Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears
- Thread starter Drew
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Just finished FLG and this after two weeks of reading...wow, are you a great writer. You really have a knack for imitating peoples' styles and rhetoric in a way that makes the whole thing seem so real.
I must protest the Indian breakup, though. Enough that China was 1984 on Earth, adding India to the fucked-over list seems a bit excessive to me.
I must protest the Indian breakup, though. Enough that China was 1984 on Earth, adding India to the fucked-over list seems a bit excessive to me.
Originally posted by Antipater
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winston Smith
Also, does SAC have the B-1A or the B-1B, cause the A is cooler.
Probably closer the B-1A, given that the B-1 was never cancelled. However, it is likely that the B-1A design would have been upgraded once the CIA gets around to informing the Air Force that the new Foxhounds can knock them out of the sky even flying at low altitudes.
The last we heard about the B-1, Rumsfeld asked Congress to double the order of the planes, to 200. This stuck me as an odd move, unless the number of B-52s lost through enemy action or mechanical failure on their many, many covert and overt missions over Southeast Asia and Africa has depleted the SAC's stock.
With the near absence of any kind of arms agreements, any supersonic bomber just a white elephant. Any MIRV like the MX or Stiletto ICBMs can deliver more nukes for a lower price, with zero chances of being intercepted. And by 1980 it should have been clear that any "flexible" nuclear response is a fantasy that exists only in the minds of certain RAND corporation members.
Getting back to planes, I wonder if the Soviets will build more interceptors, or SAMs in response to the earlier, fuller roll-out of the B-1? Neither the Foxhound or the SA-10 is a very flexible platform, but the military-industrial complex on both sides seemed have proportional-response mentality when it came to military procurement.
If the American Capitalists are building more bombers (scissors) then by Lenin's embalmed corpse the Anti-Air Defense Troops must have more interceptor rockets (rocks)!
Without forgetting apart of the missiles and the bombers these kind of leviathans:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/russia/slbm/941.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_class_submarine
Seasons Greetings. I've been working on it some, but the holidays don't leave a lot of extra time. Hopefully will be able to post first three months of 1982 soon.
The arms race would be going apace - perhaps even more frenetic than OTL because of more regional conflicts and no China card to be played.
Typhoon and Ohio classes definitely being developed, along with MX, SS-18 and SS-22, Pershing II and perhaps a Pershing III variant, along with cruise technology on both sides.
B-1, both the A and B version since Wallace didn't cancel the program and the B-52 inventory is being depleted faster due to overuse. There will be something on that in the next update. As a practical matter I can see strategic doctrine being re-written to depend more on the land based and naval arms of the triad (more Ohios than OTL) because the strategic bombers are needed elsewhere and the B-52's are suffering the strain of overuse.
Also, this could spur even more effort into developing the B-2.
Britain would most likely still have carriers because, although there was no Falklands War (yet anyway) their responsibilities for protecting Madeira and operations off the Chinese coast will require them to have than kind of capability. I would also see them investing more in quick deployment troops cross-trained for situations like Northern Ireland, Syria etc. so that they are rapidly deploy able to trouble spots on short notice.
Incidentally, there's been less interest in SDI ("Star Wars") in this TL, but I can see other research being funded; for instance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver#Mass_drivers_as_weapons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_gun
Hello Drew
Interested in the Soviet Union depicted in TTL.
What is the composition of Politburo of TTL?, I know that Mikhail Gorbachev is deceased in the beginning of the TL of Fear and Loathing and that it seems that Ryzkov and Romanov are the two most influencing members, who are the rest of the members? Are for example Eduard Shevardnadze or Heydar Aliyev in the Politburo? Also Vladimir Dolgikh could play some kind of paper in this ATL Poliburo? accordind to who is who in Russia since 1900:
"Dolgikh, Vladimir Ivanovich (b. 1924), a leading politician who never made it to the top, finding his way blocked by GORBACHEV, he was born in Krasnoyarsk krai, served in the Red Army during the Great Fatherland War, joining the Communist Party in 1942. Dolgikh graduated from the Irkutsk Mining—Metallurgical Institute, 1949, and then worked as an engineer in Krasnoyarsk krai, and was director of the Zavenyagin Metallurgical Combine, Norilsk, 1962–9. He was recruited into the Party apparatus as first secretary of the Krasnoyarsk krai committee (kraikom), was elected to the Party Central Committee, 1971, and was brought to Moscow, 1972, and made a secretary of the Central Committee, responsible for heavy industry and energy (until 1983). It was not until May 1982. that he was promoted to candidate membership of the Politburo. This implied that his performance was solid but he did preside over industry at a time when it was in decline. He was not promoted to full membership of the Politburo. Had this happened, together with his secretaryship of the Central Committee, he would have been in a strong position to challenge for the top prize, the post of General Secretary of the Party. Perhaps he was too young to ingratiate himself with the old men of the Politburo. Dolgikh was a technocrat but he revealed little passion for the market solutions which were circulating in the Gorbachev era. He was pushed out in late 1988 and the department of heavy industry and energy he had run until 1983 was dissolved"
I think it could be a man that like Ryzkov is of technocrat mind, could be in TTL he could have more luck than in OTL.
Here are some thoughts on the current make-up of the Soviet Politburo as of late 1981 - early 1982. The membership represents a culling of the Brezhnev and Suslov supporters (apart from those who were smart enough to go with the tide and become allies of the new ruling Troika).
It is also a Politburo in transition from the old to the new as changes are continually being made. A number of the old geezers will die off over the next few years, creating opportunities for advancement among the younger candidates and new blood into the candidate positions.
The composition also represents a power balance that supports the three legged stool that is the current ruling balance of power in the Soviet leadership.
Originally I had Behind the Fortress Walls published around this time, so I will have to think of another in to see behind the curtain of the Soviet inner circle.
The Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1982)
Full Members:
Yuri Andropov (General Secretary CPSU/Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (State President))
Grigory Romanov (Deputy General Secretary CPSU)
Boris Ponomarev (Third Secretary of the CPSU)
Arvīds Pelše(Premier of the Soviet Union)
Nikolai Ryzhkov (Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union)
Dinmukhamed Konayev (First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan)
Viktor Grishin (First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party)
Oleksandr Liashko (First Secretary of the Ukranian Communist Party)
Vasili Kuznetsov (Chairman of the Party Control Committee of the Central Committee)
Marshall Viktor Kulikov (Minister of Defence)
Boris Pugo (Minister of the Interior)
Heydar Aliyev (First Secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party)
Ringaudas Songaila (First Secretary of the Communist Party of Lithuania)
Tikhon Kiselyov (First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia)
Notes: by late 1981 the real authority was held collectively by the troika of Romanov, Ryzhkov and Kulikov who between them controlled the Party and State bureaucracies (Romanov and Ryzhkov respectively) and the Military (Kulikov). Pugo and Ailyev, as long-time KGB veterans, also appear to have had some authority, although they were cultivated as allies of Ryzhkov primarily, and may have been the real source of his power in the controlling troika. (Which was informally known as the “Executive Committee of the Soviet Union”).
Yuri Andropov was a largely ceremonial figure, his authority greatly reduced by illness and frequent absences from the public scene for often months at a time. Arvids Pelse was a ceremonial front man for Ryzhkov, who functioned as the defacto Prime Minister of the Soviet Government.
Ponomarev had been a protégé of the late Suslov, but transferred his allegiance to Romanov once Suslov passed from the scene, and as result kept his position.
The others, including the candidate members, were allies of the respective troika members, meant to balance influence on the Politburo.
Notably, the Soviet Foreign Minister, Valerian Zorin, while being a member of the State Cabinet (the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet) was not a member of the Politburo. For all intents and purposes he was a servant of (mainly) Ryzhkov.
Candidate Members
Vladimir Dolgikh (Secretary of the Central Committee with Special Responsibility for the State PLanning Committee)
Eduard Shevardnadze (First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party)
Vladimir Kryuchkov (KGB Chairman)
Viktor Chernomyrdin (Chairman of the Heavy Industry Committee)
Boris Yeltsin (First Secretary of the Soviet Labour Front)
Yegor Ligachev (Economic Advisor)
Oleg Shenin, (Director of the Secretariat)
Boris Pastukhov (First Secretary of the Komsomol)
Archibald
Banned
I will follow these men fates with particular interest, if only because Gorbachev is long dead in that ATL.
May be fun if in the very different context here Ligachev and Yeltsin forged an alliance - OTL they just hated each other (Yeltsin was humiliated and thrown out of the Politburo all courtesy of Ligachev).
I have an issue with that. If the B-1A is never canned, the B-1B never exists in the first place. The B-1B was supposedly cheaper - it was Reagan trick to bring the program back.
Or perhaps the initial production run of B-1A goes ahead, then they found it to be too expensive or not well adapted to the missions, and start the B-1B. They traded supersonic air intakes for low-level penetration, but the trade resulted in a rather different airplane than the B-1A.
http://www.airvectors.net/avb1.html
As for Kryuchkov - this guy was Andropov 2.0 (and a long time friend of him).
OTL he had impressive "credentials" - he was involved in repression of Hungary in 1956; in the assassination of Afghan president in 1978; and in the preparatives of state emergency in Poland, 1981. And of course he was a member of the troika junta that nearly toppled Gorbachev a day of August 1991. Gorbachev had total confidence in him until that day !
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Thanks a lot Drew.
Interesting to see that the Politburo has a good composition of men born not in Russia but in another republics and in the case of the Baltic Republics two men: Boris Pugo and Ringaudas Songalia are from the Baltic (although naturally totally prosoviet and of russian ascendancy if I remember well, in any case any of these two are precisely Algirdas Brazauskas)
Remembering the last update it seems probable that some kind of struggle for the Kremlin there will in the future that will confront Romanov against Ryzhkov (and Kulikov?).
Truly like in OTL late 1970's and early 1980's was one of the periods more a lo Chess game in the Politburo with alliances, some sudden deaths (in OTL Kulakov and Masherov died in 1978 and 1981) and a lot of struggle in OTL between Kirilenko, Chernenko and Andropov factions during the period of the last years of Brezhnev.
Ryzhkov in TTL appears as the man with a very rising star, at the difference of OTL where he was not member of the Politburo until 1985 (and this because he was an ally of Gorbachev, Ryzhkov also was elevated directly as a full member without have been named before candidate member) here in 1981 is one of the members of the troika governing in fact the Soviet Union (as you say here in TTL Andropov because his illness is a decorative figure).
It should seem that Romanov hard posture would be in minority with the need of reforming the soviet economy as the key theme for the 1980's but with Rumsfeld in command in the United States hard attitudes in the Soviet Politburo could have more allies than in a time of detente.
In any case as you say in the title (the Decade of Tears) the 1980's will be a very interesting times (Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times") (too much interesting I think for the people that lives in this Earth).
I expect that if the United States is Rumsfeldia at least the Soviet Union could develop as Ryzhkovia, we dont need a combat of Rumsfeldia against Romanovia
I see, arms race a lot, well it's logic with all the events of the 1970's and now Rumsfeldia.
Less interest in SDI is also logic, in OTL it was practically the personal toy of Ronald Reagan and costed a big astronomical quantity for very few practical results.
It could be centered in TTL more in anti-satellite weaponry http://www.astronautix.com/fam/milystem.htm
Also a thought about Malan. He isn't going to survive if things really start to go to hell [e.g., the whites seriously start thinking about retreating to Cape province]. The reason he is in power is to secure South Africa from annihilation by the blacks. If he cannot keep the South African blacks down and stop the war in Rhodeisa/Zimbabwe from getting out of hand, then I fully expect he will be toppled either in another military coup or by members of the National Party.
Take your time with the next update, they are always great fun and anyway I've got revision to do until the 21st....
teg
Second.
The B-1B that exists today only came about because the B-1A was scrapped by Carter. If the program was not scrapped, production would have went ahead with the B-1A.
Of course, the B-1A would be obsolete very soon after it entered service, as I alluded to in my previous post. The Mig-31 would be capable of shooting down the B-1A, even if the later was flying at low altitude. That would make an upgrade of the B-1 likely, but not a re-design, like the B-1B. Upgrades would probably include a newer electronics kit, slight changes to the fuselage to reduce its radar signature, and perhaps a newer radar absorbent paint.
I can see this affecting the development of the B-2 in one of two ways. On the one hand, once the inadequacy for its intended role of the B-1 bomber becomes widespread knowledge, hawks in Congress will support the B-2 to address the "bomber gap." On the other hand, those congressmen without aerospace factories and labs in their districts may think twice about approving a second expensive bomber project within a decade of the last one which turned out to be a boondoggle. Most of the claims about the B-2's would seem familiar to someone who had been pitched on the B-1, especially if you replaced the buzzword "low-level penetration" with "stealth."
Can I second this too?
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Rumsflu
"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." – Donald H. Rumsfeld
Monday, November 16, 1981
On the evening of 16 November 1981, three men are conducting a tense conversation in the President's private bathroom in the Elysee Palace in Paris. One is Francois Mitterrand, holder of France's highest office since May 1974, recently re-elected to a second term of five years just six months before. With him is his personal doctor, Claude Gubler, and a urologist, Professor Adolphe Steg.
The two doctors have just examined the President, who has been complaining of pains in his thigh. He has also had tests at Val-de-Grace hospital, visiting secretly in Dr Gubler's ageing Citroen and registering as Albert Blot - the name of the hospital director's brother-in-law.
"My duty is not to conceal the truth from you," says the surgeon. "You have cancer of the prostate which has spread into your bones, and this spreading is quite far advanced."
The President replies, under his breath: "I am done for."
"You can never say that you are finished," Prof Steg insists. "With Dr Gubler, I will do what can be done."
"Enough of that," comes the answer. "I am done for."
Later, President Mitterrand ads, “This matter is to be a state secret of the highest order.”
And so for a time, it was.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ds-big-secret-was-the-14year-lie-1325011.html
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Wednesday, November 18, 1981
American USAF B-52 crews, along with several survivors from the sinking of the U.S.S. Douglas H. Fox (DD-779) on March 19, 1973 are recovered by allied forces at a concentration camp located near Hankow. These emaciated and traumatized figures, who have been in Chinese hands for nearly a decade (over a decade for the USAF crew), receive a hero’s welcome on their return to the United States.
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December 12, 1981
TO: The President
FR: Richard B. Cheney, Chief of Staff
RE: Impeachment of Marshall
Sir,
Lee and Karl have come-up with a series of TV spots to run in target states over the holidays and into the New Year. We can time this campaign with the family atmosphere of the Holidays for added impact. The actual sponsor for regulatory purposes will be the House Republican Campaign Committee and the RNC, leaving us and the Senate out of it.
Yours,
DC
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October 1981 – April 1982
Small scale bush warfare continues in the territory of the increasingly collapsed state of Rhodesia (which is now being treated by South Africa as an occupied buffer) with some pitched battles between the South Africans and ZPLF and some units of various bordering national armed forces. The United States provides intelligence support to the South Africans as well as support in the form of Strategic bombing of targets. U.S. Special Forces are also reportedly at work under deep cover (mainly as mercenaries) in the region, attacking Cuban, North Korean and Warsaw Pact support bases and gathering intelligence from these sites.
Reports of anthrax outbreaks underline the likely use of biological and chemical weapons by the South Africans. Sarin attacks also point to chemical weapons use. Although it is denied by the South Africans and the United States, the aftermath of some artillery barrages give indications that small battlefield nuclear weapons may also have been used.
December 1981 - January 1982
Anti-Marshall commercial shown in all media markets except the Northeast, California and Hawaii:
“Justice Thurgood Marshall says that the federal government can better manage your family than you can. Justice Marshall says that mothers and fathers shouldn’t be notified before their underage daughters have an abortion. Justice Marshall thinks parents don’t have a right to know what their underage children are doing. “
“I’m Representative Phil Crane of Illinois and I think that’s just plain wrong. I think the federal government, and especially unelected liberal federal judges, have no right to tell parents how to bring-up their children. I think if we allow that to happen then the whole American family will be threatened – and that would be bad for all of us. How about you?
“If you agree with me contact your Senators today and tell him to vote to get Justice Marshall off the bench and out of the business of our families.”
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Anti-Marshall commercial shown in all media markets except the Northeast, California and Hawaii:
A mother tells her ten-year-old daughter to do her homework. Daughter replies:
“Justice Marshall says I don’t have to obey you. He says I can do whatever I want, and I don’t have to tell you or listen to you.”
Mother withdraws, perplexed.
“Is this the right future for the American family? If you don’t think so, then contact your Senators and tell them to vote to remove Justice Marshall today, before he makes this a reality.”
Little girl: “Justice Marshall says I can have a ‘bortion anytime I want, and I don’t have to tell you.”
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Anti-Marshall commercial shown in all media markets except the Northeast, California and Hawaii:
“Big city liberals like Justice Thurgood Marshall think you can’t manage your family. They think they know better than most American parents. They say you don’t have to honor you mother and father.”
Abraham Lincoln once warned against attempts to undermine the Constitutions by the liberals of his day: “So to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life;, Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong.” So was our Constitutional government saved from tyranny and foreign intrigue.
“Big city liberals want to put the American family out of business, and that’s more than just bad for America. It’s plain wrong. Send those big city liberals a message by calling your Senators and telling them to vote to remove Justice Thurgood Marshall from the federal bench, before he has a chance to destroy your family.”
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Late 1981 and Early 1982
Between the spring of 1981 and early 1982, KGB Colonel Vladimir Vetrov gave the French Counterintelligence agency, the DST almost 4,000 secret documents, including the complete official list of 250 Line X officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world. Included was a breakdown of the Soviet espionage effort to collect scientific, industrial and technical information from the West to improve its own efforts. Members of the GRU, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and several other bodies all took part in such efforts. Vetrov also provided summaries on the goals, achievements, and unfilled objectives of the program. He identified nearly 100 leads to sources in 16 countries. This was the Operation Farewell information that President Mitterrand decided not to share with the Rumsfeld Administration. Instead the French foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, attempted to use Farwell’s sources and methods to penetrate the technology sectors of other western countries for France’s benefit.
In February 1982, after heavy drinking caused by a cooling-off period imposed by the French, who were fearful of his discovery through too much contact, Vetrov (in Moscow) stabbed his mistress during an argument in his car (she survived). When a man knocked on the car window, Vetrov thought his spying had been discovered, so he stabbed and killed the man. He happened to be another KGB officer. Before the Moscow Militia could arrest Vetrov, the DGSE spirited Vetrov out of the Soviet Union, using Mossad assets to assist. In return France shared the take on Soviet technological espionage with the Israelis. As part of the agreement, France and Israel recruited Dieter Gerhardt, a Soviet spy in the South African Navy as a covert source by blackmail. Similar tactics were used against other Line X agents named by Vetrov, allowing the French and Israelis to benefit from Soviet espionage activity without the KGB being aware, at least in the short term.
August 1981 – March 1982
A commission headed by former U.S. President James Gavin and Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath (the Heath-Gavin Commission) conducts a study of what will be required to re-build China.
Friday, January 1, 1982
U.S.: Unemployment: 14.4%, Prime Interest Rate: 9.1%; GDP: $ 2,140 (Billion)> [2,626 Billion]
Japan: Unemployment: 6.8%, Prime Interest Rate: 13.2%; GDP: $ 829 (Billion)>[990 Billion]
UK: Unemployment: 9.1%, Prime Interest Rate: 12.1%; GDP $462.7 (Billion)+[445.9 Billion]
France: Unemployment: 9.2%; Prime Interest Rate: 12.2%; GDP $ 605 (Billion)+ [585 Billion]
Italy: Unemployment: 15.2%, Prime Interest Rate: 14.6%; GDP $ 314 (Billion)>[394 Billion]
West Germany: Unemployment: 6.6%; Prime Interest Rate: 11.8%; GDP: $710 (Billion)+ [679 Billion]
India: GDP: Unemployment: (estimates vary); Prime Interest Rate: ~ 14.2% $210 (Billion)+ [167 Billion]
Global (OPEC) Oil Price: $ 62.00/brl
West Texas Intermediate: $ 60.00/brl
Brent Crude: $ 59.00/brl
Soviet Europe Price: $ 52.00/brl*
Price of Gold: $ 61.00 per ounce.
*Under the Soviet export program preferred nations may buy petroleum from Soviet sources at this price, but must agree not to re-sell it to third parties without Soviet approval. Most of Western Europe is taking advantage of this program as is India. The practice is opposed by the Rumsfeld Administration, but came into being during the Wallace Administration and the Western European nations involved, including Britain, France, Italy and West Germany, are unwilling to create a shock to their economies (which are functioning better than the U.S. and Japanese economies) by giving in to U.S. demands to boycott Soviet oil.
(Note: Prices and statistics based on OTL 1982 Almanac; dollar amounts expressed in 1982 U.S. Dollar amounts. GDP: + higher than OTL; > lower than [OTL])
Fastest growing nation: Republic of (South) Vietnam GDP $ 24.2 Billion (+ 15 Billion in the last four years; [OTL all of Vietnam $ 7.6 Billion]); principle export (outside of agriculture) textiles and components for further manufacturing at lowest labour cost in the Pacific rim.
Spiro T. Agnew is inaugurated as the 105th Mayor of New York City. In his inaugural address Mayor Agnew pledges to re-vitalize the New York economy with more “free enterprise initiatives that will end the bloated bureaucracy,” and to come down hard on crime “so that the goons of Gotham won’t know what him them, and we’ll knock ‘em flat!” Mayor Agnew selects William Westmoreland as his new Police Commissioner.
U.S. sanctions against Libya, which include a ban on oil imported from Libya take effect. The sanctions also prohibit U.S. banks and corporations or their subsidiaries from conducting transactions with the Libyan regime. All U.S. dollar denominated deposits or investment vehicles held by the Libyan government, its officials and state controlled entities are declared “nullified” by the U.S. Treasury. Anyone accepting such an instrument will be acquiring a worthless asset. (it is believed that many U.S. corporations and banks were given at least four months advanced warning of this measure, which is not retroactive).
Monday, January 4, 1982
After a meeting with the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, Vice President Edwards retracts some of his criticism of the Pope prior to Christmas.
Vice President Edwards: “Of course, I didn’t mean to imply that the Pope doesn’t understand religion, or questions of theology. That was not my meaning at all. My only concern was that in his remarks, issued just before Christmas, the Pope failed take into account the importance of free markets to religious as well as political freedom. Where I misspoke was by suggesting that he need to look more deeply into matters of religion, when I should have pointed out that we disagreed here on questions of economics. I for one do not doubt that the Pope has the best welfare of his flock in mind; I just humbly add that he should not close his mind to an economic system which has done more to promote freedom in the world than any other around.”
Chris Wallace becomes co-anchor of the Today Show.
The Golden Gate Bridge closed for 3rd time by fierce storm
Wednesday, January 6, 1982
William Bonin is convicted of being the Freeway Killer.
In Angola Soviet field police are forced to intervene in a conflict between Cuban and North Korean advisory troops which have set-up competing black market operations. The North Koreans are eventually compelled to withdraw by the Soviets.
Friday, January 8, 1982
The AT&T Corporation receives a stay against a court ordered break-up of its 22 subdivisions. The move is backed by the Deukmejian Justice Department which is seeking to use the AT&T anti-trust suit to challenge the Constitutionality of the anti-trust regime in the United States.
Justice Department withdraws antitrust suit against IBM, pending since the mid-1970’s.
Sunday, January 10, 1982
The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) is recorded at Braemar, in Aberdeenshire. This equals the record set in the same place in 1895.
Monday, January 11 – Sunday, January 17, 1982
A brutal cold snap sends temperatures to all-time record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
Monday, January 11, 1982
The U.S. Senate votes 56-44 to remove Justice Thurgood Marshall from the United States Supreme Court bench, thus acquitting Marshall of the charge in the House of Representatives bill of impeachment.
