What's the status of Punk Rock in this timeline? Did the Ramones still come into play in the mid-seventies? Whatever the case if Punk is in this time line, this TL's version of groups like Dead Kennedy's and Bad Religion are going to have a lot of material with Rumsfeld and Co. around.
Rumsfeldia: Fear and Loathing in the Decade of Tears
- Thread starter Drew
- Start date
- Status
Rummy Rumba
“Recognize that Dick Cheney is the most cynical political figure to hold high office in this country since his former boss Dick Nixon. And he is perfectly willing to say what he thinks will advance him, particularly in an election season.”
- John Nichols, author of Dick: The Man Who Was the real 41st President.
“Here's what I can tell you about Don Rumsfeld. You're never going to get any credit. And you'll only know how well you're doing if he gives you more work. If that happens, you're doing fine.”
- Dick Cheney quoted by Bob Woodward
Spring 1982
The Greek economy is brought to a standstill by workers’ and students’ strikes and protests against the PASOK government of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. Papandreou, whose democratic legitimacy is challenged (since he retains power thorough what many see as a rigged electoral process), is accused of becoming more dictatorial in his rule, and image reinforced when the Prime Minister has a number of radical labour and student leaders thrown in prison for challenging the government’s economic agenda.
In the north of Greece talks between the PASOK government and the Communist rebels have broken down, largely because neither side will concede to the other. The talks have been going on for a number of years, as an uneasy truce is observed between the Athens government and Communist rebels who have retained their arms and control of territory close to the Bulgarian border.
Saturday, May 1, 1982
A crowd of over 80,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. The fair is kicked off with an address by President Donald Rumsfeld. “Freedom without order is anarchy, and anarchy is the acid that destroys liberty. To be free, our society must be ordered and secure, and it is the responsibility of our government to insure that the security exits in which freedom can prosper.”
International Worker’s Day marches in a number of European cities are the venue for anti-Rumsfeld demonstrations.
In Brazil several leaders of the Worker’s Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores), including Luiz Inácio (“Lula”) da Silva, are arrested for protesting Brazil’s military dictatorship and its policy of austerity. Despite condemnation from the Pope and other western leaders, including Italian President Bobbio, the WP leaders are held in prison.
Supported by North Vietnam, the Pathet Lao form the new government in Laos. King Sisavang Vatthana and Prime Minister Prince Boun Oum are forced to flee. In exile in Tahiland, King Sisavang Vatthana later abdicates in favour of his son Crown Prince Vong Savang.
May 2 - 5, 1982
Indian Prime Minister Ram Sundar Das’ state visit to Washington D.C. His attempts to negotiate with the Rumsfeld Administration prove unproductive.
Prime Minister Das indicates that while his government is pursuing neo-liberal economic policies, he will not surrender what he calls “economic sovereignty” to outside corporations, a position which does not please free traders in the Rumsfeld Administration. At the same time Prime Minister Das signs a new arms purchase agreement with the Soviet Union and declines to close Indian ports to the Soviet Navy. Prime Minister Das’ idea seems to be to triangulate his country to the middle – or neutrality – in the Cold War while developing the economy along neo-liberal lines (limited only by a decision not to allow foreign investment to swamp the economy during the reforms). The main sticking point is the Das government’s refusal to abrogate the Indian-Soviet friendship treaty. The Indians see this as a tool to remaining neutral in the Cold War. The United States sees this as, despite his economic reforms, of Prime Minister Das being soft on Communism.
Tuesday, May 3, 1982
The House of Representatives passes the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1982 into law. The vote is 209 Republicans; 5 CV; 7 Democrats in favor (221). Opposed 197 Democrats; 5 We The People; 4 Republicans; 1 CV; 4 Libertarians; 1 Independent; 1 AAFP; 1 SWP (214).
Wednesday, May 5, 1982
A Unabomber bomb explodes in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University; secretary Janet Smith is injured.
Maureen McCann, a Protestant civilian, was stabbed and shot by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a covername used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), during an armed robbery at her post office in Killinchy, County Down.
Thursday, May 6, 1982
President Rumsfeld signs bill PUB L. 97-188, which makes health warnings on cigarette packs illegal, and releases cigarette manufacturers from certain safety and trade restrictions related to the health effects of their product. Republicans in Congress backed this bill to shore-up support in tobacco producing states.
Saturday, May 8, 1982
French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.
In Moscow Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri signs a new five-year Treaty of Friendship between Egypt and the Soviet Union.
BBC1: “Doctors have announced that Prime Minister Denis Healey is resting comfortably in hospital. He apparently suffered a coronary occlusion, a form mild heart attack, according to hospital spokesman, the consequence of stress and overwork. The Hospital spokesman stressed that there was no serious danger to Mr. Healey’s long-term health, and that with some rest and attention to his diet and work routine that he will be able to return to a full work schedule in a few weeks time. In term acting Prime Minister Neil Kinnock commented:
“We are pleased that the Prime Minister is in overall good health and that he has suffered no serious injury as a result of this attack. All of us in the Parliamentary party, along with the rest of the Labour Party membership, look forward to his return.”
A Labour Party spokesperson went on to confirm that Mr. Healey will return to the helm of the government and the party within the next few weeks. According to the Labour Party central office at no time was anyone considering asking Mr. Healey to step down as a result of this incident.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 9, 1982
President Carlos Humberto Perette of Argentina states that: “the Malvinas are forever a part of Argentina, and like a limb can never be cut free from the Argentine body without our consent. Today I will receive the certification of two Senators who will enter our Senate to represent those patriots of Argentina who today have taken a part of the Malvinas back and who represent the will and spirit of the Argentine people in their quest for a just rejoining of the Malvinas to the fatherland.”
Monday, May 10, 1982
James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “The Falkland Islands are British. There is no other conclusion acceptable in law or by this government. President Perette should restrain his dialogue, as nationalistic outbursts with appeals to a ‘fatherland spirit’ are not helpful. Britain will, of course, discuss with the Argentine government any outstanding issues over the Falklands or matters pertaining to the waters surrounding our territory there, but we will not have a gun put to our head, nor will be succumb to idle threats.”
In a Commons debate on the Northern Ireland Bill, which set out proposals for a new Assembly at Stormont, Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said: "A policy of continuing with Direct Rule is a dead end. We either move to a position of total integration ... or we seek a gradual devolution of power. This government has chosen the path of devolution, trusting that the people of Northern Ireland will have the maturity and good sense to work with democratic institutions to promote their freedom."
Airey Neave MP (Opposition Leader): “While the idea of returning democratic government to the people of Northern Ireland is laudable enough, we have to look at the totality of this bill and wonder if this government is not creating a back-door for the terrorists to enter government under the guise of so-called popular voting. I say ‘so-called’, because any voting system which allows the representatives of murderers and hoodlums to sit in any responsible body represents not a victory for free men, but a victory for the armalite over the ballot box.”
David Steel MP (Liberal Party Leader): “This government has taken-up the right course in giving the people of Northern Ireland a voice in their own affairs; it is a measure long past due after so many years of efforts by Tory and Labour governments to beat down a people’s will for self-determination with military force. Nonetheless, we must insure that those who sit in the new Parliament, from any side, are free of the blood of innocents on their hands. How will this government keep the paramilitaries from filling the benches of this new legislature?”
Bill Rodgers MP (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland): “Only those who are free from a record of violence may stand for a seat, and they must take an oath to refute violent action against the Crown or its subjects.”
James Prior MP (C – Lowestoft): “The elected representatives of Northern Ireland sit among us. What need have they of this Northern Ireland Parliament? Let them come to this Mother of Parliaments to express their will, as do all others in this realm. This is only an opening to regional licence and chaos, and I rise in this House and urge this government to put a stop to it now.”
Barbara Castle MP (SDP - Blackburn): “This bill is a failure of vision, a relic of an Imperial mindset that should have died at the Marne! Like all those bills of its ilk before it, be they for India, America or any other place under the jackboot of Empire it will fail because the people of Northern Ireland have said ‘enough of Empire’; ‘’enough of John Bull.’ Let us see reason and understand that the era of Empire is over, and it is time to let go. So let go! Give the Irish people their freedom and have done with it!”
Enoch Powell MP (UU – South Down): “It has been said in this House that those who wish to express their democratic wishes should stand for this House, and if elected come here to represent their constituencies. While this is an altogether laudable view of the supremacy of this Parliament, it is not a realistic view of the matter. I hold not truck with allowing the smooth tongued flunkies of paramilitaries into a legislature, even under the guise of the popular ballot, and I hold that all representatives so elected must first and foremost swear an oath of loyalty to our Sovereign King and Crown. With these qualifications I see the need of this regional parliament, and I call upon the Secretary of State to amend his bill to make clear the oath and loyalty requirement of any member of this legislature before they are seated.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 11, 1982
Pakistan formerly declares war against India over territorial control along their disputed border in the Tibetan area and launches a series of offensive there and in Kashmir. The Indian Army falters and appears to be caught un-prepared, although a series of quick counter-offensives secure the border. Nevertheless the early defeats and retreat by the Indian Army create a scandal in New Dehli that threatens the Das government.
While expressing official neutrality, the Rumsfeld Administration secretly provides military supplies to Pakistan. Crucially, the United States supplies Pakistan with satellite surveillance and electronic intelligence which enhances Pakistan’s ability to outmaneuver Indian troops on the ground. It is believed that the U.S. assurances of support were key to the General Zia’s decision to go to war in order to improve his control of the Tibetan area along the former Chinese frontier.
The FBI and FCTB arrest five ethnic Chinese drug smugglers for importing the “China Virus” into the United States. These men will become known as the “China Five,” although they are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Kelsey Grammer becomes the U.S. Attorney who prosecutes them.
May 11 – September 26, 1982
The United States Sixth fleet blockades Malta, forcing closed both ports and airports. The objective is to force Malta Prime Minister Dom Mintoff to resign. Mintoff has run afoul of the Rumsfeld Administration by establishing normal relations with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. France, Italy and Britain (supported by Spain, Belgium and Austria) vigorously protest this blatant use of force against Malta, but despite the fact that this creates a looming crisis within NATO, the Rumsfeld Administration does not back-off. West Germany and Canada remain neutral during the affair, earning both countries the ire of the west Europeans.
An effort to sanction the United States over this action is vetoed in the U.N. Security Council by the United States.
The blockade causes economic hardship in Malta and, “in the interest of the people of Malta” Prime Minister Mintoff resigns. His successor, Wistin Abela, announces that Malta will “reduce its relations with Libya, which eases the crisis and ends the U.S. blockade of the island.
Wednesday, May 12, 1982
Braniff International Airways is declared bankrupt and ceases all flights.
Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn stabs Pope Pius XIII with a bayonet while the Pope is conducting a public audience at the Vatican. The Pope is injured, and tales several weeks to recover. Krohn during his trial said that he was opposed to the reforms of Vatican II and that he believed Pope Pius XIII, having been a Portuguese Cardinal prior to his elevation to the Papacy, was a secret Communist agent trying to corrupt the Vatican. Krohn was a member of the secretive Pope Pius X society, a conservative group with the Roman Catholic clergy which rejected the Vatican II reforms, and which continued to support the restoration of the Vichy regime in France, the Franco regime in Spain and the Estado Nuvo in Portugal. In addition to his anti-communist views, Pope Pius XIII had routinely condemned rightist political tendencies within the Roman Catholic Church. This was more likely the motivation behind Krohn’s attack on the Pope.
The Senate passes the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1982 by a vote of 50-50 with Vice President Edwards casting the tie-breaking vote in favor.
May 13 – August 27, 1982
Soyuz T-5 was a manned spaceflight into Earth orbit to the then new Salyut 7 space station in 1982. While the Soyuz-T was docked it received visits from the unmanned Progress 13 resupply spacecraft, and the manned Soyuz T-6 and Soyuz T-7.
Thursday May 13, 1982
The European Parliament called on member states to ban the use of plastic bullets.
President Rumsfeld signs the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1982 into law.
President Rumsfeld: “It appears that agents of the former Communist regime in China conspired to poison our people and several of our allies, as part of a nefarious plot to undermine our democracy and destroy our nation. We have stopped it and exposed the perpetrators. We will soon have the virus they unleashed among us under control; but until we do quarantines and restrictions will have to continue to be imposed in affected areas for the safety and security of our people. The American people can rest assured that those who did this will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Saturday, May 15, 1982
President Rumsfeld signs bill PUB L. 97-201, which restricts the level of anti-pollution demonstrations which can take place near industrial sites deemed to be of “significant economic importance” that “demonstrations or other actions which may interfere with their legitimate commercial and economic activity can have consequences upon the economy of nature which may harm the national security of the United States.”
In practice bill PUB L. 97-201, passed by Republicans with Libertarian support, is near blank check for the U.S. federal government to shut down environmental protests on national security grounds. The bill includes language that equates the Economic Security of the United States with the National Security of the United States as “an inseparable factor.”
Sunday, May 16, 1982
Salvador Jorge Blanco wins presidential election in Dominican Republic.
Monday, May 17, 1982
The Caliphate forces begin an assault against the Arabian Republic and supporting Iraqi forces. After several weeks of intensive battles and street-fighting, the Iraqis and Arab Republic forces manage to drive the insurgents back out into the desert, and force them on a general retreat toward North Yemen.
At the same time North Yemeni forces begin a limited offensive into the desert to squeeze the insurgents and cut-off the supply line running between them and the PJO in Africa.
A commission meets on the Falkland Islands in an effort to negotiate an agreement with the Argentine squatters. The British authorities fence off the squatter area, and force them to receive their supplies by sea. There are some clashes with British troops as Argentine protesters attempt to break the fence line. Apart from these fence rushes, the encampment remains peaceful.
In October Sinn Fein sends a “solidarity mission” to join the encampment.
In response to British efforts to contain the squatter encampment, others appear at other points on the rocky coasts of the two main Islands in an effort to wear down British authorities.
--------------------------------------
The University Access Act passes the U.S. Senate on a 51-49 vote.
Tuesday, May 18, 1982
The U.S. District Court for Central California agrees to hear the case in Jarvis vs. McCloskey; wherein the plaintiff Howard Jarvis argues that Governor McCloskey’s plan to split the State violates his civil rights as a tax payer. Jarvis argues that having paid taxes to California for services, that his and every other taxpayers rights are violated when the Legislature and Governor attempt to split-up his tax dollars, in that some percentage of his tax dollars will end-up in the coffers of the new State in which he does not reside. This, Jarvis argues, is an unlawful taking.
California appeals on jurisdictional and Constitutional grounds. The legal wrangling means that the State of Jefferson initiative will not be decided in 1982, and not before the California legislative and Gubernatorial elections in November.
In fact the arguments in the case will stretch through 1983 on their way to the United States Supreme Court.
Wednesday, May 19, 1982
Sophia Loren jailed in Naples for tax evasion.
Friday, May 21, 1982
Former President James Gavin (speaking at the West Point graduation ceremony): “there is a dark impulse loose in our circles of power, one which looks inward and which believes that we can only manage our affairs in this world through brute force and bullying. This is not the way that built the United States into a great power, and which once made us the envy of the world. It was not through this closed mentality and thuggish approach to world affairs that we beat fascism and used our power and skills to forge an international order based upon peace and human rights. No this dark view, which veers away from the enlightenment of international law and human rights to pursue the doctrine of might makes right, this dark view is alien to who we are as Americans. It is the cancerous world-view of those we stood against in two world wars and in the Cold War. It is the narrow mentality that ultimately leads to defeat and destruction, and it must be avoided. The founding principle of this great land is that we embrace democracy, we do not cower from it in fear of losing power. Public office is meant for service, not as a personal fief to be clutched on to at all costs. Re-election is the affirmation that the office holder has held true to the highest principles of our great Republic and its founders, and not an objective to be gamed and manipulated for its own sake. We must be wary today of a great shadow falling across our land, one which threatens our freedoms in a way no foreign enemy ever could. We must recall again across the mystic chords of memory what it is that made America great, and what it means to be American. We cannot and must not allow any politician, no matter how exalted the office, to narrow our freedoms or strangle our democracy.”
Monday, May 24, 1982
In 1981, Hugo Chávez, by now a captain in the Venezuelan Army, was assigned to teach at the military academy where he had formerly trained. Here he indoctrinated new students in his so-called "Bolivarian" ideals, and recruited those whom he felt would make good members of the MBR-200, as well as organizing sporting and theatrical events for the students. In his recruiting attempts he was relatively successful, for by the time they had graduated, at least thirty out of 133 cadets had joined it. Chavez’s the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) took inspiration from three Venezuelans whom Chávez deeply admired, Ezequiel Zamora (1817–1860), Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) and Simón Rodríguez (1769–1854), these historical figures became known as the "three roots of the tree" of the MBR-200. Historically, Bolivarian ideology had been explicitly capitalist, but Chavez’s modern incarnation was a doctrine in construction, a heterogeneous amalgam of thoughts and ideologies, from universal thought, capitalism, Marxism, but rejecting the neoliberal models currently being imposed in Latin America and the discredited socialist and communist models of the old Soviet Bloc. Chavez looked to Fidel Castro’s Cuba as a model for a successful revolution, yet his view was also rooted in the church and not in doctrinaire Marxism. A number of researchers believe Chavez’s ideas were noticed by Pope Pius XIII and his circle sometime around mid-1982 and the Pope, who had his own ideas of a third way beyond neo-liberal capitalism and Soviet styled Communism, sent signals of support back to Chavez.
Tuesday, May 25, 1982
Ron Dellums University Access Act passes the House of Representatives by a vote of 218 – 217, with a behind the scenes push from the Rumsfeld White House to get a handful of Republican votes. Most Republicans, the Christian Values Party and the Libertarians opposed it.
Wednesday, May 26, 1982
David Brinkley (ABC): “To whom were you referring in your West Point speech?”
Former President Gavin: “I won’t single out any individual, but I will state that a group of officials at the top of our government have taken into their head to narrow democracy in the name of security, and that is the real threat of which I was speaking.”
Brinkley: “You mean President Rumsfeld?”
Gavin: “I mean those who counsel some of his current actions, yes.”
-------------------------------------------------
Aston Villa wins the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 after a 69-minute goal by Peter Withe in Rotterdam.
Kielder Water, an artificial lake in Northumberland, is opened.
Thursday, May 27, 1982
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. wins the FA Cup, beating QPR 1–0 in a replay.
Conservative candidate Tim Smith holds the seat of Beaconsfield in a by-election. The defeated Labour Party candidate is Tony Blair.
Contrary to most expectations, President Rumsfeld signs the University Access Act into law.
Virologists in Hong Kong and mainland China note a drop-off in the infection and mortality rate of the “China virus.”
-----------------------------------------
Anatoly Dobrynin (Soviet Ambassador to the US): “We wish to discuss with you the – ah – embarrassing matter of the fate of your past President Richard Nixon. I know him well, and I am concerned…”
Dick Cheney: “The United States protests the abduction of our former President. Apart from that we are not prepared to negotiate for his return. Whoever has him can either give him back, or kill him. Either outcome is politically useful to us.”
Politically useful? The words chilled Dobrynin, especially when combined with Cheney’s off-hand manner, as if they were discussing some wayward, leftist American student who had gotten in trouble in the Soviet Union, and not their former President. Just as many in the Soviet government suspected that the abduction of Nixon had been plotted to foment trouble with the West, now he saw that the Rumsfeld Administration didn’t mind an outcome in which Nixon came to harm, so they too could find the situation politically useful.
-------------------------
Friday, May 28, 1982
Turkish President (General) Nutterin Ersin pushes through a constitutional amendment which gives the military-controlled National Republican Party (NRP) a dominant role in the Turkish political system. Smaller parties are to be permitted, but only allowed into government as a junior partner in a coalition with the NRP Party. The electoral system is adjusted to insure NRP victories in elections. Alparsan Turkes’ NMP Party is banned and membership in it is made a death penalty offence. Anyone found giving aid to underground NMP cells is tortured and executed; this term of “giving aid” is liberally interpreted by police authorities.
The United States House of Representatives votes 219-216 to categorize Sinn Fein as “a terrorist front organization.”
An anti-Chinese riot takes place in New York City. Mayor Agnew and Commissioner Westmoreland come under fire for waiting seven hours before responding. Ten people are killed and an unknown number injured.
Sunday, May 30, 1982
Indianapolis 500: In what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history, 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds, the closest finish to that date, after Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps.
Monday, May 31, 1982
The U.S. Senate passes the anti-Sinn Fein Bill by a vote of 50-50, with Vice President Jackson casting the deciding vote in favor. President Rumsfeld signs it into law two days later.
Summer 1982
The “hot summer of Greece.” In the South civil order appears to break down as strikes and protests increasingly test the government’s resolve. In June Opposition leader Konstantinos G. Karamanlis tries to organize a parliamentary toppling of the PASOK government, which leads Prime Minister Papandreou to close parliament and adopt rule by emergency decree. This action brings the organized right into the streets alongside the radical left, adding further to the sense of chaos. In September Papandreou declares martial law and begins to crack down on the protestors with heavy force, which backfires and creates more unrest.
Meanwhile the Communist, with arms and support from the East Bloc, move out of their sanctuaries and begin to gain territory in the north of the country. In some areas they are welcomed as an alternative to the oppressiveness of the PASOK government.
Cambodian forces enter Southern and Central Laos. The Lon Non regime in Phnom Penh hopes to exploit the on-going civil war between Royalist and Pathet Lao forces to make territorial gains. This forces the hand of the South Vietnamese, who counter against Cambodian operations.
Wednesday, June 2, 1982
Opposition leader Sanjay Gandhi begins a series of nationwide rallies to protest the incompetence of the Das government in handling the war with Pakistan. Gandhi combines this with a populist protest of the neo-liberal economic policies of the Das government.
The Malan government learns of a secret ANC plan to foment a general strike and popular rising in South Africa. Since the plan involves violence against the white population, the Malan government decides to let it go ahead in order to “remind” the white population of “their real enemy.”
The PIRA announces that the recent co-operation with British authorities in putting down unrest in Loyalist communities in no way represents a cease-fire with the British authorities.
Pope Pius XIII declares "Peerke" Donders divine.
Thursday, June 3, 1982
An attempt to assassinate the Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Shlomo Argov, is carried out outside the Dorchester Hotel in London. The Libyan based Abu Nidal is later traced to being responsible for this.
The Begin government, not satisfied that Abu Nidal is a renegade from the PLO, attacks PLO facilities in Tunis by air in retaliation for the attempted assassination.
Friday, June 4, 1982
The long awaited big budget Star Trek: The Motion Picture opens in theaters in the United States. The film is more-or-less a straight out action film in Science Fiction clothing, with the subtle philosophical and anti-Washington undertones.
The sub-title is The Wrath of Garth. The plot revolves around the former Starfleet Admiral and hero Garth of Izar first seen in the television series episode Whom Gods Destroy (3-14, 1969). At the end of the television episode Garth was supposedly cured of his insanity, although the film exposes this as a ruse. After undergoing surgery to change his appearance, a still mad Garth (who lost his shape shifting power once acquired on Antos IV but apparently limited by the medication he was given after the original episode) makes a deal with the Romulans to assist them in conquering Vulcan in return for access to knowledge of Vulcan mind melding power.
Captain Kirk and the crew of the re-fitted U.S.S. Enterprise, with a new Vulcan Science Officer Xon (David Gautreaux) and new helmsman Will Decker (G.W. Bush), must work with the reclusive Vulcan monk Spock to stop Garth. Apart from the action sequences, the film also explores some of the aspects of Vulcan society, and the reason the Romulans left after the rise of Surak’s movement.
All of the original series cast returned except for George Takei, who declined to be involved, and whose character was replaced. (Takei, who was then planning to run for Congress under the We The People banner, reportedly refused to work with William Shatner. Sulu was mentioned in dialogue by Kirk and Chekov as being First Officer on another starship). Leonard Nimoy was also reluctant to return, so his character was left in limbo at the end of the film as a Vulcan monk. Mark Lenard also returned in the role of Sarek.
The original actor who had played Garth of Izar in the series, Steve Ihnat, had died in 1972. He was replaced by a veteran western series and soap opera character actor Philip Carey who conveyed Ihnat’s former athletic and large framed presence. This time Garth dies at the end of the film. The motion picture was dedicated to Ihnat and an Admiral Ihnat was mentioned in background dialogue as an off-screen character.
In his first film appearance since 1964, Ronald Reagan appeared in two scenes as the President of the United Federation of Planets. An obscure British Shakespearean actor named Patrick Stewart gained notice playing the Romulan General Pretix. Character actor Jonathan Frakes portrayed a “red-shirt” security officer who was killed off in the film.
According to Star Trek folklore the film had originally been called The Wrath of Khan, and actor Ricardo Montalban was set to reprise his role of villain Khan Noonien Singh from the series episode The Space Seed (1-22, 1967). However, Montalban had become an outspoken critic of the Rumsfeld Administration, and supposedly the leadership at Paramount was pressured by the White House to drop him. This caused a re-write for the script (reportedly the twentieth in a decade) and the replacement of the Khan character with a resurrected Garth (considered the next most memorable opponent of Kirk’s after Khan from the series). (Montalban himself fled to his native Mexico in 1983 to avoid arrest).
The film was a box-office success.
In the United Kingdom, the original television episode, Whom Gods Destroy, had been banned from broadcast since 1971 due to “sadistic plot elements”. Thus, to many in the British audience, the film’s story, which referred often to the earlier episode, had no context. Paramount originally sought to rectify this by playing the original episode prior to the film, but this lead to a rating of 18 (equivalent to a U.S. rating of R) because of the objectionable elements in the original episode. Paramount saw this as a threat at the box office, as the 18 rating excluded a significant portion of the potential viewing group among under 18’s. Attempts to get a rating of 15 proved unavailing, so Paramount released an edited version of the original episode (with the objectionable scenes removed) as a pre-feature to the film.
The film also became controversial later because at several points the Kirk character states that freedom can only exist with order and discipline, a political view closely associated with then in power Rumsfeld Administration. Producer Gene Roddenberry and Director Robert Wise included the lines in order to get their film released. Less noticed (at the time) were lines by the Vulcan characters Sarek, Spock and the President that “freedom cannot be achieved with force,” and “logic dictates that order and discipline must serve a greater end, they cannot be the end itself.”
Roddenberry also later commented that he deliberately crafted the new script involving a the militaristic Romulans attacking the peaceful Vulcans in order to infer an association between the Rumsfeld Administration and the Romulans (the General Pretix character uses variations of lines closely associated with President Rumsfeld throughout the film, and this was one of the reasons why a British actor was cast in the role, since it could have been dangerous for an American actor to take it on. [Martin Landau was considered for the part but backed away from it]). The Vulcans revere democratic government, and in a key line the Sarek character notes that the Vulcans did away with an “Electoral College” as it produced an undemocratic result in the past. The casting of Reagan in a political role in the film was also, it was hoped, convey a similar subtle message (Reagan was beginning to oppose some of Rumsfeld’s foreign policy by late 1981).
-----------------------------------------------
James Flynn, believed to be a member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA), was shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in North Strand Road, Dublin. [The INLA later claimed that Flynn was responsible for the killing of Seamus Costello, who had been leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), on October 5, 1977 in Dublin.]
Tuesday, June 8, 1982
VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727 passenger jet, crashes into forest Fortaleza, killing 137.
The Washington People’s Summit is convened under the chairmanship of former Presidential candidate and Agriculture Secretary, Senator George McGovern (D-SD). The WPS is a forum for left-wing progressive groups to come together and is used by the We The People Movement as a recruiting ground. The WPS is the scene of three days of often emotional and highly vitriolic condemnations of the policies of the Rumsfeld Administration. One of the platform points the WPS agrees on, under McGovern’s tutelage, is to call for a constitutional amendment which would create a right to access to affordable, nutrious food for all citizens of the United States.
After a second attempt at negotiations, talks between the Canadian Federal government and the Parti Quebecois government of Quebec break down over the questions of sovereign responsibility and debt.
Joe Clark MP (Federal negotiator): “In order for negotiations to succeed, each side has to approach the matter with good faith, and not with a series of intransigent demands. There is no point in talking to a body which is bent on an adverse outcome, and unwilling to seriously consider the full impact of their position.”
Rene Levesque MNA (Premier of Quebec): “Quebecois have tried to negotiate with the Anglophone government for over a century, and been told each time that what Quebec needs, it can’t have. For Quebec to stay in Confederation means that Quebec must have only what Ottawa chooses for it, and only in the way that Ottawa chooses it. Well, this government was elected on one pledge – Enough! Enough! Enough! The people of Quebec will have their dignity in their own state.”
The Quebec government announces that due to the breakdown of the talks another referendum will be held in October on the question of separation. Premier Levesque confirms that on the question a vote of fifty percent plus one will be all that is required for a mandate for Quebec independence.
Thursday, June 10, 1982
Richard Nixon hadn’t been abused, apart from the insult of being tossed into a small, squalid room that stank of mold and filth, not to mention the contents of the convenience bucket he was forced to use. It was rarely emptied. After the first few days the former President had gotten used to the smell. If he himself stank from the lack of showering he couldn’t tell, as the other smells masked his own. What he had trouble adjusting to was the lumpy, smelly, straw filled mattress he was expected to sleep on. It was the only piece of furniture in the room. Twice a day he was fed, mostly thin, lukewarm soup and some noodles. Nixon was beginning to lose weight.
He couldn’t be sure – because no one spoke directly to him in English – but he suspected that his guards were some element of the Soviet security forces. With little else to do, the former President’s mind had run wild with speculation as to why he had been abducted while on an official tour. His conclusion was that there was some sort of division within the Soviet government, and he had become a pawn in it. Locked away in this hole somewhere in what had once been Northwest China, he could only speculate on what the impact of the abduction had been. For all he knew World War III had already started.
While Nixon tried to count the days, it was difficult without a clock, and when the only light was a bare bulb in the ceiling which flickered with the irregular power supply, he couldn’t measure the time by the passing of the sun. His only measure was the spare meals, and he counted a day passed after the second of the two served to him by a sullen looking Asiatic fellow in what looked like a Uyghur costume. The man spoke no English, and the extent of his care for Nixon was to feed him and, occasionally, to clean out the convenience bucket. He made clear with a sour expression and some curse in his language how much he despised that second job.
Nixon had counted over ninety such days when two men who appeared to be Soviet soldiers broke into his cell. They grabbed him under the arms and hustled him away, to what the former President was certain would be a firing squad. Once outside the building he had been held in, the bright sunlight nearly blinded Nixon, whose eyes had become unaccustomed to the light. He huddled on the back of a truck, covering his eyes as he was taken to wherever it would happen.
When he could re-focus his vision, he found himself facing a youthful KGB officer with a sharp features and penetrating eyes.
“Our Ambassador in Washington spoke to your White House people about you,” the Russian said in rough but understandable English. “They were not interested in having you back.”
Nixon wasn’t surprised, though he felt some disappointment that Don Rumsfeld would turn on him. “The irony in that is that they sent me here in the first place,” he said.
“Yes. It would be interesting to know why. Perhaps to embarrass us?” the KGB officer remarked.
“For that to happen, someone there would have to know in advance that I was going to be – waylaid?”
“Waylaid? I don’t understand.”
“Kidnapped.”
“Oh yes,” the Russian said. “An interesting conjecture. But as you see Mr. Nixon, this matter is more complicated than either of us appreciate.”
“Am I to be shot?” Nixon asked.
“Your countrymen seem to prefer this outcome,” he said ominously. “Fortunately for you, the Soviet authorities are not – how you say in English – not inclined to do as the American White House wishes. So you live.”
“I am relieved,” Nixon said.
“You are to be given to Uyghur nationalists, who will release you. They will take credit for rescuing you from captivity; it will be great propaganda for them. Whether you support them or not, this up to you. Many will believe what they want of this affair.”
