Chapter 113: January 1977
Everything hits the fan in this update. Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, the Soviets roll into Czechoslovakia, Thich Tri Quang wants to find common ground with the North, but is rebuffed, and two news updates featuring William Shatner.
On January 20, 1977, Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States. Highlights from his speech, which will be a little different than his first inaugural IRL in January 1981.
Chief Justice Warren Burger: President-elect Reagan, repeat the oath of office after me. I, Ronald Wilson Reagan...
Reagan: I, Ronald Wilson Reagan,
Burger: Do solemnly swear...
Reagan: Do solemnly swear...
Burger: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States...
Reagan: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States...
Burger: And will to the best of my ability...
Reagan: And will to the best of my ability...
Burger: Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Reagan: Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Burger: So help me God.
Reagan: So help me God.
Burger: Congratulations, Mr. President. (applause)
Reagan's speech is similar to this, but there will be extra parts added due to the world situations occurring ITTL:
Highlights of the Reagan inaugural address ITTL that he did not say at his first inaugural (although the opening will be the same):
Reagan: Mr. Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, President Muskie, Vice President Tower, Vice President Sanford, Senator Baker, Speaker Udall, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet, in the history of our nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing short of a miracle.
President Muskie, I want to thank you for being gracious every step of the way in the transition process. You have ensured that the government has run without a hitch between the election and now, and your stewardship of this nation is admired. Despite the fact we are from different political parties, we remain united in purpose as great Americans, and you ensured that my administration will hit the ground running. For that you have my deepest thanks; your patriotism is unquestioned and you served the American people with the highest of honor.
The United States faces crises both abroad and at home. Abroad, we face the advance of Communism in Southeast Asia and Central Europe. In Vietnam, we strive to keep the Saigon government free from its Communist neighbors, and I will do everything in my power to ensure South Vietnam remains free. In Czechoslovakia, the Warsaw Pact nations led by the Soviet Union, engaged in a wanton, illegal invasion, a violation of international law, and a flagrant violation against the people of Czechoslovakia, who wish to be free from Communism. I will take every action short of war to guarantee Czechoslovakia's place in the free world next to its neighbors in Central and Western Europe. A repeat of the inaction in 1968 will not occur under my watch.
At home, we face one of the worst unemployment and inflation crises since the Great Depression. Unemployment has ravaged the once great industrial Midwest, and the prices of goods are increasing faster than the paychecks of everyday Americans can cover them. To this, I propose a different solution than my predecessors who believed that big government could solve all our problems. Government, at times, has been the problem. The tax burden on Americans is far too great, and we must relieve hardworking Americans by cutting their taxes, ensuring that more money ends up in their pockets. We must act today, in order to preserve tomorrow. We will create a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that will work for all Americans, not just for the privileged few at the top of the societal ladder. Middle-class Americans deserve a break, and my administration will work day and night to provide them that break.
My predecessor was an advocate for the space program, and despite my desire to reduce spending, the space program is a national treasure. President Muskie wanted to put a man on Mars by the end of the 20th century, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. I will increase funding for NASA to ensure that the space program remains perhaps our greatest pride and joy. We have the technology to place satellites around Mars and spacecraft on the red planet. We will have the political will to develop and perfect the ability to land a man on Mars and bring him safely back to Earth. Space is indeed the final frontier, and America shall boldly go, in those famous words, where no man has gone before. It is America's manifest destiny to explore the unknown and be marveled by it, and we should be proud of all our scientists, who lead the world in discoveries, both in the space program and in most other fields.
We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around. The United States government is created by the consent of the governed, not by faceless, unelected bureaucrats. I will streamline the federal government to make it more efficient for the American people.
Reagan continues with the rest of his speech as OTL and says these same lines at the end:
Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.
Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.
Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.
