Hello, it's me.
So Phyllis, thank you for the first part.
No, that's not it.
I'm going to be doing a little bit of a research.
Hello.
I think that's the first time in years I've ever let the intro play all the way through
for a, what was that, a minute?
I don't know how long that is.
That was the original Yeast, not the original, but maybe the second or third Yeast radio
song by Mr. Taylor E. Ross, my contractor.
So I have something for you.
Yeah, I'm still doing the show, I don't know why, but sorry.
But the thing is, I am trying, with this Luigi Mangione, and I still don't know if he's related
to Chuck, with him, there was this business with the murderer, the healthcare CEO from
the United Healthcares.
Now what I was thinking is, everybody loves to bitch on social media, including me, but
what an opportunity now we have to actually do something about it.
Now that there's this national conversation, even though it's probably over, but everybody's
focused on Luigi and making him kind of kitschy and kind of Che Guevara-ish, and I'm a little
disappointed because I feel like we've lost the point.
It's almost become, at first, people were really pissed about healthcare, which is why
they were cheering him, and now I just feel like, I guess what I'm trying to say is social
media seems to be about bitching and moaning and very little action, and I'm trying to,
so I have this project I'm trying, it's called Healthcare Horror Stories, and I'm gonna play
an interview I recorded with a woman who found me on TikTok named Phyllis, and she tells
her story of the trauma that United Healthcare put her through, and I just want to collect
stories like this and share them with people so that we can kind of see what's going on
with healthcare so that people can understand the real impact this has on everyday people.
The problem I'm having is I haven't even gotten anybody else, and I had a TikTok that was
shown to like 23,000 people talking about the Luigi business, and people love to complain,
and a bunch of people said, oh you should, we really need to share our stories, we need
to share our stories, but only one person so far, Phyllis, is actually willing to do
it, so I really hope, if any of you know how I can know of people that have horror stories
due to insurance situations like this, please send them my way, magicyeastradio.com, I really
want to get this going, I don't want to give up on this, I've been trying to do something
about healthcare for years, and it's just so, it's always been frustrating, nothing's
really, I just feel like it's really hard to break through the, certainly right now
it's hard to get through the algos, because the algos want everybody to fight and complain,
but when it comes to actions, they don't really encourage action, and even my videos, when
I post them, like this one I'm about to play, when I posted it on, if I say like a one thing
blurb about a zinger about Luigi or UnitedHealthcare, that'll get some traction, but when I actually
have some calls to action, they just seem to maybe get 300 views and that's it, so,
I don't know, I'm so frustrated, you know, this is why it's really hard for me to keep
going with this stuff, because I know I could make a video about, you know, not my vagina,
but somebody shaking their vagina, or if I post a picture of my face with, you know,
some bad mask, you know, allowing the, you know, where my hair looks all jagged and cutting
into the background, and posted pictures of Justin Bieber's, you know, micropenis, you
know, that would do well, but I don't know, people are kind of like, I think it's manipulation,
I think people are just being controlled by these algorithms that say, oh, let's get kitschy,
you know, let's get kitschy, let's all focus on the same silly things that make us laugh,
and then let's get angry about the same things, like Elon Musk controlling Trump, but let's
not actually have any, let's not promote any calls to action that encourages people to
take action, so we're just mad and nothing's being done, it's just awful, it's like with
the climate, it's just, I heard some podcast yesterday, was it the Daily, maybe, when they're
just like interviewing some dude from New Orleans, he's like, well, New Orleans understands
that civilizations go extinct, and that they don't last long, so we accept the fact that
New Orleans will be gone someday, and the rest of the world needs to understand that
it's gonna be gone, we're just giving up on fighting climate change because, you know,
because we're just gonna give up, yeah, fuck it, let's just go extinct because we don't
wanna take action, we'd just rather be miserable and bitchy, you know, we have kids, but fuck
them, let them drown and, you know, and die of starvation and pandemics because we're
just too fucking lazy to do anything, we're just frozen, we're just awful, we're just
not gonna challenge the way our evolutionary thus-and-sos made us, these creatures that
only care about today, we're not gonna try and push ourselves, we're just gonna go ahead
and go extinct, because it's too hard to just, you know, change consumption, it's all like
that.
Anyway, I know that's very encouraging, right?
But I'm going to just play this interview I did, I'm sorry the sound quality's not good,
I was using this app called Squadcast, and it stinks, and I ended up losing, like, the
higher quality audio and video, but it keeps a backup, but the backup is shitty, so, but,
you know, just enjoy it, enjoy this story about healthcare, you know, and maybe it's
kind of boring and redundant, but I really think it's important that we really feel each
other's, you know, what we're going through, and please help me find other people for this,
because I can't, I'm not, you know, I know a lot of people want me to keep going with
this show, but I've got to evolve, I can't just talk about my vagina all day, I'm not
gonna do prank phone calls anymore, I mean, this is what I want to do, I need people to,
I need people to help me, it's two-way street here, you know?
Let's do something to make the situation better, otherwise what's the fucking point?
Here's Phyllis.
Wait a second, sorry, I forgot something, because I want to tell you, if you can find
somebody, what is this weird echo I'm getting in my head?
Oh, I know what it is, it's because I'm doing the thus with the so, hold on, the thus with
the so, the phone, see, I'm gonna turn it on, that's better, right?
I bet that's better, yeah?
That was my echo, the jean, the jean, you know, oh, so, if you want to help me, if you
know of somebody that wants to participate, just email me, madge at yeast radio dot com,
madge at yeast radio dot com, or call me, Faramuterus, follow me on tic-tac Instagram,
did I say tic-tac, tic-tac Instagram blue sky, it's all Madge Weinstein, yeah, no periods
anymore, no space, none of that, get her done, get her done, get her done, yeah, so, oh yeah,
here's Phyllis, and I might play something afterwards, I don't know, I started to watch
the Maria Callas movie with Angelina Jolie yesterday, I couldn't get past ten minutes
with those lips, that's just, all I see is Angelina Jolie, I don't see Maria Callas,
I'm sorry, all I see is a star who wanted people to see her on location in Paris making
a film, honestly, I think she's awful, that movie's awful too, like, you know this wonderful
artist, and you're just gonna show her for her last week of life, and that's it, when
she was at her worst, and then she died, why don't you show her when she started her career
and became a wonderful cola-retourer, right, but now, gotta be bitchy and miserable, make
it dark and horrible like everything else in the fucking world, anyway, here's wonderful
Phyllis.
So, Phyllis, thank you, you're the first person who agreed to do this, so, why don't you go
ahead and just tell us what happened, and go from there.
How gory do you want?
As much as you want, whatever you think is necessary to tell the story, I just want to
put that out there so people can get an idea for what people have to go through and deal
with this, and why people are so frustrated and not particularly upset to see something
like Brian Thompson's demise.