“May I ask why you want the Uyghurs to receive this credit? I mean, you are fighting them here?” Nixon asked.
The Russian shrugged, his thin mouth breaking into a slight smile for a second. “Such things are part of the complexities of politics. You were once a President, you know these things. I am but a humble servant of the state carrying out my duty. Perhaps it is best not to inquire too closely – how you say – look the gift horse in the mouth, yes?”
“Yes, you got it,” Nixon replied.
Major Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin didn’t know the full reason for this scenario either. All he knew for sure was that allies of Romanov had set this kidnapping up, no doubt to increase tensions with Washington and create an atmosphere for hard liners to step-up in command. However, President Rumsfeld had not played into their hands, instead showing a complete indifference to Richard Nixon’s fate. Ryzhkov had decided to give Nixon back, using the Uyghurs as intermediaries. There would be some embarrassment to the Soviet Union, but as the Deputy Premier had put it, “nothing compared to the embarrassment of the fools who planned this and saw it come to nothing.”
Ryzhkov had also wanted Nixon to be aware of the reaction Dobrynin had received from Cheney: all the better to turn the former American President against the current one. This could prove useful in the future.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, June 11, 1982
At the close of the WPS George McGovern officially joins the We The People Movement, becoming that party’s first sitting Senator.
California State Police and National Guard units have to be called in to quell an anti-Chinese riot in San Francisco. Five people are killed and upwards of fifty injured in the disturbance.
June 11 – July 15, 1982
An ANC sponsored general strike begins, and quickly follows into an attempted uprising. The first phase results in the deaths of a number of white South Africans, before the security forces act to supress it with bloody force.
Efforts are made by various Southeast Asian nations to organize a peace conference for Laos.
Saturday, June 12, 1982
A rally against nuclear weapons draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt attend. An international convocation at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine features prominent peace activists from around the world and afterward participants march on Fifth Avenue to Central Park for the rally. The march is attacked by New York Police with tear gas and a number of arrests are made, leading to charges of excessive brutality.
Turkish Cypriot strongman Özer Türkmen is toppled from power in a coalition lead by Mustafa Çağatay. Cyprus has remained divided by NATO and U.N. troops, and two communities have developed separately under the U.N. governing commission (which remains the internationally recognized government of Cyprus: the commission is now composed of a U.N. Commissioner, Greek Cypriot President Archbishop Chrysostomos I and formerly Turkmen, who is now replaced by Cagatay.
The economy in the Greek Cypriot state had been more dynamic, while the Turkish state had stagnated under General Turkmen’s iron-fisted rule. His overthrow and replacement by a civilian government under Cagatay is seen as an opportunity to open-up the Turkish Cypriot economy.
On the Greek side, where the Archbishop-President’s government enjoyed widespread support among the population, there has been resistance to joining Greece as political turmoil and economic uncertainty continued in that nation. Greek Cyprus is doing better economically and politically than the home country.
On the Turkish side General Turkmen ruled a military dictatorship similar to General Ersin’s on the Turkish mainland. The main obstacle to unification under the Turkish state (apart from U.N. resistance to the idea) had been General Turkmen’s unwillingness to relinquish his power to the Turkish state. Now the new Cagatay government is unwilling to join itself to a military dictatorship.
-----------------------------------------------
June 13 – 15, 1982
First Papal visit to Britain since 1531. The Pope, himself still recovering from the stabbing in May, meets a recovering Prime Minister Denis Healey at Checkers. The Pope also meets with King George VII at Buckingham Palace, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Hugh Montefiore, at Lambeth Palace. The Pope addresses Parliament after meeting with the King and Archbishop.
Pope’s remarks: “That which divides us as brothers and sisters in Christ is less than that which unites us. I come before you today with open hands and more importantly, an open heart and an open mind. We will not solve the mistrusts and differences left us by centuries of division in one day, but if we are to change that, we must begin one day. Let today be that day. “
Sunday, June 13, 1982
The 1982 FIFA World Cup begins in Spain.
Monday, June 14, 1982
Richard Nixon is rescued from captivity by Uyghur nationalists who deliver him to the Pakistanis, who bring him to Islamabad to be freed personally by President Zia.
Tuesday, June 15, 1982
The Soviet Union recognizes the Arabian Republic. Many Warsaw Pact countries along with Portugal and Cuba follow suit. Most western countries withhold recognition of the Arabian Republic which they view as a puppet creation of the pro-Soviet Iraqi government.
Wednesday, June 16, 1982
After several weeks convalescence Denis Healey returns to work as Prime Minister.
Margaret Thatcher: “This Prime Minister has shown that he puts his ego ahead of the nation. Clearly he is physically unfit for office and should resign.”
Barbara Castle MP (SDP-Blackburn): “I do not wish to attack Mr. Healey over this health, and if his physicians say that he is fit for his duties, then I have no argument against that. I call for Mr. Healey’s resignation at any time over his policies, not the man’s personal health. Still, if he chooses that as a reason to go, I shall welcome his departure just the same as if the government had been defeated in the House.”
Airey Neave MP (Opposition Leader): “The office of Prime Minister requires a person of good health and strong vigour, for it is an office of uniquely high stress and requires fortitude. I leave it to the Prime Minister to judge if he is physically capable of it, but it would not bode well for the United Kingdom if he were to collapse of another heart failure at a moment of national crisis. Personally, I wish him the best for his recovery, of course, but I hope he has considered the interests of the nation in his recent return to office.”
David Steel MP (Liberal Party Leader): “I welcome back the Prime Minister, and take him at his word about his health. I said before, and I say again, I wish Mr. Healey a speedy recovery, and I look forward to holding this government to account on all fronts.”
Denis Healey MP (Prime Minister): “I am heartened by the concern expressed by Members from all parties for my health, and I thank all my well-wishers. Rest assured, I have not given-up the fight, and after a bit of rest, I’m ready to make them feel a little queasy in the coming weeks.”
Thursday, June 17, 1982
Rahul Gul, a civilian official in the Indian Ministry of Defence is uncovered as having sold state military secrets to the CIA. (Gul in fact was a CIA agent passing information for money). The Indian press and Sanjay Gandhi quickly play-up this discovery into a conspiracy whereby the CIA is spying on India and passing military secrets to its nominal client in Pakistan, which Pakistan is using to defeat Indian troops in the border war.
Friday, June 18, 1982
Richard Nixon arrives in the United Kingdom. In a press conference he details his kidnapping by Soviet hard liners, and his later rescue by more moderate Uyghur nationalists. (Nixon believes it best to go along with the latter half of the Ryzhkov cover story). The former U.S. President later requests and receives political asylum in the UK.
Saturday, June 19, 1982
The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
The controversy surrounding Calvi's dealings at Banco Ambrosiano echoed a previous scandal in 1974, when the Holy See lost an estimated $30 million upon the collapse of the Franklin National Bank, owned by the Sicilian-born financier Michele Sindona. Bad loans and foreign currency transactions led to the collapse of the bank. Sindona later died in prison after drinking coffee laced with cyanide.
On 5 June 1982, two weeks before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi wrote a letter of warning to Pope Pius XIII, stating that such a forthcoming event would “provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage." Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in June 1982 following the discovery of debts (according to various sources) between 700 million and 1.5 billion US dollars. Much of the money had been siphoned off via the Vatican Bank (strictly named the Istituto per le Opere Religiose or Institute for Works of Religion), which was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder.
Pope Pius XIII would only learn of Calvi’s letter in August, when reports of it leaked in the British press. In June British Police had discovered a copy of the letter among Calvi’s effects and reported it to the Home Secretary Terence Boston. The News of the World later learned of this and printed the story. Secretary Boston was then forced to confirm its existence when he was questioned in the House about it. Boston also confirmed that his office had sent a copy to the Vatican Secretary of State soon after its discovery. An angry Pope demanded the letter, which was finally delivered to him at the end of August.
After reading the letter, the Pope assigned Cardinals Albino Luciani and Joseph Ratzinger to dig into the matter. After they met considerable resistance from within the Curia establishment, the Pope compelled the resignation of Agostino Cardinal Cassaroli and replaced him with Leo Joseph Cardinal Suenens (calling the Cardinal out of retirement for the job), which in turn shook up matters within the Vatican. Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was also removed from his position as head of the “Vatican Bank” and replaced by a board of supervisors. Pope Pius XIII later formalized this arrangement, replacing clerical direction with professional bankers of “sound professional repute” who reported to the Pope directly. While the Pope understood that the Vatican had need of its own financial institution to engage in sovereign exchanges and command its own financial affairs, he was also of the mind that “I am no banker, and the House of God is no place for the corruptions of banking.”
In 1984, the Vatican Bank agreed to pay US$224 million to the 120 creditors of the failed Banco Ambrosiano as a “recognition of moral involvement” in the bank's collapse.
Monday, June 21, 1982
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested four men in New York who they claimed were trying to buy surface-to-air missiles on behalf of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The Polish military and security services put down an anti-government march in Gdansk.
Governor John Rarick of Louisiana introduces a policy of expelling repeat offenders from the state of Louisiana. Under the program, offenders who are deemed to be “habitual” are driven to the State border and physically ejected into the neighboring state and told not to return. Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi soon file suit in federal court against this, as do several “expellees” who claim their civil rights have been violated.
Mayor Agnew of New York City institutes a similar program, and is sued by neighboring jurisdictions. He joins with Governor Rarick in defending the law suits in federal court and in the media as “law-and-order” measures.
June 24 – July 2, 1982
Soyuz T-6 was a manned spaceflight to Earth orbit to the Salyut 7 space station in 1982. Along with two Russians, the crew included a Frenchman, Jean-Loup Chrétien.
The Soyuz-T spacecraft arrived at Salyut 7 following launch on 24 June 1982 and one day of solo operations. During the T-6 mission's time docked to the station, the crew performed joint Soviet-French experiments, including cardiovascular echography, alongside the station's resident crew.
Thursday, June 24, 1982
British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary 4-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane, after flying through the otherwise undetected ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.
The Parti Quebecois government stages two large pro-separation rallies in Quebec City and Montreal on the Fete Nationale Day.
Friday, June 25, 1982
The Institute for Puerto Rican Policy is founded in New York City to research and advocate for Puerto Rican and Latino community issues. It is closely affiliated with the We The People Movement.
June 25 – June 28, 1982
Father Pablo Cuerda leads a peasants march for justice from San Fabian to Santiago, Chile, where they stage a peaceful sit down protest in the Plaza de la Ciudadania in front of the La Mondeda Presidential Palace. General Pinochet is embarrassed by this show of defiance, but in a difficult position because the Franciscan Friar is leading a peaceful protest. Pinochet has also been warned personally by Pope Pius XIII not to harm Father Cuerda and his followers. In Rome, the Pope offers a blessing to Father Cuerda and calls in the Chilean Ambassador to reinforce his point. (One of the Pope’s assistants, Father Mendez, is in fact in Santiago and on hand to report on the matter back to the Vatican).
Tuesday, June 29, 1982
Kosmos 1383, the first search & rescue satellite, launched.
Thursday, July 1, 1982
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) found a large cache of bombs at Castlefin, County Donegal.
Friday, July 2, 1982
Larry Walters, a.k.a. Lawn Chair Larry, flies 16,000 feet (4,900 m) above Long Beach, California in a lawn chair with weather balloons attached.
Tuesday, July 6, 1982
A lunar eclipse (umbral duration 236 min and total duration 106 min, the longest of the 20th century) occurs.
The Argentine government deploys the cruiser General Belgrano and some supporting vessels to the waters off of the Falkland-Malvina Islands.
Thursday, July 8, 1982
Porn star John Homes convicted of receiving stolen property.
Wendy Lee Coffield becomes the first victim of the Green River killer.
Friday, July 9, 1982
Pan Am Flight 759 (Boeing 727) crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.
Intruder Michael Fagan visits King George VII in his bedroom for a chat.
It was the 31-year-old's second attempt to break into Buckingham Palace that was successful. On his first attempt he scaled a drainpipe, briefly startling a housemaid who called security, who decided not to act. Fagan entered through an unlocked window on the roof and spent the next half hour eating cheddar cheese and Triscuits and wandering around. He tripped several alarms, but they were faulty. He viewed the royal portraits and rested on the throne for a while. He then entered the postroom, where he drank half a bottle of white wine before becoming tired and leaving.
On the second attempt, an alarm sensor detected him. A member of the palace staff thought the alarm was faulty, and silenced it. En route to see the King, Fagan broke a glass ashtray, lacerating his hand.
The King woke when he disturbed a curtain, after which he sat on the edge of his bed talking to Fagan for about ten minutes. He phoned twice for police but none came. Fagan then asked for some cigarettes, which were brought by a maid. When the maid did not return to base for some time, footman Paul Whybrew appeared. The incident happened as the armed police officer outside the royal bedroom came off duty before his replacement arrived. The replacement officer had been walking the King’s dog and was late for his shift.
Since it was then a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence, Michael Fagan was not charged for trespassing in the King’s bedroom. He was charged with theft (of the half bottle of wine), but the charges were dropped when he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. He spent the next six months in a mental hospital before being released on 21 January 1983.
Fagan's mother later said, "He thinks so much of the King, especially after the terrible thing that happened to his (the King’s) mum. I can imagine him just wanting to simply talk and say hello and discuss his problems."
--------------------------------------------
July 10 – September 10, 1982
A Cuban backed offensive into Namibia from Angola forces the South African Defense force back to a defensive pocket around Windhoek. The city is levelled by artillery fire and air strikes. USAF and USN assets meantime strike at cities in Angola, including Luanda. In Namibia both sides use chemical weapons and dirty bombs, creating a further environmental disaster.
Saturday, July 10, 1982
1,500 protesters are injured and at least 20 (possibly more) are killed in Chennai in a clash between Congress supporters and supporters of the Janata Party government.
Sunday, July 11, 1982
West Germany beats Italy 3–2 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
Monday, July 12, 1982
The Egyptian Communist Party, previously banned, is brought into the ruling Egyptian National Democratic Party. Under a decree of the ruling council, the ENDP is the only legal political party in Egypt.
The DHSS reports that the virus surrounding the Hereford area is beginning to burn out.
DHSS spokesman: “Our best determination is that this particular virus, which we know to have been engineered in a laboratory, was designed to operate for a short term, perhaps clearing an area of enemy soldiers and opponents, before burning itself out, quite probably to allow an invading force to move into the affected area without being endangered. I will not comment on the ethical nature of such a weapon, but I will say that over the past week we have seen a steep decline in new cases, and a number of our current patients are showing signs of recovery.”
Terrence Boston, Home Secretary: “While the signs of recovery in Herefordshire are a good sign, we will nonetheless keep travel restrictions in place until we can be assured that the danger has indeed passed. I understand that this will be a great inconvenience to the local population and those having business in the affected area, however it is the judgment of the government that we want to insure that there is no further health risk to the larger British public before we close down the precautions currently in place.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, July 14, 1982
Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that elections to the new Assembly at Stormont would be held on 20 October 1982.
Thursday, July 15, 1982
Geoffrey Prime, a GCHQ civil servant, is remanded in custody on charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Prime was first detected when his wife persuaded him to turn himself in, and he later participated in the Paedophile Information Exchange, a pro-paedophile activism group being watched by the British government. Members of the group used secret codes to communicate. He was subsequently identified as supplying information to the Soviets, and was tried, convicted, and imprisoned in 1982. His defence counsel was George Carman QC. He was sentenced to a total of 38 years, 35 for offences under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 and 3 years for sex offences against children. The information he disclosed was publicly represented as having been damaging to the UK and beneficial to the Soviets, but details were not released. His position at GCHQ made him privy to information which would have been damaging had he turned it all over to the Soviets.
His sentence was reputed to be the second-longest jail sentence in British legal history. The judges at his trial and his appeal said that if Britain had been at war with the Soviet Union, his crimes would make him eligible for the death penalty and that they would have had no compunction about imposing it.
Later it was revealed that Prime had told the KGB that the United Kingdom and the United States had cracked high-level Soviet codes. As a result, the Soviet government changed them, making their military ciphers unreadable by the UK and US until the end of the Cold War.
Friday, July 16, 1982
Colm Carey, a Catholic civilian, died from loss of blood following a 'punishment' shooting carried out by the PIRA at his home on Strabane Old Road, Gobnascale, Derry. Carey had been shot in the knee. Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers', was released from prison.
Mayor Agnew announces that “I have made a commitment to the people of my city, and won’t run for Governor of New York – not this year.”
Saturday, July 17, 1982
Norman Maxwell, a Protestant civilian, was severely beaten and then killed when a car was driven over him several times. The attack was carried out by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers' at the rear of Rumford Street Loyalist Club. Maxwell's body was later dumped in Alliance Parade off the Old Park Road, Belfast. [It is believed that Lenny Murphy, who had been the leader of the 'Shankill Butchers' was responsible for the killing with the attack happening one day after Murphy's release from prison.]
Monday, July 19, 1982
Home Secretary Terrance Boston announces that Michael Trestrail (the Queen's bodyguard) has resigned from the Metropolitan Police Service over a relationship with a male prostitute.
After a series of attempts to arrest him by the South African security forces fail, Zulu chief and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi leads a Zulu uprising in KwaZulu-Natal. Attempts to re-press the insurgency lead to a full scale guerilla war between Buthelezi’s followers and the Malan regime.
Tuesday, July 20, 1982
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) exploded two bombs in London, one at South Carriage Drive, close to Hyde Park and the other at the Bandstand in Regent's Park, resulting in the deaths of 11 British Soldiers. The first bomb exploded shortly before 11.00am when soldiers of the Blues and Royals were travelling on horseback to change the guard at Horseguards Parade. Three soldiers were killed instantly and a fourth died of his injuries on 23 July 1982. A number of civilians who had been watching the parade were also injured. One horse was killed in the explosion but a further six had to be shot due to their injuries. The bomb had been left in a car parked along the side of the road and is believed to have been detonated by a member of the IRA who was watching from within Hyde Park.
The second bomb, which exploded at lunch time, had been planted under the bandstand in Regent's Park. The explosion killed 7 bandsmen of the Royal Green Jackets as they were performing a concert at the open-air bandstand. Approximately two dozen civilians who had been listening to the performance were injured in the explosion. It is thought that the bomb had been triggered by a timing device and may have been planted some time in advance of the concert.
Wednesday, July 21, 1982
HMS Hermes and a Royal Navy supporting taskforce are dispatched to the Falkland Islands.
Friday, July 23, 1982
The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986.
A coroner's jury returns a verdict of suicide on Roberto Calvi, who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge.
Mayor Agnew is photographed going with police raids to break-up heroin shooting galleries and drug houses. During these photo-ops the Mayor is usually seen carrying a baseball bat.
Torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan destroy bridges and kill 299.
The 'Northern Ireland Act 1982', which established the rules for the proposed Assembly, became law.
On a movie set, the Twilight Zone actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors die in a helicopter stunt accident.
In Turkey several rounds of parliamentary elections are completed with the National Republican Party (NRP) winning 85% of the vote. Election violence is reported in some areas, and in Kurdish areas Kurdish separatists tried to disrupt the elections. These incidents were met with quick and direct force by the Ersin government. Mostly though the elections were peaceful and carried off with a mood of resignation to the order by the population (and some relief at the law-and-order situation). A score of smaller parties make-up the other 15% of seats won. In addition to known NMP members and supporters, Communists and Islamists were also prohibited from standing for parliament.
Saturday, July 24, 1982
The Rumsfeld Administration signs a new defence treaty with the Ersin regime in Turkey during a state visit by President Ersin to Washington. Among the provisions of the treaty are a recognition by the United States of Turkey’s claims to the Dodecanese Islands and its acceptance of Turkey’s recent expulsion of Greek nationals from those islands it occupies.
The pro-Turkish tilt of the Rumsfeld Administration further aggravates relations with the PASOK government in Athens. During the Wallace Administration the United States had made efforts lead by Secretary of State Henry Jackson to return the occupied islands to Turkey, and the U.S. had supported U.N. resolutions to that effect.
Under President Rumsfeld the U.S. reversed course, largely because of an antipathy to the socialist government in power in Greece. The U.S. vetoed a series of U.N. resolutions designed to force Turkey into negotiations over the islands status.
At the same time, while the British and French continued to bolster the Greek Cypriot state, the United States under President Rumsfeld supplied aid to the Turkish Cypriot dictatorship of General Turkmen in return for basing rights.
Tuesday, July 27, 1982
While in Philadelphia for his “Rummy’s a Dummy” comedy tour, comedian and political activist George Carlin disappears. He was reportedly last seen being pushed into the back of a van by men who are variously described as “cops in plainclothes” to “lawyers.” Narcotics and drug paraphernalia are found in his hotel room, allowing authorities to allude that Carlin’s disappearance was drug related.
Five Chinese restaurants are burned down in Denver, Colorado as a result of racially inspired arson.
Saturday, July 31, 1982
In Beaune, France, 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a highway accident (France's worst).
Sunday, August 1, 1982
Attempted coup against government of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya. The coup d'état attempt was a failed attempt to overthrow President Daniel arap Moi's government. At midnight on Sunday, August 1, 1982, a group of soldiers from the Kenya Air Force took over the radio station Voice of Kenya and announced that they had overthrown the government. The group tried to force a group of Air Force fighter pilots to bomb the State House at gunpoint. The pilots pretended to follow the orders on the ground but once airborne they ignored them and instead dropped the bombs over Mount Kenya's forests, unarmed.
Hezekiah Ochuka, a Senior Private Grade-I (the second lowest rank in Kenya’s military) ruled Kenya for about six hours before escaping to Tanzania. After being extradited back to Kenya, he was tried and found guilty of leading the coup attempt and was sentenced to hang. Also implicated in the coup attempt was Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a former Vice President to Jomo Kenyatta, and his son Raila Amolo Odinga. The attempt was quickly suppressed by loyalist forces led by the Army, the General Service Unit (GSU) — the paramilitary wing of the police — and later the regular police, but not without civilian casualties.
Oteyo said that the coup failed because most of the soldiers did not execute their parts of the plan since most of the soldiers were busy looting instead of going to arrest the president and his ministers. The coup leader Ochuka, had gone to fetch a radio presenter, Leonard Mambo Mbotela.
The coup left more than 100 soldiers dead and more than 200 civilians who included two Germans, an English woman, and a Japanese male tourist and his child, and two Asian women took away their lives after being raped during the coup.
In response to alleged campus involvement in the failed coup, the Kenyan government accused external communist sources of secretly funding the attempt. The Kenyans became closer to the U.S. government as a result. A number of Kenyan Communists died under mysterious circumstances in the following years.
-----------------------------------------------------------
As largely anticipated, the new Turkish Parliament endorses the Ersin government by a vote of 212 – 38.
Monday, August 9, 1982
The World Health Organization reports that a large scale environmental disaster is occurring in a broad arc stretching from Namibia and Angola across Southern Africa to Mozambique as a consequence of the use of chemical, biological and radioactive weapons in the regions war. Death rates from disease and war related injuries have reached what are described as “epidemic” proportions.
Between the Southern Africa situation and the so-called “China Virus”, WHO declares 1982 to be the worst year for infectious disease since 1918 (Spanish Flu Epidemic).
The CIA begins covert support to Tamil Nadu nationalist elements which are opposed to centralized rule from New Delhi.
Nyugen Tran, an ethnic Vietnamese fisherman, is beaten to death in Bossier City, Louisiana by a group of white racists.
Tuesday, August 10, 1982
Mieczysław Rakowski, a pro-Communist newspaper publisher, is made the new civilian Prime Minister of Poland. The military and security services remain in charge behind the scenes.
Wednesday, August 11, 1982
ITV reporter: “How do you comment on the recent comments by United States officials that the government is being too light on the virus scare; that the all clear given by the DHSS is a political rather than a medical judgment and that dismantling the quarantine zone could endanger the British public at large?”
James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “At no time would this government play politics with such a vital area as public health. Throughout this crisis we have followed the advice offered us by the medical and scientific professionals, both those employed by the various government departments, and outside experts as well. The British people can rest assured that our guiding principle in this has been their welfare and no other consideration. As to what is happening in the United States, I must leave that to the judgment of the relevant officials there, as it is their country after all. To date they have not sought our advice, but should they do so, we are prepared to offer any and all assistance they should require.”
ITV: “Can you comment on the speculation that the Rumsfeld Administration is using the virus scare as a ploy to increase fear prior to their Congressional elections?”
JC: “That is largely an internal matter of the United States, so I won’t comment on that area. As I have said, the matter is in the hands of the relevant American authorities, and as to what is happening there, you had better ask the American government about it.”
------------------------------
With support from Algeria, Mauritanian and East Bloc forces strike East into Mali, where they become embroiled in an insurgency war with the PJO forces.
Thursday, August 12, 1982
Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spread throughout Latin America.
Sunday, August 15, 1982
During a visit to the United States of America (USA) Martin Smyth, then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (MP), alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in Northern Ireland.
Tuesday, August 17, 1982
The first compact discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
Margaret Thatcher (ITV commentary): “This government is prepared to play hit-or-miss with people’s lives, all to make us believe they have control of the situation. Looking to the United States, we see a far more responsible leadership in such a matter. President Rumsfeld has assumed a responsible caution in the face of an aggressive attack on his people by Communist agents. It is a crime – yes, I say a crime – that the weak kneed, Socialist government in this nation is too willing to cave in to the pro-left lobby and endanger all of our lives in an effort to downplay this attack.”
Barbara Castle MP (SDP-Blackburn): “When will this government come to the realization that any association with the imperial wars of the runaway American Empire – the United States of Rumsfeld – will draw nothing but hostility and danger to our shores. This current crisis should be a lesson to us all that not only are the days of Empire gone for good, but that assuming policies of the Imperial age in the face of modern weapons and the aspirations of the world’s people to free themselves of the Imperial yoke is sentimental folly. We have attached ourselves, in China and in Portugal, to an aggressive power intent on plundering the world for its own aggrandizement. I call on this government to end our self-destructive association with the USA and to seek a new way, a way that will promote peace and the development of the world’s people.”
Kenneth Clarke MP (Lib—Rushcliffe): “There is no question that this current incident has forced us to re-examine our relationship with the United States, which under President Rumsfeld has made a decidedly rightward turn in its policies, but we must resist calls to withdraw from our alliances, and in so doing fracture our mutual security. We may not like the fact that President Rumsfeld has changed the agenda of American policy, but we must not forget that the Soviet Union is still there, and still represents a danger to the free world. The recent incident has informed us to be more cautious, but in that caution we must not retreat from our global responsibilities.”
Airey Neave MP (Opposition Leader): “The current crisis shows us more than ever how much we need the strength of the United States with us in a dangerous world, and we need to be seen in Washington as a reliable ally. To choose any other course is folly, based on wishful thinking and plays right into the hands of the Soviet Union which, we must never forget, remains an enemy of all men’s freedom at all times in all places.”
Enoch Powell MP (UU-South Down): “Can we be sure that the virus was not aimed at us by the United States? Could this current crisis have been manufactured in Washington in order to weaken British resolve and independence?”
Ian Paisley MP (DUP – North Antrim): “America has attacked us! The American President has done as a first step in a Papist conquest of all Ireland; to bring our island under Roman rule. Why would he do this? Twenty million Papist votes in New York and Chicago. We must stop this Rumsfeld plot in its tracks and pledge not one inch more of sacred soil to the Papists, no matter how many germs they throw at us!”
James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “This government remains in favour of our historic commitments, including the NATO alliance and the security of free nations against non-democratic forces. We will continue to engage with the United States over the terms of our alliance, relying on a close friendship our two governments have enjoyed over the past four decades, to work together as true partners in world affairs. As for hysterical rants about American conspiracies to destroy us, or to dominate the world, that’s all sheer poppycock and utter nonsense.”
John Smith MP (Lab-North Lanarkshire): “Our historic commitments? Maybe our history, as some have pointed out, is the problem? Should we not be looking at modern policies for a modern Britain?”
---------------------------
August 19 – December 10, 1982
Soyuz T-7 (code name Dnieper) was the third Soviet space mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Crew member Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman in space in almost twenty years, since Valentina Tereshkova who flew in 1963 on Vostok 6.
Savitskaya was given the orbital module of Soyuz T-7 for privacy. The Soyuz T-7 crew delivered experiments and mail from home to the Elbrus crew. On August 21 the five cosmonauts traded seat liners between the Soyuz Ts. The Dniepers undocked in Soyuz T-5, leaving the newer Soyuz T-7 spacecraft for the long-duration crew.
Saturday, August 21, 1982
The Soviets back an effort by Cuba, North Korea and Zambia to have the United States expelled from the United Nations for its activities in supporting the racist regime in South Africa.
Rep. Charles Wright (D-IA): “The problem we face is that Dellums has hijacked the progressive wing with the Education Bill, and that’s giving us an image problem.”
Henry Jackson: “The problem is that the Democrats are afraid to stand-up to Rumsfeld and his security agenda. He calls us unpatriotic for asking questions, and the Democratic leadership quakes for fear voters will agree with him. It’s pathetic.”
Sen. James Carter (D-GA): “Truth is Henry, we’re being torn apart. In the South white Democrats are going Republican or to the Christian Values people if they’re evangelicals. What we’re getting elected down there are more radical Democrats, people who are more inclined to align with Ron Dellums.”
HJ: “Because they look like him?”
JC: “I don’t want to characterize it as a race thing, Henry.”
CW: “Because they look like Dellums – and think like him.”
HJ: “At last some candor! Thank-you Charlie. And that’s my point Jimmy; how you handled that question is exactly what’s wrong with the modern Democratic Party, and its why we’re losing ground to Rumsfeld and Dellums.”
CW: “Our leadership is afraid Rumsfeld will call us unpatriotic, while at the same time they run from Dellums, afraid they are losing the base to him.”
HJ: “They are losing a substantial part of the base to Dellums, and another part to Rumsfeld. At the same time Democrats look weak because we’re afraid to challenge the Republicans – because we’re afraid of them – or We The People – because we’re afraid they’re the populist future of our party.”
JC: “A nice summation of our situation, but how do we deal with it?”
HJ: “By standing for something. Don’t look at me like that Jimmy, you know I’m right.”
CW: “In the west the Libertarians are eating into our base, as well as the Republicans, because they appear genuine.”
HJ: “The seats we hold are the ones where the split in vote goes in our favor, and the same for the Republicans. Hell, Rumsfeld’s whole presidency came about because of that.”
JC: “So what is this something we’re supposed to stand for?”
HJ: “Democracy – as the name Democratic Party might imply – would be a good start, don’t you think? Look, people are voting Christian Values, Libertarian, We The People, Socialist, because they sense these movements are authentic. A lot have turned against the Democratic and Republican image because, compared to the true believers, we appear inauthentic. Want a case in point? Look at Pete McCloskey – he’s running as a party of one – and independent. He won last time and he’s ahead in the polls this time around – you know why? Because voters see him as being authentic. Democrats and Republicans are just names for professional politicians.”
JC: “So we lay back and let the University Access bill go through. Then what?”
HJ: “That bill is the ideological antithesis of what Rumsfeld believes, but he let Delums carry it off because of what it represents – a big rift in the non-Republican support between the Democrats and We The People.”
CW: “So what’s the solution? If we had tried to kill Dellums bill and we look like the heavies – which is what Rumsfeld wants. That’s why he had Lott and Bill Brock giving their support to a bill that would otherwise turn their lips blue.”
JC: “We couldn’t not support it, because most Democrats believed in it. But by supporting it, we gave the appearance that Ron Dellums was our de-facto leader.”
HJ: “Exactly where Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney want us. While at the same time they hammer us over being weak on national security, all while there is a big security scare going on. If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were a bunch of wimps – or worse – yesterday’s party whose time had come.”
CW: “You should talk. You served in Wallace’s administration, and he made us all look like clowns, changing his positions with every poll.”
