News stories from Saturday January 17, 1976
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The painfully convoluted process of selecting the convention delegates who choose the 1976 presidential nominees -- a process requiring logistics, communications, intelligence and planning worthy of a small war -- will start Monday night in Iowa with caucuses in the state's 2,530 precincts. It will end, tens of thousands of caucuses, conventions, committee meetings and primary elections later, with the selection of the final delegates from Arkansas on June 26. [New York Times]
- Richard Nixon, according to associates of the former President, testified in a closed session in San Clemente that he never personally selected the persons to be wiretapped by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1969 to find the sources of leaks of information. Mr. Nixon, his associates said, strongly defended his decision to use wiretapping to find the government officials who were allegedly leaking national security information to the press. He reportedly said he had left the selection of the persons to Henry Kissinger, then his assistant for national security affairs. His testimony, these sources said, appears to contradict a sworn statement by Mr. Kissinger made earlier this week. [New York Times]
- Leading welfare experts have reversed their previous positions and, at least for the foreseeable future, are shying away from proposals that would replace the unwieldy array of federal welfare programs with a single omnibus program. They are reconciled to congressional inertia this year on reform of what is universally referred to as the country's "welfare mess," an issue that usually generates election-year rhetoric and promptings for change from national office seekers. [New York Times]
- With important contract negotiations under way and a union convention coming up, a power shift within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is aimed at helping Frank Fitzsimmons solidify his hold on the presidency. Chicago will be further entrenched as a bastion of Teamster strength with two appointments -- those of Ray Schoessling, the most powerful Teamster official in Chicago, as the union's general secretary-treasurer, the No. 2 post, and Louis Peick, head of Chicago drivers' Local 705, as an international vice president, one of 15 members of the union's executive board. The changes required the retirement of Murray Miller, who has been secretary-treasurer since 1972. [New York Times]
- After four years without an "F" to blot their academic records, Yale University undergraduates next fall will have failing grades registered on their transcripts when they flunk courses. Joining a trend against grade inflation at many schools across the country, the Yale faculty voted to restore the "F" to undergraduate transcripts as a means of increasing the credibility of the permanent academic records. [New York Times]
- Leftist and Palestinian gunmen pressed an offensive against the Christian town of Damur, apparently taking sections of the city, and Prime Minister Rashid Karami worked desperately to find the basis for another cease-fire and announced one shortly after midnight. It was the 21st truce in the last three and a half months. In Beirut, the airport was closed, the telex and overseas telephone lines were down and the highways unsafe. [New York Times]
- Over the objections of the Portuguese government, Cubans have reportedly resumed flights to Angola by way of the Azores. Despite an official policy of neutrality towards the warring factions in its former West African colony, some members of the government openly favor the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, which is supported by Cuba and the Soviet Union. It is believed that for that reason, some authorities in Lisbon are closing their eyes to the Cuban stop-overs in the Azores. [New York Times]
- The Communist Party is making new inroads into Italy's political and social life and improving its chances of emerging as the country's largest party. Time appears to be on the side of the Communists and many diplomats and others agree that even the present political crisis could work to their advantage. The standing of the non-Communist parties, led by the dominant Christian Democrats, seems to decline with each crisis, and the current one, arising from the cabinet's resignation last week, is no exception. [New York Times]