Showing posts with label 1975. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1975. Show all posts

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Sunday, December 7, 1975. Invading East Timor.

Indonesia mustered an invasion force to invade East Timor, nine days after its declaring independence from Portugal.

The resulting invasion would be barbaric.

Last edition:

Tuesday, December 2, 1975. The end of the wars in Indochina.

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Tuesday, December 2, 1975. The end of the wars in Indochina.

Vientiane fell to the Pathet Loa, bringing to an end the devided leadership of Laos and making it a fully communist country.

It effectively brought to an end the wars that broke out with end of World War Two over what type of governments former French Indochina would have.

Ironically, the new head of state was the French educated Communist Prince Souphanouvong.  While we think of Communism as being inherently anti monarchical, in Indochina this was much less the case.

December 2, 1975: Archie Griffin Is Awarded a 2nd Heisman Trophy

Last edition:

Thursday, November 20, 1975. Death of Franco.

Thursday, November 20, 2025

Thursday, November 20, 1975. Death of Franco.

Franco with Eisenhower in 1959.

Francisco Franco died at age 82, ending his long dictatorship and bringing the country back to the path of democracy.

Franco, in spite of his long reign, remains one of the most enigmatic of 20th Century figures  Often cited to be a fascist, he was not, but he was certainly a fascist fellow traveler in the 1940s, and Spain's true Fascists, the Falangists, were consolidated under his rule and had no choice but to follow them, even though he very occasionally suppressed them.  He supported the Axis in much of World War Two while managing to avoid actually having Spain become a full blown combatant.  German submarines had refuge at Spanish ports for a time, and early in the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe used northern Spain for launching aircraft on Great Britain1  Fascistic Spanish troops fought as a German foreign legion.2  Always savvy to political winds, he began to draw away from the Axis late war.  He might be best compared to Petain in his political alignment, but even that is imperfect.  

A monarchist at heart, he restored the Spanish monarchy late in his rule, but even at that he did not ever release power. Death brought that.

Franco's rule commenced with the Spanish Civil War, which he was not originally the right wing military head of.  The war itself was basically a military revolt against an incoming Communist regime.  Franco fought the war well, but it also maximized violence in some notable ways.  Approximately 420,000 Spaniards were killed by way of extrajudicial killings during the Civil War, and in state executions immediately following its end in 1939, a remarkable figure given that Republican combat deaths were about 110,000, and Nationalist about 90,000.  Killings tapered off thereafter and into the 50s.  His rule emphasized Spanish nationalism and traditionalism, enforcing by force of law.  

Economically, his policies were murky, and for some time the country adopted autarky, which was the economic theory favored by the Nazis, and which didn't work out for them either.  Economic disaster resulted in reform.

Like France, Spain attempted to retain its empire post World War Two, but Franco was forced to yield to the times.  When France yielded to Moroccan independence, Spain largely did as well, but retained some holdings.  Spain fought a war with Morocco to hold on to the Spanish Sahara, but in 1975 it ultimately ceded to Moroccan wishes.  Spain,under Franco, provided bases to the OAS in its effort to retain French control of Algeria.

Unlike most of the far right dictators of the European 20th Century, Franco always retained a bit of a following in certain sectors of the US, and still does.  In some circles he was viewed as the only alternative to Spanish communism, and in fact, in terms of the Spanish Civil War, that might actually be right.  That wouldn't excuse the nature of his rule, however.3

Others, more alarmingly, are currently attracted to his politics.  A Wyoming Hageman intern, for example, resigned his position when he was found to be a follower of Francoist websites, although he later successfully reemerged as a Turning Point USA figure at the University of Wyoming, brining the late Charlie Kirk to the campus..  Some figures on the Illiberal Democracy, National Conservative, side of the GOP are very close to being Francoist in their views.  Indeed, absent the economic aspects of it, Francoism is nearly the model of how certain Illiberal Democrats imagine Western nations should be run.

This is one of those things I can actually remember from 1975 and place the date on.  For some reason, on this date, I was traveling with my father in our 1973 Mercury Comet.  I think we were going to Cheyenne.  The radio news broke in continually with updates on Franco's physical decline.4

A report by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had tried twice to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and once to tried to poison Congo Premier Patrice Lumumba.  It also confirmed that the CIA had supplied aid to insurgentes who later assassinated South Vietnam's President Ngo Dinh Diem and Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo.

However, it also confirmed that "No foreign leaders were killed as a result of assassination plots initiated by officials of the United States", which is good I guess, but it wasn't for want of trying in the case of Castro.  Diem and Lumumba were in fact both assassinated, but not by the US, in spite of the ongoing belief that the US actively participated in Diem's assassination.

Dr. Heinrich Schuetz was sentenced to ten years in prison after being convicted of war crimes in Munich, West Germany. In 1942 as an SS colonel he had injected bacteria into eleven Catholic priests at Dachau.

Footnotes:

1.  Churchill has his diplomats quietly approach the Spanish government and informed them that the UK was aware of where the Luftwaffe plains taking off in northern Spain were coming from, and that the UK would bomb the airbases if it didn't stop.  It stopped.