No, okay, I'll begin by saying that I was in my mid-forties, and I started having issues
after yearly visits to my gynecologist, I started having excessive heavy periods with
a lot of cramping, and pretty miserable for that time of the month, it just increased
as I got older in my late forties, and my OBGYN and I started talking about a plan of
treatment for care, and it was in 2017, and she thought we should get approval for a full
hysterectomy at that time, and they denied it several times, UnitedHealthcare specifically
denied it, and requested a plan of treatment that included what's called an ablation, so
that's kind of gross, because you're fully sedated, you're under the doctor's care, and
she was scraping the entire lining of my uterus, and what I had was fibrous tumors in my uterus,
for lack of a better term, the first ablation, she got as much as she could of that uterine
lining, and it helped for maybe a month or two, and then it only got worse from there,
that was in 2017, so I started having really frequent periods, and extremely heavy, and
within about eight to ten months, I was back at the OBGYN, well, I was consistently seeing
her about every two or three months, so I was back with her, and she said, we've done
what they've requested, they requested limited care, which was the ablation, to see if it
would help, and it did not, so then we started that process of getting a hysterectomy approved,
and that was an act of ridiculousness for the first, I believe, three to four months,
her first request was denied, and she was persistent, as was I, and full disclosure,
I actually worked for an insurer in Portland, Oregon, I used to work for Moda Health and
Customer Service for a year, so I knew the whole healthcare game, and they denied it,
I believe three times, every month, they denied it.
What was the reason?
They said it wasn't medically necessary, that we hadn't taken all the steps that they'd
requested, and it was probably just up to a three-person medical team in some office
saying, no, try some more, and we were at our wit's end, and so I just decided to write
them just my response to their constant denials, and I put it very blatantly, how difficult
my periods were, what I was struggling with, how many feminine care products I was going
through in seven weeks' time, how I was having two periods a month, and out of real regular
life for four days a month, and I just was as vulgar or just as crass as possible, and
I had faxed it, and emailed it, and then within, I think, maybe two or three days, I had gone
back to the doctor, and she found out before I did, and she said, I don't know what you
did or what you said, but it worked, and they approved your hysterectomy, and we thought
we hit the lottery, so within days, and it had a 90-day time period, so she, within days,
we scheduled, you know, to have a full hysterectomy or just leaving ovaries, so then it was great.
She did an amazing job, full anesthesia, I was in the hospital for one night.
These are care providers, anesthesiologists, surgeons' assistants, the hospital bill, the
whole nine yards, and within a month of my surgery, I started getting letters from United
Healthcare that they had reversed their approval, and that it was no longer approved, and my
doctor's office and I had to start the long process of showing to them how you had medically
approved this, I had two approval codes, which I think is ultimately what happened in the
beginning, because I think maybe some desk jockey or someone at a low-level appeals coverage,
I think that they saw that there were two appeals that had been won, and I think they
canceled them both out by mistake, I don't know, but no amount of calls, no amount of
reasoning with the doctor's office or me, and what's ironic is that UnitedHealth fully
reimbursed the hospital, they fully reimbursed the anesthesiologist, and every other associated
cost except the doctor's surgeon fee, and she had an assistant doctor, so there's two,
and it was $5,000, $24.98 each, and they denied it every month.
And then in the insurance industry, it's called timely filing, and within about a year, that's
when they have time to file claims, and anything after, they'll start just automatically denying
anyway, but they just routinely denied it, and at that time in my life, I was really
struggling because I had two parents that were elderly, and I had just gotten one into
the care facility, and I had another, I had my stepdad just blown off the rails, and had
just focused all my energy on taking care of my older generation parents, and just totally
dropped the ball on it, and it went to collections, the doctor sold it to collections, I think
just barely over a year, and within days of sending it to collections, they sued me, or
they took me to small claims court, and I was in the middle of a trust issue legally
with my parents' trust, and I completely, because it was within just a matter of a few
months, and I just dropped the ball, and when I saw the court filings that the collection
agency had done, I just mistakenly assumed it was involving my parents' trust, because
I had a lot of legal stuff going on with that, and dropped the ball, and so I obviously did
not, I didn't answer the suit, and I didn't go to court, because I didn't realize I had
a court date, and I lost because I was not there, and it's now attached to our home,
and that was in 2019, because I'd had it done in 2018, and within just a short period of
time, it went to collections and court, and we hired a lawyer two years ago to address
the issue, and reach out to the collections agency, because I have all the documentation,
and it was just such a, we all know they paid pennies on the dollar, and we offered them
what we thought was reasonable, and they said no, so I still have it, and our lawyer recommended
that we sue the collection agency and small court here in Oregon, and it's just something
on my to-do list, but it's always there, they dicked around for a long time with even taking
care of my ablation, because my doctor started off requesting a hysterectomy, and then they,
it was a time period of about a year and a half, and the interesting information was
when they do the surgery, they take all the stuff, and send it off to the lab, and she
said I'd had one of the worst cases of uterine fibroids that she'd ever seen, so even with
all that medical information, they still said it was unnecessary, and also in their letter,
they said that I didn't take it, that my doctor didn't do it at a day surgery facility, that
she did it at a hospital, so evidently, I was to have used, I don't know, the McDonald's
of healthcare, and just go to an In-N-Out to have a full hysterectomy, so I'm not really,
their reasons changed a few times, and it's still fine, because I have all the paperwork,
and it'll be a fun deal, but UnitedHealthcare could not be worse, in my opinion, and I have
zero sympathy.
So the ablation, or ablation, I don't know that word, but that was, ablation, that was
not your doctor's idea, that was done because the insurance company told them to do it,
so who, do you know, because you said you worked in insurance, who is it in an insurance
company that makes these decisions, do they have doctors on staff, how does that work,
do you know?
It's funny, because I worked, well I was in medical customer service for Moda Health,
so I worked right next to the department that was getting pre-approvals and pre-auths, and
I will share truthfully that, in my opinion, it was just people, just ordinary people,
they didn't have any medical, my belief is that they didn't have a whole lot of medical
background, that they were just in the job, because they'd been in the job for several
years, and I think, let's see, they probably maybe had eight to ten of them, and I honestly,
at this time now, I believe that they appeal everything, like they deny everything, nothing
goes straight through the first time, because if you can just deny it, and then force people
to pay the bills, you're going to do it, they're going to do it, where I was, it was denied
in that small appellate place with Deaths Rockies, then it went up to, they called it
a medical board, but it only, it probably included a few doctors, and maybe some nurses,
and then executives, it just depended who would appeal stuff, also when I was taking
calls, all calls were recorded, and if you misstated a claim, or you misstated benefits,
would keep those recordings.
