Partly as a result of the prodding of Senator Sam Nunn, a relatively junior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Army is reassessing its strategic assumptions and contingency plans for warfare in central Europe. The basic issue being debated is whether the North Atlantic Treaty forces should continue to prepare for a relatively protracted war lasting several months or should shift the emphasis to fighting a short, intense conflict. The issue is not a new one, but never before has it been so seriously debated within an Army staff that until now has been dominated by “long war” proponents whose military thinking was largely shaped by the experiences of World War II.
The debate was joined this spring when Lieutenant General James F. Hollingsworth, a former corps commander in South Korea, returned from an inspection trip to Europe. In a still secret report to General Fred C. Weyand, the Army Chief of Staff, General Hollingsworth reportedly was critical of the strategic plans of United States Army forces in West Germany. The basic thrust of the Hollingsworth report, according to informed sources, was that rather than prepare for a protracted war in which the Atlantic forces would trade space for time, the Army should shift to a “lean forward strategy” in which forces would be concentrated at forward positions in an attempt to stop Warsaw Pact forces at the West German border. Indirectly, the Hollingsworth inspection trip was evidence of the rising influence of the 38‐year‐old Senator Nunn, who in the opinion of many of his colleagues is emerging as one of the few analytical military thinkers on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The U.N. Steering Committee approved a 123-item agenda for consideration of the General Assembly. Objections were offered to the inclusion of only a few items and only one issue came to a vote. This was the request by African members for assembly consideration of France’s rule of Mayotte after the other islands of the Comoros group received independence and representation in the United Nations. Though Mayotte issue was included, notably absent was the question of friction in Korea, which was excluded at the request of both sides in the dispute.
The European Common Market’s commission recommended the immediate adoption of a 200-mile fishing zone in the North Sea and North Atlantic. The commission urged the market’s Council of Ministers to declare the community fishing limits without waiting for the decisions of the U.N. Law of the Sea Conference in New York.
“A new conformity” may result in Sweden because of the defeat of the Social Democrats, the outgoing Prime Minister, Olof Palme, said in an interview. He said the victory of the three non-Socialist parties would cement the power of the business community and open old wounds between rich and poor.
A fire aboard the Royal Navy guided missile destroyer RMS Glasgow killed eight men and injured four others while the new destroyer was being outfitted while in port at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England.
France’s largest labor unions opened an attack against the government’s new anti-inflation austerity plan by calling a general strike for October 7. The austerity measures were toughened when the Bank of France increased its bank rate from 9½ % to 10½ % in order to make credit more expensive. France now has a bank rate exceeded only by Europe’s two most economically troubled nations, Britain and Italy.
Four rock musicians were sentenced by a Czechoslovak court to prison terms ranging from 8 to 18 months for “organizing hooliganism” by staging unlicensed rock concerts. Ivan Jirous was given 18 months. Pavel Zajicek one year, and Svatopluk Karasek and Vratislav Brabenec eight months each. The defendants were members of the “Plastic People of the Universe” and were found guilty by the Prague court of “jeopardizing the education of youth in a Socialist spirit” by staging rock concerts and readings of their work.
A House Armed Service Committee panel concluded that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s decision to turn the proposed U.S. XM1 tank into a U.S.-West German hybrid would delay production, increase costs and reduce combat capability. The panel, headed by Rep. Samuel S. Stratton (D-New York), recommended that the committee oppose Rumsfeld’s decision and urge him not to spend any money to carry it out without Congress’ approval. The full committee deferred action on the proposal until next week.
