On 11 May 1977 John D. Backe, 44, succeeded the powerful William S. Paley, 77, as chief executive officer of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), a $2 billion multimedia conglomerate, as part of a long-planned change of top leadership which did not, however, prove successful; Backe was pushed out in 1980.

On 3 February 1975 Eli M. Black, the president and chief executive officer of the $2 billion United Brands multinational conglomerate, committed suicide in New York. The company had suffered severe losses, and the news was surfacing that it had tried to get a tax reduced by offering a bribe to the president of Honduras.

On 11 September 1975 W. A. ("Tony") Boyle, the head of the United Mine Workers of America, received three consecutive life terms for ordering the murder of union rival Joseph Yablonski, his wife, and his daughter, whose bodies were found on 5 January 1970.

On 22 July 1971 Edgar M. Bronfman...