Washington Post: REAGAN WANTS TO ABOLISH CONSUMER PRODUCT AGENCY 5/11/81.

Musician Bob Marley dies at 36 of brain and lung cancer.

5/11/81.

Ed Meese calls the American Civil Liberties Union "a criminals' lobby."

5/13/81.

TV viewers jam the switchboards of stations across America to complain that their soap operas and game shows have been preempted by coverage of the shooting of Pope John Paul II.

5/14/81.

A bitter Michael Reagan says he'll resign from his job at a military supply firm after a letter he wrote on March 24th in which he invoked his father's name on a business solicitation becomes public. "It's just so silly," he says. "Somebody else can write a letter to the military bases ... and say, 'Hey, I think Ronald Reagan's a great President.' I write a letter and say my Dad's a great President and I have the press on my doorstep." And did Dad have any advice? "Don't write any letters."

5/17/81.

"His vision, now as then, has a compelling simplicity about it."

--Honorary degree awarded to President Reagan by Notre Dame, where he emitted the first of umpteen bazillion utterances of the phrase "Win one for the Gipper" 41 years earlier while filming Knute Rockne All American Knute Rockne All American 5/21/81.

New York Times: WHITE HOUSE SEEKS EASED BRIBERY ACT / SAYS 1977 LAW INHIBITS BUSINESS ABROAD BY U.S. CORPORATIONS 5/21/81.

The US casts one of only three votes against a World Health Organization ethics code preventing the sale of American infant formulas to Third World countries, where their use with contaminated water has killed thousands.

5/31/81.

Newsweek publishes a rare cover story on art, "The Revival of Realism," ill.u.s.trating it with a very realistic painting of a bare-breasted woman. publishes a rare cover story on art, "The Revival of Realism," ill.u.s.trating it with a very realistic painting of a bare-breasted woman.

JUNE 1981.

6/5/81.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta issues a report about unexplained outbreaks of a kind of pneumonia that usually affects only cancer patients. All five cases described as well as six others under study are h.o.m.os.e.xual men in their 20s or 30s. "The best we can say," says epidemiologist Wayne Shandera, "is that somehow the pneumonia appears to be related to gay life style."

6/12/81.

Major league baseball's first-ever mid-season strike begins.

6/12/81.

President Reagan fails to recognize his only black Cabinet member, Housing Secretary Samuel Pierce, at a White House reception for big-city mayors. "How are you, Mr. Mayor?" he greets Pierce. "I'm glad to meet you. How are things in your city?"

6/13/81.

At 12:30 a.m. a venerable television tradition giving madman Charles Manson air time in an effort to boost ratings is born, as NBC devotes 90 minutes to an interview conducted by Tom Snyder at California's Vacaville prison. The show is produced by former Nixon media man Roger Ailes. Among the burning questions answered: Was Manson a heavy drug user? "No, I smoked a little gra.s.s, and I've taken some acid, mescaline, psilocybin, peyote, mushrooms, but actually take dope? No. I wouldn't take anything that I feel would hurt me."

6/16/81.

President Reagan holds his third press conference, where he responds to questions on: *The Israeli attack on Iraq "I can't answer that."

*Israel's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty "Well, I haven't given very much thought to that particular question there."

*Pakistan's refusal to sign the treaty "I won't answer the last part of the question."

*Israeli threats against Lebanon "Well, this one's going to be one, I'm afraid, that I can't answer now."

*The tactics of political action committees "I don't really know how to answer that."

As for skepticism about his administration's grasp of foreign affairs, the President declares, "I'm satisfied that we do have a foreign policy."

6/29/81.

"I regard voting as the most sacred right of free men and women."

--President Reagan who, mouthed pieties aside, refuses to commit to supporting an extension of the Voting Rights Act 6/30/81.

"We love your adherence to democratic principle, and to the democratic processes."

--Vice President Bush gushing an exuberant toast to newly re-inaugurated Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, whose fondness for democracy is less celebrated by those he rules undemocratically JULY 1981.

7/2/81.

