Gore, Foley announce Bipartisan Commission on Health Care Policy
Washington Post, February 23rd, 1993
President Gore, seated with a bipartisan collection of Congressional leaders and health-care advisers in the Roosevelt Room, announced the formation of a Bipartisan[1] Congressional Commission on Health Care Reform. “If there’s one thing that I heard again and again campaigning for this office it’s that our health care system is in crisis, a crisis that hits at the heart of every American family. We have Americans weighing bankruptcy because a parent has Alzheimer's, hundreds of thousands of Americans losing their coverage every month, small businesses having to deny their employees’ health care because they cannot afford it, and even some businesses who’ve provided health care for years suddenly having to tell trusted employees that their coverage will be cancelled. We must act now,” the President said.
The President thanked the leaders of both parties in Congress for agreeing to work together to get a comprehensive system acceptable to both sides. Speaker Tom Foley and Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell expressed optimism that the blueprint for reform could be out of the Commission by the end of April, the end of Gore’s first 100 days, with an eye on ultimate passage by the spring of 1994. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole and House Minority Leader Bob Michel focused their statements on the need to shape the final plan such that the American people see little in the way of disruption or cost increases. Dole mentioned the possibility of an individual mandate, requiring all Americans to pay for private insurance to keep costs down, which was a proposal recently promoted by Rhode Island’s Republican Senator John Chaffee, a Senator likely to sit on the Commission. This bipartisan agreement is not surprising considering a recent Gallup poll of members of Congress, which found that two-thirds felt that some sort of healthcare reform should be completed this term, reflecting a rare cross-ideological consensus[2].
Some prominent conservatives, however, have already expressed outrage at Congressional Republicans who have agreed to participate. “We got creamed in ‘90 and ‘92 because we keep giving into the liberals rather than fighting for our principles,” said former House Minority Whip and current Chairman of the American Conservative Union Newt Gingrich. Conservative firebrand Patrick Buchanan lashed out on
Crossfire, “Any Republican who helps with this socialist takeover of healthcare is betraying the conservative cause. Red-blooded conservatives should be ready to launch a primary challenge against those RINOS. And if Bob Dole thinks he can throw the Republican cause under the bus and run for President, then he has another thing coming.”[3] Despite these vocal opponents, polling suggests….
Cont’d on A6.
Explosion rocks World Trade Center
Authorities seeking information on event
Terrorism suspected
The New York Times, March 19th, 1993
New York – An explosion in the basement parking lot of the North Tower of the World Trade Center has damaged the building, killing half a dozen and injuring dozens. Occurring at precisely 12:24 PM, the explosion is being investigated as a terrorist attack[4].
So far, no one has claimed responsibility and the FBI is asking for any information that can help find the perpetrators. NYPD Captain…
Cont’d on A2.
Waco Siege ends in Deadly Raid
Dozens dead in gunfight, mass suicide, including children
Congress demanding answers for what “went wrong”
The Dallas Morning News, April 6th, 1993
Waco, TX – a prolonged, news-making FBI siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco ended in a massive gunfight between Federal and State law enforcement and members of the Branch Davidian group, which many have called a “cult”. Further deaths, many of them children, appear to have been the result of a mass suicide, with poisonous substances detected in the communion wine. Among the dead is David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians and self-ascribed Messiah, who was wanted by Federal agents on numerous charges of Statutory Rape and Sexual Assault of minors, Child Endangerment, and firearms charges[5].
The raid, which began in the early dawn on the 5th, was quickly met by heavy firepower from the well-armed Davidians. The Federal agents responded with deadly force in a prolonged firefight that led to the deaths of six federal agents and appears to have led to the deaths of up to a dozen Davidians, some of them women and teenagers. Up to eighty others, many of them children, were found dead in an inner chamber alongside Koresh, the result of an apparent poisoning in what Federal agents are calling a “mass murder-suicide”.