I wanted to ask about your comment in the email, because what you wrote is, I feel nothing
for this man, he didn't get his assassination preauthorized, so the police and health system
should pay zero, deny coverage, would you like to expand on that, how do you process
this whole thing, especially now that the guy's gotten arrested, some people are saying
we're not allowed to be upset, that somehow we're condoning murder, because we're upset,
we're frustrated with the system, how do you react to that?
My response is, I thousand percent still think what I wrote, in my comment, and the reason,
in my opinion, is that, I think Bernie Sanders is really working on this, and our Senator
Ron Wyden has always been on board with better health care for all, you know, when you're
in the, when you're in a surgery, I mean, I, when I worked in medical customer service,
it would happen quite frequently that, oh, you'd get a Sutton bill because the anesthesiologist
wasn't covered, and you didn't check your network coverage, and you didn't make sure
that everybody on the team was in network, and so you'd be faced with a large bill that
was unexpected, and sucks to be you, so I think that the media is covering his passing,
which I do feel bad for his family, I feel terrible for them, also, I feel terrible for
the millions of Americans that UnitedHealthcare screwed, and they've either screwed them by
denying claims, or not, just not acting when medically necessary, there's thousands of
horror stories on TikTok about people that surgeries got held up, or cancer treatment
wasn't paid, or prescriptions weren't paid fairly, which I can also speak to that, because
that happened to me, I was a pain patient due to a back surgery that I'd had in 2010,
so that's a UHC healthcare nightmare, but I think that UnitedHealthcare has, they have,
it's one time too many, like a bridge too far, and I'm not saying he deserved it, but
I don't care, I don't care, and I think a lot of other Americans have had long background
of health insurers treating you so terribly, and gosh, let's spread it out to pharmacists,
medical people, doctors that don't listen to you, I can't even tell you how hard it
was just to get my doctor to listen to me, you go in and you say, oh, I have period pain,
and I'm really struggling, it probably took about two years to get her to listen to me,
and to get her to actually take action, so with the coverage that I see, but I don't,
I will be, to be fair, I'm not watching any, I don't watch CNN anymore, I don't watch MSNBC,
I'm not really watching any news, so I think I read about it on my Apple News, felt nothing,
I, yeah, it's true, yeah, he, well, he didn't take the time to get it pre-authorized, so,
and they do that to people all the time, and I'm not saying Trump out is fair play, but
boy, it really, really sucks to be you right now, and, because it's really sad that I think
people vote against their own interests, as far as their congressional people and their
senators, and there are still states that haven't accepted the Obamacare ACA expansion,
and when I was in medical customer service, it was, I'm dating myself, but it was 2010,
and that was the year that the ACA came out, and I would get calls from people who said,
I don't want Obamacare, I don't want that to affect my plan, and I said, you, frequently,
you're calling the wrong person, you need to call your congressperson, this is already
legislation that we have to enact, and feel free, if you want to, go ahead and pay in
full for your yearly exam, and your mammograms, and your prostate check, just write them a
check in full, because that's what the ACA gives you right now, and it insured kids up
to 26 years old, which is amazing, and then they couldn't use pre-existing conditions
against you to deny you service, but it could have done so much more, back when Hillary
Clinton was the first lady in 93, her husband Bill Clinton, the president, put her in charge
of solving healthcare, and she almost did, and she could have, and there was so much
cynicism on the opposite side of the aisle, that it failed, and it's failed miserably
for decades for Americans, and I remember the public option was on until Lieberman killed
it, and then he became a Republican after that, right, so I think this is, wow, what
are we talking about, 30 plus years in the making, and just cynicism is at an all time
high, and it's gonna be even worse, but yeah, I'm like, how unfortunate for you to just
be walking in the street and get assassinated.
Yeah, I just wanna keep the momentum, because these news cycles tend to be very short, and
I think we have to tell these stories to keep the momentum, because people can't forget
about it, and I hear these pundits on the news saying, oh, it's not gonna do anything
if a murder isn't gonna do anything, but I say, let's not let this guy die in vain, right,
let's have his death mean something, and because, yeah, it's already doing something, the fact
that it's causing a national dialogue, but it shouldn't be that way, and the fact that
it takes murder for this to happen means the system is demented.
People do call it congressman, I have, many times, I've been screaming for Medicare for
all for 20 years, the system is too powerful, so that's what happens, it breaks, and people
commit violence, so if you wanna stop the violence, do something about the healthcare,
I think.
My husband and I were both on TikTok, I got him addicted.
We were just discussing how the French Revolution started, because people were so poor and couldn't
afford their basic needs, and if our country isn't as close to that as they were at that
time, I don't think there's ever been a time when we're like this, so.
Absolutely.
It's an unresolved issue, and people deserve better.
Was this employer insurance you had?
Yeah, oh, it was really great, too, because several times, when we had UnitedHealthcare,
my husband and I worked for the same company, and at that time, here's a little other inside
information, at that time, healthcare, I used to work for Boyd Coffee Company, and as did
my husband, and they were called self-insured, so self-insured, so what they did is they
just put in a large pot of money, and then they paid UnitedHealthcare to adjudicate and
just pay claims or take care of claims, but it was run by the company, our company, and
they could be the ones to, I feel like there were C-suite, is that the C-suite executives,
that could have very easily said, oh, that's not gonna happen, or that's not gonna happen,
because they were just a third-party administrator for our benefits at that time, and we were
double-covered, so it should have been the coup de grace, like we had everything available,
and we really didn't.
Yeah, I was working up until my 50s.
I didn't know that they could deny something after it was approved and already the surgery
is completed, but how does that even happen?
What was the reason for, is that legal to reverse an approval after the surgery, and
why is that happening?
I really, honestly think it was either a big clerical error issue or a total, I mean, I'm
sort of cynical, because John Grisham, that one book that they just deny everything, I
think it was either A or B, just going back on the coverage, but I mean, for me, they
oddly paid the hospital and some of the other bills, but not the doctor, so I don't know.
I think I'm cynical enough to believe that they denied, and the weakest link is the doctor,
because the doctor has to, they pay contracted rates to get adjudicated, to get payment,
and they get a portion of the dollar for contracted rates, and insurance companies constantly
lower and renegotiate and screw them out of everything.
The doctor's kind of the weakest link, which is awful, because they should be the top of
the food chain, but they reimbursed the hospital, they reimbursed the anesthesiologist, and
they took out the person that was easiest, and that was the doctor and myself, and it
doesn't seem to be illegal, because they do it all the time.
Yeah.
For me, I just want to get across the fact that they're doing this to people with top-tier
coverage who work full-time, not that people with Medicare should get any worse coverage,
they shouldn't, but this is top-of-the-line coverage.
This is happening to everybody.
When Europeans hear about this, they're like, somebody, a few people were saying, just boycott
the insurance companies.
We can't do that.
There's only four of them.
You can't, that's like boycotting your own health.
We don't have that leverage.
