Alternate History 🇺🇸 November 2, 1976: President Nelson Rockefeller wins election to full 4-year term and the aftermath

[Sergeant Foley]

PATCO GOES ON STRIKE; PRESIDENT REAGAN DEMANDS AIR STRIKERS GET BACK TO WORK OR GET FIRED
*Monday, August 3, 1981: The Professional Air Traffic Controller Organization went on strike at 7:00 AM EST. The demands of the Air Traffic Controllers Union was for each employee to have annual wage increase of $10,000; 32-hour workweek and increased benefits. Citing the law prohibiting federal government employees from striking, President Ronald Reagan ordered the walkouts to return back to their jobs within 48 hours or risk losing their jobs.

GARCIA MEZA FORCED TO RESIGN AS BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT FOLLOWING REBELLION IN SANTA CRUZ
*Tuesday, August 4, 1981: Following a full-scale rebellion in Santa Cruz the previous day before, embattled Bolivian President General Luis Garcia Meza was replaced by the Military Junta, which was led by General Celso Torrelio.

REAGAN ORDERS THE FIRING OF 11,359 AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, WHO IGNORED THE PRESIDENT'S 48-HOUR DEADLINE

​

*Wednesday, August 5, 1981: Following through on his threats, President Reagan ordered the firing of 11,359 Air Traffic Controllers, who defied the 11:00 AM deadline to get back to work. Another 875 who walked out, chose to return before getting fired themselves.

ROCKET EXPLODES DURING TEST-RUN
*The 55-foot tall Percheron rocket, which was privately built by the Space Services Inc., exploded on the launching pad at Matagora Island in Texas.

REAGAN GREEN-LIGHTS PRODUCTION OF NEUTRON BOMB
*Thursday, August 6, 1981: President Reagan gives the green-light for American production of the neutron bomb, which also will be including warheads for 380 Lance missiles and 800 on 150-mm howitzers for American military personnel troops, who are stationed in Europe.

STATE RADIO ENDS IN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
*French Communications Minister Georges Fillioud announced the ending of state radio monopolies in the French Republic and permitted privately-owned stations for the first time in the country's history. Within two months, 400 new stations were on the air.

FINAL EDITION OF WASHINGTON STAR IS PUBLISHED; ENDS 128 YEARS OF PUBLICATION
*Friday, August 7, 1981: The Washington Star published their last edition with the headline reading "128 Years of Service Ending" and it also included a letter from President Reagan, which noted the following: "There is a great silence today in Washington." The paper sold 640,000 copies, doubling their normal circulation and the largest run in the newspaper's history.

NATIONAL AQUARIUM OPENS IN BALTIMORE
*Saturday, August 8, 1981: The National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland opens after three years of construction and development, becoming one of the Old Line State's most popular attractions and spurring the development of other city aquariums.

FIVE ALLEGED COUP PLOTTERS EXECUTED IN LIBERIA
*Monday, August 10, 1981: Liberian President Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, who took power in a bloody coup d'etat in 1980 which resulted in the violent death of then-Liberian President William R. Tolbert on 12 April 1980, accused five members of the People's Redemption Council of plotting to assassinate him. Vice President Thomas Weh-Syn including council members Harris Johnson, Nelson Toe, Robert Sumo and Henry Zuo, who were part of Doe's group of 17 military officers and soldiers in the 1980 coup. During the next few days, the accused were given a military trial and executed.

BRISCOE ENDORSING WHITE FOR GOVERNOR

​

*Tuesday, August 11, 1981: Former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe (D), who had served as Texas' 41st Governor from 16 January 1973 to 16 January 1979, announced he was endorsing his young protege, United States Senator Mark W. White, Jr., (D-TX) in the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary for Governor of Texas in 1982. Briscoe said during an interview with CBS 5 KENS-TV San Antonio "I believe that Senator White is the right person for the job. Serving as Assistant Attorney General, Texas Secretary of State and currently as United States Senator and with the experience of serving in state and federal government, I am confident that Texans will choose Senator White as the 43rd Governor of the State of Texas next year because it's very important that Texans want change and Mark will lead the way going forward."

There's growing speculation that if White wins the Governorship next fall, Briscoe could get appointed to White's US Senate seat.

IBM-PC INTRODUCED
*Wednesday, August 12, 1981: The IBM-Personal Computer was formally introduced during a press conference at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, New York State. It was also included with MS-DOS software owned by Microsoft, Inc.,

REAGAN SIGNS ECONOMIC RECOVERY TAX ACT OF 1981 INTO LAW

​

*Thursday, August 13, 1981: President Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act HR 3982 into law, which is the largest 25% income tax cut for which he had sought passage. He signed both economic bills at the Rancho de Cielo Ranch in Santa Barbara, California; The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives voted 240-195 (due to strong support from conservative Southern Democrats) and the Republican-controlled United States Senate voted in approval 91-11 in July 1981. Reporters and political analysts called the President's success in passing major tax bills and cutting the federal budget a success. According to one columnist, "Reagan's legislative success had represented the most formidable domestic initiative any previous President had driven through since the first 100 days of the Presidency of the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

BREAKING NEWS ALERT: UNITED STATES SENATOR L. DOUGLAS WILDER (D-VA) ANNOUNCING HE WILL NOT SEEK REELECTION IN 1982
*Friday, August 14, 1981: In what many political analysts and news columnists considered one of the most shocking political bombshells ever, United States Senator L. Douglas Wilder (D-VA) announced during a press conference in Richmond, Virginia that he wasn't going to be seeking reelection to his US Senate seat in 1982. "Despite 12 years of serving the Commonwealth of Virginia that included six years in the Virginia State Senate representing Districts 9 and 30 including the past five years representing Virginians in the United States Senate, I have decided that I could better my duty in public service than avoiding vicious hyper partisanship that has begun to wreck our national politics in the past few years, and I have concluded that I won't be seeking reelection to another six years as your United States Senator. I will continue to keep fighting for Virginians in the next 16 months working to creating more jobs, fighting on behalf of the common Americans who don't have their voices heard on Capitol Hill and the like." There's no word on whom the Virginia Democratic Party will recruit to run to keep Wilder's US Senate seat in Democratic hands, but the National Republican Senate Campaign Committee announced they're going to be targeting Virginia in 1982 and already announcing his candidacy was US Rep. Paul Trible (R-VA 01), who has the endorsement of both President Reagan and outgoing Virginia Governor John N. Dalton (R) including United States Senator John Warner (R-VA).

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Optimism and Caution: International Front
Fall 1981
​

Surviving a near foreign policy disaster with the Nicaraguan Hostage Crisis which engulfed the Holton administration in their final 16 months, the Reagan administration dodged a big bullet once the 57 American hostages got released and flown back to the States. Nicaragua had been the biggest Achilles' heel for Holton as he had been blasted by human rights organization activists including some members of Congress to find a diplomatic solution and getting the American hostages home. And Holton himself acknowledged during his transition meeting with Reagan that one of the biggest regrets as President "Not using the military force option into getting rid of that bitch Ortega when I had the chance." The Nicaraguan Shock and Awe Crisis had pretty much kneecapped whatever foreign policy objective successes Holton had had during the Fall of 1979. There was reason to express skepticism on the political front as well: The Malaise of the Seventies also included chaotic international hot-spots: The assassination of then-ROK President Park Chung-hee by the KCIA on 26 October 1979 by the KCIA opened the door for another military coup led by Chun Doo-hwan, who would go onto serving three terms as the 11th, 12th and 13th President serving until 25 February 1993 with 12 years of service; Chun's aggressive economic reforms opened up the Republic of Korea to spectacular economic boom for all Koreans and despite his authoritarian dictatorship, Koreans viewed him as one of the stable leaders who led the Northeastern Asian country through many tough, difficult crises that engulfed the world.