HJ: “I don’t have to defend the important work I did for President Wallace and this country-“
JC: “And in a quick turn of conversation, we see what is happening with the Democratic Party. When others aren’t picking us apart, we argue amongst ourselves and do Rumsfeld’s work for him.”
HJ: “You’ve got the point, Jimmy. I’m embarrassed to say I just fell into the trap.
CW: “Then we have to find a way to dig out of the trap.”
JC: “Or find an even bigger one for Rumsfeld to fall into.”
HJ: “Now you’re seeing the bigger picture Jimmy.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, August 23, 1982
The superior South Vietnamese forces, backed by the United States, drive the Cambodians out of Laos and back into Cambodian territory.
Wednesday, August 25, 1982
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announced that it would contest the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly elections but those elected would not take their seats. Sinn Fein announced it would boycott the elections altogether, and darkly implied that the PIRA would disrupt the polling.
Saturday, August 28, 1982
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) found one and a half tons of commercial explosive hidden in a lorry near Banbridge, County Down. The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) found 10,000 rounds of ammunition and commercial explosives at Glencree, County Wicklow.
August 31 – September 4, 1982
A further series of military reverses in Kashmir and along the Tibetan frontier further undermines the government of Prime Minister Das. This plays into the image that Sanjay Gandhi has been playing up of the government being infiltrated by Pakistani spies.
Wednesday, September 1, 1982
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) shot and wounded Billy Dickson, then a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member of Belfast City Council.
Friday, September 3, 1982
Italian general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa is killed in a Mafia ambush.
--------------------------------------------------
“Recognize that Dick Cheney is the most cynical political figure to hold high office in this country since his former boss Dick Nixon. And he is perfectly willing to say what he thinks will advance him, particularly in an election season.”
- John Nichols, author of Dick: The Man Who Was the real 41st President.
“Here's what I can tell you about Don Rumsfeld. You're never going to get any credit. And you'll only know how well you're doing if he gives you more work. If that happens, you're doing fine.”
- Dick Cheney quoted by Bob Woodward
Spring 1982
The Greek economy is brought to a standstill by workers’ and students’ strikes and protests against the PASOK government of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. Papandreou, whose democratic legitimacy is challenged (since he retains power thorough what many see as a rigged electoral process), is accused of becoming more dictatorial in his rule, and image reinforced when the Prime Minister has a number of radical labour and student leaders thrown in prison for challenging the government’s economic agenda.
In the north of Greece talks between the PASOK government and the Communist rebels have broken down, largely because neither side will concede to the other. The talks have been going on for a number of years, as an uneasy truce is observed between the Athens government and Communist rebels who have retained their arms and control of territory close to the Bulgarian border.
Saturday, May 1, 1982
A crowd of over 80,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee. The fair is kicked off with an address by President Donald Rumsfeld. “Freedom without order is anarchy, and anarchy is the acid that destroys liberty. To be free, our society must be ordered and secure, and it is the responsibility of our government to insure that the security exits in which freedom can prosper.”
International Worker’s Day marches in a number of European cities are the venue for anti-Rumsfeld demonstrations.
In Brazil several leaders of the Worker’s Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores), including Luiz Inácio (“Lula”) da Silva, are arrested for protesting Brazil’s military dictatorship and its policy of austerity. Despite condemnation from the Pope and other western leaders, including Italian President Bobbio, the WP leaders are held in prison.
Supported by North Vietnam, the Pathet Lao form the new government in Laos. King Sisavang Vatthana and Prime Minister Prince Boun Oum are forced to flee. In exile in Tahiland, King Sisavang Vatthana later abdicates in favour of his son Crown Prince Vong Savang.
May 2 - 5, 1982
Indian Prime Minister Ram Sundar Das’ state visit to Washington D.C. His attempts to negotiate with the Rumsfeld Administration prove unproductive.
Prime Minister Das indicates that while his government is pursuing neo-liberal economic policies, he will not surrender what he calls “economic sovereignty” to outside corporations, a position which does not please free traders in the Rumsfeld Administration. At the same time Prime Minister Das signs a new arms purchase agreement with the Soviet Union and declines to close Indian ports to the Soviet Navy. Prime Minister Das’ idea seems to be to triangulate his country to the middle – or neutrality – in the Cold War while developing the economy along neo-liberal lines (limited only by a decision not to allow foreign investment to swamp the economy during the reforms). The main sticking point is the Das government’s refusal to abrogate the Indian-Soviet friendship treaty. The Indians see this as a tool to remaining neutral in the Cold War. The United States sees this as, despite his economic reforms, of Prime Minister Das being soft on Communism.
Tuesday, May 3, 1982
The House of Representatives passes the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1982 into law. The vote is 209 Republicans; 5 CV; 7 Democrats in favor (221). Opposed 197 Democrats; 5 We The People; 4 Republicans; 1 CV; 4 Libertarians; 1 Independent; 1 AAFP; 1 SWP (214).
Wednesday, May 5, 1982
A Unabomber bomb explodes in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University; secretary Janet Smith is injured.
Maureen McCann, a Protestant civilian, was stabbed and shot by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a covername used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), during an armed robbery at her post office in Killinchy, County Down.
Thursday, May 6, 1982
President Rumsfeld signs bill PUB L. 97-188, which makes health warnings on cigarette packs illegal, and releases cigarette manufacturers from certain safety and trade restrictions related to the health effects of their product. Republicans in Congress backed this bill to shore-up support in tobacco producing states.
Saturday, May 8, 1982
French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.
In Moscow Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri signs a new five-year Treaty of Friendship between Egypt and the Soviet Union.
BBC1: “Doctors have announced that Prime Minister Denis Healey is resting comfortably in hospital. He apparently suffered a coronary occlusion, a form mild heart attack, according to hospital spokesman, the consequence of stress and overwork. The Hospital spokesman stressed that there was no serious danger to Mr. Healey’s long-term health, and that with some rest and attention to his diet and work routine that he will be able to return to a full work schedule in a few weeks time. In term acting Prime Minister Neil Kinnock commented:
“We are pleased that the Prime Minister is in overall good health and that he has suffered no serious injury as a result of this attack. All of us in the Parliamentary party, along with the rest of the Labour Party membership, look forward to his return.”
A Labour Party spokesperson went on to confirm that Mr. Healey will return to the helm of the government and the party within the next few weeks. According to the Labour Party central office at no time was anyone considering asking Mr. Healey to step down as a result of this incident.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, May 9, 1982
President Carlos Humberto Perette of Argentina states that: “the Malvinas are forever a part of Argentina, and like a limb can never be cut free from the Argentine body without our consent. Today I will receive the certification of two Senators who will enter our Senate to represent those patriots of Argentina who today have taken a part of the Malvinas back and who represent the will and spirit of the Argentine people in their quest for a just rejoining of the Malvinas to the fatherland.”
Monday, May 10, 1982
James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “The Falkland Islands are British. There is no other conclusion acceptable in law or by this government. President Perette should restrain his dialogue, as nationalistic outbursts with appeals to a ‘fatherland spirit’ are not helpful. Britain will, of course, discuss with the Argentine government any outstanding issues over the Falklands or matters pertaining to the waters surrounding our territory there, but we will not have a gun put to our head, nor will be succumb to idle threats.”
In a Commons debate on the Northern Ireland Bill, which set out proposals for a new Assembly at Stormont, Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said: "A policy of continuing with Direct Rule is a dead end. We either move to a position of total integration ... or we seek a gradual devolution of power. This government has chosen the path of devolution, trusting that the people of Northern Ireland will have the maturity and good sense to work with democratic institutions to promote their freedom."
Airey Neave MP (Opposition Leader): “While the idea of returning democratic government to the people of Northern Ireland is laudable enough, we have to look at the totality of this bill and wonder if this government is not creating a back-door for the terrorists to enter government under the guise of so-called popular voting. I say ‘so-called’, because any voting system which allows the representatives of murderers and hoodlums to sit in any responsible body represents not a victory for free men, but a victory for the armalite over the ballot box.”
David Steel MP (Liberal Party Leader): “This government has taken-up the right course in giving the people of Northern Ireland a voice in their own affairs; it is a measure long past due after so many years of efforts by Tory and Labour governments to beat down a people’s will for self-determination with military force. Nonetheless, we must insure that those who sit in the new Parliament, from any side, are free of the blood of innocents on their hands. How will this government keep the paramilitaries from filling the benches of this new legislature?”
Bill Rodgers MP (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland): “Only those who are free from a record of violence may stand for a seat, and they must take an oath to refute violent action against the Crown or its subjects.”
James Prior MP (C – Lowestoft): “The elected representatives of Northern Ireland sit among us. What need have they of this Northern Ireland Parliament? Let them come to this Mother of Parliaments to express their will, as do all others in this realm. This is only an opening to regional licence and chaos, and I rise in this House and urge this government to put a stop to it now.”
Barbara Castle MP (SDP - Blackburn): “This bill is a failure of vision, a relic of an Imperial mindset that should have died at the Marne! Like all those bills of its ilk before it, be they for India, America or any other place under the jackboot of Empire it will fail because the people of Northern Ireland have said ‘enough of Empire’; ‘’enough of John Bull.’ Let us see reason and understand that the era of Empire is over, and it is time to let go. So let go! Give the Irish people their freedom and have done with it!”
Enoch Powell MP (UU – South Down): “It has been said in this House that those who wish to express their democratic wishes should stand for this House, and if elected come here to represent their constituencies. While this is an altogether laudable view of the supremacy of this Parliament, it is not a realistic view of the matter. I hold not truck with allowing the smooth tongued flunkies of paramilitaries into a legislature, even under the guise of the popular ballot, and I hold that all representatives so elected must first and foremost swear an oath of loyalty to our Sovereign King and Crown. With these qualifications I see the need of this regional parliament, and I call upon the Secretary of State to amend his bill to make clear the oath and loyalty requirement of any member of this legislature before they are seated.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, May 11, 1982
Pakistan formerly declares war against India over territorial control along their disputed border in the Tibetan area and launches a series of offensive there and in Kashmir. The Indian Army falters and appears to be caught un-prepared, although a series of quick counter-offensives secure the border. Nevertheless the early defeats and retreat by the Indian Army create a scandal in New Dehli that threatens the Das government.
While expressing official neutrality, the Rumsfeld Administration secretly provides military supplies to Pakistan. Crucially, the United States supplies Pakistan with satellite surveillance and electronic intelligence which enhances Pakistan’s ability to outmaneuver Indian troops on the ground. It is believed that the U.S. assurances of support were key to the General Zia’s decision to go to war in order to improve his control of the Tibetan area along the former Chinese frontier.
The FBI and FCTB arrest five ethnic Chinese drug smugglers for importing the “China Virus” into the United States. These men will become known as the “China Five,” although they are U.S. citizens or legal residents. Kelsey Grammer becomes the U.S. Attorney who prosecutes them.
May 11 – September 26, 1982
The United States Sixth fleet blockades Malta, forcing closed both ports and airports. The objective is to force Malta Prime Minister Dom Mintoff to resign. Mintoff has run afoul of the Rumsfeld Administration by establishing normal relations with Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. France, Italy and Britain (supported by Spain, Belgium and Austria) vigorously protest this blatant use of force against Malta, but despite the fact that this creates a looming crisis within NATO, the Rumsfeld Administration does not back-off. West Germany and Canada remain neutral during the affair, earning both countries the ire of the west Europeans.
An effort to sanction the United States over this action is vetoed in the U.N. Security Council by the United States.
The blockade causes economic hardship in Malta and, “in the interest of the people of Malta” Prime Minister Mintoff resigns. His successor, Wistin Abela, announces that Malta will “reduce its relations with Libya, which eases the crisis and ends the U.S. blockade of the island.
Wednesday, May 12, 1982
Braniff International Airways is declared bankrupt and ceases all flights.
Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn stabs Pope Pius XIII with a bayonet while the Pope is conducting a public audience at the Vatican. The Pope is injured, and tales several weeks to recover. Krohn during his trial said that he was opposed to the reforms of Vatican II and that he believed Pope Pius XIII, having been a Portuguese Cardinal prior to his elevation to the Papacy, was a secret Communist agent trying to corrupt the Vatican. Krohn was a member of the secretive Pope Pius X society, a conservative group with the Roman Catholic clergy which rejected the Vatican II reforms, and which continued to support the restoration of the Vichy regime in France, the Franco regime in Spain and the Estado Nuvo in Portugal. In addition to his anti-communist views, Pope Pius XIII had routinely condemned rightist political tendencies within the Roman Catholic Church. This was more likely the motivation behind Krohn’s attack on the Pope.
The Senate passes the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1982 by a vote of 50-50 with Vice President Edwards casting the tie-breaking vote in favor.
May 13 – August 27, 1982
Soyuz T-5 was a manned spaceflight into Earth orbit to the then new Salyut 7 space station in 1982. While the Soyuz-T was docked it received visits from the unmanned Progress 13 resupply spacecraft, and the manned Soyuz T-6 and Soyuz T-7.
Thursday May 13, 1982
The European Parliament called on member states to ban the use of plastic bullets.
President Rumsfeld signs the Telecommunications Infrastructure Act of 1982 into law.
President Rumsfeld: “It appears that agents of the former Communist regime in China conspired to poison our people and several of our allies, as part of a nefarious plot to undermine our democracy and destroy our nation. We have stopped it and exposed the perpetrators. We will soon have the virus they unleashed among us under control; but until we do quarantines and restrictions will have to continue to be imposed in affected areas for the safety and security of our people. The American people can rest assured that those who did this will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Saturday, May 15, 1982
President Rumsfeld signs bill PUB L. 97-201, which restricts the level of anti-pollution demonstrations which can take place near industrial sites deemed to be of “significant economic importance” that “demonstrations or other actions which may interfere with their legitimate commercial and economic activity can have consequences upon the economy of nature which may harm the national security of the United States.”
In practice bill PUB L. 97-201, passed by Republicans with Libertarian support, is near blank check for the U.S. federal government to shut down environmental protests on national security grounds. The bill includes language that equates the Economic Security of the United States with the National Security of the United States as “an inseparable factor.”
Sunday, May 16, 1982
Salvador Jorge Blanco wins presidential election in Dominican Republic.
Monday, May 17, 1982
The Caliphate forces begin an assault against the Arabian Republic and supporting Iraqi forces. After several weeks of intensive battles and street-fighting, the Iraqis and Arab Republic forces manage to drive the insurgents back out into the desert, and force them on a general retreat toward North Yemen.
At the same time North Yemeni forces begin a limited offensive into the desert to squeeze the insurgents and cut-off the supply line running between them and the PJO in Africa.
A commission meets on the Falkland Islands in an effort to negotiate an agreement with the Argentine squatters. The British authorities fence off the squatter area, and force them to receive their supplies by sea. There are some clashes with British troops as Argentine protesters attempt to break the fence line. Apart from these fence rushes, the encampment remains peaceful.
In October Sinn Fein sends a “solidarity mission” to join the encampment.
In response to British efforts to contain the squatter encampment, others appear at other points on the rocky coasts of the two main Islands in an effort to wear down British authorities.
--------------------------------------
The University Access Act passes the U.S. Senate on a 51-49 vote.
Tuesday, May 18, 1982
The U.S. District Court for Central California agrees to hear the case in Jarvis vs. McCloskey; wherein the plaintiff Howard Jarvis argues that Governor McCloskey’s plan to split the State violates his civil rights as a tax payer. Jarvis argues that having paid taxes to California for services, that his and every other taxpayers rights are violated when the Legislature and Governor attempt to split-up his tax dollars, in that some percentage of his tax dollars will end-up in the coffers of the new State in which he does not reside. This, Jarvis argues, is an unlawful taking.
California appeals on jurisdictional and Constitutional grounds. The legal wrangling means that the State of Jefferson initiative will not be decided in 1982, and not before the California legislative and Gubernatorial elections in November.
In fact the arguments in the case will stretch through 1983 on their way to the United States Supreme Court.
Wednesday, May 19, 1982
Sophia Loren jailed in Naples for tax evasion.
Friday, May 21, 1982
Former President James Gavin (speaking at the West Point graduation ceremony): “there is a dark impulse loose in our circles of power, one which looks inward and which believes that we can only manage our affairs in this world through brute force and bullying. This is not the way that built the United States into a great power, and which once made us the envy of the world. It was not through this closed mentality and thuggish approach to world affairs that we beat fascism and used our power and skills to forge an international order based upon peace and human rights. No this dark view, which veers away from the enlightenment of international law and human rights to pursue the doctrine of might makes right, this dark view is alien to who we are as Americans. It is the cancerous world-view of those we stood against in two world wars and in the Cold War. It is the narrow mentality that ultimately leads to defeat and destruction, and it must be avoided. The founding principle of this great land is that we embrace democracy, we do not cower from it in fear of losing power. Public office is meant for service, not as a personal fief to be clutched on to at all costs. Re-election is the affirmation that the office holder has held true to the highest principles of our great Republic and its founders, and not an objective to be gamed and manipulated for its own sake. We must be wary today of a great shadow falling across our land, one which threatens our freedoms in a way no foreign enemy ever could. We must recall again across the mystic chords of memory what it is that made America great, and what it means to be American. We cannot and must not allow any politician, no matter how exalted the office, to narrow our freedoms or strangle our democracy.”
Monday, May 24, 1982
In 1981, Hugo Chávez, by now a captain in the Venezuelan Army, was assigned to teach at the military academy where he had formerly trained. Here he indoctrinated new students in his so-called "Bolivarian" ideals, and recruited those whom he felt would make good members of the MBR-200, as well as organizing sporting and theatrical events for the students. In his recruiting attempts he was relatively successful, for by the time they had graduated, at least thirty out of 133 cadets had joined it. Chavez’s the Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement-200 (MBR-200) took inspiration from three Venezuelans whom Chávez deeply admired, Ezequiel Zamora (1817–1860), Simón Bolívar (1783–1830) and Simón Rodríguez (1769–1854), these historical figures became known as the "three roots of the tree" of the MBR-200. Historically, Bolivarian ideology had been explicitly capitalist, but Chavez’s modern incarnation was a doctrine in construction, a heterogeneous amalgam of thoughts and ideologies, from universal thought, capitalism, Marxism, but rejecting the neoliberal models currently being imposed in Latin America and the discredited socialist and communist models of the old Soviet Bloc. Chavez looked to Fidel Castro’s Cuba as a model for a successful revolution, yet his view was also rooted in the church and not in doctrinaire Marxism. A number of researchers believe Chavez’s ideas were noticed by Pope Pius XIII and his circle sometime around mid-1982 and the Pope, who had his own ideas of a third way beyond neo-liberal capitalism and Soviet styled Communism, sent signals of support back to Chavez.
Tuesday, May 25, 1982
Ron Dellums University Access Act passes the House of Representatives by a vote of 218 – 217, with a behind the scenes push from the Rumsfeld White House to get a handful of Republican votes. Most Republicans, the Christian Values Party and the Libertarians opposed it.
Wednesday, May 26, 1982
David Brinkley (ABC): “To whom were you referring in your West Point speech?”
Former President Gavin: “I won’t single out any individual, but I will state that a group of officials at the top of our government have taken into their head to narrow democracy in the name of security, and that is the real threat of which I was speaking.”
Brinkley: “You mean President Rumsfeld?”
Gavin: “I mean those who counsel some of his current actions, yes.”
-------------------------------------------------
Aston Villa wins the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 after a 69-minute goal by Peter Withe in Rotterdam.
Kielder Water, an artificial lake in Northumberland, is opened.
Thursday, May 27, 1982
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. wins the FA Cup, beating QPR 1–0 in a replay.
Conservative candidate Tim Smith holds the seat of Beaconsfield in a by-election. The defeated Labour Party candidate is Tony Blair.
Contrary to most expectations, President Rumsfeld signs the University Access Act into law.
Virologists in Hong Kong and mainland China note a drop-off in the infection and mortality rate of the “China virus.”
-----------------------------------------
Anatoly Dobrynin (Soviet Ambassador to the US): “We wish to discuss with you the – ah – embarrassing matter of the fate of your past President Richard Nixon. I know him well, and I am concerned…”
Dick Cheney: “The United States protests the abduction of our former President. Apart from that we are not prepared to negotiate for his return. Whoever has him can either give him back, or kill him. Either outcome is politically useful to us.”
Politically useful? The words chilled Dobrynin, especially when combined with Cheney’s off-hand manner, as if they were discussing some wayward, leftist American student who had gotten in trouble in the Soviet Union, and not their former President. Just as many in the Soviet government suspected that the abduction of Nixon had been plotted to foment trouble with the West, now he saw that the Rumsfeld Administration didn’t mind an outcome in which Nixon came to harm, so they too could find the situation politically useful.
-------------------------
Friday, May 28, 1982
Turkish President (General) Nutterin Ersin pushes through a constitutional amendment which gives the military-controlled National Republican Party (NRP) a dominant role in the Turkish political system. Smaller parties are to be permitted, but only allowed into government as a junior partner in a coalition with the NRP Party. The electoral system is adjusted to insure NRP victories in elections. Alparsan Turkes’ NMP Party is banned and membership in it is made a death penalty offence. Anyone found giving aid to underground NMP cells is tortured and executed; this term of “giving aid” is liberally interpreted by police authorities.
The United States House of Representatives votes 219-216 to categorize Sinn Fein as “a terrorist front organization.”
An anti-Chinese riot takes place in New York City. Mayor Agnew and Commissioner Westmoreland come under fire for waiting seven hours before responding. Ten people are killed and an unknown number injured.
Sunday, May 30, 1982
Indianapolis 500: In what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history, 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds, the closest finish to that date, after Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps.
Monday, May 31, 1982
The U.S. Senate passes the anti-Sinn Fein Bill by a vote of 50-50, with Vice President Jackson casting the deciding vote in favor. President Rumsfeld signs it into law two days later.
Summer 1982
The “hot summer of Greece.” In the South civil order appears to break down as strikes and protests increasingly test the government’s resolve. In June Opposition leader Konstantinos G. Karamanlis tries to organize a parliamentary toppling of the PASOK government, which leads Prime Minister Papandreou to close parliament and adopt rule by emergency decree. This action brings the organized right into the streets alongside the radical left, adding further to the sense of chaos. In September Papandreou declares martial law and begins to crack down on the protestors with heavy force, which backfires and creates more unrest.
Meanwhile the Communist, with arms and support from the East Bloc, move out of their sanctuaries and begin to gain territory in the north of the country. In some areas they are welcomed as an alternative to the oppressiveness of the PASOK government.
Cambodian forces enter Southern and Central Laos. The Lon Non regime in Phnom Penh hopes to exploit the on-going civil war between Royalist and Pathet Lao forces to make territorial gains. This forces the hand of the South Vietnamese, who counter against Cambodian operations.
Wednesday, June 2, 1982
Opposition leader Sanjay Gandhi begins a series of nationwide rallies to protest the incompetence of the Das government in handling the war with Pakistan. Gandhi combines this with a populist protest of the neo-liberal economic policies of the Das government.
The Malan government learns of a secret ANC plan to foment a general strike and popular rising in South Africa. Since the plan involves violence against the white population, the Malan government decides to let it go ahead in order to “remind” the white population of “their real enemy.”
The PIRA announces that the recent co-operation with British authorities in putting down unrest in Loyalist communities in no way represents a cease-fire with the British authorities.
Pope Pius XIII declares "Peerke" Donders divine.
Thursday, June 3, 1982
An attempt to assassinate the Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Shlomo Argov, is carried out outside the Dorchester Hotel in London. The Libyan based Abu Nidal is later traced to being responsible for this.
The Begin government, not satisfied that Abu Nidal is a renegade from the PLO, attacks PLO facilities in Tunis by air in retaliation for the attempted assassination.
Friday, June 4, 1982
The long awaited big budget Star Trek: The Motion Picture opens in theaters in the United States. The film is more-or-less a straight out action film in Science Fiction clothing, with the subtle philosophical and anti-Washington undertones.
The sub-title is The Wrath of Garth. The plot revolves around the former Starfleet Admiral and hero Garth of Izar first seen in the television series episode Whom Gods Destroy (3-14, 1969). At the end of the television episode Garth was supposedly cured of his insanity, although the film exposes this as a ruse. After undergoing surgery to change his appearance, a still mad Garth (who lost his shape shifting power once acquired on Antos IV but apparently limited by the medication he was given after the original episode) makes a deal with the Romulans to assist them in conquering Vulcan in return for access to knowledge of Vulcan mind melding power.
Captain Kirk and the crew of the re-fitted U.S.S. Enterprise, with a new Vulcan Science Officer Xon (David Gautreaux) and new helmsman Will Decker (G.W. Bush), must work with the reclusive Vulcan monk Spock to stop Garth. Apart from the action sequences, the film also explores some of the aspects of Vulcan society, and the reason the Romulans left after the rise of Surak’s movement.
All of the original series cast returned except for George Takei, who declined to be involved, and whose character was replaced. (Takei, who was then planning to run for Congress under the We The People banner, reportedly refused to work with William Shatner. Sulu was mentioned in dialogue by Kirk and Chekov as being First Officer on another starship). Leonard Nimoy was also reluctant to return, so his character was left in limbo at the end of the film as a Vulcan monk. Mark Lenard also returned in the role of Sarek.
The original actor who had played Garth of Izar in the series, Steve Ihnat, had died in 1972. He was replaced by a veteran western series and soap opera character actor Philip Carey who conveyed Ihnat’s former athletic and large framed presence. This time Garth dies at the end of the film. The motion picture was dedicated to Ihnat and an Admiral Ihnat was mentioned in background dialogue as an off-screen character.
In his first film appearance since 1964, Ronald Reagan appeared in two scenes as the President of the United Federation of Planets. An obscure British Shakespearean actor named Patrick Stewart gained notice playing the Romulan General Pretix. Character actor Jonathan Frakes portrayed a “red-shirt” security officer who was killed off in the film.
According to Star Trek folklore the film had originally been called The Wrath of Khan, and actor Ricardo Montalban was set to reprise his role of villain Khan Noonien Singh from the series episode The Space Seed (1-22, 1967). However, Montalban had become an outspoken critic of the Rumsfeld Administration, and supposedly the leadership at Paramount was pressured by the White House to drop him. This caused a re-write for the script (reportedly the twentieth in a decade) and the replacement of the Khan character with a resurrected Garth (considered the next most memorable opponent of Kirk’s after Khan from the series). (Montalban himself fled to his native Mexico in 1983 to avoid arrest).
The film was a box-office success.
In the United Kingdom, the original television episode, Whom Gods Destroy, had been banned from broadcast since 1971 due to “sadistic plot elements”. Thus, to many in the British audience, the film’s story, which referred often to the earlier episode, had no context. Paramount originally sought to rectify this by playing the original episode prior to the film, but this lead to a rating of 18 (equivalent to a U.S. rating of R) because of the objectionable elements in the original episode. Paramount saw this as a threat at the box office, as the 18 rating excluded a significant portion of the potential viewing group among under 18’s. Attempts to get a rating of 15 proved unavailing, so Paramount released an edited version of the original episode (with the objectionable scenes removed) as a pre-feature to the film.
The film also became controversial later because at several points the Kirk character states that freedom can only exist with order and discipline, a political view closely associated with then in power Rumsfeld Administration. Producer Gene Roddenberry and Director Robert Wise included the lines in order to get their film released. Less noticed (at the time) were lines by the Vulcan characters Sarek, Spock and the President that “freedom cannot be achieved with force,” and “logic dictates that order and discipline must serve a greater end, they cannot be the end itself.”
Roddenberry also later commented that he deliberately crafted the new script involving a the militaristic Romulans attacking the peaceful Vulcans in order to infer an association between the Rumsfeld Administration and the Romulans (the General Pretix character uses variations of lines closely associated with President Rumsfeld throughout the film, and this was one of the reasons why a British actor was cast in the role, since it could have been dangerous for an American actor to take it on. [Martin Landau was considered for the part but backed away from it]). The Vulcans revere democratic government, and in a key line the Sarek character notes that the Vulcans did away with an “Electoral College” as it produced an undemocratic result in the past. The casting of Reagan in a political role in the film was also, it was hoped, convey a similar subtle message (Reagan was beginning to oppose some of Rumsfeld’s foreign policy by late 1981).
-----------------------------------------------
James Flynn, believed to be a member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA), was shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in North Strand Road, Dublin. [The INLA later claimed that Flynn was responsible for the killing of Seamus Costello, who had been leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), on October 5, 1977 in Dublin.]
Tuesday, June 8, 1982
VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727 passenger jet, crashes into forest Fortaleza, killing 137.
The Washington People’s Summit is convened under the chairmanship of former Presidential candidate and Agriculture Secretary, Senator George McGovern (D-SD). The WPS is a forum for left-wing progressive groups to come together and is used by the We The People Movement as a recruiting ground. The WPS is the scene of three days of often emotional and highly vitriolic condemnations of the policies of the Rumsfeld Administration. One of the platform points the WPS agrees on, under McGovern’s tutelage, is to call for a constitutional amendment which would create a right to access to affordable, nutrious food for all citizens of the United States.
After a second attempt at negotiations, talks between the Canadian Federal government and the Parti Quebecois government of Quebec break down over the questions of sovereign responsibility and debt.
Joe Clark MP (Federal negotiator): “In order for negotiations to succeed, each side has to approach the matter with good faith, and not with a series of intransigent demands. There is no point in talking to a body which is bent on an adverse outcome, and unwilling to seriously consider the full impact of their position.”
Rene Levesque MNA (Premier of Quebec): “Quebecois have tried to negotiate with the Anglophone government for over a century, and been told each time that what Quebec needs, it can’t have. For Quebec to stay in Confederation means that Quebec must have only what Ottawa chooses for it, and only in the way that Ottawa chooses it. Well, this government was elected on one pledge – Enough! Enough! Enough! The people of Quebec will have their dignity in their own state.”
The Quebec government announces that due to the breakdown of the talks another referendum will be held in October on the question of separation. Premier Levesque confirms that on the question a vote of fifty percent plus one will be all that is required for a mandate for Quebec independence.
Thursday, June 10, 1982
Richard Nixon hadn’t been abused, apart from the insult of being tossed into a small, squalid room that stank of mold and filth, not to mention the contents of the convenience bucket he was forced to use. It was rarely emptied. After the first few days the former President had gotten used to the smell. If he himself stank from the lack of showering he couldn’t tell, as the other smells masked his own. What he had trouble adjusting to was the lumpy, smelly, straw filled mattress he was expected to sleep on. It was the only piece of furniture in the room. Twice a day he was fed, mostly thin, lukewarm soup and some noodles. Nixon was beginning to lose weight.
He couldn’t be sure – because no one spoke directly to him in English – but he suspected that his guards were some element of the Soviet security forces. With little else to do, the former President’s mind had run wild with speculation as to why he had been abducted while on an official tour. His conclusion was that there was some sort of division within the Soviet government, and he had become a pawn in it. Locked away in this hole somewhere in what had once been Northwest China, he could only speculate on what the impact of the abduction had been. For all he knew World War III had already started.
While Nixon tried to count the days, it was difficult without a clock, and when the only light was a bare bulb in the ceiling which flickered with the irregular power supply, he couldn’t measure the time by the passing of the sun. His only measure was the spare meals, and he counted a day passed after the second of the two served to him by a sullen looking Asiatic fellow in what looked like a Uyghur costume. The man spoke no English, and the extent of his care for Nixon was to feed him and, occasionally, to clean out the convenience bucket. He made clear with a sour expression and some curse in his language how much he despised that second job.
Nixon had counted over ninety such days when two men who appeared to be Soviet soldiers broke into his cell. They grabbed him under the arms and hustled him away, to what the former President was certain would be a firing squad. Once outside the building he had been held in, the bright sunlight nearly blinded Nixon, whose eyes had become unaccustomed to the light. He huddled on the back of a truck, covering his eyes as he was taken to wherever it would happen.