WARSAW PACT, LED BY USSR, INVADES CZECHOSLOVAKIA
January 12, 1977
Soviet general secretary Yuri Andropov authorized the use of force against Czechoslovakian rebels and a faction of the military who defected against Gustav Husak, the Czechoslovakian president. Five Soviet divisions and two Warsaw Pact divisions, one from Poland and one from Hungary, crossed the border into Czechoslovakia last night in an effort to quash widespread national protests against Communist rule which the Czechoslovakian government failed to quell. Outgoing President Muskie called an emergency meeting of his National Security Council and called the invasion illegal. In a press conference, the President said, "The Soviet Union is behaving in a barbarous manner against innocent civilians who yearn to be free. We vehemently object to the resolution of the protests in Czechoslovakia in this manner." President-elect Ronald Reagan agreed with the man he defeated last November. "The Soviets are behaving like an evil empire on its last legs. Their grip on the Warsaw Pact nations is loosening, and I suspect that in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, the everyday man wants freedom just like we have freedom in the United States, just like their neighbors in Western Europe. This is a warning to Yuri Andropov: Get out of Czechoslovakia now, or that will be the worst mistake you ever made."
QUANG WANTS LASTING PEACE WITH HANOI AND IS REBUFFED
January 16, 1977
Vietnamese president Thich Tri Quang proposed a peace deal with North Vietnam that ensured the demilitarization of the 17th parallel dividing the two nations. Quang believes that North and South Vietnam can reunite under a Buddhist flag, and establish fair and free elections for its people regardless of where they live in the country. North Vietnamese general secretary Vo Nguyen Giap denounced Quang as "a man who lives in a fantasy world," in a statement. Giap continued: "The conflict between Hanoi and Saigon will not end until the nation is reunited under a socialist flag. The South Vietnamese will never establish a government their people can trust. Most South Vietnamese want to join forces with our leadership and people in the North." A statement from Soviet general secretary Yuri Andropov in Pravda said the following: "Our comrades and socialist brothers in Hanoi must be supported by all nations in the communist world, and most nations outside of it. Southeast Asia has largely followed the path of Communism, except for Thailand and South Vietnam. The brave people in those nations will see the light soon and join the united brotherhood of socialist nations."
SHATNER GUEST STARS ON DOCTOR WHO, A BRITISH TELEVISION PROGRAM
LEE MAJORS TO REPLACE SHATNER IN SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
January 24, 1977
William Shatner is in the news again: He has crossed the Star Trek world over with a British science fiction television program, Doctor Who. In the episode of Doctor Who, Captain Kirk was on shore leave, and was mysteriously plucked out of his universe into the TARDIS, where he met an alien who calls himself the Doctor. The actor who played the Doctor, Tom Baker, was an extremely charming figure who wore an oversized red coat, oversized red scarf, and seemed to have an excess number of jelly beans on hand. Captain Kirk was introduced to the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks, who look like large salt and pepper shakers who are armed with lasers and consistently drone "seek, locate, exterminate." Captain Kirk attempted his action hero moves on the Daleks, breaking off one of the lasers from the gigantic pepper shakers. The Doctor, however, was more successful in removing the strange threat to mankind. In other Shatner news, Six Million Dollar Man producer Harve Bennett has announced Shatner's exit from the show, and his role of Steve Austin will be rewritten for another bionic man, to be played by Lee Majors. Bennett said, "Mr. Shatner provided our fans with many thrills as our superhero, but he is moving on to work on the first Star Trek movie, and we wish him well. Lee Majors will be a great superhero, and the quality of Six Million Dollar Man will remain high."
On January 20, 1977, Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States. Highlights from his speech, which will be a little different than his first inaugural IRL in January 1981.
Chief Justice Warren Burger: President-elect Reagan, repeat the oath of office after me. I, Ronald Wilson Reagan...
Reagan: I, Ronald Wilson Reagan,
Burger: Do solemnly swear...
Reagan: Do solemnly swear...
Burger: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States...
Reagan: That I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States...
Burger: And will to the best of my ability...
Reagan: And will to the best of my ability...
Burger: Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Reagan: Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Burger: So help me God.
Reagan: So help me God.