Events began earlier this year when Federal agents responded to numerous allegations that Koresh was holding minors against their will and forcing them into marriages. The local Waco Tribune-Herald began publishing a series of articles called “The Sinful Messiah” alleging…
Cont’d on A2.
Gore Appoints Lt. Gen. Johnson to head UNOSOM
Military Times, March 12th, 1993
President Al Gore today appointed Marine Corps
Lieutenant General Robert B. Johnson[6] to head the United Nations Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM II), taking over for Ismat Kittani from Iraq. Johnson will receive a brevet promotion to full General while in the billet. Acting General Johnson, most recently the Commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), brings a long and distinguished career with extensive combat experience to the role. As I MEF Commander, he oversaw USMC Operations in Somalia and brings directly applicable ground experience to the position. As UNOSOM head, Johnson will advise UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and oversee combined military operations in the war-torn region.
The announcement was met with some surprise, as Johnson only recently put on his third star in August of 1991, but few have questioned Acting General Johnson’s C.V., which includes serving as Gen. Schwarzkopf’s Chief of Staff during Operation Desert Sword. His distinguished career began in 1965, deploying to Vietnam with the 1st Marine Brigade to…
Cont’d on Pg. 2.
USR Tensions Remain as Gorbachev, Baltic Leaders sign Vilnius Accords
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and USR agree to terms on Kaliningrad Transit, Soviet Military withdrawal
Ongoing USR disagreement over Sovereign State status for Autonomous Provinces
Rising ethnic tensions in Caucuses threaten to spill over into wider regional conflict
The Times of London, April 14th, 1993
Vilnius, Lithuania – Union of Sovereign Republics President Mikhail Gorbachev today signed the Vilnius Accords with the leaders of the Baltic Republics, including Prime Minister Mart Laar of Estonia, Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis of Latvia, and Prime Minister Bronislovas Lubys of Lithuania. The Accords, brokered by French President François Mitterrand, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, UK Prime Minister Neil Kinnock, and US President Albert Gore, address several key points, such as the official USR recognition of the independence of the three nations, the phased removal of all USR military from the three nations, and the establishment of official transit licenses and corridors for the transit of USR citizens and non-military supplies across Lithuania between Kaliningrad and the USR heartland. The Accords also spell out new customs and duty arrangements and establish “a principle of peace and non-aggression” between the four nations.
The Accords come on the heels of ongoing talks among the former Warsaw Pact Soviet satellite states over trade, customs, and mutual defense, with several of the new republics (including all three Baltic states and neighboring Poland) openly courting membership in the NATO alliance, this latter aspect openly opposed by Moscow. The recent formation of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) by Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia, seen by many as a precursor for these nations to enter the European Economic Community, points to larger “western leaning” tendencies among the former Warsaw Pact nations and away from Moscow.
For the USR, the Accords represent an easing of tensions with the three former Soviet Republics, but other issues remain for the struggling Soviet successor federation. Ongoing protests and sectarian conflict within the Trans-Caucuses Region continue to threaten to set the whole region aflame, with ethnic unrest exploding into bloodshed in the former Soviet Republic turned independent nation of Georgia, where the ethnic Georgian majority clashed violently with its Abkhazian and Ossetian minorities. Within the USR itself, pro-independence protests in the region, in particular within the State of Azerbaijan and the Autonomous Republics (AR) of Chechnya-Ingush, North Ossetia-Alania, and Dagestan, have turned violent in recent months.
The announcement last month by the USR Duma that the ARs will be granted additional internal sovereignty was met with mixed reactions as many of the AR governments continue to push for full State status while the existing States, particularly the larger States of Kazakhstan, Belarus, and The Ukraine, oppose this move, which they see as diluting their own influence. Chechno-Ingushian Provincial President Dzhokhar Dudayev again reiterated his calls for full Sovereign State status for his region while the leaders of the AR of North Ossetia-Alania have called for active USR support for South Ossetian rebels in Georgia, with some calling for outright annexation of the restive Georgian province into their AR.
