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“Look at the Justice Department, it’s full of Jews.... Listen, the lawyers in government are damn Jews.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon, on tape, 1972
“...a wild orgasm of anarchists sweeping across the country like a prairie fire.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon, on tape, 1972 HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“I’d rather use the nuclear bomb.... The nuclear bomb. Does that bother you? I just want you to think big, Henry, for Christ’s sake.... You’re so goddamned concerned about the civilians, and I don’t give a damn.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon, on tape, 1972
VIETNAM ATOM BOMB
“Fiddle-dee-dee, war, war, war, I get so bored I could scream!” —Scarlet O’Hara
“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY
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1913
January 9, Thursday: In the afternoon, Alabama time, one of the boilers on the cargo steamboat Jas. T. Staples exploded while it was docked at Powes landing on the Tombigbee River, killing 26 and injuring 21. Then that night at 9:35PM, California time, Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda to Francis Anthony “Frank” Nixon and Friend Hannah Milhous Nixon (as the offspring of a mother who was a member in good standing of a Friends church, the infant would of course be regarded as a “birthright” Quaker — and in fact this Friends “church” would never bring itself to disown him).
Afonso Augusto da Costa replaced Duarte Leite Pereira da Silva as prime minister of Portugal.
A ballet produced to Gabriel Fauré’s Dolly op.56 was performed for the initial time, at the Théâtre des Arts, Paris.
NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT
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1930
Richard Milhous Nixon attended Whittier College just outside Los Angeles (although Whittier is at least nominally a Quaker institution of higher education, and Dick was a “birthright” Friend, there is no record that during his formal education he ever involved himself in religious studies or activities). The well-known self-help pastor Norman Vincent Peale, a strong Nixon supporter, airily dismissed any religious liability when he commented on his candidate’s Quaker faith: “I don’t know that he ever let it bother him,” a nice summary of the way most politicians operated at that level. Religion was there all right, lurking in the background, but it made little difference Others who knew him had similar assessments. — Professor H Larry Ingle
Dean Elbert Russell prepared THE BOOK OF REVELATION: WITH AN INTRODUCTION, PARAPHRASE AND NOTES (360 pages).
Dr. David Tillerson Smith was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical School. Duke Hospital came into existence. Fungal infections being more prevalent in the South than in the North, a working team consisting of a Mycologist, a Pathologist, an Immunologist, a Dermatologist, and an Internist began to study the problem in depth. The disease pellagra was rampant in the southern states causing thousands of deaths each year and great physical disability. Dr. Goldberger demonstrated that pellagra was due to a dietary deficiency and could be reproduced in human volunteers. The missing vitamin factor (later shown to be nicotinic acid, known as “niacin,” found in red meat, fresh vegetables, and dairy products) was not identified then and no explanation was offered for the dramatic appearance of local skin lesions and of gastrointestinal symptoms after brief exposure to sunlight (contributing causes were the cash-crop farming and share-cropping that caused farm families to devote all their time and energy to raising items that could be sold, people moving into towns where livestock was prohibited and there was no room for a vegetable garden, and new roller mills that eliminated vital nutrients). Dr. Smith working with Dr. Julian Ruffin, a Gastroenterologist (also a deceased member of this Association) clearly showed that the skin lesions, the gastrointestinal symptoms and even dementia could be precipitated by the exposure of part of a limb to direct sunlight for one HDT WHAT? INDEX
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or two hours when the patient was deficient in the pellagra preventing factor (niacin) in his tissues. After therapy, much longer exposure to sunlight produced normal tanning with neither local skin lesions nor systemic symptoms. Smith and Ruffin found that a crude liver extract was twice as potent as yeast introduced in therapy by Goldberger. Although they did not discover the missing vitamin (niacin) they were among the first to assay its dosage and evaluate its effectiveness in pellagra. David Smith was a quiet gentlemanly scholar beloved by his students as a teacher and respected by his colleagues for his vast knowledge extending across several fields of medicine. Although known primarily for his research efforts in the microbiological field, his intimate understanding of the effects of tuberculosis, fungus infection and fusospirochetal disease in man forced his colleagues to regard him as the premier clinical consultant for many undiagnosed chronic pulmonary problems.
LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1934
Richard Milhous Nixon attended the recently established Duke University Law School in Durham, North Carolina, at which he had received a full scholarship and where he would be awarded the nickname “Iron Butt” by other students on account of his disciplined study habits at the Law Library.
“I always remember that whatever I have done in the past, or may do in the future, Duke University is responsible in one way or another.”
At one point during his education at Duke, Nixon broke into the dean’s office to inspect his grades (locally, in good humor, this has been referred to as “Nixon’s First Break-in”). Since Nixon was in Durham during the years 1934-1937 and the local Quaker monthly meeting had not yet come into existence, I see no point in wondering whether there might be any connection. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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While studying the law in Durham, Nixon resided in the 2-story blue house that is now located at 814 Clarendon Street (y). However, Clarendon Street was not then known as Clarendon but as 6th Street, nor did the house then stand at its present location. It stood a block farther south at (x), on what has become part of Duke’s East Campus and is now used by field hockey teams.
y
x
The street is gone The house is gone The bed is gone And, Richard is gone
Dr. David Tillerson Smith became a member of the Board of Directors of the National Tuberculosis Association.
Returning from his sabbatical world tour, Dr. Elbert Russell resumed being dean of the Duke School of Religion (until 1941). Friend Elbert’s “Does Jesus Provide an Adequate Philosophy of Life?” appeared in Beacon Lights No. 3 and “Others” appeared in Beacon Lights No. 4. In about this year his “Washington’s Greatness” appeared in Friends’ Intelligencer. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1936
February 10, Monday: The German Gestapo was announced to be above the law (same attitude as would be taken in another later context, by our Quaker President, Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon, in regard to his Attorney General John Mitchell — and to himself as his cabinet officer’s superior). WORLD WAR II RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF
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1937
November 14, Sunday: The Durham, North Carolina Monthly Meeting of Friends had its inception at a small supper meeting in the home of Friend Elbert Russell and Friend Lieuetta Russell at 811 Vickers Avenue. Among those present were Friend David Tillerson Smith and Friend Susan Gower Smith. This had begun at the request of Duke University president William Preston Few (a professor of English), who was concerned to ensure that the religious needs of Quaker faculty and Quaker students be met.
The group would meet of an evening in private homes at first, and would then continue in 1938 by using the Social Room of the Divinity School, then using its York Chapel, and then in a space in the basement at the rear of the University Chapel. This expanding group would make contact with some other Friends organizations and would on Sunday, December 12th, 1943, formally establish itself as an independent Durham Monthly Meeting of Friends under the auspices of the American Friends Fellowship Council in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In that year formal minutes would be filed for posterity, although there must have been prior unrecorded decisionmaking with regard to where to meet, child care, and then deciding not to initially affiliate with one of the North Carolina yearly meetings but instead to make contact with and initially affiliate with the AFFC group in Philadelphia. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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It is to be noted that as of the November initiation of this Quaker worship group, a nominal Quaker by the name of Richard Milhous Nixon had already departed from the Durham community, with his law degree in his pocket from the Duke Law School. There is zero possibility that this man was ever associated with this religious group at this educational institution:
After formalizing their 6-year existence in 1943, there would be a steady move towards increasing their worship from monthly to bi-weekly to weekly worship and to consider queries, etc. Minutes of December 14, 1947 record the decision to begin meeting each Sunday evening rather than merely on the 2d and 4th Sundays of each month. As of May 1, 1949 there were three Elders: Susan Gower Smith, Donald K. Adams, and Katharine M. Banham. In March 1952 four additional elders were appointed: Willard Berry, Edward Kraybill, Catherine Pierce, and Francis Jeffers. The following Friends served as clerk: Edward K. Kraybill (1943-1947), William Van Hoy, Jr. (1947-1948), John de J. Pemberton, Jr. (1949), Harry R. Stevens (1950-1951), John A. Barlow (1951-1952), and Susan Gower Smith (1952-1957). David T. Smith and Susan Gower Smith were key to the Meeting through the early years, from being present at that first supper and meeting for worship during November 1937 until leaving Durham during December 1979 (David was one of the original professors in the Duke University School of Medicine, searching for a cure for pellagra and then teaching microbiology and HDT WHAT? INDEX
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pathology until his retirement). A supportive relationship with the North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) began in the early 1950s concurrent with the construction of a meetinghouse on Alexander Avenue.
The eventual result would be the Durham Friends Meeting with its old and its new meetinghouses next door to Ronald McDonald House. In early 1962, the racially segregated nature of local public schooling led to informal discussions among Durham and Chapel Hill Friends about founding an integrated school. A special School Committee was convened, attended by Mildred Ringwalt, Adolph and Christa Furth, David and Susan Smith, and Peter and Martha Klopfer, and the result would be the Carolina Friends School, with its first class graduating in 1972. In 1975 the Meeting would take on a formal “dual affiliation” with North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) and Friends General Conference (Hicksite). President Few had been trying to get the religious interests of the students organized along denominational lines. Some of the denominations with large groups of students provided student pastors or chaplains. Merrimon Cuninggim was secured to supervise the general religious activities of the students. The fall of 1937 the University Religious Council was constituted, each religious organization of any kind on the campus having one representative on it. President Few asked me to look after the Friends among the faculty and students. There were very few Quaker students, since the naturally went to Guilford. That fall Professor Berry came as professor of geology and brought his numerous family. There were others with some Quaker associations: Dean Baldwin had attended Haverford meeting. Dr. Bradway and Mrs. Bradway had Quaker ancestry. Dr. and Mrs. David T. Smith had a daughter in Westtown. Dr. D.K. Adams’ wife was a member of the Brethren, and he was a religious liberal. Dr. E.K. Kraybill was a Mennonite and his wife a Friend. Dr. Hornell Hart joined the faculty in 1938-1939. Se invited these to our home November 14 for a light supper and meeting for worship. We continued to meet each month at members’ homes throughout the academic year. This grew into the Durham HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Friends Meeting. The next year we moved to the School of Religion social room, where we had more room, and the kitchen enabled us to serve light refreshments. During the second World War a large contingent of conscientious objectors was assigned to the psychiatric department of the Medical School and the operating rooms. A large number of these attended our meetings, where they found sympathy and spiritual support. Finally, the group organized a regular monthly meeting under the auspices of the Friends Fellowship Council.
An interesting attitude was being expressed in this year by Caroline Graveson, in regard to Quakers in the arts: “God is in all beauty, not only in the natural beauty of earth and sky, but in all fitness of language and rhythm, whether it describe a heavenly vision or a street fight, a Hamlet or a Falstaff, a philosophy or a joke; in all fitness of line and colour and shade, whether seen in the Sistine Madonna or a child’s knitted frock; in all fitness of sound and beat and measure, whether the result be Bach’s Passion music or a child’s nursery jingle. The quantity of God, so to speak, varies in the different examples, but His quality of beauty in fitness remains the same.”1
1. RELIGION AND CULTURE, the Swarthmore Lecture of 1937 (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1937), 24f HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1940
June 21, Friday: Richard Milhous Nixon, an attorney at law, and Thelma Catherine Patricia “Pat” Ryan, a high school teacher and graduate of the University of Southern California, got married in the Presidential Lounge of the Mission Inn in Riverside, California.
This couple had met two years earlier as members of a local Little Theater group, acting together in the play The Dark Tower. The bride was Methodist, at least nominally, and the wedding was not of the Quaker sort. Although there is a portrait of the bridegroom now on display at this toney downtown motel, along with an impressive bronze plaque in commemoration of the occasion (I’ve stayed there while visiting Riverside College, and therefore of course checked this out), there seems to be no corresponding portrait in regard to the bride (at least, I was unable to locate such).
Governments of the Baltic States requested annexation from the Soviet Union.
French and German delegates met near Compiègne, 70 kilometers northeast of Paris, and paid careful attention while, in the presence of Führer Adolf Hitler, the Germans read out their list of surrender demands.
Ned Rorem performed with an orchestra for his initial and final time, as soloist in the Piano Concerto of Edvard Grieg, at the Illinois Music Hall in Chicago. WORLD WAR II HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1942
May 18, Monday: Arthur Honegger’s Symphony for Strings (Symphony no.2) was performed for the initial time, in Zürich.
The Office of Naval Inspector General was established, under Rear Admiral C.P. Snyder.
Germans captured Izyum and 214,000 Red Army troops.
Lyndon Baines Johnson would claim, all his life, that never in his life had he exhibited any tendency toward racism. –He would claim this over and over. –He would tell this to anyone and everyone. –You’d suppose that anything he said more than once would be true. Yet on this day, while he was visiting Nouméa in New Calcedonia while serving on active duty, he saw some native South Sea islanders and made a record of them as “very much like Negroes. Work only enough to eat.” So what did this Southern gentleman mean when he claimed over and over that he never personally had any tendency toward racism at all? We can only infer that what he meant was that he didn’t hate the colored races — he merely categorically disdained them, or categorically feared them. On his ranch in Texas, he would insist that on his work crews there always had to be a white man riding along just to make sure that the Tex-Mex ranchhands didn’t have a chance to doze off. He referred repeatedly in conversation with other white people to “my nigger maid” and “my nigger chauffeur.” When he was not angry he addressed black men as “Boy” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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and when he was angry he addressed them as “Nigger.” He once asked a black man whom he knew well, whether it bothered him that he never addressed him by his name, and when the man said that yes, indeed it did bother him, LBJ blew up and cursed the man. But he merely disdained the black and brown races –he didn’t hate them like some of the other white Southern gentlemen he associated with– so he wasn’t a racist. His political speeches were full of unguarded “yellow peril” style references, which is to say, gratuitous references to “the menace of Eurasia” or “godless men in Eurasia,” and he occasionally deployed such rancid tropes as “yellow dwarf with a pocketknife.” That wasn’t racism — because fear is not hatred.
In fact, however, the racial attitudes of President Lyndon Baines Johnson were indistinguishable from the racial attitudes of President Richard Milhous Nixon. Both men equally disdained the black, brown, and red races, and feared the yellow race, and honored only white men like unto themselves. WORLD WAR II “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 15, Monday: Richard Milhous Nixon received an appointment as a Lieutenant (Junior Grade) in the US Naval Reserve.
The Trento, an Italian cruiser in the “Harpoon” convoy en route to Malta, was torpedoed by British aircraft southwest of Crete. Although the Trento was taken in tow by its escorting destroyer it was then sunk by 2 tin fish from a British submarine. 549 died and 602 would survive.2 WORLD WAR II
THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
2. At a first order of approximation there seems to be a remarkable similarity between fighting at sea and feeding fish. HDT WHAT? INDEX
“I KNOW.” “THIS IS TREASON.” GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM August-October: Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Richard Milhous Nixon underwent basic naval officer training at the Naval Training School, Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island. He was then posted as a Lieutenant to the Naval Reserve Aviation Base at Ottumwa, Iowa.
WORLD WAR II HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1943
The worship group of Quakers that had been meeting monthly in the Social Room at the Duke University Divinity School in North Carolina would during this year become the Durham independent monthly meeting, organized as an independent monthly meeting under the sponsorship of the Friends Fellowship Council.
Clerks of Meeting 1943-1947 Edward K. Kraybill 1947-1948 William Van Hoy, Jr. 1949-1949 John de J. Pemberton, Jr. 1950-1951 Harry R. Stevens 1951-1952 John A. Barlow 1952-1957 Susan Gower Smith 1957-1960 Frances C. Jeffers 1960-1961 Cyrus M. Johnson 1961-1965 Peter H. Klopfer 1965-1967 Rebecca W. Fillmore 1967-1968 David Tillerson Smith 1968-1970 Ernest Albert Hartley 1970-1971 John Hunter 1971-1972 John Gamble 1972-1974 Lyle B. Snider (2 terms) 1974-1975 Helen Gardella 1976-1978 Cheryl F. Junk 1978-1980 Alice S. Keighton 1980-1982 John B. Hunter HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1982-1984 Edward M. Arnett 1984-1986 Calhoun D. Geiger 1986-1988 John P. Stratton 1988-1990 J. Robert Passmore 1990-1992 Karen Cole Stewart 1992-1995 Kathleen Davidson March 1995-1998 Nikki Vangsnes 1998-2000 Co-clerks J. Robert Passmore & Karen Cole Stewart 2000-2002 Amy Brannock 2002-2002 Jamie Hysjulien (Acting) 2002-2005 William Thomas O’Connor 2005-2007 Terry Graedon 2007-2009 Anne Akwari 2009-2012 Joe Graedon 2012-2013 Marguerite Dingman 2013-2016 Co-clerks Cathy Bridge & David Bridge 2016- Toby Berla HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Dr. David Tillerson Smith again was president of the North Carolina Tuberculosis Association.
Despite being a “birthright” Quaker and therefore, at least hypothetically, subject to the Peace Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends, Richard Milhous Nixon served as a reserve officer on active duty with the US Navy, building jungle airstrips in the South Pacific (his primary wartime activity seems, in retrospect, to have been playing poker, at which he must have been quite good since he would accumulate a significant “war chest” toward his subsequent California political aspirations).
Lew Ayres, the Hollywood actor who had in 1930 appeared in “All Quiet on the Western Front” (and at the end took a sniper bullet through his helmet, upon which butterflies alighted), registered as a conscientious objector. He was instantly fired by L.B. Mayer of MGM and wound up in a WWII labor camp. From there he would enter the Army as a noncombatant and serve more than three years in the medical corps — for repeated rescue of wounded soldiers he would receive 3 battle stars for courage under fire. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May: Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Richard Milhous “Nick” Nixon was posted to the Air Force, US Pacific Fleet. His work would involve the construction of jungle airstrips. In the South Pacific, near one such airstrip, he would set up a shack with a bar, offer alcoholic beverages, and initiate a house game of poker. By the time he would leave this venue he would have accumulated some $10,000 in winnings.
Lumber production in upstate New York had declined 50% in a couple of years, due to wage competition from other industries. During this spring and the following one, the wartime shortage of trucks would cause old- fashioned river drives of logs on the Boreas, Cedar, Hudson, Jessup, and Moose rivers and on West Canada Creek of the Adirondack region. Although a ban on pleasure driving would prevent many New Yorkers who owned summer cottages in the Adirondacks from vacationing there, the state Division of Commerce would notice that guest attendance at resort hotels in the Adirondacks had gained 22% over the previous year — because people were instead taking buses to such resorts. (US Senator James M. Mead would announce that a four-lane superhighway was about to be put through the Adirondacks in order to develop them for war production.) WORLD WAR II
CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT
October 1, Friday: In Denmark, Jews were removed to concentration camps. ANTISEMITISM
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Richard Milhous Nixon received an appointment as a Lieutenant in the US Naval Reserve.
Archibald Percival Wavell, Viscount Wavell replaced Victor Alexander John Hope, Marquis of Linlithgow as Viceroy of India.
Over the next week, the Red Army would be crossing the Dnieper river at several places.
British and American forces entered Naples, Italy. At some point in preparation for the Allied landings, the excavations at Pompeii had been, for some reason, bombed. A portion of the inscription in the House of the Moralist was destroyed:
ABLUAT UNDA PEDES, PUER ET DETERGEAT UDOS. The servant shall wash and dry the feet of the guest; MAPPA TORUM VELET, LINTEA NOSTRA CAVE. A cloth over the cushions, and linen well cared for. LASCIVOS VULTUS ET BLANDOS AUPER OCELLOS Abandon lascivious looks and do not cast sweet CONIUGE AB ALTERNIUS: SIBI TIBI IN ORE PUDER. glances at the women of others; be chaste in speech. (UTERE BLANDIT) IIS, ODIOSAQUE IUGGE DIFFER Abstain from anger if possible,
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SI POTES, A UT GRESSUS AD TUA TECTA REFER. if not return to your own home.
(The four-room structure that is known as the “Antiquarium,” although bombed out, would be rebuilt in 1948.)
United States Naval Air Facility, Recife, Brazil was established.
The United States naval forces under Admiral H.R. Stark, Commander Naval Forces Europe, were redesignated as the 12th Fleet.
United States naval vessels damaged: • Destroyer Saufley (DD-465), by horizontal bomber, Solomon Islands area, 7 degrees 42 minutes South, 160 degrees 14 minutes East • LST448, by horizontal bomber, Solomon Islands area, 7 degrees 45 minutes South, 156 degrees 30 minutes East
Japanese submarine sunk: • Submarine I-20, by destroyer Eaton (DD-510), Solomon Islands area, 7 degrees 40 minutes South, 157 degrees 10 minutes East WORLD WAR II HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1944
August: Lieutenant Richard Milhous Nixon was posted to Fleet Air Wing EIGHT. WORLD WAR II
December: Guy Davenport left high school early and enrolled at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He would study art with Clare Leighton and graduate with a degree in classics and English literature.
Lieutenant Richard Milhous Nixon received orders to proceed from the Pacific theatre of war to the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAir) at Washington DC. WORLD WAR II HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1945
March: Lieutenant Richard Milhous Nixon was posted to the Office of the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAir) in Washington DC, to serve as Representative, Eastern District, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WORLD WAR II
October 3, Wednesday: 30,000 university students went on strike in Argentina to protest repressive government policies.
The ashes of Amy Marcy Cheney Beach were placed next to those of her husband in Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston. During the nine months since her death, they had been kept in St. Bartholemew’s Church, New York.
Lieutenant Richard Milhous Nixon received an appointment as a Lieutenant Commander in the US Naval Reserve. WORLD WAR II HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1946
The war was over but the killing of course continued, albeit at a slower pace. Once they get you started, it is hard to just stop cold turkey! Imagine the glee that fills this American’s heart, as he yanks on the cord that HDT WHAT? INDEX
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releases the trap door that allows yet another Jap soldier to drop into eternity:
WORLD WAR II A group of bankers and businessmen from Whittier, California needed to find themselves a candidate who could unseat their 5-term Democratic congressman, Horace Jeremiah Voorhis (1901-1984). Congressman Jerry Voorhis was a champion of the New Deal and labor unionism and an opponent of big oil and big banking. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The candidate they found was a local boy who had served in the Navy during the war, never coming anywhere close to any real fighting: Lieutenant Commander Richard Milhous Nixon. Candidate Nixon would finance this 1st Congressional campaign in part out of his gambling winnings (picture this, a person of Quaker extraction who was willing to while away immense amounts of time in the rear echelon during a world war, in hardboiled games of stud poker with likewise-idle fellow military officers, and became a consummate bluffer and pot winner), and would engage persistently in a smear campaign in which his supporters accused their congressman of being a Communist.
February 21, Thursday: Patricia (“Tricia”) Nixon was born.
President Harry S Truman reestablished an Office of Economic Stabilization, under Chester Bowles, in an attempt to control mounting prices.
March 10, Sunday: Lieutenant Commander Richard Milhous Nixon of the US Naval Reserve was relieved of active duty. WORLD WAR II HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1947
January 3, Friday: Richard Milhous Nixon was sworn in to the US House of Representatives to represent the 12th Congressional District of California. He would occupy this position at our nation’s capital until November 1950.
The Irish government announced that bread and flour would be rationed.
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1948
July 5, Monday: Julie Nixon was born.
August 5, Thursday: Israel proposed direct negotiations between itself and the Arab countries presently invading the Holy Land.
US Representative Richard Milhous Nixon summoned Roosevelt administration State Department official Alger Hiss to the witness stand as an accused spy for our nation’s Communist enemies. Hiss denied before the House of Representatives’s Un-American Activities Committee that he was ever a Communist or had ever (to the best of his knowledge) so much as met Whittaker Chambers.
President Harry S Truman told newsmen that he believed the investigations of the Un-American Activities Committee of the House of Representatives “serve no useful purpose… They were slandering a lot of people who don’t deserve it.” He asserted that they had turned up no information not already known to the FBI and termed them a “red herring,” intended only to divert attention from a “do-nothing” Republican Congress.
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1949
July 9, Saturday: US Vice-Consul William Olive was released in Shanghai after 3 days in custody. Consul-General John Cabot charged that Olive had been “brutally beaten” by the Communists.
Representative Richard Milhous Nixon declared that the reason why the trial of Alger Hiss had ended in a hung jury was simply that the trial judge had improperly favored the defense (never mind that the prosecution’s case had been based on the testimony of Whittaker Chambers, who acknowledged on the witness stand that he had previously committed perjury, repeatedly, on key items, while under oath). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1950
January 26, Thursday: Congressman Richard Milhous Nixon (R-California) delivered a speech on the floor of the US House of Representatives: “The great lesson which should be learned from the Alger Hiss case is that we are not just dealing with espionage agents who get 30 pieces of silver to obtain the blueprint of a new weapon ... but this is a far more sinister type of activity, because it permits the enemy to guide and shape the policy.” This snippet would be extracted and echoed a short while later by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, incorporating into it a covert homophobic agenda — and the result would be the repressive American political period known as “McCarthyism.”
November 7, Tuesday: In Congressional elections in the United States, the Democratic Party of President Harry S Truman lost five seats in the Senate and 28 in the House of Representatives, but held onto control of both. One of the Senate seats that had been gained by the Republicans went to a lawyer by the name of Richard Milhous Nixon, who would serve part of one term.
December 12, Tuesday: The name of Aaron Copland was placed in the Prominent Individuals Subsection of the Security Index. These were American citizens who would be arrested without due process in the case of a national emergency (his name would be removed on August 2d, 1955).
Second Sonata in C for cello and piano by Ross Lee Finney was performed for the initial time, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
At a Washington DC affair at the Sulgrave Club, a well-lubricated Senator Joseph R. McCarthy attacked Quaker columnist Drew Pearson twice in the course of the evening. The initial time, Joe threatened to “put you out of business with a speech in the Senate tomorrow,” upon which Drew asked whether Joe had taken care of his income tax problems yet. Joe grasped the back of Drew’s neck and invited him to “step outside.” The subsequent time occurred when Drew went to the cloakroom and was attacked from behind. This was broken up by Joe’s Senate Republican colleague and fellow Commie-hunter Richard Nixon, saying “Let a good Quaker stop this fight.” Although at no point did Drew offer any physical resistance, and he had no weapon of any kind — although Joe, always the inventive one, would allege that he had been in fear that Drew was about to pull out a pistol and gun him down. He would be pleased to discover upon returning to his office at the Capital, that the office had already logged receipt of more than 100 congratulatory telegrams from various of his apeshit-belligerent constituents.
The journalist would sue, alleging having been “grabbed by the neck and kicked in the groin,” and the politician would inform the court that this was very much of an exaggeration — he had merely slapped him. In 1978 Friend Richard would recount: There was Joe McCarthy with his big, thick hands around Pearson’s neck. Pearson was struggling wildly to get some air. When McCarthy spotted me, he drew his arm back and slapped Pearson so hard that his head snapped back. “That one was for you, Dick,” he said. I stepped between the two men and pushed them apart. “Let a good Quaker stop this fight,” I said. Pearson grabbed his overcoat and ran from the room. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1952
September 23, Tuesday: Richard Milhous Nixon delivered his bathetic “Checkers” speech on television after reports that California businessmen had raised money for his personal use had caused Presidential candidate Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower to consider replacing him on the Republican national ticket. He pointed out that his wife rather than wearing fur wore a “respectable Republican cloth coat,” and alleged that the sole gift they had retained had been the family’s cocker spaniel “Checkers,” a favorite of their little girls.
November 4, Tuesday: Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower was elected in a landslide to be President of the United States of America, with Richard Milhous Nixon to serve as his Vice President.3
On a campaign swing through Wisconsin, the General had chickened out on delivering the speech he had prepared, that was critical of the methods employed by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, and then in addition allowed himself to be photographed shaking hands with that Senator — this left outgoing President Harry STruman shaking his head in disbelief and commenting that Eisenhower had “betrayed almost everything I thought he stood for.”
3. This would result in one of the funniest jokes on record: A guy had an accident and was in a coma for years, waking up finally in 1969. Of course he needed to know what had happened while he had been out, and so the attending physician commented that at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC, Dwight David Eisenhower had just died. “Oh, no!” the guy exclaimed, “Oh, no!” “Well,” the attending physician reassured him, “you’ve been unconscious for many years — Eisenhower had a good long retirement and died at an advanced age.” “What a relief!” the patient exclaimed. “I thought for a moment you were trying to tell me that son of a bitch Nixon had become President of the United States of America.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The election was a Republican landslide and this Republican Senator from Wisconsin was also re-elected, so he would be promoted from his exile in the District of Columbia Committee to the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Government Operations and its Subcommittee on Investigations. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1954
April 16, Friday: Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon insisted that it would be necessary to send troops to Indochina, to protect it from falling to the Communists. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1956
November 6, Tuesday: Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower was re-elected as President of the United States. Richard Milhous Nixon was re-elected as Vice President of the United States. The standings of the parties in both houses of Congress were virtually unchanged with the Democratic Party continuing in control.
A British armada arrived at the north end of the Suez Canal. At 12:45 A.M. Israel announced a cease-fire.
British and French amphibious units landed at the north end of the Suez Canal. The British took Port Said and began to move south towards Ismailiya. The Anglo-French command in Suez ordered a cease-fire, to take effect at midnight.
Deliberations of the French National Assembly were suspended after Communist members loudly jeered speakers supporting the Hungarian rebels.
Spain and the Netherlands withdrew from the Olympic Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Hungary.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra became the initial American orchestra to perform in the USSR. They received a tumultuous reception at Leningrad Conservatory. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1957
July 11, Thursday: Senior members of the Bulgarian Central Committee were purged and the Politburo was enlarged from 9 to 11 members.
In Durham, North Carolina, a couple of black men were taken into custody for having attempted to perpetrate a game of tennis at a whites-only tennis court (a score of love-love?).
At the age of 20 His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan became 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims (he had been appointed to this post in the will of his grandfather Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III).
The National Boy Scout Jamboree began in a 25,000-tent encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. By the light of more than 52,000 candles they would hear the inspiring story of Scout founder Braden Powell. The impressionable young men would hear from supposed Quaker Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon and be treated to an aerial show by the US Air Force Thunderbirds, would watch fireworks displays and learn the history of Valley Forge.4 They would visit the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Radio City Music Hall, the United Nations, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell, Carpenter Hall where the 1st Continental Congress had assembled in 1774, the home of Betsy Ross the disowned Quaker who you ’gotta’ believe supposedly designed our national flag, and the WWII antisubmarine-submarine USS Hake.
