Vol. 80/No. 46      December 12, 2016

 

25, 50, and 75 Years Ago

 

December 13, 1991

The U.S. government continues a massive military operation off the coast of Haiti aimed at preventing working people from successfully fleeing the repression of the military junta now in power there.

Meanwhile, talks initiated by the Organization of American States between Haiti’s deposed president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the current rulers collapsed.

Between October 29 and November 29 some 5,790 Haitians have been loaded onto 15 U.S. Coast Guard cutters patrolling the 600-mile stretch of water between Haiti and the United States.

Overcrowded, rickety boats continue to leave the Haitian coast, despite the fact that as many as half the people attempting the voyage die at sea. While refusing to allow Haitians to enter the United States, Washington is trying to convince other countries to accept some refugees.

December 12, 1966

Almost half of the more than 3,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) have submitted one-month resignation notices to pressure Twin City hospitals to grant immediate salary increases.

The resignations are part of an MNA drive to force the Twin Cities Hospital Association to grant wage boosts more than seven months before the nurses’ contracts expire. The resignations become effective Dec. 26 if no settlement has been reached.

The MNA has asked the immediate raises because, it says, low nurse salaries are causing nursing shortages — ultimately harming patient care.

Reasons given at a Nov. 21 meeting of the nurses, in favor of mass resignation rather than a calling in sick proposal, were that a sick call was “no real commitment” and that disunity might result if some nurses began to return to work after one or two days of calling in.

December 13, 1941

The declaration of war on Japan by Congress brought automatically into operation the war-time legislation known as the “Espionage Act,” first enacted June 15, 1917.

Most of the Espionage Act deals with such subjects as espionage by enemy agents and the protection of military secrets. However, Section 3 of Title I of the Act served the purpose of prosecuting political opponents of the first World War.

The original law makes punishable words or acts which “willfully” or by “intent” interfere with the war. The judicial interpretations applied this so broadly that words or acts, regardless of their intent, came under the act.

Raids were made on the offices of antiwar organizations. Nearly 2,000 prosecutions and other judicial proceedings took place during the last war, the most important of them under the Espionage Act.

 
 
 
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