This Day In 1970's History: Friday January 17, 1975
- The Democrats' move to alter congressional rules and procedures shifted from the House, where there has been an upheaval, to the Senate, and Democrats there voted to select committee chairmen in the future by a secret ballot of the Democratic caucus. The Senate elected its committee chairmen for the new Congress strictly according to the seniority system, and there were no challenges. Nevertheless, from now on chairmen will be held accountable for the way they operate their committees and they will not be guaranteed their positions solely on the basis of seniority. [New York Times]
- A government commission of judges, lawyers and Congressmen endorsed the establishment of a new national court of appeals to increase the capacity of the federal court system to resolve important disputes. The court reorganization proposal probably would not materially relieve the workload of the Supreme Court, but it would permit the court system to increase the number of nationally important rulings handed down each year and to respond more rapidly to more legal questions. [New York Times]
- The Civil Aeronautics Board has approved a new excursion plan that would reduce ticket prices on many domestic air routes by 20 to 25 percent. This was the first substantial reduction in domestic air fares in more than two years. The agency said it appeared that selective fare cuts were now necessary to stimulate air travel. [New York Times]
- Three influential Senators asked for congressional support for the Vladivostok nuclear-arms accord with the Soviet Union and urged the administration to go further and negotiate a reduction in nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Kissinger "welcomed" the proposal by Senators Edward Kennedy, Charles Mathias and Walter Mondale. It was offered as the "advice" of the Senate. [New York Times]
- The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party announced that it had approved a new slate of government ministers and a new state Constitution at a meeting last week. The announcement was preliminary to the first meeting in a decade of China's top legislative body, the National People's Congress. The announcement was also regarded as significant because it did not mention 81-year-old Mao Tse-tung, the Central Committee's Chairman, who has not been reported in Peking since last May. It did mention, however, Teng Hsiao-ping, a 70-year-old party stalwart, who was restored to the Standing Committee of the Central Committee and named a Deputy Chairman of the party. He was purged at the start of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, but was taken back into the party in 1973, when he was named a Deputy Premier. [New York Times]
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