
Former Lieutenant Governor Stanford E. Parris – 206,629 (50.15%)
State Senator J. Marshall Coleman – 205,398 (49.85%)
Total votes cast: 412,027 (100.00%)

Parris began the race in third place, and with Coleman in the lead. Mills Godwin, who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1977, had not held public office in over a decade, but was winning over elderly voters and discussing issues concerning healthcare and Senior Rights. As the race continued, Parris mounted a “buyer’s remorse” campaign focused on what he would have done differently had the voters selected him when he ran four years prior. As the primary election date neared, there was concern in both camps that the conservative Coleman – who was the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1978 to 1982 and who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1981 – and the conservative Parris – who was the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 1982 to 1986 and who was the party’s gubernatorial nominee in 1985 – would cancel each other out and hand the nomination to Godwin. However, many argue that Parris being endorsed by US Senator Richard Obenshain (R-VA) is what helped to propel him from having 25% in May polls to being practically tied with Coleman in the week before the initial primary.

As the top two finishers advanced to the runoff, the ideologically similar Coleman and Parris sought to make each other distinctly different in the eyes of the electorate by emphasizing their records, with Coleman describing his ability to “stand up to Bellamy supporters” in the state legislature, where he had held a seat since 1986. However, this led to Parris, out of office since 1986, criticizing Coleman’s response to the Second Arkwave. This attack in turn led to Coleman moving farther to the right on the subject of “the liberal agenda” in the next debate, where is “aggressive” critiquing of Democratic talking points was met with mixed reviews from viewers and undecided voters. On election night, the race was very narrow, but Parris was declared it victor on the 29th. Coleman responded by demanding a recount; after said recount concluded roughly a week later, Parris, on August 6, was again declared the winner, having secured victory by a margin of 1,231 votes.

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



Suspicious that the politburo would turn against him if the economy worsened any further, potentially leading to another bloody war like the one that almost devastated the nation’s economic centers in 1975, Li finally buckled under the pressure. In early August, he called for the Party Chairman (me), his chief diplomat Zhao Ziyang, his propaganda leader Li Na, and his Vice Chairman Lee Teng-hui to meet with him in Beijing for a pivotal meeting.

“We will reverse course.” Li instructed us. “The attempts to re-educate the Uyghurs is a failure.”

“Surely we are in the right,” Ziyang was bold enough to say.

“Of course we are right!” Li bellowed. “It’s just that the rest of the world won’t acknowledge it. And unfortunately, when we opened our doors to the world, that meant accepting the benefits and detriments of the world, ignorance and opportunity.” He sighed “Had we never opened up, we wouldn’t have this problem.” Fearful of saying something that would lead to our being fired, we sat there nodding slightly. Li continued, “but this has benefitted us. With the Soviet Union gone, we lead the communist world. However, we cannot be a beacon of hope to our impoverished brothers abroad if our economy is so easily ruined by outside influencers.”

“So…we are severing ties with the west?” Lee said in a way that indicated that he was requesting clarification.

“Of course not – we are ending the wasting of resources! Try to teach the Uyghurs...ha! How foolish Deng was! If they refuse to live like us, fine! Let them have their deserts and mountains.”

“So long as we can still access the resources within, yes?” Li Na postulated.

“Yes. We’ll use their land, but allow them to partake in their pitiful little traditions. It is more important for all of us to return focus to redeveloping the north, to open more natural resource projects in those mountains. Heavy industry. Energy production. Rare Earth minerals. Nuclear power. Manchuria is our nation’s true future!”

Through liaisons, Li Xiannian’s allies met with surrogates of America’s President Bellamy, UK PM Alastair Goodlad, Russia’s Vlad Volkov, and several other political and business world figures leading the charge against his nation’s economy in order to discuss trade deal possibilities. Back-channel negotiations included discussing the possibility of allowing Tibet and Xinjiang to have greater autonomy in exchange for better trade deals with Europe and America. The UK’s Goodlad and France’s Astier agreed. The US did so as well, but only after Bellamy applied pressure to get Li to agree to also allow for foreign companies to invest in state-run operations in Manchuria.

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



CHINA’S PREMIER LI ANNOUNCES THE END OF “EDUCATION CAMPS” POLICY!

Claims “Our Movement [To] Enlighten” Ethnic Groups In Western China “A Success”

…in the official internationally-televised announcement, Li repeatedly noted that the “excellent policy” was the brainchild of his predecessor, Deng Xiaoping… …one source states anonymously that Li is “still pursuing strong anti-reform measures to impose greater state control over China’s markets at all levels…” [snip] …it is believed that the PRC’s politburo hopes that is reversal of their internationally-condemned treatment of ethnic minorities in their westernmost provinces will lead to companies resuming trade and business with the nation, alleviating China’s economy enough for it to be lifted out of recession. Leading politicians in China may also be anticipating a drop in Uyghur terror attacks and the end of calls for the independence of Xinjiang and Tibet, which, allegedly, some in the politburo feared could spark a war of secession in Central Asia similar to the bloody one that occurred between the USSR and United Turkestan just a few years ago…

– The Associated Press, 8/8/1989



After forty minutes and what seemed like the millionth painful bump in what was a road in name only, Colonel Sanders told his translator the clichéd line “I think I’m starting to get too old for this.” At the age of almost 99 years, the food proprietor-turned-humanitarian diplomat needed to rely on both his cane and a travel guide’s helping hand to carefully climb out of the vehicle.

Base Commander Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi, a.k.a. P.Q. Mehdi of the Pakistan Air Force, had already arrived from the strategic military base of Rawalpindi, near Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. Sanders had begrudgingly agreed to meet with Mehdi outside of Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir, where they were to work as unofficial “go-betweens” for Pakistan’s Zia and India’s Ramaswamy Venkataraman “V.P.” Singh, respectively, during peace talks [15]. Mehdi supported the Colonel’s “intervention,” believing he could “do for us what he did for Jerusalem” before the situation escalated into a nuclear confrontation, as both nations in question still in possessed atomic warheads at this time (despite years-long denuclearization movements pressuring both governments to reverse course).

“I’m mainly doin’ this not as a favor to the Veep,” his nickname for Singh, “but because I wouldn’t be a good Christian or a good man if I turned down a chance to help end a war this out of hand,” the Colonel said as the group entered the meeting place. The surrounding landscape was typical of the region in the summer, its mountainous-but-humid terrain reminding the Colonel of southern Colorado.

Sanders’ calls to end companies doing business with both countries until a ceasefire was declared had been much less successful than the international effort to economically pressure China into ending their “camps” policy. As such, Zia wondered why his “Indian counterparts” had worked to get the Colonel to try and broke a peace deal. According to his aide, Zia believed India only want peace because Pakistani forces were close to having to retreat from the region. Despite Zia-ul-Haq’s best efforts to make his country a military powerhouse in the region, Pakistan’s losses were heavier and their firepower was inferior. Additionally, America’s newest President, Carol Bellamy, had reversed the course set out by Presidents Denton and Kemp by ending the US’s quiet support of the strongly pro-US Zia [16] and becoming a neutral party. “I spoke with Bellamy,” Mehdi told the Colonel, “I and Zia do not believe she understands the situation; you, though, Colonel. You are more experienced. I trust your assessment more. And Zia trusts me.”

[snip]

The Colonel suggested, “Religion is a central and vitally important part of life. Whether you’re Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, or Christian like me, we all want the same thing, to do what’s right, to make our maker proud. To keep our loved ones safe. This war’s doin’ none of that. We are not priests, or rabbis, or imams, or bhikkhus – ”

“ – But the region is very religious,” Mehdi interjected.

“And it’s intertwined with military and politics, I know!”

“So the two of us, two religious politicians with military backgrounds,” the Colonel decided not to correct Mehdi’s use of the common misconception, “We have to do what makes sense from a governing viewpoint, from a military standpoint, and from a religious viewpoint, with respect to religious groups,” Mehdi replied.

“With respect to religion and to everyone involved,” the Colonel added.

The two men looked over the maps again, a collection showing the overlapping land claims, local support, and religious diversity of the area. “Sunnis make up a majority of the region, the heaviest numbers here and along here,” Mehdi dragged his finger across Jammu and the valley. “They prefer joining Pakistan, while Shias prefer in independence, but will take joining Pakistan over joining India.”

The Colonel circled the area with his pen and said “I’ve talked with the Veep, he says he’s willing to give y’all this if y’all relinquish this area over here…

[snip]

While the Colonel was privately disgusted by Zia-ul-Haq’s oppressive record, he admitted that the ends – like ending warfare between two nuclear powers – sometimes justified the means – like tolerating a dictatorial leader. As the Colonel put it, “You can’t stay clean when you mud wrestle.”

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020



The results of the August 20 “Status Referendum” were the following: 51.1% voted in favor of Albania joining Yugoslavia, 32.3% voted for their country joining the United States, and 10.2% voted in favor of Albania remaining independent, while only 6.4% voted for Albania returning to a monarchist state. International organizations observed that the referendum received merely 39% voter turnout. Nevertheless, “pro-Yugo” Albanian leaders considered the results a mandate clearly showing what future Albanians wanted for themselves. However, Albanian President Sali Berisha, though, opposed acting on the referendum due to said “low” voter turnout, instead declaring the referendum to be “inconclusive.” This action led to riots sprouting up once again in Tirana…

[snip]

In response to the high amount of votes cast for joining the US, America’s President Bellamy offered signing trade deals to increase Albania’s economic conditions, opening Albanian markets to American products; more substantial educational programs such as a stronger student exchange program were also established by the end of 1990…

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

[pic: imgur.com/Xm6VVD7 ]
– Governor Bob Ross (I-AK), while overseeing oil pollution cleanup efforts, inspects the quality of a river uphill from Prince William Sound, 8/19/1989



BLOOMBERG FORCED TO PAY!

…the millionaire businessman has been ordered by a New York City court to pay over $17.5million, excluding additional legal fees, to 18 women who experienced a host of sexist pestering incidents from Bloomberg…

– The New York Post, 8/23/1989



…The results have been finalized, and they have again confirmed without ambiguity that Steve Biko of the BCM/Inkatha Freedom (People’s) Party will succeed the retiring Nelson Mandela into the office of President of South Africa. Biko won over Mandela’s preferred successor, Deputy President Walter Sisulu of the ANC, along with notable third-place finisher Keorapetse Kgositsile, an Independent supportive of Mandela. These election results are worrisome for many both here and in South Africa due to Biko’s past militant activities and for his past anti-white rhetoric. If he indeed aims to stay true to his campaign promises, Biko will have to tread carefully if he wishes his administration to be a success “without significant input” from the white South Africans, and Biko explains it…

– BBC World News, 25/8/1989 broadcast



WHATABURGER CELEBRATES 1,000TH LOCATION AS OPENING OF CHICAGO OUTLET MARKS THE MILESTONE

– The Houston Chronicle, 8/27/1989



…The TV movie, “The Colonel Governor,” focuses on an often-overlooked part of Colonel Sanders’ long and colorful career, his four years as the Governor of Kentucky. Despite numerous variables working in their favor – mainly, a solid cast that included Jack Lemmon as the Colonel and Polly Bergen as Claudia Sanders, and covering interesting real-life events ranging from the Sturgis Standoff to the Cumberland River Flood to Sanders’ fights with state legislatures – the filmmakers dropped the ball on this one. Despite best efforts, the film fails to deliver a truly gripping depiction of the living legend… A spiritual successor of sorts to the 1983 film “The Colonel President,” most moviegoers may want to seek out any one of the many other films about the Colonel that are more worthy of their time...

– author and film critic Richard Schickel, article for Time Magazine, early September 1989 issue



…The India-Pakistan Peace Treaty of 1989 was a landmark “reorganization” treaty. It yielded Azad Kashmir, Baltistan and Gilgit to Pakistan on the proviso that Pakistan keep the region demilitarized for ten years. India would retain all remaining regions but were also bound to keep their spoils demilitarized for ten years as well. This was not satisfying to the Pakistani-majority regions found outside of the Kashmir valley farther to the south and to the east of the region’s center, as they still fell under Indian jurisdiction. To counter this, Colonel managed to convince Singh, and (through Mehdi) Zia, to allow travel between India and Pakistan to be freer, lowering visa limitations while also increasing the use of local-based non-military security personnel…

– David Tal’s US Strategic Arms Policy After the Cold War: Globalization & Technological Modernization, Routledge, 2020



BELLAMY PRAISES SIGNING OF INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE TREATY

…the President has ended her “freezing” of relations with both nations just hours after the signing of the binational accord… tensions seem to be cooling as military officers return home from a four-years-long confrontation that ended between 3,000 and 4,000 lives in total…

– The Washington Post, 9/10/1989



New York City Mayoral Primary Election Results, 9/12/1989:
(note: city mayoral elections only required a plurality for a primary contest winner to be declared at this point in the city’s political history)

Democratic Primary:
US Rep. Edward Irving “Ed” Koch – 516,740 (47.79%)
Acting Mayor Andrew Stein – 465,164 (43.02%)
County D.A. Richard “Dick” Ravitch – 62,281 (5.76%)
State Sen. Gary L. Ackerman – 37,089 (3.43%)
Total votes cast: 1,081,274 (100.00%)

Koch ran on his twenty years of experience in Washington, D.C. and on Stein’s alleged inability to work well with the Borough Presidents during his short and supposedly ineffective time serving as Acting Mayor. Koch won over white ethnic communities while the more moderate Stein and the more progressive Ravitch both received a plurality of their respective vote shares from African-American and Hispanic communities, despite the latter candidate underperforming in this contest.

Republican:
Former US Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder – 67,199 (57.76%)
Businessman Edward N. Rodriguez – 49,142 (42.24%)
Total votes cast: 116,341 (100.00%)

Lauder, a diplomat who had previously served under Presidents Denton and Kemp, defeated a local business operator and investor who had narrowly lost a race for city council two years earlier. Lauder was the more conservative of the two candidates.

Liberal Primary:
Former US Rep. Allard K. Lowenstein – 165,857 (76.45%)
County D.A. Richard “Dick” Ravitch – 51,091 (23.55%)
Total votes cast: 216,948 (100.00%)

Despite Ravitch running a campaign with a bigger war chest than Lowenstein’s, the former Representative was the better known candidate due to his well-publicized progressive activism.

Conservative Primary:
Real Estate Developer Henry F. Hewes – 45,589 (46.16%)
Former US Ambassador to Austria Ronald S. Lauder – 41,047 (41.56%)
Activist Mary Jane Tobin – 9,887 (10.01%)
Businessman Peter J. Gaffney – 2,242 (2.27%)
Total votes cast: 98,765 (100.00%)

Hewes, a businessman and “right to life” activist, gave a fiery performance while on the campaign trail, and successfully argued that Lauder was not conservative enough for the Conservative party nomination.

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



ONTARIO’S SHEILA COPPS ELECTED NEXT PM IN LIBERAL LEADERSHIP VOTE

…Copps was victorious in the third round of voting, defeating Paul Martin Jr., Garth Turner, Herb Gray, and Hazel McCallion, the last of whom was drafted into running at the last moment and withdrew after the first round. A prominent member of the Liberal Party’s left-wing faction since joining Parliament via a by-election in 1982, Copps supports women’s rights, minority rights, the legalization of “safe” recreadrugs such as marijuana used for medicinal purposes, and greater conservation and anti-pollution efforts to protect the environment without crippling energy production vital to the economies of the dominion’s western provinces…

– The Globe And Mail, Canadian newspaper, 9/21/1989



Yeah, I originally was into swimming like my sister is, but then Hurricane Hugo happened. That storm swept through my town [in the U.S. Virgin Islands], back in, uh, September ’89, and it messed up the only Olympic-sized swimming pool on the island. I tried swimming in the ocean, but, you know, sharks. So, uh, then I got into my head – I was kind of inspired by President Kemp – he was a decent-enough guy who got the shaft despite helping out a lot of people with tenant ownership, you know – and so I thought, since he was a former NFL player, the idea of trying out for football sounded pretty good. I mean, I’m 6-foot-11, about 250 pounds, I figured I’d be good at it. Guess I was right.

– MVP-winning NFL player Tim Duncan of the Dallas Cowboys, 2001 ESPN interview [17]



Copps officially began her tenure as Prime Minister on September 29, just under two months before her 37th birthday. This made Copps Canada’s youngest-ever Prime Minister, as the previously youngest-ever PM, Arthur Meighen, took office shortly after turning 46. …The media declared her sky-high approval ratings “Sheilamania.” Seen as a younger, bolder and to some an even more controversial version of her predecessor, Copps was practically idolized by younger and more urban voters. Riding on a decent economy and a popularity surrounding her youthful energy and personality, along with her combative style, Copps and the Liberal party were expected to win the next general election…

– clickopedia.co.uk/Sheila_Copps



…The Dixie Chicks bluegrass country band was formed in 1989. Their upbeat, yet conservative personas, combined with their feminist ideals, led to them obtaining widespread appeal, making them very popular at the start of the 1990s...

– Feminist writer Eleanor Clift’s The Way We Never Were, Simon & Shuster, 2002



[snip]
U-2, Syngman Rhee, L.B.J. and Alan Freed
Chubby Checker, “Psycho,” Belgians in the Congo

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, Tommy Chong and his band
Fast-food Cold War, Stranger in a Strange Land
Lawrence of Arabia, Beatnik-Shoutnik mania
Che and Cam, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
Salad Oil Stock Collapse, who knew what would happen next?

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it

To the Moon, Manson loon, Vienna, Ms. Arkansas
Soweto, Jerrie Cobb, Healthy Elvis, Painter Bob
K.F.C. Peace Talks, S.N.L. and Alois Mock
Hardcore metal, gay sex, Athens get Olympics

Trojan Tower, Guitar Gordon, Trailblazers get Michael Jordan
Dingle Foot, Gaddafi oust, Perverts in the White House
Second Arkwave Movement born, Chinese politburo’s torn
Rock-and-roller Burger Wars, I can’t take it anymore

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone, will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it

– Billy Joel’s hit single “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” released 9/27/1989



SENATE REVIEWING EDUCATION REFORM OMNIBUS “PACKAGE DEAL”

– The Washington Post, 10/1/1989



“VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVING”: Plaintiffs Of Landmark Supreme Court Case Endorse Terry In Governor’s Race

…Mildred and Richard Loving, a Carolina County couple famous for their role in the 1967 US Supreme Court ruling that struck down the banning of interracial marriage, today jointly appeared at a rally for the Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia, state Attorney General Mary Sue Terry…

– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 10/2/1989



21 STATES AIM TO RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE IN 1990

Washington, DC – Workers rejoice. The minimum wage is set to increase in 48 jurisdictions in 1990. The increases will be in 21 states, 17 cities, and 10 counties, according to the advocacy group Decent Employment Project DC. Most of these change are set to begin on New Year’s Day, while others are set to begin much later on in the year. “These raises will put much-needed money into the hands of the lowest-paid workers, many of whom struggle with high and ever-increasing costs of living,” says a representative of DEPDC. The move comes after years of attempts to raise the wage in all fifty states failed, including when the 1986 Wage Raise Bill failed to pass the Senate, and similar bills met similar fates in 1981 and 1984. The move also comes after the Farm Aid Concerts held annually since 1985 increased national awareness of poor farming wages, and after several small-scale wage-related worker strikes hit several states last year…

– The Washington Post, 10/5/1989



BUCKLEY: RAISING MINIMUM WAGE WILL HURT WORKERS

…“if employers have to pay their workers more, then they’ll just hire less workers”…

– The Wall Street Journal, 10/6/1989



CONSERVATIVE DEMOCRATS PUSHING FOR OPT-OUT FEATURE ON UHC BILL

…the bill for overhauling of America’s health insurance and hospitals system in the biggest expansion of coverage since Medicare and Medicaid in 1962 is being held up by lawmakers concerned over one’s “freedom of choice,” i.e. the ability to option out of UHC and choose a private healthcare system….

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 10/8/1989



The argument on whether or not to return to the moon, over a decade since cosmonauts landed, renewed focus on the Soyuz 42 and Soyuz 7K-T tragedies of 1980 and 1971, respectively. “At this point, technology for travel to Mars, landing on Mars, and returning to Earth and landing on Earth is very unreliable. This administration must not send any of our brave men or women to Mars without knowing they can return home alive. The process must be tested with robots, probes, satellites, and rovers until we can lower the failure rate. That will take a lot time, and it will be very costly for a good long while,” argued Vladimir Chub, a conservative politician and a leading member of a group of Moscow politicians opposed to space travel investments in general, on a TV talk show on October 10, 1989. Chub explain, “In the meantime, we can focus on more immediate concerns. Opening more hospitals and medical programs in our schools and universities, ending hunger, assuring heat for our most northern and most isolated communities. By the time that’s all done, Mars will still be out there, still waiting for us to explore, and eventually, travel there will be less expensive and much less dangerous.”

President Volkov’s counterargument the next day was “I agree with him [Vladimir Chub]; we do need to open more medical schools and improve the quality of life for all Russians. But Chub is wrong in assuming that we can’t do that and return to space at the same time. We are not aiming for Mars yet, but that does not mean that we should give up on space travel at all. The construction of space-related massive public works projects – constructing rockets, launching sites in and out of Russia – that all will require jobs – jobs that will provide financial security and wellness to all the Russian workers involved. These projects will let the Russian people out of poverty today and let us into the stars tomorrow.”

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



On October 17, said next test of her abilities came in the form of a 6.9 earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay Area. Dubbed the Loma Prieta Earthquake, the disaster left 93 people dead and over 5,000 injured [18]. The counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz were heavily damaged from ground failures and landslides. Most of those deaths were on toppled freeways; striking at 5:04 PM local time, when the rush-hour traffic was heavier than usual, hundreds of drivers were affected. The Bay Area’s transportation structure failures were catastrophic and embarrassing for the state government. Collapse of the Nimitz Freeway was particularly deadly, killing dozens.

Bellamy worked with ODERCA and California’s Governor, Donald Kennedy, to ensure swift and immediate action. While Vice President Litton met with congressional leaders in D.C. to work on procuring federal funds for emergency relief, local Californian officers and volunteers began restoring power and searching the rubble for survivors. Police directing traffic and maintaining order at hospitals and stores led to looting and riots being at a level that was much lower than was expected for a quake so severe.

…Among the notable deaths was MLB center fielder Brett Butler of the San Francisco Giants… MLB Commissioner Lee Iacocca offered his condolences upon the news being confirmed, and a moment of silence was held before the final game of the 1989 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Chicago Cubs being held in Illinois that same day (despite home-turf advantage, Cubs lost 5-2)…

…With extensive studies of how to best reinforce existing transportation lines and with freeway/highway repair underway immediately, Governor Kennedy made it a pledged priority to “restore the bay” within the next five years...

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018




[vid: youtube: /watch?v=31bsZhbTQOg ]
– KFC commercial featuring Colonel Sanders, first aired 10/20/1989 (note: the Colonel is seated throughout the ad due to his declining health)



TYPHOON GAY DISSIPATES AFTER DAYS OF CARNAGE: Powerful Storm Leaves Thailand’s Chumphon Province Devastated

– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 11/4/1989



STANFORD PARRIS ELECTED GOVERNOR IN UPSET

…in the biggest Republican victory of the night, Congressman Parris was elected Virginia’s next Governor over state Attorney General Mary Sue Terry… the election may be a form of social backlash to last year's election of our first female President - exit polls reveal that male turnout was higher than usual tonight. However, conservative counties saw high turnout as well, suggesting tonight's results were a rejection of Bellamy's progressivism...

– The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/7/1989



KOCH BEATS LOWENSTEIN IN NYC MAYOR RACE

…Incumbent Acting Mayor Andrew Stein, as the President of the New York City Council, became Acting Mayor upon Bellamy’s resignation last December; Stein lost the Democratic nomination for a full term to Congressman Koch... Democrat Edward Irving Koch, 65, has represented the Empire state’s 17th, then 18th, district in the US House for over twenty years. Allard K. Lowenstein, 60, represented the state’s fifth district in the US House from 1969 to 1971 as a Democrat, then switched to the short-lived Progressive Party before successfully running for the Liberal party nomination for Mayor earlier this year. …Koch won a plurality, with Lowenstein coming in second place, but 9 points behind Koch; Republican nominee Ronald S. Lauder came in third, while Conservative nominee Henry F. Hewes came in fourth place with only roughly 4% of the vote…

– The Daily Record, New Jersey newspaper, 11/7/1989



…Alright, this morning’s top news story is last night’s election results. It was a real nail-biter for those of us who cared about it, but the state elections board just announced it’s all over, the recount in two counties, everything. Incumbent Governor Gloria A. Decker, a moderate Democrat, has been re-elected, albeit by a razor-thin margin, over state Attorney General W. Cary Edwards, a centrist Republican…

– New Jersey’s WIBG 1020 AM, 11/8/1989 radio broadcast



KNUTSON: "FIVE TERMS WAS ENOUGH, THANK YOU!"

[pic: imgur.com/oWZHaRg.png ]

St. Paul, MN – Governor Coya Knutson has announced that she is retiring from politics, ending her career of roughly 40 years in public service on a high note. Knutson, who previously served in the state House from 1951 to 1955 and in U.S. House of Representatives from 1955 to 1967, has led the state of Minnesota through the turbulence of nearly twenty years of turbulence and progress. Knutson faced two women’s rights “waves” in 1970 and 1986, and several energy crises and economic recessions, and protected Minnesotan families and workers throughout it all. Her success propelled her to the national spotlight, and led to calls for her to run for President in 1972 and again in 1984, and to her being vetted for the position of running mate in 1972, 1980, and 1984. ...In the governor’s seat from 1967 to 1975 and again since 1979, the 77-year-old “moderate populist” Democrat today announced that she will not run for a sixth term and will leave office in January 1991, closing a very memorable and notable era of “rural pragmatism” in state politics…

– The Minneapolis Star, Minnesota newspaper, 11/17/1989



BELLAMY SIGNS EDUCATION REFORM BILL INTO LAW

…the bill, which was approved by a joint conference committee last month, “adjusts” state requirements in order to raise grade school graduation levels and collage enrollment levels by regulating smaller classrooms and placing greater emphasis on homework and one-on-one tutoring programs, though the bill also allows school districts to create vocational school programs as well. The new law will come into effect in January, but grade schools will not have to comply with the bill regulations until next July, in order to not disrupt curricula mid-way through classes…

– The Washington Post, 11/18/1989



The anger is still in me, but it’s mellowed. It started doing so in 1989, shortly after I turned 50. I was tired of running. Tired of hiding. I wanted to return home. In November, I dropped in on my brother Bobby. When he answered the door he was so shocked he turned as white as a klansman. “Didn’t you die?” he joked once he caught his second wind. I hadn’t seen him since shortly before Mom’s death two years prior, and even then, I didn’t stay for long. Just a quick hi-and-bye. But this time, it was good to be back, even if just for a while longer.

Needing work, an old friend from my pro-Castro days grabbed a spot for me at an alternate newspaper in San Francisco; after a week, I said goodbye to Bobby once more. San Francisco started out fun, until a gay guy spitted in my face when I called him a freak for wearing white after Labor Day, but then again, he may not have heard said follow-up explanation for the one-word comment. Well aware of what you can get from them, I had myself tested at a nearby walk-in clinic. I didn’t get any Sexually-Acquired System Immunity Failure Virus, or “SASIF” Virus, but that close call scared me into moving again, after only three months at the paper, to someplace where I was more comfortable. To a place where my anti-government, anti-establishment, pro-gun and anti-abortion sentiments would be respected – Montana.

…All my life, I wanted a comfortable job, and to accomplish this, I had earned a CPA while living in Mexico. I reinvented myself in Missoula. I changed my name, my look, my backstory. I got an apprenticeship at a local bank before landing a cushy desk job at an accounting firm. And I remarried.

The thoughts of Marina having raised our children with another man instead of with me pained me, so I pushed them out of my mind. I found a young local woman who believed in traditional family values, and who didn’t care much for who I once was or where I came from. We had two children together – Robert Karl, born in 1991, and Irina Catherine, born in 1993.

…By the end of the 1990s, I found myself being much less temperamental than I once was, and I think I know why. Every day, I’d pack up my stuff and come home to greet my son and daughter at the door without having to wash up. No car oil or grease, no dirt from fields, no newspaper ink. Accounting can be boring, but it doesn't leave you filthy.

I had found serenity not in hating the evils of America but in loving my family more. They were what mattered to me more than anything else. And I was happy with that.

– Lee Harvey Oswald’s autobiography Call Me By My Real Name: Confessions From a Fallen Hero, published posthumously



The rising intensity of the drug lord epidemic led to Mexico’s President Alvarez being wounded in an attempt on his life. On November 19, a cam bomb detonated near the back entrance of the President’s official residence of Los Pinos, Mexico City, just as Alvarez was exiting the building. Alvarez received minor burns to his back and a multiple cuts and wounds on his upper back and right arm. While the assassination attempt created sympathy for Alvarez and further support for his policies, the fact that recreadrug pusher came so close with detection from the President’s security forces made some fear and question how powerful these criminal organizations were becoming.

Back in the states, Bellamy believed that an increase in decent work and fair pay employment programs for Mexican labors and for visa workers in the US would lead to a drop in crime. Based loosely on the model she had used as Mayor of New York City to lower crime rates, Bellamy also launched further proposals such as a US-Mexico Crime Task Force to ensure collaboration between Mexican and US law enforcement officials to reign in the chaos unfolding in northern Mexican states. Her National Security Advisor Elmo Hunter became an unofficial drug control consultant to both Presidents as both sought to handle the situation before it became even more out of hand…

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017

[pic: imgur.com/dW7q12q.png ]

– Colonel Sanders, holding an assistant as he enters a room, spends Thanksgiving with family at his home in Kentucky, c. 11/23/1989



PHILIPPINE’S PRESIDENT CORAZON AQUINO CRUSHES MILITARY COUP ATTEMPT

…loyalist forces swiftly overwhelmed the rebel soldiers led by renegade Colonel Gregorio Honasan, leading to his capture earlier today, after almost three full days of warfare across the nation’s capital and military bases...

– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 12/3/1989



SOURCE CLAIMS U.S. SECRETALY AIDED AQUINO GOVERNMENT AHEAD OF ’89 COUP ATTEMPT

…Credit for Aquino’s forces being able to immediately outmaneuver Honasan’s troops, weapons and airpower could belong to the CIA, not to President Aquino. “Under President Bellamy, US military intelligence is becoming a prominent part of America protecting itself and its allies from would-be agitators,” says an anonymous source close to CIA Director Togo West. “US military intelligence learned of Honasan’s plans days or possibly even weeks ahead of this coup attempt, giving Aquino and her allies time to figure out a counterattack,” the source claims. If true, the revelation explains her successful repulsion of the coup, but could tarnish the former President’s popularity in the island nation…

– The New York Post, 5/13/1997



COLONEL: Hello?

NIXON: Colonel? It’s Nixon.

COLONEL: Ah hey, Nixy, long time no speak! [yawn] How’ve you been? And why are you callin’ me at…almost 11 o’clock at night? I told you, I’m not that much of a night owl anymore.

NIXON: My apologies, Colonel, but I thought you’d like to know before the press began houndin’ you.

SANDERS: Know what?

NIXON: Remember back when Oslo snubbed you?

SANDERS: Eh?

NIXON: Back in ’78. Secretary Carter got to share a Nobel Prize with Sadat and Begin instead of you.

SANDERS: Oh, that. Dick, we’ve been through this, I was okay with being let off of it. No more than three people could share a prize, and I was alright with it. I was just happy to help.

NIXON: It was an injustice, Colonel. You got the ball rolling on it, Carter just pushed it past the finish line.

SANDERS: Seriously, Nix, I’m fine. I don’t need a Nobel.

NIXON: Well you’re getting one anyway.

SANDERS: Huh?

NIXON: I just got off the phone with the Nobel Foundation to confirm what I heard through my European grapevines. You are absolutely winning the Nobel Peace Prize. You should be getting a call real soon from Stockholm to tell you, too, and the official announcement is going to be live 5:00 am where you are, but I’ll probably be asleep during it, right?

SANDERS: What’re ya talkin’ about, Nixo? A Nobel Prize, for what?

NIXON: For bringing India and Pakistan to the negotiation table, remember?

SANDERS: But that just happened. We don’t even know how long it’ll keep the peace over there. What good is it if in, like, just two years or so, they’re at each other’s throats again like two roosters fighting over a hen?

NIXON: Doesn’t matter. It was a big thing for India and Pakistan. And for the Nobel Foundation. It may have taken you another decade, but you’re finally getting that award, Colonel.

SANDERS: [silence]

NIXON: Colonel? Colonel, you still there?

SANDERS: Uh? Oh, uh, yeah I’m still here, I’m just thinking… a Nobel Peace Prize. Well, by gum, if that don’t beat all.

– Colonel Sanders and Richard Nixon, phone conversation recorded in Nixon’s Senate office, 12/9/1989 (recorded on Nixon’s personal tapes; transcript released in 1995)



COLONEL SANDERS SHARES NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WITH ZIA-UL-HAQ AND V.P. SINGH FOR INDIA-PAKISTAN PEACE TREATY

– The New York Times, 12/11/1989



CONGRESS TABLES UHC VOTES FOR EARLY NEXT YEAR

– The Washington Post, 12/14/1989



VOLKOV ANNOUNCES NEW PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS CONCERNING AGRICULTURE, MINERAL EXTRACTION, AND SPACE EXPLORATION

…aiming to “kill two birds with one stone” – to lower unemployment and poverty and to pursue space exploration – the new projects include the Russian production of two more sections of the I.S.S., expected to begin being fully operational within a few months… The announcement seems to be the conclusion of months of debate over Russia’s place on the stage of international space travel – despite the USSR’s shortfalls, mishaps, and failures, we are picking up where the old government system left off, and will be a major player in mapping humanity’s quests among the stars after all...

– The Moscow Times, Russian newspaper, 12/16/1989



COLONEL SANDERS RE-ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

– The Louisville Times, 12/20/1989

[pic: imgur.com/sVWVfxg ]
– The Colonel waving to supporters from his wheelchair upon leaving Norton Audubon Hospital, Louisville, KY, 12/23/1989



DOW DROPS 500 POINTS IN RESPONSE TO INFLATION WOES: After 11 Years, Is U.S. Economic Expansion Ending?

– The New York Times, 12/30/1989



WALL STREET IN PANIC! D.J.I.A. PLUMMETS, MARKETS CLOSE AFTER STAGGERING LOSSES: Interest Rates Impacted, Inflation Likely to Soar

– The Financial Times, 12/31/1989



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] OTL quote.
[2] Number from OTL article from 1990: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1990-07-07-9007060122-story.html
[3] Italicized parts are from an OTL issue: National Geographic, Vol. 163, No. 2 (February 1983 issue), page 166 (I own several old National Geographic magazines. I’m actually proud of the one I have from 1919 – there’s no picture on the front cover!).
[4] Italicized parts were pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care
[5] These things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_crossing#History_and_location
[6] He’s only a Brigadier General instead of a Major General here because without the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Rutskoy fails to rise in rank amid overseeing Soviet forces in Turkestan. He still flies several combat missions, but not enough to earn him the Hero of the Soviet Union award title like he did in 1988. Thus, he is not that prominent here, at least not militarily.
[7] Alternative picture (though please note that in it Bellamy is much closer to the camera than to her predecessors; I’m not sure if that’s clear or not with this picture, hence ultimately deciding not to use it):

imgur.com/j6dbcrC
[8] This guy: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/02/22/read-sex-assault-police-investigation-dr-robert-e-anderson/4836425002/
[9] This election was held in November 1989 IOTL; here, it was pushed up due to the more intense concerns over both the Kashmir conflict and Pakistan’s leader lowering Gandhi’s popularity even further and faster than in OTL.
[10] https://www.azquotes.com/author/32983-Jeremiah_Denton
[11] Italicized part is from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(1989_film)
[12] Here’s an earlier, rejected version of Cage in a bat suit (where it’s more recognizably him due to the use of that buggy-eyes meme):

imgur.com/jWntTaV
[13] An extra four million due to the money saved + money not acquired in the first place by hiring Dafoe instead of Nicholson.
[14] Similar to OTL, in which “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,” the movement stemming from Woodrow Wilson’s role in assuring Albanian independence after World War One (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state#Albania).
[15] This guy gets chosen for this more diplomatic role because of his tendencies of OTL: “he is credited for advising against the all-out war with India to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, eventually providing an exit to Pakistan Army [sic] to deescalate the situation through diplomacy with India,” as stated here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervaiz_Mehdi_Qureshi
[16] Pakistan’s Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who didn’t die in a plane crash ITTL, bolstered ties with China and the US IOTL; also, according to his wikipedia article, “By the end of 1987, the Finance ministry [of Pakistan] had begun studying the process of engaging the gradual privatization and economic liberalization” of the nation’s economy, which, at least to me, sounds like someone willing to at least try and give international cooperation a chance/a shot/a try.
[17] IOTL, aid Hurricane led to Tim Duncan switching from swimming to basketball.
[18] This SoCal e-quake was more deadly because, to quote the person that pointed this out to me, , “a higher death toll on the freeways ITTL, since the death toll was so low due to a lot of people going home earlier to watch the World Series; OTOH, it will lead to increased reinforcement of existing freeways in California from earthquake damage, if this happens.”

Igeo654 said:
OK, So I'm happy about Cage playing Batman since, in a weird way, it really does fit him, but this needs to be said. Superman Lives/Reborn. It NEEDS to happen here, preferably in 1996 or somewhere thereabouts. It SHOULD, by all rights, happen and be successful under the right circumstances. Preferably as a combination of The Dan Gilroy Script and the Reborn Version 2 script with Kevin Smith's casting choices. Jackie boy deserves the Luthor gig after losing the Joker role. Hell, let's have DC adapt the whole Justice League with multiple directors. We could have Morgan Freeman as Martian Manhunter. In all likelihood, you could have a Justice League movie by the summer of 1998.

Alrightythen, I'll add it to my very rough draft of the 1990s chapters and begin planning it out / working on it shortly.

HonestAbe1809 said:
Here's hoping that ITTL Warner didn't alienate Robin Williams in their attempts to get Nicholson as the Joker. Because frankly, he'd be perfect as the Riddler.

Duly noted!

Igeo654 said:
I'd agree with you, only the rules have changed significantly. Carol and her bunch are in charge now. Effectively, they are the establishment and being who she is, things are going to change drastically. I can't even begin to guess what this version of the 90s is going to be like culturally. I know what the 70s were like under Mondale. Basically like OTL's 1980s only more left-wing. TTL's 80s...It's a hugely different ballpark. It's like a strange combo of the teen rebellion of Gen X mixed with the economic boom of the post-1991 US, mixed in with 2 and 1/2 of the more recognizable cultural aspects of OTL's 80s and the various scandals of the Nixon administration with Kemp, IMO, pretty much playing the role of an 80s Gerald Ford. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that this 90s will be an extension of the mid 90s punk, Britpop and Indy/Björk experimental scene, mixed in with the Y2K, Techno dance, teenybopper dance band crazy, frosted tips futurism of the latter part of the decade right from the get-go. Those surreal Anti-Ads from 1994 to 2000? Expect a ton more of them. With a progressive like Bellamy in charge, advertisers will have to get a lot more creative to get people to buy what they're selling. In fact, expect movies and entertainment, in general, to get a lot more futuristic and artsy from 1990 onwards because we're going to some wonderful places under Bellamy.

With all of this in mind, it'd be wonderful, for me, if the boy band ''Take That'' somehow made it big in the states with their biggest hit of 1992.


Click to expand...

Interesting ideas to play with, here. Thanks!

Bbone91 said:
Assuming Brannon and Braga; the Voyager writers, don’t take a job writing Ttl west wing. You never know when Alternate history is concerned.

Indeed!

phoenix101 said:
Great timeline! Some really interesting choices for president (besides Sanders of course), never heard of Bellamy before this timeline, but she seems to be a great choice for the presidency. I also couldn't help but notice this:

It's not often that my hometown shows up on alternatehistory.com, so I'm happy that it shows up even if it's just a place to dump Gadaffi. Was it a random choice or did you choose it because of it's name?

It was a combination of the name and its geographical location; from what I could tell, it's not too isolated but not too close to a dense population center, either. Is this right?

 

[gap80]

Post 53: Chapter 61

Chapter 61: January 1990 – July 1990

“There’s no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You can’t do any business from there.”

– Colonel Sanders [1]



“How’s the saying go? Hospitals are dangerous – people die in those places all the time!” Father joked only half-heartedly. The truth was that the increasingly frequent visits to doctor’s offices and hospital rooms unnerved him. In June of the previous year, he had learned he was suffering from leukemia. His physicians informed him that he was now more susceptible to bladder and kidney infection, a condition often related to leukemia treatment as it can have the side effect of reducing a person’s ability to fight infection. [2] Adding this to the diabetes and high blood pressure made Father know that he was “not too long” for this world, as he grimly framed it.

Nevertheless, the family insisted on him taking chemotherapy and blood transfusions. With a typical recovery time of seven weeks (four weeks of chemo, then three weeks for bone marrow recovery), during which time the patient is basically confined to the hospital, Father had his hospital room include a phone and rolodex near the bed in order for him to continue monitoring KFC operations and stay in touch with his friends and family members…

– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991

[pic: https://imgur.com/b9PfvSZ ]
– Colonel Sanders with family members, date unspecified



“BLACK JANUARY”: Recession Returns As Market Drop Ends 11 Years Of Growth

– The Wall Street Journal, 1/18/1990



FEDERAL RESERVE CUTS RATES TO OFFSET RECESSION IMPACT

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Reserve today announced a “minor” cut to interest rates in order to lower the effects of the recent economic downturn that began late last month…

– The Washington Post, 1/19/1990



…the recession that ended 11-and-a-half years of growth most likely came about from a combination of several factors. Laying at the feet of Presidents Denton and Kemp was their tax cuts for the upper classes, the long-term effects of investors being weary of market unreliability during the Second Ark Wave, and, most prominently, their support of policies that deregulated the markets in 1981, 1985 and 1987. Other economists, on the other hand, pointed to runaway inflation going unchecked. Others still, in an early rebuke of President Bellamy, claimed the federal government’s reforms and massive public welfare endeavors were hurting the national debt despite operating costs for new education measures being less expensive than they were before.

Disregarding the unhelpful voices of critics, Bellamy responded to the situation pragmatically by immediately supporting the introduction of stimulus packages into the financial system, a “tax shift” from the middle classes to the “lower upper” class, and a federal bailout for small businesses. While calling for a protection of unemployment insurance during the “moment of mandatory action,” Bellamy also sought to offset conservatives lambasting the “snob snub package” (a phrase coined by Bellamy ally Charles Albert James) by coming to the defense of the Negative Income Tax Rebate, a GOP talking point that was overwhelmingly popular. However, by admitting the average American was kept afloat in times of hardship by the NITR, Bellamy made herself vulnerable to long-held claims that additional government benefits such as food stamps were unnecessary…

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018



AL GORE JR.’S LATEST FILM EXPOSES THE GRIM FLAWS IN OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

…Gore’s second documentary, “Get Well Soon” does not promote Universal Healthcare so much as it instead focuses on the shortcomings and complicated bureaucracy of our health and both the corruption and innovations of the pharmaceutical industries. …in the third act, Gore Jr. follows his father, long-time US Senator Al Gore Sr., around the nation’s capital, and in a scene that is both touching and foreboding, the elder Gore must follow government protocol and cannot get his son, or Jr.’s film crew, into a meeting with lobbyists and two unidentified Congressmen... By being less polished, the film’s raw and unedited documentation of how our current system has negatively affected several case studies – from genetic disorders to accident survivors – makes for a dramatic and shocking exhibition of the America’s current health care system without falling into the UHC camp or expressing sympathy for socialism. Gore Jr.’s ability to thread this needle demonstrates how far the former journalist has progressed as a filmmaker…

– Variety magazine, 1/27/1990 film review



POWERING VENEZUELA: Will Petkoff’s Investments Pay Off?

…President Petkoff is aiming to make his nation a stable powerhouse in the region via financing in the oil, natural gas, wind and solar energy industries. Capitalizing on his high approval ratings, Petkoff’s shifting of the nation’s economy could prove instrumental in Venezuela’s future, especially if it is a success… One Venezuelan company is researching the possibility of harnessing the power of lightning due to the high number of lightning strikes that hit Lake Maracaibo due to Catatumbo Lightning. An atmospheric phenomenon unique to the nation’s northwestern coast, storm clouds produce lightning strikes that occur 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours per day and up to 280 times per hour [3]. “The technology is still in its infancy, but there is still promising potential there,” says the scientist leading the company’s R&D department... Public and political support for the energy policies initiated last year comes from their apparent ability to cut down on previously-rising unemployment numbers, which, as studies have shown, are most likely tied to the influx of refugees from war-torn Colombia next door…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 29/1/1990



“While the second successive quarter was not as bad as the first, the GDP still fell. …The unemployment rate reached a high of 7.3% in February. Not nearly as bad as it was in 1979, when it peaked at 8.2%, but it was still disconcerting for Bellamy. …The 1989-90 recession affected talks about UHC, though, it changed the dynamics of it all. It made the idea of a healthcare “safety net” become more popular with the average American, as poll after poll showed, even as Bellamy slowly but surely dragged us out of the recession.”

– Former US Treasury Secretary E. Gerald Corrigan, KNN interview, 2001



THE COLONEL KNIGHT?! Colonel Sanders Awarded Honorary Knighthood!

…The Chicken King, former US President Colonel Sanders, was bestowed the award of Honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his “decades of dedication to improving US-UK and international relations across the globe.” According to the UK’s The Guardian, “Sir” Harland Sanders received the award in London, with The Colonel traveling to the U.K. after he was informed that he was receiving the honor two weeks ago. The honorary title is given only to those that the U.K. honors system recognizes for “exceptional achievement and service to the nation,” performed by non-British nationals, particularly for “their important contribution to British interests.” The Guardian states “all British honors are awarded on merit, and honorary awards are conferred by HM The Queen on the advice of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Secretary. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire was founded in 1917.” According to the rules that come with this award, The Colonel cannot use the prefix “Sir,” but can use the suffix “KBE” should he desire to do so…

– The New York Post, 2/2/1990



“…the debate on the hill right now is on whether or not the UHC bill needs additional amendments regarding the extent of free and full coverage and the ability to opt in or out of a system meant to cover everyone. Some other figures on the hill, though, such as House Minority Leader Robert Smith Walker question such discussion at a time when millions of Americans are still reeling from the economy situation at the moment…”

– White House correspondent for CBS, 2/12/1990 broadcast



The President turned off the TV set, cutting off Buckley's rant mid-sentence. “Can you believe that man?” she remarked. “‘Without financial incentive, people won’t be careful with their health?’ He’s saying Americans are too stupid to keep themselves out of harm’s way! The contempt of that cynic; what a snob!”

“Though he does make one good point, UHC will be a major expense for the federal government,” noted the middle-of-the-road Chief Economic Policy Advisor Charles Albert James, sitting across from the President on the end of the counch. “And if the Balanced Budget Amendment takes affect before we can even get UHC off the ground, it would be even worse.”

Commerce Secretary Young sat on the other side of the half-circle of Oval Office seats. Likely panicking over the recent talk of siphoning away funding from federal departments to pay for UHC (“A bone to small-government supporters,” Defense Secretary Lagomarsino called it), he eventually jumped into the discussion with the notion, “We can afford this expense! The Commerce Department is underfunded as is!”

Before Bellamy could calm Young’s nerves, Labor Secretary Nader replied, “Well we certainly can’t cut funds for my department.”

Interior Secretary Anaya chimed in as well. “My department’s also too important to take a budget cut, either!”

“How?” Nader remarked with a bit of doubt and even less politeness, “Did the recession leave several hundred thousand rocks unemployed, too?”

Before the arguing could continue on any further, Bellamy intervened, “Alright, stop it, stop it now. Fighting will get us nowhere.” Everyone quickly apologized for letting the situation "get" to them.

After further, calmer discussions on how to best fund UHC funds equally, the decision ultimately came down to the gutting of certain programs provided by Medicare and Medicaid, as said programs would be made obsolete by the passage of UHC.

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



[Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc. CEO Lee] Cummings retired after nine years on the job that Lee described as “rewarding but very tiring.” We initially considered Floyd “Sonny” Tillman [4], the head executive of Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc.’s Barbeque Steakhouse franchise since 1967 (replacing inaugural executive John Y Brown Jr.), only to learn that Tillman himself planned to retire soon, and would only serve as an interim capacity.

Ultimately, the board settled on James A. Collins (b. 12/20/1926) for CEO. Jim Collins actually had roots to Pop that ran even deeper than Tillman’s. Collins originally worked in the burger business, opening up “Hamburger Handout” in 1952. Collins was inspired to open a hamburger store after meeting Richard and Maurice McDonald. However, in February 1960, Jim went to Louisville, Kentucky, met Pop, and started selling Kentucky Fried Chicken at his hamburger stores, Hamburger Handout. In 1961, Jim partnered with two associates and opened three take home Kentucky Fried Chicken stores, in Anaheim, Tustin and Costa Mesa, California. Jim became good friends with the Colonel and started helping him train new franchisees and eventually became the southern California agent for KFC. Between 1962 and 1968, Jim opened 240 KFCs for the Colonel, of which his company, Collins Foods International, owned and managed 33 stores.” [5] With a resume as impressive as that, it was not at all a surprise when he became a board member of FLG Inc. in 1969, where he oversaw the introduction of the Wendyburger into South American markets during the 1970s and 1980s. With his promotion to CEO, Collins became the first non-relative of the Sanders family to head the company, a position from which he hoped to continue Pop’s legacy.

[pic: https://imgur.com/6W3FEbR ]
Above: Collins, with Claudia and Pop, years earlier.

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



As the nineties began, only more Canadian comedies entered prominence in American entertainment. With Canadian TV, and even British comedies, becoming big hits in the US, celebrities such as William Shatner, John Candy, Steve Smith (two-time winner of the International Comedians Award), Carol Kane, SNL’s Matt Frewer and CSTV’s Dave Foley experienced a boon in their careers during this decade…

– James A. Miller and Tom Shales’ The Comedy Wars: SNL vs. CSTV, Vanguard Publishing, 2016 edition



On February 24, 1990, the emergency spending bill failed to pass the House, with only 211 of the 235 Democrats and 3 of the 198 Republicans voting in favor of it. This was due to conservative Democrats led by Congressman Bill Lipinski voicing over the practicality of the “tax shift.” The nay-saying Democrats joined several Republicans in questioning the fiscal responsibility of the Bellamy administration, claiming that the emergency spending, plus the allocation of non-emergency funds for projects such as the UHC bill, would place the federal government in the red, in violation of the Balanced Budget Amendment (expected to become into effect in January 1991, as soon as one more state legislature approved it). …As economic recovery efforts slowed, Father openly criticized the instigators of the congressional gridlock. From his hospital bed in Louisville, Father said in a February 27 guest call-in spot on Meet the Press, “Politicians are increasingly acting like they never went to school and don’t know how to get along. Ain’t that ironic – I didn’t even finish school and I’m thinking I’m twice as smart and thrice as wise as these stubborn ineffective college-educated mules! Those suits in D.C. have to kick their lobbyist puppet-masters where the sun don’t shine and get back to doing the work they were elected to do!”

– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991



UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE: Breaking Down What It Is And How It Would Work In The U.S.A.

DUNHAM: …we are determined to pass it before congress’ summer recess at the latest, that is the plan. We currently have a National Health Insurance-type model, while this bill would make it into a single-payer system. This differs from, say, Germany’s Social Health Insurance model because it doesn’t force everyone to buy insurance. In my eyes, to force people to do that would be socialist.

JONES: So it would be like the UK’s?

DUNHAM: It’s an Americanized version of the UK’s. More individual freedom would be involved here.

[snip]

DUNHAM: Studies show that preventive care reduces the need for expensive emergency room usage. Without access to preventive care, 46% of emergency room patients went because they had no other place to go. They used the emergency room as their primary care physician. This health care inequality is a big reason for the rising cost of medical care. [6]

JONES: Well, a clinic is a health center smaller than a hospital where patients that are less sick can go and do not stay overnight. If emergency rooms are really being misused, wouldn’t it be easier, cheaper and simpler to expand the number of general clinics instead of completely overhauling our current system?

DUNHAM: It’d be cheaper but it wouldn’t be better, because that would not address any of the many other flaws in the current system…

[snip]

JONES: So on one hand, universal coverage would lower health care costs for the economy, but on the other hand, it would force hospitals and doctors to provide the same standard of care at low cost?

DUNHAM: There’s more to it than that.

JONES: So what exactly is the standard of low-cost care?

DUNHAM: That's exactly my point. That’s another concern, how high should the standards be? I think UHC would free up a lot of expenses, though, so it would not be any sort standard, but, again, we really should see what the final bill ends up looking like.

JONES: How would it free up expenses, and what expenses?

DUNHAM: It would eliminate administrative costs.

JONES: How?

DUNHAM: By eliminating the need to deal with private insurance.

JONES: Unless conservative Democrats get that amendment attached that allows people to opt out of the system for private insurance, correct?

DUNHAM: Um, yes, that is correct.

[snip]

At the time of this interview, Senate support for the bill broke down as follows: 46 (Basha, Schroeder, Sanford, Hatfield, Uccello, Dodd, Mink, Inouye, Church, Simon, Dixon, Hall, Lugar, Jespen, Hughes, Wetherby, Sanders, Muskie, Masterton, Sarbanes, Chiles, Mikulski, Kennedy-Shriver, Growe, Dayton, Kelly, Bradley, Sorensen, Peabody, Beaulieu, Jimenez, Mondragon, Pell, Rockefeller, Galifianakis, Stokes, AuCoin, Gore, Richards, Hoff, Kunin, Unsoeld, May, La Follette, McGee, R. Byrd) support it, 31 (Smith, Hansen, Kassebaum, Dole, Holloway, Roemer, Lousma, Franklin, Meredith, Hatch, Laxalt, Vucanovich, McDermott, Mochary, Wilkinson, Edwards, Thurmond, Hollings, Baker, Paul, Moss, Garn, H. Byrd, Obenshain, Raese, Engeleiter, Wold, Garner, Biden, Roth, Armstrong) oppose it, and 23 (Heath, Murkowski, Goldwater, Tucker, Fulbright, Nixon, Obledo, Bilirakis, Nunn, Skandalakis, Weld, Peterson, Mudd, Williams, Biaggi, Link, Conrad, Glenn, Richardson, Casey, Schneider, Pressler, Farrar) are undecided.

– The Atlantic, newspaper interview with US Health and Welfare Secretary Dunham, 2/28/1990 issue



HOUSE AGREES ON REVISED EMERGENCY SPENDING BILL, PASSES 223-210-1

…seven liberal and moderate Republicans crossed the aisle in a last-minute showing of bipartisanship…

– The Washington Post, 3/4/1990



BELLAMY BACKS ESTATE TAX OVERHAUL BILLS TABLED FOR THIS FALL

– The Washington Times, 3/8/1990



While Canada’s international peacekeeping and humanitarian missions had increased dramatically after the end of Cold War under the direction of Chretien and Copps, the Canadian was hit by the American stock market downturn in late 1989 and early 1990, causing voters to focus more on domestic accomplishments of late as the latest general election approached.

On March 12, [1990,] Copps faced off against Ed Broadbent of Progressive Tomorrow, Erik Nielsen of the Progressive Conservatives, and Pierre-Marc Johnson of the new Quebec Party, created in the aftermath of the unsuccessful Chretien-Bourassa Talks of the previous year. In what is considered to be a surge of conservative backlash to Copps’ “extremist” reparations to Native Canadian groups, Nielsen obtained a plurality of the vote, and collaborated with Pierre-Marc Johnson to obtain a working minority government by the 14th. Copps underperformed, but not as badly as Broadbent, who eventually stepped down as party leader of the results.

“Yukon Erik,” age 66, had risen to prominence during the PC party’s long period of opposition during most of the 1980s. Representing Yukon in Canadian Parliament for over 32 years, since December 1957, Nielson was considered a lucid and experienced lawmaker with a blunt, straight-forward campaigning style that appealed to most rural, most conservative, some suburban, and some moderate voters. Furthermore, him being from neither Ontario nor Quebec led to him and his party gaining ground in both provinces.

Hollywood was abuzz over the news that long-time film actor Leslie Nielsen’s brother is now the next Prime Minister of Canada. His election, and his entering of the office on March 30, raised public interest in the career of his younger brother Leslie, and it also renewed interest in the 1985 CBS mockumentary “The Canadian Conspiracy”…

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



TORNADOES RIP THROUGH GREAT PLAINS IN FIVE-STATE SWEEP

…spanning from Texas to Iowa, an outbreak of 64 deadly tornadoes that began two days ago seems to have finally dissipated… While only 1 death has been reported so far, dozens have been injured and millions of dollars of damages have befallen numerous towns in Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa… Vice President Litton’s Air Force Two touched down in Hesston, KS, where the first tornado touched down, to oversee the extent of damage. …As the Bellamy White House battles recession and anti-UHC politicians, Governor Slattery of Kansas states “We will bounce back from this. We will recover, as we always do. Each and every time twisters touch down, Kansas rise to the occasion.”

– The Houston Chronicle, 3/13/1990



UHC BILL FINALLY PASSES HOUSE!: Senate To Hold A Vote On It “Soon,” Says House Speaker Boggs

– The Boston Globe, 3/19/1990



BELLAMY SIGNS INTO LAW BILL CREATING MULTISTATE “BUFFALO COMMONS” PRESERVE

[pic: https://imgur.com/eUdRyX1 ]
…a vast nature preserve proposal that originated in a 1987 essay by Frank J. Popper, the bill, now called the Buffalo Commons Act, protects 139,000 square miles of the drier portions of the Great Plains to native prairie… The massive preserve is meant to help bring back not just the Buffalo. It is also meant to encourage people to invest in America’s breadbasket and in the companies and businesses of new “alternative energy” industries sprouting up across the American west… The Buffalo Commons bill was approved in both chambers of congress on bipartisan lines in a showing of camaraderie that contrasts with the current debate raging on in the Senate over the Hoff-Abzug Universal Health Care Bill aiming to implement an “Americanized” form of the UK’s UHC system, with supporters of the bill dubbing it “Americare”…

– The Reno Gazette-Journal, 3/22/1990



PLOTINO: The Life of a Greek-Mexican Mormon Anarchist

Release date: March 25, 1990

Genre: history/farce comedy/adventure/biopic

[snip]

Synopsis:

Plotino Constantino Rhodakanaty (Greek: Πλωτίνος Ροδοκανάτης) was a Greek-Mexican socialist anarchist and a prominent Mormon pioneer who was an early activist in Mexico's labor movement in the years leading up to the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

The film begins with Plotino being interrogated by police. He claims he was born in 1828 in Athens, Greece to a father of Greek aristocracy and a mother of Austrian citizenship, only for the police to allege that his mother was born in Mexico, that Plotino is ethically Mexican, was born in London, and is maintaining a persona. Plotino’s lawyer counters with documents showing that he had traveled to Budapest in 1848 to assist in the failed Hungarian uprising of that year, then traveled to Berlin where he was exposed to the ideas of Hegel, Fourier, and Proudhon.

The film flashes back to 1850, when Plotino visited Paris to meet Proudhon, but is enchanted by a beauty young Spanish woman who is also a fan of Proudhon. From her, he learns of Mexico's rural system of relatively self-governing agricultural communities and the threats that capitalism and privatization presents to them. She convinces him to return with her to Barcelona, where he lived for “at least two” years in the large anarchist community there, before moving with her to Mexico City, determined to “save…a way of life.”

In 1861, after nine years of community networking, Plotino publishes the radical essay “Cartilla Socialista” to propagate the ideas of several European thinkers, with the overall theme being “Down with all governments.” Growing a small but dedicated group of followers of the next several years, he founds a “liberty school” in 1870, run by a former disciple of Francisco Zalacosta.

Plotino’s teachings catch the attention of the Mexican government when one of his former radical students, Julio Lopez Chavez, leads a peasant insurrection involving as many as 1,500 armed guerillas in central Mexico. It is the first revolt in Mexico with a political anti-government program.

With government agents monitoring his actions, Plotino carefully expands his circle of followers in Mexico City to include other radicals such as Santiago Villanueva, Francisco Zalacosta, Julio Chávez López, and José María Gonzales. A brief flashforward to the present revealed that all these men later played important roles in the pre-revolution labor movement.

Amid Chavez continuing his guerilla insurrection, Plotino comes across some translated sections of the Book of Mormon, a scripture of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), in 1875. He becomes captivated by them, and soon becomes convinced that they are “the word of God.” This leads to an argument with his domestic partner – the Spanish woman from years before – over the values advocated by the LDS Church, such as their communitarian practices at the time of communal property and emphasizing self-reliance. The fight leads to them “taking a break,” and a bitter Plotino petitioning the LDS Church's leadership in Salt Lake City to send missionaries to Mexico, and trying to convert his friends and acquaintances. Further talks with the LDS Church leads to him meeting with Mormons that on-screen text explains will be the ancestors of future American politician George Romney, Governor of Michigan and 1976 Presidential candidate. Plotino Rhodakanaty is baptized a Mormon on November 20, 1879 and is appointed to head the local congregation, resulting in Plotino’s significant other breaking up with him.

Ten months later, Plotino is increasingly at odds with church leadership in Salt Lake City over his attempts to create “utopian” communities in Mexico. Outraged by the church’s “betrayal,” Plotino resigns as the head of the congregation and becomes disengaged from the LDS Church, but never rescinds his membership. In the present, Plotino claims he still communicates with “some” church members, only for police to reveal that he was excommunicated in 1881, leading to Plotino’s lawyer arguing with him over withheld information.

The film finally catches up to the “present” (1883), where Plotino is being held in connection to a different ex-student of his bombing a government office in Cancun. However, due to the lack of evidence that Plotino had been in contact with him since 1878, Plotino is released from prison.

In his older age, Plotino has now moved to Ajusco in the mountains southwest of Mexico City. He teaches at a small local school, which is attended by a young Otilio Montaño. On-screen text explains that Otilio would later write the treatise “Plan de Ayala,” a work that is closely related and supportive of Plotino’s goal of “a democratic and self-governing society in rural Mexico.”

Just before the credits begin to role, additional on-screen text reveals that, after suffering a degenerative disease, Plotino died of a fever in Mexico City on Sunday, February 2, 1890, from a pernicious fever, at the age of roughly 62.

Reception:

The film received lukewarm views. Critics praised the acting skills of its central cast, but the two-hours-long film was criticized for its slow pacing. Critics generally stated that the film had the potential to showcase a unique historical figure, but ultimately had little to say about its subject matter despite other films "doing so much more with so much less." The film brought in slightly more money than what was spent on it.

– clickopedia.co.usa



…as the Senate begins negotiations over how to address private health insurance under a “universal” health care system, Bellamy is protecting sufferers of Sexually-Acquired S.I.F. Viruses, also called “SASIF” Viruses, or simply “SASIFs,” by expanding relief funds at the federal level via the Department of Health and Welfare…

– The Overmyer Network Night-time News, 3/27/1990



COLONEL SANDERS COMPLETES LEUKEMIA TREATMENT: Still Recovering From Pneumonia, High Blood Pressure Bouts

…The Colonel’s travelling schedule is the lightest it has ever been since leaving the White House, as the fast-food proprietor-turned-politician recuperates from further health issues. He reportedly plans to spend more time with friends and members of his large family…

[pic: https://imgur.com/T3tsfqt ]
Above: The Colonel peruses a copy of Reader’s Digest on hospital grounds in Louisville, KY, last week

– The Louisville Times, 4/5/1990



…when he returned home from the hospital that April, he did not even stop inside the house to wash up before heading around back. He went to the main shed, pulled out an old axe and started trying to chop up some logs from the wood pile. When he swung for the wood, it didn’t even go halfway in, so he tried again and again. “Forget this, I need to fix that leak in the roof,” I heard him bellow out loud to himself as I went outside to him. By the time I got to him, he had returned from another trip to the main shed and was propping a ladder against the one back wall of the house.

“What on Earth are you doing?” I said.

“What it looks like, honey!” almost out of breath, he uttered politely but impatiently as he tried to place his foot on the first step.

“Quit acting foolish, Harland, you’re not a young man anymore.”

“I can still do things. I can still help. I’m still needed.” He tried the other foot as he tried to set his hands firmly on the sides of the ladder.

“No one said you're not. Quit acting so reckless.” But then I leaned in closer, and I could see it in his eyes; weathered and fading, the spark was sunken but not yet gone from them. “Harland, don’t think I can’t tell. After knowing you for almost 50 years, don’t think I can’t read you. I know you. Something’s up, now tell me what it is.”

He stopped, sighed so deeply he was almost quivering at the end. “The darn leukemia’s going to kill me.” He took his foot off the ladder and dropped the toolbox out of his now limp hand. “I’m on my last fillup of gas. My last KFC order. My dead-last term. I don’t know if I’m ready. I don’t want to leave you. I don't –.” As his voice began to break, he couldn’t finish his thought. He didn’t have to, I knew what he meant.

When you’re as old as we were then – 83 and 99 – a part of you, large or small, knows you’re on borrowed time, at the Reaper’s door. But the bell toll still takes you by surprise and shakes you down to your core.

In that moment round the back of the house, we shared the acknowledgement of the painful realization of what was to come soon by sharing a firm and tearful hug – an embrace tight, almost squeezing each other – refusing to let each other go.

In a way, we never have.

– Claudia Sanders, in a private letter to a friend, written 2/3/1992 (publicly released/published by her estate in 2010)



On February 10, the Utah Supreme Court sided with the state D.A. Paul Van Dam, ruling that a young woman can be arrested in Utah for having an abortion in Colorado when she is officially a resident of Utah. The case was the most prominent abortion-related case in Utah since the H.L. v. Romney Supreme Court case of 1981 [7]. Increased media attention of the defendant’s appeals for a Supreme Court ruling led to controversy over the specifics of the young woman in question. Julie Ann Moseley, b. 1965 and originally from Fort Worth, Texas, was not the victim of a rape, nor was the abortion a medical necessity, but Moseley had recently separated from her reportedly-abusive husband. Her decision to seek an abortion in Colorado complicated the situation because Colorado was part of the U.H.C. Pact, while Utah was not. With the precedence of the 1981 case behind it, the possibility of the case of Moseley v. Van Dam reaching the US Supreme Court – and potentially influencing abortion rules at the federal level – produced a national debate that seemed to only grow as the year progressed. …One Gallup poll from early April found that even in conservative states, the issue was divisive and polarizing...

– Mary Ziegler’s Abortion: A History, Harvard University Press, 2015

[pic: imgur.com/14xrMPs.png ]

– Governor Bob Ross answering tough questions at a press conference, 4/8/1990



Meanwhile, the world kept on ignoring Ossetia’s “war” for independence. The Georgian government treated the secessionists as terrorists and traitors, but only maintained troops at the border. Russia opposed the secession on their side of the border, and maintained border guards as well. This essentially kept the Ossetians surrounded. As such, their apparent failure to fully depart from Russia like United Turkestan had only a few years before knocked the wind out of the sails of similar movements in Kalmykia, Dagestan, and Chechnya, though calls for secession continued through political and less militant venues in Kalmykia and Chechnya as the decade continued on. Chechnya’s Dzhokhar Dudayev was particularly involved in such efforts during the 1990s, leading the local NCChP political opposition group in the local Chechen political area before... [snip]

Volkov’s response to the “war,” though was unpopular with war hawks in Moscow who believed it to be possible to either annex South Ossetia or at the very least keep an independent Ossetia well with Russia’s sphere of influence. Volkov’s refusal to support North Ossetia’s secession effort, over concerns that it would be a “leak in the dike” that would lead to the remaining rebelling areas demanding independence as well, led to one of his more prominent geopolitical advisors, economist Ruslan Khasbulatov, stepping down in mid-April 1990.

– Ivan Ivanovich Zassoursky’s After 1984: The Lands and Would-Be Lands of The Post-Soviet Era, 1985-2005, Milton Park Publishers, 2016



BURNED BY THE FRIER: KFC Seeks To Step Up Its Game As Chicken Competitors Siphon Away Customers

…Kentucky Fried Chicken is undoubtedly the most recognizable franchise in the US if not the world over, but that isn’t stopping rival chicken meal sellers from launching themselves into the consciousness of American consumers. …new entrants like a fast-rising Southwestern chain called El Pollo Loco, and poachers from the hamburger business, like Burger King, are prospering from sales of non-fried chicken. El Pollo Loco, based in Irvine, Calif., has become the nation's fastest-growing major chicken chain. And Burger King's ''BK Broiler,'' a broiled-chicken sandwich introduced last month, is already selling at a rate of a million a day. That compares with the two million Whopper hamburgers that it sells each day.

As the warm-weather months approach, when most fast-food chicken is sold, Kentucky Fried Chicken's fried-food onus is beginning to become a problem for them. Despite Colonel Sanders’ promoting of healthy food choices as President and even going so far as to tweak his KFC recipe in the 1970s, the company’s image is closer to “good” than it is to “good for you.” KFC is also hurt by high chicken prices and rising competition from what many analysts see as a near-saturation of fast-food outlets.

…Under new management, Kentucky Fried Chicken, now headed by businessman Jim Collins, has started test-marketing grilled chicken. It is also tightening operations and broadening its fried menu. ''K.F.C. has recently slipped in regard to its reputation for cleanliness and service,'' Mr. Collins has told securities analysts. He has reorganized field operations, revamped training and is conducting more frequent inspections of franchisees. A new fried-chicken sandwich and several proposed new products, like spicy chicken wings, could soon be added to attract more lunch-time business. Most of the chain's sales are at dinner time.

…The $5 billion that Americans spent last year on fast-food chicken was more than triple the $1.4 billion spent in 1980, according to the National Broiler Council, a Washington trade group for chicken producers. Ninety percent of the fast-food chicken was deep-fried. [8]

– The Los Angeles Times, 4/25/1990



ANCHOR: “…big news coming out of the capital of Maryland, where the state’s governor has been found dead in his private office from a gunshot wound to the chest. While not official, most police officers and officials are describing the death as a suicide. The sudden demise of Governor William Oswald Mills, who served in the US House for ten years before election to the state senate in 1982 and then to the governorship in 1986, comes at a time when Mills was facing possible conviction for conducting illegal activities, in regards to his alleged connections to over $500,000 in unaccounted donations made to his office by a GOP finance committee. The Cash Transfer Scandal and ongoing trial was tanking his approval ratings, and there even was talk of him being challenged for re-nomination later this year. We take you now to Easton, Maryland, where our D.C. correspondent, Christine Chubbuck, is live outside of the Mills residence there. What can you tell us, Christine?”