Meanwhile, the Americas had been one of the main priorities of the Reagan administration upon taking office on 20 January 1981. Despite Haig's nagging insistence of urging Reagan to focus on restoring the Nixon and Ford administrations' Detente Policy with China and the Soviet Union, Reagan aggressively refused to do so and put his foot down and bluntly told Haig in a closed door meeting sometime around mid April 1981 "Look you son of a bitch! I am the President of the United States. The American people elected me in a massive landslide victory last November, NOT you! If you haven't learned yet Alexander, I am in charge here!" Apparently, Ronnie had been warned by Nancy that Haig was up to no good and looking out for his own self-interest such as a potential political campaign for the Presidency himself which angered the Gipper. Reagan made it very clear to the National Security Council team that defeating communism in Latin America including winning the Cold War against the Soviets were the main priorities considering they also had other foreign policy hot-spots to deal with all over the world besides the Americas: Middle East, Africa, Europe, Oceania, Asian Pacific.

Chile was still benefiting from their successful hosting of the 1980 Summer Olympics which many Chileans overwhelmingly approved of Pinochet's job performance as President despite his aggressive authoritarian methods and policies: things were improving for the Republic of Chile. Pinochet was the Man of the Hour and hosted US Secretary of Defense Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson during a bilateral meeting while Jackson was in the midst of a five-nation tour of the Americas, where Jackson relayed the message to Pinochet: the Reagan administration was staunchly backing Pinochet's government all the way which was good enough for Pinochet.

While the Reagan administration was focusing on Latin America and other parts of the world, some nations in the Americas weren't having so much luck on the economic front. Due to the blatant and obvious domestic overspending programs in Mexico that the Robleses had done during the 1975-77 period, the Mexican Debt Crisis of 1980 began to escalate slowly while Robles was busy campaigning for a third term as President of Mexico (which he won overwhelmingly in the Summer of 1980) and took office on 17 December 1980 for an undefined third term which some analysts assumed was supposed to end on 25 May 1987 with plans on extending his stay inside Los Pinos even longer toward 30 years and making it a de-facto Royal Family Dynasty by passing the Presidency over to one of his sons, all five of whom were military veterans and at least one of whom, was rising in the ranks in the Mexican Senate and was serving as Governor of the State of Mexico. However, following the passing of his popular second wife, then-Mexican First Lady Fernanda Arizmendi on 5 July 1981 and long after the long dragged-out Ceremonial Funeral festivities of 20 July 1981, it didn't take long for some segments inside Mexico to slowly turn on the Robles dictatorship (he had been in power since 1973 due to military coup d'etat).

While all segments of Mexico were appreciative and staunchly supported and liked the late Fernanda due to her personable domestic programs and initiatives, they were not fans of her husband, whom they viewed as secretive and manipulative as well as downright lacking charisma. "Without Fernanda to prop up, Oscar's days as Mexico's 58th President were numbered. It wasn't if his government would fall, but when," Bush wrote in a secret diary while on the campaign trail in Virginia and New Jersey for Coleman and Kean, Sr., respectively. He should know: having served in the Nixon, Ford, Rockefeller and Holton administrations in countless roles: United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1971-1973); Chairman of the Republican National Committee (1973-1974); US Chief Laision to the People's Republic of China (1974-1975); Director of Central Intelligence (1975-1979) before being tapped by Reagan to serve as the 44th Vice President of the United States. Bush during his visits to Mexico from his time as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, sensed Robles was "lacking the grasp of reality of potential of full-scale revolt due to ignoring the economic situation," Bush also accurately predicted Robles' presidency won't have a happy ending unless the political and economic situation changed and start a succession plan on the Presidency, something Robles bluntly refused to do so.

Despite some improvements, Mexico began to continue teetering on the edge of total economic collapse. And Mexico wasn't the only one in the Americas having economic or political problems: Panama was on the verge of total chaos following the mysterious plane crash that killed Torrijos on 31 July 1981, with General Manuel Noriega taking power himself on 12 August 1983, had accused the Reagan administration of orchestrating Torrijos' deadly plane crash something the Reagan White House and US State Department staunchly denied. Noriega was going to become a problem for the United States, but considering the late Nelson Rockefeller successfully signed the Panama Canal Treaties with Torrijos back in 1977, Reagan was quite resistant to removing Noriega from power, preferring to leave the Panama problem alone. Things were slightly quiet until following Reagan's shocking assassination on 13 November 1983 in Seoul, Republic of Korea while attending a military parade at the ROK Army 1st Corps Headquarters by a mysterious mercenary group, Noriega was noted by unnamed sources as "secretly gloating at the Cowboy President getting violently gunned down like the dog he was," these same unnamed sources also said in a private audio recording that "Noriega had a celebratory party by celebrating Reagan's assassination saying, "This was for Torrijos". Unfortunately for Noriega, he had poked the bear too many times especially when he undermined Reagan's successor, Bush during the 1983-89 period by coordinating with enemies of the United States: Libya, Nicaragua and Cuba including the allegations that Noriega was involved in the drug trafficking trades which ultimately led to his downfall on 20 December 1989 when Bush ordered a full-scale US invasion of Panama with the goal of removing Noriega from power which was ultimately successful.

The Argentine Republic was having ongoing economic problems as well despite the Military Junta aggressively exterminating any forms of opposition to their regime. Yet inside the Casa Rosada, Viola was having problems of seeing his political maneuvering continuing to be reduced more and more as some of his rivals like Army Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri was plotting to take the Presidency himself. There was also infighting inside the Argentinian Armed Forces Command due to Viola's inability of reversing the economic crisis which had engulfed several Latin American countries like Mexico, Peru and a few others.

Realizing that Castro was looking to take advantage of the opportunity and up the ante against the United States in the Western Hemisphere, the Reagan administration aggressively dispatched a full-scale double approach: supporting right-wing military governments in crushing leftist dissent while at the same time, nudging a few of them to open up their countries in doing democratic elections. The biggest concern was of Grenada: where the socialist government of controversial Grenadian Prime Minister Michael Bishop, was pretty much ruining everything in the Caribbean nation (more on Grenada in Chapter 13).

Things were having lots of twists and turns.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

NSFW DISCLAIMER: The following installment will be quite erotic. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Jackass Army General's Erratic Secret Lifestyle
5:37 PM CST, Tuesday, August 25, 1981
Los Pinos
San Miguel Chapultepec, Mexico City, Mexico
​

Following Fernanda's death on 5 July 1981, opposition to Mexican President General Oscar Robles continued to become more bolder and even braver. Secretly financed by Cuban President Fidel Castro, young leftists began organizing protests and demonstrations against the Robles administration in light of the ongoing Debt Crisis that began in 1980 yet continued with no end in sight. In light of the controversial budgeting austerity measures Robles pushed and enforced which would be taken in late 1981 in order remedying the country's unsustainable trade deficits, Robles somehow remained in steady footing with approval ratings of 60%. It was a 23 percentage point drop of 83% when he had taken the Presidency in the 02.21.73 Coup and was ultimately elected in indirect elections in 1976 with reelection victories in 1977 and again in 1980, Robles was considered "Mexico's Teflon Dictator" who overcome some uphill challenges and defeated these challenges.

With diplomatic relations between Mexico City and Havana further deteriorating due to Robles' staunch anti-communism policies and openly hostile anti-Cuban policies, plus the allegations of Cuban intelligence spies inside Mexico further agitated the diplomatic spat between the countries. There were discussions inside Cabinet meetings of orchestrating an assassination operation against Castro and his cronies, but was prevented from doing so by Pope John Paul II, who offered to hold mediation talks between the authoritarian dictators.

Eager to creating incentives for improving the economic situation in Mexico, Robles turned the next phase of his third term: creating incentives attracting foreign investments. Automakers General Motors, Ford, American Motors Corporation and FIAT Automobiles S.p.A responded to the three-term Mexican President's economic initiatives by breaking ground in new facilities in Merida and Tabasco, among those breaking ground was the German freight truck division of Daimler-Benz. Chihuahua Governor Brigadier General Emmanuel Quiroga, the moderate-to-liberal nominee for President in 1980, blasted Robles on what he referred to as "anti-patriotic decisions" on the substitution of major largest sources of the chronic trade deficits in terms of motor vehicles and importing of petroleum gasoline. However, when Quiroga became President less than five years later, he himself signed exploration contracts with multiple foreign oil companies and industries.