Burger: Congratulations, Mr. President. (applause)
Reagan's speech is similar to this, but there will be extra parts added due to the world situations occurring ITTL:
Highlights of the Reagan inaugural address ITTL that he did not say at his first inaugural (although the opening will be the same):
Reagan: Mr. Hatfield, Mr. Chief Justice, President Muskie, Vice President Tower, Vice President Sanford, Senator Baker, Speaker Udall, Reverend Moomaw, and my fellow citizens: To a few of us here today, this is a solemn and most momentous occasion, and yet, in the history of our nation, it is a commonplace occurrence. The orderly transfer of authority as called for in the Constitution routinely takes place as it has for almost two centuries and few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes of many in the world, this every-four year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing short of a miracle.
President Muskie, I want to thank you for being gracious every step of the way in the transition process. You have ensured that the government has run without a hitch between the election and now, and your stewardship of this nation is admired. Despite the fact we are from different political parties, we remain united in purpose as great Americans, and you ensured that my administration will hit the ground running. For that you have my deepest thanks; your patriotism is unquestioned and you served the American people with the highest of honor.
The United States faces crises both abroad and at home. Abroad, we face the advance of Communism in Southeast Asia and Central Europe. In Vietnam, we strive to keep the Saigon government free from its Communist neighbors, and I will do everything in my power to ensure South Vietnam remains free. In Czechoslovakia, the Warsaw Pact nations led by the Soviet Union, engaged in a wanton, illegal invasion, a violation of international law, and a flagrant violation against the people of Czechoslovakia, who wish to be free from Communism. I will take every action short of war to guarantee Czechoslovakia's place in the free world next to its neighbors in Central and Western Europe. A repeat of the inaction in 1968 will not occur under my watch.
At home, we face one of the worst unemployment and inflation crises since the Great Depression. Unemployment has ravaged the once great industrial Midwest, and the prices of goods are increasing faster than the paychecks of everyday Americans can cover them. To this, I propose a different solution than my predecessors who believed that big government could solve all our problems. Government, at times, has been the problem. The tax burden on Americans is far too great, and we must relieve hardworking Americans by cutting their taxes, ensuring that more money ends up in their pockets. We must act today, in order to preserve tomorrow. We will create a healthy, vigorous, growing economy that will work for all Americans, not just for the privileged few at the top of the societal ladder. Middle-class Americans deserve a break, and my administration will work day and night to provide them that break.
My predecessor was an advocate for the space program, and despite my desire to reduce spending, the space program is a national treasure. President Muskie wanted to put a man on Mars by the end of the 20th century, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. I will increase funding for NASA to ensure that the space program remains perhaps our greatest pride and joy. We have the technology to place satellites around Mars and spacecraft on the red planet. We will have the political will to develop and perfect the ability to land a man on Mars and bring him safely back to Earth. Space is indeed the final frontier, and America shall boldly go, in those famous words, where no man has gone before. It is America's manifest destiny to explore the unknown and be marveled by it, and we should be proud of all our scientists, who lead the world in discoveries, both in the space program and in most other fields.
We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around. The United States government is created by the consent of the governed, not by faceless, unelected bureaucrats. I will streamline the federal government to make it more efficient for the American people.
Reagan continues with the rest of his speech as OTL and says these same lines at the end:
Beyond those monuments to heroism is the Potomac River, and on the far shore the sloping hills of Arlington National Cemetery with its row on row of simple white markers bearing crosses or Stars of David. They add up to only a tiny fraction of the price that has been paid for our freedom.
Each one of those markers is a monument to the kinds of hero I spoke of earlier. Their lives ended in places called Belleau Wood, The Argonne, Omaha Beach, Salerno and halfway around the world on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pork Chop Hill, the Chosin Reservoir, and in a hundred rice paddies and jungles of a place called Vietnam.
Under one such marker lies a young man--Martin Treptow--who left his job in a small town barber shop in 1917 to go to France with the famed Rainbow Division. There, on the western front, he was killed trying to carry a message between battalions under heavy artillery fire.
