Chapter 10: Do You Hear the People Sing?
The herdsman spake:
12. "Art thou doomed to die or already dead,
Thou horseman that ridest hither?
Barred from speech shalt thou ever be
With Gymir's daughter good."
Skirnir spake:
13. "Boldness is better than plaints can be
For him whose feet must fare;
To a destined day has mine age been doomed,
And my life's span thereto laid."
Skirnirsmol, Poetic Edda trans. by Henry Adams Bellows
"Remember everyone there's nothing we can't accomplish when we stand together! Now, like the brave people of Eastern Europe did against dictators in 1989, people are rising up against the destruction of their communities and the planet. And today the people and the planet will win!"
Judi Bari at a rally outside the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, November 30th, 1999
"Under this administration American power has been rolled back, we've given ground everywhere to the Communist powers, and our prestige is suffering. I can tell you if there had been a sane Republican in the White House the Checkpoint Charlie standoff would have gone a lot better! If I am re-elected I will stop at nothing to hold Hart accountable for his failure to defend America's interests."
From a stump speech by Newt Gingrich for re-election to the House, September 4th, 1990
Lou Cannon, Washington Post: Is the President planning any real response to the Tienanmen Square Massacre?
John McEvoy, White House Press Secretary: The atrocious behavior of the Chinese government and their response is inexcusable from any responsible member of the global community. The trade sanctions implemented by Congress and the administration are the first step in our efforts to bring China back into the family of nations.
Cannon: Mr. McEvoy with the increasing freedoms and progress we've been seeing in the Eastern Bloc wouldn't the PRC's crackdown suggest they don't want to be part of the global community?
McEvoy: The administration believes the Chinese government's recent actions do not rule out future normalization of relations if China improves their human rights record.
Helen Thomas, UPI: Regarding the President's recent statement on the War on Drugs what is the administration's stance on the August 8th federal indictment of Panama's President Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges?
McEvoy: The administration is looking into the situation.
Thomas: Wouldn't Noriega's ties to the drug trade and possible connections with the Contras imply the President should be giving this issue higher priority?
McEvoy: The administration is looking into the matter and will proceed accordingly. Next question please.
Steve Daley, Chicago Tribune: Is the President at all concerned about the prospects for health care reform in light of the Keating Five Scandal?
McEvoy: Gary Hart has the utmost confidence in Congress' ability and competence in spite of this wave of corruption scandals. He is optimistic the Healthy America Act will be passed before the end of the year.
From the July 13th, 1989 White House Press Conference
July 13th, 1989: The Dellums Hearings on defense spending conclude. The House Armed Services Committee announces they will have their findings ready to present after the summer recess.
July 14th, 1989: The 15th G7 Summit begins in Paris, France. Leaders call for restrictions on gas emissions and other environmental measures. Outside the summit hundreds of anti-globalization activists rally against the G7's secrecy and exclusivity.
July 15th, 1989: Arrests at the Paris G7 summit have exceeded fifty, nearly all in acts of civil disobedience with the largest happening at noon when a group of two dozen activists chain themselves to the doors of the G7 summit. Anti-globalization activists, including Medea Benjamin, speak at the rally held just prior on the damage done by G7-supported policies to the Third World, fair trade, and other alternatives to the Washington Consensus.
July 16th, 1989: At 10AM the deceptive calm along the picket lines in Paris is interrupted by an explosion of shouts and cheers as a bright yellow banner drops from a window over the main entrance with the words, "Stop Killing Mother Earth!" and a stylized globe at the bottom. The four activists involved are arrested for criminal trespass. By now the crowd has swelled to just over two thousand as more have joined in over the weekend, some having come from as far as Japan, Australia, and the United States while others are flocking from all over France.
July 17th, 1989: Former President Jimmy Carter is sent as a special envoy to the Middle East to reach out to the governments of the Persian Gulf states for a summit regarding regional security and stability following the bloody Iran-Iraq War. During his visit low-level, unofficial contacts are made between Carter's staff and representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran to feel out the possibility of their inclusion in any upcoming discussions.