When he could re-focus his vision, he found himself facing a youthful KGB officer with a sharp features and penetrating eyes.
“Our Ambassador in Washington spoke to your White House people about you,” the Russian said in rough but understandable English. “They were not interested in having you back.”
Nixon wasn’t surprised, though he felt some disappointment that Don Rumsfeld would turn on him. “The irony in that is that they sent me here in the first place,” he said.
“Yes. It would be interesting to know why. Perhaps to embarrass us?” the KGB officer remarked.
“For that to happen, someone there would have to know in advance that I was going to be – waylaid?”
“Waylaid? I don’t understand.”
“Kidnapped.”
“Oh yes,” the Russian said. “An interesting conjecture. But as you see Mr. Nixon, this matter is more complicated than either of us appreciate.”
“Am I to be shot?” Nixon asked.
“Your countrymen seem to prefer this outcome,” he said ominously. “Fortunately for you, the Soviet authorities are not – how you say in English – not inclined to do as the American White House wishes. So you live.”
“I am relieved,” Nixon said.
“You are to be given to Uyghur nationalists, who will release you. They will take credit for rescuing you from captivity; it will be great propaganda for them. Whether you support them or not, this up to you. Many will believe what they want of this affair.”
“May I ask why you want the Uyghurs to receive this credit? I mean, you are fighting them here?” Nixon asked.
The Russian shrugged, his thin mouth breaking into a slight smile for a second. “Such things are part of the complexities of politics. You were once a President, you know these things. I am but a humble servant of the state carrying out my duty. Perhaps it is best not to inquire too closely – how you say – look the gift horse in the mouth, yes?”
“Yes, you got it,” Nixon replied.
Major Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin didn’t know the full reason for this scenario either. All he knew for sure was that allies of Romanov had set this kidnapping up, no doubt to increase tensions with Washington and create an atmosphere for hard liners to step-up in command. However, President Rumsfeld had not played into their hands, instead showing a complete indifference to Richard Nixon’s fate. Ryzhkov had decided to give Nixon back, using the Uyghurs as intermediaries. There would be some embarrassment to the Soviet Union, but as the Deputy Premier had put it, “nothing compared to the embarrassment of the fools who planned this and saw it come to nothing.”
Ryzhkov had also wanted Nixon to be aware of the reaction Dobrynin had received from Cheney: all the better to turn the former American President against the current one. This could prove useful in the future.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, June 11, 1982
At the close of the WPS George McGovern officially joins the We The People Movement, becoming that party’s first sitting Senator.
California State Police and National Guard units have to be called in to quell an anti-Chinese riot in San Francisco. Five people are killed and upwards of fifty injured in the disturbance.
June 11 – July 15, 1982
An ANC sponsored general strike begins, and quickly follows into an attempted uprising. The first phase results in the deaths of a number of white South Africans, before the security forces act to supress it with bloody force.
Efforts are made by various Southeast Asian nations to organize a peace conference for Laos.
Saturday, June 12, 1982
A rally against nuclear weapons draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park. Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, and Linda Ronstadt attend. An international convocation at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine features prominent peace activists from around the world and afterward participants march on Fifth Avenue to Central Park for the rally. The march is attacked by New York Police with tear gas and a number of arrests are made, leading to charges of excessive brutality.
Turkish Cypriot strongman Özer Türkmen is toppled from power in a coalition lead by Mustafa Çağatay. Cyprus has remained divided by NATO and U.N. troops, and two communities have developed separately under the U.N. governing commission (which remains the internationally recognized government of Cyprus: the commission is now composed of a U.N. Commissioner, Greek Cypriot President Archbishop Chrysostomos I and formerly Turkmen, who is now replaced by Cagatay.
The economy in the Greek Cypriot state had been more dynamic, while the Turkish state had stagnated under General Turkmen’s iron-fisted rule. His overthrow and replacement by a civilian government under Cagatay is seen as an opportunity to open-up the Turkish Cypriot economy.
On the Greek side, where the Archbishop-President’s government enjoyed widespread support among the population, there has been resistance to joining Greece as political turmoil and economic uncertainty continued in that nation. Greek Cyprus is doing better economically and politically than the home country.
On the Turkish side General Turkmen ruled a military dictatorship similar to General Ersin’s on the Turkish mainland. The main obstacle to unification under the Turkish state (apart from U.N. resistance to the idea) had been General Turkmen’s unwillingness to relinquish his power to the Turkish state. Now the new Cagatay government is unwilling to join itself to a military dictatorship.
-----------------------------------------------
June 13 – 15, 1982
First Papal visit to Britain since 1531. The Pope, himself still recovering from the stabbing in May, meets a recovering Prime Minister Denis Healey at Checkers. The Pope also meets with King George VII at Buckingham Palace, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Hugh Montefiore, at Lambeth Palace. The Pope addresses Parliament after meeting with the King and Archbishop.
Pope’s remarks: “That which divides us as brothers and sisters in Christ is less than that which unites us. I come before you today with open hands and more importantly, an open heart and an open mind. We will not solve the mistrusts and differences left us by centuries of division in one day, but if we are to change that, we must begin one day. Let today be that day. “
Sunday, June 13, 1982
The 1982 FIFA World Cup begins in Spain.
Monday, June 14, 1982
Richard Nixon is rescued from captivity by Uyghur nationalists who deliver him to the Pakistanis, who bring him to Islamabad to be freed personally by President Zia.
Tuesday, June 15, 1982
The Soviet Union recognizes the Arabian Republic. Many Warsaw Pact countries along with Portugal and Cuba follow suit. Most western countries withhold recognition of the Arabian Republic which they view as a puppet creation of the pro-Soviet Iraqi government.
Wednesday, June 16, 1982
After several weeks convalescence Denis Healey returns to work as Prime Minister.
Margaret Thatcher: “This Prime Minister has shown that he puts his ego ahead of the nation. Clearly he is physically unfit for office and should resign.”
Barbara Castle MP (SDP-Blackburn): “I do not wish to attack Mr. Healey over this health, and if his physicians say that he is fit for his duties, then I have no argument against that. I call for Mr. Healey’s resignation at any time over his policies, not the man’s personal health. Still, if he chooses that as a reason to go, I shall welcome his departure just the same as if the government had been defeated in the House.”
Airey Neave MP (Opposition Leader): “The office of Prime Minister requires a person of good health and strong vigour, for it is an office of uniquely high stress and requires fortitude. I leave it to the Prime Minister to judge if he is physically capable of it, but it would not bode well for the United Kingdom if he were to collapse of another heart failure at a moment of national crisis. Personally, I wish him the best for his recovery, of course, but I hope he has considered the interests of the nation in his recent return to office.”
David Steel MP (Liberal Party Leader): “I welcome back the Prime Minister, and take him at his word about his health. I said before, and I say again, I wish Mr. Healey a speedy recovery, and I look forward to holding this government to account on all fronts.”
Denis Healey MP (Prime Minister): “I am heartened by the concern expressed by Members from all parties for my health, and I thank all my well-wishers. Rest assured, I have not given-up the fight, and after a bit of rest, I’m ready to make them feel a little queasy in the coming weeks.”
Thursday, June 17, 1982
Rahul Gul, a civilian official in the Indian Ministry of Defence is uncovered as having sold state military secrets to the CIA. (Gul in fact was a CIA agent passing information for money). The Indian press and Sanjay Gandhi quickly play-up this discovery into a conspiracy whereby the CIA is spying on India and passing military secrets to its nominal client in Pakistan, which Pakistan is using to defeat Indian troops in the border war.
Friday, June 18, 1982
Richard Nixon arrives in the United Kingdom. In a press conference he details his kidnapping by Soviet hard liners, and his later rescue by more moderate Uyghur nationalists. (Nixon believes it best to go along with the latter half of the Ryzhkov cover story). The former U.S. President later requests and receives political asylum in the UK.
Saturday, June 19, 1982
The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
The controversy surrounding Calvi's dealings at Banco Ambrosiano echoed a previous scandal in 1974, when the Holy See lost an estimated $30 million upon the collapse of the Franklin National Bank, owned by the Sicilian-born financier Michele Sindona. Bad loans and foreign currency transactions led to the collapse of the bank. Sindona later died in prison after drinking coffee laced with cyanide.
On 5 June 1982, two weeks before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi wrote a letter of warning to Pope Pius XIII, stating that such a forthcoming event would “provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage." Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in June 1982 following the discovery of debts (according to various sources) between 700 million and 1.5 billion US dollars. Much of the money had been siphoned off via the Vatican Bank (strictly named the Istituto per le Opere Religiose or Institute for Works of Religion), which was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder.
Pope Pius XIII would only learn of Calvi’s letter in August, when reports of it leaked in the British press. In June British Police had discovered a copy of the letter among Calvi’s effects and reported it to the Home Secretary Terence Boston. The News of the World later learned of this and printed the story. Secretary Boston was then forced to confirm its existence when he was questioned in the House about it. Boston also confirmed that his office had sent a copy to the Vatican Secretary of State soon after its discovery. An angry Pope demanded the letter, which was finally delivered to him at the end of August.
After reading the letter, the Pope assigned Cardinals Albino Luciani and Joseph Ratzinger to dig into the matter. After they met considerable resistance from within the Curia establishment, the Pope compelled the resignation of Agostino Cardinal Cassaroli and replaced him with Leo Joseph Cardinal Suenens (calling the Cardinal out of retirement for the job), which in turn shook up matters within the Vatican. Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was also removed from his position as head of the “Vatican Bank” and replaced by a board of supervisors. Pope Pius XIII later formalized this arrangement, replacing clerical direction with professional bankers of “sound professional repute” who reported to the Pope directly. While the Pope understood that the Vatican had need of its own financial institution to engage in sovereign exchanges and command its own financial affairs, he was also of the mind that “I am no banker, and the House of God is no place for the corruptions of banking.”
In 1984, the Vatican Bank agreed to pay US$224 million to the 120 creditors of the failed Banco Ambrosiano as a “recognition of moral involvement” in the bank's collapse.
Monday, June 21, 1982
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested four men in New York who they claimed were trying to buy surface-to-air missiles on behalf of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The Polish military and security services put down an anti-government march in Gdansk.
Governor John Rarick of Louisiana introduces a policy of expelling repeat offenders from the state of Louisiana. Under the program, offenders who are deemed to be “habitual” are driven to the State border and physically ejected into the neighboring state and told not to return. Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi soon file suit in federal court against this, as do several “expellees” who claim their civil rights have been violated.
Mayor Agnew of New York City institutes a similar program, and is sued by neighboring jurisdictions. He joins with Governor Rarick in defending the law suits in federal court and in the media as “law-and-order” measures.
June 24 – July 2, 1982
Soyuz T-6 was a manned spaceflight to Earth orbit to the Salyut 7 space station in 1982. Along with two Russians, the crew included a Frenchman, Jean-Loup Chrétien.
The Soyuz-T spacecraft arrived at Salyut 7 following launch on 24 June 1982 and one day of solo operations. During the T-6 mission's time docked to the station, the crew performed joint Soviet-French experiments, including cardiovascular echography, alongside the station's resident crew.
Thursday, June 24, 1982
British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary 4-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane, after flying through the otherwise undetected ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.
The Parti Quebecois government stages two large pro-separation rallies in Quebec City and Montreal on the Fete Nationale Day.
Friday, June 25, 1982
The Institute for Puerto Rican Policy is founded in New York City to research and advocate for Puerto Rican and Latino community issues. It is closely affiliated with the We The People Movement.
June 25 – June 28, 1982
Father Pablo Cuerda leads a peasants march for justice from San Fabian to Santiago, Chile, where they stage a peaceful sit down protest in the Plaza de la Ciudadania in front of the La Mondeda Presidential Palace. General Pinochet is embarrassed by this show of defiance, but in a difficult position because the Franciscan Friar is leading a peaceful protest. Pinochet has also been warned personally by Pope Pius XIII not to harm Father Cuerda and his followers. In Rome, the Pope offers a blessing to Father Cuerda and calls in the Chilean Ambassador to reinforce his point. (One of the Pope’s assistants, Father Mendez, is in fact in Santiago and on hand to report on the matter back to the Vatican).
Tuesday, June 29, 1982
Kosmos 1383, the first search & rescue satellite, launched.
Thursday, July 1, 1982
The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) found a large cache of bombs at Castlefin, County Donegal.
Friday, July 2, 1982
Larry Walters, a.k.a. Lawn Chair Larry, flies 16,000 feet (4,900 m) above Long Beach, California in a lawn chair with weather balloons attached.
Tuesday, July 6, 1982
A lunar eclipse (umbral duration 236 min and total duration 106 min, the longest of the 20th century) occurs.
The Argentine government deploys the cruiser General Belgrano and some supporting vessels to the waters off of the Falkland-Malvina Islands.
Thursday, July 8, 1982
Porn star John Homes convicted of receiving stolen property.
Wendy Lee Coffield becomes the first victim of the Green River killer.
Friday, July 9, 1982
Pan Am Flight 759 (Boeing 727) crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.
Intruder Michael Fagan visits King George VII in his bedroom for a chat.
It was the 31-year-old's second attempt to break into Buckingham Palace that was successful. On his first attempt he scaled a drainpipe, briefly startling a housemaid who called security, who decided not to act. Fagan entered through an unlocked window on the roof and spent the next half hour eating cheddar cheese and Triscuits and wandering around. He tripped several alarms, but they were faulty. He viewed the royal portraits and rested on the throne for a while. He then entered the postroom, where he drank half a bottle of white wine before becoming tired and leaving.
On the second attempt, an alarm sensor detected him. A member of the palace staff thought the alarm was faulty, and silenced it. En route to see the King, Fagan broke a glass ashtray, lacerating his hand.
The King woke when he disturbed a curtain, after which he sat on the edge of his bed talking to Fagan for about ten minutes. He phoned twice for police but none came. Fagan then asked for some cigarettes, which were brought by a maid. When the maid did not return to base for some time, footman Paul Whybrew appeared. The incident happened as the armed police officer outside the royal bedroom came off duty before his replacement arrived. The replacement officer had been walking the King’s dog and was late for his shift.
Since it was then a civil wrong rather than a criminal offence, Michael Fagan was not charged for trespassing in the King’s bedroom. He was charged with theft (of the half bottle of wine), but the charges were dropped when he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. He spent the next six months in a mental hospital before being released on 21 January 1983.
Fagan's mother later said, "He thinks so much of the King, especially after the terrible thing that happened to his (the King’s) mum. I can imagine him just wanting to simply talk and say hello and discuss his problems."
--------------------------------------------
July 10 – September 10, 1982
A Cuban backed offensive into Namibia from Angola forces the South African Defense force back to a defensive pocket around Windhoek. The city is levelled by artillery fire and air strikes. USAF and USN assets meantime strike at cities in Angola, including Luanda. In Namibia both sides use chemical weapons and dirty bombs, creating a further environmental disaster.
Saturday, July 10, 1982
1,500 protesters are injured and at least 20 (possibly more) are killed in Chennai in a clash between Congress supporters and supporters of the Janata Party government.
Sunday, July 11, 1982
West Germany beats Italy 3–2 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
Monday, July 12, 1982
The Egyptian Communist Party, previously banned, is brought into the ruling Egyptian National Democratic Party. Under a decree of the ruling council, the ENDP is the only legal political party in Egypt.
The DHSS reports that the virus surrounding the Hereford area is beginning to burn out.
DHSS spokesman: “Our best determination is that this particular virus, which we know to have been engineered in a laboratory, was designed to operate for a short term, perhaps clearing an area of enemy soldiers and opponents, before burning itself out, quite probably to allow an invading force to move into the affected area without being endangered. I will not comment on the ethical nature of such a weapon, but I will say that over the past week we have seen a steep decline in new cases, and a number of our current patients are showing signs of recovery.”
Terrence Boston, Home Secretary: “While the signs of recovery in Herefordshire are a good sign, we will nonetheless keep travel restrictions in place until we can be assured that the danger has indeed passed. I understand that this will be a great inconvenience to the local population and those having business in the affected area, however it is the judgment of the government that we want to insure that there is no further health risk to the larger British public before we close down the precautions currently in place.”
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, July 14, 1982
Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that elections to the new Assembly at Stormont would be held on 20 October 1982.
Thursday, July 15, 1982
Geoffrey Prime, a GCHQ civil servant, is remanded in custody on charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911.
Prime was first detected when his wife persuaded him to turn himself in, and he later participated in the Paedophile Information Exchange, a pro-paedophile activism group being watched by the British government. Members of the group used secret codes to communicate. He was subsequently identified as supplying information to the Soviets, and was tried, convicted, and imprisoned in 1982. His defence counsel was George Carman QC. He was sentenced to a total of 38 years, 35 for offences under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 and 3 years for sex offences against children. The information he disclosed was publicly represented as having been damaging to the UK and beneficial to the Soviets, but details were not released. His position at GCHQ made him privy to information which would have been damaging had he turned it all over to the Soviets.
His sentence was reputed to be the second-longest jail sentence in British legal history. The judges at his trial and his appeal said that if Britain had been at war with the Soviet Union, his crimes would make him eligible for the death penalty and that they would have had no compunction about imposing it.
Later it was revealed that Prime had told the KGB that the United Kingdom and the United States had cracked high-level Soviet codes. As a result, the Soviet government changed them, making their military ciphers unreadable by the UK and US until the end of the Cold War.
Friday, July 16, 1982
Colm Carey, a Catholic civilian, died from loss of blood following a 'punishment' shooting carried out by the PIRA at his home on Strabane Old Road, Gobnascale, Derry. Carey had been shot in the knee. Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers', was released from prison.
Mayor Agnew announces that “I have made a commitment to the people of my city, and won’t run for Governor of New York – not this year.”
Saturday, July 17, 1982
Norman Maxwell, a Protestant civilian, was severely beaten and then killed when a car was driven over him several times. The attack was carried out by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers' at the rear of Rumford Street Loyalist Club. Maxwell's body was later dumped in Alliance Parade off the Old Park Road, Belfast. [It is believed that Lenny Murphy, who had been the leader of the 'Shankill Butchers' was responsible for the killing with the attack happening one day after Murphy's release from prison.]
Monday, July 19, 1982
Home Secretary Terrance Boston announces that Michael Trestrail (the Queen's bodyguard) has resigned from the Metropolitan Police Service over a relationship with a male prostitute.
After a series of attempts to arrest him by the South African security forces fail, Zulu chief and Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi leads a Zulu uprising in KwaZulu-Natal. Attempts to re-press the insurgency lead to a full scale guerilla war between Buthelezi’s followers and the Malan regime.
Tuesday, July 20, 1982
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) exploded two bombs in London, one at South Carriage Drive, close to Hyde Park and the other at the Bandstand in Regent's Park, resulting in the deaths of 11 British Soldiers. The first bomb exploded shortly before 11.00am when soldiers of the Blues and Royals were travelling on horseback to change the guard at Horseguards Parade. Three soldiers were killed instantly and a fourth died of his injuries on 23 July 1982. A number of civilians who had been watching the parade were also injured. One horse was killed in the explosion but a further six had to be shot due to their injuries. The bomb had been left in a car parked along the side of the road and is believed to have been detonated by a member of the IRA who was watching from within Hyde Park.
The second bomb, which exploded at lunch time, had been planted under the bandstand in Regent's Park. The explosion killed 7 bandsmen of the Royal Green Jackets as they were performing a concert at the open-air bandstand. Approximately two dozen civilians who had been listening to the performance were injured in the explosion. It is thought that the bomb had been triggered by a timing device and may have been planted some time in advance of the concert.
Wednesday, July 21, 1982
HMS Hermes and a Royal Navy supporting taskforce are dispatched to the Falkland Islands.
Friday, July 23, 1982
The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986.
A coroner's jury returns a verdict of suicide on Roberto Calvi, who was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge.
Mayor Agnew is photographed going with police raids to break-up heroin shooting galleries and drug houses. During these photo-ops the Mayor is usually seen carrying a baseball bat.
Torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan destroy bridges and kill 299.
The 'Northern Ireland Act 1982', which established the rules for the proposed Assembly, became law.
On a movie set, the Twilight Zone actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors die in a helicopter stunt accident.
In Turkey several rounds of parliamentary elections are completed with the National Republican Party (NRP) winning 85% of the vote. Election violence is reported in some areas, and in Kurdish areas Kurdish separatists tried to disrupt the elections. These incidents were met with quick and direct force by the Ersin government. Mostly though the elections were peaceful and carried off with a mood of resignation to the order by the population (and some relief at the law-and-order situation). A score of smaller parties make-up the other 15% of seats won. In addition to known NMP members and supporters, Communists and Islamists were also prohibited from standing for parliament.
Saturday, July 24, 1982
The Rumsfeld Administration signs a new defence treaty with the Ersin regime in Turkey during a state visit by President Ersin to Washington. Among the provisions of the treaty are a recognition by the United States of Turkey’s claims to the Dodecanese Islands and its acceptance of Turkey’s recent expulsion of Greek nationals from those islands it occupies.
The pro-Turkish tilt of the Rumsfeld Administration further aggravates relations with the PASOK government in Athens. During the Wallace Administration the United States had made efforts lead by Secretary of State Henry Jackson to return the occupied islands to Turkey, and the U.S. had supported U.N. resolutions to that effect.
Under President Rumsfeld the U.S. reversed course, largely because of an antipathy to the socialist government in power in Greece. The U.S. vetoed a series of U.N. resolutions designed to force Turkey into negotiations over the islands status.
At the same time, while the British and French continued to bolster the Greek Cypriot state, the United States under President Rumsfeld supplied aid to the Turkish Cypriot dictatorship of General Turkmen in return for basing rights.
Tuesday, July 27, 1982
While in Philadelphia for his “Rummy’s a Dummy” comedy tour, comedian and political activist George Carlin disappears. He was reportedly last seen being pushed into the back of a van by men who are variously described as “cops in plainclothes” to “lawyers.” Narcotics and drug paraphernalia are found in his hotel room, allowing authorities to allude that Carlin’s disappearance was drug related.
Five Chinese restaurants are burned down in Denver, Colorado as a result of racially inspired arson.
Saturday, July 31, 1982
In Beaune, France, 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a highway accident (France's worst).
Sunday, August 1, 1982
Attempted coup against government of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya. The coup d'état attempt was a failed attempt to overthrow President Daniel arap Moi's government. At midnight on Sunday, August 1, 1982, a group of soldiers from the Kenya Air Force took over the radio station Voice of Kenya and announced that they had overthrown the government. The group tried to force a group of Air Force fighter pilots to bomb the State House at gunpoint. The pilots pretended to follow the orders on the ground but once airborne they ignored them and instead dropped the bombs over Mount Kenya's forests, unarmed.
Hezekiah Ochuka, a Senior Private Grade-I (the second lowest rank in Kenya’s military) ruled Kenya for about six hours before escaping to Tanzania. After being extradited back to Kenya, he was tried and found guilty of leading the coup attempt and was sentenced to hang. Also implicated in the coup attempt was Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, a former Vice President to Jomo Kenyatta, and his son Raila Amolo Odinga. The attempt was quickly suppressed by loyalist forces led by the Army, the General Service Unit (GSU) — the paramilitary wing of the police — and later the regular police, but not without civilian casualties.
Oteyo said that the coup failed because most of the soldiers did not execute their parts of the plan since most of the soldiers were busy looting instead of going to arrest the president and his ministers. The coup leader Ochuka, had gone to fetch a radio presenter, Leonard Mambo Mbotela.
The coup left more than 100 soldiers dead and more than 200 civilians who included two Germans, an English woman, and a Japanese male tourist and his child, and two Asian women took away their lives after being raped during the coup.
In response to alleged campus involvement in the failed coup, the Kenyan government accused external communist sources of secretly funding the attempt. The Kenyans became closer to the U.S. government as a result. A number of Kenyan Communists died under mysterious circumstances in the following years.
-----------------------------------------------------------
As largely anticipated, the new Turkish Parliament endorses the Ersin government by a vote of 212 – 38.
Monday, August 9, 1982
The World Health Organization reports that a large scale environmental disaster is occurring in a broad arc stretching from Namibia and Angola across Southern Africa to Mozambique as a consequence of the use of chemical, biological and radioactive weapons in the regions war. Death rates from disease and war related injuries have reached what are described as “epidemic” proportions.
Between the Southern Africa situation and the so-called “China Virus”, WHO declares 1982 to be the worst year for infectious disease since 1918 (Spanish Flu Epidemic).
The CIA begins covert support to Tamil Nadu nationalist elements which are opposed to centralized rule from New Delhi.
Nyugen Tran, an ethnic Vietnamese fisherman, is beaten to death in Bossier City, Louisiana by a group of white racists.
Tuesday, August 10, 1982
Mieczysław Rakowski, a pro-Communist newspaper publisher, is made the new civilian Prime Minister of Poland. The military and security services remain in charge behind the scenes.
Wednesday, August 11, 1982
ITV reporter: “How do you comment on the recent comments by United States officials that the government is being too light on the virus scare; that the all clear given by the DHSS is a political rather than a medical judgment and that dismantling the quarantine zone could endanger the British public at large?”
James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “At no time would this government play politics with such a vital area as public health. Throughout this crisis we have followed the advice offered us by the medical and scientific professionals, both those employed by the various government departments, and outside experts as well. The British people can rest assured that our guiding principle in this has been their welfare and no other consideration. As to what is happening in the United States, I must leave that to the judgment of the relevant officials there, as it is their country after all. To date they have not sought our advice, but should they do so, we are prepared to offer any and all assistance they should require.”
ITV: “Can you comment on the speculation that the Rumsfeld Administration is using the virus scare as a ploy to increase fear prior to their Congressional elections?”
JC: “That is largely an internal matter of the United States, so I won’t comment on that area. As I have said, the matter is in the hands of the relevant American authorities, and as to what is happening there, you had better ask the American government about it.”
------------------------------
With support from Algeria, Mauritanian and East Bloc forces strike East into Mali, where they become embroiled in an insurgency war with the PJO forces.
Thursday, August 12, 1982
Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spread throughout Latin America.
Sunday, August 15, 1982
During a visit to the United States of America (USA) Martin Smyth, then Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Member of Parliament (MP), alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in Northern Ireland.
Tuesday, August 17, 1982
The first compact discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.
Margaret Thatcher (ITV commentary): “This government is prepared to play hit-or-miss with people’s lives, all to make us believe they have control of the situation. Looking to the United States, we see a far more responsible leadership in such a matter. President Rumsfeld has assumed a responsible caution in the face of an aggressive attack on his people by Communist agents. It is a crime – yes, I say a crime – that the weak kneed, Socialist government in this nation is too willing to cave in to the pro-left lobby and endanger all of our lives in an effort to downplay this attack.”
Barbara Castle MP (SDP-Blackburn): “When will this government come to the realization that any association with the imperial wars of the runaway American Empire – the United States of Rumsfeld – will draw nothing but hostility and danger to our shores. This current crisis should be a lesson to us all that not only are the days of Empire gone for good, but that assuming policies of the Imperial age in the face of modern weapons and the aspirations of the world’s people to free themselves of the Imperial yoke is sentimental folly. We have attached ourselves, in China and in Portugal, to an aggressive power intent on plundering the world for its own aggrandizement. I call on this government to end our self-destructive association with the USA and to seek a new way, a way that will promote peace and the development of the world’s people.”
Kenneth Clarke MP (Lib—Rushcliffe): “There is no question that this current incident has forced us to re-examine our relationship with the United States, which under President Rumsfeld has made a decidedly rightward turn in its policies, but we must resist calls to withdraw from our alliances, and in so doing fracture our mutual security. We may not like the fact that President Rumsfeld has changed the agenda of American policy, but we must not forget that the Soviet Union is still there, and still represents a danger to the free world. The recent incident has informed us to be more cautious, but in that caution we must not retreat from our global responsibilities.”
Airey Neave MP (Opposition Leader): “The current crisis shows us more than ever how much we need the strength of the United States with us in a dangerous world, and we need to be seen in Washington as a reliable ally. To choose any other course is folly, based on wishful thinking and plays right into the hands of the Soviet Union which, we must never forget, remains an enemy of all men’s freedom at all times in all places.”
Enoch Powell MP (UU-South Down): “Can we be sure that the virus was not aimed at us by the United States? Could this current crisis have been manufactured in Washington in order to weaken British resolve and independence?”
Ian Paisley MP (DUP – North Antrim): “America has attacked us! The American President has done as a first step in a Papist conquest of all Ireland; to bring our island under Roman rule. Why would he do this? Twenty million Papist votes in New York and Chicago. We must stop this Rumsfeld plot in its tracks and pledge not one inch more of sacred soil to the Papists, no matter how many germs they throw at us!”
James Callaghan MP (Foreign Secretary): “This government remains in favour of our historic commitments, including the NATO alliance and the security of free nations against non-democratic forces. We will continue to engage with the United States over the terms of our alliance, relying on a close friendship our two governments have enjoyed over the past four decades, to work together as true partners in world affairs. As for hysterical rants about American conspiracies to destroy us, or to dominate the world, that’s all sheer poppycock and utter nonsense.”
John Smith MP (Lab-North Lanarkshire): “Our historic commitments? Maybe our history, as some have pointed out, is the problem? Should we not be looking at modern policies for a modern Britain?”
---------------------------
August 19 – December 10, 1982
Soyuz T-7 (code name Dnieper) was the third Soviet space mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Crew member Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman in space in almost twenty years, since Valentina Tereshkova who flew in 1963 on Vostok 6.
Savitskaya was given the orbital module of Soyuz T-7 for privacy. The Soyuz T-7 crew delivered experiments and mail from home to the Elbrus crew. On August 21 the five cosmonauts traded seat liners between the Soyuz Ts. The Dniepers undocked in Soyuz T-5, leaving the newer Soyuz T-7 spacecraft for the long-duration crew.
Saturday, August 21, 1982
The Soviets back an effort by Cuba, North Korea and Zambia to have the United States expelled from the United Nations for its activities in supporting the racist regime in South Africa.
Rep. Charles Wright (D-IA): “The problem we face is that Dellums has hijacked the progressive wing with the Education Bill, and that’s giving us an image problem.”
Henry Jackson: “The problem is that the Democrats are afraid to stand-up to Rumsfeld and his security agenda. He calls us unpatriotic for asking questions, and the Democratic leadership quakes for fear voters will agree with him. It’s pathetic.”
Sen. James Carter (D-GA): “Truth is Henry, we’re being torn apart. In the South white Democrats are going Republican or to the Christian Values people if they’re evangelicals. What we’re getting elected down there are more radical Democrats, people who are more inclined to align with Ron Dellums.”
HJ: “Because they look like him?”
JC: “I don’t want to characterize it as a race thing, Henry.”
CW: “Because they look like Dellums – and think like him.”
HJ: “At last some candor! Thank-you Charlie. And that’s my point Jimmy; how you handled that question is exactly what’s wrong with the modern Democratic Party, and its why we’re losing ground to Rumsfeld and Dellums.”
CW: “Our leadership is afraid Rumsfeld will call us unpatriotic, while at the same time they run from Dellums, afraid they are losing the base to him.”
HJ: “They are losing a substantial part of the base to Dellums, and another part to Rumsfeld. At the same time Democrats look weak because we’re afraid to challenge the Republicans – because we’re afraid of them – or We The People – because we’re afraid they’re the populist future of our party.”
JC: “A nice summation of our situation, but how do we deal with it?”
HJ: “By standing for something. Don’t look at me like that Jimmy, you know I’m right.”
CW: “In the west the Libertarians are eating into our base, as well as the Republicans, because they appear genuine.”
HJ: “The seats we hold are the ones where the split in vote goes in our favor, and the same for the Republicans. Hell, Rumsfeld’s whole presidency came about because of that.”
JC: “So what is this something we’re supposed to stand for?”