If only we could, if it were that simple that we could boycott our health insurance, I think
everybody probably would.
And it may very well be illegal, but they're so powerful, these insurance companies that,
and they're being funded by taxpayers.
The subsidies are huge to the companies.
Right.
You know, the lobbyists in Washington, there's a little background information for you.
So I was a lifelong volunteer for the PTA.
So I was a national advocate for children and I'm from Oregon.
And every year, two of us would go to a national conference of, for all the PTAs and represent
their state.
And then one year I loved legislation.
I loved, I just loved anything to do with Congress and the Senate.
And so I was the legislative aide that got to go to Washington.
And we were actually fighting at that time, that was in 2006, we were fighting for, at
that time they were funding education at 2.2 cents per dollar.
And we were on a campaign to boost that up to five cents.
So we wore big little nickels and we met with all of our Congress people and senators and
we had, we did everything that we felt we could.
And one of our, one of our Congress people that we spoke with just implied and told us
the truth.
I hate to tell you this, but you're, you're really wasting your time because we, this
whole place, that whole place is run on the lobbyists that are two less than two blocks
away and are paid to entertain them and buy their votes.
And the normal people have very little chance of actually connecting with their Congress
person and getting legislation or getting or effecting legislation.
And at that time, I don't know if you remember who David Wu is.
He was our state, one of our state representatives.
And he said, if we had a flood of people contact us, I would consider bringing a story to the
floor of Congress and talking about it on behalf of my constituents.
And I asked him, well, what's a flood?
I mean, define a flood.
So in my mind, I'm thinking thousands of people.
And he said, maybe 11 or 12 people.
We were all like, what the fuck?
I mean, are you serious that it's that little representation, but then they still effectively
do nothing because they spend most of their day on the phone to their corporate lobbyists
and people and fundraising.
They spend more time fundraising than they do actually legislating.
Bernie Sanders is right.
We need to change how they're funded, how insurance companies are now being taken care
of and adjudicated.
And now to even read that it gets worse because one part of the media that I am reading is
that UnitedHealthcare has not only bought Big Pharma, they've gotten a lot of Big Pharma
companies now under their wing.
They're buying nursing homes.
They're buying end of life care and small hospitals.
So they're just going to be a one stop shop for really shitty care.
Basically for profit communism.
Actually, I think that's their plan.
I think they're just like the Federalist Society and they had a 50 year plan.
And I think it was in the Reagan administration when they took all the small hospitals and
cut them, just got rid of them and just removed them from everywhere and shut them down in
small towns.
Then they started HMOs, managed care, and they have led us all to this big national
slaughter that we're now dealing with.
And they're going to be so big, people have no chance of getting decent care.
And that's one thing I was reading that this killer Luigi said that he said that UnitedHealthcare's
market cap has gone up steadily while the life expectancy of Americans has gone down.
I mean, that's from the killer.
You know, what are you going to do?
But it is interesting that they, I did see that they've taken all the public pictures
of their CEOs offline and just put them mid-level managers on there.
So yeah, they think that's the solution is more security, not change policy, just more
security.
Cause that's what do you think should happen?
Like, what do you see if you could picture a future that makes this situation better?
What are you imagining?
I think legislatively they need to do with healthcare, what they did to the phone companies.
They took AT&T and they broke them up because it was a monopoly.
I don't think they'll do it to themselves.
Yeah.
For me, it's gotta be Medicare for all.
I don't know how to achieve it, especially with this upcoming administration.
You know, if people make a big enough noise, something's going to improve.
Right.
On TikTok, we abandoned Kellogg's for three months and I think some of it started to work.
There was a couple of creators that showed some statistics that it actually sailed, they'd
see stores where it was, it actually seemed to be working.
And so I think collectively, if we use TikTok together, I think that we could start a pretty
big crown campaign and force change, but they're looking at taking that away too, which is
why they, that's why they don't, they, I think it isn't in January when they're going to
try and take that away.
But only the Supreme court can save it at this point.
We're going to be in a brand new phase together and it's not time to stop talking and reaching
out to each other.
So that's why I responded to your TikTok.
Cause I'm like, Oh, I got a story.
I didn't know how it compares to other people's stories because it's really in, in the game
of life.
It's about, it's going to probably cost us about $7,500, maybe $10,000 to solve.
But it's also the torment.
It's the emotional, it's terrorism, you know, is you just take somebody and just torture
them with this stuff.
It's, it's terrorism.
You're terrorizing people and it's just, they did.
I will say that collectively it made just everyday life and adding to the stress of
life with everything else, parenting, parents, taking care of parents, being married, working.
It made life pretty miserable and I'm sure that's what his family's going through and
I don't fucking care.
And you're a hardworking person.
Your husband's a hardworking person.
I just want to make it clear to people that hardworking people deserve free healthcare,
just like the rest of the world.
You're right.
For, I don't know why Americans think that somehow we don't deserve it, but that's socialism.
Well, no, we deserve it.
It's part of why we pay taxes.
We're just getting ripped off because it's going to for-profit companies.
It's going to pay for billionaires, not us, but they're so uneducated because they say,
oh, my tax dollars would go up.
No, they wouldn't because your tax dollars, if you were paying for it in taxes, you would
be paying none in healthcare.
It's easy to show that math.
It's easy.
But the good thing is that this situation, from what I understand, people across the
party lines are reacting in the same way.
Republicans are saying, yeah, this is bullshit too.
They're like, yeah, fuck this whatever Brian Thompson guy with it.
It's not just Democrats.
So this is something where there really could be a change if it's bipartisan.
They might have to listen to us.
I'm going to hope you're right.
I'm kind of cynical.
I am too.
I was sure Kamala was going to win.
So what do I do?
You kind of always have to have hope and we all have collective hope.
My cynicism outweighs that, but I, like I said, I did, I did help or try and film make
with the Harris campaign and talk to everybody.
So my hope is eternal too.
So I'm going to, I'm going to join that club with you.
And well, I believe in common sense and common sense told me that there's no way more people
would vote for him now than in 2020 when he lost after he's a felon and all this crap.
Like, but what do I know again?
So who knows?
But yeah, maybe people will figure it out with this, with this thing.
I don't know.
I agree.
Well, thank you very much, Phyllis.
I really appreciate it.
You're so very well, take care.
The judge can drop dead in his black robes.
We will not call off the strike.
We're going to burn.
We're going to shoot.
We're going to fight.
We're going to kick.
We're going to bite.
You know what I'm saying?
We're going to be like a woman if that's the way he wants to be.
It's going to be burned.
Hey, this whole city is going to be burned.
Black lives matter.
Throughout these 37 days, there has been continued violence against the people of South Vietnam.
We're getting a lot of casualties. I need help. I got two elements cut off.
I love my president, but I love my country more.
It would not be judgment speaking so much as it would be some irritation and exaggeration.
