January 18, 1976

Yale Univ, joining trend against grade inflation at many schools across country, will restore failing grades to undergrad transcripts as means of increasing credibility of acad record; now gives ‘F’ grades to students who deserve them, but omits them on transcripts to encourage students to take courses outside their major fields without fear of damaging their acad records; says system has failed since many students view a failing grade more desirable than a ‘C or ‘D’ grade; many students and student orgns oppose change (M)

Delegate selection to ‘76 Pres convs to begin in Iowa on Jan 19, and to conclude on June 26 in Ark; notable in ‘76 is large number of states holding primaries, 30, including 10 largest states, and fact that 3/4, instead of 2/3, of delegates will be selected during primaries; limited success of efforts to group primaries on same date by region recalled; scrambled order in which primaries are scheduled to occur is seen as causing logistical problems for some Pres aspirants; listing of primaries (1)

article on tactics of moderation by Ital Communist Party in effort to attain share in Govt notes concern by Sec Kissinger and other Western officials of effect on NATO and W Eur of such share despite party's declaration of support for continued Ital membership in NATO (S)

Associates of ex-Pres Nixon say Nixon testified in Morton H Halperin civil suit that he never personally selected persons to be wiretapped under ‘69 FBI operation to find sources of leaks of information; say Nixon defended his decision to use wiretapping; he reptdly said he left selection of targets to then-Natl Security Council head H A Kissinger; testimony appears to contradict that of Kissinger, who said that at Apr 25 ‘69 meeting with Nixon, then-FBI Dir J Edgar Hoover and then‐Atty Gen John N Mitchell, Nixon specifically directed the electronic surveillance of 4 persons whose names were suggested at meeting by Hoover, including that of Halperin; sources say Nixon did not criticize Kissinger during questioning but said that Kissinger was ‘in full accord’ with use of wiretaps and was instructed to select targets; Nixon says he did not order tap to to be placed on phone of Halperin or any of 3 other persons tapped on May 9 ‘69; Nixon confirms that in May ‘70 he ordered that FBI repts on telephone conversations be sent to Haldeman and not to Kissinger and himself; sources say Nixon did not want Kissinger spending his time reading logs of FBI surveillances and decided to centralize responsibility for reviewing repts on Haldeman because Hoover wanted to deal with only 1 person at White House; Nixon reptdly said he regarded operation as legal (1)

Power shift is occurring within Teamsters union aimed at helping Frank E Fitzsimmons solidify his hold on pres with important contract negotiations under way and union conv coming up; Chicago, bastion of Teamster strength but long problem for natl hierarchy, will gain power within union as Fitzsimmons seeks to draw Central States teamster group closer to him; Ray Schoessling, most powerful Teamster in Chicago and close friend of Mayor Richard Daley, will move up to be sec-treas of union; Louis Peick, head of Chicago drivers’ Local 705, who twice embarrassed Fitzsimmons by refusing to accept natl freight contracts, will become Teamsters internatl vp; accomplishing changes required retirement of sec-treas Murray W Miller; informed sources say Fitzsimmons forced Miller to retire; Teamsters’ natl freight contract expires on Mar 31 and union will be hard pressed to win concessions as large as it needs to satisfy its membership; Kansas City, Mo, Teamsters vp Roy Williams is seen as possible challenger to Fitzsimmons; pors of Schoessling, Peick, Miller and Fitzsimmons (1)

NYS officials, in effort to defer some $4-billion in impending state borrowing requirements, propose that present state practice of making its annual contribution to state teachers retirement fund at beginning of its fiscal yr be postponed until later in yr, perhaps with state paying interest costs that money might otherwise have earned if payments had been put in pension funds on time (S)

number of leading US welfare experts, including some of designers of former Pres Nixon's ill-fated Family Assistance Plan, reptdly have reversed previous positions and are shying away from pushing proposals to replace current unwieldy array of Fed welfare programs with single omnibus program; demise of Nixon's plan is attributed to opposition of bloc of conservatives who said plan would cost too much and liberals who said it would provide too little; many experts now say single-program approach will exceed spiraling costs of existing programs and are working toward reforming existing programs; Columbia Univ School of Soc Work dean Mitchell Ginsberg contends 5 to 10% of welfare recipients are ineligible, int; stereotype of welfare recipient reptdly persists across country despite innumerable studies and statistical analyses showing that vast majority of those receiving aid are either virtually unemployable or simply cannot find jobs; various welfare experts comment; chart (1)

comment on fighting (S)

Zambian Pres Kenneth D Kaunda, commenting on failure of African Unity Orgn to agree on solution to Angolan civil war, says that ‘power now is in hands of superpowers, to whom we are handing Africa by our failure’ (S)

Jan 18: attention at UN has slackened off; PLO repr Basel A Ag1 says ‘it is undramatic so far'; Moynihan says attention is being diverted to delegation offices where Arab reprs are trying to reconcile differences on drafting resolution; Arab League observer Amin Hilmy says resolution is almost completed; says many Council members are unfamiliar with PLO's ‘64 covenant, which includes liquidation of Israel; PLO spokesman Shafig al-Hout says PLO will renounce stated covenant aims when Israel renounces its territorial ambitions (M)

PLO leader Yasir Arafat says he detects beginning of ‘verbal’ exch in official US attitudes toward Palestinian issue, int; says Saunders document is part of this beginning, referring to Nov 12 testimony in Cong by Harold H Saunders; says he expects US to use its veto in UN debate; accuses US CIA of ‘participating in a conspiracy against Lebanon’ in collaboration with what he terms ‘internatl Zionism and internatl imperialism’ (M)

Portuguese ruling mil Govt's proposal for continued rule by armed forces until ‘80 is opposed by Portugal's 3 main non‐Communist pol parties; party leaders comment; illus (M)