Ohh that's nice, I am pretty interested in what the Mo Udall administration will do.
America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond
- Thread starter CountDVB
- Start date
Awesome! Go Mo Udall! Excited to see how his Presidency will be and who will be in his cabinet. As for Reagan his legacy will definitely be different in TTL.
I know there will be some stuff with the Supreme Court Judges so I will happily take suggestions for that.
Will also take suggestions for his cabinet and so on. I got one idea for someone.
Yeah, I have a couple of ideas, but definitely looking for ideas like Supreme Court Justice Members and anyone special for the cabinet.
1981: Morris King Udall the 40th President
1981: Morris King Udall the 40th President
Morris King Udall being congratulated by his predecessor, Ronald Reagan (1981)
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."- President Mo Udall being sword into office as the 40th President of the United States.
Morris King Udall being congratulated by his predecessor, Ronald Reagan (1981)
President Udall had alot of work to do starting about now. Central America was becoming more and more of a problem and diplomacy would be needed, especially as some of the powers that the Americans had called "allies", were proving to not be worthy. The whole camapign of Operation Condor was proving to be not worth it and was a net detriment to the Americans and to the people of the region. In fact, the upcoming months between his victory and being sworn-in was filled with outlining his plans. From the looks of it, he would have the United States focus more on domestic affairs and problems at home. While he would still do his best to have the nation assist their allies in times of crisis, the shift in tone indicated that he would be more selective over which incidents to get involved. This concerned alot of the reactionary governments and autocrats within Latin America over how long they can last. The left-leaning rebels meanwhile took this as a positive sign; their hopes laid in not having to worry about American presence as much and thus having a reasonable chance in overthrowing their oppressive governments and setting up their own, especially without the reinforcement of American intelligence forces.
Regarding the home front, the first question was on the economy. Inflation would need to be handled and also looking over which sectors could use government intervention to try and stabilize the economy while also investigating the factors that led to such troubles in the first place. When the economy would be settled and handled, they could then work in implementing the various reforms and projects that Udall was wanting to put in. In fact, he and his growing team were hard at working with Congress for their ambitious plan regarding the creation of an universal healthcare system along with exploring the totality of the healthcare coverage and any potential factors that may cause disruptions. Two of them stood out; one was how extensive and the other was on the logistics. The first one was solved as discussions with medical experts decided that it would best to cover not just medical care and check ups, but everything else, such as dental, vision and pharmeceuticals. The first one was considered a bit of surprise given how dentistry evolved and some even considered teeth as "luxury bones". This despite the growing connotations of dental and oral health to overall. As such, that was maintained in that dental being covered. The other was on if they would have enough doctors and medical specialists to be able to cover the entire population once they are ensured. This issue warranted more discussion between those crafting the bill and likely what would stagnate along with the various other questions such as oversight of the medical programs and so on, such as centralization versus state management and concerns of personal politics affecting it. Tied to this was also Udall ressurrecting an old idea from the 1960s: attemtping to get cigarettes (and other tobacco) regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
However, while that was at work, another aspect being worked on was on the reforms regarding legislation, campaigning and so on, done to ensure that wealthier politicians cannot just "buy" their way to victory and thus leveling the playing field. While he had some success here, he was encouraged by Askew and others to go further here, especially with Birch Bayh advocating for an amendment on dealing with the Electoral College as part of it. Overall, it was quite the busy time for the administration starting out and the offices being filled. For example, the Secretary of State would be none other than Jimmy Carter. One of Carter's influences was on who to choose to deal with the inflation problems: Paul Volcker for the Chair of Federal Reserve. The inflation crisis had been a large problem as a result of the Oil Crisises and the Panama incident and thus would be the main focus on dealing with the issue. The severity of the issue was compounded by undoing the deregulations that the Reagan administration did manage to put in and compounded the issue. As such, various answers were being tossed around on how to help people, with one bringing back an idea from decades prior, back during Lyndon B Johnson's "war on poverty". The idea of a guaranteed income for every American also took root, which saw the return of a document, signed by 1200 economists, calling for a guaranteed income for every American. It was an ambitious idea that would need to be hammered out, but at the very least, the idea of giving Americans money to infuse some life back into the economy would be considered.
All of this while Mo Udall was recovering from being shot at by John Hinckley Jr. back in March, much to the total shock of the nation. However, Udall did not let this deter him and even joked that it was a sign that he would be a notable president, people were already coming after him.
