News stories from Monday March 12, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Hanoi named the 108 American POWs who will be released on Wednesday. One is Lt. Commander John McCain, son of the former American commander of forces in the Pacific. The Viet Cong said that it will release 30 prisoners on Thursday. [CBS]
- CIA agent John Downey was released from China after 20 years in prison. The CIA has never revealed the details of Downey's capture, but China claims that he and CIA agent Richard Fecteau were smuggling spies into and out of Manchuria. Fecteau was released 16 months ago. Two American pilots still held by China are due to be released Thursday. Downey thanked China for releasing him early, and thanked President Nixon and Henry Kissinger for their efforts. Downey was released earlier than expected so he could see his critically ill mother. [CBS]
- Vietnamese POWs are mostly maimed and crippled, unlike American POWs. This is also true of political prisoners held by the Saigon government. Communist or anti-Thieu prisoners are held in tiger cages during captivity. Some who are freed from the cages are then transferred to provincial jails rather than being released. Others are put in hospitals.
One American civilian to be released Wednesday has a strange story. Bobby Jo Keesee had himself flown into North Vietnam by a Thai pilot for reasons nobody knows. Keesee is a private American citizen.
[CBS] - Federal agents are putting roadblocks up again around Wounded Knee, South Dakota, which has been occupied by Indians since last month. A grand jury convened today in Sioux Falls to investigate the Feb. 22 takeover of the town. One FBI agent was wounded by the Indians, who have declared the besieged area an independent nation. The FBI is concerned over the growing number of weapons in the area. Many white armed outsiders are filtering in. The government has suspended negotiations with the Indians, according to Interior Department spokesman Jack Murphy, because of their threats to shoot any federal officials entering the area. American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks said that after Wounded Knee there will be no more confrontations between AIM and the government. [CBS]
- Scotland Yard has taken over the investigation of the murders of Bermuda Governor Sir Richard Sharples and his aide. [CBS]
- Hector Campora, former dictator Juan Peron's candidate, is far ahead in Argentine elections. Campora promises to return Peron to power. [CBS]
- The Federal Trade Commission accused several leading manufacturers of pain killers of false and misleading advertising. The makers of Bufferin, Excedrin, Cope, Bayer, Vanquish, Midol and Anacin were specifically named. The firms involved are being asked by the FTC to run counter-claims admitting their mistakes unless they can prove that their ad claims are true. [CBS]
- The Environmental Protection Agency opened hearings on standards for auto exhausts. Auto makers, encouraged by presidential assistant John Ehrlichman, hope to postpone the 1975 requirement for non-polluting cars. EPA chief William Ruckelshaus said that he will decide if an extension is necessary, and he intends to make his decision based on the evidence -- and not the claims of car makers.
GM vice president Ernest Starkman warned that massive difficulty with new and untested pollution control equipment is to be expected, and a complete breakdown of auto manufacturing could occur. He added that GM can not comply with existing EPA regulations for 1975.
[CBS] - A conference begins tomorrow on the effects oil spills in the ocean. A government study revealed that the Atlantic Ocean is polluted with oil and plastics to an extent heretofore unexpected.
Microscopic plankton are the primary food of the ocean and produce much of the earth's oxygen supply. Pollution that is damaging to plankton has occurred within the last few years, due perhaps to oil from tankers and plastics from industries along the American seaboard. Studies suggest that there has been a decline in the amount of life in the ocean over last 10 years. The ocean study is being curtailed because of Nixon administration budget cuts.
[CBS] - President Nixon issued his definition of "executive privilege", stating that he will not allow any member of his personal staff to testify before Congress. The President is not required to testify before Congress and so Nixon feels his staff can be exempt as well. He also claimed that former aides can't be questioned, including aides whose names have come up in the Watergate case. Among those is former White House appointments secretary Dwight Chapin. [CBS]
- Acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray stated that he turned over FBI reports on three confidential interviews with Nixon campaign workers to White House attorney John Dean. Former campaign worker Juliet Hoback claimed that she talked privately with FBI agents and told nobody about it. Within 48 hours she was called before campaign officials and asked about the interview. [CBS]
- The Comptroller General charged the Nixon campaign with violations of campaign finance law. A $200,000 contribution from New Jersey financier Robert Vesco was not reported as the law requires. The contribution was later rejected and refunded. [CBS]
- Six of the nine European Common Market countries agreed to let their currencies float jointly against the dollar; the dollar now seems to be stronger. [CBS]
- Baseball great Frankie Frisch died today from injuries suffered in a recent automobile accident. [CBS]
- A former POW married his fiancee of six years. In Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Joseph Rose and schoolteacher Donna Steele were engaged before he left for Vietnam in 1967. Rose was taken prisoner in Vietnam and his fiancee waited for him to return. Rose says he doesn't know where or when the honeymoon will be. [CBS]
- Indian demands at Wounded Knee are getting wilder. Federal agents don't want another massacre like the one in 1890, but as the situation gets worse and the participants get more weary, an incident that all will regret becomes more likely. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 969.75 (-2.48, -0.26%)
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 9, 1973 | 972.23 | 113.79 | 14.07 |
| 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 |