4. How many of these lads would draw their final breath in Vietnam? HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1958
April 27, Sunday: Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon began a tour of Latin America during which he would encounter unexpected levels of public fury. There would in particular be rioting in Lima, Peru upon his appearance on May 8th and in Caracas, Venezuela upon his appearance on May 13th. What a marvelous opportunity for him to seize the moral high ground while posturing as a victim!
May 8, Thursday: The editor of the leftist Beirut newpaper Telegraphe, Nassib Metni, was murdered.
Marc Blitzstein, one of 20 entertainment-industry witnesses, appeared before an executive session of the House Unamerican Activities Committee at the courthouse in Foley Square, New York City and stated to them that he had been, until 1949, a member of the Communist Party of the United States.He had in addition, at various times, supported certain of its organizations. He refused to inform on others.
There was rioting during a speech by Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon at San Marcos University in Lima, Peru. When student demonstrators showered the platform with produce and “geological specimens,” he abandoned the platform while terming them “cowards.” The Vice-President then made a speech at Catholic University, in which venue he faced only angry questions.
Alan Freed, rock-and-roll disc jockey, was indicted in Boston for inciting a riot during a show in the city on May 3d in which his teener fans had injured 15 people.
Incidental music to Shakespeare’s play King Lear by Aram Khachaturian was performed for the initial time, in Moscow.
String Quartet no.1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes” by György Ligeti was performed for the initial time, in Vienna.
May 11, Sunday: Fighting continued between rebels and Indonesian troops in the Moluccas.
Khosrov Ruzbeh, leader of the Communist Party of Iran, was executed.
A reproduction of Waclaw Szymanowksi’s monument to Chopin was unveiled in Warsaw (the original had been destroyed by the Germans during World War II).
Police in Bogota, Colombia had to break up several anti-US demonstrations during a visit by Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 14, Wednesday: Pierre Pflimlin of the Popular Republican Movement (a center-right party) replaced Félix Gaillard as prime minister of France. He ordered General Raoul Salan, commander of French forces in Algeria, to take political control.
The United States of America sent arms to the pro-Western government of Lebanon, dispatching 11 ships with 3,600 Marines from Gibraltar to the eastern Mediterranean.
As Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon was driven from the US embassy to the airport in Caracas, for security the road was closed to all traffic and lined with troops.
Quintet with Voice for baritone, clarinet, horn, cello, harp and piano by Stefan Wolpe to words of his 3d wife, Hilda Morey, was performed for the initial time. May 15, Thursday: General Charles de Gaulle offered to resume power to calm the Algerian rebellion.
President Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower greeted Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon at Washington DC National Airport as he returned from his tumultuous tour of Latin America.
A 25-year retrospective of the work of John Cage took place in New York City’s Town Hall, organized by artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, accompanied by an exhibition of scores by Cage, along with a Rauschenberg show on another floor. The Exhibition would win critical praise. As part of the proceedings, Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra was performed for the initial time, conducted by the dancer Merce Cunningham. Some audience members shouted insults during the performance and attempted to halt it. At the end, voiced opinions were widely divergent, ranging from cheers and applause to laughter, boos, and abuse. Also premiered was the revised version of Cage’s Six Short Inventions for alto flute, clarinet, trumpet, violin, two violas, and cello. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1959
April 15, Tuesday: Fidel Castro of Cuba arrived in Washington DC for a speaking tour of the eastern states sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He would meet with Secretary of State Christian Herter and, when President Eisenhower refused and went out of town to play golf for a week, for 2 hours and 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon (the 19th) with Richard Milhous Nixon in his Vice Presidential office (he would return to Cuba on the 26th after placing a wreath at the Lincoln Memorial).
Catalogue des Oiseaux for piano by Olivier Messiaen was performed for the initial time, in the Salle Gaveau, Paris.
July 24, Friday: In Katmandu, King Mahendra opened the 1st elected parliament in the history of Nepal.
In Sokolniki Park, Moscow, at an exhibit of a model kitchen in the American National Exhibition, Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon noted the presence of videotape cameras and engaged Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in a piece of grandstanding that would come to be known as a “Kitchen Debate,” further polishing Nixon’s chosen persona of the Cold-War hero.
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
July 26, Sunday: Tapes of Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev confronting one another in their “Kitchen Debate” were played on all 3 US television networks.
Fidel Castro resumed the post as prime minister of Cuba from which he had resigned on the 17th.
August 1, Saturday: Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon addressed the people of the Soviet Union in a television and radio speech from Moscow. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1960
July 27, Wednesday: Richard Milhous Nixon received the Republican nomination for President of the United States of America.
The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom agreed in Geneva to ban atmospheric nuclear testing and all underground nuclear testing of greater than 4.5 on the Richter scale.
After talks with Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in Brussels, Belgian Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens refused to withdraw Belgian troops from the Congo (the claim was that they were protecting Europeans there).
August 24, Wednesday: Congolese government forces were sent into Kasai Province to prevent a secessionist movement. One group landed in the capital Luluabourg while another marched overland from Léopoldville.
At a press conference President Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower was asked, “Can you think of a major contribution that Nixon has made to your administration?” and the President replied, “Well, if you give me a week I might think of one.”
An oral live-virus poliomyelitis vaccine was approved by the US Public Health Service. It was developed by Dr. Albert Sabin of Cincinnati.
September 26, Monday: David Pratt, who had attempted to kill South African Prime Minister Henrik Verwoerd, was declared mentally unfit to stand trial.
The 1st nationally televised debate between opposing US presidential candidates took place, originating in Chicago, pre-empting the Andy Griffith Show. Richard Milhous Nixon and John Fitzgerald Kennedy were the participants. Kennedy would win the subsequent election, becoming the 1st Roman Catholic President. WATCH IT AND WEEP HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 17, Monday: French Roman Catholic cardinals and archbishops condemned acts of torture, reprisal, and terrorism in Algeria, from both sides.
14 winners of television quiz shows in the US, including Charles Van Doren, were arrested for having falsely testified that they never received answers in advance.
Four US chain stores announced that their lunch counters, in 150 stores in 112 southern cities, would be racially integrated.
William L. Shirer’s THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH.
October 19, Wednesday: The US imposed a partial economic embargo on Cuba, one that excluded food and medicine.
October 20, Thursday: General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union had developed the capability of firing missiles from submarines.
Unruly Congolese troops began a week of disorders in Léopoldville.
While campaigning for president, Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy demanded that the US support anti-Castro forces in exile, and in Cuba, “who offer eventual hope of overthrowing Castro.”
His opponent, Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon, deemed this “the most shockingly reckless proposal ever made in our history by a presidential candidate….”
October 24, Monday: An Urban Reform Law was passed in Cuba, nationalizing additional properties owned by American interests.
October 29, Saturday: A Cuban airliner on a domestic flight was taken over at gunpoint by its co-pilot with the assistance of 8 passengers. When the pilot refused their demand to fly to Key West, there was a gunfight killing one and wounding 3. The plane then flew to Key West where the 9 requested asylum. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 8, Tuesday: The outcome of the US presidential election was that the Republican contender, Richard Milhous Nixon, had been defeated and the Democratic contender, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, elected. It had been a close scrape. “Thank God!” would be the attitude of a large segment of the voting public, “We’ve dodged the bullet and won’t need to find out what our nation might have become under an asshole like Nixon!”
Eight UN (Irish) soldiers were killed in an ambush in northern Katanga.
The legislature of the State of Louisiana passed 28 laws to protect the public schools from the evils of racial integration.
About 500,000 transportation workers struck in Brazil, closing down ports and railroads.
Elections in the United States ensured the victory of John Kennedy as President. His Democratic Party lost one seat in the Senate and 20 in the House of Representatives, but retained its majorities. The popular vote was the closest for any presidential election in the history of the nation. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1962
Our national birthday, Wednesday the 4th of July: At a ceremony in Aalborg, Denmark, former Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon delivered an anti-communist oration at his usual level of toxicity.
Francis Chichester completed a solo voyage across the North Atlantic from Plymouth, England to Paumanok Long Island in the yacht Gypsy Moth III.
At Congressional Cemetery, a crowd of some 200 gathered in honor of Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the US in 1813-1814 and the only signer of our Declaration of Independence to have acquired the distinction of being buried in the soil inside the sacred federal square of the District of Columbia. CELEBRATING OUR B-DAY
November 6, Tuesday: Congressional elections in the United States left the Democratic Party in control of both houses, their numbers virtually unchanged. Democratic incumbent Edmund G. Brown defeated Republican challenger Richard Milhous Nixon in the California gubernatorial race. Afterward this disappointed man would smirk and remark to reporters “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore.”
A conference in London on a constitution for British Guiana ended in failure. Britain postponed setting a date for independence.
A bomb exploded near Accra after a meeting of Ghanaian President Nkrumah’s ruling Convention People’s Party (two people were injured).
Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Egypt, claiming that Egyptian planes had bombed Muwassam and Khalaf near its border with Yemen in support of republican forces in Yemen.
The first New York solo exhibition of Andy Warhol opened at the Stable Gallery. This featured the initial showing of 210 Coca-Cola Bottles, Red Elvis, the Marilyn Diptych, and several other “Marilyn” works. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1963
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans at New York University commissioned Malvina Hoffman to create a commemorative coin in honor of great American Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862). Depicted on her commemorative coin are the dawning rays of the sun shining upon a pond and pine trees, illustrating the inscription ONLY THAT DAY DAWNS TO WHICH WE ARE AWAKE:
Richard Milhous Nixon began to practice law in New York. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1966
August 8, Monday: Police used tear gas, clubs, and gunfire to disperse black demonstrations in Grenada, Mississippi.
Former Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon called for a 25% increase in US troops in Vietnam. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1967
April 14, Friday: While visiting Saigon, Richard Milhous Nixon opinioned that the civil-disobedience people back in the US were “prolonging the war.” (Guess what, anybody who didn’t agree with this guy must be a traitor.) “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
October 21, Saturday: Egyptian sea-based missiles sank the Israeli destroyer Elath off the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula, killing 47. 155 floaters would be rescued.
Thousands of protestors against the war in Vietnam descended on Washington DC. In two days hundreds would be arrested outside the Pentagon. Concurrent protests were taking place in major European and Japanese cities. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 21, Saturday-23, Monday: In London, protesters attempted to storm the US embassy. A civil-disobedience “March on the Pentagon” drew 55,000 protesters. Inside the Pentagon, during this year, an effort had begun to compile a secret “History of U.S. Decision Making Process on Vietnam Policy,” something that eventually would surface as the “Pentagon Papers” after Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, a Defense Department analyst, would take the personal risk of making a personal copy on an office copier and take the risk of leaking it to the free press. Publication of such government secrets would infuriate President Richard Milhous Nixon and would be one of the principal motivations that would lead him into the Watergate entanglement.
Hero of Civil Disobedience HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1968
March 5, Tuesday: Reunion by John Cage was performed for the initial time, in Toronto. The work consists of Marcel Duchamp and the composer playing chess. The position and movement of the chess pieces determined sounds operated by David Tudor, Gordon Mumma, and David Behrman.
The Czechoslovak government relaxed censorship.
Republican candidate Richard Milhous Nixon promised that, if we accepted him as our president, he would bring about the end of the war in Vietnam (he did not lay out exactly how he was going to keep such a promise, but indicated that it was of course not going to be by any sort of precipitous withdrawal).5
August 4, Sunday: US and Saigon government forces began a 5-day offensive into the Ashau Valley southwest of Hué.
Israeli warplanes attacked Arab terrorist bases 15 kilometers inside Jordan.
Incidental music to Corneille’s play Cinna by Lou Harrison was performed for the initial time, in San Francisco.
August 8, Thursday: While defending against a Viet Cong attack, US troops killed 72 civilians and injured 240 at Cairang in the Mekong Delta.
When more racial violence occurred in Miami, Florida, the National Guard was called in and killed 3 citizens by gunfire.
Richard Milhous Nixon was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate and was promising us “an honorable end to the war in Vietnam.” In his acceptance speech, he had the following to say: “Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth — to see it as it is, and tell it like it is — to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.” — Republican Presidential nominee Richard Milhous Nixon, 1968 (a birthright Quaker)
5. We now know, from H.R. Haldeman’s notes, that the deal he was actually planning was that if we wouldn’t let him be our President, he was going to wheel and deal to make damned sure that American soldiers would continue to get killed over there. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Southern Republicans understood very well that Senator Nixon might be willing to put up with the colored people as part of his “Southern Strategy,” but he obviously didn’t like colored people and was obviously uncomfortable around them — and this of course was supremely reassuring.
After his presidency, Nixon would have the following to offer: “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 22, Tuesday: On this day Private 1st Class Robert Carlos Pahcheka of Indiahoma, Oklahoma, of H Company, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, USMC and Private 1st Class Kenneth Allen Pahl of Minneapolis, Minnesota, of C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, United States Army, were killed in Vietham.
On this night Republican presidential candidate Richard Milhous Nixon instructed H.R. Haldeman (his closest aide and future chief of staff, who would be a key member of the Watergate cover-up crowd in the White House) that he wanted him to “monkey wrench” (that is, to sabotage) President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s current efforts to begin negotiations to wind down the war in Vietham (we know this, because Haldeman wrote Nixon’s instruction down, and because we have now transcribed Haldeman’s notes).
November: George W. Bush began year-long undergraduate pilot training at Moody Air Force Base outside Valdosta, Georgia. In the course of this training President Richard Milhous Nixon would send down a plane to carry him off for a 1st date with his older daughter, Tricia. (There would not be a 2d date.) HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 1, Friday: Operation Rolling Thunder came to an end. 3 years of bombing of North Vietnam came to a halt. In an attempt to stop North Vietnamese support of the south, 182,000 civilians (by US estimates) had been killed. North Vietnam announced that it accepted expanded talks to include the Viet Cong and the Saigon government.
November 2, Saturday: Killed during this day, per the Vietham Wall memorial in Washington DC: TERRY L ARMSTRONG REFUGIO CANALES RALPH R CARPENTER Jr EUGENE T DALY Jr JAMES E DUNKIN Jr MURIEL S GROOMES ROBERT G HUFSCHMID DARRELL S LOVE WILLIAM D MEARA Jr JAMES I SCHLINGER ROY W MILLER Jr MARVIN B MULLIS Jr JACOB Mc KIE PHILIP L NICHOLS RAYMOND F ORR Jr TERRY A JOHNSON WILLIAM L SFERRUZZI JAMES A SINGLETON WILLIAM D STURDEVANT NOE TAMEYOZA.
During our presidential election, there were peace negotiations going on with North Vietnam, to which candidate Richard Milhous Nixon had been alerted privately by Democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s adviser in the ongoing peace talks with North Vietnam, a fellow Republican, Henry Kissinger. Democratic Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and his running mate George Wallace were gaining in the polls. Republican candidate Nixon, therefore, made private communications with South Vietnam, asking that they sabotage these negotiations for his benefit. If he won, he suggested, he would make sure that the terms of the peace would be more to their advantage. On this day, therefore, the Saigon government announced that it was boycotting the Paris peace talks, ostensibly in protest against the inclusion of representatives from the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong). On this day President Lyndon Baines Johnson was alerted by the FBI that Anna Chenault (Chen Xiangmei) had passed on to the South Vietnamese ambassador the information that “she had received a message from her boss: saying the Vietnamese should ‘hold on, we are gonna win,’” and therefore the President initiated a phone call to Republican Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen –a conversation which he of course recorded on his end– describing the actions of Republican Candidate Nixon: “This is treason. The response from Dirksen was “I know.”6 The activities of the Nixon team went far beyond the bounds of justifiable political combat. It constituted direct interference in the activities of the executive branch and the responsibilities of the Chief Executive, the only people with authority to negotiate on behalf of the nation. The activities of the Nixon campaign constituted a gross, even potentially illegal, interference in the security affairs of the nation by private
6. In a misguided attempt to lighten this, I will proceed to again tell you my all-time favorite political joke:
A guy had an accident and was in a coma for years, waking up finally in 1969. Of course he needed to know what had happened while he had been out, and so the attending physician commented that at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC, Dwight David Eisenhower had just died. “Oh, no!” the guy exclaimed, “Oh, no!” “Well,” the attending physician reassured him, “you’ve been unconscious for many years — Eisenhower had a good long retirement and died at an advanced age.” “What a relief!” the patient exclaimed. “I thought for a moment you were trying to tell me that son of a bitch Nixon had become President of the United States of America.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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individuals.
Let us examine the notion that such conduct amounts to treason. There is a history to this sort of thing. If our form of government is to survive, it came to be recognized early on in conjunction with an American peace activist’s unauthorized visit to government officials in France, then it is imperative that the conduct of foreign policy be closely held by those officials of the federal government of the United States of America who have been entrusted by the federal Constitution to conduct such foreign policy. The reason for this is simple. In dealing with foreign nations, it is necessary for our nation to speak with a single voice. We cannot afford to have foreign nations exploiting divisions between US Citizen A and US Citizen B, and we cannot afford to have foreign nations exploiting divisions between federal government Official A and federal government Official B. This would render us weak even in situations involving only the best of intentions. Early on, this resulted in the Logan Act of January 30, 1799 during John Adams’s presidency, which criminalized private citizens who attempted to intrude into the official negotiations of our federal government with a foreign nation.
A “traitor” is a person who commits treason. As the right-wing columnist George Will has now confirmed, “Richard Nixon was a traitor.” He sent Anna Chenault to persuade the government of South Vietnam to interfere with the cease-fire being negotiated by President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He sabotaged the peace talks, thus prolonging by years the war in Vietnam for the benefit of his own political career (on the following day, confronted, he would totally deny all this, saying “My, I would never do anything to encourage ... Saigon not to come to the table.... Good God, we’ve got to get them to Paris or you can’t have peace” — but now we HDT WHAT? INDEX
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know that he was merely, as usual, lying through his teeth). So this was the “blood on his hands” manner in which this supposed Quaker would become our 37th President and Henry Kissinger would become his National Security Adviser (and would in 1973 after more than 20,000 additional American soldiers had been killed, be jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize).
As Lily Tomlin used to say, no matter how cynical you become, it’s never enough to keep up. Furthering that spirit of good humor, I would opinion that actually we should not have awarded the gold to the flunky Henry, he of the phony German accent, for it was more deserved by this guy who had been pulling his strings, his boss Richard.
November 3, Sunday: The Viet Cong announced acceptance of the expanded Paris peace talks.
In the vicinity of Amman, as Jordanian troops battled a minor Arab terrorist group, 30 were killed, mostly civilians, and 100 injured.
In Athens, 500,000 people shouting anti-dictatorship slogans accompanied the body of George Papandreou to a cemetery.
In Zürich, Nocturnes and Arias for orchestra by Thea Musgrave was performed for the initial time. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 5, Tuesday: On this day 25 US servicemen were killed in Vietnam (their names are on the wall): MICHAEL M FARMER PETER J JIRSA KENNETH J DELL LLOYD R GREENE ARDON HALT FREDDIE J HANNAH DAVID A JOHNSON DENNIS O JOHNSON KEITH G JOHNSON CHARLES C MANN Jr HERMAN L Mc INTIRE CLIFFORD J ROBERTS ROGER D JUSTICE DEAN W OLTMAN JEAN P PELLICANO MICHAEL R RICH JOSE G SANCHEZ Jr TIMOTEO M SANTIAGO Jr JOHN G SCUCCHI WILLIE D SPIVEY JOHN F SUGGS Jr DAVID J ULMER
In the US presidential election, after committing the treason of influencing a foreign power, South Vietnam, to prolong the Vietnam War by interfering with peace negotiations between the United States of America and North Vietnam, and after perpetrating a series of dirty tricks on his presidential opponent such as anonymous allegations of homosexuality, former Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon narrowly defeated Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey and his running mate George Wallace, and was elected to be the 37th President of the United States of America. His Republican Party picked up 5 seats in the Senate and 5 in the House of Representatives, but the Democratic Party retained control of both. His was the 1st President of the United States to face opposition majorities in both houses of Congress in its initial year. His margin, of 73,000,000 votes cast, was 510,000 votes.7
Dmitri Shostakovich was awarded the Glinka State Prize for “The Execution of Stepan Razin.”
November 12, Tuesday: The Republic of Equatorial Guinea was admitted to the United Nations.
Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford warned the Saigon government that if it did not end its boycott of the peace talks, the US would proceed without them.
November 26, Tuesday: The Saigon government announced that it would end its boycott and attend the peace conference in Paris.
President Robert Smith, unable to bring peace and order to San Francisco State College, resigned and was immediately replaced by S.I. Hayakawa.
7. I will seize the opportunity to again tell you my all-time favorite political joke: A guy had an accident and was in a coma for years, waking up finally in 1969. Of course he needed to know what had happened while he had been out, and so the attending physician commented that at the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC, Dwight David Eisenhower had just died. “Oh, no!” the guy exclaimed, “Oh, no!” “Well,” the attending physician reassured him, “you’ve been unconscious for many years — Eisenhower had a good long retirement and died at an advanced age.” “What a relief!” the patient exclaimed. “I thought for a moment you were trying to tell me that son of a bitch Nixon had become President of the United States of America.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 27, Wednesday: President-elect Richard Milhous Nixon asked Henry Kissinger, the Republican informant who had just helped him become the President-elect by sabotaging President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s peace initiative in Vietnam, to be his National Security Advisor.
On this very day on which this President-elect was rewarding this informant who had just helped him sabotage peace (yes, the very guy who would eventually be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), the following US military personnel were (according to the Memorial Wall that now stretches along in Washington DC) giving their lives for their country in Vietnam: • JAMES C ADAMS • NICHOLAS R ALEXANDER • HENRY F ASUNCION • ERNEST L BARBER • ROGER J BARTHOLOMEW • RODGER A BLATNICK • JAMES G BRADY • JOHN W BRINKMEYER • JOHN C BROWN •DAVID A BRYANT • RICHARD W CASEY • JEROME D CHANDLER •DAVID D CREEL • RONALD C CUNNINGHAM • JERRY M DAUBER • GORDON E DE GARMO • ALLEN E DUNEMAN • OLIVER E DURHAM • DENNIS J FETT • DANIEL P FLORES • FREDRICK H FRAZER • WILLIAM GIBBS JR • JIMMIE R GREEN • WILSON F HALLEY • RICHARD L HAMMETT • BILLY C HUNTER • ERIC D JENKINS • ANTHONY E JOHNSON • JOE A JOHNSON • LESLIE H LAROCQUE • BOOKER T LOFTON JR • MALCOLM E LOMAX • VINCENT L MAGER • MYRON W MAGNON • LOREN D MARTINSEN • EDWARD E MCBRIDE • RAYMOND MCCUMBER • JACKIE M MEDLIN • DONALD S MIHORDIN • MICHAEL G PARR • SALVATORE J PISCITELLO • WILLIAM D RAY HDT WHAT? INDEX
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• AUGUST K RITZAU • WAYNE J ROGERS • JOHN R RYAN JR • DWIGHT C SARJEANT • WILLIAM J SIMPSON •DAVID W SMITH • GENE P STUIFBERGEN • THEODORE A SWEATT • DANIEL C TEDROW • WILLIAM R THIEM • JOHN B ULFERS • CARLOS VEGA-LOPEZ • EDWARD B VOGEL • RANDALL W WAGNER • LONNIE WILLIAMS • JOEL D WOLFE • JOE I WOOD • RODNEY B YARDLEY
December 22, Sunday: Richard Milhous Nixon’s daughter Julie got married with Dwight David Eisenhower II, grandson of former president Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1969
In this year Ammon Hennacy had been chosen as the designated recipient of the War Resisters League Peace Award, but as it turned out, things got too busy for them to hold their annual dinner.
Dr. Robert MacMahan of the Department of Defense (DOD) requested that the US Congress provide $10,000,000 for a program to cause to evolve, within 5 to 10 years, a new sort of biological agent against which human beings would be entirely defenseless.
GERM WARFARE
The US military was celebrating the success of a massive biowarfare field test in the Pacific. Our wargame involved not only the release of lethal agents but also the use of caged animals to demonstrate the effectiveness of these agents. Soviet observers lurked in nearby waters to collect samples of the biological agents we were testing. President Richard Milhous Nixon decided to discontinue our biowarfare program, at least with regard to biological agents which are used as weapons, as opposed to toxins which were theoretically for researching methods of immunization and therapy. He said he had 2 reasons for discontinuing this weapons program, but actually he had 3: (a) it was militarily counterproductive as such weapons are difficult to use, (b) it was unnecessary due to the massive superiority of the US in nuclear weapons, and (c), although he did not say so, these biological weapons of mass destruction were equally available to 3d-World nations that could not afford an A-bomb program — and we did not want to encourage such nations to develop weapons of mass destruction.
This evidently was therefore the final year of the series of secret US Army biological warfare tests that had been going on since 1949 (evidently, since it is the last year that we have to this point been told about). The tests had been conducted in American cities and states by releasing bacteria and chemicals from sprayers, automobiles, and airplanes. Millions of citizens had unwittingly been breathing in the US Army’s test agents. The intent had been to discover by the use of un-lethal germs, whether microorganisms would spread and survive and how vulnerable the country might be to an attack with lethal germs. To the Army’s knowledge, only a single innocent civilian had been killed in the course of these tests. SECRET MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS
Of course I had to wonder, when I learned about the existence of these tests, since in my childhood my spine had collapsed due to a microbial infection contracted while I was living outside of Clay City, Indiana, only a few miles downwind from the biological warfare facility in Vigo, Indiana. Probably, my microbial infection HDT WHAT? INDEX
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and the germ war plant a few miles upwind were entirely unrelated! There would have been no point to infecting me, as I was not the enemy! It is a fact, however, that the plant had become totally contaminated, so contaminated that production was interrupted, so contaminated that it could never be decontaminated, and therefore had been able to deliver only a few palletloads of test germ bombs to England before the collapse and surrender of Germany, and it is a fact, also, that a few miles away, at that same time, my spine collapsed as the muscles in the small of my back became paralyzed. ASSLEY
You don’t suppose — no, no, that’s too far-fetched. This entire starry universe is not entirely about me and my own little personal tribulations.
January 1, Wednesday: Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., our former American ambassador to South Vietnam, was nominated by President-elect Richard Milhous Nixon as the senior US negotiator at the Paris peace talks.
January 14, Monday: Prime Minister Tran Van Huong of the Saigon government proposed that US forces start withdrawing from his country “at the rate of ten to twenty thousand a month.”
About 1,300 artists and intellectuals in Spain sent a petition to their government asking it to investigate 100 cases of police brutality.
Morton Sobell, convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1951, was released from federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania after having served almost 18 years of a 30-year sentence.
Asterism for piano and orchestra by Toru Takemitsu was performed for the initial time, in Toronto.
January 15, Monday: The study that had been commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara, later called The Pentagon Papers, stood complete. It was classified “top secret-sensitive.” It amounted to all of 7,000 pages bound into 47 volumes. It explored the history of US involvement in Indochina from the early 1940s up to 1968. It was almost entirely the labor of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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January 18, Saturday: Expanded Vietnam peace talks, including the NLF and the Saigon government, begin on substantive issues for the 1st time, in Paris. Much of the last few months had been spent on discussions about the size and shape of the table around which the delegations were to be seated (the South Vietnamese had been particularly intransigent on this issue of table size and shape, because of course of the sweetheart deal they had cut with Republican presidential candidate Richard Milhous Nixon to drag out the peace-negotiations process until he had been safely inaugurated).
Brazilian Supreme Court President Antonio Goncalves de Oliveira resigned in protest against the sackings of several days earlier.
January 20, Monday: As anti-government students battled police in Dacca, 1 person was killed and 3 injured.
In Prague, 100,000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square and marched to Charles University.
Richard Milhous Nixon affirmed that he would preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States of America as the 37th President of the United States of America replacing Lyndon Baines Johnson, and then informed his nation that “the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.” His would be the 5th presidency in series to attempt to cope with the conflict in Vietnam. His campaign which had succeeded had been a campaign based on a pledge that what he was going to bring us was “peace with honor.” (Trust me.) “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Duke Ellington and his Orchestra performed at an inaugural ball in the Smithsonian Institution.
Two chamber works by György Ligeti were performed for the initial time, in Malmö, Sweden: Six Bagatelles for wind quintet (arranged from Musica ricercata), and Ten Pieces for wind quintet.
The president, who in between cursewords was in the habit of making efforts to portray himself as a man of HDT WHAT? INDEX
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religion, had 5-count-’em-5 clergymen offering prayers and reading Scripture at his inauguration. This would stand as a national record until 2017, when the incoming president would bring along 5 clergymen plus a clergywoman (two of Trump’s clergy were of the belief-will-make-you-wealthy variety, and of course these prosperity-gospel people are not included by other clergy within the category “religious”).
March 4, Tuesday: Because of the series of Viet Cong offenses in the South, President Richard Milhous Nixon threatened to resume our bombing of North Vietnam. “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
March 5, Wednesday: When a couple of Viet Cong opened fire on the car of Tran Van Huong in Saigon, they were subdued by his security force. The Prime Minister had not been injured.
On Apollo 9, 2 of the astronauts moved from the Command Module into the Lunar Module.
March 6, Thursday: Saigon came under heavy shelling by Communist forces, killing 22 and injuring 35.
Palestinian terrorists exploded a bomb in the cafeteria of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, injuring 29.
Astronaut Richard Schweickart exited the lunar module of Apollo 9 for a 40-minute “walk” in space.
March 17, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon authorized his secret “Operation Menu,” which everyone of course was to know about except the American electorate — B-52 bombing of the North Vietnamese supply depots located along the border of Vietnam inside Cambodia. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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March 18, Tuesday: Attempting to relieve pressure on the capital, US and Saigon government forces launched a counteroffensive in the Saigon area.
March 21, Friday: Former President Harry S Truman was visited by President Richard Milhous Nixon and Mrs. Pat Nixon, after which the Nixons presented to the Truman Library a Steinway piano that had been in the White House during Truman’s presidency.
After being photographed 3 times by Mexican police, Hans Werner Henze arrived in Havana on a flight from Mexico City.
May: The New York Times revealed that there had been secret bombing in Cambodia — secret in the sense that everyone in the world knew all about it except our general public, the members of the American electorate who might have had something to say about this. To determine the source of this news leak and punish appropriately the leaker, despite the fact that no court order had been obtained for such action, President Richard Milhous Nixon ordered the FBI to place wiretaps on the telephones of 4 journalists and 13 government officials. No more Mr. Nice Guy. VIETNAM “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
May 14, Wednesday: In his first TV speech on Vietnam, President Richard Milhous Nixon presented a peace plan according to which over the following year the US and North Vietnam would simultaneously pull out of the South. This would of course be unacceptable to the warmongers in Hanoi. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 8, Sunday: At Midway Island, President Richard Milhous Nixon met with South Vietnam’s President Nguyen Van Thieu and informed him that US troop levels would be sharply reduced, by 25,000. The two leaders than held a press briefing in which Nixon announced the “Vietnamization” of the war starting on August 31st.
