The Michigan Daily

Vol. XC, No. 51-S

Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, August 1, 1980

Ten Cents

Twenty Pages

President
releases
7 cables
from Libya

Daily Photo by JIM KRUZ
Modern-day smithy
Metalsmith Ruth Johnston uses hammer and anvil to shape a metal bar at a
Blacksmithing Workshop yesterday at the Art and Architecture Building on
north campus. Johnston, 66, said she is attending the class for both education
and pleasure. See story, Page 3.
Anderson ma dro
from race if Carter
loses nomination

From AP andUPI
WASHINGTON - President Carter
released controversial cables from
Libya yesterday as a Senate subcom-
mittee announced hearings will begin
Monday in its investigation of Billy Car-
ter's connection with the Arab nation.
Establishing its schedule for next
week, the panel left open the possibility
that it will hear from the president if he
insists on testifying before the
Democratic National Convention on the
controversy surrounding his younger
brother.
SUBCOMMITTEE Chairman Sen.
Birch Bayh (D-Ind.) and Vice Chair-
man Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.),
said it would be better if Carter testified
later.
But the president, apparently deter-
mined to have his say before delegates
meet to choose their 1980 party stan-
dardbearer, canceled plans for a cam-
paign trip to Cleveland on Monday.
Press secretary Jody Powell said ear-
ter expects to have his written report to
Congress on the affair completed on
that day.
At the White House, Powell revealed
that a high government official
telephoned Billy Carter in 1979 to ex-
plain why the government was not
giving Libya some C-130 transport
planes it wanted.
POWELL ALSO, released seven
cables between the U.S. Embassy in
Libya and the State Department that
dealt with a controversial trip Billy
Carter made to Tripoli in the fall of
1978.
"These are the cables the president
talked to Billy about.. . the point here
is, if he had given them to him, it
wouldn't have amounted to a hill of
beans," Powell said.
Although the cables were-classified
as secret, the portions released publicly
contained nothing startling. Most said
Billy Carter's trip was surprisingly
helpful in Libya, and noted he made no
political statements.
POWELL SAID, "The president
recalls mentioning that type of infor-
mation to Billy after Billy's return on

Billy's behavior and their operations
there."
Powell, who had expressed irritation
over the excitement the cables caused
on Capitol Hill, said, "Considering the
questions raised by the people on the
Hill that the contents may involve some
breach of the law or propriety, I'd like
to say that 14 months ago these cables
were released under the Freedom of In-
formation Act to Jack Anderson."
He said others had gone to columnist
Maxine Cheshire of the Washington
Post.
POWELL OBSERVED there appears
to be an inclination to draw "invidious
conclusions" based on unsubstantiated
reports. He cautioned reporters against
publicly implying "wrongdoing or
misconduct or improprieties on the part
See PRESIDENT, Page 2

WASHINGTON (AP)-John Ander-
son, after a meeting with Sen. Edward
Kennedy, declared yesterday that if
President Carter does not win the
Democratic presidential nomination,
he would consider dropping his own in
President Carter won't bow to
pressure for an open convention. See
story, Page 6.
dependent candidacy.
In an extraordinary meeting of
presidential hopefuls, Kennedy and
Anderson conferred for nearly an hour
on their positions and issues raised in
the campaign.
AT A JOINT news conference after-
ward, Anderson was asked what a Ken--

nedy upset at the Democratic National
Convention in New York would mean
for his own challenge to President Car-
ter and Republican nominee Ronald
Reagan.
Anderson replied that he still believes
Carter will likely win the nomination.
"But should a different decision
emerge out of the Democratic National
Convention," he said, "it would only be
prudent . . . to perhaps consider what
my position would be."
PREVIOUSLY, ANDERSON had
said he would stay in the race no matter
who was nominated by the Democrats
when they meet in New York in 10 days.
Anderson, a I Republican
See ANDERSON, Page 2,

(;arter
... denies receiving cables