This Day In 1970's History: Sunday November 12, 1978
- The nation's civil defense would be strengthened to protect as many as 140 million Americans in a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, under a plan approved by President Carter. The new measures, contained in a secret presidential directive, would include the doubling of annual civil defense spending over the next five years if approved by Congress. [New York Times]
- A first-term Congressman from Missouri who was re-elected last Tuesday may have established a safe seat for the future, at least in part because of his role in keeping the St. Louis airport in Missouri from being moved across the Mississippi to Illinois. Or he may have won because he obtained a larger share of public service jobs for St. Louis County. Representative Robert Young, a Democrat, speaks for a suburban district that is marginal: It could have gone to either party on Tuesday. [New York Times]
- Federal and state leases of land in Western coal regions are still "giveaways" of public resources despite reforms that were supposed to be in effect several years ago, a public interest organization said in a report. [New York Times]
- Cleveland has all the symptoms of big-city decline. The old booster slogan for Ohio's largest city -- "The best location in the nation" -- has become hard to defend. Cleveland's financial base is eroded and the city is trying to figure out how to pay off a $52 million deficit. Race relations are at an ebb and subdued racial tensions have been made worse by white resistance to school desegregation. And six of the 33 members of the City Council were recently indicted. [New York Times]
- Iran's striking oil workers were ordered back to work by the military government, with the threat of dismissal for those who refused. The 35,000 workers demand wage increases, the release of all political prisoners and the expulsion of foreigners from the oil industry. The back-to-work order came in the wake of bloody clashes between army troops and anti-Shah demonstrators in Ahwaz and Khorramshahr, cities in the heart of the oil region. A call for a general strike from the Shah's opponents went largely unheeded in Teheran. [New York Times]
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