The vote was 39 Republicans, 14 Democrats, 2 Libertarians, and 1 Christian Voice in favour; 34 Democrats, 9 Republicans and 1 Independent opposed.
The largest single group (6) of Democrats to break ranks with their Party were the Boll Weevil Democratic Senators from Southern states where the Christian Voice had been gaining ground at the expense of both major parties. With the three notable exceptions of Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA), Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR) and Sen. Andrew Miller (D-VA) they voted as a block on a the removal which was popular in their region of the country.
Albert Brewer (D-AL)
Bill Gunter (D-FL)
Russell Long (D-LA)
Robert Morgan (D-NC)
Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
Charles Ravanel (D-SC)
A true surprise was Sen. Harry Byrd (I-VA), one of the last surviving members of the old Southern Democratic block who had been a consistent advocate of segregation and no supporter of Civil Rights (he had voted against Marshall’s confirmation in 1967). Sen. Byrd voted against removal. Asked later about it he said that “Justice Marshall was a poor choice, and doesn’t understand Constitutional limits, and I don’t support him one iota. But this impeachment – it stinks, and I’m not going to join the stampede to throw out the Constitution, no matter how questionable the Justice in contention.”
Two border state Senators, joined by Sen. Bentsen (D-TX) and Sen. Ed Edmondson (D-OK) (4) joined with the Republicans and abandoned their leadership on the question, largely seeking to align with libertarian thinking on the question of removing Justice Marshall. They were not too different than the western group in their thinking, though the regional breakout and the their closeness to the bible belt also influenced their voting when they considered the rise of the Christian Voice. It is also believed that this key group was offered Republican and White House support for a farm support bill by the Republican leadership which ran counter to the prevailing supply side economics of the Rumsfeld Administration, but which would be popular among voters in their states.
John Breckenridge (D-KY)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Ed Edmondson (D-OK)
Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX)
Sen. Bentsen of Texas later tried to explain his vote as “on the whole Justice Marshall had become too controversial, which in turn, win or lose, meant he would lose his effectiveness as a Justice. Frankly, while I cannot condemn his record overall, I’m inclined to agree with the opinion that he has overstepped the bounds of Federalism in his recent decisions, and as such I think he should be removed. Let’s keep in mind removal does not send Justice Marshall to prison, there is no criminal punishment here. This vote is about upholding our Constitutional principles, and I’m voting here for that. It is a principle that goes beyond one man, no matter how great his record; it is a matter of whether the Constitution will be followed, or if it shall be cast aside when it is inconvenient. The last situation, that is not the great, free Republic in which I grew-up. That is a place where tyranny is one step away, and the laws are but window dressing. I will not cast my vote to encourage in any way such an outcome.”
A western group (4), which included Alaska’s Donald Hobbs, had noted an increase in support for the impeachment in their states and bent to a political trend which then was largely a tug-of war between the Republicans and Libertarians. This group was voting strategically according to the polling results in their region in order to exploit the divide between Republicans and Libertarians, by using their vote to remove Marshall, popular among conservatives, to induce conservative voters to abandon the Republicans and support them, thus strengthening their electoral base. The calculation was that they would win over more conservative white voters than they would alienate liberals, whose support they were losing to We The People at any rate.
Senators Hobbs and Jensen had a more direct line to their choices. Impeaching Justice Marshall was highly popular in Alaska and Idaho, and both elected not to buck the popular trend in their states. Of note, their colleagues – Sen. Clark Gruening (D-AK) and Sen. Frank Church (D-ID), respectively, voted the other way. Frank Church died before the end of his term (however his popularity as in decline), but Sen. Gruening was defeated for re-election, in part on this question. Given this perspective, the votes of Hobbs and Jensen seem to have been more politically sound, although it alienated them from the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
Donald Hobbs (D-AK)
Dwight Jensen (D-ID)
Dan Berman (D-UT)
Raymond Whittaker (D-WY)
Also of note were nine Republicans who broke with their party ranks to vote against what they regarded, in the words of New Hampshire’s Warren Rudman “a gross miscarriage of justice in the name of low, mean politics.” It came as little surprise that eight of the nine, with the notable exception of Sen. Dreyfus, were among the most liberal to moderate figures in the Republican Party at the time.
They were:
Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-CT)
Sen. William Roth (R-DE)
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Sen. Charles Mathias (R-MD)
Sen. Warren Rudman (R-NH)
Sen. John Chafee (R-RI)
Sen. Donald Dwight (R-MA)
Sen. Harrison Schmidt (R-NM)
Sen. Lee Dreyfus (R-WS)
Sen. Lee Dreyfus (R-WS) stands out in this group as he was politically much closer to the Libertarians Senators, both of whom voted to remove Justice Marshall. Sen. Dreyfus echoed Senator Byrd of Virginia in registering his objections to Justice Marshall, but at the same time expressing his disgust for the political manoeuvring that had lead to the impeachment in the first place. Drefyus was also the bluntest in calling the impeachment “dirty politics” and he even suggested that those who had supported it should be removed, or should have to face the voters in a special election “and face the music for being low-down and stupid.”
Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA): “What this chamber has witnessed here today, in this vote, is a disgrace to all the honorable traditions of the United States Senate. We have today witnessed the victory of politics over principle, over moral courage. I stand to salute those of our colleagues from across the aisle who had the strength of character and the integrity to stand against the tide in their own party. These men have demonstrated the true mark of that most awesome title United States Senator by voting not with politics, but with the courage of their convictions. Within the ranks of the Democratic Party caucus, it is clear that there is no immunity from outdated thinking or the easy surrender to politics. I know some among us may argue that they did vote with their conscience on the question, and perhaps this is enough for them, but it was the vote of a narrow conscience that lacked vision for what this country is, and what it should stand for. Mostly though, I believe that the vote to remove was motivated by low politics, the easy compromise, the sacrifice of the big picture for the narrow reward of immediate electoral gain. This is behaviour not worth of a United States Senator; it is a compromise not worthy of a servant of the American people. Integrity and character has no party label in this chamber, it is a clear and distinct badge of honor worn by those of all parties who voted for the right in the face of political pressure to do wrong. But it is not enough to call on those who foreswore their Constitutional oath and say you were cowards. Cowardice alone was not the author of this folly. No, what came here today, what this was made from, was the laying down of twenty-one pieces of silver, the bounty of Judas – the offer of economic support, programs, the wholesale buying of votes by whispered promises from the shadows beyond the cloak room. I know because I too received these whispers, but I rejected them. I rejected the easy program, the easy bribe to the voters, in order to do what was right. Not all here had that strength, and those of you who chose the easy path, the political path, I can only say there will be reckoning for the shame that was done here today. I can only draw satisfaction that enough of us stood the ground of right, the ground of justice, to stop the tide of miscarriage of justice, albeit by a margin that to me was too small and too cruel to the record of public service provided by Justice Marshall.”
Sen. Albert Brewer (D-AL): “There is an easiness, a note of self-righteousness really, in calling those of us who voted our conscience on the matter names. The truth is we do not believe in the liberal interpretation of our country’s great Constitution, which would see it bent and re-made to suit a current agenda of some at the expense of all. I for one examined the issue – that of who should determine the matters of discipline and authority within the family – and I have came to the inalterable conclusion that to stand my ground according to my belief in this Constitution, this great Constitution upon which this Great Republic is built – and without which we would not be a free land but a collection of what – petty tyrants bending to the switching winds of fashion? – I voted according to my reading of the Constitution in favour of the American family and against judicial overreach. I am no coward, no sell-out, I am a United States Senator and I have stood in this house and cast my vote as in my view is best for this nation and for the people of Alabama. Ultimately it will be to them, the people of Alabama, that my choice will be subject to review at the ballot box. But while I am here I will maintain my integrity, and my belief in this Constitution. I voted to remove Justice Marshall in the name of preserving the balance of federalism in our Constitution, and in the interests of allowing American families to make their own choices, and not having them imposed upon us by appointed judges exceeding their mandates in the name of fashionable causes. I must also say that I am disheartened at the petty bitterness shown by my Democratic colleagues over this, as matters of conscience do not wear one view only. I do not believe I can continue in the Democratic Party as a result of this – division – as I do not believe that the national Democratic Party any longer represents the values and principles of the people of Alabama. I shall therefore, from this moment Mr. President, sit as a member of the Republican caucus of this great house.”
Sen. William Brock (R-TN; Republican leader): “We welcome Senator Brewer to our caucus, and applaud his show of principle, his high regard for the American family and our Constitution, his show of courage over the dark dissembling of low politics.”
Sen. Donald Hobbs (D-AK): “I shall not give up on the Democratic Party, for I hold its values as my own. But at the same time, I value the Constitution as well, and it was simply un-Constitutional for an appointed Federal Justice, even so esteemed a Justice as the great Thurgood Marshall, to place the authority of his office – which he holds as a trust to uphold our Constitution – between member of the family, the basic social and moral unit of our society. Show me where in the Constitution our founders ascribed this authority to the federal government, to an appointed Justice? Show me this power, and I will be the first to say I was wrong and ask your forgiveness of my error. But unless you can do that – until you do – I will stand by my vote which was to uphold the principle of the Constitution of this great Republic. Now, unlike the senior Senator from Alabama, I shall not pack-up my marbles and join the other side. As I said I hold the values of the Democratic Party as my own, it was on those values that the people of Alaska elected me to this chamber, and it is to those values I will remain dedicated in my public service, however long that may be. Fellow Democrats you may shun me, but I will be there, with you, and I will continue to represent the people of Alaska who elected me.”
Sen. Jerry Brown (D-CA): “What this President and his men have shown, in their backroom encouragement of the impeachment of a great American jurist, is that they have an utter contempt for the Constitution and any sense of justice. This whole campaign has been the work of men of with no honor, who understand little of what it means to be a public servant; these men have acted like political bandits.”
Sen. Ed Edmondson (D-OK) also changed party affiliations to sit as a Republican after the Marshall impeachment vote.
As a matter of coincidence both Sen. Brewer and Sen. Edmondson were class 3 Senators, and as such not up for re-election until 1986.
The results of the change in the U.S. Senate, January 1982 (97th Congress):
Republicans: 48+2=50
Democrats: 48-2=46
Libertarians: 2
Christian Voice: 1
Independent: 1
President of the Senate: Vice President W. Jackson Edwards (R)
President pro-tempore: Sen. Charles Mathias (R-MD)*
Majority Leader: Sen. William Brock III (R-TN)
Minority Leader: Sen. Frank Church (D-ID)
*=The most senior Republican Senator. There was some controversy in the Republican caucus about this choice as Sen. Mathias had voted to acquit Justice Marshall, however the new majority leader decided to follow Senate precedent and nominate to the position the most senior senator (by years of service in the Senate) on the majority side.
The Republicans now have effective control of both Houses of Congress as well as the Presidency. Republicans can retain control of the Senate with the supporting vote of the Vice President in the event of tie.
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Monday, January 11, 1982
TO: The President
FR: Richard B. Cheney, Chief of Staff
RE: Impeachment of Marshall
Sir,
The question has been asked what we got out of this. Here’s what we have gotten:
1] 54% of the people (apart from the Northeast and California) agreed with the impeachment of Marshall. Many respondents viewed the question – correctly – as one of Constitutional overreach by the judiciary and not of a challenge to civil rights. We have picked up on a popular dissatisfaction with judges on this, and have a theme to further exploit this.
2] The Democratic Party is divided, especially in the Senate (but in the House as well, where there was division within the ranks over the original impeachment vote). Moderate and conservative Democrats see support slipping away on the left to the WTP, while conservative Democrats are now open to being recruited into the Republican Party, a significant shift which will bolster our support in places where we face challenge from the Christian Values or the Libertarians. We can now make a pitch to the fourteen Democratic Senators who voted in favour of removal as they will find the Democratic caucus increasingly inhospitable. Managed properly, their political future is now entirely in our hands, not least because we’ve thrown them the lifeline of farm and regional aid to make-up for what is otherwise an abject failure on this part. We have to take this as far as it will go, as we will be unlikely to have another chance like this again. Still we have important leverage with this group now.
3] Our advertising framed this as a family issue, particularly after Lee’s polling concluded that control of family was a serious consideration of voters coming out of this recession. We played it was Marshall attacking the family (which is why this particular dissent was chosen in the first place) representing a wider liberal attack on family values and the overall domestic tranquility of every American family, and the enmity that liberal federal judges seem to be showing to pro-family values. That is a theme we can continue now, to build support against the Democrats for the mid-term elections, especially in the South, Mid-west and West.
You and the Vice President can in turn use the bully-pulpit to denounce the attack on the family as a solid, middle class values campaign theme for the rest of this year. In some ways, the failure to remove, strengthens our hand since we can point to the vote as the culmination of liberal determination to undermine family values. Cloaking ourselves in those values, we can make the argument to Libertarian and Christian Values voters, as well as conservative white Democrats, that voting Republican is the only way to preserve the security of their family against this onslaught. From the three groups we can then amalgamate a supporting coalition of at least 51% -- it will be our version of the “silent majority.” This can start a base of support for 1984.
Oh yes, Bill Brock now has a freer hand in the Senate, which means he and Speaker Lott can be more effective on our behalf.
Yours,
DC
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President: “We’ve lost some important Republicans on this too, including eight important supporters in the Senate.”
Cheney: “For now, but many of them were lost to us anyway, or questionable like Dreyfus. The key thing is they’re not bolting the party, and we can use the family argument to get them replaced in primaries.”
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Tuesday, January 12, 1982
Mayor Agnew pushes through New York City council a controversial proposal which will see New York Police armed with high powered handguns, sub machine guns and squad automatic weapons. The Mayor cites the need for firepower in order for “New York’s Army of Order” to “hit head on the forces of aggressive anarchy and swat them down like larcenous locusts.”
Wednesday, January 13, 1982
Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78. On that same day, a Washington Metro train derails to the north, killing 3 (the system's first fatal accident).
French air force planes begin limited air strikes against suspected PJO encampments.
Thursday, January 14, 1982
Rep. Bill Harsha (R-OH-6) introduces Bill HR-1227; An Act to Punish Those U.S. Citizens and Residents Who Support Armed Communist Insurgency Anywhere in the World.
Under the terms of the proposed act (the Harsha Act) “any U.S. Citizen or legal resident supporting an armed force, whether a national military of a state recognized by the United States, or an armed insurrectionist force or terrorist group operating without legal status, whose goal is to promote Marxist-Lenninst, Communist or Revolutionary Socialist goals through armed force, either in theory or practice, is guilty of an offence for which the maximum punishment shall be life imprisonment without hope of parole in a correctional facility, and for which the minimum punishment shall be ten years imprisonment in a correctional facility.
“In addition, such U.S. citizens convicted under this Act shall, upon conviction, have their civil rights restricted and suffer a lifetime ban from being issued a United States Passport, nor shall they be qualified to receive Social Security, Medicare or other support benefits from the United States. Those who are legal residents but not citizens may, upon conviction be stripped of their legal residence and, at a time deemed appropriate by the United States Department of Justice, deported to their country of origin and suffer a lifetime ban from being allowed to return to the territory of the United States. Those who are naturalized citizens of the United States may, upon conviction under this act, be stripped of their naturalized citizenship, and be subject to deportation to their place of origin as provided for legal residents in this act.”
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Friday, January 15, 1982
The Iraqis walk out of the Geneva talks on the Arabian peninsula. The Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, while blaming the now dead Saddam Hussein for the invasion and occupation of Arabia, is unwilling to relinquish Iraqi control, or influence over the puppet state that has been set-up there.
Sunday, January 17, 1982
Cold Sunday sweeps over the northern United States.
The phenomenon was caused by an unusually strong high pressure system over Saskatchewan with a core pressure of 31.15 inHg (1055 hPa/mbar), a level rarely seen outside of permanent polar areas such as Siberia and Antarctica. A recent snowfall had left the ground without any way to hold on to its heat and temperatures dropped precipitously. This mass of cold air was so strong that the temperature at Mequon, Wisconsin, dropped to −40 °F (−40 °C). The previous record was −28 °F (−33 °C) and temperatures below −20 °F (−29 °C) had been felt there only six times in the previous 100 years. The lowest temperature recorded that day in the United States was −52 °F (−47 °C), measured near Tower, Minnesota.
Below is a partial list of cities which set all-time record low temperatures in the United States. This is only a small fraction of all locales setting record low temperatures: Hundreds of towns and cities from North Dakota to New Jersey to Mississippi broke records, and the vast majority of the records set on "Cold Sunday" still stand. The cold was not confined to the night, either. In Princeton, New Jersey, and Cincinnati, Ohio, the daytime high temperatures were 2 °F (−17 °C) and −9 °F (−23 °C). The average high temperature in January is 39 °F (4 °C) in both cities.
While much of central and south Florida escaped the deep freeze, enough damage was done to citrus crops in the north-central part of the state during the month of January to write off the 1982 harvest as a disaster.
* International Falls, Minnesota: −45 °F (−43 °C)
* Saint Cloud, Minnesota: −35 °F (−37 °C)
* Madison, Wisconsin: −31 °F (−35 °C)
* Green Bay, Wisconsin: −28 °F (−33 °C)
* Chicago, Illinois: −27 °F (−33 °C)
* Milwaukee, Wisconsin: −26 °F (−32 °C)
* Moline, Illinois: −23 °F (−31 °C)
* Peoria, Illinois: −23 °F (−31 °C)
* Akron, Ohio: −22 °F (−30 °C)
* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: −18 °F (−28 °C)
* Cleveland, Ohio: −17 °F (−27 °C)
* Jackson, Mississippi: −5 °F (−21 °C)
* Washington, DC: −5 °F (−21 °C)
* Birmingham, Alabama: −2 °F (−19 °C)
Monday, January 18, 1982
Four Northrop T-38 aircraft of the USAF Thunderbirds Demonstration Squadron crash at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, NV, killing all four pilots.
Former U.S. President Richard Nixon begins a series of private visits to Moscow to discuss Cold War issues with Soviet officials. He notes the almost complete seclusion of Yuri Andropov from public life and the authority of Ryzhkov and Romanov.
Wednesday, January 20, 1982
A USAF study notes that the rate of B-1 bombers is not keeping pace with the deterioration of the B-52 fleet, which has been subject to greater attrition since the second phase of the Vietnam War in 1973-1975. As a consequence the U.S. Strategic Air Command is facing imminent shortfalls in bomber air craft inventory for its mission, especially as more operational aircraft are diverted to other missions. A copy of the report, which recommends further funding of the B-2 project, is sent to the NSC where, as many Air Force analysts note, “it disappears into a black hole.”
7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor, Ky.
President Rumsfeld marks the first anniversary of his having assumed office. “We have liberated the economy and stood-up to the Soviet backed challenges in the world. The work has just begun, but we will win through.”
Rep. Shirley Chisholm (WTP-NY(12)): “One year of this President has been one year too long for the American people, whose suffering he has magnified with his cruel and thoughtless polices. I hesitate to call the man names, but his policies on poverty, on education, and on justice in America and in Africa speak for themselves. That is why I am introducing a bill of impeachment, charging that this man has violated his oath of office, and failed to uphold the Constitutional requirements of his office. I also charge that he has abetted an unlawful war in Africa, and as such has brought the United States, by his actions, into disrepute.”
The Rumsfeld Administration announces that the bulk of U.S. space dollars will be spend on developing “eyes down” satellite capability (not announced is an emphasis on electronic spying from orbit and orbital EMP delivery weapons). This will replace manned space flight for the foreseeable future.
Thursday, January 21, 1982
Nigerian troops launch a sweep against PJO back insurgents in Kano and Kaduna States. This leads to months of intense warfare which produces high casualties.
The second Quebec conference fails to develop a sovereignty – association plan acceptable to either side. Discussions are called off until April (at the earliest) while back channel consultations continue. Instance of pro and anti sovereignty disorder occur in Montreal and Quebec City.
NY Islanders begin then NHL record 15 game winning streak.
75% of North America is covered by snow.
Friday, January 22 – February 9, 1982
White Rhodesian refugees housed in camps near Pietersburg, South Africa riot against the conditions under which they are being held (confined). After an attempt to negotiate, the Malan regime moves with force to put down the unrest, resulting in a number of casualties.
Saturday, January 23, 1982
World Airways DC-10 skids at Boston Logan Airport killing 2.
Project Asparagus (development of Railgun technology and application) begins in the U.S..
Operation RYAN (or RYaN) was a cold war military intelligence program run by the USSR during the early 1980s when they believed the United States was planning for an imminent first strike attack. The name is an acronym for Raketno-Yadernoe Napadenie (Russian: Ракетно-ядерное нападение, "Nuclear Missile Attack"). It was initiated in January 1982 at the insistence of Defence Minister Kulikov and Interior Minister Pugo with the belief that the Rumsfeld Administration was preparing for a first strike nuclear war option. The KGB and GRU had also uncovered evidence of U.S. efforts to develop new strategic technology, which they regarded as a prime threat to Soviet security, and RYAN was designed to address that point. Premier Ryzhkov was sceptical, but went along because Kulikov and Pugo had strong support for this within the Politburo. General Secretary Andropov also signed a letter to the Politburo endorsing this measure, as such further reducing Ryzhkov’s ability to stop it. (A photo of Andropov sitting up at his desk signing the document was circulated to prove he did in fact sign it and was fully aware of its contents).
Monday, January 25, 1982
The Soviet leadership makes a decision to invest more resources into anti-ballistic missile technology and the production of Typhoon and Delta class ballistic missile submarines. Unknown at the time was the fact that Nikolai Ryhzkov had been persuaded by a study that showed that strategic bombers were past their prime in terms of delivery system, and that naval strategic power represented a better investment in terms of long term power projection. His advisors persuaded him that aircraft needed to be returned to a more tactical role.
Ironically, the work upon which the Soviet studies that persuaded Ryzhkov were based were themselves influenced by studies developed at the RAND Corporation in the United States (addressing the mix of forces in the U.S. strategic triad) and smuggled into the Soviet Union by spies. The so-called “Ryzhkov Approach” also emphasises the development of a new generation of satellite surveillance and early warning technology. Ryzhkov views this approach as a spur to further high-tech development in the Soviet Union.
At roughly the same time Ryzhkov initiates a program of consumer goods development financed by increased oil revenues. The “60-40 Plan” targets 60% of production of low-tech consumer goods for export to westwestern markets (at low price) and 40% of domestic consumption. Politburo candidate member Vladimir Dolgikh becomes responsible for the 60-40 Plan.
Tuesday, January 26, 1982
Harri Holkeri is elected as the 9th President of Finland.
Wednesday, January 27, 1982
Roberto S Cordova installed as president of Honduras.
Libyan forces brutally put down an uprising by Chadians. Libya is condemned internationally for this action, however the Soviet Union blocks sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.
Thursday, January 28, 1982
United States Army Brigadier General James L. Dozier is killed in a shoot-out between his Red Brigade kidnappers and the Italian anti-terrorism unit Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (NOCS) . The NOCS was attempting a hostage resuce at the time. General Dozier had been held captive for 42 days by the Red Brigades.
