THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT
It has variously been called the Falklands War, Falklands Conflict, or Falklands Crisis, unless you were an Argentinean junta leader in 1981-82 in which case it was known as the Malvinas Liberation. We’ll refer to it here as the Falklands Conflict. In 1981 The Falkland Islands had been under British rule for about 150 years. At the time of the conflict the main sources of income for the approximately 2,200 residents were fishing and sheep herding; although even in 1981 it was believed that there were large offshore oil deposits. Then as now the Falklands were a self-governing Overseas Territory of the Imperial Federation, being too small to be on its own in the Greater Commonwealth. Argentina had been claiming the islands which they called the Malvinas for decades. After a military junta took control of Argentina in 1977, the Imperial Federation stationed a reinforced platoon of Royal Marines on the Islands. They were meant to be a deterrent, or tripwire as no one believed such a small force could repel a full-fledged invasion. The Falklands also maintained a small defence force which was really in the nature of a militia or home guard.
The Argentine junta had been isolated since taking power. They had been suspended from the ICC and the Common Market of the Americas, many of their best and brightest had fled the country, and their economy was on life support. After seeing the reaction of the Imperial Federation to the Nigerian Civil War of accepting mediation by Pope Paul VII the junta calculated that the best time to take the Malvinas was by the end of 1981. This was because the Imperial Federation was still trying to finish the Islamic Confederation War. The junta believed that if they could take the islands with minimal bloodshed the Federation would negotiate. In the junta’s view they would get support from Argentineans and distract them from the economic woes. If there was negotiation Argentina might have to withdraw but could likely get an agreement to re-enter the Common Market and ICC with some financial relief. The worst case in their view was their leaving power after securing amnesty for their actions since 1977. That was their calculation, but as my late mother would say they needed to go to remedial math. Nigeria was a Greater Commonwealth Nation, whereas the Imperial Federation controlled the Falklands, and IPM Thatcher wouldn’t consider any negotiations.
The Argentineans were a regional power in Latin America. They had a fairly large Army which included a helicopter squadron they could not deploy given the distance to the Islands, a small Air Force with most aircraft having limited operating time over the Falklands, and a fair-sized navy. Almost all their equipment had come from the United States prior to 1977. Likewise, most of the senior leadership took military training in America before the junta. The navy consisted of two heavy cruisers (both were of USS Portland Class), seven destroyers or destroyer escorts of various classes, three diesel submarines, plus two minesweepers, an ocean oiler and about a dozen merchant ships impressed into service for the war. Both cruisers and four of the destroyers carried helicopters and ship to ship missiles.
The invasion began approximately two hours before dawn on December 12, 1981, two Argentine Navy destroyers landed a battalion of sea infantry supported by mortars, and two dozen amphibious tracked vehicles. A submarine had also dispatched a squad of army commandos who used zodiac boats to take Ascension Island. The destroyers each carried a helicopter that were used for reconnaissance. The sea infantry had three maneuver companies; with two being dispatched to secure the Royal Marine Barracks, and the third having to secure Governor House at Stanley. The Royal Marines had left their barracks after receiving a message that Governor House was under attack. Unfortunately for them the locals had already surrendered the island and the Marines were then caught between both elements of the Sea Infantry Battalion which was more than twelve times the size of the 50-man Marine Platoon. After a short skirmish in which two Argentine soldiers were killed and another wounded the Marines surrendered when informed by the Argentineans in the company of the Falklands Governor, he had surrendered the island to Argentina.
News of the invasion and occupation quickly reached around the world. The Argentine Government issued a statement:
The Malvinas have been restored to Argentina with no loss of life to its natives or the troops occupying the Islands. Our actions should in no way be interpreted as support for the Islamic Confederation, and we stand ready to lend our support to defeat that evil entity. We are open to negotiations with the Imperial Federation on the return of their troops and any residents who wish to leave the Malvinas.
The Pope again offered his offices to negotiate a settlement “without bloodshed.” Various members of the Commonwealth of the Americas urged negotiation, and asked President Reagan to consider invoking the Monroe Doctrine. Reagan forcefully indicated he would not do so. IPM Thatcher gave her response to the junta at 1000 hours GMT 13 December 1981:
This will not stand. No negotiation. We are coming to liberate the Falkland Islands, and if you are still there before we arrive, we are coming for you. You will be held responsible for the health and safety of your hostages – yes, I said hostages.
Just before Christmas 1981 the Labour Party made a tactical mistake, some said at the time a treasonous mistake, by issuing a public statement to the effect that The IPM should at least consider negotiation so as to prevent a loss of life. This would come back to haunt Labour.
We’ve already covered the Alliance moves following the Falklands attack to end the Islamic Confederation War. The Imperial Federation put together two different Task Forces each had an Aircraft Carrier with a Cruiser or Battleship, six Destroyers or Frigates, plus support ships, and one task force transported a Regiment of Royal Marines while the other had an Army Regiment. There were also six submarines dispatched to the South Atlantic. The task force coming from the Indian Ocean was centered on HMS Melbourne equipped with helicopters and vertical takeoff jets, while HMS Hermes was dispatched from Portsmouth with conventional jets. Both carriers were near the end of their service life but gave the Federation an enormous punch. The Americans were not officially involved but they had satellites in polar orbit that kept eyes on the area 24 hours a day. They made these feeds available at the combined headquarters overseeing the Islamic Confederation War. Imperial Federation officers were given full access to those feeds, which they of course transmitted to the Task Force Commanders. It was later revealed that the Americans refueled the oilers and other Federation ships traveling from the Indian Ocean just before they crossed into the Atlantic. One interesting note-almost as valuable as the satellites were calls from Falkland Islanders. It seems the Argentineans had disconnected personal home telephone phones but had no idea two pay phones on the islands still worked, and locals took turns breaking their curfew to call collect to the Defence Ministry in London after a relative of one Islander had gotten them the contact information.
The HMS Hermes Task Force arrived on station on January 19, 1982, but took no immediate action against the Falklands. They did dispatch a company of Royal Marines who quickly retook Ascension Island and launched air sorties against bases in Argentina to ground their air force and prevent reinforcement or resupply of forces still on the Falklands, which by that time had a Brigade sized force ensconced. Before the HMS Melbourne Task Force arrived on January 23rd, two Argentine destroyers had been sunk, and three of their helicopters destroyed, but the Argentineans had successfully launched a ship-to-ship missile that crippled the HMS Sheffield and killed thirty-two sailors. Federation submarines sunk both Argentinean Cruisers on January 24th. Jets from Melbourne sunk another destroyer and crippled three other ships that were eventually scuttled. Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft launched from the carriers sunk two of three enemy subs and forced the other back to port with the rest of the Argentine Navy.
The ground forces landed on January 25, 1982. The Royal Marines landed on East Falkland while the Army took West Falkland. There was only light resistance, and the Islands were secured in less than two days. The makeshift POW camp the Argentineans created for the Royal Marines was greatly expanded and the jailers became the prisoners. The junta leaders fled to Chile, who immediately interned them. The Iron Leader was at the height of her popularity, but there was still the matter of winning the peace after two conflicts.
AFTERMATH
By February 1982 major combat operations had ceased in both The Islamic Confederation War and the Falklands Conflict. The Imperial Federation did not invade Argentina, but in addition to stationing a full Royal Marine Regiment, HMS Hermes was left on station with two destroyers. The Federation left a Battle Group in the Atlantic, stationed out of Bermuda until 1994. At the Malta Summit in 1980 there had been an agreement to refer Islamic Confederation leaders to the ICC International Court, or ICC-IC for war crimes trials. The issue was largely moot in that all of the top leaders were dead, or presumed dead.
There were 19 lower-level Wahhabi extremist members of the military directly captured during or after the War as having been involved with dirty bomb booby traps. They were tried by the Court which sat at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. None were sentenced to death and three were actually acquitted. The rest received terms of from thirty years to life. In 1999 four of the prisoners had their sentences reduced to 20 years after expressing remorse for their earlier actions and were released in 2001. The last of the unrepentant prisoners died in custody in 2021.
The members of the Argentine junta were also tried by the ICC-IC. They were uniformly convicted and received life imprisonment, all serving their terms in a small prison in Chile built for their internment. The last prisoner committed suicide in 2018. The Common Market of the Americas moved toward a political union following the Falklands Conflict by forming a joint military command. Even before that command was formed Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile sent troops under Brazilian leadership to rebuild infrastructure and keep order. By the end of 1982 Argentina had a new civilian provisional government. The Imperial Federation and Argentina subsequently agreed to arbitration by the ICC-IC on reparations which issued a plan for Argentina to pay reparations to the families of those killed in the War over a ten-year period beginning in 1985, Argentina also formally renounced any claim to the Falkland Islands. The Common Market of the Americas made readmission to that body dependent on the new government passing legislation to ensure complete release of all information available on the crimes of the Junta, including those “disappeared” under the regime, and to pay appropriate reparations. By 1986 there had been free elections and Argentina had been re-admitted to the Common Market, the ICC, and the ICC-TO. Many former refugees returned to Argentina, but many more never did. Thanks to generous terms by the ICC-WB and the Common Market Bank, Argentina today has the second largest economy in the Latin America after Brazil.
