Slip Sliding Away
March 2, 1976
Mozambique closes its border with Rhodesia.
Mozambique Government Army forces, supported by Cuban and East German troops, begin offensive operations against the RENAMO guerrilla forces which oppose the Marxist government in Maputo (Lourenco Marques – name was changed in February 1976). RENAMO - Mozambican National Resistance – is a CIA and South African sponsored anti-Communist guerrilla group founded in 1975.
Business Week Magazine does a feature on some of the most profitable businesses in the U.S. Among those featured in the magazine are:
Wal-Mart – a low cost discount retailer from the South rapidly expanding
Home-and-Hearth – a low cost food and necessities wholesaler re-seller which also features a cash less barter exchange at most of its locations. H&H has also initiated second-hand tool and appliance upgrade, repair and re-sale. If you need a new blender (as an example) but don’t have cash for it, bring in your old one for re-conditioning, or trade-in an old model for a discount on a reconditioned one.
H&H and Wal-Mart also feature a skills exchange, where people can meet and trade the skills they have with others who may need their services, and who can provide needed services in return.
West Virginia Rebel – A chain of product re-conditioners who fix-up and exchange, or trade-in appliances and equipment and matches people needing goods with those wishing to sell or trade theirs.
All of these businesses aim their model at providing goods and services at lower cash lay out for their customers. Their own profitability comes through volume sales in their networks and bulk purchases from their suppliers that lower their costs and allow them to make incremental profits through bulk sales. They also make money on related service contracts and low service charges.
Students in Tehran, Iran stage an anti-regime protest near the wreckage of Mashhad University on the first anniversary of its destruction by the Shah. The students call for the Shah to step down. Their demonstration is broken-up by the police in a brutal crackdown.
William J. Casey takes over as Director for the Reagan campaign. Donald Rumsfeld also joins the Reagan campaign staff.
March 3, 1976
Five workers are killed by the police during an anti-government demonstration in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. Spain is rocked by several protests against the Falange government and its recent fixed election.
Former Black Panther Party activist Bobby Seale announces that he will run for President under the banner of the newly created African-American Freedom Party (AAFP), whose platform includes an African American State in North America (a “Liberia in America”) as well as African-American exclusive economic zones wherever there are concentrations of African-Americans. The AAFP opposes school busing, favoring instead African-American only schools, to which non-African American children should be brought only for “learning and atonement” experiences. Another policy plank of the AAFP is complete disarmament of the U.S. military and all urban police forces, the dissolution of N.A.T.O. and the recognition of the Socialist governments of Cuba and Portugal. The AAFP also wants to pursue reparations for all African-Americans for slavery, along with the eradication of all Confederate War memorials and the destruction of all written histories of the Confederate cause. The AAFP would also impose an “atonement tax” on all white businesses and whites who had ancestors in the United States prior to 1865 (exempting only the descendants of active pre-1865 abolitionists), payable to African-American reconstruction funds. Seale also puts similar planks into his platform referring to the “Native American holocaust” and extends an invitation for Native Americans to join the AAFP as “partners in justice.”
Seale announces that his running mate will be Tommie Smith, one of the African-American athletes who gave the Black Power salute while receiving their medals at the 1968 Olympics. The AAFP will also field twelve House of Representatives candidates, mainly in urban, inner-city districts. John Carlos, the other Black Power salute medalist from the 1968 Olympics has been recruited to run in the Illinois First District (South Chicago).
March 4, 1976
The Maguire Seven are found guilty of possessing explosives and subsequently jailed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. They become among the first group of convicts to be sent to the new prison facility on South Georgia Island.
In response to a Heath government announcement that they will seek to privatise various British state-owned transport assets, including British Bus and British Rail, the executive of the Transport and General Workers’ Union calls for a nationwide strike of bus and rail workers to protest the privatization policy.
The Turkes government announces that all ethnic Greeks will be expelled from the Greek Aegean Islands under Turkish control (called the “Repatriated Islands” by Ankara – they are all renamed with Turkish names) but will not be returned to Greece. Turkey will allow the displaced populations to settle in Australia, the United States, Canada or anywhere in Latin America or Africa. However, they are not be allowed to return to Europe, and especially not to Greece. The Islands themselves are to either become special military zones under Turkish control, or will be re-populated with Turkish settlers.
Most outside nations state that they will not accept the Turkish conditions on the repatriation of Greek nationals, who should be allowed to settle in Greece if they so choose. The stand-off leaves the displaced Greeks from the Islands languishing in Turkish prisons.
The New England Journal of Medicine reports on the increasing number of Nurse practitioners who operate in the United States as a low cost alternative to traditional physicians. In many States they operate in a twilight area of the law, where what they do is technically illegal (practicing medicine without a license). In some States legislatures have changed regulations for these Nurse Practitioners to function, however the AMA has been strongly lobbying against their being allowed to operate.
March 5, 1976
The British pound reaches $ 2.50 US; further aggravating the UK’s balance of payment problems. The problem is the continuing weakness of the US dollar.
Paul Nitze joins the Wallace campaign as a foreign policy adviser.
March 5 – 8, 1976
U.S. and allied forces fight a three day sustained battle with insurgents in the area of Sirghaya and Anjar, close to the Lebanese border. General Rogers order to re-deploy allied forces along the Lebanese border seems to be paying off as more insurgents are caught and or repelled trying to cross the border from Lebanon into Syria, and there is a resulting decrease in the level of violence inside of Syria itself. U.S. and allied tactics now focus on securing the border, and continuing to harass insurgent supply and staging points on the Lebanese side of the border (“taking the fight to Lebanon and out of Syria.”).
The Lebanese government is not happy about this, and President Malik of Lebanon calls this nothing more than “the United States forcing its problems into Lebanon.” However, the Lebanese government is powerless to enforce its own control anywhere in Lebanon, much less in the relatively lawless Bekka Valley and border region.
The Allied command announces that the new western trained Syrian Army numbers around 75,000 troops who are being deployed in greater numbers to take over domestic security patrols.
March 9, 1976
A cable-car disaster in Cavalese, Italy leaves 42 dead.
Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Kentucky.
Two Catholic civilians were shot dead during a gun and bomb attack on their restaurant, the Golden Pheasant Inn, Ballynahinch Road, Baillies Mills, near Lisburn, County Down. The attack was carried out by Loyalist paramilitaries.
The decision to accept female cadets at the United States Military, Naval and Air Force Academies is delayed for one-year pending “further study” of gender integrating the service academies. President Gavin is believed to be strongly opposed to gender integrating the academies.
March 10, 1976
The PIRA shot and killed Sammy Smyth (46), a former spokesman for the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), at his sister's house in Alliance Avenue, Ardoyne, Belfast.
A Protestant civilian was shot dead by the PIRA in an attack on a public house near Lisburn, County Antrim.
The Irish government referred Britain to the European Commission on Human Rights over the case of alleged ill-treatment of internees in 1971.
Enoch Powell MP: “How can this government stand-by and let this impertinent attack on our internal affairs go unanswered? The working of British Justice, of Her Majesty’s Courts, Police and Prisons, are the sovereign right of the British Crown to manage its affairs as a free country. Who are these Lilliputian foreign bureaucrats to say to us that we must submit to a foreign commission presided over by foreign bureaucrats who do not speak language and who do not share in our values and traditions? How dare they say to Great Britain that we must change our rules for their sake?
“I am reminded of the great achievements of British jurisprudence and can only wonder what might have become of them if this had been the rule of an earlier age. How would Magna Carta have fared in medieval Paris? Would we trust Robespierre or Montesquieu to correct the rotten boroughs? Perhaps Louis XIV could have given us a better Act of Union? In a pig’s eye! All these would have been lost if they had been referred to a European Commission in their day. Bah!
“I note that it is the government of the Irish Republic that has instigated this. I wonder what Collins and DeValera, who stood for Irish sovereignty and the end of Imperial meddling in Ireland, would have thought of this. What would they say, risen from the grave, to see their Ireland surrendered to the European behemoth?
“This, Mr. Speaker, is what comes of pan-Europe-ism and Common Market. This is the grave digger of a free Britain. I say to this government reject this affront. Call Dublin and say to those gentlemen what they have done is foul and dastardly. Have the courage to stand for Britain and say Britain for Britons and Europe for Europeans. Thank God for the Channel and be brave enough to stand for what your fathers and grandfathers fought and died for!”
March 12, 1976
The South African government elects not to withdraw its forces from Angola, but instead begins guerrilla operations against the MPLA government.
After Friday prayers, during which a fiery sermons are delivered denouncing un-Islamic living, a series of demonstrations take place in Mecca, Medina, Riyadh and Jeddah calling for the execution of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for his sinful living abroad.
Kulen Patel is released from a psychiatric hospital. In a press conference he denounces the government for locking him up and continues to blame the government for the death of his wife and child. He says though he is “a humble man” this experience makes him want to “fight for justice for all those who are made victims by this government.”
A second student protest in Tehran is put down by the Shah with brutal force. He blames the student agitation on “Communists” and clerical “instigators.”