HJ: “Democracy – as the name Democratic Party might imply – would be a good start, don’t you think? Look, people are voting Christian Values, Libertarian, We The People, Socialist, because they sense these movements are authentic. A lot have turned against the Democratic and Republican image because, compared to the true believers, we appear inauthentic. Want a case in point? Look at Pete McCloskey – he’s running as a party of one – and independent. He won last time and he’s ahead in the polls this time around – you know why? Because voters see him as being authentic. Democrats and Republicans are just names for professional politicians.”
JC: “So we lay back and let the University Access bill go through. Then what?”
HJ: “That bill is the ideological antithesis of what Rumsfeld believes, but he let Delums carry it off because of what it represents – a big rift in the non-Republican support between the Democrats and We The People.”
CW: “So what’s the solution? If we had tried to kill Dellums bill and we look like the heavies – which is what Rumsfeld wants. That’s why he had Lott and Bill Brock giving their support to a bill that would otherwise turn their lips blue.”
JC: “We couldn’t not support it, because most Democrats believed in it. But by supporting it, we gave the appearance that Ron Dellums was our de-facto leader.”
HJ: “Exactly where Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney want us. While at the same time they hammer us over being weak on national security, all while there is a big security scare going on. If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were a bunch of wimps – or worse – yesterday’s party whose time had come.”
CW: “You should talk. You served in Wallace’s administration, and he made us all look like clowns, changing his positions with every poll.”
HJ: “I don’t have to defend the important work I did for President Wallace and this country-“
JC: “And in a quick turn of conversation, we see what is happening with the Democratic Party. When others aren’t picking us apart, we argue amongst ourselves and do Rumsfeld’s work for him.”
HJ: “You’ve got the point, Jimmy. I’m embarrassed to say I just fell into the trap.
CW: “Then we have to find a way to dig out of the trap.”
JC: “Or find an even bigger one for Rumsfeld to fall into.”
HJ: “Now you’re seeing the bigger picture Jimmy.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, August 23, 1982
The superior South Vietnamese forces, backed by the United States, drive the Cambodians out of Laos and back into Cambodian territory.
Wednesday, August 25, 1982
The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) announced that it would contest the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly elections but those elected would not take their seats. Sinn Fein announced it would boycott the elections altogether, and darkly implied that the PIRA would disrupt the polling.
Saturday, August 28, 1982
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) found one and a half tons of commercial explosive hidden in a lorry near Banbridge, County Down. The Garda Síochána (the Irish police) found 10,000 rounds of ammunition and commercial explosives at Glencree, County Wicklow.
August 31 – September 4, 1982
A further series of military reverses in Kashmir and along the Tibetan frontier further undermines the government of Prime Minister Das. This plays into the image that Sanjay Gandhi has been playing up of the government being infiltrated by Pakistani spies.
Wednesday, September 1, 1982
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) shot and wounded Billy Dickson, then a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member of Belfast City Council.
Friday, September 3, 1982
Italian general Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa is killed in a Mafia ambush.
--------------------------------------------------
Rummy Rhapsody
Fall 1982
A full scale civil war breaks out in Greece. United States forces land in the South of the country to provide “assistance” to the Greek military. Meanwhile U.S. forces are instrumental in forcing Papandreou and PASOK from power. He is replaced by Karamanlis who, with U.S. backing, sets up an emergency provisional government to deal with the Communist insurgency in the north.
Most European nations protest the active intervention of the U.S. in Greece’s internal affairs. In a not very subtle message, Soviet Premier Arvids Pelse and Deputy Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov pay a state visit to Sofia, Bulgaria shortly after the U.S. lands troops in Greece. Soviet Defence Minister Kulikov pays a separate visit to Bulgaria. It is reported that all three Soviet officials meet with Greek Communist leaders during these visits and give them broad assurances of support.
September 4 – 15, 1982
Pope Pius XIII tours Poland (Warsaw, Crakow, Katowice and Poznan) under the supervision of nervous Communist officials. The Communists hope that a Papal tour will calm restiveness among the population, by easing-up on religious freedom. While operating within some restrictions, the Pope does his best to encourage a form of passive resistance to the Communist authority. His visit sparks re-newed activity in the Roman Catholic underground resistance to the Communist authorities.
After Poland, the Pope also speaks at a Mass in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Czech Communists have allowed him to come to Prague, but not to tour the countryside. Unlike the Poles, the Czechs also organize anti-Church protests around the Pope’s visit.
From Moscow the Politburo had strong armed the two reluctant satellite regimes to allow the Papal visit, as an effort to show that Soviet influence in Eastern Europe is enlightened.
Sunday, September 5, 1982
Iowa paperboy Johnny Gosch is kidnapped.
Due to growing tension, Indian Prime Minister Das and his government are forced to resign and call for early elections.
Brian Smyth, who had been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) until 1978, was shot dead by members of the UVF in Crimea Street, Shankill, Belfast. [This killing was reported as an internal feud but was a personal grudge between Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers', and Smyth to whom Murphy owed money.]
Monday, September 6, 1982
“Day of Outrage” (Labor Day) protests take place across the United States, organized by We The People and other left-wing movements to protest the Rumsfeld Administration. There are numerous clashes with police in several major cities.
The Iranian regime begins talks with clerics on re-establishing “Islamic standards” in public education and law, but Prime Minister Hamid makes a point of starting that the regime will continue to support “broad based standards of law and justice for all Iranian citizens.”
PJO forces strike north in a counter-offensive against Algeria. In fighting the Algerians (though not the East Bloc forces) and the French the PJO receives military support from the Libyan regime. The Algerians have decided they cannot remain indifferent to the PJO threat.
A man believed to be the Mao Yan-jin (the Lesser Mao) is arrested in Bangkok. This identification later proves false. It highlights what many believe – that the Lesser Mao has fled China and is hiding in an overseas Chinese population somewhere. There are many sightings around the globe, but none confirmed.
September 7 – 10, 1982
The North Korean regime hosts the first “Peoples of Asia Trade and Co-operation Exposition” in Pyongyang. This is part of an effort of the North Korean regime to by-pass its Southern neighbour and develop trade links with some of Asia’s poorest economies (or as yet underdeveloped), such as North Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma and Indonesia.
Tuesday, September 7, 1982
The government of Quebec announces that only francophones with “historic ties” to the province of Quebec will be allowed to vote in the October referendum. Anglophones and immigrants from non-French speaking areas will not be allowed to vote.
Peter Lougheed MP (Prime Minister of Canada): “Today, the government of Quebec has shown its true colours on the issue. There can be no question that the current terms of the so-called referendum proposed by Mr. Levesque have, if anything, the tinge of racism to them, and certainly amount to a selective polling of only select groups of the Quebec people. By cutting out legitimate voters strictly on the basis of their language or place of origin, the Parti Quebecois has effectively undermined the legitimacy of this exercise. Even if this referendum passes, it cannot be said to be binding if it is a poll of some, and not all.”
Rene Levesque MNA (Premier of Quebec): “This is a peculiar charge of racism to come from Ottawa, when you consider that the entire existence of the federal compact that has held our province in its place as a second-class member has been based on cultural and linguistic racism. If anything, by leaving the decision in the hands of the true Quebecois of long and legitimate claim to this land, we are freeing them to express their preferences amidst a sea of peoples either openly hostile or ignorant of our long fight against cultural and linguistic domination. If this is racism, I wear it proudly, for it is an expression of a people too long held back who wish to step to the front of the bus. It is not I who is the Canadian Malan here, Mr.Prime Minister. Rather, it is you who oppress us with a made-in-Ottawa language apartheid which we will no longer tolerate.”
Wednesday, September 8, 1982
Mayor Agnew begins a controversial plan to strip the New York Public Library system of “Marxist and Left Pinko literature.” “The people of New York don’t give their hard earned tax dollars to the public library system so that the sonnets of sedition can be freely passed about by the pied pipers of propaganda. The availability of this pro-communist gobbledygook is not a sign of free speech, it is a sign of moral weakness. New York will be a clean town, a town cleansed of the pinko, leftist scourge that has maligned our public institutions with indecent idiocy. That is my commitment to the tax payers of New York.”
Monday, September 13, 1982
The United States vetoes efforts at the U.N. to organize negotiations on a new bacteriological and viral warfare convention.
Tuesday, September 14, 1982
Dick Cheney: “We have an obligation to protect the American people, so yes we have to do some things on the dark side, but that is the nature of warfare against non-democratic forces. The Soviets aren’t restricted by our concepts of honor, and neither are terrorists. In fact they’ll use those very ideas against us as weapons. So, at the end of the day, do you want to hand our enemies a decisive victory just so you can say you kept your honor clean?”
Reporter: “You have to appreciate how that sounds, Mr. Cheney. It sounds anti-democratic and frankly, a little sinister.”
DC: “Does it? You raise the democratic question, well I have to say that our opponents – the Communists and the terrorists – are very undemocratic, so I don’t lose any sleep over that distinction. I know who our enemies are. If anything I might say or do seems undemocratic, then I have to say that it is the view of democracy that is wrong. Democracy is not a suicide pact. It is a form of government that promotes freedom, but that doesn’t mean we can trust our enemies to respect it for its own sake. The Army has an old expression, “we’re here to defend democracy, not practice it. The same idea. We have to take those measures to protect our democracy from sinister anti-democratic forces, and to the extent what we do may seem sinister, it is far less than what we are facing.
R: “That sounds like the end justifies the means. How can we be free under such a – regime?”
DC: “President Rumsfeld has said, and I have said, from the outset that freedom is about more than the Bill of Rights and doing whatever you want. Freedom, as a way of life, involves a responsibility to protect a free society from those who would tear it down. As I said, democracy is not a suicide pact. So, if we say the end is to preserve our nation as strong and free, then why question the means that will achieve that? The only ones who would are, in my opinion, doing the front work for our enemies.”
R: “Now you’re saying dissent is treason?”
DC: “I’m saying people should watch what they say, because ill thought out dissent can be used by our enemies. They need to have the discipline to take the long view, just as we have.”
----------------------------------
Thursday September 16, 1982
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) carried out a booby-trap bomb attack on a British Army patrol in the Divis Flats in Belfast and killed two Catholic children, Stephen Bennett (14) and Kevin Valliday (12), and one soldier, Kevin Waller.
Saturday, September 18, 1982
South African armed police indiscriminately attack white students protesting conscription at the University of the Witwatersrand, injuring hundreds and killing seven. (Later described as South Africa’s “Kent State moment.”). The Malan government reacts by closing down Witwatersrand University.
The Dead Kennedys and the Ramones, and other lesser known punk rock bands, give a concert in San Francisco called “Rummy Go To Hell!”. During the concert fans get into fights with other ticket holders (some said to be undercover provocateurs). The result is a small riot, which is used by the SFPD and the California National Guard as an excuse to raid the concert and shut it down. Further violence follows the attempt.
Iran formally recognizes the Republic of Arabia.
Tom Park, a Korean-American, survives a beating by a group of black anti-Chinese racists in Chicago, Illinois.
Tuesday, September 21, 1982
The first International Day of Peace (United Nations). The United States government boycotts this event.
The Soviets and their allies bloc an attempt by the U.N. to give observer status to the Free Uyghur Republic.
Thursday, September 23, 1982
John Hermon, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), said that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were both "reeling" from the evidence given by informers (called 'supergrass' by the media) and the subsequent arrests.
Friday, September 24, 1982
The effort to expel the United States from the United Nations fails (because the Rumsfeld Administration threatened to cut-off economic and military aid to any country receiving such U.S. support, overtly or covertly, that supported the motion). What does pass the General Assembly is a motion of censure, which the United States vetos in the Security Council.
President Rumsfeld: “They want to censure us, let them go ahead. I for one welcome the censure of a bunch of left-wing, proto-Marxist hypocrites and fellow travelers. If they didn’t want to censure this administration, then I would know we were doing something wrong.”
Some in the Rumsfeld Administration are reported to have considered ordering the U.N. to leave New York; however there was strong opposition from the intelligence community on this, so the idea was dropped.
Sunday, September 26, 1982
Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main parachute to fall to lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.
September 29–October 1, 1982
The 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders occur when 7 people in the Chicago area die after ingesting capsules laced with potassium cyanide.
In Orlando, Florida, Walt Disney World opens the second largest theme park, EPCOT Center, to the public for the first time.
Sony launches the first consumer compact disc (CD) player (model CDP-101).
Friday, October 1, 1982
The Healey Cabinet rejected a motion by the Labour Party to end the use of plastic bullets in Northern Ireland. The Cabinet rejection further accentuated a split between the “softs” and the “hards” in the Parliamentary Labour caucus.
Saturday, October 2, 1982
While on a book signing tour for his memoirs, former President James Gavin is found dead in a hotel room in Marietta, Georgia. The official cause is attributed to a faulty heater which discharged gas during the night, killing the former President in his sleep. Information comes to light later that blood toxicology reveals an inordinately high level of sedatives in his system. Gavin was not known to take sleeping pills. This becomes the subject of debate as to whether Gavin was murdered or whether it was suicide.
Sunday, October 3, 1982
Although they do not have formal diplomatic relations, the United States and the Republic of Arabia begin negotiations in Tehran for the return of Dharan to Arabian sovereignty. Negotiations stall as the United States demands basing rights on the Arabian coast.
French backed forces take Bamako in Mali.
An Islamic proto-state emerges in the Jo Chiang Charkhick area of central China. The Islamic Republic of Central China is later given associate status by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Camp David
President: “I understand that there has been a drop-off in new viral cases.”
Dick Cheney: “According to whom?”
P: “CDC and USAMRID from what I read…”
DC: “Depends on how you look at the figures. You could equally make a case that it has stayed the same or gone-up, depending on what you count.”
P: “What do you mean?”
DC: “Every common cold could be this thing, so we have to look at those as probable cases.”
P: “The British are announcing they’ve turned the corner on this.”
DC: “Socialists play politics with their people’s lives to make the problem go away. The Conservatives over there aren’t as convinced. It’s all subject to interpretation.”
P: “At least until November.”
DC: “At least.”
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 5, 1982
South Vietnamese forces, backed by the United States, South Korea and Taiwan, enter Vientiane, Laos and expel the Pathet Lao government. Crown Prince Vong Savang is installed as King Savang of Laos. The remaining Pathet Lao forces retreat into the jungles where they become an insurgency.
The North Vietnamese, lacking active Soviet support and with few allies of their own prove incapable of countering U.S. interests in the region. South Vietnam has now largely become the local enforcer of U.S. interests and the arbiter of disputes.
Thursday, October 7, 1982
A member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and a Prison Officer were killed in a connected incident in Kilmore, County Armagh.
Monday, October 11, 1982
Henry Kissinger (eulogy at President Gavin’s funeral at West Point): “In the final months of his life President Gavin spoke out against a cloud of darkness which has descended over our democracy; a concentration of ambition and a love of power which has begun to cloud the free operation of our governing institutions. President Gavin himself said on many occasions that a free nation must be strong, but that we must be wary, lest that pursuit of strength turn from a virtue to a cancer that eats away at the life-blood of our freedom. Recently, this past May, at this very school, his own alma matter, the President warned us again, in his words that “there is a dark impulse loose in our circles of power, one which looks inward and which believes that only through brute force can we deal with the world.” I fear that his concern has been realized and we have lost him just when we needed his wise counsel most; for as he warned, we must be wary of a dark vision which would destroy the future of our nation with a misguided obsession for power.”
Former President George Wallace (at the same funeral; speaking after Kissinger): “Even as we lay our friend to rest, I have to reflect on his words of late. Something has gone profoundly wrong with this republic, a shadow I can’t quite name, can’t quite see, but that I can feel. Jim Gavin clearly saw it better than I, and he sounded the warning. Let me sound then say, at his untimely passing, that I will heed his words, and look harder at what is happening around me. Jim Gavin gave his life for freedom, and none of us can treat such a sacrifice lightly; nor can we afford to ignore his counsel, which we know to be the earnest warnings of a honorable man.”
Former Senator Barry Goldwater (speaking after Wallace): “I once said that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue, and that extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. As a soldier, as an Ambassador and as our President Jim Gavin long embodied that ethos. He lived a life centered on the love of country and duty; he pursued his duty without compromise, whether the call was to face the enemy on the battlefield or to assume the highest office in our land at a moment of great crisis. General James Gavin never shirked his duty. And he never spun a yarn for the sake of spinning a yarn, nor was he given to exaggeration. His words to us in his final months were more than just a warning, they were the clear – of a patriot, a warning to us all. We need to heed his words; to ignore the path to dictatorship in the pursuit of our comfort is more than a vice; it is a sin.”
Ronald Reagan (speaking after Goldwater): “The strength of America is our love of freedom and democracy. This is what has made this nation a special place, a city on the hill which is a beacon to all others. President Gavin served his nation at every call, and so showed his love of country and his dedication to our Constitution through his service and his life. He should be an example for all our leaders; his was a Presidency that respected the Constitution, and these are the principles that everyone in public life should adhere to.”
The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised.
Wednesday, October 13, 1982
The Ford Sierra is launched in Europe, replacing the Ford Cortina
Shah Reza II of Iran meets with leaders of the Baha’i faith in order to cement religious freedom within Iran.
Saturday, October 16, 1982
In Baghdad Iraqi President (General) Maher Abd al-Rashid signs a Treaty of Friendship with the Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri. The next day the Iraqi and Egyptian leaders sign a joint pact of “mutual support” with Soviet Foreign Minister Mikhail Smirnovsky. This alarms the Israeli government, which sees the shadows of the 1973 war in this new alignment between Cairo, Baghdad and Moscow. The Rumsfeld Administration denounces this re-alignment as “destructive to world peace” and “prima facie evidence of Soviet adventurism and imperialism in the Middle East.”
Mayor Agnew embarrasses the New York City Housing Authority by identifying a number of sub-standard units during personal inspections, and then organizing repairs for residents outside of the NYCHA bureaucracy.
October 18 – 22, 1982
President Rumsfeld makes a state visit to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. In each country he formally re-asserts the U.S. commitment to their security. In Taipei he and ROC President Chiang Ching-kuo discuss the future return of the ROC government to the mainland.
Monday, October 18, 1982
French and East Bloc forces accidentally clash in combat in western Mali.
Bill Gates is released from Federal Prison. Once released he immediately began experimenting with underground computer communication networks, using pirate signals which could be broadcast over existing telephone networks without being detected, or over power connections and television cable systems.
October 19 – 27, 1982
The Egyptian military and police crackdown on an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to stage anti-regime and pro-PJO demonstrations in Egypt.
Tuesday, October 19, 1982
John De Lorean is arrested for selling cocaine to undercover FBI agents. He is found guilty at trial and receives a sentence of seventy years in prison. (Because he was involved in international business activity, De Lorean was convicted not only of cocaine trafficking but also of engaging in a criminal conspiracy whose result was injurious to the national security of the United States).
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) carried out a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Glengall Street, Belfast. The building was badly damaged by the blast.
CBS News
Dan Rather (CBS): “But look at the British. They’ve apparently isolated this virus, even turned it back. Even Hong Kong, which is far closer to the center of it, is seeing better results. How can it be different here? Shouldn’t we be seeing similar results?”
Deputy National Security Advisor William Van Cleave: “The British authorities have made a political decision, based on their own criteria. Our administration is not willing to endanger the health of the American people based on a risk that some British politicians are willing to take with the life of their own people.”
DS: “I have to say, Mr. Van Cleave, in all my years of news coverage I have heard a lot of BS – a lot of BS! – but none of that comes close to what I’m hearing today. Are you saying that the British government, which has based its decision on advice from top experts in the field, would endanger the lives of their citizens to make a political point? Do you really believe British officials are so irresponsible?”
WVC: “You are a little out of order here, Dan. Let’s be clear about this; it was begun as an act of terrorism against the United States and its people. President Rumsfeld is dedicated to protecting our people – that is his solemn commitment since the day he took the oath of office. Our evidence shows that the British finds are – premature. I can’t answer to why they have chosen their policy – you will have to ask Prime Minister Healey about that. But here, in this country, President Rumsfeld will take no chances with the lives of our citizens.
DS: “Then I have to say it is a peculiar circumstance when the rules of medical science and biology that apply in Britain and Hong Kong for some reason don’t apply in the United States, all on the say-so of a man who is not a medical expert.”
WVC: “President Rumsfeld is an expert at security, and he has identified a clear and present danger to our nation. This is the time we need to stand by our President, Dan, to stand-up for our country as it is being attacked. Should we rely on the opinions of foreigners when our homeland is under direct threat? I ask you, Dan, should we? I’ll tell you not even George Washington let the French dictate terms to him, and so in this crisis the United States government will not blindly follow the unproven policies of others simply because it looks good. We will stand firm against the enemies of the American way of life.”
Shortly after this broadcast CBS placed Dan Rather on indefinite leave for an undisclosed medical condition. Some called this condition “Rumsfelditis.”
------------------------------------------
Wednesday, October 20, 1982
Luzhniki disaster: During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death.
World Series: The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 6–3 in game 7.
Northern Ireland Assembly Elections to the new 78 seat Northern Ireland Assembly took place across Northern Ireland. The Social Democratic and Labour Party's (SDLP) 18.8 per cent of the vote and 21 seats, which its members abstained from taking. The largest vote went to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP); 29.7 per cent and 26 seats. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) obtained 23.0 per cent and 21 seats. The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) obtained 9.3 per cent of the vote and got 10 seats. (19.2% of ballots cast were counted as spoiled; many had obscenities written on them).
The final assembly looked like this:
UUP – 26
DUP -21
APNI – 10
SDLP – 21 (vacant due to boycott).
With the absence of the SDLP the UUP and the APNI were able to do a deal to form a UUP minority government with James Molyneaux as the 7th Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. APNI leader Oliver Napier became Education Minister.
President Mitterrand, Prime Minister Healey and Prime Minister Berlinguer organize another global conference on the elimination of bacteriological and viral warfare. They persuade the Soviets to send observers. The United States is excluded from this conference.
Friday, October 22, 1982
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Caroline Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy II and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lead a midnight candlelight vigil outside the White House in observance of the 20th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s address to the nation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The observance is also widely understood to be a protest of the Rumsfeld Administration.
Eugene Terre’Blanche is brought into the South African government as the Minister of Security to shore-up the AWB (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging) affiliation with and support for the Malan government. Although the government doesn’t officially change the name of the state, the term “Boervolkstaat” (or Boer only homeland) begins to appear in official communiques.
The United States has increased its presence in Southern Africa to nearly 4,000 Special Forces advisors plus an unknown number of “contractors” working in “support roles.” Up to 2,000 Israeli advisors are also thought to be involved in Southern African combat, though they view their advising as a live combat training opportunity.
Sunday, October 24, 1982
Israeli Prime Minister Begin calls the Iraq-Egypt-USSR accords “a sure step on the road to war and destruction. We call on the Iraqi and Egyptian government to reverse this hostile act toward our peace-loving nation.”
Joseph Donegan, a Catholic civilian, was abducted, tortured, and beaten to death by members of a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang in an attack that bore the hallmarks of the 'Shankill Butchers'. [Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the 'Shankill Butchers', was one of the gang who abducted and killed Donegan.]
A second nuclear test explosion in the Tuamotu Archipelago indicates that Japan has made further progress on developing a nuclear weapon (for domestic consumption the Nakasone government attributes this development to Taiwan’s government: in fact Japan and Taiwan are sharing technology and development with Taiwan taking a more public role due to resistance to nuclear weapons development among the Japanese population at large).
Monday, October 25, 1982
The Iraqi President indicates that Israel will “drown in the blood of its own evil” and calls on Menachem Begin to be “fed pork and then boiled in the oil of justice.”
The Quebec referendum result is 55% in favor of separation, meeting Premier Levesque’s target of 50%+1. There is a great deal of unrest among ethnic communities who were excluded from the referendum. Premier Levesque declares that the referendum is a victory for separation. In Ottawa the government of Prime Minister Lougheed refuses to recognize the results of a “un-democratic referendum.”
President Rumsfeld: “Let me be clear what the stakes are in this election. We face relentless enemies who are taking advantage of our economic weakness and political division to try and take away our freedom. Some say why worry, since the Soviets are not behind this. But they are! Not directly, but as our economy vacillates and terrorists plot new attacks on America, they observe our weakening and relish the opportunity when they can strike. As long as Democrats and Socialists in Congress vote to restrict the economic recovery program, and as long as they vote to weaken our defences, our freedom is in jeopardy. What I need from you, what I ask of you, is to send to Congress more Republicans who will vote to strengthen our economy and who will vote to strengthen our defences. When that happens, my fellow Americans, you freedom will be secure. So, in the end, I stand here and ask you to vote for your freedom.”
Ron Dellums (WTP): “What we hear from this President is nothing more than propaganda for the military-industrial complex. While I applauded this President’s signing of the University Access Bill, I see that this was just a sop this man used to cover his right wing agenda. He calls to protect our freedom, while his agencies and minions slowly steal it away. His acolyte Dick Cheney recently argued that freedom was about more than just the Bill of Rights? Really? In America the Bill of Rights is about freedom. What we must do this November is put a Congressional muzzle on this President, reduce him to impotence for the next two years, until the American people in their righteous fury reclaim their liberty by voting this President out of office for good.”
Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA): “Before Donald Rumsfeld took office this nation was respected around the world for our stands on freedom and against tyranny. Yes, there were abuses, but these were not the main stay of our policy, as they are now, supporting racist tyranny in South Africa and war everywhere else. We must oppose this President at the ballot box at every opportunity and reclaim the free nation we inherited from our founding fathers.”
William F. Buckley: “A tyrant comes in many different forms; but a tyrant is a tyrant regardless of his ideological costume. I believe that this nation must be strong to preserve its freedom. But I also believe that Don Rumsfeld, in the name of strength, has made us weaker and more vulnerable than at any other time in our history. Even LBJ protected our liberty in his idiosyncratic way. Rumsfeld loves to use the world freedom, but seems to have lost touch with what that was. Like Machiavelli he has embraced means over principle, and his means stand as a stark anti-thesis to the values on which this nation was founded.”
Vice President Edwards: “Throughout the land I hear the voices of naysayers and doubters; those who are afraid that we are taking away a little too much freedom, that we are weakening the nation in the name of strengthening it. The call of the Socialist and the Communist has infected our body politic, like an infection which could, if unchecked – like the China virus launched against us – kill our freedom. Our freedom is too precious to squander on such ambivalent, suicidal approaches. Our Constitution is no suicide pact; our freedom is no poison pill. Recently I was reminded of the old saying of Ben Franklin’s that those who are willing to trade a little freedom for more security deserve neither. Well, I hate to argue with old Ben, but the truth of the matter is, those who trade security for too much freedom shall have neither, and shall soon fall victim to those who respect neither. These are the choices you have going into the polling booth this year, for you and for your children.”
--------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 26, 1982
Governor Rarick orders a “cleansing” of the Louisiana state University system of “seditious, left-wing propaganda.” “From now on the taxpayers of Louisiana will only support an education that produces a right minded citizen with values of hard work, honesty and good old Christianity. Anything else is against the freedom of Louisianans and we sure as Hell ain’t going to pay for it. Period!”
Wednesday, October 27, 1982
In Canada, Dominion Day is officially renamed Canada Day. In Quebec, July 1 is declared to be an official day of mourning.
The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 comes into effect, decriminalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland for those aged 18 or older.
Three Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers where killed when the PIRA detonated a land mine as the RUC patrol passed near Oxford Island, near Lurgan, County Armagh.
Thursday, October 28, 1982
Shah Reza II of Iran announces that elections will be held to a new bi-cameral assembly. The lower house (Majles) will be elected on a representation by population basis similar to European parliamentary systems. The upper house (Khobregan) will be composed of representatives of functional or regional constituencies such as clerics, business community, religious and ethnic minorities etc. Under the new situation the Majles will recommend the government, however Shah Reza II will retain the final authority over the appointment of the Prime Minister. The Iranian armed forces will also enjoy a special status as “a pillar of the state.”
Friday, October 29, 1982
A second pedophile, Michael Arliss Hennessey, was unmasked by the British Security Service as being a spy at GCHQ. Hennessey’s discovery came about as a result of the Geoffrey Prime investigation. The Hennessey case took a bizarre turn though when it was discovered that the Czech intelligence officer who supposedly blackmailed Hennessey into betraying secrets was not working for the Czech security service, but was in fact a CIA officer operating under a “false flag” cover. This case exposed U.S. spying in the U.K., against the U.K. government, for the first time.
Hennessey managed to commit suicide during his interrogations, leading to a wider inquiry into who in the Security Service may have assisted him in doing this.
Minority Anglophones appeal the results of the Quebec referendum to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Quebec government argues in return that the Supreme Court of Canada no longer has jurisdiction over Quebec.
October – November 1982
There are repeated pro-separatist demonstrations in Montreal, many of which deteriorate into rioting between pro and anti groups, and come to involve police. Some police units become involved as well, as the police themselves choose sides.
There are also anti-separation protest marches in other Canadian cities.
October 30 – November 10, 1982
Republic of Arabia forces backed by Iraqi units (and according to rumor some Soviet advisors) complete a successful offensive against the insurgents, driving them further back into the desert areas between Arabia and Yemen. Some insurgents reportedly leave the Arabian peninsula for North Africa.
Saturday, October 30, 1982
The China Five are found guilty on all counts, and sentenced to death.
The Republican Party uses this conviction in a last minute push in its election advertising.
Sunday, October 31, 1982
Former Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) disappears from his home in Phoenix. Police find evidence of a struggle, leading them to conclude he was kidnapped.
Monday, November 1, 1982
The British Ambassador to Washington is recalled “for consultations” after revelation of the Hennessey matter.
Bowie Kuhn resigns as Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Ronald Reagan’s late night television show is cancelled by NBC. The reason given is poor ratings, although a study of the ratings show that the show remained viable on the NBC line-up.
November 1 – 4, 1982
Indian National Elections:
Government (284 of 544 Seats)
Congress Alliance 191 + 90 = 281
-National Congress 187 + 75 = 262
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 18 – 2 = 16
-Jamu & Kashmir National Conference 3 + 2 = 5
-Kerala Congress (Joseph) 1
Opposition (179 of 544 Seats)
Anti-Congress National Alliance ("The Coalition") 276 - 97 = 179
- Janata Party 145 – 60 = 85
- Anna Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam 11 – 2 = 9
- Shiromani Akali Dal 4 – 1 = 3
-Bharatiya Lok Dal 75 – 10 = 65
-Indian National Congress (URS) 13 – 4 = 9
-All India Free Progress Party 7 – 3 = 4
-Indian Union Muslim League 3 +1 = 4
Left Front 68 + 6 = 74
- Communist Party of India (Marxist) 47 + 4 = 51
- Communist Party of India 12 + 2 = 14
- Revolutionary Socialist Party 5
- All India Forward Block 3 + 1 = 4
- Kerala Congress (Mani) 1 – 1 =0
Independents 9 – 2 = 7
Prime Minister before election
Ram Sundar Das (Janata)
Prime Minister after election
Sanjay Gandhi (Congress)
Tuesday, November 2, 1982
Election results - United States House of Representatives – 98th Congress (Jan. 3, 1983 – Jan. 3, 1985)
Republicans: = 213 + 2 = 215
Democrats: = 204 + 1 = 205
Libertarians:= 4 – 1 = 3
We The People: = 5 + 1 = 6
SWP: = 1 -1 = 0
Christian Values Movement = 6 -1 = 5
AAFP: = 1
Independent = 1 -1 = 0
Speaker of the House: Trent Lott (R-MS)*
Majority Leader: Delbert L. "Del" Latta (R-OH)*
Minority Leader: John Brademas (D-IN)*
* - Assignments based on plurality and not Majority in the House of Representatives.
United States Senate Elections – 98th Congress (Jan. 3, 1983 – Jan. 3, 1985)
Republicans = 49
Democrats = 47
Libertarians = 2
Christian Values = 1
We The People = 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)
* Held on basis of plurality rather than majority.
