News stories from Saturday July 10, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Jimmy Carter arrived in New York for the Democratic National Convention and was greeted by thousands of supporters at his hotel. With the same meticulous planning that they gave to his primary campaign, Mr. Carter's managers had all the elements in place for his nomination as president on the first ballot Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The only unknown major factor was his choice of a running mate. [New York Times]
- President Ford won four convention votes in Colorado, one more than he had been counting on in his neck-and-neck race with Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Reagan ended up with 26 of Colorado's 31 convention votes, leaving him 24 delegates short of President Ford, according to the New York Times' tabulation. John Sears, the Reagan campaign manager, said the loss of one more delegate to President Ford in the at-large voting "doesn't mean much. We always thought it would be difficult to defeat former Governor Love." The Colorado result could be construed as the slimmest of moral victories for President Ford. [New York Times]
- President Ford went to Plattsburgh, in upstate New York near the Canadian border, to greet and give good wishes to the first of the 425 Americans who will participate in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. There was still a question of whether the games would be held because of the dispute over the admission of Taiwanese athletes to Canada. But there were reports of a possible compromise by the Canadian government, which said that the Taiwanese must not compete in the name of the Republic of China. The American athletes were going through their final workout at Plattsburgh State University College. [New York Times]
- In his first public comment on Jimmy Carter's foreign policy views, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said that the policy outlined so far by Mr. Carter was "fairly consistent" with the policy of the Ford administration. He made the statement at a news conference at the State Department and it was similar to what he has previously told some reporters. But this time there was the implication that since the policies were similar, he and Mr. Ford could do a better job on foreign affairs than Mr. Carter because they had more experience. He also said that became of the compatibility of the Carter and Ford policies there was no reason for the administration to have a moratorium on diplomatic activity during the election campaign. [New York Times]
- Representative Otto Passman, Democrat of Louisiana, is under investigation by Agriculture Department agents for allegedly using his congressional powers to coerce foreign aid recipients to hire a favored shipping agency. Government sources said that Mr. Passman recently went to the White House on the agency's behalf after the Agriculture Department delayed approval of one of the company's contracts. Mr. Passman said in an interview that he had recommended the Washington-based St. John Maritime Company to the South Korean government, but denied using coercion. He is chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations and has virtual veto power over aid allotments. [New York Times]
- Queen Elizabeth II, continuing her bicentennial tour that began in Philadelphia Tuesday went to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The Queen presented the Commonwealth of Virginia with the "devisal of arms" certifying that the heraldic arms used by the Virginia Company of London and later by the Royal Colony and Dominion of Virginia were genuine. Tomorrow, the Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, will go to Boston, the last city on the tour. They will depart for Canada Sunday night on the royal yacht Britannia. [New York Times]
- The Seneca Nation of Indians has concluded a historic agreement with the state of New York that permits the construction of a new road through the Seneca reservation at Salamanca in the western part of the state. For the first time in modern history, representatives of a New York tribe of Indians bargained with state officials as equals. A federal court order removed the state's power of eminent domain as a factor in the negotiations. The state will receive an easement on -- but not title to -- 795 acres of the 30,000-acre reservation for the right-of-way for a section of the Southern Tier Expressway. In return, the Seneca Nation and individual members of the tribe will be paid nearly $2 million and will get back 795 acres from the adjoining Allegany State Park and be given other considerations. [New York Times]
- Four mercenaries, including Daniel Gearhart of the United States, were executed by a firing squad in Angola. The Angolan press agency said the executions had been carried out in the presence of officials. President Agostinho Nego confirmed the death sentences by a People's Revolutionary Tribunal on June 28 and ignored appeals for clemency from Queen Elizabeth II, the International Commission of Jurists and others. President Ford termed the executions "unjustified and unwarranted." [New York Times]