vintage and modern pulp fiction; noir, schlock and exploitation films; scandals, swindles and news
Does the cover of Brett Halliday’s Fit To Kill look like a really stiff and lifeless museum diorama of the 1970s, or is it our imagination? Can’t you just hear a guide now, describing ancient and mystifying artifacts such as mirrored walls, crocheted carpets, and boat shoes? The ’70s gave us a lot of good things—the microwave oven, The Exorcist, liposuction—but denim leisurewear is not one of them. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake it isn’t bad guys that are after our hero, but the fashion police.
Frank Eugene Corder tries to crash a stolen Cessna 150 into the White House, but strikes the lawn before skidding into the building. The incident causes minor damage to the White House, but the plane is totaled and Corder is killed.
With the help of the CIA, General Augusto Pinochet topples democratically elected President Salvador Allende in Chile. Pinochet’s regime serves as a testing ground for Chicago School of Economics radical pro-business policies that later are applied to other countries, including the United States.
The attacks that would become known as 9-11 take place in the United States. Airplane hijackings lead to catastrophic crashes resulting in the collapse of the World Trade Center in New York City, the destruction of a portion of The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a passenger airliner crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Approximately 36% of Americans doubt the official 9-11 story.
Governor of Louisiana Huey Long, one of the few truly leftist politicians in American history, is shot by Carl Austin Weiss in Baton Rouge. Long dies after two days in the hospital.
Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time, performing his hit song “Don’t Be Cruel.” Ironically, a car accident prevented Sullivan from being present that night, and the show was guest-hosted by British actor Charles Laughton.