Spain closed its border with Gibraltar in protest against the new constitution for this British colony.
Stefan Wolpe received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.
July: President Richard Milhous Nixon, through a French emissary, sent a secret letter to Ho Chi Minh urging him to settle the war and threatening to resume bombing if the peace talks around the round table in Paris remained stalled as of November 1st. (In August, Hanoi would respond by simply repeating their earlier demands for Viet Cong participation in a coalition government in South Vietnam.)
July 2, day: The North Vietnamese ended their siege of Benhet in the Central Highlands.
July 25, Saturday: The “Nixon Doctrine” was made public. While it advocated US military and economic assistance to the nations around the world that were struggling against Communism, there were to be no more American soldiers committed to Vietnam-style foreign ground wars. The emphasis was to be placed on local military self-sufficiency backed by US air power and by technical assistance to assure security.8 RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON
8. The Nixon Doctrine would work out really well in Iraq and Afghanistan, not. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July 30, Thursday: President Richard Milhous Nixon visited US troops in Vietnam. He didn’t tell the troops that they were there because in 1968, while he was running for president, he had instructed his closest aide and future chief of staff, who would be one of the Watergate cover-up crowd in the White House, H.R. Haldeman, to “monkey wrench,” that is, to sabotage, President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s efforts to begin negotiations to wind down the war (we know about this because Haldeman wrote this instruction down, the historians have his actual notes). He didn’t confide in them that he had prioritized his political career over their lives.
September 16, Tuesday: Rhodesian authorities drove 1,500 Tangwena tribesmen away from their homeland, which had been designated “for whites only,” onto a reservation.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced the withdrawal of 35,000 US soldiers from Vietnam, and a reduction in future draft calls. MILITARY CONSCRIPTION
September 19, Friday: The University of California Board of Regents sacked Angela Davis from the faculty because she had revealed that she was a member of the Communist Party of America.
President Richard Milhous Nixon, dealing with the agitation of the college campuses, instructed that the October draft call for Vietnam service be spread out over a 3-month period and suspended the draft calls that had been scheduled for November and December, thus reducing the draft calls by 50,000 for the remainder of the year. MILITARY CONSCRIPTION
October: An opinion poll indicated that 71% of the American public approved of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Vietnam policy. Please choose the flavor you prefer: a.) We were being led by a desperate and exceedingly cunning man. b.) We were utter idiots. c.) We were utter idiots who were being led by a desperate and exceedingly cunning man. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 1, Wednesday: Dr. Daniel Ellsberg picked out volumes from the Pentagon Papers in the top-secret/sensitive safe in his office and carried them out the Rand building in his briefcase. He drove to the apartment of an anti- war friend, Tony Russo, and then to the office of an ad agency run by Russo’s girlfriend, Lynda Sinay. Using a Xerox machine in the ad agency, he and Russo begin to copy pages.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that anyone already in graduate school could complete the full year without fear of the draft. This had the effect of rendering William Jefferson Clinton safe from the draft through June 1970.
During this month President Nixon would also suspend the call-up of additional draftees until a draft lottery could be held, in December. VIETNAM
November: Dr. Daniel Ellsberg met with members of the federal Congress on Capitol Hill and helped draft a resolution urging the withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam. While in Washington DC Ellsberg delivered a copy of his Pentagon Papers (the portion he had copied at this point) to Senator William Fulbright, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee (later, Ellsberg would ship the remainder to Fulbright’s office).
Into December, preliminary SALT talks would be taking place in Helsinki. Meanwhile, President Richard Milhous Nixon was publicly ordering the destruction of all our “offensive” biological weapons. From this point on, our researchers were to focus on defensive measures such as the development of protective vaccines,9 and of “air-sniffing” detectors (I once witnessed the use of such a detector, by uniformed officials striding down the aisles of an Amtrak train as it traveled between Boston and New York).10
GERM WARFARE The Soviet Union wisely promised to do likewise.11 9. Having a defensive program for the development of defensive vaccines would mean, of course, that when it came time for us to destroy the last laboratory vial of smallpox, the disease having finally been entirely eradicated in the wild worldwide once and for all, we could not bring ourselves to do so. We had to keep the smallpox organism to use in the development of vaccines — just in case someone were to attack us with it. To have destroyed our last ampule would have been equivalent to unilateral disarmament! HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 3, Monday: The Lebanese government and the PLO reached an agreement in Cairo to end the fighting between them.
In a major televised address, President Richard Milhous Nixon asked for support from “the great silent majority of my fellow Americans” for his new Vietnam strategy. He needed for us to be behind him 100% because “the more divided we are at home, the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris.” He did not reveal any timetable. Making a gesture toward his personal fate that would only later become clear to us, he declared that others could not defeat or humiliate the United States: “Only Americans can do that.” –Well, well.
I should tell you that this phrase “Silent Majority” was something that had been produced for him by the 1st political operative he had hired, a man with no particular scruples, Patrick Joseph “Pat” Buchanan. “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
10. Tricky Dick was merely reclassifying our biological weaponry as intended to put fear in the hearts of anyone who might be scheming to attack us, and therefore in essence “defensive.” The United States no longer even has a War Department. Our two categories of use of deadly force are not “aggression” versus “defense” but “defense” versus “pre-emption.” –Because we’re such decent people, that’s why. 11. Instead of halting their biological program they were radically accelerating it (it’s almost as if they didn’t trust us). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 24, Monday: In ceremonies in Washington, President Richard Milhous Nixon and Soviet President Nikolai V. Podgorny signed a nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Apollo 12 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 650 kilometers southeast of Pago Pago, having effected the 2d landing on the moon.
Funktion Indigo for tape by Gottfried Michael Koenig was performed for the initial time, in Utrecht.
Chamber Symphony by T.J. Anderson was performed for the initial time, in Nashville.
December 15, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that an additional 50,000 US soldiers were leaving Vietnam. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1970
January 24, Saturday: Catholics and Protestants battled each other and 400 British troops in Londonderry. The fighting caused the troops to erect barbed-wire barricades between the communities.
As part of a celebration of the 70th birthday of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy, Variations on Happy Birthday by several composers was performed for the initial time, in Philadelphia. Among those contributing variations were Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber. President Richard Milhous Nixon awarded conductor Eugene Ormandy the Medal of Freedom.
March 20, Friday: Cambodian troops under General Lon Nol attacked Khmer Rouge guerrillas and North Vietnamese troops stationed inside Cambodia. At the White House, President Richard Milhous Nixon and top aides discussed plans to assist this general’s pro-American regime. For the 1st time, Cambodian troops coordinated with US planes and Saigon government artillery in battling Viet Cong forces north of Anphu, South Vietnam. The Viet Cong withdrew.
A Convention signed in Niamey, Niger creates the Agency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation among Francophone nations, Belgium, Burundi, Canada, Chad, Dahomey (Benin), France, Gabon, Haiti, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), Luxembourg, Mali, Mauritius, Monaco, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), and Vietnam.
Pole für zwei no.30 for two players and two shortwave receivers by Karlheinz Stockhausen was performed for the initial time, in Osaka.
Eleven Songs for voice and piano by George Rochberg to words of Paul Rochberg, was performed for the initial time, in Oberlin, Ohio.
March 23, Monday: Saying the survival of the government was at stake, President Richard Milhous Nixon ordered federal troops to help move mail during the nationwide postal strike.
The first 2 of the Three Weöres Songs for soprano and piano by György Ligeti to words of Weöres were performed for the initial time, in Junsele.
Clio, a symphonic ode by Carlos Chávez, was performed for the initial time, in Jones Hall, Houston, the composer conducting. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 1, Wednesday: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces began major attacks throughout South Vietnam. The heaviest fighting began, on this day, at Dakseang in the Central Highlands.
Police fired into a pro-Sihanouk crowd in Phom Phnom Preyslek, south of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, killing 30.
400 Catholics battled British troops in Belfast, throwing bricks and fire bombs. The troops responded with tear gas.
President Richard Milhous Nixon signed a bill banning cigarette advertising on television and radio.
A revised version of Moralities, scenic cantatas by Hans Werner Henze to words of Auden after Aesop, was performed for the initial time, in Saarbrücken Kongresshalle.
April 4, Saturday: Fighting intensified southwest of Conthien in the Demilitarized Zone of Vietnam, while in Washington DC 10,000-15,000 citizens marched in support of the Vietnam War. Yes, you read that correctly.
April 5, Sunday: 60,000 students at 5 South Vietnamese universities began a strike to protest the arrest of student leaders and their detention without trial.
Count Karl von Spreti, ambassador of West Germany to Guatemala, was found dead, 5 days after being abducted by armed men in Guatemala City. The Guatemalan government had refused to accede to the demands of the kidnappers.
April 7, Tuesday: Governor Ronald Reagan of California, speaking of the need to control student unrest on campuses, asserted “If it takes a blood bath, let’s get it over with.”
April 20, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that another 150,000 American soldiers would be withdrawn from Vietnam within the following year. –And, not in body bags!
Vietnamese Communists advanced to within 25 kilometers of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
In Cologne, 6 former SS members were convicted of the murder of thousands at Sachsenhausen prison camp. 2 others were acquitted. 5 of those convicted received sentences of life in prison. One was given 10 years.
Arsonists did $2,000,000 damage in a racially motivated attack at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 30, Thursday: President Richard Milhous Nixon stunned Americans with an announcement that US and South Vietnamese troops had crossed the border into Cambodia. The incursion had been planned in response to continuing Communist gains against General Lon Nol’s forces in Cambodia and also had been intended to weaken overall North Vietnamese military strength in order to ease the difficult problem of a safe US pullout from the theater of war. They had not crossed the border, he declared, “for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia.” Not at all, they had crossed the border “for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam and winning the just peace we desire.” After all, as he would recount onto a Dictabelt for history after his nocturnal visit with the protesters at the Lincoln Memorial, he had in fact come from a Quaker background, “as close to being a pacifist as anybody could be in those times” — so we should trust his judgment in such matters. The announcement would generate a tidal wave of protest by politicians, the press, students, professors, clergy members, business leaders, and many average Americans. “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
May 1, May Day, the traditional Communist holiday: As US warplanes began the largest raid over North Vietnam since the bombing halt of 1968, with more than 100 planes striking Quangbinh and Nghean Provinces, 10,000 US and Saigon government troops invaded Cambodia in the “Fishhook” area north of Saigon. Prime Minister Lon Nol of Cambodia would say that he learned of the invasion of his nation by reading a copy of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s speech provided to him by the US charge d’affaires in his capitol city. Throughout this offensive the enemy soldiers and the Viet Cong would carefully avoid large-scale battles and instead would withdraw westward, deeper into Cambodia, leaving behind base camps containing huge stores of weapons and ammunition.
That was in Vietnam. Meanwhile, in America, President Richard Milhous Nixon was terming anti-war students “bums blowing up campuses.” 13,000 people took part in what would be 3 days of largely peaceful demonstrations at Yale University, in support of 8 Black Panthers going on trial in New Haven. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
May 8, Friday: 200,000 people began 3 days of anti-US protests in Melbourne and Sydney. They also protested against their own government, for supporting the US.
Construction workers wearing helmets attacked a civil disobedience anti-war demonstration in the financial district of New York City, injuring 70. These helmeted conservatives then invaded City Hall and obliged city officials to raise a flag to full staff that had been at half-staff in mourning for the 4 students killed at Kent State University.12
7 members of the Black Panther Party, indicted for having taken part in a shootout with police, were released by the State of Illinois, on account of a lack of evidence that any of them had discharged a firearm.
Gymkhana Formule I for tape by Pierre Henry was performed for the initial time, in the Gymnase de Malakoff.
Time’s Encomium for synthesized and processed synthesized sound by Charles Wuorinen was performed completely for the initial time, at the State University of New York, Albany.
Piano Sonata no.4 by Lejaren Hiller was performed for the initial time, in Buffalo, 20 years after it was composed.
This was just 4 days after National Guard troops had opened fire on anti-war demonstrators at Kent State University. Between the end of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s 10PM press conference and 3:30AM the 12. US Attorney-General John N. Mitchell would announce in 1971 that there wasn’t going to be any federal grand jury investigation of the killings at Kent State. The State of Ohio would agree in 1979 to the settlement of a civil lawsuit over the killings. They would agree to pay $600,000 to the parents of the students killed, and to nine students who had been injured but survived, and in addition $75,000 for legal and other expenses. Although Governor James Rhodes and 27 National Guardsmen who were defendants in the case would sign a statement that the killings “should not have occurred,” no-one would ever offer any sort of apology. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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following morning, the White House switchboard would log 50 phone calls from POTUS, 8 of them to national-security adviser Henry Kissinger. Finally the restless president was listening to some music in the Lincoln sitting room, and from the window sighted student protesters on the grounds of the Washington Monument. He roused his valet Manolo Sanchez, a recent citizen, and asked the drowsy man if he wanted some hot chocolate. The valet declined. He then asked the valet if he had ever seen the Lincoln Memorial at night, found that he had not, and led an entourage of about 4 Secret Service men on an unscheduled visit. He talked to young anti-Vietnam protesters camping out at the Lincoln Memorial. He tried to chat them up with talk about football. In the course of the event he informed everyone who would listen that, having been raised as a Quaker, he was about as much of a pacifist as anyone could possibly be.
Now for a little lesson in logic. Many arguments are based on a simple “if... then” structure. These arguments are so common and useful they have been awarded a special Latinate name, modus ponens.
In addition to the phrase “modus ponens,” logicians have special technical words for the various features of these arguments. The “If... Then” premise is called a conditional, and the two truth claims, the beginning one and the end one, are called the antecedent and the consequent: Main Premise (antecedent) Helping Premise (If antecedent, then consequent) Conclusion (consequent) The solid connection between premises and conclusion is known as deductive validity. If both premises are true, then the argument is sound. In the next, generalized, illustration, the letters P and Q are used to stand for the distinct claims expressed in whole sentences. Main Premise (P) Helping Premise (If P then Q) Conclusion (Q) HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Consider the following example of an argument purporting to have valid logical structure and purporting to be dealing in true assertions:
Obviously, the above is a proper use of the modus ponens form of logic. Now let’s consider another one: President Richard Milhous Nixon was proclaimed to be a Quaker. A Quaker would have opposed the war in Vietnam. Therefore, Friend Richard opposed the war in Vietnam.
Although they are about very different topics, these two arguments have the same basic structure: Notice that the claim P occurs twice: once in the main premise, and once after the If part of the helping premise. The claim Q also occurs twice: once after the then part of the helping premise, and once in the conclusion. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The nice thing about modus ponens arguments is that their conclusions are quite as good as their premises. The connection between premises and conclusion is solid. This means that all you really have to do in order to evaluate a modus ponens argument is check for the sense in which the premises are true. In this modus ponens argument, if the premises are both at least probably true, the reasoning must be strong and the conclusion must be established. As always, if there is a sense in which at least one of the premises is not true, the reasoning may well be incorrect and lead to spurious conclusions. Contrariwise, if the conclusion is obviously false, then one or the other of the premises was also, in some important sense, false. The inference above is an improper one because there was a very real sense in which Richard Nixon, although he had been raised by a Quaker mother in a Quaker church, and although he was never officially disowned by that church, should not be considered to have been a Quaker.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Aware of the historical nature of the event and of the potential for favorable publicity, the President would soon thereafter dictated his recollections to White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, suggesting he give the information to someone who could write it up. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum now has the 45-minute Dictabelt on which he related a firsthand account of the visit. On the tape Nixon says his car arrived at the memorial about 4:40AM and walked up the steps to show his aide the monument’s inscriptions. “By this time, a small groups of students began to congregate in the rotunda of the memorial. I walked over to a group of them and shook hands. They were not unfriendly. As a matter of fact they seemed somewhat over- awed and of course quite surprised.” When some of the students volunteered they had not heard Nixon’s press conference the previous evening, he “said I was sorry they had missed it because, as I had tried to explain in the press conference that my goals in Vietnam were the same as theirs — to stop the killing, to end the war, to bring peace. Our goal was not to get into Cambodia by what we were doing, but to get out of Vietnam.” “I said, ‘I know you, probably most of you think I’m an SOB, but, ah, I want you to know that I understand just how you feel.’” He recounted that he had told them that he had come from a Quaker background, “as close to being a pacifist as anybody could be in those times.” “I pointed out that I knew that on their campus, their campuses, a major subject of concern was the Negro problem. I said this was altogether as it should be, because the degradation of slavery had been imposed upon the Negroes, and it was, it would be impossible for us to do everything that we should do to right that wrong. But I pointed out that what we had done to the American Indians was in its way just as bad. We had taken a proud and independent race and virtually destroyed them. And that we had to find ways to bring them back into, into decent lives in this country.” “I just wanted to be sure that all of them realized that ending the war and cleaning up the city streets and the air and the water was not going to solve the spiritual hunger which all of us have and which of course has been the great mystery of life from the beginning of time.” At about 5AM H.R. Haldeman received a wakeup call from Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman, that the President was at the Lincoln Memorial. By that time Presidential Press Secretary Ron Ziegler had arrived. As the first rays of dawn came, Nixon shook hands with the nearest protesters and went back to his waiting limo.
May 9, Saturday: US forces opened a new front into the “Parrot’s Beak” region of Cambodia, while the US and the Saigon government initiated a naval blockade of a strip along the Cambodian coast.
In London, 5,000 people protesting this invasion of Cambodia marched on the US embassy.
In West Berlin, police battled thousands of anti-US demonstrators who hurled rocks and gasoline bombs.
In Washington DC, 100,000 marched against the Vietnam War. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 12, Tuesday: As some US troops began to withdraw from Cambodia, President Richard Milhous Nixon deemed his invasion an “enormous success.”
Great Britain granted autonomy to the Seychelles Islands.
In retaliation for the shelling of an Israeli village by Palestinian terrorists, Israeli forces entered Lebanon from the Golan Heights (after 32 hours during which they would kill 30 and capture 15, they would withdraw).
After 6 black protesters were killed by Augusta, Georgia police (autopsy would indicate that all 6 protesters against racism had been shot in the back), Governor Lester Maddox characterized the unrest as a “communist conspiracy,” declared a nighttime curfew, and ordered the state’s National Guard to shoot to kill if they happened to sight anyone out after dark.
Parable V op.112 for carillon by Vincent Persichetti was performed for the initial time, in Lawrence, Kansas.
May 20, Wednesday: Saigon government forces opened a new front into Cambodia from Duclap, north of Saigon.
An interview with Jean Starakis appeared in the Paris weekly L’Actualite. He described the tortures he endured as a prisoner of the Greek military government.
100,000 construction workers, longshoremen, and office workers, many wearing helmets, demonstrated around City Hall in New York City in support of our Quaker President Richard Milhous Nixon and his war policies. These guys really understood.
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
May 28, Thursday: North Vietnamese forces penetrated into Preyveng, east of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Student riots erupted in the Latin Quarter in Paris when police invaded a university building and arrested hundreds of students protesting the banning of a political group from campus.
43 Nobel laureates from the United States signed a letter to President Richard Milhous Nixon, asserting that the future of the nation depended on “a swift disengagement” from Southeast Asia (this letter would be made public on June 3d).
Ubung für Klavier by Gottfried Michael Koenig was performed for the initial time, in Bremen.
Ludwig van, a film with music by Mauricio Kagel, was shown for the 1st time, in the Künstlerhauskino, Vienna. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 20, Saturday: Speaking in Cleveland, Vice President Spiro Agnew named Senator J. William Fulbright, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator George McGovern, and Lawrence O’Brien, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, as having “developed a psychological addiction to an American defeat.”
June 22, Monday: Our usage of defoliants in Vietnam was halted.
The Defense Department admitted that its war planes had conducted missions as deep as 160 kilometers inside Cambodia despite President Richard Milhous Nixon having promised a limit of 35 kilometers.
El Cimmarón for speaker, baritone, flute, guitar and percussion by Hans Werner Henze to words of Barnet, was performed for the initial time, in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.
THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
“THIS IS TREASON.” “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
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September 22, Tuesday: The Nixon administration announced a resumption of arms sales to the military dictatorship in Greece.
September 30, Wednesday: After months of controversy the report of the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography was released. The commission had integrated many psychological and sociological studies into its report, which recommended that any and all laws prohibiting sale of sexual material to consenting adults should be repealed. Vice President Spiro Agnew would attack this recommendation with his trademark I- haven’t-been-caught-yet selfrighteousness: “As long as Richard Nixon is President, Main Street is not going to turn into Smut Alley.”13 PSYCHOLOGY
October 5, Monday: Communist forces resumed attacks on Taing Kauk, Cambodia.
Lebanese President Suleiman Franjieh ordered a plane carrying 43 Palestinian guerrillas from Iraq to leave Beirut airport. They would not be allowed to disembark.
Quebec separatists kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross in Montreal and announced demands for his release.
In a previously classified report, Nixon administration officials acknowledged that they had sent $143,800,000 of military equipment not approved by NATO to the Greek dictatorship since the NATO arms embargo had begun in 1967. Oops, you have caught us with our pants down.
October 7, Wednesday: In the course of a speech, President Richard Milhous Nixon proposed a “standstill” cease-fire in which all the combatants were simply to cease shooting at one another and remain in place pending a formal peace agreement. It would appear that this idea would not sound as plausible to the humorless people in charge in Hanoi, as it did to clueless TV audiences in America.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s “Happy Birthday, Wanda June” opened in New York and would continue through March 14, 1971 (it would be published by Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence).
October 12, Monday: Rain for orchestra by Peter Sculthorpe was performed for the initial time, in Sydney Town Hall.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that 40,000 more troops will be withdrawn from Vietnam by the end of the year.
Songs for Dov for tenor and small orchestra by Michael Tippett to his own words was performed for the initial time, at University College, Cardiff, the composer conducting. 13. You may have supposed, as many did, that the Vice President resigned in shame — but actually, he would claim after the fact in his book GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE, he resigned in fear, that unless he cooperated the President might make him have a “convenient accident,” which is to say, that Nixon might instruct that he be assassinated. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 29, Monday: Speaking in San Jose, California, President Richard Milhous Nixon was pelted with eggs, and rocks, by about 2,000 people. Fortunately, the citizens in San Jose aren’t very good at this sort of thing and were unable to injure our President. He immediately commented: The stoning at San Jose is an example of the viciousness of the lawless elements in our society. This was no outburst by a single individual. This was the action of an unruly mob that represents the worst in America. I have been careful to point out that these are the actions of a violent few. It is important that all Americans keep this perspective. But the time has come to take the gloves off and speak to this kind of behavior in a forthright way. Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly cannot exist when people who peacefully attend rallies are attacked with flying rocks. Tomorrow night at Anaheim I will discuss what America must do to end the wave of violence and terrorism by the radical antidemocratic elements in our society.
On November 3d at San Clemente, California, a further statement by Presidential Press Secretary Ronald L. Ziegler about this outrageous citizen behavior would be handed around to the reporters: Following the San Jose incident, there, of course, has been a lot of discussion and conjecture about it. I think everyone agrees that it was an unfortunate incident. As the President said, this violent act by a few should not reflect on San Jose, nor should it reflect on the capabilities of the San Jose police force. However, one thing, unfortunately, should be stated clearly, and this is the assessment of those riding in the Presidential car and in the Presidential motorcade. That is that the President’s car and motorcade came under a barrage of rocks as it left the San Jose Auditorium. It should be further said that reporters from various news organizations inspected the Presidential limousine and noted chips in the roof glass and other parts of the car. I give these comments, not to take specific issue with all of those who are discussing the San Jose incident, but simply to state two things — that published and broadcast reports of the incident were in no way exaggerated. It was a serious and unfortunate incident that I personally would hope never would occur again around the President of the United States and those accompanying him. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 12, Thursday: The cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich sent a letter to 4 Soviet newspapers defending Alyeksandr Solzhenitsyn. On this day he began a 36-hour general strike against the government in Argentina.
Although, secretly, President Richard Milhous Nixon had ordered our Central Intelligence Agency to ensure the defeat of Salvador Allende in the election for President of Chile, our CIA had failed in its task. On this date Allende, elected President of Chile. announced resumption of his nation’s diplomatic relations with Cuba.
This wasn’t a great day for France, but the day of the 2 funerals of Charles de Gaulle (the general had asked for a simple village service limited to family and local friends, but so many heads of state such as the Shahanshah of Iran and President Richard Milhous Nixon wanted to attend, that they were obliged to stage in addition a ceremony at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris; the general had asked for a simple casket but in fact his casket cost $9 more than usual due to his extreme height).
The Shahanshah delivered some remarks in French and the President delivered some words in English. As you can verify by watching this YouTube of the ceremonies, it is a mere canard to report the President as proclaiming “This is a great day for France” (in fact both the Shahanshah and the President succeeded in comporting themselves with perfect decorum).
This also wasn’t a great day for America. The General Courts-Martial of Lieutenant William Calley convened in regard to allegations of the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai began at Fort Benning, Georgia.
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December 9, Wednesday: Cambodian forces retook Puok, in the northwest, from the North Vietnamese.
The last defendant to testify in the trial of 16 Basque separatists in Burgos, Mario Onaindia, ended his testimony by shouting “Long live the free Basque people.” The courtroom erupted in turmoil and Onaindia ran toward the judges. Guards managed to restore order and the trial was concluded without the presence of the defendant.
Night Dances op.114 for orchestra by Vincent Persichetti was performed for the initial time, at Kiamesha Lake, New York.
December 10, Thursday: President Richard Milhous Nixon warned Hanoi that more bombing raids might ensue were the North Vietnamese attacks to continue in the South. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon
November 12, Thursday: The cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich sent a letter to 4 Soviet newspapers defending Alyeksandr Solzhenitsyn. On this day he began a 36-hour general strike against the government in Argentina.
Although, secretly, President Richard Milhous Nixon had ordered our Central Intelligence Agency to ensure the defeat of Salvador Allende in the election for President of Chile, our CIA had failed in its task. On this date Allende, elected President of Chile. announced resumption of his nation’s diplomatic relations with Cuba.
This wasn’t a great day for France, but the day of the 2 funerals of Charles de Gaulle (the general had asked for a simple village service limited to family and local friends, but so many heads of state such as the Shahanshah of Iran and President Richard Milhous Nixon wanted to attend, that they were obliged to stage in addition a ceremony at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris; the general had asked for a simple casket but in fact his casket cost $9 more than usual due to his extreme height).
The Shahanshah delivered some remarks in French and the President delivered some words in English. As you can verify by watching this YouTube of the ceremonies, it is a mere canard to report the President as proclaiming “This is a great day for France” (in fact both the Shahanshah and the President succeeded in comporting themselves with perfect decorum).
This also wasn’t a great day for America. The General Courts-Martial of Lieutenant William Calley convened in regard to allegations of the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai began at Fort Benning, Georgia.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY HDT WHAT? INDEX
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December 21, Monday: On the 19th, when Elvis Presley’s wife Priscilla and his father Vernon had complained that he was spending too much on Christmas presents –10 white Mercedes-Benz 280SLs at approximately $9,000 each, plus 32 handguns– Elvis’s reaction had been to dash to the Memphis airport and catch the next flight out of there. This happened to be one bound for Washington DC, but then he decided to go to his mansion in Los Angeles. Arriving at the LA airport at 3AM, traveling with some guns and his collection of police badges, he decided that what he really needed was a federal drug-agent badge. Priscilla Presley would mention in ELVIS AND ME, inaccurately, that “With the federal narcotics badge, he could legally enter any country both wearing guns and carrying any drugs he wished.” He took the red-eye back to Washington DC and aboard the aircraft crafted a 6-page missive to President Richard Milhous Nixon. “Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out.” To do this, he explained, he would need to carry the badge of a “Federal Agent-at- Large” in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. He would be staying at the Washington Hotel under the alias Jon Burrows and “would love to meet you.” At about 6:30AM he approached the entrance gate to the White House, where he handed his 6-page scribbled note to the guards. His note was delivered to Egil “Bud” Krogh, who took it to White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman. The functionaries recognized that this had the makings of a great publicity stunt. When Elvis arrived at the White House about noon, in a purple velvet suit with a gold belt-buckle and amber sunglasses, he had brought with him a display case containing a Colt .45 pistol, and the Secret Service quickly took this weapon into their possession. White House photographer Ollie Atkins snapped away as the two famous men posed together:
Egil Krogh took notes: “Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest.” The King advised the President that he’d been studying the drug culture, before asking for a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. When President acceded, Elvis gave him a hug. Krogh took Presley to lunch at the White House mess while the staff was scaring up something that could mimic the requisite narc badge, something on which they had replaced the logo SPECIAL AGENT with the letters ELVIS PRESLEY. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover would write to acknowledge Presley’s offer of assistance. (In 1988, years after Presley had died at the age of 42 of a drug overdose or heart attack and Nixon had gone back to private life disbarred and in disgrace, the National Archives would indicate that the photo above had become the most requested in Archives history.) HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1971
In an interview with Flash magazine, Groucho Marx said “I think the only hope this country has is Nixon’s assassination.” The federal attorneys declined to prosecute Marx under Title 18 U.S.C., Section 871 because he might have been joking: they had him classified as “an alleged comedian,” that amounting to a category of person who could not be considered to make “true threats” — and, that office noted carefully, the US Criminal Code had been interpreted by the US Supreme Court to cover only “true threats.”) “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon HDT WHAT? INDEX
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January 4, Monday: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat acknowledged for the first time that Soviet military personnel had been engaging in operational combat roles (six had been killed when Israel attacked a missile site).
