Nixon the Friend

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 4-01-1982
Event Description: Assemblyman Richard Nixon resigns his seat, telling the chamber, “I have done all I can for California and for the United States. It is now time for me to try to do all I can for the world.” Nixon’s speech receives a standing ovation from his fellow lawmakers.

Event Date: 4-10-1982
Event Description: Just like in 1973, the Nixon’s touch down in Saigon, South Vietnam, to try to help the people of the impoverished region. As Director of the De-mining Commission of the U.S-SEATO Post-War Organization, Nixon faces a daunting task before him. With more than two million anti-personnel mines laid in the three countries from 1965 to 1980, no one knows how many have been detonated, nor does anyone know how many still need to be found. “This reminds me of when I went to law school,” Nixon tells the press, “I have no idea about what I need to learn, but am still excited about doing it anyway.”

Event Date: 5-01-1982
Event Description: “The Plot to Kill Nixon” by Ramsey Clark is released, almost immediately becoming the top non-fiction book of the year. The book examines all the evidence that Clark had found during the Sarah Jane Moore Case, adding his own opinions and conclusions to them. “This government is capable of killing anyone,” Clark ends his book with, “The only question is: what have you done to warrant being killed? The answer could surprise you, as it did Mr. Nixon.”

Event Date: 5-20-1982
Event Description: The International Movement to Ban Landmines is begun in London, the United Kingdom, by activists Richard Nixon and Jody Williams, a thirty-two year old social activist. The overriding goal of this organization is to abolish the production and use of anti-personnel mines. “This dream can be achieved,” Nixon tells the London Times, “If only the leaders of the world can come together in agreement for life.”

Event Date: 6-06-1982
Event Description: Back in the United States, moderate Republicans win the two big primaries in California. State Attorney General George Deukmejian, a moderate and friend of Richard Nixon, defeats conservative Lieutenant Governor Michael Curb by a 58-42% margin in the GOP primary for governor. Deukmejian is not favored to defeat Governor Jerry Brown, who has had a strong first term, but the victory for the moderate branch of the party is victory enough for Nixon. In the primary for the U.S. Senate, moderate San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson defeats such conservatives as Congressmen Barry Goldwater, Junior, Robert Dorgan and John Schmitz, as well as former First Daughter Maureen Reagan. Wilson is favored to defeat the Democratic nominee, author and activist Gore Vidal. Vidal was the upset winner of a Democratic Primary in which Congressmen John Burton, Vic Fazio, Julian Dixon and State Treasurer Jesse Unruh tore each other apart, allowing the quirky Vidal to win the primary with just 24% of the vote.

Event Date: 6-28-1982
Event Description: Former Senator George McGovern (Democrat of South Dakota) joins Richard Nixon in South Vietnam to aid his old friend in the task of de-mining Southeast Asia. “I’m used to inefficiency, arguments and little to no results,” McGovern tells the press, “After all; I was both a senator and a Democrat.” McGovern will be in charge of the clean-up in southern Laos, a major area of warfare during the Laotian Civil War.

Event Date: 7-02-1982
Event Description: Nixon goes to China. Seeking aid from the Chinese government in his de-mining of Southeast Asia, Richard Nixon travels to Bejing to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian. Secretary of State Edmund Muskie had warned Nixon in a letter that, “The Chinese will be quite hard to crack. As communists in Asia, the policies of the Kennedy and Reagan Administrations may have stopped them from ever talking to us again for the next decade.” In addition, “Minister Xueqian has been a communist since 1939, before the takeover in 1950. He’s a hardened communist cold warrior.” Despite these warnings, Nixon will meet with the minister on Independence Day.

Event Date: 7-04-1982
Event Description: Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian and De-Mining Director Richard Nixon meet at the Chinese Department of State Building to discuss Chinese aid in the De-Mining of Cambodia and Laos. The discussion is a natural one, with Nixon being able to speak conversational Chinese since the 1950s. Surprising Nixon the most was that the Chinese government seemed more than willing to help the United States, and was even glad that communist revolutions in Southeast Asia had failed. In his memoirs, Nixon writes, “Minister Xueqian told me that the Chinese wanted to make inroads into American commerce, thus they had to find ways to break the ice with our nation. Their lack of support for the Laotian and Cambodian communists, as well as their antagonistic relationship with the dying Soviet Union, was all ways of appealing to our nation. In this spirit, they were more than willing to help us in our de-mining effort, which was indeed news that greatly raised my spirits.”

Event Date: 7-12-1982
Event Description: The first Chinese de-mining agents arrive in Cambodia, working with the democratic government of Cambodia and that of the United States. “I only want the Chinese to aid us only as long as we may need them,” Nixon tells his wife, “They are a vicious and brutal regime, and it is indeed a shame that I must call on them to help in such a noble endeavor.” “Well Dick,” Pat responds, “Sometimes noble endeavors can make angels out of demons.”   

Event Date: 7-20-1982
Event Description: The first meeting of the chief foreign diplomats of the United States and China since World War II, as Secretary of State Edmund Muskie and Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian meet in Tokyo, Japan. The meeting mainly focuses on de-mining, but Secretary Muskie does promise the Chinese foreign minister that they will meet again to discuss trade relations.

Event Date: 9-30-1982
Event Description: Former Presidents John Kennedy, in very poor health, and Ronald Reagan join Director Nixon at a fundraiser for the de-mining of Southeast Asia, held at the Waldorf Towers in New York City. The coming together of Kennedy and Reagan, whom took brutal jabs at one another during their respective presidencies, brings Reagan to joke, “You see, all we needed was a Quaker to shut us up.”

Event Date: 10-02-1982
Event Description: While driving in a jeep over a mine swept field outside of Da Nang, South Vietnam, Nixon hits a mine that had already blown up, but still had enough explosive power left in it to topple the jeep over. The professor comes out of the accident with only a few mild bruises on his face. He quips to a friend as he is helped out of the car, “I think I saw a CIA agent run behind a tree!”

Event Date: 11-05-1982
Event Description: The Midterm elections in the United States are mildly Republican, with President Carey facing an economy in a continual slide. In California, Attorney General George Deukmejian defeats Governor Jerry Brown in a major upset. The election comes down to 30,000 absentee ballots from San Diego, all of which come in strong for Deukmejian. Mayor Pete Wilson defeats author Gore Vidal by a 59-37% margin, an expected result as Vidal never ran a campaign that seemed more like a college lecture than a run for office.

Event Date: 11-12-1982
Event Description: In a report to Congress, Director Nixon tells the Senator Foreign Relations Committee that he no additional funds for the 1984-1985 fiscal years. “That’s extraordinary,” Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat of Delaware) tells Nixon, “Usually program directors find ways to squander the money we give them must to come and say that they didn’t get enough to squander.” “You must have never had a Quaker director before,” Nixon tells Senator Biden, “We waste nothing, and we especially don’t squander.”

Event Date: 12-25-1982
Event Description: The Nixon’s share a Christmas dinner at an orphanage in Ben Mei Thuot, South Vietnam. At the end of the year, Nixon can look back at the discovery and destruction of more than 32,000 active mines in South Vietnam, saving the lives of countless children.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

PBrunsel, this is truly a great timeline; and it is wonderful to see you getting back into the game

[RI]

Damn, I wish Nixon was really like that. Epic timeline, though. I love it.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-11-1983
Event Description: The North Vietnamese Government begins cleaning its southern border of land mines, marking a slight return of the nation to the world stage.

Event Date: 2-05-1983
Event Description: Director Nixon meets with Senator John Chafee (Republican of Rhode Island) and extends to him a unique request. “Senator,” Nixon tells Jeffords, “I want you to lead the crusade against anti-personnel land mines, and I want you to dedicate the rest of your political life to it.” This request startles the Rhode Island senator who explains to Nixon that such an issue is not politically exciting, “And probably can’t be done.” “Well many things could not be done,” Nixon tells Chafee, “Like the abolition of slavery, civil rights and a host of other worthy causes, but they were done because someone believed in them. I want you to believe in this.” 

Event Date: 2-17-1983
Event Description: Senator John Chaffee is welcomed to South Vietnam by Director Nixon, who had insisted he see the hospitals of civilians maimed by anti-personnel mines. While on a three hour tour of such a hospital in Saigon, Chafee physically vomits upon seeing some of the worst cases of mine accidents. “This is reality,” Nixon tells Chafee as they leave the hospital, “This may not be ‘politically exciting’, but to future children, it could be life and death.” Senator Chafee, visibly shaken, leaves on February 19th, with a gift from Nixon: a small silver bracelet with the old Hebrew saying: “He who saves one life saves the world entirely.”

Event Date: 3-01-1983
Event Description In a press conference, Senator John Chafee declares that he will introduce a resolution to the United States Senate, “Calling on our country to ban the production of all anti-personnel mines. After seeing the horror caused by such weapons, a country as great as this one is far too great to be involved in the manufacture of such a terrible weapon.” At his camp in Southern Laos, Director Nixon tells the press, “Dickens was right, you show someone a frightening past, present and future, and they’ll convert overnight.”

