While we were there in South Dakota, we took a couple of Joy’s cousins, Kim and Jackie, with us to visit De Smet, SD, about a three-hour trip, about 150 miles away. In 1979, when we, Joy, Margaret, and I, had been in the Ozarks, we visited the historic house museum of Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) in Mansfield, Missouri, where Laura had lived from 1896 until her death in 1957, over 60 years. She began writing the Little House on the Prairie series in the 1930s, when she was in her sixties, aided by her daughter, but the real fame came after her death with the ten-year TV series, Little House on the Prairie with Melissa Gilbert as Laura from 1974-1984. Thus, De Smet was not the only museum for Laura Ingalls Wilder. However, back in 1981, there were more hands on things in De Smet and it was free, not like today. You could touch and feel the places where she grew up. I know the three young girls were impressed, but so was Margaret and I. De Smet was not as elaborate as today, but many of the same places were there with markers on them. We did our own little self-guided tour. The young girls were happy to run around and find a place that they had seen on TV. I think that Margaret got a set of Little House on the Prairie books. We had something to eat and came back to Dell Rapids. Everyone was happy about this little trip, where we got to see the background for a TV show that was based on stories in this nearby South Dakota town of De Smet. Did you like the TV show “Little House on the Prairie”?
Summer vacations in Dell Rapids, SD
During the summers of the early 1980s, we, Margaret, Joy, and I, all went for a vacation in Dell Rapids, SD with Margaret’s parents. We stayed at their new house in Dell Rapids, not at the farm. Margaret’s parents had bought a house in the town of Dell Rapids, since their son Mike, Margaret’s brother, and his wife Grace now lived out in the farmhouse. As I had limited income, it was nice to have a place to drive to where we had limited expenses. Besides, Margaret was happy to be back in South Dakota to visit with her parents and to keep up with her sisters and brothers, since they all lived in South Dakota. This also gave Joy a chance to get to know her first cousins and spend some time with her grandparents and go out on the farm to visit her uncle. A couple of her cousins were girls about the same age as her from 7-9 years old, Charity Olson, Rosie’s daughter whom she met in Germany, as well as Kim and Jackie Klein, Ed’s daughters, who also lived in Dell Rapids. Her other cousin Erika Klein, Ken’s daughter, lived in Mitchell, SD, while Lisa and Stacie Ries, Lois’ daughters, lived in Pierre, SD. We stayed in the basement of Margaret’s parents’ house. We also got to visit Chester, Mitchell and Pierre, SD, to see Margaret’s sisters and brother. Have you ever taken a vacation by visiting your in-laws?
Mayor Mark Stricker (1936-2008) President of Matteson 1981–2008
Mark Stricker was first elected as the President of the Village of Matteson, IL, in 1981. He remained the mayor for over 25 years, most of the time that I lived in Matteson. I found his obituary. He had been a resident of Matteson for 45 years. Mark W. Stricker died of an apparent heart attack in route to St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields at the age of 72. His wife was Charlotte Stricker for 51 years and they had two children. Stricker served on the Board of Education for School District 159 before become a Village Trustee in Matteson. He was first elected Mayor in 1981 and served in that position until he died. Mark Stricker was a retired teacher of Tinley Park High School, where he taught for 36 years. Mark was a loyal and dedicated servant to the Village of Matteson. He truly loved and enjoyed his village and the people he served. He also was a volunteer of the Matteson Fire Department. He also was a great municipal leader for the entire south suburban region. He was the Past-President of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, as well as an Executive Board Member and Transportation Committee Chair. He was also an Advisory Board Member of the Matteson Area Chamber of Commerce and a Board Member of the Chicago Southland Convention and Visitors Bureau. As a member of the Greater Chicago Council of Governments, he was one of 17 mayors in Illinois elected to serve on the Board of the Illinois Tax Increment Finance Committee. I liked him because he gave some stability to the village of Matteson during some trying times. Did you live in a town that had the same mayor for over 25 years?