CHUBBOCK: “What I can tell you is that what I’ve heard today matches up with previous reports of the Governor suffering from depression. I can tell you that this is a tragedy for the Mills family regardless of the reason behind the suicide, be it the pressure of the scandal, his mental situation, or both. And I can tell you that suicide is the worst place you ever want to find yourself in. I should know, I’ve suffered from depression before, and it helps to have a support group. Governor Mills didn’t have that, it seems. He had cronies, he had Yes Men, he had lawyers, but he did not reach out to the people who loved him, and they are all in mourning as a result of that.”

– WXLT-TV Florida, 4/28/1990 broadcast



THE RISE OF PIZZA HUT

…Pizza is one of the world’s most popular foods...40 percent of Americans eat pizza at least once a week. There’s a reason pizza is so popular. Humans are drawn to foods that are fatty, sweet, rich and complex. Pizza has all of these components. Cheese is fatty, meat toppings tend to be rich and the sauce is sweet. Pizza toppings are also packed with a compound called glutamate, which can be found in the tomatoes, cheese, pepperoni and sausage. When glutamate hits our tongues, it tells our brains to get excited — and to crave more of it. This compound actually causes our mouths to water in anticipation of the next bite. [9]

[snip]

Pizza Hut is leading this section of the fast food industry, both at home and now abroad, as the multinational company finally opens its first outlet in the People’s Republic of China. Originally planned to begin serving the locals its signature pies and slices in 1988, plans were placed on hold amid the global boycott of Red China’s West Turkestan camps policy.

– The Boston Globe, 5/2/1990



SENATE MOVING TO PASSS UHC BILL: Will Vote On Amendments “Before The End Of The Month,” Says Source

– The Washington Post, 5/7/1990



In early May, the day finally came when the I.S.S. began operations, ushering a new, more collaborative era in the history of human space exploration… The man overseeing American contributions to the I.S.S. megaproject was Assistant Director Dale D. Myers, who supported plans to explore Mars’ polar ice caps for signs of valuable materials. Another ambitious proposal, it was certainly not as expensive as the manned moon landings had been. As a result, it received support from President Bellamy later that same month…

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



X RIPS OPPONENTS AND TOUTS HIS STANDING IN HISTORY IN HIS INSIGHTFUL NEW AUTOBIO

…in what will surely be a controversial and divisive book for this year, Malcolm X’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published by New York Grove Press has X present himself as a social crusader who paved the way for the Negative Income Tax Rebate, the political careers of African-Americans such as James Meredith and George L. Brown, and the rise of President Bellamy. These claims, however, require more cited evidence than X cares to give. …the best aspect of the book, the silver lining of the treatise, is not his political self-posturing and historical revisionism, but instead his wholesome descriptions of family life – his love for his children, his devotion to his wife and friends. These passages portray a caring father who is much more relatable and redeemable than the social crusader depicted throughout the rest of what is, admittedly, a well-written page-turner of an autobiography… Whether it is due to his almost-poetic writing style or the enjoyment of studying his numerous claims, the fact remains that this is a captivating must-read…

– Tumbleweed magazine, book review, 5/19/1990



With housing and urban renewal projects, environment protection regulation compliance, and, above all else, worker safety and worker rights, Ralph Nader continued the micromanaging style that he had used during his almost thirteen years as the head of the EPA. To assure he grasped “the whole picture,” Nader repeatedly met with labor leaders such as Karen Silkwood, Tony Mazzocchi, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Senator Philip Hoff, and even activist Cheech Marin.

“I visited his private office in May 1990. The place was swamped with books and documents, charts and graphs all over the place, it looked more like a glorified storage room than an official office,” Marin testifies.

[pic: https://imgur.com/N0Iaw0S ]
Above: Nader on his office phone, photograph undated.

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017



Red Barn was one of our more friendly competitors. Our themes were compatible, with the Wendy logo looking like someone who would live on a farm with a red barn on it. I suspect our camaraderie may have actually helped it stick around. I remember this one time in the late spring of 1990, when I was at a restaurant convention with Don Six, one of Red Barn’s co-founders, and he seemed genuine when he suggested that we were keeping his franchise relevant.

Burger King, though, they were more aggressive in their efforts to stay in the top tier of the burger franchises, often squeezing in between Whataburger and Burger Chef, ahead of Red Barn and way ahead of the niche Ollieburger, but behind Wendyburger and way behind MacDonald’s...

– David Thomas’ Dave’s Way, Penguin Group USA Inc., 1992 [10]



…In Washington, D.C., the Biological Weapons Research Limitations and Regulations Act of 1989 went into effect today…

– ABC World News This Morning, 5/22/1990 broadcast



Paul Martin Jr., the son of former Leader of the Opposition Paul Martin Sr., won the May 25, 1990 Liberal party leadership election, to replace retiring leader Shiela Copps, after several rounds of close, surprisingly intense votes. His closest competitor was the “radical” MP and former First Nations Rights activist Annie Aquash, with MP Garth Turner coming in third and dropping out two-thirds of the way through the total number of rounds. Former frontrunner MP Herb Gray underperformed on the first ballot and dropped out after the second. Both Gray and Turner rallied behind Martin in an “Anti-Annie” campaign…

– Richard Johnston’s The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History, UBC Press, 2017



FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: THE U.S. IS OFFICIALLY OUT OF RECESSION

…however, this does not mean that unemployment rates will return to late 1989 levels immediately…

– The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/1990



After several months of negotiations, the Senate agreed to sign off on the House amendments. The Senate passed the UHC bill 56-40-4. The breakdown on those votes is as follows: 56 (Basha, Schroeder, Sanford, Hatfield, Uccello, Dodd, Mink, Inouye, Church, Simon, Dixon, Hall, Lugar, Jespen, Hughes, Wetherby, Sanders, Muskie, Masterton, Sarbanes, Chiles, Mikulski, Kennedy-Shriver, Growe, Dayton, Kelly, Bradley, Sorensen, Peabody, Beaulieu, Jimenez, Mondragon, Pell, Rockefeller, Galifianakis, Stokes, AuCoin, Gore, Richards, Hoff, Kunin, Unsoeld, May, La Follette, McGee, R. Byrd, Tucker, Fulbright, Obledo, Nunn, Skandalakis, Peterson, Mudd, Williams, Link, Conrad) voted “yea,” 40 (Smith, Hansen, Kassebaum, Dole, Holloway, Roemer, Lousma, Franklin, Meredith, Hatch, Laxalt, Vucanovich, McDermott, Mochary, Wilkinson, Edwards, Thurmond, Hollings, Baker, Paul, Moss, Garn, H. Byrd, Obenshain, Raese, Engeleiter, Wold, Garner, Biden, Roth, Armstrong, Heath, Murkowski, Bilirakis, Weld, Glenn, Richardson, Schneider, Pressler, Farrar) voted “nay,” most of them doing so over expenses concerns, and 4 (Goldwater, Nixon, Biaggi, and Casey) voted “present.”

– T. R. Reid’s Healing America: Medicine and Healthcare in the United States, Penguin Books, 2010



"A HISTORIC LIFE-SAVING ACHIEVEMENT": Bellamy Signs “Americare,” Universal Health Care Bill, Into Law!

[pic: https://imgur.com/25TEznu ]
Above: Litton and Bellamy celebrate the historic reform bill outside the White House [11]

…However, one has to wonder if the Bellamy Administration has exhausted its political capital with the implementation of a system derided by its critics as “communistic and costly”…

– The Washington Post, 6/3/1990



Despite his prior years of political activism, it was still viewed as an “unlikely” rise. With the popular Prime Minister of the UK, Alastair Goodlad, touting high approval ratings for his handling of the economy, many big names were less willing to take him on. Nevertheless, a major change in the leadership election came in the form of a last-minute declaration of candidacy from John Lennon, the world-famous musician-turned-MP from Liverpool. Lennon ran a campaign to convince the party MPs that Labour needed to bring in more progressive-leaning voters, whose exit from Labour for the United Kingdom Intrepid Progressive (UKIP) party may have hurt them in recent local elections and in several by-elections.

Lennon was seen as a sensible choice for party leader by some, and as an insensible choice by others. He was, by far, the most visible and nationally well-known member of the Labour party, more so than the other challengers vying to replace the retiring former PM Williams as party leader. Neil Kinnock, the perceived frontrunner who opposed the notion of the party moving further to the left, was the party establishment favorite over candidates MP Kenneth Livingstone, former MP Tony Benn, and Shadow Secretary Bryn Gould. Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John Smith declined to run, along with MPs Gordon Brown and Robert Finlayson “Robin” Cook.

On the other hand, Lennon’s winning of an election to parliament only five years prior, in February 1985, suggested political inexperience despite having quickly risen through party ranks with his winning personality and inclusive policy proposals. Accusations of being mentally “unstable” over controversial comments of the past, such as referring to the government as “the whole bulls#!t bourgeois scene” and once exclaiming “Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it,” became a common aspect of this particularly negative campaign. Lennon’s supporters, though, noted that he was able to keep his seat with a campaign speech that include strongly anti-establishment rhetoric: “The people have the power, all we have to do is awaken that power in the people. The people are unaware. They’re not educated to realize that they have power. The system is so geared that everyone believes the government will fix everything. We are the government” [12]

[snip]

Within the next three months leading up to the early September 1990 ballot results, the field of candidates narrowed to just two – Kinnock and Lennon…

– Larry Kane’s John Lennon: The Music And The Man (Chapter 24: The Political Beat), Running Press, 2007



MONGOLIA TO RETURN TO PREVIOUS ALPHABET

…Mongolia’s unicameral parliament, the State Great Khural, today announced that the nation will begin taking “restorative measures” to transition its population to using the nation’s traditional alphabet and away from the current Russian-influenced Cyrillic script. The move could be a sign that the socialist government is reforming to appeal to pro-democracy demonstrators, or that the relationship between Mongolia and Russia is going from cold to freezing as Volkov retains his, albeit lukewarm, support for the demonstrators…

– The Times, UK newspaper, 13/6/1990



Daniel Edward Aykroyd, CM OOnt (/AK-royd; July 1, 1952 – June 14, 1990) was a Canadian actor, producer, comedian, musician, and filmmaker who was an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on Saturday Night Live (1975–1979). A musical sketch he performed with John Belushi on SNL, the Blues Brothers, turned into an actual performing band and then the 1980 film of the same name. Aykroyd conceived and starred in Ghostbusters (1984), which spawned a sequel and eventually an entire media franchise. In 1990, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the 1989 film Driving Miss Daisy. [13] Aykroyd died in a plane crash in Sydenham, Ontario, as his pilot attempted to land near Aykroyd’s recently-acquired estate on Loughborough Lake in the late evening hours of July 14, 1990. Coneheads (1991) was his final film role. His death is often counted toward being part of an alleged curse on SNL cast members, but is more often seen as an example of the dangers of flying in poor visual conditions.

– clickopedia.co.usa/Dan_Aykroyd



After graduating from CSU Business School in December 1984 with a BA in business management, Hillenburg found a job in a New England fish restaurant before becoming the manager of a Long John Silver’s in Miami, Florida, in 1985. Remembering his days as a fry cook and later cashier in the late 1970s, Hillenburg ran the place efficiently enough for him to be promoted within the company in 1989. At the age of 28, he became an Assistant Regional Manager, putting him second-in-command of all L.J.S. locations in the entire state of Florida.

“That’s when I began butting heads with my superiors,” he remembers. “They disagreed with me on several things. I wanted to expand the menu to include more healthy options, they struck it down. I drew up some proposals to make the restaurant’s façade more unique to bring in customers way from our competitors. Its interior was impressive, but I thought L.J.S. was lacking that special uniqueness found in other competing brands like Red Lobster and H. Salt Esq. Fish and Chips. They wouldn’t go for it. I tried to push for more kid-friendly items, and my bosses had the R&D department give me the cold shoulder. I was trying to help them and they thought I was being insubordinate.” In late 1989, Hillenburg was reprimanded with a pay cut for experimenting with the fish batter recipe. “Finally, I decided that I had had enough of them.”

[snip]

“I think they were going to let Steve go anyway,” observes Bryan Hillenburg, “Sucks for them, I say. They missed out on some major financial opportunities when they disregarded Steve.”…

– The New York Times, 1992 article



After years of rejection and rejection from my superiors, I finally left Long John Silver’s in early 1990 with the intention of opening up my own seafood restaurant. I expected to have the grand opening in 14 months, time for the 1991 spring break crowd typical of coastal Florida. The departure actually came at a time when the biggest seafood restaurants in the nation were Boston Sea Party, L.J.S.’s and Captain D’s, and they were all declining due to mismanagement. I decided to try and step in at what seemed like the right moment to fill in the void.

I opened the first restaurant, the one that started it all, in Brevard, Florida, to give back to the community I grew up in. I remember walking in to the building the first time after purchasing the property. In a prime location, it was previously a generic “soda shoppe” place that had gone out of business during the Salad Oil Recession of ’63, and nobody had kept it in shape since then. It needed a lot of work done on it. Grout, mildew, rust, water damage, graffiti, broken tiles, outdated machinery, wiring inspections, pest control, the works. I remember how [my brother] Bryan complained to me “You shouldn’t renovate when it’d probably be cheaper to just build a new building from scratch.”

I looked around at the ordering station place, the kitchen, bathrooms, exits, and decided it to be perfect despite Bryan’s objections.

“There’s no sink back here! Who on Earth would run off with a kitchen sink?”

I replied with “There’s also no food here, either. We’ll fix that soon enough, too.”

“Well, what about seating? This place doesn’t even have any chairs!” he added.

Jokingly, I suggested “we could use barrels as the seats – and pirate ship steering wheels for tables!” Then I thought, “Huh. Maybe…”

That’s how confident I was that the endeavor would be prosperous, that I could make light of the odds stacked against my supporters and I.

I then went over to the front doors again to get the paint tile samples from the car, and then I turned around. In that moment, standing at the front of those front doors, seeing the layout as the customers would soon see it, I just knew I had made the right career choice. I did my heart good to imagine bringing healthy food and good, hearty, family-friendly fun to the people of my hometown. That healthy bit was real important to my investors and I, too. We didn’t want to suddenly become the people serving up food that’s not that good for you – especially kids. [14]

After perusing the possible color schemes, I rolled up my sleeves, grabbed a bucket and mop, and said to my brother, “Welp, let’s get to it, already. This place isn’t going to clean itself, Bryan.”

– Stephen Hillenburg, New York Times op-ed, 2006



MITCHELL WINS PROGRESSIVE TOMORROW LEADERSHIP ELECTION

…Margaret Anne Mitchell won over fellow MPs Audrey McLaughlin and Adriane Carr to replace the retiring Ed Broadbent. Mitchell, a former social worker and a distant relative of Prime Minister Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, is a life-long fiery supporter of women’s rights who won her first election to parliament from Vancouver East in May 1976…

– The Calgary Sun, Canadian newspaper, 6/30/1990



People are like fireflies – they can be busy and flashy, and you might not understand their ways, but if you watch closely, you will. A firefly’s light can seem unimportant to people, that it’s just a light and no more. But in fact, their lights are very important in the world in which they live. It’s how they communicate. Watch and see, every time a firefly lights up, another one lights up right after. They’re signaling to each other where they are. They may not realize that together they are making something beautiful. To them, it’s just how they speak, and to us, it’s just a lightshow. But it’s both important and spectacular. People are like that – you might not know why someone is doing something until you look real hard and see it like how they see it. I’ve turned many strangers into friends by doing this, sweet-pea. So remember this when you start school in the fall, and you won’t fret none.

– Colonel Sanders, in a private letter to one of his great-granddaughters, 7/4/1990

[pic: https://imgur.com/TXSlSP5 ]
…Representative Gustavo Arcos of the Stability Party (b. 1926) had fought with the Castro brothers in 1959, before turning against them over their 1960 shift to communism. While older political leaders saw this as a major controversy, this would have been a bigger issue 20 years ago; instead, younger voters born and raised after Cuba’s brief Communist Era saw this as a minor concern due to the left-leaning voting record that he had established since then. Arcos was disabled, as his right leg was partially paralyzed due to a gunshot wound to the back during the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and as such appealed to Cubans concerned about health care (a main plank of his platform called for implementing Free Universal Health Care); Arcos being the Secretary of Health under President Boitel was another positive for these voters as well. Calling for improving the nation by starting at the local level, his “build upward” campaign made him very popular among lower-class voters, as well, allowing him to win over the other candidates in the race in poll after poll.

Arcos’ main challenger was Jorge Mas Canosa of the Conservative Party (b. 1939), an anti-Communist technet businessman and former lobbyist. Mas was firmly pro-American, spoke English fluently, did business with several American companies, and fought with US soldiers in the 1961-1965 Cuban War; such closeness to the US made many question his allegiance to Cuba. This questioning cost him the support of older voters who could remember Batista’s closeness to the US and did not want to see “a repeat of history.” To counter this, Mas ran as “The safe choice,” but this may have had the effect of making his campaign seem boring, and making Arcos’ seem bold by comparison.

With a generational divide between the two controversial candidates dominating the news, third-party candidates failed to gain traction. Mas benefited from the 1985 collapse of the New Authority party as most former N.A. voters switched to the Conservatives; however, more undecideds and independents preferred Arcos over Mas.

In one of the closest elections in Cuba’s post “Castro War” history, Arcos prevailed over Mas by a margin of under 2%.

– clickopedia.co.cuba/1990_general_election/English_translation

[pic: imgur.com/g4Ow5fX.png ]
– Dusk, c. July 1990 [15]



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] OTL quote.
[2] Italicized information concern his OTL final days and are pulled from here: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1980/11/06/Colonel-Sanders-hospitalized/608532...
[3] Italicized segment is taken from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatumbo_lightning
[4] The founder of Sonny’s BBQ in 1968 IOTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny%27s_BBQ
[5] Italicized passage found here: http://jamesacollins.com/biography/
[6] Italicized passage found here: https://www.thebalance.com/universal-health-care-4156211
[7] OTL, except here the Governor of Utah in 1981 was Vernon Romney, not Scott Matheson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._v._Matheson
[8] Italicized parts are from this OTL NYT article from March 20, 1990: https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/20/business/getting-burned-by-the-frying-pan.html?scp=7&sq=BK+Broiler&st=cse&pagewanted=all
[9] Italicized passage taken directly from this WP article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/why-do-people-love-to-eat-pizza-part-of-the-explanation-is-chemistry/2019/11/03/5196171c-fc07-11e9-8906-ab6b60de9124_story.html
[10] An OTL book, which is described as having “commonsense language...lively anecdotes [and] sound advice for any entrepreneur or business manager” (so…my apologies if it does not come across as being like that here…sorry): https://books.google.com/books?id=Y1j8bD6SQrAC
[11] And my apologies if the poor job I did editing Litton into that picture is too distracting; sorry once again.
[12] These quotes are OTL and were found on his wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#cite_note-liberal-236 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#cite_note-trueactivist-254
[13] Italicized passages were yoinked from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Aykroyd
[14] OTL quote; here it is in full: “Yeah, well, my take on that is that we shouldn’t do that. In the show, the whole point of the fast food – the fact that SpongeBob loves being part of the fast-food chain, and that being a manager is his ultimate dream: it’s ironic. It’s something that most people don’t think is a great thing to try to achieve. And we didn’t want to suddenly become the people serving up food that’s not that good for you – especially kids. We work with Burger King, and they make toys and watches. But to actually take the step of pushing the food, that’s crossing the line. I don’t want to be the Pied Piper of fast food.” Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/movies/moviesspecial/he-lives-in-a-pineapple... Also: you might want to see the September 1977 and December 1982 chapters for refreshers as to how Stephen Hillenburg got into business instead of animation (especially since I’ve gone back and expanded on those previously-single-sentence bits).
[15] It's actually an original photograph that I myself took a while back from my front window.

 

[gap80]

Post 54: Chapter 62



Chapter 62: July 1990 – December 1990



“Neither shall they say ‘see here’ or ‘see there,’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

– Luke 17:20



The 1990 NDRR Presidential Election was the second Presidential election held in the National Democratic Republic of Russia (Natsional’no-Demokraticheskaya Republika Rossiya). Incumbent President Vladislav Volkov, eligible for a second consecutive term, ran on his warming of relations with most formerly Soviet nations and his handling of the economy, while his challengers mostly criticized his approach to manners of foreign policy. The election’s first round was held on July 13, and the second and final round (called a “runoff round” in the NDRR) was held on July 27.

[snip]

Candidates (7):

Ruslan Khasbulatov, b. 1942 (Motherland), was a former Volkov advisor and an economics professor from Grozny elected to the national congress in 1985 whose campaign was supported by National Congressman and then-candidate for Mayor of Saint Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak.

Vladimir Kirillovich, b. 1917 (Imperial), a long-shot candidate, was a member of the Romanov dynasty who ran on a platform calling for the reinstating of the Russian monarchy.

Albert Makashov, b. 1938 (National), a nationalist hardliner with the support of war hawk politicians, ran a communistic campaign with an emphasis on law and order amidst accusations of anti-Semitism.

Nikolai Ryzhkov, b. 1929 (Independent), ran with a campaign focused on price reform and fiscal responsibility, believing that increasing the production of goods would lower inflation.

Vladislav Volkov, b. 1935 (Democratic), defended his slow-and-steady approach to the economy, and touted the lack of wars or military tensions under his term as proof that his leadership merited a second term.

Boris Yeltsin, b. 1931 (Independent), the former Commerce Minister, believed stronger austerity measures would lower inflation and provide a boost to the nation’s slowly-growing economy

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, b. 1946 (Communist), an anti-Western populist and fiercely nationalist, was a towering figure known for numerous controversies.

[snip]

Results:

The 13 July 1990 Russian election primary round saw Volkov come in first place (with 40% of the vote) via a coalition of liberals, war veterans, and environmentalists, while Yeltsin came in second place (with 32% of the vote) via the backing of conservatives and moderates; Ryzhkov, Makashov and Zhirinovsky were practically tied at third place, while Khasbulatov underperformed with only 4.1%. Kirillovich came in last place with 3.7%. Ahead of the 27 July 1990 Russian election runoff, Yeltsin sought to win over former Makashov, Ryzhkov and even Zhirinovsky voters, only for an incident of public intoxication to return focus on Yeltsin’s alcoholism. Ryzhkov refusing to endorse Yeltsin led to many of his former voters staying home. Meanwhile, Volkov ran a campaign focused on the improvement of social welfare programs and the drop in crime rates under his watch. In the end, Volkov won re-election by a 7% margin.

– clickopedia.co.usa



“The 1989-1990 recession was only for three fiscal quarter and was not at all the deep, bottoming out at negative 2% GDP growth. However, it was still memorable for the panic it created. Inflation and unemployment dropped later than expected, and long-run interest rates did not fully recover for several weeks. By July, the economy was recovering from what was a mild recession, but some Democrats still feared substantial losses in the midterms over the actual rate of recovery.”

– Former US Treasury Secretary E. Gerald Corrigan, 2001 interview



COAL CEO CLAIMS SOLAR POWER “ISN’T FEASIBLE”

…“the natural powers of the Earth are not as reliable as tried-and-true coal, oil and natural gas.” …According to a July 14 Gallup poll, support for wind, wave, and sun –based forms of energy has risen sharply in the past two years, from 33% in March 1988 to 44% in March 1990, possibly due to the Bellamy administration’s offerings of tax credits for companies that convert or invest in such energy alternatives...

– The Miami Herald, 7/17/1990



SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WILLIAM BRENNAN RETIRING, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY!

– The Washington Post, 7/20/1990



KFC Kabul finally opened on the 25th of July, 1988. After the collapse of the USSR, the landlocked nation’s communist groups fell apart with it, finally stabilizing the area. Nevertheless, American companies had to be careful not to upset conservative locals that disapproved of the alleged “westernization” of their country. Most Afghans, though, approved of the community-building efforts of King Zahir Shah. When I first met with him in July 1990, I sort of understood what they meant. He was a very hospitable man who hid his sexism very well.

I remember how it had been particularly difficult for Millie to establish KFC in this country, since chicken is not at all a major element in Afghan cuisine (most of it instead centering on the region’s most abundant crops – wheat, barely, maize, grapes, melons, whey and yogurt. Lots of brainstorming went into coming up with ways to implement local cuisine adaptations into KFC Kabul’s menu. Chicken Seekah Kabob and Tandoori Chicken were the first to be greenlit, but a dish rather complicated for a fast food job, Afghan Braised Chicken in Yogurt (also called Lawang), took longer to figure out. We ultimately tweaked the traditional recipe to make it a pressure-fried chicken treated with onion, turmeric, and coriander, and then covered in yogurt with a special “spinning-while-drying” process our R&D department cooked up back in Florence, KY.

Despite this innovation, when I attended the second anniversary of KFC Kabul’s grand opening, male attendees were passionately offended that I had shown up, even with me wearing the appropriate attire. It seems they expected Dad to attend despite him doing so in 1988 and 1989. I was routinely inspecting in Dad’s absence, but they only calmed down when I told the crowd that the brief speech I’d written was “direct from the Colonel’s desk.” Other than that incident, though, the visit was not that bad.

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



31 GOVERNORS TALK HEALTHCARE, BLUTAG RIGHTS IN MASSIVE NGA MEETING

…The 1987 annual meeting of the National Governors’ Association is wrapping up its activities today, the multi-day convention-like event being held here in town and having begun on the 26th… Association Chairman Carolyn Warner (D-AZ) presided over a myriad activities concerning the implementation of America’s new healthcare system and the issue of insurance and pharmaceutical companies seeking out loopholes in it, the implementation of the latest federal consumer protection policies, and the governors’ respective stances on BLUTAG rights and abortion rights, in a display of regionally-different attitudes and positions…

– The Traverse City Record-Eagle, Michigan newspaper, 7/28/1990

[ pic: https://imgur.com/pBzh7FD ]
– Left-to-right: then-nominee for Governor (R-TN) Hillary Rodham-Clinton, former Governor (D-AK) Bill Clinton (no relation to Hillary), and former Governor (D-KY) Martha Osborne, all attending the 1987 NGA meeting in Traverse City, Michigan, as Special Guest Speakers, 7/27/1990; Osborne would later accuse Bill Clinton of groping her backside at this event (possibly even while this photo was being taken – after all, where is his left hand?)



"I began working as a staff member, basically a glorified paid internship, for Senator Larry Williams - a politician that all three of my parents respected - in late July or early August 1990..."

– Barack "Rocky" McCain, 2006 interview



PEPSICO PLANS TO REPLACE 50 TACO BELLS WITH ZANTIGO SPOTS

…the parent company today announced their intention to convert 50 Taco Bell outlets, located across seven Western US states, into Zantigo outlets, a chain that offers similar food staples. The official reason is for “the need to build up a wonderful brand, whereas Taco Bell is already a well-established franchise.” However, the move continues the trend of Taco Bells slowly disappearing from American cities and towns – a trend that began early last year…

– The New York Times, 8/2/1990

[pic: https://imgur.com/xi3MzxF ]
– A rare photo of the Colonel not wearing his duds, while spending some quality time with one of his great-granddaughters, c. early August 1990



With the bench having Alabaman, Illinoisan, a D.C. carpetbagger from California, a Minnesotan, a California carpetbagger from Texas, and not one or two but three Pennsylvanians, Bellamy shied away from nominating someone from the east coast for the vacant Supreme Court seat. This effectively took Stephen L. Carter, a 36-year-old Professor of law and Yale Law School from Connecticut out of the running. Looking farther west and farther south, Bellamy wanted a progressive, or at least progressive-leaning, justice that would defend Americare and “make the right decision” should they have to rule on issues concerning childcare, the rights of children, anti-poverty social programs, abortion rights, and BLUTAG rights. Circuit Judges Arthur Lawrence Alarcon of California, Ruth Bader Ginsburg of D.C., Stephanie Kulp Seymour of Michigan, Harry Thomas Edwards of D.C., and Richard S. Arnold of Arkansas were considered, as were House Judiciary Committee Chair Sam Ervin III of North Carolina and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. More unconventional options, including members of her administration – such as Attorney General Amalya Lyle Kearse of New York, Deputy Secretary of Labor and African-American teachers’ union leader Mary Hatwood Futrell of D.C., CIA Director and professional attorney Togo D. West Jr. of North Carolina, FBI Director Robert F. Kennedy of Virginia, education policy analyst Diane Silvers Ravitch of New York and First Amendment-defender John Seigenthaler of Tennessee – were mulled over as well.

In the end, Bellamy decided to nominate a Mondale-appointed Judge from the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit due to said judge’s impeccable record. The judge, a Colorado native immediately endorsed by former House Speaker Udall, had ruled in favor of protecting wildlife species, upholding copyright infringement procedure updates in the wake of the technet gaining prominence and attention in the education and marketing spheres at the time, upholding the Due Process Clause of the US Constitution and the 1962 Civil Rights Act. [1]

– Linda Greenhouse and Morton J. Horwitz’s Upholding Liberty: The Supreme Court Under Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson, Sunrise Publishing, 2019



BELLAMY NOMINATES JUDGE MARY MURPHY SCHROEDER FOR SUPREME COURT SEAT

– The Washington Post, 8/5/1990



“No, no, the recent attacks on youth culture from right-wing talking heads is conservative backlash to the wave of liberalism of recent years. And, you know what, you, eh, you know what? It goes both ways as younger voters are becoming only more likely to vote Democrat. I mean, even former idol of the young Republicans, Ron Paul, has fallen from grace for repeatedly criticizing President Bellamy, and even more so for opposing federal intervention in the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes as of late. As a result, with his poll numbers in decline, Paul is now foregoing re-election to the Senate, though he claims to his due to his outrage at frequent congressional blockades against libertarian principles, or some bunk like that. It’s also because some people aren’t getting used to having a woman president. They just can’t accept it, you know?”

– political analyst and former Governor Jim Florio (D-NJ), NJ 101.5 Radio, 8/9/1990 broadcast



…the Alaskan Timber Reform Act and the Oil Pollution Act become law today. Supported strongly by Governors Bob Ross, Thyra Thomson and others, these two environmentally-conscious law are being implemented concurrent with a push from the Bellamy White House for consumers to invest in “clean energy companies pertaining to solar and wind power, offering tax credits for early investors …meanwhile, in other political news, President Bellamy has just increased the CDC budget, and US contributions to the WHO, for the second year in a row…

– The Overmyer Network, 8/18/1990 broadcast



In a turning of the tables, Sali Berisha, the once-popular revolutionary-turned-President, was failing to quell “pro-Yugo” groups organizing sit-ins, strikes, rallies and other forms of protest across the country as the idea of upholding the controversial referendum began to gain momentum.

On the other side of the border, Yugoslavian politics were calming down after a series of shake-ups. Yugoslavia’s economic issues of roughly ten years prior, namely the Debt Crisis of the late 1970s and early 1980s, had finally resolved thanks to the International Monetary Fund advising Veselin Duranovic, the moderate leader of Yugoslavia sine Marshal Tito’s death in January 1984, to restrict credit, cut expenditures, and devalue the national currency dinar for a two-year period (1980-1982) to reduce the nation’s deficit. With this, Yugoslavia finally paid off its foreign debt in 1985, encouraging foreign investors and trade partners to resume business relations with Yugoslavia. Keeping in line with the nation's five-year mandate on Presidential terms (which was later shortened to three years), Duranovic left office on May 15, 1989, and was succeeded by Radovan Vlajkovic.

Now the nation's top issue was what to do with Albania. Naturally, a majority of Kosovans were enthusiastic for Albania joining Yugoslavia, but the nation’s people overall seemed evenly split on the suggestion.

One vocal opponent of the proposal was a supporter of Serbia-based centralization, Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic began his career as an economic advisor to the Mayor of Belgrade during the 1960s and worked his way up to becoming the head of Beobanka, one of the largest banks in Yugoslavia, by 1978 – just in time for the 1978 recession to occur, to which Milosevic responded poorly. In the wake of several poor financial decisions, Beobanka collapsed and filed for bankruptcy, while Milosevic himself fell out of favor among political organizations – a 1984 run for a Belgrade city committee seat was an abysmal failure, despite the efforts of close ally and future Deputy PM Ivan Stambolic. Now a radio talk show host repeatedly suffering from scandalous legal issues but nevertheless maintaining a passionate but very small collection of cult-like followers, Milosevic opposed Yugoslavia “taking on any more non-Serbians,” just one more of many divisive comments. However, the most prominent and influential member of the national government to oppose Duranovic and Vlajkovic decentralization policies, and the absorption of Albania, was deputy PM Ivan Stambolic. On the other hand, liberal PM and former Mayor of Belgrade Dragisa Pavlovic had more influence over both Duranovic and Vlajkovic.

Back in Albania, the situation became more tense as the year progressed. In April, for instance, Aziz Kelmendi, a 23-year-old Albanian who previously lived in Kosovo, defended Berisha’s “anti-Yugo” stance and responded to the “pro-Yugo” movement by firing a gun into a crowd of protestors in Rreshen, leading to three deaths and four injuries in a violent incident dubbed “the Rreshen Massacre.” This action actually hurt his own cause as it led to an increase in pro-unity rallies. The incident also hurt Berisha’s standing in the nation even further.

In September, Yugoslavia’s President Vlajkovic revealed his position on the “Albanian Question” with a dramatic speech that he concluded with the iconic line “we have room for a seventh flag,” referring to the symbols of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnian, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Macedonia, and now Albania and an earlier speech given by his successor. The main issue keeping Yugoslavians reluctant to absorbing Albania, however, was their substantially lower standard of living causing many Yugoslavians to fear Albania’s integration would lower said life quality overall. This led to pro-absorption politicians outside of Kosovo to suggest that Albania could be an investment opportunity as the new province was “built up, renovated, repaired, and restored” – with respect to the Albania people, of course. Albania would be expected to follow the same official and unofficial rules as the rest of the provinces. For instance, all children would be expected to learn two languages – the language of their ancestors and the de jure official national language, Serbo-Croatian. A major consideration also emphasized by the pro-Albanian movement in Yugoslavia was the fact that Yugoslavia was all set to host the 1992 winter Olympics, which could hopefully improve the nation’s economic situation further if pulled off and financially handled correctly.

Yugoslavia’s “14th Congress” of January 1990 was another factor in Yugo-Albanian relations during this period. Continuing Duranovic's efforts to model aspects of the country after the United States – a tendency of sorts he began in early 1985 – Vlajkovic established a compromise solution to the debate on how to represent the provinces in the national assembly: a bicameral legislature. This appealed to Serbian supporters for a “one man – one vote” policy with the population-based chamber, while the other chamber, representing each province equally, appealed to Slovenia and the other provinces. Another important development was the establishing of laws stating territory leaving or joining the nation must be performed with the consent of two-thirds of the provinces, and laws making it so the closer a province is tied to the federal government, the greater funding they receive for federal services.

Finally, on August 22, after talks with his advisors and his approval ratings tanking to 20%, Berisha decided to reverse course and announced that he would “honor the results” of the referendum and “begin the process” of joining Yugoslavia.

With bilateral talks, as well as economic reform and modernization efforts, well underway, the 1990s looked like it would be a good, or at least very productive, set of years for Albania and Yugoslavia.

– Tajar Zavalani’s The Albanian People: A Fiery History, London Books, 2015 [2]



WORKING FOR THE WORKERS: US Attorney General Kearse Is Mounting Crackdown Efforts On Shareholder-Dominant Companies Putting Profit Ahead Of Laborers In 50-State Sweep

– The Boston Globe, 8/25/1990



“It’s a complicated electricity-powered calculator-like machine that can send and get information to and from other such machines like how a telephone works, but with a TV-like screen, and you control what goes on with the info-sending and info-getting and with what’s on the screen. There's also some thing called a 'mouse's involved, too." The Colonel continued, “But press one wrong button and you can break, or, eh, ‘shut down,’ the whole thing, so you have to be really careful around them. I bet once they make them easier to use, they’ll really catch on, even more so than they're catchin' on right now. Because right now I keep seeing fairly large businesses and universities having and using them in their offices and library - it's all very impressive - but these slow-movin' confangled contraptions ain't must-haves for the regular American just yet. They’re just too complicated right now.”

Nevertheless, Sanders took the opportunity to explore the technet. After sitting through the "horrendous noise" of a dial-up connection, he began by perusing the websites of advertisements he had accidentally clicked on (impatiently tapping his fingers on his cane while the site took "its sweet time" to upload), then being guided through settings with the help of a tech assistant, before being informed that search engines and online group discussion forums had come into existence during most of the past year. Typing in "What are the eleven secret herbs and spices?" into one such search engine sent him to a visitable chat page on a MIT student discussion forum, in which several technetters had made various guesses as to what was the composition of herbs and spices that made the Colonel's KFC chicken so delicious.

The Colonel reportedly chuckled continuously and heartily as he read each amusing guess.

[pic: https://imgur.com/HEYoYWV ]
Above: The Colonel peruses a computer at the University of Texas A & M before cautiously using it, c. early September 1990.

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



The 1988-1990 Nagorno-Karabakh War ended in a stalemate, with both nations signing the Kiev Treaty of September 5, 1990, a treaty giving the disputed region to Armenia and creating a physical land strip connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia in exchange for Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh representatives agreeing to Azerbaijan having “first claims” on business and land resource opportunities in the disputed region. Armenia also agreed to paying a monetary “dowry” to Azerbaijan to cover 50% of the cost for repairing “war damages,” as Azerbaijan’s damages and casualty count were both higher than those of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh combined.

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



The Louisville ballroom called back to the 1950s, decorated with streamers, balloons and a large orchestra pit filled with a band playing the Colonel’s favorite songs, which ranged from “Old Dan Tucker” to “9 to 5.” If Sanders was going to reach an anniversary as major as his 100th birthday, he was going to do it with a bang. And with an extensive guest-list, ranging from Hollywood celebrities and the political elite to old friends from his pre-Presidency days and a horde of distant relatives. And a delightful menu featuring all of Sanders’ favorite dishes, from hit biscuits and corn fritters to light bread, scalloped potatoes, lemon sponge pie, and – of course – a personally-prepared mountainous pile of Kentucky-fried chicken.

The nonagenarian celebrated becoming a centenarian with a generous slice of the party’s five-foot-tall vanilla-and-chocolate cake – “real” cake, the Colonel called it, “not the sugarless stuff I’ve been havin’. I’ve been avoiding sugar for ten-and-a-half years now because of the dad-burn diabetes, but I ain’t waitin’ to turn 200 to have it again.” Jubilation lit up his eyes as he and savored the familiar sensation of sugar dancing on his tongue that came with that first of many bites.

Despite the night being all about him, when wheeled up onto the stage near the end of the festivities to make a speech, he instead gave a request to the bandleader, and the Colonel promptly serenaded his wife with a hearty rendition of “Sweet Caroline,” changing the name “Sweet Claudia.”

Instead of presents, the Colonel insisted the partygoers donate the money they would have spent on gifts to the charity of their choice. A competition ended up organically growing among the guests after a rumor spread that the Colonel would give some kind of reward to whoever was found to have been the most generous partygoer. While no such reward announcement occurred that night, receipts later revealed that over 90 charities received a collective total of over $38million during the hours of the Colonel’s birthday bash–turned–unintentionally record-breaking fundraiser. “Now that’s a gift that keep on giving,” the Colonel said upon learning of this news two weeks later.

[snip]

“No hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me.” [3] This was the Colonel’s creed, the motto and moral compass that he lived by all his lived. And with it he lived well.

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



…Not long after the 1989-1990 recession had ended, unemployment was still not down to pre-recession levels. Bellamy and the Democratic-controlled Congress responded to this concerning issue on September 12, by narrowly voting in favor of a special benefit programs omnibus package meant to help former low-wage workers until they could find work. The measure was ridiculed by Senator Richard "Dick" Obenshain (R-VA), who called it “weak… what’s really needed is some actual jobs!”

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



“COMING TOGETHER THROUGH COMMON GROUND”: 15th Chicken Dinner Summit In Jerusalem Celebrates Scientific, Societal Progresses

…The nations of Oman, Israel, Egypt and Lebanon stand out for their strides in industrial innovation, as trade deals and market opportunities over the years have led to Israel becoming a hub for regional tech companies in exchange for oil and natural gas, while massive solar and wind energy projects in Oman and Egypt have yielded financial prosperity for them and their Lebanon-based investors… ...Colonel Sanders’s affectionate speech, in which he celebrated the work of local community leaders in making national leaders “take note of the issues that truly matter” in “this annual Pieces-for-Peace drive,” received a standing ovation…

– The New York Times, 9/18/1990



JOHN LENNON WINS LEADERSHP ELECTION

London – In the culmination of an impressively quick rise in national politics, semi-retired pop rock singer-songwriter John Lennon, MP for Liverpool since February 1985, has bested Neil Kinnock, MP for Islwyn since 1970, for the position of leader of the UK Labour Party. With a margin of 55% to 45%, the Labour MPs have selected Lennon to face off against PM Alastair Goodlad in the next general election. …Kinnock’s policies were meant to push the party further to the center, a notion Lennon believed would only lead to more party members leaving for the Intrepid Progressives. …While Lennon was criticized for once calling himself “more popular than Jesus,” Kinnock’s own controversies – such as referring to Lennon, and possibly his more ardent supporters, as “savage,” and using derogatory comments made toward the Welsh [4] MPs – hurt Kinnock’s own campaign, too. A major turning point in the leadership race may have been on the 9th, when former PM Dingle Foot revealed in a BBC interview his disapproval of Kinnock, stating he did not favor him to be his successor in 1983 due to his “ambition blind[ing] him,” …Lennon, calling for denuclearization, the UK leading the world in environmentalism, and expanding the welfare state with programs to help people find work, won the support of former rival Tony Benn and a multitude of unions who gave pressure to their respective MPs. Ultimately, it was Lennon who convinced party members to vote him in, making their announcement to the deafening cheers of Lennon’s supporters earlier today…

– The Guardian, 20/9/1990



…the economy of Indonesia is only now beginning to recover from economic recession. Indonesian corporations had been borrowing money in American dollars, believing it to be strong, and contributing to the economic well-being that allowed Indonesian President Suharto to win a sixth five-year term earlier this year. When recession hits the United States, though, the rupiah, which had been strengthened respective to the dollar, collapsed in value soon after the election. Indonesian businesses were forced declare bankruptcy, requiring Suharto to instigate a wages and prices freeze to stabilize the situation. Now, unemployment has finally returned to pre-recession levels in the Southeast Asian country...

– BBC World News, 29/9/1990 broadcast



HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS: Tijuana Welcomes Former State Sec’s House-Building Group

…Jimmy Carter, the former US Secretary of State and former Presidential candidate, is spending his 66th birthday working alongside roofers, plumbers, electricians and construction workers to build houses for those in need… The “Habitat for Humanity” Carter Works Project, founded in 1985 by the Secretary and his wife Rosalynn, became an international endeavor today when it organized 2,000 volunteers in a four-acre tent city in Tijuana, Mexico for the purpose of constructing homes and installing electricity and running water into pre-existing homes. Carter personally participates in each of these sorts of house-building projects, which he calls “complicated and gratifying” in a non-profit humanitarian effort…

– The Orange County Register, 10/1/1990



“DID WE ELECTED THE WRONG NIELSEN?”: With Our Gaffe-Prone “Goofball” PM Unable To Get Laws Passed, Buyer’s Remorse Is Setting In Fast

– The Globe and Mail, Canadian newspaper, 10/3/1990



MCDONALD’S TAKES EUROPE

…in the years since the death of Ray Kroc, McDonald’s CEO June Martino has successfully expanded the company. In 1984, McDonald’s had 3,600 locations in 5 countries outside of the US, accounting for 37% of their sales. [5] Since then, McDonald’s has spread to 15 more nations in Europe, as well as to two countries in South America (Brazil and Argentina), two in Africa (Egypt and South Africa), and five in Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos and Indonesia, with plans on soon expanding into Thailand as well), building up their number of locations to over 4,000. McDonald’s stock value continues on strong as this year has seen Martino work diligently to maintain quality control amid the establishing of these 400 new outlets...

– Nation’s Restaurant News, monthly trade publication, October 1990 issue



BELLAMY SIGNS WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT BILL INTO LAW

– The Washington Post, 10/7/1990



SAUDI CLERIC VISITS AUSCHWITZ AND REACHES OUT TO POLISH JEWS

...Away from the world of political wrangling, the head of the Muslim World League is on a four-day visit to Poland. [6] The powerful Mecca-based Muslim cleric aims to spread the message of goodwill and mutually-beneficial collaboration found among the governments of the Middle East “into the directionless former Warsaw Pact nations of Europe.” The “pilgrimage” to Poland may be a starling example of putting rhetoric into action, as it comes weeks after the same cleric attended the 12th Annual Chicken Dinner Summit in Jerusalem, a multinational event stemming from peace talks in the 1970s that have grown into being a global platform for promoting peace and stability among the world’s religions…

– The Sacramento Union-Tribune, 10/9/1990



“People, if you are to remember anything about business, remember this: the purpose of a company is not solely to make a profit, but to also provide for the people. This company, this massive enterprise of ours, is a success because of what we’re doing not just for our investors, but for workers and our customers. We create jobs, and people fill up those jobs because of how well we treat them. And because we are fair to them, we have provided jobs for thousands and thousands! The farmers that grow our chickens, the gardeners that make the secret herbs and spices. The chefs skillfully trained in the art of cookery. The construction workers that build our new locations, and the waitresses and the busboys and the cleaning staff. The designers for advertising and such. Even the other companies where we get our materials – pressure fryers, ovens, cookers, buckets, cups, utensils, plates, tables, chairs, everything – their employees benefit, too! We provide high-quality food to millions and millions of people because we care about the people. We give them the best-tasting chicken that will ever pass through their lips, and because we keep our prices low and our quality high they keep on coming back for more, giving us the money to pay our workers’ salaries, who, emboldened by their weekly paychecks, continue on with their excellent service, making the customers happy and repeating the cycle anew. That is how we make a profit, ladies and gentlemen! Not by grabbing for every cent in their wallets and purses, but by providing good food and good wages for our customers and workers!”

– Harland David “Colonel” Sanders, speaking at what would end up being his final board meeting, 10/12/1990



BERISHA HOSTS “TRANSITION’ TALKS IN TIRANA

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 14/10/1990



SENATE CONFIRMS SCHROEDER FOR A.J. SUPREME COURT SEAT, 58-41-1

…two women will be serving on the Supreme Court bench at the same time once more… Associate Justice Sylvia Bacon has stated that she “looks forward to having a wonderful time working with” Schroeder…

– The Washington Post, 10/15/1990



SUPREME COURT COMPOSITION ON OCTOBER 29, 1990

Chief Justice (since March 1971): Frank Minis Johnson Jr. (R-AL, centrist) – succeeded Earl Warren – appointee: Sanders

Associate Justice Seat 1 (since April 1979): A. Leon Higginbotham (D-PA, liberal) – succeeded Hugo Black – appointee: Mondale
Associate Justice Seat 2 (since November 1967): Edward Hirsch Levi (R-IL, centrist) – succeeded Abe Fortas – appointee: Sanders
Associate Justice Seat 3 (since June 1985): Joseph Tyree Sneed III (R-CA, conservative) – succeeded Sarah Tilghman Hughes – appointee: Denton
Associate Justice Seat 4 (since June 1974): William Joseph Nealon Jr. (I-PA, liberal) – succeeded William O. Douglas – appointee: Mondale
Associate Justice Seat 5 (since November 1971): Sylvia Bacon (R-DC, centrist) – succeeded John M. Harlan II – appointee: Sanders
Associate Justice Seat 6 (since September 1981): Herbert Allan Fogel (R-PA, conservative) – succeeded Potter Stewart – appointee: Denton
Associate Justice Seat 7 (since April 1973): Miles Welton Lord (I-MN, liberal) – succeeded Tom C. Clark – appointee: Mondale
Associate Justice Seat 8 (since October 1990): Mary Murphy Schroeder (D-CO, liberal) – succeeded William Brennan – appointee: Bellamy

– thesupremecourt.co.usa/court_compositions/by_date/month/1990



Years of practice being financial frugal to keep his painting program afloat was instrumental in Bob implementing his agency without going over-budget. In fact, in 1990 saw the state government have a surplus by the end of the year, with Bob decided was to be added on the Alaskan Permanent Fund. …His high approval ratings and nonpartisan status led to praise from both sides of the political aisle. Bob was dubbed “Ross the Boss” by many supporters. Even Colonel Sanders himself approbated Bob, calling him from his home in Kentucky to commend him for doing “the Lord’s work” …In October 1990, Tim Leary and Tommy Chong visited Fairbanks to endorse Bob’s re-election bid…

[pic: imgur.com/VyHAqU3.png ]
Above: Ross during his full for a full term

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



November United States Senate election results, 1990

Date: November 6, 1990
Seats: 33 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51

Senate majority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Senate minority leader: Bob Dole (R-KS)
Seats before election: 54 (D), 45 (R), 1 (I)
Seats after election: 52 (D), 46 (R), 2 (I)
Seat change: D v 2, R ^ 1, I ^ 1

Full List:
Alabama: incumbent Albert Lee Smith Jr. (R) over John Glen Browder (D)
Alaska: Jalmar “Jay” Kerttula (R) over Sarah J. “Sally” Smith (D) and Kathryn Poland (Green); incumbent Hazel P. Heath (R) retired
Arkansas: incumbent Jim Guy Tucker (D) over Tim Hutchinson (R)
Colorado: Hank Brown (R) over Josephine Ward “Josie” Heath (D) and Carlos F. Lucero (La Raza Unida); incumbent William L. Armstrong (R) retired
Delaware: incumbent Joe Biden (D) over M. Jane Brady (R)
Georgia: incumbent Sam Nunn (D) unopposed
Idaho: incumbent George V. Hansen (R) over Ron Twilegar (D)
Illinois: incumbent Paul Simon (D) over Lynn Morley Martin (R)
Iowa: Larry Miles Dinger (R) over Berkley Warren Bedell (D); incumbent Roger Jespen (R) retired
Kansas: incumbent Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R) over Joan Finney (D)
Kentucky: Martha Layne Osborne (D) over Jim Bunning (R); incumbent Lawrence W. Wetherby (D) retired
Louisiana: incumbent Clyde Cecil Holloway (R) over William Jennings Jefferson (D) and David Duke (Heritage)
Maine: Angus King (I) over incumbent appointee Nancy Nye Masterton (D) and Bob Nutting (R)
Massachusetts: Bill Weld (R) over Ken O’Donnell (D); incumbent Ed Brooke (R) retired
Michigan: incumbent Jack R. Lousma (R) over Barbara-Rose Collins (D)
Minnesota: incumbent Mark Dayton (D) over Vin Weber (R)
Mississippi: incumbent James H. Meredith (R) over George Raymond Jr. (D)
Montana: incumbent Larry Williams (R) over John Patrick “Pat” Williams (D)
Nebraska: incumbent Orrin Hatch (R) over John J. Cavanaugh III (D)
New Hampshire: incumbent Endicott Peabody (D) over Harold Burns (R)
New Jersey: incumbent Mary V. Mochary (R) over Barbara Wright McConnell (D)
New Mexico: incumbent Roberto Mondragon (D) over Manuel Lujan Jr. (R)
North Carolina: James Grubbs “Jim” Martin (R) over incumbent Terry Sanford (D)
Oklahoma: incumbent Bud Wilkinson (R) over Dave McCurdy (D)
Oregon: incumbent Mark Hatfield (R) over Harry Lonsdale (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent Claiborne Pell (D) over Ronald Machtley (R)
South Carolina: incumbent Strom Thurmond (R) over Bob Cunningham (D)
South Dakota: incumbent Larry Pressler (R) over Ted Muenster (D) and Dean L. Sinclair (Independent)
Tennessee: Marilyn Lloyd (D) vs William R. Hawkins (R); incumbent Howard Baker (R) retired
Texas: Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) over Kathryn J. Whitmire (D) and Gary Johnson (Liberty); incumbent Ron Paul (R) retired
Virginia: incumbent Richard Dudley Obenshain (R) over Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. (D)
West Virginia: John Raese (R) over Harley O. Staggers Jr. (D)
Wyoming: Barbara Cubin (R) over Kathy Helling (D); incumbent Gale W. McGee (D) retired

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States House of Representatives results, 1990

Date: November 6, 1990
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218

New House majority leader: Robert Smith Walker (R-PA)
New House minority leader: Hale Boggs (D-LA)
Last election: 198 (R), 235 (D), 2 (I)
Seats won: 223 (D), 210 (D), 2 (I)
Seat change: R ^ 25, D v 25, I - 0

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



While the Democrats retained the Senate, many pundits were quick to note the party had an advantage – the elections were for 21 Republican seats and only 12 Democratic seats. …The “surprise” loss of the House was the biggest disappointment of the night for the Democrats… Colonel Sanders endorsing several “conscience conservative” Republicans (through phone calls to newspapers and call-ins to radio and TV programs) was frequently cited as a contributing factor in the GOP taking back the House…

…The election of four more women (2 Democrat, 2 Republican) to the US Senate raised the chamber’s total number of female lawmakers to an unprecedented 24 (Garner, Schroeder, Uccello, Mink, Church, Kassebaum, Mikulski, Hall, Kennedy-Shriver, Peterson, Growe, Kelly, Vucanovich, Mochary, Schneider, Richards, Kunin, Unsoeld, May, and Engeleiter, plus the four newcomers – Osborne, Lloyd, Hutchison, and Cubin)…

– Gary C. Jacobson’s The Power and the Politics of Congressional Elections, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2015



United States Governor election results, 1990

Date: November 6, 1990
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 36
Seats before: 38 (D), 11 (R), 1 (I)
Seats after: 34 (D), 15 (R), 1 (I)
Seat change: D v 4, R ^ 4, I - 0

Full list:
Alabama: William R. “Shorty” Price (R) over Joseph C. McCorquodale Jr. (D) and John Logan Cashin Jr. (Alabama); incumbent Bill Baxley II (D) was term-limited
Alaska: incumbent Bob Ross (I) over Wally Hickel (R), Tony Knowles (D), Joe Vogler (AIP), Rick Halford (Liberty), and Michael O’Callaghan (I)
Arizona: incumbent Carolyn Warner (D) over Fife Symington III (R) and Max Hawkins (Life)
Arkansas: Mike Beebe (D) over incumbent Lynn Lowe (R)
California: incumbent Donald Kennedy (D) over Mary K. Shell (R), Peter Camejo (Green) and Maria Elizabeth Munoz (La Raza Unida)
Colorado: John Andrews (R) over incumbent Byron L. Johnson (D)
Connecticut: Eunice Groark (R) over Bill O’Neill (D); incumbent Robert K. Killian (D) retired
Florida: incumbent Bruce A. Smathers (D) over Bill McCollum (R)
Georgia: incumbent Jimmie Lee Jackson (D) over Guy Millner (R)
Hawaii: Fred Hemmings (R) over John D. Waihee III (D), John P. Craven (I) and Peggy Ross (Natural Mind); incumbent Jean King (D) retired
Idaho: Larry LaRocco (D) over Roger Fairchild (R); incumbent Larry Jackson (R) retired
Illinois: Jim Edgar (R) over Frank Annunzio (D); incumbent John Bayard Anderson (R) retired
Iowa: Joy Coming (R) over Donald Avenson (D); incumbent Jo Ann McIntosh Zimmerman (D) retired
Kansas: incumbent Jim Slattery (D) over Mike Hayden (R) and Christina Campbell-Cline (I)
Maine: incumbent Libby Mitchell (D) over Andrew Adam (R) and John Menario (Progressive)
Maryland: Decatur “Bucky” Trotter (D) over incumbent Melvin A. Bilal (R)
Massachusetts: Evelyn Murphy (D) over Steven Pierce (R); incumbent Michael Dukakis (D) lost re-nomination
Michigan: James J. Blanchard (D) over incumbent James H. Brickley (R)
Minnesota: Rudy Perpich (DFL) over Bill Frenzel (R), Jerome M. Hughes (Independent), and Arlan Stangeland (Liberty); incumbent Coya Knutson (DFL) retired
Nebraska: incumbent Helen Boosalis (D) over David Domina (R)
Nevada: incumbent Joseph Yale Resnick (D) over Charles Woods (R)
New Hampshire: Bob Smith (R) over J. Joseph Grandmaison (D) and Miriam F. Luce (Liberty); incumbent Calvin Warburton (R) retired
New Mexico: Ben Lujan Sr. (D) over Frank M. Bond (R); incumbent Fabian Chavez Jr. (D) was term-limited
New York: incumbent Mario Cuomo (D) over Pierre Andrew Rinfret (R), Herbert London (Conservative), and Louis P. Wein (Life)
Ohio: incumbent Jerry Springer (D) over George Voinovich (R) and Ron Daniels (I)
Oklahoma: Bill Price (R) over incumbent Mike Turpen (D) and Thomas D. Ledgerwood II (I)
Oregon: incumbent Norma Paulus (R) over Barbara Roberts (D), David B. Frohnmayer (Independent Republican) and Al Mobley (Independent)
Pennsylvania: incumbent William W. Scranton III (R) over Ed Rendell (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent Buddy Cianci (R) over Francis X. Flaherty (D) and Joe Trillo (I)
South Carolina: Nick Theodore (D) over David Beasley (R); incumbent Jesse Jackson (D) was term-limited
South Dakota: Gus Hercules (R) over incumbent Lars Herseth (D)
Tennessee: Hillary Rodham-Clinton (R) over Phil Bredesen (D) and Charles Vick (Liberty); incumbent Frank Goad Clement (D) was term-limited
Texas: incumbent Rick Perry (D) over Warren G. Harding (R), Jack Rains (Country) and Ramsey Muniz (La Raza Unida)
Vermont: incumbent Jan Backus (D) over David Atkinson (R) and Richard F. Gottlieb (Liberty Union)
Wisconsin: incumbent Paul R. Soglin (D) over Steve Gunderson (R)
Wyoming: incumbent Thyra Thomson (R) over Mike Sullivan (D)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



Analysts pointed to the economic nosedive for the results. Ardent “Bellamy Backers” agreed, believing that Republicans running an impressive national campaign vaguely connecting the Democratic Bellamy to the 1978 economic crash under President Mondale, also a Democrat. Others, however, judged the results to be in response to the “controversial” passage of Universal Health Care (informally called “Americare” by its supporters and derided by some critics as “Bellamycare”) suggesting the move was not a popular as had been believed.

Regardless of the cause or causes, the fact remained that the 1990 midterms gave the Republicans substantial gains and changed the relationship Bellamy had with congress. New House Speaker R. Smith Walker was more Conservative than had been Hale Boggs, and was less willing to compromise of certain policies and issues. With roughly ten weeks separating the elections and the swearing-in of the new congress, Bellamy spent even more time behind her private desk – its surface almost entirely covered by hefty stacks of paper – looking over legislation and profiles on the incoming legislators, trying to determine which ones would vote for what.

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



PERRY RE-ELECTED AS TXGOP MAKES GAINS IN STATE CONGRESS AND U.S HOUSE

…Perry, a popular conservative Democrat known for feuding with liberal Democrats in D.C. won re-nomination with ease after Lieutenant Governor Henry Cisneros declined to challenge him in the race, opting to instead run for re-election. The past few weeks saw Perry work to win over moderates and Republican-registered voters by touting his record in office, focusing most notably on his handling of the economy during the nation’s brief-but-impactful recession earlier this year. Perry has maintained ideological consistency during his first term, assisting his message of reliability. Late last night, Perry received over 60% of the vote – the same night that Kay Bailey Hutchinson, the Republican nominee for US Senate, won election with 55% of the vote…

– The Dallas Morning News, 11/7/1990



…North Carolina became the 38th state to approve of the Balanced Budget Amendment earlier tonight. In the state capitol of Raleigh, the state legislature has finally ratified the amendment passed by the U.S. Congress over five years ago… This development, which received tepid support from Vice President Litton, may have a major impact on Bellamy’s policies and budget proposals going forward…

– CBS Evening News, 11/14/1990 broadcast



BELLAMY SIGNS OMNIBUS BUDGET RECONCILIATION BILL INTO LAW

– The Washington Post, 11/20/1990



US SUPREME COURT AGREES TO HEAR “MOSELEY V. VAN DAM” CASE, SENDING ABORTION DEBATE TO THE FEDERAL LEVEL

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 11/28/1990



…As December 1990 began, Congress took advantage of their Winter Recess to hastily pass the Immigration Reform Act of 1990, which repeal the controversial Immigration Bill of April 1984 but included most of the more liberal additions made to it under President Kemp. Congress also took the time to quickly pass the Fire Exit Regulation Act, the Judicial Improvements Act, and the School Nutrition Information Act, along with other, smaller bills…

– Dana Lawson’s Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Carol Bellamy, Sunrise Publishing, 2017



I remember reminiscing with him about the early years, about how Sanders slept in his car, rolled up in a heavy wool blanket that I had given him [7] during his long rides across the state and then the country, selling his chicken here and there. The Colonel called me his oldest friend, and just he was my youngest. Toward the end of our final conversation together, thing got philosophical. Sanders reflected back on his life and decided that it had all been destined to happen, but I respectfully disagreed, thinking that Sanders did much of it. I told him, “You shouldn’t be so modest, even if pride is a sin.”

“What about my soul?” he replied.

“You’ve done enough good on this Earth, Colonel. I think Saint Peter will permit you being proud about that,” I said.

“Well, here’s hopin’,” he replied with a kind smile.

Getting back to the subject, I continued, “I tell you, Colonel you controlled your fortune, you controlled your fate. You kept trying and trying, year after year, failure after failure, until you finally struck gold with KFC.”

“But that would mean it was not already in the cards that I would meet you,” he replied, “Back in 1951, I was so focused on following Larry Wetherby’s advice of franchising solely within Kentucky, I almost didn’t attend the restaurant convention in 1951 where I met you, dear friend. But something told me I should go, and something told me that you were the first non-Kentuckian to franchise to.”

Indeed, it did feel like destiny encountering him, a stranger with a goatee, at convention in Australia in 1951 and again in Utah in 1952, but he turned out to be the exact thing I needed to increase my burger stand’s revenue, and then some. If only I was a mathematician; then I could figure out what the odds were of us meeting despite being on opposite sides of the country. So, I offered the Colonel a compromise. I told him, “Maybe it’s an undeterminable combination of both – some things are just destined to happen no matter what we do, but everything else is in our own hands to control.”

Sanders tilted his head back, closed his eyes and stated “grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change… and the strength to change the things I can, huh?”

I answered, “Yep.”

“I like that,” he said with a smile. The nurse then came in, and we said goodbye. The next time I would see the man, his eyes were forever closed.

– Pete Harman, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) interview, 1999



“Humanity isn’t selfish. We do things – break records, write books, make friends, pursue happiness or power or love – to leave behind something that says ‘I was here.’ But it isn’t necessary. Why? Because everything we do is already interactive and leaves an effect on somebody else. We write or simply tell stories so other people can experience the unique feelings and perspectives and ideas that we have. Those are ours and only ours alone if we don’t share them, and because we want to connect to others, we do share ’em. Whenever we discover or invent something, we give it to others. Salk and Edison’s workers didn’t keep polio and electricity to themselves, under lock and key – they shared them with the world. Why? Because people want to better the world, or at the very least, change a part of the world to how they believed it should be. Others may disagree on what is better, but still, all people feel this urge, to not be some island all alone. To do something with what they have. Even the lunatic in a mental hospital does what he does to interact and connect with others. A man believing himself to be the Mad Hatter will find a friend in whoever he thinks is the March Hare! People, all people, in one way or another, they all love, they share, they do these things to connect – with people, with the planet, with the stars, with the heavens. It might sound like some kind of cliché, but it’s really true – love is the meaning of life. Or at least, it’s what drives us, what drives life. Love. Love, and sharing what we know and experience – it’s what we yearn for, to strive for – it is humanity’s drive, its goal, its meaning… its purpose…”

– Colonel Sanders, bedside Dictaphone tape recording, 12/3/1990



“That night, he said to me ‘I love you, lovely’ and then faded off to sleep. Those were his last words. Sometime during the night…he left.”

– Claudia Price Sanders, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) interview, 1992



EXTRA!: COLONEL SANDERS HAS DIED!: American Icon Passes Away At Age 100

“The Colonel is Dead. Long Live the Colonel!”

Corbin, KY – A spokesperson for the Sanders family has revealed that “As the man known a Colonel Sanders was slowing down, he stated that he knew it was his time. After spending the weekend and Monday night happily partaking in festivities with many of his great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, the former President retired to his home, where he passed away peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of the morning.” …Due to the advanced age and recent declination in health, it is currently assumed that the former President has died from the long-term effects of diabetes, which he was diagnosed as having back in early 1980…

– The New York Times, 12/5/1990



“The Colonel demanded, and I am quoting him verbatim here, ‘KFC will stay open the day I go. If anybody anywhere is denied chicken on that day, I’ll get right out o’ that coffin just to give the one responsible a good wallopin’!’ We will respect his wishes and remain open during this time of national mourning. We will also honor his legacy by keeping to another promise made to him – that while we can try new chicken offerings, we will always make and serve his signature dish, Kentucky-fried chicken, the same way that he made it. This is a promise we intend to keep, from now until forever.”

– F.L.G. Inc. CEO James A. Collins, official statement, 12/5/1990



THE COLONEL: AN AMERICAN ICON

[snip]

The man they called The Colonel was the most visible president the United States had ever had. Thanks to his unique appearance, and the way in which he regarded photography not with the wariness displayed by almost all his predecessors, but as an ally, he became the most photographed person in the world. It was no accident that it was Colonel Sanders who created the position of official White House photographer. Even more than photography, however, it was television that endowed Sanders with a visibility that no previous leader in world history had ever attained. Colonel Sanders was America’s first television president, and from the beginning it was obvious that he and the medium were made for each other. [8]

[snip]

Upon entering office, Sanders doubled tax credits for small businesses and supported Congress using cost-benefit analyses when reviewing all bills. [snip] Even the rare snub from the Colonel, the kind that would create a political adversary, would only make for a delay in the establishing of respect for the Chicken King. For instance, when William C. Sullivan was appointed FBI head after Hoover’s passing, despite the Colonel telling Clyde Tolson that John P. Mohr would get the job. Instead of holding a grudge, Mohr went on to head a lucrative securities company which made him millions, and so there were no hard feelings felt between Mohr and the Colonel; in fact, Mohr oversaw security operations for KFC Virginia locations during much of the 1980s.

[snip]

Sitting down with this reporter, Margaret Sanders jokingly claims that she was her father’s favorite child [9], but quickly relents to note “he loved all of us, and he liked everyone, it seemed.” Indeed, the only complaints of the Sanders Presidency to maintain substantial attention, would be his use of the U.S.I.A., which critics allege the Colonel used to oppress Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press laws to censor vile language, vices and violence in books, films, and especially comics [10] in the name of protecting children.

[snip]

Through his dedication to his ideals and by persevering through hardship after hardship, from his origin as the oldest child of poor farmers to failing at a multitude of jobs to surviving two car wrecks and a hotel fire, Sanders’s luck finally turned around shortly after his 60th birthday. At a point in life when most people call it quits, resigned to reflecting back on the life they’ve lived already, Sanders instead look forward, determined to do more. And from this, Harland David Sanders became the Colonel, a symbol of Americana as iconic and emblematic as the American eagle or the Liberty Bell, and an inspiring representation of the American dream: that even the most simple, humble, and poorest man could one day be among the powers that be. [11]

– Time Magazine Special issue, 12/7/1990


The family held a private service for him on the seventh, two days before the rest of the world took its turn saying goodbye… Even with his death, the Colonel managed to bring people together – at the memorial service, former rivals and former Prime Ministers of the UK Enoch Powell and Dingle Foot were seen conversing in an amicable manner at the same table. It was one more time, one more good deed, for the road, I guess. [snip] …Richard Nixon, former Secretaries of State Carl Curtis and Jimmy Carter, Barry Goldwater, Elvis Presley, Bellamy and all the former Presidents, Alice Cooper, Bill Scranton, Muhammed Ali, Jerry Lewis, numerous religious leaders, world leaders – it seemed everyone other than the Pope (who reportedly could not attend due to a bout of pneumonia from which he quickly recovered) attended the service, either lining the streets of the funeral procession, making their way to pay their respects at Father’s body’s lay in state, or to contribute to the massive piles of flowers and candlelight vigils strewn around the cemetery boundary. Officially, over 22,000 people attended the ceremony in some way or another [12]. As the public funeral was televised, it received an audience of over 1.2billion TV viewers worldwide, from D.C. to Moscow to New Delhi, making it one of the biggest televised events in history. [13]

– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., In the Thick of It: The Story of The Colonel and His Son, Sunrise Publishing, 1991

[pic: https://imgur.com/HczrSzF ]
– The Colonel’s son (farthest left), and three of The Colonel’s great grandsons, gather in a private wake ceremony held before the public procession, Sunday 12/9/1990



“My father he believed that putting in effort and holding onto your dreams is all you need to make one’s dreams a reality. His ultimate success in that endeavor should serve as an exemplary example of why the world needs more pragmatic dreamers like him… My father lived for eleven decades, possibly one for each of his eleven secret herbs and spices, from the 1890s to the start of the 1990s [14], during which time he saw the transformation of the world through the actions of man, and while he shied away from bragging, the fact remains that when he became such a man, he transformed the world for the better, whether he boasted about that accomplishment or not.”

– Harland David “Harley” Sanders Jr., giving the eulogy at Colonel Sander’s funeral, 12/9/1990

[pic: https://imgur.com/4ZSRmJi ]
– Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, Jack Kennedy, Anwar El-Sadat, and Jerry Lewis attending Colonel Sanders’ public funeral on 12/9/1990



“I learned leadership and courage from working under President Colonel Sanders. That was a man who, under different circumstances, very much could have been a very private individual, much like myself. If I had been in his shoes, I most certainly would have stayed at home, spending hours on end in blissful solitude, just passively watching the world outside, and only from afar and by myself. Instead, The Colonel went out and became a visible and active aspect of our society; he became a public and accessible private man. He learned from his time in various businesses how to work with large groups of people in order to achieve great and wonderful successes, and he took that ability to work so efficiently, and he brought it with him to the White House. I’m better off because of him, and so are all of you, and so is everyone in this country whose lives he assisted and whose futures he brightened. I'm not the only one who will miss him, and I'm not the only one who will never forget him.”

