On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 1975, the world population was approximately 4,070,735,277 people[†]
1975Marguerite Perey, French physicist (born 1909)[†]
Marguerite Catherine Perey was a French physicist and a student of Marie Curie. In 1939, Perey discovered the element francium by purifying samples of lanthanum that contained actinium. In 1962, she was the first woman to be elected to the French Académie des Sciences, an honor denied to her mentor Curie. Perey died of cancer in 1975.
1975Bob Wills, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1905)[†]
James Robert "Bob" Wills was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing. He was also noted for punctuating his music with his trademark "ah-haa" calls.
Navy vessel of new Cambodian Govt reptdly fires on US merchant ship Mayaguez in internatl waters in Gulf of Siam, Apr 12, and forces it into Cambodian port of Sihanoukville; statement issued by White House press sec Ron Nessen says Pres Ford 'considers this seizure an act of piracy'; Ford reptdly instructs State Dept to demand ship's immediate release; State Dept reptdly asks China, through liaison office in Washington (DC) for help in obtaining release; Nessen refuses to comment on any possbile response by Ford to seizure, news briefing; Defense Dept sources say aircraft carrier Coral Sea and other ships from Seventh Fleet have been ordered to area; some support is voiced by Cong for 'police action' by Ford despite '73 War Powers Act barring Presidents from committing US forces to combat activities in Indochina without Cong approval; Mayaguez reptdly is unarmed container ship sailing under Amer registry and owned by Sea-Land Service Inc, wholly owned subsidiary of R J Reynolds Industries; Sea-Land spokesman says co received message from vessel early in morning saying that ship was being fired on and was being boarded by men from what it said was a Cambodian gunboat; seizure follows 2 similar recent incidents involving Panamian ship and S Korean freighter; Nessen says ship was fired on 60 mi off Cambodian coast and about 8 mi from Wai Islands, small chain that has been claimed by both Cambodia and S Vietnam; co spokesman Robert R Antes says vessel has crew of 39 and is carrying 184 cargo containers, including 77 containers of mil goods; says co does not know precise nature of mil cargo; mil sources in Wasington confirm there is mil cargo aboard; Defense Dept declines comment; Sec Kissinger's comments in incident noted; identities of ship's captain and 2 crew members noted; State Dept lawyers concede seizure may be open to controversy because of proximity of ship to Tang Island; '69 claim by Prince Sihanouk of 12-mi territorial limit apparently is still in effect by new Govt; feud between Cambodia and S Vietnam for possession of Wai Islands noted; Sen Clifford Case, co-author of War Powers Act, says Ford will be justified in using force to retrieve vessel; comments by Sens Buckley and Javits noted; '64 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which gave Pres Johnson broad authority to order US mil operations in Indochina after N Vietnamese patrol boats allegedly fired on 2 US destroyers, recalled; other incidents in territorial waters over past several yrs noted; Mayaguez illus; map (L)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its resplendent—and controversial—new addition last night, the Lehman Collection, with a private viewing for 600 “friends of the Lehman Foundation.”
City notes and bonds dropped sharply in price yesterday as the market reacted to the an nouncement by Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon that the Federal Government would not act to help solve the city's severe money shortage.
