News stories from Wednesday May 2, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Nixon tightened Phase III price controls. Large companies are now required to give 30 days notice of price increases of more than 1.5% above January levels. Treasury Secretary George Shultz admitted that the administration did not foresee such a rapid rise in food prices. The rather weak move by the President is a victory for Shultz, who opposes strong economic controls. [CBS]
- President Nixon intends to decentralize his chief of staff office which was formerly run by H.R. Haldeman, and he is giving Vice President Agnew an important role in shaping domestic policy; Agnew replaces John Ehrlichman in that capacity. Reporters claim that the President has established strict rules to investigators' access to White House files.
Former aides Ehrlichman and Haldeman face grand jury testimony soon. Ehrlichman doesn't think he will be indicted over the Watergate affair; Haldeman declined comment. John Mitchell criticized the New York Times report on Watergate. Jeb Magruder, former Nixon deputy campaign manager, testified for three hours to the grand jury today.
The Justice Department has charged the Nixon re-election campaign with failing to file reports and keep records on the $200,000 contribution from financier Robert Vesco. Vesco sought help from Mitchell and Ehrlichman with his business and legal troubles. Campaign finance chairman Maurice Stans received the contribution but did not report it to treasurer Hugh Sloan.
Martha Mitchell, the wife of John Mitchell, is scheduled to give a deposition in the Watergate civil case.
Senator George McGovern said that he doesn't feel that President Nixon was personally involved in Watergate, and the President needs help in getting through this difficult period, but Watergate must be investigated thoroughly. Republicans Ann Armstrong and Caspar Weinberger, in speaking with McGovern, said that Watergate will be overshadowed by the Nixon years.
[CBS] - Democrat John Connally has switched to the Republican party, but denied that he might become a new White House aide. Connally said that he hopes he is not offered a government job. Connally stated that Watergate didn't influence his decision to become a Republican, and he noted that the whole Republican party is not guilty of the Watergate bugging; Connally added that the Democratic party is too far left for his taste. President Nixon, Vice President Agnew, Governor Ronald Reagan and Senator Charles Percy welcomed Connally into the Republican ranks. [CBS]
- President Nixon is angry about Senator Charles Percy's resolution calling for him to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate. The White House stated that Elliot Richardson is free to name an independent investigator to the case if he so desires.
Egil Krogh, former assistant to John Ehrlichman, has taken an abrupt leave of absence from the Department of Transportation. Krogh formerly had the White House job of plugging news leaks after the Pentagon Papers were released. For this he hired G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt. Hunt and Liddy are accused of the 1971 burglary of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office.
[CBS] - Former Georgia congressman Howard Callaway has been named to succeed Robert Froehlke as Secretary of the Army. [CBS]
- Henry Kissinger announced that a meeting with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho has been set. The two men will discuss Vietnamese truce violations. [CBS]
- Lebanese troops battled Palestinian guerrillas in Beirut. The guerrillas had allegedly kidnapped two Lebanese soldiers. [CBS]
- Chicago now has the world's largest building; the Sears Tower is just being completed. [CBS]
- More rains threaten even more severe flooding along the Mississippi River. [CBS]
- Russell Means, a leader of the American Indian Movement, and four of his associates have been indicted for illegally conspiring to transport arms to Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and for crossing state lines to incite riots. [CBS]
- The movement in Berkeley, California, to change marijuana laws suffered a defeat today. Last month Berkeley voted to stop city police from arresting people for marijuana offenses without city council approval, but police have gone on making arrests. Berkeley residents are trying to get the city council to abide by the vote, but the council voted 5-4 to allow police to continue making arrests until the law gets a court test. [CBS]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 932.34 (+11.13, +1.21%)
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* |
| May 1, 1973 | 921.21 | 107.10 | 15.38 |
| April 30, 1973 | 921.43 | 106.97 | 14.82 |
| April 27, 1973 | 922.19 | 107.23 | 13.73 |
| April 26, 1973 | 937.76 | 108.89 | 16.21 |
| April 25, 1973 | 930.54 | 108.34 | 15.96 |
| April 24, 1973 | 940.77 | 109.99 | 13.83 |
| April 23, 1973 | 955.37 | 111.57 | 12.58 |
| April 19, 1973 | 963.20 | 112.17 | 14.56 |
| April 18, 1973 | 958.31 | 111.54 | 13.89 |
| April 17, 1973 | 953.42 | 110.94 | 12.83 |