One large headache was whether and how to rebuild devastated areas in the former Islamic Confederation. There were actually serious calls from extremists on the far left and far right to just cordon off the former states. In the end it was accepted that long term occupations would necessary. Reagan and Thatcher had wide latitude to implement whatever they agreed to. ICC First Secretary Goldwater resigned in March 1982. Reagan appointed Dan Moynihan to replace Goldwater as the United States envoy, but the Chilean envoy Salvador Allende became the First Secretary. The Common Market countries overwhelmingly wanted a First Secretary from their number, and Reagan wanted to mend fences, so the US did not push another candidate. Paul Volker remained at the ICC-WB which would have significant leverage in any rebuilding plans.
The Alliance looked to what worked and didn’t work in the Russian occupation. It was determined early on that there would be no multinational entity coming after an occupation. Occupation and recovery plans would be tailored to each nation. Reparations would be have to be paid to those areas of Europe, Asia and Africa attacked by the Confederation. As with Russia a plan was developed wherein one third of any revenue generated would go to pay reparations, one third to repay the ICC-WB and other investors, and one third to be in trust to help with emergency assistance or held until new governments were in place. Various nongovernmental organizations, including Catholic organizations dispatched by Pope Paul VII, provided assistance without remuneration.
The Americans and Federation were both reticent about committing large numbers of troops to an open-ended occupation. In the end one or the other or both maintained small contingents in each part of the former Islamic Confederation for continuity, command and control. The bulk of the occupation forces rotated from majority Muslim majority countries in the Alliance. The initial costs along with logistical support came from the United States with the understanding that they would be paid back from revenues generated by oil once the fires were completely extinguished, and infrastructure was rebuilt.
The most controversial step taken early on in 1983 was a partial dismemberment of Turkey. The European portion was annexed to Greece and the western portion of Istanbul reverted to its prior name of Constantinople. Parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq were also split off to form an independent Kurdistan. This was done because in taking Islamic Confederation territory Alliance leaders found the Kurds had retained their own identity and had actually aided Alliance troops. The new nation remained under occupation, but after developing democratic institutions it was the first freed and joined the ICC in 1987.
Afghanistan adopted a plan similar to the one brokered under Pope Paul VII for Nigeria. The nation was broken up into small areas by tribes analogous to Swiss Cantons. There was a weak central government, and occupation forces were greatly reduced by 1988, but there were not enough safeguards for democracy and women’s rights to end the occupation until 1993.
The former Russian Islamic Nations formed democratic institutions, with safeguards, so as to end occupations starting with Turkmen, and Uzbek in 1988, Kazakh, Tajik and Kirghiz in 1989, and after renouncing claims on land taken by Armenia, Azerbaijan’s occupation ended in 1990.
Even after democratic governments were in place in the early 1990s Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria all refused to renounce claims to lands given to Greece and Kurdistan. By that time even Russia was part of the Euro-Mediterranean Community. In 1998 all four countries renounced their territorial claims in exchange for an immediate end to the occupation to be followed by admission to the EMU in 2000.
On the Saudi (or Arabian) Peninsular the former Saudi Kingdom was again divided. Saudi Arabia remained the largest nation, but Yemen, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Emirates were reformed or moved out from the Saudi domination. Further, both Mecca and Medina were declared open cities administered by a new organization called the Islamic League. The League’s charter made clear it was formed, with representatives from every nation with significant Muslim populations to administer the holy sites in Mecca and Medina and was in no way a political or military alliance. Between 1999 and 2003 all nations except Saudi Arabia had been judged democratically safe and occupations were ended. Saudi Arabia remained under occupation despite giving up the monarchy and developing into a republic, because of a refusal to recognize the authority of the Islamic League over Medina and Mecca. It was finally resolved in 2021 when the United States and Imperial Federation formally renounced any claims to reparations (which neither had taken since 2000), and the Islamic League offered the Saudi government an extra seat on their board due to the holy cities being within their borders. A 40-year occupation was finally over. Is that Biblical or what?
Following the end of active combat operations the Alliance nations had a world-wide summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 7-11 June 1982. The ICC in New York would have been the logical choice, but nations outside the Anglo-American Alliance had pushed for somewhere not under control of the United States or Imperial Federation. Many of the decisions made concerning the occupation and rebuilding of the former Confederation states were made at that summit. Even so it was clear that the many disparate voices only served to give even greater weight to the Americans and Federation who generally agreed. Indeed, Reagan and Thatcher had met alone in Canberra just a week prior to ensure they spoke with one voice. The EMU had already made strides to move toward closer political union and the Summit was an impetus to redouble their efforts at integration. Many members of the Common Market of the Americas, AFTA, and even APCOPS got the same message, and each started taking steps toward greater consolidation and cooperation.
By 2024 the former Russian Islamic nations, and Afghanistan had all joined the Asia-Pacific Union (which replaced APCOPS in 2004), while the rest of the former Confederation states were in EMU. Of course who would have predicted a century ago that by the end of the first quarter of the 21st century all nations on the planet would be divided into just six political-economic-military blocs: the United States, Imperial Federation, Euro-Mediterranean Union, Confederacy of the Americas (succeeding the Common Market in 1998), the Asia-Pacific Union, and the African Community of Nations (which replaced the Africa Free Trade Association after the Rwandan Civil War in 1990). I’m of course skipping to the end.
POST-WAR REAGAN PRESIDENCY
In the United States the population celebrated the end to combat but were less than thrilled at the prospect of a long occupation, even if the bulk of forces were coming from other nations. Reagan was known as the Great Communicator, but he had a hard time selling the costs of the occupation, even if The United States would ultimately be reimbursed (which it wasn’t – at least not totally). In the November 1982 mid-terms the Democrats lost control of both House of Congress. The margin was still close, but only because the Democrats swept all four new Senate Seats from the newly admitted States of Greenland, and Puerto Rico, and took the Greenland House Seat plus five out of the six Puerto Rico Seats.
Reagan still had generally good relations with the Congress, mainly because he had tried to govern from the middle. After the mid-terms there were few new initiatives coming out of the Reagan White House. Dutch by then was the oldest man ever to serve as President. Many noticed he was tired. Both Ed Meese and Alan Cranston admitted after Reagan had passed that Reagan had some difficulty concentrating starting in 1983, and it worsened in the last few months of his term. Most attribute this to the beginnings of Alzheimer’s which would be diagnosed after Dutch had left the White House. The deficit exploded as in order to get the President to sign off on Republican priorities the Congress just added Democratic priorities.
In 1984 the Pope visited the United States for the spring ICC session. He met the President and First lady at the White House, as well as giving them both Communion at a Mass at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. Reagan met with IPM Thatcher again in London in 1983, and at the ICC in New York in 1984. Reagan would see the Pope twice more after he left office, but the ICC session was the last time the President, Prime Minister and the Pope were all together. Thatcher and Reagan communicated throughout the rest of his Presidency and afterward until Dutch was no longer able to understand.
Perhaps the best example of how his opponents felt could be best summed up by Republican Congressman James King, who said “I really disagree with 80% of the President’s policies, but I know he is trying to do what he believes is best for the country, and you just can’t keep yourself from liking the guy.” King was the youngest of the three Kings; brothers who advocated civil disobedience regarding racially discriminatory laws and policies. All three brothers were Ministers and Martin, the oldest had succeeded their father as Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Vernon was the most eloquent and active until his assassination by a white supremacist in 1967, which ironically was a large factor in the Democratic Party finally expelling the last racists from their Party. James was the youngest, he became a Democrat to try to move the Party on racial equality only to return to the GOP after some of the remaining segregationists in the Democratic Party tried to unseat black delegates at the 1964 Democratic Convention, following his brother’s murder Vernon ran for and won an election to Congress as a Republican.
Reagan was still personally an immensely popular figure and were it not for term limits the Democrats may well have tried to convince him to run for a third term. They instead ended up nominating Walter Mondale who they presented as Reagan’s right hand, and he choose little known Colorado Representative Gary Hartpence as the Vice-Presidential nominee. Unfortunately for the Democrats, Mondale was no Reagan.
The Republicans nominated Baja Governor Walker Bush, the youngest son of the late Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut. Following graduation from Yale University in 1960, and instead of seeking a draft deferment Bush went into the Air Force and was accepted to flight school earning fighter pilot wings in 1961. Bush was discharged, went into the Reserves in 1964, and planned to start an aerospace firm in Baja, which as yet wasn’t even a state. Captain Bush was recalled in 1965 for the Russian War. He returned from the War as a Lieutenant Colonel and Squadron Commander with two air-to-air kills, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. On his return to Baja the new state elected Bush as one of their Congressional Representatives in 1970, and in 1978 Congressman Bush became Governor Bush despite having actually been physically in the state just a matter of months since moving there in 1964. Bush choose the charismatic James King as his running mate.
