May 16, 1973

Lindsay adm's often‐delayed plan to create Madison Av pedestrian mall is dealt another blow on May 15 when NYS Sup Ct Appellate Div upholds, by 5‐0 vote, ruling that NYC's Transportation Adm does not have authority to create mall; Lindsay, who has been pushing hard for 13‐block project, says he will not comment until Corp Counsel has revd ct ruling; atty W B Richland, who represents parties that sued to stop mall, says mall idea is dead; ruling is another victory for merchants who contend that mall, involving Madison Av from 44th to 57th St, would be ‘ruinous to their business'; principal opponent of plan, Fifth Av Assn, was joined in suit by Brooks Brothers, Abercrombie & Fitch, Tiffany's, Saks Fifth Avenue, B Altman & Co, Lord & Taylor and Bergdorf Goodman; stores said mall would tie up traffic and destroy dignity of area

TRENTON, May 15—Former State Treasurer Joseph M. McCrane Jr. was indicted by the state today on bribery and misconduct charges. He was charged with using “the power and influence of his office” to have more than $6‐million in state funds illegally deposited in three New Jersey banks and to have the banks, in turn, and the State Division of Investment purchase more than $6million in securities through Mr. NIcCrane's brother, Kevin.

Publication of this issue of The New York Times was delayed last night when an electrical fire in an excavation in front of the Times building at 229 West 43d Street caused a shutoff of power to stereotyping machines. Details, Page 43.

reliable sources rept on May 15 that Pres Nixon personally authorized wiretapping of more than a dozen of of his subordinates on Natl Security Council and in Pentagon beginning in ‘69; say wiretapping was undertaken in response to dispatch by W Beecher published in NY Times on May 9 ‘69, which reptd for 1st time that B‐52 bombers were striking targets inside Cambodia; White House spokesman confirms rept of Pres authorization on May 15; asserts that action was natl security matter; adds that procedure was approved by Nixon and authorized in individual cases by Atty Gen in coordination with Dir of FBI; well‐informed Govt officials defend Nixon's authorization as necessary, in view of what they term a ‘serious security breach'; special approval for operation, which involved tapping of home and office phones, was granted by late FBI Dir J Edgar Hoover and former Atty Gen J Mitchell; special FBI repts of overheard phone conversations were provided to Nixon's Natl Security Adviser Dr H A Kissinger and then‐Col A M Haig; sources rept that among those tapped were 3 aides to Kissinger‐‐D I Davidson, A Lake and W Lord; acting FBI Dir W D Ruckelshaus told news conf on May 14 that records of 17 wiretaps placed on 13 Govt officials and 4 newsmen had been found in safe belonging to Pres chief asst for domestic affairs J D Ehrlichman; Ruckelshaus identifies one of those overheard as Dr M Halperin, who joined Kissinger's staff in ‘69; sources in exec branch say that wiretap logs had been sent routinely to Kissinger's office until May ‘70; at that time there was a meeting between Nixon, Hoover and H R Haldeman, former White House chief of staff, ‘to discuss these taps'; they agreed to continue tapping, but decided to have all mail (logs and other products of wiretaps) go to Haldeman; wiretap program ended in Feb ‘71; sources describe taps as being very productive; Malperin noticed that after Times dispatch on Cambodia bombing was published he was told that 3 top Govt officials‐‐Sec of State W P Rogers, then‐Defense Sec M R Laird and Mitchell‐‐complained to Nixon that he was source; Halperin denies that he was source for article; says despite suspicion and wiretapping, he remained on Natl Security Council until Sept ‘69, when, despite urgings from Kissinger, he resigned

Skylab space station, already short of electrical power because of failure of solar wing panel and loss of micrometeoroid thermal shield develops additional problems on May 15 as temperatures aboard craft soar to 110 degrees Farenheit; problems affecting space station are especially perplexing to since there is no way of minimizing effects of one without maximizing effects of other; examples cited; to minimize amt of sunlight reaching Skylab, flight controllers have pointed its forward docking end toward sun; maneuvers, however, are placing serious strain on space station's thruster‐rocket fuel supply, already taxed by malfunctioning stabilization gyroscope, and is pointing functioning solar panels away from sun making them useless for generating electricity; mission planners are weighing several options including: sending Skylab crew to make brief inspection tour; training crew to attach thermal insulating blanket to space station's outer walls; conducting shortened operational mission before Skylab's condition further deteroriates; abandoning of space station; planners reptdly are not certain that 5‐day delay in launching of Skylab crew will give them enough time to develop alternate flight plans; schematic diagram of space station; crew illus