February – March 1982
Cases of what is later diagnosed as a new variant of the Marburg virus begin to crop up in a triangle bound by the Luichow Peninsula, Heng-yang and Amoy , an area that includes population centers in Canton and Hong Kong (what had been Macau was depopulated by the Lesser Mao regime). At first thought to be a by-product of poor health and sanitation on the part of those who were living under the Lesser Mao regime, by the end of March it becomes clear that the area is being afflicted by an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever of a virulent and previously unknown strain, but identified as being similar to the Marburg strain (but more aggressive). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus
By the end of March casualties are around 6,500 in Canton* and 2,300 in Hong Kong, with a further 6,700 persons in Hong Kong identified as being infected and quarantined. The Health Department imposes a quarantine on the port of Hong Kong and the Pearl River is closed to commercial traffic. (*- numbers are more difficult to estimate outside of Hong Kong, where viral infections interact with other serious nutritional and public health problems). Initial projections looking back at casualty rates and cases indicate that the virus first appeared around October or November 1981 but went largely unnoticed at first.
Monday February 1, 1982
Senegal and Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation.
The U.S. government announces that the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas will be closed over the next six months. Florida Governor Tom Gallagher (R) and Texas Governor George Bush (R) both react with outrage as they were not consulted and this will lead to higher unemployment in both states. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will be replaced by the Civilian Space Agency (CSA), a much smaller organization, to be based out of Washington D.C.. The CSA is to essentially be a co-ordinator of space activities which are to be implemented through the corporate sector.
Neil Armstrong makes a rare public statement calling the situation “the victory of the pen pushers and the industrial complex over space exploration.”
Islamic aid missions begin to penetrate into the interior of China. They bring aid to starving and dislocated populations of various ethnic groups, including Han Chinese, and begin conversions of those they assist. Many convert as the Islamic aid groups seem to be the only ones helping them.
February 2 – April 2, 1982
France co-ordinates a second attack on Mali involving French, Senegambia and Guinean troops. (Cote D’Ivorie backs out before the attacks begin). The combined thrust nearly captures Bamako, but again falls apart over the inability of the African forces (even with French direction) to successfully co-ordinate their efforts (rivalries develop among the forces, some of which do not have the full political support of their governments [some governments fear the concentrated army forces may think of plotting a coup at home]) and there are equipment issues (compatibility and maintenance). There are also some problems with officer competence with the various forces, where officers have been promoted for political reasons rather than professional capability.
The attack falls apart with the determined resistance of the PJO, which hires Toureg mercenaries, and has imported fighters from elsewhere in the Islamic world who are willing to fight for the cause. At its worst the fighting develops into World War I style trench warfare, while the PJO use irregular warfare techniques and terrorist strikes at civilian targets behind the lines to undermine morale. Several government ministers are also assassinated in order to undermine government willingness.
The West African troops, and some of the French soldiers, are not psychologically adept at dealing with suicide squads of attackers, who will fight without regard to their own safety to get the enemy (their bodies are often rigged as living bombs).
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Wednesday, February 3, 1982
John Sharples of England finishes disco dancing 371 hours.
Porn star John Holmes ordered to stand trial for murder.
February 4-5, 1982
President Hendrick Chin A Sen of Suriname is overthrown in a military coup and flees into exile in the Netherlands. Dictator Desi Bouterse replaces him with another front man, President Fred Ramdat Misier.
A new squatters tent city is re-opened along the King George Bay on West Falkland Island by Argentine activists. At roughly the same time the Argentine government files a claim with the International Court of Justice demanding the return of the Malvinas Islands.
Friday, February 5, 1982
London-based Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 stranded passengers and debts of $270 million.
Fighting between Indian and Pakistan troops intensifies along the Karakoram Pass and in areas previously ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963s, as a by-product of a political struggle between Islamabad and New Delhi over jurisdiction in Tibet. Fighting also spills over into the Jammu and Baltistan frontier area.
Sunday, February 7, 1982
Ramón Rubial Cavia, President of the Basque Republic, makes his first state visit to the United Kingdom. A state dinner hosted by King George VII is given in his honour at Windsor Castle.
Monday, February 8, 1982
The New Japan Party government of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone introduces a second budget which ramps up military spending. Defence Minister Minoru Genda outrages some when he declares that Japan’s behaviour toward occupied people during the Second World War was “even-handed” and “supportive.”
The U.N. Security Council recognizes the Indian annexation of the Aksai Chin region, with only Pakistan and non-recognized Tibetan representatives objecting.
Tibetan representatives in New York launch an effort to have Tibet recognized as an independent nation and receive recognition by the U.N.. India and the Soviet Union both lead an opposition front to this.
Tuesday, February 9, 1982
Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board. Prime Minister Nakasone later blames “inferior western workmanship” in the manufacture of the aircraft for the crash.
Wednesday, February 10, 1982
ELF announces the discovery of a substantial oil field on the western side of Albert Lake in Zaire. This comes on the heels of a new economic co-operation agreement signed between France and post-Mobutu Zaire. (Royal Dutch Shell has also found oil fields on the eastern shore, in Uganda).
Sunday, February 14, 1982
Indian Prime Minister Ram Sundar Das makes a state visit to the United States in May.
Monday, February 15, 1982
The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 rig workers aboard.
Tibetans in Lahsa demonstrate against Indian occupation.
Tuesday, February 16, 1982
Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female president of Malta.
Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett Majors divorce.
February 17 – 25, 1982
A warlord army mounts an assault at Hankow, leading to several days of bloody fighting involving U.S., British and Australian troops. The allied troops are weakened by fever, and forced to withdraw to more defensible positions closer to the coast. The warlord army cannot follow-up because of casualties and because they too have been weakened by the Marburg fever virus.
Wednesday, February 17, 1982
Behind the Fortress Walls, a first-hand account of Kremlin intrigue from 1971 until early 1981 is published in London. This leads to widespread speculation as to who the source is. In the Soviet Union Interior Minister Pugo and KGB Chair Kryuchkov become obsessed with indentifying the source of this information. Over the next few months this becomes tied-up into a wider anti-corruption campaign.
It becomes known later that Ryzhkov used the publication and subsequent corruption campaign to purge incompetent managers and those who were resisting his plans and reforms, further cementing his hold on the economy of the Soviet Union. At least one of Ryzhkov’s informal advisors was Serge Anatol, a Belgian with Russian Ancestry, who was schooling Ryzhkov in economic and management theory he (Anatol) had learned at Harvard and the London School of Economics. This would lead Ryzhkov to push for the founding of a business school at Moscow University to study western management systems as well as free market economic theory (within a wider Soviet Socialist political framework). This program of “Soviet Corporate Theory” takes as a minimum continued governance by the CPSU and Socialist political and cultural models. It also focuses on the Japanese Kieretsu model and the work of the now defunct Japanese Liberal Democratic Party in re-building the Japanese economy in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Ryzhkov shows no interest in developing western pluralistic democracy (“free enterprise without the free part” as western critic George Will later puts it).
The PJO moves the capital of its “Caliphate” to Tombouctou for safety.
Monday, February 22, 1982
The California legislature agrees to a funding formula for the split of the state into two new states, California and Jefferson (Northern California). This allows Governor McCloskey and the legislature to petition Congress to recognizing the new state. (It is widely believed that Republicans in both Houses will support this as the general political trend in the new state is pro-Republican, which would have positive effects for the national GOP in the Senate and the Presidential election process).
The U.S. announces that it supplement its M-1 Tank production with the production of an M-75 Model tank, which is a a hybrid adaptation incorporating elements of the Soviet made T-62 and T-72 Tank models (based on samples captured in Syria), including composite armour, NBC protection and a heavier gun.
Wednesday, February 23, 1982
Soviet and Mongolian forces clash with bandit armies in the Chifeng area. The Soviets mount an offensive east to secure the southern Mongolian border region, but run into supply problems.
Thursday, February 25, 1982
The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tase children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.
Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.
President Rumsfeld: “You ask why we’re supporting the fight against communist insurgency in Africa – sure you mask it in emotional language about the racist regime and fascist dictatorship – which South Africa is not, etc. etc. But that’s rhetoric in your question, rhetoric designed to evoke a certain emotional response, one that promotes the left-wing view of the conflict, and ultimately that serves the interests of Kremlin propaganda. Conflict is difficult; death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war. But the reason we support the fight couldn’t be clearer. It’s a question of whether Southern Africa – like South Vietnam – will be free, or like Eastern Europe will fall to tyranny. We are in a position to prevent that, and as long as I am in this office the United States will act to prevent a Soviet domination of Africa.”
Friday, February 26, 1982
President Rumsfeld and Mayor Agnew meet for an awkward photo-op at Gracie Mansion in New York City.
Agnew: “Now you’ll have to take my phone calls.”
President: “Call whenever you need to, Mayor. I’m sure Dick will be happy to hear from you.”
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Sunday, February 28, 1982
FALN-PR (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña) bombs Wall Street. Damage is minor. The Rumsfeld Administration orders a crackdown on nationalist activity in Puerto Rico, leading to an increase in independence sentiment.
President Maamun al-Kuzbari is elected to a second term as President of the Free Syrian Republic. His campaign made much of the open contempt shown for him by the Israeli leadership.
Monday, March 1, 1982
The Israeli government begins the forced evacuation of Palestinians from the former Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are placed in "model communities" in the Eastern Sinai, while Israeli settlers are encouraged to settle the former Gaza area.
This action is widely condemned and the cause of a number of anti-Israel motions at the U.N. These are blocked in the Security Council by the United States.
Ariel Sharon (Minister of Internal Affairs and the Police): "There is no such thing as a Palestinian Arab, there are only Arabs, who are rightly the citizens of either Egypt, Jordan or Lebanon. These Arabs we invite to make a better home in an area close to the frontier, where they can have contact with their fellow Arabs. And of course, should they choose to move on to Egypt, to live under Arab rule, we will be most considerate in helping with that."
Menachem Begin (Prime Minister): "I absolutely reject all comparisons between our treatment of the so-called Palestinians and the Shoah. I will remind our critics that our policy is humane, and seeks to re-unite the Arab population with those who are like them and share their religious beliefs. We offer modern communities, liberation from squalor
and homes, schools, all the benefits that the taxpayer of Israel can provide. Our policy is the most humane act ever shown by one people to another who bears us not the least amount of goodwill. There is no comparison with the Nazi policy here. No, that is the way the Arab nations would behave if ever we allowed them to get their hands on Israel, and this we will never allow."
Wednesday, March 3, 1982
King George VII opens the Barbican Centre in London.
Friday, March 5, 1982
President Rumsfeld: “Peacemaking is a messy business, no one is satisfied with the result, not until a long time passes and everyone sees the result is to their benefit. I’ll remind you that we had rebellions here in the United States for years after our revolution. Freedom is messy, and free expression is never clear. What Israel is doing in Gaza is making peace – conditions for a lasting peace, and I support that – the United States government supports that. Sometimes people have to get moved around to make that happen; that’s the logic of geography. In the end they’ll all be happier this way. Change is messy, so momentary suffering and change has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of peacemaking. But that’s no reason not to do it. It will be for the better in the end."
Russian spacecraft Venera 14 lands on Venus sends back data.
Saturday, March 6, 1982
From My American Journey – By Colin Powell
One of the biggest challenges in China were the roads. It looked as if whatever road infrastructure that had been there had been left to deteriorate, if not entirely ripped-up, by the Lesser Mao’s reign. Now that I had my first star I was in overall charge of getting some highways built that we could use, and which could accommodate reconstruction in China. The Heath-Gavin Commission had recently visited the area and their recommendation was that if China was ever going to recover from the cumulative effects of the Cultural Revolution and the Lesser Mao period, then a Marshall-plan type commitment was going to be needed: and that was only the beginning. My personal opinion, based on what I saw, was that the commission was being very optimistic in their assessment.
In addition to road construction, I had also acquired responsibility for industrial sites. It was in this capacity that Major Dave Petraus, staff adjutant for Lt. General John Galvin, came to see me on an urgent mission early in March 1982.
Major Petraus (speaking for Gen. Galvin) was very anxious that I come forward to Hu-kiou, a tiny spec on the map of China, in the allied controlled area. We had set up a forward perimeter in the area because a number of industrial sites had been discovered, mainly pertaining to the production of chemical weapons components, or so we believed at the time. The main units deployed were 157th Field Artillery and the 193rd Military Police Battalion from the Colorado Army Guard, along with elements of the 36th Infantry from the Texas Guard. In addition to various chemical warfare and other specialized units, the 928th Medical Battalion, also from the Colorado Guard, was in place to support. Nearby at Chu-chaing, the British SAS with support from their Light Division and the Canadian Lorne Scots had set-up a forward operating base that they were using for reconnaissance missions on the other side of the Yangtze.
Major Petraus was very tight-lipped about the reason Gen. Galvin had sent for me, but I was becoming concerned when I realized the armoured vehicle we were using to transverse the barely passable roads was NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) protected. That impression only grew when the Major handed me a bio-hazard suit, and everyone in the vehicle – including Petraus – began doing one of the olive-green colored suits which would seal them off from the outside environment.
Once we reached Hu-kou, we disembarked from the vehicle near what looked to be a ruined industrial complex. I quickly noticed that everyone working at the site was similarly dressed in bio-hazard gear.
Petraus lead me into one of the half wrecked metal pre-fabricated buildings, which had a large, hollow interior much like a garage or a warehouse. The first thing I noticed were several tarps draped over what were bodies.
General Galvin came forward. His biohazard suit was an industrial yellow rather than the army issue color.
“General Powell,” he said. “We have an emergency on our hands.”
“What is this place?” I asked.
“It was some kind of biological weapons research facility, near as we can tell. They abandoned it last year sometime, but we’ve found evidence that the people who worked here were executed some time before the Lesser Mao’s regime fell.”
“You mentioned an emergency, sir?”
“The reason we are wearing this gear, Powell, is because the troops who were stationed here accidentally discovered what they thought was industrial waste. We now suspect that this was a chemical weapons site, and that what was developed here was some sort of slow gestating, but virulent form of flu virus.”
I was horrified at what he said, but what General Galvin said next chilled me to the bone. He pointed to the bodies under the tarps and said: “This is the unit that was stationed here when they uncovered the chemical waste.”
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Sunday, March 7, 1982
Charles Haughey, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Irish Republic is assassinated by operatives of the INLA, who fire a Russian made RPG-7 anti-tank missile at the Taoiseach’s car. (It is not armoured; no one expected someone to assassinate the Taoiseach). Sinn Fein quickly condemns the assassination.
In Athens and several other Greek cities a series of demonstrations against the PASOK government turn into riots, with protestors battling the police. Tear gas and smoke bombs are used in Athens.
Monday, March 8, 1982
Tánaiste George Colley is named by President James Dooge as the new interim Taoiseach of the Irish Republic.
George Weller of Manchester in the U.K. files a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights arguing that a hereditary monarchy at the head of the British state impugns his inalienable right as a citizen of a democratic nation to choose his leaders. In short Weller wants the ECHR to rule that the hereditary monarchy should be abolished in the name of human and democratic rights.
Tuesday, March 10, 1982
An anti-violence march is staged-in Dublin. Thousands throng in to the capital protest the murder of the Taoiseach.
The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan support for terrorist groups.
Syzygy: All nine planets align on the same side of the Sun.
Wednesday, March 10, 1982
The Rumsfeld Administration announces that it the U.S. government will no longer extend trade or agricultural credits to nations which do not explicitly reject “Revolutionary Socialism” as “a viable political alternative.” This leads to international protests and condemnation by the Soviet Union, which accuses the United States of “bullying” other nations and “using food as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Thursday, March 11, 1982
Army Sergeants Surendre Rambocus and Wilfred Hawker overthrow the government of Suriname in a coup, murdering the resident dictator Desi Bouterse and forcing President Fred Ramdat Misier into exile. The coup has an ethnic Hindustani component. Surendre Rambocus becomes the new President of Suriname. A bloody purge of Bouterse supporters follows.
Uyghur nationalists begin a rising against Soviet occupation forces in the former Sinkiang province of China. The Uyghur's declare their own independent state, the Uyghur Islamic Republic, and receive support (covertly) from Pakistan and other Islamic nationals, including those who are funding missionary work in other parts of the former (now uncontrolled) China.
In secret session the Soviet Politburo considers the possibility of setting-up a Uyghur buffer state along the lines of the Mongolian People's Republic in the former Sinkiang. Similar thinking guides a proposal to create an autonomous Manchurian People's Republic in Manchuria.
March 11 – 18, 1982
An attempt at a major offensive by the ZPLF across southern Rhodesia with parallel offensives into Southwest Africa from Angola are repelled by the South African army with U.S. support.
Friday, March 12, 1982
A State funeral is held for Charles Haughey in Dublin. The United States is represented by President Rumsfeld while the Soviet Union is represented by Premier Pelse and Nikolai Rhyzkov. The absence of Andropov, the nominal President of the Soviet Union, is remarked upon but explained by the Soviets as their President being sick with the flu.
Rumsfeld and Rhyzkov meet briefly at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Dublin, the first such meeting by executive level officials of both superpower nations since February 1980. The main topic of discussion is China and Africa.
In a separate meeting at the Áras an Uachtaráin with President Dooge and Taoiseach Colley, President Rumsfeld offers U.S. support to the Irish Republic, which includes an offer to sell arms and to reach a mutual defence support agreement.
The United Kingdom is represented by Prime Minister Healey and Prince Andrew, who represents his brother. Prince Andrew’s visit is the highest level official visit of a British Royal to Dublin since the formation of the Irish Free State (later Republic) in 1921. Their visit at the Áras an Uachtaráin with the President and Taoiseach includes an offer of support from the UK as well as a commitment to discuss a mutual security agreement between the two nations. Prince Andrew and Prime Minister Healey both make statements condemning both nationalist and loyalist violence, and Prince Andrew states on behalf of his brother that the political assassination of the Taoiseach was unacceptable to the British state and the British people.
Security in Dublin is extremely tight, and the Gardia Síochána and the Irish Army are reinforced by U.S. soldiers who, out of deference to their Irish hosts, operate either in plain clothes or wearing Irish uniforms.
Ian Paisley denounces the funeral as a “pageant to draw the weepy-eyed into supporting a conspiracy to obliterate the loyalist community in a sea of Irish Catholicism”, and stages a Unionist protest against the funeral in Belfast.
Pope Pius XIII also attends the funeral in order to condemn political violence. He meets with Rumsfeld and Healey as well as Irish officials, and reportedly also receives a Sinn Fein delegation in order to lobby them for a more peaceful approach. After the funeral the Pope again visits the martyr’s shrine at Demagore (Demagore Incident: Sept. 16, 1975). Several Unionists get close enough to the Pope to throw stones at him.
In the midst of the scuffling between partisan groups, which are barely held at bay by the RUC and British military troops, Ian Paisley manages to get close enough to Pope Pius XIII that he can be heard shouting insults at him. The Pope stops and makes the sign of the cross in Paisley’s direction, clearly irritating the DUP leader even further.
Asked about it later the Pope comments: “I was blessing him, of course. It was my hope that the Holy Spirit would touch him, and moderate his rhetoric.”
Paisley: “It was nothing but an insult – a blatant attempt to damn me with curse of Roman popery! I accept no blessing from that man, not until he renounces his Roman heresy and admits to his part in the plot to destroy the loyalist community!”
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James Molyneaux, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party condemns Paisley’s antics. Several days later he is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt carried out by a Protestant paramilitary.
Sunday, March 14, 1982
Indian troops clash with protestors in Lhasa, Tibet, where the Indians are trying to impose a security zone. The Tibetans were demonstrating against what they increasingly are coming to feel is an Indian occupation of Tibet.
Ideas & Trends in Summary; It's All Right To Come Out Now
The New York Times. Published: March 14, 1982
The word is out. The world did not end last week, even though all nine planets in the solar system and the Moon were on the same side of the Sun at the same time.
Rumor had it that syzygy - literally the ''yoking together'' or alignment of several celestial bodies -should have occurred March 10, with the planets lining up on one side of the Sun to exert a collective gravitational tug. That was to have generated unusual tides on the Sun's surface, producing an abnormally large number of sunspots that would shower the Earth with excess amounts of charged particles, altering the atmosphere so that it changed Earth's rotation, causing earthquakes.
But except for the rare planetary configuration, which was more a scattering than a lineup and thus not much of a syzygy at all, astronomers called it a humdrum day. For worry warts, the next ''grand'' syzygy is May 19, 2161, when eight planets (excluding Pluto) will be found within 69 degrees of each other, according to astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/14/weekinreview/ideas-trends-in-summary-it-s-all-right-to-come-out-now.html"]http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/14/weekinreview/ideas-trends-in-summary-it-s-all-right-to-come-out-now.html[/URL]
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Monday, March 15, 1982
New York City Police move in force against the headquarters of Bloodline, a notorious Brooklyn based street gang. In a little under five minutes seventeen Bloodline members, all with extensive criminal records, are killed in a flurry of shots. Estimates are that in a little under five minutes over 3,000 rounds were fired, the vast majority by the NYPD. All the suspects’ bodies are riddled with bullets: one becomes famous because his upper torso and head were shredded by over one hundred high calibre shell hitting him within seconds. The next day Mayor Agnew’s face appears on the front of the New York Post superimposed over an image of Gary Cooper from High Noon, under the title “Cleanin’ Up the Town”.
Civil Rights groups immediately protest this “massacre.”
California Governor Pete McCloskey announces that he will seek election in the fall as Governor for the proposed State of Jefferson/Northern California. (He will be seeking the Republican nomination). “But until that time, until January first next year, I am the Governor of all of California, and will act in the interests of all Californians.”
Tuesday, March 16, 1982
In Newport, Rhode Island, Claus von Bülow is found not guilty of the attempted murder of his wife.
Pakistani troops attack and Indian outpost along the disputed frontier in Southern Tibet, claiming that the Indian troops had encroached into Pakistan’s “security zone.”
Ron Dellums announces he will run for the office of Governor of California in the 1982 election. While he will represent the WTP (which will have its own primary process) he also announces that he intends to enter the Democratic Primaries as well, hoping to create a WTP-Democratic fusion ticket to run against the Republican nominee.
Caroll Bellamy, President of the New York City Council, along with a number of Council members, denounce the police action the night before as "outrageous" and "murder." They blame Mayor Agnew and Commissioner Westmoreland for turning New York City into "Saigon East."
Mayor Agnew: "Their hearts bleed for criminals; my heart feels for those victimized by crime. We, the people's elected representatives, are not the instigators of violence. No, that is the path chosen by the criminal element. We simply bring to them what they have chosen to bring to us. The difference between us is that we bring finality - the finality of justice over anarchy, of law over barbarity."
March 17 – April 30, 1982
British and Irish police and military forces crack down on the INLA across Ireland, North and South. Dozens of arrests are made in a concerted effort to root out and eliminate the INLA and it support structure. Rumor has it that Sinn Feinn and the PIRA give some covert support to the British and Irish forces during this crackdown on the more radical INLA.
Wednesday, March 17, 1982
Howard Jarvis files a petition in the United States District Court charging that the break-up of the State of California is un-Constitutional. He asks for and receives a stay on division of the state until his case is heard.
Mayor Agnew and Commissioner Westmoreland lead the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in New York with its emphasis on the work of the NYPD in making the city safe for "decent citizens."
Thursday, March 18, 1982
Mary Whitehouse's private prosecution of The Romans in Britain collapses.
Upper Volta and Benin fight off attacks by PJO backed guerrillas. Neither re-gain full control of their border regions with Niger.
March 18 – 29, 1982
Iraqi and Republic of Arabia troops manage to hold Riyadh and surrounding territory from a major offensive by the insurgent forces. Mostly the insurgents resort to small scale terror attacks in other parts of Arabia.
Friday, March 19, 1982
Ian Paisley leads a march on the U.S. Consulate in Belfast. Molotov cocktails are thrown at the Consulate.
