This Day In 1970's History: Friday February 8, 1980
- Removal of the the summer Olympics from Moscow has been recommended by the head of the United States Olympic Committee. Robert Kane, appearing before the executive board of the International Olympic Committee in Lake Placid, N.Y., said the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan was "an act of war," and that the summer Games should be transferred "on the ground that the contract between the International Olympic Committee and the Moscow Olympic Organizing Committee has been broken." [New York Times]
- When France said that it would not attend a meeting of West European Foreign Ministers in Bonn this month, requested by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance to assess the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, the West German Foreign Ministry said that no meeting was contemplated.
Washington's efforts to coordinate an allied response to the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan were set back by France's refusal to attend the meeting in Bonn. Nevertheless, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Vance would go as planned to Bonn for talks with Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and probably would go on to other West European capitals for individual talks with foreign ministers. [New York Times]
- Women would be required to register along with men for possible military conscription under a proposal by President Carter, but they would be called up only for noncombat duty. Conscription, the President said, would demonstrate "our resolve as a nation" to resist further Soviet aggression in the Persian Gulf region. The draft registration plan would initially affect about 8 million men and women born in 1960 and 1961, whose 19th and 20th birthdays fall within this year.
Mr. Carter's draft proposal received cautious approval from many women's and veteran's groups, but Phyllis Schlafly, head of the Stop ERA movement, which claims a membership of 50,000, criticized the proposal. [New York Times]
- Legislation requiring the President to give prior notice of covert intelligence operations to at least eight members of Congress, even in a national emergency, was introduced in the Senate by four leaders of the Select Committee on Intelligence. President Carter has not agreed to this provision, and reportedly wants greater freedom of action. [New York Times]
- A major investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into organized crime and alleged political corruption in the South and Southwest is underway, according to federal law enforcement officials. The investigation, code-named Brilab, from "bribery-labor," originated in Los Angeles more than a year ago. The principal targets are believed to be a major New Orleans crime figure and local politicians in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere. [New York Times]
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