Although why he and his team went to work in dealing with the economy, the first of his administration's actions, would come into effect. The Udall Administration was pulling back from several operations and so on from Central America, signalling the ending of Operation Condor gradually.
1981: The Central American Cataclysm
1981: The Central American Cataclysm
José Napoleón Duarte, President of the Revolutionary Government Junta during the final offensive.
Mo Udall was never a fan of the Reagan Administration's approach to Central America. The Cold War fever pitch led to supporting various governments did not deserve American support and the incident with Panama was the straw that broke the camel's back on the whole thing. Beyond the Americans' meddling in the governments of their Central America neighbors, there was also Operation Condor. It was a United States-backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of opponents. It was officially and formally implemented in November 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America.
José Napoleón Duarte, President of the Revolutionary Government Junta during the final offensive.
As such, the entire ordeal was a smear on the good name of the United States and one of Udall's actions was in pretty much ending the Americans' involvement in that as well as pulling out their support for various certain governments within Central America involved in such behavior. Naturally, many of the rebellious factions were pretty relieved at this and saw it as their opportunity to go and prepare, though many of them were still exceptionally cautious since they did not want to try and do anything that could bring the Americans back in. Granted, it seemed as long as American citizens and places of importance such as embassies were not touched, then it should be all right. In fact, the former was what ended up kicking off the whole thing in the first place.
Back in December 2, 1980, members of the Salvadoran National Guard were suspected to have raped and murdered four American, Catholic church women (three religious women, or nuns, and a laywoman). Maryknoll missionary sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel, and laywoman Jean Donovan were on a Catholic relief mission providing food, shelter, transport, medical care, and burial to death squad victims. In 1980 alone, at least 20 religious workers and priests were murdered in El Salvador. This was because the miltiary dictatorship saw the Church as an enemy that went against the military and their rule and thus by killing Church figures, "the military leadership showed just how far its position had hardened in daring to eliminate those it viewed as opponents. This along with the junta's failure to do any proper investigation, Udall used it to pull the plug on the whole affair. It would not be long soon after before the Salvadoran Civil War had begun.
While the Udall administration was formally neutral on the affair, the atrocities committed by the Salvadoran National Guard was enough to give an informal denouncing on them though it was speculated that the Udall Adminstration managed to coerce certain nations to not support or give aid to the Salvadoran military government. On the opposite side of the civil war, it was the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, an umbrella group formed of five leftist guerrilla organizations. With the Americans sending no economic aid to the Salvadoran government nor significant training and equipment to the military, it was suspected they would not last long. When asked on this and the concerns of a Soviet-aligned government, Udall noted how accusations of communist sympathies led to Torrijos siding with them and to the Panama incident in the first place. When asked if he was willing to cooperate with them, Udall noted that the military dictatorship should end and hoped that a peace settlement could be established along with free and fair elections. Under normal circumstances, people would've questioned the wisdom of this, but the Panama incident and the problems from the last several years meant that most people were more focused on solving domestic issues and just hoped that peace could be restored there soon.
Of course, as the Udall administration pulled out of involvement, this led to the various similar autocratic governments falling. In Nicaragua, the Somoza regime would be ousted out of power by the Sandinista National Liberation Front within the following months, leading to the end of the dictatorship there. The Sandinistas inherited a country with a debt of US$1.6 billion, an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 war dead, 600,000 homeless, and a devastated economic infrastructure and, earlier, natural disaster in the devastating 1972 Nicaragua earthquake. 150,000 were either refugees or in exile, out of a total population of just 2.8 million. The devastation there did have the Udall administration willing to offer financial aid to the nation along with an attempt to establish peace and stability. The FSLN accepted some aid, but it was unknown whether or not how well they were willing to accept American help given everything that had happened.
Meanwhile, the Guatemalan Civil War would see its own shift. While the Reagan administration did increase the aid to the Guatemalan government (albeit not as much as expected due to the economic troubles and growing unpopularity of Reagan), the outrageous human rights' violations was what led to the Udall Administration to cut off all military aid over to the Guatemalan government. Many noted that this was part of the new human rights oriented foreign policy influenced by the Secetary of State Jimmy Carter. In fact, one major instance of this was El Diálogo, a growing dialogue exchange that came after increasing calls for better diplomatic relations to Cuba from young Cuban American groups. Many saw this as part of the next phase of detente and the prologue to what would be "The Cuban Thaw", a gradual warming of relations between the Americans and Cubans, and part of the bigger descalation of tensions between the US and USSR. This would be reinforced by the discussions for the SALT II Treaty starting once more after stalling during the Reagan administration.