March 15 – 21, 1976
A nationwide general strike by the membership of the Transport and General Workers’ Union brings the UK to a virtual standstill. To aggravate matters, the TGWU randomly blocks roadways and intersections making private road transport next to impossible. Even Her Majesty is inconvenienced when her motorcade is stopped and forced to turn back by a TGWU blockade outside of Windsor.
This action directly violates the emergency decrees of the government, however the Heath government, fearful of a backlash, takes no direct action, which has the further effect of making the emergency decrees look weak.
March 17, 1976
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is re-tried in New Jersey. Carter’s nine-year-old murder conviction and also that of his friend John Artis, 30, was unanimously thrown out by the seven justices of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The "defendants' right to a fair trial was substantially prejudiced," said Justice Mark Sullivan, because the prosecution had failed to disclose evidence about the reliability of its two principal witnesses.
Four Catholic civilians were killed by a bomb planted by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) outside the Hillcrest Bar, Donaghmore Road, Dungannon, County Tyrone.
Formal peace talks between Greece and Turkey, supervised by the UN, collapse over the question of reparations and the question of re-settling the Greek Islanders. A “cold peace” now exists along the Greek-Turkey frontier not unlike the situation along the Korean frontier. Land border crossings between Greece and Turkey remain closed to all but official traffic.
Hamdan Kaman, the Governor of the Syrian Muhafazah (Province) of Tartus, is assassinated along with two of his bodyguards.
A U.S. Marine Huey chopper is shot down near Kleia, in Northern Lebanon while chasing down Karsi’s assassins. Four U.S. Marines are killed in the crash. The U.S. command is compelled to enter into tense negotiations with ground forces of the Lebanese Shi’ite Amal in order to recover the bodies.
March 18, 1976
Margaret Thatcher, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, indicated that she was opposed to any increase in the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) representing Northern Ireland.
The Turkes government closes the Bosphorous to shipping from all nations which (according to its judgment) aided Greece during the war with Turkey. Soviet ships are given free passage and become the carriers of goods through the area.
March 19, 1976
The Trades Union Council and the TGWU announce that a nationwide General Strike to oppose privitisation will take place at "a time of our choosing."
Talks between the warring parties in Lebanon fail, as none can exert enough power to take control of the fractious anti-PJO alliance, and the PJO refuses to join in talks with the Christians. Further massacres continue.
March 23, 1976
International Bill of Rights goes into effect (35 nations ratifying).
The Iranian oil terminal at Kharg Island is damaged by an explosive. It is unclear if this was done by an oil worker or military commandos form outside (suspicion falls on Iraq).
March 24, 1976
Argentine Coup – Phase I: The Argentine military deposes civilian President Isabel Peron.
A general strike takes place in the People's Republic of Congo.
March 25, 1976
The Argentine military junta bans all leftist political parties.
The Soviet Union begins large scale oil sales to the international oil market, disguising their source. For a short period this lowers the world price of oil. (It also generates hard currency income for the Soviet government).
March 26, 1976
A project to create a MLB franchise team for Toronto, which was to be called The Toronto Blue Jays, is declared officially dead.
Margaret Thatcher, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, stated her opposition to devolution of responsibility for security in Northern Ireland to the local police and security officials, calling the problem a “more than a local police concern. Devolution of responsibility would only hand the criminals a victory. This is not about local law enforcement, this is a direct challenge to the authority of the British crown and we shall meet this criminal behaviour with all the resources at our disposal.”
Queen Elizabeth II sent out the first royal email, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment.
March 27, 1976
The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens. The project has been sustained by federal infrastructure spending.
Argentine Coup – Phase II: Argentine Army Commander, General Jorge Videla, is killed in a traffic accident. The accident is blamed on a drunk driver who is later identified as “a leftist sympathiser.”
Later revelations confirm that Videla was murdered two days before he could assume the Presidency of Argentina. Admiral Emilio Massera and the Secretary of Intelligence, General Otto Paladino are implicated in the move, and may have had some tacit support from the CIA. Massera and Paladino felt that the Army General would use his support in the largest of Argentina’s armed services to maintain a firm grip on state patronage after the coup. CIA officers working in Buenos Aires were concerned that Videla might be more independently minded, while Massera and Paladino were considered “more pliable.”
Massera and Paladino also received backing from an Italian Fascist financier named Licio Gelli, who at the time was using his financial and political network to solidify an “Anti-Communist International” involving Chile and Spain, which welcomed the arrival of the military regime in Agrentina. This involved a plan called Operation Gladio, a code name denoting a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy, intended to continue anti-communist actions in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. (Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organisations, Operation Gladio is used as an informal name for all stay-behind organisations, sometimes called "Super NATO") Then CIA Director Daniel Graham had an interest in developing Gladio into an international anti-leftist network. His idea was motivated by the success of Pinochet in Chile, and a desire to see no more repeats of the Portuguese Revolution. Gladio thus became heavily involved in maintaining Falangist rule in Spain, and in undercutting a drift to the left in any Latin American countries.
In Lebanon a series of clashes between the Druze and Phalangist militias over territory further weakens the anti-PJO alliance.
March 29, 1976
Admiral Emilio E. Massera becomes President of Argentina.
Eight Ohio National Guardsmen indicted for shooting four Kent State students in May 1970.
March 29 – May 1, 1976
The Portuguese government (Lisbon) Army begins sustained operations against the rebel force in Porto. General de Spinola’s forces receive outside support from Spain in the form of weapons and some “volunteers”, but not a large scale commitment of Spanish troops.
De Spinola receives no outside support from other countries. Both France and the United Kingdom have taken a hands-off policy with regard to de Spinola’s enclave; France because President Mitterrand wants to continue negotiations with Premier Goncalves and thus wishes to preserve his neutrality (and because Mitterrand personally dislikes the fascist tinge of de Spinola’s group). The Heath government, crippled by little public support has no desire to become entangled in another foreign mess at this point.
President Gavin is inclined to send U.S. support, but is blocked by a threat from Congress to de-fund any military effort by the U.S. to relieve de Spinola. On April 7 the House passes a resolution by 299 – 136 which calls for the United States to remain out of any conflict between de Spinola’s rebels and the Lisbon government. On April 12, after much debate the Senate passes a similar resolution by a vote of 68 – 31. The implication in these votes is that if President Gavin were to veto the resolution it would be overridden. He does however, on April 13:
President Gavin: “I ask - I plead - with the Congress to reconsider these restrictions on our freedom of action. I understand the exasperation that many feel over foreign military deployments, and believe me I would not advocate any were it not absolutely necessary to preserve our own peace and freedom. I, like so many who have served in combat, hate war and wish we could wipe it away with the stroke of a pen or a vote of Congress.
“But, make no mistake, if the Communist government in Lisbon is allowed to succeed, it will be our peace and freedom which will be at stake, if not tomorrow, then down the road. We have already seen what allowing Communism to take root in Cuba, Czechoslovakia and China has allowed to happen? Can we allow Communism to get a hold on the Atlantic, so close to our shores? That is the real peril that we must meet. The eyes of our allies around the world are upon us, and the measure of our fidelity to them will be made in respect to our actions over this danger.
“If we do not act today, when the problem can be resolved quickly, then we shall have to do so in the future, when the cost in our treasure and the blood of our young men will be so much higher. That is why I ask the Congress to re-consider this rash decision as I veto it today.”
Sen. William Proxmire (D-WS): “Enough is enough already. I feel sorry for those in Portugal who must endure under this threat, but it is not for the United States to police every corner of the world, not when we have so many problems at home. The President says the eyes of our allies are upon us, but yet they too hesitate to commit to this conflict. Is it because they expect us to act for them? Well, our eyes are on them too, and their lack of action speaks volumes too.”
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA): “I will not say that Communism in Portugal is right, but I will say that in the last decade the United States has taken on too much of the burden, and paid too high a price as the world’s policeman for us to continue indefinitely. Vietnam, Syria, Cyprus – how much blood must we spill, how much blood of our young must be spilled – before we say enough. Let this be the place and time when we said that our national commitment was to better the lot of our citizens first, that we have done our bit, and that it is the time of those countries our power has kept free in the last thirty years to step-up the mark and share the load.”
Rep. Ron Dellums (D-CA): “The single mother in Oakland without a job and little mouths to feed doesn’t care about Portugal. When did Portugal ever feed our hungry or heal our sick? We need jobs, not war graves!”
Gov. George Wallace (D-AB): “You could go fight a bunch of Communists in Portugal, and we would win, but where would the next fire spring up? And the next fire after that? Let me ask you, should the power of the United States be used to play a global game of wack-a-mole?
“No? Then we need to deal with the real troublemaker, Mr. Soviet hisself. I doesn’t do no good to go after the chickens when the fox is the one causing the real trouble. So I say enough of this piss-ant nonsense, let the ‘Port-u-geeze’ fix their own mess, or let our allies do some heavy liftin’ on this. Meanwhile let’s fix our problems here, and concentrate our efforts overseas on taming the bully, and worry less bout sideshows.”