– Ralph Nader, on the passing of Colonel Sanders, 1990



Christmas 1990 was pretty bad. Family came over to stay with me in the big ol’ house, which felt all the bigger without him. I remember flipping through his old Bible, the one he kept on his nightstand for twenty years or so, and I landed on the quote that he said had helped him kick his cursing habit: “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Well, mostly – there are some times when cursin’ is necessary, when it’s the only thing you can do to make things better. After the funeral, I cursed up a storm, a blind torrent of rage and woe. A rage against the undefeatable inevitability that awaits us all, a wailing woe at my new reality. The house felt colder, cavernous, a polished grotto of gloom. Empty. That’s how you could describe it. His empty chair, his empty study, his empty half of our bed. My Harland wasn’t there, and never would be again. It really hit me hard, and I sank into a bad state.

I didn’t watch television at all for days. I asked others to tell me what the weather forecasts were. I could not pay any attention to any media – talk of Harland’s death was everywhere.

Despite our husband’s being at each other’s throats those many years ago, Ladybird Johnson and I got along quite well, even way back then. Well still talk now and again. First I found it funny that we’re both named Claudia, though most don’t know that about Ladybird. Other don’t know that we agree on many ideas, and I that was there for her when her husband died in 1975. I deeply appreciated her returning the favor.

She came over, and she poured me a cup of tea. I handed it to her and pour myself a cup of coffee. I like my drinks strong even when they’re not alcoholic. Though in that moment in time a ten-year-old Scotch did sound really appetizing. But I digress.

I remember how during our talk I said to her, “How do you say goodbye to someone you spent a lifetime’s worth of time with?”

Ladybird answered, “It’s never easy. After Lyndon died, there were many days when I would wake up and for a few seconds think that he wasn’t there because he’d left early to go to the office, like he often did. But then I’d remember, and it’d hit me all over again. For days you struggle, but days turn into weeks and the weeks in turn become months. It gets better, and it gets easier to bear, as time passes. Especially when you don’t go through it alone.” She patted my hand to reassure me. “I know you, Claudia,” she continued, “You’re stronger than even you know, and I promise you this – you will get through this. It will get better.”

That was much easier said than done, but as I learned, it is possible.

I still feel him. Here’s still here. He lives on in every family that can walk the streets of Jerusalem without fear of attack. In the smile on the face of every satisfied customer at one of his outlets. In every heart and soul he touched with his love for his fellow man. Because my husband may have been the Chicken King President, but love is more powerful than politics, Kentucky-fried or otherwise.

– Claudia Sanders, Reader’s Digest, 1992



SCHOLARS & CITIZENS DIFFER ON RANKING U.S. PRESIDENTS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS

…an extensive survey completed by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. for Harvard University and published by the Gallup polling institution has yielded conflicting results concerning how America views its most recent crop of Commanders-in-Chief. An ideologically-balanced collection of historians, political scientists, and scholarly experts give praise to some presidents whose public perception is not so positive. The opposite is true for other former Heads of State. The following is a breakdown of the results of the poll, which excluded President Bellamy due to her incumbency (though with her approval ratings currently at 49%, and her current praise by scholars, Schlesinger notes that, if included in the survey, she would likely be in “fourth or fifth place” in both of the following lists):

SCHOLARS: 1. Roosevelt, 2. Truman, 3. Johnson, 4. Sanders, 5. Mondale, 6. Kemp, 7. Eisenhower, 8. Denton

CITIZENS: 1. Roosevelt, 2. Sanders, 3. Eisenhower, 4. Mondale, 5. Truman, 6. Kemp, 7. Johnson, 8. Denton

Leading both lists is FDR, who lead the country out of depression and through the trials of WWII. His successor, though, is remembered more positively by scholarly experts than by average citizens, believing his handling of the end of WWII and the rise of the Soviet Union, along with the Berlin Blockage and Korea, were instrumental in forming the composition of the Cold War. The least remembered of the Presidents on the list, those who do recall him are split on his use of nuclear weapons, and while desegregating the military was vital step in civil rights movement, his handling of Korea is more or less disparaging.

Colonel Sanders, meanwhile, is ranked more highly by the American people than by the experts (Gallup notes that the survey was completed before the Colonel’s death, thus removing the possibility of the recent wave of sympathy for him influencing the results). Almost at a tie with Ike, but the Colonel’s Civil Rights record, his handling of a sexual pestering incident from his past, and his foreign policy (leading troops to victory in Vietnam, opening China up to the west, and détente with Russia) puts him over the top in the minds of the regular American. Political scientists, however, are less impressed due to Sanders’ censoring of the comics and adult magazine industries, the ramifications of the Ms. Arkansas Scandal in that it caused many Americans to stop trusting the government, and his grade-school education encouraging teen-aged dropouts despite Sanders opposing the trend. Liberals oppose his opposition to the alcohol industry and to drug culture, while conservatives are critical of his support for certain welfare programs during his second term. Other scholars even claim the many close encounters America came to nuclear warfare under his watch prove that the Colonel had poor military skills, while others believe his reliance on military experts during said conflicts kept them from being any worse.

Similarly, average Americans positively remember Eisenhower as the WWII War Hero General-turned-President who presided over a period of expansive post-war economic prosperity that feature more spending money, the suburbs, and the rise of the teenagers. Scholars, though, criticize his record on addressing McCarthyism, segregation, and the rise of communism in Cuba, the last two issues having major consequences in the 1960s.

On the other side of things is Lyndon Johnson, whose legacy is conflicting for both surveyed groups. While his domestic programs are still hailed today, most people remember him better for leading the US into a bloody war in Cuba.

Jack Kemp almost defeats Mondale for sixth place among scholars due to Kemp’s success at implementing tenant ownership laws, ZEDs, and keeping the US out of new wars, though he also kept troops in Colombia and Nicaragua. Similarly, Mondale’s withdrawal of troops from Angola is a major factor in his low ranking on the list (along with his handling of the 1973 oil shock, the 1978 Economic “Crash,” and the 1979 Trojan Tower Disaster).

Denton places in dead-last in both lists. His response to the S.A.S.I.F. Virus Crisis and his overthrowing of the Dictator of Libya are considered to be the best aspects of a presidency tarnished by those whom he had chosen to trust, and by a critical lapse in judgement when he greenlit the use of state department funds to cover up a sex scandal leading to him resigning under the threat of impeachment. His attacks on “juvenile delinquents” in the name of “family values” is more polarizing, but is a major factor in the politicizing of religious issues.

– Time Magazine, late December 1990 issue



1990: total world population: 5,280,910,900, up 9.15% from 1985 [15]

– clickopedia.co.usa/world_population/history

[pic: https://imgur.com/zkVd9DS.png ]
– clickopedia.co.usa



“Look, I just want this guy [Colonel Sanders] to be president”

– Blair of alternatehistory.com, 10/27/2016 [16]



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Based on what it says on said judge’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_M._Schroeder
[2] Big thanks to @Damian0358 for bringing my attention to the OTL people and OTL events mentioned in this passage.
[3] OTL Colonel quote.
[4] OTL (found on his wiki article!)
[5] Numbers/stats from OTL’s 1990!
[6] Italicized parts are from an OTL Bloomberg article of the same title from January 2020
[7] Italicized line is from here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-colonel-sanders-made-kentucky-fried-chicken-american-success-story-180955806/
[8] Italicized parts of this passage are actually from The Letters of John F. Kennedy (via google books), found here: https://books.google.com/books?id=zZC1AQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+letters+of+john+f.+kennedy&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwisq8ezm6roAhVDneAKHWQdDuoQ6AEwAHoECAIQAg#v=onepage&q=the%20letters%20of%20john%20f.%20kennedy&f=false
[9] As mentioned in that previously-used “damninteresting” article to which I need to find the link…
[10] Which makes me wonder what he would have thought about the comics that were made about him IOTL!:

Pic:1: https://imgur.com/gd19SwM

Pic:2: https://imgur.com/jjPHXw6
[11] Italicized part is what @Bookmark1995 noted about the Colonel on page 36 of this very thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/kentucky-fried-politics-a-colonel-sanders-timeline.451582/page-36#post-20341811
[12] Roughly 1,000 people attended his body’s lay in state IOTL.
[13] The Muhammad Ali matches of both OTL’s 1970s and TTL’s 1970s, by comparison, had an audience of over 1billion people, OTL’s Live Aid had 1.9 billion watchers, and the funeral of Princess Di was watched by about 2billion IOTL. Also, IOTL, Sanders remained active until the last month of life (December 1980), appearing still in white suit to crowds.
[14] In order to technically include the number 11, as suggested by Michael Canaris’ reply on this very thread: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/kentucky-fried-politics-a-colonel-sanders-timeline.451582/page-37#post-20358660
[15] According to the wiki page for the year 1990, the world's population in that year IOTL was 5,263,593,000, up 8.95% from 1985. Here, it’s even higher! And for this amount, I had to weigh a host of variables. Vietnam IOTL cost about 667,000-to-951,000 lives on the U.S./South Vietnam side, and 333,000-to-392,000 on the North Vietnam side; add civilian deaths (between 627,000 and 2,000,000) and that number is anywhere between a total of 1,627,000 and 3,343,000. ITTL, the fighting came to a close by the end of 1967, before the deadliest parts of the OTL conflict; here, the numbers are about 325,000-to-450,000 lives on the U.S./South Vietnam side, and 343,000-to-392,000 on the North Vietnam side; add civilian deaths (between 500,000 and 900,000) and that number is anywhere between a total of 1,168,000 and 1,742,000. That makes for 459,000-to-1,601,000 less deaths in Vietnam ITTL. Cuba had over 7 million people in 1960, while Vietnam had over 32 million people that same year. Considering the high casualty count of the OTL Vietnam War (about 9% of their countrymen! (3 million casualties / 32 million people)) and how TTL’s Cuban War had a high casualty count, it’d say about 710,000 people died in the conflict in total (that’s Americans, Capitalist Cubans, Communist Cubans, and civilians). In Laos, about 82,000 died in total during the mid-century wars of OTL, while the Pol Pot regime killed 2 million IOTL. ITTL, only 550,000 died in Cambodia in total due to Pol Pot’s execution in 1971 and stability ultimately coming to the country by the middle of the decade, while only 50,000 people died in Laos. That makes for 1,482,000 lives saved ITTL.
The Ethiopian famine was overseen by more competent and responsible leaders here, and as a result, only 350,000 starved to death, as opposed to the 2 million who died in OTL; however, Ethiopia also has a Civil War that kills 600,000 ITTL, but this was also less deadly that the Derg era of OTL, meaning here, at least 1,050,000 lives are spared. AIDS, called the SASIF Virus in this TL, was addressed a bit better here, too; its peak was over 50,000 deaths per year in 1995 IOTL (according to hivinsite.ucsf.edu), so factor in earlier understanding and prevention, and I think we’re talking at least 400,000 lives sparred.
TTL’s the Soviet-Turkestani War killed 2,300,000 in total, a bit higher than the total casualties of OTL’s Soviet-Afghan War. However, Romania saw more deaths than IOTL’s 64,000 under Elena Ceausescu, about 78,000. I’d say the persecution of ethnic minorities in Western China would subtract, too, but those crimes against humanity was Deng Xiaoping’s response to the one-child policy being discouraged by western investors as a poorly-thought-out idea. Instead, I subtracted the number of people killed in TTL’s Chinese Civil War of 1975, a high number of 900,000.
Also, I subtracted 20,000 for additional deaths in Colombia, Panama, and Mexico from guerilla warfare, revolution, and the increasingly ruthless drug cartels and the dangerous substances they push. Finally, there’s abortion. Without Roe v Wade, the number of aborted healthy babies in the US is significantly smaller, though the exact numbers is difficult to ascertain. Some sources claim that at least 55 million people have been aborted since 1973 and 2013 (40 years). Factoring in accessibility to states with abortion, how many would have been aborted anyway, greater access to contraception during the 1980s in TTL due to Denton’s conservative policies, rates going up and down during those years, and additional butterflies, and it becomes even more difficult. Ultimately, due to the sharp rise in abortion rates noted on most charts I could find (such as checkyourfact.com and other sites), I decided to add 50% of aborted babies from 1973 to 1993 (30million / 2 = 15million!) to the list. So, while over 1,644,000 more people (710,000+14,000+900,000+20,000) died in additional wars ITTL, roughly 18,391,000-to-19,533,000 more people (459,000-to-1,601,000 + 1,482,000 + 1,050,000 + 400,000+15,000,000) lived. Minus 1,644,000 and the sum total is 16,747,000-to-17,889,000, which I cut to 17,318,000 more people being alive in TTL’s 1990 for the sake of being able to add it to OTL’s number sufficiently. Thus, said number.
[16] The inspiration for this TL (even though I didn't actually begin work on it until well over a year later), and found here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/alternate-wikipedia-infoboxes-iii.384720/page-393#post-13438833, @Blair

 

[gap80]

Post 55: Chapter 63

Chapter 63: January 1991 – July 1991

“Only look back to see how far you’ve traveled”

– attributions vary



It was a sad departure of someone whose noticeable and notable presence and input was greatly cherished and valued, and would be greatly missed, but the time for them to go had come at last. After 22 years of heading the company, June Martino finally stepped down as the CEO of McDonald’s on January 4th, entering a long-awaited retirement. Having already assembled a new “lineup” of executives at the company’s head, the transition from Martino to Turner was smooth sailing as the fast-food juggernaut continues to head the pack of the burger-selling industry. Longtime Board Chairman Frederick Leo “Fred” Turner and his team of well-qualified supportive subordinates (most notably Michael Robert Quinlan, Jack M. Greenberg, and James Alan Skinner) seem all ready to keep their good times rolling…

– Nation’s Restaurant News, monthly trade publication, January 1991 issue



“In the wake of the Colonel’s death, a noticeable drop in KFC’s stock market value occurred. The departure of McDonald’s CEO a few weeks later also weakened their own standing in the markets, but not nearly as badly as KFC. And KFC bounced back, but not nearly as quickly as McDonald’s did.”

– Pete Harman, 60 Minutes interview, early 1992



UN SECRETARY-GENERAL COMMENDS ISRAEL’S “RESPECTFUL TOLERANCE OF THE PALESTINIANS”

...The remark comes days after Palestinian officials met amicably with Israeli investors in Jerusalem in a well-publicized “sharing of ideas” which seemed to highlight the effectiveness of the 1978 Atlanta Peace Treaty… [1]

– The Boston Globe, 1/4/1991



CLAUDIA: “Is it the 8th or the 9th?”

MARGARET: “It’s the 5th.”

CLAUDIA: “Oh good, because this expires on the 28th.”

MARGARET: “Ma, are you okay?”

CLAUDIA: “No, I don’t think so. [pause] Talking to Ladybird helps, but haven’t been really okay in weeks.”

MARGARET: “You should come with us to Las Vegas.”

CLAUDIA: “Vegas?”

MARGARET: “Yeah, clear your head. You keeping organizing this pantry over and over, you’ll get cabin fever soon enough.”

CLAUDIA: “You sure I wouldn’t be a burden or a third wheel?”

MILDRED: “Nonsense; we’d love to have you along!”

CLAUDIA: “You know, your father – rest his soul – he took me everywhere, but he never took me to Vegas. Too many vices for his taste.”

– Margaret Sanders, former First Lady Claudia Sanders, and Mildred Sanders, home security interior A/V camera transcript, Claudia Sanders' Corbin, KY home, 1/6/1991



Ben came running back with the emergency kit quicker than a dog coming back with a fetched ball. He treated the scratch with some liquid that made the young mother give out a whiney hiss of pain. Ben then applied a tourniquet to her scratched leg and then brought her over to jeep while I carried her boy. We were soon back at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, where Ben regaled his coworkers with the story. While typically found father north of Perth and farther inland, it was not entirely uncommon for emus to be spotted this far down from up there. And this emus in particular was a capricious two-legged devil sort of bird, who had gone after a woman and child in the park just as we were about to leave. Ben’s quick thinking saved woman’s life after attack from an emu. We found out the next day that a photographer had captured several slices of the event – Ben bolting to the scene as the mother was falling; Ben swinging a tree branch above his head like a caveman defending his meal; the demon-bird watching from the edge of the park, with only Ben aware of his still-lingering presence; the emu returning to the scene of the crime as out jeep drove away. The West Australian called him a hero, almost – and I do mean almost – exaggerating how he courageously fought off an emu trying to bring further harm a woman and her child. Still, by acting quick, Ben had likely saved the young woman’s life, and that was enough for us.

But not enough for Australia. Suddenly quite the celebrity, Ben was practically surrounded by people wanting some of his time. After initial resistance, Ben decided it was a sign, an opportunity to speak out on the medical issues facing the city and the surrounding areas. This brought him to the attention of local medical institutions, and that led to radio interviews, and then the cycle of contacts-and-publicity continued, as everyone, from local churches to the local branch of the National Party of Australia, whose party leaders really wanted to sit down with him and talk to him and listen to what Ben had to say.

– Candy Carson’s A Doctor In The House: My Life With Ben Carson, Penguin Random House, 2012 [2]



…In the same vein of Colonel Sanders, Mandela donated a large portion of his Presidential salary to various children’s charities. …Finding the position of President to be “lonely” and tiring,” Mandela declined to run for a second full time…

[snip]

President Biko maintained many of Mandela’s policies when it came to land reform, anti-poverty initiatives, and sanitation measures to combat the SASIF Virus. Biko went even further when it came to healthcare, though, backing Universal Health Care legislation in late 1990. In regards to foreign policy, Biko made South Africa become a leading member of the Non-Aligned Movement, and he strengthened the already-strong ties the country had with Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana.

President Biko differed from former President Mandela the greatest, though, when it came to racial relations. When a minor traffic incident led to a white police officer shooting a black driver in late January 1991, the Biko government immediately condemned the officer, and called for him to be fired. The incident made Biko’s approval ratings among white drop even further.

– Julian Brown’s The Road to Soweto: Resistance & Revolution in Post-Soweto South Africa, Jacana Publishers, 2016




[vid: youtube.com: /watch?v=X_sAhB5m7xw ]
– KFC commercial for Super Bowl XXV, first aired 1/27/1991



NIELSEN’S CALL FOR FIXED TERMS IS A NEW LOW

…Nielsen, our gaffe-prone “goofball” of a PM still unable to get laws passed has hit a new low in both polls and in integrity. The case of frequent changes in leadership is often considered a sign of political instability [3]; Canada seems to have this infliction lately, going from Chretien to Copps in 1989 and from Copps to Nielsen less than a year later. But necessity flies in the face of political assumptions. Nielsen’s bungling of the budget, dangerous deregulating of natural gas operations in the western provinces, and inability to combat inflation or unemployment issues all signal the need for eligible Canadians to vote in a more competent leader as soon as possible. Speaking of which, this is the new low – Nielsen has come out in favor of passing a law this year to set all PM government terms to a fixed period of five years. If passed, Nielsen could end up sticking around until 1995! Our nation could not afford this blow. It is obvious that Nielsen is pushing this bill in order to not lose re-election in the next general election. Late last year, when asked why he refuses to resign from the office, Nielsen said, “I’ll let the voices of the voters be heard first and foremost.” Be careful what you wish for, Erik.

– The Toronto Star, Canadian newspaper, 1/28/1991 opinion article



JANICE FINE SAYS BELLAMY NEEDS TO SHOW SPEAKER WALKER “WHO’S BOSS.”

…“There’s a time to play ball, but right now Carol needs to remind Walker who’s the President, who’s the leader that America chose to have.” Since representing Anna Mason during the Lukens Hush Money Scandal of 1985, Fine has obtained a job teaching law at the Fordham University School of Law in NYC, and has worked the political campaigns of progressive congressional candidates in 1988 and 1990 as an advisor, organizer, and mobilizer. In 1991, Ms. Fine plan to work with Bellamy’s re-election campaign, on fundraising, PR, and other elements…

– The Boston Globe, 2/2/1991



Michael Ignatieff was born in 1947 and raised primarily in Canada... [snip] ...After teaching as a professor of history at the University of British Columbia from 1976 to 1978, Ignatieff moved to the UK in 1978 to hold a senior research fellowship at King’s College in Cambridge. In 1984, he moved again, this time to Canberra, Australia for a higher-paying teaching post, as a professor of journalism. After moving yet again, to London, California, and France between 1987 and 1991, Ignatieff returned to Canberra in early 1991 for a more permanent writing position. Serving as both a part-time professor and a contributor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the nation’s capital exposed Ignatieff to “the fascinating world of Australian politics,” as he later put it…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Michael_Ignatieff



WHY PRESIDENT BELLAMY IS SOMETIMES CALLED “THE MOTHER OF THE TECHNET”

…At the start of the Bellamy administration, the technet was, at least primarily, little more than an expensive virtual library with mail, a way of storing information, and communicating about storing information, via the text-based file sharing of data sets among colleges. An SMI (Social Media Image) or “simi” (also known as a "lafpic" when the simi is a humorous one) would not become a common feature found on “OCG”s, or ontech chat groups that are of less academic and professional content, for several more years. Despite efforts to utilize the technology’s capabilities in the field of commerce, the technet was primarily used for education purposes at the start of the 199s. This changed when President Bellamy began encouraging private and public sector businesses to utilize the technet’s capabilities. …Bellamy was first called its “mother” by documentary filmmaker Albert Gore Jr. in 1993, when discussing her praise of technological innovation during the 1991 State of the Union Address...

– thewashingtonpost.co.usa, 2013 article



By 1991, over 80% of all US colleges, and roughly 10% of all US high schools, had computers in their libraries. The biggest hurdle to overcome in regards to making computers widely used by a majority of people was adapting the technology to widespread usability, and then reaching the next stage, affordability. President Bellamy and Vice President Litton, together with Secretary Kyros and US Senators Jay Kerttula (R-AS), Marilyn Lloyd (D-TN) and Jack Lousma (R-MI), worked on this, leading to the High Performance Computing Act of 1991. Introduced in 1990, this legislation was finally voted on in February 1991, first after being quickly passed in the Senate thanks to approval by the Senate Commerce, Science and Information subcommittee, and then after narrowly getting through the House. The legislation developed the National Data Infrastructure and provided funding for the National Education and Research Department, an agency with an overlooked acronym that fell under the Department of Energy ad Technology. Based on work developed with the government’s ARPANET system of the 1960s, the bill was a major factor in the creation of the modern technet, leading to many internet pioneers such as Vint Cerf, Bill Gates, Bob Kahn and Steve Jobs praising “the Big Five” (Bellamy, Kyros, Kerttula, Lloyd, and Lousma) for decades.

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



It is very peculiar how weather and human activity can affect the spreading of disease. A notable example of this phenomenon began in January 1991 with a simple push to construct more affordable housing in New Mexico, a state with a high rate of homeless people. Such a construction project on the outskirts of Gallup, New Mexico, saw a man go from clearing away a field occupied by deer mice on February 5 to becoming Subject A on February 12. Upon entering Gallup Hospital that day, Subject A was soon wheeled into E.R., wiping their dirt-and-then-some-covered shoe onto another patient’s pants in the process. Said patient then wiped away the smear with his hand, and then adjusted his glasses with that same hand. With the transfer of the and-then-some from his shoes to her pants to her glasses and face and mouth, she became Subject B. Subject A died soon after, but not before the and-then-some particles from either Subject A or Subject B found their way onto at least one more patient in the hallway, one who was a particularly unsanitary fellow. On February 17, this fellow soon flew back to Louisiana, originally heading to the bustling city of New Orleans, only for engine trouble to ground the plane in Shreveport; by the time the plane landed, the unsanitary man, later known as Subject C, was already coughing up a storm as the and-then-some went after his lungs.

On February 18, Subject D of Durango, southern Colorado, was finally cleaning her long-neglected shed-turned-art studio when a deer mouse, a refugee from the wet outside, ran across her arm, causing her to shriek and slip, bruising her shoulder in the process. That same day, a man became Subject E when touching another deer mouse’s leavings while looking for hock-able heirlooms in his recently-deceased mother’s attic. Upon entering the hospital for the final time in his life, 12 days later and with flu-like symptoms, he reportedly said between long and labored breaths, “I must have really stirred up something awful.”

And in Farmington, New Mexico, another housing development site disturbed a large nest of deer mice...

– Allison Swanson’s The Hantavirus Epidemic, Signet Books, 1998



…And now we turn to sports, where H. Ross Perot, the billionaire former Governor of Texas has finally accomplished what fellow businessman Jerry Jones had failed to do three years earlier, and buy the Dallas Cowboys professional football team from businessman H. R. “Bum” Bright. The price ticket: a whopping $200million, which is $50million more than Mr. Jones was willing to pay for the team in 1989, according to our previous reporting…

– ABC News, 2/19/1991



MORE BUSINESSES TRYING TO HARNESS “TECHNET” TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

…“documentation and vital records can be stored more easily on floppy disks,” says the regional manager of this establishment. “Shipping orders, medical concerns, bills, taxes – all such things can be organized cleanly and neatly and in a whole new way.” Instead of searching alphabetically through files, employees will now simply have type into the computer a word or phrase, and the computer’s relevant files will appear on the screen...

– Time Magazine, mid-February 1991 issue



HUNGARIANS, OFFICIALLY OUT OF RECESSION, STILL FEEL ITS EFFECTS

…with Hungary’s sudden post-Soviet privatization measures came a shock to the national economy. State subsidies needed to be reinstated to combat the severity of Hungary’s economic downturn in 1985. With the introduction of further privatization laws, a second, smaller recession hit the country last year. Says Hungary’s Deputy Minister of Justice, Ibolya David, “we’re figuring out how much the system can take, and we will get thigs under control soon.”...

– The Guardian, 22/2/1991



Elections for the 13th Knesset were held in Israel on 27 February 1991 [4]. The election resulted in the formation of a minority government led by Shulamit Aloni of the Meretz Party, with Labor forming an alliance with them in order to make up a majority coalition in the Knesset. As in previous elections, most anti-treaty parties failed to pass the electoral threshold. Aloni was the second female PM in Israel history.

[snip]

Aloni was the leader of the opposition from 1988 to 1991 and the leader of the then-recently-founded Meretz party, a left-wing/social-democratic/green political party. In previous election cycle, the parties that merged to create Meretz together took up over 15% of the votes cast. This time, they took up almost double, at 28% of the vote, with the two main parties of Labor and Likud dropping to 25% and 21%, respectively, with several other parties taking up the remaining percentage of the vote. The Labor (social democratic) party, led by former PM Yitzhak Rabin, and the Likud (conservative) party led by incumbent PM Yitzhak Shamir, both miscalculated the appeal of Aloni’s optimistic rhetoric and progressive platform… …The Shas (ultra-orthodox religious populism) Party only won over 3 seats…

[snip]

See also:
Menachem Begin, 6th Israel PM 1977-1985 (Likud)
Yitzhak Shamir, 7th Israel PM 1985-1988/1990-1991 (Likud)
Yitzhak Rabin, 8th Israel PM 1988-1990 (Labor)

– clickopedia.co.usa



“Well, with my own political career long behind me and my dad doing fine in the Senate – he even was mounting another bid for the Presidency – I decided to finally make the move here in, oh, March first or second, 1991. I had had investments in companies down here for years. I had made millions in cattle, ranching, and while contributing to environmentalist causes was one thing, being on the ground and being more hands-on was more gratifying. So a moved here, here’s where I’ve made home. I like it here, I like living here, and I want to do all I can to make it a swell place to live for everyone who lives here!”

– Barry Goldwater Jr., 7 News, Seven Network, Australian TV news service, 1996 interview



In Colorado, a young woman who was hospitalized for trouble breathing. Doctors were surprised by the high amount of fluid found in the woman’s swollen lungs, the organs being almost completely filled with it. Upon her death hours after her admission, an autopsy revealed the woman’s lungs to be twice the normal weight for someone her age. The cause of her death could not be immediately determined, and the case was reported to the Colorado Department of Health, which had recently received massive funds cuts by Governor Andrews. [5]

By the time paramedics brought in Subject E to the Indian Medical Center emergency room, he had stopped breathing and the paramedics were performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The young man could not be revived by doctors and died. The physicians, surprised by the high levels of fluid in both lungs, reported his death to the New Mexico Department of Health. [5] The similarities between Subject A and Subject E were noticed, leading to the department notifying the C.D.C. on March 1st.

– Allison Swanson’s The Hantavirus Epidemic, Signet Books, 1998



BELLAMY SIGNS ACID RAIN CONTROL AND PREVENTION TREATY WITH CANADA AND MEXICO, HOPING TO ADDRESS POLLUTION CONCERNS

– The New York Times, 3/2/1991



North Korea began the 1990s in one hell of a crisis. With only a fifth of the country’s mountainous terrain being arable, the nation was incapable of complete self-sufficiency. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1984 meant the collapse of Korea food aid from Russia, leading to Kim Il-Sung reluctant to rely on the People’s Republic of China, because he believed disapproved of China opening up its markets to capitalist nations. When food aid was finally secured from China in 1987, the help was minimal, as the PRC kept greater attention on the Uyghur Camp Economic Crisis of 1987-1989, and as such, things continued to worsen for the people of the Hermit Kingdom. According to US Defense files declassified in 2018, Kim Il-Sung possibly survived an aborted military coup in 1988. A bigger issue for the US at the time, though, was Kim’s interests in obtaining nuclear weapons.

North Korea showed an interest in developing nuclear weapons since the 1950s, with efforts at a nuclear program being traced back to about 1962, when North Korea committed itself to what it called "all-fortressization," which was the beginning of the hyper-militarized North Korea of the early 1990s. In 1963, North Korea asked the Soviet Union for help in developing nuclear weapons, but was refused. The Soviet Union agreed to help North Korea develop a peaceful nuclear energy program, including the training of nuclear scientists. Later, China, after its nuclear tests, similarly rejected North Korean requests for help with developing nuclear weapons. In the 1980s, North Korea began to operate facilities for uranium fabrication and conversion, and conducted high-explosive detonation tests. In 1985 North Korea ratified the NPT but did not include the required safeguards agreement with the IAEA. [6] Despite still maintaining interest in nuclear energy, Kim signed an accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1988 to permit international inspections of their nuclear power plants.

Unfortunately for his people, Kim Il-Sung’s focus was not on the growing issue of famine. The impoverished masses were using outdated tools on small plots, with insufficient irrigation systems and some entire communities trying to survive on a single crop in a nation where much of the land is only frost-free for six months out of the year.

Through the combination of economic mismanagement, the loss of outside support from 1984 to 1987 and insufficient outsider support after that, food production and imports declined rapidly, and the Hermit Kingdom’s centrally-planned government system was too inflexible to react to the subsequent humanitarian disaster. With a population of roughly 22 million, thousands of North Koreans became susceptible to starvation and hunger-related illnesses…

– Van Jackson’s Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in the Post-Cold War Era, Cambridge University Press, 2016



…On March 9, the shuttleplane Excelsior took off from Cape Canaveral carrying instruments designed to study the details and effects of man-made Global Climatic Disruption, a phenomenon that was gaining attention as the decade of the 1990s began...

– mathematician Dorothy Vaughn’s Human Computers: Me and The Other Women at NASA, Langley Publishers, 1997



Within a week, a task force had formed in Albuquerque that included Bruce Tempest, chief of medicine at the Indian Medical Center. Tempest quickly discovered that seven people, including Subject A and Colorado’s case, all had experienced the same symptoms and all had died within a two-month period.

Tempest learned from Subject A's family of the nature of his occupation, doing odd jobs around town, usually landscaping and construction. Seeking answers, Tempest pondered in his notes, “Deaths on the nearby Navajo reservations are not reported to the state health department because they are sovereign nations.” By March 10, Tempest had discovered, much to his shock, from Navajo medical officials that over a dozen Native Americans had contracted the mysterious illness, most of them young Navajos in New Mexico. This included two relatives of Subject A that had died within hours of one another.

– Allison Swanson’s The Hantavirus Epidemic, Signet Books, 1998



MYSTERIOUS N.M. FLU OUTBREAK PUZZLES EXPERTS

…featuring mild flu-like symptoms followed by a sudden onset of pulmonary edema requiring ventilators, most of the victims so far have been either Hispanic or Native American. ...Navajo leaders report that similar outbreaks of this nature have happened in the past, most notably in 1918, 1933, and 1934. Due to the presence of mice in the vicinities of many of the victims, this journalist was informed that Navajo tribal stories consider mice to be harbingers of bad luck and illness…

– The Los Angeles Times, 3/11/1991



Hearing a news report, a physician notified health officials to say that the illness sounded a lot like hantavirus, which he had observed in Korea in the 1950s. The Centers for Disease Control tested for hantavirus even though Asia and Europe were the only documented places hantavirus had been known to occur. No known cases had ever been reported in the United States. In addition, all the cases in Asia and Europe had involved hantaviruses that caused kidney failure, never respiratory failure. The testing revealed a previously unknown hantavirus which was eventually named Sin Nombre virus, Spanish for "No Name" virus. The disease became formally known as “hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome,” or simply “hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.” [7]

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

Above: a deer mouse, a common carrier of HPS (Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome), a form of hantavirus that was not known of by US medical officials until 1991

Dr. Tempest’s notes show that there was much debate within the task force over the source of the HPS case, and several theories were advanced to explain the emergence of the new virus.

“It’s obviously a rise in contact between humans and mice due to some sort of ‘bumper crop’ in the deer mouse population,” said one physician.

Another countered with the theory that “something within the virus has changed, allowing it to jump to humans.”

“We would be seeing way more cases sprout up,” Dr. Tempest claims to have said.

“But we might yet,” the other scientist explained, “We haven’t determined how long is the virus’ incubation period,” or how long the virus remains dormant within its human host before “attacking” said host.

A third theory was that nothing had changed, that hantavirus cases had in fact occurred previously but had not been properly diagnosed. This last theory was based on the Korean variation of the virus, for which does not spread person-to-person. Instead, transmission occurs when humans are exposed to air contaminated with aerosolized mouse feces, usually within enclosed spaces. [7]

“But what if the virus has mutated, and can now go from person to person like my colleague said?” Dr. Tempest writes. “It could be disastrous for this region.” Upon the discovery of the unsanitary Subject C of Shreveport, Louisiana, though, gave rise to the possibility of the virus outbreak not being confined the just the Four Corners region of the United States…

– History of Hantavirus, cdc.gov.usa, retrieved 2020-04-15



Under President Bellamy’s direction, the FDA and the federal Agriculture, Health and Welfare, Education and HHS Departments established a series of regulations dubbed “enforceable guidelines” for fast-food corporations and businesses to follow. For megacompanies like McDonald’s, the most “egregious” of these guidelines called for all foods directed toward, meant for, or consumed in great quantity by patrons under 18 to have to include ingredients listed on packaging and to adhere to a “cap” on going beyond the FDA’s recommended daily amount of sugar, saturated fat, trans fats, and salt that should be consumed by children under 18. These measurement were immediately opposed by the GOP-led house, with House Speaker Robert Smith Walker calling it “at the least an attempt to turn the government into a nanny state and at the worst an attempt to limit the freedoms of American consumers and the businesses with which they choose to interact.” Nevertheless, the “guidelines” went into effect via executive order in March, and opposing forces failed to have the court strike them down as Bellamy’s administration continued on…

– Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012



BELLAMY SIGNS EXTRADITION TREATY WITH CHINA’S LI XIANNIAN!

…This culmination of over two years of negotiations is major foreign policy accomplishment for the Bellamy administration, and could significantly improve US-Chinese relations, which would be a noticeable reversal of the animosity of the late 1980s…

– The Corvallis Gazette-Times, Oregonian newspaper, 3/16/1991



President Bellamy became aware of the possible gravity of the situation while flying back from Hawaii, having just signed a landmark extradition treaty with China there.

“Hantavirus, a single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus of the Bunyavirales order, normally causes infection in rodents, but humans can become infected through contact with rodent urine, saliva, or feces. This can lead to hemorrhagic fever and renal failure.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, immunologist and Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases since 1984, informed the Commander-in-Chief.

“This has happened before,” added Dr. Tempest, “Researchers working with our task force have discovered a 38-year-old man in Utah succumbed to such symptoms in 1959. We’re still looking into claims by the Navajo Nation that similar cases occurred in the 1930s. But also,” flipping through his notes, “An outbreak of hemorrhagic fever among American and Korean soldiers during the Korean War was caused by Hantavirus infection. Over 3,000 troops got symptoms that included kidney failure and shock, with a 10% mortality rate. It’s the reason for its name, in fact – we named it after the Hanta River over there.”

“Ten percent, dear god,” Bellamy thought aloud, still listening intensely.

“And before all that,” Dr. Tempest concluded, “The sweating sickness that swept through England in 1485 was likely this too, same symptoms and everything.”

“Well that’s great for history class,” Vice President Litton chimed in, “But what about right now? For starters, how did y’all even discover the connection to the mice?”

“That would be the work of Yates and Parmenter, sir,” Tempest said while pointing with his pen over to two of his colleagues on his right. New Mexico University professor Terry Yates (born in Kentucky, circa 1952) had been part of the team with research assistant Robert Parmenter. “The two discovered it by testing numerous local animals. We discovered that mice had a higher than usual population in the region.”

“How comes,” Bellamy asked bluntly.

“Possibly due to a combination of factors – irrigation projects making water and water runoff luring them in, ZEDs,” or Zones of Economic Development, a kay accomplishment of the Kemp administration, “being redeveloped and thus dispensing mice that once took up residents in dilapidated buildings, and wet weather is typically the main factor.”

“Irrigation runoff provides more vegetation and thus food, leading to mice arriving and breeding faster than usual. Right?” Litton pondered.

“That is correct, sir. More mice, more chance of contact with humans,” Dr. Fauci answered.

“We’ve got to get the word out,” Bellamy unfolded her hands and sat farther upright in her chair at the end of the table. “If more cases outside of Subject C pop up in Louisiana, we’ll know it’s capable of going from person to person. We have to get the Governors to warn people how to avoid getting it. Keep houses clean, wear protection while gardening, renovating. Ten percent mortality rate. Dear God.”

“It’s even worse than that, ma’am,” Tempest spoke up again.

“How?” Bellamy inquired.

“If this new strand can indeed jump from person-to-person like the South American strand of the Hantavirus possibly can, we can see a higher mortality rate than 10%. Of the New Mexico cases, nearly half have passed away,” Tempest concluded with a slight gulp, “meaning this strand is by far the deadliest at a mortality rate of between 30% and 50%.”

“Oh sweet Jesus!” the Vice President rightfully exclaimed.

“Without any cure, patients need immediate help from oxygen therapy, fluid replacement, blood pressure medications, and, if needed, kidney dialysis,” Fauci stated.

“Do you have any good news, gentlemen?”

“Well, Mr. Vice President,” Yates answered this times, “We do know that chlorine bleach destroys the virus, and the snowfall can shut down virus transmission. The UV rays of sunlight will kill the virus if it is directly exposed to it as well.”

Litton shook his head dismissively, and stated, “Well, at least we’ll see how universal healthcare handles large-scale disasters.”

“Bit your tongue, Jerry!” Bellamy retorted.

“Yeah, that was blue, sorry.”

Fauci, hoping to add some hope to the somber room, finally noted “Well, at least the CDC and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases,” or USAMRIID, “are working isolating the virus. To go from discovery of a new virus to isolation, though, typically takes at least a year,” Fauci had to confess.

“We can’t wait that long!” Bellamy exclaimed “Double your staff, double your hours. Use the most advance tech you’ve got. I’ll get the costs covered after the fact. Hell, I’ll pay for the overtime myself if I have to!”

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018 [8]



“While attending the Boston University School of Law, from which I graduated in 1993, I founded Lemonade Inc., and investments-based business enterprise focused on technet-based accounting and other entrepreneurial ideas relating to the harnessing of the computer.”

– Judge Peter Rokkos of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, KNN interview, 2007



President Bellamy immediately contacted the Governors of the relevant states, and decided to speak with the remaining Governors next month before the National Governors Association, upon request for an emergency meeting to be held on April 4 to discuss a worst-case scenario and plan for immediate needs in the event that this new hantavirus could indeed transfer from person-to-person.

“Look out for the symptoms: fatigue, fever, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, chills, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, typically starting a week after the virus enters the body, but sometimes longer, up a month, and then it strikes and strikes fast,” Bellamy informed them.

Governors Donald Kennedy (D-CA), Carolyn Warner (D-AZ), Ben Lujan Sr. (D-NM) and Edith Kirkpatrick (D-LA) were supportive of implementing Bellamy’s proposals, as did the National Park Service. Government officials would launch immediate awareness campaigns informing people to stay clear or wear protective clothing such as gloves and face masks when in forests, fields, farms, garages, outbuildings, sheds, and all other areas that offered suitable habitats for rodent hosts. “If even cats catching mice can lead to the cat’s owners catching it, we need to inform pest control services and promote people hiring professionals to fumigate and inspect crawl spaces, vacant lots prone to mice infestations, things of that nature, yes?” asked Kennedy. [9]

“That’s correct,” Bellamy answered.

“And I’ll meet up with Native American leaders just in case,” said Warner.

“I’ll have my people help your people,” Lujan offered to Warner, who graciously accepted.

Governors John Andrews (R-CO) and Rick Perry (D-TX), however, were not convinced the number of cases merited such a massive public awareness campaign as suggested. “I think we’re taking this out of proportion,” Perry explained his opinion, “So far, only three cases have popped up in my state. And we don’t even know for certain if this virus can transfer from person to person.”

Unable to convince Perry to make an announcement like what the rest of the aforementioned Governors agreed to do, Bellamy soon made contact with Lieutenant Governor Henry Cisneros of Texas, who held more weight and sway over the state due to the unique nature of the Governor-Lieutenant Governor setup found in the Texas state constitution.

On March 21, 1991, the US Surgeon General joined Bellamy, Litton, Fauci, Tempest, Yates and others at a join press briefing to urge Americans living in the southwest to wear gloves and face masks whenever in public as a necessary safety precaution...

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



SUBJECT FA: Hey, welcome back, you old slugger! > slaps Subject CB on back, touching mud-covered jacket <

SUBJECT CB: Watch it, I’ve got a crick in my back ever since I fell out of the cab back in Shreveport.

SUBJECT FA: Oh yeah! How was the place?

SUBJECT CB: It sucked.

SUBJECT FA: It couldn’t have sucked worse than your trip to Missoula.

SUBJECT CB: There’s nothing to do, all the locals are either morons or real good at playin’ morons, and after our Lady-in-Chief’s press briefing on Thursday, uh > clearing throat < everyone was being told to ‘glove up’ and ‘mask up’ and sh*t. > clearing throat < Can’t remember why. Weird place, uh… > clearing throat <

SUBJECT FA: Say, you alright?

SUBJECT CB: Damn seasonal allergies, I swear they’re getting worse every year. > clearing throat < They’re especially bad today, it’s like I inhaled a bunch o’ cotton or somethin’.

SUBJECT FA: You should get that checked out.

SUBJECT CB: Naw, I just gotta drink lots of water is all.

SUBJECT FA: I don’t know, I don’t watch the news much, but I heard something bad’s goin’ around.

SUBJECT CB: Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.

– Transcript, A/V security recording outside bar in New Orleans, LA, 3/23/1991



The appearance of five more cases in Shreveport, the final place Subject C got to visit, and the appearance of two more virus victims in New Orleans gave momentum to the theory that the virus had evolved to being transferable between humans. This in turn led to increased calls for people to avoid heavy public concentrations of people when not wearing gloves and masks. Governor Edith Kirkpatrick (D-LA) went so far as to call for bars and dance halls to cease operations indefinitely, while theories concerning the Shreveport Five were investigated. The fact that the Louisiana Bayou has its own version of the hantavirus, the “Bayou virus” linked to rice rats, lead to some defenders of Governors Perry and Andrews – who had chosen not to order public mask-wearing on the grounds of violating personal freedoms – claiming that this proved that the New Mexico hantavirus had not mutated after all.

Public reaction to these developments was one of fear and confusion. Panic buying was soon followed by migration of people out of rural areas and into the apartments of urban friends and relatives. Governor Lujan (D-NM) soon had to implement a price freeze on sanitation products and housecleaning services and demand skyrocketed. On the lighter side of things, the virus’ vulnerability to sunlight led to a noticeable rise in public parks being visited across the southern and western states.

– Ben Hjelle’s article “The Hantaviral Disease in the Southern and Western United States,” Western Journal of Medicine, 1992



LEE ATWATER, NOTED GOP STRATEGIST, DIES AT 40

Harvey LeRoy “Lee” Atwater, a major architect of House Speaker Robert Smith Walker’s political ascension who also, albeit less successfully in the wake of the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, worked on the campaigns of several Republican candidates in 1986 and 1988, died this morning at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Born in Atlanta on February 27, 1951, Mr. Atwater died after a yearlong fight against a brain tumor that struck him just as he was attempting to oversee several more GOP races in 1990. He was 40 years old and is survived by a wife and three children.

– The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/30/1991



The newest (and last) Prime Minister of independent Albania, Adil Carcani oversaw his country formally join Yugoslavia, with the government documentation officially being signed on March 31, followed by the swearing in of the new Yugoslavic state’s leader (Carcani, as a caretaker until new elections were held) on April 22, and the formal and official opening of trade and borders on May 19… [snip] In light of having another state to represent in the Presidential cycle, parliament agreed to shorten the terms of the Presidency from five years each to three years each...

– Leslie Benson’s Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Palgrave Publishers, 2001



“Back in 1991, the hantavirus was spreading and people were generally freaking out. At least, in the South and out west. Nobody was sure how it was spreading or how contagious it was, but they saw the fatality rate of, like, 40%, and so most did what the politicians and medical experts told them to do. And that all meant that Spring Break ’91 had been canceled for many students in southern and western Universities, as well as Steven’s plan to open his nautical Chuck-E-Cheese-style restaurant in time for Spring Break ’91. The virus and the new FDA guidelines, too. The Bellamy Guidelines probably more so, actually, now that I really think about it, since many people still went to the beaches nevertheless. But anyway, Steven, said, he said to me, ‘seafood and family togetherness are not seasonal. We can afford to open later. This is not a public enterprise. I have no stockholders. But I do have workers.’ And so he aimed for an autumn opening, and took the time given to him to work on renovations and recipes.”

– Bryan Hillenburg, 2019 interview



“Why is it called ‘SpongeBob’s,’ or, more specifically, ‘Spongebob’s Undersea Cuisine,’ when Mr. Krabs is the manager?”

“Because the workers run the show. They’re the ones that do the backbreaking work, the daily duties that keep the place up and running.”

“But wasn’t this enterprise hard for you to put together?”

“Yes, but the labor I put into building this all up does not diminish the hard work of the cashiers and the cooks that keep this all up.”

“Mr. Krabs is very generous naming his restaurant after a worker.”

“He’s just that good of a worker.”

“Must be! But how did you come up with a name as unique and eye-catching as SpongeBob?”

“We started out with several placeholder names like The Crunchy Crab and Krab King Burgers, when the Mr. Krabs character was the main focus of it, we called it Undersea Cuisine for a while, but to me it just sounded too posh on its own like that, and Dockside Classics and Offshore Delights were already taken. We tried Undersea King Cuisine, Krab King Cuisine, Sea King Burgers, the Sea King Shack, the Krabby Patty Shack, Crusty Crab Burgers, and Krabby Patty Cuisine. None sounded just right. But then one day when trying to draw a possible logo, I started doodling a little fish mascot. That was too clichéd, so I thought, ‘I want this to last, to stick around. What stays in one place?’ I asked myself, and the answer was the reliably sedentary sea sponge. Something nobody had ever used to promote a seafood restaurant before. Originally he was Sponge-Boy, and the restaurant was going to be called ‘SpongeBoy Ahoy,’ but my wife Karen found out that that was the name of a mop product that came out in the 1980s. So we changed it to Bob, like bobbing in water, in keeping with the nautical theme.”

– Stephen Hillenburg, 1997 interview

[ pic: https://imgur.com/e8uU5Ps ]
– The first “SpongeBob’s” outlet, under developed/renovation prior to its Grand Opening, c. April 1991



…We have an update on the hantavirus epidemic possibly sweeping parts of the South: a special C.D.C. Task Force has just arrived in Louisiana to further investigate hantavirus cases, or “lung lock,” as the locals are calling it down there...

– KNN News, 4/17/1991



SOME NEW ORLEANS SCHOOLS SWITCH TO “RADIO CLASSES” AMID SOCIAL GATHERING FEARS

…taking a page out of energy crises of yesteryear, certain schools in the city of New Orleans have opted to hold classes over the radio for the remainder of the school year… …The CDC is requesting anyone with the symptoms of hantavirus seek medical attention immediately in order to minimize spread of this powerful and deadly disease until it can be determined if it has indeed “made the leap” from being only transmittable from animals to human to being transmittable between humans…

– The Shreveport Times, local newspaper, 4/18/1991



EX-SENATOR RON PAUL CLAIMS DEMOCRATS ARE OVERREACTING TO HANTAVIRUS SCARE, SAYS SAFETY PROCEDURES ARE UNNECESSARY

…“People should ask themselves whether this hantavirus ‘epidemic’ could be a big hoax, with the actual danger of the disease massively exaggerated by those who seek to profit – financially or politically – from the ensuing panic,” Paul says. “That is not to say the disease is harmless. Without question people will die from hantavirus. Those in vulnerable situations and occupations should take precautions to limit their risk of exposure to deer mice, and to other people it has evolved like some alleged experts claim it may have. But we have seen this movie before. Government over-hypes a threat as an excuse to grab more of our freedoms. When the ‘threat’ is over, however, they never give us our freedoms back.” [10]

– The Houston Chronicle, 4/22/1991



“UNFOUNDED AND DANGEROUS”: GOP Rep. Denounces Ron Paul’s “Hoax” Comment

…Representing Arizona’s First U.S. Congressional Seat since 1983, libertarian Republican Doug Wead, 45, went on Arizona radio earlier today to lambaste the former US Senator from Texas for “spreading fear and lies at a time when people need help the most.” He went on to state that “government interference is needed during times of crisis, be it earthquake or twister or a supervirus, because during such times, it is actually what keeps people safe and healthy, and thus allows them to better express and execute their individual freedoms. You can’t hunt a fox on your private property if you’re stuck in a hospital bed.” He concluded with the claim that “Ironically, Ron Paul’s claim threatens individual liberty by discouraging people from doing what is necessary for them to do right now so they can have their freedom virus-free.”

– The Chicago Tribune, 4/24/1991



…Louisiana’s commerce department today announced that its unemployment rate has jumped from 5% to 8% this week in the wake of the hantavirus epidemic closing businesses in the state. Similar, but smaller, drops in employment have also been reported in the states of New Mexico and Arizona…

– CBS Evening News, 4/25/1991 broadcast



On April 26, 1991, a test engineer employed by the Anglo-French IT services company Sema Group used a lab computer to send the world’s first PTM (private text message), doing so through an international network, and to the phone of a colleague. [11]

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



GOVERNOR ROSS ESTABLISHES SOBRIETY/RECREADRUG REHAB, K-12 EDUCATION PROGRAMS WITH MONEY STATE WON IN CHEVRON OIL SPILL LAWSUIT

– The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 4/27/1991



To recap, the USSR’s Shelepin replacing First Secretary Antonin Novotny with Vasil' Bil'ak and Gustav Husak in 1968, though the latter became irrelevant once First Secretary Vasil’ Bil’ak consolidated power in 1973. Their administrations' strict regulations and oppressive police state fueled Czechoslovakian shoutnik activism enough for the 20 February 1975 inner-party coup to be a success, leading to reforms across the nation’s socio-economic systems under its new leader, Ota Sik. Sik presided over the collapse of the of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact in 1984. As anti-communist emotions flared in Czechoslovakia, Sik sought to implement democratic reform even faster in order to avoid a similar communist collapse. His efforts failed when peaceful demonstrations overwhelmed the capital, and Sik lost the confidence of the party. In a stunning moment, the “Gentle Revolution” altered the Czechoslovakian government system with zero casualties; only seven hospitalizations from police brutality – prior Sik ordering police to stand down – occurred in the largest assembly of citizens in the nation’s history. The transition of Czechoslovakia saw Sik step down after appointing a non-communist government – the first in the country since 1948 – and his second-in-command, Ludvik Vaculik, serve as interim President until a new leader was chosen in free elections held in August of that year.

The election was the apex of the career of Czech nationalist Vaclav Klaus, a 44-year-old banker who believed the nation was better off split into two, pointing to the independence of the USSR’s non-Russian soviets. However, all the opinion polls at that time showed that a vast majority of Czechs and Slovaks was in favour of the preservation of Czechoslovakia [12], and it turned out that these polls were overall very accurate. Thus, Klaus lost the election to pro-unity economist Valtr Komarek, but surprised foreign pundits by coming in second place.

By 1991, however, tensions between the two parts that made up Czechoslovakia – Czechia and Slovakia – were becoming more prominent. Slovaks, the less populous of the two regions, were upset at Czechs dominating congress and having greater influence in national politics, while Czechs felt like they were paying out of their own pockets for the economic and regional development of the poorer (and seemingly ungrateful) neighbour [12]. Komarek hoped that increasing Slovak autonomy, which was achieved in April 1991, would end the internal debate...

– Maskim Gorky’s After the Iron Curtain: Eastern Europe, 1984-to-Today, Academic International Press, 2010 edition



Plans for an entertainment resort in Europe began immediately after Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 and was instant success. The first major debate held was on the crucial element that was its location. Hundreds of locations were considered, ranging from Lisbon to Moscow, but Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the UK were the consistent favorites. All other places lacked the necessary flat land and a warm stable climate needed for a sprawling vacation center similar to conditions found in California and Florida: Greece was prone to Earthquakes, the Balkans were too mountainous, and both eastern and northern Europe were too cold for year-round operations.

An interesting exception to this rule, however, was Berlin. Resting on low-lying marshy woodlands with a mainly flat topography as part of the Northern European Plain, Berlin’s outskirts were covered with woodlands and lakes that reminded some Disney surveyors of Florida. Euro-Disney being built in post-Cold War Berlin would be seen either a gesture of peace, or as a confirmation of sorts that “the West” and capitalism had won said war and/or were dominating Europe. The idea of it being seen as a form of “western suppression,” though, was not a popular thought, as many Germans, relishing their new post-war freedoms, supported the idea. Plans called for Disneyland Berlin to be built on a part of the former Border Wall region, or on a lake-front region east of the city. At the same time, two other locations – Barcelona, Spain and Ferrara, Italy – seemed promising. France, meanwhile, fell out of favor during the nationalist Le Pen administration, which opposed such an operation in either Paris or Toulon, near Marseilles in the south of France.

Location was everything; CEO Eisner understood this well. He supported locating Euro Disney Resort in Berlin due to it being closer to the center of Europe, and due to local support not found in Paris, even after Le Pen’s impeachment and removal from office in 1989. Locals in Ferrara opposing construction make the company shy away from that location by 1986. With France largely written off as too politically instable – ironic, given its stability since then – and due to Paris having too many competing sights (the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Notre Dame just some of the places in the city to which Disney could lose tourists) and Toulon’s terrain being too difficult to do major construction on, Barcelona and Berlin became the final two in 1987.

In the end, deciding factor was climate. Berlin’s average high temperature in July was around 75 degrees Fahrenheit, while it’s average high temperature in January was only 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Barcelona, on the other hand, offered year-round operation capabilities. Disneyland Barcelona became official with the signing of contracts with Eisner and the Spanish government, the swift purchasing of 4,986 acres, and the hiring of local workers all before the end of 1987. After nearly four years of construction, the resort officially opened on April 30, 1991.

– James B. Stewart’s Disney War, Simon & Schuster, 2005



IRAQ PICKS NEW LEADER IN FIRST-EVER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

…The President of Iraq has always been elected by the nation’s Council of Representatives by a two-thirds majority – that is, until this year’s implementation of a new selection system, in which Iraqi citizens vote for pledged electors of an Electorate College, which, based on the popular results, officially vote in the new President the next day. These reforms were the culmination of retiring President Abdul Rahman Arif’s efforts to modernize the nation without losing the support of Iraq’s upper classes… Tonight’s election saw Abd ar-Razzaq Said al-Naif of the A.S.U.’s “Pro-West” faction, winning the popular vote by a comfortable plurality in a four-way race, over Arif Abd ar-Razzaq of the A.S.U.’s “moderate” faction, Independent 33-year-old Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer and Sa’dun Hammadi of the newly-reformed Iraqi Ba’ath party, ending a campaign season that officially began with the Ba’ath party’s nomination of Hammadi on March 20. Al-Naif received 45% of the vote, with ar-Razzaq winning 30%, al-Yawer winning 15%, and Ba’ath underperforming with only 10% of the vote… The Iraqi Electoral College will now assemble tomorrow to ether confirm or reject tonight’s victor…

– The Washington Post, 5/1/1991



IRAQ’S ELECTORS CONFIRM THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

…the pro-American Abd al-Naif will be sworn in on the eighth…

– The Detroit Free Press, 5/2/1991



TOTAL HANTAVIRUS CASES REACH 100, MORTALITY RATE STILL AT 45%

– The New York Times, 5/5/1991



In early 1991, while verifying North Korea's initial declaration, the IAEA concluded that there was strong evidence this declaration was incomplete. When North Korea refused the requested special inspection, the IAEA reported its noncompliance to the UN Security Council. A month later, North Korea announced its withdrawal from the NPT, [13] Turning inward even further. …In May 1991, investigative reporters from Japan and South Korea lead to a widely-circulated exposé revealing that the extent of famine in North Korea was even worse than initially thought, with the number of deaths in 1990 being 60% greater than suggested by original estimates…

– Van Jackson’s Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in the Post-Cold War Era, Cambridge University Press, 2016



…The draw of Father’s KFC, Dave’s Wendyburger, and Hatton Salt’s Fish and Chips, and the rest of the Finger Lickin’ Good Inc. Family is our commitment to high quality and customer satisfaction. But with the latter point in mind, a dispute began to form on the KFC Board of Directors. Some members believed that, judging by the size and power of McDonald’s, KFC should embrace the quality of its competitors. This led to the creation of the KFC Double-Chicken Gravy Burger. Released in May 1991 in select stores in the American South and Midwest, the sandwich consisted of boneless chicken “slices” or flattened chicken breasts that were each stuffed with hot gravy and sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of a sesame seed bun, as were classic fixin’s like lettuce, tomato, cheese and condiments. Other board members believed the Gravy Burger’s somewhat lackluster but still profitable performance was prove that the company should go in the opposite direction and become a healthier alternative to our “greasy-spoon” dining competitors, a part of the “higher end fat food” industry spectrum. In an ironic twist, we actually became very curious as to what exactly was in the Ollieburgers of the niche Ollie’s Trolleys that made that franchise so popular during the 1970s and again in the early 1990s…

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



...This just in from the Louisiana Department of Health: the number of Hantavirus cases in Shreveport have dropped dramatically for the first time since the health crisis was declared last month. While officials still are yet to confirm whether or not the hantavirus has mutated to being able to spread from human to human, the virus’ high fatality rate put this part of the state into a panic as residences went into emergency lockdown. The region’s citizens may be relieved to know a drop of 40% was reported by the Shreveport Department of Public Health, with surrounding towns reporting similar rates of decline. The drop is very likely due to residents adhering to safety procedures in the face of this severe crisis…

– NBC Special Report, 5/12/1991



Anchor BOBBIE BATTISTA: …In financial news, the US Department of Justice, under the direction of US Attorney General Amalya Kearse, is seeking to review the books of Chemical Bank and Manufacturers Hanover Corporation, two banks planning to merge, which, if it goes through, would be the largest bank merger in American history. Joining us now is a panel of financial experts…

[snip]

GUEST #1, Former US Attorney General RAMSEY CLARK: …We have to keep the banks from becoming too big and powerful to control, regulate and inspect.

GUEST #2, Former US Secretary of the Treasury PRESTON MARTIN: But the perpetual harassment of such business by government agencies will only hurt stockholder investment confidence and that will damage the economy, which would hurt the very people banks want to help!

– KNN Headline News, 5/19/1991 broadcast



“Inflation is a natural side-effect of expanding government, while recession, often blamed on the incumbent leader, is actually as natural as the ups and downs of any relatively free market economic system. Economic minimization – a fancy was of describing cost-effective analyses – is needed when inflation is on the rise. Now, Democrats may blame this economic “double dip,” this second economic dip occurring so soon after the 1989-1990 recession, on the health scare created by the hantavirus running amok in Texas and Louisiana. It may be too soon to tell, but I for one believe it to be the result of Bellamy’s overreaching nanny-state programs being stretched-thin thanks to the balanced budget amendment.”

– US Senator John Raese (R-WV), 5/21/1991 CBS interview



…By 1991, child hunger rates in the United States had dropped back down to the low levels of the 1970s. The Hantavirus Epidemic of that year had helped bring in more food and aide, too. It seemed humanitarianism had become an increasingly prominent trend at the start of the decade thanks these kind of efforts picking up celebrity endorsements and because of the refreshingly-sincere philanthropic attitudes of the Bellamy White House…

– Jim McGovern, 2009 interview



NEW STATE FLAG MAY SOON BE ADAPTED!

…In the wake of several months of public opinion polls confirming statewide support for the measure, the Senate chamber of the new state legislature has voted in favor of replacing the North Star State’s current flag, derided by many flag experts for being boring, generic, and uninspiring, with a popular new design… Reverend William Becker and Mr. Lee Herold, native vexillologists, first proposed the North Star Flag in 1989. …Requests from conservative legislators and veteran rights advocacy groups for a thin red wave to be added to the bottom of the white wave of the original design, to represent those “who lost their lives building and defending” the Land of 10,000 Lakes, may stall the flag measure in the lower state house…

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

– The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota newspaper, 5/24/1991



FORMER PRESIDENT DENTON ESTABLISHES INTERNATIONAL AID EFFORT

…the new assistance organization, dubbed the T.R.A.N.S.F.O.R.M. (Train, Reach, Aid, Nurture, Sanitize, Feed, Organize, and Rescue Many) Initiative, aims to collaborate with private and nonprofit sources to ship humanitarian aid through commercial sectors to various third-world nations and to areas hit by natural disasters. …Denton has maintained a quiet but active post-Presidency, working as a (private) consultant for the Christian Broadcasting Network and collaborating with his friend and ally Pat Robertson [14] on numerous “pro-family” endeavors – but not as the “face” of any of them…

– The Birmingham News, 5/25/1991



CHINA AND MONGOLIA SIGN TRAVEL AND TRADE TREATY IN TIANJIN

– The Guardian, 26/5/1991



Kentucky Governor Primary Election Results, 5/28/1991:

Democratic Primary:
Incumbent Governor Bucky Ray Jarrell – 284,703 (57.19%)
Former state Agriculture Commissioner L. Gatewood Galbraith – 132,569 (26.63%)
Lexington Mayor H. Scott “Scotty” Baesler (withdrew) – 44,405 (8.92%)
Attorney Floyd Poore – 36,142 (7.26%)
Total votes cast: 497,819 (100.00%)

Jarrell faced competition from his political right in the form of a conservative Mayor, only for pressing municipal matters and underwhelming polls statistics to lead to Baesler dropping out roughly one month ahead of the primary vote and setting his eyes on 1995. In the remaining time, Galbraith, who was to the left of Jarrell, was the Governor’s only noteworthy challenger, as Poore failed to garner prominence and media attention. Stumping across the state Galbraith criticized Jarrell for not supporting medical marijuana legalization, with Jarrell, when pressed on the issue, defending his decision by saying “the jury is still out. Further study is needed to make sure that Mary Jane – even medical Mary Jane – is not a gateway drug, which is what all the science seems to tell us right now. And I respect the scientists and my scientific advisor. I’ll take their word on it first before we do something that might be risky like legalizing medical Mary Jane.” Galbraith also criticized Jarrell for not being a “strong enough” supporter of the progressive US President Carol Bellamy (D-NY). While Galbraith received more than a quarter of the vote, Jarrell winning by a narrower-than-expected margin gave his donors pause as they questioned his ability to win over voters outside of the moderate lanes.

Republican Primary:
Former State Budget Director Larry Forgy – 263,439 (50.84%)
Businessman Joseph E. Johnson III – 128,353 (24.77%)
Businessman Leonard “Buck” Beasley – 109,541 (21.14%)
Former State Sen. Robert E. Gable – 10,882 (2.10%)
Perennial candidate Tommy Klein – 5,959 (1.15%)
Total votes cast: 518,174 (100.00%)

Forgy, known in local politics for feuding with both Jarrell and Bellamy policies, amassed the biggest war chest in the primary despite his two closest opponents hailing from the world of business investment. According to most psephologists who followed the race, these two opponents, both of whom were pro-business moderates challenging a conservative frontrunner, “essentially cancelled each other out” and allowed Forgy to win by a wide margin.

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



In 1991, the Grand Old Party was at a crossroads, and the five factions – libertarians, moderates, conservatives, populists, and liberals – each offered a different path. The past four Republican presidents – Ike, The Colonel, Denton, JFK (Jack French Kemp) – had all leaned to the right, but each to a different degree. Moderates, “compassionate” conservatives, and war-hawks praised the first two, while Denton, the most conservative of the bunch, was a detriment to hard-right prospective Presidential candidates such as Senator Richard Obenshain and John Raese heading into 1992. The saving grace to their wing was Speaker Robert Smith Walker, doing all he could to “minimize the damage brought forth by the Mayor in the White House,” as he controversial put it in 1993. For Libertarians, it was an even more crucial moment. Kemp had touted some 'libertarianistic' policies, and some within the faction wanted to capitalize on their positive effects. However, the likely candidacy of the increasingly divisive former Senator Ronald Paul made these same “rational libertarian Republicans,” also known as “compassionate libertarian Republicans,” hope for some other candidate from the libertarian faction, someone else to rise above the other GOP pieces and become the standard-bearer of their flank in the primaries, if not for the party in the general election.

– Anne Meagher Northup’s Chicken and Politickin’: the Rise of Colonel Sanders and Rational Conservatism in the Republican Party, 2015



THE 45TH TONY AWARDS

…the award for Best Musical went to Broadway’s “Once On This Island” over The Will Rogers Follies, Miss Saigon, and The Secret Garden. [15]

– Variety, 6/2/1991



Shortly after the epidemic reached the milestone of a total number of 150 cases, the summer temperatures seemingly “broke” the hantavirus “superflu” as the numbers of new cases decline dramatically. Despite this, Bellamy urged people to continue wearing masks and glove, especially in closed quarters, in order to prevent a resurgence of the virus, a real possibility from “society unmasking too quickly,” as Dr. Fauci put it…

– Allison Swanson’s The Hantavirus Epidemic, Signet Books, 1998



Leonid Kravchuk was elected President in the nation’s first post-soviet Presidential election, held on June 5, 1984. Seven years later, with the national “strongman” being limited to a single seven-year term, Viacheslav Chornovil was elected to succeed him. Upon being sworn in a month later, Chornovil continued Kravchuk’s neutral stance in geopolitics, seeking to “walk the line” between the slowly-but-surely-recovering Russia and the increasingly pro-American nations of western and central Europe. Volkov accepted this with an air of indifference due to the high number of ethnic Russians in the Ukraine who still supported Russia, suggesting that relations would likely remain friendly between the two nations for quite a long while.

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



NYC GRAND JURY INDICTS BANK ON RECORD-BREAKING FRAUD SCHEME

…the Bank of Credit and Commerce International has been indicted for purportedly committing the largest bank fraud case in history, with depositors being defrauded of $5billion. [snip] …“If you need proof that big banks need more regulation, this is it,” says media mogul Bern Sanders…

– The New York Times, 6/6/1991



“The first board meeting without Sanders was in June the next year. It was a sad occasion but not chaotic. Still, really, the most productive aspect of 1991 for the company was the changing of our logo, shrinking the size of the Colonel’s head to bring the eye’s attention more to our name than to the recently-deceased founder. Other than that one change, we, uh, the company, basically decided to stay the course. It was about six weeks, maybe less than that, before the factions began to form, and at another meeting in July, too. So, uh, yeah, there was a clear leadership void. Voices were raised, with members almost fighting over what directions to make, decisions to decide, and it seemed really uncertain who should lead. It was the start of the company’s post-Colonel, uh, well, ‘lull’ is really what I’d call it.”

– Pete Harman, TNB (Trinity National Broadcasting) interview, 1999

[pic: https://imgur.com/R1tfgiT ]

– KFC’s logo before (L) and after (R) its 1991 design change



The NBA playoffs of 1991 began on April 25, 1991 and ended on June 12, 1991. Michael Jordan of the Oregon Trailblazers was named NBA Finals MVP on June 12; in the Western Conference, Jordan lead his teammates to victory over Seattle in the first bracket, Utah in the second bracket, and the L.A. Lakers in the third bracket. From there, the Trailblazers went on to defeat the Chicago Bulls in the finals of 1991, which began on June 2, 1991 and ended on June 12, 1991. The final score was 3-to-2.

– Team Rivalry Finder (Bulls vs Trailblazers) feature at basketball-reference.co.usa, retrieved 2009



STEPHEN KING’S THE STAND

Premiered: June 13-16, 1991
Genre (s): post-apocalyptic/action/adventure/fantasy/suspense/horror
Directed by: George A. Romero (with Mick Garris co-directing)
Written by: Stephen King (with Edward Hume co-writing the screen treatment, uncredited)
Produced by: Robert Papazian and Nicholas Meyer

Cast:
Robert Duval as Randall Flagg
Emilio Estevez as Stu Redman
Heather Laurie Holden as Fran Goldsmith
Ruby Dee as Mother Abagail
Marshall Crenshaw as Larry Underwood
Hume Cronyn as Glen Bateman
Rob Lowe as Nick Andros
Rob Rist as Tom Cullen
Heather Graham as Nadine Cross
Josh Brolin as Harold Lauder
Thomas Haden Church as Lloyd Henreid
Jim Carrey as Trashcan Man
Ted Shackelford as Ralph Brentner
Jennifer Aniston as Lucy Swann
Barry Pepper as Barry Dorgan
Moses Gunn as Judge Farris
Elizabeth Montgomery as Susan Stern
Mimi Rogers as Lucy Swann
Eva Gabor as Rita Blakemoor
John Travolta as The Kid
Shannen Doherty as Julie Lawry
Tang Haibin as Joe/Leo Rockway
See Full List Here

[SNIP]

Trivia Facts:

Trivia Fact No. 1:
ABC greenlit the ambitious plan to present King’s novel through a 4-part miniseries, with each episode being 2 hours long, making for a total running time of 8 hours and 22 minutes, due to the success they had with the impactful 1983 TV movie “The Day After.”