Many analysts say that had an alien come down to earth during the 1984 Presidential election they would have thought that Bush was running as the Reagan heir apparent, and Mondale was the outsider trying to run against the incumbent. That is only a slight exaggeration. The Republicans did emphasize the areas where they agreed with the popular President and were able to box in Mondale when he made proposals Reagan had not. For instance, Mondale promised to end the draft, but Reagan never asked Congress for that authority, and Bush in a speech argued he agreed with the President that premature disarmament invited another 9-1-1. Reagan endorsed Mondale, but not until he had locked up the nomination, and he did not vigorously campaign for the ticket. That was likely a combination of apathy for his Vice-President’s policies, and outright fatigue.
Mondale likely sealed his own fate with a convention speech wherein he promised to raise taxes, adding that the Republicans would as well, but wouldn’t admit it. No one heard the second part, and as Alan Cranston said the day after the election “the Vice-President made an unforgiveable gaff in telling the American people what he knew to be a hard truth.” The Republicans took both Houses by wide margins and won the Electoral College by 397 to 198 votes. Oh- Mondale was correct the Republicans did raise taxes.
Reagan left a note for the new President on Inauguration Day in January 1985, which Bush said he often referred to. Reagan kept his word and was as helpful in the transition as Goldwater had been eight years earlier. Former Presidents Goldwater and Kennedy also attended the Inauguration, and many commented on how frail Reagan and Goldwater seemed. Still the world was not quite done with Dutch Reagan.
IMPERIAL FEDERATION 1983 GENERAL ELECTION
The Imperial Federation prevailed in both the Islamic Confederation War and the Falklands Conflict, but anyone paying attention at the time could see there would be difficulties in the Peace. A large military would have to be maintained for some time to fulfill occupation responsibilities, and to protect the Falklands until it was assured Argentina was no longer a threat. The costs of the wars, and subsidizing occupations in more than a dozen countries proved a drain on the economy, delaying the Healthcare reforms so dear to the Tory’s Liberal partners in their governing coalition. Still the success in battle made the Tories a slight favorite, and so it was that IPM Thatcher asked the Queen to call a General Election for the Imperial Parliament for 9 June 1983.
In the election Labour and the other left of center parties were banking on denying the Tories a coalition by running on saving money by disarmament, and foisting occupation duties on the United States and the other members of the Alliance. The Liberals were the traditional coalition partner of the Tories, but were hoping to increase their standing, and explicitly refused to rule out being in or perhaps even leading a coalition of the left.
In the campaign Thatcher used the left’s urging to consider talks with the Argentine junta to avoid bloodshed as a bludgeon. Her speech in Ottawa on 31 May resonated:
Shall we tell Papua New Guinea that we’re to negotiate its status with Indonesia, or Gibraltar’s status with Spain, or the status of Bermuda with any bandits that decide to invade that island, or any other part of Her Majesty’s Imperial Federation? There are costs to maintaining, our status as a world power, and to protecting our allies. There will be a greater cost and a much greater danger if we abandon those allies or send a message that we are weak and no longer willing to bear the burdens of a Great Power.
The Tories also argued that they were better positioned to put the Federation back on financial track. Pointing to the left’s laundry list of promises costing more than four times the savings from cuts that would gut the military. Thatcher made the most of her advantages, shortly before calling the election she had greeted President Reagan who came to London to consult on Post-War planning. Thatcher also used the time leading up to the election to make speeches in the British Isles, Canada, Australia and New Zealand only returning to England on 7 June.
Election eve polls gave the Tories only a slight edge of being able to form a coalition, with a center-left coalition or hung parliament seen as almost as likely by bookmakers. Polls opened at 0600 local time in each riding or constituency, but results were not released until 0600 GMT on 10 June 1983. This was because that just as with the old British Empire the sun never set on the Imperial Federation, and there was a desire to prevent returns from New Zealand having an undue impact on voting in British Columbia.
The Iron Leader shocked the world when the results came in, Tories made gains in the Pacific, in the British Isles, but especially Scotland, and throughout Canada. The Liberals also made gains, but they were again at the expense of Labour which actually fell behind the Liberals in total seats. Most surprisingly, the Tories had an outright majority, and Thatcher quickly rebuffed the Liberal offer to continue their coalition. Thirty-Five years after the founding of the Imperial Federation, Peggy Thatcher had a free hand to form a government that did not rely on a coalition. On 11 June
The Scotsman quoted an anonymous Tory IMP as saying, “God help us, with what Peggy will do now.” Peggy would soon show them.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE WAR
As mentioned previously the Catholic Church was sending missionaries to territories in the former Islamic Confederation even before the end of hostilities. They were not alone in that regard. The Salvation Army, the Mormon Church and various American Evangelical Protestant denominations also sent missionaries, sometimes without the permission or protection of occupying forces. The Catholic Church and Salvation Army made it a point to offer medical aid, shelter, food and water to the local populations based only on need without regard to the faith or lack of same of the people being helped. The other denominations were usually just as magnanimous but were more vocal in proselyting even while providing secular salvation. Almost all the missions suffered attacks from local populace for what they viewed as trying to undermine Islam, hence by the year 2000 the 57 martyrs recognized by the Catholic Church; but percentage wise the attacks on Catholic relief workers were significantly less than those on the other denominations, and the Salvation Army had only one person attacked. Also, while the by 2000 conversion rates to Catholicism in those territories nowhere amounted to more than 7% of the population overall, they dwarfed the gains made by the denominations that were more aggressive in what one local sheik called “pushing Jesus over the Prophet.” It turns out the direction of Pope Paul VII to “bring people into Christ’s embrace by way of example,” was the more effective course of action. By 1983 Catholic missions were operating food cooperatives, hospitals, and schools in every part of the former Islamic Confederation.
In February 1982 Paul VII visited Buenos Aires following the Falklands Conflict even before the new Provisional Government was fully functioning. The Pope celebrated overflowing Masses at the Metropolitan Cathedral, in the shadow of the Christ the Redeemer Statute, and at four separate sports stadiums around the country. The Pontiff pledged continuing aid of the Church in the restoration of “spiritual and corporeal life to Argentina.” The Pope was good to his word. He also visited with families of many of the “disappeared.” Were it not for the request of His Holiness it is likely at least some of the junta would have been sentenced to death.
At the suggestion of Paul VII, the Second Inter-Religious Summit was held in March 1984 in Jerusalem. The Pope suggested Jerusalem as it was a city with religious significance for the Abrahamic religions. Once again, the Summit concentrated on emphasizing areas where all Faiths agreed regardless of doctrine, such as doing good works, and aiding the sick and poor. The communique issued at the summit's close emphasized the determination to work toward the common good. It was at this meeting that the Muslim delegates first discussed the concept of Medina and Mecca being administered by some kind of Pan-Islamic entity to ensure Muslims the world over would have access to the sacred sites. This of course later developed into what became the Islamic League. Pope Paul VII left the summit admired by the Christion and non-Christian delegates alike. It was decided to have the 1989 summit in the Indian city of Varanasi. The city would change every five tears, but the 2004 summit was moved to Rome so the ailing Paul VII could attend.
Following the Inter-Religious Summit, the Pope addressed the spring session of the ICC. He had been invited as an honored guest as although the Pontiff was technically a Head of State, in that the Vatican is an independent city-state, it was not and still is not a member of the ICC. In giving his speech on April 9, 1984, the Pontiff switched between thirteen different languages with ease, ending in Latin. His easy style called on the assembled leaders to be moral, merciful, and generous, but was in no way preachy. The crowd gave the Pope a standing ovation, and both Thatcher and Reagan commented on how their own speeches paled in comparison. The President actually followed the Pope, and joked – “I never follow a child, or animal act to the stage, and see now I need to add the Bishop of Rome.”
Competing needs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia meant the Vatican throughout the 1980s was juggling priorities and resources. The Pope had also spent much of the war years dealing with irregularities at the Vatican Bank, after it was revealed in 1979 that some of its lay trustees and clergy (including an auxiliary bishop) may have siphoned funds. Paul VII to the surprise of all completely shut down the bank in 1984 and moved the funds to the European Bank. By the terms of the Lateran Treaty, the Pope then requested the Italian Government to investigate the Bank and prosecute on the Vatican’s behalf. Those ongoing prosecutions were a part of the excuse offered by many of the Pope’s admirers for his failure to take note of the first lawsuits being filed in the United States in 1985 alleging child sexual abuse by clergy. The Pope would come to sincerely regret this lapse in his later years.
THATCHER SUPREME BUT STILL NOT QUEEN
Peggy Thatcher was at the height of her powers after the 1983 general election. She was the first IPM not dependent on a coalition, and she would become the longest serving IPM more than two years before her mandate was due to end. After the leadership shuffle following the election the entire cabinet and all the whips were fierce Thatcher loyalists. There were though some clouds on the horizon.
Former Deputy Minister for Commonwealth Affairs Peggy Thatcher had not managed to counter resentments built up by some Greater Commonwealth members over perceived slights by the IPM during the Islamic Confederation War. Things got worse in 1984 when Jamaica, and South Africa each applied to transition from the Greater Commonwealth into the Imperial Federation.