United States Senate Elections (Class 1)
Arizona:
John B. Conlan (Republican) (inc), 32.9% - Republican hold
A. Democrat 31.8%
Randall Clamons (Libertarian) 18.2%
We The People 17.1%
California
G. Edmund Brown (Democrat) (inc), 36.9% - Democratic hold
Pete Wilson (Republican) --- 36.2%
We The People 16.2%
Tena Dietrich (American Ind.) 2.4%
David Wald (Peace & Freedom) 1.2%
Joseph Fuhrig (Libertarian) 7.1%
Connecticut
Gloria Schaffer (Democrat) (inc.) – 38.6%
Lucien DiFazo (Republican (& Conservative) – 39.1% -- Republican pick-up
We The People – 14.2%
James A. Lewis (Libertarian) 7.9%
Others – 0.2%
Delaware
William V. Roth, Jr. (Republican) (inc.) - 43.2% -- Republican hold
David N. Levinson (Democratic) 42.2%
We The People – 8.6%
Libertarian – 6%
Florida
First Round
Reubin Askew (Democrat) – 42.2%
John Grady (Republican) (inc.) – 30.6%
Libertarian – 9.3%
We The People – 9.1%
Christian Voice 8%
Other 0.8%
Run-Off
Reubin Askew (Democrat) – 51.9% -- Democratic Pick-up
John Grady (Republican) (inc.) – 48.1%
Hawaii
The incumbent Sen. William F. Quinn (R) retired.
Nelson Doi (Democrat) – 43.1 % -- Democratic Pick-up
Clarence J. Brown (Republican) – 31.6%
We The People – 11.3%
Hawaiian Independence --- 11.1%
E Floyd Bernier-Nachtwey (Independent) 2.9%
Indiana
Richard Lugar (Republican) (inc.), 46.2% -- Republican hold
J. Danforth Quayle (Democratic) 41.6%
Christian Voice – 9.6%
Raymond James (American) 2.6%
Maine
Robert A.G. Monks (Republican + Libertarian) (inc.) – 48.6% - Republican hold
George Mitchell (Democratic) – 46.2%
We The People – 4%
Dissident Libertarian – 1.2%
Maryland
Paul Sarbanes (Democratic) (inc.) - 49.2% -- Democratic hold
Lawrence Hogan (Republican)- 36.5%
We The People – 12.3%
Libertarian – 2%
Massachusetts
Elliot L. Richardson (Republican) – 44.1% - Republican pick-up
Edward M. Kennedy (Democratic) (inc.) – 43.7%
We The People – (11.1%)
Howard S. Katz (Libertarian) 1.9%
Michigan
Marvin L. Esch (Republican) (inc.) – 46.1% - Republican hold
Democrat - 37.2%
We The People – 13.1%
Libertarian – 3.6%
Minnesota
David Durenberger (Republican) (inc.) – 39.2%
Hubert “Skip” Humphrey III (Democratic) – 41.2% - Democratic Pick-up
We The People – 12.1%
Libertarian – 7.5%
Mississippi
The incumbent John B. Williams (R) retired.
Harvey Johnson Jr*. (Democratic) – 33.6% - Democratic Pick-up
Christian Values – 29.8%
Haley Barbour (Republican) 23.6%
American Independent – 5%
We The People – 7%
States’ Rights party – 1%
* = First African-American elected to the Senate from Mississippi
Missouri
John Danforth (Republican) (inc.) - 45.8% - Republican hold
Harriett Woods (Democratic) 44.1%
We The People – 6%
Libertarian – 4.1%
Montana
Stanley C.. Burger (Republican) (inc.) – 29.2%
Bill Christiansen (Democratic) – 43.9% -- Democratic pick-up
Larry Dodge (Libertarian) 26.9%
Nebraska
John Y. McCollister (Republican) (inc.) – 44.2% - Republican hold
Democratic – 31.6%
We The People – 17%
Virginia Walsh (Independent) 7.2%
Nevada
Paul Laxalt (Republican) (inc.) – 44% - Republican hold
Democratic --- 37%
We The People – 10%
Libertarian – 9%
New Jersey
David R. Norcross (Republican) (inc.) – 40% -- Republican hold
Frank Lautenberg (Democratic) 31.9%
We The People – 21.2%
Socialist Workers Party – 4%
Others – 2.9%
New Mexico
Harrison Schmitt (Republican) (inc.) – 44.2% -- Republican hold
Jeff Bingaman (Democratic) – 43.1%
Libertarian – 7%
We The People – 5.7%
New York
James R. Buckley (Republican + Conservative) – 48.2% - Republican hold
Democratic – 30.2%
We The People – 19.5%
Others – 2.1%
North Dakota
Robert P. Stroup (Republican) (inc.) – 31.6%
Wayne G. Sanstead (Democratic) - 49.2% - Democratic Pick-up
Libertarian – 16.1%
Anna B. Bourgois (Independent) 3.1%
Ohio
Robert Taft Jr. (Republican) (inc.) – 45.7%
Howard Metzenbaum (Democratic) – 39.9%
We The People – 11.3%
Libertarian – 3.1 %
Pennsylvania
William D. Greene (Democratic) (inc.) – 34.8%
Donald L. Ritter (Republican) – 43.1% - Republican pick-up
We The People – 12.1%
Libertarian 10%
Rhode Island
John Chafee (Republican) (inc.) – 44.1% - Republican hold
Julius C. Michaelson (Democratic) 40.1%
We The People – 11.2%
Libertarian – 4.8%
Tennessee
William Brock (Republican) (inc.) – 38.9% - Republican hold
Democratic – 37.2%
Christian Values – 20.1%
Libertarian – 3.8%
Texas
Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic) (inc.) 43.9% -- Democratic hold
James M. Collins (Republican) 32.6%
Christian Values – 10%
We The People – 5.2%
Libertarian – 7.6%
Utah
Orrin Hatch (Republican) (inc.) – 41.2% - Republican hold
Ted Wilson (Democratic) 39.3%
George Mercier (Libertarian) 17.9%
Lawrence R Kauffman (American) 2.2%
Vermont
Thomas P. Salmon (Democratic) (inc.) – 46.2% - Democratic hold
Republican – 44.9%
Libertarian – 7%
Others – 1.9%
Virginia
Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Independent Retired
Paul S. Trible, Jr. (Republican) 38.8%
Richard Joseph Davis (Democratic) 39.2% - Democratic Pick-up
We The People – 11.2 %
Libertarian – 10.8%
Washington
Doug Jewett (Republican) – 38.2 % -- Republican pick-up
John Chenberg (Democratic) (inc.) – 26.4%
We The People – 21.2.2%
King Lysen (Independent) 12.7%
Jesse Chiang (Libertarian) 1.5%
West Virginia
Robert Byrd (Democratic) (inc.) - 61.5% - Democratic hold
Cleve Benedict (Republican) 36.8%
William B. Howland (Socialist Workers) 1.7%
Wisconsin
William Proxmire (Democratic) (inc.) – 35.1%
Scott McCallum (Republican) 36.2% - Republican pick-up
We The People – 16.9%
Libertarian – 11.8%
Others – 1%
Wyoming
Malcolm Wallop (Republican) (inc.) 44.7% - Republican hold
Rodger McDaniel (Democratic) 41.3%
Libertarian – 14%
Governors:
Republican: 27
Democratic: 21
Libertarian: 1
American Independent: 1
Governor Bill? of Idaho (Lib) is re-elected to a second term from January 2, 1983 – January 4, 1987,
Governor George H.W. Bush (R) of Texas is re-elected to a second term from January 18, 1983 – January 20, 1987.
Lewis E. Lehrman (R) defeats Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) to become the 52nd Governor of New York for the term January 1, 1983 – December 31, 1986.
31 year old George Wallace III (D) is elected as the 49th Governor of Alabama. He is widely considered a front man for his father, former President George C. Wallace. The former President moves into the Alabama Governor’s mansion with his son’s family in January 1983. Term: January 17, 1983 – January 19, 1987.
Richard Lamm (D) is re-elected Governor of Colorado; January 14, 1983 – January 13, 1987.
Representatives of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) held a meeting with Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and told him that the party would continue its boycott of the Assembly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 5, 1982
In the United States of America (USA) a court convicted five men of charges of conspiring to ship arms to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during 1981. The men used the defence that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had approved the shipment of arms although this was denied. All five men received sentences of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
President Mitterrand meets with Soviet leaders in Moscow in order to co-ordinate military actions in North Africa.
Sunday, November 7, 1982
Camp David
President: “The soft approach didn’t get us very far.”
Cheney: “We held our own, which is a good achievement for a White House party in the mid-terms. The House and Senate are still divided, which still works for us.”
President: “For eighty-four the gloves come off.”
-------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 10, 1982
Former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies. Apart from a brief announcement in the English edition of Pravda, the Soviet state offers no other acknowledgement. The funeral, if one was permitted, was private.
Thursday, November 11, 1982
A Quiet Conversation
Roger Ailes: “I get putting the bag on Carlin, he was a pain in the ass, but Goldwater?”
Dick Cheney: “You’re looking at it like the Argentinians did, and it undid them. Making your opponents go away only draws attention. In fact you want them out there, championing the leftist cause, like a bunch of useful idiots – makes them a useful target; we can galvanize hatred in our base for them into support. The people who need to be silenced are the ones who throw bombs from our side, who have credibility with our side, or would be supporters. That’s why Goldwater becomes a guest and Ron Dellums gets a pass.”
RA: “So, why Carlin?”
DC: “His presidential run in seventy-six made him into one of those rare figures who transcends entertainment and politics – sort of fuses them together – like Will Rogers or Mark Twain. Instead of just being a knee-jerk leftist, his comedy goes all over the place – and people begin to laugh, even among our base. That’s why he has to go, and the drug charge discredits him.”
RA: “And Reagan?”
DC: “Leaning on NBC to cancel his show was a warning. Pass the word back that if he can’t support the President he better retire for good.”
-------------------------------------------------------
Sean Burns, Gervaise McKerr and Eugene Toman, all members of the PIRA, were shot dead by members of an undercover unit of Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at a police check point on Tullygalley Road, Craigavon, County Armagh. None of the three men were armed at the time of the shooting. [This shooting incident, together with other similar incidents where unarmed Republican paramilitaries were shot dead led to claims that the security forces were engaged in a 'shoot to kill' policy. This claim was officially denied. The RUC claimed that the three men had driven through a Vehicle Check Point. There were similar incidents on 24 November 1982 and 12 December 1982. Eventually the British government set up an inquiry into the incidents.]
The first sitting of the new Northern Ireland Assembly took place at Stormont, Belfast. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Féin (SF) did not take up their seats.
Saturday, November 13, 1982
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. An anti-administration protest is suppressed by Washington Police backed-up by Military Police units.
Several oil wells open along the Eastern coast of Arabia under U.S. supervision, alleviating some of the worldwide shortage. Oil prices drop $ 2.00/barrel on the news.
Monday, November 15, 1982
Parliamentary elections were held in Brazil on 15 November 1982. The Democratic Social Party (the successor of the ruling National Renewal Alliance Party) won 235 of the 479 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 15 of the 25 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 82.8%
The Republic of China (Taiwan) government formally claims jurisdiction over the South-east coast of mainland China, and with U.S. co-operation begins setting-up bureaus to govern the area. The ROC and UK governments begin formal talks on the future status of Hong Kong.
Martin Lee, Szeto Wah and others formally found the Hong Kong Republic (Independence) Party.
Szeto Wah: “In the past years we have been subjected to a siege, to war, to the threat of nuclear annihilation and to just generally being the after-thought of others using our city and our people as a battleground in their struggles. In the end, Hong Kong and its people are more than just a mah-jong tile to be cast off by a dying Empire to another, rising one, not without the consent of our people. Rather we were a poor city-state rather than a rich vassal. But I think if being a city-state of our own is our way, we will be neither poor nor neglected for long, but our people will be free.”
Newly sworn in Indian Prime Minister Sanjay Gandhi decides not to release his mother from prison right away. He decides to separate his government from hers by not overturning the ruling of the earlier court verdict about the emergency period.
Tuesday, November 16, 1982
Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang the 'Shankill Butchers', was shot dead by PIRA at Forthriver Park, Glencairn, Belfast. [It was later claimed that Loyalist paramilitaries had colluded with the PIRA in having Murphy shot because no group was able to control him. Murphy's gang had been responsible for a series of particularly brutal murders of Catholic civilians. Many of those killed were first abducted, then beaten and tortured with butcher knives and hatchets before being killed and their bodies dumped.]
A Catholic civilian was shot dead by Loyalists in Mount Merrion Avenue, Rosetta, Belfast.
Two reserve members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) at a security barrier in Markethill, County Armagh.
In a gesture of reconciliation the Nakasone government signs a formal treaty with the Taiwanese government, formally handing the Diayou (Senkaku) Islands over to Taiwan. In return the Japanese government retains a share of the oil revenues to be developed from the islands and surrounding waters. A joint Japanese-Taiwan Off-shore Oil Corporation (JTOOC) is formed to exploit this resource. The United States is an “arbiter partner” in the JTOOC agreement.
Thursday, November 18, 1982
The PIRA kidnapped Patrick Gilmour in Derry. Patrick Gilmour was the father of Raymond Gilmour who had been a member of the PIRA and an Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) informer and who had gone into protective custody to become a 'supergrass'. [The PIRA later said that Patrick Gilmour would not be released until his son retracted his evidence, but did in fact release the elder Gilmour when it became clear that the pressure wouldn’t work.]
Saturday, November 20, 1982
The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.
University of California, Berkeley executes "The Play" in a college football game against Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes 5 laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who had prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.
Wednesday, November 24, 1982
Michael Tighe, a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by an undercover Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) unit at a farm in Derrymacash, near Lurgan, County Armagh. Martin McCauley, a Catholic civilian, was shot and wounded in the same incident. [The farm shed where the shooting occurred was being used by the PIRA to store weapons and it was believed that the young men had discovered the arms by accident. This shooting, following on from the shooting on 11 November 1982 convinced many Nationalists that the security forces were operating a 'shoot to kill' policy.
Thursday, November 25, 1982
Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire destroys an entire city block of downtown Minneapolis, including the headquarters of Northwestern National Bank.
Friday, November 26, 1982
Howard Cossell calls his last fight after being disgusted by Larry Holmes-Tex Cobb mismatch.
Saturday, November 27, 1982
Actress Drew Berrymore, age 7, hosts Saturday Night Live
Sunday, November 28, 1982
Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work toward aspects of free trade.
70th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeat the Edmonton Eskimos, 22-13
71st Davis Cup: USA beats France in Grenoble.
Tuesday, November 30, 1982
Michael Jackson releases Thriller.
Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, addressed the Northern Ireland Assembly and announced that the strength of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) would be increased by 1,000 officers and the RUC Reserve by 700.
The passing of the 1982 “China Virus” crisis (earlier in the year in Hong Kong, China, Britain and Canada, later in the autumn in the United States) leaves causalty figures at around 2,500 in Canada, 6,000 in the UK, 25,000 (approx) in Hong Kong, perhaps as many as 400-500,000 in China and around 12,000 in the United States*. Latter cases of the virus experience diminution as it appears to burn-out in a subject population several months after introduction, the spread weakening it to become closer to a conventional influenza virus. This appears to have been a “designed feature” of the original laboratory cooked strain. (Debate remains as to whether this was deliberate or a design flaw in the strain).
*= Figures in the United States were subject to debate as the Rumsfeld Administration “cooked the books” for political purposes, and using questionable counting techniques, such as counting those who contracted other strains of influenza during the period as being “China Virus” victims. This again was done for political purposes.
Thursday, December 2, 1982
At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he lives for 112 days with the device).
Friday, December 3, 1982
A final soil sample is taken from the site of Times Beach, Missouri. It is found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
Saturday, December 4, 1982
Police and racist demonstrators clash in Antwerp.
Monday, December 6, 1982
Ted Kennedy divorces Joan Kennedy.
The RUC and British forces defuse a bomb planted by the INLA at the Droppin' Well Bar and Disco in Ballykelly, County Derry. The target appeared to have been off-duty members of the the Cheshire Regiment which was based nearby.
Tuesday, December 7, 1982
The first U.S. execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas. Charles Brookes Jr. is put to death for torturing and murdering mechanic David Gregory. Brookes did not receive a last meal, as in September of 1981 the Texas Legislature had passed a law banning last meals to condemned convicts, which was signed into law by Governor Bush.
The Irish Supreme Court made a ruling which opened up the possibility of extradition between the Republic and the United Kingdom (UK). The court rejected the claim that paramilitary offences were politically motivated.
Sen. Daniel Inoyue (D-HI), a Japanese-American man, is assaulted in Los Angeles Airport by a man who blames all “Chinese” for “poisoning America with heroin and deadly viruses. Go back to China you [deleted].” Inoyue survives the encounter with only a few cuts and bruises.
Wednesday, December 8, 1982
Fifteen people are murdered in Suriname by the dictatorship of Surendre Rambocus. The regime is protected from international sanctions as a result by the United States.
Terrence Boston, then British Home Secretary, imposed a banning order on Gerry Adams, then Vice-President of Sinn Féin (SF), and Danny Morrison, then a leading member of SF. The order was imposed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and meant that Adams and Morrison could not enter Britain. The two men had received an invitation from the Greater London Council (GLC) to go to London for a series of meetings.
Sunday, December 12, 1982
Women's peace protest at Greenham Common: 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
Rodney Carroll and Seamus Grew, both members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), were shot dead by an undercover unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at a Vehicle Check Point (VCP) in Mullacreavie, County Armagh. [This became the third incident where allegations were made that the security forces were operating a 'shoot to kill' policy.]
Monday, December 13, 1982
An earthquake (Richter Scale 6.0 magnitude) in Dhamar, northern Yemen, kills at least 1,507.
Tuesday, December 14, 1982
Mauritanian forces, believing their Soviet allies are tied-up in Mali and eastern Mauritania strike into Senegal, hoping to use the confusion to make territorial gains from Senegal. French troops become involved, and once again there is fighting between French and East Bloc units along the Mauritania-Senegal border.
Wednesday, December 15, 1982
Sao Tome & Principe constitution approved.
Spain reopens border with Gibraltar for trade and tourism.
The RUC stops a vehicle in Belfast and kills all five occupants, suspecting that they were PIRA gunmen. They quickly discover that the five were off-duty U.S. Marines assigned to cross training duties with similar units in Northern Ireland. It is unclear if the Marines were given a chance to surrender, or if they were confused about the road-stop, as the driver had only recently arrived in Northern Ireland and the other four had high levels of blood alcohol at the time of their deaths, suggesting they may have passed out before the incident. Given that the driver was an African-American, the case that the RUC mistook them for PIRA or INLA gunmen quickly becomes even more suspect. While this incident adds to the “shoot-to-kill-policy” controversy domestically, it also creates an international incident between London and Washington. Adding to the dispute is the fact that the British government waited for three days to inform the U.S. government, when local authorities must have known within hours who had been killed.
Thursday, December 16, 1982
Seamus Mallon, then Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), is removed from his Northern Ireland Assembly seat by an Election Petition Court. The reason given was that Mallon was a member of the Irish Senate at the time of the election.
Friday, December 17, 1982
The Michelin company announced that it was to close its factory at Mallusk, County Antrim, with the loss of over 2,000 jobs.
Monday, December 20, 1982
The British Parliament approved the increase in the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Northern Ireland at the House of Commons from 12 to 17. Parliament also decided that the number of members of any future Northern Ireland Assembly would be increased from 78 to 85, which represented five members per constituency.
Wednesday, December 22, 1982
Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l'Océan Indien) (COI) created by Port Louis Agreement.
Thursday, December 23, 1982
The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination.
Friday, December 24, 1982
The "Christmas Eve Blizzard of '82" hits Denver.
Saturday, December 25, 1982
Under the nervously watchful eye of the Pinochet regime, Pope Pius XIII gives the Christmas Mass in Santiago, Chile. The most discomforting moment for the regime comes when the Pope personally blesses Father Pablo Cuerda and several of his followers before the crowd.
Pope: “Two months ago I visited our brothers and sisters in Warsaw and Prague, where they have suffered under nearly forty years of Communist oppression, where their faith has been attacked and where people of belief have been persecuted and jailed. They cried to me, “deliver us from Communism.” And I said to them, I hear your cries, as do all Catholics everywhere. In all lands and places where the faithful are attacked and persecuted; in all places where those who yearn for truth and freedom are jailed, in all those places, every one, we hear you and we are there. I was one a prisoner for my beliefs, doomed to the dungeon of the oppressor, locked on the road of the martyr perhaps. But the Holy Spirit called me forth from the darkness of my cell to a higher duty, a higher cause. His cause. His cause is the cause of freedom everywhere, for everyone. His cause is the cry unto all Pharaohs on all thrones of power to “set My people free!” Whether the despot is a military man, a Marxist, a Financier; whether the chains of oppression are the machine gun and the tank, the barbed wire and a concrete wall, or a bourse and crippling debt, all are equal in their iniquity before the Lord. All are the users of men, the crushers of life, the enemies of the soul. For Our Lord so loved his creations that He gave his only begotten Son that they might be saved, so He hears the cries of the oppressed today. He says unto us, Believe in Me, and you will be free. So I say, in your communities, be free. Take not the easy path of violence, but the righteous path of self-determination. Be not an outlaw but be a light unto the Greatest Law of all. Look into your heart, and ask, what is wrong in my community? Ask what can I do? And do it. Let the oppressors know you are not oppressed. You are a child of God, and as a child of God you will settle for no less than freedom for all your brothers and sisters. I said to your brothers and sisters in Prague, the Red Star has landed upon you, but it can be pushed off. Why? Because it is a thing made of man, and you are the beings made of God Himself. You will not be freed by bloodshed, but by believers who will refuse to be oppressed, who will refuse to be afraid. Like our brother Father Cuerda, it is the word, the belief that cuts our chains from us. It is not easy; this is the way of pain, the Via Dolorosa that is this life. It is not easy, it demands courage, it demands faith. But in faith are we not justified as children of God? In faith are we not freed of our chains? In faith are we not greater than sum of our individual beings? And if we are true to our faith, and true to our God, who can oppress us then?”
Afterward, and out of the usual protocol, the Pope then mingles with the crowd that has gathered – and especially the poor who have come to hear him. He is photographed lifting one small child to his shoulder. (The child was lost and looking for his parents in the crowd; on the Pope’s shoulder he spotted them). The symbolism of the lost child being uplifted was purely co-incidental, but what was not was the obvious discomfort of the Chilean policemen around the Pope, meant to contrast with the Pope’s manner with the people.
It was said afterward that Pinochet blew higher than Vesuvius and was unapproachable for two days afterward. He reportedly said: “This man takes the name of Pius, but this is a deception, a sheep’s wool to hide the fox. He is Pope Marx I, and this will either end with either his blood or ours.”
Pope Pius XIII (on hearing a version of the above remark): “Sadly, it is they who must shed the blood, for I wish no such thing. Am I afraid of them? What then, should I hide myself, cower before their threats? No, when I hear such as this, I fear not for myself; I fear most for their eternal souls at the moment. But for my life, that path has already been determined and I am but a humble servant on the path.”
---------------------------------------------
Sunday, December 26, 1982
Time Magazine's Man of the Year is given for the first time to a cartoon – it is awarded to the spirit of death.
Monday, December 27, 1982
Patrick Elliott, a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by British soldiers as he ran from a fish and chip shop which he had robbed on the Andersonstown Road, Belfast.
Wednesday, December 29, 1982
Bob Marley postage stamp issued in Jamaica.
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant ends his career with Alabama.
Thursday, December 30, 1982
England defeat Australia by three runs at cricket MCG.
US Assay Office in New York City, NY closes.
The Attorney-General amendment (an elected U.S. Attorney-General, elected at the mid-term elections) is ratified by Hawaii, which becomes the thirty-eighth state to ratify the amendment. It is now returned to Washington for a vote in Congress.
A proposed Article V Constitutional Convention has only been ratified by nine states.
Friday, December 31, 1982
NBC radio cancels almost all of its network daily features.
TV soap "Doctors" ends 19 year run.
The Government of Quebec declares that effective January 1, 1983 Quebec will be an independent nation. When Lt. Governor Jean-Pierre Cote refuses to accept the role of Parliamentary President in the new Republic, and instead resigns, Premier Levesque takes on the role of “Protector of Quebec” in the new Republican structure.
----------------------------------------------------------
The United States Senate – 98th Congress (Jan. 3, 1983 – Jan. 3, 1985)
Republicans = 49
Democrats = 47
Libertarians = 2
Christian Values = 1
We The People = 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)
* Held on basis of plurality rather than majority.
Alabama
3. Albert Brewer (R)
2. James D. Martin (R)
Alaska
2. Donald Hobbs (D)
3. Clark Gruening (D)
Arizona
1. John. B. Conlan (R)
3. Fred R. Easer (Lib)
Arkansas
3. Dale Bumpers (D)
2. Tom Kelly (R)
California
1. G. Edmund (“Jerry”) Brown (D)
3. Paul Gann (R)
Colorado
2. Floyd K. Haskell (D)
3. Mary E. Buchanan (R)
Connecticut
3. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R)
1. Lucien DiFazio (R)
Delaware
1. William Roth (R)
2. James Baxter (R)
Florida
3. Bill Gunter (D)
1. Reubin Askew (D)
Georgia
3. James E. Carter (D)
2. John Stokes (R)
Hawaii
3. Daniel Inouye (D)
1. Nelson Doi (D)
Idaho
3. Frank Church (D)
2. Dwight Jensen (D)
Illinois
2. Alex Seith (D)
3. David O'Neill (R)
Indiana
1. Richard Lugar (R)
3. Roger Marsh (R)
Iowa
2. Ronald D. Fulton (D)
3. Charles Grassley (R)
Kansas
3. William R. Roy (D)
2. Daniel Glickman (D)
Kentucky
2. John B. Breckinridge (D)
3. Mary L. Foust (R)
Louisiana
3. Russell B. Long (D)
2. Gary Howard (Christian Values)
Maine
1. Robert A.G. Monks (R)
2. Llewellyn Smith (D)
Maryland
3. Charles Mathias, Jr. (R)
1. Paul Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts
2. Donald Dwight (R)
1. Elliot Richardson (R)
Michigan
1. Marvin L. Esch (R)
2. Carl Levin (D)
Minnesota
2. Rudy Bostich (R)
1. Hubert “Skip” Humphrey III (D)
Mississippi
2. Thad Cochrane (R)
1. Harvey J. Johnson Jr. (D)
Missouri
1. John Danforth (R)
3. Gene McNary (R)
Montana
2. Ronald C. Galtieri (Lib)
1. Bill Christiansen (D)
Nebraska
1. John Y. McCollister (R)
2. Donald Shasteen (R)
Nevada
1. Paul Laxalt (R)
3. David Towell (R)
New Hampshire
2. Gordon Humphrey (R)
3. Warren Rudman (R)
New Jersey
1. David A. Norcross (R)
2. Charles Sandman (R)
New Mexico
1. Harrison Schmidt (R)
2. Toney Anaya (D)
New York
1. James Buckley (R)
3. Elizabeth Holtzman (D)
North Carolina
2. Jesse Helms (R)
3. Robert B. Morgan (D)
North Dakota
3. William L. Guy (D)
1. Wayne G. Sanstead (D)
Ohio
1. Robert Taft, Jr. (R)
3. John Glenn (D)
Oklahoma
3. Ed Edmondson (R)
2. Edward Gaylord (R)
Oregon
2. Vernon Cook (D)
3. Ted Kulgonoski (D)
Pennsylvania
3. Peter Flaherty (D)
1. Donald L. Ritter (R)
Rhode Island
2. Claiborne Pell (D)
1. John Chaffee (R)
South Carolina
3. Ernest Hollings (D)
2. Charles Ravanel (D)
South Dakota
2. Larry Pressler (R)
3. George McGovern (WTP)
Tennessee
1. William E. Brock III (R)
2. Jane Eskind (D)
Texas
1. Lloyd Bentsen (D)
2. Bob Krueger (D)
Utah
1. Orrin Hatch (R)
3. Dan Berman (D)
Vermont
3. Patrick Leahy (D)
1. Thomas P. Salmon (D)
Virginia
2. Andrew Miller (D)
1. Robert J. Davis (D)
Washington
3. Warren G. Magnuson (D)
1. Doug Jewett (R)
West Virginia
1. Robert Byrd (D)
2. Arch Moore (R)
Wisconsin
3. Lee Dreyfus (R)
1.Scott McCallum (R)
Wyoming
1. Malcolm Wallop (R)
2. Raymond Whittaker (D)
---------------------------------
Fall 1982
A full scale civil war breaks out in Greece. United States forces land in the South of the country to provide “assistance” to the Greek military. Meanwhile U.S. forces are instrumental in forcing Papandreou and PASOK from power. He is replaced by Karamanlis who, with U.S. backing, sets up an emergency provisional government to deal with the Communist insurgency in the north.
Most European nations protest the active intervention of the U.S. in Greece’s internal affairs. In a not very subtle message, Soviet Premier Arvids Pelse and Deputy Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov pay a state visit to Sofia, Bulgaria shortly after the U.S. lands troops in Greece. Soviet Defence Minister Kulikov pays a separate visit to Bulgaria. It is reported that all three Soviet officials meet with Greek Communist leaders during these visits and give them broad assurances of support.
September 4 – 15, 1982
Pope Pius XIII tours Poland (Warsaw, Crakow, Katowice and Poznan) under the supervision of nervous Communist officials. The Communists hope that a Papal tour will calm restiveness among the population, by easing-up on religious freedom. While operating within some restrictions, the Pope does his best to encourage a form of passive resistance to the Communist authority. His visit sparks re-newed activity in the Roman Catholic underground resistance to the Communist authorities.
After Poland, the Pope also speaks at a Mass in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Czech Communists have allowed him to come to Prague, but not to tour the countryside. Unlike the Poles, the Czechs also organize anti-Church protests around the Pope’s visit.
From Moscow the Politburo had strong armed the two reluctant satellite regimes to allow the Papal visit, as an effort to show that Soviet influence in Eastern Europe is enlightened.
Sunday, September 5, 1982
Iowa paperboy Johnny Gosch is kidnapped.
Due to growing tension, Indian Prime Minister Das and his government are forced to resign and call for early elections.
Brian Smyth, who had been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) until 1978, was shot dead by members of the UVF in Crimea Street, Shankill, Belfast. [This killing was reported as an internal feud but was a personal grudge between Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang known as the 'Shankill Butchers', and Smyth to whom Murphy owed money.]
Monday, September 6, 1982
“Day of Outrage” (Labor Day) protests take place across the United States, organized by We The People and other left-wing movements to protest the Rumsfeld Administration. There are numerous clashes with police in several major cities.
The Iranian regime begins talks with clerics on re-establishing “Islamic standards” in public education and law, but Prime Minister Hamid makes a point of starting that the regime will continue to support “broad based standards of law and justice for all Iranian citizens.”
PJO forces strike north in a counter-offensive against Algeria. In fighting the Algerians (though not the East Bloc forces) and the French the PJO receives military support from the Libyan regime. The Algerians have decided they cannot remain indifferent to the PJO threat.
A man believed to be the Mao Yan-jin (the Lesser Mao) is arrested in Bangkok. This identification later proves false. It highlights what many believe – that the Lesser Mao has fled China and is hiding in an overseas Chinese population somewhere. There are many sightings around the globe, but none confirmed.
September 7 – 10, 1982
The North Korean regime hosts the first “Peoples of Asia Trade and Co-operation Exposition” in Pyongyang. This is part of an effort of the North Korean regime to by-pass its Southern neighbour and develop trade links with some of Asia’s poorest economies (or as yet underdeveloped), such as North Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Burma and Indonesia.
