News stories from Sunday May 26, 1974

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Using unusually grim language about the inflation problem, but disclosing no changes in policy, Dr. Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, said that "the future of our country is in jeopardy" if the recent rate of inflation is not moderated. In a commencement address at Illinois College at Jacksonville, Ill., he also gave a cautious endorsement to public service jobs to offset unemployment that would result from a policy of "continued resistance to swift growth in money and credit." [New York Times] "All men in this nation are subject to the rule of law," said Chesterfield Smith, head of the American Bar Association, who had joined the growing number of political and public figures of both parties in urging President Nixon to comply with the decision of the courts on whether he must surrender several dozen subpoenaed tape recordings to the special Watergate prosecutor. [New York Times] In Arkansas, the central figure in the Democratic primary on Tuesday is the Governor, Dale Bumpers, who is challenging William Fulbright for his seat in the Senate. Governor Bumpers' popularity will be pitted against the record of Senator Fulbright, who is facing the danger of defeat and the end of his 30-year career in the Senate. Mr. Bumpers' attraction appears to be his fresh image of the common man in politics. [New York Times] Stewart Alsop, a columnist for Newsweek magazine, died at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., where he was being treated for cancer of the bone marrow. A book he had written about his fight against cancer, "Stay of Execution," was recently published. He was 60 years old. [New York Times] Vice President Ford, who was in New York to dedicate a new building at Mount Sinai Medical Center, expressed the "hope and belief" that a national health insurance plan would be enacted this year, and he said that the government was increasing efforts to hold down "skyrocketing" health care costs. He dedicated Mount Sinai's $117 million Annenberg Building, named for the late Mrs. Moses Annenberg of Philadelphia, whose son, Walter Annenberg, Ambassador to Britain, and seven daughters gave $12 million toward the building's cost, to which the state and federal government also contributed. [New York Times] American officials in Damascus said that Secretary of State Kissinger virtually resolved all the major issues holding up the Syrian-Israeli troop separation accord, but some other last-minute snags developed, threatening further delay on a final agreement. American officials, Syrian leaders and the newsmen who have followed the Secretary on his peace mission were all expressing uncertainty over whether he would complete the accord he has sought so diligently. Mr. Kissinger made his 12th and possibly final trip to Damascus. [New York Times] Efforts of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel's Premier-designate, to put together a new coalition government are being jeopardized by bitter factional rivalries within the ruling Labor party over the distribution of cabinet posts. The rivalries are prolonging the country's political stalemate. There is a possibility that Mr. Rabin will fail and new elections will be necessary, but most Israeli politicians regard this as remote. Mr. Rabin has until Tuesday to establish a new government, but the deadline can be extended. [New York Times] The Greek military officers who six months ago toppled the regime of President George Papadopoulos today have hardly any visible public support. A former politician said, "Papadopoulos at least had maybe 5 or 10 percent of the people. This government has nobody." But experts see little prospect for change. [New York Times] Northern Ireland's coalition government of Roman Catholics and moderate Protestants, established five months ago, showed increasing signs of tension under the strike with which extremist Protestants hope to bring down the government. Prime Minister Wilson interrupted a long weekend to discuss the worsening situation with Merlyn Rees, the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. [New York Times]