News stories from Wednesday February 20, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Navy yeoman Charles Radford testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about his key role in Pentagon spying on the White House. Radford stated that he took orders from Rear Admiral Rembrandt Robinson and Admiral James Welander. His superiors arranged for Radford to take trips with Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig; Radford stole items during those trips. Welander is scheduled to testify tomorrow. Committee chairman John Stennis said that the investigation is far from over. [CBS]
- CBS has learned that Democrats are prepared to agree to an out-of-court settlement in their Watergate damage suit against Republicans. The suit will be settled for $800,000. National party chairman Robert Strauss and former chairman Lawrence O'Brien agreed to turn over their share of the settlement to the Democratic National Committee. Association of State Democrats chairman Spencer Oliver may proceed with a separate suit of his own. [CBS]
- The House Judiciary Committee moved closer to impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. Staff lawyers will present the committee's views on impeachable offenses tomorrow. [CBS]
- Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that John Dean may testify against President Nixon's former appointments secretary Dwight Chapin in Chapin's perjury trial. [CBS]
- President Nixon met with Republican leaders to discuss Monday's special election upset in Michigan, in which Democrat Richard Vander Veen defeated the Republican candidate in the race to fill Gerald Ford's old seat. Representative John Rhodes said that the President referred to Watergate without actually saying it. [CBS]
- Prospective jurors received the first formal information on the charges and potential witnesses in the trial of former Attorney General John Mitchell and former Commerce Secretary Maurice Stans. The judge introduced the defendants, described the charges and read a long list of prospective witnesses, including both of President Nixon's brothers, his former counsel, John Dean, and two former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission. [New York Times]
- The announcement of a one-time "injection" of new gasoline supplies into 20 hard-hit states produced confusion over just how much relief the emergency allocations would bring. William Simon, the federal energy chief, said it would help but not end long lines at gasoline pumps. [New York Times]
- The gasoline shortage, which is proving a drain on much of the nation, is pumping new life into central cities. The flight to the suburbs has been slowed, if not reversed, local retail sales are up, real estate leaders predict a new boom in office space rentals, centrally situated hotels are profiting and the cities appears to have won a round in their bout with the automobile. [New York Times]
- Prices for most raw materials reached record or near-record levels in the nation's commodity exchanges -- the strongest signal yet that consumer prices will soar much higher in the coming weeks. [New York Times]
- Premier Golda Meir of Israel announced that she was prepared to form a minority coalition government and had asked Moshe Dayan to serve as Defense Minister. The announcement -- less than an hour before the expiration of her 21-day mandate to form a government -- followed the collapse of intensive negotiations to form a broader coalition with the National Religious party. There was no immediate word on whether Mr. Dayan would accept the invitation. [New York Times]
- After last-minute moves aimed at getting Syrian-Israeli talks underway, Secretary of State Kissinger said goodbye to Arab envoys in Washington and flew to Mexico. With Middle East questions still unsettled, Mr. Kissinger turned his attention to Western Hemisphere problems and three days of talks with 24 Latin-American and Caribbean foreign ministers in Mexico City.
Mr. Kissinger comes to the meeting with more of a vision than a plan for reshaping relations with Latin America. He seeks a relationship of equals, and feels Latin American leaders are more disposed toward this vision than those in Western Europe. The Secretary of State will face a continent whose political and economic structures have changed radically since United States policy was set three years ago. Poverty is still the overwhelming problem, but the energy crisis and the shortage of raw materials have given Latin America a new leverage against the United States.
[New York Times] - Mrs. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said the Soviet authorities had told her that she and her family could join her husband in exile. Her disclosure came as the Soviet press justified Mr. Solzhenitsyn's expulsion with an article that was taken as a sign that officials feared his outspokenness would undermine Soviet prestige and confidence and hamper trade with the West. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 831.04 (+11.50, +1.40%)
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* |
| February 19, 1974 | 819.54 | 92.12 | 15.94 |
| February 15, 1974 | 820.32 | 92.27 | 12.64 |
| February 14, 1974 | 809.92 | 90.95 | 12.23 |
| February 13, 1974 | 806.87 | 90.98 | 10.99 |
| February 12, 1974 | 806.63 | 90.94 | 12.92 |
| February 11, 1974 | 803.90 | 90.66 | 12.93 |
| February 8, 1974 | 820.40 | 92.33 | 12.99 |
| February 7, 1974 | 828.46 | 93.30 | 11.75 |
| February 6, 1974 | 824.62 | 93.26 | 11.61 |
| February 5, 1974 | 820.64 | 93.00 | 12.82 |