News stories from Wednesday May 9, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Former White House aide Egil Krogh has resigned his post in the Transportation Department.
Attorney General-designate Elliot Richardson testified before the Senate regarding his nomination today. Richardson said he welcomes Senate approval of his choice of investigator for the Watergate case, but feels that he must retain the ultimate responsibility for the prosecution. Senator Philip Hart threatened that given a choice between having an independent prosecutor or having Richardson as Attorney General, then Richardson must go. Senator Marlow Cook suggested that the committee wait and see who Richardson appoints.
The grand jury is moving towards indictments in the Watergate case. The prosecution is expected to indict John Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and John Dean. Prosecutor Earl Silbert is worried that the Senate Watergate committee may impede the grand jury proceedings, especially if it grants immunity to John Dean. Judge John Sirica is not in favor of granting Dean immunity, but Sam Ervin is.
Haldeman and Ehrlichman appeared for grand jury testimony today, as did former Nixon aide Charles Colson. His attorney denied that Colson approved E. Howard Hunt's fabrication of State Department documents and stated that Colson was not involved in any way with Watergate.
The White House wants the classified documents which were taken by John Dean regarding Watergate to be returned. Dean put the documents in a safe deposit box and gave a key to Judge Sirica. The White House said that Sirica can keep copies of the documents, but it wants the originals back.
[CBS] - So far 10 persons have quit or been fired because of Watergate. Egil Krogh is the latest. Others include H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Dean, Richard Kleindienst, L. Patrick Gray, Jeb Magruder, David Young, Gordon Strachan and Robert Odle. Krogh headed the White House unit that was designed to plug the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Krogh admits to authorizing the burglary of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office. Krogh said that he resigned today because he can't devote full time to the Transportation Department as a result of his involvement in the Pentagon Papers case. He claimed that he authorized the burglary because he felt it was in the best interests of the country.
The Senate is investigating the CIA's role in the Pentagon Papers case. CIA director James Schlesinger testified that he didn't know about the burglary until this month; he thought the agency was helping E. Howard Hunt close security leaks. The Pentagon turned down a request by Hunt to look at its documents. Melvin Laird was Secretary of Defense at the time, and he knew of Hunt's request being denied.
White House spokesman Ron Ziegler said that White House mail supports the President's Watergate speech 3 to 1. Reporters accused Ziegler of artificially inflating the figures, as they say he has done in the past.
[CBS] - The Senate passed a bill allowing voters to register by postcard for presidential and congressional races. Senator Sam Ervin and others feel that the measure may encourage fraudulent registrations, however. [CBS]
- A court yesterday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to release $6 billion in impounded funds intended for water pollution control. New York City currently dumps ¼ of its raw sewage without any treatment at all. Now the city hopes to receive $5 million to improve the situation. New York City EPA spokesman Herbert Elish said that he hopes to have the city's water cleaned up by the 1980's. [CBS]
- Much of the American wheat which has been sold to the USSR still sits in port. Longshoremen in Houston are on strike because of the threat of a pay cut, so wheat stored there that is destined for Russia cannot be shipped. 14 American ships, all of which receive government subsidies to ship the wheat, sit in port idle. Deputy port commissioner C.E. Bullock said that some ships have been in port for as long as two months, and he noted that loading the ships has been slow because the wheat arrives in Houston in unconventional rail cars which are difficult to unload. By the time all of the grain is delivered to the Soviets, U.S. taxpayers will have paid $40 million in subsidies. [CBS]
- Henry Kissinger stated that his talks with Russian leaders have been cordial, but no date is yet set for Leonid Brezhnev's U.S. visit. [CBS]
- Sporadic fighting continued today between the Lebanese army and Palestinian guerrillas. Libyan strongman Colonel Kaddafi promised help for the guerrillas. [CBS]
- The FDA proposed new safety standards for bicycles. [CBS]
- Residents of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, will ask for government funds to restore their village which was destroyed by American Indian Movement members. Even Indian residents had their homes raided by AIM militants. The greatest loss was the destruction of an Indian museum; it will take years to rebuild the village. [CBS]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 949.05 (-7.53, -0.79%)
Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish. | |||||||||||||||
| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| May 8, 1973 | 956.58 | 111.25 | 13.73 |
| May 7, 1973 | 950.71 | 110.53 | 12.50 |
| May 4, 1973 | 953.97 | 111.00 | 19.51 |
| May 3, 1973 | 945.67 | 110.22 | 17.76 |
| May 2, 1973 | 932.34 | 108.43 | 14.38 |
| May 1, 1973 | 921.21 | 107.10 | 15.38 |
| April 30, 1973 | 921.43 | 106.97 | 14.82 |
| April 27, 1973 | 922.19 | 107.23 | 13.73 |
| April 26, 1973 | 937.76 | 108.89 | 16.21 |
| April 25, 1973 | 930.54 | 108.34 | 15.96 |