The Clothes Have No Emperor Part 24

Subway shooter Bernhard Goetz is acquitted of attempted murder but is convicted of illegal gun possession. He gets six months in jail, appeals, and winds up with a year. Bernhard Goetz is acquitted of attempted murder but is convicted of illegal gun possession. He gets six months in jail, appeals, and winds up with a year.

6/16/87.

"I can't wait to use it!"

--President Reagan holding up for the cameras a very big prop pen with the word "VETO" on it.

6/18/87.

"It's a question of dignity. Whether I did, whether I didn't with Gary Hart or anybody else I wouldn't answer it one way or the other."

--Donna Rice refusing to tell Barbara Walters what she wants to know 6/22/87.

Newsweek publishes a letter from George W. Bush, oldest son of the Vice President, denying rumors of his father's adultery. "The answer to the Big A question," writes Bush, "is N.O." publishes a letter from George W. Bush, oldest son of the Vice President, denying rumors of his father's adultery. "The answer to the Big A question," writes Bush, "is N.O."

6/22/87.

The National Enquirer National Enquirer reports details of Michael Jackson's obsession with Elizabeth Taylor. Among them: he has a room in his home dominated by a huge video screen that plays her movies round the clock, he sent her a life-size inflatable doll of himself for her birthday, and he proposed marriage to her. Says record producer Quincy Jones, "The biggest misconception about him is that he's weird." reports details of Michael Jackson's obsession with Elizabeth Taylor. Among them: he has a room in his home dominated by a huge video screen that plays her movies round the clock, he sent her a life-size inflatable doll of himself for her birthday, and he proposed marriage to her. Says record producer Quincy Jones, "The biggest misconception about him is that he's weird."

6/23/87.

"Some said that I was singing golden oldies ... Well, the line-item veto and the balanced-budget amendment may be oldies but they're goodies. And those who think they don't stand a chance on the charts had better keep their dial tuned to this station. It's rock 'n' roll time again at the White House."

--President Reagan trying to distract public attention from the Iran-contra hearings with a PR campaign for the line-item veto (which he claims to have used "943 times" as governor) and a balanced budget amendment (not that he has ever submitted one, or could, even if the law demanded it) 6/23/87.

Pentagon official Noel Koch tells the Iran-contra committee about the code names used in discussions about hostage negotiations: Koch was "Aaron," Ollie was "Paul," the Israeli functionary was "the Bookkeeper," missiles were "Dogs," the airport was "the Swimming Pool," Iran was "Apple," Israel was "Banana," the US was "Orange" and hostages were "Zebras." Says a Senate lawyer, "I take it ... there never came a time when Col. North said that Paul was sending Aaron and the Bookkeeper to the Swimming Pool to get a price so that Orange could send some Dogs through Banana to Apple for some Zebras. Is that correct?" Koch says, "Well, you would sort of start down that road and get so self-conscious you couldn't do it."

6/25/87.

Pope John Paul II meets with Kurt Waldheim at the Vatican, just as if the Austrian president wasn't a former n.a.z.i.

6/26/87.

Reagan defender Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) denies reports of increasing presidential out-of-itness. "I even saw him do a cowboy doodle the other day," he says. "He used to do that when he was in his prime."

6/27/87.

New York Times: POWELL LEAVES HIGH COURT; TOOK KEY ROLE ON ABORTION AND ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION / PRESIDENT GAINS CHANCE TO CHANGE THE SHAPE OF COURT'S FUTURE 6/27/87.

Ailing Hustler Hustler co-publisher Althea Leasure Flynt, 33, drowns in her bathtub in Los Angeles. "The sad part of this story is that no one will ever know Althea for the wonderful person she was," widower Larry tells the co-publisher Althea Leasure Flynt, 33, drowns in her bathtub in Los Angeles. "The sad part of this story is that no one will ever know Althea for the wonderful person she was," widower Larry tells the National Enquirer National Enquirer. "They will know her for being a junkie who had AIDS and married a p.o.r.n publisher and I think that's a tragedy. She was a beautiful person."

6/29/87.

Tennessee Senator Albert Gore Jr., 39, enters the Democratic presidential race. Though he hopes to win the yuppie vote, this turns out to be precisely the group most offended by his wife Tipper's grandstanding against dirty rock lyrics. As the campaign progresses, his relentless pandering to southern rednecks on defense, to New York Jews on Israel prompts muckraker Jack Newfield to call Gore the first candidate to "run for President by pretending to be worse than he is."

6/29/87.

"We don't care about the political or ideological allegiance of a prospective judge."

