Secrets

1992—The 27th Amendment, prohibiting any Congress from raising its own pay, is ratified 202 years after its submission. 1982—The Rev. Sun Myung Moon is convicted of tax fraud. 1980—Mt. St. Helens cuts loose for the first time in 123 years. 1974—India successfully tests a nuclear weapon in an operation named Smiling Buddha. 1969—At Hamburger Hill, casualties mount as the fight goes on. The commander orders helicopters out of the area after more friendly fire deaths. 1958—CIA pilot Al Pope is shot down while strafing an Indonesian port. The U.S. Ambassador claims he’s a mere “soldier of fortune.” Documents found on Pope prove it’s a lie. …

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2017—Learning his election will be investigated for Russia’s involvement, President Trump says, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m [bleeped].” 1987—Its weapons officer away from his duty station, its Phalanx gun operator absent “on personal business,” and its radar countermeasure system unarmed, the frigate U.S.S. Stark is hit by two Exocets from an Iraqi plane; 37 sailors die on the Gipper’s watch. 1976—R. Reagan, in Time: “Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal.” 1974—Six members of the Symbionese Liberation Army hole-up in a small house in L.A. surrounded by 400 cops. Armed with full-auto M-1 carbines, …

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2017—Two dozen goons attack peaceful protestors outside the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan looks on approvingly. Four are arrested, but all charges are dropped. 2001—Ex-FBI Special Agent, devout Catholic, patron of strippers, and amateur exhibitionist Robert Hanssen is indicted for selling U.S. secrets to the U.S.S.R., then the Russians. 1974—Bill Harris, terrorist, is caught shoplifting socks from Mel’s Sporting Goods in L.A.; but he and wife Emily escape as heiress Patty Hearst blasts the storefront with a machine gun. 1969—AP discovers that some grunts on Hamburger Hill are discontented. 1948—CBS correspondent George Polk turns up murdered in Salonika Harbor. The …

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2002—The White House admits it knew before 9/11 that al Qaeda had plans to hijack U.S. airliners. 2001—Two engineers in a locomotive chase and stop an unmanned train full of hazardous chemicals after it rolled 66 miles at high speeds across Ohio. 1991—The Pentagon releases info confirming that Manuel Noriega used to be on the CIA’s payroll. 1975—Marines retake the abandoned Mayaguez. Other Marines, green and unaware that the ship’s crew is being released, chopper to Koh Tang Island. Dug-in Khmer Rouge greet them. Fifteen Marines are KIA, 50 WIA. Three are left on the beach. 1970—City and State cops shoot 14 protesting black students, …

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2015—The Union Leader’s editorial, in full: “Frank Guinta is a damned liar.” 1992—The George H.[H.]W. Bush administration opens up 1,400 acres of spotted owl habitat for logging. 1987—Robert “Bud” McFarlane tells Congress that if he’d objected to arming Central American terrorists, “Bill Casey, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and Cap Weinberger would have said I was some kind of commie.” 1975—The Khmer Rouge take the captive crew of the Mayagüez to mainland Cambodia. 1969—Two companies of the 101st assault an NVA regiment atop Hamburger Hill. Despite 12 KIA and 80 WIA, they make no progress. 1961—Klansmen in Anniston, Ala. celebrate Mother’s Day by torching a bus. The Freedom …

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2015—The day after eight die in a Philadelphia derailment, Congress votes to slash Amtrak’s budget. 2005—A Pentagon commission recommends closing the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 1985—A Philadelphia police helicopter bombs MOVE headquarters, killing 11 and leaving 250 homeless. 1971—President Nixon tells his flunkies to get a new IRS head: “a ruthless son of a bitch … who will go after our enemies and not go after our friends.” 1957—Ngo Dinh Diem is treated to a ticker tape parade in New York Ciy. 1946—Authorities in Germany order the destruction of 30,000 books—American military authorities. 1945—After a brief court martial in Amsterdam—and Germany’s surrender—Bruno Dorfer and Rainer Beck, …

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