The Abscam sting operation
Abscam was a FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members from both chambers of the Congress and others for bribery and corruption in 1981. The two-year investigation initially targeted trafficking in stolen property and corruption of prominent business people, but later evolved into a corruption investigation. The FBI was aided by the US Department of Justice and convict Mel Weinberg in videotaping politicians accepting bribes from a fictitious Arabian company in return for various political favors. However, a lot of it centered around Atlantic City casinos so that many of these people caught were from New Jersey and Philadelphia. More than 30 political figures were investigated. Six members of the US House of Representatives and one member of the US Senate were convicted. One member of the New Jersey State Senate, various members of the Philadelphia City Council, the Mayor of Camden, NJ, and an inspector for the Immigration and Naturalization Service were also convicted. The operation was directed from the FBI’s office on Long Island, under the supervision of Assistant Director Neil Welch, who headed the bureau’s New York division, and Thomas P. Puccio, head of the Justice Department’s United States Organized Crime Strike Force for the Eastern District of New York. “Abscam” was the FBI codename for the operation, which law enforcement authorities said was a contraction of “Arab scam.” The American-Arab Relations Committee made complaints about that. In March 1978, John F. Good of the FBI’s office in suburban Long Island created and oversaw this sting operation. The FBI employed Melvin Weinberg, a convicted swindler, international con artist and informant, and his girlfriend, Evelyn Knight, to help plan and conduct the operation. They were both facing a prison sentence. In exchange for their help, the FBI agreed to let them out on probation. Weinberg, supervised by the FBI, created a fake company called Abdul Enterprises in which FBI employees posed as fictional Arab sheikhs led by owners Kambir Abdul Rahman and Yassir Habib, who had millions of dollars to invest in the United States. Weinberg instructed the FBI to fund a $1 million account with the Chase Manhattan Bank in the name of Abdul Enterprises, giving the company the credibility it needed to further its operation. The FBI recorded each money exchange and, for the first time in American history, surreptitiously videotaped government officials accepting bribes. Each convicted politician was given a separate trial. During these trials, much controversy arose regarding the ethics of Operation Abscam. Many lawyers, defending their clients, accused the FBI of entrapment. There were 31 targeted officials, but only the following members of Congress were convicted of bribery and conspiracy in 1981: US Senator Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ), US Representative Frank Thompson (D-NJ), John Jenrette (D-SC), Raymond Lederer (D-PA), Michael Myers (D-PA), John M. Murphy (D-NY), and Richard Kelly (R-FL). Five other government officials were convicted, including the Mayor of Camden, NJ, Angelo Errichetti (D), and the Philadelphia, PA, City Council President George X. Schwartz (D). Also convicted were Philadelphia, PA, City Councilman Harry Jannotti (D) and Louis Johanson (D), plus an inspector for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service. The following people refused bribes and reported the incident to the FBI, John Murtha (D-PA), Senator Larry Pressler (R-SD), and Bob Guccione, publisher of Penthouse. Congress then set guidelines on FBI investigations. Have you ever heard of Abscam?
President Reagan was shot on March 30,1981
The day that John Hinkley shot President Ronald Reagan was a day that I remember very clearly. I was at a meeting to learn more about insurance in Oak Lawn, when the instructor informed us that the President had been shot. The class was dismissed. On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotic-manic obsession after viewing her in the 1976 film Taxi Driver. Reagan was seriously wounded by a revolver bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding. Initially, he believed that he had not been shot. He was close to death upon arrival at George Washington University Hospital, but was stabilized in the emergency room. He then underwent emergency exploratory surgery. He recovered and was released from the hospital on April 11, 1981. Secretary of State Alexander Haig initially stated that he was “in control here” at the White House until Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington from Fort Worth, Texas. Haig was wrong since he was fourth in the line of succession after Bush, Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, and president pro tempore of the Senate Strom Thurmond. White House press secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, who was from Orland Park, Il, near Matteson, and D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady had brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by his injury. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. He remained confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a D.C. psychiatric facility, until he was released on September 10, 2016. Hinckley had seen the film Taxi Driver at least 15 times, apparently identifying strongly with protagonist Travis Bickle, portrayed by actor Robert De Niro. He was convinced that he would be Foster’s equal if he became a national figure. He decided to emulate Bickle and began stalking President Jimmy Carter. He was arrested in October 1980 at Nashville International Airport and fined for illegal possession of a firearm. Hinckley noticed Reagan’s schedule was published in The Washington Star. At 2:27 PM, Reagan exited the hotel through “President’s Walk” on Florida Avenue, where reporters waited. Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers. The Secret Service had extensively screened those attending the president’s speech, but allowed an unscreened group to stand within 15 feet of the President, behind a rope line. Hinckley assumed a crouch position and rapidly fired a steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds, missing the president with all six shots. The first shot hit White House press secretary James Brady in the head above his left eye, passing through underneath his brain and shattering his brain cavity. District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty was struck in the back of his neck by the second shot. Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy placed himself in the line of fire so that he was struck in the lower abdomen by the fourth shot, the bullet traversing his right lung, diaphragm, and right lobe of the liver. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine, passed between the space of the open rear door and vehicle frame and hit the president in the left underarm. This shot grazed a rib and lodged in his lung, causing it to partially collapse before stopping less than an inch from his heart. They immediately captured Hinckley and brought the President to nearby George Washington Hospital, where they operated on President Reagan. He recovered. Do you remember the day they shot Reagan?
Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) retires as the CBS Evening News anchor
Walter Cronkite was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as “the most trusted man in America.” Cronkite received numerous honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. Cronkite reported many events from 1937 to 1981, including the bombings in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr., and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also known for his extensive coverage of the USA space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings and the Space Shuttle. Cronkite was known for his departing catchphrase every night, “And that’s the way it is.” He retired on March 6, 1981. Although sometimes compared to a father figure or an uncle figure, in an interview about his retirement he described himself as being more like a “comfortable old shoe” to his audience. His last day in the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News was on March 6, 1981. CBS had a mandatory retirement at age 65. On the eve of Cronkite’s retirement, he appeared on “The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson.” The following night, Carson did a comic spoof of his on-air farewell address. Here is Cronkite’s farewell statement: “This is my last broadcast as the anchorman of The CBS Evening News. For me, it’s a moment for which I long have planned, but which, nevertheless, comes with some sadness. For almost two decades, after all, we’ve been meeting like this in the evenings, and I’ll miss that. But those who have made anything of this departure, I’m afraid have made too much. This is but a transition, a passing of the baton. A great broadcaster and gentleman, Doug Edwards, preceded me in this job, and another, Dan Rather, will follow. And anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists, writers, reporters, editors, producers, and none of that will change. Furthermore, I’m not even going away! I’ll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries, and, beginning in June, every week, with our science program, Universe. Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away. They just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is: Friday, March 6, 1981. I’ll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night.” For many Americans, this was the end of so-called objective news. Cronkite was the last of the so-called godly anchors who could do no wrong. Cronkite had left the University of Texas as a junior to be a newspaper man at UPI (United Press International) in 1937. Cronkite became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe. After the war, he covered the Nuremberg trials and served as the United Press main reporter in Moscow from 1946 to 1948. In 1950, Cronkite joined CBS News in its young and growing television division, recruited by Edward R. Murrow. Cronkite anchored the network’s coverage of the 1952 presidential election as well as later conventions. From 1953 to 1957, Cronkite hosted the CBS program “You Are There,” which reenacted historical events, using the format of a news report. I remember those shows. His famous last line for these programs was: “What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times… and you were there.” He became famous for his reporting on the death of President Kennedy. He left a legacy of credibility and trustworthiness. Do you remember Walter Cronkite?
The release of the Iran hostages on Inauguration Day
Meanwhile, the first inauguration of Ronald Reagan was on Tuesday, January 20, 1981. At 69 years of age on Inauguration Day, Reagan was the oldest person to assume the presidency until that record was surpassed by Donald Trump in 2017, and again, by Joe Biden in 2021. While the inauguration was taking place, the 53 Americans being held hostage in Iran were released. The completion of the negotiations was the signing of the Algiers Accords on January 19, 1981. However, the American hostages were released on the following day, January 20, 1981. Minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president, while he was giving his inaugural address, the 53 American hostages were released to USA personnel. I remember the split screen on TV with Reagan speaking and a picture of an airplane. There have been many conspiracy theories regarding why Iran postponed the release until that moment. The timing of the release of the hostages gave rise to allegations that representatives of Reagan’s presidential campaign had conspired with Iran to delay the release until after the 1980 United States presidential election to thwart Carter from pulling off an “October surprise.” After twelve years of varying media attention, both houses of the US Congress held separate inquiries and concluded that credible evidence supporting the allegation was absent or insufficient. The American hostages were flown on an Air