1972

January 1972
On the 12th of January Jerry Rubin and John Lennon with Yoko Ono appeared at a press conference shown city wide on NY television channel WABC-TV. Jerry had had his hair cut – a fact that the FBI duly took note of. The FBI had noted Lennon’s drug charge in the UK when a police officer planted 200 grams of hash in Ringo Starr’s flat – after Jimi Hendrix had been living there for a while. Lennon’s $75,000 contribution to a new left group formed to support the RNC.

According to Microsoft Encarta, on January 25th Nixon went public over the many proposals that his government had put to the North Vietnamese in the past 2½ years. He unveiled a new eight point plan for peace in Vietnam including a new presidential election to be held in South Vietnam. Nixon’s plan was a revised version of a peace plan submitted by Vietcong in july 1971. It called for immediate resignation of Thieu, then negotiations with Saigon administyrtation. Hanoi too insisted on the immediate resignation of Thieu at the Paris Talks.

February 1972
On February 3rd the South Vietnamese drove into Cambodia.

Nixon made his historic visit to China in February 1972 as part of a tour – Canada, Mexico, Peru.

The US put new communication satellite and Beijing receiving station in place to ensure plenty of coverage for Nixon’s China visit. Nixon made his farwewells on Feb 17th on the White House lawn. Then the Nixons went to Hawaii – then onto China; and arrived in Beijing on February 21st for an 8 day visit. Kissinger, Nixon met Chou en Lai and Mao Tse Tung on the first day. On February 27th Shangai Communique issued jointly by US and China, pledged both countries to work for “normalisation” of relations. In it the US acknowledged only one China and that Taiwan is a part of China and agreed to withdraw its military forces from the island.

Immigration and Naturalisation service (INS) were looking to deport the Lennons after their visa ran out on 29th February 1972.
Lennon’s attorney blamed Lennon’s outspoken remarks concerning the Vietnam war. Lennon was denied a green card – so was Yoko and she had no previous convictions. Republican senator Storm Thurmond had written to the AG complaining about Lennon’s presence.

March 1972
The policy of Vietnamization went into crisis in when NV launched a 12 division assault across demilitarised zone against the south. The Eastertide Offensive, which was an all out attempt to conquer the South, was 200,000 NV who waged an all out attempt to conquer the South. It was a tremendous gamble for them. The Eastertide attack on Quang Tri  Province began March 30th. Nixon authorised the US 7th fleet to hit NVA troops with air strikes and naval gunfire on April 2nd and authorised a bombing campaign against all NVA troops invading SV and B-52 strikes on NV on April 4th.
Heavy B-52 bombing of the north ranging 145 miles into NV began on April 10th.
May 8th 1972, Nixon announced full scale bombing of the north, suspended since spring of 1968, would resume. Bombing of Hanoi and mining of Haiphong harbour, and savaging of transport lines and military installations all over the country. Before the 1972 elections Kissinger and Nixon were determined to carry out any level of genocide – risking retaliation by USSR and China for destruction of their ships – to make Vietnamization work, with George Bush acting as their apologist (??)

April 1972
Fred Bennett was assassinated on 6th April 6th 1972. FBI still up to its dirty tricks. Fred Bennett, prominent BPP in the Bay Area, was successfully bad-jacketted as a police informer and subsequently executed by Jimmie Carr, a BPP Commander. Carr was later bad-jacketted – as a police agent – he was assassinated by two BPPs in his back yard 6th April 1972.
Joe Burton – FBI agent provocateur, 1972 to 1975. He created ‘pseudo gangs’ over the US. FBI used these front groups to disrupt legitimate revolutionary movements in the USA WWW.wakeupmag.co.uk

10th April 1972, “Nixon’s pursuit of détente with the USSR ultimately paid off in the SALT I nuclear arms control agreement of 1972”. www.pbs.org  USA-USSR biological weapons ban treaty
Nixon began his visit to Moscow on 22nd May and by the 26th  the SALT I agreement was signed.
Secretary of State in 1974 said that ‘Most Favored Nation’ status and credits were specifically pledged in a solemn commitment to Moscow in 1972 – find out more? In 1974 it was threatened by Henry “Scoop” Jackson over issue of Soviet Jews rights to emigrate to Israel. See 1974.
Hoover, on 12th april 1972, told Nixon that Lennon was only staying in the US to disrupt the RNC. But Lennon had given up this idea byt hen – his personal trouble due to the CIA-FBI-INS harassment campaign had taken its toll, he’d withdrawn from front line political activity.

