American Gulag The Death of Budd Dwyer
I had never been more stunned and deeply disturbed in my entire life. As I watched from the comfort of a friends living room, one mans personal hell had just spun wildly out of control and very abruptly ended. Life and death captured in vivid Technicolor right on television just for my amusement. The world can be a truly wretched place at times. I will never forget how the scene unfolded. A portly, balding middle aged man was standing behind a small podium during what appeared to be a press conference. He was speaking to the cameras about some "travesty of justice" which had befallen him, and began calling various acquaintances of his forward from the audience, and was handing each a small envelope. There was a look of general perplexity throughout the audience during the strange proceedings, but their confusion immediately turned to horror as the man behind the podium retrieved a manilla envelope from his desk, and from the envelope he withdrew a fully loaded .357 magnum with a 6.5 inch barrel. There was a resounding chorus of, "No, Budd no!", and several curses as a few of the cameramen dove to the floor. The man with the gun tried in vain to calm the panic stricken crowd by waving his free hand around in placating manner and r
Dwyer was accused of taking a $300,000 bribe from a California based firm known as Computer Technology. According to two employees of the firm, the bribe was offered to Dwyer in order secure a government contract by insuring that Dwyer would take no other bids for the job. On December 18, 1986 Budd Dwyer was convicted on all charges by one Judge Muir. Judge Muir imposed the maximum penalties for these crimes in order to make an example of Dwyer and deter political corruption. Dwyer was sentenced to 55 years in prison, which to a 47 year old man amounts to a long slow death sentence, and a $300,000 fine. When questioned about the severity of the penalties, Judge Muir said he, "felt invigorated", by the sentencing. With the harsh reality of these, "medieval sentences", came crashing down on Budd Dwyer and his family exactly one week before Christmas, it was no wonder that Dwyer succumbed to feelings of helplessness and despair in the face of his situation. Just before Budd Dwyer untimely demise he was quoted as saying, "...my prison would simply be an American Gulag...", and I for one cannot disagree. Budd believed all his life that America was the "world's greatest democracy", yet in the end it was a country whose judicial system had let him down. During the fatal press conference Dwyer handed out three envelopes. One envelope contained his funeral arrangements, another his organ donor card, and in the last was a letter addressed to newly appointed Governor of Pe
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Fourth July, Budd Dwyer, Judge Muir, Anderson Budd, Commonwealth Pennsylvaniaand, American Gulag, Thornburgh Dwyer, Technology According, Job Budd, budd dwyer, feelings helplessness, judge muir, press conference, treasurer pennsylvania, corruption dwyer,
Approximate Word count = 995
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