A series of pro-monarchist and pro-Falangist bombings in Spain’s major cities leads to a crackdown by the government police (the Civil Guard having been replaced by an institution called the Civil Protection Service). Some ministers are concerned that some members of the police might be in sympathy with the right-wing terrorists. At the same time Spain is troubled by a series of bombings and bank robberies by left wing terror groups, adding more urgency to the police crackdown on violent groups. They receive support from, and sanctuary in, Portugal. Perhaps the oddest irony is that former members of the Basque terrorist group ETA are providing the police service in the Basque Republic, and as such they are co-operating with the Spanish authorities during the crackdown.
The Minnesota legislature passes a law which would apportion Electoral Votes in the state according to who won in each Congressional district, with the two state-wide Electoral votes going into to the winner of the popular vote state wide. On March 20, Governor Al Quie (R) vetos the bill and the proposed constitutional amendment.
At the same time the Minnesota legislature approves and sends to Congress a proposed amendment to the Constitution which would require all states to use apportionment of Electoral Votes by Congressional district with winner take-all of the two state wide Electoral Votes. The Minnesota Proposal also contains the following reforms:
- Instead of using State Electors, members of Congress would cast Electoral Votes at a Special session of Congress (House members for their district and Senators for the state wide Electoral votes). Each member would be bound by law to cast their Electoral votes as assigned by the popular vote in their district or state. (The District of Columbia would empower three Electors to vote, two in the Senate and one in the House for this process). The candidate receiving the majority of Electoral votes for President would be elected President; the candidate receiving the majority of Electoral Votes for Vice President would be elected Vice President. In the event of a tie, a tie-breaking Electoral Vote would be cast by the chair of the Senate, bound by law to the winner of the popular vote.
-The chairs of the House and Senate for the special Electoral Vote would be chosen from a pool of federal judges as currently provided by the twenty-seventh amendment (The Speaker of the House would sit as a regular member of the House to cast an Electoral Vote for his/her district; the incumbent Vice President would be excluded from the process). This amendment would supersede the twelfth and twenty-seventh amendments.
Saturday, March 20, 1982
Indian and Pakistani troops clash over conflicting interests along the joint border they share with the Tibetan area. Both militaries go on the highest alert as a result of these clashes.
Monday, March 22, 1982
Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s (WTP-NY(12)) bill of impeachment for Donald Rumsfeld is killed in the House Judiciary Committee.
Bill HR-1227 passes the House with a vote of 220 – 218. Debate begins in the Senate.
Tuesday, March 23, 1982
Guatemala military coup under Gen Rios Montt; President Romeo Lucas flees. It is widely believed that Gen. Rios Montt was supported by Washington.
Father Pablo Cuerda leads a series of anti-government protests against the Pinochet regime in the Central Chilean city of San Carlos. The Pinochet government at first reacts with its usual brutality, but is quickly forced to let up when Pope Pius XIII speaks up in favour of the Cuerdan movement, and compels Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez, Archbishop of Santiago, to intervene on their behalf. The March 23 incident, which saw a group of peaceful Cuerdan protestors attacked by Chilean police armed with bats (and graphic film of which was smuggled out of Chile and broadcast across the globe), becomes a rallying point for the Cuerdan movement. Among the things that develop out of this protest are a kind of religiously-oriented commune in the San Carlos area, which becomes a “free zone” within Chile.
Wednesday, March 24, 1982
After a joint “summit conference” on the epidemic of crime in America, Mayor Agnew of New York City and Governor Rarick of Louisiana propose the creation of “exclusion zones,” confined (i.e. fenced or walled off) areas within cities where habitual criminals can be confined and “controlled.” New York City and New Orleans are being put forward as two cities where this might be tested as a pilot project. The proposal is immediately condemned within the civil rights community.
Friday, March 26, 1982
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder release "Ebony & Ivory" in the UK.
The CSA officially announces that the Skylab project is being discontinued with no more flights scheduled.
A new civil war erupts in Laos when the coalition government composed of Pahtet Lao (Green, or nationalist) supporters and supporters of the right and the nominal ruler King Sisavang Vatthana and Prime Minister Prince Boun Oum. In the years leading up to this breach the Pathet Lao (Green) had been slowly re-absorbing the formerly PRC supported Pathet Lao (Red) which had been abandoned by their patron when the Lesser Mao’s regime collapsed.
Sunday, March 28, 1982
Tai Solarin, a respected Nigerian human rights activist, begins a hunger strike to protest corruption in the Nigerian government.
Monday, March 29, 1982
Two hundred fourteen Marburg-like “China Virus” cases recorded in Herefordshire in the U.K. Around the same time seven are noted in Oakville, Ontario.
President Rumsfeld: “The Panama Canal has been U.S. territory since we built it. That 1977 treaty was never ratified and for good reason. You don’t give away your national assets, period.” The President’s remarks spark anti-American demonstrations and rioting in Panama.
54th Academy Awards
Best Picture: Reds, Produced by Warren Beatty
Nominated:
Atlantic City
Middle Kingdom
Chariots of Fire
On Golden Pond
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City
Best Actress: Helen Mirren - Middle Kingdom (story of journalists and
relief workers in post-Lesser Mao China)
Best Supporting Actor: Denholm Elliott - Raiders of the Lost Ark*
Best Supporting Actress: Katherine Helmond - Time Bandits
*- which starred Tom Selleck and not Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. (The Magnum P.I. project for CBS never got past the pilot stage, and became a one-off movie for television).
Tuesday, March 30, 1982
Prince Andrew is shot at while making a public appearance in the U.K. The gunman is killed by the Prince’s security detail. He is later identified as a UFF gunman. The UFF had condemned the Prince’s involvement in the Taoiseach’s funeral in the most violent terms. This sets off a British crackdown on loyalist paramilitaries in the North.
Someone fries a bazooka at an NYPD patrol car. It misses, but kills two bystanders in a bodega behind the police car.
Suriname President Surendre Rambocus visits Fidel Castro in Cuba to discuss renewing relations and “common problems.” Prior to the visit he reportedly turned five anti-Castro Cuban exiles resident in Suriname over to the Cuban secret police.
Wednesday, March 31, 1982
First recorded outbreak of Marburg-like “China Virus” noted at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
President Rumsfeld orders Defense Secretary Connally to begin contingency planning for a possible invasion of Suriname.
Octávio Floriano Rodrigues Pato, Prime Minister of the Democratic Progressive Republic of Portugal meets with Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez, Prime Minister of Spain, in Paris, France in an summit hosted by French President Francois Mitterrand in an effort to reach common ground on the issue of violent groups currently operating in Spain (and pro-Spanish “bandits” who are causing some problems with armed raids into Portugal).
A UFF unit stages a cross borer raid into a border area of the Irish Republic, burning down the local Roman Catholic church and killing five civilians.
The White House
Secretary of Defense John Connally: “We can now confirm twenty-five cases of the suspected Marberg-style outbreak in the Colorado Springs area, which can be traced to either service members or civilian workers stationed at Fort Carson.”
White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney: “Do we impose a quarantine?”
FBI Director Thomas Scott: “Do that and you’ll start a panic.”
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Raymond P. Shafer: “We could use the cover of legionaire’s disease or something similar, which the public is already familiar with, and which burns itself out, to minimize panic and re-assure the public, at least in the short-term, that we are not dealing with anything too serious.”
Vice President Edwards: “The problem is we are dealing with something that is serious.”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. David C. Jones USAF: “For now we need to consider a deployment of military forces to contain the area; using the Colorado Guard and the local police are not going to be enough.”
VP: “Put troops on the streets and you’re sending up a red flag.”
Sec-HEW: “The problem is if we low-ball this, try and hide what we are doing, we could risk a spread of the contagion.”
SecDef: “We are already seeing massive outbreaks in China, among our troops and others. If this gets a hold in the U.S.”
Sec-HEW: “Exactly. We can’t afford to be behind the eight ball on this.”
VP: “I can’t disagree, not if we are going to get this under control.”
President: “I’ll issue the executive order after I’ve talked with Governor Roemer. We need to get a control net around this.”
DC: “All of central Colorado then?”
Sec-HEW: “As a start, according CDC data.”
Later the Chief of Staff speaks with the President:
DC: “We can’t overlook the possibilities this presents, especially if we have to widen the control area.”
President: “You want to make the whole nation a control area?”
DC: “That could have its uses.”
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Closed sessions involving the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and India begin on the potential for establishing an autonomous Tibetan state which will be "non-aligned" (though within India's sphere of influence).
Reporter: "Shouldn't it be up to the Chinese people to decide their future?"
Secretary of State Kirkpatrick: "They were given that chance earlier in this century and look what happened? It is becoming more and more clear that a united China can only be governed by a dictator, and as such, a united China is too big to succeed."
Thursday, April 1, 1982
States having ratified the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment: 11 (Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island).
Anguilla (dependent territory of UK) adopts constitution.
The first of a series of anti-regime demonstrations by white citizens begin in South Africa’s major cities. The aim of most demonstrations is to force General Malan to resign, although some do risk reprisals from the security services by calling on the regime to end the war in the north.
Friday, April 2, 1982
An attempt by British troops to move into the Shankill neighbourhood of Belfast, a protestant enclave, is rebuffed by Loyalist milita who drive the troops back using small arms and anti-tank weapons. 9 British servicemen are killed that day by loyalist gunmen in gun battles.
After a failed offensive into Mali, West African forces return to a defensive position near their various national borders with Mali. The French West African military command begins a re-assessment of military strategy for the reigion.
Ian Paisley MP (DUP- North Antrim; MEP-Northern Ireland): “So, the thugs have murdered the Irish PM because he was accommodationist? How is that? Charles Haughey, like every other Papist politician before him, wanted to absorb us into a Roman Popish state run by the Cardinals and Bishops of Ireland, all bowing to kiss the ring of a Portuguese Pope. His so-called United Counties of Ireland was nothing more than a mask, a disguise, for a land grab from the South that would have left all non-Catholics under the tyrannical thumb of Papist authority, soon to be forced to flee our homes or suffer the damnation of being forced into Roman spiritual serfdom. The murder, or should I say sacrifice, of Charles Haughey was more than it seems. The terrorists would have us believe it was an act of frustration against a government that would not do their bidding; yet we know that this Papist government always did their bidding.
“So what do they gain from this?
“I’ll tell you what. The world is now sympathetic to the so-called good nationalists, the Sinn Feinn and their so-called Provo scum. Britain and Ireland now work together to get the INLA scum that murdered their Taoiseach, that murdered our beloved Queen, in a common cause. Yes, Westminster and Dublin have a common cause, and from this a reason to talk, to negotiate. And what do they negotiate? They negotiate the selling out of loyal Protestants, loyal British citizens, in the name of reconciliation. Even a member of the royal family itself, the King’s brother, can be heard to speak – in Papist Dublin in all places – that terrorist scum and loyalist protectors must lay down arms, as if we were equal, as if our cause, our valliant defence of our home and faith, is somehow on a level with the bloodthirsty murder of those fiends. How can a Prince of our realm, a man whose mother was murdered in cold blood by those barbarians, how can he lend his name, and our King’s, to this travesty?
“I call on the King, in the name of his loyal subjects in Ulster, to renounce this duplicitous attempt at a sell-out. Let not the murder of one Southern politician blind us to the true motive behind this crime. Was it even the INLA who did it? Perhaps others in the security forces carried this out to further the despicable sell-out they call the peace process. I call on the King to stop this madness and to protect his loyal subjects and fellow protestants against this foul attempt at Papist enslavement.
“I call on all loyal British subjects of Ulster to resist this attempt to defile our home. I call upon you to rise-up and denounce this lie, and join with me in defending our home against Papist conspiracies and treachery by weak willed British politicians. Let us declare today that we Loyal Ulster will say no to the Labour Party Chamberlains and mainland Qusilings who would further this foul conspiracy. Protestant Ulster loyal forever!”
Enoch Powell MP (UU – South Down): “I smell the hand of the United States in this. We have seen how quick President Donald Rumsfeld has been to curry favour in Dublin, and we should note his offers of support to the Irish State in the wake of this assassination. I abhor this violence, and I call for the prosecution to the full extent of the law of whoever murdered Charles Haughey. I give my sympathy to the people of Ireland, who have lost their democratically elected leader. The victim here has been democracy. This was an attack upon that very principle, meant to resonate beyond just the Irish Republic. If the INLA did indeed do this, can we ask at what their motives were? What did they gain from this? Certainly not the sympathy of the Irish people, if reaction in the Republic is to be taken as an indicator. If anything the Irish people are now growing to despise these INLA butchers as much as the British people, who harbour a special outrage for this band of cutthroats after they murdered our Queen not five years ago. Is this, then the logical act of any group, to bring more abhorioum down upon themselves, especially from the people with whom they should be developing support? Or is the INLA name being manipulated in a hidden, masterful attempt to direct our feelings, on both sides of the Irish Sea, into a made-in-America solution which would see Britain weakened and Ireland reduced to an American satellite? Could that be the real reason Charles Haughey was killed; not out of malice or frustration, but as a pawn in a cold, calculated plot to change the nature of our Union in the service of a foreign imperial scheme?”
14 killed and 26 seriously injured in anti-American rioting in Panama City and Colon, Panama.
The Minnesota legislature overrides the Governor’s veto to institute apportionment of Minnesota’s Electoral Votes along Congressional district lines.
Monday, April 5, 1982
Commandante Torro (Charles Manson) declares a “Free People’s Republic” in the northern Nicaraguan departments of New Segovia, Madriz and Jinotega. His forces successfully stop an effort by government troops to re-take the region. Torro becomes the “Executive Visionary” and “Spark of Fire” of the new government in the region.
April 7 – 18, 1982
Anti Republican demonstrations in Belfast culminate in eleven days of rioting and looting in the loyalist community. When Police and the British Army try to intervene they are attacked by the loyalists. British authorities suspect that the loyalist paramilitaries involved are getting some help from inside the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Rev. Ian Paisley MP (DUP- North Antrim): “You accuse us of breaking the peace? Who is it that has lain down with the Republican fiends? Which of us has conspired with the so-called Republic and the Americans to deprive loyal British subjects of their rights and flood us in a sea of disloyal Catholics. If the people are drive to rage over this, I understand why.”
Monday, April 12, 1982
3 CBS employees shot to death in NYC parking lot.
President Lon Non of the Khmer Republic shoots Prime Minister Sisowath Sirik Matak and dissolves the parliament. Martial Law with direct Presidential rule is declared. The Rumsfeld Administration remains silent on this.
Wednesday, April 14, 1982
Further unrest over living conditions and harsh discipline breaks out in the white Rhodesian refugee camps in northern South Africa.
ITV Interviewer: “Surely, you can’t mean to suggest – not seriously – that the United States government conspired to kill the Irish Prime Minister just to make him a martyr to some effort to forcibly re-unite ...”
Ian Paisley: “Not unite – invade, occupy and overwhelm!”
ITV: “But surely you must understand how far-fetched...”
IP: “Not at all. You forget, the American government killed their own President – another Irishman – to get their way in Vietnam. Now they’ve got Rumsfeld – this German who thinks like a German, acts like a German – and wants the whole world. He’s put the squeeze on London, spoken in dollars – and they want Ireland for the Irish, no doubt so that Rumsfeld can claim a victory and get all those Irish votes in New York, Boston and Chicago. Healey, he’ll go along because Britain needs the dollars.”
ITV: “Do you have any proof of this?”
IP: “My understanding of the dark forces at work in the world is all the proof I need. And I tell you now, the loyal subjects of Ulster are going to stand-up against this Anglo-American conspiracy against our freedom. If we have to bring down the British government to do it, we’ll stand fast and take the fight to them!”
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An attempt to re-convene the all-Canada Conference on Quebec separation and sovereignty-association is stymied when Quebec and Alberta both boycott the conference.
Thursday, April 15, 1982
Several thousand protestors lead by Ralph Nader and Daniel Ellsberg converge on the IRS building in Washington D.C. and burn their income tax returns in protest over U.S. policy.
Friday, April 16, 1982
The Northern Cree Nation, seeking independence from Quebec, stage a series of sit-ins and protests which effectively bring government business to a near standstill in Quebec City and Ottawa over the second half of April.
Monday, April 19, 1982
Rosie Ruiz, marathon race cheater, arrested for forgery.
Salyut 7 space station destroyed when the rocket launching it into orbit explodes during first stage separation.
Wednesday, April 21, 1982
Dr Michael E Bakey performs first successful heart implant.
Dutch Queen Beatrice, who had been scheduled to pay a state visit to the United States and while there address the U.S. Congress, instead cancels the trip in protest over U.S. support for the South African regime.
Friday, April 23, 1982
Conch Republic declared in Key West, Florida.
Sunday, April 25, 1982
U.S. Marines and Special Forces, accompanied by U.S. Marshalls, bungle an effort to capture Commandante Torro in the Jinotega area of Nicaragua and are forced to withdraw under heavy insurgent fire.
President Rumsfeld (from the Oval office)
"Good evening , my fellow citizens.
"The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has advised me of a heavier than normal occurrence of the flu virus in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado. There is nothing to be alarmed about, and our best medical minds are currently working to analyze the problem and treat those who have been infected.
"In the meantime, I have used the executive authority of my office to declare a federal emergency zone in an area of 100 miles around Colorado Springs, in order that the current outbreak can be contained, until our full medical expertise can be brought to bear and end this outbreak. This measure is being taken both to assist the residents of Colorado Springs and its environs, and to protect the American people.
"To further facilitate this and bring continued calm to the affected area, I have joined with Governor Lamm in declaring a state of emergencywithin the affected area, with special temporary emergency powers being exercised by our military, including the Colorado National Guard which I have ordered to be brought into federal service. These measures are preventative, and will ensure a continuation of law and order during this temporary state of emergency.
"In addition to requiring that everyone within the declared emergency zone remain in place, we are also requiring that no one attempt to enter the emergency zone from outside. This is a precaution, but we must insist that everyone abide by it. Those who fail to heed this warning may be subject to arrest, and possible harm if violent resistance is encountered.
"Again, I wish to reassure you that there is no reason to panic or to be overly alarmed. Our professionals have detected this larger than normal outbreak of the seasonal virus well in advance of any epidemic, and by reacting now we will prevent this from becoming a larger crisis. I am confident in the quality of our national experts and the capability of American medical science, which is second to none in the world. Soon
this emergency will pass, and all will return to normal.
"Good night, and God Bless the United States of America and its great people."
The White House:
Roger Ailes: "I've noticed these Colorado plans have an extension? I see exclusion circles around Denver, St. Louis even Chicago? What's going on here?"
Dick Cheney: "We have had to make contingency plans, in case this has spread wider than just one area in Colorado. There's already a possibility that infected soldiers have carried this to other centers."
RA:" "Okay, I accept that. But this is so - indefinite. I see no review date, or deadline for when we can begin lifting them."
DC: "Who knows with flu, Roger? It never really goes away, does it?"
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Monday, April 26, 1982
Rod Stewart is mugged, gunman steals his $50,000 Porsche.
John Hinckley Jr,, assassin of former CBS News anchor Walter Kronkite, is found not guilty due to mental defect and remanded for psychiatric treatment.
The Ohio legislature passes a proposed Constitutional Amendment which would require that the Attorney-General of the United States be elected directly by the people in a manner similar to the Election of the President and Vice President (Electoral College). The Attorney-General under this plan would have to be over 35 years of age, a born United States citizen, possess a valid certification to practice law from at least one state bar association and the federal bar association, and have held at least one public office where the exercise of executive and/or judicial authority was required (state attorney, state Attorney-General, judge, Governor etc.)
The elected Attorney-General would be elected in the off-year elections (two years after the last Presidential election and two years before the next) and be limited to two terms in office. He/she would be subject to impeachment, but would not serve at the pleasure of the President. The amendment would also place the elected Attorney-General third in the line of Presidential succession, ahead of the Speaker of the House and the President pro-tempore of the Senate. The elected Attorney-General (and not the President) would be responsible for appointing other top officials at the Justice Department, subject to ratification by the Senate.
At the same time Ohio ratifies the Minnesota amendment, but does not change its own electoral laws.
President Rumsfeld: “It seems silly to me to tinker with the Constitution in this way. It’s worked well enough for two hundred years as it is, why throw wrenches into the works. Personally, I’m opposed to all these ideas.”
Reporter: “What about your well known support for the repeal of the seventeen amendment? Isn’t that throwing a wrench in the works?”
President: “Not at all. I’m asking for an amendment to be repealed, and for us to return to choosing our Senators in the way the founders originally intended. Repeal of that amendment would take a wrench out of the Constitution, and I think reduce the overly political nature of the Senate. Certainly it would end the need for Senators to spend most of their time raising money for their next election.”
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The Mauritanian Army, backed by Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces, begin their own attack against the PJO in Mali. The Soviets had been unwilling to co-ordinate with the French, instead watching their thrust in the hopes that it would weaken the PJO forces. The Soviets also failed to persuade Algeria and Libya to open a second front for them. (Gaddafi is still trading with the PJO, and the Algerians are wary of getting too closely identified as a direct threat to the PJO: they are also annoyed that in their arrogance, the French never approached Algeria with a second front offer [the Algerians despise the French but mistrust them less than the Soviets]).
Tuesday, April 27, 1982
Egypt adopts a new constitution abolishing the office of President and replacing it with a three man “Executive Council” chosen by the consensus of the military chiefs of staff. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are chosen by, and report to the Executive Council. An elected parliament is permitted, but it only has “reflective powers.” The Muslim Brotherhood is declared a mortal enemy of the state and membership is to be penalized with an unappealable death sentence.
The forces of Guinea President Ahmed Sékou Touré put down rebel forces in the Army dissatisfied with his political leadership and the incompetent command during the attack on Mali.
BBC Radio: "The Department of Health and Social Security today noted that there has been a larger than expected outbreak of flu in areas of Herefordshire, with a corresponding rise noted in other communities in the United Kingdom. While noting that there is no reason for alarm, the DHSS has asked that any persons feeling that they have initial symptoms of the flu report to their g.p., or their local hospital, for diagnosis and quick treatment. Initial symptoms may include a feverish feeling, repeated diarrhoea, nausea and running nose. All persons are reminded to wash their hands frequently, and to report if they experience these symptoms, or come into contact with anyone who is complaining of these symptoms.
"Secretary of State for Social Services David Ennals commented: "There is no need for concern or panic. All is in hand, and all we are experiencing is a larger than usual outbreak of the flu for this time of year. With a little caution on the part of all people, we will bring this fully under control. We ask for your co-operation, and to report yourself or anyone who is experiencing these symptoms, however minor. In this case, an ounce of prevention will be twice as effective than a pound of cure."
"Again the symptoms to be on the look out for are: include a feverish feeling, repeated diarrhoea, nausea and running nose. All persons are reminded to wash their hands frequently, and to report if they experience these symptoms, or come into contact with anyone who is complaining of these symptoms."
Wednesday, April 28, 1982
Buckingham Palace
King George VII: "I am concerned about these reports from the DHSS about outbreaks of a super-flu in the West Midlands; it does seem to be spreading."
Denis Healey: "I think perhaps super-flu is exaggerating the situation a little, Sir."
KG: "These case rates are certainly no exaggeration, and the spread around Herefordshire. Is there any reason it started there, of all places?"
DH: "You must rest assured, Sir, that we are looking into this, and that we are looking at a limited quarantine plan, if the situation merits. At the moment the Secretary of State for DHSS, Mr. Ennals and the Home Secretary have both concurred on a voluntary approach. We have no wish to create alarm and panic, where none is necessary."
KG:"I find it at least - curious - that they are seeing outbreaks in the United States, in Colorado, along a similar line, next to the Peterson Air Force Base and Fort Carson there, I believe. Is the relationship being looked into?"
DH: "I don't see a relationship between the two..."
