News stories from Sunday May 9, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- West Germany and Holland are now floating their currencies; Austria and Switzerland have revalued their currencies upward. The U.S. treasury may offer a $1 billion bond issue to West German central banks to offset the flood of dollars. Rep. Henry Reuss says that Europe's moves will help the U.S. balance of payments and improve America's competitive position.
The monetary crisis, a matter of the prestige of the U.S. dollar, has had little immediate effect on Americans.
[CBS] - The cease-fire in South Vietnam ended; two soldiers and 53 South Vietnamese were killed in over 50 enemy violations of the cease-fire.
36 South Vietnamese civilians were killed when their ferryboat hit a mine; two Buddhists immolated themselves in protest of the war.
[CBS] - Former soldier Danny Notley's charges of a massacre of 30 South Vietnamese civilians is being investigated by the Army. At Truong Khanh, South Vietnam, villagers told reporters about the April, 1969 incident when 62 villagers were killed. Truong Khanh is considered to be Viet Cong territory. [CBS]
- Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco briefed Egyptian leaders on Israel's position regarding reopening the Suez Canal. [CBS]
- 1,000 people paid $50 a plate in Dallas, Texas, at an appreciation dinner for Alabama Governor George Wallace. Wallace said that taxes will be the top issue by 1972, and if the Nixon administration doesn't face the issues the influence of a third party will be greater than ever. Campaign contribution forms were placed next to every plate. [CBS]
- Senator Richard Schweiker stated that he opposes the administration's plan for federal loan guarantees for Lockheed Aircraft. [CBS]
- Kris Kristofferson is now part of the Nashville country music "underground". Kristofferson, a former Rhodes scholar at Oxford, England, spent three years in the U.S. Army and moved to Nashville six years ago to become a songwriter. He was a janitor-bartender when he first came to Nashville. Kristofferson, who was recently chosen country songwriter of the year, says that he still lives out of a suitcase. [CBS]