July 19th, 1989: The National Assembly of the Republic of Poland elects Wojciech Jaruzelski to the new and powerful post of President of Poland.
July 20th, 1989: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. The Hart administration immediately denounces the arrest as, “an attack on human rights.”
July 21st, 1989: The Azerbaijani SSR begins a total blockade of Armenia and the Naborno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
July 24th, 1989: The Washington Post runs an in-depth piece on the previously ignored and growing savings and loan debacle thanks to attention given to the Keating Five's connection. In the article the Post calls out recently appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan for giving Lincoln S&L a “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval while he was working on Wall Street.(1) The Post article estimates at least $500 billion dollars have been lost to date as a result of the collapse of the Savings and Loan market.
July 26th, 1989: A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
July 27th, 1989: Tonight's CBS headline story: the Keating Five. In a special segment anchor Dan Rather discusses the broader S&L scandal and its background, including its roots in the deregulation of savings and loans in 1980, before digging into the specifics of Lincoln S&L and the Keating Five connection. He interviews several regulatory agents and even John McCain's babysitter regarding McCain's relationship with Charles Keating.(2) In the days following Rather's broadcast rumors circulate on Capitol Hill regarding possible leaks by the Keating Five senators to the press.
July 28th, 1989: In the Iranian presidential election, electors overwhelmingly elect Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as President of Iran and endorse changes to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran increasing the powers of the president.
July 31st, 1989: In Lebanon, Hezbollah announces that it has hanged United States Marines U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in retaliation for Israel's July 28 kidnapping of Hezbollah leader Abdel Karim Obeid. The same day, the United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 638 condemning the taking of hostages by both sides in the conflict.
August 2nd, 1989: The Phoenix New Times publishes an op-ed by Tom Fitzpatrick titled, “McCain: Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five”. In the piece Fitzpatrick compares the scandal to Teapot Dome, Watergate, and Iran-Contra calling McCain's relationship with Keating a, “Faustian bargain.”(3)
August 5th, 1989: In the wake of the growing damages of the S&L crisis the House and Senate pass the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act which was first introduced on March 6th, 1989 by Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez. President Hart signs it into law on the next day.
August 7th, 1989: The leaders of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica agree the formerly U.S.-backed contras fighting the government of Nicaragua should be disbanded and evicted from their bases in Honduras by December 5th. President Hart offers to assist in the eviction efforts by providing logistical, intelligence, and communications support.
August 18th, 1989: Leading Colombian presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
August 19th, 1989: Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, the first non-communist in power in 42 years. On the same day the Pan-European Picnic, a peace demonstration, is held on the Austrian-Hungarian border.
August 21st, 1989: In response to the recent murders of a judge, a provincial police chief, and presidential candidate Luis Galán Colombian authorities arrest 11,000 suspected cocaine traffickers.
August 23rd, 1989: Two and a half million Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians join hands to demand freedom and independence, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way. Hungary removes border all restrictions with Austria. On the same day Yusef Hawkins is shot in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, the third black man in New York since 1980 to be attacked and killed by a mob of people. The individuals suspected of killing Hawkins are arrested almost immediately, with the police hoping to diffuse a now highly tense situation.
August 24th, 1989: Colombia's cocaine traffickers declare "total and absolute war" against the government and begin a series of bombings and arson attacks.
August 25th, 1989: Two Earth First activists, Jason Henry and Tanya Takahashi, are attacked in the early hours of the morning on their way back from prepping a tree sit by unknown assailants and badly injured. Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney plead their case to local law enforcement but to no avail; just as in previous incidences of violence against Earth First activists the Humboldt County Sheriffs Department refuses to investigate the matter claiming it would be a, "waste of taxpayer resources."(4)
August 26th, 1989: Reverend Al Sharpton leads a march of thousands of African-American New Yorkers to the Bensonhurst neighborhood to bring attention to the brutal Hawkins murder. Tensions are high on the warm August with a much larger than expected police presence on the streets in anticipation of what could happen when one local resident gets into a heated shouting match with a marcher. At first it seems like the usual heckling and counter-heckling expected at demonstrators until the white resident made unkind remarks about the demonstrator's mother. Several residents and demonstrators try to pull the two apart as the rest of the neighborhood and march plays a rapidly escalating game of telephone. When a brick flies into the crowd, launched by an unknown assailant, all hell breaks loose as the nervous police captain orders his officers to disperse the march in an attempt to get a lid on the situation. The situation rapidly devolves from there with police getting caught in a three-way combination brawl and stampede with the demonstrators and local residents while bystanders scramble from the scene.