However, there was also a more creepy secretive side of Robles' personal life, which was the subject of rumors by several of his opponents and with good reason.

With his seven daughters he had with the late Fernanda being sent to boarding school overseas in Spain, French Republic and the United Kingdom respectively, Oscar was working 24 hours per day at the National Palace focusing on his third term while at the same time, having some "spare free vacation time" at some of his secret vacation spots: particularly his secluded ranch in Hecelchakan; the Summer Presidential Retreat in Isla Mujeres and of course, Los Pinos (Residence of the Mexican President and First Family) in the suburbs of Mexico City.

One day during the Fall of 1981, Oscar met with beautiful female students of the Union of Secondary Branch, a Robles organization in which female high school and college students met inside Los Pinos: one of the young beautiful women was Marguerite Diaz, who was attending a private boarding school in the suburbs of Mexico City. After some nervous conversation, Marguerite accepted Oscar's offer to spend some time inside the presidential palace when everyone else went home; during a private tour in the private family quarters, Oscar tremendously took her hand, his hand was caressing her stomach. Soon afterwards, Oscar and Marguerite began having passionate sex inside his secluded private room upstairs in the presidential palace; during one of their secret escapades, they even had sex inside his late wife's room, which was considered so taboo and controversial as well as a disrespect of Fernanda's memory.

The secret passionate sex escapades between Oscar and Marguerite continued pretty much every day and every night after she snuck out of the boarding school convent. Suddenly, these escapades resulted in Marguerite getting pregnant with Oscar's baby which she gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Olivia. She lived inside the private family quarters of the presidential palace with Oscar; Oscar's secretive sexual appetite also involved beautiful Sikh Indian women as well as was the case during his working visit to India in the Spring of 1982.

While Oscar was escalating his secret sex escapades, there was growing opposition coming out of the seams inside the Mexican Army, some of whom were getting annoyed with the economic crisis engulfing the United Mexican States.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

COMING UP IN CHAPTER 12 OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
President Reagan reshaping the Judiciary including fulfilling campaign pledge of appointing a woman to the US Supreme Court.

​

 

[Sergeant Foley]

DEMOCRATS GEARING UP FOR 1982 MIDTERMS
*Monday, August 31, 1981: Facing steep but slight uphill odds of reclaiming control of the United States Senate in 1982, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee announced they'll be recruiting candidates with focus on the following US Senate seats:

US SENATE SEATS TO WATCH IN 1982:
*VIRGINIA (OPEN): Incumbent United States Senator L. Douglas Wilder (D-VA) announced on August 14th his shocking bombshell announcement by declaring he will not be seeking reelection in 1982. The news has forced Virginia Democrats to find anyone including some on the congressional delegation to seek Wilder's US Senate seat.

With current focus on the 1981 Virginia statewide elections, odds are unlikely that front-runner in the gubernatorial election Virginia Lieutenant Governor Chuck Robb (D) will run for the United States Senate, but assuming either of the Democratic nominees for Lieutenant Governor or State Attorney General win those offices, the DSCC will aggressively recruit them to run for Senator Wilder's US Senate seat.

*NEW JERSEY: Due to the conviction of embattled incumbent United States Senator Harrison Williams (D-NJ) in his federal corruption trial, it appears highly unlikely Williams will be seeking reelection as a result. There's also strong pressure on Williams to resign his US Senate seat in order to give outgoing New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne (D) an opportunity to appoint a replacement, who will fill out the remainder of Williams' term.

*NEW MEXICO: The New Mexico Democratic Party is eager to winning back the US Senate seat they lost when then-United States Senator Joseph Montoya (D-NM) was easily trounced by famed NASA astronaut Harrison Schmidt (R) in a landslide due to the Rockefeller Landslide of 1976. Since then, there's one recruit whom the DNC has been interested in: New Mexico State Attorney General Jeff Bingaman (D) announced his campaign for the US Senate seat, Democrats are optimistic of flipping this seat back to their column.

*CALIFORNIA (OPEN): All eyes are on the Golden State to see if Democrats can flip the Republican-held US Senate seat of retiring United States Senator Sam Hayakawa (R-CA) announced his retirement due to dreadful approval ratings; eccentric habits such as sleeping on the Senate floor; disastrous polling numbers.

With popular President Ronald Reagan determined to campaign aggressively in his home State by making sure the California Republican Party keep Hayakawa's US Senate seat in Republican hands with either three-term San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson (R) or US Rep. Barry Goldwater, Jr., (R-CA) in potential head-to-head polling matchups against the likely Democratic nominee, California Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr., (D) whose approval ratings have plunged due to the budgeting crisis and other factors.

MISSISSIPPI: Incumbent United States Senator Ray Mabus (D-MS) was appointed by Mississippi Governor William F. Winter (D) to replace then-United States Senator William Allain (D-MS), who resigned from office in disgrace following FBI sting arrest which revealed Allain had been involved in some controversial relationship with transvestites. Mabus went on to win a special election this past Summer without the need of a runoff garnering 73% of the statewide vote. Republicans immediately found their recruit to campaign against Mabus in 1982: Haley Barbour (R), who ran President Reagan's statewide campaign in Mississippi during the 1980 Presidential election.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Judiciary Impact and Ramifications
Fall 1981

25 September 1981: President Reagan posing with the Justices of the United States Supreme Court inside the Supreme Court Conference Room.​

During the 1980 Presidential election campaign, Reagan was signaling on having influence when it came to appointments on the US Supreme Court including several of the Judiciary branches and federal courts. Few presidential historians disputed nor objected that he helped cause shaping the future of the Federal Judiciary via appointments.

He also expressed his intention reversing the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, which he strongly and vehemently disagreed with including any decision by the courts that prohibited praying in public schools. Upon winning the Presidency and taking office as the 41st President of the United States, Reagan followed through on his campaign pledge of appointing a woman to a vacancy on the United Supreme Court: On 19 August 1981, Reagan announced he was nominating Arizona Court of Appeals Division One Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to replace the retiring Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Potter Stewart, who had been on the court since 1958.

In his personal diary on 6 July 1981, Reagan wrote: "Called Judge O'Connor and told her she was my nominee for the Supreme Court. Already the flak is starting and from my own supporters. Right to Life people say she is pro abortion. She declares abortion is personally repugnant to her. I think she'll make a good justice." Among those opposing O'Connor's nomination: Religious and staunch Pro-Life groups due to their suspicions that the Arizonan wouldn't overturn Roe; Some Senate Republicans such as Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Steve Symms of Idaho called the White House, openly expressing their discontent with the President over his decision to nominate O'Connor. The three Senate Republicans weren't the only ones in opposing her nomination.....

The controversial Reverend Jerry Falwell, Howard Phillips and Peter Gemma, who was the Executive Director of the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee, all voiced their opposition to O'Connor; the strategy of the staunchly conservative New Right: dragging out the confirmation hearings on the Senate Judiciary Committee that had been set for September 9-11, 1981.

William Billings of the National Christian Action Coalition spent two weeks in Arizona scouring for information about O'Connor's legislative record in the Arizona State Senate including her judicial record on the Arizona Court of Appeals. "I have done two weeks of full-scale research information about Judge O'Connor's background and having done an exhaustive study, revealing that she hardly fits into any political mold at all," with the obvious intent of surprising those on the liberal side as well.

Among the findings that Billings found: In 1973, then-State Senator O'Connor voted for legislation prohibiting labor unions from making political campaign contributions; She voted in 1972 for a measure urging Congress to call on a constitutional convention including passing a nationwide constitutional amendment putting voluntary prayer back in the classrooms. Billings also revealed among the findings that O'Connor twice backed measures opposing busing for racial balance in schools.

Despite some opposition, O'Connor's nomination got the support of prominent United States Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) and Supreme Court Associate Justice (future Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court) William Rehnquist. Following the three-day confirmation hearings, the full Republican-controlled United States Senate voted 101-0 on 21 September 1981 overwhelmingly confirming O'Connor as the new Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; O'Connor was sworn into office by US Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger on 25 September 1981.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

PRESIDENT REAGAN'S 25 PERCENT CUT OF THE US FEDERAL INCOME TAXES GO INTO EFFECT
*Thursday, October 1, 1981: The first five percent of President Ronald Reagan's 25% cut of the US Federal Income taxes took effect. The next 10 percent would go onto taking effect on 1 July 1982; the final 10% would go into effect on 1 July 1983.

