THIS FAR AND NO FURTHER
A Timeline of Events Surrounding the Radical Right's Attempt to Subvert American Democracy
Written and Compiled by Black Max
1971-1979:
1976
- The CIA assists South African-backed rebels in Angola. (ZNet)
- Flush with huge profits from oil revenues due to the surge in oil prices from the Arab embargo on oil, Venezuelan president Carlos Andres Perez begins the implementation of a plan to bring economic prosperity to the Venezuelan people to be paid for with oil profits. The project, "La Gran Venezuela," is designed to combat poverty using price controls and income increases, as well as the diversification of the country's economy. Most importantly from a global standpoint is the decision to fully nationalize Venezuela's oil industry, with the creation of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). While the oil boom is in many aspects a tremendous blessing to Venezuela, it does have some negative consequences, such as chronic inflation and, paradoxically, an increasing indebtedness. These problems will be exacerbated when, in the mid-80's the price of oil began to plummet, due to OPEC members' breaking of their production quotas. By 1998, the price of oil had reached a new historical low of $3.19 per barrel (in 1973 prices). This decline in oil prices has a significant impact on Venezuela's economy, particularly on per capita income, which will go into a steady decline between the mid-80's and beyond. (Venezuela Analysis)
- After twice losing in bids for Congress, John Kerry earns his law degree from Boston College and later joins the staff of the Middlesex County district attorney's office. Kerry earns a reputation as an aggressive prosecutor, focusing on organized crime. (Bush-Kerry Timeline)
- May 23: The secretary for Democratic congressman Wayne Hays tells the media that she and Hays have had a long-term affair. Elizabeth Ray admits that she cannot type, file, or even answer the phone, and says she only shows up for work a few hours a week. Ray claims that she and Hays meet once or twice a week for intimate relations in her luxurious Arlington apartment; it is not clear how Ray, who makes $14,000 a year as Hay's secretary, can afford such a domicile. Hays divorced his wife of 25 years last year and recently married his Ohio office secretary, Pat Peak, who remains in Ohio while he lives in Washington. Ray also says that she used to have an affair with former Democratic congressman Kenneth Gray, and often "entertained" Gray's male friends aboard Gray's houseboat in the Potomac. Ray says Gray introduced her to Hays. "I don't hate him, I'm a nervous wreck," says Ray in explanation of why she is now confirming her role. "I'm afraid of him. There are 10 or 15 offices [on the Hill] that I know girls have had to do this to get a job. Only mine is so cruel; the other congressmen at least treat them like a date. I used to go into depression, but I had to tell myself that it's a job I have to do right now." Hays, one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress, finally admits to the affair, and resigns from office on September 1. (Washington Post, Wayne Hays Biography)
- Summer: George W. Bush flies a plane for what may be the last time. He flies a single-engine Cessna over Midland; the Cessna belongs to oilman Don Brown, who, along with his wife Susie, accompany Bush for an afternoon jaunt. It becomes obvious that Bush has no idea how to control the plane properly, and nearly crashes it during takeoff. Evans later recalls, "The guy didn't even know how to start the thing. That was a bad omen. Finally we get it started and roll down the runway, and he tries to take it straight up like a jet! We go into a stall, buzzers are going off. I say, 'Give it some gas!' We finally get it airborne, and he decides he better turn around and go back. I can tell he's nervous, but he says, 'Okay, Evvie, got it under control.' We come down and he lands half on the runway and half on the grass. And then he pats my leg and says don't worry, and he takes it up again. This time he's so scared he says, 'Hey, let's fly around Midland.' He had to get his confidence up. Somehow we got back safely. He's never flown again." It is possible Bush, who is still a licensed pilot, may have flown a propeller plane owned by the State of Texas during his tenure as governor. (John Covington)
- July 1: The Supreme Court, in the case Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, rules 6-3 that states cannot give husbands veto power over their pregnant wives' decision to abort their pregnancies. By a 5-4 vote, the court says parents of minor, unwed girls cannot be given an absolute veto over abortions. (CBS)
- September 4: George W. Bush, now 30, is arrested for driving while drunk near his family home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He pleads guilty, pays a $150 fine, and has his license suspended for 30 days. Interestingly enough, his criminal record, supposedly a matter of public record, has largely been hidden; reports indicate that this is his third DUI and his driving privileges are actually suspended for two years. The story of his arrest and conviction is buried until days before the November 2000 presidential election, when it is brought to the attention of the public. He will admit to having had a serious problem with alcohol "in his youth," and while never admitting to any other specifics, alludes to a problem with cocaine abuse that has been alleged by many of his friends and colleagues; sources close to the Bush family apparently confirmed to author James Hatfield that Bush was convicted of cocaine possession, but had his record expunged. This allegation is denied by Bush and his spokespersons, but it is interesting to note that, shortly before becoming governor, he took extraordinary steps to conceal his Texas criminal records from public scrutiny, including changing his driver's license number. He claims to have stopped doing drugs "before 1979," a claim later modified by a campaign spokesperson to have been since 1974. He claims to have stopped drinking in 1985, though admits to backsliding as late as June 1986.
