Deep Politics Timeline

[Tracy Riddle]

• 10/1970 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created.
  
• 10/3/1970 Another March for Victory rally was held in Washington, but the crowd was small.
  
• 10/4/1970 Janis Joplin, vocalist extraordinaire, was found dead of a heroin overdose on October 4, 1970 at the Landmark Hotel, about a mile east of the mouth of Laurel Canyon, where she occasionally visited. Indications were that she had taken or been given a "hot shot," many times stronger than standard street heroin. Joplin's father, by the way, was a petroleum engineer for Texaco. And though it might normally seem an odd coupling, it somehow seems perfectly natural, in the context of this story, that Janis once dated that great crusader in the war on all things immoral, William Bennett. Like Morrison and Hendrix, Joplin died at the age of twenty-seven.
  
• 10/5/1970 Nixon ends an 8-day trip to Europe.
  
• 10/6/1970 NY mafia figure Salvatore Granello was found stuffed in the trunk of a rented car; he had been shot in the head four times.
  
• 10/6/1970 In an attempt to defuse increasing diplomatic tensions over the Cienfiegos "submarine port," Anatoly Dobrynin meets with Kissinger. He hands Kissinger a note reaffirming the Kennedy-Khrushchev understanding; it states that "in the Cuban question, the Soviet government continues to proceed from the understanding reached on this question in 1962." Dobrynin also states that "he was prepared on behalf of his government to affirm that ballistic missile submarines would never call there [Cuba] in an operational capacity."
  
• 10/7/1970 Colson memo to Haldeman, pointing out that "Roper, Gallup and John Kraft all believe that Harris [polling] is dishonest and slanted."
  
• 10/9/1970 Henry Kissinger gives Anatoly Dobrynin a formal message from Nixon welcoming the Soviet assurances but offering the U.S. interpretation of the 1962 understanding that settled the Cuban missile crisis: The U.S. government understands that the U.S.S.R. will not establish, utilize, or permit the establishment of any facility in Cuba that can be employed to support or repair Soviet naval ships capable of carrying offensive weapons, i.e. submarines or surface ships armed with nuclear capable, surface-to-surface missiles.The note lists five specific actions that the U.S. government would consider violations of the 1962 agreement. Dobrynin reportedly objects to the bluntness of the language but hints that the issue will soon be resolved.
  
• 10/10/1970 FCC Commissioner Johnson advises Agnew to listen to the lyrics of rock songs to understand what's happening in the country.
  
• 10/13/1970 Angela Davis is seized and arrested by FBI agents in NYC.
  
• 10/13/1970 Colson memo to Haldeman: "'Dusty' Miller, who heads the Southern Region for the Teamsters, is actively backing George Bush with money and political support...Be sure this guy is in our Labor book and rewarded appropriately." (Secret Files of RN 163)
  
• 10/14/1970 CIA internal memo to Thomas Karamesines ("Subject: E. Howard Hunt Utilization by Central Cover Staff") indicated that Hunt's top-secret security clearance had been renewed and extended prior to Hunt's "retirement" from the CIA. (Sen. Baker report in appendix of Ervin Committee report 6/1974)
  
• 10/15/1970 CIA, Memorandum of Conversation of Meeting with Henry Kissinger, Thomas Karamessines, and Alexander Haig, October 15, 1970: This memcon records a discussion of promoting a coup in Chile, known as "Track II" of covert operations to block Allende. The three officials discuss the possibility that the plot of one Chilean military official, Roberto Viaux, might fail with "unfortunate repercussions" for U.S. objectives. Kissinger orders the CIA to "continue keeping the pressure on every Allende weak spot in sight."
  
• 10/16/1970 CIA, Operating Guidance Cable on Coup Plotting, October 16, 1970: In a secret cable, CIA deputy director of plans, Thomas Karamessines, conveys Kissinger's orders to CIA station chief in Santiago, Henry Hecksher: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup." The "operating guidance" makes it clear that these operations are to be conducted so as to hide the "American hand," and that the CIA is to ignore any orders to the contrary from Ambassador Korry who has not been informed of Track II operations.
  