August 28th, 1989: The Yusef Hawkins murder and subsequent Bensonhurst demonstration make the news on the Monday night broadcast on all networks. During the coverage many question the massive police presence and their handling of the situation. Opinion is split between blaming the demonstrators for causing the disturbance, blaming rising racial tensions for the incident, or blaming the police for improperly handling the situation and needlessly escalating it.
September 5th, 1989: President Gary Hart addresses the public from the Oval Office on the subject of drugs in America. He beings by saying, “For too long has this problem been misdirected, improperly focused, and unevenly approached. Under the previous administration we had government agents funneling money to cocaine traffickers and brutal drug lords while the President urged us to “just say no.”” Hart calls for a new strategy to win the War on Drugs, saying, “I will embrace all practical solutions to stem the tide of this epidemic. Any nation facing the dangers of cartel-fueled violence can expect a helping hand from the United States of America.”
September 10th, 1989: The Hungarian government opens the country's western borders to refugees from the German Democratic Republic.
September 12th, 1989: Following Hungary's relaxing of border controls a number of small spontaneous demonstrations break out throughout East Germany. These demonstrations at border checkpoints and government offices demand a similar end to the GDR's tight border controls on movement out of the country into West Germany. For the most part the police leave the protestors alone, calmly monitoring the situation.
September 15th, 1989: A bipartisan group of 12 Senators file charges with the Ethics Committee against the Keating Five, demanding immediate investigation.(5)
September 17th, 1989: Hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, causing at least 71 deaths and $8 billion in damage over the next five days.
September 19th, 1989: Explosion of UTA Flight 772 over Niger, killing all 171 people on board. The Islamic Jihad Organization claims responsibility.
September 30th, 1989: Nearly 20,000 East Germans leave from Prague on special refugee trains for the West.(6)
October 2nd, 1989: The House Armed Services Committee releases the Strategic Posture of a Post-Cold War America report, the result of the Dellums Hearings held since the opening of Congress. The Committe calls for a 25% cut in military spending through streamlining the procurement process, cutting back on nuclear arms spending, making the bidding process more transparent and competitive, and eliminating, “unnecessary waste, duplication, and redundancy.” Probably the most radical recommendation to come out of the Strategic Posture report is to permanently shut down the CIA and transfer the agency's funding and operations to the DIA. The Dellums Report adds fuel to the raging budget debate in Congress.
October 3rd, 1989: Manuel Noriega foils a plot by junior officers to overthrow him.
October 4th, 1989: The United States announces they are withdrawing diplomatic recognition from the Noriega government in response to their participation in the drug trade, support for the contras, and the suppression of recent free, democratic elections.
October 5th, 1989: The Brady Bill passes both houses of Congress and is signed into law by President Hart the next day.
October 6th, 1989: President Gary Hart announces the beginning of the withdrawal of all American short and medium range warheads from Western Europe. Conservative leading lights William Bennett, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, and Newt Gingrich denounce the announcement as, “a betrayal of our western allies and a craven surrender to Communism.”
October 9th 1989: In Leipzig, East Germany, tens of thousands take to the streets demanding the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms. Other demonstrations soon break out across Germany as groups take to the streets venting their rage against the GDR. The lack of police response is surprising and emboldens many more to join in.
