President Ford said today that there was a possibility of a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union if war broke out again in the Middle East. The President said that Israel and Egypt must be flexible and do something soon if they are to avoid another war. “If there isn’t a movement right now, the possibility for war between Israel and the Arabs is increased significantly,” Mr. Ford said in an interview that was taped for showing on about 150 Public Broadcast Service stations. “We’ve had four wars in the Middle East,” Mr. Ford said. “A fifth one not only means that Israel will be fighting the Arabs, but the potential of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union is a possibility. Both Israel and Egypt have to understand that flexibility at this crucial time is important to the peace of that area and possibly peace in the world.”
General Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, chief of Portugal’s security forces, flew to Oporto, in northern Portugal, to try to put an end to a wave of anti-Communist violence in the region and restore military discipline. He emphasized that what was needed in Portugal was “a firm government, a coherent government, but above all a firm policy that avoids the use of repressive force.” He is a warm admirer of Cuba. He made his statements, which were unusually mild, after a meeting with officers of the Oporto regional command. When he left the command, he was booed by onlookers.
The Soviet Union and its allies have taken an active interest in Portuguese affairs and this interest is expected to grow as Portugal attempts to diversify her foreign dealings. But Soviet moves thus far have been accompanied by degree of prudence and discretion that has made analysis of their depth and dimensions difficult. President Ford’s warnings about Soviet “penetration” in Portugal can be supported only by deductions from circumstancial evidence in many cases, and the deductions are often influenced by the sources’ political beliefs. The most obvious vehicle of Soviet penetration is the Portuguese Communist party, which by general agreement is the most highly organized and professional political group in the country. The number of full‐time party workers outstrips anything the party’s rivals have been able to achieve.
Erich Honecker, chief of the East German Communist party, dampened hopes today of any early easing of East German trave restrictions as a result of the Helsinki security conference declaration by saying that for his country, “security is and remains foremost.” He said in an interview with Neues Deutschland, the Communist party paper, that they declaration’s provisions for humanitarian cooperation could open the way “for bilateral on multilateral agreements,” provided that those agreements served the “consolidation” of peace. But he added in the interview, which was also published in other East German papers, that there must first be further progress in East‐West détente.
West Germany and Poland initiated agreements that provide for West German financial aid for Poland in return for Polish exit visas to ethnic Germans seeking reunification with relatives. One agreement will provide Poland with $384 million worth of German financial credit at 22% interest rate, repayable in 20 years. A second agreement provides a lump sum of about $500 million to Poland to cover pension claims on the Bonn government by former inhabitants of the German Reich living in territories ceded to Poland after World War II.
Ten Japan Red Army terrorists arrived in Tripoli, Libya today and surrendered peacefully after a 12-hour flight from Malaysia with four hostages. Both the hostages and the nine crew members of the Japanese DC‐8 jet were released unharmed. Libyan Government officials boarded the plane minutes after its arrival after 3 AM Friday (9 PM Thursday, EDT) “We did not have any difficulty,” a Libylan official said at a press conference. “The guerrillas surrendered their arms peacefully.” The Red Army members were believed to have been driven away from the airport in three enclosed ambulances. Reporters did not see them. They were taken to a secret destination. and Libyan officials declined to say if they were under arrest.
King Hussein said today that if the United States Congress refused to allow Jordan to purchase 14 batteries of Hawk antiaircraft missiles, he would probably turn to the Soviet Union for an air-defense system. In a luncheon interview with six American correspondents, the King also suggested that Arab countries with moderate views on the issue of Israel would begin to lose confidence in the United States if its foreign policy appeared to be determined by adamant defenders of Israeli interest. After discussing at some length the Congressional role in American foreign ‐policy making, the King commented: “The problem is, with all deference and — respect, who is one talking to? Is it Rabin in Washington?” The reference was to Premier Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. King Hussein, who for years has been the most conspicuously pro‐American ruler in the Arab world, said he believed that Saudi Arabia would agree to finance the purchase of an air‐defense system from the Soviet Union if Congress continued to oppose the Ford Administration’s proposed sale of Hawk missiles to Jordan.
The Indian Government, continuing its speedy consolidation of power into the hands of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, moved today to prevent the courts from even considering the matter of her election to office. Under a constitutional amendment that was introduced in the lower house of Parliament this morning, and adopted by a vote of 336 to 0 less than four hours later, challenges to a Prime Minister’s election can be taken up only by a special parliamentary commission. In another action, the government ordered the expulsion of Edward J. Cody of The Associated Press, the fifth Western newsman to be deported since the state of emergency was declared six weeks ago.