Algeria commercial airliner from Tehran, Iran, to Algiers, Algeria, where they were formally transferred to Warren M. Christopher, the representative of the United States, as a symbolic gesture of appreciation for the Algerian government’s help in resolving the crisis. The flight continued to Rhein-Main Air Base in West Germany to an Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, where former President Carter, acting as emissary, received them. After medical check-ups and debriefings, the hostages made a second flight to a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, where they were greeted by a large crowd. The released hostages were then flown to Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. From Newburgh, they traveled by bus to the United States Military Academy at West Point. They stayed at the Thayer Hotel for three days, receiving a heroes’ welcome all along the route. Ten days after their release, they were given a ticker tape parade in New York City. These Tehran hostages received $3.50 for each day in captivity after their release. The deal that freed them, reached between the United States and Iran, and brokered by Algeria in January 1981, prevented the hostages from claiming any restitution from Iran due to foreign sovereign immunity and an executive agreement known as the Algiers Accords, which barred such lawsuits. In 2015, the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act afforded the hostages compensation from a fund to be financed from fines imposed on companies found guilty of breaking American sanctions against Iran. This bill authorized a payment of $10,000 for each day in captivity, as well as a lump sum of $600,000 in compensation for each of the spouses and children of the Iran hostages. This meant that each hostage could be paid up to 4.4 million, which was a lot more than the original compensation 35 years earlier. Iran went from being a friend of the USA to an enemy. Shortly thereafter, the Iraq-Iran broke out. Besides the beginning of “Nightline” on ABC, over 80 songs about the Iran hostage crisis have been released. The 2012 Hollywood movie Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, was based on the Canadian Caper rescue. In 2022, HBO released a 4-part documentary series titled “Hostages.” What do you remember about the inauguration of Ronald Reagan?
Palos Heights, Illinois
My Prudential Insurance Office in 1981 was in Palos Heights, a southwest suburb of Chicago, in Palos Township in south Cook County, with about a population of about 8,500 back in 1981. Today it has 12,068 people within a four-square mile area with a 90% white population. The median income for households in the city was $90,995. The top five ancestries reported in Palos Heights as of the 2000 census were Irish (27%), German (20%), Polish (14%), Italian (10%) and Dutch (9%). Palos Heights has many distinct neighborhoods, divided into three congressional districts and four school districts. Community High School District 218’s Alan B. Shepard High School serves Palos Heights and several neighboring communities, while Consolidated High School District 230’s Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, located in Palos Hills, serves Palos Heights students living west of Harlem Avenue. Palos Heights students can readily commute to Moraine Valley Community College in nearby Palos Hills. Trinity Christian College is also located in Palos Heights. Palos Heights was incorporated as a city in 1959. Shortly thereafter, Z. Erol Smith was elected its first mayor and was re-elected three times, serving until 1973. Nevertheless, this new city has quite a few notable people involved with professional sports, including Brian Bogusevic, Kendall Coyne Schofield, David Dombrowski, Jim Hughes, Arlene Kotil, Christine Magnuson, Ryan Murphy, Ed Olczyk, Tony Pashos, and Quentin Richardson. Palos Heights has a station stop on the Metra downtown service. Palos Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois. Most of the township’s population resides in its eastern half with the Palos Forest Preserves, a section of the Cook County Forest Preserves on the western side. In 1850, the small town of Trenton, Illinois, changed its name to Palos because M.S. Powell, the local postmaster, whose ancestor supposedly sailed with Christopher Columbus was from Palos de la Frontera, Spain. When it incorporated as a village in 1914, Palos officially became Palos Park with a current population of 4,847. Nearby communities incorporated later, Hickory Hills in 1951, with a current population of 14,505, and Palos Hills in 1958, with a current population of 17,484. All these municipalities lie completely or substantially within Palos Township. However, Palos Heights is partially in Worth Township, also. It was a short commute for me up Harlem Avenue in Matteson to Palos Heights. Have you ever heard about Palos Heights?