Some of the hawkish members from both parties were not happy with these sort of decisions, though the Udall Adminsitration countered by pointing to the past failures. One rather memorable line was "some of our politicians would rather focus on wars abroad and ignore problems back home. The people tired of Vietnam Wars and Panama incidents." Most of the American population was largely in agreement with this, especially as they preferred focus on the economic situation. Though speaking of Panama, there was a need to try and descalate tensions and talks would begin in 1982 over regarding the Panama canal and over the crisis with Torrijos.
Lastly, the affect of this along with the planned end of Operation Condor left some of the reactionary juntas down in South America becoming antsy on what would happen, especially with Cuba and Argentina...
Yeah, not much of a surprise. Udall OTL criticized alot how Reagan handled stuff so here, given how things are even worse with the Panama thing, makes sense they'd pack it in and let the jerks suffer the consequences of their action. Torrijos likely won't die from his plane accident though Manuel Noriega may try something.
Sandinistas take control a couple years later than planned, but still do. They don't have any Contras to worry about though it remains to be seen how they will they deal with the indigenous peoples. El Salvador will probably take a couple years to be resolved. All in all though, Central America will be in less trouble by our time and an earlier Cuban thaw occurs along with SALT II treaties.
After all, no Afghanistan invasion after seeing what happened with the Americans and told the Afghan communists to pretty much don't do anything stupid. Of course, doesn't mean everything will be all hunky-dory, mainly because the Daoudites and the PDPA could find common ground in stuff to have rammifications down the line.
Sandinistas take control a couple years later than planned, but still do. They don't have any Contras to worry about though it remains to be seen how they will they deal with the indigenous peoples. El Salvador will probably take a couple years to be resolved. All in all though, Central America will be in less trouble by our time and an earlier Cuban thaw occurs along with SALT II treaties.
After all, no Afghanistan invasion after seeing what happened with the Americans and told the Afghan communists to pretty much don't do anything stupid. Of course, doesn't mean everything will be all hunky-dory, mainly because the Daoudites and the PDPA could find common ground in stuff to have rammifications down the line.
Summer of 1981: Courts and Sicknesses
Summer of 1981: Courts and Sicknesses
Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler, new Supreme Court Justice
Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler, new Supreme Court Justice
With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, there was obviously the search for the next candidate. One of the commonalities that President Udall and his predecessor Ronald Reagan shared was in wanting to put in the first female Supreme Court judge. As such, Mo Udall began compiling a list of candidates to do so. The one that stood out was Shirley Hufstedler. Graduating at the top of her class, she was appointed Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, by Governor Pat Brown in 1961. In 1966, she was appointed Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeals and then Hufstedler was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 17, 1968, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
She was originally considered for Secretary of Education, thanks to how she called for the Lau v. Nichols case to be reheard, writing that "access to education offered by the public schools is completely foreclosed to these children who cannot comprehend any of it" and that the decision paralleled similar arguments that were determined to be unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. The United States Supreme Court agreed with Hufstedler's assessment and overturned the Ninth Circuit's decision. However, given her role in getting the Supreme Court to side with her, this is what would win her the chocie to be nominated as the first female Supreme Court Justice, which she accepted and would be formally inducted in September that year.
Of course, not everything was good news in the summer of 1981. In early June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States reported that 5 homosexual men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, the first recognized cases of AIDS. As such, the Udall Administration would begin investigating on the matter. Meanwhile, starting around this time, AIDS activist groups and organizations began to emerge and advocate for people infected with HIV in the United States. The activism went beyond the pursuit of funding for AIDS research with groups acted to educate and raise awareness of the disease and its effects on different populations, even those thought to be at low-risk of contracting HIV. This would be done through publications and "alternative media" created by those living with or close to the disease. While the Udall Administration would begin looking into this, they would end up having to encounter another issue down the line that would need to be faced: people being discriminated for their sexual orientation and those who have genders beyond the binary.
Despite that, plenty of notable events have been happening. It is the first release of Donkey Kong and debut of Mario as a video game franchise. Walt Disney Productions' 24th feature film, The Fox and the Hound, is released after a six month delay due to the departure of Don Bluth and his animation team from the studio. The film receives mixed-to-positive reviews and is a box office success. It's notable for being the last film that was completed before Jim Henson ascended into the company. And MTV (Music Television) is launched on cable television in the United States.