--Ed Meese on the Supreme Court vacancy, causing his audience to burst into laughter.

JULY 1987.

7/1/87.

President Reagan names Robert Bork famous for carrying out Nixon's order to fire Archibald c.o.x during Watergate's Sat.u.r.day Night Ma.s.sacre to Lewis Powell's Supreme Court seat. "Conservatives have waited over 30 years for this day," says fund-raiser Richard Viguerie. The President urges the Senate to "keep politics out of the confirmation process," though it seems hardly to have been absent from the nomination process.

7/1/87.

New York Times: MEESE DID NOT FOLLOW ETHICS LAW IN BLIND INVESTMENT, OFFICIAL SAYS 7/6/87.

A movement is started to recall Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, who in his first six months in office: *Cancelled the state celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, saying, "He's been blown up by others, and doesn't deserve a holiday"

*Asked for a list of all h.o.m.os.e.xuals in the state government *Endorsed a book in which black children were called "pickaninnies," explaining that blacks themselves used the term affectionately *Spoke at a John Birch Society convention *Nominated a man to investigate government corruption who was revealed to have been twice court-martialed.

Says Mecham, "I'm doing things that hasn't been done before."

7/6/87.

Nancy Reagan, 66, celebrates her 64th birthday.

7/7/87.

Lt. Col. Oliver North, medals gleaming from his Marine uniform and certified as a "national hero" by his Commander-in-Chief, begins six nationally televised days before the Iran-contra committee. "I came here to tell you the truth," he says, "the good, the bad and the ugly." Though President Reagan has repeatedly expressed his eagerness to find out what happened, his spokesman claims that he is too busy to watch TV.

7/8/87.

Oliver North testifies that conveniently dead William Casey helped run the secret contra program, and says of the plan to use Iranian money to support the rebels, "I think it was a neat idea." As for his improper acceptance of a free security gate, "I'll be glad to meet Abu Nidal on equal terms anywhere in the world. Okay? There's an even deal for him. But I am not willing to have my wife and my four children meet Abu Nidal or his organization on his terms." But, really, how much protection against the world's most vicious terrorists can a fence provide? No one asks.

7/8/87.

President Reagan is unable to watch Oliver North's testimony because he is busy holding up a very big saw with the words "BUDGET CUTTER" on it.

7/9/87.

With Oliver North turning out to be as good a bad actor as the President himself, wife Betsy accompanies him to Day Three of his testimony, where: *He swaggeringly boasts that he shredded doc.u.ments in the presence of Justice Department officials *He says he is so committed to following orders that if the President tells him to "go stand in the corner and sit on his head, I will do so," leaving unclear whose head will be sat on and how it will be accomplished while standing *His lawyer, Brendan Sullivan, gets even more p.r.i.c.kly than usual and snaps, "I'm not a potted plant!"

*Dan Rather accidentally refers to him as "Oliver Nark."

Meanwhile, fearful that Reagan's lack of interest in the proceedings seems aberrational, White House aides report that he is is paying attention, inspiring the paying attention, inspiring the New York Times New York Times headline, "REAGAN IS 'AWARE' OF NORTH HEARING." headline, "REAGAN IS 'AWARE' OF NORTH HEARING."

7/10/87.

Manucher Ghorbanifar denies Oliver North's story that they negotiated the Iran arms deal in a men's room. "Imagine it!" he says. "I'm supposed to have taken a man who is chief of operations for the National Security Council and said, 'Come to the bathroom, screw me, overcharge for the weapons, finish me in Iran, and then send the money to your friends, the contras.' Honest to G.o.d, this is the biggest joke I have ever heard in my life. I was never alone with him."

7/10/87.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: MEESE SAYS FAILURE TO DISCLOSE TRUST a.s.sETS WAS INADVERTENT 7/13/87.

After four days of Oliver North's using the hearings as a soapbox for his version of democracy, several lawmakers give him their views. "Although he is regularly asked to do so," says Sen. George Mitch.e.l.l (D-ME), "G.o.d does not take sides in American politics, and in America, disagreement with the policies of the government is not evidence of lack of patriotism." Not everyone is so disapproving. Says Orrin Hatch of the contra funding scheme, "I have to confess I kind of think it's a neat idea, too."

7/14/87.

"The second slide is a photograph of Andrei Gromyko."

--Oliver North, presenting his contra fund-raising slide show at the hearings where, since security prevents the room from being darkened, he can't actually show the slides but must hold them up to the light and describe them 7/14/87.

President Reagan says he'll wait until the hearings are over to offer any comments. "Then," he warns, "you won't be able to shut me up."