“Exhortatio” from Tempus destruendi/Tempus aedificandi for chorus by Luigi Dallapiccola was performed for the initial time, in Beit HaHayal Auditorium, Jerusalem.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that “the end is in sight.” VIETNAM
“Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth — to see it as it is, and tell it like it is — to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.” — Republican Presidential nominee Richard Milhous Nixon, 1968 (a birthright Quaker)
Was he telling us the truth at this juncture? –Well, were his lips moving? HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
January 30, Saturday-April 6: In Operation Lam Son 719, an attempt to sever the Ho Chi Minh Trail, some 17,000 South Vietnamese soldiers attacked some 22,000 North Vietnamese soldiers inside Laos. There were no US troops on the ground but the South Vietnamese Army was aided by heavy US artillery and air strikes and was being ferried by American helicopter pilots. The operation bogged down and the North Vietnamese were able to bring in reinforcements. The South Vietnamese lost 7,682, nearly half their force. The body count of North Vietnamese came in at an estimated 20,000 or more, mostly said to be the result of the intense American bombardment. The end came as 40,000 North Vietnamese soldiers chased the approximately 8,000 South Vietnamese soldiers who had survived back into Vietnam. The US lost 215 soldiers and more than a hundred helicopters, and more than 600 additional choppers were damaged while in support of this offensive. President Richard Milhous Nixon would declare at the end of this operation that “Vietnamization has succeeded.” Was he telling us the truth? Well, were his lips moving?
February 1971: President Richard Milhous Nixon ordered the installation of what would become an extensive recording system in multiple locations. The only people with knowledge of the system were his White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, Haldeman’s aide Alexander Porter Butterfield who would later disclose the existence of the tapes to Watergate investigators, and some Secret Service technicians. The President would order that the system be turned off as the Watergate investigation would begin to become troublesome, during July 1973, after some 30 months of such raw historical records had accumulated.
March: Opinion polls indicated that President Richard Milhous Nixon’s approval rating among Americans has slipped to 50%, while approval of his Vietnam strategy has slipped to 34%. Half the Americans polled believed that our involvement in the war in Southeast Asia was “morally wrong.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon
March 9, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon told C.L. Sulzberger of the New York Times “I rate myself a deeply committed pacifist, perhaps because of my Quaker heritage from my mother.”14 THE QUAKER PEACE TESTIMONY
March 30, Tuesday: Communist forces closed Route 4 connecting Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the port of Kompong Som.
14. In fact, however, the President’s mother, Friend Hannah Milhous Nixon, deceased, had been a member of the East Whittier Friends Church near Los Angeles, California, which is an evangelical church rather than a meeting for silent worship, and is one which has never been recognized as in any manner pacifist in its orientation. We have no information as to when or where Nixon ever attended any, even one, Quaker silent worship, if ever in his life he did such a thing, or involved himself with any Quaker group that credited the Peace Testimony of Friend George Fox. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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March 31, Wednesday: Fighting began for Fire Base 6 near Dakto, Vietnam.
President Nguyen Van Thieu of the Saigon government announced that his invasion of Laos was “the biggest victory ever.”
The day arrived on which Lieutenant William Calley stood before the judge and got himself formally sentenced to life in prison at hard labor for the war crimes he had perpetrated at My Lai. (So, do you suppose an American guy who’s been sentenced to life in prison at hard labor for war crimes is actually going to be sent to prison to do some hard labor? Guess again. –Not while Tricky Dicky was in the White House in 1 Washington DC! Calley’s sentence would get reduced first to 20 years, then to 10 years, and after 3 /2 years of house arrest during his appeal process, due to the influence of President Richard Milhous Nixon — he would simply be released. He would wind up as a pudgy jewelry salesman, married to the boss’s daughter and with, to all appearances, absolutely nothing on his conscience. :-)
NOBODY HOME
(Jimmy Carter instituted “American Fighting Man’s Day” and asked Georgians to protest the injustice of his sentence by driving for a week with their lights on.)
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April 1, Thursday: President Richard Milhous Nixon ordered the convicted war criminal Lieutenant William Calley released pending his appeal. It’s so nice to have a Friend in the White House! MY LAI
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April 3, Saturday: President Richard Milhous Nixon committed to a personal review of the case of Lieutenant William Calley, who had been convicted of the commission of a mass murder of defenseless civilians, men, women, and children at My Lai. After all, President Nixon had been trained as a lawyer at the School of Law of Duke University, so he would be able to figure out if anything was wrong here! Yes!
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY
April 5, Monday: After a week of furious battle between North Vietnamese and Saigon government forces at Fire Base 6 near Dakto, no strategic change was noticeable.
Marxists began an armed insurrection throughout Ceylon.
Sonate à 12 for twelve solo voices by Betsy Jolas was performed for the initial time, in Royan.
April 7, Wednesday: In a nationwide address, President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that he was going to increase the rate of withdrawal from Vietnam. The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, long the country’s leading Quaker organization, posted a letter to the President rebuking him for having coupled references to his Quaker heritage with a defense of his Administration’s war policy in southeast Asia. On March 9th the President had told C.L. Sulzberger of the New York Times, “I rate myself a deeply committed pacifist, perhaps because of my Quaker heritage from my mother.” Charles K. Brown 3d, clerk of the Meeting, released a copy of its letter at the conclusion of the meeting’s annual session on Saturday: “If we are true to our faith, we can have no part in war.” THE QUAKER PEACE TESTIMONY
Two Croatian nationalists shot Vladimir Rolovic, the Yugoslav ambassador to Sweden at the embassy in Stockholm (Rolovic would die of his wounds on April 15th).
A nationwide general strike took place in Italy to show dissatisfaction with government action on housing and other social issues.
Calvary, a chamber opera by Thomas Pasatieri after Yeats, was performed for the initial time, in St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Seattle. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 12, Monday: China announced support for the Pakistani government in its attempt to suppress the rebellion in Bengal.
April 13, Tuesday: Chinese and US table tennis teams competed in Peking.
The New York Times reported that a cabinet has been formed for the rebel government of Bangladesh. It was headed by Tajuddin Ahmed as prime minister. Sheik Mujibur Rahman was named president despite being presently in custody.
Sonata no.3 for violin and piano by Lejaren Hiller was performed for the initial time, in Albany, New York.
April 14, Wednesday: The visiting US table tennis team was received by Prime Minister Chou En-lai in Peking, along with teams from the UK, Canada, Nigeria, and Colombia.
President Richard Milhous Nixon eased the 20-year-old trade embargo against China.
May 13, Thursday: President Richard Milhous Nixon: “The Bohemian Grove –which I attend, from time to time– it is the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine, with that San Francisco crowd. I can’t shake hands with anybody from San Francisco.”
Great Britain and the EEC announced agreement on a range of issues relative to British membership in the EEC.
Attorney-General John N. Mitchell claimed that recent anti-war demonstrations had been directed by Communists, and that “Communists have been part of the leadership and makeup of every mass demonstration.”
A jury found 13 Black Panthers not guilty of having plotted to bomb police stations and other public places in New York City.
Night in Memphis, a cantata for mezzo-soprano, male chorus and chamber orchestra by Sofia Gubaidulina to an ancient Egyptian text (translated by Akhmatova and Potapova), was performed for the 1st time, in Zagreb.
May 25, Tuesday: Over the last 2 days, about 160 soldiers had been killed in fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops along the border of East Pakistan and India.
Leonard Bernstein drove to Danbury Federal Prison in Connecticut to consult with Father Philip Berrigan about the ending of his “Mass” composition. Recently Mrs. Bernstein had raised $35,000 for the legal fees of the Berrigan brothers. The visit would cause Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover to presume that Berrigan was providing texts for the work which would prove embarrassing to President Richard Milhous Nixon, and he would therefore advise the President not to attend the premiere of this work in Washington DC. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 1, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon said he was going to “give the highest priority” to drug addiction amongst the country’s youth, especially those in the military in Vietnam.
The Argentine government announces that it will allow political parties to form and operate beginning July 1st.
June 10, Thursday: The “Corpus Christi Massacre” of student in Mexico City: when some 8,000 anti-government students marched in Mexico City from the Polytechnic Institute to downtown, they were attacked by some 500 conservative youths and at least 9 were killed and 160 injured while police stood by and made no attempt to interfere.
President Richard Milhous Nixon brought an end to a 20-year ban on trade with China.
Canada and the United States reached agreement to eliminate pollution from the Great Lakes by 1975.
June 12, Saturday: Dr. Daniel Ellsberg learned that the New York Times was going to begin publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers history of the Vietnam War. He gathered the materials from his apartment and took them to the home of a friend in order to protect them from being confiscated and destroyed by the American government. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 13, Sunday: A 3-day conference ended on this day in Epinary-sur-Seine, after having created a new unified French Socialist Party.
George Jackson replaced William Colby as head of CORDS in Vietnam.
In a 3-column story on the front page, the New York Times began publication of the HISTORY OF U.S. DECISION MAKING PROCESS ON VIETNAM POLICY, something they were terming the “Pentagon Papers.” This was the secret Defense Department archive, prepared during 1967, 1968, and 1969, of the paperwork involved in decisions made by previous White House administrations concerning Vietnam, that had been brought to them by Dr. Daniel Ellsberg. Publication of such government secrets infuriated President Richard Milhous Nixon, who observed to White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman that this was “criminally traitorous.”
The President would initially decide that it is best for the Administration to “keep out of it,” but later that day Henry Kissinger would begin urging the President to take action against the Times. Kissinger described Ellsberg, to his staff, as “the most dangerous man in America,” and instructed them that he “must be stopped at all costs.” Did he inform his staff that the very 1st step that Dr. Ellsberg had taken was to come to Kissinger himself, at the California White House of President Nixon, and attempt to persuade him to read the Pentagon Papers? Ellsberg would be indicted for theft, conspiracy, and espionage, though the Supreme Court would refuse to halt the publishing of the papers. WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 15, Tuesday: Mayor Alfonso Martínez Dominguez and Chief of Police Rogelio Flores Curiel of Mexico City resigned their posts on account of the “Corpus Christi Massacre” of students on June 10th.
The New York Times published the 3d installment in its series on the Pentagon Papers. Attorney-General John N. Mitchell sent a letter to the paper asking it to suspend publication of the series and turn over its copy. When the Times declined, the Justice Department filed a demand for an injunction in federal district court in New York. Judge Gurfein granted a temporary restraining order halting more installments in the series, and scheduled another hearing for the 17th. VIETNAM “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
June 16, Wednesday: Dr. Daniel Ellsberg contacted Ben Bagdikian at the Washington Post and offered him a copy of the Pentagon Papers. After meeting with Ellsberg in Cambridge, Bagdikian took 2 copies back to Washington DC, one for the Post and the other to be delivered to Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. A former New York Times reporter identified Ellsberg as the person responsible for giving the Pentagon Papers to the press. Ellsberg began moving from motel to motel as the FBI sought to interview him.
The US Conference of Mayors, meeting in Philadelphia, called for a withdrawal of US forces from Vietnam by the end of this year.
A conference of the 10 provincial premiers and the federal government in Victoria, British Columbia produced a draft constitutional charter for Canada.
Les trois souhaits, ou Les vicissitudes de la vie, a film opera by Bohuslav Martinu to words of Ribemont- Dessaignes was performed for the initial time, in Brno, 42 years after it had been composed.
Black Americans would riot over the following 5 nights in Jacksonville, Florida, with sniping and firebombs. 274 people would be arrested and $250,000 worth of damage would be done. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 17, Thursday: After a heated discussion of legal implications, the issue of whether to publish a story on the Pentagon Papers in the following morning’s edition of the Washington Post was taken to publisher Katherine Graham. Despite warnings about potentially grave consequences to the paper’s financial health, Graham decided “Okay, go ahead.” Editor Ben Bradlee announced her decision to an elated clump of editors and reporters. VIETNAM June 18, Friday: A hearing was held in New York City to decide whether to lift the restraining order issued against the Times. Later, the restraining order was dissolved but the order was stayed to give time for the government to file an appeal. Assistant Attorney General William Rehnquist called Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and informed him that the government considered further reports based on the Pentagon Papers to be a violation of espionage laws. Bradlee declined to turn over the document, and the Washington Post began its own publication of the Papers. These people just didn’t get it, and were going to persecute our President Richard Milhous Nixon who, of course, because he was the boss of the Secretary of the Department of Justice, considered himself to be literally above the law. The New York Times and the Post would become involved in a series of legal wrangles with the Nixon administration, wrangles which would soon find their way before the US Supreme Court. VIETNAM
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
June 19, Saturday: At 1:20AM a panel of the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily enjoined the Washington Post from publishing further materials about the Vietnam War based on the Pentagon Papers.
The Belgian Parliament approved laws granting autonomy in cultural affairs to the nation’s 3 main language groups, and declared a bilingual status for Brussels.
Jean-Paul Sartre was indicted on 4 counts of criminal libel against the police.
June 21, Monday: In Washington DC, Federal District Judge Gesell denied the federal government’s request for a preliminary injunction against the Washington Post. The administration of President Richard Milhous Nixon immediately appealed to the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
The International Court of Justice ruled that South Africa could no longer retain control over Namibia.
The US Defense Department estimated that 10% of our troops in Vietnam were using heroin. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 22, Tuesday: A non-binding resolution survived a vote in the US Senate, urging that all American troops be removed from Vietnam within 9 months of the return of all US prisoners of war.
The Boston Globe made itself the 3d newspaper to publish excerpts from the Pentagon Papers. A federal judge ordered publication halted and the papers impounded.
June 23, Wednesday: President Nguyen Van Thieu of the Saigon government signed a bill restricting the number of candidates allowed in upcoming presidential elections.
Great Britain reached agreement with the EEC on conditions for membership.
The Polish parliament granted the Roman Catholic Church title to buildings and lands in areas acquired from Germany after World War II.
The Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals, on a vote of 7 over 2, affirmed Judge Gesell’s decision denying the government an injunction against publication by the Washington Post. In New York City, after a hearing, the 2d Circuit remanded the case involving the New York Times to District Judge Gurfein for further “in camera” proceedings. It was determined that publication might resume after June 25th, but only if the Times did not print any material deemed by the government to be vital to national security. Meanwhile, portions of the Pentagon Papers were delivered to newspapers around the country. (injunctions were sought against the Boston Globe and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite interviewed Dr. Daniel Ellsberg. President Richard Milhous Nixon assured the federal Congress that he intended to release all 47 volumes of this report to them.
The government of Québec announced that it would not accept the new constitutional charter for Canada.
July 9, Friday: US troops withdrew from their final remaining positions just south of Vietnam’s Demilitarized Zone. They turn them over to Saigon government troops.
Violence flared again in Londonderry after the killings of the previous day. Catholics used gasoline bombs and rocks against British troops. A US-owned factory was set ablaze. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July 12, Monday: Before Protestant marches began in Belfast, several bombs went off along their intended route. In Londonderry, Catholics and British troops exchanged gunfire. 3 buildings were set alight.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover sent an ominous warning to Attorney-General John N. Mitchell and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman about “Mass” by Leonard Bernstein: “...important government officials, perhaps even the president, were expected to attend this ceremony and it was anticipated that they will applaud the composition without recognizing the true meaning of the words” (President Richard Milhous Nixon would not be present).15
Concert Piece for piano and orchestra by Shulamit Ran was performed for the initial time, in Tel Aviv, with the composer at the keyboard.
July 13, Tuesday: Meo tribesmen, under US direction, completed their conquest of the Plaine des Jarres in Laos.
10 high-ranking Moroccan military officers were executed for their part in the attempted coup of 3 days earlier.
2 British soldiers were killed on the previous day or this day in Belfast by IRA snipers, in retaliation for the killings of July 8th.
July 15, Thursday: A group of 45 Jews, in the 3d day of their hunger strike in Moscow’s central telegraph office to protest the failure of Soviet authorities to process their applications for emigration to Israel, were taken into custody. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that Premier Chou En-lai had invited him to visit Communist China in 1972 and that he has accepted — a major diplomatic breakthrough by our foreign relations president.16 VIETNAM “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon
15. We have it on the authority of G. Gordon Liddy, who never told a lie, that Counsel to the President John W. Dean III characterized this composition as “definitely anti-war and anti-establishment, etc.” 16. For more about this, you can listen to Philip Glass’s “Nixon in China,” available on CD. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July 17, Saturday: In the Nixon White House, Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman and Special Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson created a secret surveillance unit known as the “Plumbers” to conduct an investigation of this Dr. Daniel Ellsberg who had leaked the Pentagon Papers, and to “plug” various other news leaks.
WATERGATE
Did Ellsberg have a secret mental history that President Richard Milhous Nixon could obtain through a burglary of his shrink’s office? Special Presidential Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson had his assistant George T. Bell begin to compile an “enemies list,” featuring the names of some 200 prominent Americans such as Barbra Streissand considered to be interfering with their boss’s best efforts for America.17 VIETNAM July 20, Tuesday: 10,000 troops of the Saigon government invaded Cambodia.
17. Since then, being “on the list” has become a matter of pride for many of these Americans, who have been able to feature this in their resumes. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
August 13, Friday: NATO announced it would close its Mediterranean naval headquarters on Malta in accordance with a request from the Maltese government.
Attorney-General John N. Mitchell explained that no federal grand jury was going to be empaneled to investigate the National Guard killings of 4 students, at Kent State University in the previous year. Hey, get over it, these things happen.
August 15, Sunday: President Richard Milhous Nixon imposed a 90-day freeze on wages, rents, and prices and untied the value of the US dollar from gold. He also imposed a 10% import surtax (this was, of course, a major reversal of his economic policies as well as adoption of a program that had been advocated by his political opponents). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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September 3, Friday: The State of Qatar, under Emir Sheikh Ahmad ben Ali ben Abdullah al-Thani and Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifah ibn Hamad al-Thani, was declared independent of Great Britain.
In Berlin, the Four Powers signed a draft agreement for their control over that city.
In an effort to destroy Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s reputation or to obtain materials with which he might be blackmailed, the secret White House group known as the “Plumbers” led by E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy burglarized the Beverly Hills, Los Angeles office of Dr. Lewis Fielding and made off with confidential medical records. They would find that they had turned up nothing of any interest to anyone other than Ellsberg and, conceivably, his shrink. WATERGATE
September 9, Thursday: The South Korean Defense Minister announced that his nation’s army would begin withdrawing from South Vietnam during December.
About 1,000 inmates took over a cell block at the Attica State Correctional Facility in New York State. They took 32 guards and civilian employees hostage and issued a list of 15 demands.
In Montevideo, Tupamaro guerrillas released British ambassador Geoffrey Jackson after having held him for 8 months.
November 12, Friday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced an intention to withdraw a further 45,000 US troops from Vietnam by February 1st.
November 13, Saturday: North Vietnamese troops overran Rumlong northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, killing or capturing almost all the government troops therein.
The 6-week-old strike of 100,000 coal miners in the United States was settled. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 16, Tuesday: Greece and Albania resumed full diplomatic relations.
The US Commission on Civil Rights denounced the Nixon administration for failing to enforce the civil rights laws of the nation.
Impromptu no.2 for flute, oboe, and clarinet by Thea Musgrave was performed for the initial time, at University College, Cardiff.
No Longer Than Ten Minutes for orchestra by R. Murray Schafer was performed for the initial time, in Toronto.
November 18, Thursday: University students in Zagreb struck. Their demands ranged from an end to economic exploitation of Croatia to better conditions in the dorms.
The convention of the AFL-CIO in Bal Harbour, Florida adopted a policy of non-cooperation with Phase Two of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s economic stabilization program.
December 14, Tuesday: Invading Saigon-government forces captured Chup in eastern Cambodia, without opposition.
The entire government of East Pakistan resigned and disassociated itself from the Pakistani government.
Meeting in the Azores, President Richard Milhous Nixon and French President Georges Pompidou reached agreement on the formal devaluation of the dollar and a realignment of the world’s currencies.
December 18, Saturday: The bodies of 150 Bengali intellectuals were found in a ditch outside Dacca. They had been taken hostage and killed just prior to the Pakistani surrender.
Greek Prime Minister Georgios Papadapoulos announced that, beginning with the new year, martial law would be restricted to Attica, Thessaloniki, and the Aegean Islands.
Finance Ministers and central bank governors of 10 industrialized nations, meeting in Washington DC, reached agreement on a realignment of currencies throughout the world. The US dollar was devalued 8.57% against gold.
President Richard Milhous Nixon signed the Alaska Native Lands Settlement Act whereby native Alaskans were to receive $962,500,000 from the federal government and the State of Alaska, along with 16,000,000 hectares of land on which no white person had as yet discovered anything of value, and mineral rights for any minerals in that area that had not yet been discovered and pre-claimed by these white people. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1972
Since the annual Anniversary dinner of the War Resisters League did not actually take place, a “Non-award” was made to honor activist Ann McVey Upshure.
The Center for Cuban Studies was established in New York City to promote cultural and academic exchange.
A break-in at the Watergate Hotel in beautiful downtown Washington DC marked the beginning of a drama that would culminate after more than 2 years with the resignation from office of President Richard Milhous Nixon. In his book THE ENDS OF POWER, former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman would charge that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had sanitized its involvement both in Watergate and in the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and that the Oval Office tapes contained hidden clues. Nixon’s references to “Bay of Pigs,” according to Haldeman, were in regard to the assassination of President Kennedy just as his references to “the Cubans” pertained to the Watergate operatives (most of whom were in fact ex-Battista thugs). While such retrojections are implausible we may note that on the tape President Nixon characterized the “report” of the Warren Commission accurately as “the greatest hoax that has ever been perpetuated.”
January 5, Wednesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon instructed NASA to begin work on a space shuttle.
January 11, Tuesday: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces carried out 34 attacks throughout South Vietnam.
January 13, Thursday: President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced that Pakistan would break diplomatic relations with any country that recognized Bangladesh.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that a further 70,000 US troops would be withdrawn from South Vietnam over the following 3 months. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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January 25, Tuesday: In The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh charged the US Army with having destroyed documents pertaining to the murder of hundreds of civilians by US troops at My Lai.
Eight Tone Poems for Two Violas by Otto Luening was performed for the initial time, in Albany, New York.
President Richard Milhous Nixon revealed that National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger has been secretly negotiating with the North Vietnamese and announced a proposed 8-point peace plan (however, Hanoi would reject this overture).
February 3, Thursday: The Eleventh Winter Olympic Games opened in Sapporo, Japan.
When Soviet poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko briefly visited the White House, he shook hands with President Richard Milhous Nixon.
February 14, Monday: A ban on about 12 books was lifted by the Chinese government.
President Richard Milhous Nixon removed China from some export controls.
“The Trial of Mary Lincoln,” a television opera by Thomas Pasatieri to words of Bailey, was performed over the airwaves of television station WGBH, Boston, for the initial time. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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February 21, Monday-28, Monday: This year was marked by the return of the island of Okinawa, seized during World War II, to the control of Japan.
As a further great leap forward, our foreign policy president, Richard Milhous Nixon, went as promised to meet Chairman Mao Zedong and Prime Minister Zhou Enlai in Beijing. Nixon’s visit caused great concern in Hanoi that, in order to improve Chinese relations with the US, their wartime ally China might agree to some unfavorable settlement of the war.
Visiting the Great Wall of China with Secretary of State William Rogers, President Nixon commented “I think you will have to agree, Mr. Secretary, that this is a great wall.” He and the leaders of the PRC seemed to have so little difficulty understanding one another!
After six weeks and winning their demands, the coal miners of Britain called off their strike.
The Soviet space probe Luna 20 made a soft landing on the moon and began drilling into the surface for specimens. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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WALDEN: The religion and civilization which are barbaric and PEOPLE OF heathenish build splendid temples; but what you might call WALDEN Christianity does not. Most of the stone a nation hammers goes towards its tomb only. It buries itself alive. As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby, whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the Nile, and then given his body to the dogs. I might possibly invent some excuse for them and him, but I have no time for it. As for the religion and love of art of the builders, it is much the same all the world over, whether the building be an Egyptian temple or the United States Bank. It costs more than it comes to. The mainspring is vanity, assisted by the love of garlic and bread and butter. Mr. Balcom, a promising young architect, designs it on the back of his Vitruvius, with hard pencil and ruler, and the job is let out to Dobson & Sons, stonecutters. When the thirty centuries begin to look down on it, mankind begin to look up at it. As for your high towers and monuments, there was a crazy fellow once in this town who undertook to dig through to China, and he got so far that, as he said, he heard the Chinese pots and kettles rattle; but I think that I shall not go out of my way to admire the hole which he made. Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and East, –to know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them, –who were above such trifling.
MARCUS VITRUVIUS POLLIO DE ARCHITECTVRA LIBRI DECEM EGYPT
February 26, Saturday: President Richard Milhous Nixon and his party flew from Peking to Hangchow.
When the Italian Senate refused to vote confidence in the new government of Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, the government resigned.
Hexachords for flute by Joan Tower was performed for the initial time, at New York University, New York City.
All of George Crumb’s music to the words of Federico Garcia Lorca was performed together for the first time, at Oberlin Conservatory. The works were Madrigals Books I-IV, Night Music I, Songs, Drones and Refrains of Death, Night of the Four Moons, and Ancient Voices of Children. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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February 27, Sunday: President Richard Milhous Nixon and his party visited Shanghai.
February 28, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon departed from China. The 2 countries issue a joint communiqué laying out their agreements and differences and pledged to work toward a normalization of relations.
Great Britain’s coal miners returned to work after a 47-day strike. They had accepted recommendations of a special court of inquiry.
President Giovanni Leone dissolved the Parliament and calls early elections.
US Senator Sam Ervin filed a brief in a Supreme Court case that showed that surveillance by the US Army on citizens was much more widespread than previously known. Among those targeted were US Senators and Representatives (all, by some curious coincidence, Democratic), state governors, and a Supreme Court justice.
March 14, Tuesday: At the White House, President Richard Milhous Nixon was musing as was his wont on the deplorable situation in the federal government:
“Look at the Justice Department, it’s full of Jews.... Listen, the lawyers in government are damn Jews.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon, on tape, 1972
Our guy also had some thoughts about the protestors in the streets:
“...a wild orgasm of anarchists sweeping across the country like a prairie fire.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon, on tape, 1972 HDT WHAT? INDEX
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March 16, Thursday: The Commission on Population Growth and the American Future, appointed by President Richard Milhous Nixon, recommended that states liberalize their laws against abortion.
In an article in Nature, Paul Lauterbur of SUNY Stony Brook showed how the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei could be used to create a detailed picture of the body. This would come to be known as magnetic resonance imaging or “MRI.”
Works by Anton Webern were performed for the initial time at the Fifth International Webern Festival in Vienna: Eight Orchestra Fragments (1911-1913) and a String Trio Movement (1927).
Three Clarinets, Cello and Piano for three clarinets, cello, and piano by Morton Feldman was performed for the initial time, over the airwaves of the BBC originating in London.
Windows for orchestra by Jacob Druckman was performed for the initial time, in Chicago, conducted by Bruno Maderna (the work would be awarded a Pulitzer Prize).
March 19, Sunday: Life Magazine made public allegations that the Nixon administration obstructed efforts of law enforcement officials in prosecuting its friends in the San Diego area.
Sonata quasi una fantasia for clarinet and piano by George Perle was performed for the initial time, in Buffalo, the composer at the keyboard.
March 22, Wednesday: The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse recommended that all criminal penalties for possession of marijuana be abolished. The commission had been appointed by President Richard Milhous Nixon and Congress. Its recommendations would of course be ignored.
The US Congress approved an amendment to the Constitution barring discrimination on the basis of sex (this would be sent to the several states of the Union for ratification).
March 23, Thursday: The US boycotted the Paris peace talks while President Richard Milhous Nixon accused Hanoi of refusing to “negotiate seriously.”
March 30, Thursday: The North Vietnamese Army began its “Easter” attack on Quang Tri. South Vietnam’s Army had performed very poorly during Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971. From March into September, in what would be known as the Easter offensive, General Vo Nguyen Giap’s 200,000 soldiers would be waging an all-out attempt to conquer the South. The offensive was a tremendous gamble for General Giap but was being undertaken because US troop withdrawals, and the strength of the anti-Vietnam movement in America, were likely to prevent any US retaliatory response. They were attempting to capture of Quang Tri in the northern part of South Vietnam, Kontum in the mid-section, and An Loc in the Mekong Delta. North Vietnam’s leaders were hoping that a successful offensive would harm President Richard Milhous Nixon politically during this presidential election year in America, much as President Lyndon Baines Johnson had suffered as a result of the 1968 Tet Offensive, as they believed that Nixon’s removal would disrupt American assistance to South HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Vietnam.
Great Britain imposed direct rule over Northern Ireland to try to bring order to the beleaguered province. Prime Minister Heath appointed William Whitelaw to the newly created post of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Frederick Cheney “Fred” LaRue attended a meeting in Key Biscayne, Florida, with his friend Attorney- General John N. Mitchell and Jeb Stuart Magruder (Mitchell, having announced his resignation as Attorney General on February 15th, had taken over as head of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President effective March 1st). Later the 3 men would be unable to agree on anything that had happened during this meeting, but according to the account provided by Magruder they had approved an “Operation Gemstone” and other “dirty tricks” against the Democratic Party. In 2003 Magruder would relate for the 1st time that it had been at this meeting that President Nixon had spoken with Mitchell on the phone, giving specific approval for the Watergate burglary. –But who knows what to believe?
Spring: Sally McCluskey’s “BLACK ELK SPEAKS: And So Does John Neihardt” (Western American Literature 6: 231- 242).
In a plan to divide and conquer the Democrats and cause them to nominate to run against him the candidate whom he might most readily defeat at the polls, the aides of President Richard Milhous Nixon played various dirty tricks including the forgery of letters expressly calculated to produce ill-will. WATERGATE
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
April 2, Sunday: Facing a North Vietnamese offensive, Saigon government troops abandoned the northern half of Quangtri Province.
In response to the Easter offensive, President Richard Milhous “No More Mr. Nice Guy” Nixon authorized the US 7th Fleet to shower air strikes and naval gunfire upon North Vietnamese Army troops massing around the Demilitarized Zone.
April 4, Tuesday: In a further response to the Easter attacks, President Richard Milhous Nixon authorized a massive bombing campaign targeting all North Vietnamese troops invading the South, along with B-52 air strikes against North Vietnam. “The bastards have never been bombed like they’re going to bombed this time,” Nixon indicated privately. If you think you can fool around, you don’t know Dick. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
April 25, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon was recorded on tape in the White House, engagedinadeep- think conversation about tactics in Vietnam with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger: HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“I’d rather use the nuclear bomb.... The nuclear bomb. Does that bother you? I just want you to think big, Henry, for Christ’s sake.... You’re so goddamned concerned about the civilians, and I don’t give a damn.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon, on tape, 1972
VIETNAM ATOM BOMB
“Fiddle-dee-dee, war, war, war, I get so bored I could scream!” —Scarlet O’Hara HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 26, Wednesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced 20,000 more troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam over the following 2 months.
