Deep Politics Timeline

[Tracy Riddle]

• 9/1976 Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies at a large testimonial dinner for Jim Jones attended by Governor Jerry Brown and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally and other political figures. At that dinner, while introducing Jones, Willie Brown stated "Let me present to you what you should see every day when you look in the mirror in the early morning hours ... Let me present to you a combination of Martin King, Angela Davis, Albert Einstein ... Chairman Mao."
  
• 9/1/1976 Rep. Wayne Hayes (D-Ohio) quit the House of Representatives when it was discovered that he had an affair with his attractive but unskilled secretary, Elizabeth Ray, who was on his payroll.
  
• 9/4-6/1976 Kissinger meets with South African PM Vorster in Zurich, Switzerland.
  
• 9/5/1976 George de Mohrenschildt, letter to George H. W. Bush - (CIA MFR Raymond M. Reardon SAG 9.20.76.; Baker, Russ. Family of Secrets (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009), p. 268. ISBN 978-1--59691-577-2) "Dear George, You will excuse this hand-written letter. Maybe you will be able to bring a solution to the hopeless situation I find myself in. My wife and I find ourselves surrounded by some vigilantes; our phone bugged; and we are being followed everywhere. Either FBI is involved in this or they do not want to accept my complaints. We are driven to insanity by the situation. I have been behaving like a damn fool ever since my daughter Nadya died from (cystic fibrosis) over three years ago. I tried to write, stupidly and unsuccessfully, about Lee H Oswald and must have angered a lot of people I do not know. But to punish an elderly man like myself and my highly nervous and sick wife is really too much. Could you do something to remove the net around us? This will be my last request for help and I will not annoy you any more. Good luck in your important job. Thank you so much."
  
• 9/6/1976 Newsweek quoted Billy Graham as saying that he was "opposed to organizing Christians into a political bloc" and would endorse no candidate in the 1976 election. "I learned my lesson the hard way."
  
• 9/6/1976 The US-led United Nations Command and North Korea agree to partition the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone.
  
• 9/7/1976 Chile: Col. Espinoza ordered Michael Townley to go to the US go carry out the assassination of Orlando Letelier.
  
• 9/7/1976 Jack Anderson reported: "Before he died, Roselli hinted to associates that he knew who had arranged President Kennedy's murder. It was the same conspirators, he suggested, whom he had recruited earlier to kill Cuban Premier Fidel Castro. By Roselli's cryptic account, Castro learned the identity of the underworld contacts in Havana who had been trying to knock him off. He believed, not altogether without basis, that President Kennedy was behind the plot...According to Roselli, Castro enlisted the same underworld elements whom he had caught plotting against him. They supposedly were Cubans from the old Trafficante organization. Working with Cuban intelligence, they allegedly lined up an ex-Marine sharpshooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, who had been active in the pro-Castro movement. According to Roselli's version, Oswald may have shot Kennedy or may have acted as a decoy while others ambushed him from closer range. When Oswald was picked up, Roselli suggested the underworld conspirators feared he would crack and disclose information that might lead to them. This almost certainly would have brought a massive U.S. crackdown on the Mafia. So Jack Ruby was ordered to eliminate Oswald making it appear as an act of reprisal against the President's killer." (Wash. Post)
  
• 9/7/1976 CORU bombed Guyanese Embassy in Trinidad-Tobago.
  
• 9/8/1976 Michael Townley boarded a LAN-Chile Airlines flight for New York.
  
• 9/9/1976 Michael Townley arrived at Kennedy International airport.
  
• 9/9/1976 China: Mao Tse-Tung dies.
  
• 9/10/1976 Townley met with Cuban exiles Guillermo Novo and Jose Dionisio Saurez in Union City, New Jersey. Letelier's citizenship was also revoked by the Chilean regime on this day. That night, at Madison Square Garden, Letelier spoke to five thousand people about the terrors of the Pinochet regime, comparing it to the Nazis.
  
• 9/14/1976 Kissinger arrives in Tanzania to begin talks with African leaders.
  