• 10/18/1970 CIA, Cable Transmissions on Coup Plotting, October 18, 1970: These three cables between CIA headquarters in Langley, VA., and the CIA Station in Santiago address the secret shipment of weapons and ammunition for use in a plot to kidnap the Chilean military commander, General Rene Schneider. "Neutralizing" Schneider was a key prerequisite for a military coup; he opposed any intervention by the armed forces to block Allende's constitutional election. The CIA supplied a group of Chilean officers led by General Camilo Valenzuela with "sterile" weapons for the operation which was to be blamed on Allende supporters and prompt a military takeover. Instead, on October 22, General Schneider was killed by another group of plotters the CIA had been collaborating with, led by retired General Roberto Viaux. Instead of a coup, the military and the country rallied behind Allende's ratification by Chile's Congress on October 24.
  
• 10/20/1970 American Norman Borlaug wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in perfecting and introducing around the world new strains of high-yield, disease-resistant wheat and rice-crops.
  
• 10/21/1970 A US spy plane is downed by the Soviets while on a reconnaissance mission. Its crew of 4 is successfully recovered.
  
• 10/22/1970 Nixon and Soviet foreign minister Gromyko meet in Washington.
  
• 10/23/1970 Nixon addresses the United Nations.
  
• 10/23/1970 Colson memo to Haldeman: "ABC continues to play it straight and CBS is doing much better; NBC remains a thorn in our side."
  
• 10/23/1970 Anatoly Dobrynin reassures Kissinger that the USSR does not have a military facility in Cuba and confirms that it will continue to abide by the 1962 Kennedy-Khrushchev agreement.
  
• 10/24/1970 In a speech to radio broadcasters, Nixon urges that rock lyrics be screened and those urging drug use be banned.
  
• 10/26/1970 National Security Decision Memo #89 defines administration's "Cambodia Strategy": to "capitalize on Cambodian nationalism."
  
• 10/28/1970 During a St. Petersburg, Florida, motorcade, a motorcycle policeman was injured when hit by a truck. Nixon rushed over to express his sympathies, and the policeman replied he was sorry for delaying the motorcade. After an awkward silence, Nixon asked, "Do you like your work?"
  
• 10/29/1970 A small fire breaks out at Nixon's San Clemente home; it is quickly put out by Secret Service agents and firemen.
  
• 11/1970 This month, Attorney General John Mitchell orders the Justice Department "to block the release of crucial ballistics evidence from the Kennedy assassination on grounds of national security." This evidence consists of the FBI's secret spectrographic analysis of the bullet and bullet fragments recovered following the fatal shooting of JFK and near killing of Connally.
  
• 11/1970 Census states that the US population is now 203 million; the birth rate had declined greatly during the 60s.
  
• 11/1970 A 36-month economic expansion begins, lasting until 11/1973. Growth in first year was 3.2%, in second year was 7.2%.
  
• 11/1970 The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey published by Zondervan and ushers in a wave of apocalyptic books.
  
• 11/3/1970 National Security Council, Options Paper on Chile (NSSM 97), November 3, 1970: A comprehensive secret/sensitive options paper, prepared for Henry Kissinger and the National Security Council on the day of Allende's inauguration, laid out U.S. objectives, interests and potential policy toward Chile. U.S. interests were defined as preventing Chile from falling under Communist control and preventing the rest of Latin America from following Chile "as a model." Option C--maintaining an "outwardly cool posture" while working behind the scenes to undermine the Allende government through economic pressures and diplomatic isolation--was chosen by Nixon. CIA operations and options are not included in this document.
  
• 11/3/1970 Congressional elections saw the Democrats gain 12 House seats and lose 2 Senate seats; Dems also gained 9 or 11 governors' seats. 46% voter turnout. Newcomers include Sen. Lowell Weicker, Hubert Humphrey (who returns to the Senate after being vice-president), Lloyd Bentsen; Eugene McCarthy and Ralph Yarborough lost their Senate seats.
  
• 11/6/1970 CIA, Briefing by Richard Helms for the National Security Council, Chile, November 6, 1970: This paper provides the talking points for CIA director Richard Helms to brief the NSC on the situation in Chile. The briefing contains details on the failed coup attempt on October 22--but does not acknowledge a CIA role in the assassination of General Rene Schneider. Helms also assesses Allende's "tenacious" character and Soviet policy toward Chile. Intelligence suggests that Chile's socialists, he informs council members, "will exercise restraint in promoting closer ties with Russia."
  
