News stories from Tuesday June 27, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The Democratic platform committee has drafted a proposal which Senator George McGovern calls "beautiful". He also won a major battle in the credentials committee hearings on the California delegate challenge. The hearing examiner reported that he found no basis for the challenge to McGovern's winner-take-all, 271-delegate victory. McGovern coordinator Frank Mankiewicz stated that the hearing report supports McGovern Commission guidelines and exposes the California challenge as a frivolous attempt to win through political maneuvering what could not be won at the ballot box. Humphrey forces vowed to press the fight before the full committee and on the convention floor.
A second hearing examiner's report backed the Chicago group that is trying to unseat Mayor Richard Daley and his 59 delegates; Chicago alderman William Singer says that Daley totally ignored party reform rules. Daley is confident that he will not be unseated because his power is needed. McGovern noted that the Illinois delegate challenge is serious but he refused to make any judgment on it. McGovern may urge a compromise -- that Daley replace some of his delegates with minority representatives who are loyal to the mayor.
McGovern criticized commentators who say that he can't carry the South; he plans to visit with Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter in Atlanta. The credentials committee rejected challenges and seated the South Carolina and Alabama delegations.
[CBS] - The Democratic platform committee's draft bears an unmistakable McGovern stamp, as the 150-member committee completed its first experiment in the writing of a party platform. A series of minority reports on issues were rejected in committee -- a Wallace anti-busing proposal; McGovern's tax reform plan; welfare minimums; rights for homosexuals; abortion. Virginia delegate Flora Grater said that the government shouldn't interfere with a woman's right to control her reproductive life, but California delegate Shirley MacLaine said that the abortion issue should be kept out of the partisan political process.
The main platform planks include jobs for all, federal income assistance, the abolition of President Nixon's economic controls, antitrust action to curb conglomerates, closing tax loopholes, ending political persecution and investigation (such as wiretapping), the use of busing as a tool to achieve integration, a drive against narcotic traffickers and organized crime, withdrawal from Vietnam, amnesty for draft dodgers after the war, and controlling the defense budget.
Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie lauded the platform, but Wallace's campaign director called it a suicide note for the Democratic party. Wallace's fight against busing would, according to a CBS poll, fail on the convention floor.
[CBS] - George Wallace's doctor reported that the governor can now stand by himself with leg braces, between parallel bars. [CBS]
- The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to outlaw the sale of the type of handgun which was used in the shooting of Wallace. The committee rejected Senator Edward Kennedy's proposal to register and license all firearms. [CBS]
- The House refused to cut funds for new weapons systems. President Nixon has stated that the new systems are necessary to the success of the U.S.-Soviet Strategic Arms Limitation Talks agreements; the Trident submarine and B-1 bomber were approved. The House also refused to order all American troops out of southeast Asia by September. [CBS]
- Communist forces attacked a string of South Vietnamese bases guarding western approaches to Hue, but were beaten back. A forward gun mount on the American destroyer "Benjamin Stoddard" exploded while shelling North Vietnam-held Quang Tri province; two gunners were killed. [CBS]
- American war planes hit an air field near Hanoi and a power plant near Haiphong in North Vietnam. [CBS]
- The Army has two new highly effective anti-tank missile helicopters in Vietnam. Missiles are guided electronically by wires. [CBS]
- Three weeks ago South Vietnamese planes mistakenly dropped flaming napalm on civilians and its own soldiers. One little girl ripped off her burning clothes and fled. That 10-year-old girl may live to remember that tragic day. She was taken to the Saigon Children's Hospital by soldiers. Newsmen found her in the overcrowded hospital and lobbied for her transfer to the Center for Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery, where she is now convalescing. It was founded in 1967, built with aid funds and private donations, and it gives priority to young war victims. One surgeon said that the center's standards will remain above typical Vietnamese hospital standards if Western doctors continue to contribute their time to training Vietnamese surgeons, and if funds are available. The center, however, treats only a small fraction of those who need such care. [CBS]
- The provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army put its cease-fire into effect at midnight, resulting in a noticeable reduction in violence. Catholics, who in the past have fought against British soldiers, handed out free beer and cigarettes to them in Belfast. A Protestant backlash may spoil the peace, however. [CBS]
- President Nixon has asked Congress to appropriate $100 million in emergency relief for five east coast states which were hit by floods as a result of Hurricane Agnes. The Senate doubled the requested aid amount to Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia; the matter now goes to the House. Vice-President Agnew will tour the affected areas. [CBS]
- United Mine Workers president W.A. "Tony" Boyle was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $130,000 for illegally diverting union funds into political campaigns. [CBS]
- The Justice Department is investigating possible perjury in the ITT affair at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Contradictory testimony in hearings surrounding Richard Kleindienst's nomination as Attorney General was cited. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 935.28 (-1.13, -0.12%)
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* |
| June 26, 1972 | 936.41 | 107.48 | 12.72 |
| June 23, 1972 | 944.69 | 108.27 | 13.94 |
| June 22, 1972 | 950.71 | 108.68 | 13.41 |
| June 21, 1972 | 951.61 | 108.79 | 15.51 |
| June 20, 1972 | 948.22 | 108.56 | 14.97 |
| June 19, 1972 | 941.83 | 108.11 | 11.66 |
| June 16, 1972 | 945.06 | 108.36 | 13.01 |
| June 15, 1972 | 945.97 | 108.44 | 16.94 |
| June 14, 1972 | 946.79 | 108.39 | 12.32 |
| June 13, 1972 | 938.29 | 107.55 | 15.71 |