Here is the story of 1966, told in voices and sounds, gathered on the scene by correspondents
of the United Press International Audio Network. I'm Duff Thomas.
Vietnam was unknown to most Americans only a few years ago. In 1966, Vietnam was the
year's biggest story. There were other newsworthy places and events, civil rights, Congress,
business, and labor. But Vietnam, a war, young men dying, and a questioning world opinion
dominated the news. As the year began, the United States was in the midst of a pause
in its bombing of North Vietnam, hoping to perceive some sign from the communists that
they wished to de-escalate or even end the war. But as Secretary of State Dean Rusk said,
I found no one who had any indication or belief that the authorities in Hanoi had decided
to give up their aggressive ambitions or to come to a conference table to bring about
a peaceful settlement. It seems to me, therefore, that our present course is clear to support
our own men in uniform and their allies and to proceed as rapidly as possible with the
political, economic, and social measures in Vietnam which are required even in the midst
of war. And America's course was clear. As the air
war over the north intensified, American pilots ran into increasing trouble. More planes were
downed by anti-aircraft fire and ground-to-air missiles. On the ground, marines and air cavalry
men pushed through thick jungles and wet rice paddies and deep rivers to keep the communists
off guard and on the defensive. An expected full-scale offensive by the communists was
stopped. Correspondent Bill Riley with the patrol gave a vivid account of the GIs' life
in Vietnam. GIs holding the rifles above their heads, under rolling above us. One just fell.
American troop strength in Vietnam advanced to over 360,000 men, with more promised in
1967. More than 5,500 Americans were killed. President Johnson went to the scene of battle
and on the sands of Cameron Bay, he told the GIs,
Make no mistake about it, the American people that you represent are proud of you.
Not everyone supported U.S. presence in Vietnam. Congress had its objectors, and they tightened
when the president asked for more money to pursue the war. Arkansas Democrat J. William
Fulbright coined the phrase, credibility gap, saying he couldn't get a straight answer from
the administration about the war. Republicans picked it up, House Minority Leader Gerald
Ford restated congressional disapproval. There are those in this administration who appear
to believe that half a truth is better than none. We disagree. Where the American people
at home are concerned, we must have the whole truth. But the money came, there seemed little
else to do. Others did not like the United States and Vietnam. Some citizens of South
Vietnam, Buddhists primarily, went for the throat of Nguyen Cao Khi's government and
hindered South Vietnamese efforts on the battlefield. We don't like the war in Vietnam. Yes. Yes.
Now I will ask the American go home and bring the war, come back to America. Free elections
were promised and held, despite the worst Viet Cong terrorists could hand out. A constituent
assembly was chosen to pave the way for further free elections. With 70% of the South Vietnamese
population voting, government officials called it a sharp defeat for the Communists, who
tried to upset the elections. As the sounds of war continued without letup, the talk was
about peace. Everyone said they wanted it, including the Communists. Every side had terms,
none of them agreeable, and the war went on. When the year began, the United States was
in the midst of a 37-day pause in its bombing of North Vietnam. Diplomats throughout the
world told U.S. officials that the pause might lead to peace talks. U.S. Ambassadors Harriman
and Goldberg carried the quest for peace all over the world. President Johnson was forced
to call off the pause because, throughout these 37 days, even at moments of truce, there
has been continued violence against the people of South Vietnam, against their government,
against their soldiers, and against our own American forces. Pope Paul VI, Britain's Prime
Minister Harold Wilson, and Canada's Prime Minister Lester Pearson all tried for peace
in 1966. U.N. Secretary General U Thant announced that he would not take a new five-year term
when his personal peace offensives ran into opposition in the Security Council. I think
I should decide one way or the other, perhaps before June, so that the Security Council
will be in a position to nominate someone to succeed me if I decide not to offer myself
for the second term to recommend to the General Assembly. Of course, if the Security Council
were in a position to find someone to be recommended to the General Assembly to succeed me in the
course of the next few months, I believe it will facilitate my decision. He was prevailed
upon to stay, however, and he announced he would continue his efforts to achieve peace
in Vietnam. However, all efforts produced the same negative response from Hanoi and
Peking. Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen best expressed everyone's feelings when he
sounded a note of disappointment. That this country, with all its resources, in that sense,
with its wealth and its manpower, hasn't been able to bring this to an honorable conclusion
more quickly than they have. In this country, many expressed their dislike for war. The
most aggressive were the students who picketed, burned draft cards, and adopted many of the
tactics and sloganizing ways of another American revolt, civil rights. New York Senator Robert
Kennedy, with whom young Americans increasingly identify, expressed his concern. I might disagree
with some of the demonstrations that are taking place, and in fact I do. And I think that
the fact that so many young people and so many of the rest of our students are taking
such an active interest in this matter, I think is healthy for the country. Most of
the men fighting in Vietnam didn't request it, and a rumble arose over the draft system.
Students opposed schools providing class rankings to draft boards as a method of handing
out deferments. Civil rights leaders turned their attention to this problem as well as
the new lowered induction standards. Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell expressed
his objection. It seems to me America should be confident in the knowledge that a higher
percentage of black students is already dying in what is ingloriously being referred to
in black communities as a white man's war against brown people. Some already in uniform
objected to the war. Several refused to go to Vietnam. The most outspoken critic of the
war was again Senator Wayne Morse. The Oregon Democrats' raspy voice echoed through the
empty Senate chamber. I love my president, but I love my country more. And I want to
say that if we follow the president's war-making course of action, the American people will
end up involved in a massive war against both China and Russia, and out of that will come
no victors. Senator Morse and others said Vietnam would KO the president and his party
in the November congressional and gubernatorial elections. The GOP did gain 47 House seats,
three in the Senate, and eight governorships, but political analysts said this was not conclusive
because many Republican winners supported the administration's Vietnam policy. President
Johnson didn't interpret it that way either. He's a good American. I think we're all glad
to see a healthy and competent existence of a two-party system. The elections produced
some Republican presidential timber. California Governor Ronald Reagan, Illinois Senator Charles
Percy, and Michigan Governor George Romney. Reagan and Percy's elections, some said, were
due to a white backlash. Reagan said it wasn't so, and he pointed across the country to the
election of Massachusetts Negro Edward Brooke as Senator. I find it very difficult to assess
a Republican victory on the basis of white backlash when it's the Republican Party that
elected the first Negro to the United States Senate in almost a hundred years. Brooke viewed
his victory this way. The people of this great state have answered all of the George Rockwells,
have answered all of the people who would divide us and who would keep men from being
brothers, and I intend to say to the people of this state that I will do everything within
my power to merit their confidence and their support and their faith in me as a man. The
other major issue in the 1966 campaign was inflation. Senate Minority Leader Everett
Dirksen laid out the GOP position this way. You can't have both guns and butter. You can't
fight a war in Asia and win the war on the inflation unless, and I emphasize it, unless
this government of ours, this administration, is equally willing to do without and to stop
its willful reckless spending of the people's money on non-essential things. The cost of
new cars rose, as did the prices of steel and food. Gardner Ackley, chairman of the
President's Council of Economic Advisers, made this observation. In my view, the action
of these companies can only be characterized as irresponsible. They were unwilling even
to hear the government state the public interest in this matter. Housewives decided something
had to be done. Due to many requests from all over the country, we have decided to try
to organize the Housewives nationally. Now, we've had requests from Florida and from
Nova Scotia, from Canada, from New York, on how to organize, on what to do about this.