We are told that on his body was found a diary. On the flyleaf under the heading, "My Pledge," he had written these words: "America must win this war. Therefore, I will work, I will save, I will sacrifice, I will endure, I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me alone."
The crisis we are facing today does not require of us the kind of sacrifice that Martin Treptow and so many thousands of others were called upon to make. It does require, however, our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God's help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
And, after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans. God bless you, and thank you.
WARSAW PACT, LED BY USSR, INVADES CZECHOSLOVAKIA
January 12, 1977
Soviet general secretary Yuri Andropov authorized the use of force against Czechoslovakian rebels and a faction of the military who defected against Gustav Husak, the Czechoslovakian president. Five Soviet divisions and two Warsaw Pact divisions, one from Poland and one from Hungary, crossed the border into Czechoslovakia last night in an effort to quash widespread national protests against Communist rule which the Czechoslovakian government failed to quell. Outgoing President Muskie called an emergency meeting of his National Security Council and called the invasion illegal. In a press conference, the President said, "The Soviet Union is behaving in a barbarous manner against innocent civilians who yearn to be free. We vehemently object to the resolution of the protests in Czechoslovakia in this manner." President-elect Ronald Reagan agreed with the man he defeated last November. "The Soviets are behaving like an evil empire on its last legs. Their grip on the Warsaw Pact nations is loosening, and I suspect that in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, the everyday man wants freedom just like we have freedom in the United States, just like their neighbors in Western Europe. This is a warning to Yuri Andropov: Get out of Czechoslovakia now, or that will be the worst mistake you ever made."
QUANG WANTS LASTING PEACE WITH HANOI AND IS REBUFFED
January 16, 1977
Vietnamese president Thich Tri Quang proposed a peace deal with North Vietnam that ensured the demilitarization of the 17th parallel dividing the two nations. Quang believes that North and South Vietnam can reunite under a Buddhist flag, and establish fair and free elections for its people regardless of where they live in the country. North Vietnamese general secretary Vo Nguyen Giap denounced Quang as "a man who lives in a fantasy world," in a statement. Giap continued: "The conflict between Hanoi and Saigon will not end until the nation is reunited under a socialist flag. The South Vietnamese will never establish a government their people can trust. Most South Vietnamese want to join forces with our leadership and people in the North." A statement from Soviet general secretary Yuri Andropov in Pravda said the following: "Our comrades and socialist brothers in Hanoi must be supported by all nations in the communist world, and most nations outside of it. Southeast Asia has largely followed the path of Communism, except for Thailand and South Vietnam. The brave people in those nations will see the light soon and join the united brotherhood of socialist nations."
SHATNER GUEST STARS ON DOCTOR WHO, A BRITISH TELEVISION PROGRAM
LEE MAJORS TO REPLACE SHATNER IN SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN
January 24, 1977
William Shatner is in the news again: He has crossed the Star Trek world over with a British science fiction television program, Doctor Who. In the episode of Doctor Who, Captain Kirk was on shore leave, and was mysteriously plucked out of his universe into the TARDIS, where he met an alien who calls himself the Doctor. The actor who played the Doctor, Tom Baker, was an extremely charming figure who wore an oversized red coat, oversized red scarf, and seemed to have an excess number of jelly beans on hand. Captain Kirk was introduced to the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks, who look like large salt and pepper shakers who are armed with lasers and consistently drone "seek, locate, exterminate." Captain Kirk attempted his action hero moves on the Daleks, breaking off one of the lasers from the gigantic pepper shakers. The Doctor, however, was more successful in removing the strange threat to mankind. In other Shatner news, Six Million Dollar Man producer Harve Bennett has announced Shatner's exit from the show, and his role of Steve Austin will be rewritten for another bionic man, to be played by Lee Majors. Bennett said, "Mr. Shatner provided our fans with many thrills as our superhero, but he is moving on to work on the first Star Trek movie, and we wish him well. Lee Majors will be a great superhero, and the quality of Six Million Dollar Man will remain high."
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