News stories from Thursday April 27, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Apollo 16 ended its 11-day voyage, landing in the Pacific Ocean 1,500 miles south of Hawaii with 245 pounds of lunar material for scientific study. Aboard the U.S.S. Ticonderoga, astronauts John Young, Charles Duke and Ken Mattingly were given a red-carpet welcome. The astronauts will rest on the ship, then fly to Hawaii and on to Houston. [CBS]
- Battered by defeat and the resultant lack of funds, Senator Edmund Muskie has withdrawn from the remaining Democratic presidential primaries. Muskie will, however, be at the national convention in hopes of being a compromise choice; he stated that he will continue to speak on the issues and work for the defeat of President Nixon next fall. [CBS]
- With Muskie's withdrawal, Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern are wooing his supporters. McGovern hopes to persuade those who have supported Muskie to join his campaign; Humphrey says that both he and Muskie represent the "progressive center" of the Democratic party and claimed that Muskie's withdrawal should help him. In an effort to classify McGovern as left-wing, Humphrey noted that Rennie Davis, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman support McGovern.
Muskie changed from being a front-runner to a loser in seven weeks. He entered too many primaries, had no single strong issue, and relied on big-name endorsements and organizations. Ohio Governor John Gilligan said that Muskie was badly served by his own organization, and his campaign was too diffuse. Senator Thomas Eagleton said that Muskie needed a good campaign manager like Robert Kennedy, who served his brother John. Muskie's money also dried up.
The Democrat party chairman in Iowa has switched his allegiance to McGovern; the governor of Missouri says he is now uncommitted. At Muskie's California headquarters in Los Angeles, workers packed up and moved out. Ros Wyman, the wife of a Humphrey fundraiser, wants to rent the headquarters for Humphrey.
[CBS] - The Senate Judiciary Committee reaffirmed its approval of Richard Kleindienst's nomination as Attorney General. He was recalled in order to clear up conflict between his former testimony and that of White House aide Peter Flanigan in the ITT hearings. [CBS]
- Bobby Baker, former secretary of Senate Democrats and protege of Lyndon Johnson, has been paroled after serving 16 months of his one-to-three year sentence for tax evasion, larceny, fraud and conspiracy. [CBS]
- The Communist offensive is now concentrating on Quang Tri province in South Vietnam; the North Vietnamese are closing in on Quang Tri city. A tank battle was reported on Highway 1, in which 10 enemy tanks were knocked out. Three trucks carrying refugees hit mines on Highway 1, killing 40. Bad weather hampered American airpower, but B-52's hit enemy targets while warships offshore provided additional firepower. American jets also attacked inside North Vietnam, and B-52's struck in the Central Highlands near Kontum.
At Pleiku, the appearance of families of high-ranking South Vietnamese officials at the airport is an assurance that the area is in imminent danger. They are using South Vietnam air force planes, which are being diverted from the war, to make their escape. Vietnamese authorities tried to stop news cameras from filming the exodus. Less fortunate civilians are trapped because the roads have been cut by North Vietnam. These refugees huddle by the road and wait.
[CBS] - Ten American servicemen were killed in Vietnam last week; 78 were wounded and eight are missing. [CBS]
- The Paris Peace Talks resumed, apparently unsuccessfully. At the first session in five weeks, U.S. Ambassador William Porter offered to swap a reduction in U.S. bombing of North Vietnam for North Vietnam's withdrawal of its invading troops from South Vietnam. North Vietnamese ambassador Xuan Thuy rejected the American proposition and denounced President Nixon's speech regarding Vietnam, but he confirmed that Politburo member Le Duc Tho, who held secret talks with Henry Kissinger, is returning to Paris. Porter hopes that Le Duc Tho's arrival will break the stalemate. The State Department is indignant about today's Paris session, accusing North Vietnam of bad faith and outrageous conduct. [CBS]
- West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and his Social Democratic Party won a vote of confidence in the legislature by two votes. Opposition Christian Democrats had sought to oust Brandt. The vote makes ratification of pending treaties with Russia and Poland more likely. [CBS]
- Ex-President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana has died at age 62. He worked for a unified black Africa, but was ousted in a military coup. Nkrumah then lived in exile in Guinea, where he died of cancer today. [CBS]
- The Commerce Department reported that the U.S. suffered a quarterly trade deficit of $1.5 billion. [CBS]
- General Motors reported record profits of $651 million for the first quarter of 1972. Ford announced similar gains and then cut prices of its 1972 cars. [CBS]
- The Navy named its first female Admiral, Alene Duerk of Ohio, as head of the Navy Nursing Corps. [CBS]
- Michigan mothers who are protesting busing ended their 44-day walk to Washington, DC; Mothers from Richmond, Virginia, joined them for the final 100-mile stretch. The marching mothers reached Capitol Hill after 620 miles of walking and urged the House to take action on a constitutional amendment to ban busing. Mrs. Irene McCabe led the march. Rep. Gerald Ford greeted the group, as did Senator William Brock and Rep. Louise Day Hicks. The women held a rally on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Mrs. McCabe believes that the mothers' effort has rekindled anti-busing sentiment, but turnout was small at today's rally. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 945.97 (-0.97, -0.10%)
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* |
| April 26, 1972 | 946.94 | 106.89 | 17.71 |
| April 25, 1972 | 946.49 | 107.12 | 17.03 |
| April 24, 1972 | 957.48 | 108.19 | 14.65 |
| April 21, 1972 | 963.80 | 108.89 | 18.20 |
| April 20, 1972 | 966.29 | 109.04 | 18.19 |
| April 19, 1972 | 964.78 | 109.20 | 19.18 |
| April 18, 1972 | 968.92 | 109.77 | 19.41 |
| April 17, 1972 | 966.59 | 109.51 | 15.39 |
| April 14, 1972 | 967.72 | 109.84 | 17.46 |
| April 13, 1972 | 965.53 | 109.91 | 17.99 |