News stories from Sunday August 27, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- U.S. aircraft from the carrier Midway bombed a shipyard at Haiphong harbor in North Vietnam; North Vietnam claims to have downed seven American planes.
On "Meet the Press", Vice President Spiro Agnew said that he is amazed at Democrat and media emphasis on the American bombing of North Vietnam, while ignoring Communist attacks on South Vietnamese cities. Agnew asked why refugees run south instead of north if the Thieu regime is so oppressive.
[NBC] - President Nixon was quoted by Daniel Patrick Moynihan in Life magazine as saying that "every aware person knows that the Vietnam war will soon be over". [NBC]
- War is going on in Laos and Cambodia as well as in Vietnam. In northern Laos, a generation of war has changed tribal Laotians. They are now slaves to Maoist tribesmen, especially when men are needed for the army. Even small boys are taken for military service. Tau Sing (drafted at 13, crippled at 15, discharged at 16) is now 19 and begs in order to supplement his pension. He cannot return home because Communists control his village. [NBC]
- The 19th game (of 24) of the world chess tournament in Iceland ended in a draw. Bobby Fischer now leads Boris Spassky 11 to 8 and needs 1½ points to win the championship. [NBC]
- Sweden won its first-ever gold medal in the summer Olympics, in pistol shooting. The U.S. basketball team won its 56th straight game since 1932, beating Czechoslovakia. Micki King of the USA leads in spring board diving. American male gymnasts didn't do well, but American female gymnast Kathy Rigby did very well. Team USA's Wayne Wells won his wrestling match against Ali Demirtas of Turkey, but 400-pound Chris Taylor of Iowa lost his match to Russian Alexander Medved. [NBC]
- West Germany is hosting 121 foreign nations at the Olympics. East Germany has sent a powerful team and a sizeable batch of tourists. 360 East German athletes and 2,000 spectators are attending the Olympics in West Germany. The West Germans have given them an unexpectedly warm welcome. South Vietnam sent one athlete to the Olympics, for pistol shooting; he came in 56th. [NBC]
- General Motors has had a good year; car sales are way up. But a strike at the Chevrolet plant in the Cincinnati suburb of Norwood is preventing profits from being even higher. The UAW claims that 700 workers were laid off here last spring; G.M. says that only 400 lost their jobs when the company merged Fisher Body with Chevrolet. The Norwood plant has been idle since April 8, when 4,000 employees went on strike. Camaros, Firebirds and Novas are built at this facility. 39,000 cars have been lost due to halted production, and the city of Norwood is losing $15,000 a week in payroll taxes due to the strike. Mayor Joseph Shea says that money for city services is running low.
The strike has cost workers $2 million in unpaid salaries, the city has lost $25,000 in taxes and General Motors has lost $150 million in car sales. No sign of a settlement is imminent.
[NBC] - Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz went to Mexico City to sign a treaty of cooperation with Mexico to fight the destructive screwworm fly which affects cattle. The screwworm epidemic is hurting Texas cattle producers. Sterile flies have been airdropped to mate with fertile flies, thus cutting down on screwworms. [NBC]
- A minor earthquake was reported in Los Angeles. [NBC]
- The General Accounting Office reported violations of the law in the financial operations of the Committee to Re-Elect the President. The GAO investigation was set off by the Democratic party headquarters break-in. Maurice Stans, the Nixon campaign's finance chairman, complained that the GAO report was rushed out due to pressure from Democrats; Stans asked the GAO to investigate Democrat finances too. McGovern campaign director Frank Mankiewicz says that President Nixon is sitting on a major scandal. [NBC]
- Violence continues in Northern Ireland. In Belfast, two masked gunmen killed a Protestant man in front of his wife. Three men were injured when one of them picked up an object in a Londonderry street and it exploded. [NBC]
- Hurricane Agnes hit the northeastern U.S. in June, but the damage is still being counted. In Chesapeake Bay the heavy rain diluted the amount of salt in the water, killing soft shell clams and oysters. It's the greatest economic calamity ever to befall Chesapeake Bay. [NBC]