And yet the USR has its hands full in the region as ethic violence again erupted in the heavily ethnically Armenian Autonomous Oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh within the State of Azerbaijan, along with sporadic border clashes with the former Soviet Republic of Armenia, which Azerbaijanis accuse of supporting uprisings in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Autonomous Oblast, meanwhile, has formally petitioned for Autonomous Province status (a move opposed by the Azerbaijani State government) while Armenia has suggested that the Oblast should be transferred directly to them along with a transit corridor, further stoking unrest. Meanwhile, protests in Baku demanding full Azerbaijani independence have flared in recent weeks, with the secessionist movements in Azerbaijan, Dagestan, and Chechnya increasingly making common cause, threatening to spill into a larger insurrection that threatens to cut Moscow off from critical petroleum reserves in the Caspian Sea region.
Further east, a major refugee crisis is engulfing the Central Asian States of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, spilling over from the ongoing sectarian and tribal conflict in neighboring Afghanistan. This has ratcheted up lingering ethnic tensions among the four States, a situation complicated by disagreements over water rights, allowable flow rates, irrigation allowances, and holding volumes stemming from the region’s many dams. So far, the conflict has mostly remained verbal, but lingering border disputes complicate matters and secessionist movements have begun to gain ground in all five Central Asian States. US President Al Gore specifically called on USR President Gorbachev to better secure the many nuclear arms in the area, particularly within the neighboring Sovereign State of Kazakhstan, which some experts fear may become the targets of terrorism.
Further conflict arose in the distant Russian Far East, where a low-level Chinese official made a speech in the Chinese city of Harbin that appeared to some to suggest that the region he called Outer Manchuria, which contains the strategically and economically critical Russian city of Vladivostok, was a traditional part of China. Small protests in the Russian Far East by members of the Manchu and Han ethnic minority groups demanding either increased regional autonomy or outright “repatriation” with China were broken up by police, but may hint at the start of secessionist movements in that critical region or signal the start of a flare up in long-dormant Sino-Russian border disputes.
“The former Soviet Union is in a challenging position,” said US Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski. “The centrifugal force of disunion, largely along ethnic and religious lines, has so far been balanced by the internal power of the USR Federal Government and military, which is largely dominated by the Russian majority and their Belarussian and Ukrainian cousins. The President takes the situation very seriously and is working closely with his cabinet and the Joint Chiefs to determine the best way to ensure the continued safety of US citizens and our regional allies.”
Whether the Vilnius Accords spell the beginning of greater regional stability or the end remains to be seen, but the peaceful resolution to one of the many ongoing post-Soviet sticking points gives many hope that the many challenges facing the former USSR can be resolved in similarly peaceful means. To assist in matters, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has pledged $2.5 billion in aid to help shore up teetering pension plans and help restructure Moscow’s debt.
“The US Government is very much hoping for ongoing constructive dialog with the USR and its neighbors,” said Brzezinski, “and we will do our part to help spread peace, prosperity, and democratic values in the region.”
Disney Legend Donn Tatum Passes Away at 80
The Orange County Register, May 14th, 1993
In a sad day for Disney fans, Disney Legend and Chairman Emeritus Donn Tatum passed after a long battle with Cancer. He was 80 years old. “Donn was a great man,” said Disney CEO Ron Miller, “and a great friend, both to me and to my father-in-law Walt. His vision and leadership helped steer Disney through a difficult time following Walt’s untimely passing, and he will be sorely missed.”
Donn Tatum’s Disney career began in 1956 when he became a production business manager working for Roy O. Disney. He quickly advanced through the managerial side of the company, becoming Chairman and CEO in 1971 following the death of Roy. He retired from both positions in 1976 in favor of E. Cardon Walker, and then retired from the Disney Board of Directors in 1984 following the management shakeup in the aftermath of Robert Holmes à Court’s failed hostile takeover bid, remaining a non-voting “Associate Director”. He was one of the first living people to receive the honor of being formally declared a “Disney Legend”.