The only thing I can think of would be a list of President Udall's Cabinet and Administration. Looks like the only ones I've seen in the posts are Jimmy Carter at State and Paul Volcker at the Fed.Let me know if I am forgetting anything or what I should discuss or so on.
Yeah. This is admittingly not one of my strong suits, so I'd be open to ideas and suggestions for this one. Never been that good with figuring out things for like positions and so on for it.
Fall 1981: Solidarity and Economics
Fall 1981: Solidarity and Economics
Solidarity Day March- September 5, 1981
As autumn was approaching, the Udall Administration was hammering out some of the last details for a way to help stimulate the economy though some last questions remained. Additionally, the past couple months have been bumpy, due to Volcker's policies to combat the massive inflation led by the Reagan administration. Of course, actions were still needed to address the fact that inflation took quite a toll on the finances of the American people, especially with gas prices becoming higher as a result of the Oil Crisis back in 1979. Various ideas were tossed around to deal with this though one that caught traction was simply giving the American people money. While not exactly a temporary guaranteed income as the more ambitious members considered, a healthy infusion of cash to the American taxpayer should be able to help counteract the net loss of money as a result of the greater inflation and the stagnant economy. Additionally, they figured it would be a good starting test to see how a potental extended plan could work. However, while this was going on, Udall had one issue to deal with that most wouldn't expect: the labor unions.
Solidarity Day March- September 5, 1981
Though Udall opposed right-to-work laws that undermined labor unions and still does, his Arizona constituents very strongly supported it, so Udall did, too—particularly in a 1965 Congressional vote back when he was a House Rep, a move that labor leaders held against him for years. While matters have gradually improved since then, they were still a bit skeptical on Udall and they were also unsure on how he would deal the economy. There was also some concerns over how back in the the 1960s, he tried to revise pay scales for federal employees and establish merit pay among other stuff. Additionally, the tough times served as a demoralizing effect for some and an aggressive effect for others. As such, there was a growing need to show the Udall administration to maintain his focus on the working folk, but also to the American people as a result.
In early September, thousands of air traffic controllers, members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), walked off their jobs with the Federal Aviation Administration. This would become part of the Solidarity Day March on September 5, 1981. The AFL-CIO's Solidarity Day march in Washington, D.C., came a couple days into the PATCO strike, having been pre-planned, and drew 260,000 to half a million union people. The solidarity march was even bigger than the great 1968 march. In other ways the march was a new experience in post-war Washington. Because, though many groups and parties supported the demonstration, it was overwhelmingly a demonstration of organized labor. It was the first major demonstration to have been organized for decades by the AFL-CIO.
While some Congressfolk and pundits used to try and jeer into the Udall Administration, he did not let it deter to them and instead would actually come and address in an impromptu speech. He noted how he was pleasantly surprised at how they came together to show Congress and the others the need to have their voices heard. He sent an apology over not having handled the issue sooner and more effectively. PATCO was demanding wage increases, safer working conditions, a 32-hour week, and an end to long shift patterns. As federal employees they were, however, barred from striking. They hoped that by organizing together with the help of more unions, it would send a clear message what the power of the working man had. It definitely worked though it also influenced Udall as the next coming days and weeks, there were further discussions with them and also for labor rights and their concerns. Ultimately, PATCO ironed out a solid deal and there was rumors on potential legislation for federal workers to be able to strike. It also helped spread the message regarding Udall's attempts at economy recovery through the stimulation. Most of all, Udall had the chance to ask questions and one thing that came to mind was on the idea of trade schools, notable since one of the issues discussed was also on how to supply more medical practioners and those in related fields for when the healthcare program would be finished for Congress to send. However, action was being taken to help the economy and many Americans would recieve checks to help try and deal with financial problems.
Meanwhile in autumn, Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler would be officially take her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. TGV high-speed rail service between Paris and Lyon over in France begins, something that has gathered some attention. Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a parade, by servicemen who belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization led by Khalid Islambouli and oppose his negotiations with Israel, leading some to begin noting the danger of "religious" extremists, a threat that Reagan noted back in his meeting with the Saudi King after the incident with the mosque, and something that would make some of the other nations more alert.
Yea, the PATCO strike remains a thorny issue in Washington DC National Airport (DCA), renamed Reagan National Airport in 1998. Many of the Air Traffic Controllers refuse to acknowledge the name change. A lot of military pilots (who lean GOP) like to tease the DCA air traffic controllers with the name.
