News stories from Sunday May 20, 1973

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

The U.S. bombed Cambodia heavily today. [NBC] The Viet Cong charged that the South Vietnamese government is obstructing the investigation into possible American bombing missions in South Vietnam. North Vietnam claims that the U.S. is making reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam. [NBC] President Thieu announced a seven-year plan to raise the standard of living in South Vietnam. Thieu wants to attract tourists, but movement in South Vietnam is restricted. The truce guarantees the South Vietnamese people freedom of movement in their country, but Viet Cong checkpoints such as those along Highway 13 inhibit travel. [NBC] Seventeen anti-war activists were cleared on charges of having raided a draft board in Camden, New Jersey, two years ago. The government has prosecuted a number of anti-war figures over the past few years, including the "Chicago 7", the "Harrisburg 7", Dr. Benjamin Spock and Daniel Ellsberg. The government has failed to get convictions on the primary charges in all cases. [NBC] Soviet party leader Leonid Brezhnev and West German Chancellor Willy Brandt held more talks in Bonn, West Germany. Brezhnev says that he is looking forward to his U.S. trip, and he does not intend to let the Watergate scandal disrupt his visit. [NBC] The Washington Star News reports that former CIA director Richard Helms has told the grand jury that Nixon aide H.R. Haldeman tried to get CIA to take responsibility for the Watergate burglary. Haldeman is said to have told Helms that the request came from the President. [NBC] A Gallup poll indicates that 62% of Americans feel that inflation is the country's most important problem, followed by crime, drugs and government corruption. While 16% of Americans now feel that government corruption is an important problem, in February only 1% thought so. [NBC] Thus far in the Watergate hearings, the main witness has been James McCord. McCord said he was told that John Mitchell helped plan the Watergate burglary, and he claims that former White House aide John Caulfield offered him executive clemency in return for remaining silent and pleading guilty in the Watergate trial. McCord recounted the three offers which occurred in January, 1973 -- executive clemency, financial help while in prison, and a job after prison in return for his silence. Those offers were made by Caulfield in the name of the President.Caulfield admits meeting with McCord but says that he can't recall if he used the President's name. Caulfield is expected to say that his orders came from John Dean and John Ehrlichman. Senator Lowell Weicker is especially interested in McCord's testimony that he received reports from the Justice Department while employed by the Nixon campaign. The information concerned possible demonstrations and political activism against Republicans. The reports are said to have been approved by John Mitchell and his deputy at the Justice Department. McCord stated that reports were passed on almost a daily basis through Robert Odle to Mitchell's office, or to other people interested in possible demonstrations against Republican campaigns. The others included Hugh Sloan, Maurice Stans and G. Gordon Liddy, according to McCord. Weicker is expected to have more questions about the wiretaps of McGovern supporters and other political activists. He is concerned that files which were removed from Nixon campaign headquarters on the day after the Watergate arrests may have contained information gathered from wiretaps. Odle said that he removed the so-called strategy file and advertising files from Jeb Magruder's desk after being asked to take them home for the weekend during a telephone conversation with Robert Reisner and Jeb Magruder. Now Odle suspects the files were really "Gemstone" files. Gemstone is the code name for political espionage, including the Watergate bugging. Other code words include "Ruby 1", "Ruby 2" and "Crystal", meaning that the source was a spy in the Democratic campaign. Information pertaining to the Muskie campaign was gotten through wiretaps. The secretary who typed the Gemstone reports will be questioned this week. NBC resumes coverage of the hearings on Tuesday at 10 a.m., and will air a special report on Watergate Tuesday at 10 p.m. [NBC] NASA scientists continue to work on problems with Skylab. Astronauts Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz are receiving training to repair the malfunctioning Skylab spacecraft. Problems include poison gas and excessive temperatures inside the craft as well as a power shortage. On Monday the astronauts will go to the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to practice the repair procedures underwater. On Wednesday they will fly to Cape Kennedy, Florida, for liftoff on Friday. [NBC] The Coast Guard is continuing to search for five people who are missing since their charter fishing boat sank off Rhode Island. [NBC] Watergate will dominate the news in the coming week. James McCord testifies Tuesday. John Mitchell and Maurice Stans will enter pleas in a related case.A prisoners of war party is scheduled at the White House on Thursday. All POWs are invited, even those suspected of enemy collaboration. 42 people go on trial in Rome on Friday for attempting to revive Fascism in Italy. British Prime Minister Edward Heath goes to Paris for talks with French President Georges Pompidou regarding U.S. relations; Pompidou meets President Nixon at the end of the month in Iceland. [NBC]