Thousands of students jammed into Bangkok’s Thammasart University in an anti-government demonstration similar to the protest which brought down the military government of Field Marshal Thanat Kittikachorn in October, 1973. The students defied police to drive them out but no such attempt was made.
The 53 hostages who were herded into cell-like rooms in the United States Embassy in Kuala Lumpur last Monday lived with a constant threat of violence that underlay a veneer of courtesy shown them by the five Japanese terrorists who were their captors. One of the 53 recalled today — after the last of the hostages had been freed and the plane carrying the terrorists had departed for Libya — a moment of unbearable tension when one terrorist, “the most nervous of them all,” was “fiddling with a grenade he was carrying, and dropped it.”
Retired Rear Admiral Gene R. La Rocque said China has about 90 nuclear weapons but they are of medium range and no threat to the United States. La Rocque, speaking at a news conference at the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents Club, said China has no submarines capable of deploying nuclear weapons but is moving to increase its capabilities. He also said he did not think the United States would go to war in Korea or anywhere else in Asia to prevent a Communist takeover. La Rocque now heads the Center for Defense Information in Washington.
Typhoon Nina produced the heaviest one-day rainfall ever recorded from a Pacific Ocean typhoon, with 97 centimeters (38 inches) at Linzhang County in the Hebei Province. The typhoon itself had killed 12 people up to that point, in Taiwan, but the downpour continued for 26 hours, leading to a dam burst in mainland China the next day.
Premier Takeo Miki of Japan, visiting New York, called yesterday for a new “framework of regional cooperation” in Asia and said that his country would expand economic aid to developing nations in Asia. In a speech at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Mr. Miki also urged active American participation in Asian “nation‐building and peace‐building.” “The controlling fact of our times is our global interdependence,” he continued, sounding a theme that he has often repeated in public addresses since he took office last December. The dinner, attended by about 1,000 persons, was sponsored by the Japan Society, the Nippon Club and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce.
Canada is embarking on a disaster course in introducing French as a second language in air traffic communications, the president of the Canadian Air Line Pilots Association, Ken Maley, warned. The association has documented many near-misses because of confusion since a French-and-English communications system had been introduced on an experimental basis at airports in five areas of Quebec last year, Maley said.
U.S. Embassy officials, Sears executives and Colombian authorities waited in Bogota for a call from the kidnapers of American Donald Cooper, vice president of the Sears Roebuck department store chain in Colombia. Cooper, 50, a native of North Platte, Neb., was seized Tuesday night by an armed band, including a woman, when he returned home from work.
Peru and France reestablished diplomatic relations after a two-year lapse caused by Peruvian protests over France’s atmospheric testing of nuclear devices at Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific. France has said it will make future tests only underground. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry said that since the reasons for the rupture had disappeared, Peru decided to reinstate the relations.
Argentine labor leaders urged the government to declare a 90-day state of economic emergency to protect workers’ jobs. Under the proposed emergency, employers would not be able to lay off workers or reduce working hours. A price freeze would be imposed and government subsidies would be provided for basic consumer items, General Labor Confederation leader Casildo Herreras told a news conference.
Two Americans who were kidnapped by Ethiopian guerrillas last month have been put on trial to face charges of subversion, a guerrilla spokesman for the Revolutionary Council of the Eritrean Liberation Front said in Damascus. The Americans, Stephen Campbell and James Harrell, were abducted by the group in Ethiopia on July 14.
The National Front for the Liberation of Angola pulled out of the transitional government today pending fhe return of Portugal’s High Commissioner, who has acted as a buffer between the warring factions. A National Front spokesman said the Zaire‐backed faction would attend no cabinet meetings until the High Commissioner, Gen. Silva Cardoso, returned to Luanda from Lisbon. He was recalled last week ostensibly for health reasons, but army sources said he was going to be replaced by a man better disposed toward the leftist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the National Front’s rival. The third member of the government, the National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola, has also demanded General Cardoso’s return but did not withdraw from the government set up to administer Angola until its full independence November 11.
Meanwhile, the evacuation of more than 250,000 white settlers to Lisbon, suspended for a time because of a shortage of aircraft fuel, in Luanda, resumed today. Three Boeing 747’s landed at Lisbon during the day with 1,000 refugees and two more were expected lo arrive after nightfall with 500 more.
Gerald Ford, who came to power at a time of deep national crisis as an unelected President from a minority party, has spent much of his first year in office trying to reverse federal social and economic policies begun nearly 50 years ago. Given the circumstances, he has been surprisingly successful. The first of three articles assessing his first year in office appears today.