BREAKING NEWS: PRESIDENT REAGAN ANNOUNCES RESURRECTION OF B-1 BOMBER PROGRAM
*Friday, October 2, 1981: President Reagan announced his plans on resurrecting the B-1 Bomber program, which had been previously scrapped by then-President Linwood Holton, with 100 of the planes being built and another plan deploying 100 MX missiles.

DUKAKIS ANNOUNCES PLANS ON RECLAIMING MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNORSHIP IN 1982
*Saturday, October 3, 1981: Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis (D) , who held the Massachusetts Governorship as the Bay State's 65th Governor from 2 January 1975 to 4 January 1979 when he lost reelection in the 1978 Democratic gubernatorial primary to current Massachusetts Governor Edward J. King (D). "It's time that Bay Staters bring back that experienced leadership in order lead the Commonwealth of Massachusetts into the future", Dukakis said during his campaign launch in Brookline.

MOON INDICITED ON TAX EVASION CHARGES
*Monday, October 5, 1981: The controversial and flamboyant Reverend Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church was indicted for US federal income tax evasion. Moon was convicted and served 18 months in federal prison.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Bracing for the Super Extreme Crazy: Egypt
Tuesday, October 6, 1981
Cairo, Egypt

​

Ascending to the Presidency upon the death of the controversial and legendary Gamel Abdel Nasser on 28 September 1970, Mohammed Anwar Sadat had sent shockwaves across the Arab Republic of Egypt when he ended Nasserism both as socialistic and Arab nationalist mission and quickly became the centerpiece of Egyptian and Arab foreign policy in the Middle East. As if it wasn't enough, Sadat also aggressively cleaned house throughout the Egyptian Armed Forces and the entire Egyptian government by getting rid of staunch Nasser loyalists, who had planned to manipulate the 3rd President as a typical Nasser-eque puppet. In doing so, Sadat had reformed the entire Egyptian Armed Forces so that it would carry out their successful military operation and achievements in the 1973 Yom Kippur War against Israel, who recognized Egypt as a very skillful and formidable foe.

By steering Egypt in a closer alliance with Iran, where he was particularly close to the late Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and hosted the Shah's State Funeral festivities on 17 March 1980; following years of contention, Sadat sought peace with the Israelis; Sadat also participated in the Camp David Peace Accords with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and then-US President Nelson Rockefeller during the nearly 13 days of seclusion at Camp David in Maryland, where they negotiated, bargained and worked on achieving a long-awaited peace between the Egyptians and Israelis (Sadat and Begin both attended Rockefeller's State Funeral on 3 February 1979); Rockefeller's successor, Linwood Holton continued his popular predecessor's Middle East Peace Policy initiatives, where the successful Rose Garden Treaty resulted in mutual recognition of peace with the State of Israel that brought Egypt into the western camp permanently from then on, resulted in being one of the major foreign policy achievements of then-President Holton's term of office.

In choosing to pursue peace with the Israelis, let's just say the rest of the Arab world was not too happy about it: In retaliation led by Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Egypt was kicked out of the Arab League, which caused Egypt to go further deeper into the arms of the Western world, who generously rewarded the Egyptians with investment and arms both economically and militarily, which was very important during the height of the Inflation Crisis amid a volatile late 1970s.

Maneuvering through the shock of diplomatic peace with their arch-rival neighbor Israel, Sadat then rewarded both Islamists and Coptic figures with support in building a separate political bases of support. By this time, Egypt had pretty much all but ditched the extreme left-wing, Pro-Soviet Arab nationalism of the Nasser era and replaced it with more socially conservative, but pro-Western and developmental nationalism for the Arab Republic of Egypt.

It was during this time that Soviet-backed hachet-men attack dogs like Assad of Syria and nutjob psychopathic Lybian dictator Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi both were determined to cause trouble for Sadat. For the Egyptian President, he had good reason to worry about the backlash because of his peaceful accommodation with Israel and other Western nations like the United States, French Republic and others. Islamists and other sympathetic military figures begin to oppose Sadat's policies too and something was bound to explode sooner or later. And the hangover was going to escalate things further that had been causing internal unrest inside Egypt during much of the early 1980s.

Something had to give!

Following a failed, disastrous botched coup attempt with the goal of overthrowing the President in June of 1981, the Sadat administration responded by launching an aggressive crackdown with shut down independent press and massive arrests of opponents had the opposite effect that caused the President's approval ratings to plunge downward. All of the chaotic events began to escalate more and more, things were getting uglier and it all came to ahead when on 6 October 1981 while Sadat was attending a military review parade commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Egyptians' successful crossing into the Suez Canal, when an Islamist sleeper agent in the Egyptian Army named Khalid Islambouli used his machine gun to fire at the President's official grandstand: Sadat was killed including the Cuban Ambassador, Irish Defense Minister James Tully and 9 others.

The assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat caused outrage across the world and what would happen next would have major ramifications not only for Egypt, but the entire Middle East and the international community.

COMING SOON IN CHAPTER 13 OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC: Hosni Mubarak's violent aggressive extermination of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ramifications.

​

 

[Sergeant Foley]

FORMER PRESIDENTS NIXON AND HOLTON TO ATTEND STATE FUNERAL OF EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT ANWAR SADAT
*Thursday, October 8, 1981: For the first and only time in history, former Presidents Richard Nixon (1969-1974) and Linwood Holton (1979-1981) flew together on the same airplane. The 37th and 40th Presidents were greeted by the 41st and current President Ronald Reagan before flying on helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland; where they later departed at 7:45 PM EST for the upcoming State Funeral of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

TRAGEDY AT THE GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
23-year-old Maria Cecilia Alfaro of Miramar, Puerto Rico, a Fred Harvey Company desk clerk at the Yavapai Lodge, fell 400 feet to her death while she was watching the sunset from the Rim Trail in the Grand Canyon National Park.

DEATH PENALTY ABOLISHED IN THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
*Friday, October 9, 1981: French Republic President Francois Mitterrand signed Law #81-908 which officially abolished capital punishment. The legislation had passed the French National Assembly on September 18th and also in the French Senate by a vote of 161-126 margin on September 30th.

EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT ANWAR SADAT LAID TO REST WITH FULL MILITARY HONORS IN TIGHTLY-CONTROLLED STATE FUNERAL

​

*Saturday, October 10, 1981: Due to strong heavy security factors, the Egyptian public of well-wishers were kept away from attending the State Funeral festivities. At one point, when some crowds of the thousands of mourners attempted to break through the outer cordons of police officers ringing the grounds, law enforcement officers had to fire some shots in the air in order to disperse the crowd from creating havoc.

Among those in attendance at the State Funeral festivities: former Presidents Nixon and Holton; former US Secretary of State Malcolm Wilson; Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin; Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and current Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran; Sudanese President Jaafar Nimeiry and his wife were among those in attendance.

The services began with a prayer service at a mosque inside the Military Hospital grounds in the suburbs of Maadi; Soon afterwards, Sadat's flag-draped casket was flown by helicopter to the point of nearing the parade grounds and loaded into a caisson which would be drawn by six black stallions. The funeral procession consisting of many various branches of the Egyptian Armed Forces; high Egyptian government officials; foreign dignitaries, all marched behind the horse-drawn caisson just 900 yards down the parade tarmac toward the main reviewing stand, where Sadat was gunned down on October 6th; There members of the Sadat family including Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak received condolences. Following the personal condolences, the foreign dignitaries were quietly whisked away and the Sadat family including several close friends including Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi of Iran and President Nimeiry walked the final 200 yards to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the late Egyptian President would be laid to rest.