Linaia-Agon for horn, trombone and tuba by Iannis Xenakis was performed for the initial time, in London.
Three vocal works with words by Frank O’Hara were performed for the initial time, in the Whitney Museum, New York: from “Sneden’s Landing Variations” for voice and piano by Virgil Thomson, I Will Always Love You, a song by Ned Rorem, and Three Airs for Frank O’Hara’s Angel for speaker, soprano, female chorus, four instruments and tape ad lib by Lukas Foss.
April 27, Thursday: North Vietnamese forces advanced to within 5 kilometers of Quangtri.
Kwame Nkrumah died in Bucharest.
Vietnam peace talks resumed in Paris a month after President Richard Milhous Nixon had suspended them.
At 1945 UTC Astronauts Don Young, Charles Duke and Ken Mattingly returned to earth aboard their spacecraft Apollo 16, in the Pacific Ocean southeast of Christmas Island, within 2 kilometers of their target.
April 29, Saturday: The provincial capital of Kontum was surrounded by North Vietnamese troops.
After 5 years under a ban by the mayor of Buenos Aires on moral grounds, Alberto Ginastera’s dramatic cantata Bomarzo was given its Argentine premiere in the Teatro Colón.
April 30, Sunday: US troop levels in Vietnam dropped to 69,000.
May: The total destruction of antipersonnel biological agents and munitions was, allegedly, at this point complete as had been ordered by President Richard Milhous Nixon in 1969. (We now suspect, however, that the Central Intelligence Agency had simply ignored the President, and continued its research.)
GERM WARFARE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 3, Wednesday: Saigon government troops fleeing Quang Tri rampaged through the streets of Hué, intimidating civilians and looting.
The body of J. Edgar Hoover lay in state in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Washington DC, as politician after politician came around to find out if it could really be true. (Frenzied efforts were made to locate and destroy all the blackmail files he had been keeping for so many years in his office, in order to ensure that his influence had been laid to rest for good.) In a ceremony at the White House, President Richard Milhous Nixon appointed longtime FBI operative L. Patrick Gray III as Acting Director (when Gray’s questionable personal role in the Watergate burglary would be revealed by the press, he would withdraw his name from the Senate’s consideration).
Cuba’s Fidel Castro began a 63-day tour of Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union.
May 8, Monday: The FBI Academy opened a new training facility on the US Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Virginia.
In response to the North Vietnamese Army’s ongoing Easter offensive, President Richard Milhous Nixon announced Operation Linebacker I, the mining of North Vietnam’s harbors combined with intensified bombing of roads, bridges, and oil facilities. The announcement would bring international condemnation of the US and ignite another round of anti-war protests across America. “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
May 22, Monday: Ceylon became the Republic of Sri Lanka. Governor-General William Gopallawa became the first president.
President Richard Milhous Nixon arrived in Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders and treaty signings. This was the 1st visit of an American president to Moscow. He woiuld be there until May 30th and would meet with Leonid Brezhnev to forge new diplomatic relations. Nixon’s visit caused great concern in Hanoi that their Soviet ally might be inclined to agree to an unfavorable settlement of the war to improve Soviet relations with the US. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon
May 26, Friday: The SALT I Antiballistic Missile Treaty limiting both offensive and defensive nuclear weapons was signed by President Richard Milhous Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in Moscow.18
May 28, Sunday: Former King Edward VIII of Great Britain, the Duke of Windsor, died in Paris of cancer at the age of 77.
President Richard Milhous Nixon made a nationwide television address to the Soviet people from Moscow.
June 17, Saturday: New works by British composers in honor of Igor Stravinsky were performed for the 1st time, in St. John’s Smith Square, London on the 90th anniversary of Stravinsky’s birth: In memoriam Magistri for flute, clarinet and string quartet by Michael Tippett, the 1st live performance of Canon in memoriam Igor Stravinsky for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet by Peter Maxwell Davies, and Tombeau in memoriam Igor Stravinsky for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet by Harrison Birtwistle.
“...explosante-fixe...” (first realization) for flute, clarinet and trumpet by Pierre Boulez was performed for the first time, in London.
Washington DC security guard Frank Willis noticed something suspicious and called the police to report an apparent break-in, and 5 burglars, speaking Cuban Spanish, were discovered to be lurking inside the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate office building. It would be discovered that the men had ties to the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP) and had been attempting to plant hidden microphones in Democratic National Committee offices. Subsequent investigations would reveal that these men were ex-Batista thugs who after Fidel Castro took over Cuba had gone to work covertly for the White House! Go figure. (This event would several years later result in President Richard Milhous Nixon resigning to avoid being impeached.)
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
(It is worth remembering here that Nixon’s 1st break-in had been while he was a scholarship law student at Duke University — he had broken into the dean’s office to take an advance peek at his class standing.)
18. In December 2001 the US would officially withdraw from this major arms control accord of the nuclear era. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 23, Friday: In the White House, President Richard Milhous Nixon and his White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman discussed a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s Watergate investigation (revelation of the tape recording of this “smoking gun” conversation would be what would spark our President’s resignation in 1974).
Floodwater from Hurricane Agnes swelled to 29.7 feet at Harpers Ferry but caused relatively little damage.
July 5, Wednesday: Pierre Mesmer replaced Jacques Chaban-Delmas as Prime Minister of France.
After conferring with the military dictators of Greece in Athens, US Secretary of State William Rogers asserted President Richard Milhous Nixon’s positive view of his country’s “close relationship” with Greece.
July 16, Sunday: Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua (a Hawaiian, also known as Daigoro Takamiyama) became the 1st non-Japanese to win the Emperor’s Cup in sumo. A congratulatory telegram from President Richard Milhous Nixon was read aloud in English, which marks the sole occasion on which the English language has ever been officially heard enamating from a Tokyo sumo ring. (When, on November 26, 1989, the Samoan American sumotori Konishiki Yasokichi would become the 2d United States citizen to win the Emperor’s Cup, the diplomat who would read new US President George H.W. Bush’s congratulatory telegram would render the President’s words into Japanese.)
August 23, Wednesday: The last US combat troops exited Vietnam. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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August 29, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that US troop levels in Vietnam would be reduced from 39,000 to 27,000 by December 1st (this did not include the 100,000 US military involved in air operations from outside Vietnam).
August 30, Wednesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that John W. Dean III, Counsel to the President, had completed his investigation into the Watergate wiretapping debacle. No one from the White House had been involved. I’m your President, your President wouldn’t lie to you. Mr. Dean is a lawyer, a member of the bar of justice, so he wouldn’t lie either. You can trust us.
The government of South Vietnam seized 3 more Saigon newspapers for criticizing the government.
The Transamazonian Highway was opened.
September 16, Thursday: Police used tear gas to break up a rally in Saigon opposing the upcoming single-solitary- candidate presidential election.
Laotian government forces recaptured Paksong, near the Ho Chi Minh Trail, from the North Vietnamese.
The Viola in My Life IV for viola and orchestra by Morton Feldman was performed for the initial time, in Venice.
September 18, Saturday: 4 separate rallies took place in Saigon, in opposition to the upcoming single-solitary- candidate presidential election. Some of these rallies became violent.
Egyptian and Israeli forces began exchanging barrages with one another bigtime across the Suez Canal, for the 1st time since August of last year.
Justices Hugo L. Black and John Marshall Harlan having retired from the Supreme Court on the previous day, Oval Office tapes captured a conversation between President Richard Milhous Nixon asked Atorney-General John N. Mitchell: “To play an awful long shot, is there a woman yet? That would be a hell of a thing if we could do it.” SEXISM
September 19, Sunday: Justices Hugo L. Black and John Marshall Harlan having retired on Friday, Oval Office tapes captured a conversation between President Richard Milhous Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman about the political rewards he saw in the next election, in appointing a woman to the Supreme Court. He also mused “I’m not for women in any job. I don’t want any of them around. Thank God we don’t have any in the cabinet.” SEXISM HDT WHAT? INDEX
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September 26, Sunday: Several people opposed to President Nguyen Van Thieu form the People’s Coordinating Committee Against Dictatorship in Saigon. They include Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky, General Duong Van Minh, students, Buddhists, and veterans. They called for a boycott of the October 3d single-solitary-candidate election.
North Vietnamese forces begin an offensive along the Cambodia-South Vietnam border.
Who were these Children? for voice and piano op.84 to words of Soutar, was performed completely for the initial time, in Snape Maltings Concert Hall, with the composer Benjamin Britten himself at the keyboard.
September 29, Wednesday: Saigon government troops began a counteroffensive to hold onto their gains in eastern Cambodia.
September 30, Thursday: Agreement on Measures to Reduce the Risk of Outbreak of Nuclear War between the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR). READ THE FULL TEXT
The Oval Office tapes captured President Richard Milhous Nixon commenting to Attorney-General John N. Mitchell that appointing a woman to the Supreme Court would gain him an additional percent or 2 of the vote in 1972: “So I lean to a woman only because, frankly, I think at this time, John, we got to pick up every half a percentage point we can.” He elaborated on the fact that this would be with the opposition of Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, as well as being against his own inclinations: “I don’t think a woman should be in any government job whatever. I mean, I really don’t. The reason why I do is mainly because they are erratic. And emotional. Men are erratic and emotional, too, but the point is a woman is more likely to be.” SEXISM HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1972
August 26, Saturday: The Games of the 20th Olympiad of the Modern Era opened in München.
Uncovering violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP), successor to the Plumbers group in the White House, the General Accounting Office contacted the Department of Justice.
Ekecheiria for tape by Krzysztof Penderecki to words of Pindar was performed for the initial time, at the opening ceremonies.
Music for a Silent Film for 2 pianos and percussion by Peter Maxwell Davies, Simon Bainbridge and Oliver Knussen was performed for the initial time, in Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.
September 15, Friday: Saigon government forces completed their recapture of Quangtri, capital of the northernmost province of South Vietnam, after 3 months of vicious fighting.
14 Saigon newspapers ceased operations when they failed to meet a government deadline to post a $47,000 bond against possible censorship fines. None of the folded papers were pro-government.
5 Watergate burglars and 2 former White House aides were indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington DC for conspiring to break into the headquarters of the Democratic Party.
Strict new censorship was imposed on the press in Brazil following criticism of the military government in conservative newspapers.
Luis Buñuel’s film Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie was released in France.
October 10, Tuesday: A nationwide strike against the government by truckers began in Chile. 159 of the truckers were taken into custody.
The Washington Post reported that the Watergate break-in had been only a small part of a much wider Republican plot to spy on and sabotage Democratic candidates. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 22, Sunday: National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger visited President Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon and the meeting went badly as an emotional Thieu adamantly opposed allowing North Vietnamese troops to remain indefinitely in South Vietnam. Kissinger angrily reported Thieu’s reaction to President Richard Milhous Nixon, who threatened a total cut-off of American assistance. Thieu did not back down and Kissinger flew back to Washington DC.
Operation Linebacker I ended. US warplanes flew 40,000 sorties and dropped over 125,000 tons of bombs during this bombing campaign, which effectively disrupted North Vietnam’s Easter Offensive. During the failed offensive, the North suffered an estimated 100,000 military casualties and lost half its tanks and artillery. The leader of the offensive, the legendary General Vo Nguyen Giap, the victor at Dien Bien Phu, would be quietly ousted in favor of his deputy General Van Tien Dung. 40,000 South Vietnamese soldiers died in the stopping of this offensive, in the heaviest fighting of the war.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 23, Monday: As a direct result of concessions made by North Vietnam at the Paris peace talks, US warplanes discontinued its bombing of North Vietnam targets north of the 20th parallel.
An article in the issue of TIME magazine that bears this date linked a Republican sabotage effort against the Democratic presidential campaign directly to the Nixon White House, asserting that according to files it had seen at the Department of Justice, Los Angeles attorney Donald Henry Segretti, who had previously been involved in spy operations against Democratic campaigns, had been hired during September by Dwight Lee Chapin, a deputy assistant to President Nixon, and Gordon Creighton Strachan, a White House staff assistant (who considered themselves “The Ratfuckers”).
October 25, Wednesday: A report in the Washington Post listed 5 men in charge of a secret Republican cash fund which paid for undercover activities against Democrats. Among those listed were White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and Herbert Warren Kalmbach, personal attorney to President Richard Milhous Nixon. The report was denied by all named.
Amidst widespread violence Chilean President Salvador Allende reached agreement with striking truckers to stop the nationwide walkout.
Gagok for voice, guitar and percussion by Isang Yun was performed for the initial time, in Barcelona.
November 6, Monday: Agreement was reached in Bonn between East and West Germany for eventual diplomatic relations and admission to the UN.
The British government imposed a 90-day freeze on wages, prices, rents and dividends.
In its issue dated today, TIME Magazine disclosed that the FBI has been enlisted in the reelection effort of President Richard Milhous Nixon. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 7, Tuesday: 11 air force officers were sentenced to death for their parts in the attempt to overthrow King Hassan II of Morocco.
La Fauvette des Jardins for piano by Olivier Messiaen was performed for the initial time, in L’Espace Cardin, Paris.
Parable VIII op.120 for horn by Vincent Persichetti was performed for the initial time, in Alice Tully Hall, New York.
Something we have been struggling mightily to forget: it was not in any close-call election, but in the most overwhelming electoral landslide to date in US history, that President Richard Milhous Nixon achieved his 2d term as our President, carrying 49/50 states (520 votes over 17 in the electoral college) with all of 61% of the popular vote. There was something about this guy that we liked very much (at least for the moment). VIETNAM
THE HISTORIAN’S PROBLEM IS ONE OF SUPPOSING THAT NOW IS THE WHY OF THEN. VERY MUCH TO THE CONTRARY, NOW IS NOT THE WHY OF THEN: IN RADICAL CONTRAST, THEN WAS THE HOW OF NOW. INOTHER WORDS, HISTORIANS WHO ANTICIPATE OFFEND AGAINST REALITY. A HISTORY WRITTEN IN THE LIGHT OF SUBSEQUENT EVENTS IS SPURIOUS MAKE-BELIEVE. TO DO A GOOD JOB OF RECORDING HISTORY, ONE MUST BE IGNORANT (OR FEIGN IGNORANCE) OF EVERYTHING THAT IN FACT WE NOW KNOW HAS FOLLOWED.
November 13, Monday: In the case of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo about the Pentagon Papers record of the Vietnam War, the US Supreme Court voted 7 over 2 to decline to hear defense arguments arising from the prosecution’s illicit wiretap of a conversation between one of these defendants and his lawyer or consultants. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 14, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon wrote secretly to President Nguyen Van Thieu, to threaten that if North Vietnam were to violate the proposed peace treaty there would be “swift and severe retaliatory action.”
Now for a little lesson in logic. Many arguments are based on a simple “if... then” structure. These arguments are so common and useful they have been awarded a special Latinate name, modus ponens.
In addition to the phrase “modus ponens,” logicians have special technical words for the various features of these arguments. The “If... Then” premise is called a conditional, and the two truth claims, the beginning one and the end one, are called the antecedent and the consequent: Main Premise (antecedent) Helping Premise (If antecedent, then consequent) Conclusion (consequent) The solid connection between premises and conclusion is known as deductive validity. If both premises are true, then the argument is sound. In the next, generalized, illustration, the letters P and Q are used to stand for the distinct claims expressed in whole sentences. Main Premise (P) Helping Premise (If P then Q) Conclusion (Q) HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Consider the following example of an argument purporting to have valid logical structure and purporting to be dealing in true assertions:
Obviously, the above is a proper use of the modus ponens form of logic. Now let’s consider another one: President Richard Milhous Nixon was proclaimed to be a Quaker. A Quaker would have opposed the war in Vietnam. Therefore, Friend Richard opposed the war in Vietnam.
Although they are about very different topics, these two arguments have the same basic structure: Notice that the claim P occurs twice: once in the main premise, and once after the If part of the helping premise. The claim Q also occurs twice: once after the then part of the helping premise, and once in the conclusion. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The nice thing about modus ponens arguments is that their conclusions are quite as good as their premises. The connection between premises and conclusion is solid. This means that all you really have to do in order to evaluate a modus ponens argument is check for the sense in which the premises are true. In this modus ponens argument, if the premises are both at least probably true, the reasoning must be strong and the conclusion must be established. As always, if there is a sense in which at least one of the premises is not true, the reasoning may well be incorrect and lead to spurious conclusions. Contrariwise, if the conclusion is obviously false, then one or the other of the premises was also, in some important sense, false. The inference above is an improper one because there was a very real sense in which Richard Nixon, although he had been raised by a Quaker mother in a Quaker church, and although he was never officially disowned by that church, should not be considered to have been a Quaker.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS “[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton HDT WHAT? INDEX
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December 12, Tuesday: Judge William M. Byrne Jr. declared a mistrial in the case of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo about the Pentagon Papers and their description of the Vietnam War, and ordered a new jury empaneled.
December 13, Wednesday: The British Labor Party decided that it was going to boycott the European Parliament for at least a year.
At the end of 2 months, President Park Chung Hee of South Korea ended martial law.
In Paris, peace negotiations between National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho collapsed after Kissinger presented a list of 69 changes demanded by President Nguyen Van Thieu. President Richard Milhous Nixon then issued an ultimatum to North Vietnam that serious negotiations must resume within 72 hours. Hanoi would not respond and our president would authorize Operation Linebacker II — eleven days and nights of all-out B-52 pounding of military targets in Hanoi.
Kissinger and Le Duc Tho would return to their respective capitals.
December 18, Monday: Operation Linebacker II began as President Richard Milhous Nixon ordered the heaviest bombing of the Indochina war. B-52s were used for the 1st time against Hanoi. 15 of them would get shot down. These so called “Christmas bombings” would be widely denounced by American politicians, the media, and various world leaders, including the Pope. Footage of civilian casualties filmed by the North Vietnamese would further fuel the outrage. In addition, a few of our downed B-52 pilots would make public statements in North Vietnam against the bombing.
The last Australian troops left Vietnam.
The Ugandan government seized several British firms and tea plantations in the country. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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December 20, Wednesday: Great Britain agreed that it would end its colonial rule over the Bahamas during the following July.
At a meeting in Brussels, 12 nations agreed in principle to work toward a European space program.
Bombs exploded at 6 businesses in Rosario, Argentina.
The Sunshine Boys, a play by Neil Simon, opened in New York.
On about this date, the organizers of the upcoming presidential inauguration decided that a work being composed by Vincent Persichetti based on Lincoln’s 2d Inaugural Address would be inappropriate given the resumption of bombing in Vietnam. They apparently feared the words of peace contained within the Lincoln text and the less than favorable comparison which the audience would inevitably draw between the 2 presidencies. They did not, however, immediately advise Persichetti, who was working on the score, of the change they had decided to make.
December 30, Saturday: President Richard Milhous Nixon ordered a halt to bombing of North Vietnam above the 20th Parallel. The US government simultaneously announced that the peace talks between Le Duc Tho and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger were to resume on January 8th. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1973
January 9, Tuesday: All remaining differences were resolved between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. President Nguyen Van Thieu, once again threatened by President Richard Milhous Nixon with a total cut-off of American aid to South Vietnam, unwillingly accepted this peace agreement, which allowed North Vietnamese troops to remain in South Vietnam. However, he labeled the terms “tantamount to surrender.”
The Australian Maritime Union called off its boycott of US ships instituted December 28th because of a counter-boycott of Australian ships by the US International Longshoremen’s Association.
Arab terrorists blew up the offices of the Jewish Agency in Paris.
Eugene Ormandy informed Vincent Persichetti that the piece he had composed for the presidential inauguration, A Lincoln Address, would not be performed.
January 11, Thursday: As the trial of the Watergate burglars for their involvement in the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC, E. Howard Hunt pleaded guilty to the 6 charges against him.
President Richard Milhous Nixon ended mandatory wage and price controls, except for food, health care, and construction.
Vincent Persichetti wrote President Nixon, informing him of the cancellation of his work and asking that he reconsider (there would be no reply).
January 15, Monday: In a Washington DC court, 4 of the Watergate burglars pleaded guilty to the charges against them.
Progress at the Paris peace talks led President Richard Milhous Nixon to suspend all offensive action by American forces against North Vietnam.
January 17, Wednesday: Opening statements were delivered in the trial of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo about the Pentagon Papers. GOVERNMENT SCANDALS
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines announced a new constitution giving him unlimited power.
January 19, Friday: Leonard Bernstein conducted a Concert for Peace at the National Cathedral in Washington DC as a protest against the following day’s 2d inauguration of Richard Milhous Nixon. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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January 20, Saturday: Spain’s Roman Catholic bishops asked the government for the separation of church and state.
A Black November Turkey for chorus by John Corigliano to words of Wilbur was performed for the first time, in San Antonio, Texas.
President Richard Milhous Nixon spoke at 12:02PM from the inaugural platform erected at the east front of the Capitol Building in Washington DC. Prior to this address, the oath of office had been administered by Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, 1st to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and then to the President. The address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television. I, RICHARD NIXON, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, Senator Cook, Mrs. Eisenhower, and my fellow citizens of this great and good country we share together: When we met here 4 years ago, America was bleak in spirit, depressed by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of destructive conflict at home. As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of peace in the world. The central question before us is: How shall we use that peace? Let us resolve that this era we are about to enter will not be what other postwar periods have so often been: a time of retreat and isolation that leads to stagnation at home and invites new danger abroad. Let us resolve that this will be what it can become: a time of great responsibilities greatly borne, in which we renew the spirit and the promise of America as we enter our third century as a nation. This past year saw far-reaching results from our new policies for peace. By continuing to revitalize our traditional friendships, and by our missions to Peking and to Moscow, we were able to establish the base for a new and more durable pattern of relationships among the nations of the world. Because of America’s bold initiatives, 1972 will be long remembered as the year of the greatest progress since the end of World War II toward a lasting peace in the world. The peace we seek in the world is not the flimsy peace which is merely an interlude between wars, but a peace which can endure for generations to come. It is important that we understand both the necessity and the limitations of America’s role in maintaining that peace. Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no peace. Unless we in America work to preserve freedom, there will be no freedom. But let us clearly understand the new nature of America’s role, as a result of the new policies we have adopted over these past 4 years. We shall respect our treaty commitments. We shall support vigorously the principle that no country has the right to impose its will or rule on another by force. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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We shall continue, in this era of negotiation, to work for the limitation of nuclear arms and to reduce the danger of confrontation between the great powers. We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in the world. But we shall expect others to do their share. The time has passed when America will make every other nation’s conflict our own, or make every other nation’s future our responsibility, or presume to tell the people of other nations how to manage their own affairs. Just as we respect the right of each nation to determine its own future, we also recognize the responsibility of each nation to secure its own future. Just as America’s role is indispensable in preserving the world’s peace, so is each nation’s role indispensable in preserving its own peace. Together with the rest of the world, let us resolve to move forward from the beginnings we have made. Let us continue to bring down the walls of hostility which have divided the world for too long, and to build in their place bridges of understanding — so that despite profound differences between systems of government, the people of the world can be friends. Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak are as safe as the strong, in which each respects the right of the other to live by a different system, in which those who would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas and not by the force of their arms. Let us accept that high responsibility not as a burden, but gladly — gladly because the chance to build such a peace is the noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage; gladly also because only if we act greatly in meeting our responsibilities abroad will we remain a great nation, and only if we remain a great nation will we act greatly in meeting our challenges at home. We have the chance today to do more than ever before in our history to make life better in America — to ensure better education, better health, better housing, better transportation, a cleaner environment-to restore respect for law, to make our communities more livable — and to ensure the God-given right of every American to full and equal opportunity. Because the range of our needs is so great, because the reach of our opportunities is so great, let us be bold in our determination to meet those needs in new ways. Just as building a structure of peace abroad has required turning away from old policies that have failed, so building a new era of progress at home requires turning away from old policies that have failed. Abroad, the shift from old policies to new has not been a retreat from our responsibilities, but a better way to peace. And at home, the shift from old policies to new will not be a retreat from our responsibilities, but a better way to progress. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Abroad and at home, the key to those new responsibilities lies in the placing and the division of responsibility. We have lived too long with the consequences of attempting to gather all power and responsibility in Washington. Abroad and at home, the time has come to turn away from the condescending policies of paternalism — of “Washington knows best.” A person can be expected to act responsibly only if he has responsibility. This is human nature. So let us encourage individuals at home and nations abroad to do more for themselves, to decide more for themselves. Let us locate responsibility in more places. And let us measure what we will do for others by what they will do for themselves. That is why today I offer no promise of a purely governmental solution for every problem. We have lived too long with that false promise. In trusting too much in government, we have asked of it more than it can deliver. This leads only to inflated expectations, to reduced individual effort, and to a disappointment and frustration that erode confidence both in what government can do and in what people can do. Government must learn to take less from people so that people can do more for themselves. Let us remember that America was built not by government, but by people; not by welfare, but by work; not by shirking responsibility, but by seeking responsibility. In our own lives, let each of us ask-not just what will government do for me, but what can I do for myself? In the challenges we face together, let each of us ask — not just how can government help, but how can I help? Your National Government has a great and vital role to play. And I pledge to you that where this Government should act, we will act boldly and we will lead boldly. But just as important is the role that each and every one of us must play, as an individual and as a member of his own community. From this day forward, let each of us make a solemn commitment in his own heart: to bear his responsibility, to do his part, to live his ideals — so that together we can see the dawn of a new age of progress for America, and together, as we celebrate our 200th anniversary as a nation, we can do so proud in the fulfillment of our promise to ourselves and to the world. As America’s longest and most difficult war comes to an end, let us again learn to debate our differences with civility and decency. And let each of us reach out for that one precious quality government cannot provide — a new level of respect for the rights and feelings of one another, a new level of respect for the individual human dignity which is the cherished birthright of every American. Above all else, the time has come for us to renew our faith in ourselves and in America. In recent years, that faith has been challenged. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Our children have been taught to be ashamed of their country, ashamed of their parents, ashamed of America’s record at home and its role in the world. At every turn we have been beset by those who find everything wrong with America and little that is right. But I am confident that this will not be the judgment of history on these remarkable times in which we are privileged to live. America’s record in this century has been unparalleled in the world’s history for its responsibility, for its generosity, for its creativity, and for its progress. Let us be proud that our system has produced and provided more freedom and more abundance, more widely shared, than any system in the history of the world. Let us be proud that in each of the four wars in which we have been engaged in this century, including the one we are now bringing to an end, we have fought not for our selfish advantage, but to help others resist aggression. And let us be proud that by our bold, new initiatives, by our steadfastness for peace with honor, we have made a breakthrough toward creating in the world what the world has not known before — a structure of peace that can last, not merely for our time, but for generations to come. We are embarking here today on an era that presents challenges as great as those any nation, or any generation, has ever faced. We shall answer to God, to history, and to our conscience for the way in which we use these years. As I stand in this place, so hallowed by history, I think of others who have stood here before me. I think of the dreams they had for America and I think of how each recognized that he needed help far beyond himself in order to make those dreams come true. Today I ask your prayers that in the years ahead I may have God’s help in making decisions that are right for America, and I pray for your help so that together we may be worthy of our challenge. Let us pledge together to make these next 4 years the best 4 years in America’s history, so that on its 200th birthday America will be as young and as vital as when it began, and as bright a beacon of hope for all the world. Let us go forward from here confident in hope, strong in our faith in one another, sustained by our faith in God who created us, and striving always to serve His purpose.
(You will notice in the above that he makes no reference whatever to any of the ugly stuff that would come during his 2d administration, nor to any of the ugly stuff that had actually been going down during his 1st administration. He poured out his soul: the speech is a complete sealed echo chamber of self-congratulation.) HDT WHAT? INDEX
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January 23, Tuesday: Con voce for 3 mute players by Mauricio Kagel was performed for the initial time, in the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
String Quartet no.3 by Elliott Carter was performed for the initial time, in Alice Tully Hall, New York.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that an agreement has been reached by negotiators Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho about Vietnam which would “end the war and bring peace with honor.”
Former President Lyndon Baines Johnson had suffered a heart attack in his home in Johnson City, Texas and died aboard a plane transporting him to San Antonio for treatment. “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon
January 30, Tuesday: G. Gordon Liddy and Chief of Security for Nixon’s campaign organization James W. McCord, Jr. were convicted of complicity in the break-in and attempted bugging of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington DC. Both had ties to the Richard Milhous Nixon campaign committee, Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP).
A Triptych for Hieronymous for actors, Dancers, Projections, Tape, and Orchestra by Lejaren Hiller to words of Smalley was performed for the initial time, in Brockport, New York.
February 26, Monday: Talks began in Vientiane between the government and Pathet Lao rebels, to implement the truce agreement they had signed on February 21st.
Australia and North Vietnam established diplomatic relations.
The New York Times reported that Chief of Security for Nixon’s campaign organization James W. McCord, Jr. had named Counsel to the President John W. Dean III and Deputy Director of the Nixon Campaign Committee Jeb Stuart Magruder as having prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in.
March 19, Monday: In Paris, talks began between the Saigon government and the Viet Cong, on the future of South Vietnam.
James W. McCord, Jr. wrote Judge John Joseph Sirica alleging that his plea and testimony in the Watergate trial had been perjured, due to “political pressure.” This letter was filed in: United States v. George Gordon Liddy, et al., C.R. 1827-72, United States District Court for the District of Columbia; Records of District Courts of the United States, Record Group 21; NARA, College Park, Maryland: James W. McCord, Jr. 7 Winder Court Rockville, Maryland 20850 HDT WHAT? INDEX
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TO: JUDGE SIRICA March 19, 1973 Certain questions have been posed to me from your honor through the probation officer, dealing with details of the case, motivations, intent and mitigating circumstances. In endeavoring to respond to these questions, I am whipsawed in a variety of legalities. First, I may be called before a Senate Committee investigating this matter. Secondly, I may be involved in a civil suit, and thirdly there may be a new trial at some future date. Fourthly, the probation officer may be called before the Senate Committee to present testimony regarding what may otherwise be a privileged communication between defendant and Judge, as I understand it; if I answered certain questions to the probation officer, it is possible such answers could become a matter of record in the Senate and therefore available for use in the other proceedings just described. My answers would, it would seem to me, to violate my fifth amendment rights, and possibly my 6th amendment right to counsel and possibly other rights. On the other hand, to fail to answer your questions may appear to be non-cooperation, and I can therefore expect a much more severe sentence. There are further considerations which are not to be lightly taken. Several members of my family have expressed fear for my life if I disclose knowledge of the facts in this matter, either publicly or to any government representative. Whereas I do not share their concerns to the same degree, nevertheless, I do believe that retaliatory measures will be taken against me, my family, and my friends should I disclose such facts. Such retaliation could destroy careers, income, and reputations of persons who are innocent of any guilt whatever. Be that as it may, in the interests of justice, and in the interests of restoring faith in the criminal justice system, which faith has been severely damaged in this case, I will state the following to you at this time which I hope may be of help to you in meting out justice in this case:
1. There was political pressure applied to the defendants to plead guilty and remain silent.
2. Perjury occurred during the trial in matters highly material to the very structure, orientation, and impact of the government’s case, and to the motivation and intent of the defendants.