Ronald Reagan: “All these troubles come from one place, Moscow, and détente has been the ideal cover for the Soviets to hide behind with promises of co-existence and co-operation, while they have in reality fermented red insurrection around the globe. Portugal is the latest symptom, and simply throwing our power at it will not solve the problem. Only when we are strong, when we cast aside the deceptive idea of détente and show the Soviets that we mean business, will these problems go away.”
Spiro Agnew (Agnew On Point): “Yet another weak-kneed response from the cowering canards of the liberal Congress. I am not surprised that our so-called allies decided to cower behind their American made and American taxpayer financed protections and like so many cowering schoolboys, offered exactly nothing in the way of helping General de Spinola, a freedom loving patriot. But if they were feckless, then our Congress was the Brutus, driving the knife into the very heart of the Portuguese people, silencing by our inaction their cries for freedom.”
On April 15 and April 20 respectively the House and Senate override the President’s veto. The motivation on the part of a number of Senators and Representatives is to take a firm line against another foreign involvement prior to the 1976 election.
Repeated polling shows public opinion to be 75-25 against military involvement in the Portuguese civil conflict.
“Vietnam, Syria, Cyprus, you know where does it stop?” One man-on-the-street responds to a reporter’s question on the subject. “Look, I’m down to half-time at work, my neighbors out of a job. I don’t hold for Communists, no sir, but we gotta fix things here at home first. Haven’t we done enough already?”
This seems to be a widespread sentiment among the general public.
The net effect is that the PDRP government forces, supported by Soviet technical assistance and combat troops from Cuba and East Germany (mostly engineers in the latter case) overruns the de Spinola positions in Porto, and the rebel army is forced to retreat into the mountains, where they can shelter in rougher terrain closer to the Spanish border.
Spain itself does not offer direct military support or intervention because the government of Prime Minister Carlos Arias Navarro is still attempting to consolidate its power in post-Franco Spain, and has had to face down some disturbances resulting from a sham election earlier in 1976 which returned the Falange Party to power with a questionable mandate. Prime Minister Navarro and his senior Ministers judge that, strictly from the domestic political perspective in Madrid, the threat of invasion from a Communist Portugal is politically necessary for the Falange to maintain its iron grip on power.
March 30, 1976
Israel kills six Palestinians protesting land confiscation
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) called off its 'rent and rates strike' which had originally started as a campaign of civil disobedience against the introduction of Internment. [Many of those who had taken part in the protest were left with arrears and in many cases money was deducted from welfare benefit payments to recoup the amounts owing.]
Margaret Thatcher MP: “If they will not pay their lawful obligations and behave as responsible citizens, then they can expect nothing from the government.”
March 31, 1976
The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose after being disconnected.
Three British soldiers were killed in a land mine attack carried out by the PIRA near Belleek, County Armagh.
The Central Council of the PJO officially calls for an “Islamic Palestine” to be governed by a theocratic council of “learned scholars” recognized for their “devotion to Islam.” No names of who they might be are provided at the time. The PJO declares this Islamic Palestine to consist of the area currently occupied by Israel, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula.
March 31 – April 1, 1976
Federal authorities execute a series of warrants leading to the arrests of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on the eve of their founding of an independent computer development company which was to be known as Apple Inc. Jobs was a former Vice President at Hewlett Packard and Atari, and both companies have charged that Jobs stole proprietary information when he left the company. A raid of Jobs’ labs and offices uncovers classified Atari diagrams which the company claims as proprietary information.
April 1, 1976
Chancellor Maurice Macmillian announces a ten percent reduction in the amount to be paid out in Welfare benefits across the UK. This leads to a series of riots and disturbances across the UK.
April 2, 1976
The Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal promulgates it’s Marxist Constitution which is modeled on the Cuban Constitution passed earlier in the year. It is estimated that a garrison of 3,000 Cuban soldiers and 1,500 East German Army “technical assistance specialists” are based in the PDRP, many active in military action around Porto.
William R. “Billy” Boles, who was John McKeithen’s fundraiser in 1972, joins the Wallace campaign. He brings with him McKeithen’s labor fixer Benjamin B.B. “Sixty” Rayburn. They add to the Wallace campaign their recent experience in funding and organizing a national presidential campaign.
April 3, 1976
France performs a nuclear test at Muruora Island.
Members of the Socialist and Communist Parties express their disappointment with President Mitterrand over this question. They believe he has betrayed the Common Program’s policy statement in which had called for France to renounce nuclear weapons.
President Mitterrand replies by re-stating his commitment to the maintenance of the Force de Frappe as a key element in France’s strategic defence. Like the Gaullist Presidents who preceded him, Mitterrand believes that the Force de Frappe not only guarantees France’s independence as a world power, but also contributes to it both having influence and being taken seriously as a first rank nation in global affairs.
The Philadelphia Flyers win record tying 20th straight NHL home game.
"The Party's Over"- the Dutch entry - wins the Eurovision Song Contest for 1976. Performed in English by Sandra Reemer, who had previously represented the Netherlands at the 1972 Contest, the song, though about a social and romantic situation, is seen as a metaphor for the current state of world problems, especially the economy.
The song is sung from the perspective of a young woman at a party who is attempting to work out whether she should stay or leave. She sings that the party itself is coming to an end, which would suggest that leaving is a good option. If she stays, however, she can at least be in the same room as a former lover who is also present. The conclusion of the song is left ambiguous, with Reemer wondering if she is dreaming about the former lover talking to her. Reemer also recorded the song in French, as "Un souvenir en trop".
April 4, 1976
Seni Pramoj's Democratic Party wins elections in Thailand.
The Islamic court finds Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud guilty of several violations of Sharia law. He is sentenced to death.
Crown PrinceAbdullah is said to be considering a pardon for Prince Sattam.
The Phalangist Milita are seriously defeated in hit-and-run battles with the PJO and their Sh’ite allies. Only the intervention of the PLO saves the Phalangists from direct defeat.
April 5, 1976
Billionaire Howard Hughes dies at the age of 70. His death will not affect the operation of The Hughes Network.
Agnew On Point
Spiro Agnew: “Recently, a certain network anchorman – Walter Cronkite of CBS News to be exact – decided that he could use the public airwaves to inject his own view of what is and what is not acceptable news analysis on the public. Well, I say who is this pusillanimous pornographer of liberal propaganda to stand-up and cry-out for even-handedness and objectivity in the news?
“Where was the great Cronkite’s sense of objectivity when he went on CBS News and stabbed out troops in the back by spreading doubt about the War in Vietnam. Where is his even-handedness when he hob-knobs with liberal celebrities and politicians and when he and his bosses at CBS allow their network to become a mouthpiece of the liberal establishment?
“What Mr. Cronkite condescends to castigate as pre-determined opinion is in fact the lamp of truth being shone on our nation’s affairs and the truth, shorn of its bodyguard of liberal lies, being exposed for the people to see. If this does not meet CBS’s vaunted view of journalism then I could not be more pleased, because what they call journalism is little more than reading advertising copy for the liberal establishment and a degrading, condescending effort to blind the people with leftist gobbledygook. If the light of truth causes you some discomfort Walter, then I suggest that you examine what it is about your coverage that causes that feeling. I believe the answer you will find is that you and your masters at CBS, along with the other so-called major networks, have been kow-towing to liberal interests for so long that you could not identify true, objective reporting if you tripped over it.
“Further, I don’t think you would want to follow the truth, even if it was presented to you on a silver platter. That would rattle you out of your liberal complacency, and then you would have to confront what you, CBS, and the other networks have done to this country and its people.
“And that, Walter, is how it is.”
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The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rules to uphold Richard Nixon’s convictions in United States v. Richard M. Nixon. Nixon appeals this decision to the United States Supreme Court.
Syrian President Maamun al-Kuzbari makes a state visit to Washington to meet with U.S. leaders in order to further discuss the stabilization of Syria and the withdrawal of foreign armies from Syria.
April 6, 1976
The Wisconsin Primary:
Democrats (72 delegates):
Henry Jackson: 26%
George Wallace: 24%
Birch Bayh: 23%
Ron Dellums 12%
Frank Church: 6%
Reubin Askew: 4%
Ellen McCormack: 4%
Milton Shapp: 1%
Lloyd Bentsen: 0%
In Wisconsin Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson pulled a surprise defeat over George Wallace largely by campaigning as a bridge candidate between the populist and liberal constituencies. As such Jackson drew his victory from usual Wallace supporters (as the thinking man’s Wallace) and from Bayh supporters (as the candidate more in touch with the concerns of the people), where Wallace’s support remained concentrated among blue collar workers. Reubin Askew and Frank Church may also have represented more of drag on Wallace than on Jackson in this race. Meanwhile, Bayh and Dellums split the liberal and minority block, which had it coalesced around Bayh, would have allowed the Indiana Senator to win the primary.
Republicans (45 delegates):
Charles Percy: 37%
Ronald Reagan: 34%
James Gavin: 21%
Jack Williams: 4%
George Bush: 3%
Harold Stassen: 1%
Sen. Percy coalesced liberal and moderate support behind his candidacy, while Reagan did well among his main constituency, although the presence of Jack Williams on the ballot may have cost him another primary win.