Élias Sarkis moved into the presidential palace in Beirut as President of Lebanon, four months after having been elected by the National Assembly on May 8, 1976. Although the oath of office had been administered to him in May and he had been making decisions, Suleiman Frangieh had refused to move from the palace until the expiration of his original six-year term. A unit of the army of neighboring Syria was allowed to protect the inauguration site, which was moved from Beirut, for the first time in Lebanon’s history, and held in the town of Chtaura, 27 miles (43 km) away and located on the midway point of the highway between Beirut and the Syrian capital of Damascus. Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian guerrilla leader, announced in a letter to President Sarkis that he would order his forces to observe the cease‐fire in all of Lebanon to make the new President’s task easier. Both the Palestinians and their Lebanese leftist and Moslem allies had bitterly opposed the election of Mr. Sarkis last May . by the Lebanese National Assembly. Mr. Sarkis, considered a moderate, replaces Suleiman Franjieh, a right‐wing extremist. Both are Maronite Christians, of the Eastern rite, as have been all Lebanese Presidents since the country became independent in 1943. An unwritten convention bars members of other faiths from the Presidency.
Syria’s goals In Lebanon, for which it has occupied half the country with 15,000 troops, appear to be nearing. The inauguration of President Sarkis was one of the first goals of President Hafez al-Assad, hut his accession to power does not mean the end of the occupation. President Assad still mist work to make Mr. Sarkis a viable president and must find a way to end the civil war permanently.
The Bangladesh Government, in what it called “a gesture of good will,” today deported a Dutch social worker and free-lance journalist who had been convicted earlier this week of anti-state activities. The social worker, 27‐year‐old Peter Custers, whom a secret martial‐law tribunal sentenced on Monday to 14 years’ imprisonment, was taken to the airport this afternoon under heavy guard and put aboard a Bangladesh airliner bound for Bangkok, Thailand.
Seni Pramoj announced that he was resigning as Prime Minister of Thailand after less than five months in office, after having been criticized for not preventing former Premier Thanom Kittikachorn from returning from exile. Less than 24 hours later, he reversed his decision and said that he had accepted an invitation to form a new government, adding “I accepted for the benefit, and the interests of the nation.”
With the repeated calls by Peking to “carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao Zedong,” China’s new leaders seem to be trying to assure the Chinese people that in all the uncertainty surrounding Mao’s death, at least his policies will remain in force for the immediate future. Mao’s “cause” was often challenged during his lifetime. How faithfully his successor or successors, whoever they may prove to be, will now hew to his legacy is a question few of China’s 800 million people can answer. In broad terms, Mao sought to create a China of hard work, self‐reliance, mass participation and equality, a utopia in which traditional gaps between city and country and between upper and lower classes would be eliminated. In more specific terms, Mao left behind a vast array of programs that govern almost every aspect of daily life in China, from wages, education, medicine and opera to foreign and defense policy.
The Brazilian government ordered extra police into the hunt for rightwing terrorists who bombed the home of a newspaper owner and kidnaped a Roman Catholic bishop, leaving him bound, beaten, naked and painted red. The Brazilian anti-Communist Alliance, which telephoned a radio station to claim responsibility for both incidents, said Bishop Afriano Hipolito had been punished for unspecified crimes. The caller did not say why the bomb was thrown into the home of Roberto Marinho, owner of the newspaper O Globo.
Ethiopia’s nationalized banks, insurance companies and supermarkets were hit by strikes, apparently in protest against the policies of the military government. The stoppages were staged despite warnings that security forces would take action against strikers or instigators, but no reprisals were reported. There have been arrests recently in some strike movements and those detained have been accused of being supporters of the underground People’s Revolutionary Party, sources said.
Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian D. Smith said tonight he would broadcast “a clear, positive and unequivocal statement” tomorrow giving his Government’s response to the proposals for a transfer of power to the black majority presented to him five days ago by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. While the resolute Mr. Smith refused to say what the decision of a parliamentary caucus of his Rhodesian Front Party was, he suggested it approached unanimity. However, a source close to the 50‐member caucus hinted strongly tonight that a consensus had emerged backing slightly qualified acceptance of the Kissinger proposals, the details of which have yet to be made public. Coupled with a Rhodesian national radio broadcast yesterday deploring South African pressures on the government here, the hint lent weight to the growing feeling that after 11 years of defiantly rejecting any possibility of majority rule, Mr. Smith would in some form accept the Kissinger package. Those proposals are thought to call for a transition toward full black participation in government and international guarantees for minority rights and investments.