October 10th, 1989: The Human Rights in Commerce Act is introduced in Congress. The HRCA, if passed, would ban all commerce and military aid to countries with known histories of human rights abuses as determined by Congress. Any organizations or individuals in violation would face prosecution under the terms of the Trading with the Enemy Act. The HRCA explicitly names the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Iraq, and the Islamic Republic of Iran as the first group of nations to be subject to these terms and conditions.
October 12th, 1989: President Gary Hart threatens to veto the Human Rights in Commerce Act for, “Infringing on Executive powers to conduct foreign policy.” He says he will withdraw the veto if Congress makes the necessary changes to accommodate the needs of American foreign policy.
October 13th, 1989: Friday the 13th mini-crash. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26, thanks to recent the junk bond market collapse.
October 16th, 1989: House Speaker Tom Foley responds to the President's veto threat, saying, “The United States has seen too much Presidential abuse of power in the last two decades. The provisions of the HRCA are necessary to ensure the people have a say in our nation's foreign policy.”
October 17th, 1989: The Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, strikes the San Francisco–Oakland region of Northern California, killing 67 people and delaying the 1989 World Series for ten days.
October 18th, 1989: The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems, and is succeeded by Egon Krenz.
The National Assembly of Hungary votes to restore multiparty democracy.
October 21st, 1989: The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth's main priorities.
October 23rd, 1989: The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös.
In Pasadena, Texas a fire starts in the Houston Chemical Complex, culminating in a series of massive explosions registering 3.5 on the Richter Scale. The explosions and the fires that follow claim the lives of 23 workers, injuring 314 more.
October 24th, 1989: A group of just under a hundred East Berliner activists march on Checkpoint Charlie, demanding they be allowed to pass. The checkpoint commander refuses them at gunpoint while a BBC camera captures the moment on live feed. Within hours thousands of West Berliners have swarmed their side of the checkpoint shouting, "Let them through!" On the Eastern side the original procession has been completely surrounded by GDR border guards. Surrounding them is a growing crowd of East Berliners who have gathered in support, answering the Western chant with, "Let us through!"
October 25th, 1989: In Berlin the standoff at Checkpoint Charlie continues. The number of East Berliners in the crowd surrounding the soldiers and police has swelled during the night into the low thousands while an impromptu barricade, consisting of trash cans, bicycles, sacks of garbage, cinder blocks, and really anything else that's handy, has popped up between the crowd and the soldiers. That night President Hart addresses the American people and the world live from the Oval Office on the Checkpoint Charlie standoff concluding with:
"The world stands today at a crossroads in history. Everywhere people are standing up and demanding an end to dictatorship. Many have been met with violence, some have been broken, but all show the tide of history is turning. I call on the government of the German Democratic Republic to heed the cries of their people and listen now, at this hour, to their conscience and do what they know is right. I ask the free nations of the world to stand with the people of East and West Berlin. Egon Krenz, let them through!"
1. Greenspan was appointed on August 11th 1987 by President George HW Bush to replace outgoing Chairman Paul Volker.
2. She went on some of the Bahamas trips with the McCain family. There's more dirt in the Rather broadcast than the other pieces so far because all of the senators in the hot seat, just like OTL, are leaking stuff like sieves to draw attention away from themselves. Unfortunately the greater pace, more frenzied atmosphere regarding any kind of scandal thanks to the recent Wright and Coelho resignations plus Iran-Contra, and desperation of some means everyone walks away with lots of mud on their faces.
3. OTL not published until late November, 1989. The greater media attention means McCain does the leaks mentioned sooner and the Keating Five are more desperate in their efforts to protect themselves.
4. Incidents like this were the reason why Bari, Cherney, Earth First, and IWW Local 1 would go on to organize Redwood Summer. Contrary to what many would assume these incidences were sadly all too common based on knowledge from people who were involved in that campaign and other documentary evidence.
5. OTL on September 25th several Republican Senators filed charges against John Glenn only.
6. The additional 13,000 over OTL was due to the greater noise made by the demonstrations.
The herdsman spake:
12. "Art thou doomed to die or already dead,
Thou horseman that ridest hither?
Barred from speech shalt thou ever be
With Gymir's daughter good."