KG:"You must not treat me like a fool, Mr. Healey. I am quite aware that some of the units based in Colorado recently returned from China, as did some of our Special Operations personnel at Hereford. There has been an outbreak of this in China - certainly it has been noted in the Hong Kong press of late. You must see, if I put it together, it will
not be long before our press does. Are you prepared for that?"
DH: "You have me, Sir, and are correct. We are trying to keep this quiet for now, until hopefully our researchers can develop a cure or at least an inoculation. Frankly, we are having difficulty with the Americans."
KG: "How so?"
DH: "Reluctance to co-operate for some reason. I suspect they are in a bit of denial about it."
KG: "That puts a - optimistic? - light on it. "
DH: "Yes, there are some dark speculations at the MOD and JIC along that line."
KG: "One never knows what goes through this Rumsfeld fellow's head. Why would they not wish to co-operate on stopping this?"
DH: "Some feel that they have - an ulterior agenda - related to domestic politics."
KG: "I can't see how."
DH: "Control, Sir. This presents an opportunity to use, well, the blunt force of the law. They've already declared martial law in the so-called hot zone around Colorado Springs."
KG: "Astonishing. Mr. Healey, are you quite well, you look ill. I hope you haven't contracted it."
DH: "No, Sir. My problem relates to diet, I'm afraid. A rather chronic indigestion."
KG:" Organics, Mr. Healey."
DH: "Sir?"
KG: "Organic fruits and vegetables, uncorrupted by chemicals and man's touch - that's the ticket for your better health."
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No. 10
The Prime Minister speaks with President Rumsfeld by telephone, with Foreign Secretary James Callaghan listening in.
Denis Healey: "Mr. President – Don, we have to be a little more forthright…”
President: “And cause a panic? We don’t know how far this will spread yet, it could burn itself out in a few days.”
DH: “We both know - from very expert sources – that is not likely. By continuing to operate in the dark…”
P: “The level of darkness depends on the level of co-operation, Prime Minister. If you work with us, then it will be easier to share developments on this matter as they arise, but if there are political road blocks…”
DH: “I can’t believe you would play politics with human lives.”
P: “Politics is about human lives, and how we handle them. I would have thought you would have learned that by now, Prime Minister.”
DH: “We will continue to monitor the situation, and I hope we can continue to share in the exchange of information.”
P: “Yes, that should work. You tell us what you know, and we’ll see what we can pass on.”
The phone conversation ends.
DH: “The man’s impossible! We’ll see what we can pass on? Christ! Who the bloody Hell does he think he is?”
James Callaghan: “I think being the President has gone to his head.”
DH: “Head or backside? No, Jim, they’re playing at another game over there. The JIC tried to hint at it, but I can see now they were right.”
JC: “Should we be taking this as lightly then? If Rumsfeld is being economical with the truth, then maybe we should be considering quarantine of our own, if only as a precaution. They’ve already been instituted in Hong Kong, and it looks like the Americans are going down that road too.”
DH: “We can be damned sure this is more serious if than he lets on. Uh…damn indigestion. I’ve asked DHSS and the Home Office to draw-up quarantine measures for the Midlands. Damn Rumsfeld!”
JC: “Perhaps if … Prime Minister? Denis!”
The Prime Minister grips his chest and moans, slowly slumping to one side. Callaghan depresses the call button on the desk intercom. “Send help, FAST!”
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Thursday, April 29, 1982
BBC Radio: “Prime Minister Denis Healey was admitted to the Royal London Hospital last evening after suffering what the ten Downing Street Press Office has described as a cardiac incident. No details on the Prime Minister’s condition are immediately available, however a spokesperson for the Royal London Hospital did comment to correspondents at the scene that the Prime Minister is resting comfortably and is in stable condition, with no immediate threat to his life.
“The PM was meeting with Foreign Secretary James Callaghan in his private office at ten Downing Street at the time of his attack, and fast action by Mr. Callaghan has been credited with minimizing the injury to Mr. Healey. Reports that Mr. Healey had just completed an overseas telephone call with U.S. President Rumsfeld when the incident occurred have not been confirmed.
“The Prime Minister’s office has in the meantime confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister Michael Foot will be acting as co-ordinator of the Cabinet until Mr. Healey is able to take-up his duties once more. In a brief statement Mr. Foot confirmed that he would be working closely with the Cabinet and the parliamentary party during this crisis, and that they expect the Prime Minister to return to his duties soon.”
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While on a visit to Tihwa, former U.S. President Richard Nixon is given a well manufactured (Potemkin village-type) tour of the Soviet occupation and control of Sinkiang. Later on the visit, Nixon is abducted by Uyghur rebels. (Or are they pro-Soviet forces pretending to be Uyghur nationalists?) The Soviet government immediately blames its PRC proxy for providing poor security.
General Maher Abd al-Rashid and Colonel Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jassim Obeidi al-Mifarji, both recently returned to Baghdad after serving in combat in Arabia, organize with a group of fellow dissatisfied officers, the overthrow of the ailing Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in a coup. The new President Rashid promises to "rejuvenate" the Ba'ath Socialist Revolution and "end the errors of the past which have desolated the Iraqi people." Under Rashid's regime a new set of talks opens in Geneva on the re-establishment of an Arabian state. Colonel Obeidi becomes the Minister of Defence.
Friday, April 30, 1982
On the morning of April 30, 1982, a nun and 16 Ananda Marga monks were dragged out of taxis that were taking them to an educational conference at their headquarters in Tiljala in Kolkata's (Calcutta, Wes Bengal, India) southern suburbs. At three spots simultaneously, they were beaten to death and then set on fire. The killings were witnessed by thousands of people, however not a single arrest was made.
Under the provisions of the new Constitution, fourteen alleged leaders of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood are beheaded in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.
Taking a page from the American tax protest, over a thousand Northern Cree protestors burn thousands of tax returns in a protest bonfire on Canada’s Parliament Hill.
Marburg like outbreaks now expand to 2,200 cases in the UK, and 11,000 in U.S., outbreak still not clear in Canada where organized reporting has yet to take place.
Estimated casualty rates in HK are at over 14,000 (casualties), with a partial quarantine now imposed on the port. China well over 60,000 casualties (18,000 in Canton). Ratio of casualties to active cases in Hong Kong estimated at 3:1, and as high as 5:1 in China. (i.e: 32,000 infected in Hong Kong; 300,000 infected in Canton).
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"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." – Donald H. Rumsfeld
Monday, November 16, 1981
On the evening of 16 November 1981, three men are conducting a tense conversation in the President's private bathroom in the Elysee Palace in Paris. One is Francois Mitterrand, holder of France's highest office since May 1974, recently re-elected to a second term of five years just six months before. With him is his personal doctor, Claude Gubler, and a urologist, Professor Adolphe Steg.
The two doctors have just examined the President, who has been complaining of pains in his thigh. He has also had tests at Val-de-Grace hospital, visiting secretly in Dr Gubler's ageing Citroen and registering as Albert Blot - the name of the hospital director's brother-in-law.
"My duty is not to conceal the truth from you," says the surgeon. "You have cancer of the prostate which has spread into your bones, and this spreading is quite far advanced."
The President replies, under his breath: "I am done for."
"You can never say that you are finished," Prof Steg insists. "With Dr Gubler, I will do what can be done."
"Enough of that," comes the answer. "I am done for."
Later, President Mitterrand ads, “This matter is to be a state secret of the highest order.”
And so for a time, it was.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ds-big-secret-was-the-14year-lie-1325011.html
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Wednesday, November 18, 1981
American USAF B-52 crews, along with several survivors from the sinking of the U.S.S. Douglas H. Fox (DD-779) on March 19, 1973 are recovered by allied forces at a concentration camp located near Hankow. These emaciated and traumatized figures, who have been in Chinese hands for nearly a decade (over a decade for the USAF crew), receive a hero’s welcome on their return to the United States.
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December 12, 1981
TO: The President
FR: Richard B. Cheney, Chief of Staff
RE: Impeachment of Marshall
Sir,
Lee and Karl have come-up with a series of TV spots to run in target states over the holidays and into the New Year. We can time this campaign with the family atmosphere of the Holidays for added impact. The actual sponsor for regulatory purposes will be the House Republican Campaign Committee and the RNC, leaving us and the Senate out of it.
Yours,
DC
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October 1981 – April 1982
Small scale bush warfare continues in the territory of the increasingly collapsed state of Rhodesia (which is now being treated by South Africa as an occupied buffer) with some pitched battles between the South Africans and ZPLF and some units of various bordering national armed forces. The United States provides intelligence support to the South Africans as well as support in the form of Strategic bombing of targets. U.S. Special Forces are also reportedly at work under deep cover (mainly as mercenaries) in the region, attacking Cuban, North Korean and Warsaw Pact support bases and gathering intelligence from these sites.
Reports of anthrax outbreaks underline the likely use of biological and chemical weapons by the South Africans. Sarin attacks also point to chemical weapons use. Although it is denied by the South Africans and the United States, the aftermath of some artillery barrages give indications that small battlefield nuclear weapons may also have been used.
December 1981 - January 1982
Anti-Marshall commercial shown in all media markets except the Northeast, California and Hawaii:
“Justice Thurgood Marshall says that the federal government can better manage your family than you can. Justice Marshall says that mothers and fathers shouldn’t be notified before their underage daughters have an abortion. Justice Marshall thinks parents don’t have a right to know what their underage children are doing. “
“I’m Representative Phil Crane of Illinois and I think that’s just plain wrong. I think the federal government, and especially unelected liberal federal judges, have no right to tell parents how to bring-up their children. I think if we allow that to happen then the whole American family will be threatened – and that would be bad for all of us. How about you?
“If you agree with me contact your Senators today and tell him to vote to get Justice Marshall off the bench and out of the business of our families.”
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Anti-Marshall commercial shown in all media markets except the Northeast, California and Hawaii:
A mother tells her ten-year-old daughter to do her homework. Daughter replies:
“Justice Marshall says I don’t have to obey you. He says I can do whatever I want, and I don’t have to tell you or listen to you.”
Mother withdraws, perplexed.
“Is this the right future for the American family? If you don’t think so, then contact your Senators and tell them to vote to remove Justice Marshall today, before he makes this a reality.”
Little girl: “Justice Marshall says I can have a ‘bortion anytime I want, and I don’t have to tell you.”
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Anti-Marshall commercial shown in all media markets except the Northeast, California and Hawaii:
“Big city liberals like Justice Thurgood Marshall think you can’t manage your family. They think they know better than most American parents. They say you don’t have to honor you mother and father.”
Abraham Lincoln once warned against attempts to undermine the Constitutions by the liberals of his day: “So to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life;, Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong.” So was our Constitutional government saved from tyranny and foreign intrigue.
“Big city liberals want to put the American family out of business, and that’s more than just bad for America. It’s plain wrong. Send those big city liberals a message by calling your Senators and telling them to vote to remove Justice Thurgood Marshall from the federal bench, before he has a chance to destroy your family.”
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Late 1981 and Early 1982
Between the spring of 1981 and early 1982, KGB Colonel Vladimir Vetrov gave the French Counterintelligence agency, the DST almost 4,000 secret documents, including the complete official list of 250 Line X officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world. Included was a breakdown of the Soviet espionage effort to collect scientific, industrial and technical information from the West to improve its own efforts. Members of the GRU, the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and several other bodies all took part in such efforts. Vetrov also provided summaries on the goals, achievements, and unfilled objectives of the program. He identified nearly 100 leads to sources in 16 countries. This was the Operation Farewell information that President Mitterrand decided not to share with the Rumsfeld Administration. Instead the French foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, attempted to use Farwell’s sources and methods to penetrate the technology sectors of other western countries for France’s benefit.
In February 1982, after heavy drinking caused by a cooling-off period imposed by the French, who were fearful of his discovery through too much contact, Vetrov (in Moscow) stabbed his mistress during an argument in his car (she survived). When a man knocked on the car window, Vetrov thought his spying had been discovered, so he stabbed and killed the man. He happened to be another KGB officer. Before the Moscow Militia could arrest Vetrov, the DGSE spirited Vetrov out of the Soviet Union, using Mossad assets to assist. In return France shared the take on Soviet technological espionage with the Israelis. As part of the agreement, France and Israel recruited Dieter Gerhardt, a Soviet spy in the South African Navy as a covert source by blackmail. Similar tactics were used against other Line X agents named by Vetrov, allowing the French and Israelis to benefit from Soviet espionage activity without the KGB being aware, at least in the short term.
August 1981 – March 1982
A commission headed by former U.S. President James Gavin and Former British Prime Minister Edward Heath (the Heath-Gavin Commission) conducts a study of what will be required to re-build China.
Friday, January 1, 1982
U.S.: Unemployment: 14.4%, Prime Interest Rate: 9.1%; GDP: $ 2,140 (Billion)> [2,626 Billion]
Japan: Unemployment: 6.8%, Prime Interest Rate: 13.2%; GDP: $ 829 (Billion)>[990 Billion]
UK: Unemployment: 9.1%, Prime Interest Rate: 12.1%; GDP $462.7 (Billion)+[445.9 Billion]
France: Unemployment: 9.2%; Prime Interest Rate: 12.2%; GDP $ 605 (Billion)+ [585 Billion]
Italy: Unemployment: 15.2%, Prime Interest Rate: 14.6%; GDP $ 314 (Billion)>[394 Billion]
West Germany: Unemployment: 6.6%; Prime Interest Rate: 11.8%; GDP: $710 (Billion)+ [679 Billion]
India: GDP: Unemployment: (estimates vary); Prime Interest Rate: ~ 14.2% $210 (Billion)+ [167 Billion]
Global (OPEC) Oil Price: $ 62.00/brl
West Texas Intermediate: $ 60.00/brl
Brent Crude: $ 59.00/brl
Soviet Europe Price: $ 52.00/brl*
Price of Gold: $ 61.00 per ounce.
*Under the Soviet export program preferred nations may buy petroleum from Soviet sources at this price, but must agree not to re-sell it to third parties without Soviet approval. Most of Western Europe is taking advantage of this program as is India. The practice is opposed by the Rumsfeld Administration, but came into being during the Wallace Administration and the Western European nations involved, including Britain, France, Italy and West Germany, are unwilling to create a shock to their economies (which are functioning better than the U.S. and Japanese economies) by giving in to U.S. demands to boycott Soviet oil.
(Note: Prices and statistics based on OTL 1982 Almanac; dollar amounts expressed in 1982 U.S. Dollar amounts. GDP: + higher than OTL; > lower than [OTL])
Fastest growing nation: Republic of (South) Vietnam GDP $ 24.2 Billion (+ 15 Billion in the last four years; [OTL all of Vietnam $ 7.6 Billion]); principle export (outside of agriculture) textiles and components for further manufacturing at lowest labour cost in the Pacific rim.
Spiro T. Agnew is inaugurated as the 105th Mayor of New York City. In his inaugural address Mayor Agnew pledges to re-vitalize the New York economy with more “free enterprise initiatives that will end the bloated bureaucracy,” and to come down hard on crime “so that the goons of Gotham won’t know what him them, and we’ll knock ‘em flat!” Mayor Agnew selects William Westmoreland as his new Police Commissioner.
U.S. sanctions against Libya, which include a ban on oil imported from Libya take effect. The sanctions also prohibit U.S. banks and corporations or their subsidiaries from conducting transactions with the Libyan regime. All U.S. dollar denominated deposits or investment vehicles held by the Libyan government, its officials and state controlled entities are declared “nullified” by the U.S. Treasury. Anyone accepting such an instrument will be acquiring a worthless asset. (it is believed that many U.S. corporations and banks were given at least four months advanced warning of this measure, which is not retroactive).
Monday, January 4, 1982
After a meeting with the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops, Vice President Edwards retracts some of his criticism of the Pope prior to Christmas.
Vice President Edwards: “Of course, I didn’t mean to imply that the Pope doesn’t understand religion, or questions of theology. That was not my meaning at all. My only concern was that in his remarks, issued just before Christmas, the Pope failed take into account the importance of free markets to religious as well as political freedom. Where I misspoke was by suggesting that he need to look more deeply into matters of religion, when I should have pointed out that we disagreed here on questions of economics. I for one do not doubt that the Pope has the best welfare of his flock in mind; I just humbly add that he should not close his mind to an economic system which has done more to promote freedom in the world than any other around.”
Chris Wallace becomes co-anchor of the Today Show.
The Golden Gate Bridge closed for 3rd time by fierce storm
Wednesday, January 6, 1982
William Bonin is convicted of being the Freeway Killer.
In Angola Soviet field police are forced to intervene in a conflict between Cuban and North Korean advisory troops which have set-up competing black market operations. The North Koreans are eventually compelled to withdraw by the Soviets.
Friday, January 8, 1982
The AT&T Corporation receives a stay against a court ordered break-up of its 22 subdivisions. The move is backed by the Deukmejian Justice Department which is seeking to use the AT&T anti-trust suit to challenge the Constitutionality of the anti-trust regime in the United States.
Justice Department withdraws antitrust suit against IBM, pending since the mid-1970’s.
Sunday, January 10, 1982
The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) is recorded at Braemar, in Aberdeenshire. This equals the record set in the same place in 1895.
Monday, January 11 – Sunday, January 17, 1982
A brutal cold snap sends temperatures to all-time record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
Monday, January 11, 1982
The U.S. Senate votes 56-44 to remove Justice Thurgood Marshall from the United States Supreme Court bench, thus acquitting Marshall of the charge in the House of Representatives bill of impeachment.
The vote was 39 Republicans, 14 Democrats, 2 Libertarians, and 1 Christian Voice in favour; 34 Democrats, 9 Republicans and 1 Independent opposed.
The largest single group (6) of Democrats to break ranks with their Party were the Boll Weevil Democratic Senators from Southern states where the Christian Voice had been gaining ground at the expense of both major parties. With the three notable exceptions of Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA), Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR) and Sen. Andrew Miller (D-VA) they voted as a block on a the removal which was popular in their region of the country.
Albert Brewer (D-AL)
Bill Gunter (D-FL)
Russell Long (D-LA)
Robert Morgan (D-NC)
Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
Charles Ravanel (D-SC)
A true surprise was Sen. Harry Byrd (I-VA), one of the last surviving members of the old Southern Democratic block who had been a consistent advocate of segregation and no supporter of Civil Rights (he had voted against Marshall’s confirmation in 1967). Sen. Byrd voted against removal. Asked later about it he said that “Justice Marshall was a poor choice, and doesn’t understand Constitutional limits, and I don’t support him one iota. But this impeachment – it stinks, and I’m not going to join the stampede to throw out the Constitution, no matter how questionable the Justice in contention.”
Two border state Senators, joined by Sen. Bentsen (D-TX) and Sen. Ed Edmondson (D-OK) (4) joined with the Republicans and abandoned their leadership on the question, largely seeking to align with libertarian thinking on the question of removing Justice Marshall. They were not too different than the western group in their thinking, though the regional breakout and the their closeness to the bible belt also influenced their voting when they considered the rise of the Christian Voice. It is also believed that this key group was offered Republican and White House support for a farm support bill by the Republican leadership which ran counter to the prevailing supply side economics of the Rumsfeld Administration, but which would be popular among voters in their states.
John Breckenridge (D-KY)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Ed Edmondson (D-OK)
Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX)
Sen. Bentsen of Texas later tried to explain his vote as “on the whole Justice Marshall had become too controversial, which in turn, win or lose, meant he would lose his effectiveness as a Justice. Frankly, while I cannot condemn his record overall, I’m inclined to agree with the opinion that he has overstepped the bounds of Federalism in his recent decisions, and as such I think he should be removed. Let’s keep in mind removal does not send Justice Marshall to prison, there is no criminal punishment here. This vote is about upholding our Constitutional principles, and I’m voting here for that. It is a principle that goes beyond one man, no matter how great his record; it is a matter of whether the Constitution will be followed, or if it shall be cast aside when it is inconvenient. The last situation, that is not the great, free Republic in which I grew-up. That is a place where tyranny is one step away, and the laws are but window dressing. I will not cast my vote to encourage in any way such an outcome.”
A western group (4), which included Alaska’s Donald Hobbs, had noted an increase in support for the impeachment in their states and bent to a political trend which then was largely a tug-of war between the Republicans and Libertarians. This group was voting strategically according to the polling results in their region in order to exploit the divide between Republicans and Libertarians, by using their vote to remove Marshall, popular among conservatives, to induce conservative voters to abandon the Republicans and support them, thus strengthening their electoral base. The calculation was that they would win over more conservative white voters than they would alienate liberals, whose support they were losing to We The People at any rate.
Senators Hobbs and Jensen had a more direct line to their choices. Impeaching Justice Marshall was highly popular in Alaska and Idaho, and both elected not to buck the popular trend in their states. Of note, their colleagues – Sen. Clark Gruening (D-AK) and Sen. Frank Church (D-ID), respectively, voted the other way. Frank Church died before the end of his term (however his popularity as in decline), but Sen. Gruening was defeated for re-election, in part on this question. Given this perspective, the votes of Hobbs and Jensen seem to have been more politically sound, although it alienated them from the mainstream of the Democratic Party.
Donald Hobbs (D-AK)
Dwight Jensen (D-ID)
Dan Berman (D-UT)
Raymond Whittaker (D-WY)
Also of note were nine Republicans who broke with their party ranks to vote against what they regarded, in the words of New Hampshire’s Warren Rudman “a gross miscarriage of justice in the name of low, mean politics.” It came as little surprise that eight of the nine, with the notable exception of Sen. Dreyfus, were among the most liberal to moderate figures in the Republican Party at the time.
They were:
Sen. Lowell Weicker (R-CT)
Sen. William Roth (R-DE)
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Sen. Charles Mathias (R-MD)
Sen. Warren Rudman (R-NH)
Sen. John Chafee (R-RI)
Sen. Donald Dwight (R-MA)
Sen. Harrison Schmidt (R-NM)
Sen. Lee Dreyfus (R-WS)
Sen. Lee Dreyfus (R-WS) stands out in this group as he was politically much closer to the Libertarians Senators, both of whom voted to remove Justice Marshall. Sen. Dreyfus echoed Senator Byrd of Virginia in registering his objections to Justice Marshall, but at the same time expressing his disgust for the political manoeuvring that had lead to the impeachment in the first place. Drefyus was also the bluntest in calling the impeachment “dirty politics” and he even suggested that those who had supported it should be removed, or should have to face the voters in a special election “and face the music for being low-down and stupid.”
Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA): “What this chamber has witnessed here today, in this vote, is a disgrace to all the honorable traditions of the United States Senate. We have today witnessed the victory of politics over principle, over moral courage. I stand to salute those of our colleagues from across the aisle who had the strength of character and the integrity to stand against the tide in their own party. These men have demonstrated the true mark of that most awesome title United States Senator by voting not with politics, but with the courage of their convictions. Within the ranks of the Democratic Party caucus, it is clear that there is no immunity from outdated thinking or the easy surrender to politics. I know some among us may argue that they did vote with their conscience on the question, and perhaps this is enough for them, but it was the vote of a narrow conscience that lacked vision for what this country is, and what it should stand for. Mostly though, I believe that the vote to remove was motivated by low politics, the easy compromise, the sacrifice of the big picture for the narrow reward of immediate electoral gain. This is behaviour not worth of a United States Senator; it is a compromise not worthy of a servant of the American people. Integrity and character has no party label in this chamber, it is a clear and distinct badge of honor worn by those of all parties who voted for the right in the face of political pressure to do wrong. But it is not enough to call on those who foreswore their Constitutional oath and say you were cowards. Cowardice alone was not the author of this folly. No, what came here today, what this was made from, was the laying down of twenty-one pieces of silver, the bounty of Judas – the offer of economic support, programs, the wholesale buying of votes by whispered promises from the shadows beyond the cloak room. I know because I too received these whispers, but I rejected them. I rejected the easy program, the easy bribe to the voters, in order to do what was right. Not all here had that strength, and those of you who chose the easy path, the political path, I can only say there will be reckoning for the shame that was done here today. I can only draw satisfaction that enough of us stood the ground of right, the ground of justice, to stop the tide of miscarriage of justice, albeit by a margin that to me was too small and too cruel to the record of public service provided by Justice Marshall.”