The Soviet Union is showing considerable uneasiness over Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy in southern Africa, evidently concerned that the American initiative may undermine Moscow’s long investment in building influence with the black nationalist groups that are expected to come to power.
Sam Nujoma, the leader of the South-West African People’s Organization, flew home to Africa today after insisting that his group would not soften its terms for negotiating with South Africa on independence for the territory.
Mixed racial teams and multiracial games at all levels were sanctioned by the South African government. The announcement, which had been expected for some time, was seen as an effort to reopen the door to international competition for South Africa. The decision came amid some of the worst racial unrest since non-white South Africans began their protests three months ago.
About 400 black youths were arrested today after a protest march in central Johannesburg erupted into violence, with policemen with staves charging demonstrators and at least six whites reportedly stabbed by blacks. Twenty blocks of the downtown area were sealed off as riot squads battled with placard ‐ swinging demonstrators who smashed store windows, tossed gasoline bombs and ran through the streets shouting ‘Black power, black power.” It was the first time that blacks had taken such a demonstration into the heart of a city since the anti‐Government upheaval began in South Africa three months ago. The trouble had been confined for the most part to black areas.
Soyuz 22 returned to Earth, slightly less than 8 days after having been launched for the purpose of photographing the surface of the Earth with a high resolution camera, the MKF-6, that was designed in East Germany to take photographs in “six spectral ranges.”
The results of another biology experiment on the Viking 2 lander have been radioed to earth, but they left scientists just as uncertain as ever on the question of whether there is life on Mars. The problem is that all three life‐detection instruments on both Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft continue to report evidence of some activity in the Martian soil. But it is not clear from the evidence whether the activity is the result of some nonliving chemical reactions or of some living processes. When the data from the Viking 2’s pyrolytic release experiment were reported today, Dr. Norman H. Horowitz of the California Institute of Technology, a member of the project’s biology team, announced: “We have to call this a marginally positive result—so marginal that we don’t think that this [particular phase of the experiment] is going to be a promising line of attack.” According to Dr. Horowitz, the experiment recorded 21.5 counts a minute of radioactivity after the soil was incubated for nine days. If there had been no photosynthesis of organic compounds, the count should have been 15. The difference between 15 and 21.5, Dr. Horowitz said, could represent an indication of possible biological activity—but it would have had to be a higher count to be strong evidence. If there is life on Mars, Dr. Horowitz concluded, his experiment “suggests that it is not burgeoning.”
The first U.S. presidential debate since 1960 took place between incumbent President Gerald R. Ford and former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, the Republican and Democratic nominees respectively, in the U.S. presidential election, and was held at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia with NBC news commentator Edwin Newman as the moderator. With nine minutes left in the 90-minute debate, the sound system installed for the event suddenly failed as Carter was talking about the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Carter was interrupted as he said “Well, one of the very serious things that have happened in our government in recent years, and has continued up until now, is a breakdown in trust among our people in the…” For the next 27 minutes, the telecast, shown live on all U.S. television networks, was silent except for network commentary while Ford and Carter waited for power to be restored. The failure of a faulty electric part was identified by technicians at ABC television (which provided the network feed to the other U.S. networks) as the cause of the nearly half hour of silence.
U.S. Speaker of the House Carl Albert, who didn’t realize that he was talking near a live microphone that was picking up his words, made a racist joke remark to U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller prior to an address to a joint session of Congress by Liberian President William R. Tolbert. Rockefeller mentioned of Liberia, which had been founded by U.S. slaves in the 19th century, that “they’ve got a class system. The blacks that went back to Liberia and took on all the characteristics of Southern whites,” then pointed to Edward W. Brooke, the only African-American U.S. Senator, and said “Ed Brooke is a one-man receiving committee. Albert joked, “Yeah, he’d be a slave if he were over there.” Albert and Rockefeller, who was present in his vice-presidential role as President of the Senate, laughed at the remark. Albert and Rockefeller apologized to Senator Brooke the next day.