Skirnir spake:
13. "Boldness is better than plaints can be
For him whose feet must fare;
To a destined day has mine age been doomed,
And my life's span thereto laid."
Skirnirsmol, Poetic Edda trans. by Henry Adams Bellows
"Remember everyone there's nothing we can't accomplish when we stand together! Now, like the brave people of Eastern Europe did against dictators in 1989, people are rising up against the destruction of their communities and the planet. And today the people and the planet will win!"
Judi Bari at a rally outside the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, November 30th, 1999
"Under this administration American power has been rolled back, we've given ground everywhere to the Communist powers, and our prestige is suffering. I can tell you if there had been a sane Republican in the White House the Checkpoint Charlie standoff would have gone a lot better! If I am re-elected I will stop at nothing to hold Hart accountable for his failure to defend America's interests."
From a stump speech by Newt Gingrich for re-election to the House, September 4th, 1990
Lou Cannon, Washington Post: Is the President planning any real response to the Tienanmen Square Massacre?
John McEvoy, White House Press Secretary: The atrocious behavior of the Chinese government and their response is inexcusable from any responsible member of the global community. The trade sanctions implemented by Congress and the administration are the first step in our efforts to bring China back into the family of nations.
Cannon: Mr. McEvoy with the increasing freedoms and progress we've been seeing in the Eastern Bloc wouldn't the PRC's crackdown suggest they don't want to be part of the global community?
McEvoy: The administration believes the Chinese government's recent actions do not rule out future normalization of relations if China improves their human rights record.
Helen Thomas, UPI: Regarding the President's recent statement on the War on Drugs what is the administration's stance on the August 8th federal indictment of Panama's President Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges?
McEvoy: The administration is looking into the situation.
Thomas: Wouldn't Noriega's ties to the drug trade and possible connections with the Contras imply the President should be giving this issue higher priority?
McEvoy: The administration is looking into the matter and will proceed accordingly. Next question please.
Steve Daley, Chicago Tribune: Is the President at all concerned about the prospects for health care reform in light of the Keating Five Scandal?
McEvoy: Gary Hart has the utmost confidence in Congress' ability and competence in spite of this wave of corruption scandals. He is optimistic the Healthy America Act will be passed before the end of the year.
From the July 13th, 1989 White House Press Conference
July 13th, 1989: The Dellums Hearings on defense spending conclude. The House Armed Services Committee announces they will have their findings ready to present after the summer recess.
July 14th, 1989: The 15th G7 Summit begins in Paris, France. Leaders call for restrictions on gas emissions and other environmental measures. Outside the summit hundreds of anti-globalization activists rally against the G7's secrecy and exclusivity.
July 15th, 1989: Arrests at the Paris G7 summit have exceeded fifty, nearly all in acts of civil disobedience with the largest happening at noon when a group of two dozen activists chain themselves to the doors of the G7 summit. Anti-globalization activists, including Medea Benjamin, speak at the rally held just prior on the damage done by G7-supported policies to the Third World, fair trade, and other alternatives to the Washington Consensus.
July 16th, 1989: At 10AM the deceptive calm along the picket lines in Paris is interrupted by an explosion of shouts and cheers as a bright yellow banner drops from a window over the main entrance with the words, "Stop Killing Mother Earth!" and a stylized globe at the bottom. The four activists involved are arrested for criminal trespass. By now the crowd has swelled to just over two thousand as more have joined in over the weekend, some having come from as far as Japan, Australia, and the United States while others are flocking from all over France.
July 17th, 1989: Former President Jimmy Carter is sent as a special envoy to the Middle East to reach out to the governments of the Persian Gulf states for a summit regarding regional security and stability following the bloody Iran-Iraq War. During his visit low-level, unofficial contacts are made between Carter's staff and representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran to feel out the possibility of their inclusion in any upcoming discussions.
July 19th, 1989: The National Assembly of the Republic of Poland elects Wojciech Jaruzelski to the new and powerful post of President of Poland.
July 20th, 1989: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest. The Hart administration immediately denounces the arrest as, “an attack on human rights.”