Yeah, I learned about that back in @PickledFish's Fighting For Your Future! So while the worse economic conditions and couple of doubts on Udall’s track record do lead to it happening, it openly and quickly gets results, which reminds the workers and the American people of what they can do when they come together.
Also shows that he is listening to them. And this won’t be the last match or social movement happening here. Gears are spinning and dominos are put into place. Economy I imagine will be recovering slowly and steadily over time while the resource shock have created patterns amongst people that will influence policy and vice versa for he present day.
Winter 1982: More Middle East Mayhem
Winter 1982: More Middle East Mayhem
Collection of images from 1982 Hama Massacre
As 1982 began rolling in, things were winding down. The economy was slowly recovering from the affects of the Panama Canal incident and the 1979 Oil Crisis. As more economic boosting plans were considered, more long-term rammifications and explorations were noted and viewed into. Preliminary examinations into this along with stagflation as a general phenomena seemed to incidate the resource shock from the oil crisises were big movers. The Udall administration began looking into this, since it was becoming clear that the world's reliance on oil may not be good for economics. This came hand in hand with how the economy cracked with the supply chains being jeopardized by the Panama canal, at least with stuff that couldn't be accessed from closer Latin American nations. They further increased questions regarding the supply chain and yet another aspect of this was the discovery of a report from a couple years prior. The Charney Report—the first comprehensive assessment of global climate change due to carbon dioxide. Former President Reagan did actually consider having the report reviewed and a potential plan developed after the 1979 Oil Crisis, but now here, it was evident that there was something quite concerning there. Ultimately, they began wondering what to do with this regarding policy, at least with energy independence, fossil fuels and so on. Much of the petrol did come from the Middle East and was a large reason for American involvement there.
Collection of images from 1982 Hama Massacre
Speaking of the Middle East, everyone's attention turned to there once more as a sign of activity. The Udall Administration only made basic moves in recognizing the new government of Iran, but outside the basics with the parliamentary republic, not much else has been done. Unsurprisingly, there was still plenty of tension between them and the Americans, but the potential for matters to improve there was present after all. However, the trouble spot would come over in Arabia, specifically Syria. The Hama Uprising occurred in February 1982, when the Syrian Arab Army and the Defense Companies, under the orders of the country's president Hafez al-Assad, besieged the town of Hama for 27 days in order to quell an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood against al-Assad's government. This was the result of a series of revolts and armed insurgencies by Sunni Muslim extremists, mainly members of the Muslim Brotherhood that had been ongoing since 1976. The uprisings was aimed against the authority of the secular Ba'ath Party-controlled government of Syria, in what has been called a "long campaign of terror" with attacks on both civilians and off-duty military personnel, and civilians were also killed in retaliatory strike by security forces.The Hama Uprising was the culimination of all of this. The Baathists responded back viciously and perhaps on its own, would've been noteworthy in just breaking the insurrection. However, then came out the comparisons to what happened over with the Mosque attack a few years prior and how the Saudi government (influenced by Reagan) responded by cracking down and how the attackers were denounced as being false believers.These accusations were more notable given the comparisons; most Ba'ath party members were from humble, obscure backgrounds and favored radical economic policies, while these sort of Sunni Muslims had dominated the souqs and landed power of Syria, and tended to view government intervention in the economy as threatening.
In fact, in a moment of irony, the secular Baathists denounced these sort of extremists from Syria, from Saudi Arabia and some of the ones in Iran (even the deceased Khoimeini) as the modern-day munafiqun (singular: munafiq), the Islamic term referring to 'false Muslims'. They acknowledged the irony and even embracing, noting that despite their secular ways, they had more respect for the faith than their opponents, the same sort of people who would try and attack their own holy site for political reasons. This nomenclature would grow to spread like wildfire, though they would later be called Munafiq terrorists (or on occasion, Neo-Munafiqs) in terms of this specifc context first by the Americans and then the rest of the world, including the Middle East, to indicate these specific sort. While the Baathists would still gradually their prestige and luster with the people, they have succeeded in what they wanted: landing a devastating blow to their religious zealot enemies. They now had a name, one based on the faith they held to no less. One tied to their violent reputation and their reactionary beliefs. They could now be further seperated and isolated from the mainstream, the normal and benign followers who do follow the faith and just try to live their lives and not enforce it on others.
