News stories from Saturday September 16, 1972

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

The White House made public a financial statement that showed President Nixon's net worth totals $765,118, an increase of $168,218 while he has been President. It was also disclosed by the White House that Vice President Agnew's net worth is $198,250, an increase of $87,166 during his Vice Presidency. In reporting Mr. Nixon's worth, the White House said "The President and Mrs. Nixon have periodically made public their financial affairs and they now wish to upgrade these reports." The timing of the statement, however, was obviously linked to the campaign. [New York Times] Senator George McGovern accused President Nixon of having ordered a "whitewash" in the federal grand jury investigation of the alleged bugging of the Washington headquarters of the National Democratic Committee on June 17. On Friday, the grand jury indicted two former White House aides and the five men the police seized inside the headquarters on charges of having conspired to break into the offices. The Democratic presidential nominee, in one of his strongest condemnations of his Republican opponent, said "from the first count to the last," the federal grand jury indictment "spells whitewash," adding "and I suggest that this blatant miscarriage of justice was ordered by the White House to spare them embarrassment in an election year." [New York Times] In a year-long study by a federally sponsored panel of citizens on ways to preserve and revitalize the national parks system, the advisory group, organized by the Conservation Foundation, suggested that private automobiles have no place in national parks; that "homes on wheels are contrary to the park ethic"; that the park service should not provide vehicular campsite facilities, and that private enterprise and all but rudimentary overnight accommodations should be phased out of the operation of the national parks. [New York Times] Israeli armed forces were reported to have swept across a large section of southern Lebanon today when they engaged in heavy fighting with Lebanese Army units and Palestinian commandos. A Lebanese army communique said that three Lebanese tanks and other vehicles had been destroyed, and that 61 soldiers had been killed, or wounded or were missing. The Israelis were said to have destroyed two bridges and to have struck in the southeast up to Adiesse and Taiybe in the direction of Marjioun, to have driven past Bint Jbail up to Tibnine and Ghandouniye in the center, and to have pushed as far as Kana, 15 miles from Tyre. [New York Times] The United States is mobilizing its influence, both publicly and privately, to focus world attention on the growing menace of political -- mostly Arab -- terrorism. Senior administration officials who have discussed the problem and what the United States is doing about it have conceded that the suppression of Arab terrorism is inextricably linked with a solution in the Middle East. "There's very little likelihood that the Arabs will agree to any meaningful solution before the American presidential election," one Washington official said. "They're waiting to see whether Richard Nixon will continue as President." [New York Times] Henry Kissinger said that the continuation of his secret peace negotiations North Vietnamese representatives indicated that there is a "certain seriousness" in them. But at a White House conference, Mr. Kissinger, who is President Nixon's national security adviser, warned against setting arbitrary deadlines for ending the war. He also said the United States "would not be surprised" if the Communists soon launched a new offensive and "other high points" in Vietnam, although of lesser scope and duration than the offensive that began March 30. [New York Times]