We have had much, much interest. They began the petticoat war on high food prices. We
have felt that it is a very good time for the Housewives to work for lower prices in
many areas. As a unified group, banded together, we'll have power and we'll be able to
put the pressure on in Washington or in any facet of the economy that we wish to put the
pressure on. Boycotts and picketing became weapons of the Housewives' army as the war
gained momentum throughout the nation. In some cities, battles were won and prices were
reduced. But overall, the merchants proved that cost to them justified the current prices.
Clarence Adame, president of the National Association of Food Chains, thought the women
were wrong in protesting against supermarkets. I do feel that they'll find that they'll
be more effective in their protest if they would attack the causes of inflation and not
the results or the symptoms of inflation. The Johnson administration had problems curbing
inflationary trends when it came to settling major labor disputes. The president's 3.2
percent wage price guidelines became a thing of the past. As one settlement after another
disregarded the suggestion, government officials became more and more concerned over the
inflationary trend. There were costly strikes in the transportation and communication
industries which attracted nationwide attention. The year began with a subway and bus
strike in New York City, which practically crippled the great metropolis for 12 days.
In the midst of the strike, Michael Quill, long-time leader of the Transport Workers
Union and one of the most colorful labor leaders, was jailed for violating a court injunction
to call off the strike. The tough Irish-American said... The judge can drop dead in his black
robes. We will not call off the strike. Quill was taken to jail where he suffered a heart
attack. After the strike was settled, Quill made a rapid recovery and was released from
custody and the hospital. A second heart attack days later claimed his life. A strike in the
airlines industry crippled domestic and foreign travel for 42 days. Some bitter humor popped
up. When the walkout occurred, Labor Secretary Willard Wertz was in Japan, unable to get
a plane flight back to Washington to aid in settling the dispute. Again in New York City,
the longest newspaper strike in history resulted in the folding of the Herald Tribune and the
formation of a new newspaper, the World Journal Tribune. Former Trib owner John Hay Whitney...
The Herald Tribune in New York will not appear again. I know we gave something good to our
city while we published, and I know it will be a loss to journalism in this country as
we cease publication. 1966 did not provide a focal point for the Civil Rights Movement.
The closest occasion for pulling together interest came when James Meredith, the first
Negro to attend the University of Mississippi, was shot while on a march through that state.
Before marching, Meredith explained the conditions which he felt existed there and the purpose
of his walk. The Negro from Mississippi has a lot that he can do for himself, but the
thing that's holding him back in Mississippi is his fear, fear of unequal treatment before
the law, and this is a greater fear than the fear of, we'll say, physical violence by individual
whites. Meredith was shot from ambush along the route of his march, but his injuries were
not serious. Other civil rights leaders descended on Mississippi and organized a mass march
to continue along the Meredith path. At the end of the march, a huge rally was held in
Jackson to provide a final impact. It was at this event that the chairman of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Stokely Carmichael, came forward with a new explosive
phrase. There are three terms that black people in this country should learn at break. One
is white supremacy, one is neo-colonialism, and one is black power. No sooner had Carmichael
said it than a half dozen Negroes claimed they first coined the phrase. Instead of unifying
the rights movement, the cry for black power became the wedge which almost split it. Everyone
employed his own definition for black power, but the slogan became associated with the
more militant groups, such as SNCC and CORE. The more conservative rights leaders, such
as Dr. Martin Luther King and Roy Wilkins, viewed black power as harmful to the rights
movement. Wilkins explained. Regardless of what proponents of black power said it could
do, civil rights legislation did not fare well in 1966. The civil rights movement suffered
its first major setback since 1957. Congress turned back the 1966 Civil Rights Bill. However,
the 1965 Voting Rights Act was upheld by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the federal
government could send examiners into state jurisdictions to register voters. White backlash
seemed to be the reason for the election of some candidates. Perhaps it was because in
November, many people remembered the cry of black power and what they associated with
it. This was Cleveland, Ohio, but similar sounds were heard in Dayton, Atlanta, San Francisco,
Oakland, Omaha, Muskegon, New York, Waukegan, Benton Harbor, and St. Louis. It was senseless.
It did no good, and in nearly every case, local officials blamed it on outsiders. For
example, Waukegan Mayor Robert Sabongian said. I will not tolerate outside organizations
or individuals to come into our community to usurp our home rule. One news story in
1966 touched several bases at once. Negro Julian Bond, former officer in SNCC, was elected
to the Georgia legislature in 1965. The legislature denied him his seat, apparently because of
some remarks he made about Vietnam. I'm fighting a battle over my right to say what I choose
and the right of the people who live in my district, in my constituency, to make a free
choice of who they want to represent them. That's the issue. It's not Vietnam. Another
election was held, and he won again. Once more, he was denied a seat. He took it to
the Supreme Court, and the court ruled that his freedom of speech had been abridged. Bond
won for a third time, and apparently Georgia House leaders will not oppose his right to
the job in 1967.
As Vietnam divided the country, it also brought some changes in relations with other countries.
Some of America's friends, notably South Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Australia,
sent troops to help fight in Vietnam. In the colder waters of the Atlantic, it was a different
story. England supported the U.S. position morally and diplomatically, but sent no troops.
France, America's oldest ally, opposed U.S. involvement in the war and backed many diplomatic
moves aimed at discrediting American objectives in that country. When he returned from a visit
to Europe, Richard Nixon had this observation about America's friends.
As I traveled through the capitals of Europe, what was shocking to me was that in talking
to old friends in London and Paris and Rome, friends of freedom too, who I thought understood
this great conflict between communism and freedom, there was not just neutrality with
regard to our position in Vietnam, but opposition to it. Although publicly, of course, they
are remaining, shall we say, politely silent.
French President Charles de Gaulle continued moving his country farther away from the United
States into a neutral position in the Cold War by wooing the Soviet Union and other communist
nations. De Gaulle made an 11-day trip to Russia, which ended with a joint call for
an end to foreign intervention in Vietnam. Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin reciprocated
later in the year with a nine-day visit to France. De Gaulle gave him a royal welcome.