The implementing legislation creating the Imperial Parliament was passed by the Parliaments of the former United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Each had passed identical bills, which provided for the future accession of other members of the Greater Commonwealth to the Imperial Federation, provided they met milestones to be laid out by the IFP, and that each of the constituent parts of the Federation consented. The problem was that the UK Parliament no longer existed having been superseded by the IFP. Did this mean England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland would have no say? The IFP came down on the other side, finding that not only would England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland legislative bodies have a say, but Australia’s states in addition to the Australian Parliament, and Canadian Provinces in addition to the Canadian Parliament were constituent parts. This meant any Greater Commonwealth wishing to join the Federation needed to convince more than two dozen legislative bodies to consent. To top it off Thatcher refused to expedite legislation to set conditions needed to become part of the Federation. Jamaica, South Africa and much of the rest of the Greater Commonwealth saw the barriers being set up as a none too subtle form of racism wherein the majority white Federation wanted to keep out Her Majesty’s Caribbean, Asian and African subjects. As expected these barriers stalled any talks of expanding the Federation.
In February 1985, in response to criticism the Tories had received from the opposition that they were ruling with no effective checks or balances the Government revived an old proposal to finally formally take all judicial from the Privy Council, and vest it in a new Imperial Federation Supreme Court (IFSC). The bill passed with near unanimous support. It created a twenty-one member Court sitting in panels of three justices that could sit anywhere in the Imperial Federation. The Court President also had the option of referring cases to the full Court en banc either before or after it was heard by a panel. Cases could be appealed from lower courts within the Federation, or if brought as a matter within the Court’s jurisdiction the President of the Court would appoint a special master to make a record and report and advise the Court. The IPM would submit the names of individuals to be appointed as Justices to the Sovereign but was limited to choosing from a list prepared by a judicial committee chosen by the Lord Chancellor. Justices could serve up to fifteen years but had to resign when turning 75.
On March 1, 1985, two days after the Queen granted her assent to the bill creating the IFSC, Jamaica filed for a writ of Mandamus to order the IFP to set standards for admission of new members of the Imperial Federation. South Africa soon asked to join in Jamaica’s request, and further requested the Court find consent of the IFP alone was sufficient to permit admission to the Imperial Federation. Thatcher herself had predicted the Court’s creation would encourage such litigation, but even she was surprised that the first suits were filed before any Justices had been named.
Some advised Thatcher to moot out the lawsuits by putting forward legislation to outline conditions for accession and make them so as to eliminate the possibility of any state meeting the requirements in the near future. She pointed out this would not moot out the issue of whether all lower parliaments must approve, and that they would rightly be accused of hypocrisy if any state, province or other part of the current Federation did not meet the requirements. The IPM received nominating lists for the Court in June 1985, and by July 2nd all of her choices had been presented and approved by the Queen.
The very next day the new Court was sworn and in its first Act the Court President accepted the cases submitted by Jamaica and South Africa. A special master took evidence in a three-day hearing held in Bermuda in August 1985. The record along with briefs were sent to the Court which heard oral arguments on September 9, 1985. On October 7th the Court handed down a mixed decision:
- The writ of mandamus was granted to the extent that the IFP was given 90 days to vote on legislation outlining terms for Greater Commonwealth States to join the Imperial Federation.
- The motion to allow Jamaica and South Africa to propose their own terms was denied.
- The writ of prohibition as to legislative bodies other than the IFP voting on accepting new members was denied. Any parliament or other legislative body could vote on accepting a new member, but the Court further found the only bodies that can veto a new accession were the IFP, Canadian Parliament, Irish Dail, Australian Parliament, New Zealand Parliament, and since the UK Parliament no longer existed the English, and Scottish Parliaments as well as the Assemblies in Northern Ireland and Wales would have a veto.
- Australian States and Canadian Provinces may vote on any accessions but that shall not bind Australia, Canada, or the Imperial Federation.
- If the IFP consented to accession, consent would be deemed to have been given by any legislative body that had not voted within 90 days of said accession.
The Court tried to establish itself with the decision but was careful not to put itself too far out on a limb. It ordered a vote, but in no way dictated terms. In the end the IFP passed a bill outlining terms in November 1985. As it turns out neither Jamaica nor South Africa were able to meet the fiscal requirements for admission, as at that time they were each running large deficits. Before Thatcher left office in 1989 the IFP passed legislation restricting the Imperial Federation to its then current composition, with a proviso allowing possible release of overseas territories, but no new accessions. That bill was in fact passed by the IFP, Canadian Parliament, Irish Dail, Australian Parliament, New Zealand Parliament, English Parliament, and Scottish Parliament as well as the Assemblies in Northern Ireland and Wales. Given the economies of some Greater Commonwealth members today, many in the Federation regret that Act.
This of course pushed most of the greater Federation members closer to the various regional organizations around the world. For instance, South Africa after finally ditching its socialist experiment in 1987 was able to once again become a net food exporter, and by exploiting its mineral wealth was running a surplus by 1991. After the African Free Trade Organization became the African Community of Nations following the 1990 Rwandan Civil War South Africa, and other Greater Commonwealth members such as Nigeria, and Kenya had significantly greater ties with other members of that Community than with the Imperial Confederation, or Greater Commonwealth states in Asia or the Americas. When the Community adopted the African Franc as their currency, it was done so largely on the strength of the South African Rand. Jamaica and the other Greater Commonwealth states in the Caribbean likewise moved closer to the Common Market of the Americas. In 1973, Twenty-Five years before China was to regain control over Hong Kong there were serious talks of a joint sovereignty arrangement with the Imperial Federation retaining some control so as to ensure stability. By 1987 those talks had been dropped with Hong Kong preparing to actually be the first country to leave the Greater Commonwealth by 1997.
The Greater Commonwealth still exists today with only Hong Kong having left, and King George VII remains the Head of State in all member states, but none retain the Imperial Pound as its currency. On matters of defence the member states’ commitments to regional alliances take precedence over commitments to the Imperial Federation or other Greater Commonwealth nations. The Greater Commonwealth is more like a club than a political alliance. Some blame Thatcher’s actions in the late 1980s for the estrangement, but no IPM was likely to push for movement of states from the Greater Commonwealth to the Federation. Race was a factor, but so was the large disparity in wealth and standards of living. The Federation simply couldn’t bear the enormous costs of bringing Greater Commonwealth members up to the Federation standard of living and still meet its many commitments. Further if, even just India or Pakistan was granted membership the population would swamp the rest of the Federation.
The IFP had numerous problems trying to figure out how to pay for its many foreign and domestic commitments. Under the terms agreed to for the occupation of the former Islamic Confederation, costs would be paid in part out of the any revenues generated by the occupied territories. The IPM got President Reagan to agree that the United States would defer any payments it was due for ten years. This provided some short term relief as monies that would have been split with the US, mostly from oil revenue, went solely to the Federation from 1984 -1994. The only catch was that American businesses then got the lion’s share of contracts in the rebuilding of the infrastructure in the occupied territories.
Thatcher was reluctant to raise taxes, but in 1986 was finally convinced to approve a Federation wide “Community Charge.” Since the early 1962 The IFP had been distributing ever larger block grants to the various states, provinces and countries of the Federation for use on local services and projects. This allowed local taxes to remain low, and gave the IFP some leverage in getting local support for Federation wide initiatives. The Community Charge was a tax meant to be collected from adults within any constituency to pay back anything over 75% of the constituencies’ grants. It was thought this would allow the IFP to keep the grants in place while have 25% returned to the Treasury. I’ve greatly oversimplified how it was actually supposed to work, as there were complex formulas to determine the amount each locality would have to return and how much any particular taxpayer would owe. That of course was part of the problem.
Taxpayers only saw a new tax, and since they were identified through various data bases including voter rolls it became known as the Poll Tax. Since it wasn’t collected with the Inland Tax, almost no one paid it. Further, 90% of those receiving notice of the tax, applied for a recalculation based on the fact that they just couldn’t understand from the notice how their liability had been determined (and almost half of those appealing got an adjustment). The first notices went out in July 1986, by September it appeared administering the tax might actually cost more than any expected revenue. In October the IPM sacked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Community Charge was quietly put to death with refunds going to the few who had actually paid.
One positive note after taking the majority was the government’s continuing the efforts to reform the HIS. The IPM pushed the initiative that had been proposed by the Liberals when they were in the previous coalition because she said, “they were right,” the system needed reform. The reforms were fully implemented by the middle of 1987. In the end the Government created a system wherein private health insurance companies would provide an insurance plan providing payment for certain services and procedures required by the IHS, which would negotiate with the companies a price to be shared by the various levels of the government. The insurance companies were also allowed to offer premium packages wherein the individual or a business could buy coverage for procedures not covered in the basic plan, such as cosmetic surgery, liposuction, and designer eyeglasses. Many of these plans also allowed the insured to go to private physicians for routine care, for example someone needing hernia surgery might wait months at a HIS facility, but would be taken in less than a week if they had purchased the coverage, so long as it wasn’t a preexisting condition.
