News stories from Thursday July 27, 1972

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

Amid growing pressure for Thomas Eagleton to get off the Democratic presidential ticket, he says he is even more determined to be elected vice president. In South Dakota, George McGovern canceled a scheduled press conference today. Columnist Jack Anderson claims that Eagleton was once arrested in Missouri for drunk driving; Eagleton called the charge a "damnable lie".McGovern press secretary Richard Dougherty insisted that cancellation of the news conference does not mean that McGovern has lost confidence in Eagleton, he merely has nothing further to add. Dougherty said that McGovern was unaware of reports of Eagleton's drunk driving, but his staff will investigate the rumors. Discrete checks are said to have turned up nothing so far. McGovern's staff offered excuses as to why a thorough investigation was not made on Eagleton before he was invited on the ticket -- the California challenge took up time; McGovern's faith that he could convince Senator Edward Kennedy to run; McGovern's confidence in his personal judgment of Eagleton. Speaking in Honolulu, Hawaii, Eagleton maintained that the reason Jack Anderson does not have documents to back up his charges of Eagleton's drunken and reckless driving is because they do not exist. He said that the only incidents on his record are a speeding conviction in 1962 and an ice-related accident in 1963, neither of which were connected with alcohol. Eagleton believes that the charge is politically motivated and designed to drive him from the ticket, and he questioned the source of the information, which is said to be a highly placed Missouri official. Eagleton stated that he is more determined than ever to remain on the ticket, but was disappointed by editorials in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times which called for his withdrawal. [CBS] Editorial reaction to Eagleton's disclosures have been somewhat critical. The Atlanta Journal found it reassuring, in view of those political leaders who needed help and never knew it. The Little Rock Democrat blamed McGovern for making a careless decision. The Boston Globe criticized Eagleton's failure to tell McGovern of his illness and the Los Angeles Times now calls him a serious political liability. The Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and New York Post all say that Eagleton should withdraw; the New York Times made no editorial comment. [CBS] George McGovern's fundraising campaign and political mailings have slowed down. The Eagleton disclosure is alarming contributors and has caused a disruption in the mail fundraising campaign. McGovern financial chairman Henry Kimelman said that this is psychologically the right time to send out direct mail. He noted that while some major contributors are upset, others are more understanding. [CBS] Orders for McGovern-Eagleton buttons have tapered off since the disclosure, according to a button manufacturing company. The president of Votes Unlimited in Ferndale, New York, said that he fears he will be stuck with them. [CBS] Matthew Troy, the Democratic leader of Queens, New York, and an early McGovern supporter, urged Thomas Eagleton to withdraw from the presidential ticket. Troy noted that even now Eagleton admits that he has to pace himself because of pressure, and Troy believes that the American people are scared to give power to a man who could destroy the world with a nuclear holocaust if he buckled under pressure. Troy added that he could not vote for McGovern if Eagleton is on the ticket. [CBS] Doctors report that former President Lyndon Johnson has angina, a relatively common heart ailment. Johnson has left the hospital in San Antonio. [CBS] President Nixon said that the coming election presents a clear choice of candidates and issues. He predicted a hard-fought election, regardless of what the polls currently show. The President stated that it will be fought on the issues, not personalities; Nixon instructed his staff not to comment on the Eagleton affair, recalling a similar move against himself in 1952.Nixon called on Congress not to offer the enemy any end-the-war measures, saying that the opportunity to end the war by negotiation is better now than ever before. The President charged that North Vietnam has taken in many naive and well-intentioned people (including the U.N. Secretary General) in its propaganda campaign regarding the alleged U.S. bombing of North Vietnamese dikes. [CBS] Another session of the Paris Peace Talks was held; no indication of a peace settlement is evident. [CBS] South Vietnam claimed yesterday that its forces had entered Quang Tri city's citadel and hoisted the national flag. Retreating South Vietnamese said that the paratrooper who ran up the flag was shot immediately. Tattered remnants of the South Vietnamese unit at Quang Tri have pulled back, and South Vietnamese marines moved up to replace the paratroopers. Fire Bases Bastogne and Checkmate near Hue were overrun by Communist forces. The Associated Press reports that U.S. B-52's were a half-mile off target in their operation two weeks ago, so when helicopters arrived they were hit by ground fire. [CBS] Ten Americans were killed in Vietnam last week; nine were wounded and two are missing. 630 ARVN and 1,949 enemy were killed. [CBS] President Nixon asked Congress for an extra $135 million for the campaign against drug abuse, although he warned Congress against excessive spending just yesterday. He called for the establishment of a National Narcotics Intelligence Office in the Justice Department. [CBS] The U.S. Board of Parole released magazine publisher Ralph Ginzburg from jail; Ginzburg was convicted of sending pornographic material through the mail. The Board denied parole to Carmine DeSapio, the former New York Democratic party leader who is serving time for bribery and extortion. [CBS] The Justice Department indicted four officials of the Federal Housing administration in Chicago on charges including accepting bribes and submitting false inspection reports. The grand jury also indicted nine Illinois real estate brokers, builders and contractors. [CBS] The Senate gave the go-ahead to speed up development of the Trident submarine. [CBS] The Commerce Department reported that business indicators were up 0.5% in June. However, a trade deficit of $590 million was also reported. The deficit is $3.3 billion for the first half of the year. [CBS] Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky in the 8th game (of 24) in the world chess championship in Iceland. [CBS] 29-year-old Al Crowell of Venice, California, is a self-employed furniture refinisher who refuses to pay his telephone excise tax because he believes that the money is being used to support the Vietnam war; Crowell stated that this is his way of protesting the war. His actual tax bill totals $1.16. The IRS was going to auction off Crowell's 1963 station wagon, worth about $200, but postponed the sale of the car for administrative reasons. Crowell noted that taxpayers at large are paying an awful lot to collect $1.20. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 926.85 (-5.72, -0.61%)
S&P Composite: 107.28 (-0.25, -0.23%)
Arms Index: 1.23

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	479	3.72
Declines	875	8.35
Unchanged	365	1.80
Total Volume		13.87

* 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*
July 26, 1972	932.57	107.53	14.13
July 25, 1972	934.45	107.60	17.18
July 24, 1972	935.36	107.92	18.02
July 21, 1972	920.45	106.66	14.01
July 20, 1972	910.45	105.81	15.05
July 19, 1972	916.69	106.14	17.88
July 18, 1972	911.72	105.83	16.82
July 17, 1972	914.96	105.88	13.17
July 14, 1972	922.26	106.80	13.91
July 13, 1972	916.99	106.28	14.74