Sen. Albert Brewer (D-AL): “There is an easiness, a note of self-righteousness really, in calling those of us who voted our conscience on the matter names. The truth is we do not believe in the liberal interpretation of our country’s great Constitution, which would see it bent and re-made to suit a current agenda of some at the expense of all. I for one examined the issue – that of who should determine the matters of discipline and authority within the family – and I have came to the inalterable conclusion that to stand my ground according to my belief in this Constitution, this great Constitution upon which this Great Republic is built – and without which we would not be a free land but a collection of what – petty tyrants bending to the switching winds of fashion? – I voted according to my reading of the Constitution in favour of the American family and against judicial overreach. I am no coward, no sell-out, I am a United States Senator and I have stood in this house and cast my vote as in my view is best for this nation and for the people of Alabama. Ultimately it will be to them, the people of Alabama, that my choice will be subject to review at the ballot box. But while I am here I will maintain my integrity, and my belief in this Constitution. I voted to remove Justice Marshall in the name of preserving the balance of federalism in our Constitution, and in the interests of allowing American families to make their own choices, and not having them imposed upon us by appointed judges exceeding their mandates in the name of fashionable causes. I must also say that I am disheartened at the petty bitterness shown by my Democratic colleagues over this, as matters of conscience do not wear one view only. I do not believe I can continue in the Democratic Party as a result of this – division – as I do not believe that the national Democratic Party any longer represents the values and principles of the people of Alabama. I shall therefore, from this moment Mr. President, sit as a member of the Republican caucus of this great house.”
Sen. William Brock (R-TN; Republican leader): “We welcome Senator Brewer to our caucus, and applaud his show of principle, his high regard for the American family and our Constitution, his show of courage over the dark dissembling of low politics.”
Sen. Donald Hobbs (D-AK): “I shall not give up on the Democratic Party, for I hold its values as my own. But at the same time, I value the Constitution as well, and it was simply un-Constitutional for an appointed Federal Justice, even so esteemed a Justice as the great Thurgood Marshall, to place the authority of his office – which he holds as a trust to uphold our Constitution – between member of the family, the basic social and moral unit of our society. Show me where in the Constitution our founders ascribed this authority to the federal government, to an appointed Justice? Show me this power, and I will be the first to say I was wrong and ask your forgiveness of my error. But unless you can do that – until you do – I will stand by my vote which was to uphold the principle of the Constitution of this great Republic. Now, unlike the senior Senator from Alabama, I shall not pack-up my marbles and join the other side. As I said I hold the values of the Democratic Party as my own, it was on those values that the people of Alaska elected me to this chamber, and it is to those values I will remain dedicated in my public service, however long that may be. Fellow Democrats you may shun me, but I will be there, with you, and I will continue to represent the people of Alaska who elected me.”
Sen. Jerry Brown (D-CA): “What this President and his men have shown, in their backroom encouragement of the impeachment of a great American jurist, is that they have an utter contempt for the Constitution and any sense of justice. This whole campaign has been the work of men of with no honor, who understand little of what it means to be a public servant; these men have acted like political bandits.”
Sen. Ed Edmondson (D-OK) also changed party affiliations to sit as a Republican after the Marshall impeachment vote.
As a matter of coincidence both Sen. Brewer and Sen. Edmondson were class 3 Senators, and as such not up for re-election until 1986.
The results of the change in the U.S. Senate, January 1982 (97th Congress):
Republicans: 48+2=50
Democrats: 48-2=46
Libertarians: 2
Christian Voice: 1
Independent: 1
President of the Senate: Vice President W. Jackson Edwards (R)
President pro-tempore: Sen. Charles Mathias (R-MD)*
Majority Leader: Sen. William Brock III (R-TN)
Minority Leader: Sen. Frank Church (D-ID)
*=The most senior Republican Senator. There was some controversy in the Republican caucus about this choice as Sen. Mathias had voted to acquit Justice Marshall, however the new majority leader decided to follow Senate precedent and nominate to the position the most senior senator (by years of service in the Senate) on the majority side.
The Republicans now have effective control of both Houses of Congress as well as the Presidency. Republicans can retain control of the Senate with the supporting vote of the Vice President in the event of tie.
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Monday, January 11, 1982
TO: The President
FR: Richard B. Cheney, Chief of Staff
RE: Impeachment of Marshall
Sir,
The question has been asked what we got out of this. Here’s what we have gotten:
1] 54% of the people (apart from the Northeast and California) agreed with the impeachment of Marshall. Many respondents viewed the question – correctly – as one of Constitutional overreach by the judiciary and not of a challenge to civil rights. We have picked up on a popular dissatisfaction with judges on this, and have a theme to further exploit this.
2] The Democratic Party is divided, especially in the Senate (but in the House as well, where there was division within the ranks over the original impeachment vote). Moderate and conservative Democrats see support slipping away on the left to the WTP, while conservative Democrats are now open to being recruited into the Republican Party, a significant shift which will bolster our support in places where we face challenge from the Christian Values or the Libertarians. We can now make a pitch to the fourteen Democratic Senators who voted in favour of removal as they will find the Democratic caucus increasingly inhospitable. Managed properly, their political future is now entirely in our hands, not least because we’ve thrown them the lifeline of farm and regional aid to make-up for what is otherwise an abject failure on this part. We have to take this as far as it will go, as we will be unlikely to have another chance like this again. Still we have important leverage with this group now.
3] Our advertising framed this as a family issue, particularly after Lee’s polling concluded that control of family was a serious consideration of voters coming out of this recession. We played it was Marshall attacking the family (which is why this particular dissent was chosen in the first place) representing a wider liberal attack on family values and the overall domestic tranquility of every American family, and the enmity that liberal federal judges seem to be showing to pro-family values. That is a theme we can continue now, to build support against the Democrats for the mid-term elections, especially in the South, Mid-west and West.
You and the Vice President can in turn use the bully-pulpit to denounce the attack on the family as a solid, middle class values campaign theme for the rest of this year. In some ways, the failure to remove, strengthens our hand since we can point to the vote as the culmination of liberal determination to undermine family values. Cloaking ourselves in those values, we can make the argument to Libertarian and Christian Values voters, as well as conservative white Democrats, that voting Republican is the only way to preserve the security of their family against this onslaught. From the three groups we can then amalgamate a supporting coalition of at least 51% -- it will be our version of the “silent majority.” This can start a base of support for 1984.
Oh yes, Bill Brock now has a freer hand in the Senate, which means he and Speaker Lott can be more effective on our behalf.
Yours,
DC
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President: “We’ve lost some important Republicans on this too, including eight important supporters in the Senate.”
Cheney: “For now, but many of them were lost to us anyway, or questionable like Dreyfus. The key thing is they’re not bolting the party, and we can use the family argument to get them replaced in primaries.”
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Tuesday, January 12, 1982
Mayor Agnew pushes through New York City council a controversial proposal which will see New York Police armed with high powered handguns, sub machine guns and squad automatic weapons. The Mayor cites the need for firepower in order for “New York’s Army of Order” to “hit head on the forces of aggressive anarchy and swat them down like larcenous locusts.”
Wednesday, January 13, 1982
Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78. On that same day, a Washington Metro train derails to the north, killing 3 (the system's first fatal accident).
French air force planes begin limited air strikes against suspected PJO encampments.
Thursday, January 14, 1982
Rep. Bill Harsha (R-OH-6) introduces Bill HR-1227; An Act to Punish Those U.S. Citizens and Residents Who Support Armed Communist Insurgency Anywhere in the World.
Under the terms of the proposed act (the Harsha Act) “any U.S. Citizen or legal resident supporting an armed force, whether a national military of a state recognized by the United States, or an armed insurrectionist force or terrorist group operating without legal status, whose goal is to promote Marxist-Lenninst, Communist or Revolutionary Socialist goals through armed force, either in theory or practice, is guilty of an offence for which the maximum punishment shall be life imprisonment without hope of parole in a correctional facility, and for which the minimum punishment shall be ten years imprisonment in a correctional facility.
“In addition, such U.S. citizens convicted under this Act shall, upon conviction, have their civil rights restricted and suffer a lifetime ban from being issued a United States Passport, nor shall they be qualified to receive Social Security, Medicare or other support benefits from the United States. Those who are legal residents but not citizens may, upon conviction be stripped of their legal residence and, at a time deemed appropriate by the United States Department of Justice, deported to their country of origin and suffer a lifetime ban from being allowed to return to the territory of the United States. Those who are naturalized citizens of the United States may, upon conviction under this act, be stripped of their naturalized citizenship, and be subject to deportation to their place of origin as provided for legal residents in this act.”
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Friday, January 15, 1982
The Iraqis walk out of the Geneva talks on the Arabian peninsula. The Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, while blaming the now dead Saddam Hussein for the invasion and occupation of Arabia, is unwilling to relinquish Iraqi control, or influence over the puppet state that has been set-up there.
Sunday, January 17, 1982
Cold Sunday sweeps over the northern United States.
The phenomenon was caused by an unusually strong high pressure system over Saskatchewan with a core pressure of 31.15 inHg (1055 hPa/mbar), a level rarely seen outside of permanent polar areas such as Siberia and Antarctica. A recent snowfall had left the ground without any way to hold on to its heat and temperatures dropped precipitously. This mass of cold air was so strong that the temperature at Mequon, Wisconsin, dropped to −40 °F (−40 °C). The previous record was −28 °F (−33 °C) and temperatures below −20 °F (−29 °C) had been felt there only six times in the previous 100 years. The lowest temperature recorded that day in the United States was −52 °F (−47 °C), measured near Tower, Minnesota.
Below is a partial list of cities which set all-time record low temperatures in the United States. This is only a small fraction of all locales setting record low temperatures: Hundreds of towns and cities from North Dakota to New Jersey to Mississippi broke records, and the vast majority of the records set on "Cold Sunday" still stand. The cold was not confined to the night, either. In Princeton, New Jersey, and Cincinnati, Ohio, the daytime high temperatures were 2 °F (−17 °C) and −9 °F (−23 °C). The average high temperature in January is 39 °F (4 °C) in both cities.
While much of central and south Florida escaped the deep freeze, enough damage was done to citrus crops in the north-central part of the state during the month of January to write off the 1982 harvest as a disaster.
* International Falls, Minnesota: −45 °F (−43 °C)
* Saint Cloud, Minnesota: −35 °F (−37 °C)
* Madison, Wisconsin: −31 °F (−35 °C)
* Green Bay, Wisconsin: −28 °F (−33 °C)
* Chicago, Illinois: −27 °F (−33 °C)
* Milwaukee, Wisconsin: −26 °F (−32 °C)
* Moline, Illinois: −23 °F (−31 °C)
* Peoria, Illinois: −23 °F (−31 °C)
* Akron, Ohio: −22 °F (−30 °C)
* Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: −18 °F (−28 °C)
* Cleveland, Ohio: −17 °F (−27 °C)
* Jackson, Mississippi: −5 °F (−21 °C)
* Washington, DC: −5 °F (−21 °C)
* Birmingham, Alabama: −2 °F (−19 °C)
Monday, January 18, 1982
Four Northrop T-38 aircraft of the USAF Thunderbirds Demonstration Squadron crash at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, NV, killing all four pilots.
Former U.S. President Richard Nixon begins a series of private visits to Moscow to discuss Cold War issues with Soviet officials. He notes the almost complete seclusion of Yuri Andropov from public life and the authority of Ryzhkov and Romanov.
Wednesday, January 20, 1982
A USAF study notes that the rate of B-1 bombers is not keeping pace with the deterioration of the B-52 fleet, which has been subject to greater attrition since the second phase of the Vietnam War in 1973-1975. As a consequence the U.S. Strategic Air Command is facing imminent shortfalls in bomber air craft inventory for its mission, especially as more operational aircraft are diverted to other missions. A copy of the report, which recommends further funding of the B-2 project, is sent to the NSC where, as many Air Force analysts note, “it disappears into a black hole.”
7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor, Ky.
President Rumsfeld marks the first anniversary of his having assumed office. “We have liberated the economy and stood-up to the Soviet backed challenges in the world. The work has just begun, but we will win through.”
Rep. Shirley Chisholm (WTP-NY(12)): “One year of this President has been one year too long for the American people, whose suffering he has magnified with his cruel and thoughtless polices. I hesitate to call the man names, but his policies on poverty, on education, and on justice in America and in Africa speak for themselves. That is why I am introducing a bill of impeachment, charging that this man has violated his oath of office, and failed to uphold the Constitutional requirements of his office. I also charge that he has abetted an unlawful war in Africa, and as such has brought the United States, by his actions, into disrepute.”
The Rumsfeld Administration announces that the bulk of U.S. space dollars will be spend on developing “eyes down” satellite capability (not announced is an emphasis on electronic spying from orbit and orbital EMP delivery weapons). This will replace manned space flight for the foreseeable future.
Thursday, January 21, 1982
Nigerian troops launch a sweep against PJO back insurgents in Kano and Kaduna States. This leads to months of intense warfare which produces high casualties.
The second Quebec conference fails to develop a sovereignty – association plan acceptable to either side. Discussions are called off until April (at the earliest) while back channel consultations continue. Instance of pro and anti sovereignty disorder occur in Montreal and Quebec City.
NY Islanders begin then NHL record 15 game winning streak.
75% of North America is covered by snow.
Friday, January 22 – February 9, 1982
White Rhodesian refugees housed in camps near Pietersburg, South Africa riot against the conditions under which they are being held (confined). After an attempt to negotiate, the Malan regime moves with force to put down the unrest, resulting in a number of casualties.
Saturday, January 23, 1982
World Airways DC-10 skids at Boston Logan Airport killing 2.
Project Asparagus (development of Railgun technology and application) begins in the U.S..
Operation RYAN (or RYaN) was a cold war military intelligence program run by the USSR during the early 1980s when they believed the United States was planning for an imminent first strike attack. The name is an acronym for Raketno-Yadernoe Napadenie (Russian: Ракетно-ядерное нападение, "Nuclear Missile Attack"). It was initiated in January 1982 at the insistence of Defence Minister Kulikov and Interior Minister Pugo with the belief that the Rumsfeld Administration was preparing for a first strike nuclear war option. The KGB and GRU had also uncovered evidence of U.S. efforts to develop new strategic technology, which they regarded as a prime threat to Soviet security, and RYAN was designed to address that point. Premier Ryzhkov was sceptical, but went along because Kulikov and Pugo had strong support for this within the Politburo. General Secretary Andropov also signed a letter to the Politburo endorsing this measure, as such further reducing Ryzhkov’s ability to stop it. (A photo of Andropov sitting up at his desk signing the document was circulated to prove he did in fact sign it and was fully aware of its contents).
Monday, January 25, 1982
The Soviet leadership makes a decision to invest more resources into anti-ballistic missile technology and the production of Typhoon and Delta class ballistic missile submarines. Unknown at the time was the fact that Nikolai Ryhzkov had been persuaded by a study that showed that strategic bombers were past their prime in terms of delivery system, and that naval strategic power represented a better investment in terms of long term power projection. His advisors persuaded him that aircraft needed to be returned to a more tactical role.
Ironically, the work upon which the Soviet studies that persuaded Ryzhkov were based were themselves influenced by studies developed at the RAND Corporation in the United States (addressing the mix of forces in the U.S. strategic triad) and smuggled into the Soviet Union by spies. The so-called “Ryzhkov Approach” also emphasises the development of a new generation of satellite surveillance and early warning technology. Ryzhkov views this approach as a spur to further high-tech development in the Soviet Union.
At roughly the same time Ryzhkov initiates a program of consumer goods development financed by increased oil revenues. The “60-40 Plan” targets 60% of production of low-tech consumer goods for export to westwestern markets (at low price) and 40% of domestic consumption. Politburo candidate member Vladimir Dolgikh becomes responsible for the 60-40 Plan.
Tuesday, January 26, 1982
Harri Holkeri is elected as the 9th President of Finland.
Wednesday, January 27, 1982
Roberto S Cordova installed as president of Honduras.
Libyan forces brutally put down an uprising by Chadians. Libya is condemned internationally for this action, however the Soviet Union blocks sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.
Thursday, January 28, 1982
United States Army Brigadier General James L. Dozier is killed in a shoot-out between his Red Brigade kidnappers and the Italian anti-terrorism unit Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (NOCS) . The NOCS was attempting a hostage resuce at the time. General Dozier had been held captive for 42 days by the Red Brigades.
February – March 1982
Cases of what is later diagnosed as a new variant of the Marburg virus begin to crop up in a triangle bound by the Luichow Peninsula, Heng-yang and Amoy , an area that includes population centers in Canton and Hong Kong (what had been Macau was depopulated by the Lesser Mao regime). At first thought to be a by-product of poor health and sanitation on the part of those who were living under the Lesser Mao regime, by the end of March it becomes clear that the area is being afflicted by an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever of a virulent and previously unknown strain, but identified as being similar to the Marburg strain (but more aggressive). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_virus
By the end of March casualties are around 6,500 in Canton* and 2,300 in Hong Kong, with a further 6,700 persons in Hong Kong identified as being infected and quarantined. The Health Department imposes a quarantine on the port of Hong Kong and the Pearl River is closed to commercial traffic. (*- numbers are more difficult to estimate outside of Hong Kong, where viral infections interact with other serious nutritional and public health problems). Initial projections looking back at casualty rates and cases indicate that the virus first appeared around October or November 1981 but went largely unnoticed at first.
Monday February 1, 1982
Senegal and Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation.
The U.S. government announces that the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida and the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas will be closed over the next six months. Florida Governor Tom Gallagher (R) and Texas Governor George Bush (R) both react with outrage as they were not consulted and this will lead to higher unemployment in both states. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will be replaced by the Civilian Space Agency (CSA), a much smaller organization, to be based out of Washington D.C.. The CSA is to essentially be a co-ordinator of space activities which are to be implemented through the corporate sector.
Neil Armstrong makes a rare public statement calling the situation “the victory of the pen pushers and the industrial complex over space exploration.”
Islamic aid missions begin to penetrate into the interior of China. They bring aid to starving and dislocated populations of various ethnic groups, including Han Chinese, and begin conversions of those they assist. Many convert as the Islamic aid groups seem to be the only ones helping them.
February 2 – April 2, 1982
France co-ordinates a second attack on Mali involving French, Senegambia and Guinean troops. (Cote D’Ivorie backs out before the attacks begin). The combined thrust nearly captures Bamako, but again falls apart over the inability of the African forces (even with French direction) to successfully co-ordinate their efforts (rivalries develop among the forces, some of which do not have the full political support of their governments [some governments fear the concentrated army forces may think of plotting a coup at home]) and there are equipment issues (compatibility and maintenance). There are also some problems with officer competence with the various forces, where officers have been promoted for political reasons rather than professional capability.
The attack falls apart with the determined resistance of the PJO, which hires Toureg mercenaries, and has imported fighters from elsewhere in the Islamic world who are willing to fight for the cause. At its worst the fighting develops into World War I style trench warfare, while the PJO use irregular warfare techniques and terrorist strikes at civilian targets behind the lines to undermine morale. Several government ministers are also assassinated in order to undermine government willingness.
The West African troops, and some of the French soldiers, are not psychologically adept at dealing with suicide squads of attackers, who will fight without regard to their own safety to get the enemy (their bodies are often rigged as living bombs).
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Wednesday, February 3, 1982
John Sharples of England finishes disco dancing 371 hours.
Porn star John Holmes ordered to stand trial for murder.
February 4-5, 1982
President Hendrick Chin A Sen of Suriname is overthrown in a military coup and flees into exile in the Netherlands. Dictator Desi Bouterse replaces him with another front man, President Fred Ramdat Misier.
A new squatters tent city is re-opened along the King George Bay on West Falkland Island by Argentine activists. At roughly the same time the Argentine government files a claim with the International Court of Justice demanding the return of the Malvinas Islands.
Friday, February 5, 1982
London-based Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 stranded passengers and debts of $270 million.
Fighting between Indian and Pakistan troops intensifies along the Karakoram Pass and in areas previously ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963s, as a by-product of a political struggle between Islamabad and New Delhi over jurisdiction in Tibet. Fighting also spills over into the Jammu and Baltistan frontier area.
Sunday, February 7, 1982
Ramón Rubial Cavia, President of the Basque Republic, makes his first state visit to the United Kingdom. A state dinner hosted by King George VII is given in his honour at Windsor Castle.
Monday, February 8, 1982
The New Japan Party government of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone introduces a second budget which ramps up military spending. Defence Minister Minoru Genda outrages some when he declares that Japan’s behaviour toward occupied people during the Second World War was “even-handed” and “supportive.”
The U.N. Security Council recognizes the Indian annexation of the Aksai Chin region, with only Pakistan and non-recognized Tibetan representatives objecting.
Tibetan representatives in New York launch an effort to have Tibet recognized as an independent nation and receive recognition by the U.N.. India and the Soviet Union both lead an opposition front to this.
Tuesday, February 9, 1982
Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board. Prime Minister Nakasone later blames “inferior western workmanship” in the manufacture of the aircraft for the crash.
Wednesday, February 10, 1982
ELF announces the discovery of a substantial oil field on the western side of Albert Lake in Zaire. This comes on the heels of a new economic co-operation agreement signed between France and post-Mobutu Zaire. (Royal Dutch Shell has also found oil fields on the eastern shore, in Uganda).
Sunday, February 14, 1982
Indian Prime Minister Ram Sundar Das makes a state visit to the United States in May.
Monday, February 15, 1982
The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 rig workers aboard.
Tibetans in Lahsa demonstrate against Indian occupation.
Tuesday, February 16, 1982
Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female president of Malta.
Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett Majors divorce.
February 17 – 25, 1982
A warlord army mounts an assault at Hankow, leading to several days of bloody fighting involving U.S., British and Australian troops. The allied troops are weakened by fever, and forced to withdraw to more defensible positions closer to the coast. The warlord army cannot follow-up because of casualties and because they too have been weakened by the Marburg fever virus.
Wednesday, February 17, 1982
Behind the Fortress Walls, a first-hand account of Kremlin intrigue from 1971 until early 1981 is published in London. This leads to widespread speculation as to who the source is. In the Soviet Union Interior Minister Pugo and KGB Chair Kryuchkov become obsessed with indentifying the source of this information. Over the next few months this becomes tied-up into a wider anti-corruption campaign.
It becomes known later that Ryzhkov used the publication and subsequent corruption campaign to purge incompetent managers and those who were resisting his plans and reforms, further cementing his hold on the economy of the Soviet Union. At least one of Ryzhkov’s informal advisors was Serge Anatol, a Belgian with Russian Ancestry, who was schooling Ryzhkov in economic and management theory he (Anatol) had learned at Harvard and the London School of Economics. This would lead Ryzhkov to push for the founding of a business school at Moscow University to study western management systems as well as free market economic theory (within a wider Soviet Socialist political framework). This program of “Soviet Corporate Theory” takes as a minimum continued governance by the CPSU and Socialist political and cultural models. It also focuses on the Japanese Kieretsu model and the work of the now defunct Japanese Liberal Democratic Party in re-building the Japanese economy in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Ryzhkov shows no interest in developing western pluralistic democracy (“free enterprise without the free part” as western critic George Will later puts it).
The PJO moves the capital of its “Caliphate” to Tombouctou for safety.