Overall, the reforms worked as advertised. There were savings from the new system, but not as much as had been projected. Labour and the other parties on the left complained that it created a two-tiered system, but Thatcher pointed out that all received basic care for no charge, while unions were free to negotiate private health care packages for their membership. Most importantly the Liberals were mollified, and that would soon be very important.
Thatcher met and spoke regularly with President Walker Bush. She called to congratulate him on his election in 1984, and he visited London in 1985 with a reciprocal visit of the IPM to Washington City the following year. Their relationship was cordial, but the IPM never felt that Bush was a true partner that Reagan had been. In that regard at the urging of the IPM on April 18, 1987, named Ronald Wilson Reagan a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, for his actions to support the Imperial Federation in the Falklands Conflict. As an American Dutch did not kneel before the Queen and was not to be called Sir, but he was a Knight.
The IPM saw the Queen just after the New Year and asked the Queen to call a General Election for February 4, 1988. That date was just over four months before the Tory mandate would end any way. No one believed that the Tories could again get sufficient seats to govern without a coalition. The odds makers were betting that the left would have a two in three chance of forming a coalition, with a hung parliament the next most likely option, and only a one in ten chance of the Tories retaining power. Thatcher again campaigned throughout the Federation. By early on February 5th, it became obvious that the Tories had more seats than any other party, but it looked like the combined left of center parties would outnumber the Tories, once again it fell to the Liberals and their centrist partners to determine who would form a coalition. On February 11th the Liberals announced they would join a Tory Coalition. What evidently tilted the Liberals in the end was Thatcher, keeping her word to reform the IHS, combined with left party back benchers loudly announcing they would revisit the reforms.
Peggy was no longer able to rule as she had when the Tories had a solid majority. The IPM was willing to discuss succession. To try to repair the relationship with the Greater Commonwealth States she suggested Olive Mulroney of Quebec who had informally led the working group on Federation-Commonwealth relations more than a decade earlier. The Tory IMPs agreed, and the Liberals consented. On January 13, 1989, exactly nine years after becoming IPM, Peggy left the office.
Thatcher was not done. In her last years as IPM she was constantly annoyed by efforts of the ICC First Secretary Allende to pressure the ICC-WB and promote what she saw as Socialist ideals in the developing world to their detriment. The United States had exerted pressure on Chile to recall Allende and name another envoy at the end of 1988. The Imperial Federation then recalled their own envoy and named Peggy to replace him. On January 30, 1989, Thatcher appeared for her first session, and given the weighted voting favoring the United States and Imperial Federation she was elected as the new First Secretary of the Inter-Continental Congress. Peggy was not a Queen, but at ICC sessions she would henceforth be called Madame President
DUTCH REAGAN’S LONG GOODBYE
On leaving office in 1985 Dutch Reagan took some time off to decide on how he would spend the rest of his life. He was tired, but friends reported he wanted to remain active. There was even talk of his taking on a television program, but they couldn’t come to an agreement on the scope and frequency. He did do some analysis on the mid-terms for NBC on election night in 1986, and seemed to be the Old Dutch, telling stories that were entertaining, if not entirely true. Reagan’s old Chief of Staff once again lost a Senate election that year and Dutch lamented his old friend’s loss that evening. His wife Jane continued to act but did just one or two television movies a year, to spend more time with Dutch. Shortly after being knighted by the Queen in 1987 a ghost-written memoir came out that was generally well received but caused a short estrangement with Cranston for the statement “Alan was just too far left for California, he could give a cold-eyed analysis whenever I needed it, but like so many had a blind spot when looking at himself.” Pretty mild, but actually accurate, Cranston would not run for office again, and would reconcile with Dutch in 1988 who recommended him to advise the Democratic National Committee.
Dutch was the odd Democrat in that he was the first to serve two full terms since FDR and was still popular. He was also seen as being bipartisan, as demonstrated in 1987 when he issued a statement supporting his successor’s Return to the Moon proposal to expand the manned space program at both the Baja and the International Space Ports.
Even though Dutch was somewhat reinvigorated after returning to private life he was still not the same as when he entered the Presidency. In private family and friends noticed that the former President’s memory was failing more and more. At the 1988 Democratic Convention Reagan gave a rousing speech but at one point near the end he paused for a few seconds and had a lost look on his face, before returning to the text. Most attributed the lapse to a teleprompter problem, but years later it was generally agreed this was one of the first public signs of the former President’s Alzheimer’s. His address to the 1992 convention was delivered via a pre-taped message.
Following the 1989 San Francisco-Oakland earthquake Dutch and Jane joined JPK, Jr. and Maureen Kennedy to raise money for earthquake relief. By March 1990 the four Californians had raised more than $52,000,000. Later in 1990 Dutch and Jane visited the Vatican, and had a private audience with Pope Paul VII. On seeing reporters when exiting Dutch remarked he insisted on a private audience as he was afraid the Pope would upstage him again. Later that year ICC First Secretary Thatcher and her husband visited the former President at his ranch “to consult.”
In 1992 Dutch sat for a short interview praising his wife and Maureen Kennedy for their roles in a television movie featuring the former First Ladies called
Mothers Know Best, or Else. That summer he made his final public appearance when he threw out the first ball at the fourth game of the World Series at Angels’ Stadium. In 1993 Dutch released a letter announcing he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Donations for research into curing the condition quadrupled over the following year.
Mike Deaver stayed with the President until 1990 when he tried his hand a lobbying. Deaver was terrible at Washington City lobbying, but later joined with former Attorney General Ed Meese to lobby States to call a Second Constitutional Convention to draft and submit a Balanced Budget Amendment. They each stated it was what Dutch would want. Many unbiased reporters pointed out that the last two years of the Reagan Administration was when the budget really exploded. Whether or not invoking the former President’s name helped in January 1993 Montana became the 36th State necessary to call for the Convention.
Ed Meese was actually named to be a California delegate. There was a ceremonial opening of the Convention on July 4, 1993, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The actual proceedings were held in the Lincoln Nebraska Capitol building from August 9, 1993 – September 3, 1993. The meetings were closed, and minutes were archived until 2043. During the proceedings there were comparatively few leaks, but many delegates spoke on and off the record afterward.
States sent varying numbers of delegates, but each state had only one vote on what amendments would be submitted for ratification. On procedural matters it was decided the majority (or 27) of the states would rule, whereas on whether a particular amendment would be submitted for ratification two-thirds (or 36) of the states would have to agree. The delegates choose former Presidential candidate Robby Dole of Kansas as their Chair, after Dole supposedly spoke on how he and former President Reagan agreed on very little, but both believed the Convention was essential. The first issue, after choosing a Chair, was whether the Convention should be limited to considering a balanced budget amendment, as that was specifically mentioned in many of the state applications. Before a vote on that issue Dole had each delegation submit a list of amendments it wished to be considered. There were over two dozen proposals which included an equal rights amendment for woman (which had been submitted by Congress in 1981 but failed to get the votes for ratification), making abortion a constitutional right, prohibiting all abortions, allowing 16-year-olds to vote, etc. In the end the Chair proposed, and the delegates overwhelming agreed to “limit debate to a Balanced Budget Amendment, and such other Amendments that would impact on Governmental Administration and the United States Budget.”
At the conclusion of the Convention only two Amendments were submitted for ratification. There was a balanced budget amendment and an amendment limiting terms of Congress. Congress tried to sabotage both Amendments by passing their own different versions so as to hopefully prevent any from being ratified. The strategy worked as to the Balanced Budget Amendment with 24 states ratifying just the Convention version, 19 states just the Congressional version, and Florida approving both versions. This was likely due to state legislatures being willingly fooled so as not to cut off their own Federal funding. There was no such doubt as to the term limits Amendment, and on October 17, 1994, with New York becoming the 40th State to submit its ratification, the following became part of the Constitution:
Amendment XXIV
Section 1:
A. No person shall be eligible to serve as a Senator or Representative if at the end of said term they will have held said office more than thirteen years. This limitation shall apply even if a Representative shall have served in more than one district, or if a Senator shall have served in more than one Senate seat.
B. No person shall be eligible to serve in any Federal elective office if before the end of their term they shall have reached eighty years of age.
C. This Article shall become effective on the day following the opening session of the first Congress elected following its ratification. Nothing in this Article shall be deemed as requiring a duly elected Federal Elective Officer from completing a term already in progress when this Article becomes effective.
Section 2: The Congress shall have the power to enforce this Article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3: This Article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States.
Dutch may not have really had much to do with convening the Convention, but his frailty was certainly part of the impetus for the age limit placed on his successors.
Reagan would live until June 7, 2002. At the request of Jane Wyman, Paul VII himself said the funeral Mass. Wyman declined to speak herself, but their children spoke along with the troika – Mike Deaver, Ed Meese, and Alan Cranston. The only other person to eulogize the late President at the funeral was Peggy Thatcher. Mike Deaver’s book on the late President,
On An Angel’s Shoulders, is considered the most thoroughly detailed look at Reagan’s political life, and legacy.
