News stories from Friday March 9, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- John Downey, the CIA agent who has been held prisoner in China for 20 years, will be released on Monday. Downey's release was speeded by news that his mother is critically ill. Also to be released are two pilots who were shot down in the Vietnam war, Maj. Philip Smith and Lt. Commander Robert Flynn. [CBS]
- Police are searching for clues to the two bombings in London yesterday. Ten suspects are being held in connection with the bombings; all 10 are from Northern Ireland. Police received 200 calls today reporting bombs in various places, however all were false alarms. Reports indicate that the bombings in Belfast were done by the IRA. The bombings may make Englishmen want to separate the United Kingdom from Northern Ireland, or they may produce the opposite reaction. [CBS]
- An agreement in principle has reportedly been reached between federal authorities and the Indians who are occupying Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Twenty Indians have been arrested in the last 24 hours; two were wounded by the FBI. American Indian Movement leader Russell Means stated that the AIM and the Justice Department have agreed, but so far AIM has received no response from the Interior Department. The AIM wants the tribal chairman at the Pine Ridge Reservation to be suspended, and it also wants an investigation into the Bureau of Indian Affairs practices. [CBS]
- The unemployment rate went up to 5.1% in February. [CBS]
- Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz said that the Nixon administration plans no food price freeze despite rising prices. Fish, the main alternative food to beef, is likely to go up 7% in the next few weeks. [CBS]
- A meeting was held in Paris regarding the world monetary crisis. Finance ministers from the Common Market countries plus Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and Indonesia met with a U.S. team headed by Treasury Secretary George Shultz and Federal Reserve Board chairman Arthur Burns. More meetings are scheduled. Because of the recent 10% dollar devaluation, Common Market countries killed a plan to cut tariffs on American imports. [CBS]
- President Nixon's domestic advisor John Ehrlichman appeared at a White House briefing and put the Nixon administration adamantly in opposition to Congress on several points. Ehrlichman is the President's chief spokesman against legislation for job training, assistance for the elderly and more veterans benefits. Ehrlichman claims that if those bills pass, a 9% tax increase will be required.
Ehrlichman also talked about the Watergate case and explained why White House attorney John Dean was present during the FBI's interview with Ehrlichman; Ehrlichman said that he felt more comfortable with Dean present. He added that allegations of White House involvement with the Watergate bugging are merely hearsay.
[CBS] - Much of the "hearsay" mentioned by Ehrlichman came from acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray during Senate hearings on his confirmation as permanent FBI chief. Gray's critics feel that he is too politically involved with the Republican party, and columnist Jack Anderson charged that Gray would not keep the FBI out of politics.
Senators Kennedy and Tunney pointed to a close relationship between White House attorney John Dean and Watergate defendant G. Gordon Liddy. Dean was kept informed by Gray about the FBI's Watergate investigation. Campaign official Jeb Magruder stated that Dean helped Liddy get a campaign job. Senator Tunney says that Dean should have to appear before the Senate to testify.
[CBS] - Texas oilman Robert Allen requested and got a $100,000 refund of his contribution to the Nixon re-election campaign after finding out that $89,000 of the contribution ended up in the bank account of a man convicted of the Watergate bugging. [CBS]
- The three major television networks are appealing for a suspension of the equal-time requirement for political broadcasts. CBS vice-chairman Frank Stanton said that CBS would make eight hours of free television time available for major presidential and vice-presidential candidates. NBC president Julian Goodman offered four half-hours free for candidates to use as they wish. [CBS]
- Officials recently reported that Miami Beach's water supply was contaminated. Two new chlorinators have now been installed and water purity should be restored shortly. Mayor Chuck Hall noted that reports of bad water are bad news for the tourist industry. The Fontainebleau Hotel was serving boiled water on request even though its water supply tested out as pure. [CBS]
- A search is underway for 32 children from a farm labor camp in Homestead, Florida, who may have typhoid. The typhoid outbreak has brought a team of three members of a House subcommittee on public health to Homestead. Paul Rogers, Dante Fascell and William Lehman all represent south Florida districts. [CBS]
- McGeorge Bundy, a key adviser for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, testified for the defense in the Pentagon Papers case. Bundy declared that the leak of the papers by defendants Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo could not have helped the enemy in the Vietnam war. [CBS]
- South Vietnam claimed 124 more Communist cease-fire violations today. [CBS]
- Two former POWs said that antiwar sentiment in America is a healthy thing, even though it probably delayed their release. Capt. Joseph Milligan and Sgt. Arthur Cormier said that they support amnesty for draft dodgers, but with conditions. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 972.23 (-4.21, -0.43%)
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* |
| March 8, 1973 | 976.44 | 114.23 | 15.10 |
| March 7, 1973 | 979.98 | 114.45 | 19.31 |
| March 6, 1973 | 979.00 | 114.10 | 17.71 |
| March 5, 1973 | 966.89 | 112.68 | 13.72 |
| March 2, 1973 | 961.32 | 112.28 | 17.71 |
| March 1, 1973 | 949.65 | 111.05 | 18.21 |
| February 28, 1973 | 955.07 | 111.68 | 17.95 |
| February 27, 1973 | 947.92 | 110.90 | 16.13 |
| February 26, 1973 | 953.79 | 112.19 | 15.86 |
| February 23, 1973 | 959.89 | 113.16 | 15.45 |