News stories from Sunday November 12, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The skyjacking of a Southern Airways DC-9 jet finally ended in Cuba, 29 hours and 12 minutes after it began. Hijacked over Alabama on Friday, the plane landed nine times, flew to three countries, crossed the U.S. two times and landed in Havana twice. After initially landing in Havana on Friday night, the hijackers negotiated with Premier Fidel Castro, who came to the airport while the hijackers stayed in the plane. The hijackers were not satisfied with what Castro offered and ordered the plane to take off. It landed at Orlando, Florida, where FBI agents tried to stop the plane by shooting out all four tires; the plane took off anyway. While in Florida the hijackers demanded to talk with President Nixon. That request was denied.
The plane then flew back to Cuba, where the hijackers give themselves up. All 31 passengers and crew members were brought to Miami International Airport. All but three were taken to a secret location for debriefing; the other three came out on stretchers and left in ambulances. The three who are thought to be wounded are the co-pilot, an elderly man suffering from nervous shock, and a person with a broken foot. The hijackers are now in custody in Cuba. They asked for $10 million in cash; the amount they got in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is unknown but believed to be between $2 million and $6 million.
Two of the hijackers, Henry Jackson and Louis Moore, are from Detroit and are suspects in rape cases. They sued the city of Detroit for police brutality for $4 million. The city offered them $25, angering them. The third hijacker, Melvin Cale, is a fugitive from a Tennessee prison. Cale and Moore are half-brothers.
[NBC] - Studies are underway regarding how much should be done to stop hijackers, and what should be done once a skyjack is in progress. Despite security precautions, hijacks continue. On Southern Airways flight 93 from LaGuardia Airport in New York City this morning, security was greatly increased in response to the latest skyjacking. Passengers were not annoyed by the inspections. American Airlines has tighter security than many. Eastern has had more security longer than most airlines. Although security is being tightened for all airlines, checking is still spotty. [NBC]
- American planes made their heaviest attacks on North Vietnam since the air war was cut back last month to encourage peace negotiations. 240 strikes were carried out by U.S. fighter bombers. B-52's made six sorties against supply areas in Vinh and Dong Hai to disrupt Communist supply routes to the South. [NBC]
- General Alexander Haig is on his way back to the United States after two days of talks with President Thieu in South Vietnam. Thieu may have agreed to the U.S.-North Vietnam proposed peace settlement which calls for a cease-fire and new elections, or he may be demanding that a political settlement be negotiated separately between him and the Communists. That, however, would not prevent Washington and Hanoi from going ahead with their own cease-fire, U.S. troop pullout and POW releases. Thieu no longer is considered an obstacle to the peace settlement. The way is open for Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho to open the final round of negotiations. [NBC]
- President Nixon was seen for the first time in his four-day stay in Key Biscayne, Florida, when he and Mrs. Nixon went to a Presbyterian church near their home today. Daughters Tricia Cox and Julie Eisenhower and Tricia's husband, Ed Cox, were with them. The President is working on the shape of the peace settlement in Vietnam, among other things. He will meet with General Haig on his return to Washington. U.S. officials say there is no question that President Thieu will go along with the peace agreement, even though North Vietnamese troops will be allowed to remain in South Vietnam. [NBC]
- On his way home from South Vietnam, General Haig stopped in Cambodia and Seoul, South Korea. He met with Cambodian President Lon Nol. Cambodia is tired of war.
Cambodia has been severely affected by war with the Communists. People want just to survive. Without U.S. aid, Cambodia would have died long ago, and Cambodia is important as leverage for the U.S. in Vietnam. President Lon Nol possesses the power but is in a weak position; the national assembly is powerless. There have been three new governments already this year, troop morale is poor and the people are apathetic. Cambodia's future is uncertain.
[NBC] - Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan arrived in Washington, where he is scheduled to meet Secretary of State William Rogers and Defense Secretary Melvin Laird. The administration wants to confer with Dayan before he makes any new peace effort in the Mideast. Israel is offering financial help to towns along the Gaza Strip if they annex refugee camps. All have done so except the town of Gaza; the mayor and town council have been dismissed by the Israeli government. [NBC]
- In Illinois, state legislators are being asked to consider bills to repay depositors of a bankrupt financial institution. The people involved claim that a savings and loan association in Chicago had been allowed to operate without proper state supervision.
The City Savings Association was closed in 1964, taking $28 million of people's savings down with it. It has been found that deposits there were never insured by the federal government. C. Oran Mensik, the former president of City Savings, is now in Switzerland with millions from the institution. A year ago he escaped from a prison farm in Pennsylvania where he was serving time for another swindle.
Depositors have held meetings and demonstrations. The money they had in City Savings was their life savings. Most depositors are from Eastern Europe, and are laborers and scrub women. The case has been dragging on for eight years. Some depositors are supposed to be paid 20 cents on the dollar within a month by order of a federal court. Other suits are pending, and Illinois legislators may do something.
[NBC] - Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on Monday. [NBC]