President Ford has qualified for matching federal campaign funds, announced David Packard, his finance committee treasurer. To qualify for federal funds, Mr. Ford had to raise $5,000 in each of 20 states in contributions of under $250, a total of $100,000. Under the new federal campaign law, the government will match half of the $10 million presidential primaries spending limit. Mr. Ford has said he expects to spend the full $10 million limit.
The Labor Department reported that the government’s Wholesale Price Index, spurred mainly by higher farm and food prices, rose 1.2 percent in July. A rise had been widely forecast by government officials. It was the second largest monthly increase this year, but was still far less than the typical monthly rise in inflation-ridden 1974.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is spending a secret $82.5-million a year for its intelligence gathering and counter-espionage activities, the House Select Committee on Intelligence was told today. It was the first time that the figure for the FBI’s expenditure on intelligence and national security operations has been made public. The bulk of the $82.5‐million is spent. on internal security, counter espionage and intelligence gathering on national security and, organized crime matters, testimony before the committee revealed. Eugene W. Walsh, assistant director for the FBI’s administrative division, declined to give a more detailed breakdown of how the bureau spends this money on the ground the information would be a “source of comfort” to organized crime elements and those who threaten the nation’s security. He acknowledged, however, that this money had never been carefully audited by anyone outside the bureau.
Federal investigators were said to have placed Charles O’Brien, James Hoffa’s foster son — and a key figure in the investigation of the disappearance of the former teamsters union president — in the vicinity of the restaurant where Mr. Hoffa was known to have been before he disappeared at about the time of the disappearance.
Continental Airlines Flight 426, a Boeing 727 with 134 people on board, crashed during takeoff from Stapleton International Airport in Denver. The aircraft climbed to about 100 feet and then crashed near the end of runway 35L. All 134 people on board survived, though 15 were seriously injured. The takeoff from Denver-Stapleton Airport was completed from runway 35L in poor weather conditions. At that time, a thunderstorm with associated rain showers was moving over the northern portion of the airport. The Thunderstorm was surrounded by numerous other thunderstorms and associated rain showers but none of these were in the immediate vicinity of the airport. After liftoff, the airplane reached an altitude of 100 feet then lost about 41 kt of indicated airspeed in 5 seconds. The aircraft struck the ground 11.6 seconds after the airspeed began to decrease. The aircraft first hit the ground 387 feet south of the departure end of runway 35L and 106 feet to the right of the runway centerline. The aircraft continued northward to a second impact area about 135 feet north of the end of the first area. The main portion of the second area was 55 feet long and 4 feet wide. The aircraft slid northward from this area and came to rest about 1,600 feet north of the departure end of runway 35L and about 160 feet to the right of the extended runway centerline. All 131 occupants were evacuated, 15 of them were injured. The accident was attributed to wind shear encountered immediately after takeoff.
Two witnesses the government claims might have information about accused bank robber Patricia Hearst won a 10-day delay from testifying before a federal grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is investigating the harboring of the fugitive newspaper heiress. Questioning of Micki McGee Scott, 31, of Portland, Oregon, and Martin Miller, 28, a New York City student, was delayed until August 18 so their lawyers could prepare motions seeking to quash subpoenas on the alleged grounds of FBI harassment. Mrs. Scott’s husband, Jack, former athletic director at Oberlin College in Ohio, also has been subpoenaed, for September 4.
Governor Milton J. Shapp of Pennsylvania will be called to testify before a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh and asked to tell what he knows about kickbacks in the awarding of state contracts. In addition, the federal prosecutor’s office said it would receive copies of Shapp’s campaign spending reports (he is a Democrat) from two Republican investigators in Harrisburg. A source familiar with the case said the governor would be asked to appear, probably after Labor Day, and respond to testimony by millionaire contractor Michael Baker Jr. that he gave Shapp $20,000 in small bills as a “gift” during Shapp’s 1970 bid for governor. Baker has testified under immunity and later recounted his testimony to reporters.
