News stories from Friday May 26, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- An agreement has been reached on strategic arms limitations, but no trade pact yet. A Soviet-American commission has been established to negotiate further on trade. An arms treaty was finally reached after four years of talks in Helsinki and Vienna. The nuclear arms limitation pact was signed in the Great Kremlin Palace by President Nixon and Soviet party chief Leonid Brezhnev, with the Politburo present. This agreement covers anti-ballistic missile sites and radar systems, and the offensive missile agreement limits the number of ICBM's, submarine missiles and nuclear warheads. National security adviser Henry Kissinger stressed that the deal is fair, historic and an equal victory to both sides. [CBS]
- Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, returning from a NATO meeting in Europe, hailed the arms limitation agreement but said that keeping pace with the Russians will still be expensive. Senator Henry Jackson said that he is disturbed by an arms agreement which does not give America parity with the Soviet Union. [CBS]
- West and East Germany signed a treaty regulating road, rail and water traffic between the two countries; it also lists the days when West Germans may visit the East and opens the way for East Germans to visit the West in hardship cases. Secretary of State Egan Barr signed for West Germany and said that the treaty could stimulate discussions on normalizing relations. [CBS]
- Communist tanks advanced on Kontum in South Vietnam's Central Highlands. American air power hit enemy troop concentrations and tanks. Communists tried again to cross the My Chanh river north of Hue, and were again pushed back. South Vietnamese tanks are the targets of the enemy's new Soviet-built missile, but their gunners are bad shots. Capt. Jay O'Donovan radios American pilots and artillerymen to give the locations of the enemy; he says that the North Vietnamese are taking an awful beating. [CBS]
- More American air raids were reported over North Vietnam; bridges were bombed near Haiphong and a power plant was destroyed near Vinh. One U.S. Navy jet was downed. [CBS]
- A bomb exploded in a parked car in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing one person and injuring 37. A Catholic group called for the IRA to stop their violence. A Protestant group is planning a march to protest that certain areas are off-limits to Protestants in Londonderry. [CBS]
- A count of primary delegates reportedly gives President Nixon 686 convention votes, 12 more than are needed for the Republican presidential nomination. Nixon favors the retention of Spiro Agnew as Vice President, but campaign manager John Mitchell insists that the V.P. nomination is still an open question. [CBS]
- Hubert Humphrey and George McGovern are campaigning in California. Humphrey says that he and McGovern have voted identically on Vietnam and are therefore both responsible. Humphrey is trying to raise doubts about McGovern's proposals on the defense budget and welfare, realizing that he is taking a risk by attacking another Democratic candidate and giving fuel to the Republicans later on.
McGovern thinks that Humphrey's attacks are a sign of desperation, and says that he is not ashamed of the position he has taken on any issue. McGovern defended his stance on the military budget and is outraged at Humphrey's claims about his Vietnam record.
[CBS] - Alabama Governor George Wallace is showing marked improvement overall, but his paralysis remains unchanged. [CBS]
- Wernher von Braun announced his retirement from NASA to work as an executive at Fairchild Industries. von Braun developed rockets for American astronauts. He had been Adolf Hitler's top aerospace expert, but left Germany after World War II. [CBS]
- The U.S. trade deficit was listed at $700 million in April, the second largest deficit in history. [CBS]
- Entertainment at President Nixon's dinner with Soviet leaders in Moscow will come from an American pianist who is well-known to Russians. Van Cliburn's Soviet tour was arranged far in advance of the President's. He won the international Tchaikovsky competition in 1968 and since then has been held in awe by the Soviet citizenry. Cliburn says that Moscow will always be close to his heart and he loves the music which has been given to the world by Russia. Politics never enters the picture with him, and Cliburn said that his presence in Russia during Nixon's visit is a coincidence. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 971.25 (+2.18, +0.22%)
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* |
| May 25, 1972 | 969.07 | 110.46 | 16.48 |
| May 24, 1972 | 965.46 | 110.31 | 17.87 |
| May 23, 1972 | 962.30 | 109.78 | 16.41 |
| May 22, 1972 | 965.31 | 109.69 | 16.03 |
| May 19, 1972 | 961.54 | 108.98 | 19.58 |
| May 18, 1972 | 951.23 | 107.94 | 17.37 |
| May 17, 1972 | 941.15 | 106.89 | 13.60 |
| May 16, 1972 | 939.27 | 106.66 | 14.07 |
| May 15, 1972 | 942.20 | 106.86 | 13.60 |
| May 12, 1972 | 941.83 | 106.28 | 13.99 |