July 21st, 1989: The Azerbaijani SSR begins a total blockade of Armenia and the Naborno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
July 24th, 1989: The Washington Post runs an in-depth piece on the previously ignored and growing savings and loan debacle thanks to attention given to the Keating Five's connection. In the article the Post calls out recently appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan for giving Lincoln S&L a “Good Housekeeping” seal of approval while he was working on Wall Street.(1) The Post article estimates at least $500 billion dollars have been lost to date as a result of the collapse of the Savings and Loan market.
July 26th, 1989: A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. for releasing a computer virus, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
July 27th, 1989: Tonight's CBS headline story: the Keating Five. In a special segment anchor Dan Rather discusses the broader S&L scandal and its background, including its roots in the deregulation of savings and loans in 1980, before digging into the specifics of Lincoln S&L and the Keating Five connection. He interviews several regulatory agents and even John McCain's babysitter regarding McCain's relationship with Charles Keating.(2) In the days following Rather's broadcast rumors circulate on Capitol Hill regarding possible leaks by the Keating Five senators to the press.
July 28th, 1989: In the Iranian presidential election, electors overwhelmingly elect Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as President of Iran and endorse changes to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran increasing the powers of the president.
July 31st, 1989: In Lebanon, Hezbollah announces that it has hanged United States Marines U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in retaliation for Israel's July 28 kidnapping of Hezbollah leader Abdel Karim Obeid. The same day, the United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 638 condemning the taking of hostages by both sides in the conflict.
August 2nd, 1989: The Phoenix New Times publishes an op-ed by Tom Fitzpatrick titled, “McCain: Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five”. In the piece Fitzpatrick compares the scandal to Teapot Dome, Watergate, and Iran-Contra calling McCain's relationship with Keating a, “Faustian bargain.”(3)
August 5th, 1989: In the wake of the growing damages of the S&L crisis the House and Senate pass the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act which was first introduced on March 6th, 1989 by Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez. President Hart signs it into law on the next day.
August 7th, 1989: The leaders of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica agree the formerly U.S.-backed contras fighting the government of Nicaragua should be disbanded and evicted from their bases in Honduras by December 5th. President Hart offers to assist in the eviction efforts by providing logistical, intelligence, and communications support.
August 18th, 1989: Leading Colombian presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.
August 19th, 1989: Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be Prime Minister, the first non-communist in power in 42 years. On the same day the Pan-European Picnic, a peace demonstration, is held on the Austrian-Hungarian border.
August 21st, 1989: In response to the recent murders of a judge, a provincial police chief, and presidential candidate Luis Galán Colombian authorities arrest 11,000 suspected cocaine traffickers.
August 23rd, 1989: Two and a half million Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians join hands to demand freedom and independence, forming an uninterrupted 600 km human chain called the Baltic Way. Hungary removes border all restrictions with Austria. On the same day Yusef Hawkins is shot in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York, the third black man in New York since 1980 to be attacked and killed by a mob of people. The individuals suspected of killing Hawkins are arrested almost immediately, with the police hoping to diffuse a now highly tense situation.
August 24th, 1989: Colombia's cocaine traffickers declare "total and absolute war" against the government and begin a series of bombings and arson attacks.
August 25th, 1989: Two Earth First activists, Jason Henry and Tanya Takahashi, are attacked in the early hours of the morning on their way back from prepping a tree sit by unknown assailants and badly injured. Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney plead their case to local law enforcement but to no avail; just as in previous incidences of violence against Earth First activists the Humboldt County Sheriffs Department refuses to investigate the matter claiming it would be a, "waste of taxpayer resources."(4)
August 26th, 1989: Reverend Al Sharpton leads a march of thousands of African-American New Yorkers to the Bensonhurst neighborhood to bring attention to the brutal Hawkins murder. Tensions are high on the warm August with a much larger than expected police presence on the streets in anticipation of what could happen when one local resident gets into a heated shouting match with a marcher. At first it seems like the usual heckling and counter-heckling expected at demonstrators until the white resident made unkind remarks about the demonstrator's mother. Several residents and demonstrators try to pull the two apart as the rest of the neighborhood and march plays a rapidly escalating game of telephone. When a brick flies into the crowd, launched by an unknown assailant, all hell breaks loose as the nervous police captain orders his officers to disperse the march in an attempt to get a lid on the situation. The situation rapidly devolves from there with police getting caught in a three-way combination brawl and stampede with the demonstrators and local residents while bystanders scramble from the scene.