2.  The unit started off as an outright Spanish contribution to the German effort in the USSR, but after the Allies complained, troops in the Spanish Army were ordered to return home to Spain or resign. Those who resigned remained behind as a unit in the German SS.

3.  My mother, who was well aware of the Spanish Communist sacrilegious desecration of Catholic churches, took the position that Franco was Spain's only choice against Communism.  My father took the much more nuanced view that whichever side won, the Spanish were going to lose.

In the US, the Republicans were generally seen, in the Great Depression, as liberal democrats, which they largely were not.  As the war progressed, the Republicans became more communistic as Spanish Communists, with support from Moscow, presumed victory and began to purge the rival forces on the left.  American leftists famously contributed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of volunteers to the Republican cause, some of whom were American Communists.  In the pre Cold War era, the full nature of Communism was not really very well understood in the US.

In Europe, in contrast, the war drew volunteers to both sides. Both Irish and English mercenaries volunteered, for example, to serve under Franco.

4.  The fact that it was a Thursday means my father took a very rare off day from work.  What I think we were doing is going to Warren Air Force Base so we could pick up uniforms for the Civil Air Patrol.  When we were there I recall a supply sergeant gave my father a USAF "Dumbo Collar" OG-107 Field Jacket.  My father unsarcastically loved it and wore it as a winter outdoors coat for the rest of his life.

I was 13 years old.

The next time I would be on Warren AFB would be when I was 17.  I had applied for admission to the Air Force Academy and was required to go there for a physical.  My father likely drove me down as I probably wouldn't have driven to Cheyenne as a 17 year old.  I can recall when I checked in the Air Force medic noted my name and told me he had the same first name, albeit in Spanish.

As I was also an applicant to the U.S. Military Academy (and the Naval Academy) I took an Army physical at the local Army National Guard armory.

I obviously didn't get in, which I'm glad about, I think.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Sunday, November 18, 1975. The return of Eldridge Cleaver.

Fugitive member of the Black Panthers returned from self imposed exile in Paris in order to face murder charges.

During his time in Paris, he'd become a born again Christian and a clothing designer, having designed trousers with a prominent codpiece to free men, he said, from "penis binding".

They did not become popular.

Cleaver was  highly eccentric.  During his lifetime he swung widely in political views and he spent time in a wide variety of nations, including North Korea, Cuba, China and Algeria.  He'd go on to a variety of religions after being a born again Christian before converting to Mormonism. About the same time he became a conservative Republican, and twice ran for the Senate.  He'd end up, in spite of this, being convicted of drug possession.  He died in 1998 at age 62.  His ex wife, Kathleen, remains living and became a lawyer following their divorce in 1987.

He also left behind a son, Dr.Ahmad Maceo ibn Eldridge Cleaver, who was born in Algeria who passed away in Saudi Arabia in 2018 leaving himself three wives and 14 children.  His daughter, Joju Cleaver, born in North Korea, is a professor at Georgia State University.

Last edition:

Friday, November 14, 1975. The Madrid Accords.

Friday, November 14, 2025

Friday, November 14, 1975. The Madrid Accords.

By Tiris_al-Gharbiyya_Location.png: Н.Сидоров.Original uploader was Nicolay Sidorov at ru.wikipedia.derivative work: Spesh531 (talk) - Tiris_al-Gharbiyya_Location.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14966331

The Madrid Accords between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania set out six principles which would end Spanish presence in the territory of Spanish Sahara and arrange a temporary administration in the area pending a referendum.

Israeli troops pulled back from their positions in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the peace treat arranged in September.  As part of this they turned over the Ras Suhr oil fields captured in 1967 to the United Nations.  The US agreed to pay Israel $350,000,000 for the loss of oil revenue.

Last edition:

Tuesday, November 11, 1975. Angola independent and at war.

Monday, November 10, 2025

Monday, November 10, 1975. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

 

The massive Great Lakes freighter went down with all 29 hands.

The storm.

The ballad commemorating the ships loss would come out the following year.

Italy and Yugoslavia signed the Treaty of Osimo resolving the long running dispute over Trieste.

The Communists forces of the MPLA  defeated the FNLA in a battle over the capital of Angola, Luanda.

The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism.  The Resolution would be revoked in 1991.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 30, 1975. King Juan Carlos I of Spain became acting head of state of the country after Franco conceded he was too ill to govern.

Monday, October 20, 2025

Monday, October 20, 1975. Grain, Cubans, Primates, and AIDS.

The US and USSR entered into a five year grain sale agreement by which the US agreed to sell 6,000,000 tons of grain to the USSR each year, as its collective agricultural system tanked, and by which the US accidentally screwed Canadian farmers.

The Cuban Navy's El Vietnam Heroico, El Coral Island and La Plata brought the first Cuban soldiers to Angola to support the MPLA..

Presumably the El Vietnam Heroico didn't celebrate the numerous South Vietnamese who gave their lives in order to attempt to hold the Communist back South East Asia.