The Wyoming Primary:
Democrats (12 delegates):
George Wallace: 38%
Franck Church: 21%
Birch Bayh: 20%
Henry Jackson: 16%
Ellen McCormack: 5%
Ron Dellums 0%
Reubin Askew: 0%
Milton Shapp: 0%
Lloyd Bentsen: 0%
George Wallace did well in a traditionally libertarian state which had been hit hard by the recession/depression. His populist appeal helped him to defeat the two westerners, Sen. Church and Sen. Jackson. Birch Bayh had the liberal field largely to himself but did not pick-up support from other groups. Ellen McCormack’s vote represented a strong pro-life bias in Wyoming.
After the April 6 primaries Lloyd Bentsen and Reubin Askew both announced that they were withdrawing from the campaign.
Republicans (10 delegates):
Ronald Reagan: 54%
James Gavin: 29%
Jack Williams: 10%
Charles Percy: 4%
George Bush: 2%
Harold Stassen: 1%
Reagan victory in a largely uncontested primary in a very conservative state.
Hawaii Primary
Democrats (25 delegates):
Birch Bayh: 41%
Henry Jackson: 27%
George Wallace: 15%
Ron Dellums 9%
Frank Church: 6%
Ellen McCormack: 1%
Reubin Askew: 1%
Milton Shapp: 0%
Lloyd Bentsen: 0%
A largely uncontested primary with a large liberal constituency where campaigning was done through local surrogates. Jackson’s unexpected strength came from the military vote.
Republicans (10 delegates):
James Gavin: 62%
Charles Percy: 23%
Ronald Reagan: 11%
George Bush: 2%
Jack Williams: 1%
Harold Stassen: 1%
Also largely uncontested on the Republican side, the President did make a campaign appearance and had the support of former Hawaii Governor William F. Quinn (R) who was himself a Senate candidate in 1976, and Hawaii’s outgoing Republican Senator Hiram Fong.
Delaware Primary
Democrats (25 delegates):
George Wallace: 41%
Birch Bayh: 33%
Henry Jackson: 9%
Ellen McCormack: 7%
Ron Dellums: 5%
Reubin Askew: 3%
Frank Church: 2%
Milton Shapp: 0%
Lloyd Bentsen: 0%
George Wallace had a lock on the more rural southern half of Delaware, and picked-up support in suburban working class areas of Dover, where his major challenge was from Jackson. Bayh proved strong in suburban middle to upper class white commuter communities in the north of the state. Ellen McCormack picked-up support from the large Roman Catholic community in Delaware.
Republicans (15 delegates):
Ronald Reagan: 46%
James Gavin: 23%
Charles Percy: 22%
Jack Williams: 4%
Harold Stassen: 3%
George Bush: 2%
The President and Sen. Percy evenly split the anti-Reagan vote. Reagan largely replicated Wallace’s success in the Southern part of the state and its affluent suburbs.
George Bush withdrew from the primaries after April 6 and gave his endorsement to Sen. Percy.
The ascetic Prince Bandar bin Abdul Aziz publishes a sermon in which he denounces the soft living of the younger generation of Saudi royals as the “rot that is destroying the Kingdom. God wills that we destroy the rot, but if we do not, then God wills that we ourselves will be destroyed for our apostasy. If the King does not execute this Prince Satam for his sins, though he be of the King’s blood and of mine, then he will surely show to God that the Saudi Royalty has lost its way and can no longer consider itself to rule with the will of God as its rock. It is up to the followers of God to judge, and if His will be thwarted, then to act to make good the will of God and His Prophet.”
The Intelligence Reform and Oversight (IRO) Bill (Church-Baker Act) is introduced in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The IRO would take the recommendations of the Church Committee reports and create a formal intelligence coordination and oversight process in the government. The IRO calls for permanent intelligence oversight Committees for both the House and Senate with statutory authority.
The IRO also extends reform to the Executive Branch by creating a Department of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight (D-NICO) which will centralize the Coordination and Oversight of U.S. intelligence activity and be responsible to both the President and the Congressional Oversight Committees. The Department will be headed-up by a Cabinet level Secretary of National Intelligence Coordination and Oversight (SNICO) appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate who will take over the role of senior Presidential advisor for intelligence from the Director of Central Intelligence, who will become the CIA Agency Director. SNICO will also have oversight authority for the military intelligence community as well.
D-NICO will also have in its purview the Bureau of Professional Compliance which will investigate instances of intelligence abuse.
April 7, 1976
Three members of a Protestant family were killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) when an incendiary bomb caused a fire in the drapery business below the Herron family home.
The Manchester Guardian and ORC publish a national poll which shows the Conservative government’s approval rating at 16%, with the Prime Minister’s personal approval rating at 11%. 84% of respondents believe the UK is headed in the wrong direction, with 74% blaming the government’s inability to manage the Irish troubles as a prime factor; which is aggravated by a 79% disapproval of the emergency measures in the UK, and a like number 77%, who want to see the security measures ended in the mainland UK.
However, economic woes and a failure to follow-up the economic gains of early 1974 are also identified as major factors for dissatisfaction with the government. 53% of respondents agree that the Heath government has spent too much time and effort on “foreign adventures” in Cyprus, Syria and Hong Kong. Only the protection of Hong Kong enjoys a rating above 50% approval.
Margaret Thatcher’s approval rating is at 7%; 90% believe she should resign as a minister and 77% believe she should resign from parliament as well. 46% believe that she should be prosecuted in the death of Mela Patel and her son. 71% believe the matter warrants a full inquiry.
Of the major party leaders the popularity rankings are:
Denis Healey (Labour) 40%
Jeremy Thorpe (Liberal) 26%
Kenneth Clarke (Independent) 16%
Edward Heath (Conservative) 11%
John Tyndall (National Front) 7%
A separate poll of popularity among likely replacements for Edward Heath among voters who identify themselves as Conservatives or Conservative-leaning shows the following:
Keith Joseph 26%
William Whitelaw 24%
Enoch Powell 21%
Kenneth Clarke 17%
Maurice Macmillian 8%
Robert Carr 4%
A poll of the same figures among all likely voters – regardless of party – shows the following:
Kenneth Clarke 36%
William Whitelaw 31%
Robert Carr 10%
Maurice Macmillian 10%
Keith Joseph 9%
Enoch Powell 4%
The Guardian poll predicts that if a General Election were called for April 1976 that Labour would win between 380 and 400 seats and that the Liberal Party could win as many as 60 seats. Its findings also indicate that the National Front could poll into the double digits in support in a number of constituencies across the country.
Edward Heath MP: “This government does not govern by the consent of the polls. We govern by the consent of the people who cast their ballots to place us in office. This is a temporary set-back, one that is being magnified to sell newspapers. This government will not be cast into a panic by this kind of muck-raking.”
Kulen Patel files papers in the constituency of Finchley to contest for the Labour Party nomination. He states that his intent is to run against Mrs. Thatcher at the next election, and to fight for justice for all working class people in Britain. Critics note that Finchley has never been represented by a Labour member.
Major Saad Haddad’s Free Lebanon Army suffers a defeat at the hands of the PJO and the Sh’ite Amal Militia near the town of Rachiaya El Foukhar in Southern Lebanon. The PJO and the Amal begin an offensive South toward the Israeli border.
Excerpt from The Tonight Show
Johnny Carson: “You and Spiro Agnew certainly mixed it up.”
George Wallace: “Mr. Agnew is a man of strong convictions and I guess they get the better of him sometimes. But, o’course, when he was President he used his pen to sign away some of those convictions.”
Audience laughs in reaction.
Wallace: “Bet his old boss wishes he could do the same.”
Audience laughter.
Johnny Carson: “But, if you are nominated, you won’t be facing Nixon or Agnew. It’ll be either the President or Governor Reagan.”
Wallace: “Course I respect ‘em both, you understand. I respect the President for his service and I respect Governor Reagan for making his movies. I can’t say I liked all those movies, some of ‘em were well...”
Carson: “Turkies?”
Wallace: “Yeah, but I respect him for having the courage to make them, especially some of the bad ones. Must have hired some of the same script writers for his campaign.”
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April 9, 1976
Two Catholic civilians were killed in separate Loyalist paramilitary attacks in Belfast and Armagh.
Governor Barry Goldwater presents a bill to the California legislature which calls for the phased privatization of the California Department of Transportation (CALTRANS). He also presents a bill which calls for the University of California system to rely more on private donation and less on government money for its operations.
Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith is assassinated in a road-side ambush organized by the ZPLF (Zimbabwe People’s Liberation Front). The attack is believed to have had Soviet and Cuban support. The assassins are identified as having been white (and as such attracted no special attention from the police before the attack) and having “Afrikaner-like accents.” The latter description leads some to believe that the assassins may have been East Germans working for the Soviets, the backers of ZPLF.
The ZPLF claims to have been acting in retaliation for the assassination of Robert Mugabe the previous year. They also convey a message to the white Rhodesian population than – in killing the Prime Minister – none of them are safe from ZPLF operations.
