News stories from Sunday July 1, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Tom Bradley was sworn in today as the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California. Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren administered the oath of office to Bradley. Bradley said that he proud of his victory, but is most proud of the city for its actions on May 29. Bradley will begin governing America's third largest city tomorrow. Former Mayor Sam Yorty was absent from today's ceremonies. [NBC]
- Iraq Defense Minister Hammad Chehab was assassinated in Baghdad in an attack which also left the country's Interior Minister wounded. [NBC]
- Israeli diplomat Col. Yosef Alon was shot and killed in Washington, DC as he was returning from a party. Israeli officials are being careful not to say that Arab terrorists were responsible for Alon's death. Israeli defense attache Mordechai Gur would not speculate about possible Israeli retaliation. [NBC]
- President Nixon signed the compromise bill to stop all U.S. military involvement in Indochina after August 15. [NBC]
- The President also signed the bill which raises Social Security benefits 5.6% beginning July 1, 1974. [NBC]
- President Nixon addressed Americans by radio to defend his wage-price freeze. His speech was an attempt to justify the administration's economic policies. Nixon stated that the 60-day freeze provides an opportunity to work on problems, but he still wants the supply and demand system to be restored before too long. The President told critics that his economic plans will work if given time. [NBC]
- Control of inflation depends on wage negotiations with organized labor. Contract talks raise the possibility of strikes, but the steel industry has already decided on no nationwide walkouts until at least 1977. The no-strike agreement was settled by steel industry executives and union representatives; on-the-job workers never voted. Steelworkers president I.W. Abel stated that negotiations are always more successful for steelworkers than a strike.
The 1960 strike left both the steel companies and the union beaten, with no real winner. The steel industry doesn't need that to happen again.
[NBC] - Too-frequent and too-long strikes cripple a country's economy; Italy is hurt by frequently changing governments also. Strikes are a familiar occurrence in Rome. Phone, mail, transportation and gas are all subject to periodic strikes. After the war, Italy had a boom with cheap labor and plentiful U.S. aid. Then labor organized into unions and demanded more and more money. Prices are up more than 12% in the past year to meet labor's wage demands. The Lira has little value on the money market.
Along with the economic problems, Italy suffers from social problems. Fascists and Communists are at each other's throats, and there is an ineffectual, unstable government. People have become apathetic to changing governments, but they believe that Italy is not improving.
[NBC] - Senator Hubert Humphrey said that President Nixon should go before the Senate Watergate committee or the grand jury to tell his part in the Watergate scandal. [NBC]
- White House aide Charles Colson said that the President was misled by former White House counsel John Dean and others who were seeking their own self-preservation. [NBC]
- Speaking to a Democratic party gathering in North Carolina, Senate Watergate committee chairman Sam Ervin called President Nixon the "most repressive" president in the nation's history. [NBC]
- The government reported that half of all American families had incomes exceeding $11,120 and had 4.6% more purchasing power in 1972 than in 1971. [NBC]
- An explosion and fire aboard a Liberian tanker off of Seattle caused an oil spill and two injuries. [NBC]
- Five U.S. fliers have been killed in Cambodia since the Vietnam cease-fire took effect. 13 airmen are missing in action in Laos and Cambodia according to Saigon officials. [NBC]
- There will be no Watergate hearings in the coming week, but there are other important stories. President Nixon plans to remain at the California White House while Congress is adjourned. He will possibly deliver a public address on the 4th. The Japanese are awaiting news from the White House regarding soybean shipments under the new embargo. Japan is America's biggest soybean customer. The European Security Conference will meet in Helsinki, Finland. European boundaries and the freedom of Eastern Europe is at issue. [NBC]