April 16th Apollo 16 landed in the lunar highlands.
– the 5th lunar landing mission, John Young and Charles Duke. And this achieved what?

On the 22nd April John & Yoko joined the National Peace Rally in New York.
Lennon on Dick Cavett’s TV show claimed his lawyer’s phones were being tapped, and he was being followed by government agents.  The next day the pursuit stopped.

 “Vietnam Veterans against the war” was part of a nationwide week of protest in the US from April 19th. A mass demo of 200,000 occurred in Washington on the 24th. War deaths were announced on the 29th, 45,000. On the 30th the last US marine combat units departed Vietnam.

May 1972
“Vietnam Veterans against the war” - On the 3rd of May there was a mass arrest – with 12,000 protesters taken into custody.

Senator Mike Mansfield connected to US marines leaving Vietnam?

May to June – lots of Superpower summits

J Edgar Hoover died May 2nd 1972. James Starrs, forensics scientist suspected foul play. “J Edgar Hoover death records getting another look” by Kalpana Srinivasan.
Below - http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/james_starrs_profile/9.htm
from crime library
"He died on May 2, 1972, at the age of 77. His body was discovered in his Washington, D.C., home near his bed, some say partially clothed, others say nude. The question of who actually found the body has been a source of continuing dispute. No complete autopsy was conducted, but his death was listed as hypertensive cardiovascular disease. However, his medical records and personal habits do not support this assumption. His personal physician of more than 20 years said that Hoover did not have any heart disease of which he was cognizant.
"The doctors, who decided in just over an hour that an autopsy was not needed, had all expressed or published opinions on the importance of autopsies for undetermined deaths, and one would think especially so in the case of a man with the status of J. Edgar Hoover. That he had his enemies is a gross understatement. He was a man marked for death, being the subject of regular death threats and was even chauffeured around in a bulletproof Cadillac. When he traveled, he would take a large retinue of agents to protect him. He had a fetish for personal security.
"Due to the existence of suggestive circumstances near the time of Hoover's death, the possibility of his having committed suicide cannot be overlooked. During the months before his death, he was heavily freighted in disputes with the White House over his tenure and performance as the FBI director. On the night of his death, according to his longtime secretary, he had received a disturbing phone call. Sometime between ten and midnight, President Richard Nixon had phoned him to urge him to retire. That means he was in a distraught state of mind just two to four hours prior to his estimated time of death. In addition, Jay Nash had published Citizen Hoover, a brutal assault on Hoover's career. This book was on Hoover's nightstand when his body was found, another item to give him a distinct and cumulative motive for suicide or for cardiac misadventure.
"In general, Hoover's final years were stormy in the extreme. Time and again, he was subjected to criticisms and descriptions of the FBI's bungling of a case. Some of these brickbats came from within the ranks of the FBI itself. Recklessly, Hoover responded to these attacks with lengthy intemperate letters and his tenure was in serious jeopardy.
"One odd incident was the report of a neighbor, who saw two men carry something heavy and wrapped in a blanket out Hoover's kitchen door. They heaved it into a station wagon and drove away, but this took place an hour before the body was reportedly discovered, and several hours before it was actually removed. Given the many questions surrounding the death of this preeminent person, an exhumation and autopsy should be considered as the only way to determine what should have been more clearly determined at the time ---the causative factors in his death."
Filmed depection of these events? – Anthony Summer’s take on this?

On the 12th May the INS tried to grant Yoko Ono the right to stay in the US, but not Lennon, who attended an anti-war march in NY that day and led choruses of “Give Peace A Chance”.
Lennon’s “Sometime In New York City” album, when released, failed to make the top 40.

Nixon went on to a Moscow summit on May 22nd. SALT I nuclear arms control agreement of 1972 was signed on May 26th. www.pbs.org

June 1972
The Watergate Burglary
June 17th Security Guard Frank Willis called Washington Police to report a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watregate office building. The arrest of five men with ties to the C.R.E.E.P. resulted in a huge scandal which did for Nixons presidency.  Nixon had sent in a team of burglars to wiretap Democrat National Committee offices. The team members had extensive CIA histories, including James McCord, E Howard Hunt and five of the Cuban burglars. They work for the committee to reelect the president (CREEP) which does work like disrupting Democratic campaigns and laundering Nixon’s illegal campaign contributions. CREEP’s activities are funded and organised by another CIA front, the Mullen Company.