FIRST SECRETARY THATCHER AT THE ICC AND BEYOND
After becoming First Secretary Thatcher’s went about trying to reverse the policies supported by Allende, her immediate predecessor. This was easier said than done, as the other Inter-Continental Congress members resented the weighted voting the United States and Imperial Federation had on decisions of import. The original ICC charter had provided for member states to each have a single vote, but that was directly following the Great War. Prior to the Imperial Federation being formed in 1948, the charter was amended so that the Imperial Federation was able to keep votes not just for Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland, but for the individual states of Australia and Canadian Provinces, plus England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island. The United States did not get votes for each of its then 48 states but did receive a number equal to the Federation total. They were able to push this through since many former European Colonies were not yet full ICC members, and many other nations’ voting rights had been suspended due to the soft occupations by Germany and Russia.
Thatcher proposed a solution. The Imperial Federation, and United States would be reduced to five votes each, while in addition to the votes each member state received the international blocs of EMU, AFTO, APCOPS, and the Common Market of the Americas would be seated as voting entities in the ICC Assembly. Thatcher also proposed limiting herself and future First Secretaries to a single term for a maximum of 6 years, with a guarantee that two cycles would have to pass before an envoy from a country which held the First Secretary Position could again be elevated (this was to prevent America and the Federation from continually swapping the leadership role).
IPM Mulroney ratified the proposal made by Thatcher, the United States was a harder sell. President Bush complained that he had been blind-sided by the proposal, but in the end allowed the American envoy to consent if only to avoid bad optics. The rest of the ICC membership would have preferred one vote per nation, but overwhelming voted for the changes and by October 1989 all changes had been made to the Charter. When Peggy was later asked why she had term limited herself she replied, “I love America and Americans, but very much prefer York to New York.” In fact, Peggy’s husband Denis was planning to retire and very much wanted to spend it back in England with his spouse.
Thatcher then went about reversing what she called her “predecessor’s socialist agendas.” As First Secretary Salvador Allende had encouraged less developed nations to nationalize industries and “turn over their profits to the masses.” This created problems when the businesses nationalized almost uniformly faltered. The two most egregious examples were in 1986 when nationalization caused oil production in Venezuela to be reduced by two thirds, and 1987 when the collectivizing of white owned farms in Zimbabwe turned that nation from a large food exporter to a nation seeking food relief. The nations employing these policies also saw investments dry up, as no entrepreneur foreign or domestic wanted to build a business only to see it taken for whatever the government thought it was worth.
The ICC-WB had already stopped loaning to the countries employing what the Bank’s President Paul Volker called “suicidal policies.” Starting in late 1989 the ICC-WB again made loans to the countries that had nationalized industry and agriculture, but they were conditioned on balancing their budgets. In cooperation with the Imperial Bank and the USCB most of the local governments’ interests in the nationalized companies were sold. The various international banks put in safeguards to prevent speculators from taking excess profits from fire sales. In most cases the companies who had their holdings taken were given the first opportunity to bid on buying back. By 1992 the various nations had divested themselves of almost all of their nationalized holdings. Thatcher remarked that in the 1920s and 1930s we defeated communism with military force, in the 1980s and 1990s we defeated socialism with common sense.”
There is no doubt that Thatcher’s greatest challenge as First Secretary was dealing with the Rwandan Civil War. On March 3, 1990, simmering tensions between the Hutu and Tutsis of Rwanda erupted into violence when the Hutu President of the nation was assassinated in a car bomb attack. The rest of the Hutu leadership blamed the Tutsi minority, but the actual perpetrators were never identified, and many believe those same Hutu leaders killed the President to take power and use the assassination as an excuse to “wipe the Tutsi from the country.” In just over a month the Hutu population was whipped to a frenzy and attacked Tutsi without discrimination between man or woman, young or old, able bodied or infirm. Many were murdered by being hacked to death. By April 3, 1990, it was estimated that Tutsi deaths exceeded 150,000 with some rivers literally running red with blood.
At the urging of First Secretary Thatcher the ICC, almost all its members, and the Vatican issued condemnations of the Hutu atrocities on March 13th as the scope of the attempted genocide was becoming known. Calls for a cease fire were ignored. On April 3rd, the ICC asked for member states to use military force to stop the killing. The United States and Imperial Federation each offered and supplied logistical support in the form of air transport and supplies. A Division sized unit was formed under the auspices of the EMU, consisting of mostly French and Belgian Troops. Those forces teamed with smaller units from Uganda, Tanzania Burundi and the Congo. The United States also dispatched two mobile hospital units.
The fighting was fierce with the ICC forces having to battle just to separate the Hutus, who continued killing Tutsis and a smaller group of pygmies called the Twa. By the time the Hutus were finally subdued in late November it was estimated there were almost 300,000 dead Tutsis, with an unknown number of Twa causalities. Hutu casualties were somewhere north of 50,000. Although the ICC forces viewed the Hutu forces as the aggressors to be subdued, they also had to intervene to prevent Tutsi retaliations. The American hospitals had to be supplemented by an Imperial Federation Hospital, and several facilities taken over by the International Red Cross.
After the war the ICC troops stayed as Peacekeepers. More than 3,000 cases were referred to the International Court (ICC-IC) with more than 95% of those being Hutus that actively participated in the killing of noncombatants, including unarmed women and children. There were varying atrocities described in the indictments, but almost all included the charge of attempted genocide. The trials were held in Johannesburg didn’t begin until 1993 and continued through most of 1996. 1242 defendants pled guilty or were convicted, the rest of the cases resulted in acquittals or dismissals because of an inability to collect sufficient evidence. Surprisingly only 18 of those convicted received sentences over 20 years. Most had shorter confinements provided they acknowledged guilt and offered some form of rumination to their victims.
The Peacekeepers were not technically occupiers, but that was really a distinction without a difference. Once it was obvious foreign troops leaving Rwanda would likely mean a renewed bloodbath Thatcher called in envoys from European and African nations. They developed a plan to rotate troops on a staggered basis keeping the belligerents apart. This started in early 1991.
Pessimistic estimates predicted that peacekeepers might need to be in place thirty years or more. Fortunately, those predictions proved wrong. Despite the tribal differences the Hutu and Tutsi had many commonalities. They were predominately Christian, with about the same percentage division between Protestants and Catholics. Prior to the war there had been significant inter-marriage between the two groups, and the fact that may of the instigators were facing some form of justice helped. The Red Cross, Catholics and many Protestant denominations sent recovery assistance. In 1995 a provisional government was set up including all ethnic groups. Its first act was to forbid ethnicity from being listed on government identification cards. In 1996 Pope Paul VII visited and celebrated an open air “Mass of Healing” in the Capital of Kigali attended by all ethnic groups, peacekeepers and various relief workers. On March 3, 2000, ten years to the day after the beginning of the Civil War the last peacekeepers left Rwanda. On that same date Rwanda resumed its membership in the African Community of Nations (CAN), which had replaced the AFTA following the Rwandan Civil War.
Peggy Thatcher completed her term as First Secretary in February 1995. She returned home in triumph, and later that year the Queen named her both Baroness of Kesteven and Lady of the Order of the Garter. She was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom in 1996. In 1997 she was a founding member of the Freedom Foundation, a group of political thinkers in the United States and Imperial Federation dedicated to encouraging democracy and representative governments around the globe. She continued to write and lecture, and eulogized Dutch Reagan at his funeral in 2002. Her husband Denis died in 2003, but she remained active even after it was revealed she had begun suffering from dementia in 2006. By 2008 Peggy’s condition had worsened to the point that she made no further public appearances. Thatcher died on April 3, 2013. Her funeral had full honors at St. Paul’s Cathedral and was attended by the Queen and Prince Consort. The only other former IPM whose funeral they attended was Winston Churchill. Thatcher’s legacy of course continues to this day.
PAUL VII LEADING THE CHURCH INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
Paul VII remained Bishop of Rome well after Dutch Reagan and Peggy Thatcher had left office, and the world stage. Throughout the 1990s the Pope continued to push the Church toward Ecumenism and improved relations with other faiths. The most successful ecumenical process resulted in full communion between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches which was declared on January 6, 2001. There were two major sticking points that both revolved around the status of the Pope. In the end, given otherwise general agreement on major issues of doctrine the two sides agreed to fudge the differences.
The first issue was Papal infallibility. The Catholic Church had only formalized the doctrine at the Vatican Council of 1870, and then only recognized the infallibility of the Pope when he was speaking ex cathedra. This required the Pontiff to be speaking as a teacher to the whole Church on a matter of faith or morals, invoking his Supreme Authority as guided by the Holy Spirit (in other words declaring the teaching is infallible). In point of fact only one declaration met the definition laid out by the Vatican Council - that was the declaration by Pius IX as to the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854 which actually preceded the Vatican Council. No other Pope had actually invoked infallibility since Pius IX. Pope Pius XII was purportedly prepared in 1950 to speak ex cathedra as to the Assumption of Mary into Heaven but was dissuaded from doing so by Bishop Montini (the future Paul VI). In 1994 Paul VII declared in an encyclical that to be able to be certain he was speaking ex cathedra a Pope would of course need to consult with a Council of the Church or his brother bishops in a Synod. This gave assurance to the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs that they would be consulted beforehand, and even allowed them to take the position that as the declaration of Pius IX preceded the Vatican Council it was null, while Catholics were allowed to believe the Council ratified the teaching of Pius IX. In essence you don’t ask me about this doctrine, and I promise not to ask you.