August 28th, 1989: The Yusef Hawkins murder and subsequent Bensonhurst demonstration make the news on the Monday night broadcast on all networks. During the coverage many question the massive police presence and their handling of the situation. Opinion is split between blaming the demonstrators for causing the disturbance, blaming rising racial tensions for the incident, or blaming the police for improperly handling the situation and needlessly escalating it.
September 5th, 1989: President Gary Hart addresses the public from the Oval Office on the subject of drugs in America. He beings by saying, “For too long has this problem been misdirected, improperly focused, and unevenly approached. Under the previous administration we had government agents funneling money to cocaine traffickers and brutal drug lords while the President urged us to “just say no.”” Hart calls for a new strategy to win the War on Drugs, saying, “I will embrace all practical solutions to stem the tide of this epidemic. Any nation facing the dangers of cartel-fueled violence can expect a helping hand from the United States of America.”
September 10th, 1989: The Hungarian government opens the country's western borders to refugees from the German Democratic Republic.
September 12th, 1989: Following Hungary's relaxing of border controls a number of small spontaneous demonstrations break out throughout East Germany. These demonstrations at border checkpoints and government offices demand a similar end to the GDR's tight border controls on movement out of the country into West Germany. For the most part the police leave the protestors alone, calmly monitoring the situation.
September 15th, 1989: A bipartisan group of 12 Senators file charges with the Ethics Committee against the Keating Five, demanding immediate investigation.(5)
September 17th, 1989: Hurricane Hugo devastates the Caribbean and the southeastern United States, causing at least 71 deaths and $8 billion in damage over the next five days.
September 19th, 1989: Explosion of UTA Flight 772 over Niger, killing all 171 people on board. The Islamic Jihad Organization claims responsibility.
September 30th, 1989: Nearly 20,000 East Germans leave from Prague on special refugee trains for the West.(6)
October 2nd, 1989: The House Armed Services Committee releases the Strategic Posture of a Post-Cold War America report, the result of the Dellums Hearings held since the opening of Congress. The Committe calls for a 25% cut in military spending through streamlining the procurement process, cutting back on nuclear arms spending, making the bidding process more transparent and competitive, and eliminating, “unnecessary waste, duplication, and redundancy.” Probably the most radical recommendation to come out of the Strategic Posture report is to permanently shut down the CIA and transfer the agency's funding and operations to the DIA. The Dellums Report adds fuel to the raging budget debate in Congress.
October 3rd, 1989: Manuel Noriega foils a plot by junior officers to overthrow him.
October 4th, 1989: The United States announces they are withdrawing diplomatic recognition from the Noriega government in response to their participation in the drug trade, support for the contras, and the suppression of recent free, democratic elections.
October 5th, 1989: The Brady Bill passes both houses of Congress and is signed into law by President Hart the next day.
October 6th, 1989: President Gary Hart announces the beginning of the withdrawal of all American short and medium range warheads from Western Europe. Conservative leading lights William Bennett, Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, and Newt Gingrich denounce the announcement as, “a betrayal of our western allies and a craven surrender to Communism.”
October 9th 1989: In Leipzig, East Germany, tens of thousands take to the streets demanding the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms. Other demonstrations soon break out across Germany as groups take to the streets venting their rage against the GDR. The lack of police response is surprising and emboldens many more to join in.
October 10th, 1989: The Human Rights in Commerce Act is introduced in Congress. The HRCA, if passed, would ban all commerce and military aid to countries with known histories of human rights abuses as determined by Congress. Any organizations or individuals in violation would face prosecution under the terms of the Trading with the Enemy Act. The HRCA explicitly names the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Iraq, and the Islamic Republic of Iran as the first group of nations to be subject to these terms and conditions.
