News stories from Sunday June 13, 1976

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

Completing a draft of the party's platform, the drafting subcommittee of the Democratic Platform Committee voted to pledge the party to seeking areas of cooperation with the Soviet Union while maintaining a strong American military position. The subcommittee also advocated a $5 billion to $7 billion reduction in the defense budget and supported a general pardon for the men who evaded the Vietnam War draft. [New York Times] President Ford's defeat at the Missouri Republican convention over the weekend raised doubts about his potential at the Iowa Republican convention in Des Moines next weekend and at the nine other conventions that will follow. "I pray that I'm wrong, but I keep getting terrible premonitions," a political professional who supports Mr. Ford said. Mr. Ford now leads Ronald Reagan by 84 delegates, 963 to 879, with 162 uncommitted: 1,130 are needed for nomination. A projection by the New York Times indicates that, if Mr. Ford is unable to gain ground after Missouri, he will fall behind Mr. Reagan before the last state delegates are chosen on July 17. [New York Times] Representative Allan Howe, a first-term Democrat from Utah, was arrested in Salt Lake City on a misdemeanor charge of "soliciting sex acts for hire." He had allegedly made advances to a policewoman who had pretended to be a prostitute. Mr. Howe said that he had been "obviously the target of some trap or setup." [New York Times] A complicated three-way struggle is going on among Democrats seeking the nomination for United States Senator from New York. City council President Paul O'Dwyer predicted that the state committee would designate him tomorrow on its first ballot. Other politicians told of intense pressure on behalf of Representative Bella Abzug and Daniel Patrick Moynihan that could result in a maneuver to put both on the Democratic primary ballot along with Mr. O'Dwyer, without the need for petitions. "I don't want this fooling around to interfere with my 51 percent," Mr. O'Dwyer said. He said he had pledges of support from a majority of party regulars. [New York Times] Home sales are up around the country, according to a spot check of a dozen metropolitan areas including southern New Jersey, suburban Chicago and New Orleans. [New York Times] Top Pentagon officials said that the United States had agreed to discuss plans for military aid programs to Kenya and Zaire. This is a major policy departure intended to counter growing Soviet military and political influence in Africa. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld will go to Nairobi and Kinshasa this week for talks in the first official mission of a United States Defense Secretary to Africa. [New York Times] Syria made it clear that it has no intention of withdrawing a sizable number of its forces from Lebanon in the near future. Information Minister Ahmad Iskandar said that Syria hoped the peacekeeping force sponsored by the Arab League would be functioning soon, but, he said, the Syrian forces would be maintained in Lebanon until a durable cease-fire was established and a government formed by President-elect Elias Sarkis was operating. [New York Times]