It is there where former Egyptian First Lady Jehan Sadat; their daughters, Nohaa, Lebna & Jehan including their son, Gamal, all gathered around the opened crypt, along with President Mubarak himself, Pahlavi, Nimeiry and other government officials including high-ranking Egyptian military generals of the Egyptian Armed Forces all witnessed as 13 pallbearers from the late President's personal bodyguard lowered the flag-draped casket down 12 steps into the interior of the tomb as the 21 Cannon Salute was being fired in Sadat's honor.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

MUBARAK CONFIRMED AS EGYPT'S 4TH PRESIDENT
*Tuesday, October 13, 1981: Hosni Mubarak, who had been serving as Acting President since the shocking assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on October 6th, was officially confirmed as the 4th President of the Arab Republic of Egypt in a special referendum vote with 9,567,504 votes in favor of Mubarak (98.46%); while 149,650 votes were against the special referendum.

WILLOCH BECOMES PRIME MINISTER OF NORWAY
*Kare Willoch succeeds Gro Harlem Brundtland as the new Prime Minister following the Conservative Party's success in the September parliamentary elections.

GANDHI ORDERS RELEASE OF CONTROVERSIAL SIKH LEADER
*Wednesday, October 14, 1981: In somewhat of an odd controversial move, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the release of controversial Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, just three weeks after his arrest for the September 9th murder of publisher Jagat Narain.

"THE WAVE" GETS STARTED DURING SEVENTH INNING OF ALCS MLB PLAYOFF GAME
*Thursday, October 15, 1981: Krazy George Henderson leads a somewhat hilarious spectacle called "The Wave" in Oakland during the 7th Inning in Game 3 of the 1981 American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees vs the Oakland Athletics.

93 JAPANESE MINERS KILLED IN MINING DISASTER
*Friday, October 16, 1981: In one of the worst mining disaster in Japan's history, methane gas explosions at the Hokkaido Steamship and Colliery operation at Yubari, Hokkaido which resulted in the deaths of 93 coal miners; the blast occurred when the miners were 1,900 feet underground.

POPE JOHN PAUL II MEETS WITH PATRIARCH OF ETHIOPIAN CHURCH
*Saturday, October 17, 1981: Pope John Paul II, the Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church meets with Abuna Takla Haymanot, the Patriarch of the 12,000,000 Christians of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church at Castel Gandolfo.

PAPANDREOU ELECTED PRIME MINISTER OF GREECE

​

*Sunday, October 18, 1981: Andreas Papandreou of the PASOK becomes Greece's first socialist Prime Minister after his political party achieves a surprising landslide victory by winning 172 out of the 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament garnering 2,726,309 votes (48.07%); while the New Democracy Party of incumbent Prime Minister George Rallis fell to 115 seats.

NINTH US CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS RULING VIDEOTAPING OF PROGRAMS VIOLATED COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS REVERSING 1979 DECISION
*Monday, October 19, 1981: The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that home videotaping of programs which constituted copyright violations, which reversed a 1979 decision.

RADICAL FUGITIVE SEIZED AS HOLDUP FAILS
*Tuesday, October 20, 1981: Group of bank robbers from the BLA (Black Liberation Army) and Weather Underground attacked a Brink's armored vehicle at the Nanuet Mall in Nanuet, New York State; killing one of the Brinks's security guards and the robbers stole $1.6 million in cash, then also killed two law enforcement officers, who were chasing the bank robbers.

"THE PROWLER" DEBUTS IN THEATERS
*Wednesday, October 21, 1981: The movie, "The Prowler" which was directed by Joseph Zito is released and makes their debut in theaters across the nation, while the 'Last Days of America' by Paul Erdman becomes one of the most best selling books.

NORTH/SOUTH SUMMIT OCCURS IN CANCUN, MEXICO

​

*Thursday, October 22, 1981: The North/South Summit known as the International Meeting on Cooperation and Development opens in Cancun, Mexico which gathered 23 heads of state that included Taiwanese President Chiang Ching-kuo; French Republic President Francois Mitterrand; Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; Mexican President General Oscar Robles (who hosted the summit); Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang; King Fahd of Saudi Arabia; United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim; British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau; Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos; US President Ronald Reagan to name a few.

MASSIVE CRACKDOWN OF DISSIDENTS IN AFTERMATH OF THE SADAT ASSASSINATION
*Friday, October 23, 1981: Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri was arrested during massive roundup of dissidents following the shocking assassination of then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on October 6th. (Spoiler Alert: more on this in Chapter 13).

300,000 PROTEST ARMS RACE
*Saturday, October 24, 1981: Weekend of anti-nuclear protests took place in cities throughout Europe; 200,000 marched in Rome, Italy; another 150,000 in London, United Kingdom to protest against the deployment of American Pershing II missiles at bases in five European nations; On October 25th, crowd of 200,000 turned out in Brussels, Belgium for the largest demonstrations since World War II while smaller crowds marched in Paris, France; Berlin, West Germany and Oslo, Norway.

100 POSTHUMOUSLY BIRTHDAY FESTIVITIES FOR SPANISH ARTIST PABLO PICASSO
*Sunday, October 25, 1981: On the posthumously 100th birthday of the late Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, the classic 1937 painting Guernica arrives at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.

BREAKING NEWS: FINNISH PRESIDENT URHO KEKKONEN RESIGNS AFTER 26 YEARS IN OFFICE

​

*Monday, October 26, 1981: After nearly 26 years in office, Finnish President Urko Kekkonen announced his resignation from office due to ill health. He was first elected in 1956 and reelected in 1962, 1968 and again in 1978.

SWEDISH SHIPS ENCIRCLING GROUNDED SOVIET SUBMARINE
*Tuesday, October 27, 1981: Shortly after 8:00 PM, the Soviet submarine S-363 was caught penetrating Sweden's territorial waters after running outside the naval base at Kariskrona. In response, the Swedish government didn't allow the vessel to leave until November 6th.

SPORTS: LOS ANGELES DODGERS WIN FIFTH WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP IN SIX GAMES OF THE 1981 WORLD SERIES DEFEATING NEW YORK YANKEES.

​

*Wednesday, October 28, 1981: The National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1981 World Series Championship over the American League champion New York Yankees in six games; After losing their first two games of the series, the Dodgers rebounded in the next four consecutive games, including winning Game Six by a score of 9-2 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York State. This was their fifth World Series Championship in franchise history: 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965 and 1981; The Dodgers would go onto winning their sixth and seventh World Series championships respectively in 1988 and again in 2020.

REAGAN SUCCESSFULLY LOBBIES UNITED STATE SENATE TO REJECT HOUSE RESOLUTION THAT CALLED FOR BLOCKING ARMS DEAL WITH SAUDI ARABIA
*President Ronald Reagan successfully lobbied the Republican-controlled United States Senate in voting down a congressional resolution which would've blocked the sale of five AWACS radar planes to Saudi Arabia for $8.5 billion. The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives had already voted to block the sale by a vote of 303-112 on October 14th; 50 Senators had co-sponsored a resolution against the deal. Lobbying by President Reagan and the US Department of Defense persuaded five Senators to change their minds.

ENTERTAINMENT: NBC DEBUTS COMEDY SHOW "GIMME A BREAK"

​

*Thursday, October 29, 1981: The situation comedy show "Gimme A Break" begins their six season run on NBC as one of the network's new hit shows of the 1981-82 Season.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

ELECTION 1981 RESULTS: US STATE/TERRITORY GOVERNORSHIPS

TENORIO ELECTED NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS GOVERNOR IN LANDSLIDE VICTORY
*In the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Senate President Pedro Pangelinan Tenorio (R) defeated incumbent Northern Mariana Islands Governor Carlos Camacho and Herman R. Guerrero in a three-way race. Among the issues discussed: the economy, standard of living and infrastructure problems.