• 9/14/1976 Speaker of the House Carl Albert tells the press he expects the House of Representatives to vote for new investigations into both the JFK and King murders in the near future. "It's reaching the point where there is so much interest that Congress will probably have to do something about it," Albert lamely remarks.
  
• 9/15/1976 Memo from George Bush to his deputy director of central intelligence: "A recent Jack Anderson story referred to a November 1963 CIA cable, the subject matter of which had some UK journalist observing Jack Ruby visiting [Santos] Trafficante in jail [in Cuba.] Is there such a cable? If so, I would like to see it."
  
• 9/15/1976 Townley, Virgilio Paz, Novo and Suarez met at a house in Union City, NJ, with the parts to make a car bomb.
  
• 9/16/1976 Congress completes work on a tax reform bill; it will reduce the number of individuals who can claim special tax shelters and also raise taxes on the rich. For the first time in 30 years, major changes are made in the estate tax laws.
  
• 9/16/1976 CORU bombed Soviet ship Ivan Shepetkov in Elizabeth, New Jersey, though the act was claimed by Omega 7.
  
• 9/17/1976 Vote in the House of Representatives (280 to 65) created the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) to investigate the killings of JFK and MLK. The committee was constituted for the four remaining months of the 94th Congress, and it was mandated to report the results of its investigation to the House of Representatives as soon as practicable. Congressman Downing is appointed chairman. Henry Gonzalez of Texas is penciled for the chairmanship when Downing retires at year's end.
  
• 9/17/1976 Banner headlines in the Oakland Tribune today read: NEW PROBE OF JFK, KING KILLINGS SET. This is followed by an Associated Press bulletin: "The House today voted to launch an investigation into the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and civil right leader Martin Luther King." Thomas Downing [the first Chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations] says that "Much vital information was withheld from the Warren Commission."
  
• 9/17/1976 The CIA requested that the FBI locate de Mohrenschildt, because he had "attempted to get in touch with the CIA Director." (CIA Message Reference Number 915341.)
  
• 9/1976 George H. W. Bush internal memo on the letter from George de Mohrenschildt (September, 1976) "I do know this man DeMohrenschildt. I first met him in the early 40s. He was an uncle to my Andover roommate. Later he surfaced in Dallas (50's maybe). He got involved in some controversial dealings in Haiti. Then he surfaced when Oswald shot to prominence. He knew Oswald before the assassination of President Kennedy. I don't recall his role in all this. At one time he had/or spent plenty of money. I have not heard from him for many years until the attached letter came in." George Bush wrote back to de Mohrenschildt (unknown date): "Let me say first that I know it must have been difficult for you to seek my help in the situation outlined in your letter. I believe I can appreciate your state of mind in view of your daughter's tragic death a few years ago, and the current poor state of your wife's health. I was extremely sorry to hear of these circumstances. In your situation I can well imagine how the attentions you described in your letter affect both you and your wife. However, my staff has been unable to find any indication of interest in your activities on the part of Federal authorities in recent years. The flurry of interest that attended your testimony before the Warren Commission has long subsided. I can only speculate that you may have become "newsworthy" again in view of the renewed interest in the Kennedy assassination, and thus may be attracting the attention of people in the media. I hope this letter had been of some comfort to you, George, although I realize I am unable to answer your question completely. George Bush, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. [CIA Exec Reg. # 76,51571 9.28.76]"
  
• 9/1976 According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), up to 500,000 different non-prescription remedies generate at least $ 3.51 billion in sales every year and, according to its investigating experts who amassed 14,000 volumes of evidence on these over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, the people who purchase them are "the victims of a gigantic medical hoax." According to author/researcher Daniel Zwerdling, the conclusions of intensive independent studies first launched in 1972 by more than 100 leading medical researchers, physicians and pharmacologists recruited by the FDA are that "at least half the drugs are worthless or of dubious value, and some may be harmful. Most of the products are labeled with misleading claims, and many are advertised with bold lies." While the industry invests in massive advertising campaigns, it spends comparatively little in developing and testing new drugs. "Major OTC producers spend at least $ 400 million in network T.U. spots each year ... telling consumers, about fifty times a day, that medically ineffective products will really work." And "the entire OTC industry probably spends less than $ 1 million each year developing new OTC ingredients." The 1962 Food, Drug and Cosmetic law requires the FDA to ban any drug if "there is a lack of substantial evidence that the drug will have the effect the manufacturer claims it does." Yet, the FDA leisurely circumvents the law and continues to allow the drug companies to stall taking their unproven products off the market. The FDA attorneys "protect the product in a sort of limbo, tailor-made for the drug companies"... allowing the "industry to continue advertising and marketing the products for up to five years or longer while its researchers feverishly try to prove that the drugs really work." The story of how the American public is the victim of the "ultimate confidence game" being played by the OTC drug industry and the FDA qualifies it for nomination as one of the "best censored" stories of 1976. SOURCE: "Non-Prescription Drugs -- The Ultimate Confidence Game" by Daniel Zwerdling; New Times, September 17, 1976, p 36.
  