7/15/87.

Unaware that Olliemania has already peaked, would-be profiteers rush paperback and home video versions of his testimony to the marketplace. Business consultant John Hudson says he'll manufacture an Oliver North doll, explaining, "It's impossible for it not to sell."

7/15/87.

John Poindexter claims that he kept the President uninformed of the fund diversion though he was sure he would "approve if asked" in order to "provide some future deniability." Says the pipe-puffing Admiral, "On this whole issue, you know, the buck stops here with me." This statement, true or not, ends any prospect of impeachment, and the nation abandons its interest in the hearings.

7/15/87.

Dan Rather tells former CIA chief William Colby that he's heard several committee members speculate that William Casey isn't really dead."

"I attended his funeral," says Colby.

"He's dead, no question?" asks Rather.

"Yes."

7/16/87.

In their first major action since Oliver North's efforts to make them folk heroes, the contras kill three children and a pregnant woman.

7/17/87.

Lyn Nofziger pleads not guilty to six counts of illegal lobbying on behalf of the Wedtech Corporation.

7/23/87.

John Poindexter is reported to have used the phrase "I can't recall," or some variation thereof, 184 times during his five days of testimony.

7/27/87.

"I reject a potted plant presidency. I'm here to do a job."

--President Reagan picking up his newest prop, an oversized pair of scissors, and cutting a big credit card labeled, "CONGRESSIONAL EXCESS."

7/28/87.

A careless writer includes the word "paradigm" in a speech for President Reagan. Yes, he p.r.o.nounces it "paradijum."

7/29/87.

Sen. George Mitch.e.l.l tells Ed Meese he finds it "hard to accept" his explanation that he took no notes during his early questioning of key officials and didn't even ask the most obvious questions because he didn't realize the fund diversion was a criminal case. "I take offense at the idea that it's hard to accept," says Meese. Mitch.e.l.l insists, "It's hard to accept."

During two days of testimony, Meese utters the phrase "I don't recall," or some variation thereof, about 340 times.

7/30/87.

"How many times do we put up with this rug merchant type of stuff?"

--Donald Regan testifying that he recommended breaking off the Iran arms deal after being "snookered" once too often AUGUST 1987.

8/3/87.

The Iran-contra hearings come to an end. The award for most unusual closing statement goes to Sen. James McClure (R-ID), who cites a pa.s.sage from b.u.t.terflies Are Free b.u.t.terflies Are Free concerning diarrhea. concerning diarrhea.

8/5/87.

"We were not in the loop."

--Vice President Bush explaining that he "didn't attend the meeting" at which objections to the Iran arms deal were raised because "I was off at the Army-Navy football game"

8/5/87.

Was.h.i.+ngton Post: MEESE FAILED TO FOLLOW ETHICS RULES, GAO SAYS / PARTNERs.h.i.+P WITH WEDTECH FIGURE IS CITED 8/12/87.

After boasting for months about how much he'll have to say when the Iran-contra hearings end, President Reagan goes on TV and devotes less than six minutes to the subject, repeating what he's said many times before and ignoring hundreds of specific charges and questions that have been raised.

8/20/87.

Two Gary Hart a.s.sociates suggest that a recent poll showing him still leading the Democratic field might prompt him to re-enter the race. "If this is a trial balloon," says a former Hart aide, "it's the Hindenburg of trial balloons."

8/24/87.

New York plastic surgeon Howard Bellin a.s.sesses Michael Jackson's evolving physiognomy. "I believe he's had three rhinoplasties and two operations on his chin," he says. "I think he had a chemical face peel, cheekbone implants, his upper lip thinned and a fat suction from his cheek." If the singer had come to him in the first place and told him that this is what he wanted to look like, says Bellin, he would have told him, "That's going to look awful."

SEPTEMBER 1987.

9/1/87.

Protesting American arms s.h.i.+pments to the contras by blocking a military train, San Francisco activist S. Brian Willson loses both legs below the knees when the train fails to stop. He is later sued by civilian members of the train crew for the "humiliation, embarra.s.sment [and] emotional distress" the incident caused them.

9/7/87.

Gary Hart says his treatment by the media has won him "the victims' vote," claiming that, for the first time in his life, "black people come up to me on the street and want to shake hands with me."

9/10/87.

Jerry Falwell who has vowed that there will be "no more sideshows" connected with the PTL fulfills a fund-raising promise by hurtling fully clothed down a Heritage USA water slide. The reverend, obviously in over his head with his entire PTL involvement, resigns within a month.