De Gaulle also pulled the rug out from under the entire European allied mutual defense
system by declaring French withdrawal from all military aspects of NATO and demanding
that all foreign bases be removed from French soil. The French ambassador in Washington,
Charles Lusset, said that this did not mean France was backing out of her commitments.
We want to remain your friend and your ally within the Atlantic alliance. We know that
this alliance is still indispensable for the balance and for the peace of the world. We
do not think that the military threat is so great in Europe today. But if this threat
were to be revived, you know which side we would be on. The other 14 NATO members decided
that the organization could function regardless of French policy and reaffirmed that the pact
would continue. Plans were made to move the military command to Belgium as France withdrew
her troops from NATO command. President Johnson sought during 1966 to maintain and improve
relations with many nations. He traveled to Mexico and expressed continued American interest
in the Alliance for Progress. The chief executive made the most extensive trip ever by an American
president. He journeyed more than 32,000 miles, stopping in New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines,
South Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and South Korea. He was warmly received at every stop.
He told the people in each of these countries that American objectives in that part of the
world are to build freedom, peace, and prosperity for all and to eradicate ignorance, poverty,
and disease. There is new hope, a new vision in this vast area of the world. Nations are
joining together, not only to resist the pressure and to prove that might does not make right,
but to make a peaceful life possible for all of their people. Despite the war in Vietnam,
Russia expressed a desire for better understanding with the United States in areas of mutual
interest. An air pact was signed providing for direct airline service between New York
and Moscow. A treaty to ban nuclear weapons in outer space was signed by the U.S., Russia,
and other U.N. members. Diplomats also revealed that a nuclear nonproliferation treaty was
closer to reality than ever before, and President Johnson announced that Americans would find
it easier in the future to travel in communist countries. Areas of mutual interest also meant
an exchange of weather data gathered by the satellites of both nations. In 1966, the Russians
became the first nation to land a spacecraft intact on the surface of the moon. The Soviets
also accomplished a crash landing onto Venus, but the biggest space records were scored
by the United States.
Lunar orbiters one and two returned spectacular pictures of the moon's surface. Surveyor
one functioned beautifully, managed a soft landing on the moon, and also returned sharp
detailed photographs of the lunar surface. The manned Gemini program was concluded after
accomplishing almost everything it set out to do. There were five two-man space shots
during the year, beginning with Gemini 8 in March. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and David
Scott performed the first rendezvous and docking with another vehicle in space. Of all the
missions in 1966, Gemini 9 had the most problems getting off the ground. The first attempt
to orbit a target vehicle failed. A second attempt to get the mission going failed when
computer trouble necessitated postponing the flight for two days. On the third try, all
launch operations went without a hitch, and astronauts Tom Stafford and Eugene Cernan
were off on their three-day mission. They set an accuracy record on splashdown, landing
just 300 yards off target after 44 orbits. Not all went so well in space. As rendezvous
was achieved, but docking became impossible, as the astronauts told mission control...
Astronauts John Young and Michael Collins in Gemini 10 hit a high altitude mark of 475
miles. That record was broken on Gemini 11 by astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon,
who guided their spacecraft to an altitude of 850 miles. Gordon ran into problems during
his spacewalk. Command pilot Pete Conrad called Gordon back into the spacecraft early. In
the final mission of the program, Gemini 12 spacewalker Buzz Aldrin proved that spacewalking
and working could be done. With Gemini completed, the next steps for American scientists became
Apollo and the Moon. Director of the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston, Robert Gilruth,
took aim at a lunar landing. With our time schedule and with the present state of Apollo,
it's in the best interest of getting on with the program to close out Gemini now and put
our full effort into the Apollo program. Natural disasters claimed many lives in 1966. Earthquakes
in Varto, Turkey and Tashkent, Russia claimed hundreds of lives. Floods in Italy took many
lives and ruined works of art, which can never be replaced, and resulted in millions of dollars'
worth of property damage. When it was over, correspondent Ernie Letito described the scene.
I walked through flood-torn Florence for the second day today. The pigeons were back, and
with them, blue skies and a sun that was summer warm. I saw two hungry women fight over a
piece of dried meat. The loser cursed the winner. I saw others, many of them, picking
through heaps of mud and garbage, looking for something to eat. Hundreds of trucks poured
into the city with food and water, but there was not enough to go around. In Abfafan, South
Wales, a black avalanche of coal slag came down on a schoolhouse, killing 137 children
and 7 adults. Gwyneth Davies saw the disaster from her home and gave this description.
We heard this terrible roar like a jet, and everything started to shake, so we ran out
the back, and all you could see was a terrible cloud of black dust, and then absolute stillness.
I've never known such a horrible stillness in all my life.
The Supreme Court in 1966 handed down a decision outlining strict guidelines to be followed
by police to protect suspects from self-incrimination. The High Tribunal ruled that all suspects
must be advised of their rights before being questioned. Other significant events included
the first operation for implanting an artificial heart.
This is Richard Iser, United Breast International in Houston. Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, famed
heart surgeon of the Methodist Hospital here in Houston, confirmed this afternoon at 4
o'clock Houston time that a left ventricle bypass operation was performed by him at this
hospital this morning. The pump is operating satisfactorily, and the patient's immediate
post-operative condition is good.
President Johnson entered the hospital for two operations. He had a small polyp removed
from his throat and had a repair job done on the scar from his gallbladder operation
of the year before. On July 1st, Medicare went into effect, and immediate acceptance
and success of the plan was credited by federal officials.
In New York City, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, on an official state visit to America, was
snubbed by city officials after he told newsmen that all Jews who support Israel are his enemies.
The king will dine alone tonight. Late this morning, Mayor Lindsay's office, in a terse
statement, had this to say.
The dinner is canceled. Under the circumstances, the mayor has concluded that it would not
be feasible to proceed with the dinner.
The mayor was described as deeply disturbed over the anti-Jewish remarks of King Faisal
of Saudi Arabia. This is Art McAloon in New York.
England's recording stars the Beatles found discord when mop-top John Lennon offended
fans by claiming the rock and roll group was as popular as Jesus. Lennon said he was misunderstood.
I wasn't saying whatever they were saying I was saying anyway. That's the main thing
about it. I wasn't saying the Beatles are better than Jesus or God or Christianity.
I was using the name Beatles because I can use them easier, and I was using it, you know,
because I can talk about Beatles as a separate thing. But I could have said TV or cinema
or anything else that's popular.
Lennon apologized for making the remark, and Birmingham, Alabama disc jockey Tommy Charles,
who began a campaign to burn all Beatle records, accepted it.
We accept his apology and the manner in which it was offered. We think it's the least
we can do. An offhand remark like this is not only dangerous, but it can be very impressionable
on the young folks, and we think they have made a wise decision, and we accept their
apology.
The gala social event of the year took place in August, when the president's daughter,
Lucy Baines Johnson, married Patrick J. Nugent of Waukegan, Illinois. Not all the world's
leaders had such happy occasions to spell them from the pressures of world affairs.