Tuesday, September 7, 1982
The government of Quebec announces that only francophones with “historic ties” to the province of Quebec will be allowed to vote in the October referendum. Anglophones and immigrants from non-French speaking areas will not be allowed to vote.
Peter Lougheed MP (Prime Minister of Canada): “Today, the government of Quebec has shown its true colours on the issue. There can be no question that the current terms of the so-called referendum proposed by Mr. Levesque have, if anything, the tinge of racism to them, and certainly amount to a selective polling of only select groups of the Quebec people. By cutting out legitimate voters strictly on the basis of their language or place of origin, the Parti Quebecois has effectively undermined the legitimacy of this exercise. Even if this referendum passes, it cannot be said to be binding if it is a poll of some, and not all.”
Rene Levesque MNA (Premier of Quebec): “This is a peculiar charge of racism to come from Ottawa, when you consider that the entire existence of the federal compact that has held our province in its place as a second-class member has been based on cultural and linguistic racism. If anything, by leaving the decision in the hands of the true Quebecois of long and legitimate claim to this land, we are freeing them to express their preferences amidst a sea of peoples either openly hostile or ignorant of our long fight against cultural and linguistic domination. If this is racism, I wear it proudly, for it is an expression of a people too long held back who wish to step to the front of the bus. It is not I who is the Canadian Malan here, Mr.Prime Minister. Rather, it is you who oppress us with a made-in-Ottawa language apartheid which we will no longer tolerate.”
Wednesday, September 8, 1982
Mayor Agnew begins a controversial plan to strip the New York Public Library system of “Marxist and Left Pinko literature.” “The people of New York don’t give their hard earned tax dollars to the public library system so that the sonnets of sedition can be freely passed about by the pied pipers of propaganda. The availability of this pro-communist gobbledygook is not a sign of free speech, it is a sign of moral weakness. New York will be a clean town, a town cleansed of the pinko, leftist scourge that has maligned our public institutions with indecent idiocy. That is my commitment to the tax payers of New York.”
Monday, September 13, 1982
The United States vetoes efforts at the U.N. to organize negotiations on a new bacteriological and viral warfare convention.
Tuesday, September 14, 1982
Dick Cheney: “We have an obligation to protect the American people, so yes we have to do some things on the dark side, but that is the nature of warfare against non-democratic forces. The Soviets aren’t restricted by our concepts of honor, and neither are terrorists. In fact they’ll use those very ideas against us as weapons. So, at the end of the day, do you want to hand our enemies a decisive victory just so you can say you kept your honor clean?”
Reporter: “You have to appreciate how that sounds, Mr. Cheney. It sounds anti-democratic and frankly, a little sinister.”
DC: “Does it? You raise the democratic question, well I have to say that our opponents – the Communists and the terrorists – are very undemocratic, so I don’t lose any sleep over that distinction. I know who our enemies are. If anything I might say or do seems undemocratic, then I have to say that it is the view of democracy that is wrong. Democracy is not a suicide pact. It is a form of government that promotes freedom, but that doesn’t mean we can trust our enemies to respect it for its own sake. The Army has an old expression, “we’re here to defend democracy, not practice it. The same idea. We have to take those measures to protect our democracy from sinister anti-democratic forces, and to the extent what we do may seem sinister, it is far less than what we are facing.
R: “That sounds like the end justifies the means. How can we be free under such a – regime?”
DC: “President Rumsfeld has said, and I have said, from the outset that freedom is about more than the Bill of Rights and doing whatever you want. Freedom, as a way of life, involves a responsibility to protect a free society from those who would tear it down. As I said, democracy is not a suicide pact. So, if we say the end is to preserve our nation as strong and free, then why question the means that will achieve that? The only ones who would are, in my opinion, doing the front work for our enemies.”
R: “Now you’re saying dissent is treason?”
DC: “I’m saying people should watch what they say, because ill thought out dissent can be used by our enemies. They need to have the discipline to take the long view, just as we have.”
----------------------------------
Thursday September 16, 1982
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) carried out a booby-trap bomb attack on a British Army patrol in the Divis Flats in Belfast and killed two Catholic children, Stephen Bennett (14) and Kevin Valliday (12), and one soldier, Kevin Waller.
Saturday, September 18, 1982
South African armed police indiscriminately attack white students protesting conscription at the University of the Witwatersrand, injuring hundreds and killing seven. (Later described as South Africa’s “Kent State moment.”). The Malan government reacts by closing down Witwatersrand University.
The Dead Kennedys and the Ramones, and other lesser known punk rock bands, give a concert in San Francisco called “Rummy Go To Hell!”. During the concert fans get into fights with other ticket holders (some said to be undercover provocateurs). The result is a small riot, which is used by the SFPD and the California National Guard as an excuse to raid the concert and shut it down. Further violence follows the attempt.
Iran formally recognizes the Republic of Arabia.
Tom Park, a Korean-American, survives a beating by a group of black anti-Chinese racists in Chicago, Illinois.
Tuesday, September 21, 1982
The first International Day of Peace (United Nations). The United States government boycotts this event.
The Soviets and their allies bloc an attempt by the U.N. to give observer status to the Free Uyghur Republic.
Thursday, September 23, 1982
John Hermon, then Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), said that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) were both "reeling" from the evidence given by informers (called 'supergrass' by the media) and the subsequent arrests.
Friday, September 24, 1982
The effort to expel the United States from the United Nations fails (because the Rumsfeld Administration threatened to cut-off economic and military aid to any country receiving such U.S. support, overtly or covertly, that supported the motion). What does pass the General Assembly is a motion of censure, which the United States vetos in the Security Council.
President Rumsfeld: “They want to censure us, let them go ahead. I for one welcome the censure of a bunch of left-wing, proto-Marxist hypocrites and fellow travelers. If they didn’t want to censure this administration, then I would know we were doing something wrong.”
Some in the Rumsfeld Administration are reported to have considered ordering the U.N. to leave New York; however there was strong opposition from the intelligence community on this, so the idea was dropped.
Sunday, September 26, 1982
Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main parachute to fall to lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.
September 29–October 1, 1982
The 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders occur when 7 people in the Chicago area die after ingesting capsules laced with potassium cyanide.
In Orlando, Florida, Walt Disney World opens the second largest theme park, EPCOT Center, to the public for the first time.
Sony launches the first consumer compact disc (CD) player (model CDP-101).
Friday, October 1, 1982
The Healey Cabinet rejected a motion by the Labour Party to end the use of plastic bullets in Northern Ireland. The Cabinet rejection further accentuated a split between the “softs” and the “hards” in the Parliamentary Labour caucus.
Saturday, October 2, 1982
While on a book signing tour for his memoirs, former President James Gavin is found dead in a hotel room in Marietta, Georgia. The official cause is attributed to a faulty heater which discharged gas during the night, killing the former President in his sleep. Information comes to light later that blood toxicology reveals an inordinately high level of sedatives in his system. Gavin was not known to take sleeping pills. This becomes the subject of debate as to whether Gavin was murdered or whether it was suicide.
Sunday, October 3, 1982
Although they do not have formal diplomatic relations, the United States and the Republic of Arabia begin negotiations in Tehran for the return of Dharan to Arabian sovereignty. Negotiations stall as the United States demands basing rights on the Arabian coast.
French backed forces take Bamako in Mali.
An Islamic proto-state emerges in the Jo Chiang Charkhick area of central China. The Islamic Republic of Central China is later given associate status by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Camp David
President: “I understand that there has been a drop-off in new viral cases.”
Dick Cheney: “According to whom?”
P: “CDC and USAMRID from what I read…”
DC: “Depends on how you look at the figures. You could equally make a case that it has stayed the same or gone-up, depending on what you count.”
P: “What do you mean?”
DC: “Every common cold could be this thing, so we have to look at those as probable cases.”
P: “The British are announcing they’ve turned the corner on this.”
DC: “Socialists play politics with their people’s lives to make the problem go away. The Conservatives over there aren’t as convinced. It’s all subject to interpretation.”
P: “At least until November.”
DC: “At least.”
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 5, 1982
South Vietnamese forces, backed by the United States, South Korea and Taiwan, enter Vientiane, Laos and expel the Pathet Lao government. Crown Prince Vong Savang is installed as King Savang of Laos. The remaining Pathet Lao forces retreat into the jungles where they become an insurgency.
The North Vietnamese, lacking active Soviet support and with few allies of their own prove incapable of countering U.S. interests in the region. South Vietnam has now largely become the local enforcer of U.S. interests and the arbiter of disputes.
Thursday, October 7, 1982
A member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and a Prison Officer were killed in a connected incident in Kilmore, County Armagh.
Monday, October 11, 1982
Henry Kissinger (eulogy at President Gavin’s funeral at West Point): “In the final months of his life President Gavin spoke out against a cloud of darkness which has descended over our democracy; a concentration of ambition and a love of power which has begun to cloud the free operation of our governing institutions. President Gavin himself said on many occasions that a free nation must be strong, but that we must be wary, lest that pursuit of strength turn from a virtue to a cancer that eats away at the life-blood of our freedom. Recently, this past May, at this very school, his own alma matter, the President warned us again, in his words that “there is a dark impulse loose in our circles of power, one which looks inward and which believes that only through brute force can we deal with the world.” I fear that his concern has been realized and we have lost him just when we needed his wise counsel most; for as he warned, we must be wary of a dark vision which would destroy the future of our nation with a misguided obsession for power.”
Former President George Wallace (at the same funeral; speaking after Kissinger): “Even as we lay our friend to rest, I have to reflect on his words of late. Something has gone profoundly wrong with this republic, a shadow I can’t quite name, can’t quite see, but that I can feel. Jim Gavin clearly saw it better than I, and he sounded the warning. Let me sound then say, at his untimely passing, that I will heed his words, and look harder at what is happening around me. Jim Gavin gave his life for freedom, and none of us can treat such a sacrifice lightly; nor can we afford to ignore his counsel, which we know to be the earnest warnings of a honorable man.”
Former Senator Barry Goldwater (speaking after Wallace): “I once said that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue, and that extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. As a soldier, as an Ambassador and as our President Jim Gavin long embodied that ethos. He lived a life centered on the love of country and duty; he pursued his duty without compromise, whether the call was to face the enemy on the battlefield or to assume the highest office in our land at a moment of great crisis. General James Gavin never shirked his duty. And he never spun a yarn for the sake of spinning a yarn, nor was he given to exaggeration. His words to us in his final months were more than just a warning, they were the clear – of a patriot, a warning to us all. We need to heed his words; to ignore the path to dictatorship in the pursuit of our comfort is more than a vice; it is a sin.”
Ronald Reagan (speaking after Goldwater): “The strength of America is our love of freedom and democracy. This is what has made this nation a special place, a city on the hill which is a beacon to all others. President Gavin served his nation at every call, and so showed his love of country and his dedication to our Constitution through his service and his life. He should be an example for all our leaders; his was a Presidency that respected the Constitution, and these are the principles that everyone in public life should adhere to.”
The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised.
Wednesday, October 13, 1982
The Ford Sierra is launched in Europe, replacing the Ford Cortina
Shah Reza II of Iran meets with leaders of the Baha’i faith in order to cement religious freedom within Iran.
Saturday, October 16, 1982
In Baghdad Iraqi President (General) Maher Abd al-Rashid signs a Treaty of Friendship with the Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri. The next day the Iraqi and Egyptian leaders sign a joint pact of “mutual support” with Soviet Foreign Minister Mikhail Smirnovsky. This alarms the Israeli government, which sees the shadows of the 1973 war in this new alignment between Cairo, Baghdad and Moscow. The Rumsfeld Administration denounces this re-alignment as “destructive to world peace” and “prima facie evidence of Soviet adventurism and imperialism in the Middle East.”
Mayor Agnew embarrasses the New York City Housing Authority by identifying a number of sub-standard units during personal inspections, and then organizing repairs for residents outside of the NYCHA bureaucracy.
October 18 – 22, 1982
President Rumsfeld makes a state visit to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. In each country he formally re-asserts the U.S. commitment to their security. In Taipei he and ROC President Chiang Ching-kuo discuss the future return of the ROC government to the mainland.
Monday, October 18, 1982
French and East Bloc forces accidentally clash in combat in western Mali.
Bill Gates is released from Federal Prison. Once released he immediately began experimenting with underground computer communication networks, using pirate signals which could be broadcast over existing telephone networks without being detected, or over power connections and television cable systems.
October 19 – 27, 1982
The Egyptian military and police crackdown on an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to stage anti-regime and pro-PJO demonstrations in Egypt.
Tuesday, October 19, 1982
John De Lorean is arrested for selling cocaine to undercover FBI agents. He is found guilty at trial and receives a sentence of seventy years in prison. (Because he was involved in international business activity, De Lorean was convicted not only of cocaine trafficking but also of engaging in a criminal conspiracy whose result was injurious to the national security of the United States).
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) carried out a bomb attack on the headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in Glengall Street, Belfast. The building was badly damaged by the blast.
CBS News
Dan Rather (CBS): “But look at the British. They’ve apparently isolated this virus, even turned it back. Even Hong Kong, which is far closer to the center of it, is seeing better results. How can it be different here? Shouldn’t we be seeing similar results?”
Deputy National Security Advisor William Van Cleave: “The British authorities have made a political decision, based on their own criteria. Our administration is not willing to endanger the health of the American people based on a risk that some British politicians are willing to take with the life of their own people.”
DS: “I have to say, Mr. Van Cleave, in all my years of news coverage I have heard a lot of BS – a lot of BS! – but none of that comes close to what I’m hearing today. Are you saying that the British government, which has based its decision on advice from top experts in the field, would endanger the lives of their citizens to make a political point? Do you really believe British officials are so irresponsible?”
WVC: “You are a little out of order here, Dan. Let’s be clear about this; it was begun as an act of terrorism against the United States and its people. President Rumsfeld is dedicated to protecting our people – that is his solemn commitment since the day he took the oath of office. Our evidence shows that the British finds are – premature. I can’t answer to why they have chosen their policy – you will have to ask Prime Minister Healey about that. But here, in this country, President Rumsfeld will take no chances with the lives of our citizens.
DS: “Then I have to say it is a peculiar circumstance when the rules of medical science and biology that apply in Britain and Hong Kong for some reason don’t apply in the United States, all on the say-so of a man who is not a medical expert.”
WVC: “President Rumsfeld is an expert at security, and he has identified a clear and present danger to our nation. This is the time we need to stand by our President, Dan, to stand-up for our country as it is being attacked. Should we rely on the opinions of foreigners when our homeland is under direct threat? I ask you, Dan, should we? I’ll tell you not even George Washington let the French dictate terms to him, and so in this crisis the United States government will not blindly follow the unproven policies of others simply because it looks good. We will stand firm against the enemies of the American way of life.”
Shortly after this broadcast CBS placed Dan Rather on indefinite leave for an undisclosed medical condition. Some called this condition “Rumsfelditis.”
------------------------------------------
Wednesday, October 20, 1982
Luzhniki disaster: During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death.
World Series: The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 6–3 in game 7.
Northern Ireland Assembly Elections to the new 78 seat Northern Ireland Assembly took place across Northern Ireland. The Social Democratic and Labour Party's (SDLP) 18.8 per cent of the vote and 21 seats, which its members abstained from taking. The largest vote went to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP); 29.7 per cent and 26 seats. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) obtained 23.0 per cent and 21 seats. The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) obtained 9.3 per cent of the vote and got 10 seats. (19.2% of ballots cast were counted as spoiled; many had obscenities written on them).
The final assembly looked like this:
UUP – 26
DUP -21
APNI – 10
SDLP – 21 (vacant due to boycott).
With the absence of the SDLP the UUP and the APNI were able to do a deal to form a UUP minority government with James Molyneaux as the 7th Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. APNI leader Oliver Napier became Education Minister.
President Mitterrand, Prime Minister Healey and Prime Minister Berlinguer organize another global conference on the elimination of bacteriological and viral warfare. They persuade the Soviets to send observers. The United States is excluded from this conference.
Friday, October 22, 1982
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Caroline Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy II and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lead a midnight candlelight vigil outside the White House in observance of the 20th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s address to the nation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The observance is also widely understood to be a protest of the Rumsfeld Administration.
Eugene Terre’Blanche is brought into the South African government as the Minister of Security to shore-up the AWB (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging) affiliation with and support for the Malan government. Although the government doesn’t officially change the name of the state, the term “Boervolkstaat” (or Boer only homeland) begins to appear in official communiques.
The United States has increased its presence in Southern Africa to nearly 4,000 Special Forces advisors plus an unknown number of “contractors” working in “support roles.” Up to 2,000 Israeli advisors are also thought to be involved in Southern African combat, though they view their advising as a live combat training opportunity.
Sunday, October 24, 1982
Israeli Prime Minister Begin calls the Iraq-Egypt-USSR accords “a sure step on the road to war and destruction. We call on the Iraqi and Egyptian government to reverse this hostile act toward our peace-loving nation.”
Joseph Donegan, a Catholic civilian, was abducted, tortured, and beaten to death by members of a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang in an attack that bore the hallmarks of the 'Shankill Butchers'. [Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the 'Shankill Butchers', was one of the gang who abducted and killed Donegan.]
A second nuclear test explosion in the Tuamotu Archipelago indicates that Japan has made further progress on developing a nuclear weapon (for domestic consumption the Nakasone government attributes this development to Taiwan’s government: in fact Japan and Taiwan are sharing technology and development with Taiwan taking a more public role due to resistance to nuclear weapons development among the Japanese population at large).
Monday, October 25, 1982
The Iraqi President indicates that Israel will “drown in the blood of its own evil” and calls on Menachem Begin to be “fed pork and then boiled in the oil of justice.”
The Quebec referendum result is 55% in favor of separation, meeting Premier Levesque’s target of 50%+1. There is a great deal of unrest among ethnic communities who were excluded from the referendum. Premier Levesque declares that the referendum is a victory for separation. In Ottawa the government of Prime Minister Lougheed refuses to recognize the results of a “un-democratic referendum.”
President Rumsfeld: “Let me be clear what the stakes are in this election. We face relentless enemies who are taking advantage of our economic weakness and political division to try and take away our freedom. Some say why worry, since the Soviets are not behind this. But they are! Not directly, but as our economy vacillates and terrorists plot new attacks on America, they observe our weakening and relish the opportunity when they can strike. As long as Democrats and Socialists in Congress vote to restrict the economic recovery program, and as long as they vote to weaken our defences, our freedom is in jeopardy. What I need from you, what I ask of you, is to send to Congress more Republicans who will vote to strengthen our economy and who will vote to strengthen our defences. When that happens, my fellow Americans, you freedom will be secure. So, in the end, I stand here and ask you to vote for your freedom.”
Ron Dellums (WTP): “What we hear from this President is nothing more than propaganda for the military-industrial complex. While I applauded this President’s signing of the University Access Bill, I see that this was just a sop this man used to cover his right wing agenda. He calls to protect our freedom, while his agencies and minions slowly steal it away. His acolyte Dick Cheney recently argued that freedom was about more than just the Bill of Rights? Really? In America the Bill of Rights is about freedom. What we must do this November is put a Congressional muzzle on this President, reduce him to impotence for the next two years, until the American people in their righteous fury reclaim their liberty by voting this President out of office for good.”
Sen. Jimmy Carter (D-GA): “Before Donald Rumsfeld took office this nation was respected around the world for our stands on freedom and against tyranny. Yes, there were abuses, but these were not the main stay of our policy, as they are now, supporting racist tyranny in South Africa and war everywhere else. We must oppose this President at the ballot box at every opportunity and reclaim the free nation we inherited from our founding fathers.”
William F. Buckley: “A tyrant comes in many different forms; but a tyrant is a tyrant regardless of his ideological costume. I believe that this nation must be strong to preserve its freedom. But I also believe that Don Rumsfeld, in the name of strength, has made us weaker and more vulnerable than at any other time in our history. Even LBJ protected our liberty in his idiosyncratic way. Rumsfeld loves to use the world freedom, but seems to have lost touch with what that was. Like Machiavelli he has embraced means over principle, and his means stand as a stark anti-thesis to the values on which this nation was founded.”
Vice President Edwards: “Throughout the land I hear the voices of naysayers and doubters; those who are afraid that we are taking away a little too much freedom, that we are weakening the nation in the name of strengthening it. The call of the Socialist and the Communist has infected our body politic, like an infection which could, if unchecked – like the China virus launched against us – kill our freedom. Our freedom is too precious to squander on such ambivalent, suicidal approaches. Our Constitution is no suicide pact; our freedom is no poison pill. Recently I was reminded of the old saying of Ben Franklin’s that those who are willing to trade a little freedom for more security deserve neither. Well, I hate to argue with old Ben, but the truth of the matter is, those who trade security for too much freedom shall have neither, and shall soon fall victim to those who respect neither. These are the choices you have going into the polling booth this year, for you and for your children.”
--------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 26, 1982
Governor Rarick orders a “cleansing” of the Louisiana state University system of “seditious, left-wing propaganda.” “From now on the taxpayers of Louisiana will only support an education that produces a right minded citizen with values of hard work, honesty and good old Christianity. Anything else is against the freedom of Louisianans and we sure as Hell ain’t going to pay for it. Period!”
Wednesday, October 27, 1982
In Canada, Dominion Day is officially renamed Canada Day. In Quebec, July 1 is declared to be an official day of mourning.
The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 comes into effect, decriminalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland for those aged 18 or older.
Three Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers where killed when the PIRA detonated a land mine as the RUC patrol passed near Oxford Island, near Lurgan, County Armagh.
Thursday, October 28, 1982
Shah Reza II of Iran announces that elections will be held to a new bi-cameral assembly. The lower house (Majles) will be elected on a representation by population basis similar to European parliamentary systems. The upper house (Khobregan) will be composed of representatives of functional or regional constituencies such as clerics, business community, religious and ethnic minorities etc. Under the new situation the Majles will recommend the government, however Shah Reza II will retain the final authority over the appointment of the Prime Minister. The Iranian armed forces will also enjoy a special status as “a pillar of the state.”
Friday, October 29, 1982
A second pedophile, Michael Arliss Hennessey, was unmasked by the British Security Service as being a spy at GCHQ. Hennessey’s discovery came about as a result of the Geoffrey Prime investigation. The Hennessey case took a bizarre turn though when it was discovered that the Czech intelligence officer who supposedly blackmailed Hennessey into betraying secrets was not working for the Czech security service, but was in fact a CIA officer operating under a “false flag” cover. This case exposed U.S. spying in the U.K., against the U.K. government, for the first time.
Hennessey managed to commit suicide during his interrogations, leading to a wider inquiry into who in the Security Service may have assisted him in doing this.
Minority Anglophones appeal the results of the Quebec referendum to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Quebec government argues in return that the Supreme Court of Canada no longer has jurisdiction over Quebec.
October – November 1982
There are repeated pro-separatist demonstrations in Montreal, many of which deteriorate into rioting between pro and anti groups, and come to involve police. Some police units become involved as well, as the police themselves choose sides.
There are also anti-separation protest marches in other Canadian cities.
October 30 – November 10, 1982
Republic of Arabia forces backed by Iraqi units (and according to rumor some Soviet advisors) complete a successful offensive against the insurgents, driving them further back into the desert areas between Arabia and Yemen. Some insurgents reportedly leave the Arabian peninsula for North Africa.
Saturday, October 30, 1982
The China Five are found guilty on all counts, and sentenced to death.
The Republican Party uses this conviction in a last minute push in its election advertising.
Sunday, October 31, 1982
Former Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) disappears from his home in Phoenix. Police find evidence of a struggle, leading them to conclude he was kidnapped.
Monday, November 1, 1982
The British Ambassador to Washington is recalled “for consultations” after revelation of the Hennessey matter.
Bowie Kuhn resigns as Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Ronald Reagan’s late night television show is cancelled by NBC. The reason given is poor ratings, although a study of the ratings show that the show remained viable on the NBC line-up.
November 1 – 4, 1982
Indian National Elections:
Government (284 of 544 Seats)
Congress Alliance 191 + 90 = 281
-National Congress 187 + 75 = 262
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 18 – 2 = 16
-Jamu & Kashmir National Conference 3 + 2 = 5
-Kerala Congress (Joseph) 1
Opposition (179 of 544 Seats)
Anti-Congress National Alliance ("The Coalition") 276 - 97 = 179
- Janata Party 145 – 60 = 85
- Anna Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam 11 – 2 = 9
- Shiromani Akali Dal 4 – 1 = 3
-Bharatiya Lok Dal 75 – 10 = 65
-Indian National Congress (URS) 13 – 4 = 9
-All India Free Progress Party 7 – 3 = 4
-Indian Union Muslim League 3 +1 = 4
Left Front 68 + 6 = 74
- Communist Party of India (Marxist) 47 + 4 = 51
- Communist Party of India 12 + 2 = 14
- Revolutionary Socialist Party 5
- All India Forward Block 3 + 1 = 4
- Kerala Congress (Mani) 1 – 1 =0
Independents 9 – 2 = 7
Prime Minister before election
Ram Sundar Das (Janata)
Prime Minister after election
Sanjay Gandhi (Congress)
Tuesday, November 2, 1982
Election results - United States House of Representatives – 98th Congress (Jan. 3, 1983 – Jan. 3, 1985)
Republicans: = 213 + 2 = 215
Democrats: = 204 + 1 = 205
Libertarians:= 4 – 1 = 3
We The People: = 5 + 1 = 6
SWP: = 1 -1 = 0
Christian Values Movement = 6 -1 = 5
AAFP: = 1
Independent = 1 -1 = 0
Speaker of the House: Trent Lott (R-MS)*
Majority Leader: Delbert L. "Del" Latta (R-OH)*
Minority Leader: John Brademas (D-IN)*
* - Assignments based on plurality and not Majority in the House of Representatives.
United States Senate Elections – 98th Congress (Jan. 3, 1983 – Jan. 3, 1985)
Republicans = 49
Democrats = 47
Libertarians = 2
Christian Values = 1
We The People = 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)
* Held on basis of plurality rather than majority.
United States Senate Elections (Class 1)
Arizona:
John B. Conlan (Republican) (inc), 32.9% - Republican hold
A. Democrat 31.8%
Randall Clamons (Libertarian) 18.2%
We The People 17.1%
California
G. Edmund Brown (Democrat) (inc), 36.9% - Democratic hold
Pete Wilson (Republican) --- 36.2%
We The People 16.2%
Tena Dietrich (American Ind.) 2.4%
David Wald (Peace & Freedom) 1.2%
Joseph Fuhrig (Libertarian) 7.1%
Connecticut
Gloria Schaffer (Democrat) (inc.) – 38.6%
Lucien DiFazo (Republican (& Conservative) – 39.1% -- Republican pick-up
We The People – 14.2%
James A. Lewis (Libertarian) 7.9%
Others – 0.2%
Delaware
William V. Roth, Jr. (Republican) (inc.) - 43.2% -- Republican hold
David N. Levinson (Democratic) 42.2%
We The People – 8.6%
Libertarian – 6%
Florida
First Round
Reubin Askew (Democrat) – 42.2%
John Grady (Republican) (inc.) – 30.6%
Libertarian – 9.3%
We The People – 9.1%
Christian Voice 8%
Other 0.8%
Run-Off
Reubin Askew (Democrat) – 51.9% -- Democratic Pick-up
John Grady (Republican) (inc.) – 48.1%
Hawaii
The incumbent Sen. William F. Quinn (R) retired.
Nelson Doi (Democrat) – 43.1 % -- Democratic Pick-up
Clarence J. Brown (Republican) – 31.6%
We The People – 11.3%
Hawaiian Independence --- 11.1%
E Floyd Bernier-Nachtwey (Independent) 2.9%
Indiana
Richard Lugar (Republican) (inc.), 46.2% -- Republican hold
J. Danforth Quayle (Democratic) 41.6%
Christian Voice – 9.6%
Raymond James (American) 2.6%
Maine
Robert A.G. Monks (Republican + Libertarian) (inc.) – 48.6% - Republican hold
George Mitchell (Democratic) – 46.2%
We The People – 4%
Dissident Libertarian – 1.2%
Maryland
Paul Sarbanes (Democratic) (inc.) - 49.2% -- Democratic hold
Lawrence Hogan (Republican)- 36.5%
We The People – 12.3%
Libertarian – 2%
Massachusetts
Elliot L. Richardson (Republican) – 44.1% - Republican pick-up
Edward M. Kennedy (Democratic) (inc.) – 43.7%
We The People – (11.1%)
Howard S. Katz (Libertarian) 1.9%
Michigan
Marvin L. Esch (Republican) (inc.) – 46.1% - Republican hold
Democrat - 37.2%
We The People – 13.1%
Libertarian – 3.6%
Minnesota
David Durenberger (Republican) (inc.) – 39.2%
Hubert “Skip” Humphrey III (Democratic) – 41.2% - Democratic Pick-up
We The People – 12.1%
Libertarian – 7.5%
Mississippi
The incumbent John B. Williams (R) retired.
Harvey Johnson Jr*. (Democratic) – 33.6% - Democratic Pick-up
Christian Values – 29.8%
Haley Barbour (Republican) 23.6%
American Independent – 5%
We The People – 7%
States’ Rights party – 1%
* = First African-American elected to the Senate from Mississippi
Missouri
John Danforth (Republican) (inc.) - 45.8% - Republican hold
Harriett Woods (Democratic) 44.1%
We The People – 6%
Libertarian – 4.1%
Montana
Stanley C.. Burger (Republican) (inc.) – 29.2%
Bill Christiansen (Democratic) – 43.9% -- Democratic pick-up
Larry Dodge (Libertarian) 26.9%
Nebraska
John Y. McCollister (Republican) (inc.) – 44.2% - Republican hold
Democratic – 31.6%
We The People – 17%
Virginia Walsh (Independent) 7.2%
Nevada
Paul Laxalt (Republican) (inc.) – 44% - Republican hold
Democratic --- 37%
We The People – 10%
Libertarian – 9%
New Jersey
David R. Norcross (Republican) (inc.) – 40% -- Republican hold
Frank Lautenberg (Democratic) 31.9%
We The People – 21.2%
Socialist Workers Party – 4%
Others – 2.9%
New Mexico
Harrison Schmitt (Republican) (inc.) – 44.2% -- Republican hold
Jeff Bingaman (Democratic) – 43.1%
Libertarian – 7%
We The People – 5.7%
New York
James R. Buckley (Republican + Conservative) – 48.2% - Republican hold
Democratic – 30.2%
We The People – 19.5%
Others – 2.1%
North Dakota
Robert P. Stroup (Republican) (inc.) – 31.6%
Wayne G. Sanstead (Democratic) - 49.2% - Democratic Pick-up
Libertarian – 16.1%
Anna B. Bourgois (Independent) 3.1%
Ohio
Robert Taft Jr. (Republican) (inc.) – 45.7%
Howard Metzenbaum (Democratic) – 39.9%
We The People – 11.3%
Libertarian – 3.1 %
Pennsylvania
William D. Greene (Democratic) (inc.) – 34.8%
Donald L. Ritter (Republican) – 43.1% - Republican pick-up
We The People – 12.1%
Libertarian 10%
Rhode Island
John Chafee (Republican) (inc.) – 44.1% - Republican hold
Julius C. Michaelson (Democratic) 40.1%
We The People – 11.2%
Libertarian – 4.8%
Tennessee
William Brock (Republican) (inc.) – 38.9% - Republican hold
Democratic – 37.2%
Christian Values – 20.1%
Libertarian – 3.8%
Texas
Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic) (inc.) 43.9% -- Democratic hold
James M. Collins (Republican) 32.6%
Christian Values – 10%
We The People – 5.2%
Libertarian – 7.6%
Utah
Orrin Hatch (Republican) (inc.) – 41.2% - Republican hold
Ted Wilson (Democratic) 39.3%
George Mercier (Libertarian) 17.9%
Lawrence R Kauffman (American) 2.2%
Vermont
Thomas P. Salmon (Democratic) (inc.) – 46.2% - Democratic hold
Republican – 44.9%
Libertarian – 7%
Others – 1.9%
Virginia
Harry F. Byrd, Jr. Independent Retired
Paul S. Trible, Jr. (Republican) 38.8%
Richard Joseph Davis (Democratic) 39.2% - Democratic Pick-up
We The People – 11.2 %
Libertarian – 10.8%
Washington
Doug Jewett (Republican) – 38.2 % -- Republican pick-up
John Chenberg (Democratic) (inc.) – 26.4%
We The People – 21.2.2%
King Lysen (Independent) 12.7%
Jesse Chiang (Libertarian) 1.5%
West Virginia
Robert Byrd (Democratic) (inc.) - 61.5% - Democratic hold
Cleve Benedict (Republican) 36.8%
William B. Howland (Socialist Workers) 1.7%
Wisconsin
William Proxmire (Democratic) (inc.) – 35.1%
Scott McCallum (Republican) 36.2% - Republican pick-up
We The People – 16.9%
Libertarian – 11.8%
Others – 1%
Wyoming
Malcolm Wallop (Republican) (inc.) 44.7% - Republican hold
Rodger McDaniel (Democratic) 41.3%
Libertarian – 14%
Governors:
Republican: 27
Democratic: 21
Libertarian: 1
American Independent: 1
Governor Bill? of Idaho (Lib) is re-elected to a second term from January 2, 1983 – January 4, 1987,
Governor George H.W. Bush (R) of Texas is re-elected to a second term from January 18, 1983 – January 20, 1987.
