News stories from Sunday February 3, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Federal and state officials met with truckers' representatives in Washington in order to try to end their protest. Violence and unemployment have stemmed from the truckers' strike. Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp, who called for the meeting, requested that truckers begin a 45-day moratorium from striking. Truckers' representative Leonard Fleet stated that truckers won't go along with any moratorium until their demands are met. Truckers have faced serious hardships due to the 55 m.p.h. speed limit and fuel rationing.
Ohio Governor John Gilligan ordered the National Guard to protect truckers along the roads. Violence and damage are extensive in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania National Guard has been protecting working truckers in that state, and extra Guardsmen are being called in. More violence is expected. The strike has been relatively calm in Illinois, but Indiana is hard-hit by the truck strike. Truckers there plan to stay off the roads until their demands are met. Attorney General William Saxbe exhorted governors and other state officials to stand up to the truckers.
[NBC] - Vice President Gerald Ford said that the White House should release any evidence clearing the President. On "Face the Nation", Ford stated his belief that such evidence exists, and he asserted that the White House has cooperated fully with special Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski. On ABC's "Issues and Answers", however, Jaworski insisted that all information needed from the White House has not been made available to the prosecutor's office. Jaworski believes Ford is sincere, but said that his office has had to fight for all tapes and documents. Jaworski hinted that he was almost forced to use a subpoena on the President. [NBC]
- Three unidentified gunmen released the Greek freighter and crew members they were holding in the Karachi, Pakistan, harbor. The gunmen surrendered after the Greek government assured them that Arab terrorists being held in Greece won't be executed. The three gunmen were allowed to leave Pakistan without punishment. [NBC]
- Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko arrived in Washington for meetings with President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger regarding the Mideast truce and arms control. [NBC]
- Investigators for the Senate Watergate committee reportedly have learned that the Secret Service was ordered to keep Donald Nixon, the President's brother, under physical surveillance during his first term because of mounting concern within the White House that his business dealings, particularly with the Howard Hughes organization, might embarrass the President and hurt his chances for re-election. [New York Times]
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn angrily reacted to charges circulated in Moscow that he had informed on the school friend with whom he had exchanged the correspondence criticizing Stalin that led to their arrests during World War II. In a statement issued to Western newsmen, he contended that Soviet authorities were preparing a new smear campaign against him by putting pressure on old friends and acquaintances to denounce him. [New York Times]