Of course, this would not be the only conflict going around in the era. As one finished, the other it looked like, might soon begin. Iran and Iraq have grown increasingly hostile over the years for various reasons, with one of the big ones ongoing was over a piece of land that belonged to Iran. One of the goals of Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq was to supplant Egypt as the "leader of the Arab world" and to achieve hegemony over the Persian Gulf. In addition, he hoped in finally achieving his desire of annexing the province of Khuzestan and becoming the regional superpower. Of course, he was frustrated that Iran was not as unstable as wanted, though it was still shaken with the coalition trying to balancing out the reformers, dealing with the hardliners and so on. As such, he was biding his time in building his army in the hopes of being prepared to fight Iran. However, he knew his window of opportunity was closing and needed to act now. While Iran was not sanctioned as suspected, the Americans' moving away from involvement gave him hope that other nations would not give aid over to the Iranians. At the end of Febuary... Iraq would launch a full-scale invasion of Iran, to the surprise of the world.
Having an external enemy was enough for the shaky Iranian ruling coaliation to come together to fight back against the invasion of their enemy. They began rallying their resources to defend the nation and preparing for conflict against them. And the news spread over to the world over what would happen. They were rather ambigious on the conflict. However, that said, the Udall Administration was considering perhaps strengthening relations over with the new Iranian government and perhaps lend some technical aid since they were the defenders in this conflict...
Spring 1982: Fight in the Falklands
Spring 1982: Fight in the Falklands
An amphibious vehicle patroling Port Stanley, 1982
The Labour Party over in the UK were struggling to say the least. Starting from the 1970s, the Labour government faced enormous economic problems and a precarious political situation. Faced with a global recession and spiralling inflation. Many of Britain's traditional manufacturing industries were collapsing in the face of foreign competition. Unemployment, and industrial unrest were rising. Unsurprisingly, matters were quite rough though aid came to the Labour government in the unexpected developments in American politics. The failures of the Reagan administration's policies and compared to what certain politicians and groups were wanting to do served as enough of a deterrent for James Callaghan to be abel to win reelection upon calling it in 1978. Now, with a potential one looming, things were looking difficult. At the same time, the problems of the UK going through such as spiraling inflation and so on, weren't all that different from the Americans so the room for collaberation and idea exchange was enough to start helping on different ways to combat inflation, but it seemed that it would have to be a storm that would have to be weathered as matters improved and figuring out further details.
An amphibious vehicle patroling Port Stanley, 1982
Fortunately, salvation would come in an unsual case. The Udall administration's ending of Operation Condor and its pulling out of support of the various juntas in Central and South America has gotten many of the leaders panicking, especially as Central America saw various autocrats begin falling to revolutionary forces. The biggest example was the total loss of support for Pinochet in Chile and with the growing human rights violation going on, rumors circulated the Americans would actually consider sanctions over on the military dictatorship, especially with the controversial 1980 Constitution. As such, various nations tried anything to be able to deter the inevitable. One such case was with Argentina.
Argentina had been in the midst of devastating economic stagnation and large-scale civil unrest against the military junta that had been governing the country since 1976. Matters got worse particularly during the transfer of power between the military dictators Generals Jorge Rafael Videla and Roberto Eduardo Viola late in March 1981. Moe change happened in December 1981, bringing to office a new junta headed by General Leopoldo Galtieri (acting president), Air Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo and Admiral Jorge Anaya. It was with the Galtieri government that they aimed for the island territories. By opting for military action, the Galtieri government hoped to mobilise the long-standing patriotic feelings of Argentines towards the islands, diverting public attention from the chronic economic problems and the ongoing human rights violations of its Dirty War, bolstering the junta's dwindling legitimacy. Anaya was the main architect and supporter of a military solution for the long-standing claim over the islands, calculating that the United Kingdom would never respond militarily . Unfortunately for them, the Labour-run United Kingdom would respond military, seeing this as a political gift. The conflict began on 2 April, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control.
The conflict was the last major episode in the protracted dispute over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina asserted that the islands are Argentine territory and the Argentine government thus characterised its military action as the reclamation of its own territory. The British government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and strongly favour British sovereignty. Neither state officially declared war, although both governments declared the Islands a war zone. The Falklands War as it would be called had profound affects on both nations. In the very short term, atriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the loss and surrenderwas the spark that would lead to massive protests against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall and the future democratisation of the country. In the United Kingdom, the Labor government would be bolstered by the successful outcome, giving them the clout they need to be able to be reelected once more with their slight majority, despite the concerns. It also further showed the end for the various tinpot dictators over in Latin America without the support of certain American intelligence networks.