• 11/9/1970 National Security Council, National Security Decision Memorandum 93, Policy Towards Chile, November 9, 1970: This memorandum summarizes the presidential decisions regarding changes in U.S. policy toward Chile following Allende's election. Written by Henry Kissinger and sent to the Secretaries of State, Defense, the Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness and the Director of Central Intelligence, this memo directs U.S. agencies to adopt a "cool" posture toward Allende's government, in order to prevent his consolidation of power and "limit [his] ability to implement policies contrary to U.S. and hemisphere interests." The memo states that existing U.S. assistance and investments in Chile should be reduced, and no new commitments undertaken. Furthermore, according to Kissinger's memo, "close relations" should be established and maintained with military leaders throughout Latin America to facilitate coordination of pressure and other opposition efforts.
  
• 11/9/1970 Charles de Gaulle died of a heart attack while sitting in his armchair watching television.
  
• 11/12/1970 US delegates to the United Nations argue against Red China's expulsion from the UN.
  
• 11/13/1970 Coup in Syria led by Hafiz al-Assad.
  
• 11/15/1970 In a speech, Earl Warren attacked Nixon and Agnew for exploiting the law and order issue "in strident terms, but with no discussion of the causes or proposed cures..." (S.F. Examiner)
  
• 11/17/1970 The first anniversary of the SALT talks.
  
• 11/17/1970 Memo from Colson to Haldeman complaining about "terrifically slanted" election night NBC news coverage toward the Democrats. The network presidents will be advised by Dean Burch "that steps have to be taken on their own to deal with this problem or the FCC may have to consider regulatory remedies." (From the President 174)
  
• 11/18/1970 CIA, Report of CIA Chilean Task Force Activities, 15 September to 3 November 1970, November 18, 1970: The CIA prepared a summary of its efforts to prevent Allende's ratification as president and to foment a coup in Chile-- track I and track II covert operations. The summary details the composition of the Task Force, headed by David Atlee Phillips, the team of covert operatives "inserted individually into Chile," and their contacts with Col. Paul Winert, the U.S. Army Attache detailed to the CIA for this operation. It reviews the propaganda operations designed to push Chilean president Eduardo Frei to support "a military coup which would prevent Allende from taking office on 3 November."
  
• 11/20/1970 The 67-day national strike against GM by the United Auto Workers ends.
  
• 11/22/1970 Memo from Nixon to Kissinger on "where we are to go with regard to the admission of Red China to the UN. It seems to me that the time is approaching sooner than we might think when we will not have the votes to block admission."
  
• 11/23/1970 Melvin Laird announced the failed raid on Son Tay prison to the public. He admitted that the camp had been abandoned for several weeks prior to the mission. He denied that any US attacks had been made in the area.
  
• 11/23/1970 Pope Paul VI issued a decree barring cardinals over the age of 80 from voting for a new pope.\
  
• 11/24/1970 Memo from Hoover to Atty General; the Securities and Exchange Commission told Hughes they had no problem with him buying the Dunes Hotel.
  
• 11/24/1970 Laird appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and provoked laughter when he insisted that "we have made tremendous progress as far as intelligence is concerned," even though no prisoners were found at Son Tay. He claimed that only flares were dropped by planes to serve as a distraction. The bombing halt made by LBJ in Oct 68 was still being publicly observed by the Nixon administration.
  
• 11/25/1970 Nixon dismisses Interior Secretary Walter J. Hickel.
  
• 11/25/1970 Hoover memo to Asst Directors: "Haldeman...stated the President wanted him to ask...for a run down on the homosexuals known and suspected in the Washington press corps."
  
• 11/27/1970 Pope Paul VI was threatened, but not hurt in the Manila, Philippines airport by Benjamin Mendoza, a Bolivian who was armed with a knife.
  
• 11/30/1970 Memo from Nixon to Kissinger: he agreed to keep Helms as DCI, as Kissinger had recommended, but "I will do so only on condition that there be a thorough housecleaning at other levels at CIA...Also I want a good thinning down of the whole CIA personnel situation, as well as our intelligence activities generally." (From the President 179)
  