3. Others involved in the Watergate operation were not identified during the trial, when they could have been by those testifying.
4. The Watergate operation was not a CIA operation. The Cubans HDT WHAT? INDEX
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may have been misled by others into believing that it was a CIA operation. I know for a fact that it was not.
5. Some statements were unfortunately made by a witness which left the Court with the impression that he was stating untruths, or withholding facts of his knowledge, when in fact only honest errors of memory were involved.
6. My motivations were different than those of the others involved, but were not limited to, or simply those offered in my defense during the trial. This is no fault of my attorneys, but of the circumstances under which we had to prepare my defense.
Following sentence, I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with you privately in chambers. Since I cannot feel confident in talking with an FBI agent, in testifying before a Grand Jury whose U.S. Attorneys work for the Department of Justice, or in talking with other government representatives, such a discussion with you would be of assistance to me. I have not discussed the above with my attorneys as a matter of protection for them. I give this statement freely and voluntarily, fully realizing that I may be prosecuted for giving a false statement to a Judicial Official, if the statements herein are knowingly untrue. The statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. [signed] James W. McCord, Jr. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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March 29, Thursday: Tekin Ariburun replaced Cevdet Sunay as President of Turkey ad interim.
Over 15,000 Saudi Arabian troops entered Kuwait to help defend it against Iraqi incursions.
The final remaining American troops withdrew from Vietnam as the North Vietnamese released the last 67 prisoners-of-war they held. Former POWs presently in the United States told of physical and psychological torture practiced on them by their captors. President Richard Milhous Nixon declared that “the day we have all worked and prayed for has finally come.” During 15 years of military involvement, over 2,000,000 Americans had served in Vietnam with 500,000 seeing actual combat and 47,244 being killed in action (including 8,000 airmen). There had been in addition 10,446 non-combat deaths and 153,329 had been seriously wounded (including 10,000 amputees). In addition, more than 2,400 of the Americans being hopefully listed as POWs/MIAs were still unaccounted for and presumably should be added either to the 47,244 combat deaths or to the 10,446 non-combat deaths. America’s longest war was concluded by its first defeat.
What if they gave a war and nobody came? HDT WHAT? INDEX
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March 23, Friday: 3 British soldiers were gunned down and 1 was seriously injured by IRA members in Belfast.
Before sentencing, the judge in the Watergate burglars case, John Joseph Sirica, revealed that one of the defendants, Chief of Security for Nixon’s campaign organization James W. McCord, Jr., has informed him that “others” were involved in the case, others who had eluded detection, and that perjury had occurred during the trial, and that “political pressure to plead guilty and remain silent” had been put on him and other defendants. He then sentenced the other 4 burglars (Bernard Leon Barker, a veteran of Batista’s Cuban secret police, Eugenio Ronaldo “Musculito” Martinez, a member of the anti-Castro movement, Frank Angelo Fiorini or Frank Anthony Sturgis, who after defecting from Castro’s forces had joined the anti-Castro exile opposition, and Virgilio R. “Villo” González, a member of the anti-Castro movement) to 40 years in prison provisional on the degree with which they cooperated with government prosecutors (Martinez, for instance, would receive a Presidential Pardon in 1983, while Barker would serve only a single year), and E. Howard Hunt to 35 years (he would serve 33 months), and G. Gordon Liddy to 20 years (he would serve 54 months). Sentencing of McCord was deferred until after a requested private meeting.
American Standards for orchestra by John Adams was performed for the initial time, at San Francisco Conservatory. Also on the program was the premiere of Adams’ Christian Zeal and Activity for speaker and orchestra. Both were conducted by the composer.
April: Presidents Richard Milhous Nixon and Nguyen Van Thieu met in our President’s “California White House” at San Clemente, California and Nixon renewed his earlier secret pledge that if North Vietnam violated the peace agreement, we would respond militarily.
April 9, Monday: Cambodian government forces reopened Route Four, the only link between Phnom Penh and the sea.
Arab terrorists exploded a bomb destroying the entrance to an apartment building in Nicosia housing the family of the Israeli ambassador to Cyprus. Cypriot police fired on the attackers as they fled. No one in the apartments was injured. The terrorists then attempted to hijack an Israeli plane but were thwarted by Cypriot police and Israeli security agents. 7 of them were arrested, 1 was killed, and 1 escaped.
The New York Times reported that Chief of Security for Nixon’s campaign organization James W. McCord, Jr. told a federal grand jury that the Watergate defendants had been pressured to plead guilty and had received cash payments upon pledging their silence. He named Kenneth Parkinson, an attorney for President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP), as the person who had been applying this pressure. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 17, Tuesday: Shooting broke out between FBI agents and native Americans occupying Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Several of the native Americans were injured.
Harp Variations for harp, violin, viola and cello by Charles Wuorinen was performed for the initial time in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.
President Richard Milhous Nixon announced that he will allow his staff to testify before the Senate Watergate Committee and that there have been “major developments in the case.” He did not elaborate. Presidential Press Secretary Ron Ziegler announced that all previous statements by the president, denying involvement, by his staff, in the matter, were now “inoperative.” President Nixon continued to lie about his awareness of a Watergate cover-up: stating that he had learned of the cover-up in March 1973, he indicated that he had ordered “intensive new inquiries” (in fact, as has been well established, he had known about the cover-up since June 1972).
“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project “THIS IS TREASO HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 27, Friday: Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation L. Patrick Gray III (who may or may not have known that his position was being offered by President Richard Milhous Nixon to the presiding judge in the Watergate trial, William M. Byrne Jr.) resigned when his questionable personal role in that burglary was revealed by the press (he had personally burned files from the safe of E. Howard Hunt, with his Christmas trash) — and then the President appointed William Doyle Ruckelshaus instead of Judge Byrne as his replacement over the FBI!
The presiding judge in the Dr. Daniel Ellsberg/Anthony Russo trial, Judge Byrne, revealed that 2 of the Watergate defendants, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, had broken into the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, intent on stealing his medical records.
The General Accounting Office reported that President Nixon’s 1972 campaign committee concealed “substantial expenditures” in violation of election law (this would lead to criminal charges, but not, of course, against the President, whose hands were clean as he was so smart that he didn’t himself personally ever do any of his own dirty work).
Clapping Music for two humans by Steve Reich was performed for the initial time, in New York City. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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During a gunfight between Indians and US marshals at Wounded Knee, Oglala Sioux Lawrence LaMont was killed.
April 29, Sunday: President Richard Milhous Nixon fired White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and top aide John Ehrlichman, and appointed new Attorney-General Elliot Richardson who was empowered to appoint a special prosecutor for the Watergate matter.
The Price Commission began operations in Great Britain, to rule on price rises.
Members of the American Indian Movement burned the trading post at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
April 30, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon announced the “resignations” of White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and top aide John Ehrlichman, along with Attorney General Richard Gordon Kleindienst and Counsel to the President John W. Dean III, due to charges in the Watergate scandal. The President informed the nation that although he had not himself been involved in political espionage and cover-up, he did take responsibility for it.
Rear Admiral Hermes Quijada, former chairman of the Argentine Joint Chiefs of Staff, was shot to death as he rode to work in Buenos Aires. One of the two assailants, members of the Trotskyite Peoples Revolutionary Army, was killed by Quijada’s driver. The government declared a state of emergency in Buenos Aires and five provinces.
A federal appeals court in Cincinnati ordered the City of Chattanooga to racially integrate its schools.
Concerto for organ with percussion orchestra by Lou Harrison was performed for the initial time, at San Jose State University.
May 1, Tuesday: An appeals court in Rhodesia overturned the April 6th conviction of Peter Niesewand.
Gun battles between students and police at the Autonomous University of Puebla resulted in 4 student deaths.
Presidential Press Secretary Ron Ziegler indicated that he intended to attempt to apologize to the Washington Post and its reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, for having accused them of “shabby journalism” and “character assassination.”
Governor Ronald Reagan of California suggested that we try not to think of the Watergate burglars as criminals, because they “were not criminals at heart.”
Federal investigators reported that they had information linking several top-level members of the Nixon administration and the Committee to Re-elect the President to the Watergate break-in. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Judge William M. Byrne Jr. of the Dr. Daniel Ellsberg/Anthony Russo trial revealed from the bench that he had taken a meeting with Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman and President Richard Milhous Nixon to discuss the possibility that he might be appointed to head the FBI. He indicated that he had responded to their initiative, to the effect that he shouldn’t discuss such a topic with them until this trial was over.
Mannheim 87.87.87 by Charles Wuorinen was performed for the initial time, in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York.
Forces for orchestra by Leslie Bassett was performed for the initial time, in Des Moines, Iowa.
May 2, Wednesday: As part of a genealogical obsession characteristic of Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints) dating to 1841 –that obsession being to force famous dead white people to have been saved and sent to Heaven to fulfil the fantasies of their putative Mormon descendants– Henry David Thoreau was on this day sealed to his parents John Thoreau and Cynthia Thoreau (the “reasoning” process evidently being that unless such a ceremony were at least retroactively accomplished, Henry’s parents couldn’t be in Heaven to await with him any Mormons who happened to be descendants of the Thoreau family of Concord, to be reunited with them).
In Beirut, there was heavy fighting between the Lebanese army and Palestinian guerrillas.
E. Howard Hunt confessed to a federal grand jury in Washington DC that the Watergate conspirators had received equipment and documents from the CIA.
The New York Times reported that certain affiliates of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP) had engaged in widespread espionage and sabotage of Democratic presidential candidates during 1972.
Poems of Time and Eternity for chorus and nine instruments by Gunther Schuller to words of Dickinson was performed for the initial time, in Jordan Hall, Boston.
May 3, Thursday: Fighting in Beirut spread to Palestinian strongholds in southern Lebanon.
The Washington Post reported that wiretaps had been placed on the telephones of New York Times reporters by Watergate conspirators, and that this had been authorized by John N. Mitchell.
The Sears Tower was completed in Chicago (at 442 meters, this had become for the time being the tallest building in the world). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 4, Friday: Grand jury testimony by E. Howard Hunt was made available, and revealed that the White House, abetted by the CIA, had supervised the burglary at the office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.
Former Richard Milhous Nixon Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP) employee Donald Henry Segretti was indicted in Florida for having during the 1972 Florida primary fabricated and disseminated a preposterously malicious campaign document.
Six Early Songs for Lyric Soprano and Orchestra was performed for the initial time, in Jordan Hall, Boston, and was conducted by their composer Gunther Schuller, 28 years after they had been written.
May 10, Thursday: The 2d General Electric Mark I boiling water nuclear reactor on the coast of Japan at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Station was brought to criticality. Oh-oh.
The Chilean government declared a state of emergency in O’Higgins Province. A strike by copper miners was in its 4th week.
When sworn testimony in a civil case by Hugh W. Sloan Jr., former treasurer of the Richard Milhous Nixon Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP), was made public, it was revealed that he had cooperated with the prosecutors by revealing the attempts his superiors had made to persuade him to perjure himself about the amount of money that had been passed to G. Gordon Liddy.
Former Attorney-General John N. Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Hubert Stans were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for their parts in the 1972 Nixon campaign. Each was charged with 3 counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice and 6 counts of perjury.
Owen Wingrave, an opera by Benjamin Britten to words of Piper after James, was staged for the initial time, at Covent Garden.
May 11, Friday: Based on the federal government’s misconduct in that E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, 2 government employees, had on September 3d, 1971, abetted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in an effort to secure information damaging to Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s defense, burglarized the office of Dr. Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, Judge William M. Byrne Jr. dismissed all charges, both those against Ellsberg and those against Anthony Russo. [T]he sonofabitching thief is made a national hero and is going to get off on a mistrial, and the New York Times gets a Pulitzer Prize for stealing documents....What is the name of God have we come to? President Richard Milhous Nixon (Oval Office discussion) WATERGATE
The West German Bundestag formally ratified a treaty establishing diplomatic relations with East Germany and approving entry of both countries into the United Nations.
Joop den Uyl of the Labor Party replaced Barend Biesheuvel as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 17, Thursday: The Lebanese government reached agreement with Palestinian guerrillas to end the fighting between them.
4 British soldiers were killed and 1 seriously injured when a bomb went off as they entered a car in Omagh.
A state of emergency in Santiago Province was lifted by the Chilean government.
Watergate hearings by the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of the United States Senate began in Washington DC.
The Washington Post reported that the Nixon administration had for 4 years been carrying out widespread attacks on its opponents, much of this illegal. They related that the administration was using the FBI, the Secret Service, and the Justice Department in the course of such illegal political attacks.
May 18, Friday: Harvard Law School Professor Archibald Cox was named a special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal.
Chief of Security for Nixon’s campaign organization James W. McCord, Jr., testified before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of the United States Senate (the Watergate Committee) that a high White House official had offered him executive clemency, money, and a position — in return for silence.
May 19, Saturday: Leaders of the Soviet Union and West Germany signed 3 agreements in Bonn covering increased economic cooperation, cultural exchanges, and landing rights for each nation’s airlines.
The Argentine government lifted the state of emergency and martial law that had been imposed on May 1st.
Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach op.187 for orchestra, organ, and piano by Charles Koechlin was performed for the initial time, over the airwaves of Radio Frankfurt, 31 years after it had been composed.
Sonata for harp op.437 by Darius Milhaud was performed for the initial time, at Conservatoire Rocquencourt.
Milhaud’s Promesse de Dieu op.438 for chorus to words of the Bible was premiered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The General Accounting Office of the US Congress charged Maurice Hubert Stans, former Commerce Secretary and head of finance for President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP), with a deliberate attempt to evade the disclosure requirements of federal campaign spending law. GOVERNMENT SCANDALS HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 22, Tuesday: Lord Lambton, defense undersecretary for the Royal Air Force, resigned after it became publicly known that he has been consorting with prostitutes.
President Richard Milhous Nixon released a statement saying that some of his closest aides had probably been involved in the Watergate affair. He admitted that he had tried to limit the investigation into the affair, but alleged that this had been because of national security implications. He claimed he had no prior knowledge of the break-in and had not taken part in any cover-up.
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
A 5th Mark I boiling water nuclear reactor began construction on the coast of Japan, at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Station to the north of Tokyo.
June 5, Thursday: A deposition given in a civil suit by former Richard Milhous Nixon advisor John Ehrlichman was released to the public. Ehrlichman alleged that former Attorney General John N. Mitchell had approved 3 Democratic Party sites for electronic listening devices.
Canticum Canticorum Salamonis quod hebraice dicitur “Sid hasirim” for chorus and chamber orchestra by Krzysztof Penderecki was performed for the initial time, in Lisbon.
June 6, Friday: Hugh W. Sloan Jr., former treasurer of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Committee for the Re- Election of the President (CREEP), testified to the Senate Watergate Committee that his superiors had made a consistent effort to get him to cover up payments he made to the Watergate conspirators, and to perjure himself.
June 12, Thursday: Former campaign finance director for Richard Milhous Nixon, Maurice Hubert Stans, testified before the Senate Watergate committee that he had no knowledge of the espionage on political opponents or the cover-up of the Watergate affair, either before, during or after the fact.
William Walton conducted Façade on its 50th anniversary in Aeolian Hall, London. This would be the last time he would conduct in public. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 14, Saturday: Jeb Stuart Magruder, former deputy director of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP), testified before the Senate Watergate Committee. He admitted to espionage on Democratic presidential candidates, implicating former Attorney-General John N. Mitchell, former Counsel to the President John W. Dean III, and former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman. Magruder also admitted committing perjury when testifying before the Watergate grand jury, again implicating John N. Mitchell, John W. Dean III, and Haldeman in his act. He stated that he informed H.R. Haldeman of everything he knew about Watergate during January 1973 and sent detailed espionage plans to Haldeman’s assistant Gordon Creighton Strachan.
M: Writings ‘67-’72 by John Cage was published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Connecticut.
June 23, Saturday: A subpoena was served on President Richard Milhous Nixon asking for the White House tapes. WATERGATE
June 25, Monday: John W. Dean III, Counsel to the President, admitted that President Richard Milhous Nixon had taken part in the Watergate cover-up.
Cambodian government troops abandoned Batheay, north of Phnom Penh.
Erskine Hamilton Childers replaced Eamon de Valera as President of Ireland.
In a statement lasting six hours, former Counsel to the President John Dean laid bare his knowledge of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up, and President Nixon’s complicity in the crimes.
June 27, Wednesday: Frederick Cheney “Fred” LaRue, a former campaign strategist for President Richard Milhous Nixon, pleaded guilty in a Washington court to conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate matter (not only had he attended an early meeting with his friend Attorney-General John Mitchell, at which the Watergate burglary was being planned, and after the burglary assisted in the cover-up, supervising the shredding of critical documents and destruction of incriminating financial records, but also had come to be referred to as the White House’s “bagman” because it was he who was handing out something more than $300,000 in cash “hush money” to keep the conspirators and their attorneys happy and silent).
Former Counsel to the President John W. Dean III revealed to the Senate Watergate Committee that an “enemies list” had been kept by President Richard Milhous Nixon’s White House. He turned over a copy of the “Opponents List and Political Enemies Project” of the Nixon administration, those who were to be attacked by the mechanisms of the federal government. The document was “several inches thick.” The list included Senators, Congressmen and other politicians, journalists, businessmen, academics, and Hollywood celebrities. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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He testified that President Richard Milhous Nixon had been “less than accurate” in his May 22d statement denying any involvement in Watergate.
J. Fred Buzhardt, special counsel to the President for the Watergate affair, sent a statement to the Senate Watergate committee naming Dean as the mastermind of the Watergate cover-up, and claiming he had consistently misled the president.
The US Defense Department announced that Haiphong harbor had been cleared of mines.
President Juan Maria Bordaberry of Uruguay abolished the Congress, thus ending 40 years of democratic rule.
June 28, Thursday: Elections to a 78-member legislative assembly took place in Northern Ireland.
Senator Lowell Weicker revealed that when he became a member of the Senate Watergate committee, highly placed members of the Nixon administration attempted to intimidate him.
Fanfare for chamber orchestra and folk instruments by Lukas Foss was performed for the initial time, in Istanbul.
July: During February 1971, President Richard Milhous Nixon had ordered the installation of what had become an extensive recording system in multiple locations. The only people with knowledge of the system were White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, Haldeman’s aide Alexander Porter Butterfield, and some Secret Service technicians. During this month, as the Watergate investigation began to become troublesome, the President would order that the system be turned off.
Frederick Cheney “Fred” LaRue pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the cover-up of the Watergate burglary and would be held for a bit more than 4 months at Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, Alabama (his fellow Watergate convicts John N. Mitchell and Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson would also do their prison time at Maxwell AFB).
July 7, Saturday: Otto Klemperer died in Zürich at the age of 88.
President Richard Milhous Nixon informed the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of the United States Senate that he would not testify before it, nor would he allow them access to presidential papers — he was the executive and he was going to take full advantage of executive privilege, a tradition deriving ultimately from English Crown Privilege that had originated in the middle of the 17th Century. No, there wasn’t anything he needed to tell anyone about a 2d-rate burglary like Watergate.
July 12, Thursday: Top aides in the Nixon Administration resigned amid charges of White House efforts to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.
Alyeksandr Vasilyevich Mosolov died in Moscow at the age of 72. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July 16, Monday: The US Senate’s Armed Forces Committee began studying the history of the “secret” bombing of Cambodia that we had been conducting during 1969 and 1970. Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger confirmed that during 1969 and 1970 American planes had secretly attacked Communist positions in Cambodia. VIETNAM
During the Senate hearings, former White House aide Alexander Porter Butterfield revealed to the Senate Watergate committee the existence of President Richard Milhous Nixon clandestine Oval Office listening devices and taping system. The committee stated that it was going to seek the tapes relevant to their investigation.
Herbert Warren Kalmbach, former counsel and fund-raiser for President Richard Milhous Nixon, testified before the Senate Watergate Committee that he had raised $220,000 for the Watergate defendants on the orders of John W. Dean III, Counsel to the President, as approved by Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman.
Ode pour Jérusalem for orchestra op.440 by Darius Milhaud was performed for the initial time, in Israel.
July 17, Tuesday, 1973: Great Britain recognized North Vietnam.
Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger testified before the US Senate’s Armed Forces Committee that to protect American troops through the targeting of positions occupied by North Vietnamese troops, 3,500 bombing raids had been launched into Cambodia. Many in Congress began to posture before the cameras as being angered to “discover” the extent of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s secret bombing campaign. On the positive side, this made it safe for the first hue and cry to go up among the politicians, that this was a President who ought to have his ass impeached.
The Cambodian government ordered its 1st conscription. All men between the ages of 18 and 35 were drafted.
Mohammed Daud Khan led junior army officers in deposing his cousin and brother-in-law, King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. A republic was proclaimed. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July 18, Wednesday: Anthony “Tony” Ulasewicz admitted to the Senate Watergate committee that he had been a White House “bag man” who had distributed $219,000 to Watergate defendants E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy. Frederick Cheney “Fred” LaRue, an official of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP), admitted to the Senate Watergate committee that he had been a White House “bag man” who had distributed something more than $300,000 in cash “hush money” to keep the conspirators and their attorneys happy and silent.
President Richard Milhous Nixon described Phase Four of his economic controls. He was going to attempt to re-institute the voluntary wage and price controls that had thus far proved unsuccessful.
“Construction of Biologically Functional Bacterial Plasmids In Vitro” by Stanley Cohen, Annie Chang, Herbert Boyer, and Robert Helling was communicated to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This was the 1st of 3 articles describing how DNA was broken up and recombined. This would come to be regarded as the beginning of genetic engineering, and would see publication in November.
July 19, Thursday: Robert Charles Mardian, former assistant Attorney-General, testified before the Senate Watergate committee denying any complicity on his own part but indicated that it had been his impression that both President Richard Milhous Nixon and Attorney-General John N. Mitchell were aware of and had approved the burglary at the office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. Mardian further testified that the Attorney-General had designated $250,000 for an espionage scheme.
Symphony no.1 by Krzysztof Penderecki was performed for the initial time, in Peterborough Cathedral, Northamptonshire, with the composer himself conducting.
July 23, Monday: Citing the Constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, President Richard Milhous Nixon refused to release tapes of his Oval Office conversations to either the Senate Watergate committee or special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox. The Senate nevertheless issued subpoenas for the tapes.
Gordon Creighton Strachan testified that 3 days after the Watergate break-in, White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman had instructed him to “make sure our files were clean” (he then shredded anything he could find that he supposed might reveal his boss’s complicity).
July 25, Wednesday: The Soviet Union launched its Mars 5 space probe.
Presidential advisor Patrick Joseph “Pat” Buchanan sent an “administratively confidential” memo to President Richard Milhous Nixon recommending that he screen and burn historical materials, and only afterward reveal that the materials had been disposed of. The memo did not include legally subpoenaed materials in its burn recommendation: “exclusive of the so-called Watergate tapes.” [When] I was in the White House, all that time I urged Nixon, “look, I don’t care what we do, you ought to burn these tapes, all the ones that have nothing to do with subpoenaed conversations.” Right after he heard about [Nixon’s] White House tapes, Buchanan recalled, he wrote a memo to the president urging that Nixon keep the historic ones and burn the rest. You regret that memo? “No,” said Buchanan, softly petting the cat. “I should have pressed him harder to burn them.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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He urged Nixon, in a documented memo, to destroy the White House tapes that eventually proved his crimes and led to his resignation. That, of course, would have been illegal obstruction of justice, as even Fred Buzhardt, the White House lawyer at the end, acknowledged. “If we'd decided to destroy the tapes, that would have been real obstruction of justice, and we couldn’t even talk about it.” Nonetheless, Buchanan defends his memo to Nixon, even to this day. His only regret? “I should have pressed him harder to burn them.”
July 26, Thursday: The British and Australian embassies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia evacuated their dependents.
Judge John Joseph Sirica ordered the Nixon White House to show cause why it should not be compelled to produce the Oval Office tapes.
July 30, Monday: Former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman testified before the Senate Watergate committee that neither he nor President Richard Milhous Nixon knew anything about the Watergate break-in, and that former Counsel to the President John W. Dean III had been thwarting the president’s investigation of that matter. He testified that he had recently listened to the Oval Office tapes.
August 2, Thursday: Former CIA Director Richard McGarrah Helms and former Deputy Director of the CIA Robert Everton Cushman Jr. testified before the Senate Watergate committee about White House pressure. They said that they had felt that they were being asked to “besmirch the name of the agency” by helping in the cover-up of their burglary of the offices of the Democratic National Committee. Former Presidential Domestic Affairs Advisor John Ehrlichman claimed he had no recollection of telephoning General Cushman in 1971 to arrange for E. Howard Hunt to get CIA spying equipment and false identity papers, but General Cushman insisted that such a telephone call definitely had been received.
August 6, Monday: When US bombers mistakenly struck the village of Neak Luong, southeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, they killed 137 government soldiers and civilians and injured 268 — but later in the day, when the Air Force attaché at the US Embassy visited the scene, he would characterize this as “no great disaster.”
Vice President Spiro Agnew announced that he was under investigation by the Justice Department for kickbacks to contractors while Governor of Maryland.
Duo Fantasy for violin and piano by William Bolcom was performed for the initial time, in Portland, Oregon, with the composer himself at the keyboard. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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August 8, Wednesday: William Corning, John Dyal, and Dennis Willow’s INVERTEBRATE LEARNING was the 1st comprehensive review of the topic subsequent to World War II. PSYCHOLOGY
Vice President Spiro Agnew, when accused of income-tax evasion, bribery, conspiracy, and extortion, became (apparently) outraged, branded the accusations as “damned lies,” and denied that he had taken any kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland. He vowed he was not going to resign. (Agnew had been Richard Milhous Nixon’s insurance policy against being impeached — since everyone understood that we could not suffer a person such as Agnew to inherit the presidency. Agnew eventually would resign opening the way for Nixon’s impeachment, pleading “no contest” to these charges upon a plea-bargain agreement that he would be fined no more than $10,000 and placed on no more than 3 years probation with no actual prison time. Agnew would later allege that at the time of his resignation he was fearful that should he fail to cooperate, President Nixon might order his assassination.) GOVERNMENT SCANDALS
August 9, Thursday: The Senate Watergate committee filed suit in federal court for the release of tapes and other documents held by President Richard Milhous Nixon.
The Senate Armed Services Committee produced a previously classified Pentagon memorandum which indicated that in 1969 former Defense Secretary Melvin Laird had been approving the falsification of reports of US bombing in Cambodia. VIETNAM
In the face of mounting public pressure, President Salvador Allende of Chile admitted military officers back into his cabinet.
Concerto for trumpet and winds by Karel Husa was performed for the initial time, at the University of Connecticut, Storrs.
Summer Divertimento for orchestra by William Bolcom was performed for the initial time, in Portland, Oregon.
August 10, Friday: Gulf Oil Corporation and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company admitted that it had made large, illegal donations to President Richard Milhous Nixon’s reelection campaign.
The Grande Sonate op.33 of Valentin Alkan was performed completely for probably the initial time, at York University, England. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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August 15, Wednesday: Grimethorpe Aria for brass was performed for the initial time, in Royal Hall, Harrogate, with the composer Harrison Birtwistle himself conducting.
President Richard Milhous Nixon instructed his nation to just stop all this “backward-looking obsession” with burglars in the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee. The last offensive US military action in Indochina took place as US planes bombed Communist positions in Cambodia. The bombing was brought to a halt by act of Congress. The Defense Department announced that since 1965 US planes had dropped 7,400,000 tons of bombs on Indochina. Clearly we needed to just stop all this backward-looking obsession with the internal affairs of Vietnam. Can’t we all just get along?
August 16, Thursday: Viet Cong forces began a major assault on Hué.
Libya nationalized 51% of US-owned Oasis Oil Company.
Jeb Stuart Magruder, once deputy director of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s campaign committee, pleaded guilty to planning the Watergate break-in, obstructing a Justice Department investigation into the break-in, perjury and suborning perjury, making false statements to the FBI, and secretly raising money to buy the silence of Watergate defendants.
August 17, Friday: Secretary of Defense James Rodney Schlesinger announced that our enemy the Soviet Union has successfully tested a MIRV (multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicle). He was having grave doubts about the adequacy of our nation’s assured nuclear destruction strategy. Would we be able to kill all of them before they killed all of us — or were all of us going to die at the very same time?
Phillips Petroleum Company admitted having made a $100,000 illegal contribution to President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CREEP). Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (MMM) also admitted having made a $30,000 illegal contribution to CREEP.
North/White for orchestra and snowmobile by R. Murray Schafer was performed for the initial time, in Vancouver.
August 22, Wednesday: On account of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s determination that critical foreign policy strategy and execution was going to get handled directly out of the White House, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger was appointed as Secretary of State to replace William Pierce Rogers. As a consolation prize the President would present the outgoing Rogers with a Presidential Medal of Freedom and, at the same ceremony, present his wife Adele with a Presidential Citizens Medal.
The USSR launched Kosmos 580. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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August 23, Thursday: All 70,000 residents of Khanpur, Pakistan were evacuated just before the waters of the Indus River inundated that city.
Braniff Airways admitted it had made illegal donations to President Richard Milhous Nixon’s reelection campaign totaling $50,000.
The most important ally of President Salvador Allende in the Chilean military, General Carlos Prats Gonzalez, resigned as Minister of Defense and Commander in Chief of the army and was replaced as Commander in Chief by General Augusto Pinochet.
September 4, Tuesday: In Kuwait, oil ministers from 10 nations met to discuss ways to use Arab oil as a weapon against the Jews of Israel (coincidentally, on this same day in Toulon, France, 20,000 Arab workers were striking against racism).
4 former members of the Nixon administration, Egil “Bud” Krogh, Jr., John Ehrlichman, E. Howard Hunt, and G. Gordon Liddy, were indicted in the break-in at the office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. GOVERNMENT SCANDALS
September 11, Tuesday: After a week of heavy fighting Cambodian government troops pushed Khmer Rouge rebels out of Kompong Cham, northeast of Phnom Penh.
