News stories from Monday September 4, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said in a televised interview that he believes the Vietnam war, as ordered by the President, is unconstitutional; only Congress has the power to declare war. [CBS]
- South Vietnamese forces lost one Fire Base in the Central Highlands but regained control of another. Typhoon Elsie is limiting war activity. [CBS]
- A Harris poll of union members shows that they prefer President Nixon over George McGovern by 49% to 40%. McGovern rode in a Labor Day parade in Barberton, Ohio, and said that the rich should pay their fair share of the cost of government. He called for tax reforms to benefit "ordinary" taxpayers. In Akron, McGovern volunteers canvassed neighborhoods for voters but they found many Democrats who favor the President.
Many Ohio citizens vote Democrat locally but also voted for Nixon in '68. Ohio state AFL-CIO chairman Frank King says that McGovern's Ohio chairman Dick Sklar gloats over the Democrat labor vote but derides labor bosses. Sklar said that the past conflicts were political, and he regrets any ill feelings King had over them. Sklar called on all Democrats, particularly King, to help elect Senator McGovern. Franklin County Democratic party chairman Nelson Lanzioni vowed that Ohio voters will pick Democrats from the White House to the court house.
[CBS] - George McGovern is reportedly ready to cut off financial aid to South Vietnam; Newsweek magazine quoted McGovern's foreign policy adviser as stating that America does not belong in southeast Asia. [CBS]
- George McGovern visited the Southern Governors Conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he was met with cool politeness. Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter said that the southern governors will vote Democrat, but will confine their campaign efforts to statewide and congressional candidates. South Carolina Governor John West says that voters in his state resent elected officials trying to influence their votes. North Carolina Governor Robert Scott noted the cordiality of the meeting with McGovern. Nixon adviser Harry Dent said that it's unpopular to be for McGovern. [CBS]
- Tennessee campaign director Kenneth Schoen has resigned due to a lack of communication with George McGovern and his national staff. [CBS]
- Republican party chairman Robert Dole made a new charge of Democrat campaign finance violations, saying that George McGovern uses dummy committees to enable wealthy contributors to escape taxes on donations. Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner was cited as one example. Dole also stated that McGovern failed to report a $250,000 contribution. McGovern aide Frank Mankiewicz called Dole's charges "contemptible". [CBS]
- "La Raza Unida", a Mexican-American political party, said that it will not support any presidential candidate this year nor run one itself. The party will concentrate on local efforts instead. [CBS]
- The United Farm Workers nationwide lettuce boycott received a Labor Day endorsement from Cardinal Patrick O'Boyle, archbishop of Washington, DC. O'Boyle called migrant farm workers "America's forgotten people". [CBS]
- Mark Spitz won his seventh Olympic gold medal today, more than anyone has ever won before, in the men's 400-meter medley relay; he set another world record in the process. Spitz said that he would not want his son to be compared to him, and doesn't know if he would encourage his son to enter competitive sports, because he doesn't have a son. [CBS]
- In 1962, the Kennedy administration started a program of government loans to build golf courses in rural areas of the nation in order to make rural life more attractive; the Nixon administration dropped the program. Now the government is asking the National Golf Foundation to aid courses which are in financial trouble. [CBS]
- The Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal was robbed. 18 paintings including a Rembrandt were stolen. [CBS]
- Edith Irving arrived in Zurich, Switzerland, to face charges of fraud and forgery for her part in the Howard Hughes literary hoax. Clifford Irving is serving a 2½ year sentence in the United States. [CBS]
- Hopes that the militant provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army would become more moderate were dashed, as the IRA announced a further campaign of violence in Northern Ireland. [CBS]
- Representatives of 17 nations opened a conference in Washington, DC regarding hijacking. A treaty to prosecute hijackers is being considered. The Soviet Union and Arab nations oppose boycotts to help make the treaty effective. [CBS]
- The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival attracted 300,000 young people to Bull Island, Illinois on the Wabash River. A rock concert was peaceful; there were no arrests although drugs were plentiful. Canned Heat, Fleetwood Mac and other groups performed. [CBS]
- Warren Billings and Tom Mooney were convicted in 1916 of setting off a bomb in San Francisco. They claimed that they were framed because of their labor activities. Billings died today -- Labor Day -- in Redwood City, California, at the age of 79. [CBS]