Jack W. Pithey becomes the new Prime Minister of Rhodesia. Despite Smith’s assassination, Pithey’s government continues informal power-sharing talks with black groups. Smith’s assassination has damaged Smith and Pithey’s Rhodesian Front Party (RFP). A new white opposition bloc called the Free Resistance Front (FRF) begins to coalesce in opposition to the Pithey government and their on-going plans to expand African involvement in Rhodesia’s governance. Smith’s murder and the fear it creates begins to send white voters toward the FRF and away from the RFP and the other more liberal Rhodesia Party (RP).
Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani delivers a sermon in which he denounces any leniency in the case of Prince Sattam as a sell-out of Islamic values to the devil. He leads a demonstration in Riyadh calling for the execution of Prince Sattam.
A third student demonstration causes violence in Tehran.
Excerpt from The Tomorrow Show, April 9, 1976 (with V.W. Rebel):
Tom Snyder: Well, we certainly have an interesting show for you tonight. He's currently running for the Democratic nomination for president and the way things are going, it looks like he might get it. He's certainly one of the more outspoken voices we've seen on the campaign trail recently, well since his run for President eight years ago, anyway.
Governor George Wallace, welcome to the show.
Wallace: Thank you, Tom.
Snyder: All right, let's get right to it. About a week ago, you were on Agnew on Point and had a memorable exchange with Mr. Agnew. You said your situation-having been confined to a wheelchair-has helped you to literally feel the peoples' pain. Could you elaborate on that some more?
Wallace: Well, I don't think there's really a whole heck of a lot left to say. Agnew got me riled up, and when I'm riled, I tend to speak my mind. Yeah, I know it's gotten me in trouble in the past, but I just felt he'd gone over the line and I wanted to respond.
The people of this country have gone through hell over the past couple of years. We're practically in the middle of a Second Great Depression. Now, there are two things we can do about it. We can go on with the same old same old and let those with all the money and the power decide what to do, or we can go for real change and have the guts to make the tough choices.
Now, I respect think President Gavin, he’s done some very honorable service for our country, and he stepped into a tough spot when we needed him, but he doesn’t seem to be in touch with the problems of ordinary folk. I think bein’ in office, and running a blue chip company for years before that, has put him out of touch with what people are feeling on main street. What’s been goin’ on in Cyprus and Vietnam and other foreign places hasn’t helped, but its time to focus on what the people here need.
I've seen the face of death up close and personal. I know a lot of folks are livin' right on the edge and I know that feeling of mortality. That's what I meant when I said my pain is their pain.
Snyder: Some commentators have said your program isn’t coherent, or that it’s contradictory. You’ll forgive me, but someone said of your comments on Agnew On Point that they were more of rant than a clear policy.
Wallace (laughs): You know Tom, whenever they want to shoot darts at me they accuse me of ranting, or bein’ incoherent. But it’s not that I’m incoherent, it’s that I’m proposing things that are outside their narrow way of thinking. You want a coherent policy statement, here it is. I’m for whatever will help the ordinary people – the taxi driver, the factory worker, the farmer, the teacher, the policeman – get back-up on their feet. They’re the one’s who’ve been dealt a body blow by this Depression. The Wall Street bankers, the politocrats, for them it’s been business as usual at the public trough. My plan is to take their hands out of the ordinary citizen’s pocket and put government back to work for the ordinary citizen, which is who it is supposed to be serving. If we can make government smaller, and return more to local government, then I’m for that too because local government is easier to control for the average citizens. But I’m not going to embrace a shrink government policy which is nothing more than a Trojan horse for passing federal taxes back to the local and State governments, if we we’re going to cut taxes and government then we should have the guts to do it in Washington. And, I’m not going to allow cuttin’ government to be a smoke screen by which we hand over public services – and tax money – to private interests so they can make a profit from the public’s dime.
Snyder: It’s hard to tell if that’s libertarian or socialist, it has strains of both.
Wallace: That’s your label for it, Tom. I call it puttin’ the needs of the people first. Personally, I’d like to make the federal government, the states and private business all co-operative partners, each doin’ what they’re good at. We’ve achieved that in Alabama; my administration developed a partnership with corporations in Alabama that helps to fund hospitals and schools. Everyone benefits from that – Alabama taxpayers get a break, the company employees get good schools and health care for their families – which makes ‘em happier in their jobs, and the companies have an incentive to be part of the community where they operate. There’s more we can do to build partnerships like that to help everyone.
Snyder: Well, that’s certainly a different approach to government. More with Governor Wallace after this; come on back.
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April 11, 1976
Two men were killed in a shoot-out with U.S. Border Patrol Officers as they tried to illegally cross the border from Mexico into the United States near Yuma, Arizona. What makes this case stand-out is that both men are later identified as soldiers with the PIRA who are wanted in Britain for various offenses.
The French Communist Party (PCF) and its associated Union, the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), announce they will stage a series of General Strikes in France to protest President Mitterrand’s continuation of the nuclear weapons program. They are joined by the Socialist Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) and the National Union of Students (UNEF) who amplify the call for General Strikes to compel President Mitterrand to comply with the nuclear disarmament program.
Meanwhile, the right-wing Inter-University Union (UNI), joined by the UDP and the National Front announce plans to stage a series of counter-demonstrations in support of the Force de Frappe and to campaign for France remaining a nuclear weapons power.
The price for a barrel of oil, which had come down as far as $ 11.00 per barrel, climbs back up to $ 17.00 per barrel on the news of unrest in Saudi Arabia and Iran. (Some project it might have gone as high as $ 21.00 per barrel if the Soviets had not been supplying oil to the market). This causes another round of inflation and economic turmoil in the United States and Western Europe. The U.S. and Canada can off-set some of it through domestic production, but the impact on the overall cost of goods and the downturn in international trade affects their economies as well. The price of oil at the pump in the United States shoots-up from $ 0.90per gallon to $ 1.15 per gallon.
Margaret Thatcher MP (Cons.-Finchley): “I think Mr. Patel has let his grief get the better of his good judgment, and he should reflect on his actions. He may not be aware that one needs to have British nationality in order to stand for Parliament.”
Kulen Patel: “That’s the kind of racist nonsense you come to expect from the Tory Party. I’ve lived here since I was seven and I am a British citizen – I’m as bloody British as Mrs. Thatcher. Her remarks are offensive and disgusting.”
Margaret Thatcher MP: “Of course, I apologize for my mistake. I did not intend to disparage Mr. Patel based on the origins of his family. But I must re-iterate that while I sympathize with him over his loss, the responsibility of standing for Parliament is awesome and should not be made because of narrow, emotional factors.”
Kulen Patel: “She can stuff her sympathies and her condescension with it. I’m running because that woman needs to be put out of Parliament, and this constituency needs a more responsive MP, one with human feeling.”
U.S. and Allied commander in Syria General Bernard Rogers has a series of meetings with Sayyed Hussein el-Husseini, a Shi’ite member of the Lebanese parliament and a political leader of the Amal movement. While there are significant differences between the U.S. and the Amal, General Rogers’ talks with el-Husseini establish that the Amal, unlike the PJO, are willing to negotiate over their differences with the western powers. Rogers also observes that there is some underlying tension between the Amal and the PJO over goals and methods.
April 12, 1976
The Delaware Legislature votes to ratify the proposed twenty-seventh amendment to the United States Constitution.
April 13, 1976
New York Primary
Democrats (274 delegates):
Henry Jackson: 28%
Birch Bayh: 27%
George Wallace: 21%
Ron Dellums 19%
Ellen McCormack: 3%
Milton Shapp: 1%
Frank Church: 1%
Sen. Henry Jackson did well in suburban communities and among New York’s large Jewish population, where he had a large following after he championed the cause of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union. New York’s Democratic Governor Hugh Carey endorsed Jackson in order to boost his own support in that community, which had suffered as a result of the New York City bankruptcy. George Wallace did well among white blue collar voters in upstate New York. Bayh took the mainstream liberal vote while Ron Dellums drew his support from urban communities throughout the state.
Republicans (151 delegates):
James Gavin: 55%
Ronald Reagan: 21%
Jack Williams: 14%
Charles Percy: 8%
Harold Stassen: 2%
The President played-up the fact that he was from New York to carry the state as a home state candidate. Reagan and Williams split the conservative vote. Sen. Percy did not actively campaign in New York.
Puerto Rico Caucus
New for 1976, this had been a reform first instituted by the Democrats to provide the party organization in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico some input into the nomination process. The Democratic caucus was a legitimate election in that party members and officials voted. The Republicans had been forced to follow suit, however their caucus was more-or-less a decision made by the executive committee of the Puerto Rican Republican Party which took its cue from the Republican National Committee in Washington D.C. No candidates from either party actively campaigned in Puerto Rico.
Democrats (5 delegates):
Gov. Rafael Colon 77%
Birch Bayh 18%
Henry Jackson 3%
George Wallace 1%
Ron Dellums 1%
Republicans (3 delegates):
James Gavin 100%
The National Union of Railwayman stages a two day work stoppage across the U.K. to protest the Heath government’s privitization plans for the British railways. This further disrupts rail service.
