Tuesday, January 27, 1976. Earthquake at Rawlins and the White Hall Flasher.

Today In Wyoming's History: January 27: 1976   A small earthquake occurred near Rawlins.

The White Hall flaster was arrested.

Oddly enough, "flashing" was a trend in the 1970s which continued on into the 1980s in the form of "streaking", running through a public area naked.  Comedic singer Ray Stevens even authored a song about it, "The Streak".

Laverne & Shirley premiered.

It was a spin off of Happy Days and ran until 1983. Depicting two single women employed in a brewery in Milwaukee for most of its run, it was set in the 1950s to early 1960s. The last season was set in Burbank, California.

I can't say that I was a fan.

The Royal Moroccan Army attacked the Algerian Army at Amgala.

The House passed a bill already passed by the Senate to ban the sale of US arms to or to provide aid to paramilitary groups in Angola.

Last edition:

Wednesday, January 21, 1976. Supersonic.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, Aircraft, Angola, Bahrain, Brazil, France, People's Air Force of Angola, Transportation, United Kingdom

Wednesday, January 21, 1976. Supersonic.

The first commercial flight of the Concorde supersonic airliner took place with one departing Heathrow in British Airways colors and another departing Orly Airport in Paris in Air France colors.   The British jet flew to Bahrain and the French one to Brazil.

The plane remained in service until 2003.

On the same day communist forces in Angola established the People's Air Force of Angola.

Last edition:

Monday, January 19, 1976: The Iowa Caucuses

Labels: 1970s, 1976, 1976 General Election, Blog Mirror, Jimmy Carter, Politics, Uncle Mike

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

Angola, a Portuguese colony for 500 years, became independent.  A civil war for control of the country was already raging.

Australia was in political turmoil.

November 11, 1975: The Australian Constitutional Crisis

It was Veterans' Day.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Angola, Angolan Civil War, boats and ships, Diplomacy, Disaster, Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola, Great Lakes, Michigan, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, Ontario, United Nations, Zionism

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.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Francisco Franco, Spain

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.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Angola, Columbus Day, Namibia, Native Americans, Operation Savannah, South Africa, South African Army, Washington (Seattle)

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.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, 94th Congress, Education, Food, Gerald Ford, Growing up in the 1970s

Tuesday, August 5, 1975. Ford restores Lee's citizenship. South Africa enters Angola.

President Ford signed a Senate resolution restoring the citizenship of traitor Robert E. Lee.

South African forces drove ten miles into Angolan territory in reaction to the increased presence of Cuban troops in the country.

By Sam van den Berg - Image courtesy of Sam van den Berg, from Port Elizabeth, CC BY 2.5 za, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38327611

This is one of those news stories I can recall watching on the nightly news when I was a kid.

Fairfax County, Virginian K9 Officer Bandit was killed in the line of duty chasing a suspect.

Last edition:

Friday, August 1, 1975. The Helsinki Accords.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Angola, Angolan Civil War, Diplomacy, Europe, Finland, Helsinki Accords, Homo Erectus, India, It was because of World War Two, television

Friday, August 1, 1975. The Helsinki Accords.

The Helsinki Accords were signed by the leaders of 35 nations in Finland, including the 15 member states of NATO and the 7 Warsaw Pact nations.

The text:  The Helsinki Accords.

The Satellite Instructional Television Experiment commenced in India. It brought television for the first time to 2,500 villages in six Indian states and territories.

"KNM ER 3733", a woman of the species Homo ergaster, assuming that's a distinct from homo erectus, which it probably is not, was discovered by Bernard Ngeneo. She'd passed away 1,750,000 prior.  

The Republic of Cabinda declared independence, ineffectively.

Flag of Cabinda.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 30, 1975. Hoffa goes missing.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Crime, Mafia, Unions

Tuesday, July 29, 1975. A Nigerian Coup.

The Nigerian government was overthrown in a coup.

The Chinese Army, the Communist one, killed hundreds of rebels and civilians in the Yunnan Province.  Most of those killed were Muslim Hui's, of which 900 were killed in the village of Shadian.  400 Red Chinese soldiers were killed in the action.

The OAS voted to lift its embargo on Cuba.