Miami’s AG Mitchell agreed to illegal E Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy scheme to burgle the Democratic HQ. Bernard Barker, a CIA “asset” and former associate of mobster Santos Trafficante, was put in charge and took Hunt, Sturgis and two others. On evening of 16th June 1972. Frank Sturgis and E Howard Hunt had been involved in the planning of the Bay of Pigs in 1960 (check how wrapped up in JFK assassination they were). Barker had been identified by SeymourWeitzman as the ‘secret service agent’ who’d prevented Dallas police and others from inspecting the grassy knoll after JFK’s assassinatin.

Kissinger went back to china on June 23rd for a two week visit.

On June 23rd Nixon discussed with his Chief of Staff, HR Haldeman, a plan to use the CIA to obstruct the FBI’s Watergate Investigation. Revelation of the tape recording of this conversation sparked his eventual resignation in 1974.

July 1972
In July Hanoi accused the US of deliberately bombing dams and dikes – irrigation and flood control system around the Vietnamese Red River.
July 19th SV troops began counter offensive in Binh Dinh Province. August 1st kissinger met with Le Duc Tho  in Paris.

August 1972
On August 1st the first article exposing the Watergate scandal appeared in the Washington Post, written by Bernstein & Woodward. August 30th Nixon announced that John Dean had completed his investigation into Watergate wiretapping and he added that noone from the White House was involved. Judge John Sirca imposed a gag order on the Watergate break-in case on October 4th.
The CIA’s main collaborating newspaper in America, The Washington Post, reports Nixon’s crimes long before any other newspaper takes up the subject. The two reporters, Woodward & Bernstein, make almost no mention of the CIA’s many fingerprints all over the scandal. It is later revealed that Woodward was a Naval intelligence briefer to the White House, and knew many important intelligence figures, including General Alexander Haig. His main source was “Deep Throat”, who probably was one of these intelligence figures .
Deep Throat at one point warned W&B hat their lives were in danger.
CIA director Helms was fired by Nixon for failing to help cover up the Watergate Scandal. Helms and Nixon had always disliked each other. The new CIA director was William Colby, and relatively more open to CIA reform.

John Lennon met with several “radical journalists” as awkard questions about Watergate were being asked. He offered financial support and encouragement to expose Nixon’s part in this.

A candlelit vigil and procession for peace occurred during August – Duffy Square, New York.
Satirist Jules Feiffer, actors Ben Gazzara, Viveca Lindfors, Eli Wallach, Lee Grant and Peter Boyle. Writers Arthur Miller, anais Nin, John Laker, and John & Yoko.
Kurth Vonnegut read a statement.
The newspaper was reporting that troops in the field and tta home were starting to rebel – the reason Nixon had been resorting to ever more long-range bombing.

August 23rd the last US left Vietnam.

September 1972
September 16th Quang Tri City was recaptured by South Vietnamese
September 29th. Heavy US air raids in NV.
Secret Peace meetings with Kissinger and Le Duc Tho began in Paris on October 8th.
Kissinger and Le Duc agreed to major concessions. US were to allow NV troops in SV to stay there and NV dropped demand for removal of SV’s Thieu and his government.
Nixon needed to end the war before the election.
After a US operation in October the North had suffered a major setback – Giap was ousted in favour of his deputy General Van Tien Dung.

October 1972
October 23rd the US suspended bombing of North Vietnam.
October 24th President Thieu publicly denounced Kissinger’s peace proposals.
October 26th Kissinger disclosed his nine point peace plan, which Thieu called a sell out. He announced that “peace is at hand”.

Protests outside the 1972 Republican and Democrat Party Conventions sabotaged the attempted assassination of San Diego University professor Peter Bohmer by “secret army organisation” of ex-minutemen formed, subsidised, armed and protected by the FBI. See COINTELPRO – further research needed

November 1972
Election
Influence of China on election?
“Anxious to weaken Muskie in the contest for the 1972 Democratic nomination, the Republican president told an aide to mail post-cards to all the state’s Democrats urging them to vote for Edward Kennedy . “Two months earlier, Haldemann and Nixon discussed funding an independent black candidate to siphon votes from the Democrats. Republican sympathisers would be encouraged to send Jesse Jackson money to make him believe there was a grass-roots movement for him to run.” –Grauniad on recently released Nixon-White House tapes. – Guardian 31.10.97, Martin Kettle
Nixon was re-elected on November 7th – the biggest Republican landslide in US history. Had Nixon become a threat to the elite? It’s possible that with such a huge majority and popularity, Nixon was no longer under their control.

Nixon, 60.6, 520
George S McGovern 37.5, 17
John G Scmitz (American) 1.4, 0

November 14th Nixon threatened ‘swift and severe retaliatory action’ if NV violated proposed peace proposals.