Event Date: 3-12-1983
Event Description: South Vietnam is declared a, “Mine Free Zone,” by Director Nixon. “At least 95% of the known mines laid in South Vietnam have been found and destroyed,” Nixon tells the press, “Now, the work begins in two new war torn countries.” The everyday strain of Nixon’s job is showing, as Nixon, usually an energetic and spry man for the age of seventy, has begun to complain to his physician of back pains, chronic headaches and severe indigestion. “Those are just the feelings that beurocracy causes,” Nixon jokes with his wife.

Event Date: 3-30-1983
Event Description: Senators John Chafee (Republican of Rhode Island), Charles Grassley (Republican of Iowa) and Lawton Chiles (Democrat of Florida) introduce a Resolution Banning the Production and Sale of Anti-Personnel Mines in the United States of America (known to the media as the Chafee Resolution). The resolution is sweeping, using such language as, “The murderous results of such mines” and calling them, “Contrary to Americans ideals.” The resolution is widely accepted by a war weary U.S. Senate, but some oppose the measure. “I see no reason for the United States to surrender any type of weapon,” Senator John Stennis (Democrat of Mississippi) tells his colleagues on the floor, “Furthermore, it is wrong for Mr. Nixon, who is not a member of this body, to propose legislation, which is all this bill really is.”

Event Date: 4-02-1983
Event Description: President Carey expresses his support for the Chafee Resolution. “In a civilized world,” President Carey tells the nation in a speech from the Oval Office, “The usage of mines, especially those that are aimed towards citizens, can not be allowed. Not only do I support Senator Chafee’s resolution, I support a law banning such mines in the United States and I call on the world for a treaty banning them in every nation on Earth.”

Event Date: 4-10-1983
Event Description: Congressmen William Ratchford (Democrat of Connecticut) and Mike DeWine (Republican of Ohio) sign on to introduce The Chafee Resolution in the House of Representatives.

Event Date: 4-28-1983
Event Description: Chinese de-mining agents in Chbar, Cambodia, engage in looting the small city and burning down five businesses, all owned by Cambodians who refused to give their wares over to the looters. “The Chbar Riot”, as it is dubbed by the press, leads Secretary of State Muskie to cancel a planned meeting with Chinese officials.

Event Date: 5-01-1983
Event Description: Director Nixon tells Secretary of State Muskie he wants the Chinese to be removed from Cambodia. “It was wrong for us to trust the Chinese,” Nixon tells Muskie in a phone conversation, “I should have known that communists who have lived their whole lives under totalitarian regimes could never grow to respect human life.” “I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Secretary Muskie tells Nixon, “After all, as you say in your book, ‘No evil man can remain so after seeing good.’” After a silence on the other end of the phone, Muskie responds, “Yes, Mr. Nixon, I do read your books.”

Event Date: 5-04-1983
Event Description: The Chinese troops involved in the Chbar Riot are court-martialed by the Chinese Military and imprisoned. Five are sentenced to death, but a last second letter by Richard Nixon begging for their lives to be spared saves them from the electric chair.

Event Date: 5-05-1983
Event Description: In a speech from the American Embassy in Laos, Director Nixon tells the Chinese, “You have corrected the evils committed against the people of Cambia, thus my organization forgives you of the crimes. I hope the Cambodian government will join me in this gesture, and welcome the Chinese once again in ridding their land of dangerous landmines.” When the Cambodian government refuses, however, the Chinese evacuate the country.

Event Date: 5-25-1983
Event Description: “Cambodian Cash Crisis” reads the headline of the New York Times. Apparently, none of the $130 million of aid, including funds for de-mining, have made it to the populace of Cambodia. The government, under President Lon Nol, has grown more corrupt and repressive since its victory in the Cambodian Civil War. “This is just more reason why we need to end foreign aid,” Congressman Ron Paul (Republican of Texas) declares on the House floor, “No one, except dictators, benefit from it.” 

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 7-09-1983
Event Description: With the Chinese completely out of Cambodia, de-mining has come to a standstill in that poverty stricken country. With the corrupt government embezzling most of the funds given to it for de-mining, Director Nixon tells President Carey in a letter, “We either need to abandon Cambodia or let the Chinese return. There is no third way, as the government is too corrupt to do anything except sit around and eat bananas.”

Event Date: 7-12-1983
Event Description: The Agreement of Seoul is made between the United States, Cambodia and China. Following a snap conference in Seoul, South Korea, the United States agrees to continue propping up the corrupt and repressive government of Cambodia, if in return it will allow the Chinese to once again take control of Cambodian de-mining operations. The Cambodians agree to this, as the government is in need of more and more U.S. support everyday. In an agreement with the Chinese, the United States will begin discussions over trade relations after de-mining has ceased in Cambodia.

Event Date: 8-02-1983
Event Description: The Chaffee Resolution passes in the Senate by a wide margin, with only a collection of Southern Democrats and Western Republicans opposing the resolution. In three days, the resolution will pass in the House of Representatives.

Event Date: 8-06-1983
Event Description: Even though the president does not sign a resolution, President Carey has a signing ceremony to set a ceremonial signature to the Chafee Resolution. “I hope that this resolution can be made into a bill,” President Carey tells the country as he signs the resolution, “It is extremely important that the United States leads the world in the elimination of dangerous anti-personnel landmines.”

Event Date: 9-19-1983
Event Description: Pop icon Michael Jackson, a follower of the Nixonites, meets with Director Nixon at the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines. “The King of Pop” asks Nixon if he would allow a collection of singers to have a concert to raise awareness and funds for international de-mining efforts around the globe. Of course, Nixon agrees to the plan and asks Jackson when he could be ready. To his surprise, the talented artist comments that the group could be assembled and the song could be written by Christmas Day.

Event Date: 9-30-1983
Event Description: Jody Williams and Richard Nixon declare that February 1st, 1984, is “International Civilian Lives Day.” “This day will be a day for all governments to remember the effects that anti-personnel mines have on the innocent,” Nixon tells the London Times, “Perhaps if we have enough of a response to this day, then a treaty will be signed banning their production.”

Event Date: 11-05-1983
Event Description: Governor George H.W. Bush (Republican of Texas), elected in governor of the Lone Star State in 1982 after serving as a Congressman and four-years as Ambassador to South Vietnam, announces his candidacy for president in 1984. “Bush is the leader of our kind of Republicans,” Director Nixon writes to Governor George Deukmejian (Republican of California), “He deserves our support.”

Event Date: 12-23-1983
Event Description: “We Are the World” is performed by a supergroup of American and British pop artists. The song, written by Michael Jackson, is described by Nixon as, “Everything that pop music is: very schmaltzy, but gets the point across.” The first ever live aid song ever written is effective, with Nixon’s organization raising more than $1.5 million before the end of the year.

Event Date: 2-01-1984
Event Description: Across the world, more than fifty major cities, including New York City, London, West Berlin and Rio de Janeiro, have massive protests against anti-personnel mines. Leading a protest in San Francisco, California, Richard Nixon and his Nixonites revive the old civil rights era tune, “We Shall Overcome.” In Chicago, Illinois, the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright march on City Hall. Amongst the marchers in a young community activist named Barack Obama, who has been a follower of Nixon since he was in his early teens.

Event Date: 2-12-1984
Event Description: Secretary of State Edmund Muskie declares that he will call on an International Congress to discuss a treaty which would ban all anti-personnel landmines from usage and production. The marches on February 1st, 1984, showed the government that more people cared about this issue than they thought.

Event Date: 3-01-1984
Event Description: De-mining is declared completed in 95% of Laos, as every area of the country, except that around the capitol city of Vientiane, has been swept clean of all recorded landmines.

Event Date: 3-10-1984
Event Description: Congressman Mike DeWine nominates Richard Nixon for the Nobel Peace Prize. “Your work for the abolition of landmines has been something to help unite a divided world,” Congressman DeWine writes Nixon. However, Nixon tells DeWine that he could never accept the nomination if his close friend and partner in the anti-personnel mine movement, Jody Williams, was not also nominated. DeWine will revise his nomination, thus putting both in the running for the award.

Event Date: 4-15-1984
Event Description: Representatives of twenty-five nations, including the United States, China, West Germany, the United Kingdom, India, South Korea, South Vietnam, Canada, Australia and France, meet in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss the anti-personnel mine movement and what can be done about the weapons. “I know together we can do anything,” Director Nixon tells the meeting as it begins, “These terrible weapons can be outlawed, if we simply listen to the better angels of our nature.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 4-15-1984
Event Description: Representatives of twenty-five nations, including the United States, China, West Germany, the United Kingdom, India, South Korea, South Vietnam, Canada, Australia and France, meet in Ottawa, Canada, to discuss the anti-personnel mine movement and what can be done about the weapons. “I know together we can do anything,” Director Nixon tells the meeting as it begins, “These terrible weapons can be outlawed, if we simply listen to the better angels of our nature.”

