This Day In 1970's History: Wednesday December 12, 1979
- The ouster of most Iranian diplomats and consular officials was ordered by Washington in retaliation for the detention of 50 American hostages in Teheran. The State Department informed Iranian authorities that, within five days, their embassy staff must be cut from about 60 to 15 and that about 160 Iranians assigned to four consulates must be reduced to 20.
A hoax in Iran was acknowledged by a Foreign Ministry spokesman, who dismissed as false reports in newspapers and on the Teheran radio that Senator Edward Kennedy had written a letter to Ayatollah Khomeini, pledging his support and seeking a meeting. Mr. Kennedy denounced the reports as a "total fabrication." [New York Times]
- Major overcharges for oil products are alleged in a suit that is to be filed soon by the Energy Department. It contends that the Mobil Oil Corporation and the Amerada Hess Corporation overcharged customers by a total of more than $1.1 billion from 1973 to 1976. To date, the department has filed about 160 allegations of violations of federal price regulations totaling $9 billion against the 35 biggest American oil companies. [New York Times]
- Dianne Feinstein remains Mayor of San Francisco as a result of Tuesday's runoff elections, which swept out of office the district attorney, sheriff and four of the five county supervisors. A key factor in her victory appeared to be backing by the city's homosexual community, which has been steadily gaining political power. [New York Times]
- A 120 percent rise in coal miners' dues was approved by the national convention of the United Mine Workers union. The delegates' approval marked another victory for Sam Church, who became the union's president only four weeks ago and who told them before the three-hour roll call vote that the union, once the richest in the nation, had nearly run out of money. [New York Times]
- A change in House G.O.P. leadership is in prospect. Representative John Rhodes, Republican of Arizona, said he did not expect to seek another term as minority leader in the next Congress, but added that he would run for Speaker if his party gained control of the House in next November's elections. Some House Republicans have vowed to oppose his re-election on the ground that he failed to provide aggressive leadership. [New York Times]
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