I was a Prudential Insurance Agent in 1981
I was a Prudential Insurance agent as 1981 began. I represented a company, a piece of the Rock, Prudential. I had to learn all about the various life insurance plans, especially the difference between term life insurance and whole life insurance. Term life insurance was cheaper and much like other kinds of insurance. You were insured for a certain amount of time and then it expired. On the other hand, whole life insurance had a savings component since it had a cash value. Thus, you could turn it into cash and drop your insurance. This was a savings plan, like the old-fashioned Christmas Club savings plans that my mother had. It forced people to save money, but without a great deal of financial gain. The commissions were higher on these whole life plans. I sold a couple of whole life plans. However, there were new kinds of insurance plans that acted like a mutual fund with variable rates, since it invested in stocks and bonds. I got more interested in those whole life plans as a way for people to save money while also having a minor investment plan. I followed up on orphan Prudential customers, where other Prudential agents had sold them insurance, but these agents had left the company. I called most of them, but I did not like calling people. During my time at Montgomery Ward, the only time that people called me, it was always about a problem. No one ever called me to say how good of a job I was doing. I soon began to realize that the only people who really needed life insurance were the people with big salaries, since usually their family depended on their income. Most people did not have an income high enough to need protection. A family earner was the one who needed the most insurance. Thus, I never sold a lot of high value whole life insurance plans. I remember that I found a construction worker who was divorced and worried about his kids. I think that I sold him a $100,000 whole life insurance policy that had a savings part that he was interested in. A lot of other Prudential agents were trying to sell new policies to older customers to generate new commissions. I did not like that idea. Anyway, I loved learning about new kinds of insurance products. I found out that one agent at our office sold life insurance policies to teachers in his school district. He made a deal with a local school board to use the money that was allocated for health insurance for life insurance, since many of the teachers had health insurance from their spouses. Thus, this whole life insurance was an option for them. He was always busy in August and September, lining up these new life insurance policies for new teachers in this school district. There were a lot of ways to sell insurance. Other people got names from lists of new births. Another agent used the obituaries. People who have someone die in their family realize the value of life insurance. There was one lady, who was selling life insurance until she would be accepted to the Chicago Police Department. Another lady was selling insurance so that she could buy a sports car. All in all, it was a diverse group of Prudential insurance agents that we had in Palos Heights office. Somehow, it had an Oak Lawn southside feel that had spread to the south suburbs. Have you ever worked in an office?
TV in 1980
In 1980, a few new cable channels began that had a lasting impact on television viewing. The first 24-hour news channel, Cable News Network (CNN), was launched in Atlanta, Georgia, by Ted Turner. Black Entertainment Television (BET) launched as a block of programming on the USA Network by Robert L. Johnson, but became a full-fledged channel in 1983. Also, the 24/7 cable movie network Cinemax launched, that later became attached to HBO. The Madison Square Garden Sports Network was officially rechristened as the USA Network, also. Other new cable channels were ACSN, The Learning Channel, and Bravo. The first regularly scheduled use of closed captioning on American network television occurred on ABC. The NFL draft was televised for the first time on ESPN. After 29 years on the air, the soap opera “Love of Life” aired its 7,316th and last episode on CBS. “Hawaii Five-O” aired its series finale on CBS after 12 years. Suzanne Somers made her final appearance in an episode of the ABC sitcom “Three’s Company.” There was a six-hour retrospective of more than 30 years of Bob Hope’s Overseas Christmas Tours entertaining at military bases. “Hollywood Squares” presented its 3,536th and final network telecast, ending a 14-year daytime run. Two other NBC game shows, “High Rollers” and “Chain Reaction,” ended their runs as well. The Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA launched a three-month strike against television and movie studios. The David Letterman Show debuted on NBC. Joan Lunden made her debut as co-host of ABC’s Good Morning America alongside David Hartman. The PBS documentary “Cosmos,” hosted by legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, premiered. Bob Costas made his debut calling Major League Baseball games for NBC. Eddie Murphy made his first Saturday Night Live appearance. Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter participated in their sole presidential debate, as the most watched presidential debate until 2016. The five–part historical drama miniseries Shōgun was broadcast on NBC. “Magnum, P.I.” began its first year while other shows went off the air, like “The Rockford Files” (1974-1980), “Pyramid,” (1973-1980), “Barnaby Jones,” (1973-1980), and “Dinah!” (1974-1980). The top-rated shows of the 1979-1980 TV season were, “60 Minutes,” “Three’s Company,” “That’s Incredible!” “Alice,” “M*A*S*H,” “Dallas,” “Flo,” “The Jeffersons,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “One Day at a Time,” “Archie Bunker’s Place,” “Eight Is Enough,” “Taxi,” “House Calls,” “Real People,” “Little House on the Prairie,” “Happy Days,” “CHIPs,” “Trapper John, M.D,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Barney Miller,” “WKRP in Cincinnati,” “Benson,” “The Love Boat,” “Soap,” “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Mork & Mindy,” “Fantasy Island,” “Tenspeed and Brown Shoe,” and “Knots Landing.” I think I saw most of these shows in one episode or another. Most of the shows did not depend on watching it one show after another. There were a lot of comedies. What TV show do you remember from 1980?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 