California Governor Gray Davis - 2nd inagural. Little would anyone know that a months later Arnold would take his place. (photo: Getty Images)
January 6, 2003 – The Capitol Hill Shuffle – Giving North Korea One More Chance – A California Governor Is Sworn In For A Second Term (For Now).
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January 6, 2003 – probably not an earth shattering day, by all accounts. But one which would have ramifications in the not-too-distant future.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats were getting ready to unveil a new Tax proposal in an attempt to rev up the national economy, and doing it on the eve of the opening of the 108th session of Congress and President Bush’s State Of The Union Address. Even though they were the minority in the house, Democrats insisted theirs was the plan that the majority should seriously consider. The President however, was poised to release his stimulus package proposal in his State of the Union Address.
In other news the State Department rejected accusations that the UN Weapons Inspectors were spying on Iraq. Saddam Hussein was accusing inspectors of using weapons inspections as a pretext to gather intelligence for the U.S. In addition to denying charges, the State Department contended that the accusations were a smoke screen, as Iraq was being less than cooperative on weapons inspections.
The UN’s Nuclear Watchdog, The International Atomic Energy Agency decided to give North Korea one more chance to abandon its nuclear weapons program before the agency reports North Korea to the UN Security Council. The decision by the IAEA averts, for the moment, a showdown between the UN and North Korea. The State Department welcomed the decision.
And in California – Governor Gray Davis was sworn into office for second time. Little would anyone realize that, only months later, a recall Davis movement would be underway, headed by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In July 2003, a sufficient number of citizen signatures were collected for a recall election. The initial drive for the recall was fueled by funds from the personal fortune of U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican who originally hoped to replace Davis himself. The 2003 California recall special election was the goal of the “Dump Davis” campaign and constituted the first gubernatorial recall in Californian history and only the second in U.S. history.
And that’s a small capsule of what happened, this January 6, 2003 as presented by National Public Radio.