The other issue involved the Pope’s Supremacy in the Church. Among the Pope’s official titles were:
- Bishop of Rome
- Vicar of Jesus Christ
- Successor of the Prince of the Apostles
- Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church
- Primate of Italy
- Metropolitan Archbishop of the Roman Province
- Primate of Italy
- Sovereign of the Vatican City State
- Servant of the Servants of God, and
- Patriarch of the West
The Orthodox Patriarchs were willing to concede the Pontiff to be Primus inter pares, or “first among equals.” Just as the Patriarch of Constantinople had that title as among the Eastern Churches. They again fudged the issue. On Easter Sunday April 23, 2000, Pope Paul VII announced he would drop the word Supreme from the title Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, a week later on Orthodox Sunday each of the Eastern Patriarchs announced they acknowledged the Pope’s status as Pontiff of the Universal Church. Catholics accepted the proposition that the word Supreme was redundant as the word Universal still conveyed the Pope’s primacy, while the Orthodox were able to say the Pontiff was merely first among equals. Again, an example of – just don’t ask too many questions. In prior negotiations Pope Paul VII had already agreed that Bishops and Patriarchs within the Orthodox Churches would continue to be chosen by Synod within each Orthodox Community. This led the way to the visit of the Patriarchs to Rome at Christmas 1999, followed by Pope Paul VII’s visit to Constantinople on Epiphany 2000 to receive Communion in an Orthodox Church.
The other major denomination Paul VII hoped would again be in full communion with Rome was the Anglican Church. In 1978 the Episcopalians in the United States, who were part of the Anglican Rite, ordained a woman as a priest. This caused concern among the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches as they felt if a woman was ordained as a Bishop, Apostolic Succession would be broken at least as to any priests she might ordain. Anglican dioceses throughout the Imperial Federation did in fact ordain woman from the late 1970 through the 1980s and beyond. In 1989 American Episcopalians named a woman as a bishop. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope conferred many times on what Paul VII viewed as a severe impediment to reunification. While the two churches continued to be cordial, and there was continued cooperation in areas of agreement formal talks at reunification were halted when shortly after the 1994 Inter-Religious Summit the Anglican Church in England itself ordained a female bishop.
Within the Anglican Church many men preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Orders in the 1990s began inquiring if they could be permitted to request ordination by a male bishop. These requests were generally denied. Many African dioceses objected in 1992 when other Anglican Churches began ordaining openly homosexual men and woman, and at the same time they were told they could not prohibit visiting women priests from saying or performing other priestly functions when in their diocese. Starting in 1990 there were ever increasing numbers of Anglicans seeking to convert to the Roman Catholic Church. There were also significant, but smaller numbers of Roman Catholics (mostly in the British Isles and North America), converting to the Anglican Church based on what they termed the intolerance of the Vatican. The Anglican converts joining the Catholic Church also increasingly included clergy.
So many Anglican Priests converted that Paul VII in 1993 provided a streamlined procedure for letting former Anglican Priests become Roman Catholic Priests, even if they were married. In 1997 two entire Episcopal Parishes in the United States moved to convert en mass to the Catholic Church, which resulted in litigation lasting over a decade in disputes over Church property. Between 1990 and 2000, hundreds of Anglican Priests were joined by almost 50 Bishops, with the majority from Africa, but including prelates from around the globe and England itself. Bishops were allowed to be ordained as any other Anglican Priest, but if they were married they were not made bishops.
In 1999 Pope Paul VII created the Anglican Ordinate which acted almost as a Diocese for Anglicans, allowing them to use their Anglican traditions with former Anglican Priests as their pastors. The bishop named was a former Anglican Bishop who was a widower. The Archbishop of Canterbury issued a formal protest accusing the Roman Catholic Church of poaching. One former Anglican bishop responded that he converted after some Churches in the Anglican Communion began blessing homosexual unions “because that was the only way I could remain a true disciple of the Lord.” Again, the conversions went both ways, but the numbers moving to the Anglican Church were dwarfed by those going the other way, and the number of clergymen abandoning the Roman Catholic Church for Anglicism could be counted on one hand.
In 1983 there was almost a Constitutional crisis when it was thought the future King George VII might divorce his wife. The crisis was averted only by the tragic death of the Princess of Wales. By 2000 the divorce of the Prince of Wales from his second wife and the mother of his two teenage children caused only a minor stir. The divorce of course further eroded the hold of the Anglican Church and resulted in the IFP and lower parliaments removing the ban on a possible future Roman Catholic Sovereign. Indeed, at the King’s is Coronation next year, he will not take the oath as Defender of THE Faith as Head of the Anglican Church, but as Defender of the Right to Feely Exercise One’s Faith. The Archbishop of Canterbury and other Anglican prelates will still play a leading role in the King’s Coronation, but other Faiths will also participate.
Paul VII reached out to the various Protestant denominations, as well as other Religious Faiths. He participated in regular ecumenical services with Lutherans, and other denominations. The Holy Father was the leading figure at the 1989 and 1994 Inter-Religious Summits, and when it was thought the Pope’s health might prevent his attendance at the 2004 Summit the venue was changed to Rome, where despite his infirmity the Pontiff asked the delegates to join him in a day for fasting and prayer.
During the 1980s and into the 1990s lawsuits and criminal actions involving sexual abuse of children by the clergy exploded. By the new millennium there was no way the Pope could not have known this was a serious issue. It is not an excuse, but the Pope evidently relied on assurances from the bishops that the matter was in hand. The Pope’s successor, Benedict XVI indicated that the infirmities of Paul VII prevented full attention to the issue, but the issue existed long before the Pope’s health deteriorated. Benedict XVI did have to address the child abuse scandals by the clergy but given the long delay in addressing the issue head on earlier, and the bad acts of many bishops to cover up, it was very costly to the Church in terms of money and trust. It was more than a decade before the scandal was not a major issue for the faithful. In 2001 the Pope was diagnosed as suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and he was suffering problems with his hearing, sight and mobility. He made his last overseas trip in 2003.
Paul VII died peacefully on April 2, 2005. One interesting note is that his successor, was the only voting member of the College of Cardinals not appointed by Paul VII. Soon after becoming Pope, Benedict XVI put his predecessor on the road to Sainthood, and after two miracles were attributed to his intervention, Paul VII was canonized on April 27, 2014.
All three of our protagonists reached their turns as President, Prime Minister and Pope in January 1977. Even though almost a half century has passed no one denies their legacies persist.
REAGAN’S LEGACY
Reagan, friend to baseball slugger Josh Gibson, may not have been able to break the Republican lock on the African American vote, but he was able to finally convince the nation that the Democratic Party’s racism was truly a thing of the past. As stated previously, 1984 was the last Presidential election where all the candidates on the Republican and Democratic tickets were white males. No one in 1984 would have predicted that the 2024 Presidential election would see the Republican Ticket of a Hispanic male and white female barely defeating a Democratic ticket of an Asian woman and gay white man. Not to mention a Native American Speaker of the House, with an African American Chief Justice presiding over a female majority Supreme Court.
Reagan’s ability to work across party lines was demonstrated by appointing Republicans to his cabinet and supporting Bush’s return to the Moon program. The bipartisanship was just what was needed for its time, and politicians on both sides of the aisle today may not compare Dutch to Washington or Lincoln, but many speak of him as another Teddy Roosevelt, for his eternal optimism and belief in American Exceptionalism.
Some criticized President Reagan for deferring too much to IPM Thatcher, but Dutch pointed out that:
The Imperial Federation are our friends and allies, when they are in need of our help the United States will be there for them, as they would be for us. By the way when they are in the right who cares how we come to support our ally? Just as with domestic politics I find that you can get a lot more done if you’re willing to take the blame when things go wrong, and don’t worry about who gets the credit when they go right.
The budget crisis in California following Reagan’s Governorship, and the subsequent ballooning debt during his Presidency did represent a dark spot on the late President’s legacy. In Reagan’s defense cutting a budget in wartime is not usually wise, but there was no real attempt to reduce spending on discretionary programs either. Former aides, Deaver and Meese, likely supported the 1993 Constitutional Convention in part to redeem what they saw as one of Reagan’s only failures.
Alzheimer’s surely limited Dutch’s post-Presidential activities, but his openness in revealing his diagnosis did much to increase awareness of the disease and accelerated research that led directly to the treatments in place today.
THATCHER’S LEGACY
Peggy Thatcher had much more time in politics than Dutch Reagan. She had been in the English Parliament, before moving up to the Imperial Parliament and held ministerial posts before becoming the first female Imperial Prime Minister and went onto serve the globe as First Secretary of the Inter-Continental Congress. Even so Thatcher was always more the outsider than Reagan or Paul VII. Part of this stemmed from the fact that Peggy was usually the smartest person in the room and wasn’t afraid to show it. She was respected and even admired by most of her contemporaries, but never had the love of the masses given so freely to the Queen, President Reagan, and the Pope. Further, by so thoroughly defeating her opposition there was a general reticence to celebrate Thatcher’s many achievements until after she had passed.
