The Michigan Daily
The 1111 11
Vol. XC, No. 38-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Tuesday, July 15, 1980 Ten Cents Sixteen Pages
10,000 rally for ERA
Hit GOP
platform
decision
By BONNIE JURAN
Special toThe Daily
DETROIT - More than 10,000 men
and women marched through the
streets of downtown Detroit yesterday
to solicit support for the Equal Rights
Amendment and denounce the
Republican Platform Committee's
recent decision to drop its 40-year plank
favoring the proposed resolution.
The march was held yesterday to
coincide with opening day of the
Republican Convention, according to
ERA activists.
LUNCH-TIME crowds were startled
by the demonstrators, many. of whom
were dressed in white to commemorate
the suffragettes who fought for 100
years to give women the right to vote. A
popular sign depicted a tear-filled
Abraham Lincoln asking, "Will the par-
ty that freed the slaves become the par-
ty that enslaves women?"
As they marched to Joe Louis Arena,
the protesters shouted, "Hey, hey, what
do you say? Ratify the ERA."
At a press conference preceding the
march, former. Hawaii senator and
'convention delegate John Leopold
claimed the action of the GOP commit-
tee "is not representative of the
Republican party nationally or what
the majority of the people in the coun-
try feel." Leopold was one of the nine
committee members who voted against
See DETROIT, Page 2
Daily Photo by JIM KRul
PLEASURE CRUISERS ON the Detroit River display their support of the Equal Rights Amendment Sunday after-
noon. The "ERA sailboat" preceded a boat regatta organized by the city as part of the Republican Convention
festivities.
GOP gives 'U grant as
convention gets underway
From AP and UPI
DETROIT - Ronald Reagan, the reigning Republican,
summoned voters to a crusade "to make America great
again," and former President Gerald Ford said last night
that he'll campaign enthusiastically to put his former rival in
the White House.
And in a convention predicted to be uneventful, the
University received a welcome surprise. Republican
National Committee Chairman Bill Brock, in honor of former
President Gerald Ford's service to America, presented the
MORE CONVENTION COVERAGE INSIDE
* Young Republicans arrive in Detroit - Page 3
" Anderson supporters march - Page 3 -
" GOP Notebook - Page 3
* Special interest groups rally - Page 5
* Bush releases delegates - Page 5
" Reagan still mute on v.p. choice - Page 6
University alumnus with a check for more than $325,000 last
night to facilitate the completion of the University's Gerald
R. Ford Library. The gift was presented on Ford's 67th
birthday.
biTHE FORMER president coupled his all-out pledge to
Reagan with a stinging attack on Carter's foreign and
domestic policies.
"We've got a lot of work to do and you are looking at one
volunteer who will try harder, work longer and speak with
more conviction to get this country a competent president
again," Ford said.
Reagan came in triumph to claim the presidential
nomination and pick a vice presidential partner for the fall
campaign. His welcoming rally at the Detroit Plaza Hotel
was as carefully staged as the no-contest convention down-
the street, and played to a crowd that packed the lobby,
cheering and chanting his name.
BEAMING, WAVING, clutching outstretched hands,
Reagan, in white blazer and dark slacks, worked his way
across the lobby, wife Nancy at his side.
Republicans hired their convention halls ina Democratic
city, and Reagan said they were in the right place to
dramatize Carter economic failures.
"It's very obvious that all of you know, all of us know,
why we're here, the need for a crusade in this country today,
and I'm glad that it's in this city that is really riding point
with regard to the economic problems that have been
brought on us by this administration in Washington," hesaid.
....WE ARE DETERMINED, all of us, to change this
and to make America great again," Reagan said.
"There is very serious business to be done," Reagan told
about 2,000 delegates and alternates at a Monday night
reception. "We're faced with a crusade, not a campaign."
"It looks like it's going to be a good, lively convention,"
said William Casey, Reagan's campaign manager. That was
a minority view; the consensus was that it would be a
coronation, with plenty of celebration with little excitement.
Gov. William Milliken rode along on Reagan's long-
awaited entry into the Republican convention city and once
again plugged George Bush as a vice presidential pick.
Reagan
.,gets Ford's enthusiastic support