During a riot over wages in Carletonville, South Africa, police killed 11 black miners.
A violent military coup began after Chilean President Salvador Allende refused military demands that he resign, saying, “I am ready to resist with whatever means, even at the cost of my life, to serve as a lesson in the ignominious history of those who have strength but not reason.” The coup was led by General Augusto Pincohet Ugarte with the complicity of President Richard Milhous Nixon. Allende was killed, although the military would claim he had killed himself. The Chilean military would begin to arrest, torture, and murder anyone it suspected to be its enemy. GOVERNMENT SCANDALS
September 19, Wednesday: During a wave of racist violence, the Algerian government suspended all emigration to France until France would be able to assure the safety of such Algerian immigrants.
Former Special Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson refused to testify about his Watergate involvement before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of the United States Senate, citing his 5th- Amendment right not to self-incriminate. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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September 24, Monday: Portuguese Guinea unilaterally declared its independence from Portugal.
Convicted conspirator E. Howard Hunt testified before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of the United States Senate that former Special Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson was aware of a widespread intelligence scheme which included the Watergate break-in.
The United States of America recognized the new military dictatorship in Chile under General Augusto Pincohet Ugarte.
September 25, Tuesday: The crew of Skylab 3 –Alan Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott– returned to Earth after setting a space endurance record of 1,427 hours, 9 minutes, and 4 seconds.
Vice President Spiro Agnew asked Speaker of the House of Representatives Carl Bert Albert to initiate an investigation into charges of tax evasion and money laundering against him, for a series of bribes he allegedly had taken while Governor of Maryland, since the House of Representatives possessed, he pointed out, “sole power of impeachment.” Albert, however –who had previously referred approximately two dozen impeachment resolutions to the House Judiciary Committee– wisely declined — because he himself, a Democrat, would have been next in line to become Acting President of the United States of America if such an investigation of the Veep were to result in impeachment and then President Richard Milhous Nixon were forced to resign — and because for a Democrat to replace a Republican as President by such a devious mechanism would be so profoundly unseemly.
The military dictatorship of Chile under General Augusto Pincohet Ugarte removed from office all mayors and city council members. It abolished the largest labor group, having 800,000 members, the Central Labor Federation.
September 26, Wednesday: Former presidential advisor Patrick Joseph “Pat” Buchanan admitted to the Senate Watergate committee that he had advocated to President Richard Milhous Nixon a plan to undercut the presidential candidacies of certain Democrats, while elevating others. He was, however, supremely and eloquently defensive about this trickiness. It wasn’t his boss’s fault that his boss got caught with his pants down because, you see, his boss had obtained a mandate from the people to thus lower his pants: The mandate that the American people gave to this president and his administration cannot, and will not, be frustrated or repealed or overthrown as a consequence of the incumbent tragedy. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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September 28, Friday: Palestinian terrorists seized 5 hostages on a Moscow-Vienna train in Czechoslovak territory. The hostages were 3 Soviet Jews and an Austrian woman with her infant son. After they crossed the border and got off the train, the terrorists seized in addition an Austrian customs official, and then drove to Schwechat airport in Vienna.
W.H. Auden died in Vienna at the age of 66.
Lawyers for Vice President Spiro Agnew filed suit in federal court in Baltimore to block a grand jury investigation into criminal wrongdoing. GOVERNMENT SCANDALS HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October: Israel’s victory in 1967 had extended her borders to all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula. On February 4, 1971, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt had announced a new peace initiative that had contained a significant concession: in return for a partial Israeli withdrawal from Sinai he would accept an interim agreement with Israel, with a timetable for Israel’s later withdrawal from the remainder of the territories in the Sinai occupied during the June 1967 war in accordance with UN Resolution 242. Egypt would be able to reopen the Suez Canal and restore its diplomatic relations with the United States. Sadat’s initiative had, however, been ignored both in Tel Aviv and in Washington DC. Sadat had come under greater and greater pressure to go to war against Israel to avenge Egypt’s humiliation and regain the lost territories. What goes around keeps coming around and around and around...
Therefore, on October 6, 1973, during Yom Kippur celebrations, Egypt launched a surprise attack across the Suez Canal. The crossing of the Suez Canal was code-named Operation Badr after the grand victory of the Prophet Muhammad in 630CE, which had enabled his return to Mecca. Simultaneously, President Hafez al- Assad’s Syria was attacking Israel. Since all of Israel was on religious holiday, its undermanned front lines crumbled. By the early afternoon of 7 October 7th, no effective forces remained in the southern Golan Heights HDT WHAT? INDEX
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and Syrian forces had reached the edge of the plateau, looking down on the Jordan River. This crisis brought Israel to its 2d nuclear alert. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, said to the Prime Minister that “this is the end of the third temple,” meaning that Israel was a goner (“Temple” was their code word for their secret nuclear arsenal, the Israeli “bomb in the basement”). Prime Minister Golda Meir and her “kitchen cabinet” decided on the night of October 8th to deploy the nation’s secret nuclear arsenal, and 13 twenty-kiloton A-bombs (maybe enriched uranium, maybe plutonium, we don’t know) were prepped for delivery. The Jericho missiles at Hirbat Zachariah and the nuclear strike F-4s at Tel Nof were standing by, waiting for the orders to come to strike their pre-selected Syrian and Egyptian targets. Although we are not certain that the Israelis had developed any nuclear artillery shells, we do know that they did have nuclear capable long-range artillery and we do know that these guns were aimed at Damascus. It seems that Henry Kissinger informed President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, that the Israelis were close to “going nuclear.” President Richard Milhous Nixon called US forces to worldwide nuclear alert, and for a 3rd time Israel went to nuclear alert. After the mobilization of its reserves, however, Israel became able to respond conventionally. Israeli commandos flew to Fort Benning, Georgia to train with the new American TOW anti-tank missiles, and returned with a C-130 Hercules aircraft full of them in time for a decisive Golan battle. On October 11th, a counterattack on the Golan Heights broke the back of Syria’s offensive, and on October 15th/16th, a surprise crossing of the Suez Canal took place. By nightfall on October 23rd, the road to Suez, the 3rd Army’s only supply line, was in Israeli hands, cutting off two divisions and 45,000 men. The United States began a grade-three nuclear alert, the first of its kind since President John F. Kennedy’s order during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The Egyptian dead numbered about 8,000. In three weeks, the Israelis had lost 2,523, which was two and a half times as many (in proportion to total population) as the United States had lost in its entire decade of fighting in Vietnam. Prime Minister Meir agreed to a cease- fire, relieving the pressure on the Egyptian 3rd Army. Eventually, in 1979, there would be a peace treaty. READ THE FULL TEXT
October 1, Monday: The American Psychological Association Board of Professional Affairs formally voted to recommend a National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. The American Psychological Association Board of Directors would embrace this on November 30th and the task of creating such a registry would begin as of March 1, 1974.19
Donald Henry Segretti pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy and 2 counts of having distributed fake campaign literature during the 1972 presidential campaign.
Spiros Vasiliou Markezinis, a civilian, replaced Georgios Papadapoulos as Prime Minister of Greece.
19. Street, W.R. A CHRONOLOGY OF NOTEWORTHY EVENTS IN AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 1994 HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 2, Tuesday: Beyond Silence, a cantata for tenor, clarinet, trombone, viola, cello and piano by T.J.Anderson to words of Hanson, was performed for the initial time, at Busch-Reisinger Museum of Harvard University.
Prime Minister Willi Stoph of the German Democratic Republic was named president and was succeeded as prime minister by Horst Sindermann.
Donald Henry Segretti testified before the Senate Watergate committee in regard to the many “dirty tricks” he had perpetrated on Democratic presidential candidates, and informing them that he had been reporting on such activities to Dwight Lee Chapin, former appointment secretary to President Richard Milhous Nixon. He hadn’t merely been a merry prankster, he wanted the committee to understand, he had been a merry prankster who kissed and told.
October 10, Wednesday: Israeli forces succeeded in ridding the Golan Heights of Syrian troops. All Syrian gains since October 6th had been reversed. However, Egyptian forces had managed to reach as far as 15 kilometers east of the Suez Canal.
Spiro T. Agnew resigned as the Republican Vice President of the United States of America and pleaded no contest to one count of income tax evasion, upon charges being filed by the Department of Justice in regard to the various nickel-and-dime Maryland bribes he had been receiving while in national office.20 (Agnew would plead no contest in federal court in Baltimore to a count of federal income tax evasion. Sentenced to 3 years’ probation and fined $10,000, he would be disbarred in 1974 by the Maryland Court of Appeals.) GOVERNMENT SCANDALS
He would be replaced by Republican Congressman Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. Speaker of the House of Representatives Carl Albert would comment that with unanimous agreement “We gave Nixon no choice but Ford.”
20. It appears that Spiral had supposed, once upon a time in Maryland, that vice was nice — and our nattering nabobs of negativism had finally got aholt of his ass (when we asked President Richard Milhous Nixon, however, he assured us that he himself was not a crook). You may have been supposing, as many did, that the Vice President resigned in shame — but actually, he would claim after the fact in his book GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE, he resigned in fear, that unless he cooperated the President might make him have a “convenient accident,” which is to say, that Nixon might instruct that he be assassinated: GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 12, Friday: Israeli forces pushed well beyond the cease-fire line to within 30 kilometers of Damascus.
Egyptian forces continued to fortify their positions on the east bank of the Suez Canal.
Juan Domingo Perón Sosa became again the president of Argentina. His vice-president was his wife, Isabel.
A federal appeals court in Washington ordered President Richard Milhous Nixon to hand over the Oval Office tapes to Judge John Joseph Sirica.
The US government set a mandatory allocation plan for distillate fuels, to take effect as of November 1st.
Koto Music I for amplified piano and tape by Peter Sculthorpe was performed for the initial time, in the Sydney Opera House.
House of Representatives minority leader Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. of Michigan was nominated to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president.21 WATERGATE
October 17, Wednesday: Major tank battle between Egyptian and Israeli forces began on both sides of the Suez Canal.
Arab oil producers meeting in Kuwait decided on a policy of cutting oil production and raising prices, in an attempt to force the USA to abandon its support for Israel.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, and American Airlines pleaded guilty in federal court to making illegal contributions to President Richard Milhous Nixon’s reelection campaign (the companies and 2 of their chairmen were fined).
The military dictatorship of Chile banned political activity by any individual or group.
21. You may have thought, as many did, that the Vice President had resigned in shame — but actually, he would claim after the fact in his book GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE, he had resigned in fear, that unless he cooperated the President might make him have a “convenient accident,” which is to say, that Nixon might instruct that he be assassinated: GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 19, Friday: 25 hours after Arab terrorists seized the Bank of America office in Beirut taking 40 hostages, Lebanese police and army commandos stormed their way into the bank. One of the hostages and two of the kidnappers were killed.
Libya ended all oil shipments to the US because of its support of Israel.
March no.3, with “My Old Kentucky Home” for small orchestra by Charles Ives was performed for the initial time, at Yale University. Also premiered was Ives’ Decoration Day for violin and piano and the song They Are There! to his own words.
Former Counsel to the President John W. Dean III pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to obstruct justice for his part in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in (he would be sentenced to 1 to 4 years in prison).
When the Appeals Court ruled 5-2 that President Richard Milhous Nixon must present tapes to special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, stating that “the President ... was not above the law’s commands,” the President rejected this demand and offered a compromise with the special prosecutor and the Senate Watergate committee on the Oval Office tapes. He would provide summaries of the tapes in question, with the veracity of these summaries to be verified by Senator John Stennis. Special Prosecutor Cox rejected any such plan.
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
October 20, Saturday: Queen Elizabeth officially opened the Sydney Opera House.
After establishing an effective bridgehead on the west bank of the Suez Canal, Israeli forces began a 3-pronged offensive.
Saudi Arabia declared that it was going to cease all oil sales to the USA, because of its support of Israel.
Zwei-Mann-Orchester by Mauricio Kagel was performed for the initial time, in the Stadthalle, Donaueschingen.
President Richard Milhous Nixon offered summaries of the Oval Office tapes to special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, who demanded to listen to the actual tapes. The President ordered Attorney-General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. The President then ordered Deputy Attorney- General William Doyle Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned. Finally, the President ordered Solicitor-General Robert H. Bork to dismiss Cox. Bork of course complied since there was absolutely nothing that a public servant like that would not do for his nation. The President abolished the office of special prosecutor, and FBI agents were sent to seal off the prosecutor’s offices. This sequence of dominoes falling would come to be understood as the “Saturday Night Massacre” and would create serious doubts even among loyalists about the President’s complicity in the Watergate affair. In its first-ever editorial, TIME Magazine opinioned “The President Should Resign.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
October 22, Monday: The United Nations Security Council voted to call for a cease-fire in the Middle East.
America’s largest labor organization, the AFL-CIO, meeting in convention in Bal Habour, Florida, approved a resolution calling on President Richard Milhous Nixon to resign, or failing that, calling for him to be impeached and replaced by the federal Congress. Acting Attorney-General Robert H. Bork revealed that he had placed Assistant Attorney-General Henry E. Petersen in charge of the Watergate investigation.
Pablo Casals died in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico at the age of 96.
October 23, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon agreed to turn White House tape recordings requested by the Watergate special prosecutor over to Judge John Joseph Sirica. The US House of Representatives began to consider impeachment proceedings against the President, with 8 impeachment resolutions being considered.
The UN Security Council again called for a cease fire in the Middle East and for all parties to return to positions they held at the last cease fire.
Arthur Conte was sacked as president and director-general of ORTF after he criticized French government interference in news reporting.
Evryali for piano by Iannis Xenakis was performed for the initial time, in Lincoln Center, New York.
October 24, Wednesday: As Israeli forces completed their isolation of the Egyptian Third Army on the west bank of the Suez Canal, a cease-fire went into effect.
President Richard Milhous Nixon vetoed a bill that would have limited his power to make war without Congressional approval.
Third Sacred Concert for soloists, choruses and players by Duke Ellington was performed for the initial time, in Westminster Abbey, in the presence of Princess Margaret and Prime Minister Edward Heath. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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October 26, Friday: A 6th General Electric boiling water nuclear reactor began construction on the coast of Japan, at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Station. This one would be of the newer “Mark II” design.
President Richard Milhous Nixon offered that he was not angry with the news media — because “one can only be angry with those he respects.”
October 29, Monday: The surrounded Egyptian Third Corps began receiving food, water, and medical supplies with the permission of the victorious Israelis.
A British report indicated that between 100,000 and 150,000 Ethiopians had died in recent drought and famine.
The US Congress had received 350,000 telegrams since October 20, overwhelmingly calling for the impeachment of President Richard Milhous Nixon. WATERGATE
Music to Ernst Krenek’s television play Flaschenpost vom Paradies, oder Der englische Ausflug was performed for the initial time, over Osterreichische Rundfunk, originating in Vienna.
October 31, Wednesday: The US military stood down from its worldwide alert.
An attorney for the White House indicated to Judge John Joseph Sirica that a couple of the tapes requested by the court simply did not exist.
November 1, Thursday: Following the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Acting Attorney-General Robert H. Bork appoints Leonidas “Leon” Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, replacing Archibald Cox.
The Greek government gave Mikis Theodorakis permission to return to Greece, and allowed the performance of 40 of his songs.
The Italian government lifted its freeze on most foods and other products. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 7, Wednesday: Saigon’s bombers devastated Loc Ninh, the Viet Cong administrative center.
The United States and Egypt agreed to resume diplomatic relations.
The US Congress overrode President Richard Milhous Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Resolution, thus limiting the president’s ability to make war without congressional approval. The President was to be required to obtain the consent of Congress within 90 days after sending American troops abroad. READ THE FULL TEXT
The government of Luxembourg ordered gas stations to close on weekends. In a national address, the President outlined mandatory and voluntary measures to deal with the projected shortfall in oil. He also informed us that he had no intention of resigning.
The Board of Education of Drake, North Dakota had 32 to 36 copies of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE OR THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE A DUTY-DANCE WITH DEATH burned, terming them “tools of the Devil” (they would not renew the contract of the teacher who had assigned this book). Over the years, people I’ve met have often asked me what I’m working on, and I’ve usually replied that the main thing was a book about Dresden. I said that to Harrison Starr, the movie-maker, one time, and he raised his eyebrows and inquired, “Is it an anti-war book?” “Yes,” I said. “I guess.” “You know what I say to people when I hear they’re writing anti-war books?” “No. What do you say, Harrison Starr?” “I say, ‘Why don’t you write an anti-glacier book instead?’” What he meant, of course, was that there would always be wars, that they were as easy to stop as glaciers. I believe that, too. — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE OR THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE A DUTY-DANCE WITH DEATH. NY: Dell, 1971, page 3. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 12, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon professed that a memorandum on his April 15th meeting with Counsel to the President John W. Dean III, a memorandum about which there had already been testimony, did not in fact exist.
On this day and the following one, Braniff International Airways Inc., Ashland Petroleum Gabon Corp., and Gulf Oil Corp would be fined by a federal court in Washington DC for having made large illegal donations to President Nixon’s reelection campaign.
String Quartet no.14 op.142 by Dmitri Shostakovich was performed publicly for the initial time, in Glinka Concert Hall, Leningrad.
November 13, Tuesday: Over the following 3 days, the Senate Watergate committee would be hearing testimony from offices of 6 major companies about how they had been circumventing federal election laws to make large contributions to the reelection campaign of President Richard Milhous Nixon.
Bruno Maderna died in Darmstadt at the age of 53.
To deal with a work slowdown by the National Union of Miners, Prime Minister Edward Heath of Great Britain declared a state of emergency.
November 14, Wednesday: About 1,000 anti-government students occupied the Polytechnic University in Athens while 15,000 of their comrades were blocking traffic.
A federal judge in Washington DC ruled that President Richard Milhous Nixon’s firing of special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox had been illegal.
Reports from Chile indicated that universities or university departments that were considered to leftist had been closed. Professors and students were being called upon to denounce faculty who espoused mistaken beliefs. All university rectors had been replaced with military men.
Birthday Canon for Richard Hall’s 70th Birthday for wind quintet by Peter Maxwell Davies was performed for the initial time, in Leeds University Great Hall. This was one of 6 pieces composed by Hall’s former students to celebrate the event (another work was contributed by Alexander Goehr).
November 17, Saturday: The Greek government imposed martial law. Police forcibly drove students off the campus of Patras University. Five were killed and hundreds injured.
Leaders of France and Great Britain signed an agreement to build a tunnel (chunnel) under the English Channel, and on this same day President Richard Milhous Nixon was telling an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, Florida that his conscience was clear: “In all my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. People have got to know whether or not their President was a crook. Well, I’m not a crook; I earned everything I’ve got.” WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 21, Wednesday: Leaders in Northern Ireland worked out a compromise for a power-sharing executive between the two communities.
1 President Richard Milhous Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 /2-minute critical gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate. The lawyers for the White House explained to the federal judge in Washington DC that this accidentally erasure had been a “terrible mistake,” committed somehow very innocently by the President’s elderly secretary Rose Mary Woods. (Ms. Woods would offer a demonstration for the benefit of reporters of precisely how she had, with great agility given her age and physical condition, leaned over backward and sideways and stretched in her swiveling office chair to perpetrate this accidental, innocent, terrible blunder.)
November 26, Monday: The Canadian government asked its citizens for a 15% voluntary cut in fuel consumption.
Bertha, an opera by Ned Rorem to words of Koch, was performed for the initial time, in Alice Tully Hall, New York.
Rose Mary Woods, President Richard Milhous Nixon’s personal secretary, told a federal court she had accidentally erased over 18 minutes of a “Watergate tape” made June 20th. TIMELINE OF ACCIDENTS
November 27, Tuesday: Cradle II for four sets of tube drums and instrumental ensemble by Robert Erickson was performed for the initial time, at the University of California at San Diego.
The federal Senate voted 92-to-3 to confirm Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. as vice president, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who had resigned.22 WATERGATE
22. You may have supposed, as many did, that the Vice President had resigned in shame — but actually, he would claim after the fact in his book GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE, he had resigned in fear, that unless he cooperated President Richard Milhous Nixon might make him have a “convenient accident,” which is to say, that the President of the United States of America might have passed the word to have him assassinated: GO QUIETLY, OR ELSE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 30, Friday: Prime Minister Joop den Uyl of the Netherlands announced gasoline rationing would begin in his nation on January 7th.
To save energy, the French government announced lowered speed limits on all roads, fewer airline flights, and reduced lighting for public buildings and advertising. On weeknights, television broadcasting was to shut down at 11PM.
The Intergovernmental Commission of European Migrations said in Geneva that since the coup in Chile, 1,200 refugees representing 28 nations had been extracted from that troubled region.
Former White House official Egil “Bud” Krogh, Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the 1971 break-in by the “White House Plumbers” at Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. WATERGATE
Six Romances on Verses by British Poets op.140 for voice and orchestra by Dmitri Shostakovich was performed for the initial time, in Moscow Conservatory Bolshoy Hall.
Intermezzo for 24 strings by Krzysztof Penderecki was performed for the initial time, in Zürich.
Konzertante Figuren for orchestra by Isang Yun was performed for the initial time, in Hamburg.
December 6, Thursday: The members of the Arab League, meeting in Cairo, agreed to gradually withdraw all assets that they had in US banks.
Workers in France staged a 24-hour general strike to protest new anti-inflation measures.
The federal House of Representatives voted 387 over 35 to confirm the Senate vote, and an hour later House Speaker Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. took the oath of office and became the United States of America’s 1st appointed Vice President (upon resignation of President Richard Milhous Nixon, he would become our nation’s initial non-elected President). WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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December 13, Thursday: To conserve energy in the face of a work slowdown by coal miners, British Prime Minister Edward Heath declared a 3-day work week.
Technical experts appointed by Judge John Joseph Sirica to investigate an 18-minute gap in one of the Oval Office tapes reported that they were dubious of the explanation for the gap offered by the White House. WATERGATE
Delizie Contente che L’Alme Beate for woodwind quintet and tape by Jacob Druckman was performed for the first time, in Alice Tully Hall, New York.
The Reverend Jim Jones was charged with masturbating in the men’s restroom of the Westlake Theatre in Los Angeles after having attempted to connect with another man in the theater and then in that restroom, Arthur Kagele, an undercover LAPD vice officer (it seems lost to history, what film the theater was offering that day). The Reverend would be offering a $5,000 “contribution” to the police station. Dr. Alex Finkle, a San Francisco urologist, would explain to Judge Clarence A. Stromwall that due to a urinary blockage, the Reverend needed to hop up and down to get the urine to flow: “I am stunned to learn of the preposterous allegations [about] Reverend Jones!”
December 19, Wednesday: Poul Hartling replaced Anker Jørgensen as Prime Minister of Denmark.
Although Hartling’s Left-Liberals constituted the smallest minority government in Danish history, they were being supported by 5 other center-right parties.
Judge John Joseph Sirica ruled that almost all of the materials on the 3 White House tapes requested by the Watergate special prosecutor could be withheld as irrelevant.
The US-backed military dictatorship of Chile ended a land-reform program making land available to the poor, that had been instituted in 1960. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1974
January 4, Friday: Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
Israeli forces allowed food and non-military supplies to reach the surrounded Egyptian Third Army.
Stimmen for two voices and instrumental ensemble to words of various authors was performed for the initial time, in London, with the composer Hans Werner Henze himself conducting.
January 5, Saturday: Shortly after midnight on January 4/5, Ted Bundy (who may well have been killing since he had been a teenager, although we do not know) entered the basement apartment of a sleeping 18-year-old dancer and student at the University of Washington, Karen Sparks. He attacked her in her sleep with a metal rod from her bed frame and then sexually probed her with something that created extensive internal injuries. She would survive, but with permanent disabilities.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY
January 15, Tuesday: The USSR jammed West German radio broadcasts as the commentators began reading excerpts from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s GULAG ARCHIPELAGO (АРХИПЕЛАГ ГУЛАГ).
A committee of 6 technical experts concluded that the 18-minute gap on one of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s Oval Office tapes had resulted from erasures and re-recordings that could not have been, as the White House was claiming, an accident.
Senator Barry Goldwater blamed the President’s Watergate situation on “liberal Democrats.” He did not suppose that this President would ever resign. “…I don’t believe the liberal Democrats have what it takes, either in evidence or guts, to push through an impeachment in the House and a subsequent trial in the Senate.”
The US Federal Energy Office issued final guidelines for fuel allocation, in which businesses were favored over individual oil users.
Abzählreime, a song cycle for voice and piano by Sofia Gubaidulina to words of Satunovsky, was performed for the initial time, in Frankfurt-am-Main. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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January 22, Tuesday: Protestants disrupted the Northern Ireland Assembly in an attempt to destroy the power-sharing agreement.
Republican Vice-President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. alleged that the White House was in possession of information that would “exonerate the President.” Have faith, stand by, because just as soon as they decide to reveal this information, it will “totally undercut” the Watergate testimony of that nasty little liar, Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon’s former Counsel to the President John W. Dean III!
January 24, Thursday: Egil “Bud” Krogh, Jr. was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for his part in the break-in at the Beverly Hills office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist (all but 6 months of this sentence was suspended).
January 26, Saturday: 19 bombs exploded in Buenos Aires and Rosario, targeting leftists.
The Senate Watergate committee suspended its hearings indefinitely.
January 28, Monday: Israeli forces lifted the siege of Suez. The UN handed the city over to Egypt.
The Republican Herbert Porter, former official of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s campaign committee, pleaded guilty to having made false statements to the FBI (and would receive a sentence of 30 days in jail).
Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev arrived in Cuba for a week-long visit. Fun in the sun.
January 31, Thursday: A Singapore, Palestinian terrorists and members of the Japanese Red Army attempted to blow up the refineries of Royal Dutch Shell. They failed and commandeered a ferry, taking 5 hostages.
The Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives unanimously requested full constitutional authority to begin an inquiry into the possible impeachment of the President of the United States of America, Richard Milhous Nixon. The Saigon government had for the entire course of Nixon’s presidency been in possession of information by which they would be able to blackmail the President and expose him as a traitor, and thus guarantee his support of them (because it had been with their help that he had become President in the 1st place) — and suddenly they were going to be forced to survive without their key bargaining chip! Sad!
NBC revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency had destroyed Watergate-related tapes.
February 19, Tuesday: The US Federal Energy Office allowed an emergency allocation of 317,940,000 liters of gasoline to 20 states.
Failing in its attempts to secure additional White House tapes, the Senate Watergate committee voted to discontinue public hearings. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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February 25, Monday: String Quartet I/II by Mauricio Kagel was performed for the initial time, in the Funkhaus, Hamburg.
Herbert Warren Kalmbach, personal lawyer to President Richard Milhous Nixon and an important Republican fundraiser, pleaded guilty to charges that he had raised $3,900,000 for a secret campaign committee, and had obtained a $100,000 campaign contribution from an ambassador in return for a superior assignment. He would be sentenced to 6-18 months in prison and fined $10,000.
March 1, Friday: A federal grand jury in Washington DC indicted 7 White House officials, including former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and former Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman, former Attorney- General John N. Mitchell, and Special Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson, Gordon Creighton Strachan, and former campaign officials, for conspiracy to obstruct justice and for perjury in the Watergate affair. Robert Charles Mardian and Kenneth Parkinson were also indicted for their parts in the Watergate cover-up. Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator merely because Special Prosecutor Leonidas “Leon” Jaworski was of the opinion that a president could be indicted only after having been impeached and removed from office.
March 2, Saturday: A grand jury in Washington DC concluded that Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon had been indeed himself personally involved in the Watergate coverup. Gosh, they just didn’t get it:
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
March 7, Thursday: The 1st general strike in the history of Ethiopia took place to press demands for a higher minimum wage, pensions, social security, and the right to strike.
A federal grand jury indicted 6 men in connection with the break-in at the office of Lewis Fielding, psychiatrist to Dr. Daniel Ellsberg. They were Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman, Special Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson, G. Gordon Liddy, Bernard Barker, Eugenio Martinez, and Felipe DeDiego.
Streakers were 1st reported on college campuses in the United States (the fad was to become popular around the world).
Compass for tenor, bass, cello, double bass, 4-track tape, and visual projections by Roger Reynolds to words of Borges was staged for the initial time, in the Vanguard Theater, Los Angeles.
March 18, Monday: Khmer Rouge forces captured Oudong, the former royal capital of Cambodia northwest of Phnom Penh.
7 of the 9 Arab oil producing states ended their embargo of oil shipments to the United States. Libya and Syria retained the ban. All retained the ban against the Netherlands and Denmark.
Judge John Joseph Sirica ruled that evidence compiled by a secret Watergate grand jury should be released to the House of Representatives for their consideration of the impeachment of President Richard Milhous Nixon. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 3, Wednesday: Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was replaced by Alain Emile Louis Marie Poher as acting President of France.
The Congressional Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation reported that President Richard Milhous Nixon owed $476,431 in delinquent taxes from his 1st term as President. 4 hours later the White House announced that the President would pay these back taxes.
April 5, Friday: A coalition government of communists and non-communists was established in Laos.
Dwight Lee Chapin, former appointments secretary to President Richard Milhous Nixon, was found guilty of having lied to the Watergate grand jury. He would be sentenced to 10-30 months in prison.
April 11, Thursday: The Judiciary committee of the federal House of Representatives subpoenaed Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon to produce tapes for its Watergate impeachment inquiry.
3 Palestinian terrorists from Lebanon entered an apartment building in Qiryat Shemona, Israel and began shooting. They were able to kill 10 adults and 8 children, and injure 16, before being themselves killed.
In a Media, Pennsylvania court, former United Mine Workers President Tony Boyle was convicted on 3 counts of murder (he had in 1969 arranged the murders of union rival Joseph Yablonski, his wife, and his daughter).
April 18, Thursday: At the request of the Watergate special prosecutor, a federal district court in Washington DC issued a subpoena on the White House for tapes and other materials relating to 64 different Oval Office conversations.
April 28, Sunday: With Portuguese airports and borders open again, political exiles had begun to return. On this day Socialist Party leader Mario Soares arrived.
Former Attorney-General John N. Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Hubert Stans were found not guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. HDT WHAT? INDEX
“THIS IS TREASON.” “I KNOW.” GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM
April 29, Monday: Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of some secretly made White House tape recordings related to Watergate.
Saigon government troops began an incursion into Cambodia against North Vietnamese forces.
