News stories from Monday February 28, 1972

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

President Nixon is en route home from China, currently flying between Anchorage and Washington, DC. He stopped for a night's rest in Anchorage on his way to an official reception in Washington. At Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, several hundred school children and off-duty Air Force men and their wives cheered President and Mrs. Nixon before their departure for Washington. President Nixon declared that the meetings in China enhance the chances for peace for the next generation. [CBS] President Nixon will land at Andrews Air Force Base at 9:00 p.m. EST. Government employees have been encouraged to attend the President's arrival; the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was asked to take a head count. Foreign diplomats are also invited. [CBS] Nationalist China is unhappy about President Nixon's pledge to Chinese Premier Chou En-lai to withdraw U.S. forces from Taiwan. Assistant Secretary of State Marshall Green will go to Taiwan and other Asian countries later this week to brief leaders on the Nixon-China trip. [CBS] Regarding Taiwan, Senator Mike Mansfield said that President Nixon got the best possible deal under the circumstances; Senator George McGovern agreed that war-producing tensions have been reduced. However, Senator Hubert Humphrey says that Nixon "pulled the rug out" from under the Taiwanese, and Senator Henry Jackson and Rep. John Ashbrook are concerned that Red China got the better of the deal. [CBS] The death toll from the West Virginia flood is at 66 and could go higher. More than a dozen mining towns were washed away when a dam broke. A 17-mile stretch downstream from the broken dam has been devastated; 4,000 people are homeless. A state police official said he fears that many more people will be found in the wreckage. Senator Jennings Randolph will ask the Army Corps of Engineers to examine the conditions of other dams in the area. [CBS] Angela Davis's trial began today. She is charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in a 1970 courthouse gun battle in California. [CBS] In the trial of Reverend Philip Berrigan and six co-defendants, who are accused of conspiring to kidnap presidential aide Henry Kissinger, the prosecution put on its star witness, FBI informer Boyd Douglas. Douglas says that Berrigan told him of plans to blow up heating plants under federal buildings in Washington, DC. [CBS] Selective Service director Curtis Tarr, at a Senate hearing, said that granting amnesty to draft dodgers would destroy the conscription system. Committee chairman Edward Kennedy called Southerners who received amnesty after Civil War, "traitors". Senator Strom Thurmond, the grandson of a Civil War general, threatened to use that statement against Kennedy when he runs for president. Kennedy then explained that he personally does not believe Confederates were traitors. [CBS] Senator Edward Kennedy urged President Nixon to offer U.S. mediation of the civil strife in Northern Ireland. [CBS] A second attempt will be made at Cape Kennedy to launch the Pioneer 10 spacecraft to Jupiter. Astronomer Carl Sagan says there is a chance that life exists on Jupiter; a plaque describing Earth humans will be aboard the spacecraft. [CBS] Senator George McGovern issued a list of contributors to his presidential campaign and challenged other candidates to follow suit. [CBS] Israel pulled its forces out of southeast Lebanon, claiming to have broken the back of the Palestinian guerrilla movement. [CBS] Japanese police forced a showdown at a mountain villa where leftist youths have held a woman hostage for more than a week. An iron wrecking ball smashed the lodge, high pressure hoses poured in tons of water, and tear gas was fired through windows; the siege lasted for eight hours. Pistols were used only as a last resort. [CBS] House Ways and Means Committee chairman Wilbur Mills proposed a 20% increase in Social Security benefits last week. Today the administration said that such an increase would overload the budget. Budget Director George Shultz implied that President Nixon will support a smaller increase, however. [CBS] The Commerce Department reported that leading economic indicators were up 2.3% in January. The trade deficit, however, was reported at $318.9 million. [CBS] The Supreme Court will hear a first amendment case on whether radio and television stations can be required to broadcast paid ads on matters of public interest and controversy. The Federal Communications Commission had ruled against the practice. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 924.29 (+1.50, +0.16%)
S&P Composite: 106.19 (+0.01, +0.01%)
Arms Index: 0.80

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	749	9.17
Declines	674	6.58
Unchanged	335	2.45
Total Volume		18.20

* in millions of shares

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*
February 25, 1972	922.79	106.18	18.18
February 24, 1972	912.70	105.45	15.86
February 23, 1972	911.88	105.38	16.77
February 22, 1972	913.46	102.29	16.67
February 18, 1972	917.52	105.28	16.59
February 17, 1972	922.03	105.59	22.33
February 16, 1972	922.94	105.62	20.67
February 15, 1972	914.51	105.03	17.77
February 14, 1972	910.49	104.59	15.84
February 11, 1972	917.59	105.08	17.85