The Roman catholic Bishop of San Diego, California Leo Thomas Maher, who is a trustee of the University of San Diego, sends a letter to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia asking him to spare the life of Prince Sattam (Prince Sattam is a 1965 graduate of the University of San Diego). News of the apostolic letter leaks out, and a translated copy is published in the Saudi press on Thursday, April 15, 1976.
Someone fires a rocket grenade into the grounds of the United States Embassy in Tehran. It detonates, but no one is injured.
The United States Treasury re-introduces the United States two dollar bill.
Rep. James J. Florio (D-NJ) is wounded by an unknown gunman while crossing the street near the Capitol. The bullet used identifies Florio’s assailant as the “Democrat Killer” still at large in the DC area.
The French Council of Ministers approves a proposed bill which would abolish the death penalty in France.
April 14 - 21, 1976
The Israel Defence Forces move North into Southern Lebanon, providing cover and support for Major Haddad’s militia. The Israelis set-up a defensive line in South Lebanon stretching from Kiryat Shimona on the Israeli border to Aadloun on the Lebanese Mediterranean coast.
April 16, 1976
Two Catholic civilians were killed in a PIRA bomb at Servia Street, Lower Falls, Belfast.
Two RCMP officers are injured during a scuffle between ethnic Turks and ethnic Greeks along the interim dividing line between the two communities. Cyprus has been largely quiet over the winter, with the main focus being on negotiations between the two ethnic governments to determine a final demarcation line between the two communities. This is an involved process of trying to determine which communities belong where, and determining where whole communities might have to be moved to create a viable dividing line.
Western security forces are aware that Turkish intelligence activity is continuing, but there have been no overt clashes with the security forces.
Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani uses the printed copy of the apostolic letter from Bishop Maher to Crown Prince Abdullah as “proof” that the Saudi Royal family has abandoned Islam and has embraced the “infidel religion” and that the letter is an incitement for the Crown Prince to violate Islamic law “in order to please the Crusader infidels. Let God judge all who would violate His law and make common cause with the infidel. Let none stand who would turn away from God for the golden idol of riches and false beliefs.”
Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani is immediately arrested by the Saudi Religious Police, which causes further unrest in the Kingdom.
Portuguese Premier Goncalves has a publicized meeting with the Directorate of the Basque separatist group ETA (they are wearing hoods to hide their identities). After the meeting Goncalves expresses his government’s support for Basque independence from “the iron hand of Spanish fascist imperialism.” Some note that Goncalves makes no remarks about ETA grievances against the French government.
The British government announces that it will end most of the emergency measures in place on the British Mainland, including the patrolling of highways and cities by military troops. Only a modified curfew, from 11:00 pm to 5:00 am will continue to be enforced.
April 16 – 19, 1975
Soviet forces put down a Muslim uprising in Andijan, Uzbekistan, centered on an Imam at one of the city’s Mosque who calls for a Jihad against “the devils of Communism and Capitalism.” The Soviet move is said to be very brutal. No verifiable casualty figures are published, as the Soviet government denies that the incident took place. It refers to military action in the area over these three days as “a readiness drill.”
April 18, 1976
A large crowd of supporters of Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani surround the Saudi National Police Headquarters where al-Qahtani is being held and demand his release. When Saudi police try to push them back, they throw stones and rocks at the police and the police building. This leads to a riot.
April 19, 1976
U.S. reconnaissance forces capture three “suspicious Arab looking men” conducting “reconnaissance activity” and potential espionage along the border area between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The men refuse to talk, and the Syrian police assisting in the matter insist that the men are neither Syrian nor Lebanese. The U.S. command suspects that they are Israeli commandos, a fact which seems to be confirmed when the French negotiate their release for an unnamed third party (presumably Israel).
April 21, 1976
Excerpt from The Tonight Show
Johnny Carson: “Some people – we won’t say who – have been able to portray these – gaffes – as indicating that maybe you’re not with it.”
Ronald Reagan (laughs): “Well, I’ve never really been with them, so I’ll take that as a compliment.” (Pauses for some light audience laughter.) “The truth is Johnny, I’m out there with ideas, and they’re out there with warmed over one-liners and cheap shots, so what does that tell you?”
Carson: “They need better writers?”
(More laughter)
Reagan: “No, their writers need better ideas to write about. Right now they’re just re-hashing the same old, tired thing. Makes me think I’ve seen this movie before, and I wanted my money back the first time.”
Carson: “What did you think of George Wallace’s recent dust-up with Spiro Agnew?”
Reagan: “I respect Governor Wallace, you know, he has endured a lot and shown pluck and courage through it all. You have to admire that. I respect the work he’s done in Alabama; he’s done good things for the people of that State, and I think he should go on being a great Governor of Alabama until the end of his term.”
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April 22, 1976
Barbara Walters becomes the first female news anchor in U.S. television history. She becomes co-anchor with Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News. She clashes with ABC management when she refuses to concentrate on “light pieces” and demands to be allowed to cover “hard news.”
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band release the “Altoona Blues”, a compilation of songs with a rock and blues mixture that record the plight of economically depressed towns and the often unemployed or underemployed blue-collar people who live there.
After undergoing several months of recovery, Lt. Cmdr John S. McCain III begins a one-year tour of duty as a staff intelligence support officer at the National Security Council. Within a few weeks he becomes an intelligence briefing officer, and on a number of occasions briefs the President.
Lt. Cmdr. McCain had asked to be returned to flight status; however an extensive examination determined that his treatment in the Chinese prison had rendered him physically unfit for flight duty. During his recovery and on his new assignment McCain continues his study of the Chinese language.
April 25, 1976
Insurgents attack General Rogers convoy as he is moving between Damascus and Yabrud on the main highway. The insurgents are defeated after some intensive fighting. General Rogers is unhurt.
April 26, 1976
Plans for a non-stop Tokyo to New York flight by Pan American Airways are shelved due to a lack of demand. Few realize that Pan AM is close to bankruptcy.
Marwan Kousa complete their first rehearsal for their planned action using the Sarin gas in Kousa’s possession.
April 27, 1976
A car bomb detonates on Horse Guards Road, killing four mounted guardsmen and their horses. Another seven guardsmen are seriously injured by shrapnel, and three horses have to be put down as a result of injuries. The INLA takes responsibility for this action.
The National Transportation Revitalization and Reform (Muskie-Kemp) Bill is an attempt to develop a national transportation policy which would emphasize the development of light rail and other non-fossil fuel transportation systems as a measure to combat the high cost of oil. John Connally has been the most outspoken critic of the bill, having become a full-time lobbyist for the oil industry in an effort to kill it. Ronald Reagan has also been an outspoken critic of the bill which he denounces as an example “of big government regulation of the free market.” In Sacramento, Governor Barry Goldwater Jr. has also denounced the bill as “a big government grab of power and control over everyday lives.” Senator Jesse Helms has made every effort to block it, lambasting a national rail policy as “the first step to a Communist takeover.”
Having languished under fire in the Congress since mid-1975, the bill is now tabled in Committees until after the 1976 elections.
NASA announces the long delayed Skylab B project will proceed with a goal of maintaining a “permanent U.S. manned presence in space.” Skylab B is also to be used as a test vehicle for the shuttle program.
The Arab Monetary Fund is established in Abu Dhabi.
Governor Marvin Mandel (D) of Maryland is assassinated by gunman Robert Ellmore. Ellmore is taken into custody by Maryland State Police after a struggle and is at first thought to be the “Democrat Killer.” However, it is later discovered that he is a man with psychiatric problems and his attack on the Mandel, who was Jewish, was motivated by anti-Semitism. A trace of Ellmore’s movements proves that he could not be the “Democrat Killer,” as he was in jail on an assault charge at the time of the shooting of Washington D.C. Mayor Walter Washington.
Lieutenant Governor Blair Lee (D) succeeds Mandel.
Pennsylvania Primary
Democrats (147 delegates):
Ron Dellums 22%
Birch Bayh: 21%
Henry Jackson: 19%
George Wallace: 19%
Milton Shapp: 14%
Ellen McCormack: 4%
Frank Church: 1%
This result was a truly unexpected upset. Jackson and Wallace split the more rural conservative vote roughly evenly. Jackson campaigned in Pennsylvania sounding very close to Ronald Reagan, which may have helped him among conservative Democrats. Dellums strength was in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh but he also picked-up support from some smaller communities hard hit by the recession/depression, largely at the expense of Bayh and Wallace. Milton Shapp, the Governor of Pennsylvania, skewed results in his home state as well (most likely at Bayh and Jackson’s expense).
Milton Shapp dropped out of the race after this primary.
Republicans (92 delegates):
Ronald Reagan: 38%
James Gavin: 31%
Charles Percy: 23%
Jack Williams: 6%
Harold Stassen: 2%
Reagan did well in relatively rural and conservative parts of the state and in upper class suburbs. The President and Sen. Percy again split the anti-Reagan vote.
