June 9, 1983: "The Longest Suicide Note In History"

June 9, 1983: Britain's Conservative Party wins a 2nd consecutive term, gaining 58 seats in the House of Commons, and increasing the majority of its Leader, the country's 1st female, and most conservative, Prime Minister ever, Margaret Thatcher.

The Labour Party, led by Michael Foot, lost 60 seats. The defeat, the largest for a left-of-center party in Britain since 1924, is attributed to their warmup publication: The New Hope for Britain: Labour's Manifesto 1983. One of their own Members of Parliament -- Gerald Kaufman, once Prime Minister Harold Wilson's press officer -- called the manifesto "the longest suicide note in history."

Born in 1913 in Plymouth, Devon, Foot was first elected to Britain's House of Commons in the postwar election of 1945. In 1980, he was elected Leader of the Labour Party, and thus Leader of the Opposition. He maintained Labour's status as a party further left than America's Democrats and Canada's Liberals, and was beloved by the trade unions. He became the face of socialism for the Western world.

But when he went into the election of 1983, he approved the party's manifesto, which advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament, higher personal taxation, a return to a more interventionist industrial policy, the abolition of the House of Lords, the nationalization of the banks, and – oddly, given Labour's more recent stance – immediate withdrawal from what was then called the European Economic Community.

The Conservatives gained a net 59 seats, and Foot had to resign as Leader. He was a principled leader, but a poor campaigner. In American terms, he was a George McGovern, rather than a Bernie Sanders.

When he died in 2010, at the age of 96, he was admired (if not liked) by pretty much everyone. When Thatcher died, 3 years later, half the country deeply mourned, and the other half said, "Good riddance!"

Contrary to legend, The Times of London never actually ran a headline about his leadership of a nuclear disarmament committee reading "Foot Heads Arms Body." Someone came forward to admit that he had written the headline, but it was not approved for the paper.

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June 9, 1983 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Bob Bailor doubled 2 runs home in the top of the 11th inning.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Montreal Expos, 6-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Carl Yastrzemski, in his final season as a player, went 1-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-5 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Bob Dernier singled Pete Rose home in the bottom of the 11th inning to win it. Rose had entered the game as a pinch-hitter, and went 2-for-3. Mike Schmidt went 1-for-4 with a walk. Joe Morgan hit 2 home runs.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 10-7 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4 with a walk. Robin Yount went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Paul Molitor went 0-for-5.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-2 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 8-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Each team had the greatest player in their history available for this game, but neither entered: 35-year-old Johnny Bench for the Reds, in his final season as a player, and 23-year-old Tony Gwynn for the Padres, in his 2nd full season.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 6-5 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett did not play.

* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Tommy John went the distance for the win. Neither Reggie Jackson nor Rod Carew entered the game for the Angels.

* The Houston Astros beat the San Francisco Giants, 3-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Bob Knepper pitched a 2-hit shutout, and got 2 hits himself, including an RBI triple.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-2 before leaving the game due to an injury.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Todd Cruz singled Dave Henderson home in the bottom of the 11th to win it.

* And the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians were not scheduled.