A world full of news, this February 1, 1980.
Starting with Special U.S. presidential envoy Clark Clifford warned on Thursday that Washington would go to war with Moscow if Soviet troops in, Afghanistan push on to the Persian Gulf. “They (the Soviets) must know that if part of their plan is to move toward the Persian Gulf, that means war, he told reporters in New Delhi, India. “We think that’s a very important t message to them.” Clifford made the statement after discussing the Afghan crisis with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. President Carter’s warned in his State-of-theUnion address last week that a Soviet attempt to gain control of the oil region would be regarded as an assault “vital interests.” Australia’s Prime Minister Macolm Fraser, meanwhile, said in Washington he has offered the United States staging g facilities at Australian naval bases to help meet a new strategic situation arising from the Soviet military presence in Afghanistan. After talks with Carter and State Secretary Cyrus Vance, Fraser told reporters that developments in Afghanistan constitute a “very serious and dangerous situation.” He said Australia, is considering increasing its defence, spending and stepping up naval and air the Indian Ocean. Australia and the United States, Fraser said, “will be consulting together quite urgently to work out the best way that be accomplished.” He said the Soviet adventure in Afghanistan opened up the prospect that it could eventually gain influence over part of the world’s oil supplies. Elsewhere, NATO and Warsaw pact clashed after a Western warning the Soviet action in Afghanistan could endanger hopes for arms control negotiations. Warsaw pact countries denied there is any link between the two issues. “If the situation in Afghanistan harms the chances of agreement here,” Polich chief delegate Tadeusz Srtulak told reporters, “it will not be our work.’ NATO and Warsaw pact countries met at the 19-country Vienna conference on force reductions for the first time since the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan began Christmas Day. The Soviet news agency Tass said in a Kabul dispatch that Afghan President Babrak Karmal has appealed to all Afghans to unite “to put an end to the crimes of the bands of terrorists and saboteurs that are sent into . Afghanistan from Pakistan.’
And from the size of the crowd, it could have been February 1960 at the Woolworth lunch counter this morning, except the faces weren’t hostile and the talk was friendly. The occasion was breakfast for Jibreel Khazan (Ezell Blair Jr.), David Richmond, Joseph McNeil and Franklin McCain, who as A&T State University freshmen launched the sit-ins that triggered the 1960s civil rights movement. They were back at the invitation of the store that refused to serve them 20 years ago today. Woolworth vice president, Aubrey C. Lewis of New York, was behind the counter taking their breakfast orders.
But no one got to eat. On hand were reporters, cameramen and talk show hosts from across the nation who kept the four men busy with questions of their recollections of 20 years their philosophies, and their views of what still ago, needs to be accomplished in the area of civil rights. Khazan, who adopted an Islamic name several was in white robes and turban. He ordered a years ago, banana and warm water, but he ate only half the banana. “That’s the first time I’ve heard of that breakfast,” said Lewis, “but it’s on the menu from now on.”
A waitress, recognized as one who had been employed at the store 20 years ago, termed the event “really something, a real change” from the way things were during the sit-in era. The breakfast also was a reunion for the four with Ralph Johns of Hollywood, Calif., formerly an East Market Street merchant and civil rights advocate, who was an adviser to the young men 20 years ago. Asked about his thoughts as he sat at the counter today, McNeil said he feels “very positive” about the 20th anniversary observance. “Particularly do I feel good about the fact that it was planned by a cross section of the community,” he said. “It is extremely encouraging to see diverse elements come together like this.
It is truly a high moment.” The event was among those sponsored by the Feb. 1 Committee, a group of citizens organized last October to commemorate the sit-ins. If he had it to do over, would he still have taken part in the sit-in movement? McNeil was asked. “Yes, yes, indeed,” said McNeil. “I’m proud to have played a part, but I think there still is a great deal to be done.” The three other men echoed McNell’s statement.
“I view it, however, as a separate thing from Frank McCain,” McCain said. “I see it as a people’s revolution, a people’s victory.” Items on the agenda for blacks, the men said, include improved housing and better jobs. Do their children have a feel for what their fathers faced in the early 1960s? “I have absolutely no credibility with my children,” McCain said. “When I tell them what it was like, they don’t believe me.” He said he finds this positive in one sense a and negative in another. He’s glad they don’t have to face the discrimination he did, but he believes if gains are to be kept and improvement made in the future, the present generation must be aware of what the black experience has been.
Inevitably, the conversation turned to the Feb. 2 Mobilization Committee’s plans for a march and rally Saturday. The men said they need to learn more about the goals of the group, but none indicated he planned to take part in the events.
And finally – “The sweetest. gentlest, most generous and talented man I’ve ever known has left us.” an emotional Bob Hope said Thursday night at the funeral of the great Schnozola, Jimmy Durante. A hushed, filled church heard Hope’s tribute to the late comedian, along with songs identified with Durante’s long career. The stellar group of mourners gave testimony to the endearment of Durante• to his fellow performers. Even Marlon Brando, whose public appearances have been exceedingly rare, walked quietly and sadly into the Church of the Good Shephard in Beverly Hills.
Others included fellow comics Red Buttons, Don Rickles, Marty Allen and Jack Carter, as well as Desi Arnaz Sr., Robert Mitchum, Peter Lawford, Cesar Romero, Margaret O’Brien, Doris Day, Fess Parker, Ernest Borgnine, director Frank Capra, composer Meredith Willson, singer Phil Regan, Angie Dickinson and Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles.
And that’s a small slice of what happened on this first day of February 1980 as presented by CBS Radio News.