Cuban military support to Angola would lead to the introduction of AIDS into Cuba, that region of Africa having been ground zero for the disease.  Myths about the origin of the horrific disease, and a supposed ground zero in New York City, have abounded for years, but in reality SIVcpz, the strain in chimpanzees, was transmitted to humans via contact with infected blood, most likely during the process of hunting and butchering chimpanzees for meat.  It was a "crossover disease."  It spread undetected for some time in Central Africa, notably by hetrosexual sex, and into the Cuban population by that means of transmission.  In much of the Western World, of course, it spread through homosexual sex at first, and then by infected needle transmissions. 

FWIW, eating primates is a really bad idea. They're too closely related to us, giving rise to things like this.

It's an interesting example of how war brings plagues of all types.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 14, 1975. Operation Savannah.

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Tuesday, October 14, 1975. Operation Savannah.

South African troops invaded Angola, entering from Namibia in anticipation of Angola's independence from Portugal and the uncertain political outcome there.

About 150 Native American protesters and sympathizers held a demonstration at the U.S. Courthouse in Seattle.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 7, 1975. Lunch.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Tuesday, October 7, 1975. Lunch.

Congress overrode President Ford's veto of the Federal school lunch program by an overwhelming majority.

Let's look at a couple of things not on the lunch menu.




I'll be frank, I'm quite indifferent about bologna.

Having said that, when I was a kid, we always had "cold cuts" in the fridge, in case you wanted to make a sandwich, which I rarely did.  I preferred thin sliced ham, which Safeway had, and would eat that quite a bit, often just eat it.  No sandwich.

I've discussed government assisted school lunch here before, but the interesting thing here is the overwhelming popularity for it.  I dare say, if it came up today, it'd be voted down.

Last edition:

Monday, October 6, 2025

Monday. October 6, 1975. Ignoring Ford and slides into totalitarian terror.

Only ABC carried a speech by President Ford, the other networks determining not to interrupt programming.

Italo Luder, Acting President of Argentina during a leave of absence by President Isabel Perón, signed Decree 2772, giving the Argentine armed forces authority to "annihilate subversion" by any means necessary against guerilla insurgents.

Sound a bit like Trump?

The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional of Chile, attempted to assassinate former Interior Minister Bernardo Leighton and his wife Anita, who were in exile in Italy. 

Last edition:

Wednesday, October 1, 1975. Thrilla in Manila.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Wednesday, October 1, 1975. Thrilla in Manila.

Muhammad Ali beat Joe Frazer in the "Thrilla in Manila"


Morocco and Mauritania reached a secret agreement to invade the Western Sahara and divide the territory between themselves following Spain's announcement that it would hold a referendum in the colony.

The Safeguard Program anti-ballistic missile complex became fully operational in Cavalier County, North Dakota with two radar complexes and 32 silos.  The House of Representatives voted to shut down the program the next day due to questions on its effectiveness.


Last edition:

Monday, September 29, 2025

Monday, September 29, 1975. Driving 55.

Due to a failure on the part of the legislature to address the enabling act, Wyoming Attorney General Frank Mendicino opined that the 55 mph speed limit remained in effect.

Mendicino was only five years out of the UW's law school at the time.

Oops.

The Chicago Tribune abandoned its standard practice of phonetic spelling of certain common words. 

Kissinger sent a memo to President Ford.

September 29, 1975

MEMORANDUM FOR: THE PRESIDENT

FROM: HENRY A. KISSINGER

SUBJECT: Information Items

CIA Summary: Vietnam After the Fall: Nearly five months after the fall of Saigon, South Vietnam remains under a form of martial law in which North Vietnamese military personalities make all day-to-day political, administrative, and economic directives. The primary authority, however, appears to be Pham Hung, fourth-ranking member of the North Vietnamese Politburo, who is in charge of party and military affairs in the South. The South Vietnamese Provisional Revolutionary Government, which ostensibly serves as a national government, has no meaningful authority over either Pham Hung or the military management committee. Immediately after the take-over, the communists moved to offset the lack of capable and trustworthy administrators by importing large numbers of officials from the North. Many of these appear to have been former southerners who had come north at the time of the 1954 Geneva accords.

Communist policies to date have been aimed primarily at restoring order and the economy. The communists early adopted a relatively conciliatory approach in order to mobilize support. But given the long and bitter nature of the conflict and the abundance of firearms in the country, they are now admitting to opposition from a variety of sources, including former government soldiers, religious sects, and ethnic minorities in the highlands. The continued presence of 18 of the 20 North Vietnamese divisions in the south attests to the fact that security remains a problem. The economy is probably far more worrisome. The communists admit that it is still in bad shape. Low production and high unemployment have reduced the level of living throughout the country. Considerable help from Hanoi’s foreign allies will be required to get the economy on its feet. So far the communists have not attempted to make fundamental or sweeping changes in the South’s economic structure and they are depending heavily on private enterprises to revive the economy.

Vietnamese officials, both North and South, proclaim formal reunification as their foremost objective. At the same time, they make it clear that the process will be gradual, following progress in developing an acceptable communist administrative structure and in restoring order and economic stability. Although the communists are maintaining the fiction of an independent South Vietnamese state, there is no question that Vietnam is now one country with one policy.

Casey Stengel died at age 85.

Last edition:

Friday, September 26, 1975. Petroleum and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.