News stories from Sunday June 16, 1974

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

Secretary of State Kissinger's contention that he was not responsible for initiating the wiretaps of 13 government officials and four newsmen from 1969 to 1971 was supported by William Ruckelshaus, former Acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On the "Face the Nation" television program, Mr. Ruckelshaus said that Mr. Kissinger's role in the controversial wiretaps, "as best I've been able to determine, is pretty much as he's described it." [New York Times] An extensive plan to politicize programs to aid the elderly was part of a White House effort on behalf of President Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign, according to a Senate Watergate committee staff report. White House officials, seeking to gain voter support among the elderly, were said to have put pressure on federal agencies to cut the funds of two long-time advocate agencies for the elderly that were regarded as "enemies" of the President. [New York Times] State-operated lotteries are becoming involved in a struggle with the underworld and the federal government over how profits from gambling activities are to be divided. State lotteries in Delaware, Massachusetts and New Jersey aim to compete with illegal gambling operations. Other states are expected to do the same. [New York Times] President Nixon and President Hafez al-Assad of Syria announced in Damascus the restoration of diplomatic relations between their countries, which were broken off during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. They said that this was a first step toward establishing lasting peace in the Middle East. [New York Times] Despite some apprehensions about the new American initiatives for friendship with her enemies, Israel showered President Nixon with praise and cheers as he arrived in Jerusalem for conferences with Arab leaders. However, Mr. Nixon, the first President of the United States to visit Israel, encountered the first show of hostility of his Middle Eastern journey -- signs held by some in the crowds greeting him that disparaged his role in the Watergate case. [New York Times] Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Communist party leader, predicted that "good new agreements" that would please both the Soviet and the American people would be reached during President Nixon's visit to Moscow late this month. Mr. Brezhnev, speaking briefly to newsmen after voting in the Soviet elections, took issue with the views of unnamed American pessimists about Mr. Nixon's trip to the Soviet Union and appeared to regard with equanimity Mr. Nixon's Middle Eastern journey. But the Soviet press showed keen sensitivity to the American diplomatic offensive. [New York Times] President Antonio de Spinola of Portugal will fly to the Portuguese Azores to meet President Nixon Wednesday. Mr. Nixon will stop there on his way back to Washington from the Middle East. Reports of the meeting were confirmed by the United States Embassy in Lisbon. The two leaders are expected to discuss the status of the American air base at Lajes in the Azores, Portugal's African problem and the continuing Arab oil embargo against Portugal. [New York Times]