VIRGINIA LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR CHUCK ROBB LEADS DEMOCRATIC SWEEP OF VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS IN THE OLD DOMINION

​

*Tuesday, November 3, 1981: Virginia Lieutenant Governor Chuck Robb (D) , the son-in-law of the late former President Lyndon Baines Johnson led the Virginia Democratic Party into a sweep on election night; Robb defeated Virginia State Attorney General Marshall Coleman (R) in the Gubernatorial election garnering 760,357 votes (53.56%) to Coleman's 659,398 votes (46.44%); Robb will succeed outgoing Virginia Governor John N. Dalton (R) on 16 January 1982 because Dalton was prevented from succeeding himself according to the State Constitution. In the Virginia Lieutenant Gubernatorial election, former Virginia Democratic Party chairman Dick Davis (D) defeated State Senator Nathan H. Miller (R-Bridgewater) by double digits: garnering 750,743 votes (55.44%) to Miller's 602,714 votes (44.51%); In the election for Virginia State Attorney General, State Del. Gerald L. Baliles (D-Richmond) defeated Wyatt B. Durrette, Jr., (R) very narrowly by 26,126 votes to win the Attorney Generalship; Baliles garnered 682,410 votes (50.96%) to Durrette's 656,284 votes (49.01%). And in the Virginia House of Delegates, the Democrats held onto the House of Delegates with a majority of 66-33 despite losing eight seats.

NEW JERSEY: FORMER NEW JERSEY GENERAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER TOM KEAN NARROWLY FLIPS GOVERNORSHIP BACK TO THE REPUBLICANS

​

*Monday, November 30, 1981: Following a long dragged-out statewide recount that had begun on November 4th, former State Assembly Speaker Tom Kean (R) defeated US Rep. Jim Florio (D-NJ) by a margin of 1,797 votes: Kean garnered 1,145,999 votes (49.46%) to Florio's 1,144,202 votes (49.38%). Kean will take office as the Garden State's 48th Governor on 19 January 1982 and will be succeeding outgoing New Jersey Governor Brendan Byrne (D), who is term limited from succeeding himself according to the New Jersey State Constitution. Democrats held onto their majority in the New Jersey State Senate with a majority of 22-18.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Closing out 1981 (Part I)
December 1981
​

In the United States, the largest country in the world moved into a staunch super conservative direction on 20 January 1981 when Ronald Wilson Reagan was inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States. Calling for an "era of national renewal", Reagan highlighted the importance of improving the national economy, which had undergone massive inflation and a full-blown energy crisis.

Facing an out of control budget deficit of $27.5 billion leftover by the Holton administration, Reagan worked hard on achieving one of the biggest tasks of any President: balancing the Federal Budget; reduction of income taxes as well as increasing aggressive spending for national defense. Despite criticism of these policies, Reagan was determined on following through of his campaign pledges.

The Reagan administration got aggressive on economic policy: massive reductions of social service programs which caused heavy impacts on all government departments except national defense. He also pursued 30% cut in the same time instituting capital spending by businesses through more liberal depreciation tax write-offs; He also eliminated and reformed government regulations and also called for a national monetary policy curbing inflation by slowing the growth of the money supply. The President's economic plan which was called "America's New Beginning: A Program for Economic Recovery," yet it was dubbed "Reaganomics."

On the foreign policy front: Like his predecessors, Reagan staunchly backed military governments of Latin America such as Mexico, El Salvador, Paraguay, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine Republic including countless others. He also forged close alliances such as United Kingdom, French Republic, West Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, Philippines, Japan, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand including countless other countries.

Reagan authorized the largest military build-up in American history including new bombers and missiles as well as the development of space-based Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which included shooting down Soviet missiles before reaching the United States.

The Reagan Doctrine of Foreign Affairs specified supplying aid economically and militarily to staunch anti-communist military governments and like-minded governments across the world. Giving the Doctrine's force, Reagan oversaw overwhelming enormous expansion of the defense budget. Federal spending on national defense rose from $171 billion in 1981 to $229 billion by the time of his shocking assassination on 13 November 1983, the historic highest level of Reagan's Presidency since the heydays of the Vietnam War.

But these achievements had some roadblocks and rough patches. In November 1981, Reagan addressed the nation and the world via satellite by proposing both the United States and Soviet Union agree to the elimination of intermediate-range, land-based missiles. Of course, Moscow refused the President's proposal. Firm in his commitment of assisting freedom fighters and independence in their homelands, the Reagan administration supported majority of the freedom fighters in regional conflicts around the world.

When it came to the Judiciary, Reagan eliminated and abolished the nominating commissions which had been in place during the administrations of then-Presidents Nelson Rockefeller (1975-1979) and Linwood Holton (1979-1981) for appellate court judgeships. Reagan also requested Senators of all 51 States to submit three-to-five or possibly more judicial nominees for each district court vacancy in their home states. This gave the Reagan administration more flexibility and bargaining power over the nominations of lower federal court judges.

Reorganizing the judicial steering and selection process during Reagan's Presidency was very huge with major political ramifications for the country in the coming decades.

But there was much more!

Primary responsibility shifted from the US Justice Department and over to the White House, which was having more larger staffing operations. The Attorney General no longer had responsibility of this endeavor nor even soleying relying on the Deputy Attorney General for assistance. However in spite of the Reagan administration's aggressive reorganization efforts on how the Judiciary would reshape America, the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy was put in charge of screening potential judicial candidates, subject to thorough further review by the White House.

The White House Judicial Selection Committee met weekly inside the White House and included in their meetings: the Attorney General; Deputy Attorney General; Counselor to the President; Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy; Personnel and Legislative Affairs including the White House Chief of Staff.

Massive reorganization efforts concentrating power and institutionalizing the role of the White House on judicial appointments, which resulted in better positioning for the Reagan White House especially when it came to combatting senatorial patronage when filing lower court judgeship vacancies including enabling ideological screening of potential judicial nominees.

COMING UP IN CHAPTER 12 OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC: Part II of Closing Out 1981.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

@The Immortal Watch Dog This installment is for you buddy 😎.

Closing out 1981 (Part II)
Fall 1981

​

......"Nobody knew what Galtieri was capable of. I knew he was sinister ruthless and cunning, but he was the evil son of a bitch we needed in order to crush those communist agitators in Latin America. But the long-discussed topic of the Faklands always was at the top of his agenda and in order to distract an angry populace from overthrowing the military dictatorship, Galtieri instigated a controversial intelligence operation called Operation Sociopath: with the goal of exterminating the entire British government.

At first, I thought these allegations were outrageous and stupid. Little did I realize that when Galtieri gave the green-light to expand the Dirty War by targeting foreign diplomats and Heads of State for assassination, I KNEW right then the Argentine Republic was due to get their asses handed to them in a vicious international backlash...."
-Excerpt from "How the Military Junta destroyed the International prestige of the Argentine Republic."
Spring 2011

Meanwhile inside the Argentine Republic, things weren't always rosy especially inside the military government. Infighting over everything especially the Inflation Crisis that had been engulfing almost half of the world had been escalating and things weren't getting any better.

Embattled Argentine Republic President General Roberto Eduardo Viola had been having "health issues" due to being hamstrung with egotistical military generals undermining his administration 24/7. Viola wasn't well served by the infighting because several of his rivals inside the Armed Forces High Command accused him of not doing anything to fix the South American country's economic problems with no end in sight.

Many Argentines were becoming more restless with the non-stop violent repression against anyone who spoke out against the dictatorship: celebrities, athletes, journalists, college students, trade union leaders and foreign journalists, who report on the human rights violations being committed by the Military Junta.

There was one ambitious man inside the Argentine Republic Army who was determined to take over the top job himself: Leopoldo Galtieri.

Born on 25 July 1926 to a working class family of Italian descent, Galtieri joined the Argentine Army at the age of 17 after graduating from high school in 1943 where he specialized in Engineering. Gaining a strong aggressive reputation believing that territorial disputes should be resolved with military force, Galtieri graduated from the US Army School of the Americas in 1949 and by 1958, he became Professor of Engineering at the Senior War College.

Becoming a combat engineer in the Army, Galtieri continued rising through the ranks when he was appointed as Commander of the Argentine Engineering Corps in 1975. Enthusiastically supporting the 24 March 1976 coup d'etat that successfully toppled the disastrous government of then-Argentine Republic President Isabel Martinez de Peron, Galtieri was promoted to the rank of Major General in 1977 and was ultimately promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in 1980 including serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Argentine Army.