United States Steel’s Washington lobbyist confirmed that the company had paid for five golf outings for President Ford during his last 10 years in the House. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating allegations that the U.S. Steel Corp. provided free vacations and air travel to members of Congress, including President Ford when he was a House member. government and industry sources said. An SEC spokesman declined to confirm or deny. But U.S. Steel’s lobbyist, William G. Whyte, who told reporters that Ford accepted five, brief expense-paid vacations, replied “Yes” when asked if the SEC had asked for information on prominent visitors to U.S. Steel’s vacation facilities or used corporate aircraft. White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen, asked about the developments, responded, “I don’t have anything to say.” Asked if there might be a comment later, he said, “I really doubt it.”
A generally genteel debate between President Ford and Jimmy Carter before a television audience estimated at 90 million people focused on economic issues. Mr. Ford sought to portray his Democratic opponent as a spendthrift while Mr. Carter accused the President of economic mismanagement and weak leadership. The candidates sought to buttress their arguments with an often bewildering array of statistics.
The sound portion of the debate was lost toward the end as Mr. Carter was just beginning to answer a question about the control of intelligence agencies. After the moderator held up a sign, the two candidates stood behind their lecterns waiting for a solution to the problem. The debate resumed after 27 minutes.
More than a score of farmers shuffled about in the morning chill today outside the Harmon grain elevator in this hamlet southeast of Grand Island, alternately questioning and politically scolding Senator Robert J. Dole, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate. One, emboldened by the informality of the mood, finally asked: “Will you straighten Ford out on this Meany deal?” For the Nebraska farmer, that was polite scolding. What he was asking was whether the 53‐year‐old Senator from neighboring Kansas could persuade his running mate, President Ford, not to impose any more price‐depressing embargoes on grain sales to foreign markets.
This was a rare quiet evening for Senator Walter F. Mondale a stroll across the Yale campus, dinner at his hotel and, of course watching television in his room. His day began before 7 A.M. in Wisconsin, but he spent most of it campaigning in President Ford’s home state.
A deficit twice as large as the figure arrived at last year has been found by applying new and conservative accounting methods to New York City’s finances. City officials said the new figure — $5 billion compared to the earlier $2.6 billion deficit — did not indicate an increase caused by new spending nor did it increase the need for more cuts.
A sudden upsurge in the basic money supply was reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The increase was a record $4.5 billion in the amount of money in circulation and in checking accounts. Monetary analysts viewed the effect of the increase as largely psychological since single-week fluctuations tend to have little long-term significance.
“Several millions of dollars” will be paid to the Gulf Oil Corporation by six former officers, including two former chairmen of the board, to settle claims arising from an illegal political slush fund. The action was taken by the company’s board according to sources close to the negotiations. The fund reportedly distributed $12.8 million over a 13-year period.
Government loan guarantees of $2 billion to $4 billion to aid plans for commercial synthetic fuel plants were rejected by the U.S. House of Representatives by a margin of a single vote. The 193–192 defeat for the plan, backed by the Ford Administration, came on a procedural resolution that would have taken it to the floor of the House for debate. This eliminated any chance that the measure would be enacted at the session of Congress scheduled to end next week. However, some version of the same plan is expected to be revived for consideration by the new Congress that will take office in January.
Commercial coal mining in the Narragansett Basin of southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island may be a long way off, despite the discovery that deposits there are thicker and of better quality than originally estimated. geologists said at a news conference in Boston. “It looks like there’s about 70 million tons of coal in three places we’ve drilled so far,” said the Rev. James M. Skehan, head of the exploration project and director of the Weston Observatory. But the scientists agreed that feasibility of mining in the area has not yet been determined.
A Denver grand jury indicted a former FBI informer in connection with the theft of documents from the Denver office of the Socialist Workers Party and recommended that a transcript of its investigation be forwarded to the Justice Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Timothy J. Redfearn. 25, was charged with second-degree burglary in connection with the July 7 theft of the documents. He is accused of showing the material to a Denver FBI agent, who allegedly waited several days before reporting to the Denver Police Department that Redfearn had the records. The FBI reportedly fired Redfearn after the burglary occurred.
