News stories from Saturday September 30, 1972

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

A new Gallup poll has found that Senator George McGovern has improved his standing among voters, particularly outside the South. President Nixon still holds a long lead over his Democratic opponent, but the poll found that his margin had been reduced to 28 points, against a 34-point advantage reported in a parallel poll four weeks ago. [New York Times] The Senate, in a rare Saturday session, voted to lower the ages at which workers can begin receiving reduced Social Security benefits. The age at which early retirees could begin drawing reduced benefits would be lowered to 60 from 62, and widows could begin drawing reduced benefits, based on their husbands' earnings, at age 55 instead of the present age 60. The age minimums were approved by a vote of 29 to 25. The changes could affect several million persons at an initial cost of $1.7 billion a year if accepted by the House and signed into law by the President. The outlook for final enactment is uncertain. [New York Times] The Nixon administration has taken quiet steps to insure the re-election of Mississippi's venerable Democratic Senator, James Eastland, despite its hopes for a Republican Congress. Mr. Eastland has often been a staunch supporter of the administration. Word has been passed from the highest White House level, according to sources in Washington and Mississippi, that nothing is to be done to help Gil Carmichael, the Meridian businessman who is Mr. Eastland's Republican opponent. [New York Times] United States fighter bombers have attacked four North Vietnamese air bases in 24 hours, dealing what a spokesman said today was the heaviest blow to date against enemy aircraft on the ground. The airfields were identified as those at Phucyen, 10 miles north-northwest of Hanoi; Yenbai, 80 miles northwest of Hanoi; Vinh airfield, fives miles north of that city, and Quanglang, 45 miles north-northwest of Vinh. Pilots said they had destroyed or damaged a total of 14 enemy planes. [New York Times] President Nixon signed a Congressional resolution supporting a five-year freeze at present levels of most United States and Soviet offensive nuclear weapons. The accord was negotiated by Mr. Nixon in Moscow last May along with a treaty on the limitation of defensive antiballistic missile systems. [New York Times] The Soviet Union announced a change in the political leadership of the independent-minded Georgia Republic, foreshadowing changes in the hierarchy of the Politburo, the top ruling group in the Soviet Union. A brief statement in Moscow newspapers disclosed the retirement "at his own request" of Vasily Mzhavanadze, who had been head of Georgia's Communist party since Stalin's death in 1953. Mr. Mzhavanadze is being succeeded by a rapidly rising Georgian politician, Eduard Shevardnadze, who at the age of 44, is one of the Soviet Union's youngest regional leaders. [New York Times]