Trivia Fact No. 2:
Robert Duval agreed to play Flagg after Bruce Dern and Christopher Walken passed over the role, Willem Defoe and Robin Williams were unavailable, and Clint Eastwood flat-out refused the role; meanwhile, Marshall Crenshaw was cast as Larry Underwood after Bruce Springsteen refused the role due to Underwood’s “jerky” personality traits. [16]

Trivia Fact No. 3:
The miniseries aired on June 13, 14, 15, and 16; the series airing at the height of the Great Hantavirus Health Scare of 1991 made the premise seem eerily plausible for many audience members, but also “too close to home” for other watchers (Variety, 1991).

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/The_Stand_(disambiguation)/The_Stand_(1991_miniseries)



To go from discovery of a new virus to isolation in a matter of only five months was quite extraordinary, [17] but it happened. Upon said accomplishment being announced, the Bellamy administration and the Governors simply had to wait another four months to discover how the virus was being transferred…

– Allison Swanson’s The Hantavirus Epidemic, Signet Books, 1998



In March 1991, while verifying North Korea's initial 1988 declaration to join the NPT, the IAEA concluded that there was strong evidence this declaration was incomplete. When North Korea refused the requested special inspection, the IAEA reported its noncompliance to the UN Security Council. In June 1991, North Korea responded to this report by announcing its withdrawal from the NPT...

– clickopedia.co.usa/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction [18]



…In financial news, the Wall Street Journal has published an extensive review of the quality of the world markets that reveals the US’s mass-production-based market economy is worsening in regards to domestic product consumption and worker involvement, while Japan’s lean-production-based market economy is still going strong in both cases. For those of you who are not financial aficionados, this means that Japan’s way for producing items is leading to more American companies doing business with them than with other American companies, which has the potential to be bad for American workers…

– The Overmyer Network, 6/22/1991



“I’m genuinely concerned about how little attention President Bellamy is giving to Japan right now. Inflation and wage levels that priced older American industries out of the world market were caused by annual productivity rises of 3 percent and wage rises of 11 percent over the last 30 years. I would like to see our President tie the upper limits on wage and price rises, directly or indirectly, to the annual growth in the gross national product. But, sadly, the thing is, Washington is wrong to think the well-paid auto or steel worker is a lazy, absentee-prone ne’er-do-well. Maybe Bellamy doesn’t think that personally, but enough bigwigs in Washington think that. That all but about 5 percent are hardworking. And trying to cut wages suddenly to compete with Japanese pay would be counterproductive. On this, I think that the President has to reform antitrust laws. US firms can’t compete in the world market if the Justice Department requires each auto manufacturer to conduct separate research on, for instance, pollution-control devices. US industry groups should be able to share research and development costs on projects that are public benefits and don’t essentially affect competition. She’s got to step up her game and get this situation under control, or else, uh, somebody else is going to have do so instead.” [19]

– Lee Iacocca, KYMX 96.1 Sports Radio program, 6/25/1991



THE NAKED GUN 2½: THE SMELL OF FEAR

Premiered: June 28, 1991

[SNIP]

Trivia Fact No. 1: During the opening scene (in which Michelle Pfeiffer cameos as President Bellamy attending a White House state dinner that devolves into a brawl after one too many guests mistake her for a First Lady and ask her where the President is), Leslie Nielsen appears in a double role, playing both Frank Drebin and the unnamed Prime Minister of Canada, who prattles on even more oblivious to the anarchy around him than Drebin typically is, only to knock out everyone in an off-screen brawl upon becoming aware of his surroundings. This scene was Nielsen’s attempt to “correct the record” concerning his brother, Erik Nielsen, who has then the Prime Minister of Canada, and was unpopular for being ineffective leader; Leslie Nielsen stated in a 1992 interview “I hoped to show people that Erik would rise to the occasion and that it would just take him a while to do so.” Instead, the footage of the Prime Minister character prior to him addressing the issue was famously used by Canadian media to highlight Erik Nielsen’s ineffectiveness. This sadly led to Erik Nielsen refusing to speak to his brother for nearly five whole years.

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/The_Naked_Gun_2½:_The_Smell_Of_Fear



MLB COMMISSIONER LEE IACOCCA TO TAKE “EXTENDED LEAVE OF ABSENCE” FOR VAGUE “IMPORTANT TRAVEL-RELATED REASONS”

– The Los Angeles Times, sports section, 6/30/1991



“I oppose quote-unquote ‘free’ school lunch and breakfast programs because they are a burden on poor taxpayers. If you can’t even do the most basic part of child-rearing – making sure your child gets food – then you need to go to an employment agency and find a better job, or let someone else be that child’s guardian before they starve to death under your alleged care, at least until you’ve got your act together. It’s easy to blame the government – but lazy people never blame themselves for being lazy!”

– Estus Washington Pirkle, Baptist minister and Presidential candidate (R-MS), 7/1/1991



In 1991, South Korean journalist Koo Bum-hoe traveled to the border area in China and wrote a series of articles about what he learned. Reporting from Tumen City, a few miles from the North Korean border, Koo described severe food shortages that were driving families across the Tumen River into China in search of something to eat. His articles were among the first to report the coming famine and the outpouring of North Koreans to China. The trickle of refugees that he described would soon become a flood.

The articles also provided rare glimpses of ordinary life in North Korea, where many were starving. He wrote about North Koreans who ate “red noodles,” an imitation noodle made by grinding up the bark of a pine or acacia tree and mixing it with a small amount of corn powder. Red noodles tasted like sawdust and lacked nutrition, but they were filling.

[SNIP] The starvation stories are legion. One survey of North Korea refugees in China asked whether they had family members who had starved to death. Of the respondents, 23 percent of men and 37 percent of women said yes. A commonplace observation of North Koreans who reached China was that Chinese dogs ate better than North Korean humans. The hungry refugees marveled at watching dogs devour scraps that were more nutritious than anything they had seen for years. They also marveled at seeing dogs. In North Korea, most of the dogs had been eaten. [20]

– Park Sung-min’s Nothing to Envy: Loss And Survival in the People’s Republic, Rhee-Pak Press, 2016



On 11 July 1991, the path of the record totality of the 1991 solar eclipse passed directly through Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The eclipse was been by millions across the country. Retrospectively, many local inhabitants saw the eclipse as bad omen…

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk

[pic: imgur.com/5JXA6Xa.png ]

– Governor Rick Perry (D-TX) at a political fundraiser, 7/15/1991



INDONESIA SECURES $12 BILLION BAILOUT PACKAGE FROM THE IMF AS THEIR POST-RECESSION RECOVERY SLOWS

– The Wall Street Journal, 7/16/1991



…and with this latest legislation measure, Boss Ross, our beloved Governor, has now doubled the total square mileage of our state’s natural parks, nature reserves, and Native American reservations to more than double what they were in 1986...

– KAEB 91.9 FM radio, 7/19/1991 broadcast



CHEMICAL BANK AND MANUFACTURERS HANOVER CORPORATION APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT AFTER STATE COURT RULED AGAINST THEIR MERGER TRY

– The Washington Post, 7/21/1991



“Never fall into debt. Never, never, never.” – Lee Iacocca

WORDS OF WISDOM: What Others Have to Say About Lee:

“Iacocca would be able to pull the party together and would make a good president.” – RI Chairman Sal Mancina, mayor of North Providence

“I would do handsprings all down Main Street in Cullman if Iacocca became a candidate!” – AL Chairman Jimmy Knight

“He would be a very strong candidate in Michigan” – MI Chairman Richard Weiner

“Iacocca would be the kind of candidate who would have a special appeal to the working man as well as to top management.” – AR C. Lilburn Carlisle

– Quotes section of an Iacocca’92 brochure (back flap), c. mid-July 1991 [21]



BELLAMY ADMIN INCREASING EFFORTS TO SEND AID TO NORTH KOREA

…President Bellamy, calling it “a humanitarian must,” is attempting to convince North Korean dictator Kim Il-Sung to accept foreign aid – mainly food and medicine – which is reaching roadblocks from the North Korea government that “just won’t admit there’s a problem,” as Secretary of State Pete Flaherty puts it. The grave situation in the small Asian nation is receiving more news coverage lately, heightening calls for government action. A recent Gallup poll reveals 60% of the American people support US intervention. Some on Capitol Hill, however, are reluctant to respond. “When every farmer, miner and city folk in our own country can be fed, then we’ll send them stuff, not before,” asserts Republican US Senator John Raese of West Virginia.

– The Washington Post, 7/22/1991



Mississippi Governor Primary Election Results:

Democratic Primaries:

Initial, 7/9/1991:
Incumbent Governor Raymond Edwin “Ray” Mabus Jr. – 644,737 (88.75%)
Activist Gilbert Fountain – 42,935 (5.91%)
Activist Charles M. Deaton – 38,793 (5.34%)
Total votes cast: 726,465 (100.00%)

Runoff, 7/23/1991:
Not held due to Initial Primary victory receiving a majority (50%+1 or more) in that contest

Mabus sailed to an easy victory amid minor opposition. While the GOP primary season was negative and full of mud-slinging, the Democratic primary season was positive and optimistic. Even Mabus’ challengers thanked him for participating in a pair of debates with them despite their negligible polling (even if Mabus treated the event more like a town hall discussion with two constituents more so than a debate against two primary opponents). The “smooth” competition bolstered the notion that Mabus has strengthened MS-DEM party unity during the past four years.

Republican Primaries:

Initial, 7/9/1991:
State Auditor Patrick H. “Pete” Johnson – 157,031 (29.78%)
State Rep. Thomas Collins – 154,289 (29.26%)
Businessman Jack Reed Sr. – 152,654 (28.95%)
Former State Rep. George “Wagon Wheel” Blair – 22,147 (4.20%)
Activist Bobby Clanton – 21,672 (4.11%)
Activist Doug Lemon – 10,441 (1.98%)
Activist Billie H. Taylor – 5,958 (1.13%)
Perennial candidate Helen Perkins – 3,112 (0.59%)
Total votes cast: 527,302 (100.00%)

Runoff, 7/23/1991:
State Auditor Patrick H. “Pete” Johnson – 249,192 (51.8%)
State Rep. Thomas Collins – 231,874 (48.2%)
Total votes cast: 481,066 (100.00%)

Initial frontrunner Pete Johnson’s most prominent primary opponents had smaller war chests but stronger and better-organized grassroots networks, resulting in the race being much closer than expected between the top three candidates (with the remaining candidates failing to gain much media attention). Collins presented himself as a compromise candidate between the “elitist” Johnson and the “inexperienced” Reed; when Collins advanced to the runoff, he shifted focus to Johnson’s wealthy connections and added more populism to his campaign. The race seemed to be dead-even until Johnson released a string of attack ads; before Collins could counter ad, another one was already airing. Despite this seemingly derailing Collins’ campaign, he only lost by a narrow margin and by merely 18,000 votes. The contest saw less Republican votes than the Democratic primary saw; this was because of the state having less registered Republicans. This statistic did not concern the MS-GOP, though, because the Republican support was rising across the region, and as a result, many registered Democrats were beginning to vote Republican in many general contests. As a former Democrat, Johnson sought to appeal to these conservative and dissatisfied Democratic voters as the November election approached.

– ourcampaigns.co.usa



…and in eastern Europe, bilateral unification talks between the nations of Romania and Moldova are finally bearing fruit after just over a year of negotiations. It appears that the two nations will allow for the small anti-unification region of Transnistria to become independent if a referendum to be held later this year in both relevant nations leads brings back a pro-unification mandate in both countries. …Interest in the two ethnically homogenous lands merging renewed in the wake of Albania joining Yugoslavia…

– BBC World News, 24/7/1991 broadcast



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] See September 1978 ITTL for details
[2] Carson lived in Australia for a while IOTL, but here opted to stay; see 1983 Chapter for details
[3] Based on observation by @Ogrebear: “Is it me or are the Canadians changing leaders a lot?” Political instability can lead to economic instability, so PM Nielsen here is resisting calls for another general election, hoping to put it off for as long as he can in order to improve the economy.
[4] Held in 1992 IOTL.
[5] Italicized parts are from the wiki article for hantavirus
[6] From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
[7] Concerning the italicized parts: all from wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Four_Corners_hantavirus_outbreak
[8] All OTL info on hantavirus mentioned here found in the 2013 article “The Virus That Rocked the Four Corners Reemerges,” found here: www.aaas.org
[9] No joke, this man actually died from coronavirus the very day I was writing this passage.
[10] Italicized segments are from OTL!: http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/march/16/the-coronavirus-hoax/
[11] The first text message was actually sent on 12/3/1992 in RL
[12] Italicized part found here: https://kafkadesk.org/2018/10/30/why-did-czechoslovakia-break-up/
[13] Italicized segment is from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
[14] OTL friendship, exact source pending.
[15] And @Igeo654, consider your “Jim Henson’s The Muppets on Broadway” idea to be canon (it runs from 1973 to 1975, and is the surprise winner of the 1974 Tony Award for best musical ITTL; the movie “The Muppets Take Manhattan” is the film version of it here, too).
[16] King himself described a movie version of this book in the 1990 republishing of it, and suggests De Niro play Flagg and Crenshaw play Underwood; specifically, King describes this in the forward of the expanded edition of the book (pages xiv-xv) (I have a paperback copy of the 1990 printing of it – and it took me only 17 days or so to read all of it, if I may be so allowed to boast)!
[17] Italicized bits are from here: “The Virus That Rocked the Four Corners Reemerges,” found here: www.aaas.org. It actually took them only six months IOTL, but they have even better federal funding here, so it ends up being even quicker than IOTL!
[18] The Italicized parts are from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
[19] source: https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0124/012422.html
[20] This entire paragraph was pulled from the OTL book “Escape from North Korea: The Untold Story of Asia’s Underground Railroad,” found on Google Books
[21] All quotes and sources of said quotes are OTL!

Also: @Ogrebear, Penn Station was already being demolished in 1963 after rail passenger volumes dropped due to the highways built in the 1950s. The election of LBJ in 1960 wouldn’t change this, sorry. Look on the bright side: it was a catalyst for the historic architecture preservation movement in the US; without this sacrifice, how many other beautiful locations would have fallen instead?

 

[gap80]

Post 56: Chapter 64

Chapter 64: July 1991 – February 1992

“We didn't start the fire.” – Billy Joel



SHED YOUR GLOVES AND MASKS! HANTAVIRUS NOT SPREADABLE BETWEEN PEOPLE!

…The moment of truth arrived early this morning at the labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Center of Disease Control can now confirm that testing has proven that the hantavirus outbreaks in the western US states were the result of several isolated incidents of humans coming into contact with rodents carrying hantavirus as a result of a combination weather and human activities. More specifically, ZED projects near the Navajo Nation – a technically-sovereign Native American nation spanning much of northern New Mexico – flushed rodents out of certain areas, and irrigation projects created water runoff that lured many of the rodents into new areas, who likely reproduced quickly in the more favorable conditions.

The CDC has also announced that the hantavirus cases that were reported in New Orleans were from the local variation of the virus, and thus were unrelated to the cases found in the American southwest. The Bayou Hantavirus having a major outbreak the same time as the southwestern variant appears to simply be “an amazing but unfortunate coincidence,” according to Dr. Terry Yates...

– The New York Post, 7/24/1991



THE CRISIS IS OVER!

…the governors in the four states hit hardest by the hantavirus epidemic have declared their respective states of emergency to still be in place until the number of cases drop “as a safety precaution,” as put by Gov. Kirkpatrick… …hot summer temperatures and federal government agencies spreading information on how to avoid contact may just have proved instrumental in minimizing the spreading of hantavirus…

– The New York Times, 7/24/1991



…As state sanitation departments clear away underbrush and hose down old buildings in Arizona and New Mexico, no new hantavirus cases have been confirmed since the 6th of July… 194 people are confirmed to have contracted the virus; the current mortality rate: 41.1%...

– KNN News, 7/28/1991



“My gut, you know, my instincts, they told me that this hantavirus was no big deal. It turns out I was right! And the D.C. fat cats simply overreacted. That’s Washington for you – always looking for some overblown excuse to limit your freedoms.”

– Governor James Richard “Rick” Perry (D-TX), 7/30/1991



LEE IACOCCA MAKES PRESIDENTIAL BID OFFICIAL!

– The Los Angeles Times, 8/4/1991

[pic: https://imgur.com/tRqTxj3 ]
– Iacocca’92 logo, first used 8/4/1991



“Iacocca is tough where it matters most. He’s tough on red tape, protecting personal freedoms, and defending democracy. He’s tough on crime, he’s tough on budget spending, and tough on injustices everywhere. It is this sort of toughness that we need in the White House. We need someone with a clear goal, a clear mission in mind, a clear plan for the country. …Another benefit that Lee would bring to the table is his ability to respond well to crises. Lee responded swiftly and admirably when Chrysler was set to go belly-up; his reaction and response is proof that he is a man of action and not just words.”

– George Steinbrenner endorsing Lee Iacocca for President, 8/5/1991



The White House’s handling of the hantavirus outbreak received both praise and criticism. While some defended her immediate coordination with state governors as a preventative measure, others believed this was an overreaction. Radio personality Rush Limbaugh notably stated “Our Lady-in-Chief overreacted like an inexperienced dunderhead,” for which he was derided and condemned by many. Conservative politicians such as Governors Andrews and Perry who disagreed with implementing mask-and-glove measures and subsequently accused of endangering the people of their respective state, felt vindicated when it turned out that the hantavirus strain of New Mexico and Louisiana were not transmittable from human to human. Nonetheless, “it was still irresponsible that they didn’t play it safe like the President wanted them to,” as then-US Health and Welfare Secretary Dunham put it in an August 6th Meet the Press interview…

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



On August 11, Bellamy and Volkov signed the Russian-American Nuclear Arms Proliferation And Monitoring Treaty, often shortened to the RANAPAM Treaty. The bilateral agreement emboldened previous treaties opposing nuclear stockpiles, limited strategic nuclear weapons development further, and outlined a plan to halve the current nuclear stockpiles of both countries by the year 2000. Privately, Bellamy was hopeful that this and other relations-strengthening moves would lead to her having Russia’s support in addressing “the issue concerning North Koreas.”

– Andrew S. Natsios’ The Famines of North Korea, Institute of Peace Press, 2001



When the Civil Rights bill of 1991 finally made its way out of the Senate, House Republican leadership packed themselves into an elevator and hit the “stop elevator” sign as soon as a doors closed. Members-only elevators in the capitol building are one of the very few places on Capitol Hill where a congressman can speak to his colleagues in confidence. Packed into this claustrophobic cage with his two subordinates, Speaker Walker addressed the House majority leader first. David F. Emery of Maine, a liberal-minded second-in-command, was impatiently waiting for his moment to rise to the occasion – and to rise to the speakership. Emery’s journey through House leadership had been slow while the conservative Walker’s had been fast, and many a time, the moderate Edward Madigan, third in line as Majority Whip, had to play peacemaker. With this in mind, Madigan, the third man in the elevator, watched his two superiors closely while filling the small room with the smell of tobacco, his mouth and nose still smoking like a chimney as always.

“I couldn’t care less about what the latest batch of jejune mouth breathers making up the cast of SNL will have to say about me, we have to crush this bill,” Walker remarked. A hawk on deficit spending determined to keep Bellamy from violating the BBA, Walker had been pushing to reduce federal spending since entering office two years after Emery had. Something rarely discussed, though, was that he and Bellamy agreed on funding NASA, as both leaders supported science, space programs, and weather research. Emery remembered how Walker had even eased the establishing of the Department of Energy and Technology, making it a new cabinet position in a matter of mere weeks in 1989. But that was where the comradery had ended. A fierce and unapologetic defender of the war on recreadrugs, Emery knew that that was next on the agenda after the killing of this bill.

“This miserable excuse of a bill would establish quotas for businesses and schools. How is that equal opportunity, when every mom and pop shop has to have an equal number of men and women in it? When every car shop, every sausage factory, and every single f*cking beauty-salon would have to be half-and-half?” Walker inquired.

“And don’t forget places as white as Wyoming or Vermont,” Madigan came to Walker’s defense, surprising Emery. “They will have to overturn every rock in every corner of every town in every county until they find enough non-whites to fill their quotas.”

“Right,” Walker nodded and turned back to Emery. “And all to avoid costly litigation on charges of perceived discrimination? Your liberal friends have gone too far here, David!”

Emery defended his prior backing of more moderate laws by saying “Businesses use that as an excuse to be prejudice anyway and you know it. Next thing you know they’ll be claiming their hiring practices are due to ‘customer preference,’ and so fair employment violates the rights of customers.”

“The phrase ‘take your business elsewhere’ comes to mind,” Madigan mused with another drag of his cigarette, making the elevator even stuffier. Emery wondered if he was violating the building’s fire code.

“Yeah,” Emery replied.

“Wrong!” Walker reacted swiftly, “How can they take their business elsewhere if everyone has to adhere to unreasonable quotas to protect themselves from the possibility of litigation?”

“Uh, I guess, if the bill passes, those customers will just have to learn to be less racist?” Emery answered weakly.

“‘If’ is the key word, David,” Walker retorted. “Tell your liberal cohorts to f*ck off and get ready to make the rounds.” He slammed on the “open elevator” button and left. Madigan left next, his head practically encased in a cloud of smoke that slowly drifted apart as he followed after Walker. David began the round, which means he began to meet with liberal House members and convince them to abstain from voting yes on the bill.

Across the aisle, Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, having succeeded Hale Boggs upon his retirement in 1989, and Gephardt’s new “first mate” of sorts, the more liberal Minority Whip Barbara Kennelly, were certain they could win over enough left-leaning Republicans to pass the bill. Meanwhile, Madigan sat down with moderates while Walker discussed the matter with conservative Democrats, just to be on the safe side.

The House had 223 Republicans, 210 Democrats and 2 Independents (Sorrell of Vermont and Cherney of New York, both former Democrats who caucused with said party). On August 16, despite being passed 54-46 in the Senate just before the summer break, the Civil Right bill of 1991 failed to pass in the House, 227 to 208; five conservative Democrats crossed the aisle, while only two liberal Republicans voted in favor of passing the bill.

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020



On 17 August 1991, Hurricane Bob hits the eastern seaboard of the United States, killing 9 people and causing over $1 billion in damages.

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



…Ollie stuck to what he did best – seasoning a third of a pound of lean beef with a blend of 32 spices for his delicious Ollieburgers.

By the 1990s, KFC’s Wendyburgers firmly held onto silver as McDonald’s gripping onto gold in the burger Olympics that was the 1980s, as brands such as Red Barn and Burger King began to drop in prominence due to mismanagement and other factors. But through all that, Ollie’s stuck around. The franchise even experienced a resurgence, a revival of sorts, a bit after the 1990s decade had begun, as a new generation of young Americans, born between 1981 and 1998 – the centurions – became aware of the would-be Colonel’s niche offering.

– proudsoutherner.co.usa/food/ollies-trolley/you-could-be-the-next-colonel-sanders



The early 1990s music technology industry saw the CD quickly replace audiocassette tapes, making them go by way of the 8-track, the record player, and the phonograph, but the biggest music scene of the early ’90s was undoubtedly the neo-feminist punk rock movement “Riot Grrrl.” With early RG pioneers like Kathleen Hanna, Moly Neuman, Allison Wolfe, The Slits, Bratmobile and Tobi Vail leading the way in the wake of the Ms. Arkansas Wave of 1986, and given strength and courage by both major political parties nominating women in the 1988 Presidential election, women rockers fought back against the sexism that had enveloped the punk rock music scene, with acts like The Sex Pistols reaching national prominence while female bands were largely confined to the underground circuit. The movement continued to gather momentum under the inspiring President Carol Bellamy. …The RG movement made further impact on the national scene with an indie music festival held by K Records from August 20 to August 25 called the International Pop Underground Convention in Olympia, Washington, the nexus of the punk, reeflex and indie rock scenes. The event elevated several Riot Grrrl band to national attention and influenced American music styles and genres for years…

– Tumbleweed Magazine, December 1999 End-Of-The-Decade Review issue




[vid: youtube.com /watch?v=L0oeqAQ1qE8 ]
– “Rebel Girl,” a classic early Riot Grrrl song by Bikini Kill, first performed as early as 1991 [1]



Life in Heck And Other Fun Places first aired on The Overmyer Network’s “TON-o’-TV” or “TON-TV” on September 4, 1987 and switched to the Overmyer “Ton o’ Toons” lineup when Overmyer expanded. The show – about a family of mutant rabbits living in an exaggerated version of “post-meltdown” Oregon, gave us iconic and memorable characters, from Binky and his family to their neighbor, the semi-retired Krusty the Clown. But the Matt Groening series that made an even bigger impact on pop culture in and out of the US was Futurama. …I traveled to Oregon to ask Groening about the show’s legendary behind-the-scenes drama.

[SNIP]

GROENING: The network wanted me to make another show for them, so I started working on Futurama in earnest in ’91, about two years before the pilot aired and three years before the series finally premiered, in ’94, about a year before Life in Heck finally wrapped up and went off the air.

JONES: Did the network want that Life in Heck crossover episode from, I believe, 1995, or did you?

GROENING: That was in reaction to the network demanding more creative control. That episode’s a metaphor for people trying to invade someone else’s project the way the characters of Futurama barge in on already-hectic lives of the Life-in-Heck gang.

JONES: Did they get the message?

GROENING: It dawned on them eventually.

[SNIP]

JONES: Why did you name the characters after your family members when they’re nothing like them?

GROENING: Because they started out as placeholder names. Maggie the student from Mars, Patty the Robot, Bart the troublemaking wiseass, Earth President-in-exile Marjorie Wiggum, all temporary names that became permanent. The only one that really were apt were Markey M. “Key” Martin, time-traveling main character named after my brothers, and Homer Simpson, the overly-enthusiastic, patriotic, high-cultured, art-loving Mayor of New New York who was named after my dad. Their personalities matched the people they were named after. Simpson, a former newspaper tycoon and philanthropist often used as a serious straight man, has a personality and even, kind of, an appearance based almost entirely on my father. Harry Shearer dos a great job voicing him.

[SNIP]

JONES: How much fact lies behind the rumors that Life In Heck is going to brought back soon?

GROENING: It is a fact that we are thinking about it. But the thing is, though, is that the show was made before everything was done on computers, and the animation for that show, I believe, works better when it’s crude, hand-drawn, raw. Smooth, slick, high-definition doesn’t at all click with the basic, blurry world of those episodes, so bringing it back with the tech of today, it just wouldn’t be the same show.

JONES: But it would be a show.

GROENING: But would it really be the show the fans want?

[SNIP]

[pic: imgur.com/Qffs4iP ]
Above: An early promotional drawing (hence the line errors and discoloration present) for “Futurama,” c. 1994. Characters left to right: Houseley Penfield Grubbs [2], a friend of Bart, falling off into space; Willie the Janitor; Professor Farnsworth; Zapp Branigan; Dr. Zoidberg; Taranga Marie Leela; Bender Rodriguez; Bart Farnsworth, the professor’s Dennis-the-Menace-like half-clone/son; Key, a delivery boy from our present; Lisa Wong; Mayor Homer Simpson; Hermes the accountant; Police Chief Clancy Corvallis.

– usarightnow.co.usa, 2009 interview



…Bob enthusiastically supported President Bellamy expanding military veteran health benefits, due to his past private health issues, in connection to his state’s implementation of the 1990 UHC law. …For the state budget, Bob used cost-effective analysis to create room for the arts, “Native needs,” and “Nature needs.” …Governor Ross’ anti-alcoholism campaign was proving to be a success by the fall of 1991. The campaign centered on three prongs: awareness, action, and assistance – reform state regulations for marketing and pricing; address drunk-driving and public incidents such as bar fights and brawls; establish more support groups. Opposed to the idea of running any sort of “police state,” Boss Ross did not clamp down on availability any more than the teetotaler activists demanded, and even then within reason. Instead of installing surveillance cameras, Ross encouraged the establishing of community information-sharing committees. To nip the problem in the bud, such groups sought to warn young drinkers of the consequences of overindulging.

But the most effective way to combat alcohol consumption and subsequent alcoholism was creating more homeless shelters and providing more economic relief for people barely managing to pay for a roof over their heads, let alone heating costs if a fireplace was unavailable as was the case in many urban areas. The drink used to warm up the body, and is often turned to when one is jobless or bored. As unemployment rates dropped (thanks to Ross, for incentivizing businesses to invest in the state, and for establishing a statewide jobs guarantee (albeit most of the work being manual labor jobs)), so did alcoholism rates…

[pic: https://imgur.com/l5XkP7k ]
Above: Ross in Juneau, shortly after signing a landmark land conservation bill into law, April 27, 1991

– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012



HOST: Governor, Commissioner Iacocca said yesterday that, if elected President, he’d relax banking regulations to create trust and openness between the government and banks and, in theory, lower corruption. In your experience, do you think that would work?

SOGLIN: It wouldn’t at all. This kind of thinking typically leads to the bailout of big business at the expense of the working people, not the lowering of corruption. And what’s worse, Iacocca’s economic plan, of blaming the 1989-1990 recession on Japan, is heavily flawed, will likely lead to welfare cuts in order to get nation out of any financial problems he faces if he somehow gets elected President. Because remember, that’s what happened under Jeremiah Denton, the last Republican elected President.

– CBS roundtable discussion with Governor Paul Soglin (D-WI), 9/5/1991 broadcast



“I LIKE I?” LEE IACOCCA’S PROMISING WHITE HOUSE BID

…the current Commissioner of Major League Baseball (since 1987) and the former CEO of the Ford Motor Company (1979-1994) is an energetic old rascal with big plans for US – plans that may be broad enough to win over enough factions within the GOP to win the party’s nomination. His campaign at the time seems to be focusing mainly on transportation, technological innovation, and urban development, with a great focus on the world economics. “I want to get the American workforce back into shape, like what I did for the auto industry,” the businessman said in a recent radio interview. His dislike of Japan’s booming industry “siphoning consumers away from American products” has led to several Rust Belt politicians, most notably Senator Jack Lousma of Michigan, already joining the Iacocca bandwagon to sing his praises…

– The New York Times, 9/10/1991



IACOCCA – Promises You Can Count On?

…Iacocca says that one way to approach industrial policy would be to have an independent industry-labor-government board look at the five industries that are the biggest job producers – auto, steel, electronics, aircraft, and textiles. And, in a nonpartisan way, ‘see if they bring something to the party.’ For example, he said, discover whether a troubled company in one of these industries would use loan guarantees to increase productivity, introduce an efficient new process, or improve the environment. Lee’s campaign think tank, John Gargan and Ed Rollins, passionately back the idea, with Gargan stating that “Under existing industrial policy…the government may give the steel industry favorable treatment, such as trigger prices, to counter foreign steel dumping. But it doesn’t get anything in return.” Iacocca claims that he would have a nonpartisan federal board decide not to aid a steel company that diverts funds into buying Marathon Oil. Instead, he said the board should aid steel companies that install oxygen furnaces to become more competitive with foreign producers. Properly focused government policy can also influence labor costs. Iacocca cites a case where Felix Rohatyn (Wall Street investment banker, financial rescuer of New York City, and advocate of industrial policy) was helping Eastern Airlines chief Frank Borman weather his company’s recent crisis. Mr. Rohatyn told Iacocca that if Eastern had only been able to borrow another $50 million to million in wage concessions from his unions, instead of the $300 million he did get. He explains, “Union leaders simply weren’t willing to give up more unless they felt Eastern could invest in new facilities and equipment that would pay off in future for all concerned [sic]”… [3]

– Time Magazine, mid-August 1991 issue



MOTHER-POST:

Anyone remember “The Doozy Bots”?

It aired on the Warner Bros’ Nickelodeon lineup and premiered in September 1991

Here’s an old promo for it to refresh your memory:


[vid: youtube.com/ watch?v=e8um1N78AhY ]

The show ran for three seasons – three! – most likely for the toy lines that came with them. Looking back on it, I think it had an interesting premise, but its one-dimensional characters and stereotyping seemed very outdated even for 1991. For example, the only female Doozybot is a stereotypical cheerleader despite then-President Carol Bellamy being an inspiration for millions of young girls at the time it first aired. But despite that, I still think it was an okay show. Anyone else remember it?

>REPLY 1:
It still has a cult following but it is a smoll one. The lack of girls made it an almost exclusively male-oriented show, but in their defense, attempts to change this in the second season with greater focus on the scientist’s daughter upset the male audience, so they quickly abandoned it do you remember that .

>REPLY 2:
WTF? Did I just watch a robot ostrich lay eggs?? Why would you ever need a robot bird that lays eggs??!!!
>>REPLY 1 to REPLY 2:
So you can make egg puns? Why else wud you make an egg-laying robot?

>REPLY 3:
I remember watching this when I was little. It was weird but a good kind of weird. Fun!
>>REPLY 1 to REPLY 3:
Me too this show was awsome!

>REPLY 4:
Needed more robots

– euphoria.co.usa, a public pop-culture news-sharing and chat-forum-hosting netsite, 2009 posting [4]



GOVERNOR RODHAM-CLINTON PRAISES STATE EDU DEPARTMENT PROGRESS MONTHS AFTER SIGNING CHILD PROTECTION BILL INTO LAW

– The Chattanooga Times Free Press, 8/20/1991



…With most nations cooperating with one another in order to not be “left out of the big game,” as Shimon Peres put it, [5] the situation in Iran remained peaceful as their Shah continued to walk that thin line between adopting “practical westernization” (i.e. technological and social modernization) and still honoring and retaining Islamic tradition. The people of Oman, meanwhile, was becoming the “Switzerland” of the region by being the go-to place for formal peace talks and by luring in financial investors with economic incentives, and died quite well for themselves throughout the decade. Meanwhile, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, while a reluctant ally of Israel, was an ally nevertheless due to their shared disliking of Islamic fundamentalism. [6]

[snip]

Because of the high demand to participate in the highly-publicized and world-watched Chicken Dinner Summits held annually in Jerusalem, debate began over the possibility of thresholds on speakers and guests being raised. The main problem with this was that the organizing for the summits was very informal, almost ad hoc in nature. Previously, they were hosted by Colonel Sanders in an independent capacity – meaning not as a representative of any company or state – but since his death, future of the summits remained uncertain. Radical (as in quietly “pro-war”) elements of the Middle East hoped that the Colonel’s death would make for the perfect time to strike a match and light a part of the region that they hated on fire. Instead, recurrent summit participants met in August to forge an acceptable organization structure. An agreement was reached to rotate hosting duties – a community organizer from each treaty-signing country. As for the high demand to be on the guest list, the well-respected then-US Senator Harley Sanders supported using larger venues in the Holy City and setting a cap for the list that would ensure no group would “excessively outnumber” another group. Most notably, though, Sanders insisted that the Summit Speakers represent “the people, not the wealthy or the elite. They can be wealthy, but they must not be in it for themselves. They must be proven humanitarian-minded promoters of goodwill.”

[snip]

The September 1991 summit was another massive success. While the Colonel’s infectiously optimistic presence was greatly missed, it was celebrated and honored by the guest speakers, with Harley Sanders’ eulogy-like speech receiving a four-minute-long standing ovation. …Other American speakers included Jimmy Carter and Rev. Jerry Brown… Another memorable speech of the festivity came from Egypt’s President Mubarak. His call for an intifada (an Arabic word meaning “an uprising,” or, specifically, “a jumping up as a reaction to something”) against radicalism – “we must shake off the war-hungry howls of blood-craving fire starters who wish to imprison and enslave all who oppose their narrow vision of the world. We must stand together, and let them know that there are more peace-makers than war-makers in the world” – was met with a thunderous applause. Mubarak basked in the limelight…

– James L. Gelvin’s Lines In Sand: The History of The Modern-Day Middle East, Oxford University Press, 2010 edition



COLOMBIAN PEACE TALKS BREAK DOWN

…talks promoted by the US’s President Bellamy between opposing forces have disintegrated amid a wide M-19 counteroffensive unfolding in the nation’s easternmost provinces… United States ground forces have had a “low-intensity” presence in the nation since 1984, and President Bellamy had hoped that these talks would finally be the “key” to their return home. “We have to being able to leave without everything collapsing once they do so,” says Sam W. Brown Jr., Chief Foreign Policy Advisor for the US White House...

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 27/9/1991



Two years ago, in September 1991, when I was in assistant Chief of Staff at Senator Williams’ office, I received the news from my sister Joan [born in 1973 and named after First Lady at the time] via telephone call. After 37 years of marriage, our parents had filed for divorce. It soon became apparent that they had waited until after Joan had moved out to go to college at the age of 18 to make official what they had been thinking about for years. According to Mother’s high school friend Susan Blake, “[she never dated] the crew-cut white boys [back then]. She had a world view, even as a young girl. It was embracing the different, rather than that ethnocentric thing of shunning the different. That was where her mind took her.” [7] Despite Mother’s yearning to try new cultures and explore nontraditional ideas, though, she stayed with Pop over their shared interests. Both had been from often-moving families and both believed in honor, but Mom had wanted to interact with foreign and exotic cultures, and in a way that did not involve overseeing the dropping of bombs from a plane. Her ideal trip was to a tropical UNSECO site; Dad’s was to an iconic American landmark. And with Father’s career lecturing at military academies and advising the US Defense Department on this or that, and Mother’s career as the US Health and Welfare Secretary, the two had simply grown apart from one another. It was inevitable, but it was still shocking and saddening to the both of us, especially Joan. Thankfully, their parting was amicable, and they are still very close – even if that closeness more in line with the kind found between two life-long friends, and not the kind found between husband and wife…

– Barack McCain’s Lessons From my Fathers, Sunrise Publishers, 1993



When SpongeBob’s finally opened, Steve could tell that hard work had been worth it.

The extra months had led to us developing an impressive menu, or “Galley Grub,” as the menus call it, with there being choices clearly for kids, clearly for adults, for either, for both, for a family eating together, food for anyone and everyone.

For more adult eaters, we had Linguini in White Clam Sauce, delicious-looking stew-like Smoked Cod Chowder! (like a stew), Wild Alaska Pollock, a.k.a. “Alaska’s Best-Kept Secret” (delicious and nutritious), Pretzel-Crusted Catfish, Honey Walleye (a main dish), Marinated Grilled Shrimp, Baked Dijon Salmon, and Orange Tilapia, Seaweed Salad, Kelp Shakes, Super Seaweed Shake, Oyster Skins, Sponge Patty Newburg, the Sea Sir Salad, and the Barnacle Bruschetta.

For kids, you had Salmon Cakes – flaked salmon, bread crumbs, parsley, chopped green onion, parmesan cheese (optional), lemon juice, garlic powder, black pepper, olive oil, and Old Bay Seasoning and served with ketchup, mustard, mayo and tartar sauce – Crab Cakes, Salty Sea Dogs (hotdogs made with fish meat), Buttered Barnacles (butter cookies), Shrimp Scampies, Hushpuppies, Powdered Driftwood (originally, misshapen powdered donuts purchased from the bakery down the street from us, then our own once that shop caught on to what we were doing and stopped selling them to us), the Sailor Surprise, the Crying Johnny, the Jelly Patty, the Jelly Relish Patty, the Nasty Patty (basically a Sloppy Joe made with fish meat, because Sloppy Joes were really big with kids back then), Kelp Rings, Barnacle Rings, Crunchy Cod Cuts, Nacho Oyster Skins, Bobby Fries, Bobby Chili Kelp Fries, and various chowders.

The signature dish, enjoyed by children and adults, was, of course, the Krabby Patty, also called the Bobby Patty or the Sponge Patty in some places. Two buns with sesame seeds; two slices of cheddar cheese; 3 ¼ cups of chopped onions; 1 teaspoon of salt; 2 patties of crab meat; 2 tomato slices; lettuce or kelp; and seasoning. [8] The way Steve makes it, I can’t get enough of it. Back then, the only kind of Krabby Patty on the menu was one with cheese and one without. Now the menu’s got those and Bobby Patty Combo; Patty Deluxe; Jumbo Krabby Patty; single, double, or triple Bobby Kid’s Meal, Krabby Meal; the Double Patty Patty; the Krabby Junior Junior; the Jumbo Small Patty; Triple Decker Patty; Monster Krabby Patty; the Junior Senior Sophomore Patty; the Quarter Ounce Double Pounder, thanks to that lawsuit ending in our favor; the Super Double Triple Patty; the Jumbo Patty Super Jumbo; the Pipsqueak Patty; the Double Triple Bossy Deluxe; the Krabby Patty Double Deluxe; the King Size Ultra Krabby Supreme (regular, on a stick, or double battered and fried on a stick); Triple Krabby Supreme; Veggie Pattie; Captain Olaf’s Special, and, um, you know what I think that’s all of them.

Good thing I had those lists handy, huh? I never could have remembered all of that off the top of my head!

Anyway, I remember how Steve beamed with pride at the sight of all those customers coming in, intrigued by the nautical décor and entertained by the statues of the characters welcoming them to have fun.

But at that time, it still did not yet have that special oomph that it needed for it to really make it big on the seafood scene...

– Bryan Hillenburg, 2019 interview [9]

[pic: https://imgur.com/AfKhO3D ]
– SpongeBob’s, soon after its 9/2/1991 Grand Opening



On September 3, 1991, the Republic of Vevcani, a micronation within Yugoslavia, found on the border of the Yugoslavian nation-states of Albania and Macedonia, declared independence for the purpose of garnering publicity and, ultimately, revenue from tourism.

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



…Due to the large presence of ethnic Russians in Latvia during the collapse of the USSR, the pro-independence group Popular Front of Latvia called for all permanent residents to be made eligible for Latvian citizenship in 1983. This won the support of ethnic Russians in the soviet, giving weight to its independence declaration the next year. The PFL almost negated on their universal citizenship promise after achieving independence, but when protests calling for its implementation persisted as 1984 became 1985 and 1985 became 1986, the young moderate President, Anatolijs Gorbunovs, yielded to the rising calls, and the process was completed by 1991. This ultimate keeping of the PFL’s promise lead to ethnic Russians becoming strong loyalists of Gorbunov’s Latvian Way political party. This was a deciding factor in the nation’s October 1991 Presidential Election, which saw Gorbunovs win a second and final six-year term. Of course, the nation’s economy finally improving and the establishing of Russian as an optional secondary language taught in schools were contributing factors…

– Andrejs Plakans’ The Latvians: A Study of Nationality, Hoover Institution Press, 2005 edition



US REPRESENTATIVE SWITCHES PARTIES OVER PARTY “EXTREMISM”

…US Congressman Ben Nighthorse Campbell has officially switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP, reportedly over his disapproval of the national Democrats’ embracing progressive measures Campbell believes are “dangerously disuniting.” Always an independent-minded maverick, Campbell often supports Republican-led legislation and more right-leaning political positions than do most Democrats…

– The Fort Collins Coloradoan, 10/5/1991



FINK DECIDES AGAINST LAUNCHING DOOMED CAMPAIGN

…Disgraced former Governor Tom Fink, after openly discussing the possibility for months, today declined to run for President. Fink cited an unspecified “health concern” as the official reason, despite friends of the former Governor claiming he “is in great shape” as recently as last week. …Fink had claimed after the state gubernatorial recall election that his removal from office was part of a “liberal plot” to “oppress the voices of the conservatives, the religious, and the unduped [sic] working class,” but failed to gain much media attention outside of Alaska since being booted from office…

– The Juneau Empire, Alaska newspaper, 10/7/1991



CATHOLIC BISHOP TAKEN DOWN IN ARKWAVE ’86 SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ROLE IN RAPE COVERUP

…Bishop Sean Patrick O’Malley joins former Jesuit priest James Talbot, John Geoghan, Paul Richard Shanley and a host of other disgraced members of the cloth serving time in prison for their sexually abusing minors throughout their careers or, in O’Malley’s case, actively trying to cover up such actions. …The Second Ark Wave of 1986 exposed the activities of sexual pesterers in politics and Hollywood, but outside the glitzy glamour of those two realms, revelations were hard admissions of gritty overlooked truths, previously silenced by years of intimidation and trauma. As this paper reported five years ago, child abuse cases were connected to high-ranking cardinals across New England, only for the courage of key victims to blow the lid off the church’s activities... In the years since, the Catholic Church has sought to uphold multiple changes, but the Globe continues to keep a tirelessly dutiful eye out for any and all new or overlooked injustices...

– The Boston Globe, 10/10/1991



Yes, the 1980s were good overall for the people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. But that was the thing – overall. Many Ivory Coast citizens – particularly, the people belonging to impoverished ethnic minorities – ended up left out. Their roads were unpaved, their education and health systems were severely outdated, and their quality of life was even worse than before; the oil led to many salaries being raised, which in turn led to merchants raising their prices to the detriment of those left out of the gains, not feeling either the effects of the 1985 oil boom in Ghana or the influx of European investments into the Ivory Coast, almost as if the good fortune of urban dwellers and local elites could not infect the people of say, Sanwi, in the southeastern pocket of the Ivory Coast.

The people of Sanwi – roughly under a million in total in 1990 – considered their homeland to be a kingdom, and that when they “merged” with the Ivory Coast in 1959, they maintained its monarchy despite their “governor”-like King now answering to a President. Their ruler in the 1990s, King Amon N’Douffou IV, took this arrangement to mean that the Kingdom of Sanwi was permitted to secede from the rest of the Ivory Coast. Citing the I.C.’s “neglectful ruler,” and a lack of a “fair share” of the economic prosperity, N’Douffou declared independence on October 12, 1991. The announcement was treated lightly by the I.C. President, then-85-year-old Felix Houphouet-Boigny, only for the situation to take a more serious turn in 1992...

[pic: https://imgur.com/LN3fXfz ]
Above: Sanwi in red on a map of the Ivory Coast

– Historian Roger Gocking’s The Modern History of Ghana, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005



Phillips was at the front of the pack of video game industry in 1991, dominating video game console sales in the US, with Sega not too far behind. …Some American businessmen, such as then-presidential candidate Lee Iacocca, found the company’s market position “embarrassing” because of Phillips’ reliance on Japan’s Sony. Sega being based in Japan was another sticking point for Iacocca as well, saying in a TV interview, “If we’re going to let our children’s minds be occupied by these gizmos, then they should be American gizmos. If our markets are to have video game companies, then I want to see more home-grown video game companies – less ‘Hurry the Rabbit’ and more ‘Mickey the Mouse,’ so to speak.”

– Steven L. Kent’s The Complete History of Video Games, Random House, 2009 edition



POLAND’S INVESTMENTS IN MEDICINE YIELDING RESULTS

…Jacek Kuron, 57-year-old activist educator-turned-political prisoner-turned-politician, became the President of Poland in 1984, after co-leading the Solidarity movement with current PM Lech Walesa... The introduction of liberal shopping laws, tenant ownership, and religious freedom has transformed the formerly communist nation. …One of the government’s earliest investments, medical research and study, has produced several new proposals for surgery and new products for pharmacies…

– The Chicago Tribune, 10/21/1991



BARRY GOLDWATER, “LOUDLY LIBERTARIAN” US SENATOR, ANNOUNCES 7TH PRESIDENTIAL BID AT AGE 84

– The Arizona Daily Sun, 10/23/1991



THE PHILLIES TROUNCE THE COLONELS, WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP 5-2!

– The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/27/1991



3 November 1991: the “Halloween Blizzard” ends, after beginning on the 31st and sweeping across the upper Midwestern United States, ultimately killing 18 people and causing $100million in damages.

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



…Tonight’s elections yielded good signs for the national Democrats as next year’s Presidential election nears. In Kentucky, incumbent Democratic Governor Bucky Ray Jarrell won re-election over the Republican former state budget director Larry Forgy, though the state legislature did flip to the GOP. In Mississippi, incumbent Democratic Governor Ray Mabus narrowly edged out a win over his Republican challenger, state auditor Pete Johnson, who is the grandson of a former Governor and the nephew of a second former Governor. The Mississippi Democrats also retained control of the state legislature, though the state GOP did gain several seats...

– CBS Evening News, 11/5/1991 broadcast



PRO-LIFE U.S. REP. TO CHALLENGE BELLAMY IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES

…William Oliver “Bill” Lipinski, representing Illinois’ 5th U.S. Congressional seat since 1983, has decided to challenge President Bellamy for the Democratic nomination for President next year, running on an anti-abortion, “war hawk” conservative platform…

– The Chicago Tribune, 11/11/1991



“I really started to pay more attention to politics after my good friend, my very good friend, Lee [Iacocca] decided to run. He wasn’t the first businessman to get into politics, won’t be the last, maybe, but he was very impactful. He had the image, the style. In many ways he was the Colonel Sanders of the car world. And I guess you could call me the Colonel of the baseball world, because, you know, I’m an honorary Colonel just like President Sanders was [10]. I got the honor last year after I built that sports stadium in Louisville. That was a tremendous job, I’m talkin’ big-league success, I’m telling you. That stadium is beautiful! What were we talking about?”

– Donald Trump, 2008 interview



FOX BEATS KAT!: McKeithen Bests Blanco For Governor’s Seat

…in tonight’s runoff election for governor, Louisianans voted for W. Fox McKeithen (R), the state secretary of state and the son of a former Governor, over Public Service Commissioner Kathleen “Kat” Blanco (D) by a margin of approximately 4%. Incumbent Governor Kirkpatrick was term-limited. Blanco and McKeithen advanced to the runoff after defeating Sam S. Jones (D), Dorothy Mae Taylor (Green), T. Lee Horne III (Independent), former US Rep. David Conner Treen Sr. (R), Anne Thompson (R), Fred Dent (D) and Ed Karst (I) in the jungle primary held last month…

– The Beauregard Daily News, Louisiana daily newspaper, 11/16/1991



Global Warming (later adopting the official phrase “Global Climate Disruption”) was a minor political topic of debate as the ’90s dawned. …In a GOP Presidential debate held on November 23, 1991, Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) came out as being “doubtful” of the world-wide phenomenon’s existence by saying the following: “Scientists in the 1970s thought that because of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, either weather would cool or the particles would balance out the CO2 and greenhouse gases. We now know that ain’t right. You would think that with all the grant money and funding these eggheads have that they’d be better at their jobs, because to me it seems they have no clue what they’re doing or even talking about!” Paul’s campaign manager and his former Senate chief of staff, Lew Rockwell, sought to defend the candidate’s stance by telling reporters the next day that “What Paul meant to say was that the jury is still out of how responsible human actions are for the weather.”

Paul’s comment, however, was overshadowed by the rhetoric of Baptist minister and prominent presidential candidate Estus Washington Pirkle (R-MS), who defended Paul’s position and went even further on his own, claiming “this G.C.D. thing is pure nonsense meant to destroy our nation and enslave us all!” Other prominent politicians, on the other hand, were not willing to let Paul off the hook so easily; even those within his own party condemned the ex-Senator for “fearmongering,” as Senator Jim Martin (R-NC) put it…

– historian Henry Franklin Graff’s Bellamy: An Analysis of A Historic President, Scholastic, 2005



[vid: youtube.com/ watch?v= PTOOyoFq5mg ]
– snippet of an Estus Pirkle sermon, c. early 1991



A United Nations Secretary-General selection process occurred from November 18 to November 21, 1991. The winner selected for the position would begin their term on January 1.

Background
Max Jakobson of Finland, was elected the 4th UN Secretary-General in 1971 and re-elected in 1976. His successor, Salim Ahmed Salim of Tanzania and endorsed by the Non-Aligned Movement, retired in 1986 over criticisms that he was biased against the US during the invasion of Libya. The sixth and then-current UN Secretary-General, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of Iran and Switzerland, had won over Salim supporter Olara Otunnu of Uganda, Carlos Ortiz de Rozas of Argentina and other less successful candidates in 1986.

Candidates
Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan – incumbent UN Secretary-General and the former UN High Commissioner for Refugees (nominated by the U.S.)
Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs for Egypt
Bernard Chidzero of Zimbabwe – Chairman of the Development Committee of the World Bank
Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria – Former President of Nigeria
Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway – Prime Minister of Norway
Jean Chretien of Canada – former Prime Minister of Canada
Krzysztof Skubiszewski of Poland – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland

Voting
Prince Sadruddin defended himself against criticisms from a large and divided opposition prior to the Security Council voting via secret ballot while in a closed session; a candidate required 9-vote majority to win. The incumbent UN Secretary-General, who was popular within the organization, won a second five-year term on the first ballot by a wide margin. He began his second term on January 1, 1992.

– clickopedia.co.uk/UN_Secretary-General_selection,_1991



…Big news in the world of geopolitics tonight: the North Korean Ambassador to the United States has just revealed that, after months of national and international diplomatic pressure, North Korea’s government, facing an unprecedented food shortage crisis, is now, quote, open, unquote, to a food aid deal with the United States. The announcement comes after weeks of cold weather has wreaked havoc on the citizens of the Hermit Kingdom, with at last over 1,000 people dying from either starving or malnutrition in the past four months alone…

– KNN, 11/23/1991 broadcast



Recent development in US-North Korean relations was a potential game-changer for the race, as it allowed Bellamy to defend her handling of foreign affairs. Less “international” candidates, however, took the same development to criticize her. “Her focus on other countries instead of her own,” claimed Estus Pirkle (R-MS)...

[snip]

..In a GOP debate held in Georgia on November 24, 1991, ultraconservative candidate Rep. Bob Dornan (R-CA) criticized fellow candidate Barry Goldwater for being “willing to send our kids to fight but not your own,” and described his son Barry Jr’s use of a medical deferment in 1961 at the age of 23 to “get out of serving” during the Cuban War as “cowardly.” Goldwater fought back by describing his opposition to the “wars launched by the government” during the previous ten years…

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition



OPPOSITION LEADER BESTS INCUMBENT IN BELARUS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

…Vyacheslav Kebich (Independent) defeated the nation’s first President, incumbent Stanislav Shushkevich (also Independent) [11], by a 7% margin. Shushkevich had lost the support of many Belarusians for favoring both scientific investments social democratic reforms in the face of a constrained economy affecting worker wages. During the election, Shushkevich touted with 1989 agreement with Russia to destroy the amount of USSR nuclear stockpile left behind in Belarusian territory after the breakup of the USSR as a sign of his foreign policy chops, while Kevich went after his failure to implement austerity measures “when it mattered most.” Both candidates ran on pro-Russia platforms…Belarus was the soviet most hesitant to split from the USSR in 1984, leading to the establishment of its own constitution being delayed until 1986, after several months of bilateral talks over potential reunification, which ultimately broke down. Relations between the two nations, however, remain amicable…

– The Washington Post, side article, 11/24/1991



Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (b. 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician. [snip] In 1979, he joined the ranks of the CPSU, but left the military soon afterwards to become the deputy chairman of a collective farm in 1982. In 1985, he was promoted to the post of assistant director of the Gorodets State Farm and Construction Materials Plant in the Shklou District. After rising to director in 1987, he entered politics by running for the position of Deputy to the Supreme Council of the Republic in 1990. However, despite an eloquent speaking style and running on a mostly-negative attention-grabbing campaign with a fierce anti-corruption platform, his prior opposition to Belarus splitting from the USSR in 1984 became an issue. Claims that he committed fraud concerning leasing contracts connected to the Gorodets farm arose in the final weeks of the election, and he lost by a 10% margin, with a requested recount confirming the loss. A 1991 court case found insufficient evidence behind the fraud claims, and the case was dismissed soon after. Lukanshenko then returned to farming, and worked his way up to Minister of Agriculture in 2001, only to be fired for undisclosd reasons in 2005. He ran for President again in 2006 and 2011, both times on pro-Russia platforms noted for their “negative” themes, and lost both times. He remains politically active.

– knowledgecenter.co.rus, Russian website c. 2012



…Despite the government’s efforts, Indonesia’s financial crisis was only worsening. By the end of November 1991, the exchange rate was 2,000 rupiah to 1 US dollar. Indonesian businessmen worsening things by, among other tactics, buying back their own stock to keep their companies solvent were confronted by Suharto, who was hoping to placate the people beginning to riot by blaming the conditions on the upper class, and by seeking to arrest that nation’s wealthiest to keep them in Indonesia until the crisis was over. This was a very fateful mistake for Suharto, as businessmen soon began to use their influence to increase call for Suharto’s overthrowing and the financial calamity continued...

– Adrian Vickers’ A History of Modern Indonesia (Second Edition), Cambridge University Press, 2015



ROMANIANS, MOLDOVANS IN TWO-STATE REFERENDUM APPROVE OF ABSORBING MOLDOVA

…with retiring President Gheorghe Apostol staying neutral, the people Romania today voted overwhelmingly in favor of the sovereign nation of Moldova becoming a part of Romania in a nationwide referendum held concurrent with a referendum in Moldova asking the same question. Moldovans voted 63% to 37% in favor of unification, while Romanians voted for it 76% to 24%…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 1/12/1991



THOUSANDS MARCH IN LONDON OVER GOODLAD MINER PLANS

…100,000 coal miners and their families took part in today’s good-natured but impassioned march in London in opposition to PM Goodlad’s plans to close coal mines and reduce the number of coal miners. …Meant to adjust and modernize economy, Labour leader John Lennon has gone on record stating while he likes the idea behind the move to shift to a greener economy, he is “severely critical” of Goodlad not creating “an actual plan for the miners,” he told reporters this morning. Lennon has called for a government “jobs guarantee” program, and a training program for the miners so they can “find work first and close the mines then, but not before.”…

– The Sun, UK newspaper, 4/12/1991



[John Lennon’s first wife] Cynthia [Powell] divorced him in 1979, 2 years after the breakup of the Beatles, as he wouldn’t stop cheating on her. With one last try at reconciliation ending in failure, their three children felt the effects of a home long-broken, but now officially so. Their older son Julian continued to live with Cynthia until he turned 18 in April 1981, while the couple agreed to share custody of their younger son, James, born in 1971, and their only daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born in 1973. …After working on a duet with Philomena Begley, an Irish country music singer from Northern Ireland, in 1980, the two briefly dated. John next had a brief “innocent love affair” with Clodagh Rodgers, a singer and actress, also from Northern Ireland, in early 1981. On December 8, 1982 – a date John chose due to his feeling that he was “somehow linked” to it – the musician remarried, tying the knot with a one Lyn Cornell. Lyn, born in 1940 in Liverpool like John himself, was an English pop and jazz singer who, after a nearly three-decades-long career that saw her chart hits as a member of The Vernons Girls, The Carefrees, and The Pearls, but without the spotlight being solely on her, had finally left the industry and entered retirement in the late 1970s. At the age of 43, on August 19, 1983, after a difficult eight-and-half-month pregnancy, Lyn gave birth to the couple’s sole child, a daughter they named Annie.

– Pat Sheffield’s Dreams, Reality, and Music: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole Entire World, Tumbleweed Publications, 2000



A minor kerfuffle unfolded in the Caribbean on December 5, 1991, when Antigua and Barbuda experienced a minor political crisis. Feeling that his home island was going unrepresented by the government, led by the nation’s elitist and (allegedly) corrupt 81-year-old incumbent Prime Minister, Vere Bird, a radical 32-year-old politician named Arthur Nibbs, decided that, in the wake of previous unsuccessful runs for public office, a “bolder approach [was] necessary.” Inspired by the Colombia’s M-19 Movement, Nibbs led a bloodless political coup attempt on Barbuda, forcing city officials out of their offices at the island’s government building at gunpoint with a band of 28 followers. Three security officers received gunshot wounds, each receiving one bullet graze to their respective right hands, in the ensuing melee. Nibbs declared the island independent from Antigua and the UK, and dubbed it “The Socialist Republic of Barbuda.” Nibbs’ “government” went unrecognized by all – including local law enforcement – and his actions were condemned by all major politicians on the island. However, despite the lack of allies, Nibbs and his loyal supporters managed to continue to occupy the island’s government building for the next seven months…

– Carrie Gibson’s Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2020 edition



REV. JERRY BROWN WINS THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!

…In announcing the award winner in Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Rev. Brown, 53, for his “exceptional dedication” to humanitarian causes, which have been diverse in his nearly-three-decades-long career as a man of the cloth, from helping refugees in Florida during the Cuba War of the 1960s, to helping in post-war recovery efforts in Nigeria in 1967, and to charity work in several Latin American countries during the 1970s and 1980s. This award, though, is specifically for his recent work in organizing charity efforts in post-war Nicaragua…

– The New York Times, 12/10/1991



FORMER FIRST LADY CLAUDIA DONATES MILLIONS TO CHILDREN’S HOSPITALS, CONTINUING THE COLONEL’S LEGACY

– The New Haven Register, 12/11/1991



ROBERT MAXWELL, UK PUBLISHING TYCOON AND FORMER LABOUR MP, PRAISES OPPOSITION LEADER LENNON’S “INCLUSIVE” PLATFORM

...The next general election is not a few weeks, but Maxwell wants more people to “look into” Lennon’s ideas. …Lennon is looking to win over moderates as conservatives backing PM Goodlad attack his post-MP years and persona life, claiming his prior comments – the most infamous one being the 1966 claim the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus” – and his past treatment of his wife and children “disqualify” him from the office of Prime Minister. …Support for Lennon is especially high in coal country, as seen by the turnout for Lennon’s speech in Kent last Saturday. There, Lennon said, “The blokes in charge need to see the people, and I mean really see and understand and know them. They have names and faces and families. They are not just numbers on a chart or statistics on a graph and they never should be. …While it is unfortunately true that no job is safe in an ever-changing world economy, the fact remains that the security and well-being of the people is the responsibility of both its people and their government. To keep their families financially secure, the miners are doing the best they can. They are doing their part, but is the government doing theirs?” The crowd answered with a passionate “No!”…

– The Daily Mail, 13/12/1991



…As 1991 came to a close, the health insurance and pharmaceutical drug industries increased their lobbying activities on the hill even further, as American UHC continued “busting their kneecaps and emptying their wallets,” as Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) put it in a December 1991. …One consequence of the landmark change in American healthcare was the laying off of over 150,000 employees of health insurance companies within the first year of AUHC’s implementation. Despite anti-UHC politicians repeatedly claiming this to be the start of some major economic catastrophe, public support for the new healthcare system was overwhelmingly high; a Gallup poll published December 14, 1991 revealed public approval was at 67%, public disapproval at 23%, and uncertain at 10%...

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



…On December 15, Estonia became the third post-Soviet republic to decriminalize homosexuality, following similar non-hetero decriminalization announcements and acts made and undergone by Ukraine in 1989 and by Latvia in 1990…

– Matthew Wayne Shepard’s Unmasked And Unafraid: A History of the BLUTAGO Rights Movement, Pressman Publications, 2020



UZBEKISTANI NATIONALIST EYEING U.T. PRESIDENCY, WORRYING POLITICAL EXPERTS

…The President of United Turkestan is limited to three nonconsecutive 3-year terms, commands the military, can introduce legislation but not vote on it, and can sign executive orders that can be overruled by a 3/4ths majority in the National Gathering (their version of a federal congress)... With incumbent President Mukhtar Ablyazov of Kazakhstan term-limited, after winning a hastily-held election in 1983, a much more official one in 1986, and third one in 1989, the rules state that he cannot be succeeded by someone from his own “nation,” giving the politicians of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan the chance to win the Central Asian country’s highest office in December 1992. …One of the most powerful members of the NG is Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan’s Samarkand seat. As deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Uzbek SSR at the time United Turkestan declared independence, Karimov quickly switched to UT allegiance and worked his way up the political ladder to replace Inomjon Usmonxo‘jayev as “General Secretary” of the UT “nation” of Uzbekistan in 1985, only to determine that true national power and influence laid in the National Gathering. He soon won an NG seat in 1987. Karimov’s pro-isolation stances, especially toward “the West,” has a very small but very passionate band of followers in this landlocked nation. If Karimov’s still-unofficial run to replace Ablyazov is successful (his third-place showing in early straw polls, behind Turkmenistan’s Chary Karriyev and Kyrgyzstan’s Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, suggest he may not survive the nation’s primary-runoff system, but then again, the same was said about France’s Le Pen in 1986), it would have major ramifications for the UT’s space travel and energy trade deals with Russia…

– The Guardian, 16/12/1991



…With their superior offerings, Zantigo and Chi-Chi’s may have just fully replaced Taco Bell. The Zantigo franchise touts its place in the “practicality” category of fast-food industry, while Chi-Chi’s proudly promotes itself as a fun family-oriented entertainment experience, like a Mexican Chuck E. Cheese, or like a less-ambitious-but-more-successful nationwide alternative to the Colorado-based Casa Bonita franchise. Both franchises seem to have become replacements for Taco Bell, the once-prominent chain now down to just 21 locations, most of which retain operations due to local demands (though many may close down as well if their profits continue to drop)...

– Nation’s Restaurant News trade publication, end-of-year review, late December 1991 issue



“He’s a registered Republican who often votes Democratic. He’s a sometimes profane hard-driver who interrupts a conference to take a call from his daughter and talk to her in unabashedly soft and gentle phrases. He’s a tough capitalist who so admires former United Automobile Workers president Douglas Fraser that he recommended him to Denton as a negotiator, telling him ‘He’d be a top negotiator on anything – missiles, warheads, oil.’ And he’s a man on the run to Washington and New York who can still take time out to cook northern Italian gourmet meals, ‘with either red or white sauces,’ he’ll tell you every time. He and his daughters spent a week in cooking classes in Italy last year, you know.” [12]

– Robert McNamara, retired Ford Motor Company executive and close friend of Lee Iacocca [12], KNN interview, 12/19/1991



…Bellamy ran with Assistant Director Myer’s 1989 call for exploring Mars’ polar caps and, two years later, on March 7, 1991 – the 22-year anniversary of Apollo 10 and Gus Grissom landing on the moon – announced the Mars Exploration Initiative, a plan for the sending of manned missions to Mars after a 10-year period of test flights and unmanned probes (some flying by and others landing) studying the Red Planet ahead of a 2001 launch. The initiative was immediately met with opposition from fiscally conservative members of congress led by Speaker Walker. The 1990 recession, the 1991 hantavirus mini-recession, and the Balanced budget Amendment all worked against Bellamy’s plan to briefly go into the red in 1991 with multiple investments in order to close 1992 with a national surplus. Instead, in subsequent fights with Walker on the 1992 fiscal budget for NASA, Bellamy agreed to tie NASA’s budget closer to the economy in exchange for Walker “calling off his dogs,” as Secretary Kyros put it, and allow congress to allocate the funds needed for further probe launches. …While the argument that increasing funding for us would stimulate the economy and keep American industry strong failed to win over people such as Walker, the average American was more supportive of the notion. Especially the Baby Boomer generation that came of age during Apollo 10; nostalgia for the days of stargazing accomplishments has been doing wonders for NASA’s public approval in this decade so far...

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



The Finger Lickin’ Good Inc. Restaurant Manager Convention – an annual black-tie gala event held to give out awards for best managers, general, regional, assistant, and the rest – was something my oldest granddaughter called “KFC prom night.” The 1991 convention, though, was more somber than those before it, and it was obvious why. It was the first gala event without my father the Colonel, and many were worried for the future of the company. Chick-fil-A and El Pollo Loco were picking up steam. To the increasingly prominent competition, the Colonel would say something like, “bring it, ya knuckle-draggin’ youngin’s, I’ll tenderize ya something awful!” Ol’ Hardcore Harland, the dealmaker with an uncompromising commitment to high quality and directed by a never-bending moral compass. Those were some big shoes to fill, even if two or more people stepped into them together. But show must go on, as the saying goes.

As keynote speaker, I gave my speech with artificial aplomb. The rumors of job cuts, which had never happened in the company’s history, not even during the Crash of ’78, were making their rounds, even in this exclusive event. McDonald’s CEO June Martino had had to cut salaries 10% to compensate for losses in 1979, though she did stick to her promise of rehiring them within the year. But now, things were different. There seemed to be a power void of some kind, even with Collins unquestionably at the helm. It was more of a void in the marketing department more so than anywhere else, though. The boys and girls in R & D were at a loss for how to replace a company “mascot” – a term Dad had always disliked – as iconic as “The Colonel.” Questioned buzzed about, emphasizing the sobering uncertainty. Should we cease using his likeness, ending the use of his image him without explanation, without a proper send-off, like the Cooky Crisp wizard? Should we air unused footage of the Colonel in future commercials, or would it be more forward-thinking to use the growing wonders of computers to somehow manipulate the footage to some uncertain end? Nobody seemed to have an answer. Too shell-shocked, perhaps. Still mourning.

And still, the traditional band played on, the food was served and eaten, and the award ceremony went on. Harland Jr.’s short memorial video received a rounding applause. A number of Silver Wing Awards for Innovation were handed out to our managers from South America for tapping into local flavors for special regional offers. Hey, maybe there was something we could use there! Maybe. But that was the thing, wasn’t it? The suspicion of impending doom still lingered in the backs of our minds. Some new ideas were needed if we were to keep the company as is – a landmark, a success story, a legacy to someone who was a man and also more than just a man.

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



The issue of abortion culminated in the closely-watched Moseley v. Van Dam Supreme Court decision in 1992. The Utah Supreme Court’s early 1990 ruling – that a woman residing in a state where abortion is illegal can be arrested and tried in said state if said woman has abortion outside of said state – led to direct Supreme Court appeal by Moseley’s lawyers on the grounds of said ruling violating her rights. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in late 1990.

Initially, Chief Justice Frank Johnson favored retaining abortion on a state-by-state level, similar to dry and wet counties; Associate Justices Joe Sneed, Herb Fogel, Gene Levi and Sylvia Bacon seemed to favor this idea as well. After the first round of full oral arguments on April 12, 1991, though, Bacon and Levi began to agree with the opinions of Justices Leon Higginbotham, Bill Nealon, Miles Lord and Mary Schroeder, that states outlawing abortion were in violation of the 14th Amendment, which protect ones “right to privacy.” Following a second and final round of arguments being made before the court on October 12, 1991, Chief Justice Johnson began to reconsider his earlier stances as well. Private discussions on the matters of trimesters, viability analysis, waiting periods, spousal notice, parental consent for minors, and other sensitive details of this nature complicated the situation, delaying the ruling even further.