Federal and private health specialists concluded that American mothers may continue to breast feed their babies despite the presence of traces of industrial chemicals called PCBs in mothers’ milk sampled in 11 states. But the specialists-meeting at the National Institute of Health-called for immediate studies to find out whether the PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are doing babies any harm. They said the effort should include research into whether even low PCB levels might cause later learning disabilities or hyperactivity. Both of these effects appeared in a study of infant monkeys whose mothers’ milk contained PCB levels not far above some found in 79 of the 80 mothers sampled.
Twenty firms were charged in a Maricopa County (Phoenix) Superior Court antitrust suit with a broadbased conspiracy to fix prices on virtually all cement and ready-mix concrete sold in the state, the Arizona attorney general’s office said. While the suit alleges only violations which occurred in Arizona, the charges imply a nationwide conspiracy to restrict trade and set prices. Among those named in the suit were Amcord, Inc., of Newport Beach, California, including subsidiaries Phoenix Cement Co. and Riverside Cement Co.; California Portland Cement Co. of Los Angeles, including its subsidiary, Arizona Portland Cement Co.; Kaiser Cement and Gypsum Corp. of Oakland, California, and Southwestern Portland Cement Co. of Los Angeles.
Clive J. Davis, former president of Columbia Records, Inc., got a suspended sentence in federal court in New York City and was fined $10,000 for evasion of federal income taxes. He pleaded guilty last May to one count of a six-count indictment alleging failure to report more than $90,000. U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa said Davis had been a victim of “appalling” publicity. Davis said he had been maligned by “the power of the press and media” since 1973. He said there were hints and allegations he was connected with payola in the recording industry and with the Mafia. But, the former executive said. “Each and every investigation has proved me innocent.”
Preston Jones’s “Texas Trilogy” play premieres in New York City.
The television show “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, later renamed “Black Sheep Squadron”, premiered on NBC and was based on the World War II experiences of Greg “Pappy” Boyington and his U.S. Marine Corps squadron of fighter pilots in the South Pacific. Robert Conrad starred as Boyington in the show, created by Stephen J. Cannell, which would run for two seasons.
“The Tony Randall Show”, a situation comedy starring Tony Randall, premiered on CBS and would run for two seasons.
Major League Baseball:
Bill Lee (5–7) pitched his first complete game since September 9, 1975, and had the backing of four home runs as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 10–3. In the second inning, Jack Baker and Bob Montgomery hit for the circuit, Montgomery’s homer coming with a man on base. Baker’s blow was his first hit in the major leagues. Jim Rice homered in the fifth and Dwight Evans in the seventh, each with a man aboard.
A homer by Mike Hargrove in the ninth inning lifted the Rangers to a 6–5 victory over the Angels. Tony Solaita batted in two runs with a double in the first inning when the Angels took a 3-0 lead, but the Rangers picked up a tally in the fourth and went ahead with four unearned runs in the fifth. The Angels tied the score in the eighth with one of their runs coming on an inside-the-park homer by Dave Collins.
Making his 22nd start, Pete Redfern (7–8) turned in the first complete game of his major league career and pitched the Twins to a 3–0 victory over the White Sox. Craig Kusick batted in all three runs against Ken Brett, who had a no-hitter in the works until Larry Hisle led off the eighth inning with a triple and Kusick followed with a sacrifice fly. The other runs scored in the ninth when Kusick singled with the bases loaded. The White Sox for the second time this season with Brett pitching, did not use a designated hitter. Brett went hitless in three trips.
Ed Ott, making his first start as Pittsburgh catcher because of injuries to Manny Sanguillen and Duffy Dyer, knocked in a run with a double in the 10th inning to beat the Cubs, 5–4, and enable the Pirates to remain six games behind the Phillies in the East Division race. The Pirates took an early 4–0 lead, scoring twice in the first inning on a double by Willie Stargell and adding a pair in the fourth on a triple by Rennie Stennett and sacrifice fly by Larry Demery. The Cubs rallied to tie the score in the sixth. Mick Kelleher, leading off, was hit by a pitch and Jerry Tabb walked. After the next two batters went out, Bill Madlock and Jerry Morales hit run-scoring singles and Larry Biittner drove in two runs with a double. With one out in the Pirates’ 10th, Stennett singled and raced home with the winning run when Ott delivered his double.