Lawyers for Joan Little began their defense today with testimony from two black women inmates at the Beaufort County Jail, that Clarence T. Alligood, the night jailer slain by Miss Little, had made sexual advances at them. A third said she had heard him ask Miss Little if she “missed her man.” A middle‐aged woman named Rosa Ida Mae Roberson, who moved with apparent effort and was cautioned by the judge to be careful to avoid falling as she stepped up to the stand, said that she had attempted cutting her wrists with the ragged end of a toothpaste tube because of repeated entreaties from the 62‐year‐old jailer. At the same time, she said, “I told him if he touched me I’d kill him.” The woman conceded under cross ‐ examination, however, that she had also attempted suicide with a small pocket knife in a jail elevator before she had been placed in the jail and before the sexual advances, which she said the jailer had made “seven or eight times.” Mrs. Roberson spent 21 days in the jail last April for making telephone threats to an unnamed party.
The entire morning of today’s session of the trial was given over to testimony by Dr. Page Hudson, the chief state medical examiner. It was Dr. Hudson, his testimony revealed, who brought to the attention of the defense in early September of 1974 the information in the report of the medical examiner in the ease, Dr. Harry M. Carpenter. Dr. Hudson said that he had called Jerry Paul, the chief defense attorney, because “I felt there were certain implications that differed so from what was being propagated and leaked to the press.” Initial reports of the case did not mention that when the jailer was found in Miss Little’s cell with an icepick in his hand, he had been naked from the waist down except for socks and that there had been seminal fluid on his thigh.
Nine former enlisted men were dropped as defendants — leaving 32 others — as the defense began its testimony in Cleveland in the $46 million damage suit filed on behalf of 13 students shot during a 1970 confrontation on the campus of Kent State University between Ohio National Guard troops and antiwar protester students. Nine students were wounded and four were killed during the May 4, 1970, shootings.
Herbert Itkin, the informant whose testimony helped send more than a dozen New York City officials and organized-crime figures to jail, has become involved in a Byzantine, high-stakes industrial espionage case in Southern California, where he and his family were relocated by the government to start a new life under a new name.
A Brooklyn grand jury indicted the Good Humor Corporation on charges of knowingly producing, marketing and selling ice cream with an illegally high bacteria level. The indictment said the company, known for its fleet of bell-ringing trucks, kept two sets of books — one false to show inspectors and one true for themselves. The true ones, said District Attorney Eugene Gold, showed a coliform bacterial count vastly higher than permitted by law. The company does $43 million worth of business annually and ships its products nationwide, Gold said.
Northwest Airlines resumed service after a three-day strike by 1,500 pilots but the airline faces the possibility of another strike. The Association of Flight Attendants said a vote would be taken within a week. The 2,300 association members employed by Northwest have been without a contract since January 1, 1974, a representative said. A Northwest spokesman said the airline would resume its schedules gradually, with 75% of the flights on a normal schedule by tonight. Terms with the pilots were not announced but pay scales had been decided in earlier talks and remaining issues centered on pensions and other benefits.
A federal grand jury in New Orleans indicted a corporate affiliate of two leading grain companies, the manager of its New Orleans division and 21 other persons on multiple charges, including conspiracy to steal grain from foreign shipments.
Alger Hiss was sworn back in as an attorney, 23 years after having been disbarred in 1952 for perjury, after denying that he had given U.S. State Department documents, nicknamed the “Pumpkin Papers”, to Communist spy Whittaker Chambers.
A Chicago-based chemical company petitioned the U.S. District Court in Memphis, to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from holding hearings today in Washington aimed at banning two of its products. Russell Train, EPA administrator, said he intended to ban Heptachlor and Chlordane, two pesticide ingredients made by the Velsicol Chemical Corp. and used in corn and cotton production, termite control and household pesticides, because of a possible link with cancer. In a brief to the court, Velsicol claims the EPA violated due process by condemning the pesticides prior to the hearing and as a result the hearing should be canceled or delayed.
Ralph Nader and 31 public interest groups from 20 states have asked that companies wanting nuclear power licenses be forced to publicize the evacuation plans they develop to cope with accidents and that annual mass evacuation drills be held for persons living near the plants. Nader said so many Americans are living close to nuclear-powered electric generators that millions of lives could be in danger if radioactive material leaked from any of them. The request left open how an accident would be defined and how extensive the drill would be but the group asked that facts on the evacuation plan be disseminated over a 40-mile radius of the plant.
Major League Baseball:
Andy Hassler, who was beaten by the White Sox, 8–4, suffered his 10th straight loss, tying the Angels’ club record for most consecutive defeats set by Ken McBride in 1964. Jorge Orta drove in three runs for the White Sox and Nyls Nyman batted in two. When the Angels cut the White Sox lead to 5–4 in the fourth inning, Dave Hamilton replaced Pete Vuckovich and pitched scoreless ball the rest of the way, allowing only three hits.