After three months of deliberations, the Supreme Court ruled 7-to-2 (with Sneed and Fogel dissenting) struck down the Utah Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court ruled that women in the United States have a fundamental right to choose whether or not to have an abortion, that it was illegal for any state government to deny the establishing of abortion centers within said state, and that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion. However, this ruling, while still vital to the preservation of women’s rights, did not prohibit states from determining how to defend said right, thus allowing conservative states to implement first-trimester restrictions and other pro-life measurements in subsequent years. These, of course, led to further Supreme Court decisions as the years continued on...

– Mary Ziegler’s Abortion: A History, Harvard University Press, 2015



The landmark Moseley v. Van Dam Supreme Court ruling that essentially legalized abortion in all U.S. states and territories was a boon for the Presidential candidacy of Estus Pirkle, who touted a staunchly socially-conservative campaign platform. “The Supreme Court’s ruling is an illegal affront on state-by-state policies and is proof that the Love of God and the Life of His Creations are in grave danger of being exterminated from the very fiber of our nation,” he told a group of supporters on January 8. “It is proof that the Democratic elites do not care about American lives!”

– Richard Cramer’s What It Took: The Path to Victory in 1992, Sunrise Books, 2010



On 9 January 1992, the first confirmed detection of exoplanets is revealed via a report by scientists Dale Frail and Aleksander Wolszczan published in Nature magazine, describing the exoplanets as being within “A planetary system around the millisecond pulsar.”

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



…According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest reports, the Asian nation of Indonesia has lost 15.2% of its GDP in the past two years. Indonesia’s President Suharto has fired several cabinet members in recent weeks, only for such action to be perceived by the citizens as admission that his inner circle was behind the crisis. Protestors in the country’s major cities, especially the capital of Jakarta, are openly claiming that Suharto is, quote-unquote, either too old, too senile, or too out of touch with the needs of the common citizen. In light of these protests, foreign investments into Indonesia are dropping fast, which are, more likely than not, worsening the effects of the country’s recession-related financial crisis...

– BBC World News, 11/1/1992 broadcast



BIGGER GOVERNMENT MEANS BIGGER INFLATION

…From 1980 to 1992, low-debt states grew at a higher rate in GDP, personal income, population, and employment than did high-debt states. Data set after data set help a clear theme emerge in regards to the size of government necessary for the maintaining of both social order and social freedoms. Supporters of tax-and-spend policies may try to downplay these stark facts, pointing out that many bigger government states like New York enjoy larger populations and higher average family incomes than smaller government states like Nevada. While this is true, the New York’s of America also have higher costs of living than the Nevada’s of America, rendering an absolute comparison useless. Instead, growth is the fairest way to measure policy success since the measurement is relative to the size and wealth of each state.

While it’s easy to get lost in a sea of statistics, it’s important to remember that behind each number are living, breathing human beings whose livelihood are largely influenced by the governments they pay taxes to. Because of this blatant economical fact, policy makers should be weary to embrace higher taxes and greater spending since every dollar taken out of a taxpayer’s wallet is one less dollar that could be used in the private sector fueling the markets’ engine of prosperity. [13] And if policy makers go forth with such policies anyway, then it is the duty of the citizens to vote them out of office.

Take, for instance, incumbent Governors Gaston Caperton (D-WV), Jan Backus (D-VT), Harvey Gantt (D-NC), and Evan Bayh (D-IN), all of whom are up for re-election this November. Their respective unwillingness to cut spending plans contributed to the economic recession of 1990, and the voters of these states would benefit greatly from them being voted out this autumn…

– The Wall Street Journal, 1/19/1992 op-ed



Bellamy’s efforts to create a national surplus by raising taxes on the upper classes had mixed results – the taxes managed to take the US out of the red, only for its total surplus to be practically negligible. Her Treasury Secretary opposed the suggestion of printing more money to pay for further spending, though, as more money in the system would lead to businesses raising prices. As the money supply needs to be tightened to stop inflation, Bellamy suggested ordering the US mint to freeze money printing for six months. This led to a debate within her cabinet over whether or not this would spur a surge in demand, thus creating demand-pull inflation. Only exporters and people who took out loans benefit from the US dollar losing value.

The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy aims to tighten or relax the money supply, pending the situation, its inflation target being 2%. This percentage was connected to energy prices, commodities trading, food prices, and other aspects of the national economy. When inflation exceeded 2%, the Federal Reserve pumps funds into the banking system via bank reserves that do not go into circulation. If banks loan too much money, then the Federal Reserve will raise the amount to be reserved in order to tighten the aforementioned money supply.

Additionally, by January 1992, banks and lenders were voicing their concern over her tax hikes on the upper classes. The wealthy were responding by fighting back harder against labor, attempting to lower wages to compensate for gains lost from these new taxes. Bellamy defending labor counteracted such attempts, but only most of the time. For example, in January 1992, workers at fire hydrant factory in New Hampshire that were forced into going on strike ended up being fired and replaced by workers more willing to work for the lower wages. Bellamy’s inability to pressure New Hampshire’s governor, Bob Smith, into withdrawing his support of management led to a 14% drop in her approval ratings in that state.

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



In an interview at The National Theatre in 1968, John Lennon was quoted saying “I think our society is run by insane people for insane objectives, and I think that’s what I sussed when I was 16 and 12, way down the line. But, I expressed it differently all through my life. It’s the same thing I’m expressing all the time, but now I can put it into that sentence that I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends. If anybody can put on paper what our government, and the American government and the Russian, Chinese, what they are actually trying to do and what they think they’re doing… I’d be very pleased to know what they think they’re doing, I think they’re all insane!” [14] Twenty-four years later, however, John found himself on the opposite side of UK politics. Looking out from the inside, he now knew, after a decade in parliament, how things really worked, as stated in a 1998 interview “I can now confirm that I was half-true about the people who run our society: only half an insane – some insane in a good way, some insane in a bad way – and the other half are either lazy, evil, or stupid.”

Nevertheless, John played ball with his coworkers, most often those that were lazy, stupid and insane-in-a-good-way. By doing so, his “Global Village Initiative,” which was to serve as a pro-technology platform for the UK, became a reality in 1986. Outside of parliament, and in order to win over voters in his MP seat critical of his massive wealth, John donated his entire salary to causes ranging from voter registration such as the Election Year Strategy Information Center, to college education, healthcare, music and the arts, and daycare services. His reprimanding for Prime Minister Goodlad allowing for the raising of taxes on the middle class and defending management over labor more than once was one thing – eye candy for captivated television watchers – but his ability to get along well with fellow Labour MPs such as Tony Benn allowed him to get legislation passed. This gradual buildup of rapport with parliament, more than the speeches and humanitarianism-based publicity stunts, was essential in making MPs believe that he had developed the legislative skills necessary to be an effective leader.

However, John’s “outsider” speaking style persisted onward despite becoming a politician. In a 22 January stump speech, John exclaimed “I’m sick and tired of hearing things from uptight short sided narrow minded hypocrites. I don’t use a teleprompter because I’ve had enough of reading things instead of speaking from the heart and from the mind. Our government is overwhelmed by neurotic psychotic pigheaded politicians, who care more for bigwigs than the hard-working, back-breaking, brow-sweating, family-loving Britons.” Borrowing from a one of his own classic songs from 1978, he bellowed on: “I’m sick to death of seeing things from tight-lipped condescending mama’s little chauvinists. Haven’t you?”

The crowd shouted back a collage of confirmations, from “yeah” and “yes” to “yep” and “you bet.”

John shouting, “I’ve had enough of watching scenes from schizophrenic egocentric paranoiac primadonnas. [17] Haven’t you?”

Another audial wave of approval.

“We want transparency and honesty from our government! We want the truth! Give us the truth! What’s that we want?”

“The truth!” The people answered.

“Just give us the truth about things, about how much out leaders value us. How much they wish to screw us over! What do we want?”

“The truth!” They repeated.

“Yes! Just give us the truth!”

– Jacqueline Edmondson’s A Legend’s Biography: The Lives And Times of John Lennon, London Times Books, 2010

[pic: https://imgur.com/Gte95ur ]
Prime Minister Goodlad suffered from his poor handling of the early 1990 recession, from which unemployment reached 2.1 million at its peak in September 1990 before dropping down in December. Lennon claimed Goodlad worsened the situation by refusing to cut interest rates by any more than 20%, which the Labour believed was not enough “at all” to combat the recession. Goodlad supporters, meanwhile, called Lennon a hypocrite for being “absurdly wealthy” despite his financial generosity in recent years. Meanwhile, Lennon’s biggest detriment ahead of the election was that his candidacy was uninspiring to moderate suburban and middle-income voters supportive of family-oriented policies due to Lennon’s record of wife abuse, neglecting his children, and for being publicly known to smoke certain recreadrugs. As a result, many Lennon supporters hoped that his fans from his music career in the 1960s and 1970s, now with families of their own, “would still be fans now,” as MP and Lennon backer Neil Kinnock later put it. As for the rest of the people formerly known as The Beatles, the hatchet-burying of the 1980s led to McCartney, Harrison and Starr all stumping for Lennon in the final weeks of the campaign. Billy Preston, an African-American musician often labeled the fifth Beatles due to his many collaborations with them, joined as well to champion Lennon’s pro-immigration and ground-up socioeconomic improvement plans, which may have helped win over minority voters.

[snip]

In the end, Goodlad’s milquetoast, shallow, vague and uninspiring campaign failed to mobilize enough traditional Conservative voters to go to the polls, while his controversial and unimpressive record as Prime Minister failed to win over undecided voters…

[snip]

After coming up short of a majority, instead obtaining a plurality by a margin of just 4 seats, Lennon formed a minority government with the Intrepid Progressives (with their 9 seats led by Jeremy Corbyn) and the Liberal Democrats (with their twelve seats led by Paddy Ashdown)…

– clickopedia.co.usa



AS FIRST PRIMARIES NEAR, GOP PRESIDENTIAL FIELD IS DIVERSE BUT DISUNITED [16]

– The Washington Post, 1/31/1991



REP. ELLERBEE ANNOUNCES WITHDRAWAL FROM RE-ELECTION BID, CITING CANCER DIAGNOSIS

…Linda Ellerbee has represented Corpus Christi since 1987. Previously she was a journalist and reporter for NBC and several papers, and a news announcer and, ultimately, co-anchor of her own program, “Overmyer Overnight,” before mounting an unsuccessful and short-lived bid for the Presidency in 1984. …In the wake of a diagnosis of breast cancer earlier this year, Ellerbee, 47, has announced the end of her re-election bid, wanting to instead “spend more time with family while combating this internal menace” as the year continues on…

– The Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 2/2/1992



While already a prominent subgenre in Washington by the end of the 1980s, Grunge took on more attention, prominence and influence with the rise of Riot Grrrl. Despite technically coming into existence first, observers dubbed many male Grunge bands to be part of a “Riot Boi” music scene, as coined by the editors of Tumbleweed magazine in a 1992 interview. [17]

Across the Atlantic, the U.K. was going through the early heydays of The Scene That Celebrates Itself, a social and musical scene originating in the early 1990s within London and the Thames Valley area. TSTCI was coined by Melody Maker’s Steve Sutherland in 1990 to describe how U.K. bands were engaging in comradery instead of rivalries in order to devote more time to their passion. Bands like Chapterhouse, Lush, and Moose, along with New Wave bands, and indie bands such as Blur, See See Rider, and Thousand Yard Stare, participated in friendliness that was soon replicated in other parts of British music by 1992.

– Caroline O’Connor’s The Scene That Celebrates Itself, London Times Press, 2011



“…Instead of fighting and going after one another, we’ve put it all aside in the face of our common enemy – the grim specter of failure. This is a great time to be in the music scene right now. We’ve playing together at gigs, drinking with each other afterwards, I mean, at a concert in Maidstone just last night, Stereolab guitarist Tim Game played for Moose, and Moose’s Russell Yates played for Stereolab. That never could have happened even four years ago…

– John Peel’s BBC Radio 1 show “Keeping It Peel,” 5/2/1992 Interview



The invasion that began in the 1980s reached its zenith in the early 1990s, as American culture took on more international flavors, influenced by nostalgia for the invasion of the 1960s, and, also, by the international aid efforts led by the US as the decade began. The music paper NME described the STCI movement as one in which “the good times keep on coming” accumulatively, because each time a band had a successful record, the other bands shared the publicity and a part of the limelight. This contrasted a bit with the market-driven competition found among American musicians from all genres, from rap to country…

– Colin Larkin’s The Second British Invasion, Guinness Publishing, 2002



FINLAND ELECTS ITS FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT

…After the initial round of voting on 16 January, centrist candidate Elisabeth Rehn of the Swedish People’s Alliance defeated twelve-year incumbent President Mauno Koivisto of the Social Democratic party, becoming Finland’s first female President, and the nation’s tenth President overall…

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 6/2/1992



“Economy, recession, inflation, and the BBA. Those were the GOP talking point in 1992. Legitimate commercial banking functions, state pension funds, derivatives, speculative activities, all of them got clamped down under Bellamy. The Balanced Budget Amendment was highly controversial because it allows the federal government to increase spending and lower taxes when times are good and force cutbacks during recessions – exactly when doing so would weaken economic activity and thus worsen the recession. On the other hand, by 1992 the BBA did decrease interest rates, possibly lead to an increase in investments, and shrink trade deficits, but none of it led to faster economic growth as promised. There were kinks in the system; show me a system that doesn’t and someone will find them for you.

[SNIP]

The BBA requires a federal balance between the projected receipts and the expenditures of the government. Exceptions are only for times of war, national emergency, and depression but not recessions measuring less than three straight quarters of negative GDP growth, and even then it can only be suspended, uh, waived, and only for a year, by vote of 2/3rds of congress or by executive order upheld by 2/3rds of congress. So there was really no way around it Bellamy.

[SNIP]

Bellamy refused to dip into the Social Security Trust Fund to pay off S.S. benefits, but the system wasn’t taking in enough cash from payroll taxes, which is how the SSTF financed in the first place. We tried to solve the matter legislatively, but Speaker Walker axed a bill that would have raised taxes even further on upper class brackets. So, Bellamy had to dip into the SSTF – ‘just until employment rates rise,’ I remember her saying with a noticeable strain of reluctance in her voice. It was a move the GOP forced into taking, but the fact remained that it was an unpopular move – and during an election year, no less!”

– Former US Secretary of the Treasury Gerald E. Corrigan (D-MN), 60 Minutes interview, 2012



BELGRADE HOSTS WINTER OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY

…With the games split between the cities of Zagreb and Belgrade, Yugoslavia’s patchwork of multiculturalism is on full display for the world to see…

– The Tampa Bay Times, 2/8/1992



…Overseas, British parliament is working on a 3-billion-pound package which would create over 500,000 jobs in 12 months and establish a nationwide “jobs guarantee” training program for the unemployed and those who are destitute but able-bodied...

– NBC News, 2/9/1992



WOULD-BE MITCHELL KILLER GIVEN LIFE IN PRISON SENTENCE

…The self-described “ultra-sexist” attempted mass shooter Marc Lepine was apprehended in 1989 while attempting to fire a gun at Vancouver East politician Margaret Anne Mitchell, leader of the Progressive Tomorrowists since 1987 and leader of the opposition since 1990… The incident was a contributing factor in parliament passing the Violence Against Women Act of 1991…

– The Globe and Mail, 2/17/1992



“Yes, we are still willing to agree to facilitate the supply of two light water reactors,” assured US Secretary of State Pete Flaherty.

“Those are considered to be more proliferation-resistant?” asked his North Korean counterpart.

“More than your graphite-moderated reactors.”

“The Supreme Leader will be very pleased with this.”

“I hope so,” Flaherty’s tired eyes drifted on to the view of Manila outside as the final meeting wrapped up.

After three years of back-channel and clandestine bilateral talks, first proposed by North Korea under President Kemp in 1987, the North’s most recent bout of food shortages had spurred Pyongyang into agreeing to the suspending of the Hermit Kingdom’s unchecked domestic nuclear energy programs in exchange for shipments of grain from the United States along with light water nuclear reactors, and the gradual normalization of relations between the U.S. and the DPRK.

“Only I didn’t do this for your leader,” Flaherty told his translator as the North Korean diplomat left for the telephone, “I did this for mine.” Flaherty no doubt thought about the look on his boss’s face, a distraught look of horror and woe, as she looked upon the latest photographs of the lives of children in North Korea. Their emaciated arms and extended stomachs reminded Flaherty of the starving people of Biafra, India, Ethiopia, Botswana, all places inflicted by war, drought, and the like. Their crying faces reminded him of his own children when they were young. “And for me, too,” he uttered.

Both translators present nodded slightly, glanced at one another, and did not relay the message to Kim’s subordinate upon his return.

[SNIP]

The “Agreed Framework” of 1992 was a landmark deal that went into effect immediately upon Kim and Bellamy signing the documentation for it at a ceremony held in Manila on February 20, less than a month after the final negotiation meeting.

Back home, the grain deal received mixed responses. Supporters of the President praised her for being Kim to accept foreign aid in order for his people to not starve. Meanwhile, the Republicans both in the Hose and on the campaign trails immediately sought to undermine the grain deal by denouncing it was “a weak bowing and kowtowing to a despotic dictator,” as Speaker Walker put it. Several lawmakers aimed to impose new sanctions on North Korea, while others sought to hinder the Bellamy administration’s procuring of funding and supplies that were part of the Agreed Framework.

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



Several GOP candidates, but Pirkle, Dornan, Raese and Obenshain most notably, reeled from the grain deal. Even former Democratic conservative warhawks such as Larry McDonald accused Bellamy of being a “foolish radical” who was “kowtowing to maniacs.” Dornan went beyond rhetoric and introduced articles of impeachment, calling for her immediate removal from office on the grounds of treason. The House referred these resolutions to the House Judiciary Committee days later, and no further action was taken of them [18].

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] According to this song’s wikipedia page
[2] Named after character actor Houseley Stevenson, US Senator Penfield Tate (R-CO), and US Senator James Grubbs Martin (R-NC). TTL’s Futurama’s casting list is to be included in a future chapter.
[3] Italicized passages are from here: https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0124/012422.html
[4] A big shoutout to @Igeo654 for bringing this show to my attention!
[5] OTL quote found on …oh dang it, some relevant wiki page, I’ll find the exact one later I guess…
[6] OTL according to his wiki page
[7] Italicized part of quote is from an article found through Ann wiki page (um, I’ll figure out which one eventually…)
[8] Ingredients from an OTL recipe for Krabby Patties that I found online via a simple and quick Google search.
[9] Nearly all menu item names are pulled from the SpongeBob SquarePants wikia. More on "SpongeBob's"'s development still to come.
[10] He really is!: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honors_and_awards_received_by_Donald_Trump#State_or_government_honors_and_awards
[11] Fun Fact from both OTL and TTL: in 1960, Shushkevich was the instructor that taught Lee Harvey Oswald how to read, write and speak Russian when Oswald lived in Minsk!
[12] Italicized quote, and McNamara being his friend, are both found here: https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0124/012422.html
[13] Italicized portions are found in this short stub of an article here: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/202995-statistics-show-that-small-government-means-big-growth
[14] OTL quote, as quoted on udiscovermusic.com
[15] Lyrics from Lennon’s 1978 song “Gimme Some Truth”

[16] Speaking of which, ahead of the 1992 GOP primaries, I made a preference poll for y’all! It’s found here: https://www.strawpoll.me/19829251
And here’s a quick breakdown of the 20 candidates, both officially running and likely to run, found in the poll:
“Country Conservative” (i.e. deeply conservative) wing (4):
Richard Obenshain, 57, has served in the US Senate from Virginia since the late 1970s, and is best known for favoring “cautious immigration measures” among other socially-conservative stances.
Estus Washington Pirkle, 62, is a high-profile Baptist minister from New Albany, Mississippi; he is the loudest opponent of UHC in the field and has already been endorsed by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, Billy Ervin McCormack and Billy Graham.
John Raese, 42, is a US Senator from West Virginia and former businessman touting his experience in both fields, and his self-described ability to “piss off them peaceniks Demmies” in his bid for the White House; he is a fierce defender the coal industry of his home state.
Bob Dornan, 59, is a colorfully controversial character serving in the US House of Representatives from California since 1985, and previously from 1977 to 1983; he is giving up his current, increasingly-liberal seat to seek the Presidency on a socially-conservative platform.
“Colonel Conservative” (a.k.a. “rational conservative” and “small-c conservative”) wing (5):
Norma Paulus, 59, since becoming Governor of Oregon in 1987, has established an impressive pragmatic record.
(Unofficially) J. J. Polonko Jr., 53, the former Vice President and former US Representative with some blue collar appeal, is not officially running, and may not run at all the Draft Kemp movement gathers enough momentum.
Susan Engeleiter, 40, is the junior US Senator from Wisconsin with strong regional appeal and a record reflecting tendencies that can be described as along the lines of “libertarian conservatism”; however, her campaign currently lacks a clear message other than “‘generation change’ for the GOP,” but there may be time enough for her to rise above the crowded field.
Bob Dole, 69, is a high-ranking US Senator from Kansas who has confessed that this election cycle may be his last chance at winning the Presidency.
James H. Meredith, 59, is the highly independent US Senator from Mississippi, focusing on preserving the US Constitution, protecting “the people’s rights and liberties,” and, more specifically, economic development, Black political power, and education – the same policies he has maintained focus on since his first election to the US Senate in 1978; he has ruffled feathers with the GOP more than once for crossing the aisle to support a bill, but has also supported “Country Conservatives” at times as well. He has already been endorsed by Alveda King, whose brothers are backing Bellamy (though, because their father is less iconic here, said backing is not as impactful as it is in OTL).
Libertarian wing (5):
Barry Goldwater, 84, the senior US Senator from Arizona, is mounting “one last bid” for the Oval Office over his disapproval on former Senator Ron Paul.
Ron Paul, 57, the former US Senator from Texas and former OBGYN physician, has become a divisive figure in recent years, but his supporters believe that either he has a support base strong enough to carry him to the nomination, or that his base is large enough to rise above a crowded field.
Doug Wead, 46, a retiring four-term US Representative from Arizona, is critical of Ron Paul opposing of all forms of government intervention, both bad and good; Wead is calling for a more “reasonable and pragmatic” form of libertarian governance instead. An early critic of the War on Recreadrugs, he favors decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level. He has already been endorsed by Congressman Tom Campbell (R-CA).
Earl Ravenal, 61, the former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union from Washington, D.C., is running primarily on his foreign policy chops.
Russell Means, 53, is an Native Rights activist from South Dakota running for President on the promises of cutting funding for the US military in half, implementing prison reform, and repealing most federal taxes.
Centrists & Moderates wing (3):
Lee Iacocca, 68, the MLB Commissioner and former CEO of the Chrysler Corporation, is running primarily over fears of Japan’s dominance in American markets, but is also critical of Bellamy’s handling of the economy as well; he has libertarian and conservative streaks that could unite the party behind him. He is currently the frontrunner.
(Unofficial) Jack Kemp, 57, former President, former Vice President and former US Representative, may jump into the race, but for now, is privately promoting a niche draft movement.
Buddy Cianci, 51, the incumbent Governor of Rhode Island, plans to run an energetic anti-corruption “reformist” campaign, only for a state Department of Justice “query” of his connection to certain business dealings to currently be giving donors pause.
“Rockefeller” (i.e. very left-leaning) wing (3):
William Scranton III, 45, the incumbent Governor of Pennsylvania and son of a former Vice President, is calling for a flat tax and for stronger US-led peace efforts abroad.
John B. Anderson, 70, the Governor of Illinois for ten years and a US Representative for twenty, is running on the campaign proposal of raising gas taxes to cover massive tax cuts elsewhere (based on the relative success of such a move undertaken while Governor), and on election finance reform.
Merrill Cook, 46, the retiring Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, is a former “Country Conservative” known for his moderate-to-independent streaks and for making “reluctantly left-leaning” actions while in office. He has been criticized for calling himself liberal despite previous conservative-leaning comments, such as calling Ed Brooke “too socially liberal” for the GOP; furthermore, his campaign may be forced to address reports of “attacking” mayoral staff members in obscenity-laced tirades, alleged paranoia, and other unusual behavior.

[17] Credit for the name “Riot Boi” goes to @Igeo654 ; thanks, dude!
[18] Similar to what Dennis Kucinich did in 2008: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_impeachment#George_W._Bush

 

[gap80]

Post 57: Chapter 65

Chapter 65: February 1992 – July 1992

“For God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”

– John 3:16



On February 22, Presidential candidates Lee Iacocca, Estus Pirkle, Bob Dole, Ron Paul and John B. Anderson partook in a televised multi-topic debate held in Washington, D.C. Agriculture was discussed first, with Iacocca and Anderson supporting farmer bailouts during times of crisis, Pirkle and Paul opposing such measures, and Dole being on the fence. When Civil Rights came up, Iacocca, Anderson and Dole won public acclaim for their answers, while Paul controversially questioned “how far one person’s right go before they begin to suppress the rights of others?” and Pirkle suggested looking into how state-level civil rights laws “inhibited businesses,” claiming that those of “certain ‘Gravelite progressive’ states like Vermont and, uh, those kind of states” can “force a Jewish baker to make a Nazi cake.”

Education was also a divisive subject for Pirkle, who said “I want God to return to our schools so morals and decency can return to our schools.” Paul disagreed with Pirkle on this, stating that “no government, Christian or non-Christian, has the right to push federal ideas onto school districts.” Iacocca suffered on this question, while Anderson reviewed his overseeing of improved test scores during his ten years as Governor. The subject matter easily shifted Urban Development, where Iacocca was to most enthusiastic supporter of the creation of Zones of Economic Development under President Kemp.

In regards to government spending, Iacocca won cheers from the audience by saying “we need to improve efficiency so more is spent in right places,” while Paul’s history of opposing government intervention during times of crisis again and again caused him to perform poorly during this part of the debate. Paul came off more like a blind ideologist than “someone who understands the realities of leadership,” as Iacocca put it.

The debate noticeably ignored the topic of healthcare, likely due to support for UHC steadily rising since its implementation. Instead, raising the minimum wage was discussed. Dole gave an ambiguous answer that leaned toward opposing raising it over concerns of inflation and the devaluation of the American dollar, as did Paul and Obenshain, while Anderson was the only candidate to come out in favor of raising the minimum wage. Iacocca answered last, starting out saying that he was “willing to listen” to the reasons as to why it was a good idea before concluding that it was the “duty and obligation” of both management and workers to come an “agreeable wage situation” without requiring government interference.

The topic of immigration led to Obenshain’s only real “moment” in the debate; the Senator, initially the favorite of the party favorite until his campaign began to heavily underperform in early polling and fundraising goals, lambasted Bellamy for “endangering our borders” by upholding liberal “open-border” immigration policies.

The final issue of the night was military intervention. Iacocca and Anderson called for better “helping hand” policies in Latin America, while Pirkle promoted building up America’s “coverage” of US-friendly nations in Asia, the Middle East, eastern Europe, and Latin America. Conversely, Paul called to removal of all US military assets from abroad. Obenshain, for some reason, brought up America’s short-lived intervention in Angola, and said that US forces should “either be all-in or all-out.”

Most pundits considered Iacocca to be the biggest winner of the debate, with Obenshain being the biggest loser of the debate.

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition

[vid: youtube.com watch?v=GK6QQY4ZpJM ]
– A Chrysler Commercial featuring former CEO Iacocca, filmed in 1991 and first aired 2/23/1992



JACK KENNEDY, US SENATOR AND 1968 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE, DIES AT 74

John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy, a prominent US politician from Massachusetts, passed away in his sleep yesterday morning from adrenal and kidney failure, after a lengthy battle with Addison’s disease, according to an official statement from the Kennedy family. Born in Brookline, MA on May 29, 1917, to wealthy businessman and future US Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. Upon graduation from Harvard University in 1940, he entered the US Navy. Kennedy was hailed a hero for leading the survivors of his sunk PT boat through perilous waters to safety in 1943. After WWII, Kennedy entered politics, serving in the US House of Representatives for six years, and in the US Senate for eight years, before being tapped to serve as Secretary of State under President Lyndon Johnson. He was the Democratic nominee for President in 1968, losing to incumbent President Sanders by a fairly narrow margin. Kennedy will be remembered for promoting liberal causes, from advocating civil rights to the co-establishing of the Peace Corps, the role he played as Secretary of State during the Cuba War, and to his adherence to the principles he held close to his heart. He is survived by wife Jacqueline Bouvier (also known affectionately as "Jackie"), sons John Jr. and Michael, and daughter Caroline. The funeral will be held on the Sunday, March 1.

– The Boston Globe, 2/24/1992



Upon retirement from electoral politics, he became a behind-the-scenes supporter of legalizing medical marijuana – a substance he claims eased the effects of his Addison’s disease – and only returned to politics in 1988, to work behind the scenes to support his sister’s bid for President, then later in the year to assure his brother becoming FBI Director – which must have led to J. Edgar Hoover spinning repeatedly in his grave. By 1990, Jack suffered from severe headache and diarrhea much of the time, coupled with sudden jolts of penetrating pain in the lower back, abdomen and legs. Upon his death, Senator Eunice officially became the head of the Kennedy clan, after sharing family-organizing responsibilities with Bobby whenever Jack was too incapacitated.

Just weeks after beginning his painless and diarrhea-free Eternal Dirt Nap, retired columnist Rene Carpenter – the stuffy, platinum-blond wife of NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter – came forward and admitted that she had had a brief affair with Jack Kennedy. The “summertime romance” as she put it, was in 1964, when the marriage between Jack and Jacqueline was at its worst [1]. Carpenter said she planned to wait until Jacqueline’s passing to save her “the embarrassment,” but those that don’t believe her claim she came forward after Jack’s passing because dead politicians can’t disprove accusations. However, it is quite telling that Burke Marshall, the long-time Kennedy family attorney, successfully issued a gag order against the publication of her claim in her 1993 autobiography, delaying its publication for six years.

[snip]

Jackie once said that a Jack Kennedy administration "would have been like Camelot." I think she was trying to describe it as an idyllic period, but the fact that Camelot was never a real place actually made the comment more appropriate than she realized. A Kennedy administration may have begun with an idyllic façade and shallow, glamorous aesthetics, but with Jack hiding his numerous affairs and incredibly poor health, their hidden truths would have been exposed eventually, revealing to the American public the reality that Camelot was - and always was - a myth. A ruse. A fantasy, much like the legacy that Jack Kennedy must have wished he had left behind.

– Roger Stone’s Nepotism in America: How the Liberal Elite Seek to Control Everything, Vol. II, Stone Stallion E-Publishing, 2013



“The government’s only responsibilities are to maintain basic infrastructure and national defense systems when state and local governments cannot, to promote industry and entrepreneurialism, to protect the rights of privacy, free enterprise, and other freedoms that cannot be protected at the state and local levels alone, and to assure non-invasive economic stability. With this in mind, I’d like to talk to y’all for a bit about the device that agents behind the US Treasury Department have been suing to control us for nearly two decades now – it’s called inflation. Money is the lifeblood of commerce. In order to permit the market to operate, we need to ensure a stable, non-inflationary currency. Inflation invariably distorts this commerce. Inflation leads to a misdirection of production and employment resulting in a misallocation of resources. Money which loses its value through inflation circumvents the mind by destroying the means of economic calculation and planning. Inflation is caused by printing more money. The government's monetary policies are responsible for this. Not immigration or war but our own government’s monetary policies. Keynesian spending policies and ideology and the abolishment of the gold standard have permitted the government to depreciate our currency. The answer is to eradicate the federal government’s flimsy control of the money supply. We need to divest government of its power to arbitrarily increase or decrease the money supply. In addition, we must build in pressures toward fiscal responsibility by the government with respect to the production of balanced budgets and reduction of debt. Thanks to the Balanced Budget Amendment, the federal government is now being forced to learn to live within its means, but we must do more to keep the federal government in line. That’s were the re-establishment of the Gold Standard comes in. See, the Gold Standard will stifle the hidden and deceptive tax of inflation. Inflation could be controlled if government were not able to monetize debt or manipulate reserve requirements. We must reinstate the Gold Standard, because under a 100 percent gold reserve standard or system, there would be no such thing as inflation thanks to monetary currency relying on the existing supply of gold.” [2]

– Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX), 2/28/1992 stump speech



“Bellamy needs another four years to ensure our personal freedoms and sacred values are permanently snuffed out of existence” – Ron Paul (R-TX)
[snip]
“Hellamy is in cahoots with Beelzebub, arisen from the flames of Hell so the two of them can drag us all down into the fiery depths of that hopeless realm, all thanks to her misguidance. This is why I’m running: to save this country’s very soul!” – Estus Washington Pirkle (R-MS)
[snip]
“I will work with both Republicans and Democrats to keep all Americans safe, insured, healthy, educated and, of course, employed.” – Lee Iacocca (R-CA)
[snip]
“Both sides say their way is better. But look at the record. In the thirty years prior to the implementation of the Balanced Budget Amendment, Democrats controlled the Senate for all but eight years, and in those three decades, Democratic Presidents, who commanded the White House during that time for fourteen years total, only balanced the national budget five separate times. Meanwhile, Republican Presidents, who commanded the White House for sixteen years during those thirty years prior to the B.B.A., balanced the national budget thirteen times!” – Lee Iacocca (R-CA)
[snip]
“Democrats want to use the term ‘Gravelite’ nowadays instead of progressive when they should be avoiding the word socialist. I don’t care that the Soviet Union collapsed almost eight years ago, or that all the former Warsaw Pact nations have embraced democracy. Here in America, socialism is still a threat!” – Estus Pirkle (R-MS)
[snip]
“I have served as a US Senator since 1989, in the past three-and-a-half years I have done more for this country than Carol Bellamy has ever even tried to do for this country.” – Susan Engeleiter (R-WI)
[snip]
“Estus, there’s a difference between having a secular government and being a secular society!” – Lee Iacocca, rebuking Pirkle’s call for making Christianity “the official national religion”
[snip]
“We have to return confidence to America, to improve its standing on the world stage, and restore its ability to compete on the global market. We have to directly address the US trade imbalance with Japan, but not in a way that invites retaliation that affect the average Workin’ Joe. We need less corruption and more cooperation when it comes to big business, and I should know more about how big businesses work than any other man or woman on this stage tonight. We need more planning among management, labor, and government to keep unemployment down. If you don’t do some planning you’re going to be back in the soup.” [3]

– Snippets from the GOP Presidential primary debate in Manchester, NH, 3/1/1992



In early March 1992, KFC finally decided to try and capitalize off of the invention of the microwave by selling “Frozen KFC” items, launched in select supermarkets, initially for a four-month trial run.

[pic: https://imgur.com/TztFB5y ]

– Marlona Ruggles Ice’s A Kentucky-Fried Phoenix: The Post-Colonel History of Most Famous Birds In The World, Hawkins E-Publications, 2020



Saudi Arabia’s economy was near stagnant in the early 1990s. High taxes and a growth in unemployment was beginning to give way to discontent and civil unrest. After ignoring such contention and calls for reform for roughly two years, King Fahd announced his “Basic Law” to address such concerns on January 31, 1992. The Basic Law Decree clarified his responsibility to his people without actually promising real change; notably, he stated that “A system based on elections is not consistent with our Islamic creed, which [approves of] government by consultation [shura].” [4] Thus, King Fahd did minimum reform soon after this, save for some strides on reducing the nation’s reliance on oil revenue: limited deregulation measurements, encouragement of foreign investments, and some privatization were the largest acts. The Basic Law Decree was soon followed by an institutionalized succession decree. Issued on 1 March, the decree expanded the criteria for succession, which had been only seniority and family consensus, and led to speculations. The most significant change by the edict was that the King did acquire the right to appoint or dismiss his heir apparent based on suitability rather than seniority and that the grandsons of Abdulaziz became eligible for the throne. Privately, such a move may have been due to health-based reasons more so than political pressure. King Fahd was a heavy smoker, overweight for much of his adult life, and in his sixties began to suffer from arthritis and severe diabetes. [5]

Meanwhile, Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz, or “Ibn Saud,” approached King Fahd with a novel idea. With the stability of the region seemingly hanging on the promise of regionally exclusive economic benefits from regional cooperation in massive multinational projects (such as wind and solar energy investment, computer programming, and public water works projects), Sultan bin Salman, 34, saw an opportunity for Saudi Arabia to rise to world prominence and defeat their rival Iran in being the leading nation in the middle east. A Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Saudi Air Force, Sultan had flown to space in 1985 as a payload specialist on a US shuttleplane [6], just after Denton’s cancellation of the US moon landings. The prince took note of the rising prominence of the International Space Station, the 1991 formation of UNOSA (the United Nations Outer Space Agency), and the resurgence of space exploration and interest in Mars in the United States in recent years, and told the King “there’s more than enough room up there for us”...

– Madawi al-Rasheed’s The History of Modern Saudi Arabia, Sunrise Books, 2019 edition



…Suharto was furious that neither President Bellamy nor any of her Republican opponents supported implementing a second bailout package for him in order to help out his country in wake of financial crisis. Few American politicians believed him to be truthful when he claimed he was not pocketing the funds for himself, or only letting the upper classes have access to said funds. Suharto was running out of options and time; with each passing day, more and more people came to join the ranks of the people who wanted him out...

– Adrian Vickers’ A History of Modern Indonesia (Second Edition), Cambridge University Press, 2015



IACOCCA WINS N.H. GOP PRIMARY; Paul Falls to 4th Place Behind Anderson and Wead

– The Boston Globe, 3/3/1992



WILLIAM SCRANTON III DROPS PRESIDENTIAL BID AFTER FIFTH-PLACE FINISH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

– The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/4/1992


BELLAMY WELCOMES LENNON AT WHITE HOUSE AS UK PM VISITS DC

- The Washington Post, 3/6/1992



MENACHEM BEGIN HAS DIED; Led Israel Through Peace Talks In The 1970s

…his successful efforts to establish warmer relations with Israel’s neighbors led to him sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and the US’s Jimmy Carter… Begin’s tenure as Prime Minister came to a close when Begin, still distraught over the death of his wife Aliza in November 1982, and facing unpopularity over inflation concerns, resigned in May 1985. …Both Sadat and Begin maintained good relations with one another during their retirement years, both personally and professionally – each defender the other whenever one of them publicly disapproved of the actions of their respective successors… After many years of poor health, Begin died from a heart attack at the age of 78. …Sadat, 73 and suffering from health issues of his own, is nevertheless planning to attend the funeral in Jerusalem…

– The New York Times, 3/9/1992



ESTUS EEKS OUT VICTORY IN GEORGIA GOP PRIMARY

…the bridling Baptist minister upset the businessman-turned-frontrunner by winning 40.1% to Iacocca’s 38.9%, with Senator Richard Obenshain winning only 9.2% in an underperformance that may very well mark the end of his campaign if he does not perform better in the first Primary Cluster early next month. US Senator James H. Meredith, meanwhile, also underperformed, coming in fourth place with only 9.1% of the vote. US Congressman Doug Wead once again outperforming Paul, the two libertarians winning 7.2% and 5.4%, respectively...

– The Ledger-Enquirer, Georgia newspaper, 3/10/1992



Dear Bryan,

Karen and I are discovering amazing ideas out here. Really – we’re looking at local foodstuffs, not using this trip as an excuse to have a second honeymoon. Well, I’m not. But seriously, I really want to try and dabble with some exotic fruits, coconut milk, ginger, lime, vanilla, and tamarind when we get back. I’m surprised by how many dishes have French influences! After this we’ll check out Samoa, and wrap things up in Fiji before heading back to Hawaii and then back home. It’s like I said – if The Colonel could bring Kentucky to Utah, we can at least try to bring Polynesia to Florida and the Caribbean. I’ve learned a lot here from seeing how people with fish as their No. 1 food, how they use it, treat it, make it in a plethora of diverse ways. It’s been inspiring. Expensive, I'll admit (again, I’ll pay you back when I pay you back), but worth it, and I’m looking forward to trying out a lot of ideas for SpongeBob’s upon our return next week.

Me ka mahalo nui,

Steve

– private letter sent from Atafu, Tokelau, to Miami, Florida, dated 3/11/1992



In the spring of 1992, Hillenburg discovered “the optimum combination of culinary elements” for his restaurant’s crabmeat patties. One unconfirmed story goes that the “culinary formula” was discovered by accident, when Stephen tripped and accidently knocked several contents into a broth. However, the generally-accepted origin story is that Hillenburg discovered it after spending hundreds of hours working in the kitchen of his Florida home trying out culinary ideas he’s learned during a two-week trip to the Pacific several weeks earlier. Hillenburg decided to share this “culinary breakthrough” with only his closest family members, most trusted friends, and most loyal of supporters. In 2005, after a lengthy court debate, Hillenburg finally revealed the contents of the “culinary formula” to the Federal Government for FDA approval. However, FDA documentation concerning said formula contents will not be released to the public until the year 2070. As a result, rumors have consistently floated around the technet as to what the formula could be, with suggestions ranging from Tibetan Salt to MSG.

– clickopedia.co.usa/SpongeBob’s/disambiguation/restaurant_franchise



…hundreds were killed and millions of dollars were lost in damages on March 13, 1992, when a powerful earthquake rocked the city of Erzincan in eastern Turkey. Greece was the first nation to offer immediate aid, support and recovery efforts. The quake struck near the region of Pontus, along the North Anatolian Fault, leading to local Kurdish inhabitants assisting in efforts to clear debris and search for survivors. Yugoslavia sent in civil engineers to amend housing and power lines in the more developed areas.

Assistant efforts even reached as far away as the lavish Varosha resort in Cyprus, Greece. A long-popular tourist destination, the resort manager told one reporter at the time that his traffic was “unseasonably low” as more and more people in the region did what they could to help out. This rush of goodwill was in astonishing and stark contrast to the centuries-old feud that once existed between Greeks and Turks. Most sociologists and politicians believe this radical shift in relations happened in the wake of the Bulgarian Plot of 1971, in which said country’s former government attempted a false flag maneuver in the 1970s to pit Greece and Turkey against one another. Upon the plot’s explosive exposure, Greeks and Turks, already reconciling under new leadership in both nations, now have a shared enemy in Bulgaria...

– The Atlantis, Greek-American newspaper, 2020 retrospective



IACOCCA WINS NEVADA GOP CAUCUS; Wead Surprises Pundits With Second-Place Showing

– The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 3/17/1992



MODERATOR CAROLE SIMPSON (played by Ellen Cleghorne): Good evening everyone and welcome to tonight’s GOP Presidential debate. Most of you watching this know who the Republican candidates are, but for those of you who can’t find anything better to watch on TV than eight stuffed suits drone on and on for an hour about things you don’t care about, we’ll introduced each candidate anyway. First, heeerrrreee’s Lee Iacoccaaa!

LEE IACOCCA (played by Phil Hartman [7]): Thanks, Carole. Folks, I know I don’t have any prior political experience, but I promise that a vote for me means a Kentucky-Fried Chicken in every pot and a Chrysler in every garage. Because I’m a straight-talker would doesn’t beat around the bush. I’m honest and to-the-point. So let me just say right off the bat that as President, every citizen will be required to attend at least one MLB game a year. No refunds.

MODERATOR: The next candidate may have gotten lost on his way to water aerobics at his retirement community center, Barry Goldwater.

BARRY GOLDWATER (played by Guest Star Bill Murray): Now that ain’t fair, I’m in my prime. What other 83-year-old do you know who looks this good?

MODERATOR: Beside him is OBGYN doctor-turned-Senator who someone got through two Ark Waves without incident, Ron Paul.

RON PAUL (played by guest star David Faustino): I have three things to say: “invest in Gold,” “get off my yard,” and “Invest In Gold!” [pause] That’s all, Carole, thank you.

MODERATOR: Alright. Candidate number four is either a Governor from someplace, or an extra in a Cheech Marin film, Bill Scranton the Third.

WILLIAM SCRANTON III (played by David Spade): We have to be excellent to each other and come together right now over me, dudes and dudettes. We have to make peace with Mother Earth, Brother Sun, Sister Mary Francis and Father Time Machine.

MODERATOR: Um, wait a minute, you shouldn’t be here; I just got around to reading this two-week-old newspaper, and it says here you dropped out.

SCRANTON: I dropped what?

MODERATOR: Out, out of the race.

SCRANTON: I did? Woah, Bummer. Who did I endorse?

DOUG WEAD (played by Rob Schneider): You sure you’re not a libertarian?

MODERATOR: Congressman Wead, you wait your turn and – oh, you know what, these introductions are taking forever. Let’s move on to the Q&A. First question: law and order.

J. J. POLONKO JR. (played by Guest Star Mark Metcalf): Now I have something to say about that!

MODERATOR: Former Vice President Polonko! Does your presence here mean you’ve decided to enter the race after all?

POLONKO: No, it means I was able to get past security! Now listen up, because I only have a few minutes before their sedatives wear off: we need more police to stop America from becoming a police state, and we need more guns on the streets to protect us from all the other guns on the streets!

PAUL: Heh. And people say I’m crazy.

POLONKO: I will have no insubordination from the likes of you, now drop and give me twenty you howdy-doody ripoff! I said now!

[Paul, intimidated, drops to floor and begins doing sit-ups while Polonko stands over him]

MODERATOR: That’s enough of that topic – this sketch is already too long – let’s just cut to religion. Estus?

ESTUS PIRKLE (played by Dana Carvey): I hear ya. Gentlemen and your women, I can’t guarantee that you’ll get into heaven if you vote for me, but if I’m President, either by a witch’s curse or a monkey’s paw or what-have-you, I will definitely lead you into heaven. Now, does nuking us into oblivion work for y’all or should I be more subtle? ’Cause I don’t do subtlety. I didn’t have a child beheaded just because I was bored.

MODERATOR: You mean the child that was beheaded in one of your Christian films.

PIRKLE: Uh, yeah, film, right, yeah…

SUSAN ENGELEITER (played by Victoria Jackson): Can I say something?

MODERATOR: Why not?

ENGELEITER: I’m proudly Irish, like Colonel Sanders was Irish. I have children, and Colonel Sanders had children.

MODERATOR: And why does this qualify you for the Presidency?

ENGELEITER (now wearing a white suit): Because I care about agriculture and farmers, just like the Colonel.

MODERATOR: And this will bring the GOP to victory in November...how?

ENGELEITER (now wearing a white suit, white goatee and white wig): It will bring back sense and sensibility to the White House, like during the good ol’ days of Colonel Sanders, yee-hah! Uh, the Colonel was a cowboy, right?

MODERATOR: Let’s just skip to the closing statements. Senator Meredith, me and all the rest of the media have been ignoring you this whole time. Your opening and closing argument, please.

JAMES MEREDITH (played by Chris Rock): Yeah, let me just do some truth-slinging here. The fact is that Americans time and time again have shown that they want a sensible and trusted figure in the White House. With that in mind, I have to wonder: how the hell am I not doing better in the polls?! You all see what I’m running against, right?!

[Cut to wide shot of Wead smoking what may or may not be a cigarette and offering it to Scranton who is starring off into space, Paul still doing sit-ups while Polonko watches, Pirkle fidgeting while nervously hugging an oversized bible, Iacocca holding up a K-Car poster while wearing a baseball cap, Goldwater using an oxygen tank, and Engeleiter in full Colonel garb and holding a KFC bucket.]

MEREDITH: My path to the nomination should be way easier than this, certainly easier than looking directly at this camera (looks at camera) and saying “Live to New York From Saturnight Day.”

[buzzer sound]

MODERATOR: Ooh, sorry, you messed up that line big-time. That automatically makes you the biggest loser of this debate. And for the record, the line goes like this…

[wide shot as Cleghorne spins around to face Camera 2, and other cast members move from podiums to join Cleghorne to get into shot.]

ALL CAST MEMBERS: Live From New York, It’s Saturday Night!

– SNL sketch, Saturday 3/21/1992



IACOCCA WINS GOP MARYLAND PRIMARY IN LANDSLIDE; LIPINSKI DRAWS 10% ON DEMOCRATIC SIDE

– The Roanoke Times, VA newspaper, 3/24/1992



FORMER FIRST LADY SANDERS REVEALS SECRETS TO HEALTHY RETIREMENT

…despite her advanced age, Claudia still insists on driving herself around town, conceding only to letting her security detail ride shotgun with her. “But I know my limits. I do let them drive for long stretches of busy highway. But I drive over to meet with some friends, or to visit my grandchildren, I can still do that and I don’t plan on giving it up any time soon!”

– Golden Living, a “senior living” monthly magazine for elderly Americans, March 1992 issue

[pic: imgur.com/csFV6X5.png ]

– Claudia Sanders’ driver’s license, c. March 1992



“Prime Minister Nielsen’s recent use of Section 26, a provision of our country’s Constitution meant for actual emergencies, to ask the Queen to appoint eight new Senators, is a new low for our nation’s leader. To go against his own party and pass a national Sales Tax that poll after poll shows Canadians, voter and politician alike, are dead-set against it, demonstrates his inability to understand or address the actual wants and needs of this country. Unfortunately, this incident only adds to his past scandals with patronage, and unwanted expansion of “big government” ideas. As a fellow Progressive Conservative, will still support him in the August general elections, but I do so for the sake of the party more than for the sake of him continuing to serve as prime minister.”

– Lincoln MacCauley Alexander, African-Canadian Deputy Prime Minister and a member of Canadian Parliament for Hamilton West since 1968 (PC-ON) (1922-2012), 3/28/1992 statement



The 1991 referendum led Gheorghe Apostol resigning from the Presidency, putting the 80-year-old President of the Senate, Alexandra Barladeanu (1911-1997), in charge of the government. Subsequent bilateral negotiations over the creation of a “United Romania” were headed by Barladeanu and Moldova’s President Mircea Snegur (b. 1940), and led to the agreement that Presidents would relinquish power, assemble a transitional caretaker government headed by a Romanian-and-Moldovan Unity Council, and hold new elections across the board ahead of official unification in December 1992. Almost immediately, Snegur, as well as Romanian PM Petre Roman (b. 1946), expressed interest in running, as well as a “wild card” candidate that his supporters believed would be the only candidate capable of truly uniting the people of two nations merging into one: former King Michael I of Romania (b. 1921), who had served as Romania’s monarch from 1927 to 1930 and again from 1940 to 1947…

– Lavinia Stan’s Post-Communist Romania: The Politics of Memory, Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2019



IACOCCA WINS STATE GOP PRIMARY

– The Brattleboro Reformer, VT newspaper, 3/31/1992



MERCOURI ELECTED NEW PM OF GREECE!

Athens, GREECE – After decades of political activism, starting with being a founding member of the center-left political party PASOK [8] before becoming said party’s standard-bearer and Leader of the Opposition in 1989, former actress and singer Melina Mercouri was elected Prime Minister in last night’s Greek General Elections. A member of the Hellenic Parliament for Piraeus B since 1977, Mercury, 71, served as Greece’s Minister for Culture under Andreas Papandreou’s first and second terms. Prior to entering Parliament, she had an illustrious acting and singing career that saw her win three Golden Globe nominations, two BAFTA Award nominations, and an Academy Award nomination, the last one being for her performance in the celebrated 1960 film Never on Sunday. Last night, Mercouri defeated incumbent Prime Minister Alexandros Onassis of the Centre Union party, and the Cyprus-based Glafcos Clerides of the Democratic Rally, the most conservative of Greece’s largest political parties, to become Greece’s first-ever female Head of State. King Constantine II has already performed the formality of formally invited her to lead parliament...

– The Atlantis, Greek-American newspaper, 4/2/1992



The final GOP debate of the 1992 Presidential primary season took place on April 4th. With Iacocca sweeping three of the “First Four” contest, most other candidates were hoping for impressive gains in the Primary Cluster to be held in just three more days.

Senator Richard Obenshain used the debate to go after solar energy companies, essentially accusing them of hypocrisy for the high levels of mined coal and quartz needed for the building of the actual panels; it was his only memorable debate moment.

Iacocca, meanwhile, doubled down on his main campaign planks. “Disgruntled workers across the country are uncertain of their economic futures in these uncertain times. We have better healthcare, but we have no market security. Companies in Japan are threatening are job numbers more and more every day, and we need a President who knows how to stand up to them and who will stand up to them. We need to put Main Street over Wall Street!”

Meanwhile, Ron Paul, Doug Wead, and Barry Goldwater all sought to lead the libertarian faction of the party, while Obenshain and Jack Raese essentially cancelled each other out. Pirkle continued to call for “a more Christian society” in his bombastic manner shaped by decades behind a pulpit; conversely, Senator Meredith presented himself as cool and collected, calling for bipartisanship and a balance between “welfare programs that are too easy to become addicted to, and a heartless attitude of having a government that does not help those who need the help our government can easily provide.”

– Doron P. Levin’s Behind the Wheel: Iacocca’s Handling of Cars, Sports, and Politics, Opus Publishers, 1997



…well it seems Lee Iacocca has cemented his status as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for President, having won most of the Republican party primary contests held in ten states tonight. South Dakota, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Utah all went to Iacocca, while Minister Pirkle won South Carolina, Louisiana, Oklahoma and his home state of Mississippi. Senator Meredith’s best showing of the night was in his home state of Mississippi, where he came in second place with roughly 35% or so of the vote…

– anchor Norman Robinson, New Orleans’ WDSU-TV Channel 6 (NBC), 4/7/1992 broadcast



…Governor Anderson dropped out after failing to win Massachusetts, finally putting his candidacy out to pasture. Despite failing to win significant delegates, percentages, or momentum in the libertarian-leaning states out west such as South Dakota, Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah, Paul decided to remain in the race still. Fearing a Ron Paul victory, Senator Goldwater dropped out soon after to endorse Congressman Wead…

[SNIP]

Outside the debates and campaign trails, Iacocca emulated the Colonel not just by exuding the image of a down-to-earth businessmen who cared about working stiffs but by also reminding people of how, like the Colonel, Iacocca had made small appearances in movies and TV shows over the years. He played the character “Park Commissioner Lido” in one 1986 episode of Miami Vice, appeared on the 1985 TV Special “Bob Hope Buys NBC?” as himself, and participated in bits on Good Morning America in 1986, the Late Show with David Letterman in 1990, and an extensive 60 Minutes Interview in 1991.

Pirkle responded to this tactic by reminding listeners of the three obscure Christian “promotion” films he starred in during the 1970s. Renewed focus on these films, though, led to heavy scrutiny by many media outlets for the films’ explicit presentations of violence. In early, the Iacocca campaign capitalized on finding an old copy of Pirkle’s most controversial film, 1971’s “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?,” by airing an ad condemning Pirkle for fearmongering and depicting child murder. Pirkle’s refusal to apologize for these film elements led to his rallies becoming louder but smaller as he gained more evangelical followers but lost support from most other voter types…

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition



In just three years, PM de la Hunty had stirred up multiple detriments and benefits ahead of the 1992 federal election. Government transparency was her highest accomplishment. Attempts to implement financial reparations for aborigines and the descendants of aborigines removed from their ancestral homelands, and other government misdeeds, however, was her biggest failure, with even her own party rejecting the notion. However, Aborigine activists still praised for the effort, as it did raise awareness of their plight in a way not seen since “BabaKiueria.” De la Hunty’s expansion of healthcare and education were major accomplishments as well. Her promotion of direct democracy initiatives, on the other hand, made her fewer friends in the parliamentary hierarchy each time she brought it up; even high-ranking officials within her own party shied away from doing away with the established hierarchical system. As a result, de la Hunty spent the start of the 1990s pushing for greater environmental protection measures and opposing the Australian neoliberalism policies pushed by the more right-leaning members of her party. This, along with her support of some Labor talking points, her rejection of nuclear weapons and her being untrusting of nuclear technology, siphoned many voters away from the Labor party.

On April 10, 1992, Shirley de la Hunty won another term over Robert James “Bob” Ellicott of the Labor party as the National Party continued its slip into irrelevance…

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



Abbas al-Musawi (born c. 1952) was a belligerent[1] Lebanese Shia cleric and founder of a minor [2], obscure [3] terror group and self-declared “political party”[4] called Hezbollah, founded in the 1980s in opposition to the 1978 Atlanta Peace Treaty and the annual Chicken Dinner Summit in Jerusalem [5]. Hezbollah was meant to “undermine” peace processes in the Middle East in order to “affirm Shia superiority”[1], and was founded by former supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran and other militant groups either rejected or made illegal by several Middle Eastern countries [6-when?]. Abbas, considered a radical by most [7-better citation needed], and his allies believed their respective nations “sold out” during the peace process of the 1970s, and opposed Israel above all other groups [1]. When Osama bin Laden, the Saudi national serving time for wounding Colonel Sanders in an assassination attempt in 1980, became eligible for parole in 1991, members of Hezbollah published material in defense of him [2]. Bin Laden was denied parole for violating prison rules and for showing no sincere signs of reform; he is still in prison today [8]. Despite gaining attention from this effort, al-Musawi opposed Hezbollah going mainstream; he also rejected the theocratic state in Lebanon due to his belief that the rising tourism industry in Lebanon and the entire region during the 1980a and 1990s [9] were causing Lebanon to be “corrupted by western imperialism” [1]. A 1992 sex scandal concerning al-Musawi being discovered by his allies to have violated Shia laws caused his “underground” movement to splinter into two groups, one supporting Al-Musawi and one opposing him [3]. An attempted cam bombing of a bank in Beirut led to increased scrutiny from authorities soon after this [10-when exactly?], leading to both groups losing members. Hezbollah existed from 1985 until the unofficial dissolve of the pro-Abbas faction in 1997 and the official dissolve of the anti-Abba faction in 1999.

– clickopedia.co.usa



PRIMARY CLUSTER 2: LAST NIGHT’S RESULTS: IACOCCA WINS 7 OF 10 CONTESTS!

…the businessman won Rhode Island, Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Connecticut, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Nebraska, while Minister Pirkle narrowly won Iowa. Senators Engeleiter and Obenshain secured their home states of Wisconsin and Virginia, respectively…

– The New York Times, 4/15/1992



For the fiscal year of 1991, the first year effected by the BBA, the federal government’s April 1992 report showed a slight budget surplus. While taxes did go up on millionaires and billionaires in mid-1990, the budget was also balanced thanks to adding interest to Treasury bonds.

Meanwhile, Iacocca made a gaffe on a radio guest spot on April 16, in which he called for Tax Credits for Charitable Contributions. This statement “started a debate nobody asked for,” as US Senator Jack Raese (R-WV) described it soon afterwards. In the same radio segment, Iacocca also stated that he wanted to “audit” the Federal Reserve, which is no more a part of the federal government than Federal Express. These remarked led to many Democrats and Bellamy supporters argue that Iacocca was too inexperienced for the position of US President…

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition



John’s creation of public works projects aimed at lower employment helped to improve the nation’s economy as the summer neared. With inflation slowly dropping as well, John set out to establish a nationwide jobs guarantee program, and support vocational schooling initiatives. In regards to foreign policy, John called for peace in the war-torn nations of Sri Lanka, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Colombia, but privately refused to consider the notion of sending UK ground troops to an thg of these places…

[pic: https://imgur.com/g9yGl3f ]

Above: John about to meet with Home Secretary Tony Blair in London; the two often feuded on spending limits.

– Jacqueline Edmondson’s A Legend’s Biography: The Lives And Times of John Lennon, London Times Books, 2010



LAST NIGHT’S GOP PRIMARY RESULTS: WEAD WINS ARIZONA, DOLE WINS KANSAS, IACOCCA WINS MINNESOTA AND NEW YORK

…the Estus campaign failed to win any more than 30% in any of the four contests…

– The Arizona Republic, 4/22/1992



SENATOR ENGELEITER BOWS OUT OF PRESIDENTIAL RUNS, CITING LOW FUNDING

..."I will support whichever sensible and winnable candidate my party selects to be its Presidential nominee"...

– The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/23/1992



A ROYAL SCANDAL?: Theories And Rumors Sweep Britain as Anne, Princess Royal Divorces Capt. Mark Phillips Without Warnings Or Reasons!

– People Weekly, US tabloid, 4/24/1989 issue



The United Nations Framework Convention on Global Climate Disruption (or UNFCGCD) is an international environmental treaty adopted on March 25, 1992, and opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 3 to June 14, 1992. It then entered into force on August 12, 1993, after a sufficient number of countries had ratified it. With its objective being to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the global climate system,” the framework sets non-binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for individual countries and contains no enforcement mechanisms. Instead, the framework outlines how specific international treaties (called "protocols" or "Agreements") may be negotiated to specify further action towards the objective of the UNFCGCD.

Initially, an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) produced the text of the Framework Convention during its meeting in New York City, NY, US, in early February 1992. Due to its almost-universal membership, the UNFCGCD enjoys broad legitimacy. [9]

The parties to the convention have met annually since 1992 in order to assess worldwide progress in addressing Global Climate Disruption. The establishing of multinational protocols issuing legally-binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their output of greenhouse gas emissions would begin with the Kiev Protocol of 1995…

– clickopedia.co.usa



…Despite the high number of delegates won in Alabama earlier tonight, Minister Pirkle has no clear path to the nomination now, due to Iacocca’s concurrent victories in Pennsylvania and Ohio tonight. Only through a brokered convention occurring could someone other than Iacocca feasibly win the Republican nomination for President now, and, at this moment, such a scenario seems very unlikely…

– NBC News, 4/28/1992



…Governor [Donald] Kennedy look to America’s last frontier when molding the state’s 1992 Coastline Preservation Act. Environmental experts had recently claimed that the contents spilled in the Chevron Oil Spill of ’87 had been successfully removed from Alaska’s southern coastlines, and that the areas were now safe for animal species to return to (as evidenced by the slow but steady return of many species of fish and birds to the area in the years since the spill) without observers having to worry about them...

– Robert Wilder’s Listening to the Land and Sea: The Politics of Environmental Protection in California, University of Sacramento Press, 1999



“Bellamy’s federal spending habits are out-of-control. As President, I will assemble the smartest American minds on the planet to work with me in creating a more fiscally efficient. Colonel Sanders did it before, and with me as President, we can do it again!”

– Presidential candidate Lee Iacocca (R-CA) at political campaign rally in Gary, IN, 5/3/1992



…Iacocca easily achieved victory in tonight’s GOP Presidential primaries held in, Delaware, Indiana, North Carolina and Montana, with D.C. voting for the already-suspended candidacy of Senator Meredith…

– CBS Evening News, 5/5/1992



On May 6, Ross came out in support of a bill in the state legislature calling for the legalization of medical marijuana. This was a major controversy at the time because most Americans were still very much unaware of the fact that weed can help those suffering from illness. A Gallup poll taken in 1991 showed that roughly a third of US citizens polled opposed marijuana in general [10], demonstrating the effectiveness of President Denton’s War on Recreadrugs. However, renewed interest in medical marijuana among researchers had begun during this period as well, and had been praised by many cancer patients and medical experts. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ross had met with such promoters and so studied the matter closely. He later told his sister-in-law, though, that he worried if “people can be responsible with this. It can hurt or help, like cars or beer,” no doubt thinking about the alcoholism rates that plagued Alaska during the 1980s. “I think for the non-medical stuff, people will need programs for when you become addicted, because you can’t force people to not be addicted,” he added, thinking ahead. “It’s the whole ‘forbidden fruit’ idea.”

– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012



RAESE WINS WRITE-IN VOTE IN WV GOP PRIMARY

– The Charleston Gazette-Mail, West Virginia newspaper, 5/12/1992



CRITICS CLAIM PROPOSED “AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES” ACT WOULD RUIN BUSINESSES, LOWER EMPLOYMENT RATES

…the bill’s core intent to outlaw discrimination based on one’s disabilities is not being opposed. Instead, the contentious aspect of the “disabled rights” bill fresh out of committee is it requiring employers to provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees with disabilities, such as ramps and elevators.

House Speaker Robert Smith Walker (R-PA) has claimed that small businesses such as diners and offices in developed regions will not have “sufficient space” for such architectural renovations. “How are Mom & Pop shops, sandwiched together in places like Hoboken, or, for a better example, the hillsides of San Francisco, supposed to install wheelchair ramps in places where there’s barely any room to walk?”

Other members of the House have raised concerns in recent days over another detail of the bill: its alleged ability to make it easier for merely temporarily disabled individuals to apply for disability. “Someone suffering from a broken arm or a sprained ankle would get the same treatment as a paraplegic if this passes,” US Congressman Ira W. McCollum Jr. (R-FL) claimed in a statement made the day before yesterday.

“This bill will intimidate employers into avoiding hiring disabled Americans due to legal risks,” Congressman John Vincent “Vin” Weber (R-MN) added during a CBS interview yesterday. “Furthermore, many mentally disabled Americans across the country are able to find work right now thanks to government keeping a long leash on such hiring practices. A rise in federal scrutiny – hiring a deficient fella for a job he wants to do, and that the boss thinks he can do, but the feds think they know what’s best for both of them – that is going to hurt the harmless mentally disabled people willing to work more than any other group of disabled Americans.” [11]

With congress operating under a decades-old committee system, the bill could easily pass with a large “un-veto-able” majority in the Senate, Weber, added, “that is, if it somehow manages to get past the House.”

– The Washington Post, 5/14/1992



“Why don't we make distinctions between people who use drugs and people who abuse them? We automatically conclude that everyone who uses marijuana, for example, needs drug treatment. I agree that marijuana can have some harmful effects on the user, but, obviously, so can alcohol. I drink a glass of wine almost every night with dinner. Does that mean that I need an alcohol-treatment program?” [12]

– Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray (R-CA), Los Angeles Daily Journal op-ed, 5/15/1992



“Alaska Governor Bob Ross has announced that he will attend both the Democratic and Republican national conventions this summer, and will be giving art lessons to delegates at both functions. He will also be taking requests for caricatures at the Republican convention, but has yet to confirm that he will be giving private painting lessons to Minister Pirkle, who is having trouble depicting the three-quarters face angle for his paintings of Democrats burning in a lake of fire in Hell.”

– Kevin Nealon, “Weekend Update” sketch, SNL, 5/16/1992



FED EXPANDS ECONOMIC CRASH MINIMIZATION EFFORTS, CLAIMING “EXTRA SAFETY MEASURES” ARE “NECESSARY”

– The Financial Times, 5/18/1992



…As in political news, Major League Baseball Commissioner Lee Iacocca won the GOP primaries held in Washington state and the US Virgin Islands earlier tonight with ease…

– CBS Evening News, 5/19/1992



BELLAMY SIGNS CHILD PROTECTION FROM OBSCENITY ACT INTO LAW

…essentially backing up a similar bill passed in 1988 in the aftermath of the Second Ark Wave, the new act dictates that all makers of pornographic material must keep record of all models they employ, and that all said employees must to be at least 18 years old. The act will also grant states the ability to raise the severity of sentencing for those found guilty of violating these and other measures meant to protect the underage from obscenity and indecency…

– The Washington Post, 5/20/1992



…In Washington, D.C., the Supreme Court ruled 5-to-4 on the merits of large bank mergers. Relating to the US Justice Department’s investigation into attempts by Chemical Bank and Manufacturers Hanover Corporation to merge in 1991, Chief Justice Johnson sided with Justices Sneed, Fogel, Levi and Bacon to rule that both large banks could go forth with the merger after all. This case has evolved into a question on how big a corporations should be allowed to grow before it creates a monopolistic economic environment at a global, national, state, or even local level...

– KNN, 5/22/1992 broadcast



JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY ROOSEVELT

State Senator Kathleen Kennedy-Roosevelt (D-MA) (b. 7/4/1951), daughter of FBI Director Robert F. Kennedy, Michael Roosevelt (b. 1946), son of former US Representative James Roosevelt II and grandson of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, are proud to announce the birth of their fourth child and first son. Weighing 6 pounds 2 ounces at birth, the newborn son is named after his late uncle Jack Kennedy. Kennedy-Roosevelt and Roosevelt met in 1968 and married in 1970, and are the proud parents of Anna Kennedy-Roosevelt (b. 1972), Elizabeth “Betsey” Kennedy-Roosevelt (b. 1975), and Sara Kennedy-Roosevelt (b. 1979)…

– The Boston Globe, celebration section, 5/25/1992



GOP PRIMARIES: Iacocca Wins Arkansas, Idaho, And Kentucky With Little Opposition

– The Idaho State Journal, 5/26/1992



…With Iacocca already becoming the nominee-in-waiting, he easily swept the final round of primaries, held on June 2. California, New Mexico and North Dakota went to Iacocca in landslides, while supports of former Vice President Polonko entering the race successfully mounted a write-in campaign in Polonko’s home state of New Jersey…

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition

[pic: https://imgur.com/0yBCMta.png ]
Popular vote:
Lee Iacocca – 6,642,507 (52.7%)
Estus Pirkle – 2,445,249 (19.4%)
Susan Engeleiter – 1,323,459 (10.5%)
Doug Wead – 894,910 (7.1%)
J. J. Polonko Jr. – 41,153 (3.5%)
James Meredith – 189,065 (1.5%)
John B. Anderson – 151,252 (1.2%)
Richard Obenshain – 113,439 (0.9%)
William Scranton III – 100,835 (0.8%)
Jack Raese – 75,626 (0.6%)
Bob Dole – 50,418 (0.4%)
All other votes – 176,461 (1.4%)
Total popular votes – 12,604,378 (100%)

– clickopedia.co.usa



Bob Lutz, Iacocca’s successor at Ford, remarked “I am confident that Lee will do great things for America,” and increased in involvement in the GOP strategy for the Midwest. [snip] ...Meanwhile, the battle to be the next Commissioner of Major League Baseball continued. CEO of Trans International Airlines and former Olympic Games organizer Peter Ueberroth was again considered for the position, as was executive VP of Coca-Cola Fay Vincent, Milwaukee Brewers owner Bud Selig, former general manager for San Francisco Giants Spec Richardson, Houston Astros manager George Bush, and pitcher-turned-businessman Donald Trump. The feud between Bush and Trump that had begun in 1980 flared up again during this period as Trump publicly belittled Bush, questioning his intelligence and calling him an “elitist [who] thinks wearing a cowboy hat makes him a cowboy.” Bush countered by reminded fans of Trump’s role in the controversial “museumifying” of Fenway Park, referring to it being retired and turned into a public park/museum in 1986. This feud was bad publicity for the managers, causing them to turn away from both Bush and Trump. With a less public feud between Vincent and Selig cancelling each other out as well, managers were torn between Ueberroth and Richardson. Finally, Yogi Berra, the former manager for the Yankees and the Mets serving as Acting Commissioner, was elected as a compromise choice.