Monday, February 22, 1982
The California legislature agrees to a funding formula for the split of the state into two new states, California and Jefferson (Northern California). This allows Governor McCloskey and the legislature to petition Congress to recognizing the new state. (It is widely believed that Republicans in both Houses will support this as the general political trend in the new state is pro-Republican, which would have positive effects for the national GOP in the Senate and the Presidential election process).
The U.S. announces that it supplement its M-1 Tank production with the production of an M-75 Model tank, which is a a hybrid adaptation incorporating elements of the Soviet made T-62 and T-72 Tank models (based on samples captured in Syria), including composite armour, NBC protection and a heavier gun.
Wednesday, February 23, 1982
Soviet and Mongolian forces clash with bandit armies in the Chifeng area. The Soviets mount an offensive east to secure the southern Mongolian border region, but run into supply problems.
Thursday, February 25, 1982
The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tase children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.
Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs.
President Rumsfeld: “You ask why we’re supporting the fight against communist insurgency in Africa – sure you mask it in emotional language about the racist regime and fascist dictatorship – which South Africa is not, etc. etc. But that’s rhetoric in your question, rhetoric designed to evoke a certain emotional response, one that promotes the left-wing view of the conflict, and ultimately that serves the interests of Kremlin propaganda. Conflict is difficult; death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war. But the reason we support the fight couldn’t be clearer. It’s a question of whether Southern Africa – like South Vietnam – will be free, or like Eastern Europe will fall to tyranny. We are in a position to prevent that, and as long as I am in this office the United States will act to prevent a Soviet domination of Africa.”
Friday, February 26, 1982
President Rumsfeld and Mayor Agnew meet for an awkward photo-op at Gracie Mansion in New York City.
Agnew: “Now you’ll have to take my phone calls.”
President: “Call whenever you need to, Mayor. I’m sure Dick will be happy to hear from you.”
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Sunday, February 28, 1982
FALN-PR (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña) bombs Wall Street. Damage is minor. The Rumsfeld Administration orders a crackdown on nationalist activity in Puerto Rico, leading to an increase in independence sentiment.
President Maamun al-Kuzbari is elected to a second term as President of the Free Syrian Republic. His campaign made much of the open contempt shown for him by the Israeli leadership.
Monday, March 1, 1982
The Israeli government begins the forced evacuation of Palestinians from the former Gaza Strip. The Palestinians are placed in "model communities" in the Eastern Sinai, while Israeli settlers are encouraged to settle the former Gaza area.
This action is widely condemned and the cause of a number of anti-Israel motions at the U.N. These are blocked in the Security Council by the United States.
Ariel Sharon (Minister of Internal Affairs and the Police): "There is no such thing as a Palestinian Arab, there are only Arabs, who are rightly the citizens of either Egypt, Jordan or Lebanon. These Arabs we invite to make a better home in an area close to the frontier, where they can have contact with their fellow Arabs. And of course, should they choose to move on to Egypt, to live under Arab rule, we will be most considerate in helping with that."
Menachem Begin (Prime Minister): "I absolutely reject all comparisons between our treatment of the so-called Palestinians and the Shoah. I will remind our critics that our policy is humane, and seeks to re-unite the Arab population with those who are like them and share their religious beliefs. We offer modern communities, liberation from squalor
and homes, schools, all the benefits that the taxpayer of Israel can provide. Our policy is the most humane act ever shown by one people to another who bears us not the least amount of goodwill. There is no comparison with the Nazi policy here. No, that is the way the Arab nations would behave if ever we allowed them to get their hands on Israel, and this we will never allow."
Wednesday, March 3, 1982
King George VII opens the Barbican Centre in London.
Friday, March 5, 1982
President Rumsfeld: “Peacemaking is a messy business, no one is satisfied with the result, not until a long time passes and everyone sees the result is to their benefit. I’ll remind you that we had rebellions here in the United States for years after our revolution. Freedom is messy, and free expression is never clear. What Israel is doing in Gaza is making peace – conditions for a lasting peace, and I support that – the United States government supports that. Sometimes people have to get moved around to make that happen; that’s the logic of geography. In the end they’ll all be happier this way. Change is messy, so momentary suffering and change has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of peacemaking. But that’s no reason not to do it. It will be for the better in the end."
Russian spacecraft Venera 14 lands on Venus sends back data.
Saturday, March 6, 1982
From My American Journey – By Colin Powell
One of the biggest challenges in China were the roads. It looked as if whatever road infrastructure that had been there had been left to deteriorate, if not entirely ripped-up, by the Lesser Mao’s reign. Now that I had my first star I was in overall charge of getting some highways built that we could use, and which could accommodate reconstruction in China. The Heath-Gavin Commission had recently visited the area and their recommendation was that if China was ever going to recover from the cumulative effects of the Cultural Revolution and the Lesser Mao period, then a Marshall-plan type commitment was going to be needed: and that was only the beginning. My personal opinion, based on what I saw, was that the commission was being very optimistic in their assessment.
In addition to road construction, I had also acquired responsibility for industrial sites. It was in this capacity that Major Dave Petraus, staff adjutant for Lt. General John Galvin, came to see me on an urgent mission early in March 1982.
Major Petraus (speaking for Gen. Galvin) was very anxious that I come forward to Hu-kiou, a tiny spec on the map of China, in the allied controlled area. We had set up a forward perimeter in the area because a number of industrial sites had been discovered, mainly pertaining to the production of chemical weapons components, or so we believed at the time. The main units deployed were 157th Field Artillery and the 193rd Military Police Battalion from the Colorado Army Guard, along with elements of the 36th Infantry from the Texas Guard. In addition to various chemical warfare and other specialized units, the 928th Medical Battalion, also from the Colorado Guard, was in place to support. Nearby at Chu-chaing, the British SAS with support from their Light Division and the Canadian Lorne Scots had set-up a forward operating base that they were using for reconnaissance missions on the other side of the Yangtze.
Major Petraus was very tight-lipped about the reason Gen. Galvin had sent for me, but I was becoming concerned when I realized the armoured vehicle we were using to transverse the barely passable roads was NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) protected. That impression only grew when the Major handed me a bio-hazard suit, and everyone in the vehicle – including Petraus – began doing one of the olive-green colored suits which would seal them off from the outside environment.
Once we reached Hu-kou, we disembarked from the vehicle near what looked to be a ruined industrial complex. I quickly noticed that everyone working at the site was similarly dressed in bio-hazard gear.
Petraus lead me into one of the half wrecked metal pre-fabricated buildings, which had a large, hollow interior much like a garage or a warehouse. The first thing I noticed were several tarps draped over what were bodies.
General Galvin came forward. His biohazard suit was an industrial yellow rather than the army issue color.
“General Powell,” he said. “We have an emergency on our hands.”
“What is this place?” I asked.
“It was some kind of biological weapons research facility, near as we can tell. They abandoned it last year sometime, but we’ve found evidence that the people who worked here were executed some time before the Lesser Mao’s regime fell.”
“You mentioned an emergency, sir?”
“The reason we are wearing this gear, Powell, is because the troops who were stationed here accidentally discovered what they thought was industrial waste. We now suspect that this was a chemical weapons site, and that what was developed here was some sort of slow gestating, but virulent form of flu virus.”
I was horrified at what he said, but what General Galvin said next chilled me to the bone. He pointed to the bodies under the tarps and said: “This is the unit that was stationed here when they uncovered the chemical waste.”
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Sunday, March 7, 1982
Charles Haughey, Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Irish Republic is assassinated by operatives of the INLA, who fire a Russian made RPG-7 anti-tank missile at the Taoiseach’s car. (It is not armoured; no one expected someone to assassinate the Taoiseach). Sinn Fein quickly condemns the assassination.
In Athens and several other Greek cities a series of demonstrations against the PASOK government turn into riots, with protestors battling the police. Tear gas and smoke bombs are used in Athens.
Monday, March 8, 1982
Tánaiste George Colley is named by President James Dooge as the new interim Taoiseach of the Irish Republic.
George Weller of Manchester in the U.K. files a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights arguing that a hereditary monarchy at the head of the British state impugns his inalienable right as a citizen of a democratic nation to choose his leaders. In short Weller wants the ECHR to rule that the hereditary monarchy should be abolished in the name of human and democratic rights.
Tuesday, March 10, 1982
An anti-violence march is staged-in Dublin. Thousands throng in to the capital protest the murder of the Taoiseach.
The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan support for terrorist groups.
Syzygy: All nine planets align on the same side of the Sun.
Wednesday, March 10, 1982
The Rumsfeld Administration announces that it the U.S. government will no longer extend trade or agricultural credits to nations which do not explicitly reject “Revolutionary Socialism” as “a viable political alternative.” This leads to international protests and condemnation by the Soviet Union, which accuses the United States of “bullying” other nations and “using food as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Thursday, March 11, 1982
Army Sergeants Surendre Rambocus and Wilfred Hawker overthrow the government of Suriname in a coup, murdering the resident dictator Desi Bouterse and forcing President Fred Ramdat Misier into exile. The coup has an ethnic Hindustani component. Surendre Rambocus becomes the new President of Suriname. A bloody purge of Bouterse supporters follows.
Uyghur nationalists begin a rising against Soviet occupation forces in the former Sinkiang province of China. The Uyghur's declare their own independent state, the Uyghur Islamic Republic, and receive support (covertly) from Pakistan and other Islamic nationals, including those who are funding missionary work in other parts of the former (now uncontrolled) China.
In secret session the Soviet Politburo considers the possibility of setting-up a Uyghur buffer state along the lines of the Mongolian People's Republic in the former Sinkiang. Similar thinking guides a proposal to create an autonomous Manchurian People's Republic in Manchuria.
March 11 – 18, 1982
An attempt at a major offensive by the ZPLF across southern Rhodesia with parallel offensives into Southwest Africa from Angola are repelled by the South African army with U.S. support.
Friday, March 12, 1982
A State funeral is held for Charles Haughey in Dublin. The United States is represented by President Rumsfeld while the Soviet Union is represented by Premier Pelse and Nikolai Rhyzkov. The absence of Andropov, the nominal President of the Soviet Union, is remarked upon but explained by the Soviets as their President being sick with the flu.
Rumsfeld and Rhyzkov meet briefly at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Dublin, the first such meeting by executive level officials of both superpower nations since February 1980. The main topic of discussion is China and Africa.
In a separate meeting at the Áras an Uachtaráin with President Dooge and Taoiseach Colley, President Rumsfeld offers U.S. support to the Irish Republic, which includes an offer to sell arms and to reach a mutual defence support agreement.
The United Kingdom is represented by Prime Minister Healey and Prince Andrew, who represents his brother. Prince Andrew’s visit is the highest level official visit of a British Royal to Dublin since the formation of the Irish Free State (later Republic) in 1921. Their visit at the Áras an Uachtaráin with the President and Taoiseach includes an offer of support from the UK as well as a commitment to discuss a mutual security agreement between the two nations. Prince Andrew and Prime Minister Healey both make statements condemning both nationalist and loyalist violence, and Prince Andrew states on behalf of his brother that the political assassination of the Taoiseach was unacceptable to the British state and the British people.
Security in Dublin is extremely tight, and the Gardia Síochána and the Irish Army are reinforced by U.S. soldiers who, out of deference to their Irish hosts, operate either in plain clothes or wearing Irish uniforms.
Ian Paisley denounces the funeral as a “pageant to draw the weepy-eyed into supporting a conspiracy to obliterate the loyalist community in a sea of Irish Catholicism”, and stages a Unionist protest against the funeral in Belfast.
Pope Pius XIII also attends the funeral in order to condemn political violence. He meets with Rumsfeld and Healey as well as Irish officials, and reportedly also receives a Sinn Fein delegation in order to lobby them for a more peaceful approach. After the funeral the Pope again visits the martyr’s shrine at Demagore (Demagore Incident: Sept. 16, 1975). Several Unionists get close enough to the Pope to throw stones at him.
In the midst of the scuffling between partisan groups, which are barely held at bay by the RUC and British military troops, Ian Paisley manages to get close enough to Pope Pius XIII that he can be heard shouting insults at him. The Pope stops and makes the sign of the cross in Paisley’s direction, clearly irritating the DUP leader even further.
Asked about it later the Pope comments: “I was blessing him, of course. It was my hope that the Holy Spirit would touch him, and moderate his rhetoric.”
Paisley: “It was nothing but an insult – a blatant attempt to damn me with curse of Roman popery! I accept no blessing from that man, not until he renounces his Roman heresy and admits to his part in the plot to destroy the loyalist community!”
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James Molyneaux, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party condemns Paisley’s antics. Several days later he is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt carried out by a Protestant paramilitary.
Sunday, March 14, 1982
Indian troops clash with protestors in Lhasa, Tibet, where the Indians are trying to impose a security zone. The Tibetans were demonstrating against what they increasingly are coming to feel is an Indian occupation of Tibet.
Ideas & Trends in Summary; It's All Right To Come Out Now
The New York Times. Published: March 14, 1982
The word is out. The world did not end last week, even though all nine planets in the solar system and the Moon were on the same side of the Sun at the same time.
Rumor had it that syzygy - literally the ''yoking together'' or alignment of several celestial bodies -should have occurred March 10, with the planets lining up on one side of the Sun to exert a collective gravitational tug. That was to have generated unusual tides on the Sun's surface, producing an abnormally large number of sunspots that would shower the Earth with excess amounts of charged particles, altering the atmosphere so that it changed Earth's rotation, causing earthquakes.
But except for the rare planetary configuration, which was more a scattering than a lineup and thus not much of a syzygy at all, astronomers called it a humdrum day. For worry warts, the next ''grand'' syzygy is May 19, 2161, when eight planets (excluding Pluto) will be found within 69 degrees of each other, according to astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.
[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/14/weekinreview/ideas-trends-in-summary-it-s-all-right-to-come-out-now.html"]http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/14/weekinreview/ideas-trends-in-summary-it-s-all-right-to-come-out-now.html[/URL]
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Monday, March 15, 1982
New York City Police move in force against the headquarters of Bloodline, a notorious Brooklyn based street gang. In a little under five minutes seventeen Bloodline members, all with extensive criminal records, are killed in a flurry of shots. Estimates are that in a little under five minutes over 3,000 rounds were fired, the vast majority by the NYPD. All the suspects’ bodies are riddled with bullets: one becomes famous because his upper torso and head were shredded by over one hundred high calibre shell hitting him within seconds. The next day Mayor Agnew’s face appears on the front of the New York Post superimposed over an image of Gary Cooper from High Noon, under the title “Cleanin’ Up the Town”.
Civil Rights groups immediately protest this “massacre.”
California Governor Pete McCloskey announces that he will seek election in the fall as Governor for the proposed State of Jefferson/Northern California. (He will be seeking the Republican nomination). “But until that time, until January first next year, I am the Governor of all of California, and will act in the interests of all Californians.”
Tuesday, March 16, 1982
In Newport, Rhode Island, Claus von Bülow is found not guilty of the attempted murder of his wife.
Pakistani troops attack and Indian outpost along the disputed frontier in Southern Tibet, claiming that the Indian troops had encroached into Pakistan’s “security zone.”
Ron Dellums announces he will run for the office of Governor of California in the 1982 election. While he will represent the WTP (which will have its own primary process) he also announces that he intends to enter the Democratic Primaries as well, hoping to create a WTP-Democratic fusion ticket to run against the Republican nominee.
Caroll Bellamy, President of the New York City Council, along with a number of Council members, denounce the police action the night before as "outrageous" and "murder." They blame Mayor Agnew and Commissioner Westmoreland for turning New York City into "Saigon East."
Mayor Agnew: "Their hearts bleed for criminals; my heart feels for those victimized by crime. We, the people's elected representatives, are not the instigators of violence. No, that is the path chosen by the criminal element. We simply bring to them what they have chosen to bring to us. The difference between us is that we bring finality - the finality of justice over anarchy, of law over barbarity."
March 17 – April 30, 1982
British and Irish police and military forces crack down on the INLA across Ireland, North and South. Dozens of arrests are made in a concerted effort to root out and eliminate the INLA and it support structure. Rumor has it that Sinn Feinn and the PIRA give some covert support to the British and Irish forces during this crackdown on the more radical INLA.
Wednesday, March 17, 1982
Howard Jarvis files a petition in the United States District Court charging that the break-up of the State of California is un-Constitutional. He asks for and receives a stay on division of the state until his case is heard.
Mayor Agnew and Commissioner Westmoreland lead the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in New York with its emphasis on the work of the NYPD in making the city safe for "decent citizens."
Thursday, March 18, 1982
Mary Whitehouse's private prosecution of The Romans in Britain collapses.
Upper Volta and Benin fight off attacks by PJO backed guerrillas. Neither re-gain full control of their border regions with Niger.
March 18 – 29, 1982
Iraqi and Republic of Arabia troops manage to hold Riyadh and surrounding territory from a major offensive by the insurgent forces. Mostly the insurgents resort to small scale terror attacks in other parts of Arabia.
Friday, March 19, 1982
Ian Paisley leads a march on the U.S. Consulate in Belfast. Molotov cocktails are thrown at the Consulate.
A series of pro-monarchist and pro-Falangist bombings in Spain’s major cities leads to a crackdown by the government police (the Civil Guard having been replaced by an institution called the Civil Protection Service). Some ministers are concerned that some members of the police might be in sympathy with the right-wing terrorists. At the same time Spain is troubled by a series of bombings and bank robberies by left wing terror groups, adding more urgency to the police crackdown on violent groups. They receive support from, and sanctuary in, Portugal. Perhaps the oddest irony is that former members of the Basque terrorist group ETA are providing the police service in the Basque Republic, and as such they are co-operating with the Spanish authorities during the crackdown.
The Minnesota legislature passes a law which would apportion Electoral Votes in the state according to who won in each Congressional district, with the two state-wide Electoral votes going into to the winner of the popular vote state wide. On March 20, Governor Al Quie (R) vetos the bill and the proposed constitutional amendment.
At the same time the Minnesota legislature approves and sends to Congress a proposed amendment to the Constitution which would require all states to use apportionment of Electoral Votes by Congressional district with winner take-all of the two state wide Electoral Votes. The Minnesota Proposal also contains the following reforms:
- Instead of using State Electors, members of Congress would cast Electoral Votes at a Special session of Congress (House members for their district and Senators for the state wide Electoral votes). Each member would be bound by law to cast their Electoral votes as assigned by the popular vote in their district or state. (The District of Columbia would empower three Electors to vote, two in the Senate and one in the House for this process). The candidate receiving the majority of Electoral votes for President would be elected President; the candidate receiving the majority of Electoral Votes for Vice President would be elected Vice President. In the event of a tie, a tie-breaking Electoral Vote would be cast by the chair of the Senate, bound by law to the winner of the popular vote.
-The chairs of the House and Senate for the special Electoral Vote would be chosen from a pool of federal judges as currently provided by the twenty-seventh amendment (The Speaker of the House would sit as a regular member of the House to cast an Electoral Vote for his/her district; the incumbent Vice President would be excluded from the process). This amendment would supersede the twelfth and twenty-seventh amendments.
Saturday, March 20, 1982
Indian and Pakistani troops clash over conflicting interests along the joint border they share with the Tibetan area. Both militaries go on the highest alert as a result of these clashes.
Monday, March 22, 1982
Rep. Shirley Chisholm’s (WTP-NY(12)) bill of impeachment for Donald Rumsfeld is killed in the House Judiciary Committee.
Bill HR-1227 passes the House with a vote of 220 – 218. Debate begins in the Senate.
Tuesday, March 23, 1982
Guatemala military coup under Gen Rios Montt; President Romeo Lucas flees. It is widely believed that Gen. Rios Montt was supported by Washington.
Father Pablo Cuerda leads a series of anti-government protests against the Pinochet regime in the Central Chilean city of San Carlos. The Pinochet government at first reacts with its usual brutality, but is quickly forced to let up when Pope Pius XIII speaks up in favour of the Cuerdan movement, and compels Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez, Archbishop of Santiago, to intervene on their behalf. The March 23 incident, which saw a group of peaceful Cuerdan protestors attacked by Chilean police armed with bats (and graphic film of which was smuggled out of Chile and broadcast across the globe), becomes a rallying point for the Cuerdan movement. Among the things that develop out of this protest are a kind of religiously-oriented commune in the San Carlos area, which becomes a “free zone” within Chile.
Wednesday, March 24, 1982
After a joint “summit conference” on the epidemic of crime in America, Mayor Agnew of New York City and Governor Rarick of Louisiana propose the creation of “exclusion zones,” confined (i.e. fenced or walled off) areas within cities where habitual criminals can be confined and “controlled.” New York City and New Orleans are being put forward as two cities where this might be tested as a pilot project. The proposal is immediately condemned within the civil rights community.
Friday, March 26, 1982
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder release "Ebony & Ivory" in the UK.
The CSA officially announces that the Skylab project is being discontinued with no more flights scheduled.
A new civil war erupts in Laos when the coalition government composed of Pahtet Lao (Green, or nationalist) supporters and supporters of the right and the nominal ruler King Sisavang Vatthana and Prime Minister Prince Boun Oum. In the years leading up to this breach the Pathet Lao (Green) had been slowly re-absorbing the formerly PRC supported Pathet Lao (Red) which had been abandoned by their patron when the Lesser Mao’s regime collapsed.
Sunday, March 28, 1982
Tai Solarin, a respected Nigerian human rights activist, begins a hunger strike to protest corruption in the Nigerian government.
Monday, March 29, 1982
Two hundred fourteen Marburg-like “China Virus” cases recorded in Herefordshire in the U.K. Around the same time seven are noted in Oakville, Ontario.
President Rumsfeld: “The Panama Canal has been U.S. territory since we built it. That 1977 treaty was never ratified and for good reason. You don’t give away your national assets, period.” The President’s remarks spark anti-American demonstrations and rioting in Panama.
54th Academy Awards
Best Picture: Reds, Produced by Warren Beatty
Nominated:
Atlantic City
Middle Kingdom
Chariots of Fire
On Golden Pond
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City
Best Actress: Helen Mirren - Middle Kingdom (story of journalists and
relief workers in post-Lesser Mao China)
Best Supporting Actor: Denholm Elliott - Raiders of the Lost Ark*
Best Supporting Actress: Katherine Helmond - Time Bandits
*- which starred Tom Selleck and not Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. (The Magnum P.I. project for CBS never got past the pilot stage, and became a one-off movie for television).
Tuesday, March 30, 1982
Prince Andrew is shot at while making a public appearance in the U.K. The gunman is killed by the Prince’s security detail. He is later identified as a UFF gunman. The UFF had condemned the Prince’s involvement in the Taoiseach’s funeral in the most violent terms. This sets off a British crackdown on loyalist paramilitaries in the North.
Someone fries a bazooka at an NYPD patrol car. It misses, but kills two bystanders in a bodega behind the police car.
Suriname President Surendre Rambocus visits Fidel Castro in Cuba to discuss renewing relations and “common problems.” Prior to the visit he reportedly turned five anti-Castro Cuban exiles resident in Suriname over to the Cuban secret police.
Wednesday, March 31, 1982
First recorded outbreak of Marburg-like “China Virus” noted at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
President Rumsfeld orders Defense Secretary Connally to begin contingency planning for a possible invasion of Suriname.
Octávio Floriano Rodrigues Pato, Prime Minister of the Democratic Progressive Republic of Portugal meets with Alfonso Guerra Gonzalez, Prime Minister of Spain, in Paris, France in an summit hosted by French President Francois Mitterrand in an effort to reach common ground on the issue of violent groups currently operating in Spain (and pro-Spanish “bandits” who are causing some problems with armed raids into Portugal).
