News stories from Saturday January 29, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- One of the more bizarre of recent airplane hijackings ended at Kennedy International Airport with the shooting and capture of an erratic hijacker who had pulled a gun from a fake plaster arm cast and took control of a jet flying from Los Angeles to New York. At various times in the eight-hour ordeal, the hijacker asked for $300,000 and a call to President Nixon and talked by radiotelephone with key figures from his past, including two lawyers, a psychiatrist and a man in a Dallas jail.
The wounded man, Garret Brock Trapnell, 32 years old, was described as a bank robber, jewel thief and "James Bond" character with a long history of mental illness. He has escaped at least twice from mental institutions and was the patient of a psychiatrist who once wrote a book called "The Skyjacker."
[New York Times] - Life magazine suggested that the manuscript it bought from Clifford Irving as an autobiography of Howard Hughes might have been compiled from material stolen from Mr. Hughes by "a disloyal or greedy employee." But, in an article in its Feb. 4 issue, the magazine reaffirmed its belief that the material was genuine. Life said that Mr. Hughes was known to have kept records and tapes of his conversations. [New York Times]
- Premier Golda Meir of Israel made clear today that her country was ready to participate in indirect talks with Arab nations. In an interview, she said that she had not promised the United States she would resume negotiations in exchange for the pledge of further American jet aircraft, and the terms she outlined did not seem to allow much room for diplomatic maneuvers after a resumption of the talks. [New York Times]
- Senator Adlai Stevenson III, on a private visit to Dacca, condemned President Nixon's support of Pakistan against Indian and Bengali forces and said that West Pakistani attempts to suppress the Bengali movement involved "butchery of a dimension without any precedent in human history." He said Mr. Nixon's stand "must be the most despicable act of any American President." [New York Times]
- In a ruling expected to produce angry reactions from Congressmen and labor leaders and possibly court actions and strikes, the Cost of Living Council exempted from wage controls all workers earning $1.90 an hour or less. The Pay Board, an arm of the council, had previously rejected the figure as too low. Workers earning $1.60 or less had been previously exempt. [New York Times]