Event Date: 5-01-1984
Event Description: The nation of Laos is declared a de-mined zone by Nixon’s group. “It was not an easy task,” Nixon tells the press, “But through hard work we have made Laos a land safe to live in once again.” The nation of Cambodia, racked by political turmoil, is set to be the most difficult challenge for Nixon’s de-mining efforts.

Event Date: 5-09-1984
Event Description: Senator John Chafee introduces the Anti-Personnel Landmine Abolition Act of 1984. “Seeing the success of our resolution,” Senator Chaffee tells the Senate, “It is not time to take the next step in ridding the world of these bombs.” Several U.S. weapons firms declare they will use their influence to stop the bill, with one weapons manufacturer calling the bill, “A slippery slope to banning more weapons manufacturing in a country that once believed in a strong defense.”

Event Date: 5-13-1984
Event Description: Former President Reagan and Director Richard Nixon hold a rally in favor of an anti-personnel mine treaty in Los Angeles, California. Many conservatives are amazed to see Reagan, who as president had increased defense spending by billions of dollars, to share a stage with the “peacenik” Nixon and to support banning mines he himself has authorized. “What, we aren’t allowed to change our minds on anything?” President Reagan asks a reporter who asks the question, “I now can see the error of such weapons. If I was to still support such mines I would be an idiot, well, more of an idiot.”

Event Date: 6-04-1984
Event Description: Governor George H.W. Bush wins the California Primary, cementing his lead in the Republican primary for president and all but making him the 1984 GOP nominee for the highest office in the land. At his victory rally at the Los Angeles-Hilton, Richard Nixon is on the stage as Governor Bush makes his victory address. Bush’s victory over Senators Bob Dole (Republican of Kansas), Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana) and Governor William Janklow (Republican of South Dakota) is seen as a victory for the moderate wing of the GOP.

Event Date: 6-11-1984
Event Description: The Ottawa Convention breaks up without a formal treaty, but with an agreement of the delegates to meet in early 1985 to work out a formal agreement. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Nixon tells the Los Angeles Times, “And no good treaty was ever worked out in a month.”

Event Date: 6-13-1984
Event Description: In Warsaw, Poland, the Solidarity movement begins a general strike. Led by electrician Lach Walesa and supported by the Catholic Church and the United States, the general strike manages to shut down the communist government of Poland. In Moscow, the Soviet leadership is in such disarray following the defeat in Afghanistan and internal struggles in the Communist Party that it does not respond to the uprising. 

Event Date: 7-18-1984
Event Description: The Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, nominates Governor George H.W. Bush, their favorite son, for President and Senator Nancy Landon-Kassenbaum of Kansas for Vice-President. The selection of Senator Kassenbaum for the second spot is a surprise to the political world, but welcomed news by Director Nixon. “It’s about time the GOP has a woman on the national ticket,” Nixon tells the convention in a speech seconding the nomination of Senator Kassenbaum, “After all, isn’t it always the women who take away our wallets? We should have a lady in the senate to take away our national wallet from those crazy spenders!” The convention, despite nominating two moderates, is not a victory all in all for that branch of the party. Conservatives dominate the platform committee and produce a strongly conservative platform on both social and fiscal issues.

Event Date: 7-22-1984
Event Description: Trying to avoid the controversy of the Ford Campaign in 1980, Bush campaign manager James Baker tells Director Nixon that he will not be needed to campaign for the GOP Ticket. “I can take a hint,” Nixon tells Baker in a phone conversation, “No point in stirring up the troglodytes.”

Event Date: 8-01-1984
Event Description: In nations throughout the Soviet bloc general strikes are called. This move, from Poland to Bulgaria further paralyzes the Soviet Union. “The Russian bear has a thorn its paw,” Nixon writes in an op-ed for U.S. News and World Report, “When a bear has a thorn in its paw, you do not prod it with sticks. We need to keep out of this upheaval in Eastern Europe, and support the strikers with words, and not weapons.”

Event Date: 8-02-1984
Event Description: President Lon Nol of Cambodia is overthrown in a bloodless coup by Hu Sen, a political figure backed by the North Vietnamese and the Chinese. The corrupt Nol is imprisoned and the leftist Sen takes power. Controversy quickly begins over whether or not the United States should recognize the new government, which is left winged and backed by communists. “I would say do it,” Nixon tells the press, “The devil we don’t know beats the devil we do in this case.”

Event Date: 8-05-1984
Event Description: President Carey grants recognition of the new Hu Sen government in Cambodia, despite its support from communist elements. With the Soviet Union near collapse and the Chinese emerging as allies to the United States, President Carey tells the press, “We need to take the initiative in Southeast Asia and embrace potential allies.” Conservatives across the country holler that the president is giving ‘aid and comfort” to communists, with Governor Bush telling CBS News that he would, “Never recognize any regime supported by the North Vietnamese, who killed American soldiers.”

Event Date: 8-10-1984
Event Description: Almost immediately the new government of Cambodia begins to work smoothly with the Chinese and Nixon in de-mining operations. “As much as I hate to embrace those who murder human beings by the bushel,” Nixon tells his wife, “It is hard to argue with the success seen in de-mining. I wish the world would only let the good be effective in their endeavors.”

Event Date: 8-22-1984
Event Description: The Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California, nominates President Hugh Carey and Vice-President Ernest Hollings for a second term in the White House. Director Nixon’s anti-mine group leads demonstrations in front of the convention, but demonstrations thanking the president for his work to ban anti-personnel mines. “You see,” Nixon states, “My group is so revolutionary we can have protests that are ‘thank you’ cards.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 9-01-1984
Event Description: Prime Minister Indihra Gandhi of India meets with Director Richard Nixon in Manila, the Philippines, asking the famed de-mining agent if he would work in India as head of an anti-poverty initiative. “That is a very worthy cause,” Nixon tells the prime minister, “We will talk about it once my mission in Cambodia is over.” The two will never have a chance, for in just a month the prime minister is killed in a political assassination.

Event Date: 9-11-1984
Event Description: On their anniversary, the Nixon’s meet with the beloved Mother Theresa in Calcutta, India. The Catholic nun and the Quaker intellectual discuss what needs to be done to eradicate poverty from the world, to which Nixon tells the mother, “Such a goal may be an impossible dream.” “Sometimes,” Mother Theresa responds, “Only the impossible dreams are the ones worth fighting for.”

Event Date: 9-23-1984
Event Description: The U.S. Senate passes the Anti-Personnel Mine Abolition Act, with Senator Chafee’s bill receiving strong support from members of both parties.

Event Date: 10-09-1984
Event Description: The effectiveness of Chinese, U.S. and Cambodian de-mining agents is shown loud and clear as Nixon can report that more than 80% of the large nation has been de-mined. “Simply cooperation and extraordinary organization has led me to make this more glorious proclamation,” Nixon tells the press.

Event Date: 9-30-1984
Event Description: Pat Nixon, in the United States to visit her daughter Tricia, appears at a campaign rally with Senator Nancy Kassenbaum, the GOP Vice-Presidential candidate. The appearance is not mentioned by the Bush Campaign, as they fear any Nixon activates at their rallies will alienate conservatives in the Republican Party.

Event Date: 10-02-1984
Event Description: Richard Nixon and Jody Williams win the Novel Prize for Peace due to their work to rid the world of anti-personnel landmines. “I’m amazed we won this ward,” Nixon states in the acceptance address, “Jody and I didn’t win a war, or open up peaceful relations with a former enemy or fight against disease, we just did what we thought was right. I am glad that even something as simple as that can be honored in the world.”

Event Date: 10-15-1984
Event Description: In the second presidential debate, Governor Bush attacks President Carey for, “Opening up trade talks with China, a communist state, without first demanding human rights concessions.” He goes on to cite Richard Nixon: “This whole campaign you [President Carey] have been talking about how Richard Nixon is one of your ‘good friends’ yet he doesn’t support this move. The only way that we should ever speak with the Chinese, especially when it comes to trade agreements, is if they are willing to make positive changes in human rights.”

Event Date: 10-18-1984
Event Description: The media christens “The Bush Doctrine” as refusing to negotiate economic deals with known human rights abusers until they make concessions of human rights. “This is the best trade policy the United States can have,” Director Nixon writes in an op-ed to the New York Times, “For too long our nation based on human rights has done business with countries who wouldn’t know human life from a punch on the nose.”

Event Date: 10-22-1984
Event Description: President Carey announces that the United States will, “No longer support per dictators around the globe”, if he is given another four years in office. American dollars by the billions have been pouring into such murderous regimes in Iraq, Liberia and Chile, all states supported by the Reagan and Carey Administrations. “With the Soviets quickly losing their grasp on Eastern Europe,” President Carey tells a rally in Cleveland, Ohio, “And freedom marching on in Eastern Europe and around the globe. We can not stand in its way by supporting regimes that oppose democracy and human rights.”