Visiting the United States in March 1981, Galtieri was well received by the Reagan administration, who viewed the Argentine Republic as an ally of the United States including serving as a bulwark against communism. US National Security Adviser Richard V. Allen described Galtieri "one of the most majestic military generals that the Argentine Army has ever produced". Successfully securing the Argentine Republic's support for Contra rebel groups opposing the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. In August, Galtieri had sent advisers helping and assisting the FDN (Nicaraguan Democratic Force) including training FDN leaders and paramilitary forces in several Argentinian military bases. At the same time, Galtieri was also scheming and plotting to take over the Presidency by removing several key rival generals, whom he viewed as obstacles against his personal path to Quinta de Olivos.

On 11 December 1981, Galtieri was ultimately successful by ousting Viola from the Presidency and becoming the 42nd President of the Argentine Republic, being appointed by the Military Junta. Like his predecessors Jorge Rafael Videla (1976-1981) and Rafael Eduardo Viola (1981), Galtieri continued the violent Dirty War with the 601 Intelligence Battalion Death Squad personally reporting to Galtieri himself.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

JARUZELSKI DECLARES MARTIAL LAW IN POLAND

​

*Sunday, December 13, 1981: General Wojedech Jaruzelski informed the Polish people on television and radio that he was declaring Martial Law in Poland. The Polish Army and police arrested thousands of members of the Solidarity Union.

GOLAN HEIGHTS ANNEXED TO ISRAEL
*Monday, December 14, 1981: 14 years after the Golan Heights were captured by Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, the Golan Heights was annexed to Israel following 63-21 vote of the Knesset.

PLANS BEING DRAWN UP IN RETAKING FALKLAND ISLANDS BY FORCE
*Tuesday, December 15, 1981: Juan Jose Lombardo, the Chief of Naval Operations was asked by Argentine Republic President Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri to begin drawing up plans in recapturing the Falkland Islands from the United Kingdom.

DEADLY CRACKDOWN IN POLAND
*Wednesday, December 16, 1981: Riot police broke up sit-down protest strike by 2,000 workers at the Wujek Coal Mine in Katowice; Bringing in tanks, the riot police opened fire into the crowd even shooting at emergency workers, who were attempting to render medical aid.

US ARMY BRIGADIER GENERAL KIDNAPPED IN ITALY
*Thursday, December 17, 1981: US Army Brigadier General James L. Dozier, one of the most highest-ranking Army generals stationed in Italy, was kidnapped from his apartment in Verona by the Red Brigades terrorist group.

EMPB ESTABLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES
*The Emergency Mobilization Preparedness Board established in the United States by the orders of President Ronald Reagan in response to the kidnapping of US Army Brigadier General James L. Dozier.

BROKAW SIGNS OFF OF THE TODAY SHOW
*Friday, December 18, 1981: Tom Brokaw officially signed off from The Today Show on NBC as the weekday morning programming show's co-anchor.

KINGDOM OF SPAIN UNVEILS NEW COAT OF ARMS; NATIONAL FLAG

​

*Saturday, December 19, 1981: The Kingdom of Spain officially adopted their new National Coat of Arms including their new National Flag.

POLISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES DEFECTS TO THE UNITED STATES
*Sunday, December 20, 1981: Polish Ambassador to the United States Romuald Spasowski defected to the United States and on December 22nd, Spasowski was welcomed at the White House by President Reagan.

SPORTS: CINCINNATI WINS IN SEVEN OVERTIMES
*Monday, December 21, 1981: University of Cincinnati Bearcats defeated Bradley University by score of 75-73 with NCAA Division I record of seven periods of overtime.

WESTERN PACIFIC RAILROAD ACQUIRED BY UNION PACIFIC
*Tuesday, December 22, 1981: Union Pacific acquires Western Pacific Railroad.

75 MINERS MASSACRED BY SANDINISTA SOLDIERS IN NICARAGUA
*Wednesday, December 23, 1981: Soldiers of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua massacred 75 miners, who had been demanding back wages for unpaid work.

INLAND NAVIGATION RULES TAKES EFFECT
*Thursday, December 24, 1981: The Inland Navigation Rules takes effect on all inland waterways of the United States except for the Great Lakes.

BREZHNEV DEMANDS REAGAN STOP INTERFERING IN POLISH INTERNAL AFFAIRS
*Friday, December 25, 1981: Soviet General Secretary Lenoid Brezhnev responded to US President Reagan by asking him to end at last the interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. "Essentially, in your current communication, you have placed your personal signature upon the fact that gross interference in the internal affairs of Poland is the official policy of the United States. We have condemned and continue to condemn such policy. We consider it unacceptable."

COLLEGE OF SAINT THOMAS MORE FOUNDED
*Saturday, December 26, 1981: The College of Saint Thomas More is founded in Fort Worth, Texas as a small Roman Catholic liberal arts college.

ROBLES VISITS EUROPE
*Sunday, December 27, 1981: Mexican President General Oscar Robles begins his weeklong series of State Visits in several key European countries: Ireland (December 27th-28th); United Kingdom (December 28, 1981-January 3, 1982); Spain (January 3rd-6th, 1982); French Republic (January 6th-9th, 1982); and Finland (January 9th-13th, 1982).

FIRST EVER TEST TUBE BABY BORN IN THE UNITED STATES
*Monday, December 28, 1981: Elizabeth Jordan Carr becomes the first American "test-tube-baby" and the 25th in history with her birth at 7:46 PM in Norfolk, Virginia.

REAGAN LAUNCHES SANCTIONS AGAINST POLAND; TRADE EMBARGO ON SOVIET UNION
*Tuesday, December 29, 1981: Following reviewing Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev's letter on December 25th, US President Ronald Reagan followed up in response by launching trade sanctions against Poland with trade embargo on the Soviet Union.

CEAUSESCU ORDERS DEMOLITION IN BUCHAREST
*Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu ordering demolition to begin in Bucharest in order to make way for construction of the massive Boluevard of the Victory of Socialism Complex.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

1982: Year of the OMG
Spring 1982
​

The world celebrated the New Year of 1982 with intrigue and tenuous suspicions from the usual suspects all over the world: North America; Caribbean; Central America; South America; Europe; Africa; Middle East; Asian Pacific; Oceania.

In the United States: President Ronald Reagan's approval ratings were continuing to trend upward due to his successful 1981 economic tax cut packages. He was successful in having conservative judges reshaping the judiciary at all levels and appointments of conservative jurists continued at an all-time record pace. The Reagan administration's foreign policy priorities consisted of staunchly backing military governments in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentine Republic, with aggressive endorsement of Operation Condor, which was seen as quite controversial to some critics. At the same time, Reagan forged closer alliances with the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Egypt, Israel, French Republic, United Kingdom and Spain as the Reagan Doctrine of Foreign Affairs and National Defense became more successful.

Meanwhile, the brewing ugly diplomatic spat between the United Kingdom and the Argentine Republic got uglier as the rhetorical war of words increased as Argentine Republic President Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri escalated vicious heated rhetoric with his top main goal of recapturing the Falkland Islands from the United Kingdom by military force. While Galtieri was making massive military build-up plans on taking the Falklands, the infamous and ruthless 601 Intelligence Battalion Death Squad continued exterminating any forms of opposition against the Military Junta by targeting anyone whom Galtieri viewed as a threat: college students; professional athletes; actors; actresses; journalists; foreign diplomats and anyone else the Junta could get their hands on. The 601 Intelligence Battalion Death Squad uses violent methods: kidnapping, sadistic torture, violent rapes, stealing babies from kidnapped pregnant women by giving the babies to childless military officers and their wives; using helicopter death rides in shoving prisoners to their deaths as they fell into the ocean chained up and naked. Even children of the so-called "outside agitators" were targeted by the Galtieri administration: violently beaten; tortured by having their teeth pulled and nails ripped out; organs removed from their bodies after some of whom were killed or died under mysterious circumstances.

Brazil was undergoing some changes as well: Brazilians were demanding for democracy as the Military Junta had dominated the Federative Republic of Brazil since 1964 with a succession of military leaders holding the Presidency. Brazilian President Joao Figueiredo was also having health problems during his time in office: plans were slowly getting underway in getting some sort of elections by 1985 via Electoral College.

