New England July 26 2006 to July 26 1979 Part 2

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

New England July 26 2006 to July 26 1979

Part 2.

By Bob C.

Seattle Times. May 19th, 1980.

Mount St Helens erupted right on schedule, at 8:32 AM May 18th. Mandatory evacuations resulted in no deaths. In the New England History there were 57 deaths. Preparations made to deal with the huge volume of ash for hundreds of miles down wind of the volcano have been successful. The destroyed area was covered with sensors and video-cameras, that transmitted their images by radio before being destroyed or were specially hardened.

Channel 4 News. May 21st, 1980.

Returns are in from Quebec. 51% to stay in Canada. Claude Ryan, leader of the Quebec Liberal Party and leading politicians of every Canadian party pledged that an improved Canadian constitution will provide for recognition of Quebec as a distinct society. Rene Levesque, leader of the Quebecois party pledged that there will be another referendum soon if there isn't an acceptable Canadian constitution.

Time Magazine. May 26th,1980.

Sears-Kmart is returning to its tried and true, highly successful selling formula: aiming straight for the charge accounts of America's middle class. They are aiming for solid store brands with low prices. They have added clothing lines by Jaclyn Smith, 5 years earlier than before, and have introduced a line of housewares by a relatively unknown personality, Martha Stewart. They plan to add a clothing line by Kathy Ireland, age 17, to appeal to teen clothing shoppers. For children they are developing a line of toys and clothing with Sesame Street.

The next tasks will be to rein in the huge bureaucracy that has allowed the Sears 864 stores to be run much like medieval fiefdoms. They have begun peeling away layers of encrusted management, streamlining the field organization and centralizing decision making and buying at Chicago headquarters. Earlier this month, the company started an aggressive campaign to keep its 23 million charge customers despite Washington's demands for credit restraints. It is expected that they will soon turn that charge card into a credit card called Discover.

Time Magazine. June 3rd,1980.

Josip Broz Tito is recovering well from his latest heart bypass operation. He has already outlived himself in the New England Past by a month. Doctors attribute knowledge of his course of treatment from that history, as well as newer medical techniques available from New England for his survival.

There has been a crackdown on nationalism throughout Yugoslavia, including in Slovenia, among Serbs in all republics, and among Bosnians and Croats. Tito doesn't expect to live to the 1990's, but he intends to see Yugoslavia on a peaceful course that will avoid the civil wars that engulfed that nation in the New England Future.

Time Magazine. June 10th, 1980.

With the June 3rd primaries, Governor Ronald Reagan has enough delegates committed to him to be assured the Republican party's nomination for President. Governor Mitt Romney has announced his withdrawal from the contest.

Bush refuses to drop out. In fact, last month, before Reagan had enough delegates to be assured nomination, Bush named former Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski to monitor spending by independent conservative campaign committees that help Reagan. Bush is not charging that there has been any illegal activity, but wants Jaworski to watch for any signs that there might be.

To Reagan's staff, the Bush campaign has dwindled from a challenge to a minor irritant. Says Reagan Campaign Manager William Casey: "Bush is a drain on our time and attention." But for the sake of party unity in the fall, Reagan refuses to put pressure on Bush to quit. Says Reagan: "That's a decision only he can make."

Reagan's staffers would prefer to be working full time on their most urgent task: preparing for the campaign against Jimmy Carter. For example, Reagan's personal campaign organization eventually must be merged with the Republican Party apparatus in Washington and in the 50 states, but that cannot be completed as long as the nomination is still being contested.

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