In a letter to a New York Times New York Times reporter, John W. Hinckley Jr. refers to his "historical deed" as "an unprecedented demonstration of love ... Does Jodie Foster appreciate what I've done? ... Everybody but everybody knows about John and Jodie ... Jodie and I will always be together, in life and in death." reporter, John W. Hinckley Jr. refers to his "historical deed" as "an unprecedented demonstration of love ... Does Jodie Foster appreciate what I've done? ... Everybody but everybody knows about John and Jodie ... Jodie and I will always be together, in life and in death."

7/3/81.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta issues a report doc.u.menting 26 cases eight of them fatal of a rare skin cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma. All the patients are male h.o.m.os.e.xuals.

7/6/81.

Nancy Reagan, 60, celebrates her 58th birthday.

7/7/81.

President Reagan nominates Arizona Judge Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman on the Supreme Court. The next day, Rev. Jerry Falwell suggests that O'Connor's opposition to abortion might not be sufficiently rabid to please him. Responds Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), "I think that every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the a.s.s!" O'Connor goes on to be confirmed by the Senate, 99-0.

7/8/81.

Baptist minister Dwight Wymer begins using a homemade electric stool to teach his Bible students to obey G.o.d. He discontinues the tactic when told he will be subject to prosecution if the 12-volt shocks cause any injury.

7/14/81.

Max Hugel appointed by William Casey to run the CIA's covert operations resigns amidst allegations of fraud in connection with certain of his financial transactions in the early 1970s.

7/15/81.

President Reagan dismisses stock fraud charges against William Casey as "old news."

7/16/81.

"I would like to see us do less of the really rotten shows."

--Newly appointed NBC chairman Grant Tinker suggesting a strategy to get the network out of the ratings cellar 7/18/81.

Author Norman Mailer's literary protege Jack Henry Abbott, a convicted bank robber who has been living in Manhattan on a work-release program, gets into an early-morning argument at an East Village restaurant and stabs a young man to death. The next day, The New York Times Book Review The New York Times Book Review calls his collected letters from jail, calls his collected letters from jail, In the Belly of the Beast In the Belly of the Beast, "the most fiercely visionary book of its kind in the American repertoire of prison literature ... awesome, brilliant." Columnist Murray Kempton suggests Abbott could be the first fugitive to surrender to The New York Review of Books The New York Review of Books.

7/23/81.

"Heck, no. I'm going to leave this to you experts. I'm not going to get involved in details."

--President Reagan declining Treasury Secretary Donald Regan's invitation to join the negotiating session at which his tax-cut bill is being shaped 7/25/81.

New York Times: REPORTS BY CASEY ARE SAID TO OMIT STOCK HOLDING AND A $10,000 GIFT 7/26/81.

The Heimlich maneuver saves the life of New York mayor Ed Koch after he almost chokes to death in a Chinatown restaurant, where waiters say he was talking nonstop while stuffing pork into his mouth. Not wishing to alienate Jewish voters who don't partake of the pig, Koch claims a piece of sauteed watercress caused the problem.

7/28/81.

Nancy Reagan giddy to be in London for the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer announces, "I'm off to see the King and Queen," though there hasn't been a King of England in 27 years. The British press can't stand her. "Maybe she'll fall again," writes one paper of the First Lady's propensity for toppling over, "and break her hair."

7/31/81.

New York Times: REAGAN IMMIGRATION PLAN / ABSENCE OF A METHOD TO DISTINGUISH ALIENS FROM CITIZENS RAISES QUESTIONS ON OUTLOOK 7/31/81.

Baseball players end their 50-day walkout. In an effort to renew the interest of fans whose teams were doing poorly, a "second season" is established, with an extra set of play-offs.

AUGUST 1981.

8/1/81.

With the public's attention span shrinking by the second, MTV, cable's first 24-hour music channel, establishes the four-minute rock video essentially a commercial for an alb.u.m as the hot new art form. Fast cuts, slow motion and artsy black-and-white photography largely selling s.e.x and violence define the visual style of the decade, spreading to movies, prime time series, advertising and magazines.

8/5/81.

The Reagan Administration begins sending dismissal notices to over 5,000 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Union (PATCO). By week's end, the union is broken.

8/6/81.

Washington Post: WHITE HOUSE SEEKS TO LOOSEN STANDARDS UNDER CLEAN AIR ACT 8/10/81.

Limited public response results in the closing of A Bit of History, the Nixon museum. Says manager Peter Mitch.e.l.l, "If nothing else, it's been a good stopping point for people to use the restrooms between L.A. and San Diego."

