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Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 90 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, January 19, 1978 Ten Cents Eight Pages
U.S. HOPEFUL NEGOTIATIONS WILL RESUME:
Sadat halts
talks
with Israel
Claims Israelis
New FBI
head named
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Carter has chosen U.S. Circuit Judge
William Webster to be the next FBI di-
rector, administration sources said last
night.
Webster, 53, of St. Louis won a strong
recommendation from Attorney Gen-
eral Griffin Bell and Carter agreed with
Bell's choice, the sources said. The
White House was expected to make the
formal announcement today.
WEBSTER must win Senate confir-
mation before taking over the FBI from
Director Clarence Kelley' who is
scheduled to retire Feb. 15.
The choice of the Missouri judge and
former federal prosecutor ends the ad-
ministration's year-long search for an
FBI chief willing to serve a 10-year
term, the maximum permitted by law.
Bell had insisted on a 10-year com-
mitment to provide the bureau with
continuity in leadership as it continues
major changes in its operations and re-
covers from disclosures of past wrong-
doing.
In St. Louis, Webster said he had not
been notified of the appointment. "I
only know what I've heard over the
radio. I plan to go to work tomorrow,"
he said.
WEBSTER'S friends and profes-
sional colleagues described him as in-
telligent, fair-minded and witty. They
said he plays an intense game of tennis
and that he's more moderate in his
politics and philosophy than his short
haircut and conservative style of dress
would suggest.
A Republican, he dabbled in Missouri
party politics several years ago, but
has refrained from political activities
since he was appointed a federal dis-
trict judge in 1971 by then-President
Richard Nixon.
Two years later, Nixon promoted him
See CARTER, Page 8
block p
By AP and UPI
JERUSALEM - Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat dra-
matically broke off talks with
Israel yesterday, called his
foreign minister back to Cairo
and accused the Israelis of de-
liberately blocking progress
toward a Middle East peace.
The sudden move by the
Egyptian leader cast a pall
over the future of historic
Egyptian-Israeli peace
negotiations begun at Sadat's
initiative last November.
Cairo radio and television interrupted
their programs for the bulletin announ-
cement which followed Israeli rejection
of Sadat's two key negotiating demands
- total Israeli withdrawal from occu-
pied Arab lands and self-determination
for the Palestinians.
THERE WAS no immediate Israeli
comment on the development. The
Israeli cabinet rushed into special
session.
State Department spokesman Hod-
ding Carter said: "It means for the
moment that the talks will not continue.
I'm not going to assess it beyond that."
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who
has been attempting to bridge the gaps
between Israel and Egypt in private
talks with the negotiators, told report-
ers he does not believe the talks have
broken down.
"I'VE BEEN through a lot of inter-
national negotiations. I've seen ups and
downs in the past," Vance said.
But Egypt's announcement caught
Vance by surprise. He was planning to
give a dinner for Egyptian Foreign
Minister Mohammed Kamel last night.
The talks; between the Israeli and
Egyptian foreign ministers, the highest
level negotiations between the two
countries so far, began Tuesday and
soon were deeply divided over Pales-
tinian rights to a homeland and Israel's
11-year occupation of Arab lands.
THE TALKS were "continuing in a
vicious cycle," Egyptian Information
Minister Abdel Moneim el Sawy said in
announcing the breakoff on Cairo
television.
Sawy said Sadat ordered Kamel to
return "immediately'' because "it
became apparent from the declarations
of Israeli leaders that Israel insists on
presenting partial solutions that cannot
lead to the establishment of a just and
lasting peace."
Informed of the Egyptian announce-
ment, Vance went to Kamel's hotel
room, but their meeting ended abruptly
when Vance was called out to answer a
phone call from national security ad-
viser Zbigniew Brezezinski in Wash-
ington.
rogress
AN EGYPTIAN official said his en-
tire delegation, and an entourage of
Egyptian reporters, was going home
aboard a Egyptian jetliner dispatched
from Cairo.
Sawy, his face grave as he read the
recall statement over Egyptian televis-
ion, said Egypt's demands - for total
Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands and
self-determination for the Palestinians
- have not changed.
The decision "is part of its (Egypt's)
clear and frank stand in facing this
situation," Sawy said.
"EGYPT LEAVES the situation to
the world's conscience, having
exonerated itself from any responsibil-
ity for the possibility of failure, which it
did not cause."
Sawy said Sadat has called an
See SADAT, Page 2
Locals
say
Sadat's
bluffing
-4
Daily Photo by BRAD BENJAMIN
Take me along
Webstecr
hooverbalked at JFK ease
By AP and UPI This batch of files begins in batch of files also yielded no startling approach and Hoover agreed. "I
WASHINGTON - In the mid-1964. Scores of letters and new information. concur. He is obviously insane," the
years following John Kennedy's as-
sassination, J. Edgar Hoover fumed
over the mounting criticism. of the
FBI investigation of the case but
decided to ignore most of the critics,
memos reflect the cool but polite re-
lationship between the FBI and the
Warren Commission as the commis-
sion launched its probe of the case.
LATER that year, the commission
"We have
long suspected that (Comedian Dick)
Gregory is demented" an FBI oficial wrote at the
time. "Nevertheless, the comments he has made are
utterly ridiculous and . . . he better stop putting out
such gutter talk." Another official wrote that he saw
"nothing to be gained by this" approach and Hoover
agreed. "I concur. Gregory is obviously insane," the
director scrawled at the bottom of the page.
