Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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Double talk ge Todd Buchanan AT 'IHE National Mid-South Conference Show and Sale, Bill Warrick of Prairie City, Iowa, waits for the judges to inspect his boar. The hog show in January, was the first event in the new Agricultural Exposition Center on the university farm. Inflation and Iran. No two issues brought more bad news to the American people in 1979 and early 1980 than these. Inflation came in a variety of ways: Con- sumer prices rose at an annual rate of more than 18 percent. Gas at the pumps increased 60 to 70 percent. Interest rates topped 18 per- cent, the highest level since the Civil War. And then came the long-predicted recession. Also surging upward, on a wave of specula- tion, and perhaps panic, was the price of gold. A record of S800 an ounce was reached in January. And, while the average American struggled financially, a different drama was unfolding in Iran. There was talk of military intervention when militant Iranian students seized the U.S. Em- bassy and kept 53 Americans hostage. Relnstitution of draft registration became a reality after Russian troops moved into Afghanistan, threatening the security of the oil- rich Middle East. While the events in the Persian Gulf definitely had their drama, they were not all that unpredictable. Early in 1979, Moslem leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, overthrew an ally of the American government, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. The situation in Iran was blamed by some for a gasoline panic in May 1979, especially in Califomia where an emergency gas allocation plan was used. But the Carter administration could not win congressional approval for a standby plan for gas rationing. In fact, polls showed a majority of Americans suspected that the big oil companies had engineered the oil shortage that led to out of gas signs in many areas, including Bowling Green. Iran, however, was for real. ln November President Carter allowed the shah into this country for cancer treatment. That permission became an opportunity for the Khomenini regime to try to get the former Iranian leader back so that he could be executed for alleged crimes during his 38-year reign. ln an act that caused international outrage, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Em- bassy in Tehran and took more than 60 rf-3 if Udlfr' r g- ' Thou A 1 tb F.A..D Lewis Gardner

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mericans hostage. The release of the ostages, Khomeini indicated, would come if e United States surrendered the deposed ah to the students. With the release of 13 hostages came the ews that the remaining hostages would be 'ed as spies and possibly executed if the shah eregnot retumed. Carter ordered the deportation of illegal Ira- ian students in retaliation. Immigration of- cials questioned 17,700 Iranian students in arly December, and 2,200 of those were found be out of status and subject to deportation. At Western 60 Iranian students were hecked by the Louisville immigration office. All ad their credentials approved. The situation in Iran seemed to be talemated until early February when the Ira- ian people elected a new president, Hassan ani-Sadr, who seemed sympathetic to the ostages' dilemma. However, the people were old that they would have to await the decision f the new Parliament. A five-man United Nations commission was amed to hear allegations against the former hah in March, and it was believed their visit to ran might result in the release of the hostages. ut those expectations vanished when homeini announced that the fate of the ostages would be decided by a new National embly which would take office in June. Carter had repeatedly wamed that he would ot be afraid to intervene militarily. On April 24 n attempt to rescue the hostages failed before t got to Tehran. Equipment failures were lamed for the aborted mission, and an air colli- ion resulted in the deaths of eight Americans. The Iranian govemment scoffed at the escue attempt, but promptly made every effort o discourage another by moving or claiming to ove the hostages to different parts of Tehran. By mid-May, as the crisis reached its 200th day, there was still no solution, although a resolution was proposed by the Iranian govem- ment which might lead to the conditional release of the hostages. As before, the world was skeptical of Iran's sincerity. Although Iran was at the top of the news for more than three-fourths of the year, it was by no means the only major news event. In June 1979, after seven years of talks, the United States and the Soviet Union finally agreed on a SALT Il treaty that was signed by Carter and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna. Congress debated ratification of the treaty for the next six months. Its fate was still undecided when the Soviets moved into Afghanistan in December. An embargo on grain shipments to the Soviets was announced by Carter, and that was followed by a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate pull-out of all foreign troops in Afghanistan. When the Soviets refused to leave, Carter sought to punish the Russians by urging that the lntemational Olympic Committee shift the site of the Summer Olympic Games from Moscow to a neutral site. When the IOC an- nounced that the site of the Games could not be changed, Carter vowed that he would not allow an American team to be sent to Moscow. ALONG Wl1'H many fall semester students, some Natural 97 employees were against the radio station's fonnat change. John Shaye, Greg Pogue and Dean Warfield, Natural 97 em- ployees, slt in the station. The album-oriented station changed from the progressive rock fonnat to mellow rock in December, in an effort to increase profits. Congress seconded the gesture. And many par- ticipating athletes reluctantly approved in a dis- play of national support. A further show of strength and unity became a significant factor at the 14th Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. The American hockey team captured the gold medal from the Soviet team, the first in 20 years, and American speed skater Eric Heiden was the first person ever to win five gold medals in one Winter Olympics. In a direct gesture of discontent with the Soviet lifestyle, Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov split from the Bolshoi Ballet and sought asylum in the United States. His and a series of other defections to Western countries is believed to have prompted the Moscow State Symphony to cancel a scheduled visit to the United States, which included a stop at Western. The symphony lost its assistant principal cellist, Vsevolod Lezhnev, 10 years earlier on a similar visit to America. Lezhnev, now a professor of music at Western, believed the Soviets were fearful of more defections. In a controversial defense policy issue related to mounting tensions in Iran and Afghanistan, Carter announced in his Jan. 23 State of the Union address that he was planning to have the Selective Service System revitalized so that national registration for the draft could begin and future mobilization needs could be met rapidly if they arise. Some people felt the possible reinstitution of the draft was a political move to improve Car- ter's chances in the 1980 presidential election. Skepticism of his motive was heightened when the president suggested women be considered for the draft and that the age of potential draf- tees be limited to men and women 19 and 20 years old. A major Cabinet reorganization in July and August 1979 was designed to pump new life into a sagging Carter administration, and it saw five of 12 cabinet officers step down, including Energy Secretary James Schlesinger, Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano, Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, Attomey General Griffin Bell and Commerce Secretary Juanita Kreps. The appointment of Paul Volcker as chair- man ofthe Federal Reserve Board was seen by many as a welcome attempt by Carter to do something about inflation. While Volcker's policies were widely considered as long- overdue medicine, they have been slow to catch on with many Americans, especially those with low incomes. Nonetheless, the buy it now before the price goes up syndrome, long considered to be one of the primary fuelers of inflation, became the target of the Federal Reserve Board. To slow in- flation, loans became more costly, housing sales began to suffer and the economy slipped into a recession. In March, Carter unveiled his five-point anti- inflation package with primary emphasis on a balanced budget, which was one of his major 1976 campaign promises. Carter proposed an oil import fee which would be replaced by a 10 cents per gallon increase in the federal gas tax In May, however, when the new tax was to take effect, a federal judge halted the scheduled in- crease. In June Congress overwhelmingly voted against the tax. While Carter was trying for another term in the White House, no fewer than 100 Republicans and five Democrats announced that they too would like a term there. Carter and former California Gov. Ronald Reagan emerged as the frontrunners in the spring presidential primaries. On the Democratic side, the chief challenger to the president, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy scored a few impressive victories in such states as Massachusetts, New York and continued on page 28 Todd Buchanan A FIRE in the furnace room of Poland Hall forced the evacuation of the dorm in February. Residents walk to Pearce-Ford Tower to get out of the cold. Lewis Gardner WHILE WAITING for a speech class to begin, George Con- ner, a sophomore industrial education major, studies under the emergency power light in the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Cen- ter. The December outage started at a city substation, which provides electricity for part of the campus. gr