Turkey took control of remaining US facilities in the country.

The US made its first delivery of weapons to UNITA in Angola.

Last edition:

Monday, July 28, 1975. Turkey acts.

Labels: 1930s, 1937, 1970s, 1975, Art, Indiana, Turkey

Friday, July 18, 1975. Operation IA Feature.

President Ford communicated to Congress, secretly, his decision to authorize $6,000,000 for a CIA operation to combat Communists troops somewhere, but he didn't say where.

Angola was where.

Railroad workers and railroads came to an agreement, averting a strike.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 17, 1975. United States-USSR Apollo-Soyuz Test Project succeeds.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, NASA, Outer space, Soviet space program (Космическая программа СССР), United States, USSR

Wednesday, July 9, 1975. The start of the Angolan Civil War.

Angolan liberation movements broke out in civil war, with the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), attacking the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), led by Holden Roberto.   The country had not yet officially received independence. 

Dutch photographer and artist Bas Jan Ader left Cape Cod in an attempt to make an unassisted voyage from west to east of the North Atlantic Ocean.  He would disappear and never be heard from again.

Rock musician John Anthony Gillis, better known as Jack White, was born.

Last edition:

Thursday, July 3, 1975. The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Disaster, Government, homosexuality, Las Vegas Nevada, Nevada (Las Vegas), television, U.S. Civil Service Commission, Weather

Wednesday, January 15, 1975. Independence for Angola.

The Alvor Agreement was signed at the Penina Golfe Hotel in Alvor, Portugal by Angolan independence figures Jonas Savimbi, Agostinho Neto and Álvaro Holden Necaca Roberto Diasiwa and Portugese President Costa Gomes.

November 11, 1975 was set as the Angolan independence date.

The very communistic flag of Angola.

It can't be said that independence for the country went well.  It would nearly immediately fall into civil war.

CIA Director William Colby confirmed that the agency had violated its charter by spying on American citizens for activities within the United States.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 14, 1975. Un-American.

Labels: 1910s, 1918, 1970s, 1975, Central Intelligence Agency, Communism, Espionage, House Committee on Un-American Affairs, McCarthy Era, Outer space, The Law of Unintended Consequences, Watergate

Sunday, January 5, 1975. Ed Herschler inaugurated.

Today In Wyoming's History: January 5: 1975  Ed Herschler began his 12 years as Governor.

Theoretically, but only theoretically, this is illegal under the term limitation that applies to Governors in the Wyoming constitution.  However, the Wyoming Supreme Court already struck this down as it applies to other offices, and clearly a person could run for a third term.  Given the current politics in the state, some hope Governor Gordon might do so, although there's no evidence that he intends to attempt that.

Herschler was a well respected Governor and was a Democrat.  He'd been a Marine Raider during World War Two.

The Tasman Bridge disaster when a bulk ore carrier travelling up the Derwent River collided with several pylons of the Tasman Bridge.

Angolan independence groups UNITA, MPLA, and FNLA signed the Mombasa Agreement in Kenya pledging to work together to negotiate with Portugal. 

The agreement would last for only a few months.

After the Portuguese pulled out, the US allied with Socialist  UNITA and the Soviet Union with MPLA.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 4, 1975. 55 MPH

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Automobiles, Gerald Ford, Highways, Interstate Highways, law, Richard Nixon, Transportation

Saturday, July 27, 1974. Articles of Impeachment.

The bipartisan House Judiciary Committee voted 27-11 to adopt the first of three articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon, obstruction of justice.

Richard M. Nixon, using the powers of his high office, engaged personally and through his subordinates and agents, in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation.

Back when Congress actually acted responsibly, although 11 of the 17 Republicans did vote no.

The Rhodesian Army began Operation Overload, the relocation of 49,690 black civilians within the Chiweshe Tribal Trust Land to "protected villages" away from  the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA).

Portugal's military government announced that it was granting independence to Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Portuguese Guinea.

Last prior:

Wednesday, July 24, 1974. United States v. Nixon.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, 2020s, 2024, Crime, Cyprus, Greece, Richard Nixon, Texas, Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Watergate

Tuesday, June 11, 1974. The arrival of the end of Portuguese colonialism.