On November 22nd the 22 year old US ban on travel to China was lifted. The US resumed bombing of North Vietnam on the 18th of December – the heaviest of the war, which was halted only after two weeks.

November 30th US troops withdrawal from Vietnam was completed – although still 16,000 Army advisors and administrators remained to assist SV’s forces.

December 1972
December 4th talks began again in Paris and collapsed on the 16th.

On December 7th the final Apollo lunar mission, # 17,  – the first night launch – and only mission with a professional geologist on-board. But only because of pressure from the scientific community.
And no-one went back to the moon for over 40 years …
American interest in lunar exploration died at the end of 1972 when the last Apollo astronauts left.
The public were not happy over costs of moon flights. Especially as there was a complete lack of Soviet challenge. Apollo 17 was the last. Three landings and exciting follow on program were cancelled. Apollo 17 was the longest single moon walk, furthest distance and greatest weight of samples – Harrison Scmitt and Eugene Cernan – they left the moon on 14th December 1972, and none ever went back.

The Shooting of Wallace
On the 8th of December E Howard Hunt’s wife died when her plane blew up several miles above Chicago airport. She was linked to US intellignce. Hunt had refused a request from a Nixon aide to burgle Arthur Bremer’s house after Bremer had attempted to assassinate right-wing presidential candidate Geroge Wallace of Alabama. Wallace couldn’t run as he was wounded and Nixon got the right vote. It was Nixon that got the FBI to seal Bremer’s residence to prevent local police from investigating.
Athur Bremer tried to assassinate George Wallace at pres campaign rally in laurel, Maryland. Wallace was hit 4 times. Three other were hit and wonded too.
Nixon was concerned that Bremer might have ties to the republican party, or worse, the pres re-election committee. He got Hunt to break in to Bremer’s apartment to discover if there were any documents lining him to Nixon or his main political opponent George McGovern. Hunt claimed to have refused to carry out this order.

December 13th – Paris peace talks with Kissinger and Le Duc Tho collapsed after Kissinger listed 69 changes demanded by President Thieu. Nixon made an ultimatum to NV that talks must resume within 72 hours. Hanoi did not respond so Nixon ordered eleven days and eleven nights of maximum-force bombing against military targets in Hanoi, carried out by B-52 bombers.
Paris Peace Talks collapsed on the 16th.
They started on December 18th, dubbed the “Christmas Bombings” and widely denounced. British prime minister Heath was one of the few European leaders not to criticize Nixon for the bombing of Hanoi, one month before the Paris peace accords were due to commence.

NOTES 1972
1972 - Trade orienting away from the West towards socialist countries by joining their economic union called the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Cuba became dependent on the USSR –for defence and economic survival since the US severed relations with them in January 1961.

Cheech and Chong album in 1972 – stand up routines and records.
Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid.

Black Panther leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt was convicted of murder, in 1972, from the testimony of a paid informer working under the direction of the FBI and LAPD -  fact that was initially concealed. Kidnap and murder of Caroline Olsen during a robbery in 1968. Her husband who was also shot survived to identify a different man as the killer. Police informant and BPP member Julio Butler identified Pratt, leading to arrest and charges. He was released in 1997 when his conviction was declared unsafe.

Nicaragua
An earthquake hit the capital, Managua (?), in 1972 killing 20,000 and ruining the city. Six hundred US troops and other Central American forces allowed Samoza to control public order. The National Guard went on a looting spree.
Fire at Rocky Flats plutonium bomb factory in Colorado – which caused plutonium contaimantion in the surrounding countryside.”The nuclear barons” PETER PRINGLE AND JAMES SPIGELMAN. YEAR?

Vocational Education
Micheal Lerner (later an advisor to Hilary Clinton) wrote The New Socialist Revolution. “Education will be radically transformed in our socialist community…the main emphasis will be on learning how to …live and work collectively…The next level is learning some series of skills, for one’s first set of jobs.”

“Executive Action” based on Donald Freed and Mark Lane’s book of the same name about the US intelligence services assassinating a popular public figure – eg, Kennedy.

George Bush’s son GW skipped training sessions when he was transferred from Texas Air National Guard to the Alabama Guard while working on an Alabama political campaign.

The price received for basic exports (the sort of raw product that Third World countries depend on) went up and down like a rollercoaster. Most of the time it was too low to cover the cost of manufactured imports. The OPEC discovered the power of collective action.

CIA also a law unto itself
The Case-Zablocki Act was passed by Congress so that a congressional review was required of executive agreements. In theory this should have made the CIA more accountable, but turned out to be only marginally effective.
Congress voted to cut off CIA funds for its secret war in Cambodia.