With the nomination unquestionably his for the taking, Iacocca finally stepped down as MLB Commissioner on June 3rd. Acting Commissioner Yogi Berra reluctantly accepted the promotion to official Commissioner, but only for another two years, noting that “Things will be more peaceful in management when managers start getting along better.”

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



…Bellamy’s sole major primary opponent was retiring Bill Lipinski, who served as a US Representative from Illinois, from 1983 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2005. Lipinski was basically ignored by the Bellamy campaign, with his call for a debate between the two of them going unanswered. Lipinski focused heavily on the New Hampshire and Georgia primaries, but after months of poor fundraising, received only 7.1% of the vote in the former, and 5.2% of the vote in the latter. However, during the first March Cluster, Lipinski did surprisingly well in the Arkansas and Oklahoma primaries garnering 11.6% of the vote in the former, and 15.3% of the vote in the latter – enough to merit a total of five delegates at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. However, outside of these two contests and the following Democratic primaries held in Alabama (6.1%), North Carolina (7.3%) and Mississippi (8.0%), Lipinski failed to win any more than 4% of the vote in any of the other primary races...

– clickopedia.co.usa/1992_Democratic_Party_Presidential_primaries



The nicest comparison that one can make between Thomas Kinkade and Bob is that both preferred the straightforwardness of realism. To quote Bob, “If I paint something, I don’t want to have to explain what it is.” [13] While he was a painter whose works were similar to those of Bob, albeit with a much heavier emphasis on Christian Values tones, Kinkade failed to fill the void left behind by Bob entering the political world. However, this failure may have had more to do with Kinkade’s scandalous personality more so than his artistic prowess.

Kinkade tried to replace Bob Ross in the art world, with his kitschy paintings emphasizing light and pastoral imagery that made him very commercially successful, but nonetheless failed to eclipse Bob’s iconic image. While journalist Laura Miller described Kinkade’s creations as “a bunch of garish cottage paintings,” [13] others noted that Kinkade lacked Ross’s soothing voice, or humble demeanor, and more still picked up on the greater sense that it was all about commercialized merchandise, the raw and sincere urge to teach people to draw found in Bob’s works being woefully absent from Kinkade’s paintings. In Tom’s defense, though, the academics who previously has expressed concern over Bob’s success, and what it implicated about the West’s perception of art, now had a newer, better, easier, more vulnerable target. But on the other hand, using the Christian “hook” to sell his paintings was “too obvious to so many” observers.

By the end of the 1990s, Kinkade was a millionaire, something Bob never became even when becoming Governor, due to his charitable contributions. However, Kinkade had a long history of cursing and heckling other artists and performers. He once even fondled a woman’s breasts at an artist convention in South Bend, Indiana [14], though the situation never went to court. Reports of Kinkade being either arrested, cited, or banned from a store for public urination while drunk popped up in news more than once during the 1990s. In 1992, for instance, the L.A. Times reported Kinkade created a public disturbance at a restaurant and had to be asked to leave after punching a waiter. Such instances tarnished his image, and while he still managed to have a financially-profitable painting-making empire and career, Kinkade never reached the iconic levels achieved by Bob.

Bob himself, meanwhile, was too busy working in Juneau to focus much on Kinkade’s antics…

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



In 1992, Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgaria’s President since 1985, was forced to confront a national crisis a short time into his second and final term. The nation’s post-Soviet migration to wealthier ex-communist nations such as Romania and Poland, and even United Turkestan, was creating a “brain drain” in Bulgaria’s cultural and education fields. On June 14, 1992, former Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov responded to this and the nation’s worsening economy by attempting to launch a socialist coup against Zhelev. With a band of 200 former communist Bulgarian soldiers and other supporters, Mladenov sought to invade the President’s official residence, the Boyana Residence in the capital city of Sofia. When a flank of 50 coup participants were successfully repelled by national troops, a second flank of 40 plotters launched a round of mortar attacks onto the capital building. The attacks killed three civilians, five police officers, and injured 28. Rumors of a violent dictatorship on the verge of rising to power, city residence took up arms. Over 500 locals converged on the source of the mortar attacks, leading to Mladenov’s men becoming surrounded a quickly surrendering. Meanwhile, Mladenov and his remaining followers attempted a front-door maneuver, only to be plowed down by defense reinforcements.

In an ironic twist, Mladenov’s intelligence – that Zhelev was meeting with leader of parliament at the official residence at the time – was incorrect. Zhelev was actually in the nearby city of Pernik, meeting with local farmers.

While Mladenov was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted coup, the event raised calls for bolder government action to combat the economic situation that was causing the nation’s best and brightest to seek employment elsewhere. Zhelev responded by establishing policies meant to support “knowledge transfers” among employers, and offering tax breaks and pay raises for tutors and educators of all kinds. Zhelev and his cabinet worked with local leaders to promote a culture of support in Bulgarian workplaces. Modernization, and giving learners of all ages time to transition to newer ways, was given high priority, as well as the investing of government funds into obtaining factory and farming tools, plus books and teaching equipment for schools. A test of these new nationwide measurements indicated a 10% drop in academic and highly-educated Bulgarians moving out of the country in the first year of their implementations, and thus they were continued…

– Frederick B. Chary’s The Modern Balkans: The History of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania and Turkey After The End of the Cold War Era, Greenwood Publishers, 2018 edition



…For those of you just tuning in, things have taken a turn for the worse in the western African country of The Ivory Coast, where a cam bomb has killed at least 7 people in the country’s economic capital and largest port city of Abidjan two hours ago. The cam bomb targeted the office building of a local oil pipeline repair company in the city’s suburb of Marcory, which has become a high-income part of the city in recent years. In the Ivory Coast, a rising number of the nation’s poorest citizens are calling for fairer distribution of wealth being brought in by oil deals with the neighboring country of Ghana, which is also suffering from similar unrests. As a part of this outrage at the disproportionate share of the nation GDP, the people of Sanwi, a region just east of the city of Abidjan, declared independence in 1991. The I.C. President, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, has blamed a Sanwi terror group for the cam bomb, and has just condemned the Sanwi separatists as “traitors” and the protestors elsewhere in the country as “elements of anarchy.” This is a developing story…

– KNN, 6/16/1992 broadcast



GUEST: “Iacocca is not really a Republican, he’s too liberal in too many places to be a Republican.”

HOST: “There have been rumors of you mounting an independent or third-party bid for the Presidency. Can you tell us anything about that right now?”

GUEST: “I can tell you that I’m not going to run this fall, but if a fellow Republican wants to go for third-party or independent run or something like that, and they promote returning America to its Christian roots in order to save it from a morally corrupt future, well, they’ll have my support, I can tell you that right now.”

– Minister Estus Pirkle (R-MS) guest appearing on Meet the Press, 6/17/1992



REPORT: CRIME RATES IN NYC BOROUGHS ON THE RISE

– The New York Post, 6/18/1992



“Let’s return America to its previous conditions of security. Let’s have it so, once again, someone can sleep with their windows open, when policemen were everyone’s friend, and they never shot anyone unless they really, truly deserved it. When we didn’t have to worry for our lives when walking down a city street or a country road. …America is at its best when people can trust one another. Only when kindness overcomes suspicion and fear do we achieve our goals, for it is through those goals that we obtain greatness and glory and even salvation.”

– Lee Iacocca, in a prepared hard-on-crime speech written to win over religious voters, 6/20/1992



EXTRA!: CHINA’S CHAIRMAN LI XIANNIAN IS DEAD!

…this development could have major ramifications both in and out of China…

– The New York Times, 6/21/1992



…Li dying two days shy of his 83rd birthday caused the factor of age to be prominent in the party’s consideration for whom would become Li’s successor. With Vice Chairman Lee Teng-hui (b. 1923) already serving on an interim basis, party elders initially considered making him official Chairman. However, Lee’s support of the full democratization of China’s markets and his strongly internationalist tendencies put him at odds with the party’s lingering “old guard.” Two alternative candidates, Wan Li (b. 1916), a moderate and advocate for constitutional reforms, and compromise candidate Zhao Ziyang (b. 1919), were deemed too old for the twelve-year-long term. Thinking outside of the box, party leaders eyed Zhu Rongji, the popular 63-year-old Mayor of Shanghai since 1987. A wealthy academic allegedly descended from the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu was a highly respected fighter of corruption who supported internationalism, but “so long as the will of the people of China remain at the forefront at all times.” Zhu’s record as mayor demonstrated a willingness to make tough decisions to keep economy roaring, which showed that he had the ability to plan for both short-term and long-term situations. Impressed by these aspects (but more so, his being more reluctant to attempt radical change than Lee Teng-hui), the party elders made their decision, and Zhu unexpectedly found himself accepting the position of Premier of the PRC on June 28, and officially began his twelve years the next month…

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



Jim Collins grew tired to Novak’s sugar-coating awful quick. “Cut the crap,” the CEO said. “Just tell us how bad it is!”

David C. Novak, the vice-chair of sales, relented. “The line’s only bringing in 60% of the revenue we thought it would. The products are even underperforming at locations with high temperatures, where frozen foods typically sell really well.”

“Maybe we should invest more into the advertising?” suggested Board Chairman Harold Omer.

Novak shook his head. “We’re losing both money and customers on this. People want fresh, already-hot KFC, not something they have to warm up at home. We’re offering something that not enough people want, and so we’re not seeing the results we expected to see.”

Board member Bob Yarmuth asked, “But they can improve, right? Maybe we can lower the price for a limited time to drive up demand?

“I don’t think that would change much,” board member Joe Ledington assessed.

“I think we should cut our losses and discontinue the line. Best case scenario, it’ll get a niche following like the Ollieburger and we’ll bring them back on a smaller scale or something,” Novak concluded.

“I disagree,” CEO Jim Collins announced. “I say we give it another four months, give it a chance. Market it some more, try to get people to buy by saying ‘while supplies last’ in all advertisements.”

“Isn’t that a little underhanded?” Ledington asked without fear of reprisal due to the workplace’s typically friendly culture.

“A little white lie like this would hurt nobody, Joe,” Collins said.

– Marlona Ruggles Ice’s A Kentucky-Fried Phoenix: The Post-Colonel History of Most Famous Birds In The World, Hawkins E-Publications, 2020



…Breaking news: California, God’s Etch-a-Sketch, was hit by another major earthquake just moments ago, at roughly 11:57 PM, local time. Estimated at the moment to be of a magnitude of 7.4, the quake struck Palm Springs and has awoken people across southern California. More details will be available in time, as this is a breaking news story…

– Overmyer Network Nightly News, 6/28/1992 broadcast



Burton was juggling several projects at once in the 1990s. After working on “Batman” (1989) and its prequel “Batman: Year One” (1990), he agreed to make one more Batman movie before returning focus on other projects. His co-producing of the 1992 film “Spiderman,” with River Phoenix as Spiderman, Harry Bernard “Ben” Cross as the Green Goblin, and a red-haired Selena Quintanilla-Perez as Mary Jane Watson in her film debut, was concurrent with his directing of “Batman Returns,” the final stand-alone Batman film in which Nicholas Cage starred as the Cape Crusader. Although criticized for its tone being even darker than its two predecessors, the third installment of the “Cage the Bat” Trilogy won praise for its action sequences, actor performances, music score, and special effects. More importantly, its ability to bring in roughly $280million on a budget of $84million allowed Burton to exit the franchise on an amicable note.

[snip]

Burton first thought up idea of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 1982, and ultimately made a development deal on the concept with Disney in 1991. Disney executives had originally shied away from such dark subject matter, but had recently changing their minds on the dark material in reaction to the rising prominence of the Riot Grrrl and Riot Boi subcultures suggesting that making “dark and edgy” material aimed at adolescents would be a financially lucrative investment. Katzenburg was more enthusiastic about the technical aspects of the project, believing it could revive interest in stop motion, and promote the implementation of CRI (Computer-Rendered-Imagery) into future projects (and its use in a few scenes in “The Nightmare Before Christmas” ended up being considered groundbreaking at the time).

However, Burton would not direct due to continuing commitments to other film projects such as 1994’s “Ed Wood,” co-producing another Superman film, and possibly co-directing a “Justice League” film. Additionally, Burton did not want to be involved in “the painstakingly slow process of stop motion” [15]…

…Production began on T.N.B.C. in September 1992 to a large budget, and was released on October 29, 1994…

– Kale Hanke’s Beyond Burton: An Unauthorized Biography Of A Filmmaker, St. Martin’s Press, 2010 edition



DESIGNERS RACE IN SHOWCASE OF GREEN ENERGY POSSIBILITIES

Austin, TX – The Sunrayce, unofficially called The American Solar Challenge (or A.S.C.), is an annual competition that sees college teams design, build, test and race their own solar-powered land vehicles in a lengthy road rally-type event. The race stretches across thousands of miles of public roads, with venue locations varying yearly for this cross-country display of technological innovation. The three-days-long event began with festivities marking the start of the race in Austin today, with the finish line in El Paso to most likely to be reached on Independence Day…

[pic: https://imgur.com/2OttGs3.png ]

Above: last year’s winner races past the finish line as spectators cheer on.

– The Houston Chronicle, 7/2/1992



WHY DID "TAKE THAT" STAY AROUND FOR SO LONG?: Of All The Teen Bands To Come Across The Pond During The British Invasion Of The 1990s, Why Did This One Stick Around Longer Than All The Rest?

By Tim Roney

In 1991, music mogul Nigel Martin-Smith wanted to capitalize on the rising popularity of teen bands, boy bands, and, most recently, “riot” bands, and sought to create a band that targeted all three demographics – and then some. With the idea of a less-edgy New Kids on the Block in mind, Martin-Smith brought together Gary Barlow (the singer), Howard Donald (the DJ), Jason Orange (the dancing painter), Mark Owen (the footballer) and Jason Brown (the “rebel”) to create “Take That” later that year.

Wanting to break out from the other British boy bands of the era, Martin-Smith attempted a wide array of musical pop styles to find something that was both distinct, yet widely appealing. He decided to try everything, or, to use an American expression, throw it all on the wall and see what stuck.

Marketing played a key role. Through talks with managers of bands involved in The Scene That Celebrates Itself, a self-explanatory movement from the early 1990s from England that caught on in most of Europe but only parts of the States, Martin-Smith became aware of how pop songs were marketed in the US, and began to study like finals were just around the corner.

With magazine-ready personalities, the music itself was more crucial than the look. Writing by songwriter Gary Barlow, “whose music is in the tradition of Elton John and George Michael,” Davis told Billboard in October 1995 [16], was vital. After several early songs aired in late 1991 and early 1992 proved too “soft,” as in too safe to appeal to edgy teens and not memorable enough to appeal to older audiences, Martin-Smith opted for a shift in style, focusing just on America’s youth. When planning the group’s first album release, Martin-Smith and the band decided to release both “edgy” songs and “soft pop” songs to see which were more successful in the UK before expanding outward.

Wanting to capture a “middle-pond” singing and dancing rhythm, one that would translate to sales in Europe and America, Martin-Smith took to some drastic measures according the band members. The five boys were forced the band to watch “hours and hours” of MTV and American music videos, “at least an hour a day for three weeks straight at one point,” according to a group interview in 2005. This possible violation of the Geneva Convention, though, may have worked for radio program listeners, as American sales of their music finally saw a spike upwards by the end of 1992 – especially after the release of their first album.

Take That’s debut studio album, “Take That & Party,” was released on 17 August 1992. It was a major success, briefly reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and staying in the UK Top 75 album chart for just over a year and a half. The band began to take Europe by storm.

But still the numbers were not satisfactory for Martin-Smith, especially as the pop market was becoming increasingly saturated by other British and American music gems. He wanted to try something bigger, something that would garner more attention and expand American awareness.

Hence, the American Tour of 1993…

– billboard.co.usa/articles



BELLAMY/LITTON RENOMINATED ON LAST NIGHT OF DNC IN NYC

…the party platform calls for defense of the rights of “all sidelined groups,” for greater environmental protection action due to rising concern over Global Climate Disruption, for congress to pass a National Initiative and Referendum Amendment to be ratified by the states, and – the largest plank – implementing a landmark Federal Guaranteed Employment bill “by the end of 1994”…

– The Washington Post, 7/16/1992



Bob received twelve votes for VP from delegates critical of Litton’s reluctance to enthusiastically support the more progressive planks of the 1992 Democratic platform, such as the decriminalization of recreational drugs deemed less harmful than alcohol, such as marijuana; a substantial raising of the minimum wage; greater legal protection measurements for BLUTAGOs, and racial and ethnic minorities; greater regulation of carbon emissions; and greater support of labor unionization efforts. Litton feared such political promises could not be kept if Republicans retained control of the House, and these twelve delegates responded to this doubt put promoting Bob, who was more supportive of these ideas, over Litton. …When asked about rumors that Bob would serve in Bellamy’s cabinet (most likely as Secretary of the Interior) if she won a second term later that year, Bob said “I’m honored, but no thanks. My focus right now is being Governor. It’s a bad idea to use two paintbrushes at once, so I’m not going to be running for one job when I already have a job. And this is a good job, too. I think I’m doing a good job here. I’m helping people, and that’s the sign of a job being done right, at least in my book.”

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



Iacocca agreed with President Bellamy in exploring the potential of the TechNet. The US’s IBM, Apple, and Motorola were not the sole leaders of innovation on the increasingly-global home computer market. The UK’s Amstrad was gaining prominence, as was Japan’s Nintendo. From the Middle East, Packard Bell was on the rise, too. Led by Binyamin Alagem, an Israeli-American entrepreneur, and given dual government funds in exchange for serving Israeli and Palestinian customers, in accordance with the economic “guidelines” of the Atlanta Peace Treaty of 1978, PB’s early success was inspirational to other technet innovators in the Middle East. Stateside, after defeating John Sculley in a power struggle for CEO of the company [17], Steve Jobs was making NeXT the leading company for both higher education computer programming and for education-related technological innovation, leading to Jobs meeting with President Bellamy, Technology Secretary Kyros, key US Senators, and Lee Iacocca several times just in the year 1992 alone.

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



Meanwhile, the surprisingly resilient self-declared government established on Barbuda had finally succumbed to the will of both the people and the federal authorities. On July 27, 1992, after nearly a year in control of the island and with its people firmly against his “reign,” a large raid on the captive governmental building was successful. Nibbs was shot in the arm and captured alive…

– Carrie Gibson’s Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2020 edition



FMR GOV. PEROT ENDORSES IACOCCA

– The Houston Chronicle, 7/27/1992



After rioters overpowered the home of one of VP Sudharmono, leading to local police firing on civilians, killing 17 people and injuring 26 more, Suharto’s last allies began distancing from him. The Sudharmono Mansion Massacre soon led to Suharto’s the nation’s leader since 1965, announce on June 28 the implementation of a 60-day freeze on banks in order to allow the government “breathing room” to address the financial crisis. Instead, behind closed doors, Suharto was preparing to resign. His vacating of the office on July 28 put the national crisis squarely in the lap of the unpopular Sudharmono, and almost immediately, a power struggle begin. Sudharmono (b. 1927) was ambitious and planned to end inflation with marketing reforms. Meanwhile, Suharto’s preferred successor, Try Sutrisno (b. 1935), a close ally of Suharto and commander of the Armed Forces, began openly rebuking the new President’s ideas while building a league of supporters within the Indonesian government.

– Adrian Vickers’ A History of Modern Indonesia (Second Edition), Cambridge University Press, 2015



REPORT: Economy Recovery Is Slower Than Expected

…the economic state left behind in the wake of the 1990 recession and the 1991 Hantavirus “mini-recession” is improving, but not as quickly as the federal government anticipated…

– The Wall Street Journal, 7/30/1992



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Not implausible: https://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/fashion-flashback-the-real-housewives-of-nasa-astronauts/ (“J.F.K. made clear [Rene] was his favorite” of the Apollo astronaut’s wives)
[2] Italicized parts of quote found here: http://www.quebecoislibre.org/001028-11.htm
[3] Italicized part is OTL quote: https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0124/012422.html
[4] Italicized passage pulled from Source 73 on his wiki page
[5] Italicized passage pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahd_of_Saudi_Arabia
[6] OTL!
[7] I was going to pick Farley for this role, or a Guest Star like William Shatner or John Belushi or Robert De Niro, but Phil Hartman played Iacocca on SNL IOTL FYI: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/get-to-know-me/n9794
[8] OTL!
[9] All segments here that are in italics are directly from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Framework_Convention_on_Climate_Change
[10] According to this: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/why-so-many-americans-now-support-legalizing-marijuana-in-4-charts , this: https://news.gallup.com/poll/267698/support-legal-marijuana-steady-past-year.aspx and other sources that show similar polling results, the disapproval number in 1991 was between 20% and 25% in OTL.
[11] Source 15 of the 1990 American with Disabilities Act’s wiki page: Thomas DeLeire’s “The Unintended Consequences of the Americans with Disabilities Act” (2000) reports that the employment rate of men with disabilities dropped by 7.8% between 1991 and 1995 IOTL, regardless of age or education level, and with the most affected being young, less-educated and mentally-disabled men.
[12] OTL quote!: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_P._Gray#Quotes
[13] OTL quote.
[14] According to his wiki article.
[15] According to Source 15 on The Nightmare Before Christmas’ wiki page
[16] These Italicized words, along with some un-italicized adjectives I used here to describe this group, are from here: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6634332/take-that-america-analysis-boy-band-week
[17] IOTL, Jobs lost this power struggle because the board of directors sided with Sculley while Jobs was visiting the Soviet Union on a business trip for Apple. ITTL, such a business trip doesn’t occur; instead, Jobs is supported by then-Governor Ross Perot (a backer of Jobs, as mentioned in January 1985 ITTL) and uses that political weight to win over the board!

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

Kennedy Forever said:
Just found this TL. Really enjoying it

Thanks!

Qaz_plm said:
-The Communist manifesto ,1848

But in all seriousness ,great updates
PM John Lennon is a very unique idea

Thank you and thank you!

HonestAbe1809 said:

1. I'm guessing that the names in this quote are the "canon" ones and the names under the concept art were ones that were replaced.
2. I do like using the name "Homer Simpson" with Principal Skinner's OTL design since I've seen a pic of Groening's father that resembles Skinner more than OTL Homer.
3. My idea of exiled Earth President Marjorie Wiggum is that she's a mix of Marge Simpson, Leela, and Zapp Brannigan. She's a former leader who can be a badass but can let her ego get the better of her.
4. Is Maggie the TTL version of Amy?
5. Personally I feel like something along the lines of Dot Matrix from Spaceballs works for Patty. Especially with Bart being the resident Ne'er-do-well of the crew.

Click to expand...

1. Good eye, that's typo, the caption should read "Homer," not "Seymour," thanks for pointing it out!
2. Thanks!
3. Good idea!

Unknown said:
Prime Minister John Lennon? Now there's something you don't see every day...

Were you inspired by the Covid-19 epidemic in your hantavirus epidemic ITTL, or was that just a coincidence, @gap80?

Thanks!

I was going to have the 1993 hantavirus outbreak from OTL be a bit worse, but I decided to move it up two years due to coronavirus and to add a bit of suspenseful-ness to early 1991. It also works as an additional GOP criticism, claiming Bellamy overreacted to it, for Republicans to use in 1992.

Thanks for commenting, everyone; I truly appreciate the feedback!

 

[gap80]

Post 58: Chapter 66

Chapter 66: August 1992 – December 1992

“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

– Jan-Luc Picard (OTL)



SUMMER OLYMPICS END IN BARCELONA

...the band "Queen" marked the conclusion of the closing ceremonies with their hit "Barcelona"... with Euro-Disney heading their way and the summer games a complete success, Spain is preparing for some very prosperous years ahead of them…

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/9/1992



CHINESE AND INDIAN DELEGATES GRILLED AT U.N. FOR HIGH AIR POLLUTION RATES!

…things heated up at a multinational conference at the U.N. building today when French delegates lambasted the representatives of China and India for downplaying their nations being first and second, respectively, on the U.N.’s official list of nations that contribute the most to annual air pollution rates. India’s officials countered by pointing to America being a number four (Brazil is at number three), while China’s delegates questioned the accuracy of the scientific measurements used when compiling the list…

– The New York Post, 8/10/1992



In a 2014 interview, former White House Chief of Staff Joan E. Spero recalled another incident of Carol’s impatience showing. “I was trying to get her to partake in a PR stunt of sort, a quick interview for one of those waiting-room magazines, a fluff piece on her daily routine, her friends, favorite foods and movies, things like that. More about personality than policy, which we knew wasn’t her game. She’d smile that warm, inspiring smile, but she disliked talking about herself, especially if it had nothing to do with helping people. So she kept rescheduling it and putting it off until we just cancelled it. Carol’s scheduled was too full, “stuffed with meetings,” I remember I said. And behind closed doors, Counselor to the President Diane Ravitch said, “Carol is too busy being President to really run for President.”

Indeed, Carol likely would have preferred a front-porch campaign of old, but the modern media world of soundbites and PR stunts had arrived. In private, Spero and other worried that “too much progressivism so quickly,” as Advisor John Seigenthaler put it, would “drive progressive turnout down as they now think that all is well, and…drive conservative and moderate turnout sky-high,” causing Bellamy to lose in a “shocking” upset, a reversal of 1948. “That would be a real-life tortoise-and-hare kind of moment,” Seigenthaler feared.

[pic: https://imgur.com/ffPg4Wi ]

Above: Bellamy at a cabinet meeting, c. August 1992

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



KFC JAPAN HOLDS AN ANNUAL MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR ITS CHICKENS

If you happen to swing by the grave of Col. Harland Sanders, former US President and founder of the KFC fast food empire, at the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, you may see buckets of chicken placed around his memorial, flanking an eternal flame and multiple flower arrangements. In Japan, though, you may see statues of the beloved Colonel at a memorial service for KFC Japan’s chickens.

Each year, in a solemn and serious tradition dating back to 1983, KFC Japan holds an annual memorial service for the brave chickens whose lives were lost in service of sating Japan’s hunger for fried chicken. The memorial service, known as Chicken Thanksgiving, is an annual event reportedly meant to be a way for the company to give thanks for the birds. Each year, according to the Japanese news source SoraNews24, the President of KFC-Japan, as well as other high-ranking executives in the company, plus “key workers along the supply chain such as meat processors, sales reps, and seasoning producers,” gather at one of Japan’s temples to appreciate, remember, and honor the chickens that are so valuable to their business. They also “pray for safe and healthy meat during the following year.”

The memorial, typically held in the summer, dates to the origins of Chicken Thanksgiving, when KFC Japan launched a marketing campaign promoting “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!” or “Kentucky for Christmas!”, which helped turned buckets of chicken from a fast food dinner to an annual holiday feast. Now, the tradition is so popular that the chain relies on it for a third of its annual income. [1]

– Time Magazine, August 1992 issue



…As the 1990s began, T.O.N. was on the decline as KNN began to siphon away viewers. Aiming to stay relevant in the saturated market, Mr. Overmyer sought to mimic the successful actions of the network’s competitors by launching T.O.N. O’ Toons [2], spoken as “ton o’ toons,” a new network channel dedicated entirely to broadcasting animated programming. The company quickly obtained both pre-existing material not already taken by the rest of the Big Five. By the middle of the decade, T.O.N. was producing original content for “Ton O’ Toons.” For example, the network ultimately gained the rights to the Defender of Dynatron City TV series (1993-1999) in 1992, and to Jimmy Neutron (1998-2009) in 1997...

– clickopedia.co.usa/The_Overmyer_Network



THE DEFENDERS OF DYNATRON CITY (film)

Premiered (on T.O.N.): August 16, 1992

Genre (s): surrealist, action, comedy, sci-fi, adventure

[snip]

CAST:
Whoopi Goldberg as Ms. Megawatt
Christopher Walken as Dr. Mayhem
Pat Fraley as Jet Headstrong
Candi Milo as Buzzsaw
David Foley as Toolbox

[snip]

Synopsis:
Set in the future, a team of transforming superheroes protect the bustling metropolis from the evil Dr. Mayhem and his robot accomplices.

Trivia Facts:
Trivia Fact No. 1: The made-for-TV movie was made to drum up support for the eponymous video game that was released in December 1992; the game’s release was delayed for roughly six months due to concerns that the hit detection requirements were too specific and thus too hard for playability. Similarly, the film’s release date was pushed back from February to August in order to improve its animation quality.

– www.mediarchives.co.usa/The_Defenders_of_Dynatron_City [3]



MAN-MADE OASIS: The Artificial Cities of Southern Israel

…businesses and even government agencies from Palestine and Egypt are collaborating with Israeli businesses and government agencies to “build up” the desert-filled, sparsely-population areas of southern Israel with impressive terraforming projects, creating dozens of Jewish communities. Currently, less than half are complete, creating images of paved roads that empty out into sandy nothingness, and skeletal layouts of buildings that will one day be stores, hospitals, community centers, schools, sports centers, and – most likely – thousands upon thousands of affordable homes. Taking a page out of Libya’s water systems, companies are installing miles of pipe from Tel-Aviv to water these artificial oases…

– National Geographic, August 1992 issue



For example, presumptive nominee Lee Iacocca entered the 1992 RNC without a pre-selected running mate. He had vetted many, and had compiled a shortlist, but wanted to find a specific kind of politician. The business wanted someone experienced, but not considered part of the party elite; he wanted a younger politician to offset him turning 68 during the fall campaign; most of all, he wanted someone who could unite the party by winning over dissatisfied Pirkle voters, and, to a lesser urgency, the former supporters of Wead, Paul and Goldwater as well.

In Iacocca’s case, the initial top four choices were Senators Meredith and Engeleiter, Governor Scranton, and Congressman Wead. Engeleiter would “steal Carol’s thunder,” but was a fellow moderate who was not too appealing to the conservative faction of the party. Meredith, an African-American, would be a bold and unprecedented pick. Meredith’s biggest drawback, though, was that he would likely fail to help Lee get legislation passed; his independent nature had made him few friends in that chamber, and was known for making him publicly call out members of his own party for policies with which he disagreed. Undoubtedly, flashbacks to the public spats between Mondale and Gravel took root in Lee’s head. Scranton would be a “doubling-down” on Iacocca’s Midwestern strategy, and Wead, while only a congressman, nevertheless was still very popular with the libertarian faction.

However, conservatives were most enthusiastic for the fifth name on the list – freshman US Senator Larry Miles Dinger of Iowa.

Born and raised in what the man himself described as “bucolic” Iowan town, Larry Miles Dinger had served in the US Army in Cambodia from 1968 to 1970 before graduating from Harvard Law in 1974 and serving in the US House from 1977 to 1981. Dinger garnered foreign policy experience with several ambassadorial positions under President Denton, until stepped down in September 1986 in protest of the Denton’s involvement in scandals; this act helped him stay popular enough in DC circles for him to become President Kemp’s U.S. Undersecretary of Defense. Dinger, a Democrat until 1967, showed bipartisanship when he accepted the role of US Ambassador to the United Nations under Bellamy, but stepped down 11 months later to successfully run for a US Senate seat in 1990, at the relatively young age of 44. In the time since, his voting record implied his selection would cover all of the bases needed to beat Bellamy [4] in November.

[pic: imgur.com/1kApcbK.png ]
Larry Miles Dinger, c. 1991

At the 1992 Republican National Convention (held from August 17 to August 20 in Houston, Texas), several delegates voiced concern that Dinger was “not tested” in regards to his voting record in Congress. While considerably to the right on most issues, most of Dinger’s Senate work had focused on committees concerning agriculture and foreign affairs. Thus, the Senator connected well with rural voters far better than the rust belt businessman. Furthermore, his short time in the Senate made him not a part of the party elite while still hinting at an ability to get legislation passed. “Larry’s like a self-made jigsaw piece, filling up enough of the spaces here and there to get the job done,” Lee noted in private to his campaign manager at the time. However, delegates persisted he go for a bolder choice such as Senators Meredith, Engeleiter or Claudine Schneider of Rhode Island. To counter this, Dinger focused on both “bread-and-butter” concerns like the rising price of gas and other issues and “the moral necessity of obtaining individual liberty” during his August 18 convention speech, which received resounding cheers from both the libertarian and “Pirklesque” camps. As a result, Dinger won 76% of the convention’s Vice Presidential delegate count, with Meredith in second place with 11%, Senator Barbara Cubin of Wyoming in third with 7%.

– Suzanne M. Leland’s The Suit Circuses: A Look At Presidential Conventions in The U.S.A., 2016 edition



PIRKLE ENDORSES IACOCCA/DINGER ON FINAL DAY OF RNC

– The Houston Chronicle, 8/20/1992



SUCCESS AND STRENGTH, AT HOME AND ABROAD

– Unofficial Iacocca’92 slogan, first used c. late August 1992



MITCHELL LEADS PROG-TOMS TO PLURALITY VICTORY!

…Maggie Mitchell led the Progressive-Tomorrow party to a plurality of MP seats in tonight’s elections, best Paul Martin Jr. of the Liberal party, and incumbent Prime Minister Erik Nielsen of the Conservative party, who fell to third place. Mitchell win most likely work with the Liberals to form a working “minority” government. …Nielsen faced criticism from his own party in recent months over difficulty passing legislation. He was unpopular in the Maritime Provinces for imposing a two-year moratorium on cod fishery to boost the cod population in the area, but without a plan for the hundreds of thousands of fisherman who lost revenue or had resorted to fishing for other local fish. This wrench in the fishing industry especially hurt PCs in Newfoundland, were they performed miserably tonight. Nielsen’s opposition to capital punishment dismayed social conservatives, and his gaffe last month – stating “rural children can be just as smart as urban children” when discussing rural-urban test score differences, despite stemming from the rural Yukon – did not exactly help his standing with voters in the prairie provinces, either. …Mitchell will be the first female elected Prime Minister and the second woman to serve as Prime Minister (after Sheila Copps’ short-lived tenure)…

– The Globe and Mail, Canadian newspaper, 8/24/1992


In 1992, Bellamy came out in support of the leaders of western Europe, led by the UK’s PM John Lennon, in demanding that the PRC had to accept Taiwan joining the WTO if the PRC wanted to join as well. With the Western Turkestan Camps Crisis still fresh in the politburo’s minds, the PRC reluctantly agreed.

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



PATH OF TERROR: Hurricane Andrew Wreaks Havoc in S. Florida

…one of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida’s history is mercilessly hitting the Sunshine State, killing eight people so far and creating hundreds of millions of dollars in damages so far...

– The Sun-Sentinel, 8/25/1992

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

...Bellamy has sent out the National Guard to help rescue survivors from debris, maintain order at shelters and hospitals, and clamp down on riots and looting...

– The Miami Herald, 8/28/1992



FIRST LADY OF ALASKA PASSES AWAY

Juneau, AS – Alaska’s First Lady Jane Ross has passed away from cancer, according to an official family statement. A camera-shy and humble First Lady, Jane nevertheless promoted the arts, creativity and higher education programs for children, and advocated for greater funding for children’s hospitals. Jane’s death comes as a surprise and as a shock to the people of Alaska, as, while their First Lady was known for her privacy and for her timidity, especially in regards to interviews, her cancer diagnosis was never made public. Governor Bob Ross (I-AS), who, according to anonymous members of his staff, is “beside himself,” “despondent,” and “lachrymose,” has cleared his calendar for the next month. Memorial services specifics, however, have yet to be announced.

– The Washington Post, 9/1/1992



MITCHELL SWORN IN AS CANADA’S NEWEST PM

– The Calgary Sun, Canadian newspaper, 9/4/1992



BELLAMY: 47.1%
IACOCCA: 46.5%
OTHER/UNDECIDED: 6.4%

– NBC national poll, 9/9/1992



Michael Craig “Mike” Judge (b. 10/17/1962) is a producer, musician, mathematician, writer, animator, voice actor, and retired physicist. [snip] Judge graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1985 and initially worked in physics and mechanical engineering before moving to Silicon Valley in 1987, where he found work at a low-level position in Apple Inc., and began playing bass in a local band. Finding more success in music than at Apple, he left the company in 1989 to co-found Frog Splatter, an alternative rock band under the Black Top Records label. His hit single “Cornholio” peaked at #1 on the charts for six weeks in September 1992. During his subsequently successful musical career, he worked on music-related projects with Tommy Chong, Anson Funderburgh, Doyle Bramhall and many others. He collaborated with Nirvana in 1995, and formed a lasting friendship with Kurt Cobain in the process. …He did not begin to develop an interest in animation until the mid-to-late 1990s [5], partially due to the social situations of that era…

– clickopedia.co.usa



HOUSE REJECTS DISABLED RIGHTS BILL OVER EMPLOYMENT RATES CONCERNS; Dems “Workshopping” Alternative Bill

– The Washington Post, 9/14/1992



…Arthur Nibbs was quickly brought to trial and found guilty of treason. After being sentenced to life in prison for his role in the unlawful occupation of government property and the wounding of a total of five officers, Nibbs famously proclaimed on September 16th that “I and my brothers-in-arms will not go unavenged – in 25 years, all the oppressors and betrayers and their precious elitist homes and buildings will be blown away and destroyed! There will be nothing left of them – Barbuda will be cleansed! That is our promise!”

– Carrie Gibson’s Empire’s Crossroads: A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2020 edition



While Bellamy focused heavily on Education, Civil Rights, and Children-related topics such as food security, and touted her Healthcare accomplishments, Iacocca focused more on Agriculture, the old “Kempian” talking point of Urban Development (“ZEDs helped enfranchise thousands of Black people nationwide, and you can thank Republicans for that!” Iacocca proudly boasted more than once), and Government Spending (“The Feds must improve efficiency so more is spent in the right places!” went another Iacocca talking point meant to cash in on nostalgia for “the good ol' days” of President Colonel Sanders). While immigration was not a major issue in this election cycle, it still played a role in Iacocca’s efforts to win immigrants eligible to vote over to the Republican side. Many Hispanics and Catholics from socially conservative cultures flocked to Iacocca’s camp. Furthermore, while most in the GOP were to the right on immigration, Iacocca himself was a left-leaning centrist on the subject due to him being the son of immigrants, a note he brought up more than once when stumping in immigrant-high areas in the Midwest and Northeast. The economic issues of minimum wage, social programs, taxation, unions, and business regulations was where the two differed the most, and yet both campaigned heavily in the rust belt for the blue collar labor vote.

However, the biggest issue for Iacocca was Japan’s seemingly unstoppable growth. Apart from a minor recession in 1987 from which they quickly recovered, Japan was dominating industries, threatening us employment with a brand-new concept with which many Americans were starting to become familiar – outsourcing.

[snip]

…Sexism was once again prevalent in the race, with Bellamy supporters claiming that criticisms of her taxation policies were driven by gender discrimination more so than by economics. However, Bellamy’s biggest weakness in the eyes of many was her foreign policy record, with many Republicans claiming her humanitarianism went too far when she made a grain deal with the ruthless dictatorship of North Korea...

– Thomas Hennen Carter’s Bellamyville: The Rise And Struggles Of An American President, Scribner publishers, 2018



“I say, ‘Why are you wishing away the middle class?’ If these workers who were making $18 an hour are retained to work at McDonald’s for $3 an hour, they ain’t going to buy any cars or houses. The wage problem isn’t take-home pay. That’s only $10 out of $20. The other world market is by most accounts expected to narrow the $1,200 gap between Japanese and American per-car production costs. We have $600 a car that we think we will get reduced through productivity improvements – robots and the like. About $300 is direct labor. We can get a piece of that by attacking these millionaire doctors we’re breeding. We’ve never needed them, and we especially don’t need them now. We’re not trying to reduce health care. We’re trying to get at competitive health care rates, and there’s no competition because there’s too much government control.” [6]

– Lee Iacocca, chiding the White House at an open-to-the-press political fundraiser in Washington D.C., 9/21/1992



“HOSEA, AARON & RALPH” BRINGS THE CIVIL RIGHTS LEGACY TO CHILDREN AND IS A MUST-SEE FOR ALL

Juanita Terry Williams, the primary torchbearer of her late husband’s legacy, partnered with DIC Entertainment, L.P. to create a film about the three most celebrated Civil Rights icons of the 1960s, all of whom were cut down in their prime – one by plane crash, two by assassination. The film, a star-studded animated home video release available since Friday, centers mainly on Williams’ late husband most especially; she hopes it will make children “see Hosea Williams as more than a name in a history book, or the name of every other boulevard in every other southern city.” Aiming to entertain and educate, the video is a fast-moving hour concerning two present-day friends, one white and one black, who end up travelling back in time and befriending Hosea, meeting him first as a young teenager chased out of town by a lynch mob, then after being a soldier in WWII, and later as a new rising star in the Civil Rights Movement. This is where our two protagonists meet Ralph Abernathy, Hosea’s higher-ranking friend, and Aaron Henry, a political firebrand. After learning of Henry’s assassination, and that Hosea will soon die next, followed later by Ralph, the two main characters try to prevent all three fates by bringing them to the present, only to discover what the world might have been like without the efforts of their three new friends.

A passion project of Juanita’s for several years, the film boasts impressively detailed and fluid animation for DIC production, combining exclusive archival footage from the estates of Williams, Henry, and Abernathy with the film’s animated world via merging real-life material onto windows, backgrounds, picture frames, and even the elections in the characters’ eyes. The film also touts an all-star cast that includes Whoopi Goldberg, David Alan Grier, Danny Glover, Angela Bassett, Ron Pallilo, Demond Wilson, Christopher Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Guillaume, Ron Glass, Roscoe Lee Brown, Whitman Mayo, Susan Tomalin, and Oprah Winfrey.

“Hosea, Aaron & Ralph,” released through Tumbleweed Home Entertainment, is available for $16.99.

– Lynne Heffley, film critic, The Los Angeles Times, 9/24/1992 [3]



BELLAMY: 47%
IACOCCA: 46%
OTHER/UNDECIDED: 7%

– CBS national poll, 9/27/1992



..Under Bellamy’s instructions and her Attorney General’s supervision, the Justice Department began increasing the scope and depth of its investigations into money laundering schemes relating to cocaine trafficking relating to the United States, and began working with INTERPOL, plus law enforcement officials in Colombia and Italy, as part of these investigations. The movements were publicized by her campaign, which was motivated by politics. Several members of her inner circle wanted to combat GOP claims that Bellamy was soft-on-crime over her support of pardoning nonviolent offenders, and for opposing for-profit prisons, ideas painted in 1992 as “stepping stones to rampant and unchecked crime sprees,” as US Senator Mario Biaggi (D-NY) put in late September 1992…

– Sinclair Dinnen’s The Laws of the 1990s: Changing Legalities For Changing Times, Arturo Books, 2003



They were gaining on us. Their boat was not much bigger than ours but wasn’t what scared us. It was their guns. Lots of them. Each man with a gun and black-and-red flag on their body to show which side of things they were on. They intimidated us. The captain too. The bells rang. The crewman scattered around in organized panic. We had been told about the river pirates prior to the trip, but we, apparently, had not been careful enough. We’d been spotted. And they were gaining on us.

When they got close enough to the cargo ship. The crewmen took out oars and hoses to try and keep them back. Didn’t work. One of the younger crewmen got too jumpy. He ran below deck and came big with the flare gun. The only weapon on board. He fired it at them. He missed. When he tried to fire again one of the pirates shot him. He and his flare gun fell overboard before anyone could do anything. That first bullets led to more, and we hit the deck. The pirates boarded within minutes like lions taking down an elephant. One of the pirates looked at me, spit on me, and said something in Spanish. I could only make out “Americano” or something like that. Then I found out what it’s like to take a rifle butt to the back of the head. At least you can’t tremble in fear when you’re unconscious.

– National Geographic photographer Robert F. Sisser’s account of encountering Colombian River Pirates while documenting the Colombian Civil War, 1993 statement

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

– A boat of ELN guerillas similar to the ones that attacked Robert Sisser’s envoy on 10/2/1992



The situation in Colombia was escalating in intensity as both sides began to resent the ongoing presence of non-Colombia ground forces, especially American troops. Bellamy’s efforts to pull out proved difficult. “She called it the Jenga dilemma. If you pull out too soon, and our allies fail to fill the void, the enemy wins. If you pull out too slowly, locals resent your lingering presence, our allies lose support while the enemy gains support, and the enemy wins,” noted Peter Flaherty, Bellamy’s Secretary of State at the time, in a 2003 interview.

Inland, ELN guerillas took to the country’s many rivers to attack perceived threats. On October 2, 1992, such attacks led to the kidnapping of an American journalist and his photographer, in turn leading to the two men being held hostage for five days before US and Colombian police stormed the guerilla’s outpost, culminating in a firefight that resulting in the deaths of all of the guerillas, and all of the survivors limping away with bullet wounds.

Farther out to sea, larger ships, namely international cargo ships traveling through the Panama Canal Zone, were at a high risk of such attacks from members of FARC, the left-wing guerilla movement heavily involved in kidnapping, ransom, and extortion. FARC members inland focused more on illegal mining, and participating in the recreadrug black market. Upon the successful extraction of the American hostages, Bellamy visited UN headquarters in New York to call for international crackdowns on Colombia guerilla activities and for stronger security measures to be put into place for vessels traveling through waters close to Colombia.

In the UK, PM John Lennon replied by calling for royal navy vessels to “escort” British ships using the Panama Canal Zone, citing five attempts made by sea-bound FARC guerillas to board British freights in the past eight months. Heads of State of other nations issued similar declarations soon after.

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018



BELLAMY: 52%
IACOCCA: 44%
OTHER/UNDECIDED: 4%

– CBS national poll, 10/7/1992



“Under a second term of President Bellamy, if parents want to leave their child alone with their child’s grandmother, the grandmother will have to be licensed by the federal government. Licensing grandmothers, think of that, that’s what the Carol Cronies mean when they say family, they mean big brother. When we say family, we mean ‘honor thy mother and thy father.’” [7]

– Estus Pirkle, stumping for Lee Iacocca in Wausau, Wisconsin, 10/8/1992



KING SISAVANG VATTHANA OF LAOS DIES AT 84

…Born on November 13, 1907, King Sisavang Vatthana ruled for roughly 33 years, from his father’s death in 1959, throughout a bloody civil war against the Pathet Lao during the 1960s and early 1970s, and to the start of expanding democratization efforts. The King passed away in his sleep from natural causes, according to the royal family’s official statement. The southeast Asian country’s geopolitical position may likely shift away from American alliance now. The nation’s new ruler, upon an official coronation early next year, will be the current Crown Prince, Vong Savang (b. 1931), a popular figure within Laos who favors his country joining the Non-Aligned Movement led by Yugoslavia over continuing his father’s favoritism toward the U.S. “and its imperialistic tendencies,” as Vong Savang put it in a 1986 interview. Meanwhile, Vong Savang’s eldest son and future Crown Prince of Laos, Soulivong Savang (b. 1963), is an openly avid Anglophile...

– The San Francisco Chronicle, 10/9/1992



The 10/10/1992 debate was not good for Bellamy. Iacocca attacked the President on her inability to lead American Armed Forces to victory in Colombia or to successfully oversee peace talks in that country, either. Bellamy had hoped that Colombia’s new constitution, which was promulgated on 4 July 1991, would cease the violence. “We have boots on the ground down there getting mowed down by mercenaries, cam bombs, and ruthless guerilla fighters. Their atrocities can’t be erased from history with an amnesty agreement,” Iacocca said, referring a controversial part of the failed peace talks. Iacocca also reminded viewers of Bellamy sacking her U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, Benjamin Fernandez (R-CA), over the failure of the peace talks, as an indication of her poor “judge of character,” as Iacocca put it, and of the “Colombian River Pirates” crisis from earlier in the month. Bellamy’s rebuttal, implying Republican Presidents had poorer judgement skills (“you remember Denton, don’t you? You had great things to say about him not too long ago.”), received both nods of approval and shaken heads of disapproval from the live audience.

Bellamy’s best defense was to rebuke Iacocca’s rhetoric by reminding viewers of his alleged lack of foreign policy experience. Her challenger countered these points by bringing up his signing of multiple business deals with manufacturers across the globe, leading to Chrysler and Ford getting materials for its US-base factories from countries across the globe. Iacocca also mentioned how, as MLB Commissioner, had negotiated a deal with players for a pay raise in 1988 to avoid a strike that would have cancelled the World Series that year, using it and the aforementioned business ventures as example of his ability to work with adversarial elements; “that’s the skillfulness I’ll bring to negotiations with congress.”

The only thing Carol and Lee agreed on in this debate, other than promoting nuclear proliferation, albeit at different paces, was the promotion of space exploration, with both candidates favoring a Mars landing within the next ten or fifteen years. Experts at the time believe that the next closest the two planets would be closest to one another would be in 2003, when they’d be only 33.9 million miles apart [8]. How to cover the costs of such an endeavor, however, was where the candidates differed once more. Due to her frustrations with the limitations of the Balanced Budget Amendment, Bellamy promoted the idea that NASA, private organizations, and the “International Community” should “split the check,” in response to Iacocca’s blunt promotion of exclusively NASA and America-based companies “pave the way” instead.

Most viewers believed Iacocca won the debate. While both candidates maintained cool demeanors, some viewers stated Bellamy seemed more “flustered” than the supposedly less-experienced Iacocca.

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition



…Bellamy’s standing in the polls have dropped roughly 3 points in the wake of her poor performance debate this past Saturday evening. On the other hand, the likeability of both major party nominees is at a historic high. Additional polling reveals that most undecided voters are concerned more about the economy, which is growing, but sluggishly, and about foreign policy, much more than he personality of each candidate…

– ABC News, 10/12/1992



“When I look at the poll numbers right now, and I see that Lee only has a slight lead, like 2 percent, I think, and I truly think this, I think that Ron would have had this election in the bag by now if he had been nominated. He’d be polling at least 5 points ahead right now. But, well, the people have spoken, I mean, they spoke, uh, they chose Lee, and, you know what, if you are not free to choose wrongly and irresponsibly, you are not free at all.” [9]

– Jacob Hornberger, former campaign regional manager on the Ron Paul ’92 Presidential campaign, TV interview, The Overmyer Network, 10/13/1992 [10]



…On October 12, 1992, a severe earthquake shook Cairo, the capital of Egypt at the time, leaving hundreds dead. In a demonstration of how far the citizens of the region had come from the consistent clashes of yesteryear, multiple Israeli organizations sent aide and funds for recovery efforts …Israeli volunteers noted the hospitality, with one writing “our presence is welcomed with open arms. I do not think it is because it is a time of crisis. There is no subdued or hidden trace of hesitation, fear or suspicion among the people here.”…

– Ami Ayalon and Nikki Zagha’s Our Delicate Peace: The Making and Preservation of the Modern Middle East, Scobell Books, 2009



“This may have been interesting to farmers in Missouri and Iowa, but for everyone else in the country who made the mistake of watching this tonight, this debate was more boring than Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon and more inconclusive than The Shining. Each one of them – Larry and Jerry – kept trying to say ‘no, I’m more of a country bumpkin than you!’ Except neither pink pillar of Suit Filling even tried using kitschy salt-of-the-earth sayings to at least keep things interesting. Just statistics on how many more tractors were made in Japan instead the US over the last year, or how many bovine asses each of them have been near this month. Nothing that’ll change the minds of undecided voters.”

– Hunter S. Thompson, reviewing the 1992 VP debate, Saturday 10/17/1992



On October 20 [1992], Turner-Kennedy Broadcasting, Inc. launched The Cartoon Network, a TV channel aiming to consist of entirely animated programs for a variety of audience ages. Ted Turner oversaw these developments much more closely than Ted Kennedy, who was more involved in the more adult-oriented content, especially politics, news, and made-for-TV films. The purchasing of MGM cartoons, Fleischer Studios cartoons, and Hanna-Barbera Productions during the late 1980s and early 1990s gave TKB extensive library of animation properties for airing on the C.N.…

– Michael O’Connor’s A Tale of Two Teds: How Kennedy And Turner Built A Media Empire, Greenwood Press, 2017



Bellamy seemed to bounce back two weeks later, during the final Presidential debate held on Saturday 10/24/1992. The discussion tended to focus more on social issues such as the Moseley v. Van Dam Supreme Court ruling and the continuation of the War on Recreadrugs. On the former topic, Bellamy supported the court decision, while Iacocca walked a careful line, noting his Catholic faith in his opposition to the ruling but noting “the law of the land means women can now choose to make their own decisions without some government red tape interfering.” He concluded that while he openly discouraged abortion, he would respect the court ruling and “the freedom of choice, and one using one’s own morals to decide when abortion should be used,” while nevertheless encouraging mothers to “let your children have a chance at life.” On the latter topic, Bellamy called for “further research” into the effectiveness on the war, while Iacocca was a steadfast supporter of the war on “that brain-wrecking junk.”

Bellamy defended her four years of accomplishments with much enthusiasm; “Healthcare was the most expensive aspect of hiring employees, but not anymore. Food insecurity was a major epidemic in this country that affected millions of children, but not anymore.” She also defended her second-term goals of cutting the number of private prisons in the US in half, and the establishment of better recreadrug addiction treatment and rehabilitation clinics, without openly promoting decriminalization.

Despite UHC becoming increasingly popular among Americans, Iacocca complained about its high cost, saying “I want there to be an incentive to keep down UHC costs,” and suggested “scaling back” unspecified parts of UHC in order to make more money available for “other parts of the federal budget.” Bellamy countered this point by stating that she wanted to bring more money into the US economy to cover UHC and other programs by making “more millionaires and billions give their fair share back to the people and nation that make it possible for them to acquire so much wealth to begin with.” Iacocca ended with segment of the debate by claiming that the U.S. would have a “friendlier and thus more effective” Congress under “less divisive leadership in the White House.”

Toward the end of debate, Iacocca returned to his criticizing of Bellamy’s foreign policy, which promote the US “overseeing democracy-building diplomatic efforts oversees, for we Americans are democracy builders.” Lee countered by criticizing her handling of crises unfolding in Ghana and Bulgaria before returning once more to Bellamy’s allegedly poor response to the “Colombian River Pirates” Crisis in October. Iacocca attacked Bellamy’s cutting of defense spending amid “chaos unfolding” in Ghana and Colombia, which Bellamy countered by discussing humanitarian and diplomatic efforts there, and again blaming the confinements of the BBA. To this rebuttal, Iacocca concluded “We need to be bolder, and more willing to swing our big stick Teddy Roosevelt talked about when we need to swing it!”

– Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes: Roads to The White House, Sunrise Publications, 2011 edition



BELLAMY: 49.5%
IACOCCA: 46.7%
OTHER/UNDECIDED: 3.8%

– NBC national poll, 10/31/1992



ANALYSIS: 20 REASONS WHY BELLAMY WILL WIN A SECOND TERM

– The Washington Post, 11/1/1992

[pic: https://imgur.com/M9VCqd0 ]

Tickets:
Lido A. Iacocca (CA) / Larry Miles Dinger (IA) (Republican) – 53,893,522 (50.01%)
Carol Bellamy (NY) / Jerry Lon Litton (MO) (Democratic) – 52,632,671 (48.84%)
U. Utah Philips (UT) / Barbara Ehrenreich (VA) (United Progressives) – 431,058 (0.40%)
Ronald E. “Ron” Lewis (KY) / Fred Shuttlesworth (AL) (Salvation) – 334,073 (0.31%)
Mark Andrew Skousen (CA) / Robert Nozick (MA) (Liberty) – 204,754 (0.19%)
William K. Shearer (CA) / Scott McConnell (NY) (Country) – 193,977 (0.18%)
All other votes – 75,435 (0.07%)
Total Votes – 107,765,491 (100%)

[snip]

…Lewis, a Baptist minister who managed the Pirkle campaign’s Appalachian division during the GOP primaries, created the Salvation Party and soon afterward formed its rather bottom-heavy Presidential ticket with the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, who was much more famous than Lewis due to Shuttleworth spending decades of promoting civil rights and combating homelessness. Meanwhile, A United Progressives ticket was formed when several far-left parties (Liberty Union, Progressive, A Just Society, Green, American Democratic Labor, and others) all rallied behind a single candidate in September: political activist, musician, and nearly-perennial candidate U. Utah Philips...

[snip]

…Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio were the closest states, in that order, with all but Ohio being under 1%...

[snip]

…Many media outlets received much public scrutiny and criticism after the election for predicting a Bellamy re-election victory for weeks prior to the election. Many analysts claim that this “overconfidence” influenced voter turnout among Bellamy and Iacocca supporters…

– clickipedia.co.usa



Anchor DAN RATHER: …It’s 1:25 AM, and just moments ago, after Pennsylvania went to Bellamy, Wisconsin and its thirteen votes went to Iacocca, giving him a total of 275 electoral votes, making him the first person elected president without any prior government or even any military experience. We’re still waiting for results from Alaska, Hawaii, and Oregon, but the race is already over, it’s already won, and, uh, businessman Lee Iacocca has won it.

Political commentator JANICE FINE: I’m just shocked by this, Dan. Bellamy’s one of our greatest Presidents, and – I mean, why did so many vote for Ia-coke-head? Don’t those people realize Bellamy’s policies are making people’s lives happier, smarter, safer and more comfortable? I mean, don’t they?!

Wisconsin Governor PAUL SOGLIN: Some folks don’t know what’s good for them. Others make false correlations. They see drug cartel violence on the rise in Mexico and Colombia, and the, uh, the likes of Buckley and Limbaugh convince them it’s the incumbent’s fault. Though honestly, I can’t help but feel kind of responsible here.

Analyst TIM RUSSELL: How so?

SOGLIN: I’ve been governor for ten years, and it seems obvious that my home state’s getting pretty sick of me.

Political commentator: Or maybe, just maybe, just hear me out here, she lost because she didn’t promise enough. She promised a continuation of what she had already implemented, plus further scrutiny of the big banks, which is always a good thing, and raising the minimum wage, and voting reform. She gave a passive “I’ll look into it” kind of response to prison reform and the war on recreadrugs, both while on the campaign trail and during the debates. Maybe that wasn’t inspirational enough for undecided voters who wanted something more, something revolutionary. Iacocca didn’t represent that, but he sure did come off at times as representing it.

Journalist LESLIE STAHL: I blame it on cultural backlash.

Statistician JOHN CHANCELLOR: Why do you say that?

FINE: Oh, can I field that one?

STAHL: Alright…

FINE: Because there are more conservatives in this country than most hoity-toity college-educated, white-collar, ritzy snobs want to believe there are. Having a female President’s one thing, but a female President who institutes “socialist” healthcare, essentially greenlights gay marriage, attacks American can-do independence with nanny-state welfare programs, and defies traditional values by unashamedly staying single? That was way too much for too many pearl-clutching suburban housewives and sexist pigs euphoric for the ultra-macho days of the Ike and Colonel presidencies, and guess what? Both of those men had “Republican” next to their names, as did Lee-Hail-acocca!

RATHER: Alright, let’s settle down here, it’s been a long night for all of us.

Journalist ED BRADLEY: Also, I want to point this out, Bellamy exhausted her political capital too soon with her ambitious welfare programs. I think that played a role here. She burned too many bridges and angered too many conservatives and anti-UHC moderates on Capitol Hill pushing through UHC.

STAHL: And Iacocca was successful in attacking the President’s foreign policy shortcomings. The Colombia Peace Talks falling through, that grain deal with North ores, and, most especially for the Lee campaign, Japan leading as America falls behind in the global marketplace.

FINE: But so many women supported Bellamy!

CHANCELLOR: Actually, not all women voted for Bellamy. Many women voted for Iacocca over his alleged diplomatic skills, and many others over is ethnic born-to-immigrants roots that won over many women voters that can relate to that. Lee being a widow who was often on the campaign trail with his two daughters made him seem like a “family man,” while Bellamy’s usually-empty upper floor didn’t exactly scream, quote, “family values,” unquote, to many in places such as rural parts and the suburbs.

BRADLEY: Yes, and besides, Bellamy’s most enthusiastic backers were under 30, and do you know how unreliable they are when it comes to voting?

CHANCELLOR: I do! Of got hundreds of graphs, give me a minute to find the right one, uh, the one that – ah, here it is! Yes, turnout for voters between the ages of 18 and 28 dropped about 15% from 1988.

SOGLIN: I think what it came down to, though, was, um, it was a battle of image. Iacocca was the latest American Success Story, heavily reliant on nostalgia for Colonel Sanders, but their campaign was, in my opinion, shallow, with Iacocca’s main focus being Japan and manufacturing jobs. Bellamy’s platform was wider-ranging with good policies but lacked that certain charisma that appealed to upper-bracket suburbanites. And let’s not forget about all the aspersions Republicans have been making against her since day one!

FINE: No, they took their eyes off the prize. Too many thought she could win without their vote, that she’d win re-election in a landslide, like what I thought. But if they all thought that, she’d have gotten no votes from them at all, so at least not everyone under 30 has forgotten the tortoise-and-hare story.

RUSSELL: Well, Janice, at least it was a tight race. Less than 2% margin. Only about 1.2 million votes less than Iacocca, and way more votes than, uh, those that she won in 1988. I mean, didn’t she only get, like 46, 47 percent last time? I really should know!

STAHL: Well, um, it’s also possible that some pollsters overlooked voters who said they were undecided when they actually supported Iacocca because of social pressure, I mean they feared being considered sexist if they opposed Bellamy. Voters who assumed she’d win despite the narrow polls and thus stayed at home are another factor.

CHANCELLOR: Uh, here’s another statistic: Democrats fared even worse with evangelical Christians, from 15% in 1988 to just 7.5% this time around. Furthermore, turnout among voters without college degrees increased by 10 points, and voters without high school degrees by nearly 15 points.

BRADLEY: And it should be noted that the economy improved unequally among the states. Places like the northeast bounced back than places like parts of the south and Midwest. It’s the same thing for independent voters; Ohio, for instance, has a higher-than-average number of independents [11] and most of them went for Iacocca in the end.

STAHL: It seems Bellamy’s presidency brought about vast improvements to our ways of life, but, apparently, it was either not enough or it was too much and too soon for too many.

RATHER: Hmm, so before we switch over to Iacocca’s part headquarters for his victory speech, let me ask you all something: what’s next for Carol Bellamy?

STAHL: She’ll probably go back to promoting voting registration and keep on promoting child welfare, child protection, food security, education, things like that…

– CBS News, post-election round table discussion, 11/4/1992



“28 years ago, Colonel Sanders proved that an old dog can learn new tricks... Tonight, we rejoice in the return of common-sense business smarts to the White House! The days of high taxes going to overbearing, overwhelming, ineffective nanny-state federal programs will now be reined in! Happy days are here again!”

– Lee Iacocca in victory speech, 11/4/1992



“This election proved that an independent or third-party candidate can win the presidency, provided that they run as either a Democrat or a Republican!”

– Comedian Pat Paulsen, c. 11/4/1992



November United States Senate election results, 1992

Date: November 3, 1992
Seats: 33 of 100
Seats needed for majority: 51
Senate majority leader: Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Senate minority leader: Bob Dole (R-KS)
Seats before election: 51 (D), 47 (R), 2 (I)
Seats after election: 49 (D), 49 (R), 2 (I)
Seat change: D v 2, R ^ 2, I - 0

Full List:
Alabama: incumbent Mary Texas Hurt Garner (D) over Dick Sellars (R) and Jerome Shockley (Liberty)
Alaska: incumbent Frank Murkowski (R) over Mary Jordan (D)
Arizona: incumbent Eddie Najeeb Basha Jr. (D) over Kiana Delamare (R)
Arkansas: incumbent J. William Fulbright (D) over Mike Huckabee (R)
California: incumbent Mario Obledo (D) over John Seymour (R), Gore Vidal (Natural Mind), Genevieve Torres (Green) and Merton D. Short (Country)
Colorado: Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R) over incumbent Pat Schroeder (D)
Connecticut: incumbent Chris Dodd (D) over Gary Alvin Franks (R) and Robert Giaimo (Independent Democratic)
Florida: incumbent Michael Bilirakis (R) over Harry A. Johnston (D)
Georgia: incumbent Dr. John Skandalakis (D) over Dr. Paul Broun (R)
Hawaii: incumbent Daniel Inouye (D) over Linda Martin (Green) and Richard O. Rowland (R)
Idaho: incumbent Bethine Clark Church (D) over Dirk Kempthorne (R)
Illinois: incumbent Alan J. Dixon (D) over Lynn Morley Martin (R) and J. Quinn Brisben (Socialist)
Indiana: incumbent Richard "Dick" Lugar (R) over Tom Carper (D) [12]
Iowa: John William Judge (R) over Jean Hall Lloyd-Jones (D); incumbent Harold Hughes (D) retired
Kansas: incumbent Robert J. "Bob" Dole (R) over Gloria O’Dell (D)
Kentucky: Patrick “Kelly” Downard (R) over Jim Whitlock (D); incumbent Harley Sanders (R) retired
Louisiana: incumbent Buddy Roemer (R) over Chris John (D)
Maryland: incumbent Barbara Mikulski (D) over Martha Scanlan Klima (R)
Missouri: incumbent William "Bill" Bradley (D) over Jeanne Bojarski (R)
Nevada: incumbent Barbara Vucanovich (R) over Lois Avery (D) and Joe Garcia (Country)
New Hampshire: Katherine M. Alexander (R) over incumbent Emile Dorilas Beaulieu Jr. (D)
New York: incumbent Mario Biaggi (D/Conservative) over Norma Segal (R/Liberal) and Mohammad T. Mehdi (Green)
North Carolina: incumbent Nick Galifianakis (D) over Robert Cannon Hayes (R)
North Dakota: incumbent Kent Conrad (D) over Steve Sydness (R) and Darold Larson (I)
Ohio: incumbent Carl Stokes (D) over Mike DeWine (R), Martha Grevatt (Country) and Douglas DeGood (Independent Democrat)
Oklahoma: incumbent Marvin Henry “Mickey” Edwards (R) over Steve Lewis (D)
Oregon: incumbent Walter Leslie “Les” AuCoin (D) over Dennis Alan “Denny” Smith (R)
Pennsylvania: incumbent Bob Casey Sr. (D) over Wayne Curtis Weldon (R) and John Perry III (I)
South Carolina: incumbent Fritz Hollings (D) over Thomas F. Hartnett (R)
South Dakota: incumbent Frank Farrar (R) over Franklin Edvard Denholm (D)
Utah: Rex Edwin Lee (R) over Bill Orton (D); incumbent Jake Garn (R) retired
Vermont: incumbent Madeleine M. Kunin (D) over Jim Douglas (R) and Jerry Levy (Liberty Union)
Washington: Gary Locke (D) over Slade Gorton (R); incumbent Catherine Dean May (R) retired
Wisconsin: incumbent Bronson La Follette (D) over Scott L. Klug (R)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



DEMOCRATS RETAIN SENATE CONTROL AFTER BYRD, KING PLEDGE TO CAUCUS WITH THEM: “We’ll Keep Them In Check, Republicans Too” Says Byrd

– The Washington Post, 11/4/1992



United States House of Representatives results, 1992

Date: November 3, 1992
Seats: All 435
Seats needed for majority: 218
New House majority leader: Robert Smith Walker (R-PA)
New House minority leader: Dick Gephardt (D-MO)
Last election: 223 (R), 210 (D), 2 (I)
Seats won: 230 (D), 203 (D), 2 (I)
Seat change: R ^ 7, D v 7, I - 0

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



United States Governor election results, 1992

Date: November 3, 1992
Number of state gubernatorial elections held: 11
Seats before: 34 (D), 15 (R), 1 (I)
Seats after: 33 (D), 16 (R), 1 (I)
Seat change: D v 1, R ^ 1, I - 0

Full list:
Delaware: Janet Rzewnicki (R) over John Carney (D); incumbent Michael Castle (R) retired
Indiana: incumbent Evan Bayh (D) over Lindley Pearson (R)
Missouri: Mel Carnahan (D) over William L. Webster (R); incumbent Betty Cooper Hearnes (D) retired
Montana: Gordon McOmber (D) over Marc Racicot (R); incumbent Dorothy Bradley (D) retired
New Hampshire: Chris Spirou (D) over incumbent Bob Smith (R) and Miriam Luce (Liberty)
North Carolina: incumbent Harvey Gantt (D) over Scott McLaughlin (R)
North Dakota: Edward Thomas Schafer (R) over Nicholas Spaeth (D); incumbent George A. Sinner (D) retired
Utah: incumbent Jon Huntsman Sr. (R) over Stewart Hanson (D) and Rita Gum (Populist)
Vermont: John McClaughry (R) over incumbent Jan Backus (D) and August Jaccaci (Liberty Union)
Washington: incumbent Ellen Craswell (R) over Booth Gardner (D)
West Virginia: incumbent Gaston Caperton (D) over Jack Fellure (R) and Charlotte Pritt (Green)

– knowledgepolitics.co.usa



VILLARONGA ELECTED GOVERNOR OF PUERTO RICO!

…retired US Army Col. Raul G. Villaronga served in operations in Berlin, Panama, and, most notable, Cuba during the Cuba War of the 1960s, before serving in Indochina during the late 1960s and early 1970s. After he retired from the military in 1984 after overseeing early-stage operations in Libya, Villaronga was elected to San Juan’s city council in 1985, and then to the state senate in 1990.

As the nominee of the New Progressive Party (the Commonwealth's version of the Republican Party), Villaronga ran an underdog campaign that supported rural development and business regulation reform, and opposed “career politicians.” Villaronga won over the initial frontrunner, Victoria Munoz Mendoza of the Popular Democratic Party (the Commonwealth’s version of the Democratic Party), a commonwealth senator and the daughter of former Governor Luis Munoz Marin, by a margin of roughly 7%. Fernando Martin Garcia of the Puerto Rican Independence Party received 3.7% of the vote.

Upon confirmation of his victory, Villaronga received a congratulatory phone call from outgoing governor Roberto Clemente pf the PD Party...