October 12th, 1989: President Gary Hart threatens to veto the Human Rights in Commerce Act for, “Infringing on Executive powers to conduct foreign policy.” He says he will withdraw the veto if Congress makes the necessary changes to accommodate the needs of American foreign policy.
October 13th, 1989: Friday the 13th mini-crash. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 190.58 points, or 6.91 percent, to close at 2,569.26, thanks to recent the junk bond market collapse.
October 16th, 1989: House Speaker Tom Foley responds to the President's veto threat, saying, “The United States has seen too much Presidential abuse of power in the last two decades. The provisions of the HRCA are necessary to ensure the people have a say in our nation's foreign policy.”
October 17th, 1989: The Loma Prieta earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, strikes the San Francisco–Oakland region of Northern California, killing 67 people and delaying the 1989 World Series for ten days.
October 18th, 1989: The Communist leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, is forced to step down as leader of the country after a series of health problems, and is succeeded by Egon Krenz.
The National Assembly of Hungary votes to restore multiparty democracy.
October 21st, 1989: The Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations issue the Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, making environmental sustainability one of the Commonwealth's main priorities.
October 23rd, 1989: The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös.
In Pasadena, Texas a fire starts in the Houston Chemical Complex, culminating in a series of massive explosions registering 3.5 on the Richter Scale. The explosions and the fires that follow claim the lives of 23 workers, injuring 314 more.
October 24th, 1989: A group of just under a hundred East Berliner activists march on Checkpoint Charlie, demanding they be allowed to pass. The checkpoint commander refuses them at gunpoint while a BBC camera captures the moment on live feed. Within hours thousands of West Berliners have swarmed their side of the checkpoint shouting, "Let them through!" On the Eastern side the original procession has been completely surrounded by GDR border guards. Surrounding them is a growing crowd of East Berliners who have gathered in support, answering the Western chant with, "Let us through!"
October 25th, 1989: In Berlin the standoff at Checkpoint Charlie continues. The number of East Berliners in the crowd surrounding the soldiers and police has swelled during the night into the low thousands while an impromptu barricade, consisting of trash cans, bicycles, sacks of garbage, cinder blocks, and really anything else that's handy, has popped up between the crowd and the soldiers. That night President Hart addresses the American people and the world live from the Oval Office on the Checkpoint Charlie standoff concluding with:
"The world stands today at a crossroads in history. Everywhere people are standing up and demanding an end to dictatorship. Many have been met with violence, some have been broken, but all show the tide of history is turning. I call on the government of the German Democratic Republic to heed the cries of their people and listen now, at this hour, to their conscience and do what they know is right. I ask the free nations of the world to stand with the people of East and West Berlin. Egon Krenz, let them through!"
1. Greenspan was appointed on August 11th 1987 by President George HW Bush to replace outgoing Chairman Paul Volker.
2. She went on some of the Bahamas trips with the McCain family. There's more dirt in the Rather broadcast than the other pieces so far because all of the senators in the hot seat, just like OTL, are leaking stuff like sieves to draw attention away from themselves. Unfortunately the greater pace, more frenzied atmosphere regarding any kind of scandal thanks to the recent Wright and Coelho resignations plus Iran-Contra, and desperation of some means everyone walks away with lots of mud on their faces.
3. OTL not published until late November, 1989. The greater media attention means McCain does the leaks mentioned sooner and the Keating Five are more desperate in their efforts to protect themselves.
4. Incidents like this were the reason why Bari, Cherney, Earth First, and IWW Local 1 would go on to organize Redwood Summer. Contrary to what many would assume these incidences were sadly all too common based on knowledge from people who were involved in that campaign and other documentary evidence.
5. OTL on September 25th several Republican Senators filed charges against John Glenn only.
6. The additional 13,000 over OTL was due to the greater noise made by the demonstrations.
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