Decrees by the new Portuguese government effectively dismantled the old fascist regime. All high office holders were removed along with the governors of the African colonies, and 3 military leaders. The National Assembly and the Council of State were dissolved.
In a nationwide address, President Nixon promised to turn over to the House Judiciary Committee, and the public, some 1,200 pages of edited transcripts of Watergate-related Oval Office conversations.
April 30, Tuesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon released heavily-edited tape transcripts of Watergate-related Oval Office conversations. They revealed the President and his aides to be not only potty-mouthed but also and interminably making lists of enemies and plotting ways to “get” them. Republican Senator Hugh Doggett Scott, Jr. described the taping of conversations as “shabby, disgusting, and immoral.” An obviously pertinent and important 18 minutes of a June 20th, 1972 meeting were noted to have been erased without explanation. –Maybe that had been merely a mistake made by some innocent secretary, attempting to prevent things from becoming all shabby, all disgusting, and all immoral-like?
Saigon government troops began a 2d incursion into Cambodia against North Vietnamese forces.
Alvaro Cunhal, exiled leader of the Portuguese Communist Party, arrived back in the country.
In a sworn affidavit in federal court in Washington, former Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman asserted that Republican President Nixon had, after the fact, twice approved of the break-in at Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office.
Three Songs op.45 by Samuel Barber, Now I Have Fed and Eaten Up the Rose to words of Keller (translated by Joyce), A Green Lowland of Pianos to words of Harasymowicz (translated by Milosz) and O Boundless, Boundless Evening to words of Heym (translated by Middleton) for voice and piano were performed for the initial time, in Alice Tully Hall, New York. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 1, Wednesday: King Hussein of Jordan allowed a separate PLO delegation at the Geneva peace meetings to represent Palestinian Arabs.
The House Judiciary Committee voted to inform President Richard Milhous Nixon that he was not in compliance with their subpoena.
Wage and price controls ran out in the United States. The oil industry would remain under regulation.
The Lion and Androcles, a children’s opera by John C. Eaton to words of Walter and Anderson after Silvius, was performed for the initial time, in Indianapolis.
The Image of Man for chorus and orchestra by Michael Colgrass was performed for the initial time, in Spokane, Washington.
May 2, Thursday: Former Republican Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred. Not only were we not going to let this guy get away with any more illegal practice — we weren’t even going to let him get away with any more legal practice! GOVERNMENT SCANDALS
May 6, Monday: Roberta Kathleen Parks left her dormitory at Oregon State University in Corvallis south of Seattle, to have coffee with friends at the Student Union Building, but never arrived. It is suspected that she was a victim of Ted Bundy, who at this point was abandoning law school in Tacoma in frustration, to take a job at the Emergency Services Department in Olympia, Washington.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY
May 9, Thursday: The Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives opened hearings on whether to recommend the impeachment of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon. WATERGATE “Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” — President Richard Milhous Nixon
May 10, Friday: The Viet Cong broke off all contacts with the Saigon government.
G. Gordon Liddy was found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the questions of a House committee. He was given a suspended sentence of 6 months and a year of probation. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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May 16, Thursday: Israeli war planes carried out retaliatory raids on terrorist safe havens in southern Lebanon.
Helmut Schmidt replaced Willy Brandt as Chancellor of West Germany.
Amidst widespread protest strikes, 60,000 people marched on the Folketing in Copenhagen, demanding the resignation of the government for having raised sales taxes.
Adelino da Palma Carlos replaced Marcelo das Neves Alves Caetano as prime minister of Portugal.
Former US Attorney-General Richard Gordon Kleindienst pleaded guilty to failing to give full and accurate answers to a Senate investigating committee in regard to the Watergate break-in and cover-up. He would be sentenced to a $100 fine and a month in prison, both suspended, and would return to private law practice.
President Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela announced that the oil industry would be nationalized.
Leonard Bernstein’s ballet Dybbuk to a choreography by Robbins was performed for the initial time, in New York, with the composer himself conducting.
May 18, Saturday: It was the officially celebrated birthday of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. India made itself the 6th nation to explode a nuclear device by detonating a low-yield nuclear device (approximately 12 kilotons) under its Rajasthan desert. Challenged, they would insist that they had not set off an atomic bomb — “because it was a peaceful nuclear explosion” and “because it was not a bomb.” The code name they had been using in preparation for their secret test had been “Smiling Buddha.”
Voting in parliamentary elections in Australia resulted in a balance of power almost the same as the previous parliament. The ruling Labor Party of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam retained the government, but failed to win a majority in the Senate.
The Portuguese military ended all offensive operations in Angola.
Five Easy Pieces for violin, piano and Jew’s harp by T.J. Anderson was performed for the initial time, in Winchester, Massachusetts.
May 20, Monday: As part of the general strike, Protestants set up about 100 barricades throughout Belfast, cutting off the city and the Protestant districts.
Former Portuguese President Americo Thomaz and Prime Minister Marcello Caetano were flown from Madeira to Brazil where they were given political asylum.
Judge John Joseph Sirica ordered President Richard Milhous Nixon to comply with subpoenas from special Watergate prosecutor Leonidas “Leon” Jaworski.
Mass for Solo Voice by Virgil Thomson accompanied by orchestra was performed for the initial time, at York Arts Center, York, England. HDT WHAT? INDEX
“I KNOW.” “THIS IS TREASON.” GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM
May 21, Tuesday: Former deputy director of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) Jeb Magruder was sentenced to from 10 months to 4 years imprisonment for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up.
Erikhthon for piano and orchestra by Iannis Xenakis was performed for the initial time, in Paris.
May 22, Wednesday: President Richard Milhous Nixon refused to comply with 2 subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee, and indicated that he would not comply with any future subpoena dealing with Watergate.
May 30, Thursday: Israel and Syria agreed to disengage their forces on the Golan Heights, after a month of shuttle diplomacy by American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives advised President Richard Milhous Nixon that his refusal to comply with their subpoenas might constitute grounds for impeachment, and issued another subpoena.
June 3, Monday: Yitzhak Rabin replaced Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel.
Special Counsel Charles Wendell “Chuck” Colson, a close aide to President Richard Milhous Nixon, pleaded guilty to a count of obstruction of justice for his role in tampering with the trial of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg (he would receive a sentence of 1-to-3 years in prison and a $5,000 fine).
June 6, Thursday: The Los Angeles Times reported that indictments handed down by the Watergate grand jury in February named President Richard Milhous Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Watergate cover-up.
June 8, Saturday: An American Requiem for five wind groups by Henry Brant was performed for the initial time, in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania (this had been composed in response to the Watergate scandal). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 14, Friday: Presidents Anwar Sadat and Richard Milhous Nixon signed an agreement in Cairo whereby the US would provide nuclear technology to Egypt (for peaceful uses).
Ravelle for clarinet, violin, electric guitar, piano and bass by Karlheinz Stockhausen was performed for the first time, in Freiburg, 23 years after it was composed.
June 15, Saturday: Ballet dancers Valery and Galina Panov arrived in Tel Aviv, having been allowed to leave the Soviet Union.
The United States Supreme Court made the information public, that a federal grand jury had found President Richard Milhous Nixon to have been a member of the conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.
Trois rencontres for string trio and orchestra by Betsy Jolas was performed for the initial time, in Strasbourg.
Witold Lutoslawski received an honorary doctorate from Northwestern University in Chicago.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, reporters for the Washington Post, published ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, an exposé of deceit and corruption within the Nixon administration during the Watergate cover-up.
June 16, Sunday: Presidents Hafez al-Assad and Richard Milhous Nixon jointly announced in Damascus a resumption of diplomatic relations between their nations. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July: The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to recommend that impeachment hearings begin in the case of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon, for coverup, for abuse of powers, and for failure to abide by subpoenas. WATERGATE
July 3, Wednesday: In a ceremony in Moscow, General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and President Richard Milhous Nixon signed a number of limited agreements on nuclear weapons. The two countries agreed for instance to limit all underground nuclear tests to not more than 150 kilotons.
July 8, Monday: Rudolf Kirchschläger replaced Bruno Kreisky as president of Austria.
Israeli seamen landed at the Lebanese ports of Tyre, Saida andf Ras a-Shak and destroyed 30 vessels, in retaliation for the recent Palestinian terrorist attack on Nahariya.
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in The United States v. Richard M. Nixon.
Voters in Canada returned the Liberal Party of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to majority status. The Liberals increased their seat total by 32.
July 11, Thursday: The House Judiciary Committee released 4,133 pages of evidence they had amassed about the Watergate break-in and cover-up.
July 12, Friday: John Ehrlichman, former domestic advisor to Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon, and 3 other co-conspirators, Egil “Bud” Krogh, Jr., E. Howard Hunt, and G. Gordon Liddy, were convicted of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s former psychiatrist in their break-in of his office (he would be sentenced to 20 months to 5 years in prison). WATERGATE
July 13, Saturday: Vasco dos Santos Gonçalves replaced Adelino da Palma Carlos as prime minister of Portugal.
The special Watergate Committee of the federal Senate proposed sweeping reforms in an effort to prevent another such scandal. It chronicled activities of the Nixon administration and his campaign committee which included illegal political information-gathering, directing the Internal Revenue Service to find ways to harm its enemies, sabotage of opposition candidates, pressuring government agencies to work for the reelection of the president, illegal corporate campaign contributions, and the selling of ambassadorships. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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July 14, Sunday: There were broad-daylight abductions of 2 women at a crowded beach at Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah, east of Seattle. 23-year-old Janice Anne Ott, a probation case worker at the King County Juvenile Court, was seen to leave the beach in someone’s company, and then about 4 hours later, 18-year-old Denise Marie Naslund, who was studying to become a computer programmer, left a picnic to go to the restroom and never returned. It is suspected that these women had fallen victim to Ted Bundy.
July 19, Friday: The House Judiciary Committee recommended that Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon should stand trial in the Senate for any of the 5 impeachment charges against him. WATERGATE
July 24, Wednesday: In United States of America v. Richard M. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that a president could withhold national security material but insisted that Watergate was a criminal matter to which executive privilege did not apply. Republican President Nixon would need to hand over tapes to Watergate prosecutor John Joseph Sirica.
Konstantinos Karamanlis replaced Adamantios Androutsopoulos as Prime Minister of Greece. He headed the 1st civilian cabinet since 1967. All political prisoners were freed. Mikis Theodorakis returned to Athens after 4 years of exile.
The House Judiciary Committee began televised hearings on the impeachment of President Nixon.
July 27, Saturday: The House Judiciary Committee voted 27-over-11 to recommend Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon’s impeachment on a charge that he had personally engaged in a “course of conduct” designed to obstruct justice in the Watergate case.
President Antonio de Spinola announced that Portugal would quickly transfer power and independence to its African colonies.
Signor Deluso, a comic opera by Thomas Pasatieri to his own words after Molière, was performed for the initial time, in Wolf Trap, Virginia.
July 29, Monday: 2d impeachment vote against Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon by the House Judiciary Committee, that he had failed to carry out his oath to see that the nation’s laws were faithfully executed. WATERGATE
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Communist troops captured 7 Saigon government outposts around Thuong Duc south of Danang. They shelled Thuong Duc itself, causing heavy casualties.
2 days of fighting began between militiamen of the Phalangist Party and Palestinian guerrillas outside Beirut.
4 bishops of the Episcopal Church ordained 11 women to the priesthood in Philadelphia. They were breaking church law.
July 30, Tuesday: Greece and Turkey, under the auspices of Great Britain, agreed to a cease-fire on Cyprus.
The Quebec National Assembly voted to make French the official language of the province.
One of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon’s main men, Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman, was sentenced to prison for his role in the break-in at the office of Dr. Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. It was Ehrlichman who had created the White House unit that was called the “plumbers” — because it was intended to plug leaks (it is worth remembering here that Nixon’s 1st break-in was as a law student, when he broke into the dean’s office at Duke Law School to get an advance look at his class standing).
President Nixon’s attorneys belatedly turned over tapes of 20 Oval Office conversations to a federal judge.
The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee voted a 3d article of impeachment against President Nixon, charging him with having defied their subpoenas. WATERGATE
August 1, Thursday: Alexander Meigs “Al” Haig Jr., who had become Chief of Staff in the White House following the resignation of H.R. Haldeman, informed Vice President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. that a new tape contained “smoking gun” evidence, that would be released the following Monday, confirming that President Richard Milhous Nixon had taken part in the Watergate cover-up and would be obliged to resign or be impeached. Haig: “I’m just warning you that you’ve got to be prepared, that things might change dramatically and you could become President.” Ford: “Betty, I don’t think we’re ever going to live in the vice president’s house.”
August 5, Monday: President Richard Milhous Nixon admitted he had halted the FBI investigation into the Watergate break-in as little as 6 days after the incident, but said that he had been fully justified in doing so. To soften the impact of full disclosure, the Republican President released only 3 of the Oval Office tapes of conversations, indicating that they had been previously “omitted.” Included, however, was the “smoking gun” which proved that Nixon had ordered a cover-up as early as June 23d, 1972 and had then lied to the public for 9 months. Secretary of Defense Schlesinger indicated a certain lack of trust in Nixon’s decision-making by instructing all military commanders that they were to refuse any orders from the White House unless these orders were co-signed by him personally. WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
“THIS IS TREASON.” “I KNOW.” GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM
“[President Richard Milhous Nixon] will, with time, be a landmark in the history of quiet, determined desperation.” — Murray Kempton
August 6, Tuesday: After the revelation of the previous day, only 2 members of the US House of Representatives publicly stated that they would vote against impeachment. However, 10 members of the House Judiciary Committee who had previously voted against impeachment then indicated that they would vote for it.
August 8, Thursday: Voyage for voice and orchestra by Elliott Carter to words of Crane was performed for the initial time, in Aspen, Colorado.
After pledging to his Cabinet that he would refuse to resign, Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon was advised by top Republicans that were he to stand impeached, his conviction would be upheld in the Senate by a huge margin. So informed, he announced that he will resign effective tomorrow, the 1st American president to do so. WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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August 9, Friday: Fighting on Cyprus came to a halt as negotiators from all sides met in Geneva.
Finally fearful of imprisonment, Richard Milhous Nixon resigned the presidency of the United States of America, becoming our first president to resign the office. Vice-President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was sworn in as 38th US President, becoming the 6th in succession to attempt to cope with the mess we were making in Vietnam.
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
(In the following month, Republican President Ford would grant an unconditional pardon to former Republican President Nixon for all crimes, real or imagined, detected or undetected. Go thou and sin no more. Nixon would write a series of books telling us what a great guy he was and how he had been right all along. By the way, have you heard that Nixon was a Quaker? Both of these gentlemen would wind up in the autumn of their days, very tanned, very rested, very ready, and rather perplexing. :-)
September 8, Sunday: The New York Times and the Washington Post reported that the CIA, with the approval of Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, had spent millions of dollars to undermine the constitutionally elected government of President Salvador Allende Gossens of Chile. Meanwhile, Republican President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. let the former President off the hook, by granting “a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.” Go thou and become tanned, rested and ready while sinning no more. Ford proclaimed that our “long national nightmare” was over. WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
“THIS IS TREASON.” “I KNOW.” GO TO MASTER HISTORY OF QUAKERISM
September 22, Sunday: Special Watergate prosecutor Leonidas “Leon” Jaworski laid a subpoena on former President Richard Milhous Nixon. It ain’t over ’till it’s over.
October 1, Tuesday: 5 aides to former President Richard Milhous Nixon –Kenneth Parkinson, Robert Charles Mardian, White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, Presidential Advisor John Ehrlichman, and Attorney- General John N. Mitchell– were put on trial for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation.
October 2, Wednesday: Ted Bundy seized 16-year-old Nancy Wilcox in Holladay, a suburb of Salt Lake City, dragged her into a wooded area, and strangled her.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY
November 5, Tuesday: 6 days of rioting begins in Luanda, begun by members of the MPLA. An estimated 100 were killed and 200 injured.
The opposition Democratic Party trounced the Republican Party of President Gerald Rudolph Ford in Congressional elections in the United States. They gained 3 seats in the Senate and 49 in the House of Representatives. Many saw this as a reaction to the Watergate debacle.
November 8, Friday: Ted Bundy approached 18-year-old telephone operator Carol DaRonch at Fashion Place Mall in Murray, Utah. By mistake he fastened both handcuffs to the same wrist and she was able to escape. Later that evening, Debra Jean Kent, a 17-year-old student at Viewmont High School in Bountiful, north of Murray, disappeared after leaving a theater production at the school to pick up her brother. It is suspected that she fell victim to Ted Bundy.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY HDT WHAT? INDEX
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November 9, Saturday: Surprise! William Calley, convicted of killing 22 unarmed civilians at My Lai in 1968, was free on $1,000 bond after serving 1-3d of a 10-year prison sentence. Such a nice all-American boy! He had only been serving his country and trying to do what he considered to be right.
DIEN BIEN PHU ⊃ MAI LAI TED BUNDY
December 21, Saturday: Portugal granted autonomy to Säo Tomé and Príncipe.
The New York Times reported that the Central Intelligence Agency had kept files on at least 10,000 American citizens and conducted a “massive illegal domestic intelligence operation during the Nixon administration against the antiwar movement and other dissident groups,” in violation of law.
Cello Suite no.3 by Benjamin Britten was performed for the initial time, at Snape Maltings. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1975
January 1, Wednesday: John N. Mitchell, former US attorney-general and chairman of the Committee for the Re- Election of the President (CREEP), former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, former Presidential Advisor John D. Ehrlichman, and former Assistant Attorney-General Robert Charles Mardian, a lawyer for CREEP, were convicted on cover-up charges relating to the Watergate break-in. (Kenneth Parkinson, a lawyer for CREEP, was found not guilty.)
Venezuela nationalized its US-owned iron mining industry.
February 21, Friday: Heavy fighting began between Ethiopian government troops and Eritrean rebels.
Former Attorney-General John N. Mitchell, White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, and former Presidential Advisor John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced in federal court in Washington DC to from 2½ to 8 years in prison for their parts in the Watergate cover-up. Former Assistant Attorney-General Robert Charles Mardian was sentenced to from 10 months to 3 years in prison.
Still and Moving Lines of Silence in Families of Hyperbolas for voices, instruments, dancers and percussion by Alvin Lucier was performed for the initial time, in New York.
February 27, Thursday: The United States of America began airlifting food from Saigon to the besieged capital of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Peter Lorenz, CDU candidate for mayor of West Berlin, was kidnapped by leftist terrorists who demanded the release of 6 of their comrades, and a 707 jet.
Attorney-General Edward H. Levi informed a judiciary subcommittee of the federal House of Representatives that former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation J. Edgar Hoover had been keeping blackmail files on presidents, congressmen, and public figures. There had been not less than 48 such files. He also informed them that to his knowledge, 3 presidents had been guilty of using the FBI for political purposes: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Richard Milhous Nixon.
March 12, Wednesday: Maurice Hubert Stans, former Secretary of Commerce and finance chairman for President Richard Milhous Nixon’s campaign committee, pleaded guilty to 5 counts of violating campaign laws. He would be fined $5,000. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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April 21, Monday: During a rambling 90-minute TV speech to the people of South Vietnam, the bitter and tearful President Nguyen Van Thieu resigned. He read from a pledge President Richard Milhous Nixon had made in 1972 that if South Vietnam were ever threatened we would take “severe retaliatory action.” He condemned the Paris Peace Accords, he condemned Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and he condemned the United States of America: “The United States has not respected its promises. It is inhumane. It is untrustworthy. It is irresponsible.” Then, shepherded by our CIA agents, he made his escape into exile in Taiwan.
“Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — Richard Milhous Nixon
Thieu was replaced by Tran Van Huong, who apparently was neither the nice guy down the street nor the man next door.
July 3, Thursday: The New York Bar Association disbarred John N. Mitchell.
July 23, Wednesday: Emergency rule was approved by the lower house of India’s Parliament.
It was disclosed that in 1970 President Richard Milhous Nixon had ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to ensure the defeat of Salvador Allende in the Chilean presidential election (they had failed to accomplish this objective, but subsequently this person unacceptable to us would be replaced by our good ’ol buddy the mass murderer Augusto Pinochet). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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August 10, Sunday: Always on the lookout for a way to turn an easy million or couple million, former President Richard Milhous Nixon sold to David Frost the rights to an exclusive celebrity interview with him. Of course, there are elaborate ground rules and blackout zones — but other than that, take your best shot, David! WATERGATE
September 24, Wednesday: Meeting in New York City, members of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization agreed that they should phase out the alliance “in view of the changing circumstances.”
The Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate revealed that over a period of several decades, the Central Intelligence Agency had been opening and copying letters of a number of prominent Americans and organizations. Those whose privacy had been violated included Richard Milhous Nixon, Edward Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, John D. Rockefeller IV, Arthur Burns, Bella Abzug, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and Harvard University. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1976
March 10, Wednesday: Attorney General Edward H. Levi placed limitations upon future FBI foreign counterintelligence investigations. (Makes you wonder what that might be about.)
March 11, Thursday: In written testimony by unconditionally pardoned former President Richard Milhous Nixon to a committee of the United States Senate, he acknowledged that while President he had ordered efforts to undermine the presidency of Salvador Allende of Chile.
Brigadier General Abdel Aziz al-Ahdab proclaimed himself the military governor of Lebanon and sided with the Muslim dissidents. Broadcasting to the nation, he demanded that the president and prime minister resign.
29 army officers and a civilian were publicly executed by firing squad in Lagos, Nigeria. They had been found guilty of being involved in the attempted coup and the murder of the head of state during the previous month.
Mikka “S” for violin by Iannis Xenakis was performed for the initial time, in Orléans.
October 28, Thursday: A conference including all important Rhodesian parties on majority rule opened in Geneva.
Protestant terrorists entered a Belfast hospital and shot to death a patient, Maire Drumm, who had once been a Vice President of Sinn Fein.
Former Presidential Adviser John D. Ehrlichman to unconditionally pardoned former President Richard Milhous Nixon entered federal prison in Safford, Arizona.
On her way to school, Nina Bernstein sighted a headline about her parents in the New York Daily News: “Bernstein and wife split!” This was the 1st she had heard about it. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1977
May 4, Wednesday: Former President Richard Milhous Nixon spoke with interviewer David Frost in the 1st of 4 television interviews. Nixon had been in seclusion for the 2 previous months, obviously doing intensive practice in the telling of the truth. WATERGATE “Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth — to see it as it is, and tell it like it is — to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.” — Republican Presidential nominee Richard Milhous Nixon, 1968 (a birthright Quaker)
May 19, Thursday: Carlos Chávez was named an advisor to Mexican President José López Portillo.
During the 3d of the nationally broadcast interviews with David Frost, former President Richard Milhous Nixon uttered the immortal words “When the president does it that means that it was not illegal.” THE ACTUAL INTERVIEW GOVERNMENT SCANDALS THE MOVIE CLIP
The Winds for eight winds and piano by Charles Wuorinen was performed for the initial time, in Carnegie Recital Hall, New York.
A Water Bird Talk, a monodrama by Dominick Argento to his own words after Chekhov and Audubon, was performed for the initial time, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
The 1st movement of “Percussion Symphony for 24 percussion players” was performed for the initial time at William Paterson State College, Wayne, New Jersey, with the composer Charles Wuorinen himself conducting.
May 23, Monday: The US Supreme Court declined to hear the appeals of Watergate wrongdoers former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, former Presidential Advisor John D. Ehrlichman, and former Attorney-General John N. Mitchell. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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June 21, Tuesday: Menachem Begin replaced Shimon Peres as Prime Minister of Israel.
Mustafa Bülent Ecevit replaced Süleyman Demirel as Prime Minister of Turkey.
Former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman to President Nixon entered federal prison in Lompoc, California to begin serving a sentence of 30 months to 8 years for Watergate-related crimes.
June 22, Wednesday: Former Attorney-General John N. Mitchell to President Nixon became the 25th person to go to jail for Watergate-related crimes as he entered federal prison at Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, Alabama (he had made himself the 1st former Attorney-General of the United States of America to be thus incarcerated). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1978
April 27, Thursday: After 18 months confinement, Watergate criminal John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison.
December 20, Wednesday: The convict H.R. Haldeman, formerly President Richard Milhous Nixon’s White House Chief of Staff, was released from prison. WATERGATE HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1979
February 24, Saturday: The New York Times published memoranda it had obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showing the plans of the Nixon Administration to exert control over the Pubic Broadcasting System.
Lulu, an opera by Alban Berg to his own words after Wedekin, was performed completely for the initial time, at the Paris Opéra, under the baton of Pierre Boulez. This had been completed by Friedich Cerha. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1980
May 28, Wednesday: South Korean troops regained control of Kwangju — in a week of fighting as many as 500 people had been killed.
The new Iranian Parliament met for the initial time, in Teheran.
In fighting that broke out in a suburb of Beirut between feuding Muslim factions, 30 people were killed.
The 3 United States military academies graduated women for the 1st time.
The National Archives for the 1st time opened the Watergate tapes to the public. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1981
There was visible defoliation by the gypsy moth on 12,900,000 acres, from Maine to Maryland. In addition, small isolated populations of the caterpillar have been found in localized areas of California, Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, and in the districts of Canada bordering New York and Vermont.
A proposal to house the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library was circulated by President of Duke University Terry Sanford only to meet with with overwhelming opposition from faculty. The chair of the Board of Trustees, Alexander MacMahon, then remarked that he did not care what the faculty thought. The chair of the Academic Council, Professor of Economics Roy Weintraub, commented that this was “one of the faculty’s finest hours.” The Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, William Chafe, wanted “to make sure we did not end up glorifying a flawed presidency by allocating huge amounts of space to a monument.” Eventually the library would be situated at Yorba Linda, California. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1982
June 17, Thursday: The first of 227 Love Canal houses was demolished.
Former President Richard Milhous Nixon, rarely seen or heard from since resigning the presidency, was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on The CBS Morning News. (This interview marked the 10th anniversary of the Watergate break-in.)
November 14, Sunday: The Polish government freed labor leader Lech Walesa, who had been in custody since December 1981.
Septet for flute, two clarinets, violin, viola, cello and harpsichord or organ by Alfred Schnittke was performed for the initial time, in Moscow.
Der Herr ist mein Hirte for solo trombone and chorus by Isang Yun to words of the Bible and Sachs, was performed for the initial time, in Stuttgart.
Sonnets of Desolation for chorus by Ben Johnston to words of Gerard Manley Hopkins was performed for the initial time, at the University of Illinois.
The New York Daily News offered Bill Bell’s review of LEADERS: PROFILES AND REMINISCENCES OF MEN WHO HAV E SHAPED THE MODERN WORLD (Warner Books). Shouldn’t Mr. Tricky Dicky have seen this coming? A high priest preaches on power In his new non-fiction fling, a curious meditation on power, Richard Nixon is writing about one thing, but obviously thinking about another. The ostensible subjects are the great and grand in world power: Churchill (“the largest human being of our time,” as Nixon calls him), de Gaulle, Adenauer, Krushchev, Chou En-lai, and dozens of slightly less celebrated politicians. But more often than not, Nixon’s real subject is someone else, someone whose own giant stature is not yet universally appreciated, someone who knew early on that the political arena is a hard and chilly place. Someone, in fact, very much like the author of the following thoughts: — “Power is not for the nice guy down the street or for the man next door.” — “[The leader] cannot be bound by rigid rules laid down arbitrarily, and in wholly different circumstances, by ones who bear no responsibility.” ...In a last-chapter reflection, Nixon lists the most important characteristics of leadership — high intelligence, courage, hard work, tenacity, judgment, dedication to a great cause, a certain measure of charm, insight, foresight, a willingness to take risks, decisiveness, and luck. The pity and tragedy is that after all that has happened, Richard Nixon still cannot find room on that list for morality or principle. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1986
January 31, Friday: In the midst of widespread opposition to his rule, President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier of Haiti declared a state of siege. 30 minutes later the Reagan Administration announced that Duvalier had been overthrown and had fled the country. They were in error.
Chain 2 for violin and orchestra by Witold Lutoslawski was performed for the initial time, in Zürich.
Piano Concerto no.1 by Joan Tower was performed for the initial time, in Kingston, New York.
The Chairman Dances, an orchestral excerpt from John Adams’s opera Nixon in China, was performed for the initial time, in Milwaukee, directed by Lukas Foss. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1996
June 19, Wednesday: Gerald David Schine died in an airplane accident in Burbank, California. Tony Kushner would create a one-act play “G. David Schine in Hell” portraying Schine’s reunion with Roy Cohn, Alger Hiss, Richard Nixon, and J. Edgar Hoover (spoiler alert: it’s a hoot). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1998
March: Richard Nixon’s portrait, retrieved from where it had been hidden in the space above an elevator at the Duke University Law School, was put on temporary display (eventually it would wind up in the office of Newt Gingrich at the federal capital, and from then it would be retained somewhere in the US Capital). HDT WHAT? INDEX
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2001
December: On May 26, 1972 in Moscow, President Richard Milhous Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev had signed a SALT I Antiballistic Missile Treaty. At this point, however, the US officially withdrew from this major arms control accord of the nuclear era. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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2002
August: Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee wrote a memo citing William Rehnquist’s defense of President Richard Milhous Nixon’s 1970 foray into Cambodia as a precedent for loosening restrictions on torture (The Nation would report on how this and other memos “facilitate[d] torture as public policy” and “articulate[d] a philosophy of the presidency best described as authoritarian”).
“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING, HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others, such as extensive quotations and reproductions of images, this “read-only” computer file contains a great deal of special work product of Austin Meredith, copyright 2017. Access to these interim materials will eventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup some of the costs of preparation. My hypercontext button invention which, instead of creating a hypertext leap through hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems— allows for an utter alteration of the context within which one is experiencing a specific content already being viewed, is claimed as proprietary to Austin Meredith — and therefore freely available for use by all. Limited permission to copy such files, or any material from such files, must be obtained in advance in writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Please contact the project at
“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.” – Remark by character “Garin Stevens” in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST
Prepared: February 3, 2017
“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project “THIS IS TREASO HDT WHAT? INDEX
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ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT
GENERATION HOTLINE
This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by a human. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested that we pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of the shoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What these chronological lists are: they are research reports compiled by ARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term the Kouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such a request for information we merely push a button. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obvious deficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then we need to punch that button again and recompile the chronology — but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary “writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of this originating contexture improve, and as the programming improves, and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whatever has been needed in the creation of this facility, the entire operation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminished need to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expect to achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring robotic research librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.
First come first serve. There is no charge. Place requests with