01-09-2014, 03:12 PM
- 9/1974 In Saigon, a protest group issued an "Indictment Number 1" containing documented charges against Thieu and his family of their enormous corruption.
- 9/1/1974 Gallup poll shows that Ford's popularity rating is 71%.
- 9/2/1974 Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, allowing people to set up tax-free Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).
- 9/3/1974 John Dean began serving his prison term.
- 9/4/1974 George Bush is named to head US liaison office in Peking.
- 9/4/1974 Formal US ties established with East Germany; former Sen. John Sherman Cooper is named US ambassador.
- 9/4/1974 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Creighton W. Abrams died.
- 9/5/1974 Sen. William Proxmire is quoted as saying: "Returning Alexander Haig to active duty status would send a signal throughout the military officer corps that politics pays off - and in a big way."
- 9/5/1974 L.A. Times reports that "a critical drop in American aid has forced the South Vietnamese government into a crash belt-tightening program that has grounded most of the air force, cut ammunition expenditure in some cases by 80% and sharply limited many other activities."
- 9/6/1974 Nixon signed an agreement with the National Archives under which he could retain control of his presidential materials, and even begin destroying them. Congress soon acted to change the laws regarding Presidential papers.
- 9/8/1974 Ford announced, with barely any notice of his intentions, that he had pardoned Nixon of any and all crimes he may have committed while President. He claimed that a lengthy trial would only have hurt the country. Ford had not consulted with legal experts (such as the Attorney General) or members of Congress before making the decision. At the same time, an agreement was made to give Nixon title to all the White House tapes and papers, under joint control with Ford. Under this agreement, Nixon could destroy the tapes after 9/1/1979. The reaction from the public and Congress was one of anger and disappointment. Republicans in particular were upset because it hurt their chances in the fall elections. Members of congress in both parties began calling for an investigation.
- 9/8/1974 Robert Vesco told Neil Cullinan of the New Times that he thought Watergate was the result of a power struggle, and that the plotters were out to get Nixon. Vesco portrayed his legal problems and those of "Howard Hughes, H. Ross Perot, Armand Hammer and C. Arnhold Smith" as coming from "an attempt to shatter the mandate received by Richard Nixon in 1972 and to destroy in the process any large economic interests who supported the President publicly."
- 9/10 or 11/1974 deputy press secretary John W. Hushen revealed that Ford was studying a plan to pardon all of the Watergate criminals. Furious reaction from Congress quickly killed the idea. The administration blamed Hushen for making an announcement not authorized by the President.
- 9/12/1974 Race relations in Boston turn violent when high school students at South Boston High opposed to court-ordered busing rioted and attacked black students.
- 9/13/1974 Texas oil baron H.L. Hunt collapsed while at work, and was taken to Baylor hospital in Dallas.
- 9/14/1974 In an interview, Haig reported that Nixon still did not believe he had committed an impeachable offense. (UPI)
- 9/15/1974 Nixon is quoted as saying that if he is hospitalized for his phlebitis, "I'll never come out alive." His doctor, Walter R. Tkach, reported that Nixon "is a ravaged man who has lost the will to fight."
- 9/16/1974 NATO and Ford announced that Al Haig would become head of NATO effective 12/15. Demands by key Senators that Haig appear before them were answered by Ford, who said that the post did not require Senate confirmation.
- 9/16/1974 Charges against Indian activists Dennis Banks and Russell Means are dismissed by a federal district court judge.
- 9/16/1974 Ford signed a proclamation offering clemency to Vietnam war draft evaders and deserters in return for performing alternative service and an oath of allegiance. He had previously opposed such a program while a member of Congress.
- 9/16/1974 In a press conference, Ford denied that there was any "deal" between him and Nixon for a pardon. One reporter reminded him that during his confirmation hearings he had seemed to indicate that he would not pardon Nixon; Ford replied, "I think if you will reread what I said...I did not say I wouldn't." He also admitted that the CIA had spent millions of dollars in Chile, but only to support opposition press and parties; these actions were "in the best interests of the people of Chile and certainly in our best interest."
- 9/18/1974 Ford addressed the 29th session of the United Nations General Assembly, declaring that "We are committed to pursuit of a more peaceful, stable and cooperative world."
- 9/18/1974 Second round of SALT II talks resumes in Geneva.
- 9/18/1974 Rev. Sun Myung Moon filled Madison Square Garden for one of his Unification Church rallies.
- 9/18/1974 NY Times reported that Haig had been instrumental in persuading Ford to grant Nixon a pardon because of the ex-president's health.
- 9/18/1974 Chicago Daily News' Peter Lisagor interview with Al Haig: "I never was a Nixonite" or even a Republican, he admitted.
- 9/20/1974 Ford announced appointment of Ronald H. Nessen as his Press Secretary.
- 9/21/1974 President Ford asks Donald Rumsfeld to replace the outgoing Alexander Haig at the White House. Rumsfeld has long been Haig's choice to replace him. Ford does not want to give Rumsfeld the official title of "chief of staff," and instead wants Rumsfeld as "staff coordinator." The difference is academic. Ford wants the aggressive, bureaucratically savvy Rumsfeld to help him regain control over a White House that is, in the words of author Barry Werth, "riven with disunity, disorganization, and bad blood." Rumsfeld agrees, and names former Wyoming Congressman Dick Cheney as his deputy (who makes himself valuable by initially doing the lowest forms of bureaucratic scutwork).
