News stories from Sunday August 6, 1972

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

George McGovern held his first strategy session with new running mate Sargent Shriver. Democrats want to forget the Eagleton affair and get on with the campaign.Shriver and his family live on a big country estate close to Washington, DC. Today it looked like a campaign center as Shriver lunched with McGovern aides. Shriver is the former head of the Peace Corps and the "war on poverty". Shriver said that he can think of nothing in his past which could hurt the party; he has had good health and wants the nation to return to the wonderful land it can be, and he anxiously accepted the vice-presidential bid. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley called Shriver to congratulate him and to say that he will now work for the ticket. [NBC] McGovern campaign workers are relieved now that a vice president has been selected. For the past two weeks the McGovern campaign organization has stared at the vice-presidential snafu with morbid fascination. Shriver's acceptance lifted a weight off the organization. Shriver will campaign on his own, trying to make a big splash and hoping that Americans will forget the Eagleton affair quickly. McGovern said that he is delighted to have Shriver on the ticket, and thinks that the Democrats finally got the right man after all. [NBC] George McGovern used the announcement of Sargent Shriver as his vice-presidential choice as an opportunity to speak on the issues. He criticized President Nixon's failure to end the Vietnam war, inflation, a faulty welfare system, crime, pollution, and division in the nation. McGovern stated that, unlike Eisenhower, Nixon has not kept his pledge to end a war which he inherited. Republicans demanded equal time to rebut McGovern, but Democrats replied that the President already gets all the free time he wants. [NBC] President Thieu of South Vietnam fired Defense Minister Nguyen Van Vy, who is suspected of embezzling soldiers' savings funds. [NBC] Heavy fighting continues in Quang Tri city. A North Vietnamese attack against Hue is still expected; enemy troops occupy nearby hamlets. [NBC] Vietnam has become a major issue in Japan. In Yokohama, anti-war demonstrators kept five American tanks from being loaded on ships bound for Vietnam. City officials charged the U.S. Army with violating Japanese traffic laws. Demonstrators prayed for the Hiroshima atomic bomb victims from the incident which occurred 27 years ago today. [NBC] It is being reported that the withdrawal of Soviet military advisers from Egypt has been completed. [NBC] In Northern Ireland, IRA terrorists returned to Londonderry, which they fled a week ago in the face of a tough crackdown by the British Army; Buncrana, a town 10 miles from Londonderry and across the border in Ireland, shields dozens of IRA men. [NBC] 50 people were killed and 150 were injured in a train wreck in Pakistan. [NBC] Britain's dock strike is in its tenth day, with no settlement in sight. The government has stopped relief payments to the families of striking longshoremen; the supply of reserve food is dwindling. 600 ships are at anchor in British ports, unable to unload. Vessels with perishable foods have dumped their cargo at sea. Containerized cargo has wiped out jobs on the docks. Dockers are in no mood for compromise even after five shop stewards were released from jail (where they were sent for breaking a new British labor law). Some picketing led to battles with police. Housewives are beginning to feel the scarcity of fruit; imported feed for cattle and poultry is dwindling. The government could use soldiers to unload essential cargoes. [NBC] President Nixon invited American chess champion Bobby Fischer to visit the White House whether he wins or loses the world championship in Iceland. Fischer is playing Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. Russians are closely following the championship match; Russian chess players are disappointed in Spassky's showing. Spassky won the 11th game (of 24). The score currently is Fischer 6 ½, Spassky 4 ½. [NBC] Fire erupted aboard a small Israeli cargo ship in the Adriatic Sea. One Yugoslav crewman was killed, 25 others evacuated. [NBC] In Trieste, Italy, the fire which destroyed a trans-Alpine oil pipeline terminal has finally been brought under control. An Arab guerrilla organization claims responsibility for the fire. [NBC] Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark visited North Vietnamese dikes which were hit by American bombs, and he demanded a halt to American bombing. [NBC] New York City Mayor John Lindsay appointed a special commission to study alleged corruption in the police department. The commission reported that a pattern of corruption exists among New York City policemen; it also recommended that gambling be legalized in order to cut down corruption. [NBC] The World Congress of Nudists is meeting in Yugoslavia; rain and cool weather forced the 30,000 participants to wear clothes. [NBC]