News stories from Friday August 11, 1972

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

The last U.S. ground combat unit in Vietnam -- D Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry -- has been deactivated. But 40,000 U.S. advisory and support personnel are still in Vietnam, 50,000 Americans are on warships in the area, and 45,000 Americans are stationed in Thailand. [CBS] The North Vietnamese news agency reports that former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who is currently touring North Vietnam, said that there has been "massive, inhuman" bombing of cities, churches, schools, hospitals and dikes by the United States. [CBS] George McGovern noted that even though American ground forces have been withdrawn, American bombing in Vietnam continues, and the war is still bleeding the United States to death economically.McGovern apologized for the misunderstanding with Rhode Island Democrats over their disputed convention credentials. Rhode Island Democrat party chairman Lawrence McGarry says that he supports McGovern "1,000 percent" -- alluding to McGovern's statement about Thomas Eagleton, who later left the ticket. [CBS] Democratic vice-president nominee Sargent Shriver received a response from Secretary of State William Rogers to Shriver's accusation that President Nixon "blew" a chance to end the Vietnam war in 1969. The State Department handed out copies of Shriver's January, 1970 letter of resignation to the President in which Shriver wrote that he had accomplished his objectives as ambassador to France -- the beginning of peace in Vietnam. Rogers noted that Shriver should have informed the President that the end of the war was in his grasp, if it really was. Shriver's position on the subject remains unchanged. [CBS] A New York man has been arrested for plotting to kill President Nixon. Andrew Topping paid $1,000 to a Secret Service agent to help in the assassination. [CBS] Senator William Proxmire proposed the creation of a commission to investigate the Democrat national headquarters bugging attempt. Proxmire suggested former Senator John Williams and former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg for the commission. Senator Hugh Scott called for delaying any report until after the election. [CBS] Bobby Fischer beat Boris Spassky in the 13th game (of 24) of the world chess championship in Iceland. Fischer leads 8 games to 5. [CBS] Commerce Secretary Peter Peterson says that prospects for U.S.-Soviet trade are good. Peterson confirmed that the Soviets are buying $1 billion worth of U.S. grain. He noted that grain prices have increased as a result, but not substantially enough to affect the consumer. Peterson pointed out that storage costs will be reduced and farm income will increase. [CBS] The lettuce boycott was publicized at the Democratic national convention; California lettuce growers will counterattack by sending a delegation to the Republican convention to advocate lettuce. United Farm Workers union president Cesar Chavez called for a lettuce boycott since a strike is barred. The Teamsters union already has contracts covering 75% of the crop. California agriculture director C.B. Christensen noted that the Teamsters have been in the fields since 1961. But the Farm Workers union claims that the Teamsters favor the growers at the expense of the workers. Lettuce grower Tom Merrill said that he acquiesced to Teamster representation of his employees when the union proved its capability to shut his farm down. Chavez says that he is fighting the Teamsters because they are an instrument of the employers. There has been no measurable decline in lettuce sales. [CBS] The Civil Aeronautics Board approved fare hikes of up to 2.7% on domestic flights. [CBS] The U.S. Air Force is the first branch of the armed services to put a female officer in charge of a major unit that is made up of both men and women. At Fort Meade, Maryland, Col. Norma Brown is in charge of 2,000 people and only 14 are women. [CBS] French-American relations have taken a turn for the better. At Villefranche, the U.S. missile cruiser "Springfield" docked on the French Riviera for the first time in eight months. It had been barred by pro-Communist members of the town council. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 964.18 (+11.29, +1.18%)
S&P Composite: 111.95 (+0.90, +0.81%)
Arms Index: 0.66

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	901	10.74
Declines	498	3.92
Unchanged	347	1.91
Total Volume		16.57

* 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*
August 10, 1972	952.89	111.05	15.26
August 9, 1972	951.16	110.86	15.73
August 8, 1972	952.44	110.69	14.55
August 7, 1972	953.12	110.61	13.22
August 4, 1972	951.76	110.43	15.70
August 3, 1972	947.70	110.14	19.97
August 2, 1972	941.15	109.29	17.92
August 1, 1972	930.46	108.40	15.54
July 31, 1972	924.74	107.39	11.12
July 28, 1972	926.70	107.38	13.05