• 9/18/1976 Townley and Paz bought more parts for the car bomb from a Radio Shack store. That night they began assembling the device at a room in the Regency Congress Inn on New York Avenue in Washington. Around midnight, Townley himself placed the bomb under the driver's seat of Letelier's car.
  
• 9/18-19/1976 Another of the more recent famous UFO sightings occurred on 19th September, 1976 in Teheran, Iran. An Iranian officer at the military control center started receiving reports of a large white light beaming down onto the local streets and houses. At first he thought the calls might be hoaxes/pranks played by the local youth. However, the calls kept on coming and coming so he decided to take a look for himself. When he looked out in the general direction of where the reports were coming from he noticed a huge, brilliant glowing mass, hovering above the city. He immediately called the Shahrokhi Air Base and told them to launch a Phantom Jet fighter to investigate. A Phantom was launched and was piloted by 23 year old Jafari. Jafari started to close down on the bright light he described it as "It's half the size of the moon.... radiating colours...violet, orange and white light." As he got within a mile or so of the object it suddenly shot away a tremendous speed. He tried in vain to try and catch the object but even going at full speed the other craft was still pulling away. He was just about to return to base when he called the Tower and said "Something is coming at me from behind...It is 15 miles away...now 10 miles...now 5...It is level now. I think it's going to crash into me....". After several seconds the tower were relieved to hear Jafari report "It has just passed by...missing me narrowly.". This incident prompted the military sources to launch a second Phantom. Once again the pilot closed within a mile or so of the object when it suddenly moved away, however, this time it appeared to fire a ball of light towards the Phantom. The pilot immediately tried to fire one of his AIM9 heat seeking missiles at the object but as soon as he tried he had a complete electrical failure and nothing would work. The ball of light that had been fired from the strange craft missed the second jet by inches, it then performed a U-turn and 'docked' once again with the main craft. Due to the brightness of the objects both pilots had to circle for an hour before there sight was good enough to land the plane. A secret U.S Secretary of Defence dossier stated that this case was "a classic which meets all the criteria necessary for a valid study of the UFO phenomenon."
  
• 9/19/1976 Townley dropped off his I-94 immigration form (in the name of his alias Hans Petersen Silva) at the Iberia Airlines counter at Kennedy International to make it look like he had left the country for Spain that day.
  
• 9/20/1976 NATO holds a training exercise to simulate rescue operations against an enemy attack in Norway.
  
• 9/20/1976 The Leteliers dined with colleagues and human rights activists Michael and Ronni Moffitt. Ronnie worked at the Institute for Policy Studies with Letelier.
  
• 9/21/1976 This morning, a Chilean delegation arrived in Washington for a round of talks with State Dept officials and US bankers.
  
• 9/21/1976 US-Soviet SALT II sessions resume in Geneva.
  
• 9/21/1976 This morning, Orlando Letelier (formerly Salvador Allende's ambassador to the United States) and the Moffitts drove to work in Letelier's car. Michael sat in the back as Orlando drove. Ronni sat in the front passenger seat. A car containing some Cubans began following them; they triggered the bomb in their car as they passed the Chilean Embassy. Letelier's legs were blown off, and he quickly bled to death; a piece of shrapnel severed Ronni Moffit's carotid artery, and she drowned in her own blood. Michael Moffitt recovered from lesser injuries. Chilean ambassador Manuel Trucco told the press that Letelier might have been trying to throw a bomb out the window at the Embassy when it went off. Letelier's colleagues at the Institute for Policy Studies immediately blamed the Chilean government.
  