Event Date: 11-06-1984
Event Description: After a hard fought campaign, President Carey is reelected by a comfortable margin over Governor Bush.

Hugh Carey/Ernest Hollings (D): 303 EV; 54.3% of the PV
George Bush/Nancy Kassenbaum (R): 235 EV; 45.2% of the PV
Others (Libertarian, Consumer, etc.): 0 EV; 0.5% of the PV

Across the nation, the GOP wins in Congress, increasing their margins in the Senate, but failing to take back the House of Representatives. In California, the Republican Party takes control of the State Assembly, but the Democrats keep in control of the State Senate. “Despite the defeat at the presidential level,” Director Nixon writes Senator Pete Wilson (Republican of California), “Our party, especially in the Golden State, has a very bright future.”

Event Date: 11-19-1984
Event Description: The band Genesis releases the song, “Land of Confusion.” In it, they call Richard Nixon, “The Quaker superman.” It also includes a puppet of Nixon picking up land mines and crushing them with his bare hands. Upon seeing the music video, Nixon simply laughs, and comments, “If it had been that easy to de-mine, I could have done that and built up my old biceps.”

Event Date: 11-28-1984
Event Description: The House of Representatives passes the Anti-Personnel Mine Abolition Act, and President Carey signs it into law. "It is a great thing when a country recognizes an evil of war and does something about it," President Carey tells Director Nixon at the singing of the bill. Nixon is given one of the pens the president used to sign the bill.

Event Date: 12-31-1984
Event Description: The nations of Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) declare their independence from their Soviet backed communist governments. The elderly Konstantin Chernenko, suffering from several ailments in his body and the body politik, allows them to go.

[Хahar 🤔]

I find it unlikely that such a thing would be possible without glasnost'.

Other than that, good TL.

[PBrunsel]

I find it unlikely that such a thing would be possible without glasnost'.

Other than that, good TL.

Xahar,

I was basing the upheavel in the country off of a spiriling debt, fracture of the Communit Party, a very visible defeat in Afghanistan and Reagan Adminsitration support for anti-communist orgainzations in the Eastern Bloc. However, I cede to your point on glasnost. I never cease to be amazed, however, that a person of your age even knows what glasnost is.

Thank you for the kind words, as well.

[Хahar 🤔]

Come on now, don't say that. Under Brezhnev (and his successors, who were too sick to change anything), the Kremlin controlled all the parties in the republics (and the nominally independent nations as well).

You know I always love reading your TLs. I'm glad to see this one.

[HappyWarrior]

I always love your TLs PBrunsel and this one is no exception.  It obviously still no FotG but it's still really good.

[Bacon King]

awesome timeline!

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-01-1985
Event Description: In West Berlin, anti-Soviet protesters take to the Berlin Wall with hammers, chisels and jackhammers. However, unlike in Eastern Europe, the communist government of East Germany has not yet collapsed. Armed guards fire on the protesters, causing the deaths of twenty-one West Berliners. Immediately, an international crisis begins. “The massacre in Berlin,” Secretary of State Muskie tells the world, “Will be dealt with quickly and hopefully, with backing by the Soviet Union.” Premier Konstantin Chernenko is unable to do anything with the Soviet military in disarray, so East Germany, the long time Soviet ally, is left alone to deal with the West.

Event Date: 1-02-1985
Event Description: Secretary of State Muskie, along with Richard Nixon, arrives in Reykjavik, Iceland, to meet with leaders of East Germany. Iceland was decided as the most “neutral” territory for the rushed meeting. East German Foreign Minister Helmut Stasi and Secretary Muskie have a rocky meeting, with Muskie telling Stasi, “The dead in West Berlin have to be answered. You can do that through an international apology or you can answer to the forces of NATO, the first option is the best.” The comment leads Stasi to storm out of the conference room. Nixon is sent to talk him into not leaving the summit. The ever diplomatic Nixon is able to smooth things over enough to convince Minister Stasi to return to the meeting the next day.

Event Date: 1-03-1985
Event Description: As West German tanks begin to amass on the Northern border between the two Germanys, the Reykjavik Summit begins its second day. The meeting becomes more tolerable when Minister Stasi is informed that the Soviet Army has been severed and that it will not fight alongside the East Germans in a war with NATO. “The Warsaw Pact is dead,” the message to Stasi reads. Indeed, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, the Soviet Union has lost control of its Eastern Bloc, and the Red Army can do nothing to stop it. “Seeing this,” Stasi tells Muskie and Nixon, “A war with Western Europe would be unwinnable and further destabilize our continent.” That night, with Secretary Muskie and Mr. Nixon looking on, Minister Stasi issues a formal apology for the Berlin Massacre, and request that the mobilization on the Northeastern border of Western Germany be ended, “For the good of our society.” The apology, though forced through clenched teeth, stops the Berlin Crisis, as the media dubs the last three days. Nixon, however, rejects that title. “This was not a ‘crisis’, but a conclusion,” Nixon tells his wife as they fly back to Cambodia, “The decades of tension over Berlin have been broken, it is a shame, however, that innocents had to die to relieve it.”
 
Event Date: 1-24-1985
Event Description: Nixon turns down an offer from President Carey to serve as Under Secretary of State in the new administration, despite Secretary Muskie nearly demanding that the man who stood by him at Reykjavik return with him to Washington, D.C. “I can not go to Washington,” Nixon tells the president, “I’ve been away from home for three years, my wife would beam me if I went off to take a new job.” Another reason Nixon refuses the job is more partisan: he is a Republican and he will not work in a Democratic Administration. 

Event Date: 2-05-1985
Event Description: Richard Nixon resigns his post as Director of the De-mining Commission of the U.S-SEATO Post-War Organization three years after accepting the monumental task. In a farewell banquet, Nixon awards medals to every person who labored for three years de-mining a massive amount of land in Southeast Asia. “We didn’t have a lot of money, nor did we ask for more,” Nixon tells the audience, “I could have had the army? But why have an army when I could call in Main Street, who would work just as fast and with much more heart?”

Event Date: 2-11-1985
Event Description: The Nixon’s return to Whittier, California, to a hero’s welcome. “Nothing can do a man more good than to throw off the shackles of power,” Nixon tells his neighbors at a reception at City Hall, “And to return to the town he calls home. On behalf of me, Pat and my daughters, thank you for this warm reception.”

Event Date: 2-20-1985
Event Description: Nixon is once again welcomed to Whittier College to serve, as he has done twice before, as a professor of pre-law and political philosophy. “They seem to always keep my office open,” Nixon tells the press, “I go off to do something across the world, but this college always knows I’ll come back.”

Event Date: 3-01-1985
Event Description: The Ottawa Council on Ant-Personnel Mines convenes for a second time with its goal of working out a treaty banning the manufacture and sale of anti-personnel mines. “This is the greatest convention for humane treatment during war since the Geneva Convention,” Professor Nixon tells the assembled delegates, “The work that is accomplished today will make the lasting effects of war less hazardous for the innocent.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 3-12-1985
Event Description: “Europe: After the Curtain” by Professor Nixon and Congressman Jim Leach (Republican of Iowa) is released. The two professors discuss the long term effects of the fall of the Soviet Union. “At most the U.S.S.R. has two years left as a united country,” the book begins, “The United States must prepare for that crisis.” The greatest crisis, they state, that faces Eastern Europe is, “The power vacuum that will open when the Soviets collapse.” To answer this power vacuum, the book advises the government, “Begin a second Marshall Plan for the very impoverished nations of the former Soviet bloc.” Nixon argues that such a poverty relief program would, “Decrease the power the Russian mafia and ultra-nationalist militias, who work on the black market, would have over the daily lives of the very poor of former Soviet Republics and Eastern bloc nations.” The book will not be a best seller, but it will be read by nearly every top level agent of the State Department.

Event Date: 4-28-1985
Event Description: With the Berlin Crisis behind them, and with Soviet support rapidly coming to an end, East German Chairman Willi Stoph and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl meet in Hamburg, West Germany, to discuss normalizing trade relations between the two Germanys. This is an historic meeting, as it is the first time the communist East Germany has ever even thought of engaging in trade with a western power.

Event Date: 5-03-1985
Event Description: The Ottawa Treaty is finalized at the Ottawa Convention. The treaty states that not only will all treaty members stop the production and sale of anti-personnel mines; they will also be required to destroy all their already existing mines. The second stipulation must be finished within ten years of joining the treaty. “This is a sweeping treaty,” Nixon tells the Ottawa Mail, “But only those kinds of treaties ever have an effect on the ways country’s wage war.”

Event Date: 5-20-1985
Event Description: The United States Senate begins debate on the Ottawa Treaty. While many senators support the bill, it has strong opposition, even from senators who voted for Senator Chafee’s bills. “I have no problem with voting for a U.S. law concerning landmines,” Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana), who had voted for the Anti-Personnel Landmine Abolition Act, tells his colleagues, “However; I can not sign over any part of the U.S. military to an international tribunal.” “This treaty is as needed as a hole in a hound dog’s head,” Senator John Stennis (Democrat of Mississippi) adds in his folksy way. However, it appears lily the Senate will ratify the treat in spite of opposition like that of Lugar and Stennis.