Moreland Act Comm on nursing homes hears testimony that at least 12 private operators paid 'head hunter' to recruit patients from hosps and that at least 1 nonprofit inst demanded that Medicaid applicants make substantial donations or sign over their property before admission; city officials and soc workers testify that patients had been placed in nursing homes with little attention to patients and none to conditions of homes; comm chmn Morris B Abram concludes that system of patient-placement in NYS is 'in chaos,' resulting in discrimination against the poor and very ill; former soc worker Harold Kerchner testifies that his concern, Geriatric Counseling Services, has in last 2 yrs 'screened' nearly 3,000 potential patients for 12 nursing homes at fees totaling $25,000; Highland Manor Nursing Home admr Judith Dicker says she was 'solicited' by Kerchner to find patients for a fee; special state prosecutor Charles J Hynes to rev their testimony; Natalie Okin says she gave $3,000 donation to Workmen's Circle Home for Aged in order to get her mother placed; home exec dir Louis Silver denies charge; comm counsel S Andrew Schaffer revs homes contributions; Dr Linda Mazzola, dir of Medicaid services in NYC Health Dept, testifies that she and 2 other drs approve about 3,000 applications for nursing home placements each mo; defends their performance in face of indications that 75% of patients are wrongly classified; Raymond Gaskell, supervisor of citywide placement unit, testifies on sending patients to homes with serious deficiencies; soc workers Ann Woods and Annette Brick testify; Abram hails med screening program in Rochester, suggesting it could save $50-million if applied generally; illus of Abram, Schaffer, Okin, Silver and Kerchner (L)
Mayor Beame discloses $434-million pkg of proposed NYC taxes, including doubled commuter tax, big rise in stock-transfer taxes on non-residents and increased levies on banks and businesses; holds private briefing with Gov Carey and legis leaders; makes public his suggestions for reducing budget deficit on eve of White House meeting at which, joined by Carey, he will ask for $1.5-billion in Fed aid; White House sources say privately that city's plea will be rejected by Pres Ford; illus of Beame and Carey conferring (M)
HR Ways and Means Com, 19 to 16, passes bill that would raise gasoline tax, now 4c a gal, to 7c a gal in '76, and up to 20c a gal more in following yrs, depending on percentage increase in fuel consumption above '73 base; all residents over age 16 would get tax credit, whether they drive or not, if gasoline tax rises above 7c a gal; bill described as weak; Reprs Barber B Conable, Phil M Landrum, Abner J Mikva, Sam M Gibbons and com chmn Al Ullman comment
Rockefeller CIA comm vice chmn C Douglas Dillon says that after 18 wks of investigation, he believes CIA never engaged in massive domestic spying; says there were 'I or 2 rather major exceptions'; confirms for 1st time that comm has been investigating allegations of plots to assassinate foreign leaders and that these investigations centered on repts involving Cuban Premier Castro and Dominican Repub Pres Rafael Trujillo; says he does not believe comm will expand on findings of Warren Comm on Pres Kennedy's assassination; Adm George Anderson, chmn of Foreign Intelligence Advisory Bd, and William Cotter, chief postal inspector, testify before comm (M)
Thai Premier Kukrit Pramoj says Gen Vang Pao, who headed CIA-trained private army of Meo tribesmen in Laos, has fled to Thailand (S)
Explosives, knives, lock picks and Chem Mace are smuggled into NYC Criminal Ct Bldg to Herman Bell, Anthony Bottom and Albert Washington, 3 self-described members of Black Liberation Army, as Justice Edward J Greenfield sentences them to life imprisonment for murder of NYC policemen Joseph A Piagentini and Waverly M Jones; are discovered by correction officers in search of 3 men in courthouse; Greenfield orders terms to run consecutively with any other sentences imposed on convicts for other crimes and rules that 3 men be ineligible for parole on murder conviction until after 25 yrs; denies defense motion to set aside verdict because 1 or jurors, Ivo Lanza, had not disclosed until after verdict that he had been subjected to threatening telephones calls; convicts speak in own behalf, while Asst Dist Atty Robert K Tanenbaum urges maximum sentence; 3 other efforts to free convicts noted (M)
Sen Foreign Relations Com approves bill to aid Indochina refugees after limiting program's cost to $405-million (M)
Chinese Deputy Premier Teng Hsiao-ping arrives, Paris, May 12 for 6-day state visit; French express pride in fact that No. 3 man in Peking hierarchy is making France his only stop; Premier Jacques Chirac's greeting quoted; 2 leaders illus reviewing troops (S)
Premier Rabin has blocked publication of book that reptdly contains secret minutes of conversations between Sec Kissinger and Israeli mins in which Kissinger allegedly made disparaging remarks about leaders of Egypt, Syria, USSR and other countries; reptdly told Cabinet that Kissinger would have to resign and that Israeli-US relations would be seriously damaged if material was made public; sources say Govt censor blocked publication of boook on ground that it might threaten flow of US arms and aid to Israel (M)