• 9/22/1976 Townley flew back to Santiago aboard LAN-Chile airlines.
  
• 9/23/1976 CORU bombed the Palladium Theatre in NY; the act was claimed by Omega 7.
  
• 9/23/1976 Ford and Carter hold the first of three televised debates.
  
• 9/23/1976 Chile: El Mercurio reported that Letelier had been trying to bomb the Chilean embassy when he was killed: "It is clear to any normal person that what has happened can only harm the Chilean government, because it immediately becomes part of the propaganda campaign of the Soviet Union against us."
  
• 9/24/1976 Rhodesian PM Ian Smith accepts a Kissinger proposal for transfer of power to the black majority.
  
• 9/26/1976 Drew Middleton of the NY Times quoted Haig as saying that the US and NATO were falling behind the Communists in military strength.
  
• 9/26/1976 Letelier's funeral; guests included George McGovern, James Abourezk, Eugene McCarthy, Congressmen Tom Harkin, George Miller, Pete Stark and John Brademas, as well as folk singer Joan Baez. Letelier's body would be buried in Venezuela.
  
• 9/27/1976 Washington Post reported that Bailey Smith of the Southern Baptist Convention endorsed Carter, proclaiming that the country needed "a born-again man in the White House…and his initials are the same as our Lord's."
  
• 9/28/1976 FBI, Operation Condor Cable: This cable, written by the FBI's attache in Buenos Aires, Robert Scherrer, summarizes intelligence information provided by a "confidential source abroad" about Operation Condor, a South American joint intelligence operation designed to "eliminate Marxist terrorist activities in the area." The cable reports that Chile is the center of Operation Condor, and provides information about "special teams" which travel "anywhere in the world... to carry out sanctions up to assassination against terrorists or supporters of terrorist organizations." Several sections relating to these special teams have been excised. The cable suggests that the assassination of the Chilean Ambassador to the United States, Orlando Letelier, may have been carried out as an action of Operation Condor.
  
• 9/28/1976 DIA cable on the Letelier assassination: "It is difficult to pin the blame on Santiago at this point for several reasons. The reach of DINA - cited as responsible - almost certainly (80%) does not extend to the United States. Chilean image-building received a severe setback by the killing..." (Assassination on Embassy Row 231) · report from FBI agent Robert Scherrer on Letelier assassination: "Operation Condor is the code name for the collection, exchange and storage of intelligence data concerning leftists, communists and Marxists which was recently established between the cooperating services in South America in order to eliminate Marxist terrorists...provides for joint operations against terrorist targets...Chile is the center for Operation Condor, and in addition it includes Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...a third and more secret phase...involves the formation of special teams from member countries to travel anywhere in the world to non-member countries to carry out sanctions, assassinations...When the location and surveillance operation has terminated, a second team from Operation Condor would be dispatched to carry out the actual sanction against the target." He concluded that the Letelier assassination "may have been carried out as a third phase of Operation Condor." (Assassination on Embassy Row 239)
  
• 9/28/1976 Report from FBI agent Robert Scherrer on Letelier assassination: "Operation Condor is the code name for the collection, exchange and storage of intelligence data concerning leftists, communists and Marxists which was recently established between the cooperating services in South America in order to eliminate Marxist terrorists...provides for joint operations against terrorist targets...Chile is the center for Operation Condor, and in addition it includes Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...a third and more secret phase...involves the formation of special teams from member countries to travel anywhere in the world to non-member countries to carry out sanctions, assassinations...When the location and surveillance operation has terminated, a second team from Operation Condor would be dispatched to carry out the actual sanction against the target." He concluded that the Letelier assassination "may have been carried out as a third phase of Operation Condor." (Assassination on Embassy Row 239) Throughout October, US officials will tell the press there is no reason to suspect that the Chilean government was involved in the assassination.
  
• 9/30/1976 Congress overrides Ford's veto of a $56 billion health and education bill.