Event Date: 6-09-1985
Event Description: “Three Days in January” by Richard Nixon is released. The book discusses the Reykjavik Conference and, “How two steady minds saved Europe from a devastating war.” Nixon’s book is complementary to both Secretary Muskie and Minister Stasi, calling both men, “The greatest diplomats of their time.” An anecdote that Nixon throws into his book becomes a favorite story of President Carey: “After the rocky discussions on January 2nd, Mr. Muskie told me to find some way, any way, to get Mr. Stasi back to the bargaining table. Knowing that his third and youngest daughter had died in a car accident three years ago, he had become more close to his grandchildren to cope with the loss. I had my aid at the conference find a photograph of all of Stasi’s grandchildren, which he did much to my amazement. When I met with Stasi that night, I told him that he could not leave the conference. ‘I would be a fool to stay and be threatened,’ Stasi told me. ‘Sir,’ I said pulling out the photograph, ‘This conference is not for us, it is for out grandchildren.’ This greatly touched Stasi, and he returned to the conference, the only place he could find peace for his grandchildren.”

Event Date: 6-13-1985
Event Description: The Senate passes the Ottawa Treaty by a 61-37 margin, making the United States a formal partner in the Ottawa Treaty.

Event Date: 6-30-1985
Event Description: With his crusade against anti-personnel mines a success, Professor Nixon begins to formulate his next crusade. “With racial equality, protection for oppressed laborers, apologies and reparations for internment, the banning of anti-personnel missiles and the narrow prevention of war in Eastern Europe,” Nixon writes in his journal, “There is only one more thing which I have fought for that has not been made a reality: the complete proliferation of nuclear weapons.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 7-02-1985
Event Description: Professor Nixon meets with Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Democrat of Massachusetts) at his Senate office. Edward Kennedy and Richard Nixon have a great deal in common. Both grew up very interested in their religion (Quakerism for Nixon and Catholicism for Kennedy), both contemplating entering the priesthood, both served as their state’s attorney general (Nixon as California AG from 1959-1967 and Kennedy as Massachusetts’s AG from 1967-1973), both served in Congress (Nixon from 1951-1959 and Kennedy from 1973-1985) and most importantly, both despise the destructive capabilities of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “I lack the ability to talk sense to politicians,” Nixon tells Senator Kennedy, “Especially members of Congress. However, you, your entire family for that matter, are the best at building consensus with Congress, and that is why I want you to lead the fight to end the production of nuclear weapons in the United States.” Kennedy argues that he does not understand the situation that well, but Nixon responds, “Oh, that will be no problem, for I will help you along the way.”

Event Date: 7-10-1985
Event Description: In an address on the Senate floor, Senator Edward Kennedy announces that he will introduce Congressman Nixon’s old “Freeze Resolution” to the United States Senate. “Had this resolution been passed and then put to law in the 1960s,” Senator Kennedy states, “Decades of nuclear paranoia may have been avoided.” Whole this statement receives applause from many on the Democratic side of the aisle, Senator Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) states, “Had that freeze been enacted, we would live under a red flag today.”

Event Date: 7-18-1985
Event Description: Across the nation, protesters take to the streets in support of the Freeze Resolution and against nuclear weapons. In San Francisco, Professor Nixon and Mayor Dianne Feinstein lead a protest of more than 40,000.

Event Date: 8-03-1985
Event Description: The Freeze Resolution introduced by Senators Edward Kennedy, William Proxmire (Democrat of Wisconsin) and Lowell Weicker (Republican of Connecticut) in the Senate. In the House of Representatives, Congressmen Charles Rangel (Democrat of New York) and James Jeffords (Republican of Vermont) introduce the Freeze Resolution. Conservative Republicans and Democrats in both houses agree with the comments of Congressman Dan Schafer (Republican of Colorado), “We [conservatives] have declared full scale war on the Freeze Resolution.”

Event Date: 8-11-1985
Event Description: The Chinese refuses to join the Ottawa Treaty, but this does not stop discussions in Boston, Massachusetts, concerning an end to several tariffs on Chinese good in the United States. “The Carey Administration is showing a want for Chinese goods,” Professor Nixon tells a Republican Party fundraiser in Bakersfield, California, “But he doesn’t quite want the Chinese to accept the good.”

Event Date: 9-11-1985
Event Description: For the first time in many years, the Nixon’s celebrate their anniversary at home in Whittier, California. In the United States Senate, Senators Proxmire and Thurmond engage in a three hour debate over the Freeze Resolution, with Senator Proxmire stating the quote seen in nearly every major paper around the country, “In an arms freeze, the only people left cold are the arms dealers..”

Event Date: 9-15-1985
Event Description: President Carey tells the New York Times that he supports the Freeze Resolution, giving support from the White House to the crusade. “This means a great deal,” Nixon writes to Senator Kennedy, “Had Reagan or your own brother been in office today, I am not sure if we could have counted on support from the Oval Office.”

Event Date: 9-25-1985
Event Description: In the House of Representatives, the Freeze Resolution passes by a narrow margin, with considerable numbers of both Democrats and Republicans opposing the resolution. “Despite this success,” Nixon tells his wife, “I fear that if the freeze friendly House could barely pass this resolution, the far more vicious Senate will destroy it.”

Event Date: 10-01-1985
Event Description: Professor Nixon leads a protest of more than 220,000 people on The Mall in Washington, D.C. “In perhaps five days,” Nixon tells the protesters in a keynote address, “The Senate will vote on the Freeze Resolution. This vote can either end a dark age in our history, or keep our nation in the darkness. The Cold War is ending, let the arms race also end!”

Event Date: 10-08-1985
Event Description: Nixon was off by two days, as the Senate today votes on the Freeze Resolution. It is defeated by a 53-47 margin, with a coalition of southern and western Republicans and Democrats coming together to defeat the resolution. “After so many victories,” Nixon tells Senator Kennedy, “I knew defeat would not be far away. However, this is not a defeat for our movement, it is simply a setback.”

Event Date: 10-23-1985
Event Description: In an interview with TIME Magazine, Vice-President Hollings states that he did not support the Freeze Resolution, unlike President Carey. “I feel that any bill hogtying our national defense is wrong,” Hollings tells the magazine, “I know President Carey supported it, but I could never support such an act.” This interview marks the first time the usually quiet Vice-President Hollings has ever publicly disagreed with his chief. “The Veep is setting himself up to run as the conservative Democratic choice for president in 1988,” Richard Nixon writes in an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, “Seeing the power of that type of Democrat in the defeat of the Freeze Resolution, that strategy may prove to be a smart one, but I highly doubt it. The Democrats are the merging progressive party, and Hollings’ right-winged position on the freeze will probably harm him far more than it could ever aid him.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 11-05-1985
Event Description: “Leaders” by Richard Nixon is released, his third book of 1985. The book discusses Nixon’s encounters with several American and world leaders. His leaders are Ronald Reagan, Edmund Muskie, César Chávez, Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, Edward Kennedy, Helmut Stasi and Vu Van Mau. He discusses the positive and negatives of each leader, and makes a conclusion on, “Whether they made a difference that will last in society.” The book will be a best seller on the New York Times non-fiction list and become Nixon’s most popular book.

Event Date: 11-15-1985
Event Description: “Three Days in January” wins the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, the second time Nixon has won the honorable award. “I’m always glad that this book had a happy ending,” Nixon quips at the award ceremony.

Event Date: 12-29-1985
Event Description: In a formal announcement, Professor Nixon declares that he will seek the Republican Nomination for Congress, opposing incumbent conservative Republican Congressman William E. Dannemeyer. “While I will aim to win the nomination,” Nixon declares in his announcement address, “I would rather propose new policy ideas, and if I win the nomination, run on those ideas.” Nixon winning the nomination seems ludicrous, as a Gallup/Los Angeles Times poll puts Congressman Dannemeyer at a 68-22% lead. “I guess I can’t book the victory party just yet,” Nixon states when seeing the poll.

Event Date: 1-04-1986
Event Description: Former Governor Peter Finch endorses Professor Nixon in his bid for Congress. “I don’t have a political future,” Governor Finch states, “So I can endorse Nixon and not be punished for it.”

Event Date: 1-21-1986
Event Description: The Republican controlled U.S. Senate defeats the U.S.-China Tariff Treaty, rebuffing the first attempts by the Carey Administration to open economic relations with China. “The treaty was bad policy,” Nixon tells a Republican Party meeting in Bakersfield, California, “But more importantly, it had even worse morals.”

