THERE are some weeks when a single event clearly dominates the news, and others when major stories seem to crowd in from all sides, each one competing for attention. This was the week of Apollo 12's blast-off for man's second moon landing, of yet another massive outpouring of sentiment over Viet Nam. TIME deals with them both. Yet as the days went by, it became increasingly clear that the biggest, most intriguing news was the Nixon Administration's mounting counteroffensive against dissent in the U.S. The speech attacking the television networks by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, whom TIME discussed in last week's cover story, was only one broadside in a campaign directed from the White House and involving many members of the President's official family.

To pull together the various elements of the story reported by TIME'S Washington and New York bureaus, Senior Editor Jason McManus assigned the lead article on the presidency to Associate Editor Keith Johnson and Researcher Mary Kelley. Associate Editor Lance Morrow and Researcher Michele Stephenson analyzed the Agnew speech itself, while Senior Editor Peter Martin and Associate Editor Richard Burgheim, usually in charge of the Television section, viewed the media in the light of the message. They were assisted by Contributing Editors William Doerner and Robert Hummerstone and Researchers Patricia Gordon. Gillian McManus and Georgia Harbison.

In its Behavior section this week, TIME examines one body of dissidents whose voice, while comparatively muted until now, promises to grow much louder in the months to come: the militant new feminists of the Women's Liberation movement, who regard themselves as one of the most discriminated-against groups in American life today. The story was written by Ruth Brine, who was valedictorian of her class at West High School in Waterloo. Iowa, a Phi Beta Kappa and editor of the literary magazine at Vassar, and took a master's degree in journalism from Columbia. "Then, as any feminist could foresee," says Ruth, "I came to work for TIME as a clip marker, one rung below a secretary." She has since become a contributing editor, and describes herself as "a sort of hybrid--part career woman and part mother of three," which has its own special hazards. "My twelve-year-old son has been hearing a lot about Women's Lib lately," says Ruth. "He calls it Women's Lip."

The Cover: Photographic layout. Left, top to bottom: Agnew, Nixon, Burch. Center: Pro-Administration demonstrators in Washington. Right, top to bottom: Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Reynolds.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.