Colorado Primary
Democrats (45 delegates):
Frank Church: 51%
Birch Bayh: 21%
George Wallace: 13%
Henry Jackson: 10%
Ron Dellums 3%
Ellen McCormack: 2%
Milton Shapp: 0%
Sen. Frank Church, a westerner, concentrated on Colorado while the others were campaigning in Pennsylvania. Wallace made a rare stumble when he referred to Denver as the State capital of “Utah” by mistake.
Republicans (50 delegates):
Ronald Reagan: 41%
James Gavin: 36%
Charles Percy: 19%
George Bush: 3%
Harold Stassen: 1%
Reagan’s strength was in the conservative communities in rural Colorado and in Colorado Springs. Sen. Percy carried Pueblo, while the President accumulated votes in a number of military communities and Denver.
Four hundred British large lorry drivers drive their lorries into London, where they proceed to block intersections and narrow streets, causing traffic havoc in the British capital. Most drivers claim that they have had a breakdown while making an awkward turn. The move is to protest the Heath government’s privatisation plans.
April 28, 1976
Greece and Yugoslavia have a diplomatic row over Marshall Tito’s interference in Greek internal affairs. The National Salvation Council has directed the Greek Army to encircle the mountainous strongholds of the Greek (Communist) Freedom Forces in an effort to besiege them and force them to the negotiating table. The government in Athens is hoping to achieve a peaceful outcome with a minimum of bloodshed.
These efforts have been complicated by the interference of the Bulgarians, who have been providing the GFF with sanctuary and re-supply across the mountainous borders between the two countries. The National Salvation Council has protested this to Sofia and to Moscow.
The Greek government had originally rejected an offer of mediation from Marshall Tito; however he opened his own channels to the GFF without the consent of the Athens government. The diplomatic incident comes about when a Greek leftist paper (which have resumed printing after being suppressed by the military junta) picks-up and reprints an Agence France Press report which makes public Tito’s efforts to broker a truce in Greece.
April 29, 1976
An off-duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and a Protestant civilian died as a result of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) attack near Dungannon, County Tyrone.
Pathet Lao forces under the control of the Chinese stage a cross border attack against North Vietnamese positions in Son La and Dien Bien provinces of North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese Army is now being drawn into a guerrilla insurgency against the Chinese backed Pathet Lao along the border region with Laos.
The non-Chinese controlled elements of the Pathet Lao denounce the Chinese meddling in their internal affairs, leading to a civil war within the movement itself.
April 30, 1976
Jimmy Young makes his name as a boxer when he fights World Heavyweight Champion Joe Frazier for the WBA and WBC World Heavyweight title in Landover, Maryland.
Four years younger and 40 pounds lighter than Frazier (who had been gaining weight since his defeat of Muhammad Ali in Manila), Young adopted a strategy of fighting aggressively from a distance, landing numerous light blows while dodging and parrying Frazier’s counterpunches, and using his body blows, which had little power behind them but were effective at scoring points. At close quarters, Young would turn passive. He retreated whenever possible, and often kept his head ducked very low to avoid serious blows when Frazier would fight from the inside. Despite his passivity, Young clearly out-landed and out-worked Frazier, who was unable to land more than a few solid blows all night.
On several occasions when Frazier was inside and Young had his back to the ropes, Young would intentionally put his head or upper body out of the ring to compel the referee to separate the fighters. To some, Young's was a brilliant strategy of neutralizing his opponent's strengths and forcing the bout to be fought on his own terms. To others, it was boring and unworthy of a championship bout.
The referee did at one point during the fight initiate a count due to Jimmy Young being outside the ropes. The fight went the full 15 rounds with a controversial one-sided unanimous decision going to Young, who became the new WBA and WBC World Heavyweight Champion. Referee Tom Kelly scored it 70-67; judges Larry Barrett and Terry Moore had it 70-68 and 73-62, respectively.
Ken Norton (a rival of Frazier and Ali) who was commentating at ringside had the fight in Frazier’s favour on his own scorecard. Lester Bromberg (former Ring magazine editor) called the decision a "travesty".
New York Daily News reporter Dick Young said: "Young won by the grace of three hero worshipping fight officials who wanted to get Frazier for beating Ali in Manila. I believe many people, the voting officials among them, get caught-up in the whole super-hero mystique and can’t take it when another fighters does in one of their anointed ones. This was a simply a chance for them to get even with Joe Frazier, the knock-out blow was scored outside the ring before the fight even began.”
According to boxing historian Monte Cox, Frazier ought to have been declared winner (and kept his title) based on "clean punching, defense and ring generalship."
Joe Frazier announced after the fight that he would be seeking a rematch and several days later Muhammad Ali also issued a challenge to Young.
Force Five is released. A mediocre film starring George Peppard, Lee Majors and Harrison Ford (set in 1973) it is about a U.S. Special Forces team which attempts to profit from the U.S. war in Vietnam by stealing cash from a drug lord in Laos. The film itself is an updated knock-off of the 1970 war film Kelly’s Heroes which had a similar theme set in World War II. Memorable is George W. Bush in the role of confused junior officer who gets out-conned by Peppard’s character. The producers made use of Bush’s status as an ex-Prisoner of War in promoting the film.
About this time the younger George Bush started using G.W. Bush for his professional screen credits to distinguish himself from his (at that time) more prominent father.
An informant gives the FCTB information about “some Sarin gas in the hands of an extremist group in Fort Lee, NJ.”
May 1, 1976
Irish Taoiseach Paddy Donegan begins a two-day state visit to the Paris. In addition to meeting with President Mitterrand, he also meets with the visiting Premier of the Progressive Democratic Republic of Portugal. The purpose of his meeting is to appeal to Premier Goncalves directly to end Portuguese support for the INLA and the PIRA.
While attempting to dive on the wreckage of the HMHS Britannic in the Aegean, Jacques Cousteau and his exploration ship The Calypso are seized by Turkish naval vessels. Cousteau and his crew are imprisoned in Turkey for espionage. France immediately lodges a diplomatic protest with Ankara over this.
Republic of Vietnam Foreign Minister Nguyen Xuan Oanh and North Vietnamese Politburo Member Le Douc Tho meet secretly in Geneva for the first high-level discussion of mutual security interests between the Saigon and Hanoi governments. Of key importance to the North is the continuing intervention of China into their affairs along the border with Laos. Minister Nguyen and Le also discuss a preliminary outline of an inter-Vietnamese peace treaty which could lead to normalization of relations between the two. Minister Nguyen indicates that the Saigon government is prepared to sound out the United States on the question of direct economic and security assistance for North Vietnam.
President Mitterrand receives Premier Goncalves at the Elysee where the French President hopes to initiate diplomacy that will resolve the political dispute in Portugal. Mitterrand is looking for some flexibility on Goncalves’ part in forming a coalition with the Socialist government currently under American protection on the Azores. In return he will offer Portugal trade supports and French guarantees for security for the Portuguese government against outside meddling (an implicit reference to Spain: whether this is a military or simply a diplomatic guarantee is never explicitly spelled out).
James Flanagan, the first Roman Catholic Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), is shot and wounded by INLA gunmen.
The 101st Running of the Kentucky Derby is interrupted by a bomb scare which causes a partial evacuation of the Churchill Downs club. A suspicious package which is later identified as a pipe bomb encased with nails is discovered and disarmed in the stable area. The People’s Liberation Army of America (PLAA) takes responsibility for “an attack on the bastions of capitalist oppression and imperialistic, fascist domination of the masses.”
May 2, 1976
Seamus Ludlow (47), a Catholic civilian, who was an unmarried forestry worker from Thistle Cross, Dundalk, County Louth, was killed in the early hours of the morning. He was shot a number of times. [Initially the PIRA was suspected by some members of the Garda Siochana (the Irish police). Later members of Ludlow's family came to the conclusion that the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) / Red Hand Commando (RHC) were responsible.
The Saudi government announces that Muhammad bin abd Allah al-Qahtani will be tried for sedition and treason.
May 3, 1976
The Washington Post publishes a letter from the “Democrat Killer” in which he writes:
“I’m not some confused mental patient who’s going to just walk into your trap. My mission is to free America. God Himself has given me the mission to obliterate the minions of the Devil who call themselves the Democratic Party.
“Ever since Woodrow Wilson Democrats have been destroying this country. Franklin Roosevelt turned us into a Communist State where the government owns everything. Kennedy and Johnson turned the apes loose and gave them “rights”, rights that no animal deserves, because they can only abuse them to satisfy their base appetites.
“I’m going to make the Democrats pay for destroying America. When I’m done, that pack of scum will be wiped out and America will be safe again.
“You’ll never catch me because God protects me. Stop trying and help me get rid of the Democrats instead.”
The letter is accompanied on a long and rambling essay which blames all the nation’s ills on the Democratic Party and charges that Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover (among others) were Democratic spies in the Republican Party. The essay is not published.
May 3 – 5, 1976
France is gripped by a three day General Strike initiated by the anti-nuclear alliance. The Strike is waved only for two hours on the afternoon of May 3 so that the Portuguese Premier can leave Paris and return to Lisbon.
