News stories from Saturday August 9, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- On the first anniversary of his first year in office, President Ford paid homage to the last of the Apollo astronauts and consulted with his advisers on economic, energy and national security matters. It was, the White House press secretary said, "just another working day." [New York Times]
- President Ford ended his first year in office in a stronger political position than he began it. On that much -- but on very little else -- there is agreement among professional politicians, according to the last of three articles assessing Mr. Ford's first year in office, and reporting on public and private presidential polls. Peter Hart, a highly regarded private pollster, recently completed a national survey and two state surveys that suggested the dimensions of Mr. Ford's standing among the public. He found that "the country is essentially neutral about Ford." [New York Times]
- The Municipal Assistance Corporation has appealed formally to the federal government to take over New York City's welfare costs as an essential step in restoring the city's solvency. Hoping to capitalize on their prestige and authority as a nonpartisan panel drawn heavily from the business community, the corporation's directors have approved the idea of submitting a plan for a federal takeover of welfare, long advocated by Mayor Beame and Governor Carey but opposed by Republicans in Washington. [New York Times]
- Facing the prospect of being taken to court by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ashland Oil Inc. disclosed the names of the recipients of its foreign payments and illegal domestic political contributions. According to the company's list, Ashland gave money to a dozen present and former Senators and several present and former Representatives. One of the contributions went to Representative Wilbur Mills. Arkansas Democrat and former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Ashland said it had paid $50,000 to Mr. Mills through an intermediary, Carl Arnold, and that Mr. Mills "was to use these funds to help re-elect a Democratic Congress." Mr. Mills could not be reached for comment. [New York Times]
- Two high-ranking Israeli officials will fly to Washington in the next few days to begin drafting with American officials the terms of a new Egyptian-Israel agreement on Sinai. The officials -- Mordechai Gazit, director-general of Premier Yitzhak Rabin's office, and Meir Rosenne, the Foreign Ministry's chief legal adviser -- had a major part in drafting the texts of Israel's accords last year with Egypt and Syria, also reached through American mediation. The State Department said they would begin talks on Tuesday with Under Secretary of State Joseph Sisco "on certain points related to the interim agreement." [New York Times]
- President Valery Giscard d'Estaing of France announced that France would no longer sell arms "having a continental use" to South Africa. The suspension of arms sales, he said, would apply to weapons for the army and the air force but not to submarines or ships for use "on the open sea." The sale of other kinds of vessels would be examined on an individual basis. He made the announcement in a joint news conference at Kinshasa with President Mobuto Sese Seko of Zaire. [New York Times]
- The Prime Ministers of South Africa and Rhodesia said in a communique issued in Pretoria that they had agreed to proposals that could end the long racial and constitutional deadlock in Rhodesia. The statement seemed to indicate that South Africa had once again applied heavy pressure to force Rhodesia's white minority government to seek a peaceful solution of its political and racial problems. [New York Times]
- Arabs have been pouring into London this summer, restoring much of the business lost from recession-pinched Americans and Japanese. They have come for the night clubs, the casinos, for business and for medical care not available in the Middle East, and for clothes and jewels. They are buying houses and apartments that many use for vacation. A London real estate agent said that his sales to Arabs recently exceeded $6.5 million, mostly for homes costing more than $200,000. "They're not the emotional housewife," the agent said; "they just buy the house on the basis of its exterior." [New York Times]