Event Date: 2-04-1986
Event Description: Professor Nixon unveils his major goals if returned to Congress next year. “My goals are to make sure that human life is not cheapened,” Nixon tells the press. His plan includes introducing human rights based trade initiatives, opposition to foreign aide for dictatorships, outlawing physician assisted suicide and introducing a law, and not a resolution, freezing the production of nuclear weapons. “With the ever right-ward movement of the Republican Party,” Washington Post writer E.J. Dionne writes, “A man like Nixon may be better off running as a Democrat.” Nixon, however, states he is, “A proud Republican who believes in free enterprise and the Constitution. Those are two things the Democrats are rapidly giving up on, and even faster than my own party.”

Event Date: 2-12-1986
Event Description: At a Lincoln Day Dinner in Los Angeles, California, Congressman Bob Dornan, a very conservative Republican, and Professor Nixon steal the show in a debate over the nuclear freeze. Dornan argues that the Reagan Administration nuclear arms race (which was even dreamt of reaching into space through SDI) bankrupted the Soviets and weakened the Communist Party so much that the nation is on the brink of total collapse. “Without an arms race,” Dornan states, “We couldn’t have won this Cold War.” Nixon counters that a bankrupted Soviet Union is more dangerous than ever, as its nuclear arsenal will be in the hands of Russian Mafia arms dealers. “Once a superpower loses all its money and power,” Nixon tells Dornan, “There is nothing left in that country but the mob and the church: the one with the guns wins.” The debate is applauded and even shown on PBS under the headline, “The Post-Soviet Debate.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 3-02-1986
Event Description: Nixon releases several television advertisements, though. They are quiet affairs, primarily with Nixon, his wife and his daughters talking to the camera about “honesty” and “respect for human life and dignity.” Nixon will not, however, approve of several attack ads on Congressman William Dannemeyer. “I want to win the primary,” Nixon states, “But I want to win in the best way, not the worst.”

Event Date: 3-20-1986
Event Description: Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, who since taking power a year ago has ushered in major Soviet spending and civil rights reforms, announces that his government will recognize the independence of the former Soviet Republics of Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. “The era of Soviet violence has come to an end,” Professor Nixon tells a rally in a suburb of Los Angeles, “Mr. Gorbachev has assured the world that national sovereignty and independence will be respected by the red Army, and we must now dedicate ourselves to helping the Soviets as their own nation comes to a close.”

Event Date: 4-06-1986
Event Description: In a debate with Congressman William Dannemeyer, Nixon is attacked by the conservative congressman for, “Extreme naivety when it comes to foreign affairs.” Congressman Dannemeyer states that Nixon’s policy of a Marshall Plan for the Soviet people is, “A great government giveaway of our hard earned tax dollars to our longtime Communist foes.” “Congressman,” Nixon tells Dannemeyer, looking him straight in the eye, “An impoverished family or homeless widow is not a Communist, and is definitely not an enemy of our government.” The line is used on national nightly news broadcasts, but the extremely conservative 39th Congressional District of California is not swayed by the phrase. A Gallup/Los Angeles Times Poll shows the day after the debate that the congressman holds a 68-30% lead over Professor Nixon.

Event Date: 4-09-1986
Event Description: Desperate to gain traction in his primary campaign, Professor Nixon agrees to unleash an attack on Congressman Dannemeyer in the form of a radio advertisement. The radio ad focuses on Dannemeyer’s support of Proposition 64, a law that would quarantine people with the acquired immunodeficiency disorder (AIDS). “Congressman William Dannemeyer talks about how he is a ‘small government conservative’ a lot, but in reality, is he really?” the ad begins, “Would a true ‘small government’ supporter lend his voice to Proposition 64, which forces citizens out of their homes and into special government care facilities? Would a ‘small government’ man ally himself with Lyndon LaRouche, a socialist and conspiracy theorist that is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice? The only real safe and sane choice in the Republican Primary for Congress is Professor Richard Nixon. Nixon has served his country for years and respects the rights of each and every citizen. The real conservative choice in the race for Congress is the man who deserves your vote on June 4th: Richard Nixon for Congress.” Though a very short advertisement, lasting less than one minute, it sends shockwaves around the state. “Nixon, who has spoken so eloquently against negative campaigns for years,” writes Leo Bard of the Los Angeles Times, “Shows that when he attacks, he does it quick and effectively. Who would have thought that the mild mannered intellectual Nixon would have the guts to run this ad?”

Event Date: 4-14-1986
Event Description: The aftermath of the “Prop 64 Ad” shows that the negative attack has had only a slight affect on the Dannemeyer vs. Nixon primary. A Gallup/Los Angeles Times Poll put Congressman Dannemeyer at 66% and Professor Richard Nixon at 32%. “A two percent shift was hardly worth sullying my reputation as a clean campaigner,” Nixon tells his ad agent, and immediately fires the man.

Event Date: 4-23-1986
Event Description: West and Eats Germany sign the Agreement of Hamburg, agreeing to open up trade between the two nations for the first time since the two separated in 1949. All trade tariffs and regulations are stripped, and even a segment of the Berlin Wall is opened for solely commercial trade. “The Cold War is melting into a puddle,” Professor Nixon tells Secretary Muskie over the telephone, “I never thought I’d see this day.”

Event Date: 5-01-1986
Event Description: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) begins a “legal campaign” against Congressman Dannemeyer. In page long articles in every major newspaper in the 29th Congressional District, the legal association discusses, “Financial and Constitutional conflicts of Congressman William E. Dannemeyer.” The attacks are meant to stop the momentum of the congressman, but they only seem to help him more. “If those nuts at the ACLU don’t like me,” Congressman Dannemeyer tells a rally, “Then I must be doing something right!”

Event Date: 5-12-1986
Event Description: The Nixonites go out in force to help their titular leader, Richard Nixon. More than three thousand college students, social workers, teachers, persists and everyday laborers begin a massive door knocking campaign to aid Nixon’s primary challenge. “I have no idea how effective a group of progressive and idealistic men and women will be in this district,” Nixon tells the papers, “But I know I appreciate all their work.” One of the Nixonites who travels to the district is Chicago community organizer Barack Obama, who later writes, “I was asked by a few police officers why I was in the neighborhood, of which I would always flash a large ‘Nixon for Congress’ button. I think they wanted to arrest me more after seeing that.”     

Event Date: 5-19-1986
Event Description: Senators Lowell Weicker (Republican of Connecticut), John Chaffee (Republican of Rhode Island) and Alan Simpson (Republican of Wyoming) come to the aid of Nixon, who has had a close political relationship with each of them. The three senators appear in a television ad for Nixon and knock on doors along with, as Senator Simpson says, “All those kids.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 6-03-1986
Event Description: With primary day one day away, Professor Nixon goes on the radio waves the night before the primary and delivers his final message to the voters of CA-39. “I am a man with a simple dream,” Professor Nixon states, “And that is ‘peace.’ I want peace in the world, at home and with ourselves. I do not want any citizen to fear that their life, liberty or property will be taken by their government or by a fellow citizen. I want the right to life to be respected in our domestic and foreign policies. I favor an abolition of war, and most of the means of waging war. I feel that a world that could not be destroyed eighty times over by a nuclear arsenal would be the best for everyday citizens of both the United States and the world. In short, I want a country, and a world, dedicated to love, and not hate, peace, and not war.” The address is well received, with Leo Bard writing, “That was the Nixon of old come back again.”

Event Date: 6-04-1986
Event Description: Congressman William Dannemeyer defeats Professor Richard Nixon in the Republican Primary for Congress is CA-39. Congressman Dannemeyer wins 63% of the vote to Nixon’s 37%, far better than he was expected to receive. “I entered this race last December not because I knew I would win,” Nixon tells his supporters that night, “But because I believed it was the right thing to do. Together, we have made the issues of respect for life and ending the arms race front page news throughout California, and even throughout the nation.” Also today, Governor George Deukmejian wins the Republican Primary, as was expected. In the Democratic Primary, former Governor Jerry Brown defeats former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley by a less than 20,000-vote margin. The Deukmejian-Brown rematch is expected to be a comfortable victory for the incumbent Republican. In the Republican Primary for U.S. Senate, liberal Republican Congressman Ed Zschau, a close friend a Richard Nixon, defeats conservative activist Bruce Herschensohn by a 57-43% margin. Congressman Zschau will run against Senator Alan Craston in the fall as, “A Nixon Republican.” 

Event Date: 6-17-1986
Event Description: President Carey comes through on his campaign promise and uses his power of executive orders to cut off funds to the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Senators from both parties attack the gesture, stating it goes beyond the boundaries of the Constitution.

Event Date: 7-05-1986
Event Description: Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania and Georgia declare their independence from the Soviet Union, and Premier Gorbachev does not stop them. “I can not fight the tides of history,” Gorbachev tells the world.

Event Date: 7-10-1986
Event Description: Professor Nixon appears at a Zschau for Senate rally, and is welcomed with cheers. “This is odd,” Nixon tells the rally, “I’m supposed to be greeted with bricks and police escorts at these things.”