In England, Prime Minister Harold Wilson's labor government won a smashing victory for
another term in power, but the mandate did not prevent strong opposition to new economic
policies. In an effort to stabilize the economy, Wilson ordered a wage price freeze. By year's
end, Britain's economy had not advanced, and Wilson was forced to extend the wage price
freeze for another six months. A 45-day shipping strike added to his troubles.
England also had a Commonwealth crisis with the breakaway colony of Rhodesia. The Ian
Smith regime celebrated its first anniversary since declaring unilateral independence, and
the British made no progress toward bringing the white supremacists to heel. When a last
ditch attempt to settle the matter failed, Foreign Secretary George Brown went to the
United Nations and requested...
Sanctions which will cause the greatest economic damage to the illegal regime.
The other white-only government in Africa made news in 1966. Prime Minister Hendrik
Fouvard swept back into office in South Africa with a strong mandate to continue his race
separatist policies. A white man working in the legislature assassinated the architect
of apartheid as he sat in the parliament. Acting Prime Minister Donje announced the
tragedy to the world.
It is my sad duty to express on behalf of all the tremendous sense of loss which overwhelms
us all on this tragic day as Cedar of the Lebanon has fallen.
The death of another head of state occurred at the beginning of the year. India's Prime
Minister Shastri died of a heart attack soon after signing a treaty in Tashkent, Russia
with President Mohammed Ayub Khan of Pakistan. The Tashkent treaty ended war between the
two nations on the Indian subcontinent. The world's only woman head of state, Mrs. Indira
Gandhi, was sworn in as Prime Minister. While holding India to a neutral position on the
Vietnam War, Mrs. Gandhi tried in vain to get peace talks going.
We in India are greatly interested and concerned about peace. For to us, it is not only a question
of an ideal, but one of very practical necessity.
In Spain, Generalissimo Franco presented a new constitution for approval. The new document
would provide for continuance of the monarchy and allow Franco to choose the new king. The
gains of government changed hands in Germany with the formation of a grand coalition between
the Christian and Social Democrats. Kurt George Kiesinger took over for Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor.
Kiesinger had been a member of Hitler's Nazi party, and while German officials discounted
any neo-Nazi activity in the country, world leaders watched with concern as the National
Democratic Party made substantial gains in two local elections. Spheres of influence
changed in 1966, and the biggest setbacks were suffered by communism. President Sukarno
of Indonesia handed over control of his government to Lieutenant General Suharto after the military
put down an attempted communist-inspired coup d'etat. The Communist Party was outlawed
by the new military leader, and Indonesia witnessed mass killings in a blood-red purge
of leftist elements. Ghana's army threw out President Kwame Nkrumah and his government,
saying the myth surrounding Nkrumah had been broken. The new Ghanaian government proceeded
to expel all Russian advisers who had been working in the country and also asked Chinese
communists to leave. A similar pattern occurred in Nigeria, where the army assumed control
of the country and all communists were asked to return home. There were a few old areas
of conflict which could have exploded into new war zones. Border clashes between Israel
and her Arab neighbors kept tensions high in the Middle East. Israel was censured by
the United Nations for a raid made into Jordan. Israeli Ambassador Michael Comey expressed
regret over the UN action. It is a matter of profound regret that the Security Council
has acted upon complaints concerning Israel reactions, but has not been able for 15 years
to adopt any resolution on Israel's complaints. In 1966, the split widened between communism's
two giants, Russia and mainland China. Both countries publicly expressed their discontent
by walking out of official ceremonies in protest over each other's policies and statements.
The split divided the entire communist world, making it necessary for the West to readjust
its thinking and military defense plans. Red China alone passed through a period of turmoil
not seen since its founding. A purge of high-ranking communist officials, such as Peking Mayor
Peng Chen, the promotion of others, such as Lin Piao to the number two spot in the hierarchy
of power behind Chairman Mao Zedong, and the formation of the Red Guard, all evidenced
the great internal struggle waged behind the bamboo curtain. The Red Guard, sort of an
organized, state-thinking mass of young people, surged through the streets of China's major
cities, bent on destroying all signs of Western influence. They clutched their Mao books and
screamed insults at traditional Chinese. Correspondent Ralph Yardley picked up this information in
the bamboo curtain listening post of Hong Kong.
The Red Guards made their first appearance on August 18th at a huge mass rally in Peking.
Since then, the undisciplined gangs of teenagers have been on a revolutionary rampage, aimed
at wiping out all signs of what the communists call bourgeois culture. There were reports
of bloodshed in some cities. Now the Communist Party leaders have ordered the Red Guards
to slow down. They've directed the youthful bands to establish more responsible leadership
and to discipline themselves like soldiers. The signs are that the Red Guards are complying
with the Party's orders.
China also exploded two nuclear bombs during the year. One device was carried on the head
of a missile, indicating that China was progressing more rapidly than earlier expected in its
development of long-range missiles and nuclear capability. China's support of North Vietnam
and its belligerent attitude on peace talks to settle the war were the principal reasons
that conflict raged throughout the year. The President could not make the war popular in
Congress, but he was given all he asked for and more in the way of military appropriations
to fight it. As many congressmen explained, there was no other course. On domestic issues,
the 89th Congress was very productive. President Johnson swelled with pride over its accomplishments.
And on the historians of tomorrow, right of today, they will say of the 89th, in my judgment,
this was the great Congress.
The first session of the 89th accomplished most of the work. The second, however, became
one of discontent. In 1965, Congress stamped its approval on one controversial piece of
legislation after another. In 1966, congressmen became annoyed with the President's demands
and refused to be coerced into decisions which could return to haunt its members up for re-election
at the end of the year. President Johnson was defeated on two major bills, the 1966
Civil Rights Bill and repeal of Section 14b of the Taft-Hartley Act, the so-called state
right-to-work laws. Most observers agreed with President Johnson that the 89th Congress
will go down in history as a great Congress. Despite the pressure of the Vietnam War, much
was done without putting the country into a wartime economy, and concern for the war
will play a dominating role when the 90th Congress meets in 1967 to draft new legislation.
One unrelated item Congress may have to consider concerns an incident with America's space
activities. A Watsonville, California man, John Karches, scratched his grandson's name
on the Surveyor 1 spacecraft and then announced to the world after its moon landing,
I, John Karches, do hereby lay claim to that part of the Earth's satellite, the moon,
which is within the radius of 10 miles in all directions from the spot where Surveyor
1 landed on the ocean of storms Oceanus Rossellinum. Mr. Karches added that he plans to charge
Americans $1 and all foreign nationals $1 million per person to visit his portion of
the moon. That is, if no laws are passed prohibiting private citizens from claiming land on celestial
bodies. And that's 1966 in review.
Music
You really got money?