News stories from Sunday May 7, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Nixon called a meeting for Monday morning of the National Security Council, the government's principal foreign policy body, to discuss the deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. The council is usually convened to ratify major decisions. Underlining the sense of urgency, Secretary of State Rogers was called back from a tour of Europe. [New York Times]
- John Shaffer, head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said the federal government would order the nation's airlines to rewire their Boeing 727 jets so that the plane's rear exit cannot be opened in flight. Several hijackers have parachuted from the doors recently. Few other planes have rear-exit doors -- openings that make parachuting relatively safe. [New York Times]
- Single people who once might have been attracted to the nation's central cities were found to be moving in ever increasing numbers to apartments -- and even houses -- in the suburbs. One reason: there is now one suburban apartment for every two in the city. The 1960 ratio was one to four. [New York Times]
- Two women emerged from the Texas primary on Saturday at the forefront of Democratic party politics in that state. Mrs. Frances Farenthold confounded politicians by running second in the balloting for the party's nomination for Governor, beating the current Governor and Lieutenant Governor and winning a runoff spot. And state Senator Barbara Jordan beat three men to win the party's nomination for the House in a safe Houston district. [New York Times]