Tatum oversaw a tumultuous time in the company’s storied history, an “interregnum” of sorts between the death of Walt and the rise of the current leadership. Tatum had a tumultuous relationship with Walker (a Walt protégé) and then later with current Acting Chairman Jim Henson, with whom he had numerous creative differences. Still, both men expressed a deep and abiding love and respect for Tatum, with Walker calling him “a man of character and integrity” and Henson calling him “a truly wonderful man…full of decency and honor, who was an excellent steward of Walt’s vision and legacy.”
Tatum is survived by his wife Vernette Ripley Tatum of 56 years and his three sons, Frederic, Donn Jr. and Forbes, and two daughters, Vernette and Melantha. He has eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Acting Chairman Jim Henson has announced that the new Production Offices at Disney Studios West in Anaheim will be named the Donn Tatum Building in his honor.
[1] This section guest-written by
@jpj1421; The Gore Healthcare push will be more modest in scope compared to the Clintons’ for two reasons. Healthcare as an issue got a big national boost in our timeline when, after Senator Heinz death, Harris Wofford won the special election in a huge upset after his campaign locked onto healthcare reform as a winning issue. Likely the Gore campaign would discover for themselves, it was a popular issue to campaign on, but with Senator Heinz alive there isn't that splashy example to get a political consensus formed. That aside, even in our timeline Gore believed a bipartisan commission was appropriate for dealing with healthcare, which makes sense given that Gore was a Senator.
[2] This was a real poll from the time according to Steve Kornacki's book
Red and Blue.
[3] Gingrich and Buchanan quotes are fabricated, but reflect similar statements made by both over the years. Gore’s quote takes elements and phrases from a
1993 speech given to the American College of Physicians.
[4] Occurs pretty much per our timeline with Afghan-trained terrorists sheltered by Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, investigations, and eventual trials and convictions for some of the conspirators. I debated how butterflies might affect this event, and found little other than “random butterflies” that would divert the event, which traces from a long-running conspiracy rather than an off-the-cuff attack. The ultimate causes for the attack, Islamic disillusion with US foreign policy, have not changed and the WTC is an obvious strategic and symbolic target for a variety of reasons. There are some reports that, had the perpetrators parked the vehicle in a different place in the garage, that it could have succeeded in the primary goal of toppling the North Tower into the South, but other than a passing reference to “testimony by the chief WTC architect” in an old MSNBC internet article linked in Wikipedia (via “Wayback”) that didn’t cite its source, I can’t find any evidence to support what would be a major butterfly.
[5] Ended in a deadly accidental fire in our timeline. In this one, things ended even uglier with children as young as 12 handed firearms and everyone taking the “Jim Jones” way out in the end. A handful of survivors will recall horrible events and abuses by Koresh while internal investigations will note numerous missteps by the ATF and FBI that will lead to political fallout and acrimony. As in our timeline, the event will trigger numerous conspiracy theories on the far right alleging that the FBI and ATF committed a “mass execution” of “innocent Christians” that will spread like wildfire across the brand-new internet. With the FBI leading the siege and making the child sexual assault the leading charge rather than the firearms charges (given the much more public focus on sexual assault and child sex abuse in this timeline), fewer moderate conservatives will see it as a “2nd Amendment” issue, though many on both sides of the aisle will decry this as a massive blunder and overreach by the FBI, leaving Attorney General Sonia Sotomayor answering a lot of difficult questions. Note that Ruby Ridge is butterflied since the tragicomic set of compounding errors, misjudgments, and simple stupid luck that led to that standoff was unlikely to begin with.
[6] In our timeline, President Clinton appointed the politically-ambitious
Admiral Jonathan Howe to the position, who had little to no real relevant experience but was well connected politically, and
who has been accused of being a “Briefcase Admiral” who never left his desk and whose decisions, often made against the advice of the officers on the ground, were cited as exacerbating an already bad situation, leading to “Bloody Monday” and the “Black Hawk Down” incident. Here Gore, a Combat Veteran, has gone for military experience over political connections. Will it make a difference? Stay tuned.