– El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico newspaper (English version), 11/4/1992



HOUSE PASSES “WATERED-DOWN” DISABILITY RIGHTS ACT AMID “RECESS” PERIOD

– The Washington Post, 11/18/1992



…and on the European continent, the Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia has granted greater autonomy to the nation’s easternmost region of Slovakia, after a nationwide referendum resulted in a slim majority of Slovakians opposing Slovakian independence, and a large majority of Czech citizens supporting Slovakian independence…

– BBC World News, 25/11/1992 broadcast



EX-KING VOTED TO BE UNITED ROMANIA’S FIRST PRESIDENT

…former monarch Michael I, having taken the adopted surname of Romanescu, was supported by and convinced to run by Radu-Anton Campeanu of the National Liberal party. Michael I famously returned to his ancestral homeland in 1987 to a cheering Bucharest crowd of over a million people. With a pro-westernization platform focused on increasing the quality of life and individual freedom, the 71-year-old man formerly known as King Michael I of Romania won in the first round with 56% of the vote. Romanescu (though many of his supporters simply call him “Michael”), who had served as Romania’s head of state from 1927 to 1930 and again from 1940 to 1947, was the heavy favorite in the regions of Bucharest and Wallachia, while former Moldovan President Mircea Snegur (b. 1940), who ran as an independent, was the preferred choice in the formerly Moldovan provinces. Snegur came in second place with 33% of the vote, while former Prime Minister of Romania, Petre Roman (b. 1946), the Christian Democratic candidate, received just under 8%. A fourth candidate in the race was Caius Traian Dragmir (b. 1939), nominee of the Democratic Socialist party and Romania’s former National Secretary for Public Information; he received roughly 3%. …A possible selling point for undecided voters was Michael Romanescu’s promise of only serving for a single five-year term… Upon his victory being confirmed, Romanescu received congratulations from the Heads of State from the US, the UK, and other countries, including from the bordering nations of the Ukraine, Bulgaria, and the newly-independent states of Transnistria and The Gagauzian Federation...

– The New York Times, 12/1/1992



In December 1992, K.F.C. announced the suspension of its Frozen KFC products line. The results of the frozen foods endeavor were more than just financially disastrous for the company; the placement of the Colonel’s face in a freezer like a cheap tenth-rate fish stick certainly lowered the company’s image of high-quality standards as well.

“The supermarket was no place for The Colonel,” CEO Jim Collins lamented.

Additionally, customer visits for average outlets had decreased during this period, suggesting a correlation, but not confirming one. Still, the apparent rejection of frozen KFC despite the price staying reasonable was enough to finally end production of them.

“You don’t see staples from McDonald’s in Shoprite or the A&P, not because they hadn’t thought of it, but because they knew better than to even try it,” argued Board member Harold Omer.

Finally, Bob Yarmuth stood up, “Aw well, no use crying over spilled milk, especially since we’re already moppin’ it up. We've simply got to just get some more milk now.”

“What do you mean?” Collins eyed him curiously.

“I mean Frozen KFC wasn’t the only marketing idea R & D cooked up last year. Gene, stand up, please.” Yarmuth gestured to the other end of the table.

A man with a gray beard from the back of the room humbly rose. This was Eugene D. “Gene” Gagliardi Jr., a 61-year-old food technologist from Pennsylvania known for his 1968 invention of the Steak-umm, the thinly-sliced frozen beef sold in supermarkets and used for homemade cheesesteaks nationwide and helped make the Philly Cheese Steak go from regional to national prominence. [13] His company, Designer Foods, Inc., had been an ally and occasional partner of Finger Lickin’ Good, Inc., for several years by now.

“Ladies, gentlemen, Gene here has come up with a new idea that I think will do really well. At least, better than Frozen did.” Yarmuth then described how Gagliardi was working closely with KFC on several project ideas. Gagliardi himself would later explained that “working for a major established corporation grants you access to a wider range of markets, and that cuts the time it takes to put my creations into consumers' hands. Basically, when you have a big company behind you, things can happen faster.” [14]

Gagliardi quickly propped up a promotional photograph and poster of what looked like pieces of KFC, only they were much smaller. “This is what I like to call popcorn chicken. Like the McDonald’s chicken nugget, only these are actual bite-sized, not two-or-three-bites-sized like those weird nugget things.” Samples were then passed around the room, with about a dozen pieces stuffed into a french-fry-like container and with napkins. Not sure of what to do during this time of contemplation, the food tinkerer added “I, uh, I wanted to call it ‘Fing’r-pickin’-chick’n,’ but um, but I agreed that popcorn chicken was more interesting, intriguing, and more accurate. And it was easier to spell.”

“So,” Collins finally spoke after finishing masticating on his third piece, “Bo, Gene, your idea is to launch mini-nuggets made out of KFC?”

“Made in the traditional manner of KFC birds, yes,” Yarmuth answered.

“What’s it made out of?” asked Board of Director Senior member Margaret Sanders.

“The trimmings, the strips and pieces left over from preparing the regular bird offerings,” Yarmuth again answered.

“Have you test-marketed this yet?” queried Omer.

“Yes, about six weeks ago. And only on a small scale with volunteers. Nothing ‘over-the-boss’s-head,’ per the JYB Code,” Yarmuth referred to the company’s internal transparency regulations in place since 1967.

“Good,” Collins nodded contemplatively. “And the results?”

“Overwhelmingly positive!” Gagliardi stated happily.

Collins peered down at the dwindling collection of “popcorn” pieces remaining on his napkin, and then looked around the room to read it. “All right, all in favor of greenlighting this, raise your hand.” With a two-thirds majority from the Board, the product was sent on its way, leading to its nationwide launch in the late spring of 1993. [15] The campaign targeted teenagers and young adults, and the company sought summer blockbuster movie tie-in promos for that year’s summer as well.

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

Above: a large serving of popcorn chicken

– Marlona Ruggles Ice’s A Kentucky-Fried Phoenix: The Post-Colonel History of Most Famous Birds In The World, Hawkins E-Publications, 2020



IN QUIET SCOTTISH CEREMONY, ANNE MARRIES NAVY OFFICER

…Anne, Princess Royal, merely months after divorce ended her first marriage, has remarried in a private ceremony to Commander Timothy Laurence, an officer of the Royal Navy…

– The Daily Mail, UK newspaper, 12/13/1992



KADYRBEKOV ELECTED PRESIDENT OF UNITED TURKESTAN

…Ishenbai Kadyrbekov of the Unity Party hails from the “internal nation” of Kyrgyzstan. He won over Turkmenistan’s Chary Karriyev of the Excellence Party and Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov of the anti-Russian Nationalist Party, 52%-to-30%-to-18%, approximately. Kadyrbekov will be inaugurated on January 5…

– Kommersant (The Businessman), Russian newspaper, 12/14/1992



CONSERVATIVE HARDLINER ELECTED PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA

…set to become the nation’s first non-military President since 1961 in February, Kim Young-sam of the recently-formed Democratic Liberal Party ran on an anti-corruption platform promoting government and political reform. Kim Dae-jung of the Democratic Party came in second place. Chung Ju-yung of the National Reunification Party, the 77-year-old businessman, North Korean escapee and founder of Hyundai, surprised some pundits by coming in third place; his boost in numbers may have been from South Koreans finding inspiration in the recent election of businessman Lee Iacocca to the U.S. Presidency, but this is unconfirmed. Kim Young-sam won with a simple plurality, winning 40.1% of the vote, compared to Kim Dae-jung 35.7% and Chung Ju-yung’s 22.6%...

– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 18/12/1992



1992 was is the first year that the technet became entirely privatized, with the US government no longer providing public funding for it by the end of the year. President Carol Bellamy had been forced to do this in order to adhere to the B.B.A. As the year came to a close, techsites such as findit.co.usa, and others, offered access to the GTS (Global Technet System) for the first time, releasing browsers that make it easily accessible to the general public, though pricing still a major issue at the time...

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



…a planned church shooting in Bozeman was foiled earlier today when a would-be mass murder entered the First Presbyterian Church in Bozeman and aimed a semi-automatic at its congregants, only for the gun to jam when the perpetrator tried to fire. He was tackled to the ground by several of the congregants and soon taken into policy. Witnesses present at the attempt are calling the gun jam a “church miracle”…

– KANB-LP (102.3 FM) radio broadcast, Kalispell, MT, 12/29/1992



“Nice view,” John said, gazing out onto the bustling city beneath the starry night sky.

“Enjoy it while you can, John” Amy said as she poured herself another drink. “Lee will probably not invite you out here.”

“Ah,” I dismissed her notion, “John can sweet-talk him into it.”

Carol sighed. From the White House balcony you can look down onto the South Lawn, out to the property’s fence – obviously too late in the night for tourists to be pointing their cameras up at us – and over to the Mall. The last of the fireworks had ceased at least a half hour ago. The New Years’ celebrations were winding down on this side of the states, but were still going strong in the middle of them, and were yet to truly begin in places like California, Alaska and Hawaii.

“I should be working right now. I always work through holidays. Even the big ones. I should be a busy little bee right now, trying to talk shop with Byrd, interrupting Gephardt doing,” she chuckled, “whatever that man does this time of year. I never thought to ask. Yeah. I should be a busy bee right now, planning out legislation, but, no, this busy bees’ wings have been clipped, folks.” She seemed to say it more to herself more than to us. Not in a depressed away, no, far from it. More like in a sober way, ironic given she said it after finishing up her third cup of the wine.

After giving a concerned look to John, he sat back in his chair, then impersonated a fog machine – he inhaled his stuff, then exhaled it “Well, where to now?”

“Huh?” Carol looked at him as if she’d been distracted by something out in the view, her thoughts broken.

“What’s next for you, luv? What’s the plan?”

She said nothing for a moment, she just looked out again, taking in the scenery once more, looking past the Mall and the Washington Monument and the city and into the distance beyond. She turned her head to the north and a bit to the east. To New York, to her home. “I guess I’ll keep doing what I do best.”

“Follow your passions,” I nodded.

John nodded, too. “That’s all anyone can do with life. Do your best. When life throws a spanner into the works, just pull it out and keep going.”

I then suggested “You could run again in ’96.”

Carol, turning to look at us, smiled warmly and replied, “If America had a parliamentary system, maybe. But ’96 is four years from now. Heh. Do you how much can happen in just four years?”

– Lyn Cornell-Lennon’s memoir, Lennon & I: Our Lives: From Liverpool to 10 Downing Street And Back Again, Thames Books, 2017



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] All italicized passages are from OTL, as this is a real thing!: https://time.com/5755951/kfc-japan-memorial-service-chickens/
[2] Brilliant name idea, @Igeo654 , very catchy indeed!
[3] Film included in this TL per request from @Igeo654
[4] As worded by @SuperFrog in post #773
[5] IOTL, he only got into animation after seeing animation cels on display in a movie theater in 1989, a year long after this TL’s POD, and so, he didn’t see it.
[6] OTL quote; source: https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0124/012422.html
[7] This was an actual GOP talking point / claim from the 1988 election season of OTL, as seen here (at around the 13-minute mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D48mnyLrWIg
[8] According to the universetoday.com article “How Far Is Mars From Earth?”
[9] Italicized section of quote pulled from here: https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/2677-jacob-g-hornberger
[10] Hornberger is a longtime friend on Ron Paul according to this reason.com: https://reason.com/2020/04/13/judge-jim-gray-to-seek-libertarian-presidential-nomination/
[11] According to CBS’ coverage of the 1992 election in OTL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcJ8iWnZZg8 .
[12] Born in West Virginia, Carper went to college in Ohio and served in the Navy from 1968 to 1973 like in OTL, only instead of attending grad school in Delaware like in OTL, he goes to a grad school in Indiana ITTL.
[13] This information was pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steak-umm
[14] Italicized parts of quote found here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-09-17-0309160380-story.html
[15] OTL test-marketed was done in March 1992, and the nationwide launch commenced “by September 1992” IOTL, according to this source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn_chicken

Southeren Legion said:
Here's hoping that Romania restores the Monarchy and strengths democracy in Eastern Europe. Quick question is the Monarchy of Greece still around.

Thanks for commenting! OTL polls show that most Romanians aren't keen on re-establishing the monarchy itself, but the same time their approval of ex-King Mike One is actually very high!
And yes, the birthplace of Democracy still has its King (I should have mentioned that in that bit, I'll go back and add it. Thanks; good eye!)

NHobson said:
I didn't know that the US had diplomatic relations with the US.

Meant to say UN. Fixed it.

 

[gap80]

Post 59: Chapter 67

Chapter 67: January 1993 – August 1993​

“The boom, not the slump, is the right time for austerity at the Treasury.”

– John Maynard Keynes, 1937

[pic: https://imgur.com/N3PQUNY ]
Lido Anthony “Lee” Iacocca, the 41st President of the United States of America​

“During most of my time at Chrysler, I was a contrarian. I gave speech after speech saying that the ‘Roaring Eighties’ were going to collapse in a heap someday, that the huge public debt we were running up would cripple our kids, that gas should be taxes to conserve energy and encourage people to buy smaller cars, and that throwing open our market to people who were shutting us out of their markets was sapping America’s industrial competitiveness. I deliberately set out to make audiences uncomfortable. I wanted them to think. [1]

And now I want America to think. To think about what kind of future they want to have and what kind of future they want to leave behind the generation of Americans that will come after them. I look out and I see a diverse nation of innovators can and will shape this future into a spectacular one if we think it out. If we think out a future that we can have if we want it, and if we work for it, and work hard for it, then we will have it. A future of enhanced modes of transportation, of cleaner and more efficient railways, airplanes and highway systems. A future of fairer trade policies. A revival of blue-collar businesses and small local shops. A joyous rejuvenation of the Rust Belt that protects American jobs, that sees more factories being built and repaired than torn down. A future of economic ‘re-dominance’ for America on the world’s business stage. A future of protected individual liberties and a government that gives help where help is needed. A future that begins here and now, with the spark of this new era of American renewal.

The road to greatness is better travelled together than travelled alone. The problems we face now and any we may face in the next four or eight years will not be solved through finger-pointing or political infighting.

Don’t tell me it’s all the fault of right-wing Radical Republicans or liberal Dove Democrats. That’s an intellectually lazy argument, and it’s part of the reason we’re in this stew. We’re not just a nation of factions. We’re a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together. [2] We will go through these next four-to-eight years together. And we will enter the next millennium and the future that we want together, as one nation, as one people of diverse thoughts and ideas, with liberty and justice for all.”

– President Lee Iacocca’s inaugural speech, 1/20/1993



MEMBERS OF THE IACOCCA ADMINISTRATION IN { 1993 } select year

Vice President: US Senator Larry Miles Dinger (R-IA)

CABINET

Secretary of State: African-American incumbent US Ambassador to the UN and former US Ambassador to Liberia and South Africa Edward J. Perkins (R-LA)

Secretary of the Treasury: banking executive and CEO of the Credit Union Business School of Wisconsin Jean M. Yokum (I-WI)

Secretary of Defense: West Point professor Brigadier General (ret.) Humbert Roque “Rocky” Versace (R-VA)

Attorney General: Attorney General of the US Virgin Islands J’Ada Mergeaux Finch-Sheen (I-VI)

Postmaster General: former publisher of The Los Angeles Times Albert Vincent Carey (R-CA)

Secretary of the Interior: former US Deputy Secretary of the Interior and former state secretary of state Jack Brier (R-KS)

Secretary of Agriculture: former CEO of the McDonald’s Corporation June Martino (R-IL)

Secretary of Commerce: Chinese-American attorney and CEO of East West Trust Saving Bank Betty Tom Chu (R-CA)

Secretary of Labor: former President of Tulane University Eamon Kelly (I-LA)

Secretary of Education: former President of the University of Florida Marshall McAlliter Criser Jr. (I-FL)

Secretary of Health and Welfare: US Representative Jim Ramsted (R-MN)

Secretary of Transportation: philanthropist and retired business executive Robert Strange McNamara (D-MA)

Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs: former US Representative John Forbes Kerry (D-MA)

Secretary of Energy and Technology: former President of the University of Utah Chase N. Peterson (I-UT)

CABINET-LEVEL POSITIONS

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): former Director of the National Security Agency William Oliver “Bill” Studeman (R-TX)

Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): incumbent Director Robert Francis Kennedy Sr. (D-VA)

US Trade Representative: former Chairperson of the US International Trade Commission Paula Stern (D-TN)

Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA): former Special Olympics Board Chairperson Elizabeth Joan Steinbrenner (R-NY)

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): former Governor Charles Woods (D-AL)

Administrator of the Overwhelming Disaster Emergency Response Coordination Agency (ODERCA): Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Stephen E. Higgins (R-NE)

THE PRESIDENT’S EXECUTIVE OFFICE

White House Chief of Staff: business consultant, organization advisor, and campaign co-manager Richard “Dick” Brandt (R-MI)

White House Counsel: former Chief Operations Officer of Chrysler Corporation Paul Bergmoser (I-MI)

Counselors to the President: Jerry Greenwald, Hank Carlini, Dave Platt, Dick Leasia and Calvin Beauregard

Chief Domestic Policy Advisor: African-American CEO of the Teachers Insurance And Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAAAA-CREF) Clifton Reginald Wharton Jr. (I-MI)

Chief Economic Policy Advisor: African-American conservative economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University Thomas Sowell (R-CA)

Chief Foreign Policy Advisor: economist and classical liberalism advocate Richard W. Rahn (R-NY)

Chief National Security Advisor: Assistant Secretary of the Army Susan M. Livingstone (R-MO)

Director of the Office of Management and Budget: economist and business analyst Mark Skousen (R-IL)

WH Communications Director: campaign communications director Dick Rossio (I-NY)

WH Press Secretary: campaign image consultant Don De La Rosa (I-DC)

The President’s Personal Secretary: scheduler and planner Norma Saken (I-CA)

NOTABLE AMBASSADORS

To Canada: former Governor John B. Anderson (R-IL)

To China: former CEO of the Chrysler Corporation Gerald Greenwald (I-MI)

To Colombia: former US Representative W. Henson Moore III (R-LA)

To Germany: Governor Gloria A. Decker (D-NJ)

To Iran: former US Ambassador to the USSR Earl Ravenal (Liberty-DC)

To Japan: CEO of General Electric John Francis “Jack” Welch Jr. (R-NY)

To Mexico: former Governor Ross Perot (I-TX)

Special Liaison to North Korea: US Ambassador to Mongolia Richard Llewellyn Williams (R-IL)

To Russia: former Governor Ann Bedsole (R-AL)

To Spain: outgoing Congressman Doug Wead (R-AZ)

To the U.K.: former US Ambassador to Bahrain, Tunisia, and Egypt Robert Halsey Pelletreau (D-NY)

To the U.N.: diplomat, business executive, former TXGOP Chairman and former US Representative George Bush (R-TX)

OTHER MEMBERS

Solicitor General: former US Deputy Attorney General Warren Christopher (D-CA)

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman: former Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard retired Vice Admiral Thomas R. Sargent III (I-CT)

Federal Reserve Chairman: former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) Beryl Wayne Sprinkel (R-IL)

NASA Administrator: Deputy NASA Administrator Dale Dehaven Myers (D-WA)

– iacoccapresidentiallibrary.co.usa/administration_members



…The European Single Market officially came into existence on New Year’s Day 1993, when the E.E.C. eliminated trade barriers. The Maastricht Treaty concurrently came into force on that day as well, officially establishing the E.U. and European Citizenship. In the first weeks after these landmark implementations, there were no immediate changes to everyday life for most. But soon enough, Britons began traveling to the mainland of Europe much more often, quickly getting used to the heightened ease of travel, even if changing currency would remain an issue for a longer while…

– Andrew Marr’s Modern Britain: A History, Pan Macmillan Publishers, 2002 edition



As popcorn chicken continued to sell excellently, other changes were unfolding in the kitchen. In order to save on costs, KFC stopped frying with animal fat, which had replaced the hydrogenated vegetable oil used in the original recipe in 1973, and began replacing it with palm oil and soybean oil in select places. [3] Just about everyone could not taste the difference, and thus the recipe change was greenlit for all outlets soon afterwards.

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



The Iacocca First Family’s three cores were daughters Lia and Kathryn, and their aunt, Delma Iacocca Kelechava. With Kathryn born in the late 1950s or the early 1960s, and Lia born in 1964 or so (after their mother suffered three miscarriages), and both sisters being very beautiful, the tabloids and paparazzi followed them around frequently during the campaign, but backed off once their father won. With Kathryn’s husband Ned and Lia’s husband Jim, plus Iacocca’s older sister Delma, the Iacocca family returned the sense of a large, supportive family dynamic to the White House grounds that had been missing for the previous four years of the "Bachelorette-in-Chief" as some had called her.

Whenever Acting First Lady Delma was unavailable for White House hosting duties, usually due to busy schedules, meetings with supporters of whichever “fluff” causes the First Lady chose – Claudia’s was music preservation and child nutrition, while the more active Delma’s was anti-bullying and cultural preservation with a focus on immigration (celebrating diversity more so than criticizing government policies) in both cases – the Iacocca daughters would serve as Acting First Ladies. Their first demonstration that they could easily handle such duties came pretty soon after their Dad entered office.

February 2nd, 1993 was the 20th anniversary of the conservation of the S.S. United States, the largest ocean liner ever built entirely within the US. It was the eastern seaboard’s reply to California’s conservation of the RMS Queen Mary in 1967. At the Gala Event, held first at the ship’s location at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and then at the White House, credit went to attending former First Ladies Claudia Sanders and Joan “of Art” Mondale for overseeing the conservation movements of the 1970s that lead to the S.S. US being converted into a museum in 1973.

The Iacocca sisters got along very well with the Kemp sisters, the Denton children, Joan Mondale, and the two of us, the oldest of the First Daughters. In fact, most members of First Families get along well with one another despite political differences sometimes at time causing tension, most often between Ted Mondale and some of the Denton sons. I think it is because of the unique commonality we all share. We’re all the children of important leaders and we all spent time living in the same house, and going to similar functions, at different points in time. We know firsthand how important it is to learn to get along, thanks to similar experiences to which each one of us can relate.

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



Iacocca governed to the left of his party and, at times, even to the left of his campaign. In his first 100 days, he preserved Bellamy’s regulations of disparity between worker productivity and worker compensation, and kept his lips tight when it came to BLUTAG rights protections.

His main focus during that time, though, was Japan. Japan, Japan, Japan.

“Japan is part of the World Economy Club but hasn’t paid its dues to it,” Iacocca ounce bellowed. “We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.” [4]

He continued, “It’s time we started charging admission to the American market. And the price of a ticket has to be a little fairness and reciprocity… As the trade imbalance grows, our influence in the world shrinks.” He insisted that honest American businesses, together with the US government, needed to coerce “the Japanese to open up their markets to American products and balance the trade deficit – most of which was accounted for by cars and parts.” He lamented that, “for all their talk about building plants in the United States and providing jobs for Americans, Japanese car companies were still shipping most of their parts and components from Japan. [5] I’ve talked with American business’ counterparts in Japan. They say, with smiles on their faces, no less, that Japanese citizens aren’t buying our cars because our cars are inferior. That’s a load of bunk. The real reason is because the deck was stacked against us. Japan is not practicing free trade. Japan is practicing predatory trade. This little country with a big ego does everything in its power to keep the trade imbalance great. It doesn’t have to bother with the rules of the free enterprise system. The Bank of Tokyo and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) make sure that the yen is manipulated (they called it ‘managed trade’) so that it’s cheaper for Americans to buy Japanese cars and more expensive for the Japanese to buy American cars. [6] I say that if Japan refuses to open its doors to other venues – farming, retailing, finance and the like – and continues on with their bubble economy, an illusion of profit from manufacturing and frequently manipulating the yen decade after decade, well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, as they say.

Meanwhile, when it came to American manufacturers cutting costs, Iacocca heavily discouraged outsourcing and, even worse, turning to illegal immigration – “modern-day indentured servitude” – for he believed companies needed to invest in increasing efficiency. During a cabinet meeting in early February, Commerce Secretary Chu countered Iacocca’s anti-Japan rhetoric with this very argument: “The trouble isn’t Japanese trade barriers alone, sir. It’s also our own inability to match Japan’s efficiency and reputation for quality. America’s been trying to shift from mass production to lean production for years now, but most companies, the big, old, established ones, are still failing to make adopt more modern modes of manufacturing.”

[snip]

When it came to dealing with congress, Iacocca immediately locked horns with House Speaker Walker over his attempts to completely overhaul UHC despite Iacocca supporting a majority of its aspects. When Walker was purposely 30 minutes late for a meeting at the White House, the President stuck to his old saying that “All the talent in the world doesn’t excuse deliberate rudeness.” [7] And countered by meeting more frequently with House Majority Leader David Emery [LI1]. Walker was not the first person with whom Iacocca had locked horns, and it wouldn’t be the last.

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



ANWAR SADAT, EGYPT’S PRESIDENT DURING 1970S PEACE TALKS, DIES AT 74

…the co-winner of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize (for the Atlanta Peace Treaty of that year) ruled Egypt from 1970 until his retirement in 1982. His family’s statement claims Sadat passed away in his sleep after an unspecified “lengthy illness” of some kind…

– The New York Times, 2/12/1993



…Those in Ross’ inner circle knew he did not plan on trying for another term. Bob and his mellow demeanor had captivated the state – his approval rating reached a high of 77% in early 1993, and his showing of bipartisanism in willing to work with Republicans to increase natural mining and gas production without destroying the state’s natural beauty (“which is all we’ll have left once all the mines are emptied and the oil wells have run dry,” he once privately said to his Chief of Staff), the death of his wife had cast a raincloud over him, a shadow of somberness he refused to show to the public. And one that he believed would only worsen if he continued to stay in Juneau for any longer than he was obligated to. Bob was praised for being able to break bread with people he disagreed with, with Senator Murkowski even once complaining “it’s almost nauseating how nice he always seems to be,” but, as his sister-in-law later confirmed, “He disagreed with many of the stuffed shirts in Juneau. He didn’t like to be confrontational, but ‘not expecting that when getting into politics is like expecting to stay dry when you sign up for river-rafting lessons,’ as he once put it.” Following the passage of an omnibus spending package for the rest of 1993, Bob began to keep a lighter schedule and began to spend more time with family members, friends, and charity functions close to his heart…

– R. Lynn Rivenbark’s With the Stroke of a Brush or Pen: The Life of Bob Ross, Brookings Institution Press, 2012



Iacocca attacked the threat of “super-deficits” at the state level by selling the public on a temporary 1-percent sales tax to pay for his buildup of the military and several welfare programs. The tax aimed to affect all purchases except for food, utilities, and medicines, as a matter of efficiency. Iacocca sold the notion with the American people by calling for tax cuts elsewhere, and for a government transparency bill just heading out of committee, which called for closer monitoring of the money spent on defense and the military budget. In a late February 1993 interview, President Iacocca defended to Sales Tax by comparing the US’s defense to that of Japan. His comments mirrored those that he had made on the campaign trail well over a year before: “Every time I bring it up, someone says it’s too classified to talk about, but Japan puts up about $80 per head for defense, and we put up about $880. So it’s a little over 1 to 10.” [8]

– Catherine Whitney’s Where Have All The Leaders Gone?: A Look Back on The Iacocca Years, Simon & Schuster, 2011



“When was the last time the American President urged his fellow citizens to join him in a great journey worthy of the time and dedication of all Americans? A journey meant to explore the wonderful potential of tomorrow with the technology of today? Not since President Lyndon Johnson promised to send Americans to the moon have we shared with one another a sense of possibility as we all turned our heads upwards to the stars above. It is time for us to take back that sense of American greatness, a sense lost by the indecency and restricting regulations of the past many years. We as Americans have always sought to lead the world by example. We have always sought to be the trailblazers, the precedence setters, the spirited makers of history. As our economy expands and our quality of life improves, it is only fitting and most appropriate for now to be the time when we as a nation, united and strong, lead the world in writing the next great chapter of the history books. It is high time we sent an American to Mars.

“Of course, this is not a safe or easy task; the most glorious ones never are either of those things. And this is not to say that there are no problems on Earth. Far from it. Domestic productivity is low and wages are stagnant, and job security is at an all-time low. That is why, if we are to send an American ship to the Red Planet in what NASA is calling the Apex Window of early 2003, we must approach the project in a way that benefits Americans. It must be and it will be an investment into ourselves. An investment into the manufacturing, technology, and education of our fellow citizens, of the welders, the draftsmen, the construction workers, and the experts teaching our best and brightest in our astronaut training program. An investment into our nation’s future, into the next generation of American citizens who, if we are successful, will someday look up into the sky one night, in the not-too-distant future, and with this mission confirming the scale of American limitlessness, know that for them, absolutely anything is possible. But only if we all work together to make it so.

“Tonight I ask every American to look to one another and seek out that spark of exciting imagination that shines in all our eyes. In every American eye, in every American heart. That spark was there in 1776, and it led to the creation of the greatest country on Earth. Imagine what that spark will lead to in 2003. Let us light that spark, and seize tomorrow today. Let us seize the planet Mars. Let us seize the future with the next great American journey.”

– President Iacocca’s State of the Union Address, 2/17/1993



INTERVIEW: New NASA Director Dale Myers And His Ten-Year Plan For Landing on Mars in 2003

…While the U.K.’s British National Space Centre seeks to “expand unmanned goals” beyond the I.S.S. under PM Lennon, Myers believes America can “lead the world” in successfully sending a manned mission to the Red Planet…

– Popular Mechanics, late February 1993 issue



“YOUR TAXES, YOUR CHOICES”: Groark Signs Tax Directory Bill Into Law

…Governor Eunice Groark (R) today signed into law a controversial bill that will add “a needed step” to tax filings for the 1993 fiscal year. Starting in 1994, tax filings will include a non-binding “services checkbox” on which Connecticut taxpayers can mark what statewide services they prefer their state taxes are spent on. “If you want more money spent on schools, you make a check or fill in the box next to education. If you want more spent on road repair, mark road repair. Mark all or none, it’s your tax money,” Groark explained at today’s signing ceremony. The state Department of Revenue Services will then total up the tallies and present the Governor with “the people’s mandate” soon after. Support for this bill came from Groark’s biggest supporters, rural and suburban voters in the middle and north that sent her to the Governor’s seat in November 1990. Opponents to the bill have concerns over privacy and the possible rise in more government “red tape”…

– The New Haven Register, Connecticut newspaper, 3/1/1993



NASA SPACE PROBE LANDS ON “NEARBY” ASTEROID: Successful Touchdown Aims To Return Samples To Earth Next Year

– The New York Times, 3/3/1993



On March 4, President Iacocca made an official visit to Tokyo, Japan, to meet with the Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa. He aimed to convince his executive counterpart that Japan had to play fair to prevent negative economic repercussions. But first, Lee had to humor Kiichi by partaking in a formal dinner and a quick tour of the city.

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

PM Kiichi Miyazawa laughs at an anecdote (while President Iacocca fumes at “wasting time with trivialities” instead of “getting down to brass tacks already”) during a state banquet.

Historians often compare Iacocca’s 1993 visit to The Colonel’s trip to China in 1968. Both men aimed to convince a major regional power to become friendlier with American interests. However, Iacocca lacked the patience of the Colonel, who happily partook in small talk in order to find common ground with other leaders. Iacocca, meanwhile, wanted to “cut the crap” and get down to business. It is possible that Miyazawa purposely had Iacocca partake in customs ahead of discussions in order to either test his patience or place him in a foul mood ahead of debating trade policy proposals.

Case in point, after the formal dinner came the exchanging of gifts, which were typically saved for the end of the trip. Lee received a model K-Car made out of porcelain and decorated in the Early Imari style of the 1620s, while Kiichi received a book on the economic history of Japan that was personally signed by Emperor Hirohito, a gift which had been selected by Kathryn Iacocca with the help of former First Lady Joan Mondale.

The two heads of state finally entered private “negotiations” with only their translators in the room with them. Iacocca later wrote in a private letter “I told him, ‘The best kind of business deal is win-win, where both groups walk away from the table with an agreement both groups are happy with, or with no agreement at all.’” Iacocca reportedly described Japan’s economy as being like a bubble, as stock market prices were being inflated time and again ever since their 1987 mini-recession. This was leading to credit expansion and an unchecked money supply. “I was describing a situation akin to America in 1928, and I was offering them a lifeline to save both of us, because if they entered recession, the Japanese would be even more unwilling to buy American,” Iacocca also wrote.

As one of the world’s largest creditor nations, Iacocca did something unexpected. Taking the advice of his Commerce Secretary, he promised to help Japan recover from their next recession via financial loans, in exchange for the government of Japan “doing business fairly.”

Later that month, PM Miyazawa called on consumers in Japan to “Buy American,” struck a deal with conservatives in Japan’s National Diet to “slightly” loosen trade regulations to ease the selling of American cars in Japan, and – most importantly for Iacocca’s strategy of creating jobs in the rust belt – offered tax incentives for Japanese companies that opened factories in the United States!

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



…The National Weather Service predicts below-normal precipitation for this summer for many places in the middle of the country. This could mean refreshing summer showers for many who don’t like it too hot, but the NWS warns that such above-average rainfall could spell signs of flooding in the summer, especially if the soil stays saturated from average spring rainfall… [9]

– ABC Morning News, 3/10/1993



Yigal Amir (b. 23/5/1970) is a convicted felon known for attempting to assassinate Latvian politician Anatolijs Gorbunovs. Born in Israel to Israeli parents, Amir had a conservative upbringing. While in the Israeli military, Amir was part of a religious unit who considered him to be a religious “fanatic.” Following his military service, the religious-Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva sent Amir, by then a law student, to teach Judaism in Riga, Latvia, as part of the liaison bureau “Nativ”'s operations in Eastern Europe. [10]. While finishing his time there in early 1992, Amir became "outraged" by Latvian President Anatolijs Gorbunovs’ secular rhetoric, viewing it as an open invitation to attacks on religion itself. On March 15, Amir stole a handgun from an acquaintance’s home and fired at Gorbunovs as he exited a cabinet meeting in Riga. Amir, standing only seven feet away but unfamiliar with the gun’s crooked sight, fired five times before being tackled by police. All five bullets missed Gorbunovs; instead, one bullet shot a cabinet member in the shoulder, and another hit a security guard in the chest, killing him. The rest ended up in a nearby car’s door. The incident created brief international tension between Latvia and Israel. Court procedures used “the Gaddafi precedence” to determine where he was to be tried, sentenced, and imprisoned. During the trial, Amir renounced his Israeli citizenship, claiming Israel’s people had become “corrupt with the falsehood of peace with our natural enemies, something Gorbunovs has the audacity to encourage everywhere.” Amir is currently serving a life sentence in Riga Federal Prison, Latvia, for the murder of the security guard.

– clickopedia.co.uk/Yigal_Amir (stub article)



A year after the implementation of the grain deal, President Iacocca joined the rising number of voices questioning how much food was really going to the North Korean people. US observers were allowed to view large dining halls of people scarfing down the food deliveries, but according to independent journalists, these people were the families of the Korean upper classes disguised as the lower classes. On March 13, one US observer reported to her supervisor that she saw what she claimed was gold brackets and jewelry on some of the female "beggars." Others soon came forward claiming that the poor people “did not act like poor people. That look they have was nowhere to be found in that hall.”

The North Korean ambassador brushed off such comments as being “the lies of aggressors” on March 18, claiming that “the discomfort experienced by North Korea’s hungriest are nothing compared to the plight of the homeless American.” The ambassador even went so far as to claim that the famine was “practically over,” but declined supporting an end to the US grain deal immediately after saying this. On March 21, South Korean journalists from the paper The Chosun Ilbo published an expose on the North’s famine that heavily suggested that the famine was, in fact, far from over.

Naturally, Iacocca responded to all this by calling for greater monitoring of the grain deliveries, while privately considering ending “Carol’s program” altogether if Kim Il-Sung kept “refusing to play fair”…

– Andrew S. Natsios’ The Famines of North Korea, Institute of Peace Press, 2001



The Great Blizzard of 1993, also called the “Storm of Century” of 1993, was Lee’s first true test of his leadership skills when faced with an immediate crisis on a national level. Lee listened to the forecasters at the National Weather Service and ordered state Governors in areas likely to be hit to issue blizzard warnings and make road-clearing preparations. The next day, March 9, Lee made an unofficial televised address from the Oval Office – the first time that such an impromptu broadcast was televised from the White House – in which he urged “everyone East of the Mississippi, plus the St. louis area” to prepare for wintry conditions ahead of time. “If you can’t get to a safer location, then to stay and stay warm, stay well, and stay together.” Businesses began to close up shop, schools and airports closed, highways became restricted. Panicked buyers pounced on grocery stores, convenience stores and supermarkets.

After the storm surge hit Florida on the morning of March 13, snow began to spread across the eastern seaboard, powdering a total of 26 US States and five Canadian provinces. On March 15, the storm dissipated. Over 10,000 homes were destroyed by intense winds, snowfall, and tornadoes, over 10 million households reported experiencing electrical power outages, and 153 people died.

[pic: https://imgur.com/iGt2Abe ]

ODERCA immediately mobilized to dig out people, deliver food and blankets, and treat the injured and frostbitten. Iacocca flew down to Tampa Bay, Florida on March 16 to oversee cleanup efforts, then flew back to D.C. to call for an emergency relief bill. With the Balanced Budget Amendment acting as an elephant in the room, Congress begrudgingly subtracted the stimulus bill’s cost from the FY1994 budget overall, with House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt considering possible tax hikes for later in the year, once the economy had recovered. The Storm Recovery Assistance Act of 1993 passed 52-48 in the Senate on March 28, and 239-192 in the House on March 31.

– Catherine Whitney’s Where Have All The Leaders Gone?: A Look Back on The Iacocca Years, Simon & Schuster, 2011



Afghanistan’s 1989-1990 recession ended the Golden Decade of the 1980s and caused inflation rates to soar. Fortunately, King Mohammed Zahir Shah had not forgotten the event of the 1973 Crisis, and thus had the experience to know what to do. Austerity measures and a nationwide freeze on taxes, wages and prices were implemented in 1991. Inflation rates dropped back to 1989 levels 18 months later, leading to the King declaring “our shared crisis” to finally be over on April 2, 1993.

– Tamim Ansary’s Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan, Hachette Book Group, 2012

[vid: youtube /watch?v=_iO82JWR0PA ]
– KFC Commercial, first aired c. April 1993



CHINA’S “ONE-CHOP ZHU” AND HIS REFORMS AIM TO WIN OVER “MORE PARTNERS ON THE WORLD STAGE” FOR THE P.R.C.

...administrating on a policy he calls “nationalist internationalist,” the Chairman of the People’s Republican of China is implementing government reforms that are changing things – not dramatically, but carefully and gradually. Zhu has formed advisory committees, using relationship-building skills to win over as many party allies as he can in an effort to “streamline” government bureaucracy. He has also eased regulations for transporting goods within the country, freeing up funds for other endeavors without laying off workers. The most ambitious of his current actions would have to be the planned probe of China’s central bank to root out corruption…

Zhu’s high popularity among the Chinese people and the international community, though, is not solely based on his administrating skills. Zhu is energetic, charming, and frank, and an excellent speaker of both Mandarin and English, often giving long speeches without the need of a script. His meetings with world leaders over the past several months have boosted China’s standing on the world stage, a boost the nation’s reputation needs in order to put the Western Turkestan Camps Crisis of the 1980s squarely behind them. Promoting an “even more” open China, Zhu met with US President Iacocca in Washington, DC, yesterday afternoon. At the meeting, the two men discussed US manufacturing trends, and China’s expansion into telecommunications and transportation technology, mirroring the projects Zhu oversaw as Mayor of Shanghai in the late 1980s. The meeting seemingly went better than Iacocca’s trip to Japan last month, as Iacocca was in a better mood and seemed to appreciate Zhu’s efforts to boost America’s economy “in a mutually-fair way,” as Iacocca put it…

– The Financial Times, UK newspaper, 4/4/1993



IACOCCA SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL MEDICAL BILL INTO LAW

…the new law, written and passed by the Republican-led House and barely passed by the Senate, places caps on medical malpractice lawsuits, setting damages claims to no more than $1,000,000 in all states and territories. …Even lower caps exist at the state level, though. For example, the state of North Dakota maintains a $500,000 non-economic damage cap for such malpractice cases, and many other states have less lower caps…

– The New York Times, 4/7/1993



NEW POLLING SUGGESTS DEMOCRATS ARE IN THE POLITICAL WILDERNESS

…The Democratic Party, or at least Democratic voters, may be experiencing a leadership vacuum following Bellamy’s surprise loss in November, and potentially opening up the once-dormant debate between Gravelites and Scoopers over which direction is best for the party. After defeating Senator Eunice Kennedy-Shriver in the 1988 primaries in a spectacular demonstration of grassroots activism, Bellamy was the standard-bearer of the progressive “Gravelites” in the party, while more center-leaning Scoop Jackson Democrats looked up to Senator John Glenn of Ohio, Governor Mario Cuomo of New York and others, believing appealing to Republicans was the better way to go. A new Gallup poll, though, reveals that the number of progressives in the party is almost even with the number of center-leaning members: 40%-to-40%, while 15% considered themselves conservative, and the remaining 5% were “uncertain.”

Furthermore, when registered voters were asked whom they considered to be the leader of the Democrats, roughly 44% said the party had no leader. 23% said Bellamy was still the party’s leader, while former Vice President Litton received 10%. Kennedy-Shriver, Glenn, Cuomo and “other” received 8%, 6%, 5% and 4%, respectively.

Support for progressive policies have noticeably increased over the past several years, as advocates like Mike Gravel, Bern Sanders and Carol Bellamy have helped to expand the Overton window farther over to the left during the past several election cycles. Currently, according to the latest Gallup polling, over 80% of Americans “generally approve” of UHC, and only 21% of Democrats support using military action/intervention overseas. Additionally, over half the party supports the recently-renewed calls for a National Initiative Amendment.

In Washington, DC, the Democratic National Committee is being “pressured to regroup, rebuild, and restructure,” says an anonymous source employed by the DNC, “because of the fear of further losses” this November, as Iacocca’s approval ratings remain above 50%. Donald Fowler of South Carolina, the DNC’s newest chairman after Gary Hart of Colorado stepped down earlier this year, is looking to bring dissatisfied voters back into the fold in order to find the best “playbook” for the 1994 midterms and beyond. “I’d like to bring together the progressives and centrists and everyone in between.”

– The Chicago Tribune, 4/8/1993



THE KFC SMUGGLERS OF COLOMBIA

While some countries such as Tajikistan, North Korea, North Yemen and Mongolia refuse to serve KFC, rebuking it as an inadvertent symbol of “western imperialism,” the KFC company itself shies away from opening up operations in countries plagued by internal strife. The war-torn country receiving the most amount of attention at the moment is Colombia, where government forces are combating left-wing and right-wing guerilla forces. Without negotiations, the war’s continuation keeps Colombians from living safe and comfortable lives.

Enter the black market. While a recent Newsweek expose has revealed the scale of Colombia’s sometimes-literal underground markets, one aspect only touched on is the country’s network of KFC smugglers. “People are paying a fortune to have the fast-food chicken brought in from Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador,” says one anonymous worker on the underground tunnels and jungle trails dotting the Venezuelan-Colombian border. “Local food-stall owners aren’t happy about it, but if you have to money for it, you’re going to use that money.” Black markets in Colombia have adapted a multistep process to deliver food across miles of harsh terrain and numerous blockades. For example, to bring an order of KFC from Maracaibo, Venezuela, to the port city of Barranquilla, Colombia, one can use a small boat and bribe the coastal guards in advance (though Colombia River Pirates can be in the area, and often are), or one can travel by land through the Sierra de Perija National Park through steep mountains and dense jungle-brush, briefly stopping at Valledupar, and travelling another 70 miles by bribing officers, all without being detected by anti-US guerilla splinter groups. All while protecting the food from going bad. “The risk of getting food poisoning is high, so we end up carrying around the burgers and sodas and fries in a big cooler. Sometimes we have to carry it by hand through small tunnels, ravines, crevices, and dangerous rivers,” another anonymous black market worker says in the Newsweek expose. “But it seems a lot of people think cold fast-food is worth its weight in gold, so we carry it still.” Participants of local cuisine culture in Medellin and Bogota, however, worry about how badly legitimate food preparers are losing revenue. “How will we get the country back together if we all get used to doing things this way?” Worries one proprietor in Villavicencio.

“Smuggling will always exist, as will all of mankind’s sins,” says another vendor, “I’d just like their smuggling to not put me out of business.”

– The Daily Telegraph, UK newspaper, 10/4/1993 [11]



IACOCCA POURING FUNDS INTO DIABETES RESEARCH, HOPING FOR A CURE

…Thanks to President Iacocca, the CDC, the US Health and Welfare Department, and many other parts of the federal government relating to health and medicine are enjoying higher budgets this year, and one reason for it is the President’s push for the finding of a cure for diabetes, the disease that took his wife from him. …President Iacocca is personally investing millions into these government programs. The Commander-in-Chief, citing the need for quality medical research, is also pushing for grants for medical schools “to train America’s best and brightest,” as he put it on Saturday during a White House press briefing in which he additionally touted the ongoing joint efforts of federal and state governments with medical sciences, business communities and "caring individuals." The widower President never remarried [12] after his wife Mary K. Iacocca died from Type 1 Diabetes in 1983; the Iacocca Family Foundation was subsequently founded in 1984 to generate funds for diabetes research. Backing promising projects and programs concerning finding a cure or at least a method to alleviate the complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, such foundations bring hope and promise to many sufferers of the disease. It now seems that such sufferers can be even more hopeful, now that the President and the federal government are in their corner…

– The Washington Post, 4/14/1993



Concerns over the threat of Colombian “pirate” attacks increasing and Lennon refusing to intervene militarily led to shipping companies demanding Royal Navy escorts for British ships in the region of the Panama Canal. These concerns were a boon to Lennon’s jobs guarantee program. Shipbuilding yards saw more revenue and employees as patrol boats and larger escort ships were ordered, as were “anti-pirate” modifications (such as bullet-proof glass and rooms) for pre-existing cargo ships. Even previously-suffering yards like Wolff and Harland of Northern Ireland found themselves hiring more and firing less for the first time in years. However, Lennon aimed to create both blue collar and white collar jobs. Not just work concerning housecleaning, plumbing, child care, elderly care, road repair, agriculture, and mechanics, but also computer innovations, telecommunications, market analysis, advertising, law, medicine, architecture design, and management skills. And, of course, hiring trainers to pass down such wisdom and skills.

– Jacqueline Edmondson’s A Legend’s Biography: The Lives And Times of John Lennon, London Times Books, 2010



“America’s biggest import trading partners are China, Canada, Japan and Mexico, along with Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and – until very recently – Indonesia for Hawaii. It is imperative that we remain on good terms with all of these allies and encourage American businesses to collaborate with them in order to explore new ideas, new possibilities, and new ways to innovate and contribute to the world’s markets.”

– US Commerce Secretary Betty Tom Chu, 4/21/1993



S.F. MAYOR DEFIES STATE LAW, ISSUES MARRIAGE LICENSES TO B.L.U.T.A.G. COUPLES

Court Challenge Already Underway Over City-County Clerk Direction

…San Francisco’s Art Agnos, who was elected Mayor over Charles Gain in 1991, has been consistently supportive of BLUTAG rights. He was the first incumbent mayor to ride in the annual BLUTAG Freedom Parade, and has named many minorities and blutagists to numerous city commissions. Agnos’ latest action, making San Francisco the largest community to legalize same-sex weddings in the country by far, is supported by his two predecessors, George Moscone (who was Mayor from 1976 to 1984) and Carol Ruth Silver (who was Mayor from 1984 to 1992)…

– The Sacramento Times-Union, 4/25/1993



The “Bellamy Playbook,” a 1992 study issued by the federal government, created extensive hypotheticals and suggested procedures for future presidents. The playbook was put to the test in April 1993. The 1991 outbreak led to the 1993 outbreak being a much smaller one, occurring only in one state, New Mexico. Spurred almost entirely by a wetter-than-usual rain season, local residents immediately noticed the symptoms and took to the face masks once more. Medical experts were rushed in and the town of Gallup, New Mexico, the site of this second outbreak, was placed on temporary lockdown. By the end of the month, the situation was under control; only twelve people were infected with the respiratory virus, and of them, only three died. [13]

– History of Hantavirus, cdc.gov.usa, retrieved 2020-04-15



Popcorn Chicken’s massive success suggests 30% profit increase for upcoming quarter. Expansion of product to outlets worldwide greenlit.

– KFC internal memo from CEO Collins to BoD member Yarmuth, dated 5/1/1993



…and over on the Asian island nation of Sri Lanka, a suicide bomber, most likely belonging to the warring militant called the Tamil Tigers, has assassinated Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa. The assassination happened at a celebration of the nation’s May Day holiday, and least 10 others were killed...

– BBC World News, 1/5/1993 broadcast



HOST: New polling suggest the Sri Lankan Civil War is finally gets some attention from the general public, but what should be done about it?

GUEST: Well, I agree with the Prime Minister’s approach of sending diplomatic aides to try and reign in the chaos that has been plaguing that island for roughly ten years now.

HOST: Will that tip the scales against the Tamil Tiger militant?

GUEST: I don’t think it will hurt. But the aides just arrived there, so we’ll see what happens in the upcoming weeks or maybe months. There’s no certain timeframe for this. It is a three-sided war with cultural and religious divisions, and foreign intervention may not be wanted or welcomed by the people we seek to help.

– Sky Group Limited, roundtable discussion, 10/5/1993



It’s been ten years today. 57 years old. That’s all. Mary would turn 68 this November, on the 25th. Only 57 years. That’s all.

– Lee Iacocca, private journal entry, 5/15/1993



IACOCCA TAKES AIM AT BIG PHARMA: His Plan To Reign In Wasteful Spending

…Ever since the implementation of Carolcare, also known as All-Inclusive Health Care, or “Universal” Health Care, overthrew the status quo of states not already part of the predeceasing UHC Pact of the 1970s and 1980s at the expense of the American taxpayer, long-term economic sustainability has been a lingering concern. While UHC provides universal coverage for necessary prescription drugs, reduced spending on drugs by over $1.2 billion dollars in 1991 alone, prices remain high for drugs the government has labelled “voluntary” drugs, from valium and Nyquil to Xanax and Tylenol. To address the subsequent rise in the cost of drugs not covered by UHC, President Iacocca is championing a bill in the Senate that would require drug prescribers to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry. If passed, this bill would save the country from wasting millions of dollars, and is part of the President’s overall plan to cut “wasted funds” from various venues by “at least $150million” over the next five year...

– National Review, May 1993 issue

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

– The initial “T.O.N. o’ Toons” logo, unveiled and first used in May 1993



British attention also became more focused on the warfare occurring on the island nation of Sri Lanka, where civil warfare was still tearing the country apart ever since the LTTE (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) officially launched their battles for an independent state in 1983. Also known as the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE were fighting for an independent nation consisting of the northern coast of Sri Lanka, a crescent-shaped region of the nation that is majority-Tamil. The actions of the LTTE – suicide bombings, assassinations, and, most recently, scorched earth policies – led to them being labeled terrorists by the US, India, Canada, and the member nations of the EU. On the flip side, the Sri Lankan government had discriminated against the Tamil people ever since independence. During the war, the government committing human rights violations against the Tamil, plus forcing disappearances, war crimes (including rape), and disregarding fair trials and due process, made PM Lennon privately detest the government the UK officially supported. The deploying of the Indian Army failed to stop the violence in the 1980s, along with the Indian Peace Keeping Force interfering from 1987 to 1990. The continuation of Pakistan’s aging dictator Zia-ul-Haq funding the Tamil Tigers didn’t help matters.

In May 1993, PM Lennon travelled to New Delhi to meet with Sri Lanka’s new President, and LTTE leader is Velupillai Prabhakaran and attempt to convince them to order a ceasefire in order to try once again to enter peace negotiations. These talks ended up focusing on the devolution of power between the two groups. With the Sri Lankan President refusing to lift the economic embargo on rebel-held territory until after the LTTE was officially disbanded, the talks broke down. After this, Lennon increased UK involvement in the conflict via recon and intel, but not via influencing weapons selling, as some critics claimed at the time.

After a second three-person meeting was held in Chennai, India, later that month, between Lennon, the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the US, and LTTE co-founder and second-in-command Vaithilingam Sornalingam. Those talks went even better for Sri Lanka and worse for the LTTE, as their representative reportedly insulted Lennon for “claiming the moral high ground while wallowing in western sin.” After this, Lennon offered Sri Lankan President Dingiri Banda Wijetunga a deal: he would lead a crackdown on international funding for the Tamil Tigers in exchange for Sri Lanka’s government openly admitting to their discrimination, internal law violations, and certain war crimes already committed. Wijetunga refused the deal.

Finally, with the backing of UN Secretary-General Sadruddin, Lennon contacted the LTTE’s third in command, Selvarasa Pathmanathan. While Velupillai Prabhakaran believed peace to be impossible had vowed to never be taken alive, fellow separatist Selvarasa Pathmanathan was more willing to negotiate for independence, but believed the moment has passed.

Defeated, Lennon returned his focus to domestic issues, but kept turning his head to look over his shoulder at Sri Lanka, until…

– Jacqueline Edmondson’s A Legend’s Biography: The Lives And Times of John Lennon, London Times Books, 2010 [14]



Understanding that international trade among world markets would reel from tariff rises, a part of Iacocca’s plan, in the event of Japan welching on their “Tokyo Deal,” was instead to promote domestic production and discourage foreign exports of products that can be produced inside US borders with US labor. A second part of this alternative plan was to increase trade with China, though this came with problems of its own.

“In recent years, as money has flowed into China, the cash grab has become more feverish. So much for the evils of capitalism!” [15] Iacocca once ranted to his Chief of Staff. On this point, Iacocca actually agreed with former Labor Secretary Ralph Nader, who on more than one occasion openly criticized China’s tendency to produce unsafe products, as cheaply sold often means cheaply made. “Self-interest is a concept we have some trouble with. It sounds so unfriendly. But I believe every country has an obligation to put its self-interest first. On a global scale that means devising a world trade system that strikes a balance between the two extremes of free trade and protectionism.” [16]

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



…We have some breaking news for you now: Jakarta’s Merdeka Palace, the official residence of the President of Indonesia, has been occupied by rebel national guardsmen in an apparent coup attempt against the country’s President Sudhermono. Several of the guardsmen are known supporters of Sudhermono’s political rival, Try Sutrisno…

– BBC World News, 5/19/1993



“Lee’s policies are not isolationist, and even if they were, the fact remains that he’s the President of the people of the United States, not President of the people of the world. He is doing his job, doing what he has to do to keep the country employed and protected from unfair foreign practices.”

– US Sen. Susan Engeleiter (R-WI), 5/29/1993



THE FIRST LADIES: How The Iacocca Sisters Balance White House Duties, Marriage, Motherhood, And Their Careers

– People Magazine, early June issue



NASA ADOPTS RESEARCHER MISSION MODEL FOR 2003 MARS PLANS

…analyst Robert Zubrin’s 1990 research paper calls for a more cost-efficient mission model that uses Mars’ atmosphere to produce oxygen, water, and rocket propellant for Martian missions. After making its way around to the administration, ultimately gaining the attention of the directors and analysts, NASA has announced it has adopted the “Zubrin Report” to be their “design reference mission.”…the administration’s newest space exploration project – an ambitious manned landing on Mars to be launched in early 2003 – would be the US’s first landing of a manned vehicle onto an extraterrestrial object since the last lunar landing took place in 1985. This is NASA’s largest project not tied to the I.S.S. or to either of the growing space agencies of Russia and the UK. …Zubrin thinks NASA exploring asteroids, like what happened on March 3 of this year, is not financially worth the cost. He believes the administration should instead focus on more promising endeavors such as Mars. Zubrin also concerned that if NASA fails to reach the Red Planet in 2003, we will have to wait until 2018 for so for Mars to be close enough to Earth for humanity to take “another go at it”…

– The Florida Times-Union, 6/2/1993



…When “Jurassic Park” hit theaters on June 9 of that year, its use of CRI made by Industrial Light & Magic was a groundbreaking game-changer and served as just another example of the potential CRI had when it came to filmmaking. The movie becoming the highest-grossing film of 1993 helped to popularize the use of CRI in film…

– Kristen Whissel’s CRI: Computer-Rendered Imagery And The History Special Effects of the Computer Age, Penguin Publishing, 2013



FORMER NEO-NAZI AND WOULD-BE COLONEL KILLER GEORGE ROCKWELL KILLED IN PRISON

Prince George County, VA – The FBI today revealed that George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the now-defunct American Nazi Party who in 1966 was found guilty of attempting to assassinate President Sanders with a bomb in 1965 [17], was fatally stabbed by a fellow inmate sometime earlier this week. Rockwell had become a born-again Christian while incarcerated at the Petersburg Federal Correctional Institution in Prince George County, Virginia, and was “running a religious following of sorts” centered on the teachings of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell with other inmates inside the federal prison. His murderer was a fellow inmate found guilty in 1990 of murdering 5 people along the Colonial Parkway from October 1986 to April 1988 [18]. Rockwell turned 75 on March 9. His 30-year sentence was set to expire in December 1996.

– The Roanoke Times, Virginia newspaper, 6/15/1993



…and in political news, President Iacocca signed into law the Pharmaceutical Drugs Reform Act earlier today…

– KNN, 6/16/1993 broadcast



J. Preston Bezos left Wall Street and began employment at Internal Research and Development at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley in late June 1993. He soon showed interest in NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Programs (TACP), which at the time was focused heavily on creating the most efficient and cost-effective items, from suits to rovers to sampling tools, for use on the Red Planet someday. Bezos’ superiors were not surprised by his eagerness to get to Mars. Bezos had graduated from Princeton with a BS in electrical engineering and computer science, was his class’ valedictorian that year, and had been President of the Princeton chapter of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). And before then, when he was valedictorian for his high school’s graduating class, a local newspaper recorded that he told the audience that he dreamed of the day “when mankind would colonize space,” and a local newspaper quoted his intention as being “to get all people off the earth and see it turned into a huge national park.” [19]

– researcher R. Cargill Hall’s Impact: The History of NASA, Dover Publications, 2018 edition



Iacocca Signs Small Business Job Protection Bill Into Law

The bill’s intent is to provide federal tax relief for small businesses, and to raise the amount of the take home pay of workers, as well as to amend the Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 relating to the payment of wages to employees who use employer owned vehicles. Furthermore, the bill aims to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the minimum wage rate and to prevent job loss by providing flexibility to employers in complying with minimum wage and overtime requirements... [20]

– The Washington Post, 6/19/1993



PAT NIXON, FORMER SECOND LADY OF THE US, DIES AT 81

…The quiet consort to her husband, former Vice President and “Lion of the Senate” Richard Nixon, died at their home in San Clemente, CA, yesterday evening. She was 81. She died of lung cancer after several years of poor health, a spokesperson for the Nixon family said. Commenting on Mrs. Nixon’s death, former First Lady Claudia Sanders said, “She was an extraordinary gal with a good heart and an excellent judge of character.” President Iacocca has issued a statement that Mrs. Nixon was “a wonderful wife and mother, unwavering in her graceful composure as Second Lady who promoted education and aid programs, earnest to do good more than to bask in limelight.” During her husband’s career as a US Congressman, then as a US Senator, then as Vice President, and then as a US Senator again, Mrs. Nixon was a steady and steadfast fixture always at his side, always seemingly listen raptly to his addresses and speeches...

– The Los Angeles Times, 6/23/1993



On June 20, the first dam burst. The repeat rain showers had loosened the soil and contributed to a partial dam leak along the Black River of western Wisconsin. Over 100 homes were submerged up to their rooftops as that river, one of hundreds that feed the Mississippi, left its bank to descend upon the streets, fields, and buildings. Soon the upper 200 miles of the Mississippi were closed to river traffic as dams and locks began to perform emergency operations. Unprecedented rain in Iowa and along further tributaries of the Missouri River led to parts of Missouri and Iowa declaring states of emergency by the end of the week. By the 24th, most counties bordering the Mississippi were on high alert.

And the rain kept pouring.

[pic: https://imgur.com/MbGHIT3 ]

– Susan Clotfelter’s High And Mighty: The Great Flood of ’93, Andrews & McNeel, 1997 edition



Philippine President Ramos Tours Damage As Typhoon Koryn Dissipates

– The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 6/29/1993



His home office was much darker than usual, and not just because of the drawn drapes. “Nixon?” [21] I cautiously creaked open the door. The Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate sat slumped down a bit in his desk chair, his hand on the side of his face. His index finger dug into the wrinkles on his temple while his thumb pressed into his cheekbone; the rest of the fingers rubbed his wrinkly forehead.

“Present,” Nixon answered curtly, with a sense of levity.

When Nixon was in a funk, it was typically a bad scene. But this was something different, and for a more-than-obvious reason, as anyone could tell just by tracking Richard’s eyes. He was not staring off into blank space but to the family photographs on the wall opposite him. His mourning had not waned since she’d passed away on the 22nd.

“Heh. Did you know she practically begged me to not run for President in 1980? She was worried about my health. Hers, too. That stroke she had back in ’76. She recovered, but the wind was still out of her sails.”

I was startled by his comment. It was always professional with him; I could not remember the last time he talked about something personal. He didn’t believe in sharing that sort of stuff with people, not even with friends. It seemed this was a rare case of him not keeping it to himself.

“Yes, Nixon, I remember.”

“God rest her. It was the right choice in the end, but for a while – especially in ’84 – I sort of resented her for it. Seeing the Soviets fall apart, and seeing Denton of all people getting all the credit, I kept thinking ‘that would have been me were it not for her.’ God, I hate myself for thinking that about her. And her health was back in the s#!thole by then, too.” He sighed and tried to sit up a bit. “But she was right. In the end I got more done behind the throne than I ever could have on it, especially with those ravenous species of buzzard we call reporters – medius paparazzius – hounding whoever sits behind the Resolute Desk. The President has no privacy! At least… I think he has none. I wouldn’t know, would I? What do you think, Bob?”

“I couldn’t say.”

“Yeah. Neither can I, damn it. But what’s done is done. Can’t change…any of it…”

“Are you still having trouble eating, Nixon?”

“I went through the last of Pat’s leftovers last night. The last good food I’ll ever have, I bet.”

“When was the last time you left the house, Nixon?”

After a minute, he responded, “I saw my grandkids the other day. Georgie’s gettin’ so tall, and he’s not even thirteen yet,” he said with a smirk, probably to the thought of George Nixon Bush possibly towering over him in a few years.

“Well it’s just that it’s a really sunny day out today, and I just got my new golfing equipment. The car’s filled up, our calendars are cleared for the weekend, and I’m hankering to try and beat your record!” My fake enthusiasm may have been laid on a little thick there toward the end, but Nixon did not seem to mind. My friend had never really liked nature, at least not nature on its own, without there being something to do while in it, be it camping or fishing or what-have-you. Even discussing policies while more pragmatic than relishing the ambience of nature as far as Richard was concerned. But the greens of the course seemed to have a calming effect on him. He never admitted to it, but I could tell. Here I hoped it would be therapeutic, too. It couldn’t hurt to try. "There's also some legislation I want to talk to you about. Preferably outside...where there's...light..."

“Alright, but I’ll only play a round with 18 holes,” he said with a dry smile on his face.

But as he got up, his shoulders still slumped lower than usual, his posture still slouched to Earth, and as he left the room, his eyes failed to make contact with mine. They just kept looking back in the pictures, the memories, of his beloved Pat.

– longtime US Rep. Robert Hutchinson “Bob” Finch’s Counselor to The Lion: My Memoirs, Sunrise Publishing, 1995



…Iacocca’s depiction in media began with comedic sketches on SNL jabbing at his blunt, data-filled commercials with sketches performed by Dan Aykroyd and (after Aykroyd’s passing) Phil Hartman. Upon his election to the Presidency, such comedic impressions continued alongside more serious takes. The most notable of these depictions were made by Danny Aiello, Robert Duvall, and Joe Piscopo in theatrically-released films in 1996, 1999, and 2005, respectively...

– mediarchives.co.usa/articles/Iacocca-in-film



…The dizzying humor of Robin Williams is married perfectly with the quick animation style, giving the comedian freedom from human form to instantly become anything or anyone during his funny routines. With the feeling of genuine exhilaration in all of his scenes, the genie’s comedic snippets come off as being almost improvisational, as he goes careening from one joke to another, morphing into Ed Sullivan for a few seconds before changing again, skipping to Charlie McCarthy to Elvis to Ronald “Horshack” Palillo to Mickey Mouse (of course) to John Amos to a supermodel to a Scottish terrier.

The only downside to having the big blue genie be such a great character for both kids and adults to watch is that it highlights how bland and generic the lead characters are. Once the street urchin Aladdin and the sultan’s daughter Jasmine appear back on screen the film slows down again, making the audience have to sit through chemistry that pales when compared to other, more recent, more interesting Disney couples. Thankfully, the film does not rely entirely on the genie for great moments, as its other supporting characters – the cuddly sultan, the scheming vizier, the wrathful parrot, and the mischievous monkey all help the film along in their own unique ways. The most impressive of these side characters, though, is the carpet – it has no face or voice, but with tassels and body language, it is able to present an understandable personality, being worrisome but loyal to his new friends as he whisks them around the kingdom of Agrabah…

– Roger Ebert, 7/1/1993 review of Disney’s Aladdin (1993)



“BARTHOLOMEW VS. NEFF” A MUST-SEE FOR LOVERS OF LAUGHS

…The new hit of the summer is a comedy written and directed by John Hughes. This film project that began in 1990 sees Sylvester Stallone (Jack Neff) and John Candy (S. Stuyvesant Bartholomew IV) star as feuding neighbors in a Chicago suburb. Also starring Natasha Richardson, Dave Foley and Jeanne Tripplehorn, this Hughes does it again in his latest creation that is fun for the whole family this Fourth-of-July weekend…

– Vanity Fair, film review section, 7/2/1993



Oliver Stone’s BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

Premiered: July 4, 1993
Genre(s): political/war/thriller/horror/courtroom

Directed by: Oliver Stone
Written by: Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar
Produced by: Oliver Stone and A. Kitman Ho

Cast:
See Full List Here

Synopsis:
In 1969, a reporter investigates allegations of North Vietnamese citizens being raped and abused by American and South Vietnamese soldiers after the fall of Hanoi in early 1967.

Reception:
The film was embroiled in controversy upon its release, with many accusing Stone of taking artistic liberties with real and historical events. However, critics did praise the acting, cinematography, writing and pacing of the film, and it nearly doubled its budget at the box office.

Trivia Facts:

Trivia Fact No. 1:
Oliver Stone enlisted in the US Army in April 1967, after the fall of Hanoi, and requested combat duty in Cambodia. He served there from September 1967 to April 1968 before being wounded in action, causing him to receive a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and other rewards; a transference to infantry until receiving an honorable discharge in November 1968; and limb in his walk and muscle problems in his left arm that plagued him for years and contributed to Stone often including physically injured or disabled characters in his many films.

Trivia Fact No. 2:
The film's title comes from the birth date of future U.S. Army General Ronald Lawrence "Ron" Kovic, who played a role in the rebuilding of post-invasion Hanoi; is portrayed in the film by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, in a minor "antagonistic" role, given the controversy surrounding Kovic's alleged awareness of his fellow soldiers sexual pestering locals.

– mediarchives.co.usa



FEMALE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT, THE ARAB WORLD’S FIRST, TO GUIDE CAMPUS “RESTORATION” EFFORTS

…chemist and academic Faiza Al-Kharafi became the very first female head of a major Middle Eastern university upon being appointed rector of Kuwait University earlier today...

– The Guardian, UK newspaper, 5/7/1993



HURRICANE CALVIN BATTERS MEXICO’S PACIFIC RESORTS, LEAVES VILLAGES IN RUIN

– The Houston Chronicle, 7/7/1993



While China was strengthening relations with “the global community,” the nations experienced grain shortfalls. This turn of events, and the new need for hard currency, led to Zhu Rongji sharply cutting what little aid China was already sending to North Korea…

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



The Indonesian Civil War of 1993 was surprisingly brief, encompassing 8 hectic weeks of political factions clashing in the streets as both Sudhermono and Sutrisno each declared themselves to be the rightful leader of the country. Pro-Sutrisno soldiers sought to arrest Sudhermono in Jakarta in May, only to discover the President had already fled to the Bogor Palace, another one of the six Presidential Palaces of Indonesia. Attempts to regroup and advance on Bogor failed when a larger deployment of Pro-Sudhermono soldiers to intercept. The apparent lack of proper cooperation between Sutrisno and his army made several political allies switch sides; many soldiers uninvolved in the fighting yet ended up siding with the incumbent Sudhermono soon after this as well. After another six weeks of Sutrisno’s support dwindling away, Sudhermono was still uncaptured and unharmed while two of Sutrisno’s closest allies had died in a naval skirmish. Finally, in July, Sutrisno offered to surrender and acknowledge Sudhermono as the rightful leader in exchange for amnesty for him and his remaining close circle of allies. Sudhermono granted said circle amnesty but not Sutrisno himself. Instead, he controversially guaranteed a sentence of house arrest for Sutrisno if he surrendered immediately. Sutrisno complied, and Sudhermono’s send of the deal was upheld.

– Adrian Vickers’ A History of Modern Indonesia (Second Edition), Cambridge University Press, 2015



INTERVIEWER: On July 15, 1993, Jackson’s mansion home at the Nederland Ranch in Los Olives, California, caught fire. Jackson was hospitalized for burn wounds and died just hours later. The cause of the fire and the exact cause of his death are surrounded by controversy. Officially, but fire was a short circuit from an indoor merry-go-round, and that the singer did not suffer any adverse reaction to any drugs or recreadrugs, but the rumors and conspiracy theories still sprout up every now and about. What’s your take on the death of Michael Jackson?

TOMMY CHONG: I thought it was a darn shame. The kid had already done so much with his life, I can only imagine what other great hits he would have made if he’d lived longer.

INTERVIEWER: Do you believe in any of the conspiracy theories?

TOMMY CHONG: Not until I see something that makes sense, man. I mean, arson is one thing, but some of those theories claim that aliens did it. Aliens only blow stuff up in the movies, man. In real life, I bet that if aliens were involved, than it was that they were smokin’ pot with Michael and accidentally blew the place up. Everything short of that makes no sense, man.

INTERVIEWER: What about the claims made against Michael’s estate in 1999, in which an adult man accused Michael of inappropriate behavior against him when his parents worked at the Nederland Ranch in the early 1990s? The subsequent court case was settled out of court, and since then, two more men have come forward with similar claims but without proof backing said claims. Do you think there was some truth to these allegations?

TOMMY CHONG: It’s hard to say. I don’t think we’ll ever truly know what happened behind closed doors, but just the same, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to keep an open mind and listen to both sides of the thing. Um, can we get back to talking about music now?

