The Watchtower (7-15-76) tried to pin the blame on the individual witnesses. I remember how angry Clyde was about this. Then the 3-15-80 WT. page 19, admitted that the blame included "persons having to do with the publication of the information that contriuted to the buildup of hopes centered on that date." "Nevertheless, there is no reason for us to be shaken in faith in God's promises."
I thought it was interesting that Ray Franz pointed out that the only reason they went that far in admitting their guilt was because the number of publishers began to decrease steadily after 1975. I also noticed that about 1980 was when the Society began to put a strong ephasis on building new Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls. That's when the numbers started picking back up.
Bonnie