This Day In 1970's History: Tuesday February 13, 1979
- An inquiry into People's Temple funds is being made by the General Accounting Office. It has subpoenaed records of welfare payments made by California to learn whether large amounts of public money went into the cult's bank accounts. The late cult leader was said to have up to 150 foster-care children under his control. [New York Times]
- The Bakke ruling has emitted mixed signals, according to many administrators at professional schools. Some see the Supreme Court's decision as a mandate to alter programs that favor minority applicants. Others read the ruling as an endorsement for their affirmative action programs. But few administrators interviewed believe that the courts have handed down the final word on the controversy. [New York Times]
- North Pole ice could melt in the not-too-distant future. Several specialists reported to a world climate conference in Geneva that such melting might result from rapid increases in fuel burning and a consequent rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. [New York Times]
- New York City would be denied new federal loan guarantees unless Mayor Koch agreed to deeper budget cuts under a recommendation by Senator William Proxmire to the Treasury Department. The Wisconsin Democrat, who is chairman of the committee that oversees the federal loan-guarantee program, sharply criticized the city's budgetary assumptions as overly reliant on increases in federal aid. [New York Times]
- Iran's revolutionary regime took shape as seven ministers were speedily appointed in an apparent effort to help restore order. Karim Sanjabi, who had led opposition to the Shah, was named Foreign Minister. In a newspaper interview, he said the new republic would be a democracy with a mixed economy and basic industries "run by the public sector."
Iran's new leaders are generally secular, technocratic-minded men eager to get the country running again. They are expected to try to put some distance between the regime and Ayatollah Khomeini, who has said that religious leaders should serve only as spiritual "guides." [New York Times]
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