Event Date: 7-26-1986
Event Description: Professor Nixon travels to Chicago, Illinois, to meet with Barack Obama, a longtime Nixonite and community organizer. Obama, born to a multiracial family, confesses to Nixon that he has never actually known where he belonged. “I think you belong here,” Nixon says, “Here, amongst the needy. You need to do something to dedicate yourself to the most vulnerable in society. Te government can’t do everything, but with enough good people, perhaps American citizens can help those who can’t themselves.” Obama will attend Harvard Law School, but he assures Nixon he will do his internships at local courthouses working with pro bono attorneys.

Event Date: 8-11-1986
Event Description: Governor George Bush, despite facing a competitive reelection bid against former Governor Mark White, comes to California to campaign for Governor George Deukmejian, whom some say would run for president in 1988 if he had a better last name. “Governor Bush is setting up another bid for president,” Professor Nixon tells Senator Pete Wilson in a letter, “Perhaps he’ll want a Californian on the ticket next time.” Nixon, however, envisions Senator Wilson in a higher office than the vice-presidency and perhaps as early as 1989.

Event Date: 8-25-1986
Event Description: Hard-line Communist Party officials in Kiev, Ukraine, attempt a coup against the new independent democratic government of that nation. The coup is nipped in the bud by the newly formed Ukrainian Army, made of mostly of former anti-communist militia groups. While this strange army is successful in fighting Communists, Nixon writes in an editorial for U.S. News and World Report, “One can only wonder when these militiamen will turn on themselves or on their own government.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 9-04-1986
Event Description: The United States Senate, under pressure from the White House and public opinion, votes to cut off funding for Iraq and its dictator, Saddam Hussein. However, many prominent senators voce their opinion that despite the moral sense of this act, it may be less than practical for foreign affairs. “The United States is abandoning an ally in the Middle East,” Senator Jim Sasser (Democrat of Tennessee) tells his colleagues on the Senate floor, “Hussein may be a monster, but he’s our monster.” While this opinion is accepted by many around the country, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (Republican of Kansas), a conservative in nearly every way, supports the act, telling his supporters, “America is far better than Saddam Hussein and far better than the other dictators we prop up from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific.”

Event Date: 9-13-1986
Event Description: Professor Nixon, at a rally for Governor Deukmejian, declares that he will never seek elected office again. “I’ve seen the whole show,” Nixon tells the press, “This year, I experienced my third electoral defeat, and three’s the charm. I must now pass on my mantle to the next generation. Guys, at the age of seventy-three I am no longer a spring chicken, and I best quit while I’m only slightly behind.”

Event Date: 10-10-1986
Event Description: The Whittier City Council renames the Whittier Public Library the “Richard Nixon Public Library” after their favorite son. “One can not be given a greater honor than having a public library named after them,” Nixon tells the town at the ceremony.

Event Date: 10-29-1986
Event Description: An international crisis begins as hard-line members of the Communist Party of Russia copy the coup in Ukraine. Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and his family are taken hostage by the coup, which is far better organized than the one in Ukraine. “The world will not give into the demands of kidnappers,” President Carey tells the nation, “Mr. Gorbachev has shown he is willing to tear down the wall that divided Eats from West for decades, now we must show him that he has our support.” Secretary Muskie, with Professor Nixon, begins contacting Soviet Officials, trying to find some way to free Gorbachev without a war. “Once again we are on the brink of conflict,” Nixon tells his wife, “And once again, we may be able to avoid it by the narrowest of ways.”

Event Date: 10-30-1986
Event Description: The National Security Agency (NSA), who has been wiretapping the phones of two coup leaders (Dmitriy Yazov and Vladimir Kryuchkov), tells Secretary Muskie that they have no intent on killing Gorbachev, to which Professor Nixon responds, “They’ll only keep him alive for as long as they need a hostage.” The day is filled with reports by the NSA and ongoing threats from the coup leaders in Moscow. Late at night, Mr. Yazov contacts Secretary Muskie, telling him that he is willing to negotiate the release of Gorbachev, but not with the Secretary of State. “Nixon’s the one,” Muskie tells the president, “Yazov will not speak with a U.S. official.”

Event Date: 10-31-1986
Event Description: Richard Nixon arrives in Moscow early in the morning. After a rushed trip aboard a U.S. jet plane, Nixon comments to an aide, “I always work better with jetlag anyway.” Nixon and Oleg Baklanov, a minor figure in the coup, meet at the Russian White House, the chief governmental building of Moscow. Since Nixon can speak fluent Russian, it is only the two men and two bodyguards in the negotiating room. Baklanov makes a simple demand for the release of Gorbachev, “We want no intervention in Moscow. If we win, then you recognize us.” “I can’t make that promise,” Nixon tells the Russian, “I don’t work for the government.” Baklanov demands Nixon contact the Secretary of State, which he does. “Under no circumstances will we allow that,” Secretary Muskie tells Nixon, “Tell him we will never recognize their government, their government from a coup.” Professor Nixon now offers his own terms to Baklanov. “NATO will not send any forces to Moscow if you release Gorbachev,” Nixon offers, “Thus you will be able to face off only against the Russian Military, of whom you believe will follow you.” Baklanov accepts these terms, provided that President Carey himself gives the order to NATO. The president abides by this wish, and Gorbachev is released at 11:00 p.m. Moscow time.

Event Date: 11-01-1986
Event Description: Gorbachev and Nixon set up base on Red Square, waiting to see what happens in the Kremlin. Russian military helicopters begin an operation to liberate the building, and the people of Moscow take to the streets in opposition to the coup. Boris Yeltsin, the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, and Nixon ride in a tank down Red Square in an act of defiance against the coup. Back in the United States, Nixon is both applauded and scorned for his actions in Moscow. “The man deserves a Medal of Honor for releasing Gorbachev, and doing it so quickly,” Congressman Jim Leach (Republican of Iowa) tells the Washington Post. “Nixon has taken the role of the State Department and the president all; wrapped into one,” Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana) tells Meet the Press, “From tying the hands of NATO to riding in a tank, he has far exceeded the mission in which he was sent to Moscow.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 11-02-1986
Event Description: Facing certain defeat by the army and the people of Moscow, the coup leaders begin fleeing from the Kremlin. In three days, they will all be tracked down, and the leaders will be put on trial for treason. This coup marks the end of the Soviet Union, however, as the Communist Party is now too greatly divided and weakened in Russia to keep the government alive.

Event Date: 11-08-1986
Event Description: “The Six-Year Curse” occurs to a minimum extent for President Carey, as the Republicans pick up five senate seats, increasing their control of that chamber, and pull within two seats of taking the House of Representatives. In California, Congressman Ed Zschau defeats Senator Alan Cranston by a 49-48% margin, vindicating many of Professor Nixon’s policies. In CA-39, Congressman William Dannemeyer is reelected with over 70% of the vote, but Professor Nixon receives 12% of the vote in a write-in campaign orchestrated by fellow professors at Whittier College. In the city of Whittier, the non-candidate Nixon takes 22% of the vote. “Well that may be the best compliment you can be given,” Nixon tells the press upon seeing these results, “Get that many votes when you tell them not to cast a single ballot for you.”

Event Date: 11-25-1986
Event Description: Professor Nixon turns down the position as sole policy analyst for Senator-elect Ed Zschau. He tells the senator that he needs fresh minds on his staff, “Not tired old men like myself.”

Event Date: 12-06-1986
Event Description: In a White House banquet, Professor Nixon is honored for his work in bringing about the release of Mikhail Gorbachev in October. “It takes a Quaker to avoid war sometimes,” President Carey tells Nixon as he puts the Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck. “My only wish is that my saintly mother had lived to see everything I have become,” Nixon tells the banquet goers, brushing back a tear, “I never knew her, but from what I was told by my father, she sought out the same things I have: peace and friendship with ourselves and our neighbors.”

Event Date: 12-31-1986
Event Description: The Soviet Flag is lowered from the Kremlin for the last time, and the flag of the Russian Federation is lifted for the first time. “The Cold War is over,” President Carey will tell the nation on New Year’s Day, “By the grace of God, America has won.”     

[Captain Chaos]

So far, I have enjoyed reading this timeline.

I was just wondering what is happening with Bobby and Jack Kennedy.

[PBrunsel]

So far, I have enjoyed reading this timeline.

I was just wondering what is happening with Bobby and Jack Kennedy.

GZ67,

John F. Kennedy served as President of the United States from 1965-1973, presiding over a victory in the Vietnam War. In 1985, former President Kennedy died at his home in Hyannis Port, MA.

Robert F. Kennedy served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1965-1983. He was known as a conservative Democrat in the mold of his brother. In 1980, Senator Kennedy made a bid for President, but made little headway in the Democratic Primary. Following a defeat in the New Hampshire Primary to Governor Hugh Carey, he ended his presidential bid. In 1982, RFK retired and Congresswoman Margaret Heckler, a Republican, picked up the seat. In 1984, Edward Kennedy was elected to the seat of retiring Senator Paul Tsongas, returning the Kennedys to the Senate once again.

