Moon landing, oil crisis: News Journal archives, week of July 16

"Pages of history" features excerpts from The News Journal archives including The Morning News and The Evening Journal.

July 16, 1979, The Morning News

Carter: Oil crisis will test U.S.

President Carter last night described the United States as a nation beset by a crisis of confidence, confessed to shortcomings in his own leadership and asked Americans to rally against the energy problem as the first test of “our ability to unite this nation.”

His solemn address to the nation climaxed his so-called domestic summit conference at Camp David….

Carter said he never again will allow the nation to import more foreign oil than it did in 1977, when the U.S. imported 8.5 million barrels a day.

He will request “the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation’s history” to develop energy from coal and oil shale, and energy from gasohol and the sun.

He’s asking Congress to require the nation’s utilities to reduce their use of oil by 50% within the next decade…

He has already imposed rules, approved by Congress, requiring that air conditioning in commercial buildings be set no lower than 78 degrees starting today….

Recent oil-related news: Delaware hopes to phase out sale of new gas-powered cars. What to know about the proposal.

July 17, 1922, The Evening Journal

Kill 12, wound 25 in West Virginia miners’ war

In a gun battle between deputy sheriffs, mine guards and 500 striking miners at Cliftonville, W. Va., 12 men were reported killed and 25 others wounded today.

The shooting followed the burning of coal tipple of the Richmond Mining Company....

The strikers marched to Wellsburg from Arvelia, Pa., where at midnight they assembled with the announced intention of closing down the Richland mine, which had been operating with strikebreakers the past month….

At 2:15 a.m., a terrific charge of dynamite was set off in the miners’ tent colony across Crowe Creek....

In a few minutes, rockets were set off in Virginia City and police believe this was a signal that everything was in readiness for the attack….

As the miners appeared on the brow of the hill, Deputy Sheriff Irving MacInge started up the road to meet them. He had gotten but a short distance when he was felled by a shot in the mouth.

Almost immediately after the first shots were fired, the mob of miners began pouring over the hill and down into the valley, firing as they went. The attackers came in two directions, and the defending guards and deputy sheriffs were caught between the crossfire.

Meanwhile, a larger body of attackers made straight for the coal tipple which they soaked with oil. A match was applied and the big structure was soon ablaze, the blames eating their way up the incline and attacking the head house….

Outnumbered about 40 to 1, the guards were soon driven back but they sought places in buildings nearby and poured a withering fire into the rapidly scattering ranks of strikers….

Catch up on history: O.J. Simpson arrested, debut of 'Jaws': The News Journal archives, week of June 18

July 18, 1996, The News Journal

Passenger plane explodes off Long Island

A TWA jetliner with 229 people aboard exploded in a fireball shortly after taking off for Paris and plunged into the waters off Long Island Wednesday night. There were no signs of survivors.

The 747 jet, Flight 800, was bound for Charles de Gaulle Airport from Kennedy Airport when it went into the Atlantic Ocean 20 miles off Moriches Inlet at about 8:45 p.m.

There are 212 passengers and 17 crew members on the jet, according to Mike Kelly, a TWA vice president. He said the plane had arrived from Athens, Greece, and had been on the ground about three hours before taking off for Paris. Some of the passengers were from an earlier canceled flight to Rome.

Asked about the possibility of a bomb, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Eliot Brenner said, “We can’t discuss security issues.”

ABC News reported the FAA received no distress call from the pilot before the crash, suggesting there was no warning of any problem….

July 21, 1969, The Morning News

Man steps onto moon; Armstrong, Aldrin take walk

Man has stepped onto the moon.

Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong took the first moonstep last night at 10:56 p.m., Delaware time, just six hours and 39 minutes after he and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. fulfilled the age-old dream of landing on the moon.

The moon landing was at 4:17 p.m., Delaware time. The date, July 20, 1969….

The successful moon landing brought almost to an end the eight-year national effort stimulated by the words of a president, now deceased.

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth,” John F. Kennedy told Congress on May 5, 1961.

The first half of the goal has been achieved.

Ahead lies the task of returning Armstrong, Aldrin and Michael Collins safely back to Earth….

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Moon landing, oil crisis: News Journal archives, week of July 16