WHAT THE material does show is
the countless hours FBI men spent
trying to document claims made by
such critics as Mark Lane, Harold
Weisberg, Edward Epstein and Dick
Gregory in speeches, books and
broadcast interviews.
Hoover and his closest associates
floundered in search of an effective
public counterattack which would
squelch the criticism and assure that
the FBI's reputation survived un-
scathed.
In most cases, Hoover gave up in
exasperation and told his underlings
the best response to criticism was no
response at all, at least in public.
IN 1964, Lane was writing a book
critical of the FBI and Warren
Commission conclusion that Lee
Harvey Oswald had killed Kennedy
and that he had acted alone. Lane
and Gregory were attracting atten-
tion to their theories in speeches and
broadcast interviews. The FBI kept
careful records of their comments.
"We have long suspected that
Gregory is demented," an FBI
official wrote at the time. "Never-
theless, the comments he has made
are utterly ridiculous and we should
confront him and tell him in no uncer-
tain terms that he better stop putting
out such gutter talk."
Another official wrote that he saw
"nothing to be gained by this"
director scrawled on the bottom of
the page.
THE MEMO also referred to "the
trash put out by the infamous Mark
Lane, reportedly a communist sym-
pathizer." Scores of memos referred
to Lane in those terms.
Even the chairman of the Warren
Commission, Chief Justice Earl War-
ren, was not spared Hoover's sharp
tongue. In a 1964 memo, Hoover
noted that he had told commission
counsel J. Lee Rankin "that I had not
appreciated what I had interpreted
as carping criticism of the chief
justice when he referred to the
bureau's report originally submitted
to the commission as being a
'skeleton' report."
See HOOVER, Page 8
By DIANE ROBINSON
Although dismayed by Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat's sudden
decision to cut short Mideast negotia-
tions, interested students and faculty
at the University general-
ly think the move is primarily
tactical - aimed at prying more con-
cessions out of Israel - and will not
fatally affect the chances for peace.
"The Israelis are not willing to rec-
ognize the self-determination of the
Egyptian government," said Clem-
ent Henry, political science profes-
sor. "It is certainly no final break in
the search for an overall settle-
ment," said Henry, who teaches a
class in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
HENRY SAID that if peace talks
are to continue; there must be a
better comprehension of the Egyp-
tian stance. "I don't think Egypt
wants to break off negotiations with
Israel, but get things back on track,
which will require the U.S. to play a
more active role," maintained Hen-
ry.
Henry foresees U.S. intervention
and predicted "a good possibility of a
conference occurring in the United
States in the not too distant future."
Henry added that a summit confer-
ence with President Carter, Sadat,
at least publicly.
In private, he kept meticulous
records on the critics' personal lives
as well as their public comments
about the bureau.
THE DETAILS emerged from
58,754 pages of FBI files that the
bureau made public yesterday to
comply with requests under the
Freedom of Information Act.
The half-ton of documents, togeth-
er with 40,001 pages released in
December, comprise virtually all of
the bureau's investigative files on the
murder of the President Nov. 22,
1963, in Dallas.
was to report its conclusion that Lee
Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy and
that he acted alone. Hoover had
arrived at the same belief months
earlier.
However, anumber of writers and
researchers were attracting consid-
erable public attention with their
theories that Oswald and the man
who shot him to death in the Dallas
police station, nightclub owner Jack
Ruby, were part of some dark
conspiracy of varying origins.
Nothing was found in the first
batch of FBI files to disprove the
Warren Commission's conclusion.
The initial scrutiny of the second
See LOCALS, Page 2
PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE:
Pie rcy
guest at
Hopwood
awards
By JUDY RAKOWSKY
Renowned author and four-time Hop-
wood winner Marge Piercy returned to
her alma mater yesterday to highlight
the fall term Hopwood Awards cere-
mony in Rackham Amphitheatre.
Piercy looked on as eleven under-
class writers received the prestigious
prizes for outstanding poetry, essays
and short stories - each complete with
a bit of cash.
FOLLOWING the presentations, an
overflow audience of approximately 150
people settled back to hear Piercy read
selections from her six volumes of
poetry as well as some new material.
Piercy. who also has five novels to
Woman, gas co
By RICHARD BOCKMAN
When the gas company told welfare
recipient Catherine Burrell she had to
pay a $350 bill within three months, she
decided to fight, rather than give in.
Burrell, a resident of Ypsilanti, will
become the first person in Washtenaw
County history to appeal a utility bill at
a hearing later this month before the
tly mixed up the gas bills for the two
apartments. When officials discovered
the error, they demanded that Burrell,
who is supporting her children with Aid
to Dependent Children funds, pay the
back bills within three months.
Elmer Kuebler, general supervisor
for customer services at Consolidated
Gas, said he is sympathetic to Burrell's
. tangle
Burrell said she finds the situation
unfair and vowed not to pay.
"I'm not able to pay it," she stated.
"I don't think I should pay it ... it's not
my fault."
Joe Bachrach, an attorney at the Yp-
silanti branch of Washtenaw County
Legal Aid handling Burrell's case, said
Burrell has always paid her account
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