- A video of an apparently inebriated Bush drinking what appears to be beer at a 1992 wedding can be viewed here; other, less substantiated allegations have been made of possible drunken interludes during his presidency, including speculation over his near-complete absence during the day of September 11, 2001, over the infamous "choking on a pretzel" incident, and over several accidents he has had while mountain biking. In 2004, aides will allege that temper tantrums and angry outbursts lead them to believe that he must be drinking again; in 2005, unfounded allegations by unidentified "family sources" accuse Bush of drinking during the days after Hurricane Katrina. Doctors have removed several spider angiomas, reddish spots on the skin that are often caused by liver damage brought on by chronic drinking. A number of psychological and addiction experts have speculated that Bush is a "dry drunk," a slang term used by members of Alcoholics Anonymous to describe the behavior of someone who no longer drinks, but still displays the impairments and dysfunctions of someone who does drink. (Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Bush-Kerry Timeline)
- September 21: Chile's former foreign minister, Orlander Letelier, and his American co-worker Ronni Moffit, are killed when their car explodes in Washington, DC. CIA chief George Bush promises to find the killers, but instead, the CIA directs attention away from the real assassins, agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, with whom the CIA has had a long-standing relationship. Bush issues a phony intelligence finding to Newsweek: "The Chilean secret police were not involved," the CIA says. "The agency reached its decision because the bomb was too crude to be the work of experts and because the murder, coming while Chile's rulers were wooing U.S. support, could only damage the Santiago regime." Years later, prosecutors would learn that the CIA had important evidence linking Chile's secret police to the assassination -- assassin Michael Townley even had claimed the purpose of his trip to the United States was to visit the CIA -- but withheld that information. "Nothing the agency gave us helped us break this case," federal prosecutor Eugene Propper will say.
- Documents released in 1999 show that the CIA was very knowledgeable that the Pinochet government had organized seven South American military dictatorships into "Operation Condor," a cross-border assassination ring to hunt down leftists. Instead of sharing that information with federal criminal investigators, Bush's CIA withheld it, and instead diverted suspicion away from Pinochet's junta. The CIA was aware that the seven Condor nations were plotting international assassinations in the weeks before the Letelier-Moffitt car-bombing. The CIA issued a series of internal reports about Condor activities and cited the possibility of "government planned and directed assassinations within and outside the territory of Condor members." US ambassadors to those countries warned that such assassinations could "exacerbate public world criticism." The CIA made secret contacts with Chile's intelligence service, DINA, but the content of those contacts has never been made public. What is known is that DINA operative Michael Townley illegally entered the US and made his way to Washington DC, where he planted the car bomb that killed Letelier and Moffit. Townley was eventually extradited to the US and served a prison term for the bombings. In later years, Spain will extradite the deposed Pinochet and try him for crimes against humanity. George H.W. Bush will be one of Pinochet's most staunch defenders, calling the case against him "a travesty of justice" and urging his immediate return to Chile. (Consortium News, Consortium News)
Jimmy Carter elected president
- November: Democrat Jimmy Carter, a Georgia governor viewed as a Washington outsider, narrowly defeats Gerald Ford to become President of the United States. (Ford, already reeling from the Mayaguez disaster, further wounds himself by insisting during one debate that Poland is not a member of the Soviet bloc.) Carter's presidency is marked by several successes in foreign policy, including the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union and the peace accords between Egypt and Israel, but is marred by his failures in domestic policy, largely because of his inability to work with a recalcitrant, though Democratically-led, Congress.
- The Ford campaign essentially cost itself the election -- Democrats were split over their relatively unknown candidate, and many GOP political operatives feel that had the Ford campaign done a better job of defining itself, they could have beaten Carter. The primary season was indicative of the problems within the Ford campaign. Insurgent Republican Ronald Reagan's key primary wins -- including Texas, where Henry Kissinger's visit to Africa to speak out against apartheid alienates many Republican voters -- ensured that the nomination would not be decided until the GOP convention. The platform committee became an essential element of the process. Dick Cheney, Ford's chief of staff and his campaign chairman, urged Ford to take controversial positions to the right of the party's official platform, arguing that the platform was essentially irrelevant. Although the positions advocated by Cheney pleased hard-core right-wingers and conservative Christians, they made it tough for Cheney to convince the uncommitted delegates to cast their votes for Ford instead of the equally hardline Reagan. Cheney was bailed out by James Baker, the Ford campaign's troubleshooter, who helped Ford bag the nomination and later took over as Ford's campaign manager. (Wikipedia, Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein)