Portugal's new government promised independence to Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea on the condition that ceasefires could be agreed upon in the ongoing wars and if democratic voting would be guaranteed on the form of post-colonial government.

Portugal had been one of Europe's first modern colonial powers, with an empire dating back to 1415.

Bill Clinton won the Democratic Party runoff for the Congressional nomination for the party in Arkansas.  Then employed as a law professor, he'd lose in the fall.

William Cann, police chief of Union City, California, was assassinated at a public gathering by former members of the Brown Berets, a Chicano group, in retaliation for a police killing of a Hispanic man.

Last prior edition:

Blog Mirror: June 4, 1974: Ten-Cent Beer Night In Cleveland

Labels: 1970s, 1974, Alcohol, baseball, Blog Mirror, Cleveland Ohio, Ohio (Cleveland)

Friday, April 26, 1974. A Portuguese military coup turns towards democracy.

The Portuguese Junta de Salvação Nacional announced that it would govern Portugal until further notice, but that it would restore democracy and, further, it would pursue a policy to end Portuguese rule of Mozambique, Angola and its other colonies.  It was in fact the Portuguese corporatist state's efforts to retain its colonies by force which had led to its junior military officers becoming disaffected, leading to the coup, and a return to democracy, through the Movimento das Forças Armadas.

The junta also released most political prisoners in the country.

I should have noted the coup in yesterday's entries, but I failed to.

Angola and Mozambique would of course slip into civil war.

The West German Bundestag narrowly passed a law allowing abortion in the first trimester, but it was soon suspended by the German supreme court and then found to be unconstitutional.  Contrary to what Americans commonly think, abortion was much more restricted in Europe than in the US up until recently, and proposals here to return to the bizarre Roe v. Wade standard would return the US to a far more bloody condition than exists in Europe.

The Ethiopian government arrested members of the government and military that were associated in some fashion with the February 25 coup.

April 26, 1974: The Yankees' Friday Night Massacre

Last prior edition:

Monday, April 15, 1974. The Hibernia Bank Robbery.

1970s, 1974, American Terrorist Organizations, Crime, Niger, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Weapons

Tuesday, March 5, 1974. Portugal decides to stay.

Portugese troops in Mozambique.  By Joaquim Coelho, author from Espaço Etéreo, a compilation of texts and pictures from people involved in the war. Permission is granted here, and personal e-mails between me (Nuno) and Joaquim (backed up for reference). - The copyright holder of this work allows anyone to use it for any purpose including unrestricted redistribution, commercial use, and modification.Please check the source to verify that this is correct. In particular, note that publication on the Internet, like publication by any other means, does not in itself imply permission to redistribute. Files without valid permission should be tagged with {{subst:npd}}.Usage notes:If the work requires attribution, use {{Attribution}} instead.If this is your own work, please use {{Cc-zero}} instead., Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=685173

Portuguese Prime Minister Marcello Caetano informed the Portuguese National Assembly that Portuguese Guinea, Angola and Mozambique would retain their colonial status in spite of ongoing guerilla wars.  He stated that elections "would be inappropriate for the African mentality."

Ethiopian Emperor and absolute monarch Haile Selassie pledged democratic reforms in an unprecedented national address on radio and television.

Eva Mendes was born in Miami.

Last prior:

Monday, March 4, 1974. Suez.

Friday, December 18, 1914. Africa and the Great War.

German colonial troops took Naulila, Portuguese Angola.

The Sultanate of Egypt became a British protectorate.

Last edition:

Wednesday, December 16, 1914. Battle of Kolubara concludes. The Scarsborough Raid.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Austro Hungarian Army, Battle of Kolubara, German Kriegsmarine, Royal Navy, Serbian Army, United Kingdom, World War One

Thursday, July 29, 1909. GM acquires Cadillac.

General Motors acquired Cadillac.

Portuguese Colonial Minister, Manuel da Terra Vianna, barred recruitment of African chocolate workers by Cadbury pending an investigation, out of a fear that Angolans were being used as slave labor in the industry.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 25, 1909. First flight records.

Labels: 1900s, 1909, Aircraft, France, Japan, Lighter than air aircraft, United Kingdom