June 12, 1982: A Nuclear Disarmament Rally is held in New York’s Central Park. A crowd of 750,000 turns out. Musical performances are given by Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt.
These were people desperate to avoid a nuclear confrontation between America and the Soviet Union. They were begging President Ronald Reagan to listen to them.
He didn't: He kept on building up America's nuclear arsenal, even though we already had enough bombs to destroy the Soviet Union many times over.
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became Premier of the Soviet Union. He and Reagan started talking, and the process of winding the Cold War down began.
Reagan did not "win the Cold War" all by himself. He did very little to win it. But since he left office, the people who made the myths about him have written the tremendous opposition to him, including this rally, out of history. They acted as though his 49-out-of-50-States performance in the 1984 election meant that he was overwhelmingly popular.
But, according to a consensus of national polls, his approval rating dipped below 50 percent in December 1981, was 45 percent as the rally was held and the recession took hold in June 1982, bottomed out at 35 percent in January 1983, didn't get back above 50 percent until November 1983, reached 68 percent in January 1985, stayed above 60 percent until November 1986, then fell back below 50 percent again after the revelations of the Iran-Contra scandal, falling to 42 precent in March 1987, before rebounding during the 1988 Presidential campaign. He left office at 68 percent.
Ronald Reagan was not a great President, but he played one on TV.
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June 12, 1982 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Shane Rawley gave up an 8th-inning home run to eventual Rookie of the Year Cal Ripken Jr.
* The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-2 at Shea Stadium.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-5 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-4 at Fenway Park. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Rickey Henderson went 2-for-6 with a home run and 2 RBIs -- but no stolen bases.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Ken Forsch pitched a 3-hit shutout. Rod Carew went 1-for-4, and Reggie Jackson did not play.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-2 with 2 walks, and Paul Molitor went 1-for-4.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-2 at Royals Stadium in Kansas City. (It was renamed Kauffman Stadium in 1993.) George Brett went 1-for-4.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. (It was renamed Qualcomm Stadium in 1997.) Chris Welsh pitched a 4-hit shutout.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Johnny Bench went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.
* And the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 10-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Phil Niekro, 43-year-old knuckleballer, got the win, with a save by Al Hrabosky, "The Mad Hungarian."
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