Thatcher was the first IPM to form a government without a coalition. After she went to the ICC the Tories tried to have Thatcherism without Thatcher. The Tories actually lost the first General Election under Peggy’s successor. In the 1990s, and early 2000s the governments fell into the familiar pattern of short-lived shifting Center-Left and Center-Right Coalitions. It wasn’t until what became known as the “Tory Reformation” in 2015 wherein younger party members, many of them immigrants, ran on a program of unabashed Thatcherism that the Party again gained a solid majority on its own, which it retains to this day.
The special relationship between the former Empire and the United States goes back to Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt at the Great War Peace Conference, but it reached its heights under Thatcher and Reagan. The relationship has continued to give enormous benefits to both powers. In areas of trade, defence, and cultural exchange they have become almost a single entity. If only America or the Federation had become a superpower it is likely we would have had more conflict in the last fifty years. Because the two powers have essentially worked in lockstep, the burden of being the world police force was lightened. America likely had the resources to retain superpower status in a unipolar world, but the Federation was always there to keep the United States from returning to its’ generally isolationists instincts. This allowed the development of the regional alliances and trading blocs that gave us today’s multi-polar world.
Many argue that IPM Thatcher’s development of the Anglo-American Alliance came at the expense of the Greater Commonwealth. Those arguments ignore the fact that by 1975 no Imperial Federation government was going to greenlight expansion. Thatcher did attempt to improve Federation and Commonwealth relations, but those who are critical of her manner in dealing with one on one with Commonwealth Heads of Government do have a point. Still the Greater Commonwealth continues to exist and is more than a club. Without the immigration preferences given to Greater Commonwealth under the Thatcher government it is unlikely the last IPM would have been the daughter of Jamaican parents who settled in British Columbia, or the current IPM the son of parents came from India to settle in Wales. We also can’t forget the cricket championship still outpaces the World Cup in popularity in both the Commonwealth and Federation.
The reforms First Secretary Thatcher oversaw regarding the ICC in 1989 served as a precedent for the changes made to the charter in 2016 regarding the recognition of the role of regional alliances as equal partners with the United States and Imperial Federation. It was also under Thatcher’s stewardship that increased cooperation was fostered between the ICC-WB, USCB, Imperial Bank and the other International Organization banks.
Thatcher always said she would prefer respect to love in the eyes of the public. She has generally had the respect, and in the last decade maybe just a modicum of love.
THE LEGACY OF POPE PAUL VII
We’ve already discussed the major negative of the late Pontiff’s reign in his not adequately addressing the scandal of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The actions of his successor, Benedict XVI did eventually take the issue on head on. Benedict himself acknowledged he and Paul VII had relied too much on assurances from various Bishops and Cardinals that the abuse was perpetrated by small number of priests, and the matter was being dealt with. It was only when court actions bankrupted dioceses in Ireland, America and Australia that it became clear the means of “dealing with” the crisis consisted of covering up criminal abuse and transferring perpetrators to unsuspecting parishes.
Even after Pope Benedict XVI ordered the release of all relevant records, and prompt reporting of any alleged criminal acts to secular authorities in 2006, there were some bishops who continued to cover up. Many in the laity did not believe the Church was really serious about the issue until 2009 when Benedict announced that any clergy found to have acted inappropriately would be permanently relieved of their priestly duties, and followed this up by relieving over 300 priests, three Bishops and a Cardinal. There was follow on in 2010 when seven bishops and two Cardinals were removed from their posts for having covered up abuse. It still took years before many in and out of the Church didn’t think of the child sexual abuse scandal when discussing the Catholic Church. Benedict XVI made clear that when he learned of the extent of the scandal, he acted in the manner her thought Paul VII would, but conceded he and his predecessor should have done more to investigate much earlier.
Pope Paul VII had two main legacies. His ecumenical efforts with other Christian denominations, as well as genuinely sincere dialogue and cooperation with other faiths, made for a better world, and there is no doubt that his actions reduced conflicts around the globe. The second legacy was the enormous effort put into missionary activities. Christianity at the end of Paul VII’s reign was and remains the largest religion on earth and the Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest denomination. In fact, Roman Catholic adherents outnumbered the total number of American citizens, and Imperial subjects combined.
Both of Paul VII's successors were in his mold as doctrinally conservative, with open empathetic personalities. While Paul VII was the first non-Italian Pope in 450 years, the current Vicar of Christ is the first African Pope in more than 1500 years, and of course he demonstrated who he wanted to emulate by taking the name Paul VIII. Many of the faithful will argue that the miracles attributed to Pope Paul VII both before and after his elevation to Sainthood demonstrates he continues to add to his legacy.
FINAL QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
I can take some questions before we leave, but as the feed into this location is not working correctly, I can only call on people here at McGill.
The young man with the Nordics Jersey in the fourth row.
Q: Why is it that the Islamic Confederation attacked other majority Muslim Nations? For that matter why were Muslim nations outside the Confederation so willing to fight alongside the Alliance?
A: Excellent question, and by the way if I think it is a stupid question, I will point that out as well. When I say that at the beginning of a question session more than half the hands usually go down.
Well, it comes down to each side’s belief system at the time. The Islamic Confederation was trying to form a worldwide Caliphate, and fervently believed their jihad was saving those misguided Muslims outside the Confederation, even if it meant fighting those same fellow Muslims. The majority Muslim Countries outside the Confederation weren’t any less Islamic, but their reading of the Koran did not see a justification for jihad. Further there were legitimate complaints in the manner the Saudis made it difficult for Muslims outside the Confederation to make their Hajj to Mecca. Finally, the secular governments outside the Confederation largely worked to give their people a fairly good life, while letting Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others freely worship.
The person standing up and starting to speak even though I wasn't going to call on you, go ahead.
Q: You said you served in the Islamic Confederation War - did you see much action?
A: The scariest and most draining part of my service in the War was trying to operate in 110-degree weather wearing full ABC gear. I hope that answers your question.
The young woman with the hand halfway up in the very back.
Q: How much collaboration actually took place between Reagan, Thatcher and the Pope?
A: Well, that’s a stupid question. Just kidding it is actually quite insightful. As between Reagan and Thatcher there was quite a bit of collaboration. They spoke often and met regularly. You must remember they represented the two mightiest powers on the planet, and unlike other points in history where major powers just naturally opposed each other, the Americans and Federation were largely in agreement. It also didn’t hurt that Reagan and Thatcher genuinely liked and respected each other.
As to the Pope, well there was a different dynamic. He said what he thought was right and acted accordingly. Now he might refrain from comment if he thought it would result in physical danger to innocents. For instance, for a short time Paul VII cut back his criticism of the Argentina Junta, when it appeared they were targeting clergy in retaliation. That said he often used his position to morally move both the United States and Imperial Federation. Pope Paul VII had more interaction with Reagan by virtue of his being Catholic, and as Reagan’s wife was a late convert to Catholicism, she was fervent in her beliefs, and the Holy Father recognized her piety.
An interesting side note is that Reagan told a biographer that had his mother survived the Kansas flu Dutch and his brother Neil likely would have been raised in her faith, as Disciples of Christ.
The woman in the red shirt right in front.
Q: I heard you have a new book coming out, what is the topic, and will it be on the reading list for any of your classes this year?
A: Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make clear this person is not a plant. I do indeed have a new book coming out, and it will not be on the reading list, but you should all still purchase it. It is not on the reading list for two reasons. First, I am not teaching any classes as along with my spouse am taking emeritus status, so we will be traveling and annoying our children and grandchildren. Second, the book is not a history, but rather an alternate history of the 20th Century where Teddy Roosevelt does not get the Republican Nomination in 1912, runs as a Progressive and loses to Woodrow Wilson. The working title is
Bully and other Bullshit. I originally wrote it as a textbook but was convinced by my publisher and editor wife that it would be better as a novel, as my wife explained my draft was almost as boring as my real textbooks. I will occasionally be doing guest lectures but will pass on to others my duties for the biennial Harvard History lectures and International Symposiums.
One final question or comment from the beautiful woman coming on stage now.
Q: Is it true that you’re the luckiest man in the world? Also, can you give a little more detail on your book?
A: This is a totally planted question, and the questioner is of course my wife of 40 years. To answer – yes, I am the luckiest man on earth as I have been told every day since my wedding.
As to the book – suffice it to say a Wilson Victory means, a more racially divided nation and no era of acquisitions, so no 53 United States. There is no Norfolk Peace Conference, so America ends up in the Great War. With no Peace Conference Churchill isn’t rehabilitated for the Gallipoli disaster and thus no Imperial Federation.
Then - oh I see my wife signaling I’m giving away too much so please just buy the book. As long as you buy it, I really don't care if you actually read it. Thank you all for at least pretending to pay attention.