August 12, 1975

Orgn of Amer Historians, in study prepared by Ad Hoc Com on Status of History in Schools, warns that teaching of US history in nation's public schools 'is in crisis'; study finds movement away from teaching of 'traditional' history; says students and educationalists are becoming preoccupied with 'presentism,' or current events taken out of their historical perspective; adds confidence and interest in history are not nearly as strong among students, educ admrs and politicians as they were few yrs ago; finds students and school authorities are substituting ethnocentral subjects and soc studies for US history; decline of history as topic meriting serious attention of secondary school students is ascribed to widespread 'assumption that it is not practical subject'; says that in several states virtually no training in history is demanded for teaching subject; finds teacher qualification requirements are highest in South, while history is in especially weak position in East, but is better in West and Middle West; voices doubt that historians can destroy influence of presentism; suggest that best they can do is to reduce its antihistorical consequences by demonstrating value of historical perspective and comparisons and importance of sense of time and place; study will appear in Sept issue of Journal of Amer History (L)

hundreds of demonstrators break through protective mil cordon around Communist hq in Braga on Aug 11 and set fire to bldg following afternoon and night of violence that left 30 persons injured, most of them with gunshot wounds; violence is between Communists and Roman Catholics; incident detailed; Catholics are providing most formidable opposition to Communists; eh was aroused when it lost its radio station in Lisbon to leftists; is planning pilgrimage to Fatima shrine on Aug 13 in hon of thousands of emigrant workers now home in Portugal for vacation; Communist and Portuguese Dem Movement hq are also destroyed in Moncao; Communist party has almost virtually gone underground in northern part of Portugal; group of 9 mil officers suspended from High Council of Revolution for their opposition to what they see as efforts to create Eastern Eur-style Communist state, continue campaign against Premier Vasco dos Santos Goncalves; collect signatures in barracks around country and rept that they are receiving favorable response from 85% of nation's mil units; with evidence of Govt's isolation piling up, major question is how long will Premier Goncalves hold out; illus (M

Mark Loren, key aide of Bernard Bergman, pleads guilty to conspiracy charge, indicates he will be major witness for prosecution in Bergman nursing home case; in Fed Dist Ct, NYC, Loren waives his right to indictment, admits he was one of undisclosed partners in Towers Nursing Home in NYC and received $104,150 in arrangement; tells Judge Charles E Stewart Jr he knowingly and illegally failed to disclose partners of Towers Nursing Home when he filed necessary repts to Fed and state agencies in his capacity as admr; Judge Stewart delays sentencing, releases Loren without bail in view of his cooperation with Govt (M)

Munic Assistance Corp presents Mayor Beame with new timetable for implementing budgetary reforms so that they will be 'in place and operating' by time next budget goes into effect in June '76; new schedule moves up target date for overhauling city's accounting systems by about 2 yrs, in line with corp's position that drastic and far-reaching measures must be taken quickly to re-open money-lending mkt to city in fall; timetable was laid out in lr sent to Beame by MAC chmn William M Ellinghaus; Beame signs into law bill empowering him to impose 1-yr wage freeze for munic employes, effective Sept 1; underwriting syndicate headed by Chase Manhattan Bank and Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith gears up for $275-million bond sale; Budget Dir Melvin N Lechner responds to audit by State Controller Levitt on uncollectible real-estate taxes by saying city adm is aware of problem; Beame begins to lay groundwork for meeting in Washington after Labor Day of task force he heads under US Mayors Conf to lobby for Fed take-over of welfare costs; Lechner illus (M)

Pres Ford indefinitely postpones his trip to India this fall reptdly because of new pol situation there; trip to Pakistan also believed postponed (M)