– usarightnow.co.usa/culture/interview, 2014 [22]



…the levees breaking after months of high flooding resulted in the Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois, cresting at a new record high of 32 feet on July 24...

– Susan Clotfelter’s High And Mighty: The Great Flood of ’93, Andrews & McNeel, 1997 edition



In 1992, KFC reached a deal with Artisan Entertainment and The Overmyer Network to produce a feature-length made-for-TV film entitled “Finger-Lickin’ Good,” a biopic covering The Colonel’s building of the company from its 1930s roots to its 1950s expansion. Essentially a 90-minute advertisement, the project was greenlit in the hopes of it helping the declining domestic national sales. The film had a professional cast and crew, starring William Hurt as Colonel Sanders, Joe Pantoliano as Pete Herman, Janine Turner as Claudia, rising star Jeff Garlin as Dave Thomas, and was directed by Ronald Brain Underwood. The film premiered on July 20, 1993 to polarizing reviews. Most audiences enjoyed the nostalgia and acting, especially Garlin’s depiction of Thomas, but critics were absolutely livid over the “nearly God-like” depiction of Colonel Sanders, and complained about the cinematography, with many of them feeling that it felt way too much like a movie-length commercial for, tour guide video for, or documentary on KFC. With a constantly upbeat tone that became annoying by the end of the running time, other critics accused the filmmakers of “whitewashing” history, cowering away from Sanders’ already-famous temper to promote the “happy but wise ol’ grandpa” image. Defenders of the movie, though, state that these elements make the film stand out better from standard autobiographical films, such as the two-and-a-half-hours-long film on Ernest Hemingway (portrayed by Jack Nicholson) that came out earlier that month to critical acclaim. “It knows what it is and that it has a biased angle and it is not ashamed to be a great movie despite all that,” stated Gene Siskel to the shock and visual disgust of Roger Ebert on the Saturday, July 24, 1993 episode of “At the Movies”...

– Marlona Ruggles Ice’s A Kentucky-Fried Phoenix: The Post-Colonel History of Most Famous Birds In The World, Hawkins E-Publications, 2020



SENATOR BILL BRADLEY INTRODUCES EMERGENCY RELIEF BILL

…Some House Republicans are reportedly “disappointed” in President Iacocca’s support for the bill, with House Majority Whip Ed Madigan (R-IL) stating that “irresponsible spending on state-level issues is not in the President’s job description, and it was not in Lee Iacocca’s campaign platforms either.”

– The Washington Post, 8/1/1993



…Fine survived breast cancer in her early 30s, and again in the late 2010s. During her first bout with the disease, Fine spent whatever free time she had working on helping to organize fundraising efforts for progressive Democratic primary candidates ahead of the 1994 midterms…

– clickopedia.co.usa/Janice_R._Fine



Maglev trains do not have wheels – they float above the track instead with the use of magnets. Hence the name: it is short for magnetic levitation. These types of trains are safer, quicker, and overall better for the environment than other trains. While American researcher James Powell patented a magnet “figure-of-8” coil (coils pivotal to many maglevs) all the way back in the late 1960s, it was Japanese innovators who made the concept of the maglev train a reality with the production of the HSST rail line, and much-better-known SC-Maglev of the Central Japan Railway Company. By the 1990s, Maglev train routes were beginning to be built in Russia. The first project, a 64-seater connecting Moscow proper to Sheremetyevo Airport, began operations in 1993 [23]. That same year, South Korea completed its own maglev system and showcased it at the Taejon Expo that opened on August 7, 1993…

– John Wood’s Travel Technology: Maglev Trains, Hovercrafts, And Moore, Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2019



PM OF JAPAN STEPS DOWN

…Kiichi Miyazawa resigned shortly after losing a Confidence Vote conducted by his party, the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party). Miyazawa’s drop in interparty popularity is tied to a scandal involving a chief political ally. Last year, former State Minister Fumio Abe was indicted and arrested over bribery accusations. Miyazawa’s connections to Abe, slowly revealed to the public via the court case over the past several months, led to the Prime Minister narrowly losing a vote of no confidence; Miyazawa chose to step down immediately after the tally was made final...

– The Los Angeles Times, 8/9/1993



…In Poland, President Kuron’s introduction of world prices and greatly expanding the scope of private enterprise was showing positive results. The expansion of personal freedoms as a true Market Economy was slowly implemented gradually raised the quality of life in the country…

– Maskim Gorky’s After the Iron Curtain: Eastern Europe, 1984-to-Today, Academic International Press, 2010 edition



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Line quoted from here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/I_Gotta_Tell_You/tTMAUA-99XYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=lee+iacocca+book&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589519137667
[2] Lines pulled from the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470
[3] palm oil and soybean oil being used as a third option in the chicken recipe is mentioned here: https://www.damninteresting.com/colonels-of-truth/ (on page 44 of 72 when printed out)
[4] Lines pulled from the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470 (found on Page 8)
[5] Ibid., page 104
[6] Ibid., page 105
[7] Found in “Iacocca: An Autobiography,” by Lee Iacocca and William Novak.
[8] source: https://www.csmonitor.com/1984/0124/012422.html
[9] Paraphrase of March 10 description found here: http://www.greatriver.com/FLOOD.htm
[10] OTL!
[11] Inspired by this RL article!: https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/may/19/kfc-smugglers-of-gaza
[12] ITTL, he and his OTL second wife Peggy Johnson decided to break up before the wedding due to OTL problems arising sooner. He didn’t meet his OTL third wife, restauranteur Darrien Earle, in 1987 here, because he was MLB Commissioner from 1987 to 1992 here, and so he didn’t marry her in 1991 like he did in OTL.
[13] Basically the 1993 Four Corners Hantavirus Outbreak of OTL goes a lot better here.
[14] Info on Sri Lankan situation found on Wikipedia.
[15] Iacocca quote(s) pulled from the OTL 2007 Lee Iacocca book “Where Have All The Leaders Gone?”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_Have_All_the_Leaders_Gone/iPU_gkJo1LUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover#spf=1589419600470 (from page 106)
[16] Ibid., page 108
[17] Mentioned in 1965 and 1966 chapters.
[18] A.k.a., the unidentified serial killer behind the Colonial Parkway Murders of OTL, who was caught in April 1988 ITTL.
[19] OTL, according to Source 23 on his wiki page!
[20] Italicized parts are pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Business_Job_Protection_Act_of_1996
[21] Apparently, not even Nixon’s closest friends called him by his first name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon#Personality_and_public_image
[22] See August 1979 in this TL for an earlier part of this interview.
[23] As briefly mentioned in the 1987 chapters, Japan’s economy went through a minor recession in 1987, not a financial crisis later like in OTL, and so this project wasn’t abandoned like it was in OTL.

ajm8888 said:
God I would love to see the conspiracy theories of this world.

Also I do wonder if the Japan here actually make some of their crazy plans...
Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid
Though could still never happen, costs, resources, what not.

Would not mind seeing advanced Japanese maglevs and possibly Japanese made bullet trains in America.
Click to expand...

Theories surrounding which events?
Well that's an interesting pyramid; we'll see.
Maglev trains? Interesting!

historybuff said:
Interesting update Wonder who will be in his cabinet. Nice that you find many obscure political and non political figures to use in different ways.

Thanks for the compliment!

Ogrebear said:
Chapter 63: January 1991 – July 1991
1) Attack of the Killer Emu - sci-fi epic right there!
2) Ross Perot owning the Dallas Cowboys? I have a feeling Perot is going for a wider portfolio of companies here than he did OTL. Wonder if he got in on Microsoft ITTL?
3) North Korea revolution or massive refugee crisis in the early 90's? Or Korea War II?
4) Given all the changed circumstances in this timeline, I am sort of surprised you let Atwater die on schedule rather than his cancer get caught earlier and he survive
5) First SMS sent- how long to the first LOL?
6) Disneyland Barcelona is interesting as it does leave the possibility open of another resort in the East- perhaps Berlin, or Denmark- a more 'Winter Disney' experience perhaps?
7) Jim Henson’s The Muppets on Broadway - so the variety show was finally in a theatre where it belonged! Hope Waldorf and Sandler got a VIP box to heckle from over the live audience.
8) No Japanese permanent recession then?
9) Bugger about Penn Station- but the building preservation orders are at least in place to prevent another such disaster.
Click to expand...

1) I should look up how many emu-related action films have been made in OTL.
2) I'll cover that in 1993
3) We'll see.
4) I considered it, but his personality wasn't affected by the POD, and so he still doesn't get a checkup until it's too late, like in OTL. I'm instead considering explaining away a different person's cancer.
5) We will see.
6) Disney wanted a year-round operation, so, maybe, somewhere farther south and further east?
7) Thank @Igeo654 for this idea
8) we shall see.
9) Indeed!

Ogrebear said:
Chapter 64: July 1991 – February 1992
1) I wonder if the Spice Girls would be a 'Riot Grrrl' band ITTL?
2) A 'statewide jobs guarantee' is an interesting thing in Alaska- I wonder if other states start looking into this sort of thing as automation begins to kick in?
3) Republic of Vevcani - one more flag for Yugoslavia?
4) Wonder if Poland is still making tons of coal and dominating the European market?
5) Surprised North Korea went direct to the US and not somewhere more neutral like Japan
6) I can see Belarus rejoining Russia here- as its a theme ITTL
7) Maybe NASA just needs to be given a fixed 2% of GDP?
8) Indonesian revolution about to happen?
Click to expand...

1) Very likely
2) Very probable
3) Only if taken seriously, as it was more of a PR stunt in OTL/TTL.
4) Maybe...
5) Me, too, since this is based on similar efforts undertaken by the North in OTL.
6) Maybe.
7) Not a bad idea!
8) He might want to avoid the same thing that brought him into power in the first place; we shall see...
And you're right, I should have mentioned the treaty with NK more in the autumn campaign season, because it was one of many prominent factors in the election...

Ogrebear said:
Chapter 65: February 1992 – July 1992
1) February 22: Sounds like a relatively dull debate
2) Didn't most economies comes away from that cos it failed? Mr Paul, you are not economist
3) Frozen KFC? Will simply not be the same. KFC needs to be brought fresh
4) they can launch out over the Arabian Sea?
5) The response to the Erzincan earthquake shows the butterflies caused in ITTL very nicely
6) I wonder if the Ark Wave hit Greece?
7) I had to look up Yogi Berra, as that is one cool name
8) Dramatic events in Bulgaria there- make a good mini-series
9) That bomb in Ivory Coast, sounds almost like a false flag as an excuse to move against Sanwi
10) River Phoenix as Spiderman? Man, that works so well! A Tim Burton Spider-Man movie, plus his three Batman films? Worth a dimension jump for those alone!
11) Federal Guaranteed Employment? That *should* be popular among the poorer workers and blue collar types, but I can see many arguments ahead
12) Lots going on in this update- very good chapter.
Click to expand...

1) I concur
2) yep and yep
3) The public agrees, methinks!
4) Brilliant!
5) Thanks!
6) Yes it did - women in Greece didn't get the right to vote until 1950 in otl, so the airwaves are like "culture shocks" for many in the nation.
7) Look up his famous quotes and sayings - they're a hoot!
8) Good idea!
9) Maybe . . .
10) You can thank @Igeo654 for these
11) we'll see!
12) Thanks!

Ogrebear said:
Chapter 66: August 1992 – December 1992
1) Is Freddie Mercury able to sing his amazing Barcelona song as part of the Olympics ITTL?
2) Wonder how bad Hurricane Andrew was for the Caribbean?
3) Hosea, Aaron & Ralph - another movie from this timeline I'd like to see
4) If the Royal Navy starts escorting British ships around the Panama Canal, then that service is going to need some more resources than they had in OTL at this point- time for some ships, which is going to be great for British shipbuilding yards and economy. Might stop yards like Harland and Wolff going under and bring jobs to NI
5) Hunter S. Thompson's review of the VP debate was marvellous
6) The Cartoon Network's success might rely a lot on getting new programming out rather than just using old stock
5) Good line Pat Paulsen
7) Good chapter- meant to ask - what has happened to the S.S. United States ITTL? Can't see a President like Colonel Sanders letting it rust away- has she been turned into a Museum somewhere? Alongside Queen Mary perhaps?
Click to expand...

1) Great idea! Thanks!
2) Typically bad, not exceptionally bad, the US got the worst of it.
3) Thank @Igeo654 for the idea
4) This could help the jobs guarantee program; I'll cover it in 1993.
5) Thank you for the compliment
6) Sound advice!
7) Thanks; I'll cover those ships in the next chapter!

Kennedy Forever said:
Btw did President Bellamy and Prime minister Lennon get along when they met?

Yes. That's why they and John's wife celebrated New Year's together at the White House.

Thanks for all who commented; I appreciate the feedback!

The next chapter's E.T.A.: May 31 at the latest, I hope.

Also, @Ogrebear: Apparently, the first “LOL” message of OTL was in 1989!: https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/05/lol-s-25th-anniversary-origins-of-still-popular-internet-abbreviation-trace-back-to-may-1989-newsletter.html.

 

[gap80]

Post 60: Chapter 68

Chapter 68: August 1993 – March 1994​

“Iacocca. I heard he was a great president.”

– George Landon (played by Michael Paré), World Gone Wild, 1988 film (OTL)



WHAT WERE THE ’90S LIKE FOR TEENS? A Semi-Explanation Of A Wild Decade For Adolescents

…The pop culture of the early 1990s also saw additional UK-based bands such as East 17 “landing” in the US while older bands such as NKOTB began to lose popularity in the wake of these newer “fresh faces.” The advancement of technology gave to the rise of a more diverse selection of music available to young people worldwide. For example, shoegaze, or “dream pop,” an alt-rock/indie subgenre originating in the UK in the late 1980s (but having roots going back to the Ambient Rock subgenre of the early 1960s), found its way across the pond and is considered to be a predecessor to the “lo-fi” style of e-wave (stylized as “E - W A V E”) music that arose in the US during the 2000s decade. Along with members of the Indie/experimental scene gaining prominence during this time, such as musicians Bjork and Kelela, and the band Arca, “techno-dance” genres influenced clothing styles. …For girls, there was the Wonderbra, the Carol-bop hairstyle based on the one kept by President Carol Bellamy and, later on in the decade, the “Tomb Raider braid” hairstyle; for guys, it was the slicked-back hair and plaid jacket style popularized by River Phoenix in the 1992 Spiderman film. …The teens of the 1990s rejected the hairspray of the previous generations as “bad for the planet,” and adopted the wet/scrounged/unkempt hairdos that became a very common look for the decade. However, other adolescents went in the opposite direction, using less environmentally-harmful hair-care products to give their hair “frosted tips,” most prominently by the end of the decade…

…The Second Video Game Renaissance of the early 1990s reached its apex in 1993, with Atari and Coleco shifting to making games rather than consoles as consumers complained of poor-quality game options. Arcade games were soon replaced by home consoles and franchise games centering on popular characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog from the eponymous games and Vic Fighter from Midway’s 1991 FPS game Bloodkiller – a game so violent (despite its rudimentary graphics) that it overshadowed another violent game called Mortal Kombat, also from Midway, and led to the gaming industry’s rating system being established in August 1993. …To appeal to the post-Ark Wave calls for gender equality in products, Nintendo’s Game Kid was released in 1989, and became a widely popular handheld game console during the decade, enjoyed by male and female consumers. …As for the technet, broadband access was still too expensive for many low-income regions, leading to the rise in prominence of LAN parties across the globe before the decade was over... [1]

– Variety magazine, editorial, 2013 issue



After American President Iacocca contributed to UN efforts, former American leader Carol Bellamy, along with former Ambassador Togo D. West Jr., travelled to both Ghana and the Ivory Coast in August 1993 in order to promote and potentially mediate peace talks in either state, under UN supervision. Koffi Annan, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations in Africa and a native of Ghana, soon began working with Bellamy to address worries about what the civil unrest and borderline civil war of the conflict in Ghana were having on food supplies, medical help and education for the children of the region. Not long after this, tour – which saw Bellamy visit the more dangerous regions such as Shama, near Takoradi, and Tema, next to Accra – the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) hired Bellamy as a Special Administrator.

– Historian Roger Gocking’s The Modern History of Ghana, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005



…After two years of investigations into his connections to business dealings involving state government, investigations that doomed his presidential campaign in 1992 before the primary even began, Rhode Island Governor Buddy Cianci has been indicted on racketeering charges. Cianci won re-election in 1990 in a landslide due to his reforms focused on urban development, creating parks and reforming the state’s school system despite some Republican opposition to doing so. However, Cianci soon fell from grace when, in early 1991, he faced assault charges from a man who claimed the Governor attacked him when Cianci suspected him of being romantically involved with state First Lady Nancy Cianci. In late 1991, his popularity waned more considerably when the IRS began investigating corruption claims concerning mail fraud, racketeering, conspiracy, bribery, extortion and witness tampering conducted by members of Cianci’s staff and inner circle...

– CBS Evening News, 8/17/1993



NASA’S MARS OBSERVER ENTERS ORBIT AROUND THE RED PLANET!

[pic: https://imgur.com/B1O6lJ7 ]
The robotic space probe will provide the National Aeronautics and Space Administration with new information on the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate, and magnetic field. As per the conditions of the International Space Data Accord, which the US joined in 1991 along with Russia, China, Japan, India and the UK, NASA will make the data they collect from the probe available to other space organizations such as, for example, the UK’s British National Space Centre... The mapping phase of this ambitious project is set to begin on December 17...

– The New York Times, 8/24/1993



MISSISSIPPI RIVER LOCKS REOPENING TO COMMERCIAL RIVER TRAFFIC AS WATERS START TO RECEDE

– The Springfield News-Leader, Missouri newspaper, 8/25/1993



GAMES BEFORE GHOSTS

Premiered: August 28, 1993
Genre (s): action-thriller-suspense-drama
Directed by: Renny Harlin
Written by: Michael France and Ted Tally

Cast:
Dennis Quaid as Special Agent Michele Montauk
Kevin Peter Hall as Detective Matthew Wrendab
Rene Russo as Officer Howardetta “Etta” Speier
Stephen William Burns as Security Guard Joseph Isenmay
Meg Ryan as Mrs. Jennifer Rankling Highstone
Kevin Costner as FBI Director Michael Markbottom
Stuart Conan Wilson as CIA Director Creighton Mast
J. T. Walsh as Dr. Sethrick Yugdab Aldermard III, Esq.
Aquarius Bates as Georgiana Emily “Gem” Highstone
Claire Lewis as Billie Highstone
Jayne Mansfield as Olympics Chair Zinnia Ferguson
See Full List Here

Synopsis: With the suspense and “real time” pacing of Countdown to Looking Glass and the action-packed thrills of Die Hard, the 1996 Summer Olympics are being held at Tybee Island, Georgia, when police learn that the H-bomb that went missing in the nearby Wassaw Sound back in 1958 (a real thing that actually happened) has been recovered by a wealthy eccentric who threatens to kill millions of people attending the international event if his demands are not met.

Trivia Facts:
Trivia Fact No. 1: The film's at-times-gritty realism scared many people, prompting many – including US President Lee Iacocca – to call for greater handling and documenting of nuclear waste, culminating in the Nuclear Materials Regulation Act of 1995; additionally, in 1996, the US military once more searched the Wassaw Sound and surrounding areas, but again failed to locate the missing nuclear warhead.

– mediarchives.co.usa



BUSINESSMAN AND RETIRED MLB PITCHER DON TRUMP, AFTER WEEKS OF FLOATING IDEA, DECLINES TO RUN FOR NY GOVERNOR

…Trump has donated to Republican and Democratic campaigns in Massachusetts, Illinois, New York, Florida and New Jersey over the past several years, but has officially resided in Manhattan since 1987. In his announcement, Trump did not reveal his political affiliation, but did state “I’m very busy making the states great through other ways. I make great buildings, that hires a lot of people, I get a lot of stuff done. More than Cuomo gets done, but, uh, well, if the people want me to run, I wouldn’t be surprised if a draft movement happened, I really wouldn’t.” However, former employees of Trump’s architecture firm, The Trump Organization, claim his decision to not run is due to unspecified “growing financial issues.” Others say it is due to sister currently running for Governor in New Jersey, and the fear that New York voters would reject the “image” of “some kind of dynasty trying to set itself up here,” as put by one anonymous former employee…

– The New York Post, 9/5/1993



The X-Files is an American science fiction drama TV series created by Chris Carter. The series premiered on September 10, 1993…

[snip]

The Overmyer Network hired Chris Carter to produce a new syndicated show for their new “wave” of original programming. Tired of working on comedies, and inspired by the Lukens Hush Money Scandal, the 1970s horror series Kolchak The Night Stalker, and a recent report of suggested millions of missing persons in the US have actually been alien abductees, Carter wrote the pilot for a sci-fi series he dubbed “The X-Files” in 1992. After initially shying away from the notion, the network executives greenlit production…

– clickopedia.co.usa [2]



…Governor Buddy Cianci of Rhode Island has switched his party affiliation from Republican to Independent in response to state GOP leaders, quote-unquote “abandoning” him in the face of multiple scandals. Cianci has in the past claimed that the investigations into alleged actions of racketeering are politically motivated, instigated by the Democratic-majority state congress and, until November of last year, by the Bellamy administration as well. These claims, however, have failed to win over Rhode Islander’s as Cianci approval ratings has plummeted to 21%...

– NBC News, 9/14/1993



A game changer occurred on September 15, though, when, in a major development, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in a military battle outside of Trincomalee, as part of a government push to “clear” the entire eastern coast of Tamil insurgents. Prabhakaran’s second-in-command, fellow radical Vaithilingam Sornalingam, was also killed in the mutually high-casualty advance. However, their deaths led to Selvarasa Pathmanathan, once third-in-command, to become the new leader of the LTTE. Seeing their latest military defeat as a harbinger for what lied ahead for the Tamil if they continued the warfare, Pathmanathan agreed to agree to meet with UK representatives and negotiate conditions for LTTE surrender. Quadrilateral negotiations between the Tamil (through the UK) and the Sri Lanka government (through India) dampened the intensity of the fighting until a temporary ceasefire was agreed to in December, leading to direct bilateral peace talks beginning in January 1994…

[pic: https://imgur.com/L3HKevM ]
Above: Sri Lanka, with territory claimed by the LTTE (where most of the fighting occurred) at the height of the conflict, in green

– Jacqueline Edmondson’s A Legend’s Biography: The Lives And Times of John Lennon, London Times Books, 2010



September 1993 saw President Iacocca allow a gas tax bill become law without his signature. The bill created a national 25-cent gas tax, with a rebate program for needy drivers. A complicated bill that Republicans derided, liberals and moderates in the House believed it would help with oil conservation and promote citizens investing in alternative fuel. A key player in the bill’s passage was conservative Senator Arthur Link (D-SD), who had long been concerned about the “peak oil” theory [3] and the affect that such a phenomenon would have on his home state – despite most fears of peak oil subsiding by the start of the Iacocca administration. Still, the idea of averting future fuel crises was enough to win over moderates in the House after initial passing in the Senate.

Meanwhile, a bill meant to implement a federal jobs guarantee program was introduced in the House by US Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH). However, there was much debate on the quality of jobs the program would provide. Most proposed position were of the “last resort” variety, e.g. low-pay public sector jobs in retail, fast-food, and manual-labor construction jobs. Democratic leaders such as Congress Gephardt looked to the policies of FDR and LBJ, while others viewed the moderate success of the UK’s jobs program established by PM John Lennon in 1992. The Kaptur bill would stay in committee for several more months before... [4]

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



IOC Session No. 111
Date: September 24, 1993
Location: Tokyo, Japan

Subject 1 of 1: bidding for hosting the 9/15/2000-10/1/2000 (or XXVII) Summer Olympics
Results:
Manchester, U.K. – 18 (Round 1) – 20 (Round 2) – 29 (Round 3) – 47 (Round 4)
Beijing, China – 24 (Round 1) – 27 (Round 2) – 30 (Round 3) – 39 (Round 4)
Charleston, U.S. – 19 (Round 1) – 22 (Round 2) – 27 (Round 3)
Toronto, Canada – 16 (Round 1) – 17 (Round 1)
Berlin, Germany – 9 (Round 1)
End Result: Manchester won on the fourth round

– www.aldaver.co.usa/votes.html



MANCHESTER WILL HOST THE 2000 SUMMER OLYMPICS!

…Protests over the possibility of the International Olympic Committee selecting Beijing, China to host the games were led by Human Rights Watch, an organization that aims to monitor human rights abuses worldwide. HRW, who also lobbied I.O.C. members and had begun asking athletes to boycott the 2000 Olympics if Beijing were selected as the site, opposed such a selection due to China’s government instigating the Xinjiang Camps that sparked an international crisis during the late 1980s…

– The Guardian, 25/9/1993



IACOCCA SIGNS PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK OPPORTUNITY ACT INTO LAW

…introduced and championed by Congressman Rudy Penner (R-MD) of the House Budget Committee, the new law [5] is a victory for the libertarian wing of the GOP, as it will grant states more latitude when administering social welfare programs. Penner has described the bill as “reasserting America’s work ethic” via increasing funds for and reinforcing the conditions of the Negative Income Tax Rebate established under President Sanders…

– The Washington Post, 9/28/1993



…Ghana’s 1992-1994 Civil War worsened when the Poor People’s Front assassinated the manager of an oil well via a cam bomb that also killed three other people. This led to reprisals in the form a police crackdowns in the city of Accra. This move in turn led to the Tema Massacre, in which police shot 22 rioters and killed 7 of them. Next door, the Sanwi’s counterclaimed that 1992 Abidjan Bombing was a “false flag” attack, as Ivorian military troops invading villages along the Sanwi province’s borders only stoked the flames of independence support among the Sanwi people…

– Historian Roger Gocking’s The Modern History of Ghana, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005



PRO-MARIJUANA REPUBLICAN ELECTED NEW MAYOR OF ALBUQUERQUE

…Gary Earl Johnson, a 40-year-old Republican businessman who has lived in Albuquerque since grade school, won the election over state senator Martin Chavez, a Democrat. Johnson ran on a pro-legalizing marijuana platform, arguing that the addition of the product to the city markets would improve the metropolitan area’s economy. Johnson will succeed Democrat Louis Saavedra (D), on December 1. Albuquerque mayors are limited to a single four-year term, meaning that Johnson will have to work with the Democrat-majority city council to get his libertarian-leaning agenda passed...

[pic: imgur.com/jbkjNvC.png ]

Above: Mayor-Elect Gary Johnson in a mayoral debate last month

– The Alamogordo Daily News, New Mexico newspaper, 10/3/1993



The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (often shortened to UNAMIR) was an international mission established by the UN Security Council on 5 October 1993 in order to assist in the conclusion of the Rwandan Civil War. The deadly conflict had officially ended with the signing of the Arusha Accords on August 4, but its implementation had been slow and uneasy. Under the supervision of Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees-turned-UN Secretary-General, the mission’s rules of engagement were noticeable loosened. [6] This handling of the mission later led to much criticism over the size of a role the UN should play when it comes to civil conflicts. During such criticisms, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan defended his actions by stating that the internal Rwandan conflict was responsible for the Great Lakes refugee crisis in Africa, as Tutsis were fleeing Rwanda into several neighboring countries.

– clickopedia.co.usa



U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES 6-3: It Is Unconstitutional To Discriminate Against Sexual Preference!

…In the case of Karger v. Sonoma County, Chief Justice Frank Minis Johnson Jr. led the majority, which consisted of himself and Associate Justices A. Leon Higginbotham, Edward H. Levi, William Nealon Jr., Miles W. Lord, and Mary Murphy Schroeder. Associate Justice Herbert Allan Fogel led the dissent, and was supported by Associate Justices Sylvia Bacon and Joseph Tyree Sneed III. …The Supreme Court may hear another BLUTAG-related case very soon, this one concerning weddings between members of the BLUTAG community…

– The Los Angeles Times, 10/6/1993



“The South’s desire for the federal government to keep its hands off how they do things is very understandable. The South has been this way since forever. In the words of Henry Grattan, ‘Control over local affairs is the essence of liberty.’ The people of the South understand what this means. However, there is a difference between being a state and being an autonomous territory, and the southern states have to acknowledge that with all of the benefits of being in the union comes what to them is the detriment of having to follow and obey the major rules sent out by Washington to all US states, including all states of both the North and the South.”

– former US Secretary of State Jimmy Carter (D-GA), commenting on the then-recent BLUTAG Supreme Court victory, 10/7/1993



WHO WILL STAR IN THE PLANNED “DEBS” MOVIE?: A Look At Cast & Crew

Bern Sanders, co-founder of Tumbleweed Magazine and Tumbleweed TV, is working with director/writer Peter Fonda and director John Frankenheimer to produce a movie about Eugene Debs [7]. Debs was a political activist, trade unionist, and labor leader Sanders considers to be “one of the most important – but unsung – American leaders of the twentieth century.” Based on Sanders’ independent 1979 documentary “Gene Debs: Voice of The People,” a cast for this historical biopic flick is yet to be announced, but several big names are reportedly involved in the project. Bruce Willis, Peter Weller, Ed Harris, Kevin Costner, and Miguel Ferrer all may be vying for the title role, or for other major roles such as George Pullman and Woodrow Wilson. Crispin Glover may cameo as Senator Edwin Y. Webb, and Jane Fonda might be involved in the project, too!

– People Magazine, October 1993 issue



…Whenever Walker and Madigan were too far to the President’s right, Lee would find himself working with Emery to get more centrist legislation passed. Entering negotiations with centrist Democrats, and with moderate Republicans also growing weary of Walker’s House leadership, Iacocca and Emery managed to override Speaker Walker’s maneuvers meant to oppose the raising of any new tax hikes. As soon as the Payroll Tax Bill left committee in exchange for the President’s support for a Business Deductions and Indemnification bill, the House approved of both by wide margins; said bills were also soon approved by the US Senate by the middle of October and quickly approved by the President. In response to this, the outraged Walker, increasingly suspicious of his fellow GOP House leaders, worked diligently to strike down the 1993 Hazard Pay Improvements Bill, another “bureaucratic mass” of a bill, as Walker put it…

– Julian E. Zelizer and David F. Emery’s Burning Down The House, Penguin Publishing Group, 2020



CALIFORNIA STATE SUPREME COURT OK’S SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN SAN FRANCISCO

…The state’s Supreme Court ruled 5-to-2 that the City and County of San Francisco did not exceed its authority in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. “You can thank Governors Brown, Kennedy, Christopher and the late Governor Burton for their appointees ruling to uphold equality,” says San Francisco Board of Education member Tom Ammiano. Indeed, liberal Democrats have won every state gubernatorial election since Burton won in 1978, and that has lead to all but two state supreme court judges hailing from the political left... According to former US Attorney General J’Ada Finch-Sheen, opponents of Mayor Agnos’ “radical shift in public policy” will likely take their case to the Supreme Court. “They will want to make their voices heard on a less biased playing field,” Finch-Sheen suggested in a T.O.N. interview earlier today…

– The Spokesman-Review, Washington state newspaper, 10/21/1993



…US-Japan relations under the new Japanese PM, Mirohiro Hosokawa, were much more tense as Iacocca sought to make the new government adhere to the “deal” he had established with the previous government. Poor relations between the two nations threatened to complicate military situation regarding the two Koreas, though, and so Hosokawa continued to call for Japanese consumer to “buy American,” but with much less enthusiasm or dedication to the deal than his predecessor had given to it...

[pic: https://imgur.com/NsuVrH1 ]
Above: Fun fact: SNL once got guest star Christopher Walken (right) to play PM Hosokawa (left) in an October 9, 1993 sketch, as both had similar manners of speaking.

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



World Series victors between > 1973 < and > 1993 <

1973: Oakland Athletics (AL) def. Pittsburgh Pirates (NL)

1974: Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) def. Louisville Colonels (AL)

1975: Louisville Colonels (AL) def. Cincinnati Reds (NL)

1976: New York Mets (NL) def. New York Yankees (AL)

1977: Philadelphia Phillies (NL) def. New York Yankees (AL)

1978: Philadelphia Phillies (NL) def. Kansas City Royals (AL)

1979: Louisville Colonels (AL) def. St. Louis Cardinals (NL)

1980: Houston Astros (NL) def. Kansas City Royals (AL)

1981: Philadelphia Phillies (NL) def. Baltimore Orioles (AL)

1982: California Angels (AL) def. Los Angeles Dodges (NL)

1983: Louisville Colonels (AL) def. Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)

1984: Milwaukee Brewers (AL) def. San Diego Padres (NL)

1985: Chicago Cubs (NL) def. Toronto Blue Jays (AL)

1986: Houston Astros (NL) def. California Angels (AL)

1987: Minnesota Twins (AL) def. San Francisco Giants (NL)

1989: Toronto Blue Jays (AL) def. Chicago Cubs (NL)

1990: Boston Red Sox (AL) def. Cincinnati Reds (NL)

1991: Louisville Colonels (AL) vs. Atlanta Braves (NL)

1992: Chicago White Sox (AL) vs. San Diego Padres (NL)

1993: Houston Astros (NL) def. Chicago White Sox (AL)

– MLB.co.usa/history/statistics/World-Series



LENNON MEETS WITH IACOCCA AT W.H., BOTH AIM TO IMPROVE US-UK RELATIONS

– The Washington Post, 10/28/1993



…The EU ushered in a single market system that created closer economic integration and opened the member nations to the prospect of a shared currency, which culminated in the adaptation of the “Euro” by the end of the 1990s…

– Andrew Marr’s Modern Britain: A History, Pan Macmillan Publishers, 2002 edition



GIULIANI ELECTED GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY

...With incumbent Governor Richard J. Codey declining to run for a full term, the race was open for the title of New Jersey’s 50th Governor. The GOP nominee was Maryanne Trump Giuliani, who was an Assistant US Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1974 until 1983, when President Denton appointed her to the position of US Attorney for the District of New Jersey. She stepped down from that position last year to run for Governor at the backing of several supporters. Tonight, Giuliani defeated the Democratic nominee, 41-year-old State Assemblyman and former financial services executive Peter Shapiro, who was endorsed in the gubernatorial primary by the Kennedy political family, by a comfortable 7% margin. At the victory celebration, Maryanne was joined on stage by her husband since 1983, Rudy Giuliani, a former New York prosecutor who twice ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of New York City.

[pic: https://imgur.com/mxO9g9D ]
Above: Maryanne Giuliani with her younger brother, former MLB pitcher Don Trump, known in his MLB days by some as “Daffy Donald.”

…Tonight saw a trend in voters favoring Republicans in socially conservative areas, possibly due to backlash from the US Supreme Court ruling against BLUTAG discrimination and the California Supreme Court ruling in favor of recognizing same-sex marriages, albeit at the county level, earlier this year…

– The New York Times, 11/2/1993



…well, the election’s officially been called, and, to nobody’s surprise, our man George Allen has won the governor’s seat. For those of you who don’t know, Allen is the son of NFL legend George Herbert Allen and the brother of former NFL player Bruce Allen. George Allen himself played college football, but turned to politics after a leg injury ended his football career. And after serving in the state house and state senate, The Younger George has won the Governor’s seat as a Republican, defeating US Congressman Owen Pickett, a Democrat, by a margin of roughly 10%…

– WBRG, Virginia news/talk/sports radio, 11/2/1993



NYC MAYOR KOCH RE-ELECTED IN LANDSLIDE!

…Koch (D/Liberal), the city’s popular incumbent Mayor, easily secured a second term over Staten Island Borough President and former US Representative Guy Molinari (R/Conservative) and several minor candidates. Koch received roughly 74% of the vote to Molinari’s 24%…

[pic: https://imgur.com/MLRO0yw ]
Above: former President Bellamy at Koch’s re-election victory celebration earlier tonight

– The Daily Record, New Jersey newspaper, 11/2/1993



POLL: IACOCCA APPROVAL RATING AT 59%

– Gallup, 11/5/1993



CZECHOSLOVAKIANS VOTE TO JOIN EUROPEAN UNION!

…The binding national referendum saw the citizens of Czechoslovakia turn out approve of ratifying the EU Accession Treaty by a large margin. With a high voter turnout, 64% voted yes, while 36% voted no; interestingly, nearly 80% of Czechoslovakians in Slovakia voted yes. President Valtr Komarek, who led the Yes vote, called the results “an important step in creating a better future for us and our future generations.” Based on previous accessions, the ratification process for this central European nation will likely conclude by the end of next year…

– The Guardian, 11/11/1993



LENNON APPROVAL RATINGS HIT 60% AS ECONOMY IMPROVES

– The Telegraph, 17/11/1993



RECALL DRIVE GAINING MOMENTUM AMID CIANCI FELONY INDICTMENT

– The Providence Journal, Rhode Island newspaper, 11/18/1993



SAUDI ROYAL FAMILY ADMITS KING FAHD HAS DIED FROM A MASSIVE STROKE [8]

…overweight and a heavy smoker all his life, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud had reportedly suffered from arthritis and diabetes since his sixties…

– The New York Times, 11/21/1993



…Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz was leading charge to develop rockets for his country’s newest agency, the Saudi Arabian Space Center, or Markaz Alfada Alsaeudii (MAA) in Arabic. Headquartered at Yanbu, a growing coastal town less than 100 miles from Medina, M.A.A. testing of rockets occurred primarily over the Red Sea until a failed rocket nearly sank an Egyptian cargo ship. This led to operations being moved farther inland to sparely populated desert regions, most notably the Empty Quarter. …As 1993 came to a close, Saudi Arabia opening up more to international trade during the 1980s had led to even more calls from Saudis demanding wider participation in government. These reform protests bothered King Fahd, and, according to the royal family, gave him stress and took a serious toll on his health. After the Sultan’s death from a stroke on November 18, 1993, his half-brother and successor, King Abdullah, sought to distract the rest of the Saudi populace from the protests with a greater push for space exploration…

– Madawi al-Rasheed’s The History of Modern Saudi Arabia, Sunrise Books, 2019 edition



…France, especially their President, Claude Estier, strongly supported the Ivorian government – until Associated Press investigators uncovered documentation that the Abidjan Cam Bomb may have been a false flag attack. Further questioning of the police’s handling of the case led to further international scrutiny, and to Estier deciding to shy away from the conflict indefinitely…

– Ivory Coast historian Aminata Kouassi, Ivorians: The History of Cote d’Ivoire, Sunrise Publishers, 2017



HOST: Mr. Secretary, thank you being on the show.

NADER: Thank you for having me on.

HOST: Well you did make a very big announcement the other day. Do you want me to inform the listeners not yet in the know or –

NADER: Oh, that’s alright, I can do it. Um, I’m running for Connecticut’s US Senate seat being vacated by the retiring incumbent Toni Uccello. I was born and raised here, and while I’ve worked in DC for a long time now, this is my home state, and I’ve always considered this state to be my home.

HOST: And you’re running on a liberal platform, right?

NADER: It’s a pragmatic platform. It has ten planks that are badly needed in the federal government to stop the trend of corporatism and plutocracy that is beginning to rise in this country. Those ten planks are: more government transparency; more public control over public assets like land, airwaves and pension funds; strengthening consumer protection; better voter power –

HOST: that includes the National Initiative, right?

NADER: And term limits and improving ballot access, among others. The other planks are: better taxpayer oversight of public expenditure; improving our country’s civic infrastructure, such as expanding public access TV; strengthening anti-corporate abuse laws; whistleblower protection, which I’ve supported even before my work at the EPA; shareholder protection against corporate greed; and number ten, strengthening school curriculum in civic participation [9]. These would improve civic dialogue and protect our democratic institutions from corporate and government overreach.

HOST: Well the anti-big government may not work in a Democratic primary, but the anti-business aspects won’t win over many Republicans, either.

Nader: Good, because I care more about the voters than the corporations and the government bureaucracies. It’s why I’m running. I’m very much concerned about the direction Iacocca may take us. I don’t care much for the idea of having a former Car manufacturer as President of the United States, and want to keep the Businessman President in check.

HOST: That may or may not be a hard sell. Especially since you’ve never run for public office before

NADER: Yes, that is true. And this is my first-ever run for public office, so I’m not as polished as career runners; maybe that’ll be a good thing, maybe it won’t.

HOST: But one asset you have is that you have worked in every administration from Colonel Sanders to Carol Bellamy. Administrator of the National Roadways Safety Administration from 1967 to 1973, US Transportation Secretary from 1973 to 1977, EPA Administrator from 1977 to 1990, and US Labor Secretary from 1990 to 1993. That’s quite an impressive resume.

NADER: Thanks, but, on the surface, it’s a very ‘establishment’ kind of resume. Being able to work with people you disagree with – Denton and I locked horns on occasion, but most of the time we pretty much left each other alone – is not the same as palm greasing or elbow rubbing, but it can come off as appearing to be like that.

HOST: So you’ve worked under both Democratic and Republican administrations – in fact, in every administration since 1965 – but not for this one.

NADER: Apparently, Lee did not consider me for any positions, not even for an ambassadorship. Given my, um, uh, total smack-down, as the kids today may put it, uh, of the Chevy Corvair back in ’65, you’d think the former head of one of Chevy’s rival companies would be more open to my services.

HOST: Probably didn’t like the idea of you working under him because you didn’t go after just Chevy, you went after the whole entire car industry.

NADER: Make sense. And since I’m not exactly privy of a former auto corporatist in the White House, I guess the feeling is sort of mutual.

HOST: Then you’re not a Republican.

NADER: I’ve had offers from both state party leaders. I’ll make it clear which path I’ve chosen for this bid soon enough.

HOST: How soon enough?

NADER: A month before the deadlines at the latest.

– Ralph Nader and host, WEDW-FM, 88.5 FM, Connecticut radio interview, 12/2/1993

Caption: Ivory Coast President Dead at 88
[pic: https://imgur.com/t3oiubi ]
…And in the war-torn African nation of the Ivory Coast, Felix Houphouet-Boigny, that nation’s President since November 1960, died in office last night at the age of 88. The Ivory Coast’s state TV announced the controversial leader’s passing earlier today, but did not state his cause of death… As President of the National Assembly, Henri Bedie has become the new leader of the Ivory Coast…

– CBS Evening News, 12/8/1993



Houphouet-Boigny’s cause of death being initially uncertain quickly led to rumors of assassination, leading to attacks on Sanwi Ivorians. A week after his predecessor’s death, Bedie denied the claims of foul play and announced that Houphouet-Boigny had died from natural causes. Nevertheless, as Bedie was not at all as popular or as inspiring as Houphouet-Boigny, a power struggle soon began between Bedie and with Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, each accusing the other of corruption and each trying to win favor with the state military. The power struggle helped the Sanwi rebels repel the Ivorian troops from the seceding province as soldiers took sides. General Robert Guei, overseeing anti-Sanwi activity, sided with Ouattara, and as a result, so did most of the military. Before Ouattara could attempted a military coup, though, Bedie announced a new social concept he dubbed “Ivoirite,” a form of nationalism meant to win over the ethnic groups within the country that were sympathetic to the Sanwi but at the same time condemned the Sanwi seceding as “traitors.” This dampened some anti-Bedie sentiments but aggravated some radical nationalists in the National Assembly who increased their support for Ouattara attempting to overthrow Bedie despite the President’s support being on the side by the end of the year of 1993.

– Ivory Coast historian Aminata Kouassi, Ivorians: The History of Cote d’Ivoire, Sunrise Publishers, 2017



December 10, 1993: on this day in history, the first-person shooter video game Doom is released for the MS-DOS operating system. A big hit upon release, it faces massive controversy in the mid-1990s, but becomes popular again by the end of the 2000s; being the start of the large “Doom” franchise, it is ported to numerous platforms by the 2010s, and is often considered one of the best VGs of all time.

– onthisdayinhistory.co.uk



A “YES” FOR EVERY TWELVE “NO”S: Iacocca’s Vetoing Breaks First-Year Presidential Record!

…President Iacocca used his veto for the 50th time today, opposing a bill meant to increase the regulating of prices of items sent through the mail. This veto beating Colonel Sanders’ record for the highest number of bills vetoed by a President in his first year in office. Granted, roughly a fourth of such bills vetoed by Iacocca have passed anyway, via 2/3rds of congress voting to override the veto thanks to aisle-crossing from conservative Democrats and, in other instances, liberal-to-centrist Republicans. When speaking to reporters on his way address the Senate to explain his latest veto, Iacocca noted, “If it won’t work, if it drains too much from taxpayer pockets, or if the government should not be involved in it in the first place, I have the responsibility and duty to try and pull the plug on it.”

– The New York Post, 12/11/1993



FORMER GOVERNOR ROSS PEROT JOINS MICROSOFT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

…While Perot has been involved in other companies as part of his diverse business portfolio, the billionaire Texan seeks the have this particular technology company “be the one to lead America into the new millennium.” Microsoft recently released the “Windows NT 4.0” operations system [10], which Perot hails for its business-oriented operating system, claiming its “graphical user-interface” being the company’s “best yet”…

– The Battalion, student newspaper of Texas A&M University, 12/14/1993



FORMER FREEDOM RIDER ELECTED PRESIDENT OF GUINEA

…Kwame Ture, best remembered in the US as Stokely Carmichael, or Stokely X when he was leading member of the pro-Malcolm X group “The X-Men,” has just been elected President of the western African nation of Guinea. Having lived there since the late 1960s, Carmichael, now going by the name Kwame Ture, won over controversial incumbent Lansana Conte and Alpha Conde in a landslide, winning 55% to Conte’s 32% and Conde’s 11%. His campaign on the Rally For Democratic Socialism ticket promoted Pan-Africanism and “economic self-determination” for Guinea and all African countries, which seemed to have proved popular among the people of Guinea. However, it must be noted that neither Conte nor Conde have conceded the election...

– The Chicago Defender, 12/19/1993



…With NASA’s budget being fixed to 1.5% of the national GDP ever since Iacocca greenlit the agency’s plans for Mars, which still didn’t have an official name by the end of ’93, the agency launched a massive PR campaign to raise funding for the “goal of humanity” of sending man to the Red Planet in 2003. The history channel, celebrity contributions and marathons, commercial tie-ins, the works. By the end of 1993, NASA had raked in a little under $2million dollars, a piddly amount but still something.”

– John McAfee’s autobiography Outer Space Deserves More Iguanas: My Life Being Me, numerous on-net publication sites, 2022



PERRY DROPS RE-ELECTION BID, CLAIMS VAGUE "FAMILY CRISIS" FOR "DECIDING NOT TO OFFICIALLY RUN AFTER ALL"

...Governor Perry's decision to bow out of a bid for a third gubernatorial term comes after weeks of poor polling against popular Lieutenant Governor Henry Cisneros...

– The New York Times, 12/29/1993



BLUTAGO STUDENT MURDERED AT SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY!

Arkadelphia, AR – Chad Hunter Griffin, a political activist and one of only a very few openly homosexual students at Ouachita Baptist University of southern Arkansas, was today gunned down by a fellow student whose has not yet been released. Griffin was on his way to his dormitory to retrieve a textbook for his next class. One of his few friends on campus told us “he always was getting harassed on campus. The guys who lived above his dorm room would often pound basketballs on the floor. But the worst it ever would get would be people – and only people who already knew he liked guys in the BLUTAG way – just throwing things at him like papers and pencils, used cups and things like that. Never something close to this.”

In a briefing, local police reported that Griffin was shot three times in the chest before the gunman dropped his weapon and fled, only to be apprehended by several students several feet away from where the incident occurred. Griffin died minutes after being brought to the hospital…

– The New York Times, 1/3/1994



“How the hell could they let this happen? Was he not being protected by campus security or something?” Iacocca was indisputably pissed. He slapped the hospital report back onto the table, sat down and sharply swung his chair to face the room.

Of the six politicians in the room – Iacocca, Senator Tucker of Arkansas, relevant Senate Committee Chairman A. Lee Smith Jr. of Alabama, the Attorney General, Congressman Milk, and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor Clifton Wharton Jr. – it was Wharton who spoke first. “Mr. President, I think you should go on TV and offer your condolences to the Griffin family and express contempt for his killer. And cite it as an example for why discrimination against the BLUTAG community must come to an end. Discrimination on the books leads to discrimination in the American heart. It fuels hatred like this.”

Tucker spoke with a stern tone in that distinctly whiny and accented voice of his: “No way.”

“Excuse me?” Wharton said. He and Milk had the same look of contempt on their faces.

“Mister President,” Tucker stepped a bit towards the Resolute Desk, “express sadness, of course, but don’t infuriate social conservatives of my state by condemning them and their traditional way of life. They won’t stand for it.”

“The BLUTAG way of life is not worthy of condemnation, either” Milk said angrily as he sat up straight, “with all due respect, Senator.”

“Well we just can’t sit here and ignore the damn thing,” Iacocca chimed in.

“I agree,” Wharton said to him.

“Clifton,” Senator Smith added his own two cents, “If the President of the United States came out in favor of equal treatment of these – of the BLUTAGs, it’d make half the country – and an entire voting block – accuse him of infringing on their culture and restricting their rights.”

“Restricting their rights?!” Milk almost shouted in disbelief at the statement as he shot a glare at Smith.

“Enough,” the President played peacemaker once again. He pushed back a lock of his gray hair, put his index finger onto his temple and gave out a heavy sigh. “Whenever a minority group tries to advance their cause, to take the next need step forward, someone always comes along to knock ’em back down… Alright. Smith, Tucker, I’ll tell ya what. We’re going to condemn the killer and all such attacks not because they’re BLUTAGs but because they are their fellow Americans. Attacks on any minorities will not be tolerated under this administration!”

– Rosalind Lippel’s Driven: The Presidency of Lee Iacocca, StarGroup International, 2012



The California Air Resources Board’s push for more economically efficient and ecologically safe vehicles such as electric cars saw automakers roll off of the assembly line and onto American roads several fuel-efficient cars. The early 1990s saw a wave of such cars, such as the Ford Ranger EV pickup, the Chrysler TEVan, and the Altria EV, enter public consumption. GM’s Eco-1 was the most forward thinking of these models; released in early January 1994, it was most financially successful car to have a hybrid electric-and-gas engine, being much more profitable than the 1992 Volvo ECC or the 1990 Audi Duo-100.

– clickopedia.co.usa



…For example, Governor Kennedy faced another emergency on January 17, when a 6.7 earthquake struck Los Angeles. Holding the record for the fastest earthquake ever recorded, the Reseda Earthquake of 1994 was not the strongest quake to hit the state, but it was a deadly force, and was one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. In its aftermath, over 50 were dead, thousands were injured, and between $10-and-$45billion in property damage had occurred. Hundreds of buildings had to be torn down due to structural damage and major parts of state and interstate highways had to be rebuilt. Curiously, the earthquake also caused rumors of a major hantavirus outbreak unfolding in L.A., as seismically-trigger landslides released fungus spores into the air, which many survivors inhaled, creating respiratory problems similar to but distinguishable from hantavirus; over 200 cases of the true disease, coccidioidomycosis (a.k.a., Valley Fever) were reported. Kennedy made sure to mobilize police to assist in clearing debris to search for survivors, and toured the hospitals in ensure EMTs, hospital drivers, ER staff, nurses, and waiting rooms were not overwhelmed by the catastrophe. He urged anyone with medical skills to volunteers at hospitals and makeshift “medic camps” set up here and there…

– Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin’s Leadership In Turbulent Times, Simon & Schuster, 2018



…US-Mexico relations had soured ever since the February 1985 “memo incident,” when President de la Madrid was accused of willfully misusing funds given to his government by the US and meant to be used to combat recreadrugs. Despite the US-Mexico Crime Task Force being established under US President Bellamy, US law enforcement remained untrusting of Mexico.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Mexico, in the impoverished state of Chiapas, decades-long efforts to suppress Indigenous resistance in the region had led to Mexican farmers and land owners creating federally-sponsored paramilitary groups meant to violently reciprocate against potential Indigenous defiance. At the same time, many Indigenous individuals known as “guerrilleros” formed small armed militant groups in response to persecution, one of which became the EZLN. Founded in 1983, the Zapatista Army of the National Liberation was a far-left libertarian-socialist political-militant group that served as a successor to the National Libertarian Forces (FLN), an insurgent group that had been most prominent in the 1970s. [11]

Under President Alvarez, federal forces moderated their handling of indigenous rebellions, finally allowing them to sell at urban markets farther away from the home regions and scaling back of police raids, for example, in order to use more resources on combating drug cartels. Subsequently, the EZLN began to lose momentum. By the end of Alvarez’s time in office, US President Iacocca’s support of the war on recreadrugs led to Iacocca and Alvarez meeting in D.C. in January 1994 to strengthen relations and improve bilateral law enforcement efforts…

– Roberto Roybal’s South of the Border: US-Mexico Relations During The 1990s, University of Oklahoma Press, 2015



…The Rhode Island House of Representatives has voted to impeach Governor Cianci on charges of obstruction of justice and misuse of government funds...

– CBS Evening News, 1/23/1994



The UNAMIR mission reached a pivotal moment in January 1994, when a government informant warned UNAMIR leader Romeo Dallaire that militias planning a mass extermination of the Tutsi were collecting an arms cache. Dallaire contacted his superiors to obtain permission to raid the weapons caches. He also informed them that the aforementioned informant “has been ordered to register all Tutsi in Kigali. He suspects it is for their extermination. Example he gave was that in 20 minutes his personnel could kill up to 1000 Tutsis.” [12] Following Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan’s orders, Dallaire’s higher-ups approved the request. The subsequent raid on January 25 led to a gunfight, the deaths of 27 Hutu soldiers and 15 UN peacekeeping soldiers, the successful arrest of 8 Hutus, and the confiscation of “several hundred pounds worth of weaponry and ammunitions.” The incident is considered to be a turning point in the Rwandan Conflict...

– clickopedia.co.usa/United_Nations_Assistance_Mission_for_Rwanda



…Breaking News: Senator Frank Farrar of South Dakota has just been confirmed to among the six people who have died in a private plane crash outside of Chamberlain, South Dakota…

– The Overmyer Network, 1/30/1994 broadcast



GABE KAPLAN MAKES LAST-MINUTE JUMP INTO US SENATE RACE

…The Oscar-winning comedian/education reform advocate, Gabriel Kaplan, after months of consideration, has announced his entry into this November’s race for a US Senate seat from New York. In his announcement speech, Kaplan cited the murder of a BLUTAG college student last month for motivating him into running: “School’s aren’t supposed to be places of violence. A paper airplane, a spitwad here and there, that’s one thing, but knives and guns? Schools are supposed to be a safe place for students – for all students, all kinds of students – to learn, and expand their minds, and to get an education to make their lives better. We’ve passed gun laws before, and we can pass more, but we have to also address the bullying that goes on in school.” Kaplan, a Cuban War veteran who worked as an intern and assistant for the US Department of Defense during the Sanders administration, but is most famous for portraying the eponymous teacher in the 1970s TV sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” also stated that is campaign will push for the continuation of the policies “started by [former President] Carol Bellamy.”

After winning an Oscar for his starring role in the 1983 theatrically-released dramedy film “Groucho,” co-starring Michael Tucci and others, and based on the life of Groucho Marx, Kaplan quit acting and became a millionaire by playing the professional poker circuits. Kaplan announced that he will be using that fortune to self-finance this bid. If he wins the Democratic nomination in September over several other candidates, he will challenge incumbent US Senator Michael Rockefeller (R) in November…

– The New York Post, 2/4/1994



POLL: SUPPORT FOR MANNED MISSION TO MARS AT 75%

…such numbers are encouraging to NASA Director Dale Myers, who enthusiastically said at an impromptu press briefing yesterday, “We have the know-how, we have the dough, and we have the support of the American people. We can go for this, we can do this, and we will.”

– The Miami Herald, 2/9/1994



OLYMPICS’94: Games Open Amid Pomp, Snow And Culture In Lillehammer, Norway

– The New York Times, SportsSunday Edition, 2/13/1994



GUEST 1: Yeah, what’s the deal with Kurt Cobain moving to Oregon?

GUEST 2: I dunno, something about his stomach. He got, like, cramps from rain or something.

HOST: Yeah, I remember covering this a few days ago. He has, apparently, like, suffered for most of his life from bronchitis and some chronic stomach condition that was, like, causing him a lot of intense pain. It’s why he gets so messed up and takes all the R.D.s, the recreadrugs – it eases the pain.

GUEST 1: Aw man that must really suck for him.

GUEST 2: Good for his music.

GUEST 1: But sucky for him.

HOST: Yes, and if I remember the story right, he didn’t get the diagnosis until recently thanks to UHC.

GUEST 1: Thank you, Bellamy!

HOST: Except now he’s doing recreadrugs and pharma pills.

GUEST 2: Doctor’s orders.

GUEST 1: To take R.D.s and pills?

GUEST 2: No, just the pills, lard-brain!

GUEST 1: Oh, but, like, why Oregon though?

HOST: I’ve been down there. They’ve got that, uh, the Oregon High Desert.

GUEST 1: High Desert? How aptly named!

GUEST 2: How what?

HOST: It’s a lot drier out there. The dry air, it helps you breathe better when you got the bronchs.

GUEST 1: That and the new meds he’s on should ease his stomach pain.

HOST: Mm-hmm. Sunnier, too. That’ll help with his depression.

GUEST 2: He got depression?

GUEST 1: He got something wrong with him.

HOST: Naw man, he’s fine. He’s probably in one of those towns off the state highway – like, uh Riley or Wagontire – shootin’ the shit and shootin’ up with, uh, Novoselic and Burckhard and that Mike Judge friend of his, and maybe even with Courtney Love if the nanny’s got the baby.

GUEST 2: But he’s still making music, right?

HOST: Yes, he’s stil back and forth, to and from Seattle. He’s just sort of taking things easy, um, to, you know, to, uh, to collect himself.

– KKNW 1150 AM, progressive talk radio, Seattle, WA, 2/18/1994 radio broadcast [13]



GOVERNOR BUDDY CIANCI CONVICTED! State Senate Ruling Automatically Removes Cianci From Office

…the state senators found Cianci guilty of corruption on bipartisan lines… The new Governor of Rhode Island is Robert A. “Bob” Weygand, a Democrat and former state congressman who was elected to the position in 1990…

– The Washington Post, 2/21/1994



DOES THIS MEAN (A TRADE) WAR?! Iacocca Furious After Japan’s PM Suggests America Should “Leave Car Building To The Professionals”

– The New York Post, 2/25/1994



With the Ivorian military’s failures to pummel the rebelling Sanwi people into submission becoming exasperated by an unofficial civil war breaking out among pro-Bedie and anti-Bedie forces, worsening coordination between troops as the military became divided into pro-Bedie and anti-Bedie camps, the Sanwi eased the intensity of the fighting and the possibility of negotiations became more and more of a reality. Finally, Ivory Coast President Bedie decided to put the ball in King Amon N’Douffou IV’s court, as goes the American saying. Bedie announced that he would grant the Sanwi independence in exchange for the leaders of all the remaining provinces to sign binding affidavits “locking” them into place. Basing the affidavits on the US’s laws regarding US state secessions being illegal, the Sanwi people were now at the mercy of the provincial governors.

However, Bedie would not take any chances. The President put his corruption to good use, bribing and (in one case) blackmailing all the governors unwilling to pledge loyalty to the government into doing so nevertheless. This development took the blame of the Ivory Coast “losing” the Sanwi Kingdom off of Bedie’s shoulders, as now he could blame the secession from the provincial governors.

The War with the Sanwi was made officially over on February 28, and celebrated with a surprisingly humble days-long festival.

Below: the flag of the Free Kingdom of The Sanwi (or, The Sanwi Kingdom, for short)

[pic: https://imgur.com/2ViGCAx ]
Almost immediately after the Ivory Coast turned its attention away from the Sanwi and instead onto the internal conflict between Bedie and Ouattara, America’s former leader, Carol Bellamy, went right to work obtaining food, medical help and education for Sanwi children. Bellamy’s humanitarian combined with America-born President of Guinea Kwame Ture also backing post-war recovery efforts in the Sanwi Kingdom made the new nation’s people think very highly of the United States.

This newfound adoration extended all the way up to King N’Douffou, who sought to create credibility for his new country on the world stage. In the face of these American influences, the King announced to the international press that “the Sanwi people would like to demonstrate our gratitude to our supporters by offering one of their best leaders an important title.” The King requested that, essentially, any “one of long-lost our brothers in America” move to the new nation to serve as The Prince of The Sanwi Kingdom, a partially ceremonial position…

– Ivory Coast historian Aminata Kouassi, Ivorians: The History of Cote d’Ivoire, Sunrise Publishers, 2017



In March 1994, two adult-oriented cartoon shows would premier on TV that would come to be considered two of the most iconic shows of the ’90s. March fifth saw NBC’s USA Network launch of “Duckman: Private Dick / Family Man,” a surrealist, abstract, raunchy show with a surprising amount of depth and poignant social commentary, criticizing the left and right sides of a plethora of timeless and contemporary issues. Four days later, after months of delays, The Critic finally aired, originally on ABC; it centered around the eponymous critic, Jay Sherman, who is a professional film reviewer trying to adapt to the changing technology and dynamics of his profession while raising a son on his own, and looking for a meaningful relationship – whenever he manages to get his mind out of the gutter and his face out of a bowl of comfort food, that is. Both of these series would run for several years, but it is their episodes of the 1990s that are considered their Golden Eras by both fans and critics. Despite being made by different minds, the two shows had similar themes and similar appeal that made them the favorite shows of many people coming of age in the 1990s. And all these years later, they are still looked back on with much fondness – or with much contempt, pending who you ask. They both seem to belong to the pantheon of TV shows that defined the ’90s, but here’s why I think these two shows are not just the most memorable, but are possibly the best TV shows the decade had to offer.

Title Card: Origins

Duckman was created by cartoonist Everett Peck, basing it off a one-shot comic book of the same name that he had gotten published in 1990. It was animated by Klasky Csupo, which explains the show’s heavy use of crosshatching and avoidance of straight lines for buildings. Featuring high profile guest stars, sometimes even in recurring roles, it led to additional comic books, three video games, and even two thankfully short spinoff series – one focused on the lives of Duckman’s two assistants, and another noting the earlier life of Duckman’s only friend, a Joe Friday caricature named Cornfed – the show received praise from Variety, People Magazine, and even The New York Times. However, the show didn’t make the leap into “household name” territory until it won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 1994.

The Critic, meanwhile, was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who later worked with animator Matt Groening on Futurama, and with David Silverman, Rich Moore and David Cutler designing the characters. The show is meant to be a love letter to New York City, which can really be seen just by the opening credits, which focuses on peaceful and quiet moments in the city as a new day begins. And here’s where we get our first noticeable difference between these two shows.

Title Card: High Point

The Critic was much slower paced than Duckman, especially in the early years. Just look at how tonally laid-back a typical opening was in the first three seasons of production was like:

[vid: youtube.com/watch?v=MFXOUi-3YRg ]

Now compare that to the admittedly better opening used for Duckman:

[vid: youtube.com/watch?v=P3xx7IA2m18 ]

Faster, darker, mysterious, abstract and lewd. The tonal differences also indicate the differences in the characters. While both aimed to give high-brow messages, both presented them through humor, but different kinds of humor. Duckman was more crude and vulgar, with the events of his world veering into the fantastic, while Sherman’s world was firmly planted in reality, pulling jokes from the absurdity of real life. As The A.V. Club once put it, “The Critic is the anti-Duckman. Where Duckman is a depravity-sodden Joe Everyman, Jay Sherman is an unabashed elitist. Where Duckman is a rudely physical creature, Jay leads a life of the mind – most of the time. Essentially, Duckman is a slob, and Jay Sherman in a snob.” [14]

But boy were they entertaining. Jon Lovitz’s performance as The Critic found the perfect balance between snug pompousness and charming sympathy-gaining likeability. And for Duckman, award-winning performer Jay Scott Greenspan gave a staller performance – so much that extensive takes reportedly hurt his throat. I could only imagine and then applaud the effort Mr. Greenspan put into the following ranting scene:

[vid: youtube.com/watch?v=blppKS-nz9g ]

After moving to UPN in September 1995, The Critic reached its apex thanks to two real-life critics: Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. In their 1994 review of the show – one of the very few times in which they actually reviewed a TV series instead of a movie – they praised its premise and offered suggestions for how to improve it, even offering to co-write a few episode scripts for the show! [15] Instead, creators Jean and Reiss brought them on as, quote, special guest creative consultants, unquote, for Seasons 2 and 3. It was their contributions that led to the creation and introduction of a rival film critic, and a split in focus for the show, which stories about the film and film critic industries blending together with Sherman’s home life much less awkwardly than in Season 1. But alas, all great things must come to an end.

Title Card: The Decline

The writers of The Critic wanted to balance contemporary pop culture gags with timeless jokes, but the episodes didn’t always turn out that way. An early example of this is seen in Season 3, in an October 1996 episode where The Critic finds himself having to moderate one of that autumn’s Presidential debates. Such reflection on current events outside of the latest films became more commonplace starting in Season 4, and continued on even more so after the writers killed off The Critics’ parents in Season 5, eliminating two characters the writers said they’d run out of things to try with them.

Duckman, on the other hand, suffered from a wider sort of idea exhaustion. New writers came on for Season 5, Everett Peck began working on other projects, and the humor devolved from biting satire to jokes that were violent and crude for the sake of being violent and crude, often at the expense of poor Cornfed. An attempt to breathe fresh air into the show by syndicating Season 6 seemed to do nothing for the show. Duckman, and The Critic, simply began the new decade and the new millennium by beginning to slowly become flat and one-dimensional shadows of their former selves.

Title Card: Legacy

While the two shows were very similar in regards to subject matter, both were distinct in regards to their respective animation, tones, styles, characters, story arcs and themes. Their iconic place in TV history can also be shucked up to the smaller details. The merciless portrayal and parodies of both human nature and all things ’90s. The memorable character designs, from the shape of Jay Sherman’s head to his rival’s lankiness to Duckman’s eyes literally being his glasses – a feeling and symbolic detail that a myopic person such as myself deeply understands, let me tell you. The locations – from Duckman’s office to the transformation of N.Y.C. to animation, as opposed to Futurama’s depiction of the future of the city. The rich, smart writing that nevertheless could be and often was understood by people just entering puberty and learning about adulthood and the world around them. And even the witty catchphrases – who can forget Duckman’s way of saying “What the hell are YOU staring at?” – work to keep the show stay in your head, after viewing it, longer than many other shows. Encapsulating the best and worst moments and trends of the decade, these two shows, in my opinion, did what Futurama at times did not have the balls to do – address the situations of the present, without metaphor, analogy or allegory – well, most of the time – and make us laugh at ourselves right there in the now, and with as much language and double entendres as the sensors would allow.

– transcript of video essay, “Why Duckman And The Critic Were The Two Best TV Shows of The ’90s,” uploaded to Ourvids.co.can on 7/20/2019



PM MERCOURI RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER LUNG CANCER TISSUES REMOVED

…Melina Mercouri, 68, was hospitalized in January [16] and underwent surgery on February 2 and again on February 19 to remove cancerous tissues from her lungs. Having since fully recovered from her close encounter with death, Mercouri has announced that she will be returning to Athens as soon as possible, having had “an unpleasant time being forced to take time off from work.”

– I Kathimerini, Greek daily morning newspaper, 3/7/1994



SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH RAP LABEL IN FAIR USE LAW CASE

…In the case of “Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music Inc.,” the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously in favor of Luther Campbell of the rap group 2 Man Crew. The court justices determined that profits alone do not make fair use laws inapplicable to commercial parodies, thus determining that fair use laws protect parody works…

– The Los Angeles Times, 3/7/1994



NOTE(S)/SOURCE(S)
[1] Thank @Igeo654 for all these ideas!
[2] @ajm8888 – it turns out that “films and TV programs raise[d] public awareness of UFOs…lead[ing to] more people to report what they see to the authorities,” according to this source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/record-british-ufo-sightings-in-1990s-1.817993
[3] This: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predicting_the_timing_of_peak_oil
[4] For more information of FJG, see here: https://www.cbpp.org/research/full-employment/the-federal-job-guarantee-a-policy-to-achieve-permanent-full-employment
[5] In other words, a less damaging version of this law from OTL’s 1996: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act
[6] A different UN Secretary-General here means a more assertive and confrontational reply to Rwanda and the 1993 Arusha Accords of OTL/TTL.
[7] In the 1970s of OTL, Bernie started a business making “low-budget films about people, places and events in Vermont and New England history that he felt were getting short shrift in the region’s schools. American People’s Historical Society, he called it,” a nonprofit org. making A/V material from “an alternate point of view,” and made one such film about Eugene Debs, one of his personal heroes! (source: the Politico Magazine article “Bernie Sanders Has A Secret”)
[8] Dead two years earlier than in OTL due to more stress, stemming from greater calls for reforms
[9] His ten Concord Principles of OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Principles
[10] This computer model was released in July 1996 IOTL; IRL, the company didn’t even get to Windows 3.51 until 1995, so, yeah, technology developing earlier than IOTL has been occurring here, as mentioned in previous chapters, for example, source 11 in chapter 53.
[11] Italicized bit pulled from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapatista_uprising. Also, ITTL, the Zapatistas did not prominently rebel in January 1994 because NAFTA was not a thing here. There were minor open trade deals with the US and Mexico during the Bellamy years, but they didn’t receive that much media attention in the midst of UHC.
[12] Quote found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Assistance_Mission_for_Rwanda
[13] Mike Judge is friends with him here, as mentioned in the chapter containing September 1992, and the stuff about his stomach issue is found here, along with indications that Cobain was self-destructive and thus was in need of a stronger support group, and greater professional, in OTL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain
[14] Edited quote from OTL and included in here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Critic
[15] OTL!, Ibid.
[16] In February, a month later, IOTL. IRL, she died from an infection she got after the surgery. But because she’s the head of state here, her cancer’s detected early, and she avoids infection.

The next chapter's ETA: most likely, June 11 at the latest.

Brky2020 said:
1. Because the murder of the student happened at a private Christian college, how will the feds deal with the fundamentalist/evangelical Christian groups and pass legislation that achieves its goal of preventing similar tragedies while protecting religious institutions First Amendment rights? It can’t be ignored that this thing can happen anywhere,IOTL and ITTL.
2. You skipped the 1990, 1991 and 1992 World Series winners. Typo? Or a spoiler of sorts?

1. We shall see what can be done and what happens!
2. Whoops! Good eye. I'll go fix that!

glenn67 said:
Don't mean to nitpick. In the United States, state legislatures are not called "state congresses" but state legislatures.

Noted.