NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Oct 7, 2023 13:38:46 GMT -6
Martin Luther King Holiday Observed - January 1986 On January 20, for the first time, the United states officiallyobserve Martin Luther King Day. Events honoring the memory of the slain civil-rights leader began several days earlier. On January 15, his actual birthday, Pres. Ronald Reagan spoke to children at the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Washington, D.C. On January 16, King's bust was unveiled in the Great Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington; he was the first black to be represented among the many leaders whose statues and busts appeared in the Rotunda. Reagan met with Mrs. Coretta Scott King at the White House, January 17. On January 18, he spoke out against affirmative action quotas in hiring, recalling King's plea that people be judged "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." On January 20, Mrs. King led a march through Atlanta, her husband's home town. Although most businesses across the nation did not close on the holiday, it was more widely observed by state and local governments and by school districts.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Oct 7, 2023 13:44:52 GMT -6
Bush Visits China - October 1985 Vice Pres. George Bush, October 18, completed a 6-day visit to China, during which he met with the country's top leaders and sought to assure them of continued U.S. support of their economic reforms. He told the Chinese that the United States and other industrial nations would step up their exports of high-technology products to China. Premier Zhao Ziyang told Bush that continued close U.S. ties with Taiwan were "not satisfactory." Zhao also criticized a textile bill before Congress that could adversely affect Chinese exports to the United States.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Oct 10, 2023 6:38:30 GMT -6
Economy Picks Up Steam - October 1986 Economic growth improved in the second quarter, the government reported in October. The nation's unemployment rate edged upward 0.2 percent in September to 6.9 percent, the Labor Department reported, October 3. The department, said, October 10, that the index of prices paid by producers for finished goods rose 0.4 percent in September. The Commerce Department reported, October 15, that retail sales has risen 4.6 percent in September, the sharpest one-month jump in the nearly 20 years that records had been kept. The department said, October 22, that the economy had grown at an annual rate of 2.4 percent during the second quarter, a big improvement from the first quarter. Inflation rose 0.3 percent in September, the department reported, October 23. The cumulative increase in the cost of living in the 12 months ended in September triggered a 1.3 percent increase in Social Security benefits. The Commerce Department reported, October 30, that the nation's trade deficit narrowed for the second straight month in September, to $12.56B. The department said, October 31, that the index of leading economic indicators rose 0.4 percent in September.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Oct 10, 2023 6:49:06 GMT -6
Congress OKs $576B in Spending - October 1986 In a final push to adjourn, the 99th Congress completed action on an umbrella bill that would fund federal programs in 13 departments through the end of 1987 fiscal year on September 30, 1987. The comprehensive bill, which provided for the expenditure of $576B, was approved after Congress was unable to pass individual spending bills for any of the departments. Action, completed, October 17, came none too soon because the government was forced to shut down partially for a day as money ran out. The spending bill provided $290B for the Pentagon, but increase in military spending was the smallest of the Reagan presidency. The bill included $200M in extra economic aid for the Philippines and the controversial $100M in military and economic aid for the Nicaraguan contras.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Nov 27, 2023 13:48:15 GMT -6
Horowitz Plays in Russia After 61 Years - April 1986 The world's most acclaimed pianist, Vladimir Horowitz, returned to his Russian homeland after an absence of 61 years. His 2 recitals were a triumph, and his visit was a sentimental success as well. Horowitz, now 81, who had left the Soviet Union in 1925, had said in 1980, "I lost all my family there. I never want to go back and I never will." But after the superpower leaders had approved a cultural exchange at their summit in 1985, Horowitz said, "Before I die, I want to see the country in which I was born." Arrangements were made, and Horowitz arrived in the USSR, April 14. He gave recitals in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, April 20, and in Leningrad's Philharmonic Hall, April 27. The Moscow recital was televised live in Western Europe and the United States.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Nov 27, 2023 14:03:56 GMT -6
Space Shuttle Investigation Continues - May 1986 A federal safety investigator said, April 9, that the shuttle's crew cabin had survived the initial explosion largely intact and that it apparently broke up under aerodynamic pressure and the force of its impact with the ocean. NASA said, April 19, that remains of all 7 crew members had been recovered.
Reagan, meanwhile, had nominated James Fletcher to return to his old job as administrator of NASA. Fletcher's appearance before a Senate committee for confirmation hearings coincided with the publication, April 23 and 24, of 2 New York Times articles critical of NASA's past. The paper reported that federal audits had revealed how NASA had wasted perhaps $3.5B because of poor management. The Times found that Fletcher had sold the shuttle program to Congress on the argument that it would eventually pay for itself through commercial business, a goal that remained unrealized. Fletcher told the committee he favored building a new orbiter to replace Challenger.
Testimony before the commission, taken, May 2, and made public, May 10, revealed that 2 Morton Thiokol engineers, Allan McDonald and Roger Boisjoly, had been reassigned to jobs they regarded as less important after testifying earlier in the year that they had opposed the Challenger launch. Deputy Administrator William Graham of NASA told a House subcommittee, May 13, that NASA was trying to determine whether agency officials played any part in the reassignments.
Fletcher approved 89-9 by the Senate, May 6, to be NASA's new administrator, was sworn in, May 12, and told a House subcommittee, May 13, that NASA's command structure would be reviewed thoroughly. Fletcher said, May 27, that 44 potentially serious shuttle safety problems---aside from those related to the booster rockets, which were being redesigned---had been identified.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Nov 27, 2023 14:15:25 GMT -6
$1 Awarded in Football Antitrust Suit - July 1986 The United States Football League (USFL) suffered a major setback when a federal jury in New York City awarded it only $1 in damages in its suit against the National Football League (NFL). The jury, on July 29, found the NFL liable on one of 6 civil charges brought by the USFL. The USFL contended that the NFL had used monopoly power to prevent the younger league from acquiring a lucrative television contract. It had sought $1.69B in damages. The 2 leagues produced witnesses who testified that the NFL had, or had not, pressured the networks not to cover the USFL. The jury's only finding against the NFL was that it had a monopoly power "to control prices or exclude competition" in the "revelant market" of pro football in the United States. The USFL which had lost $150M while playing spring football for 3 years, announced, August 4, that it was cancelling the 1986 season and freeing all players to pursue contracts with the NFL.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Feb 4, 2024 15:22:35 GMT -6
2 New Laws Aid Farmers - December 1985 Congress, December 18, approved 2 bills aimed at providing relief for America's embattled farmers. One bill provided the basis for farm subsidy programs. The cost of the programs, $52B over 3 years, slightly exceeded what Pres. Ronald Reagan had said he would accept. Another bill, approved December 18, would firm up the ailing Farm Credit System, which held about one third of the rising farm debt. The bill created a new unit, the bad loans from the institutions already in the system. Reagan signed both bills, December 23.
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NerdiestKen
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Post by NerdiestKen on Feb 4, 2024 15:34:25 GMT -6
Artificial-Heart Recipient Dies - August 1986 William Schroeder, who in 1984 had become the second person to received an artificial heart that was intended to be permanent, died in Humana Hospital-Audobon in Louisville, Ky., August 6, at the age of 54. Of 5 men who had received artificial hearts, he was the last survivor, and he had lived longer with the device than anyone else: 620 days. Schroeder, a retired federal worker from Jasper, Ind., had a history of serious heart problems when he received the Jarvik-7 heart in an operation performed on November 25, 1984, by Dr. William DeVries. He became the only Jarvik-7 recipient to live for a time outside the hospital, but a series a strokes had left him debilitated. Most medical experts believed that the future role of the artificial heart would be that of a temporary implant until a human heart became available for transplant.
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