August 26, 1976

Pres Ford names James A Baker 3d chmn of Pres Ford Com, revamping campaign orgn to solidify pol base among conservatives and reach out to moderates; Baker succeeds Rogers C B Morton; says he will conduct aggressive natl campaign to overcome Carter's early lead; Ford also names Morton head of new campaign steering com, symbolic post; calls Vice Pres Rockefeller and John B Connally to be present in Vail for final strategy sessions with Dole; names Dean Burch and William D Ruckelshaus his reprs to negotiate TV debates with Carter people; Ford tactician explains staff changes; plans to name both conservatives and progressives to new steering com and apptmt of Ruckelshaus noted; Ford also confirms apptmt of Robert Teeter as research dir, John Deardourff and Douglas Bailey for ad; Ford says Reagan will not be at strategy sessions only because he is resting from primary campaign; Richard Cheney expected to go to Calif to enlist Reagan's active support (M)

N Korea, adopting what appears to be old US plan, proposes partition of Panmunjon truce site as way to avoid incidents like 1 last wk in which 2 Amer mil officers were killed by N Korean soldiers; proposal, issued at meeting of Mil Armistice Comm, ignores Amer demand for punishment of Communist soldiers responsible for incident; Rear Adm Mark P Frudden, senior Amer officer on comm, calls N Korean proposal ‘a positive step’ but ‘unsatisfactory’; illus (M)

NY Dist Ct Judge Henry R Werker imposes 5‐yr prison sentences on chiropractors Joseph Howard Ingber and Sheldon Max Styles, who pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud involving 8 med clinics they own or operate in NYC; Fed prosecutors George E Wilson and Joel N Rosenthal describe them as leaders of scheme that bilked Medicaid program of $600,000; under settlements, Ingber agrees to pay $109,807 and Styles $128,498; 8 clinics listed (M)

French Prime Min Jacques Chirac resigns on Aug 25, charging Pres Giscard does not give him enough authority; Giscard accepts resignation, TV speech, and names Foreign Trade Min Raymond Barre, Prime Min; says new Cabinet will be named Aug 27; says he would not grant Chirac increased powers; wants next Govt to have greater ‘serenity’; Barre will be 1st non‐Gaullist in post since ′58; resignation, without any pretense that it was by mutual accord, is apparent slap at Giscard and presages future pol trouble (L)

GM raises avg retail price of ′77 models 5.9%, or $338 a car; increase compares with rise of $268 in ′75 and means that for 1st time ‘sticker price’ of GM car will surpass $6,000; GM chmn Thomas A Murphy defends increase; graph indicates GM ′72–76 price increases (M)