The Michigan Daily'
Vol. XC, No. 40-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, July 17, 1980 Ten Cents Sixteen Pages
It's official: Reagan!
epts v.P.
trcs report
DETROIT-Ronald Reagan, the 69-year-old former movie
actor and a past governor of California, formally received the
Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States
last night.
And Gerald Ford, 38th president of the United States, accep-
ted an invitation by Reagan to be the vice presidential nominee on
the 1980 Republican Party ticket, sources said. Never before had a.
former president agreed subsequently to serve in the No. 2 job.
FRED ERDMANN, A University sophomore, surveys a tree near Hill and
Forest Streets uprooted yesterday morning by a power-packed storm front.
More photos on Pages 7 and 11.
Mayor declares
storm-swep
disaster area
SOURCES ON THE floor of
the Republican National Con-
vention reported the decision
shortly after the former
president declared that "I
would not go to Washington to
be a figurehead president."
Earlier, while Reagan and Ford were
closeted one floor apart at the Detroit
Plaza Hotel, Gov. William Milliken of
Michigan told reporters on the conven-
tion floor that Ford had agreed to join
the Reagan ticket this fall.,
But Ford spokesman Larry Speakes,
interviewed by telephone from the for-
mer president's hotel suite, said, "No
deal has been worked out." He called
the report "awfully strong."
SPEAKES, HOWEVER, did not rule
out the possibility that negotiations
between Reagan and Ford represen-
tatives would lead to agreement on a.
Reagan-Ford ticket.
There was unconfirmed speculation
that if agreement were reached,
Reagan and Ford might make the rare
- if not unprecedented - gesture of
appearing together last night before
convention delegates after Reagan's
overwhelming nomination as the GOP's
1980 presidential candidate.
Staff members on both sides, in-
cluding Reagan chief of'staff Edwin
Meese and Ford staff chief Bob Barrett,
met last night while rumors of Ford's
impending selection swept through the
convention hall a few short blocks from
their hotel.
The rumors reached a crescendo af-
ter Ford hinted broadly on national
television that he would be willing to
accept the No. 2 spot on the ticket with
his archrival of the 1976 GOP conven-
tion under certainircumstances.
Reagan spent his last day as the
"prospective nominee" yesterday
eating lunch with big-name politicians,
talking about his days asa union man in
the actors guild and working behind the
scenes to find a running mate.
WHILE HE WAS his usual amiable
self in public, the candidate gave a hint
that his mind was really concentrating
on more serious stuff-he ran out of
things to say ina speech.
The scene was a lunch for 40
Republicans at the Polish-American
Century Club in the blue-collar enclave
of Hamtramck. At the end of a five-
minute talk to polished political
professionals-some of whom he has
known a long time-Reagan paused and
said, "I'm standing here fishing. I wish
I could think of a great tag line."
After a further pause, he came up
with this: "You heard of the turkey on
the White House lawn. It was a case of
mistaken identity."
THE SAME speechlessness struck 20
minutes later when he stopped at a
Federation of Republican Wives
meeting to pick up his wife Nancy, who
was addressing the group. Aftera quick
hello, he admitted, "I don't have
anything to say," and left.
During the speech in Hamtramck,
Reagan recalled his first convention in
1964 "when we were split from stem to
stern." This year, he said with obvious
satisfaction, there is a "tangible differ-
ence. By golly, we're united."
He also told the group Republicans
have a much wider appeal than they
once did and no longer have to write off
huge blocks of voters, such as ethnics,
blacks and blue-collar workers.
MORE CONVENTION
COVERAGE INSIDE
" 'u' prof is Reagan adviser -
Page 3
" Network 'gofers' - Page 3
" GOP Notebook - Page 3
" Korean lournalist covers con-
tion-Page 5
" GOP women split on ERA -
Page 5
v Muskie blasts GOP platform -
Page 6
" Nixon avoids convention -
Page 6
" China criticizes Reagan - Page
10
By NICK KATSARELAS
p Mayor Louis Belcher yesterday
declared Ann Arbor a disaster area and
requested state and federal damage
assistance after torrential rains, ac-
companied by 70 to 80 mph winds,
slammed into the city early yesterday
morning. The storm uprooted trees,
downed telephone and electrical lines,
flooded streets, and left up to 50,000
area households without power.
Property damage was estimated as
high as $3 million, although it is expec-
ted to soar to $10 million when
evaluation of the damage is completed,
according to Belcher.
THE SEVERE weather was part of a
line of thunderstorms which carved a
path of destruction from Chicago
through lower Michigan and Detroit
suburbs. At least one person died - a
nine-year-old boy from Chicago who
was crushed when a tree crashed into
the bedroom where he was sleeping.
Belcher, in an afternoon press con-
ference, listed the effects of the storm
as he read from a letter sent to Gov.
William Milliken requesting a state-
declared disaster area: 1,000 to 2,000
trees destroyed; 250 to 300 electrical
lines down; temporary malfunction of
the water treatment plant; sporadic
fires; and damage to city, public,
See STORMS, Page 11