Lewis E. Lehrman (R) defeats Lt. Gov. Mario Cuomo (D) to become the 52nd Governor of New York for the term January 1, 1983 – December 31, 1986.
31 year old George Wallace III (D) is elected as the 49th Governor of Alabama. He is widely considered a front man for his father, former President George C. Wallace. The former President moves into the Alabama Governor’s mansion with his son’s family in January 1983. Term: January 17, 1983 – January 19, 1987.
Richard Lamm (D) is re-elected Governor of Colorado; January 14, 1983 – January 13, 1987.
Representatives of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) held a meeting with Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and told him that the party would continue its boycott of the Assembly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 5, 1982
In the United States of America (USA) a court convicted five men of charges of conspiring to ship arms to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during 1981. The men used the defence that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had approved the shipment of arms although this was denied. All five men received sentences of life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
President Mitterrand meets with Soviet leaders in Moscow in order to co-ordinate military actions in North Africa.
Sunday, November 7, 1982
Camp David
President: “The soft approach didn’t get us very far.”
Cheney: “We held our own, which is a good achievement for a White House party in the mid-terms. The House and Senate are still divided, which still works for us.”
President: “For eighty-four the gloves come off.”
-------------------------------------
Wednesday, November 10, 1982
Former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev dies. Apart from a brief announcement in the English edition of Pravda, the Soviet state offers no other acknowledgement. The funeral, if one was permitted, was private.
Thursday, November 11, 1982
A Quiet Conversation
Roger Ailes: “I get putting the bag on Carlin, he was a pain in the ass, but Goldwater?”
Dick Cheney: “You’re looking at it like the Argentinians did, and it undid them. Making your opponents go away only draws attention. In fact you want them out there, championing the leftist cause, like a bunch of useful idiots – makes them a useful target; we can galvanize hatred in our base for them into support. The people who need to be silenced are the ones who throw bombs from our side, who have credibility with our side, or would be supporters. That’s why Goldwater becomes a guest and Ron Dellums gets a pass.”
RA: “So, why Carlin?”
DC: “His presidential run in seventy-six made him into one of those rare figures who transcends entertainment and politics – sort of fuses them together – like Will Rogers or Mark Twain. Instead of just being a knee-jerk leftist, his comedy goes all over the place – and people begin to laugh, even among our base. That’s why he has to go, and the drug charge discredits him.”
RA: “And Reagan?”
DC: “Leaning on NBC to cancel his show was a warning. Pass the word back that if he can’t support the President he better retire for good.”
-------------------------------------------------------
Sean Burns, Gervaise McKerr and Eugene Toman, all members of the PIRA, were shot dead by members of an undercover unit of Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at a police check point on Tullygalley Road, Craigavon, County Armagh. None of the three men were armed at the time of the shooting. [This shooting incident, together with other similar incidents where unarmed Republican paramilitaries were shot dead led to claims that the security forces were engaged in a 'shoot to kill' policy. This claim was officially denied. The RUC claimed that the three men had driven through a Vehicle Check Point. There were similar incidents on 24 November 1982 and 12 December 1982. Eventually the British government set up an inquiry into the incidents.]
The first sitting of the new Northern Ireland Assembly took place at Stormont, Belfast. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Féin (SF) did not take up their seats.
Saturday, November 13, 1982
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. An anti-administration protest is suppressed by Washington Police backed-up by Military Police units.
Several oil wells open along the Eastern coast of Arabia under U.S. supervision, alleviating some of the worldwide shortage. Oil prices drop $ 2.00/barrel on the news.
Monday, November 15, 1982
Parliamentary elections were held in Brazil on 15 November 1982. The Democratic Social Party (the successor of the ruling National Renewal Alliance Party) won 235 of the 479 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 15 of the 25 seats in the Senate. Voter turnout was 82.8%
The Republic of China (Taiwan) government formally claims jurisdiction over the South-east coast of mainland China, and with U.S. co-operation begins setting-up bureaus to govern the area. The ROC and UK governments begin formal talks on the future status of Hong Kong.
Martin Lee, Szeto Wah and others formally found the Hong Kong Republic (Independence) Party.
Szeto Wah: “In the past years we have been subjected to a siege, to war, to the threat of nuclear annihilation and to just generally being the after-thought of others using our city and our people as a battleground in their struggles. In the end, Hong Kong and its people are more than just a mah-jong tile to be cast off by a dying Empire to another, rising one, not without the consent of our people. Rather we were a poor city-state rather than a rich vassal. But I think if being a city-state of our own is our way, we will be neither poor nor neglected for long, but our people will be free.”
Newly sworn in Indian Prime Minister Sanjay Gandhi decides not to release his mother from prison right away. He decides to separate his government from hers by not overturning the ruling of the earlier court verdict about the emergency period.
Tuesday, November 16, 1982
Lenny Murphy, who had been leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang the 'Shankill Butchers', was shot dead by PIRA at Forthriver Park, Glencairn, Belfast. [It was later claimed that Loyalist paramilitaries had colluded with the PIRA in having Murphy shot because no group was able to control him. Murphy's gang had been responsible for a series of particularly brutal murders of Catholic civilians. Many of those killed were first abducted, then beaten and tortured with butcher knives and hatchets before being killed and their bodies dumped.]
A Catholic civilian was shot dead by Loyalists in Mount Merrion Avenue, Rosetta, Belfast.
Two reserve members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) were shot dead by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) at a security barrier in Markethill, County Armagh.
In a gesture of reconciliation the Nakasone government signs a formal treaty with the Taiwanese government, formally handing the Diayou (Senkaku) Islands over to Taiwan. In return the Japanese government retains a share of the oil revenues to be developed from the islands and surrounding waters. A joint Japanese-Taiwan Off-shore Oil Corporation (JTOOC) is formed to exploit this resource. The United States is an “arbiter partner” in the JTOOC agreement.
Thursday, November 18, 1982
The PIRA kidnapped Patrick Gilmour in Derry. Patrick Gilmour was the father of Raymond Gilmour who had been a member of the PIRA and an Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) informer and who had gone into protective custody to become a 'supergrass'. [The PIRA later said that Patrick Gilmour would not be released until his son retracted his evidence, but did in fact release the elder Gilmour when it became clear that the pressure wouldn’t work.]
Saturday, November 20, 1982
The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.
University of California, Berkeley executes "The Play" in a college football game against Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes 5 laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who had prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.
Wednesday, November 24, 1982
Michael Tighe, a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by an undercover Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) unit at a farm in Derrymacash, near Lurgan, County Armagh. Martin McCauley, a Catholic civilian, was shot and wounded in the same incident. [The farm shed where the shooting occurred was being used by the PIRA to store weapons and it was believed that the young men had discovered the arms by accident. This shooting, following on from the shooting on 11 November 1982 convinced many Nationalists that the security forces were operating a 'shoot to kill' policy.
Thursday, November 25, 1982
Minneapolis Thanksgiving Day fire destroys an entire city block of downtown Minneapolis, including the headquarters of Northwestern National Bank.
Friday, November 26, 1982
Howard Cossell calls his last fight after being disgusted by Larry Holmes-Tex Cobb mismatch.
Saturday, November 27, 1982
Actress Drew Berrymore, age 7, hosts Saturday Night Live
Sunday, November 28, 1982
Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work toward aspects of free trade.
70th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeat the Edmonton Eskimos, 22-13
71st Davis Cup: USA beats France in Grenoble.
Tuesday, November 30, 1982
Michael Jackson releases Thriller.
Bill Rodgers, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, addressed the Northern Ireland Assembly and announced that the strength of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) would be increased by 1,000 officers and the RUC Reserve by 700.
The passing of the 1982 “China Virus” crisis (earlier in the year in Hong Kong, China, Britain and Canada, later in the autumn in the United States) leaves causalty figures at around 2,500 in Canada, 6,000 in the UK, 25,000 (approx) in Hong Kong, perhaps as many as 400-500,000 in China and around 12,000 in the United States*. Latter cases of the virus experience diminution as it appears to burn-out in a subject population several months after introduction, the spread weakening it to become closer to a conventional influenza virus. This appears to have been a “designed feature” of the original laboratory cooked strain. (Debate remains as to whether this was deliberate or a design flaw in the strain).
*= Figures in the United States were subject to debate as the Rumsfeld Administration “cooked the books” for political purposes, and using questionable counting techniques, such as counting those who contracted other strains of influenza during the period as being “China Virus” victims. This again was done for political purposes.
Thursday, December 2, 1982
At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he lives for 112 days with the device).
Friday, December 3, 1982
A final soil sample is taken from the site of Times Beach, Missouri. It is found to contain 300 times the safe level of dioxin.
Saturday, December 4, 1982
Police and racist demonstrators clash in Antwerp.
Monday, December 6, 1982
Ted Kennedy divorces Joan Kennedy.
The RUC and British forces defuse a bomb planted by the INLA at the Droppin' Well Bar and Disco in Ballykelly, County Derry. The target appeared to have been off-duty members of the the Cheshire Regiment which was based nearby.
Tuesday, December 7, 1982
The first U.S. execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas. Charles Brookes Jr. is put to death for torturing and murdering mechanic David Gregory. Brookes did not receive a last meal, as in September of 1981 the Texas Legislature had passed a law banning last meals to condemned convicts, which was signed into law by Governor Bush.
The Irish Supreme Court made a ruling which opened up the possibility of extradition between the Republic and the United Kingdom (UK). The court rejected the claim that paramilitary offences were politically motivated.
Sen. Daniel Inoyue (D-HI), a Japanese-American man, is assaulted in Los Angeles Airport by a man who blames all “Chinese” for “poisoning America with heroin and deadly viruses. Go back to China you [deleted].” Inoyue survives the encounter with only a few cuts and bruises.
Wednesday, December 8, 1982
Fifteen people are murdered in Suriname by the dictatorship of Surendre Rambocus. The regime is protected from international sanctions as a result by the United States.
Terrence Boston, then British Home Secretary, imposed a banning order on Gerry Adams, then Vice-President of Sinn Féin (SF), and Danny Morrison, then a leading member of SF. The order was imposed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and meant that Adams and Morrison could not enter Britain. The two men had received an invitation from the Greater London Council (GLC) to go to London for a series of meetings.
Sunday, December 12, 1982
Women's peace protest at Greenham Common: 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
Rodney Carroll and Seamus Grew, both members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), were shot dead by an undercover unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at a Vehicle Check Point (VCP) in Mullacreavie, County Armagh. [This became the third incident where allegations were made that the security forces were operating a 'shoot to kill' policy.]
Monday, December 13, 1982
An earthquake (Richter Scale 6.0 magnitude) in Dhamar, northern Yemen, kills at least 1,507.
Tuesday, December 14, 1982
Mauritanian forces, believing their Soviet allies are tied-up in Mali and eastern Mauritania strike into Senegal, hoping to use the confusion to make territorial gains from Senegal. French troops become involved, and once again there is fighting between French and East Bloc units along the Mauritania-Senegal border.
Wednesday, December 15, 1982
Sao Tome & Principe constitution approved.
Spain reopens border with Gibraltar for trade and tourism.
The RUC stops a vehicle in Belfast and kills all five occupants, suspecting that they were PIRA gunmen. They quickly discover that the five were off-duty U.S. Marines assigned to cross training duties with similar units in Northern Ireland. It is unclear if the Marines were given a chance to surrender, or if they were confused about the road-stop, as the driver had only recently arrived in Northern Ireland and the other four had high levels of blood alcohol at the time of their deaths, suggesting they may have passed out before the incident. Given that the driver was an African-American, the case that the RUC mistook them for PIRA or INLA gunmen quickly becomes even more suspect. While this incident adds to the “shoot-to-kill-policy” controversy domestically, it also creates an international incident between London and Washington. Adding to the dispute is the fact that the British government waited for three days to inform the U.S. government, when local authorities must have known within hours who had been killed.
Thursday, December 16, 1982
Seamus Mallon, then Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), is removed from his Northern Ireland Assembly seat by an Election Petition Court. The reason given was that Mallon was a member of the Irish Senate at the time of the election.
Friday, December 17, 1982
The Michelin company announced that it was to close its factory at Mallusk, County Antrim, with the loss of over 2,000 jobs.
Monday, December 20, 1982
The British Parliament approved the increase in the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Northern Ireland at the House of Commons from 12 to 17. Parliament also decided that the number of members of any future Northern Ireland Assembly would be increased from 78 to 85, which represented five members per constituency.
Wednesday, December 22, 1982
Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l'Océan Indien) (COI) created by Port Louis Agreement.
Thursday, December 23, 1982
The United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination.
Friday, December 24, 1982
The "Christmas Eve Blizzard of '82" hits Denver.
Saturday, December 25, 1982
Under the nervously watchful eye of the Pinochet regime, Pope Pius XIII gives the Christmas Mass in Santiago, Chile. The most discomforting moment for the regime comes when the Pope personally blesses Father Pablo Cuerda and several of his followers before the crowd.
Pope: “Two months ago I visited our brothers and sisters in Warsaw and Prague, where they have suffered under nearly forty years of Communist oppression, where their faith has been attacked and where people of belief have been persecuted and jailed. They cried to me, “deliver us from Communism.” And I said to them, I hear your cries, as do all Catholics everywhere. In all lands and places where the faithful are attacked and persecuted; in all places where those who yearn for truth and freedom are jailed, in all those places, every one, we hear you and we are there. I was one a prisoner for my beliefs, doomed to the dungeon of the oppressor, locked on the road of the martyr perhaps. But the Holy Spirit called me forth from the darkness of my cell to a higher duty, a higher cause. His cause. His cause is the cause of freedom everywhere, for everyone. His cause is the cry unto all Pharaohs on all thrones of power to “set My people free!” Whether the despot is a military man, a Marxist, a Financier; whether the chains of oppression are the machine gun and the tank, the barbed wire and a concrete wall, or a bourse and crippling debt, all are equal in their iniquity before the Lord. All are the users of men, the crushers of life, the enemies of the soul. For Our Lord so loved his creations that He gave his only begotten Son that they might be saved, so He hears the cries of the oppressed today. He says unto us, Believe in Me, and you will be free. So I say, in your communities, be free. Take not the easy path of violence, but the righteous path of self-determination. Be not an outlaw but be a light unto the Greatest Law of all. Look into your heart, and ask, what is wrong in my community? Ask what can I do? And do it. Let the oppressors know you are not oppressed. You are a child of God, and as a child of God you will settle for no less than freedom for all your brothers and sisters. I said to your brothers and sisters in Prague, the Red Star has landed upon you, but it can be pushed off. Why? Because it is a thing made of man, and you are the beings made of God Himself. You will not be freed by bloodshed, but by believers who will refuse to be oppressed, who will refuse to be afraid. Like our brother Father Cuerda, it is the word, the belief that cuts our chains from us. It is not easy; this is the way of pain, the Via Dolorosa that is this life. It is not easy, it demands courage, it demands faith. But in faith are we not justified as children of God? In faith are we not freed of our chains? In faith are we not greater than sum of our individual beings? And if we are true to our faith, and true to our God, who can oppress us then?”
Afterward, and out of the usual protocol, the Pope then mingles with the crowd that has gathered – and especially the poor who have come to hear him. He is photographed lifting one small child to his shoulder. (The child was lost and looking for his parents in the crowd; on the Pope’s shoulder he spotted them). The symbolism of the lost child being uplifted was purely co-incidental, but what was not was the obvious discomfort of the Chilean policemen around the Pope, meant to contrast with the Pope’s manner with the people.
It was said afterward that Pinochet blew higher than Vesuvius and was unapproachable for two days afterward. He reportedly said: “This man takes the name of Pius, but this is a deception, a sheep’s wool to hide the fox. He is Pope Marx I, and this will either end with either his blood or ours.”
Pope Pius XIII (on hearing a version of the above remark): “Sadly, it is they who must shed the blood, for I wish no such thing. Am I afraid of them? What then, should I hide myself, cower before their threats? No, when I hear such as this, I fear not for myself; I fear most for their eternal souls at the moment. But for my life, that path has already been determined and I am but a humble servant on the path.”
---------------------------------------------
Sunday, December 26, 1982
Time Magazine's Man of the Year is given for the first time to a cartoon – it is awarded to the spirit of death.
Monday, December 27, 1982
Patrick Elliott, a Catholic civilian, was shot dead by British soldiers as he ran from a fish and chip shop which he had robbed on the Andersonstown Road, Belfast.
Wednesday, December 29, 1982
Bob Marley postage stamp issued in Jamaica.
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant ends his career with Alabama.
Thursday, December 30, 1982
England defeat Australia by three runs at cricket MCG.
US Assay Office in New York City, NY closes.
The Attorney-General amendment (an elected U.S. Attorney-General, elected at the mid-term elections) is ratified by Hawaii, which becomes the thirty-eighth state to ratify the amendment. It is now returned to Washington for a vote in Congress.
A proposed Article V Constitutional Convention has only been ratified by nine states.
Friday, December 31, 1982
NBC radio cancels almost all of its network daily features.
TV soap "Doctors" ends 19 year run.
The Government of Quebec declares that effective January 1, 1983 Quebec will be an independent nation. When Lt. Governor Jean-Pierre Cote refuses to accept the role of Parliamentary President in the new Republic, and instead resigns, Premier Levesque takes on the role of “Protector of Quebec” in the new Republican structure.
----------------------------------------------------------
The United States Senate – 98th Congress (Jan. 3, 1983 – Jan. 3, 1985)
Republicans = 49
Democrats = 47
Libertarians = 2
Christian Values = 1
We The People = 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)
* Held on basis of plurality rather than majority.
Alabama
3. Albert Brewer (R)
2. James D. Martin (R)
Alaska
2. Donald Hobbs (D)
3. Clark Gruening (D)
Arizona
1. John. B. Conlan (R)
3. Fred R. Easer (Lib)
Arkansas
3. Dale Bumpers (D)
2. Tom Kelly (R)
California
1. G. Edmund (“Jerry”) Brown (D)
3. Paul Gann (R)
Colorado
2. Floyd K. Haskell (D)
3. Mary E. Buchanan (R)
Connecticut
3. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R)
1. Lucien DiFazio (R)
Delaware
1. William Roth (R)
2. James Baxter (R)
Florida
3. Bill Gunter (D)
1. Reubin Askew (D)
Georgia
3. James E. Carter (D)
2. John Stokes (R)
Hawaii
3. Daniel Inouye (D)
1. Nelson Doi (D)
Idaho
3. Frank Church (D)
2. Dwight Jensen (D)
Illinois
2. Alex Seith (D)
3. David O'Neill (R)
Indiana
1. Richard Lugar (R)
3. Roger Marsh (R)
Iowa
2. Ronald D. Fulton (D)
3. Charles Grassley (R)
Kansas
3. William R. Roy (D)
2. Daniel Glickman (D)
Kentucky
2. John B. Breckinridge (D)
3. Mary L. Foust (R)
Louisiana
3. Russell B. Long (D)
2. Gary Howard (Christian Values)
Maine
1. Robert A.G. Monks (R)
2. Llewellyn Smith (D)
Maryland
3. Charles Mathias, Jr. (R)
1. Paul Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts
2. Donald Dwight (R)
1. Elliot Richardson (R)
Michigan
1. Marvin L. Esch (R)
2. Carl Levin (D)
Minnesota
2. Rudy Bostich (R)
1. Hubert “Skip” Humphrey III (D)
Mississippi
2. Thad Cochrane (R)
1. Harvey J. Johnson Jr. (D)
Missouri
1. John Danforth (R)
3. Gene McNary (R)
Montana
2. Ronald C. Galtieri (Lib)
1. Bill Christiansen (D)
Nebraska
1. John Y. McCollister (R)
2. Donald Shasteen (R)
Nevada
1. Paul Laxalt (R)
3. David Towell (R)
New Hampshire
2. Gordon Humphrey (R)
3. Warren Rudman (R)
New Jersey
1. David A. Norcross (R)
2. Charles Sandman (R)
New Mexico
1. Harrison Schmidt (R)
2. Toney Anaya (D)
New York
1. James Buckley (R)
3. Elizabeth Holtzman (D)
North Carolina
2. Jesse Helms (R)
3. Robert B. Morgan (D)
North Dakota
3. William L. Guy (D)
1. Wayne G. Sanstead (D)
Ohio
1. Robert Taft, Jr. (R)
3. John Glenn (D)
Oklahoma
3. Ed Edmondson (R)
2. Edward Gaylord (R)
Oregon
2. Vernon Cook (D)
3. Ted Kulgonoski (D)
Pennsylvania
3. Peter Flaherty (D)
1. Donald L. Ritter (R)
Rhode Island
2. Claiborne Pell (D)
1. John Chaffee (R)
South Carolina
3. Ernest Hollings (D)
2. Charles Ravanel (D)
South Dakota
2. Larry Pressler (R)
3. George McGovern (WTP)
Tennessee
1. William E. Brock III (R)
2. Jane Eskind (D)
Texas
1. Lloyd Bentsen (D)
2. Bob Krueger (D)
Utah
1. Orrin Hatch (R)
3. Dan Berman (D)
Vermont
3. Patrick Leahy (D)
1. Thomas P. Salmon (D)
Virginia
2. Andrew Miller (D)
1. Robert J. Davis (D)
Washington
3. Warren G. Magnuson (D)
1. Doug Jewett (R)
West Virginia
1. Robert Byrd (D)
2. Arch Moore (R)
Wisconsin
3. Lee Dreyfus (R)
1.Scott McCallum (R)
Wyoming
1. Malcolm Wallop (R)
2. Raymond Whittaker (D)
---------------------------------
Last edited:
An illness in the family delayed the production of the new segments; however I've managed to put the rest of 1982 together - which now represents the end of the first decade in the Gumbo-Rumsfeldia TL. The last may be thin in some points, but I think it covers further developments.
No idea at present when 1983 will be available. (Which includes this TL's version of Able Archer).
No idea at present when 1983 will be available. (Which includes this TL's version of Able Archer).
A LOT to digest, obviously. Haven't really even started yet. One thing caught my eye at the beginning that I wanted to ask about. Was there ever a real attempt in the OTL 70s/80s to get rid cigarette warning labels? Or was that just a logical outgrowth in your opinion of where the TL was headed?
*gets to the line about President Gavin!!!!*
Up to that point I just had been 'only' thoroughly depressed at the state of affairs, albeit glad to see the occasional Hope Spot (reference to the end of the Cold War, Democrats realizing they need to grow a pair, Nixon getting released, Ronald Reagan being a voice of reason !!!, et etc). But loving the update for its darkness all the same.
But that?!?
Just...
Up to that point I just had been 'only' thoroughly depressed at the state of affairs, albeit glad to see the occasional Hope Spot (reference to the end of the Cold War, Democrats realizing they need to grow a pair, Nixon getting released, Ronald Reagan being a voice of reason !!!, et etc). But loving the update for its darkness all the same.
But that?!?
Just...
Last edited:
ASB - ALERT! ASB - ALERT! ASB -ALERT! D)
An Italian National Football Team. CANNOT. Lose. Against a German National Football Team. There are few things a person can be sure during his life and that is one of these. That's why in Italy schoolbooks have the sentence Germany wins against Italy in a football match as an example of oxymoron (well, not really but it would be awesome...)
As WW2 showed to the world, Italy can only lose with Germany!
And now I'd like to know what that priest was thinking when he stabbed the Pope with a bayonette... Stabbed. With a bayonette! To make his "mission" a little more complicated he could have tried to do it while blindfolded or after wounding himself with his own weapon... Bigotry can really obfuscte minds, now we have tangible proof! It almost looks like the whole thing wasn't planned to succeed from the beginning... Conspiration material ahoy!
D)An Italian National Football Team. CANNOT. Lose. Against a German National Football Team.
There are few things a person can be sure during his life and that is one of these. That's why in Italy schoolbooks have the sentence Germany wins against Italy in a football match as an example of oxymoron (well, not really but it would be awesome...)As WW2 showed to the world, Italy can only lose with Germany!
And now I'd like to know what that priest was thinking when he stabbed the Pope with a bayonette... Stabbed. With a bayonette! To make his "mission" a little more complicated he could have tried to do it while blindfolded or after wounding himself with his own weapon... Bigotry can really obfuscte minds, now we have tangible proof! It almost looks like the whole thing wasn't planned to succeed from the beginning...
Conspiration material ahoy! Szeto Wah a supporter of Hong Kong's independence. Only in FLG72-Rummyverse could this happen.
Also, TTL's Southern Africa...
Marc A
Also, TTL's Southern Africa...
Marc A
"As the Americans learned so painfully in the late 20th century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
Papandreou faces a lot more trouble than his son did.
Pathet Lao, seven years later. It looks like Lon Nol is going to be deposed sooner or later, but whether it be by Vietnam or because he bungles the war with Thailand he wanted IOTL is anyone's guess.
Rummy doesn't need much help fucking over India, not with Sanjay there. The dissolution of India makes a lot more sense now.
I wonder how many more Americans will smoke cigarettes ITTL 2013.
The China Five comes directly from the Nixon playbook. And it looks like it worked, stoking a small new Yellow Peril. Just like Cheney wanted.
Blockading Malta! Dear lord, the Pentagon is running foreign policy!
Crushing of the environmental movement, brought to you by the Libertarian Party.
It looks like the Supreme Court could end this Jefferson nonsense, in time for 1984...
Hugo Chavez and the Pope? Pius better be careful, or Operation Condor could look his way.
Cheney not giving a shit about Nixon, and not even bothering to hide it, is really unsettling...
Sinn Feinn being criminalized? Rumsfeld could alienate Irish Americans with that one, couldn't he...
We the People George Takei! His homosexuality makes him an easy target for Rumsfeld...
James Gavin! NOOO!!! Nixon in asylum, Gavin murdered... Wallace is the last President in the United States that deserves the title. Lets hope he does indeed take the mantle from Gavin, through his regained power in Montgomery.
Ailes knows about Goldwater and Carlin. Who knows about Gavin?
Ted Kennedy is gone, but Skip Humphrey is in town. Hopefully he can guide the Democrats back to standing for democracy. And Harvey Johnson Jr., Senator of Mississippi?! Those are some fireworks.
Pathet Lao, seven years later. It looks like Lon Nol is going to be deposed sooner or later, but whether it be by Vietnam or because he bungles the war with Thailand he wanted IOTL is anyone's guess.
Rummy doesn't need much help fucking over India, not with Sanjay there. The dissolution of India makes a lot more sense now.
I wonder how many more Americans will smoke cigarettes ITTL 2013.
The China Five comes directly from the Nixon playbook. And it looks like it worked, stoking a small new Yellow Peril. Just like Cheney wanted.
Blockading Malta! Dear lord, the Pentagon is running foreign policy!
Crushing of the environmental movement, brought to you by the Libertarian Party.
It looks like the Supreme Court could end this Jefferson nonsense, in time for 1984...
Hugo Chavez and the Pope? Pius better be careful, or Operation Condor could look his way.
Cheney not giving a shit about Nixon, and not even bothering to hide it, is really unsettling...
Sinn Feinn being criminalized? Rumsfeld could alienate Irish Americans with that one, couldn't he...
We the People George Takei! His homosexuality makes him an easy target for Rumsfeld...
James Gavin! NOOO!!! Nixon in asylum, Gavin murdered... Wallace is the last President in the United States that deserves the title. Lets hope he does indeed take the mantle from Gavin, through his regained power in Montgomery.
Ailes knows about Goldwater and Carlin. Who knows about Gavin?
Ted Kennedy is gone, but Skip Humphrey is in town. Hopefully he can guide the Democrats back to standing for democracy. And Harvey Johnson Jr., Senator of Mississippi?! Those are some fireworks.
John Farson
Banned
"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
- George Orwell
The GOP under Rummy and Cheney is mutating into something dreadful. Ike, Dewey et al would be horrified at what it's become (and Goldwater is experiencing this first-hand, if he's not already dead).
I can't see moderate to liberal Republicans like John Chaffee and Lowell Weicker being comfortable with this state of affairs at all.
I wonder if the Malta blockade will lead to further repercussions, both inside and outside the US? Considering the US did this to a sovereign, democratic state, whose only crime was normalizing relations with Libya. Granted, Libya under Gaddafi is definitely no paragon of virtue, but considering the company the US is currently keeping (South Africa, Chile, Turkey...), well, it's patently hypocritical.
Speaking of South Africa, that nation is getting worse and worse. Shootings of white students, closing universities, letting Boer extremists into key governmental positions, a Zulu revolt... speaking of Zulus, I am now imagining scenes of Zulu guerrillas ambushing S. African troops in the middle of the night, their warcries of "Usuthu!!!" striking terror in their hearts, emulating the proud traditions of Shaka and Cetshwayo, only instead of assegais they wield AK-47s.
The encounter between Nixon and Putin was just made of win.
Last edited:
Oh Myyyy! (There Goes The White House) by George Takei, former President of the United States, published in 2018.
One can always hope, yeah?
It's beginning to look a lot like Vortex by Larry Bond, except America's on the bad guy's side.
The encounter between Nixon and Putin was just made of win.
Seconded.
Marc A
John Farson
Banned
BTW, where was Nixon's Secret Service detail when he was kidnapped? Even though he's done time in jail, he was never impeached and removed from office, so he should still be entitled to Secret Service protection, correct?
As for Wallace, I suspect he (or his son) may hire additional bodyguards for himself, not fully trusting his Secret Service detail.
As for Wallace, I suspect he (or his son) may hire additional bodyguards for himself, not fully trusting his Secret Service detail.
Deleted member 16736
With regards to your work, Drew, I'm a long time reader, first time commenter. I've got to say that this is the first timeline I've ever read that has made me physically uncomfortable to work through. It is magnificent, truly.
I'm watching with particular interest to see what happens to the Buckley Bros. I doubt James' position as a sitting Senator is enough to keep them protected. If I were them I'd be staying as far away from one another as I could, just to make the job more difficult for the administration.
I'm watching with particular interest to see what happens to the Buckley Bros. I doubt James' position as a sitting Senator is enough to keep them protected. If I were them I'd be staying as far away from one another as I could, just to make the job more difficult for the administration.
No idea at present when 1983 will be available. (Which includes this TL's version of Able Archer).
How long does it take you to put together each year, counting research?
- Status