Meanwhile, Mexican President General Oscar Robles continued his version of an Independent Foreign Policy Doctrine by pursuing diplomatic relations with Romania, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, Greece and Portugal. However, not all Mexicans were impressed with Robles' foreign policy initiatives as group of opponents continued protesting against the Robles administration due to ongoing Inflation Crisis and economic problems that has engulfed Mexico since 1979.

Some sectors of the Mexican Army were secretly making plans to undermine and take down Robles in a military coup d'etat with the codename Operation Liberacion with an unspecified date of green-lighting the operation.

South Africa continued to have constant chaos with the Apartheid government escalating deadly and vicious methods of putting black South Africans in their place by either having them imprisoned for instigating revolt against the South African government; tortured by Intelligence Units of the South African Intelligence Agency in secret prisons; violently cracking down on massive protests or demonstrations through deadly force by opening fire on anyone including young schoolchildren, who demaned an open and free democracy in the Republic of South Africa. Nelson Mandela and the rest of the high-ranking officials of the African National Congress (ANC) had been imprisoned since 1964 with no signs of being released anytime soon, were wondering if the world would ignore the ugly reality of what's happening in South Africa.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak escalated one of the most violent crackdowns against the Muslim Brotherhood and their associates by having the Egyptian Intelligence Agency and other government agencies violently torture many dissidents in secret prisons for their involvement in the assassination of then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on 6 October 1981; By the time Mubarak was done cracking down on all forms of opposition, over 99% of dissidents were executed by hanging or tortured to death in grisly gruesome ways. Foreign policy analysts and Egyptian political and historians agreed that Mubarak's violent methods may have been viewed as extreme but all agreed he was the "Conniving Bastard" that the Arab Republic of Egypt needed.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

BREAKING NEWS ALERT: SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS WIN FIRST SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP IN FRANCHISE HISTORY; DEFEATING CINCINNATI BENGALS 26-21; 49ERS QUARTERBACK JOE MONTANA NAMED SUPER BOWL MVP

​

......"The San Francisco 49ers have done it! They have won the 1981 Super Bowl Championship defeating the Cincinnati Bengals by a final score of 26-21. 49ers quarterback Joe Montana has been named Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. This is the first-ever Super Bowl Championship in franchise history for the San Francisco 49ers!"
-ABC 7 KGO-TV San Francisco
Eyewitness News
24 January 1982

 

[Sergeant Foley]

......"5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... The game is over and it's a final here at the Orange Bowl as the #1 Clemson Tigers, the champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference led by
Head Coach Danny Ford as Clemson has defeated the Big Eight champions #4 Nebraska Cornhuskers by a final score of 22-15. The Tigers end the 1981 College Football Season undefeated with (12-0) record and most likely winning their first national championship in program history."
-"Clemson wins first national championship after winning Orange Bowl"
The State Special Edition.

....."The Sugar Bowl goes to the #10 Pittsburgh Panthers, who have defeated the defending national champion #2 Georgia Bulldogs 24-20 at the Louisiana Superdome."
Associated Press Sports Edition.

......"What a throttling in Tempe as the #7 Penn State Nittany Lions defeated #8 Southern Cal Trojans 26-10 in the Fiesta Bowl. Could Joe Paterno get that elusive first national championship in program history next year? We'll find out whenever that happens."
NBC Sports coverage of the Fiesta Bowl.

......"How in the world did Fred Akers use that risky gamble? Oh my! Oh my! The Longhorns leave Dallas with a 14-12 victory defeating the Southeastern Conference champion #3 Alabama Crimson Tide in the Cotton Bowl here in Dallas, Texas. Longhorns end the 1981 Season with (11-1) record but the big question is whether they can at least share the 1981 national championship?"
-ABC 24 KVUE-TV Austin
Sports Extra Edition.

......"The #12 Washington Huskies came to Pasadena on a business trip and meant business as the Pac-10 champions destroyed the Big 10 co-champion #13 Iowa Hawkeyes in a blowout victory 83-0. Washington was up 42-0 at halftime; In his seventh season as Huskies Football Head Coach, Don James is putting the University of Washington Huskies on the national map and putting everyone in college football on notice!"
-NBC 5 KING-TV Seattle
Sports Extra Edition: Rose Bowl Postgame.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

......Our foreign policy is a policy of strength, fairness and balance. By restoring America's military credibility, by pursuing peace at the negotiation table wherever both sides are willing to sit down in good faith, and by regaining the respect of America's allies and adversaries alike, we have strengthened our country's position as a force for peace and progress in the world.

When action is called for, we're taking it. Our sanctions against the military dictatorship that attempted to crush human rights in Poland and against the Soviet regime behind that military dictatorship clearly demonstrated to the world that America will not conduct "business as usual" with the forces of oppression. If the events in Poland continue to deteriorate, further measures will follow......"
-1982 State of the Union Address from President Ronald Wilson Reagan
26 January 1982.

​

 

[Sergeant Foley]

......"This was neither about national pride nor anything else. The Junta Galtieri told me-never believed the British would respond. He thought the Western World had gone corrupt. That British people did not have God, that the US had gone corrupted...... I could never convince him that the British would not only fight back but also win the war."
-Excerpt from Islas Malvinas Online Special

......"The pre-eminent role of the military in the Argentine Republic's political life quietly reinforced the nationalistic tendencies that would've anyway bubbled to the surface at a time of economic and political turmoil which was engulfing the Military Junta especially Galtieri's administration. Inflation climbed steadily over 600% in the Argentine Republic; Simultaneously GDP fell down to 11.4%; manufacturing outputs by 22.9% & real wages by 19.2%.

It was becoming more and more obvious Galtieri was looking for distractions to getting Argentinians to focus on instead of the growing demonstrations against him. The Military Junta had controlled the government for six years and it was the old tired boring cycle of violent deadly repression against all forms of opposition. Something had to give at some point because the economy was continuing to implode further with Argentinians getting restless of the military dictatorship's violent deadly methods against them. The Mothers of the Disappeared were still getting braver in demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones in spite of the danger awaiting them, where some of the Mothers of the Disappeared Movement were ultimately kidnapped, tortured and killed by the 601st Intelligence Battalion Death Squad, who continued to thrive off of intimdating pretty much everyone. Galtieri gave the green-light of a controversial secret intelligence mission: Operation Sociopath with double-prolled approaches and his targets: exterminating the entire British government at all levels including giving the go-ahead of targeting members of the British Royal Family as well.

Argentinian National Intelligence Agency coordinated with the infamous and ruthless 601st Intelligence Battalion Death Squad with ensuring Operation Sociopath was successful. While the diplomatic negotiations between London and Buenos Aires continued in public, the ANIA intelligence agents began the first phase of Operation Sociopath which was going to have huge international major ramifications throughout the entire world going forward."

 

[Sergeant Foley]

GEARING UP FOR THE 1982 MIDTERMS
Spring 1982
​

UNITED STATES SENATE SEATS TO WATCH IN 1982 (PART II)
*MISSOURI: Incumbent United States Senator John Danforth (R-MO) will likely face off against State Senator Harriett Woods in the Missouri US Senate election to determine whether it'll be a close election or not in the Show Me State.

*NEVADA: The Silver State will be closely watched as both the Republican Senate Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee will be spending money as long-time incumbent United States Senator Howard Cannon (D-NV) is facing several scandals and federal investigations in recent years; the Republicans successfully found their recruit in State Senator Chic Hecht to take on Cannon.

*RHODE ISLAND: Incumbent United States Senator John Chafee (R-RI) could be facing a strong challenge from Rhode Island State Attorney General Julius Michaelson (D); We could potentially see a hotly-contested campaign over there in the Ocean State.

*VERMONT: Incumbent United States Senator Robert Stafford (R-VT) will be facing strong challenge from James A. Guest in the Free Mountain State.

COMING UP IN CHAPTER 12 OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC: US STATE/TERRITORY GUBERNATORIAL MATCHUPS OF 1982.