In 1988, Senator Heckler, after a brutal divorce fight and low popularity due to opposition to nearly every Carey Administration act, is defeated by a twenty-point margin by former Lieutenant Govern and 1984 candidate John Kerry.   

[Captain Chaos]

Thanks. I am looking forward to more of this timeline. The rest of the 1980s should be interesting.

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 1-03-1987
Event Description: In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, D.C., Professor Nixon once again declares the importance of a second Marshall Plan for post-Soviet world. “Throughout Russia millions live in poverty, despite the propaganda by the late Soviet Government,” Nixon tells the organization, “It is imperative that the United States does not allow the mafia to take over their lives through the Black Market.” Nixon’s speech is printed in the Washington Post under the headline, “Nixon: It’s now a war with the Russian Mafia.”

Event Date: 1-10-1987
Event Description: President Carey and Secretary Muskie meet with Nixon in the Oval Office. “Your plan for Eastern Europe is the best foreign policy plan I can imagine for the post-Cold War,” Secretary Muskie tells the professor, and President Carey agrees. “We want you to testify before Congress on this issue,” President Carey tells Nixon, “Only then can we being formulating this recovery plan.” Nixon agrees to speak with the Senate, “Though sometimes I’d rather be thrown to the lions than speak with those fellows.”

Event Date: 2-15-1987
Event Description: The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee welcomes Professor Richard Nixon to testify about the importance of a new Marshall Plan for Eastern Europe. “After World War II our country sent millions of dollars of aid to a war ravaged Europe,” Nixon tells the senators, “That war was just four years long. The Cold War was waged for forty years. The damage caused in Eastern Europe by Communism and tyranny is far worse for the working man and woman than the bombs of the war ever were.” After describing once again the poverty of Eastern Europe and the threat of mafia and militia control of nuclear weapons, Nixon ends his testimony by stating, “The enemies are America have been defeated, and the poor and impoverished of Eastern Europe are not our enemies, nor were they ever.” Immediately, Senator Dale Bumpers (Democrat of Arkansas), the ranking Democrat, asks Nixon, “Why should we pump hundreds of millions of dollars into a region that has shown nothing but anti-American fervor for decades. “Senator,” Nixon responds, “I think you’ve answered your own question.”

Event Date: 2-20-1987
Event Description: After five days of on and off testimony, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee announces that it will support an economic relief plan for Eastern Europe, provided that it has a cap of $500 million a year and can only exist for four years. “That will be sufficient,” Nixon assure President Carey, who does not think $500 million is nearly enough. “Why?” asks the president. “Mr. President,” Nixon states, “The American people, once they see the suffering in Eastern Europe, will give five-times that amount.”

Event Date: 3-27-1987
Event Description: The Eastern Europe Relief Act is introduced to the United States Senate by Senator Dale Bumpers and in the House of Representative by longtime Nixon ally Congressman Jim Leach. The bill follows the conditions set forth by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, which gives it strong support from the both parties in the chamber. Senator Barbara Mikulski (Democrat of Maryland), a freshman senator, calls the bill, “The most needed foreign legislation since the 1940s.” Senator J. Strom Thurmond (Republican of South Carolina) showed a different view of the bill claiming, “It’s opening another rat hole for the U.S. to jump in to.”

Event Date: 4-02-1987
Event Description: In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Professor Nixon praises the social work of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Junior. “Reverend Wright has done more good for Chicago’s poor and the local churches than any government agency ever could,” Nixon tells the paper. This comment causes somewhat of a scandal in Chicago, as many see the Reverend Wright as a race baiter and Black Supremacist. “If he is than that is terrible,” Nixon tells the paper when asked for a retraction, “But it still doesn’t take away from the hope he’s given his community and the work he’s done to snuff out drugs, gangs and illiteracy in South Chicago.”

Event Date: 4-22-1987
Event description: The United States House of Representatives passes the Eastern Europe Relief Act by a wide margin. The United States Senate, however, is still debating the bill with a strong bloc of conservatives opposing the bill. “The tide of history is a strong one to fight against,” Nixon tells his wife, “They will pass this bill, I would bet the house on that.”

[PBrunsel]

Event Date: 5-09-1987
Event Description: The U.S. Senate passes the Eastern Europe Relief Act by a 55-45 margin. President Carey signs the bill, with Richard Nixon attending his third and final presidential law signing of his life.

Event Date: 5-12-1987
Event Description: Former Senator Charles Mathias (Republican of Maryland) is named the Chairman of the Eastern European Relief Organization. The job was offered to Professor Nixon, but he turned down to the offer telling President Carey that, “I do not have the confidence of the Congress and would fail to be a strong leader for this important organization. Senator Mathias, however, is trusted and beloved by most of the senate, so he will work effectively with them and help Eastern Europe in a monumental way.”

Event Date: 6-06-1987
Event Description: Conservative Republicans are given their candidate for president in 1988 when former Senator Paul Laxalt (Republican of Nevada) announces his candidacy for President of the United States. “This new spending bill for the former Communist lands of Europe is yet another example of unneeded spending by the government,” Senator Laxalt states in his announcement address, “As president, I will reel in our big spending Congress, Republicans included, and give the money back to the American people.” Nixon, upon hearing the speech, comments to Whittier Mayor Ronald E. Lowe, a liberal Republican, “Senator Laxalt is in just as good a mood today then every time I have come across him.”

Event Date: 6-19-1987
Event Description: A delegations of liberal-minded community leaders and academics meet with Professor Nixon at his home in Whittier, asking him if he would seek the Republican nomination for president inn1988. “While we know you’d be an underdog,” former Senator S.I. Hayakawa tells Nixon, “A bid for the highest office in the land would put your policies and opinion in the forefront of political debate.” Nixon turns them down, telling the former senator, “I promised not to go into politics ever again, and I wouldn’t be much of a Quaker if I started telling lies.”

Event Date: 6-30-1987
Event Description: The Berlin Wall is officially opened, ending the separation of Berlin after more than twenty-five years. “Now the Cold War has been won,” Anna Hausch writes to Nixon. Hausch was an East Berlin resident who had been separated from her sister due to the wall. In 1962, then Attorney General Nixon had tried in vain to get Ms. Hausch a travel vista to reunite with her sister, leading him to fear that the two would never see each other again. The letter includes a picture of Anna and her sister, reunited again and waving at the camera, as if waving to Nixon himself. Nixon’s personal secretary walks in to see the usually non-emotional Nixon sobbing tears running down his cheeks.

Event Date: 7-01-1987
Event Description: The first shipments of food, clothing and financial aid under the Eastern European Relief Act arrive in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Romania and Bulgaria. East Germany, despite taking down the Berlin Wall, is excluded from the aid because it is still a communist government.

Event Date: 7-11-1987
Event Description: In an announcement from the now united Berlin, leaders of East and West Germany declare that in December 1987, the two nations will unite once again under a democratic and capitalist system. This announcement allows for relief to be sent to East Germany.

Event Date: 7-31-1987
Event Description: “Now, More Than Ever” by Jeffrey Archer is released. The book tells the story of a Presidency of Richard Nixon from 1961-1969. President Nixon visits China and the Soviet Union, stops war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, signs sweeping civil and human rights reforms and begins a War on Poverty. The book will win several awards, but the one Archer finds the most gratifying is the Whittier College Award for Fiction Writing, the college in which Professor Nixon teaches at.

Event Date: 8-05-1987
Event Description: Senator Ed Zschau (Republican of California) states on Meet the Press that Senator Laxalt “Is a sure loser in the presidential election. His brand of conservatism is extreme, far more so than that of President Reagan.” Senator Zschau states that the GOP needs to, “Nominate far more mainstream conservatives, like Governor Bush, Senator Wilson or Governor Lamar Alexander.”

Event Date: 8-10-1987
Event Description: Professor Nixon and his wife Pat leave for a trip through Eastern Europe to oversee the work of Charles Mathias and the Eastern European Relief Organization.

Event Date: 8-13-1987
Event Description: Professor Nixon arrives in Kiev, Ukraine, to oversee the work of the Eastern Europe Relief Organization. Nixon works for three days at an orphanage in the city, passing out pieces of candy to the children and serving them their daily meals. An Associated Press photographer takes a picture of Nixon reading “Green Eggs and Ham” to the children. The professor is surrounded by children, sitting on the floor, two sitting on his lap and one hanging onto his neck. The picture wins the Pulitzer Prize for Journalistic Photography for its perfect capturing of the humanity of Nixon and the innocence of the orphans of Eastern Europe.

Event Date: 8-22-1987
Event Description: American Red Cross volunteers in Kolka, Latvia welcome Nixon. The professor is informed that since the Eastern European Relief Organization was begun, charitable donations to the organization have been up 40%. “I knew that the government didn’t need to break the bank on this project,” Nixon tells the volunteers, “Because the American people will always come through when it comes to giving.”