- 9/22/1974 Ford and Kissinger warned in separate speeches that a continuing rise in oil prices would lead to a worldwide depression and, in Ford's words, "the breakdown of world order and safety." The oil price hike was also hurting South Vietnam, which had to ground half its air force.
- 9/23/1974 Ted Kennedy announced he would not run for the presidency in 1976.
- 9/23/1974 Washington Post reported that Haig's appointment was difficult for many commanders in Europe to deal with given his political promotions and slim command experience.
- 9/25/1974 The conviction of Lt. William Calley is overturned by US District Court Judge J. Robert Elliott.
- 9/28/1974 Ford announced formation of the Economic Policy Board to oversee formulation, coordination, and the implementation of all economic policy.
- 9/28/1974 Betty Ford successfully underwent a radical mastectomy at Bethesda after a cancerous lump was found on her breast.
- 9/30/1974 TIME reported that Ford gave a speech in which he defended the CIA against the rumors that they had overthrown Salvador Allende in Chile the year before. Which turned out to be true. When asked if this action was not in violation of international law, the new president replied with "I am not going to pass judgment on whether it is permitted or authorized under international law. It is a recognized fact that historically as well as presently, such actions are taken in the best interest of the countries involved." (Time, 9/30/74) In other words: Uncle Sam Knows Best. Time commented "Ford's words seemed to represent an anachronistic, cold-war view of national security reminiscent of the 1950"s. Complained Democratic Senator Frank Church of Idaho: 'It's tantamount to saying that we respect no law save the law of the jungle.' " (ibid)
- 10/1/1974 Trial of five of the seven Watergate defendants begins in Washington.
- 10/1/1974 Hussein I, king of Jordan, was the target of a murder plot by Black September Palestinian assassins in Rabat, Morocco.
- 10/6/1974 As the religious right opposition to sex education in Kanawha County (West Virginia) schools heats up, 8000 protestors attended a rally at which the features speakers were James McKenna, Mel & Norma Gabler, and Robert Dornan.
- 10/7/1974 House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills is pulled over by police and found to be in the company of hooker Fanne Foxe.
- 10/8/1974 Ford offered economic program to fight inflation. He called on Americans to cut driving by 5% and use cold water for washing. He also pledged to keep the federal budget under $500 billion for 1975. He asked Congress for a 5% surtax on wealthier families and corporate profits, to liberalize investment tax credits, and extend unemployment benefits.
- 10/9/1974 Kissinger left for a trip to the Middle East.
- 10/11/1974 Labor Party wins British general election.
- 10/12/1974 Jaworski resigned as Watergate special prosecutor.
- 10/13/1974 The House Civil and Constitutional Rights Subcommittee announces it is launching a limited probe into the FBI's relationship with both Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald.
- 10/14/1974 New York magazine reported, in a story by Frank Fox and Stephen Parker, that Nixon was using the tapes to keep control of Ford: "Nixon is out of office but not out of power." They estimated that the White House tapes probably contained at least 20 hours of conversations between Nixon and Ford.
- 10/15/1974 Violence in Boston over busing reached a peak as white and black high school students clashed.
- 10/15/1974 Ford announced a "great citizens mobilization" under the slogan WIN (Whip Inflation Now). Among his suggestions was that Americans reduce the cost of food by planting WIN gardens.
- 10/15/1974 Ford signed the Federal Elections Campaign Act Amendments of 1974. It provided public funds for major presidential candidates and set spending limits in both presidential and congressional elections.
- 10/16/1974 Former intelligence agent and assassination investigator, Joe Cooper, is found dead in his bedroom -- a bullet wound in his head. Death is ruled suicide.
- 10/17/1974 Ford testified before the Judiciary Committee (but not under oath) that there was no deal for a Nixon pardon. He also stonewalled on the subject of releasing White House tapes containing talks between himself and Nixon. He insisted that he had pardoned Nixon so that the country could forget about Watergate and move on to other matters.
- 10/21/1974 Ford meets with Mexican president Echeverria to discuss finding new oil sources. Ford's popularity is at 55%.
- 10/22/1974 Canada, concerned over the changing racial makeup of the country, restricts immigration.
- 10/23/1974 The 1980 Summer Olympics will be held in Moscow.
- 10/24/1974 Kissinger meets with Brezhnev for six hours.
- 10/25/1974 The US Air Forces successfully fires an ICBM from a plane.
- 10/26/1974 Henry S. Ruth took office as the third Special Watergate Prosecutor, as Jaworski left for Texas.
- 10/28/1974 Rabat, Morroco: Arab heads of state call for an independent Palestinian nation.
- 10/29/1974 Nixon was listed in critical condition due to shock following surgery.
- 10/29/1974 Magruder testified at the trial that Mitchell approved a $250,000 political espionage plan three months before the Watergate break-in. He also told of Liddy's elaborate proposals to Mitchell.