News stories from Sunday March 26, 1972

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

ITT lobbyist Dita Beard, testifying from a Denver hospital, denied to a Senate committee that she wrote the memo which was published by columnist Jack Anderson. She admitted to writing part of it, but not the document as it was published by Anderson. Mrs. Beard suffered a heart seizure after a morning and afternoon of questioning. Beard's lawyer read a statement repudiating Anderson's memo and contradicting Brit Hume's testimony. Anderson maintains that the memo is real and claims to have passed a voluntary lie-detector test. [NBC] Senator Vance Hartke exited the presidential race, and will support Hubert Humphrey. [NBC] Democrat caucuses in Iowa netted 14 delegates for Edmund Muskie, 12 for George McGovern and 8 uncommitted; 12 more are yet to be selected. Democrats proclaimed the new delegate selection process in Iowa a success and said that the party is invigorated. [NBC] Protestants plan a two-day strike in protest of British abolition of home rule in Northern Ireland. Bombings and shootings have ceased, but the situation is still tense. Catholics are said to be favoring Britain's action, but a Protestant backlash may occur. [NBC] Sources close to the Irish Republican Army said that the Belfast leaders of the I.R.A.'s Provisional wing decided Friday to defy an order from the Dublin command to continue bombings and sniper attacks in Northern Ireland despite the suspension of the Northern Ireland government. As a result, terrorist activities are evidently being scaled down, and there were reports that a truce had been agreed upon. [New York Times] White House officials expressed confidence that President Nixon had reaped short-term political profit from the labor walkout from the Pay Board, but they added that the advantage would evaporate unless Mr. Nixon could halt increases in food prices. Labor is eager to spread alarm about the rising prices -- and to blame Mr. Nixon for them. [New York Times] Closing arguments are set for tomorrow in the trial of the "Harrisburg 7". Five hundred people demonstrated in Harrisburg as Palm Sunday opened the final week of the trial. Supporters claim that the events of Holy Week and the life of Jesus Christ are parallel to defendant Philip Berrigan's experience. [NBC] Representatives from North Vietnam and the Viet Cong stated that they are confident that President Nixon will soon reconvene the Paris Peace Talks. [NBC] South Vietnamese soldiers, in three clashes with an enemy force 15 miles southwest of Hue, reportedly killed 106 enemy soldiers. Two more American planes were reported downed. One of the planes was the second Navy A-7 Corsair to crash in a week, and all Corsairs were ordered grounded. [New York Times] General Motors employees at Lordstown, Ohio, returned to work after signing a contract to end their three-week strike. [NBC] New York City Assemblyman Andrew Stein released a study showing that 76 percent of the city's 250,000 welfare mothers were born outside the state. The Manhattan Democrat called for a federal assumption of welfare costs in such cases, which he said resulted from a federal failure to provide job opportunities for the dispossessed poor. [New York Times]