After four previous losses, the Yankees gained their first victory of the season in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, defeating the Indians, 6–3. Graig Nettles started the Yankee scoring with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. After picking up another pair in the fifth, the Yankees iced their victory in the sixth with a homer by Thurman Munson, pass to Alex Johnson, single by Chris Chambliss and a wild pitch.
After rallying for two runs to tie the score in the ninth inning, the Tigers lost to the Orioles in the 10th, 7–6, for their 12th straight defeat, coming within one of Detroit’s all-time club record. The Orioles scored six of their runs in the sixth inning, getting two each on bases-loaded singles by Brooks Robinson and Mark Belanger. In the Tigers’ rally in the ninth, Gates Brown led off with the 16th pinch-homer of his career, setting an American League record, and the tying tally followed on singles by Ron LeFlore, Dan Meyer and Bill Freehan. However in the 10th, Bobby Grich and Tommy Davis singled for the Orioles. After Tony Muser struck out, Grich was out at the plate on a grounder by Paul Blair, but Don Baylor doubled to drive in pinch-runner Al Bumbry.
A winner for the eighth straight time, Rick Wise brought his record to 15–6 by pitching the Red Sox to a 4–2 victory over the Brewers. The Red Sox decided the game against Jim Slaton with three runs in the third inning. After Rico Petrocelli doubled, Rick Burleson singled and Bernie Carbo walked to load the bases, Denny Doyle drove in two with a single and Fred Lynn accounted for the third run with a double. Mike Hegan hit two homers to account for the Brewers’ runs before a crowd of 24,187, pushing the Milwaukee home attendance to 1,003,368.
Fred Patek hit Vic Albury’s first pitch of the game for an inside-the-park homer to start the Royals off to a 10–2 romp over the Twins. Paul Splittorff, who was the winner, was forced to quit the mound after six innings because of a blister on his pitching finger. Nelson Briles gave up the Twins’ runs on a homer by Eric Soderholm in the ninth.
A grand slam by Joe Rudi and two homers by Billy Williams, who drove in three runs, helped power the Athletics to a 10–1 victory over the Rangers. Vida Blue held the Rangers to four hits, but yielded a run in the first inning and trailed, 1–0, until the fifth when the A’s exploded for four runs off Jim Umbarger. Rudi hit his grand slam against Tommy Moore in the seventh after a single by Ray Fosse, wild throw on a bunt by Bert Campaneris and intentional pass to Williams.
Tom Seaver, who moved up one day in the Mets’ starting rotation because Jon Matlack gashed his chin in an auto accident, pitched a three-hitter and shut out the Expos, 7–0, for his 15th victory of the season. The Mets put Seaver on easy street with five runs in the first inning, three scoring on a double by Mike Phillips.
The Astros got three-hit pitching from Dave Roberts and defeated the Pirates, 6–1. Greg Gross led the Astros’ attack, hitting a double and scoring in the first inning and then rapping another double to drive in two runs in the sixth. Bob Robertson deprived Roberts of a shutout with a homer in the fourth inning.
Andre Thornton hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to wreck the strategy of the Phillies and power the Cubs to a 5–3 victory. With the score tied, 1–1, Jose Cardenal doubled with two out. Manager Danny Ozark of the Phillies ordered Larry Christenson to pass Jerry Morales intentionally to get at Thornton, who upset the applecart with his circuit clout.
California Angels 4, Chicago White Sox 8
New York Yankees 6, Cleveland Indians 3
Baltimore Orioles 7, Detroit Tigers 6
Pittsburgh Pirates 1, Houston Astros 6
Minnesota Twins 2, Kansas City Royals 10
Boston Red Sox 4, Milwaukee Brewers 2
Montreal Expos 0, New York Mets 7
Chicago Cubs 5, Philadelphia Phillies 3
Oakland Athletics 10, Texas Rangers 1
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 815.79 (+2.12, +0.26%)
Born:
Charlize Theron, South African-born American actress, 2004 Academy Award winner for Best Actress for portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film “Monster,” in Benoni, Transvaal, South Africa.
David Hicks, Australian man imprisoned by the United States at Guantanamo Bay from 2001 to 2007 while awaiting trial on charges of supporting terrorism in Afghanistan; in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia..
Alshermond Singleton, American NFL linebacker (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 37-Buccaneers; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys), in Newark, New Jersey.
Ray Hill, NFL defensive back (Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins), in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2015, from colon cancer).
Gerónimo Gil, Mexican MLB catcher (Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies), in Estacion Lagunas, Mexico.
History Diaries 