News stories from Saturday November 20, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- South Korean lobbyists in the United States were regularly given informal guidance for their efforts by Nixon administration officials, according to several Korean politicians and American diplomats in Seoul. Korean sources also said they had received advice from American Embassy and military officials in Seoul and from Nixon aides in Washington on how to handle Congressmen regarded as "problems" for South Korea. [New York Times]
- Other countries were promised "a smooth and orderly transition" in American foreign policy by President-elect Carter after he was briefed in Plains, Ga., by Secretary of State Kissinger. Mr. Carter, who often criticized the Secretary in the election campaign, termed him "my good friend," adding that "there is no incompatibility" between them. [New York Times]
- Treasury Department officials pledged to continue the flow of federal loans to New York City without first requiring that a new fiscal plan be formulated. The department plans to lend the city $200 million on Dec. 3 as part of $2.3 billion in seasonal federal loans. [New York Times]
- To avoid repaying millions of dollars in government-guaranteed loans, thousands of former students are declaring bankruptcy. Federal officials say that more defaults through bankruptcy, totaling $21 million, were claimed in the last three years than in the previous 15 years of state and federal educational loan programs. [New York Times]
- The New York Post will retain its basic "characteristics," but will have more photographs and shorter stories, according to Rupert Murdoch, the Australian publisher who has agreed to buy the newspaper. He said that the "political policies" of the editorially liberal Post "will stay unchanged."
Dorothy Schiff said her decision to sell the Post had been prompted mainly by recent changes in federal tax laws. Mrs. Schiff, who has guided the newspaper as editor-in-chief and publisher for 37 years, said in an interview that the new inheritance tax laws would have cost her heirs "prohibitive" sums if she had willed the daily to them as she had long hoped to do.
[New York Times] - Enrollments are soaring in the nation's agricultural colleges. Students are increasingly attracted to agriculture and such allied fields as forestry and home economics by a chance for careers close to the environment and by high job prospects in the vital food industry. Enrollment has nearly tripled since 1963 and gone up by nearly one-third in the last two years. Much of the rise is due to a new interest in agriculture by women and urban youths. [New York Times]
- The Air Force, in a shift, is starting a $2.5 billion program to modernize and probably enlarge an anti-bomber air defense system. In the past the Pentagon has contended that such a program is of little military value in an era of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Top Air Force officers acknowledge that the new program represents a subtle but significant change from past Pentagon policy of downgrading the need for an air defense system. [New York Times]
- Homage to Francisco Franco, who died a year ago, was paid by tens of thousands of Spaniards, who gathered in Madrid's Plaza de Oriente, sang the Falangist anthem and made the fascist salute. The rally was convoked by an ultra-nationalist group as an implicitly anti-government demonstration against Spain's democratization program. Outside Madrid, King Juan Carlos and government officials attended a quiet memorial mass at Franco's tomb. [New York Times]