News stories from Friday December 8, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A United Airlines Boeing 737 carrying 59 passengers crashed in a residential area of Chicago; 40 bodies have been recovered so far. The plane crashed though a row of houses as it approached Midway airport to land. Three houses were completely demolished. CBS news correspondent Michele Clark was among the passengers. The office of Illinois Congressman George Collins said that Collins was also aboard the plane. [CBS]
- Former President Harry Truman remains in critical condition. Heart trouble is the main concern of doctors at Research Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. Wallace Graham, Truman's physician, said that the patient is very weak. Margaret Truman Daniel reported that her father was quiet today, but ate some food. Bess Truman is keeping a vigil for her husband, as are the people of Independence, Missouri. [CBS]
- The unemployment rate was down last month from 5.5% to 5.2%. [CBS]
- President Nixon is considering ending wage and price controls. Treasury Secretary George Shultz, Federal Reserve Board chairman Arthur Burns, budget director Caspar Weinberger and Council of Economic Advisers chairman Herbert Stein attended a Camp David meeting with the President. Shultz supports voluntary guidelines to replace mandatory controls, with the Cost of Living Council monitoring and preventing flagrant violations. Burns urged the retention of controls through 1973. [CBS]
- Attorney General Richard Kleindienst will remain at his post for President Nixon's second term, but five key aides in the Justice Department will be replaced. Solicitor General Erwin Griswold will be succeeded by Robert Bork when Griswold retires at the end of the Supreme Court session; Bork drafted the administration's anti-busing policy. Louis Bruce, the commissioner of Indian affairs, will also be replaced. [CBS]
- Democratic national committee chairman Jean Westwood is fighting to retain her position, as former party treasurer Robert Strauss challenges Westwood for the leadership of the Democratic party. Westwood accused Strauss of being a symbol of "Democrats for Nixon," and stated that neither that symbol nor a McGovern symbol (such as herself) would be good as party leader. George Mitchell is a possible compromise candidate. Mitchell, a former associate of Senator Edmund Muskie, said that the party needs a more moderate candidate. [CBS]
- The Teamsters union, a backer of President Nixon's re-election, terminated its $100,000 a year legal business with the law firm of Edward Bennett Williams, the AP reported. Williams' firm represents the Democratic party in the Watergate bugging case. After an unsuccessful attempt by Teamster president Frank Fitzsimmons to pressure Williams into not pursuing the case, the union transferred its business to a firm connected with Charles Colson, a political aide to the President who has been linked with the Watergate scandal. [CBS]
- Henry Kissinger talked with President Pompidou of France and then attended Vietnam peace talks with Le Duc Tho for 4½ hours. A Hanoi news journal today hinted at peace for the first time; U.S. officials regard this as significant. [CBS]
- The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for Israel to withdraw from Arab-occupied territory. [CBS]
- A hijack attempt on an Ethiopian Airlines flight was foiled by security guards, who shot and killed seven armed hijackers. Eight people were injured by a grenade, but the explosion would have been worse if an American passenger, professor Roderick Hilsinger of Temple University, had not thrown the grenade into an empty section of the plane before it exploded. The plane landed safely. [CBS]
- Apollo 17 astronauts Cernan, Schmitt and Evans are preparing to enter lunar orbit on Sunday. [CBS]
- The Treasury Department mailed its first revenue sharing checks today; $2.6 billion was mailed to states and localities. The amounts are based on population, income and taxes while the degree of need is also considered. One-third of the money goes to states, the rest to localities. Deputy Undersecretary of the Treasury James Smith stated that the central purpose of revenue sharing is to delegate authority to state and local governments.
Pomona, California, was granted over $1 million a year in revenue sharing funds. Most of the money is going towards law enforcement and public safety. Mayor Richard Brownell said that narcotics use is causing a crime increase, and the need to combat it is great.
[CBS] - Defense Secretary Laird announced that military base closedowns or reductions will save $1 billion. [CBS]
- A federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that Detroit schools are segregated, but ordered further hearings before determining whether a busing order should be carried out. [CBS]
- Life magazine announced that after 36 years it will immediately cease publication. Rising costs and television competition killed Life. The stock of Time, Inc. went up 6½ points on the news of Life's ending. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1033.19 (-0.07, -0.01%)
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* |
| December 7, 1972 | 1033.26 | 118.60 | 19.32 |
| December 6, 1972 | 1027.54 | 118.01 | 18.61 |
| December 5, 1972 | 1022.95 | 117.58 | 17.80 |
| December 4, 1972 | 1025.21 | 117.77 | 19.73 |
| December 1, 1972 | 1023.93 | 117.38 | 22.57 |
| November 30, 1972 | 1018.21 | 116.67 | 19.34 |
| November 29, 1972 | 1018.81 | 116.52 | 17.38 |
| November 28, 1972 | 1019.34 | 116.47 | 19.21 |
| November 27, 1972 | 1017.76 | 116.72 | 18.91 |
| November 24, 1972 | 1025.21 | 117.27 | 15.76 |