This Day In 1970's History: Wednesday February 6, 1980
- An apparent showdown in Iran was pressed by President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, who denounced the Moslem militants holding American hostages as self-centered "children" who were behaving "like a government within a government." The new President won the backing of the governing Revolutionary Council in stopping an attempt by the militants to discredit any official they thought might compromise with Washington.
Seeking to ease the Iranian crisis, Washington has decided to delay imposing economic sanctions against Teheran to avoid complicating possible behind-the-scenes efforts by the new government to negotiate release of the American hostages. [New York Times]
- Moscow accused President Carter of seeking to "starve" the Soviet people by curtailing grain shipments. Two Soviet publications depicted American retaliation for Soviet "help" to Afghanistan in terms evoking memories of the suffering in Leningrad during the 900-day German siege and during earlier famines. [New York Times]
- Taiwan's Olympic team was rebuffed because its delegation presented to Winter Games officials identity cards bearing the name Republic of China. Eight members of the Taiwanese delegation were turned away from Olympic Village near Lake Placid, N.Y., for refusing to comply with an International Olympic Committee rule that requires Taiwan to change its preferred name, flag and anthem to avoid conflict with mainland China. [New York Times]
- Inquiries into bribery allegations against members of Congress were pressed by the House and Senate ethics committees over the objection of the Justice Department, which warned that the congressional investigations could jeopardize criminal cases that the government might bring. Thus, the stage was set for a conflict between the right of Congress to judge the conduct of its members and the responsibility of the executive branch to safeguard both the government's cases and rights of the accused. [New York Times]
- A challenge to prayers in schools, permitted under a new Massachusetts law, is the subject of a suit filed by the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, the American Jewish Congress and other groups. They have asked the state's highest court for an injunction barring enforcement of the law. [New York Times]
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