Although collecting only seven hits, the Athletics defeated the Royals, 8–1, with the aid of nine walks, a hit batsman, three wild pitches and six stolen bases. With the victory, the A’s pulled within five games of the Royals in the West Division race with each club having nine games left to play. Bill North and Don Baylor stole two bases apiece. Baylor’s thefts gave him 51 to make the A’s the first club in major league history to have three speedsters with 50 stolen bases each. North’s pair raised his league-leading total to 74 and Bert Campaneris bagged his 54th. Claudell Washington accounted for the other stolen base.
The Yankees’ “magic number” for clinching the East Division title remained at three when the Orioles posted a 2–1 victory to complete a sweep of the four-game series. The Orioles’ belated drive cut the Yankees’ lead to 7½ games. The Yankees counted their run off winner Mike Flanagan (3–4) in the fifth inning on consecutive singles by Otto Velez, Fred Stanley and Willie Randolph. The Orioles tied the score against Catfish Hunter (16–15) in the seventh when Bobby Grich doubled and Ken Singleton tripled. The winning run followed in the ninth. Paul Blair led off with a single. Grich sacrificed, bunting to Graig Nettles, and Blair raced to third when the Yankees left the bag uncovered. After an intentional pass to Carlos May, Singleton hit a single, driving in Blair.
Steve Carlton gained his 19th victory of the season against six losses and the Phillies maintained their six-game lead over the Pirates in the East Division by defeating the Cardinals, 7–3. The Phillies, after jumping off with a run on singles by Larry Bowa, Steve Carlton and Bobby Tolan in the third inning, added three in the fourth on a single by Dick Allen, homer by Tim McCarver and two errors around another single by Carlton. The Cards picked up a pair in fifth, but the Phillies clinched the verdict with three runs in their half. Jat Johnstone walked and Greg Luzinski and Allen singled to load the bases. One run scored on a forceout by Mike Schmidt, another crossed the plate when Garry Templeton threw wildly trying to complete a double play, and the third run followed on a single by McCarver and infield out by Bowa.
Burt Hooton (11–14) pitched a three-hitter and Davey Lopes stole three bases as the Dodgers defeated the Giants, 4–1. Lopes’ thefts brought his season’s total to 59 and put the speedster in the N. L. lead with one more stolen base than Joe Morgan of the Reds.
The scheduled game between the New York Mets and the Expos at Montreal was postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on September 28.
Milwaukee Brewers 3, Boston Red Sox 10
Texas Rangers 6, California Angels 5
Minnesota Twins 3, Chicago White Sox 0
Pittsburgh Pirates 5, Chicago Cubs 4
Oakland Athletics 8, Kansas City Royals 1
Baltimore Orioles 2, New York Yankees 1
St. Louis Cardinals 3, Philadelphia Phillies 7
Los Angeles Dodgers 4, San Francisco Giants 1
Stock prices fell on a broad front with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 3.25 points to close at 1,010.80. Bond prices dropped sharply following the Federal Reserve report.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1010.80 (-3.25, -0.32%)
Born:
Faune Chambers Watkins, American actress (“White Chicks”, “Epic Movie”), in Florida.
Kip Pardue, American model and actor (“Remember the Titans”, “Thirteen”), in Atlanta, Georgia.
Robert James-Collier, British actor (“Downton Abbey”, “Coronation Street”), in Stockport, England, United Kingdom.
Homaro Cantu, American chef and scientist who specialized in “molecular gastronomy”; in Tacoma, Washington (committed suicide 2015).
Halim Haryanto, Indonesian badminton player who won the world doubles championship (with Tony Gunawan in 2001) in Bandung, West Java.
Stacy Frese, WNBA guard (Utah Starzz), in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
