News stories from Saturday May 8, 1976

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

President Ford, mingling affection and hope, looked back fondly on Harry Truman and 1948 in Independence, Mo., where he joined the family and friends of President Truman to watch Margaret Truman Daniel unveil a nine-foot bronze statue of her father. Mr. Ford stopped in Independence after campaigning in Nebraska, where he will try Tuesday, against increasing odds, to stop a series of four successive losses to Ronald Reagan in the Republican primaries. In a speech at the unveiling ceremony, Mr. Ford, who has often spoken appreciatively of Mr. Truman, sought to associate himself with the memory of the late Democratic president who astounded the experts by winning in 1948. [New York Times] Uncommitted delegates from a dozen states, including New York, could determine whether President Ford or Ronald Reagan wins the Republican presidential nomination. When the primaries end a month from now with voting in California, New Jersey and Ohio on June 8, the outcome may still be doubtful. If one of the contenders could sweep all three of the June 8 primaries, Reagan and Ford strategists agree that he would have to be considered the probable nominee. Politicians in the three states and campaigners' principal aides believe that as things now stand, Mr. Ford is likely to win in New Jersey and Ohio, while Mr. Reagan is favored in California. But a victory in Michigan on May 18 could upset the calculations. [New York Times] San Francisco's 39-day municipal strike ended when the city's Board of Supervisors approved a back-to-work agreement accepted earlier by leaders of the striking unions. Under the agreement, which is not a final settlement, the 1,770 striking municipal employees will return to work at their current pay and without penalties in exchange for the removal of two propositions from the June 8 primary ballot, which the unions had said were punitive. A fact-finding committee will review the wages and fringe benefits of the craft workers and report on June 10 whether the supervisors decided correctly on March 30 to reduce them. The pay cut led to the strike the next morning. [New York Times] The Black Panthers were the object of a nationwide eradication program undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as part of its Cointelpro program against dissidents and radicals, according to the staff report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The attempt to "destroy" the Black Panthers, the report said, included the provocation of gang warfare between the Panthers and other groups and the fomenting of factional splits within the Panthers organization. The F.B.I.'s efforts contributed to a climate of violence in which four Black Panthers were shot to death in internal battles, the report said. Independent police and Panther sources said that there were two other similar killings of Panthers in factional rivalry in New York City. [New York Times] Across the country, Americans are reading road maps and resort brochures and preparing to take to the highways, skies and seas in what is shaping up as a boom travel summer after last year's recessionary slump. Travel fever is at its highest since 1973, when the fuel shortage made many people stay home. [New York Times] Legislative investigators have uncovered evidence that the New York state police used a secret "right-wing intelligence newsletter" to help compile dossiers on persons believed to be liberals or leftists. The newsletter, Information Digest, provided the police with the names of thousands of politicians, political activists, lawyers, writers, show-business personalities for inclusion in noncriminal intelligence files, the Office of Legislative Oversight and Analysis said in a report. The report said that the newsletter was distributed by Louise Rees, who is on the congressional staff of Representative. Larry McDonald, Democrat of Georgia, and Mrs. Rees's husband, John. [New York Times] While mortar shells exploded in the street and small arms fire raked the approaches to the meeting place in Beirut, the Lebanese Parliament elected a new President today. He is Elias Sarkis, a conservative banker and civil servant and, in conformance with Lebanese political tradition, a Christian. Sixty-six of the 98 members of Parliament voted for Mr. Sarkis and three cast blank votes. The 29 others, who favored Raymond Edde, the only rival candidate, boycotted the session in protest against what they said was open military and political interference in favor of Mr. Sarkis. The opposition's boycott made it questionable that the election of a new President would calm grievances and hasten the end of the civil war as was intended. [New York Times] Bulldozers and blasting teams from all over Italy helped in an urgent search for any survivors still trapped in the debris of the earthquake that struck the northeastern part of the country Thursday night. Officials said that more than 600 bodies had been recovered. The final death toll is unlikely to be known for many months, but some relief workers believed that as many as 1,000 may have been killed. It was estimated that 40,000 people were homeless. [New York Times] The French are apparently going to visit the United States this year in record numbers. Part of the attraction according to American consular officials and French travel agents is the Bicentennial, which is being promoted all over France in dozens of exhibits and spectacles. The officials estimate that 250,000 French will have an American vacation this year compared with 157,000 last year. [New York Times]