A SOFRES poll shows President Mitterrand’s job approval rating at 42%. Among probable or likely Presidential candidates the comparative popularity rankings are as follows:
Valery Giscard d’Estaing (NFIR) 34%
Francois Mitterrand (PS) 24%
Yves Gunea* (UDR) 21%
George Marchais (PCF) 18%
Jean-Marie Le Pen (FN) 3%
* = chosen as a compromise UDR candidate after some debate by pollsters over whom the UDR candidate might be.
A theoretical second round vote (repeating the May 1974 match-up) comes out as follows:
Valery Giscard d’Estaing (NFIR) 56%
Francois Mitterrand (PS) 44%
A theoretical second round vote between Mitterrand and a generic UDR (Gaullist) candidate comes out as follows:
Francois Mitterrand (PS): 52%
Generic UDR: 48%
A theoretical second round vote match was also done between Giscard and a generic UDR candidate and came out as follows:
Valery Giscard d’Estaing (NFIR) 54%
Generic UDR: 46%
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Agnew On Point
Spiro Agnew: I would like to thank Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana for agreeing to be my guest tonight. I didn’t think you would come.
Birch Bayh: Thank-you for the invitation Mr. Agnew. I couldn’t say no to this opportunity to speak with you.
A: Ok. Let’s get to it. You are running for President, Senator, as the liberal candidate...
B: Democratic candidate.
A: Liberal Democratic candidate. I wonder how you can continue to defend the obviously worn-out liberal policies of your Party. Isn’t it time to re-think what your Party is all about?
B: A good political party is always re-thinking what it is about, Mr. Agnew. Certainly, the Republican Party has had a lot to re-think over the past four years, so that isn’t limited to any one party or group. In re-thinking what we are about – in examining our goals and programs – we’ve come to see what needs change, and what has been successful for the American people, and what are the values and policies worth defending.
A: What are these values and policies and values worth defending, Senator? More taxes, bigger government? Overregulation?
B: Under the Democratic Party this nation and its people have made great progress in the areas of civil rights, education, the alleviation of poverty, scientific advancement and cultural development. These are proud accomplishments brought about by men of vision such as John and Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and my colleague and friend, Senator Hubert Humphrey. What they have achieved is worth defending and building on, and that’s why I’m running for President, to defend what has been achieved and build on it for a better tomorrow.
A: Yet we have sky-rocketing deficits, a crippling national debt, high taxes, crime running amok on our streets and adversaries who are no longer afraid of us. Is this really a set of achievements worth defending, much less continuing?
B: Some of these things, like growing deficits and extra government spending, have been brought about by the current recession, but overall there has been a growth in expensive programs, without a matching growth in revenue, under three Republican Presidents now. I don’t think any of those problems can be laid at the feet of any one party, but the Republican Party has been in office for the last seven years now and so must bear some responsibility...
A: Wait a minute...
B: What we need now is to address the imbalance in revenues and expenditures, but we can’t break the deficit on the backs of the American people either. Our economy is in a very fragile state, so we need to develop a program which will put people back to work, get our businesses going and fix the longer-term issues yes, but not at the expense of aggravating the recession.
A: You say you want to get Americans working again, but how? Do you want to throw more money and regulations at them? Isn’t your formula for growth really a formula for growing the government?
B: Government is not a bad thing. It is true that in some areas our bureaucracy has become hopelessly bloated, and we are faced with the need to cut back programs which started with good intentions, but which have strayed from their mandate. But many other programs and so-called government interventions have made this a better country to live in, Mr. Agnew. So, no I’m not against the managed growth of government, but this has to be a smart growth, with a firm plan.
A: Would your firm plan include continuing detente with the Soviets and remaining soft on the question of Portugal and Soviet intervention in other countries?
B: Again, it was a Republican President, Richard Nixon, who started us on the path to detente. Perhaps you recall, as you were at his side in those days, Mr. Agnew. But I support detente and the continued development of a bi-lateral relationship with the Soviet Union. We have to share this planet, and we have to do so peacefully, don’t we? The alternative is unthinkable.
A: Yes, I recall detente. I wasn’t a fan then, and I think we got taken. Let me ask you, Senator, while you’ve been out playing the gentleman philosopher your poll numbers have taken a thumping from Governor Wallace. He seems to be speaking at a level that the people appreciate - to them instead of above them. Don’t you think Governor Wallace has gotten a better feel for the pulse of this nation than you have?
B: Governor Wallace has his views, and I don’t agree with all of them. He is a formidable opponent, I won’t deny that, but fundamentally his appeal is too narrow, too rooted in the problems of today. Don’t get me wrong, if elected one of my first priorities as President will be to end the recession and help people. But I want to put together a longer range plan, to develop sound policies which will carry this nation not only into prosperity in the nineteen eighties, but continue that prosperity into the twenty-first century.
A: You’ve sponsored a Constitutional amendment to change the way we elect a President and Vice President. So far Utah and Delaware have ratified it. Let me ask you, what’s wrong with the Constitution the way our Founders wrote it? Why go an tinker with what Madison and Jefferson came-up with? Doesn’t that open the road to further tampering? Isn’t that undermining the sacred document?
B: Let’s be clear, our amendment will address the mechanics of a contingent election if no one wins in the Electoral College, as happened in 1972. No one is changing the way we elect a President; the people will still vote.
“Getting to your wider point, the Constitution was designed to grow with our nation, Mr. Agnew. No one who lived through the events of 1972 and 1973, as you and I both did, can say that was a healthy or ennobling experience for our country. The proposed amendment seeks to find a fairer, more neutral way of settling disputed elections, so that we don’t have to wait nearly one year should we have a close election sometime in the future. The Founders themselves dealt with this issue when they crafted the twelfth amendment to address the concern in their day. Our amendment, rather than throwing out their work, simply seeks to update it to the modern day, based on the experience we had in 1972, but also in 1824 and 1876, and the near misses that occurred in 1960 and 1968.
A: Do you think thirty-five States will ratify this?
B: As you said, two have already. One of those is Delaware, the first state to ratify the original Constitution in 1787. I’m confident we’ll get the other States to sign on.
A: Well, I’m not sure we want to tamper with the Constitution, that seems to open the door to a lot unnecessary do-good actions by the liberal left at the expense of our freedom. Well, we’re out of time. I thank-you for coming by Senator.
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Excerpt from Playboy – May 1976
The General and Mrs. Papa Hemingway
The recently declassified reports, one from the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps and another from the FBI (the latter a surveillance file being kept on Martha Gellhorn) noted that in the late spring and early summer of 1945 Martha Gellhorn and then-Major General James M. Gavin had an affair in Paris. General Gavin was attached to the Allied Command at the time, while Gellhorn (a.k.a. Mrs. Ernest Hemingway) was reporting on the post-war reconstruction efforts in Europe.
At the time General Gavin was married to Mrs. Irma Gavin (nee. Baulsir) and Martha Gellhorn was still married to Ernest Hemingway. Both marriages ended in divorce later in 1945. The reports do not indicate how long the affair continued, or whether or not it was the cause for either divorce.
The grounds given for Martha Gellhorn’s divorce from Hemingway were adultery on Hemingway’s part (with his soon-to-be fourth wife Mary Welsh). General and Mrs. Gavin, who had one daughter, Barbara, then aged 11, cited irreconcilable differences and abandonment on the General’s part as the grounds for their divorce.
In the 1940’s the law in most states required substantive grounds such as adultery or abandonment for a divorce to proceed. General Gavin and Ms. Gellhorn did not marry after their respective divorces. General Gavin married his current wife, then Jean Emert Duncan, in 1948.
Ms. Gellhorn, who currently lives in New York City, would not comment on this subject.
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Delegates at the end of April 1976:
Democrats:
Reubin Askew - 52
Birch Bayh -307.2
Frank Church - 45
Rafael Colon - 5
Ron Dellums – 111.3
Henry Jackson – 203.8
Uncommitted -33
George Wallace- 296.7
Total allocated: 1,054 (35.1%)
Total: 3,001
Needed to win: 1,501
Republicans:
James Gavin – 285.7
Charles Percy – 102.3
Ronald Reagan – 293
Uncommitted – 30
Total allocated: 711 (31.5%)
Total: 2,258
Needed to win: 1,130
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Note 1: I have an MS Excel 97-2003 file containing a breakdown of delegates by candidate for both parties which I can’t upload through this web site. Anyone wanting to see the detail work should send me an e-mail address and I can forward the spreadsheet to you.
Note 2: These delegate counts won’t match-up with the last one because I was mostly using the unit rule, which wasn’t an accurate reflection of what was happening, especially on the Democratic side. The spreadsheet contains the details of the 3-2-1 rule used by the Democrats and the 2-1.5-0.5 rule used by the Republicans in their (fewer) proportional primaries. This revision gives an even more accurate flavour of the delegate chase that would have been going on and how it would be affecting the primary races.
Note 3: I accidentally gave North Carolina (Republicans) 15 extra delegates. This has been corrected.
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Ouch. After a few misadventures of my own with that problem or having to log back in after a certain amount of time eating long posts of mine, I've gone to typing my long posts out in a word processor then copy-pasting them into the reply window to avoid that.