• In 1970, the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography concluded that "there was insufficient evidence that exposure to explicit sexual materials played a significant role in the causation of delinquent or criminal behavior." In general, with regard to adults, the Commission recommended that legislation "should not seek to interfere with the right of adults who wish to do so to read, obtain, or view explicit sexual materials." Regarding the view that these materials should be restricted for adults in order to protect young people from exposure to them, the Commission found that it is "inappropriate to adjust the level of adult communication to that considered suitable for children." The Supreme Court supported this view. A large portion of the Commission's budget was applied to funding original research on the effects of sexually explicit materials. One experiment is described in which repeated exposure of male college students to pornography "caused decreased interest in it, less response to it and no lasting effect," although it appears that the satiation effect does wear off eventually ("Once more"). William B. Lockhart, Dean of the University of Minnesota Law School and chairman of the commission, said that before his work with the commission he had favored control of obscenity for both children and adults, but had changed his mind as a result of scientific studies done by commission researchers. In reference to dissenting commission members Keating and Rev. Morton Hill, Lockhart said, "When these men have been forgotten, the research developed by the commission will provide a factual basis for informed, intelligent policymaking by the legislators of tomorrow". Commission member Father Morton A. Hill, S.J., the founder of Morality in Media, helped author a minority report that disagreed with the findings of the Commission. Believing that the Commission was stacked towards First Amendment free speech advocates, Father Hill and another clergyman on the Commission, Dr. Winfrey C. Link, issued the Hill-Link Minority Report rebutting the conclusions of the majority report. Issued in 1970, the majority report was rejected by both President Richard Nixon and the United States Congress. The Hill-Link Report, which recommended maintaining anti-obscenity statutes, was read into the record of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It was cited by the Burger Court in its 1973 obscenity decisions, including Miller v. California. The President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography was established by Congress in October 1967 under Public Law 90-100 (81 Stat. 253). In January 1968, President Johnson appointed eighteen members of this Commission. President Nixon's only appointment to this Commission was Charles Keating, Jr., founder of Citizens for Decent Literature, which came as a result of the resignation of Kenneth Keating on his appointment as ambassador to India. Other members of the Commission included Edward E. Elson, Thomas D. Gill, Edward D. Greenwood, Reverend Morton A. Hill, S.J., G. William Jones, Joseph T. Klapper, Otto N. Larsen, Rabbi Irving Lehrman, Freeman Lewis, Reverend Winfrey C. Link, Morris A. Lipton, William B. Lockhart, Thomas C. Lynch, Barbara Scott, Cathryn A. Speits, Frederick Herbert Wagman, and Marvin Wolfgang. The Commission was terminated after the presentation of its final report in late 1970. The Commission was charged with the responsibility of studying the relationship of obscene and pornographic materials to anti-social behavior and determining whether a need existed for more effective methods to control the transmission of such materials. 1970: Nixon rejected the "morally bankrupt" conclusions of the President's Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which decided that adults should be allowed to view porn. Nixon said that the commission had "performed a disservice" to the nation and that "American morality is not to be trifled with…Smut should be outlawed in every state of the Union…So long as I am in the White House, there will be no reduction in the national effort to control and eliminate smut."
  
• 12/1970 US GNP $1.015 trillion. Federal spending was $195 billion ($2.8 billion deficit).National debt was $370 billion. Inflation rate for 1/1970-1/1971 was 5.3%. Poverty rate was 12.6%. US population was 204.7 million. Federal government workers: approx 2.5 million. Local government workers: approx 7 million. Prime rate of interest: 7.9% Divorces per 1000 married women: 14.9. Median age: 28.1 Births per 1000 people: 18.4. Distribution of wealth for each fifth of US families: lowest: 5.5%; second: 12.2%; third: 17.6%; fourth: 23.8%; highest fifth: 40.9%.
  
• 12/1970 Clean Air Act passed; mandated pollution-free cars by 1975.
  
• 12/1/1970 House subcommittee rejects an impeachment charge by Gerald Ford against William O. Douglas.
  
• 12/1/1970 Reviewing Jim Garrison's new book A HERITAGE OF STONE, New York Times reviewer John Leonard writes: "Frankly, I prefer to believe that the Warren Commission did a poor job, rather than a dishonest one. I like to think that Mr. Garrison invents monsters to explain incompetence. But until somebody explains why two autopsies came to two different conclusions about the President's wounds, why the limousine was washed out and rebuilt without investigation, why certain witnesses near the grassy knoll' were never asked to testify before the Commission, why we were all so eager to buy Oswald's brilliant marksmanship in split seconds, why no one inquired into Jack Ruby's relations with a staggering variety of strange people, why a loner' like Oswald always had friends and could always get a passport -- who can blame the Garrison guerrillas for fantasizing?"
  
