News of the day for October 31, 1982 - the 1982 Mid-term elections, Reaganomics, Tylenol, China, John DeLorean and Cocaine trafficking, spies in Britain.
October 31, 2011

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John DeLorean - a quick and ugly descent.


It would be insanity if all this happened in one day - but no, today's dose of history has to deal with the week ending on October 31, 1982 - and a busy week it was.

The 1982 Mid-Term elections were upon us and Republicans all over the country were chanting "stay the course", even though there didn't seem much to substantiate that desire. Still, it was a loud Mantra. One embarrassment to the Reagan White House came in the form of Nobel Prize winning Economist George Stigler who, after his Oval Office visit went before microphones to an impromptu press conference and promptly trashed the Reagan Economic vision, saying supply-side economics were a myth. It didn't go over well with West Wing flacks who quickly ushered Stigler away from the glare of probing cameras.

Meanwhile, the recent rash of deaths attributed to poisoned Tylenol had their fair share of copycat tampering, causing a wave of serious alarm this Halloween, prompting some communities to shelve Halloween altogether.

Auto maker John DeLorean was indicted on 9 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering in a somewhat maladroit attempt to pull his car company out of bankruptcy by hawking Philadelphia Marching Powder.

Spain got a new head of government. The Socialist sweep in the recent elections brought Philippe Gonzalez, 40 to the forefront as the youngest leader ever to be elected in Europe.

And China boasted the somewhat dubious distinction of having over 1 billion people on this Halloween.

Just another week in paradise, according the CBS News The World This Week for October 31, 1982 (Halloween came on a Sunday that year).

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