A UFF unit stages a cross borer raid into a border area of the Irish Republic, burning down the local Roman Catholic church and killing five civilians.
The White House
Secretary of Defense John Connally: “We can now confirm twenty-five cases of the suspected Marberg-style outbreak in the Colorado Springs area, which can be traced to either service members or civilian workers stationed at Fort Carson.”
White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney: “Do we impose a quarantine?”
FBI Director Thomas Scott: “Do that and you’ll start a panic.”
Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Raymond P. Shafer: “We could use the cover of legionaire’s disease or something similar, which the public is already familiar with, and which burns itself out, to minimize panic and re-assure the public, at least in the short-term, that we are not dealing with anything too serious.”
Vice President Edwards: “The problem is we are dealing with something that is serious.”
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. David C. Jones USAF: “For now we need to consider a deployment of military forces to contain the area; using the Colorado Guard and the local police are not going to be enough.”
VP: “Put troops on the streets and you’re sending up a red flag.”
Sec-HEW: “The problem is if we low-ball this, try and hide what we are doing, we could risk a spread of the contagion.”
SecDef: “We are already seeing massive outbreaks in China, among our troops and others. If this gets a hold in the U.S.”
Sec-HEW: “Exactly. We can’t afford to be behind the eight ball on this.”
VP: “I can’t disagree, not if we are going to get this under control.”
President: “I’ll issue the executive order after I’ve talked with Governor Roemer. We need to get a control net around this.”
DC: “All of central Colorado then?”
Sec-HEW: “As a start, according CDC data.”
Later the Chief of Staff speaks with the President:
DC: “We can’t overlook the possibilities this presents, especially if we have to widen the control area.”
President: “You want to make the whole nation a control area?”
DC: “That could have its uses.”
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Closed sessions involving the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and India begin on the potential for establishing an autonomous Tibetan state which will be "non-aligned" (though within India's sphere of influence).
Reporter: "Shouldn't it be up to the Chinese people to decide their future?"
Secretary of State Kirkpatrick: "They were given that chance earlier in this century and look what happened? It is becoming more and more clear that a united China can only be governed by a dictator, and as such, a united China is too big to succeed."
Thursday, April 1, 1982
States having ratified the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment: 11 (Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Montana, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island).
Anguilla (dependent territory of UK) adopts constitution.
The first of a series of anti-regime demonstrations by white citizens begin in South Africa’s major cities. The aim of most demonstrations is to force General Malan to resign, although some do risk reprisals from the security services by calling on the regime to end the war in the north.
Friday, April 2, 1982
An attempt by British troops to move into the Shankill neighbourhood of Belfast, a protestant enclave, is rebuffed by Loyalist milita who drive the troops back using small arms and anti-tank weapons. 9 British servicemen are killed that day by loyalist gunmen in gun battles.
After a failed offensive into Mali, West African forces return to a defensive position near their various national borders with Mali. The French West African military command begins a re-assessment of military strategy for the reigion.
Ian Paisley MP (DUP- North Antrim; MEP-Northern Ireland): “So, the thugs have murdered the Irish PM because he was accommodationist? How is that? Charles Haughey, like every other Papist politician before him, wanted to absorb us into a Roman Popish state run by the Cardinals and Bishops of Ireland, all bowing to kiss the ring of a Portuguese Pope. His so-called United Counties of Ireland was nothing more than a mask, a disguise, for a land grab from the South that would have left all non-Catholics under the tyrannical thumb of Papist authority, soon to be forced to flee our homes or suffer the damnation of being forced into Roman spiritual serfdom. The murder, or should I say sacrifice, of Charles Haughey was more than it seems. The terrorists would have us believe it was an act of frustration against a government that would not do their bidding; yet we know that this Papist government always did their bidding.
“So what do they gain from this?
“I’ll tell you what. The world is now sympathetic to the so-called good nationalists, the Sinn Feinn and their so-called Provo scum. Britain and Ireland now work together to get the INLA scum that murdered their Taoiseach, that murdered our beloved Queen, in a common cause. Yes, Westminster and Dublin have a common cause, and from this a reason to talk, to negotiate. And what do they negotiate? They negotiate the selling out of loyal Protestants, loyal British citizens, in the name of reconciliation. Even a member of the royal family itself, the King’s brother, can be heard to speak – in Papist Dublin in all places – that terrorist scum and loyalist protectors must lay down arms, as if we were equal, as if our cause, our valliant defence of our home and faith, is somehow on a level with the bloodthirsty murder of those fiends. How can a Prince of our realm, a man whose mother was murdered in cold blood by those barbarians, how can he lend his name, and our King’s, to this travesty?
“I call on the King, in the name of his loyal subjects in Ulster, to renounce this duplicitous attempt at a sell-out. Let not the murder of one Southern politician blind us to the true motive behind this crime. Was it even the INLA who did it? Perhaps others in the security forces carried this out to further the despicable sell-out they call the peace process. I call on the King to stop this madness and to protect his loyal subjects and fellow protestants against this foul attempt at Papist enslavement.
“I call on all loyal British subjects of Ulster to resist this attempt to defile our home. I call upon you to rise-up and denounce this lie, and join with me in defending our home against Papist conspiracies and treachery by weak willed British politicians. Let us declare today that we Loyal Ulster will say no to the Labour Party Chamberlains and mainland Qusilings who would further this foul conspiracy. Protestant Ulster loyal forever!”
Enoch Powell MP (UU – South Down): “I smell the hand of the United States in this. We have seen how quick President Donald Rumsfeld has been to curry favour in Dublin, and we should note his offers of support to the Irish State in the wake of this assassination. I abhor this violence, and I call for the prosecution to the full extent of the law of whoever murdered Charles Haughey. I give my sympathy to the people of Ireland, who have lost their democratically elected leader. The victim here has been democracy. This was an attack upon that very principle, meant to resonate beyond just the Irish Republic. If the INLA did indeed do this, can we ask at what their motives were? What did they gain from this? Certainly not the sympathy of the Irish people, if reaction in the Republic is to be taken as an indicator. If anything the Irish people are now growing to despise these INLA butchers as much as the British people, who harbour a special outrage for this band of cutthroats after they murdered our Queen not five years ago. Is this, then the logical act of any group, to bring more abhorioum down upon themselves, especially from the people with whom they should be developing support? Or is the INLA name being manipulated in a hidden, masterful attempt to direct our feelings, on both sides of the Irish Sea, into a made-in-America solution which would see Britain weakened and Ireland reduced to an American satellite? Could that be the real reason Charles Haughey was killed; not out of malice or frustration, but as a pawn in a cold, calculated plot to change the nature of our Union in the service of a foreign imperial scheme?”
14 killed and 26 seriously injured in anti-American rioting in Panama City and Colon, Panama.
The Minnesota legislature overrides the Governor’s veto to institute apportionment of Minnesota’s Electoral Votes along Congressional district lines.
Monday, April 5, 1982
Commandante Torro (Charles Manson) declares a “Free People’s Republic” in the northern Nicaraguan departments of New Segovia, Madriz and Jinotega. His forces successfully stop an effort by government troops to re-take the region. Torro becomes the “Executive Visionary” and “Spark of Fire” of the new government in the region.
April 7 – 18, 1982
Anti Republican demonstrations in Belfast culminate in eleven days of rioting and looting in the loyalist community. When Police and the British Army try to intervene they are attacked by the loyalists. British authorities suspect that the loyalist paramilitaries involved are getting some help from inside the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Rev. Ian Paisley MP (DUP- North Antrim): “You accuse us of breaking the peace? Who is it that has lain down with the Republican fiends? Which of us has conspired with the so-called Republic and the Americans to deprive loyal British subjects of their rights and flood us in a sea of disloyal Catholics. If the people are drive to rage over this, I understand why.”
Monday, April 12, 1982
3 CBS employees shot to death in NYC parking lot.
President Lon Non of the Khmer Republic shoots Prime Minister Sisowath Sirik Matak and dissolves the parliament. Martial Law with direct Presidential rule is declared. The Rumsfeld Administration remains silent on this.
Wednesday, April 14, 1982
Further unrest over living conditions and harsh discipline breaks out in the white Rhodesian refugee camps in northern South Africa.
ITV Interviewer: “Surely, you can’t mean to suggest – not seriously – that the United States government conspired to kill the Irish Prime Minister just to make him a martyr to some effort to forcibly re-unite ...”
Ian Paisley: “Not unite – invade, occupy and overwhelm!”
ITV: “But surely you must understand how far-fetched...”
IP: “Not at all. You forget, the American government killed their own President – another Irishman – to get their way in Vietnam. Now they’ve got Rumsfeld – this German who thinks like a German, acts like a German – and wants the whole world. He’s put the squeeze on London, spoken in dollars – and they want Ireland for the Irish, no doubt so that Rumsfeld can claim a victory and get all those Irish votes in New York, Boston and Chicago. Healey, he’ll go along because Britain needs the dollars.”
ITV: “Do you have any proof of this?”
IP: “My understanding of the dark forces at work in the world is all the proof I need. And I tell you now, the loyal subjects of Ulster are going to stand-up against this Anglo-American conspiracy against our freedom. If we have to bring down the British government to do it, we’ll stand fast and take the fight to them!”
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An attempt to re-convene the all-Canada Conference on Quebec separation and sovereignty-association is stymied when Quebec and Alberta both boycott the conference.
Thursday, April 15, 1982
Several thousand protestors lead by Ralph Nader and Daniel Ellsberg converge on the IRS building in Washington D.C. and burn their income tax returns in protest over U.S. policy.
Friday, April 16, 1982
The Northern Cree Nation, seeking independence from Quebec, stage a series of sit-ins and protests which effectively bring government business to a near standstill in Quebec City and Ottawa over the second half of April.
Monday, April 19, 1982
Rosie Ruiz, marathon race cheater, arrested for forgery.
Salyut 7 space station destroyed when the rocket launching it into orbit explodes during first stage separation.
Wednesday, April 21, 1982
Dr Michael E Bakey performs first successful heart implant.
Dutch Queen Beatrice, who had been scheduled to pay a state visit to the United States and while there address the U.S. Congress, instead cancels the trip in protest over U.S. support for the South African regime.
Friday, April 23, 1982
Conch Republic declared in Key West, Florida.
Sunday, April 25, 1982
U.S. Marines and Special Forces, accompanied by U.S. Marshalls, bungle an effort to capture Commandante Torro in the Jinotega area of Nicaragua and are forced to withdraw under heavy insurgent fire.
President Rumsfeld (from the Oval office)
"Good evening , my fellow citizens.
"The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has advised me of a heavier than normal occurrence of the flu virus in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado. There is nothing to be alarmed about, and our best medical minds are currently working to analyze the problem and treat those who have been infected.
"In the meantime, I have used the executive authority of my office to declare a federal emergency zone in an area of 100 miles around Colorado Springs, in order that the current outbreak can be contained, until our full medical expertise can be brought to bear and end this outbreak. This measure is being taken both to assist the residents of Colorado Springs and its environs, and to protect the American people.
"To further facilitate this and bring continued calm to the affected area, I have joined with Governor Lamm in declaring a state of emergencywithin the affected area, with special temporary emergency powers being exercised by our military, including the Colorado National Guard which I have ordered to be brought into federal service. These measures are preventative, and will ensure a continuation of law and order during this temporary state of emergency.
"In addition to requiring that everyone within the declared emergency zone remain in place, we are also requiring that no one attempt to enter the emergency zone from outside. This is a precaution, but we must insist that everyone abide by it. Those who fail to heed this warning may be subject to arrest, and possible harm if violent resistance is encountered.
"Again, I wish to reassure you that there is no reason to panic or to be overly alarmed. Our professionals have detected this larger than normal outbreak of the seasonal virus well in advance of any epidemic, and by reacting now we will prevent this from becoming a larger crisis. I am confident in the quality of our national experts and the capability of American medical science, which is second to none in the world. Soon
this emergency will pass, and all will return to normal.
"Good night, and God Bless the United States of America and its great people."
The White House:
Roger Ailes: "I've noticed these Colorado plans have an extension? I see exclusion circles around Denver, St. Louis even Chicago? What's going on here?"
Dick Cheney: "We have had to make contingency plans, in case this has spread wider than just one area in Colorado. There's already a possibility that infected soldiers have carried this to other centers."
RA:" "Okay, I accept that. But this is so - indefinite. I see no review date, or deadline for when we can begin lifting them."
DC: "Who knows with flu, Roger? It never really goes away, does it?"
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Monday, April 26, 1982
Rod Stewart is mugged, gunman steals his $50,000 Porsche.
John Hinckley Jr,, assassin of former CBS News anchor Walter Kronkite, is found not guilty due to mental defect and remanded for psychiatric treatment.
The Ohio legislature passes a proposed Constitutional Amendment which would require that the Attorney-General of the United States be elected directly by the people in a manner similar to the Election of the President and Vice President (Electoral College). The Attorney-General under this plan would have to be over 35 years of age, a born United States citizen, possess a valid certification to practice law from at least one state bar association and the federal bar association, and have held at least one public office where the exercise of executive and/or judicial authority was required (state attorney, state Attorney-General, judge, Governor etc.)
The elected Attorney-General would be elected in the off-year elections (two years after the last Presidential election and two years before the next) and be limited to two terms in office. He/she would be subject to impeachment, but would not serve at the pleasure of the President. The amendment would also place the elected Attorney-General third in the line of Presidential succession, ahead of the Speaker of the House and the President pro-tempore of the Senate. The elected Attorney-General (and not the President) would be responsible for appointing other top officials at the Justice Department, subject to ratification by the Senate.
At the same time Ohio ratifies the Minnesota amendment, but does not change its own electoral laws.
President Rumsfeld: “It seems silly to me to tinker with the Constitution in this way. It’s worked well enough for two hundred years as it is, why throw wrenches into the works. Personally, I’m opposed to all these ideas.”
Reporter: “What about your well known support for the repeal of the seventeen amendment? Isn’t that throwing a wrench in the works?”
President: “Not at all. I’m asking for an amendment to be repealed, and for us to return to choosing our Senators in the way the founders originally intended. Repeal of that amendment would take a wrench out of the Constitution, and I think reduce the overly political nature of the Senate. Certainly it would end the need for Senators to spend most of their time raising money for their next election.”
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The Mauritanian Army, backed by Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces, begin their own attack against the PJO in Mali. The Soviets had been unwilling to co-ordinate with the French, instead watching their thrust in the hopes that it would weaken the PJO forces. The Soviets also failed to persuade Algeria and Libya to open a second front for them. (Gaddafi is still trading with the PJO, and the Algerians are wary of getting too closely identified as a direct threat to the PJO: they are also annoyed that in their arrogance, the French never approached Algeria with a second front offer [the Algerians despise the French but mistrust them less than the Soviets]).
Tuesday, April 27, 1982
Egypt adopts a new constitution abolishing the office of President and replacing it with a three man “Executive Council” chosen by the consensus of the military chiefs of staff. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are chosen by, and report to the Executive Council. An elected parliament is permitted, but it only has “reflective powers.” The Muslim Brotherhood is declared a mortal enemy of the state and membership is to be penalized with an unappealable death sentence.
The forces of Guinea President Ahmed Sékou Touré put down rebel forces in the Army dissatisfied with his political leadership and the incompetent command during the attack on Mali.
BBC Radio: "The Department of Health and Social Security today noted that there has been a larger than expected outbreak of flu in areas of Herefordshire, with a corresponding rise noted in other communities in the United Kingdom. While noting that there is no reason for alarm, the DHSS has asked that any persons feeling that they have initial symptoms of the flu report to their g.p., or their local hospital, for diagnosis and quick treatment. Initial symptoms may include a feverish feeling, repeated diarrhoea, nausea and running nose. All persons are reminded to wash their hands frequently, and to report if they experience these symptoms, or come into contact with anyone who is complaining of these symptoms.
"Secretary of State for Social Services David Ennals commented: "There is no need for concern or panic. All is in hand, and all we are experiencing is a larger than usual outbreak of the flu for this time of year. With a little caution on the part of all people, we will bring this fully under control. We ask for your co-operation, and to report yourself or anyone who is experiencing these symptoms, however minor. In this case, an ounce of prevention will be twice as effective than a pound of cure."
"Again the symptoms to be on the look out for are: include a feverish feeling, repeated diarrhoea, nausea and running nose. All persons are reminded to wash their hands frequently, and to report if they experience these symptoms, or come into contact with anyone who is complaining of these symptoms."
Wednesday, April 28, 1982
Buckingham Palace
King George VII: "I am concerned about these reports from the DHSS about outbreaks of a super-flu in the West Midlands; it does seem to be spreading."
Denis Healey: "I think perhaps super-flu is exaggerating the situation a little, Sir."
KG: "These case rates are certainly no exaggeration, and the spread around Herefordshire. Is there any reason it started there, of all places?"
DH: "You must rest assured, Sir, that we are looking into this, and that we are looking at a limited quarantine plan, if the situation merits. At the moment the Secretary of State for DHSS, Mr. Ennals and the Home Secretary have both concurred on a voluntary approach. We have no wish to create alarm and panic, where none is necessary."
KG:"I find it at least - curious - that they are seeing outbreaks in the United States, in Colorado, along a similar line, next to the Peterson Air Force Base and Fort Carson there, I believe. Is the relationship being looked into?"
DH: "I don't see a relationship between the two..."
KG:"You must not treat me like a fool, Mr. Healey. I am quite aware that some of the units based in Colorado recently returned from China, as did some of our Special Operations personnel at Hereford. There has been an outbreak of this in China - certainly it has been noted in the Hong Kong press of late. You must see, if I put it together, it will
not be long before our press does. Are you prepared for that?"
DH: "You have me, Sir, and are correct. We are trying to keep this quiet for now, until hopefully our researchers can develop a cure or at least an inoculation. Frankly, we are having difficulty with the Americans."
KG: "How so?"
DH: "Reluctance to co-operate for some reason. I suspect they are in a bit of denial about it."
KG: "That puts a - optimistic? - light on it. "
DH: "Yes, there are some dark speculations at the MOD and JIC along that line."
KG: "One never knows what goes through this Rumsfeld fellow's head. Why would they not wish to co-operate on stopping this?"
DH: "Some feel that they have - an ulterior agenda - related to domestic politics."
KG: "I can't see how."
DH: "Control, Sir. This presents an opportunity to use, well, the blunt force of the law. They've already declared martial law in the so-called hot zone around Colorado Springs."
KG: "Astonishing. Mr. Healey, are you quite well, you look ill. I hope you haven't contracted it."
DH: "No, Sir. My problem relates to diet, I'm afraid. A rather chronic indigestion."
KG:" Organics, Mr. Healey."
DH: "Sir?"
KG: "Organic fruits and vegetables, uncorrupted by chemicals and man's touch - that's the ticket for your better health."
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No. 10
The Prime Minister speaks with President Rumsfeld by telephone, with Foreign Secretary James Callaghan listening in.
Denis Healey: "Mr. President – Don, we have to be a little more forthright…”
President: “And cause a panic? We don’t know how far this will spread yet, it could burn itself out in a few days.”
DH: “We both know - from very expert sources – that is not likely. By continuing to operate in the dark…”
P: “The level of darkness depends on the level of co-operation, Prime Minister. If you work with us, then it will be easier to share developments on this matter as they arise, but if there are political road blocks…”
DH: “I can’t believe you would play politics with human lives.”
P: “Politics is about human lives, and how we handle them. I would have thought you would have learned that by now, Prime Minister.”
DH: “We will continue to monitor the situation, and I hope we can continue to share in the exchange of information.”
P: “Yes, that should work. You tell us what you know, and we’ll see what we can pass on.”
The phone conversation ends.
DH: “The man’s impossible! We’ll see what we can pass on? Christ! Who the bloody Hell does he think he is?”
James Callaghan: “I think being the President has gone to his head.”
DH: “Head or backside? No, Jim, they’re playing at another game over there. The JIC tried to hint at it, but I can see now they were right.”
JC: “Should we be taking this as lightly then? If Rumsfeld is being economical with the truth, then maybe we should be considering quarantine of our own, if only as a precaution. They’ve already been instituted in Hong Kong, and it looks like the Americans are going down that road too.”
DH: “We can be damned sure this is more serious if than he lets on. Uh…damn indigestion. I’ve asked DHSS and the Home Office to draw-up quarantine measures for the Midlands. Damn Rumsfeld!”
JC: “Perhaps if … Prime Minister? Denis!”
The Prime Minister grips his chest and moans, slowly slumping to one side. Callaghan depresses the call button on the desk intercom. “Send help, FAST!”
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Thursday, April 29, 1982
BBC Radio: “Prime Minister Denis Healey was admitted to the Royal London Hospital last evening after suffering what the ten Downing Street Press Office has described as a cardiac incident. No details on the Prime Minister’s condition are immediately available, however a spokesperson for the Royal London Hospital did comment to correspondents at the scene that the Prime Minister is resting comfortably and is in stable condition, with no immediate threat to his life.
“The PM was meeting with Foreign Secretary James Callaghan in his private office at ten Downing Street at the time of his attack, and fast action by Mr. Callaghan has been credited with minimizing the injury to Mr. Healey. Reports that Mr. Healey had just completed an overseas telephone call with U.S. President Rumsfeld when the incident occurred have not been confirmed.
“The Prime Minister’s office has in the meantime confirmed that Deputy Prime Minister Michael Foot will be acting as co-ordinator of the Cabinet until Mr. Healey is able to take-up his duties once more. In a brief statement Mr. Foot confirmed that he would be working closely with the Cabinet and the parliamentary party during this crisis, and that they expect the Prime Minister to return to his duties soon.”
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While on a visit to Tihwa, former U.S. President Richard Nixon is given a well manufactured (Potemkin village-type) tour of the Soviet occupation and control of Sinkiang. Later on the visit, Nixon is abducted by Uyghur rebels. (Or are they pro-Soviet forces pretending to be Uyghur nationalists?) The Soviet government immediately blames its PRC proxy for providing poor security.
General Maher Abd al-Rashid and Colonel Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jassim Obeidi al-Mifarji, both recently returned to Baghdad after serving in combat in Arabia, organize with a group of fellow dissatisfied officers, the overthrow of the ailing Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in a coup. The new President Rashid promises to "rejuvenate" the Ba'ath Socialist Revolution and "end the errors of the past which have desolated the Iraqi people." Under Rashid's regime a new set of talks opens in Geneva on the re-establishment of an Arabian state. Colonel Obeidi becomes the Minister of Defence.
Friday, April 30, 1982
On the morning of April 30, 1982, a nun and 16 Ananda Marga monks were dragged out of taxis that were taking them to an educational conference at their headquarters in Tiljala in Kolkata's (Calcutta, Wes Bengal, India) southern suburbs. At three spots simultaneously, they were beaten to death and then set on fire. The killings were witnessed by thousands of people, however not a single arrest was made.
Under the provisions of the new Constitution, fourteen alleged leaders of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood are beheaded in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.
Taking a page from the American tax protest, over a thousand Northern Cree protestors burn thousands of tax returns in a protest bonfire on Canada’s Parliament Hill.
Marburg like outbreaks now expand to 2,200 cases in the UK, and 11,000 in U.S., outbreak still not clear in Canada where organized reporting has yet to take place.
Estimated casualty rates in HK are at over 14,000 (casualties), with a partial quarantine now imposed on the port. China well over 60,000 casualties (18,000 in Canton). Ratio of casualties to active cases in Hong Kong estimated at 3:1, and as high as 5:1 in China. (i.e: 32,000 infected in Hong Kong; 300,000 infected in Canton).
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Not Denis!
Brilliant update as always, I can't wait to see how the flu pandemic is resolved.
Brilliant update as always, I can't wait to see how the flu pandemic is resolved.
- Status