8/13/81.

President Reagan takes time out from his summer vacation at his home in Santa Barbara, California which is oddly called a "ranch" though no livestock or crops are raised there to sign the largest budget and tax cuts in history into law. When his dog wanders by, a reporter asks its name. "La.s.sie," the President replies, then corrects himself. "Millie!" he says. "Millie. Millie's her name." Everyone laughs and laughs.

8/18/81.

Jerry Lewis appears on Donahue Donahue to defend telethons. When a woman says she finds the format "kind of repulsive," he responds as he does to virtually all criticism: he a.s.sumes that the critic must be a Jew-hater and says, "I've got to get you an autographed photograph of Eva Braun." to defend telethons. When a woman says she finds the format "kind of repulsive," he responds as he does to virtually all criticism: he a.s.sumes that the critic must be a Jew-hater and says, "I've got to get you an autographed photograph of Eva Braun."

8/19/81.

At Malcolm Forbes' 62nd birthday party, Henry Kissinger is asked if he's read D. M. Thomas' novel, The White Hotel The White Hotel. "I don't read books," he replies hilariously. "I write them."

8/19/81.

Ed Meese sees no need to wake President Reagan just to tell him the Navy has shot down two Libyan jets. Defending Meese's decision, Reagan explains, "If our planes are shot down, yes, they'd wake me up right away. If the other fellows were shot down, why wake me up?"

8/31/81.

Former movie actor Rex Allen, who spent 45 minutes with President Reagan after presenting him with four pairs of free boots, says, "He acted like there was nothing else in the world he had to do, nothing else on his mind."

Says an unnamed White House aide, "There are times when you really need him to do some work, and all he wants to do is tell stories about his movie days."

SEPTEMBER 1981.

9/4/81.

The Agriculture Department proposes cutting the size of school lunches and offering tofu, yogurt, cottage cheese or peanuts as viable meat subst.i.tutes. In addition, condiments such as ketchup and pickle relish would be recla.s.sified as actual vegetables.

9/7/81.

John W. Hinckley Jr. writes to a Washington Post Washington Post reporter, pointing out that his travels were necessary to further his relationship with Jodie Foster, and requesting that he not be referred to as a "drifter" in the future. reporter, pointing out that his travels were necessary to further his relationship with Jodie Foster, and requesting that he not be referred to as a "drifter" in the future.

9/11/81.

Nancy Reagan defends her decision to spend $209,508 in donated funds on a 4,732-piece china set. "The White House really badly, badly needs china," she explains. "It's badly needed."

9/14/81.

Entertainment Tonight premieres. With show business and gossip increasingly setting the tone for the nation's affairs and with Hollywood's creative energy focusing less on the product and more on the deal this syndicated nightly half-hour provides volumes of nonessential data (movie grosses, TV ratings, record sales) that, in happier times, people knew enough not to care too much about. The show inspires the term "infotainment." Asks comedian Harry Shearer, "Why not 'entermation?'" premieres. With show business and gossip increasingly setting the tone for the nation's affairs and with Hollywood's creative energy focusing less on the product and more on the deal this syndicated nightly half-hour provides volumes of nonessential data (movie grosses, TV ratings, record sales) that, in happier times, people knew enough not to care too much about. The show inspires the term "infotainment." Asks comedian Harry Shearer, "Why not 'entermation?'"

9/21/81.

White House Secret Service agent John A. Bachmann Jr., 29, is arrested for robbing a local bank.

9/23/81.

President Reagan plays host to welterweight champion Sugar Ray Leonard and his wife. "We're very proud," says the President, "to have Sugar Ray and Mrs. Ray here."

9/25/81.

President Reagan untroubled by the drop in stock prices "because I don't have any" announces that he has withdrawn the proposal to cut school lunches. He suggests that a dissident faction in the Agriculture Department might have come up with the idea as a form of "bureaucratic sabotage."

Just to set the record straight, aide James Johnson explains, "It would be a mistake to say that ketchup per se was cla.s.sified as a vegetable. Ketchup in combination with other things was cla.s.sified as a vegetable." And what things would ketchup have to combine with to be considered a full-blown vegetable? "French fries or hamburgers."

OCTOBER 1981.