• 12/4/1970 Department of State, Memorandum for Henry Kissinger on Chile, December 4, 1970: In response to a November 27 directive from Kissinger, an inter-agency Ad Hoc Working Group on Chile prepared this set of strategy papers covering a range of possible sanctions and pressures against the new Allende government. These included a possible diplomatic effort to force Chile to withdraw--or be expelled--from the Organization of American States as well as consultations with other Latin American countries "to promote their sharing of our concern over Chile." The documents show that the Nixon administration did engage in an invisible economic blockade against Allende, intervening at the World Bank, IDB, and Export-Import bank to curtail or terminate credits and loans to Chile before Allende had been in office for a month.
  
• 12/4/1970 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman, noting that Donald Rumsfeld "has the feeling that Bob Dole may be losing some of his effectiveness because he is a 'knee-jerk' defender of the Administration...One another subject, one very important PR theme which we should now start to play up is the underdog role...the general theme of RN as standing up alone, against his Cabinet [on Cambodia], against the White House staff, against the Congress, and against the press is one that people like..."
  
• 12/6/1970 David and Albert Maysles' documentary film about the Altamont concert, Gimme Shelter, premieres in New York.
  
• 12/7/1970 Harry Reasoner, who had left CBS News weeks before, joined Howard K. Smith for "The ABC Evening News with Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner". The Smith-Reasoner team lasted almost five years.
  
• 12/7/1970 Treaty of Warsaw; FRG (West Germany) signs non-agression pact, recognizes the Oder-Neisse Border between Germany and Poland, and normalizes diplomatic relations between the two signing nations.
  
• 12/7-8/1970 The Golpe Borghese was a failed Italian coup d'état allegedly planned for the night of 7 or 8 December 1970. It was named after Junio Valerio Borghese, an Italian World War II commander of the Xª MAS unit, the "Black Prince", convicted of fighting with Nazi Germany but not of war crimes, but still a hero in the eyes of many post-War Italian fascists. The coup attempt became publicly known when the left-wing journal "Paese Sera" ran the headline on the evening of March 18, 1971 : Subversive plan against the Republic: far-right plot discovered. The secret operation was code-named 'Operation Tora Tora' after the Japanese attack on the US ships in Pearl Harbor which had led the United States to enter the Second World War on December 7, 1941. The plan of the coup in its final phase envisaged the involvement of US and NATO warships which were on alert in the Mediterranean.
  
• 12/8/1970 Nixon meets with Jordan's King Hussein at the White House.
  
• 12/9/1970 Colson memo proposing that the administration support a "campaign spending limitation bill...Recognizing that the most desirable outcome for us is no bill at all...The Congress will hardly accept our plan but we would then be in a position to veto theirs on the ground that ours was superior...our proposal will help muddy the waters and slow down the legislation process." (Secret Files 184)
  
• 12/9/1970 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meets in Caracas, Venezuela and established minimum tax rate for petroleum. Also demands that posted oil prices be changed to reflect changes in foreign exchange rates [so that as the US$ fell in value, oil prices set in dollars would be adjusted upwards].
  
• 12/10/1970 A major nationwide rail strike ends two hours after it began after congressional legislation defers it; Nixon quickly signed the legislation, which raised wages 13.5% and postponed the strike 80 days.
  
• 12/10/1970 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges AT&T with gross discrimination against women and minorities.
  
• 12/11/1970 Nixon meets with Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan at the White House.
  
• 12/11/1970 Nixon announces appointment of Rep. George H.W. Bush as US representative to the UN.
  
• 12/14/1970 John Connally nominated as Sec. of Treasury.
  
• 12/14/1970 Wiretap placed on White House employee James McLane, son-in-law of Gov. Francis Sargent. It was removed 1/27/1971.
  
• 12/14/1970 Memo from SAC Memphis James Startzell to Hoover on Rep. William Anderson, providing him with allegations that Anderson had consorted with prostitutes.
  
• 12/18/1970 Supreme Court rules that 18-year-olds can vote in federal elections.
  
• 12/19/1970 Nixon commends MGM chief Mike Curb for ridding his record label of 18 rock bands that supposedly advocated drug use.
  
• 12/21/1970 Angela Davis is extradited from NY to California.
  
• 12/21/1970 Supreme Court rules that the new voting rights of 18-years-olds applies only in federal elections.
  
• 12/22/1970 Cooper-Church amendment goes into effect, prohibiting US troops in Cambodia.
  
• 12/29/1970 Nixon signed into law Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), setting up workplace standards.