News stories from Tuesday March 5, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Judge John Sirica will hear arguments Wednesday concerning the future of the grand jury's special report. Sirica met with lawyers from all sides to discuss the report today; the lawyers refused comment. John Wilson, the attorney for H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, filed a petition to keep the report bottled up in the grand jury. Earlier, Judge Sirica criticized the Washington Star News for publishing a secret memo which was sent to fellow judges about upcoming Watergate cases. Special prosecutor Leon Jaworski said that a dozen more indictments are expected between now and next May. [CBS]
- The House Judiciary Committee will try to obtain the grand jury's special report. President Nixon's attorney James St. Clair promised to respond tomorrow to the committee's request for evidence to be used in its impeachment probe.
Committee chairman Peter Rodino declared that the committee has waited a sufficient amount of time for the White House's response. Representative Edward Hutchinson said he hopes the White House will cooperate with the committee. Rodino threatened that subpoenas will be used if the White House refuses to honor the committee's request. Committee lawyers John Doar and Albert Jenner will appear before Judge Sirica to request that the grand jury report be turned over to them.
[CBS] - The towns of Springfield and Thetford, Vermont, held town meetings to vote on the question of President Nixon's impeachment. Both towns approved the resolution; Thetford is basically a Republican town. The impeachment issue was also voted on in Norwich and Woodstock, Vermont. [CBS]
- A congressional committee is studying President Nixon's controversial tax returns. Committee staffers are likely to find that the President owes more than $300,000 in back taxes and interest. Russell Long, chairman of the joint committee on taxation, reported that the President may be forced to pay back taxes and stated that the final results of the investigation will be released when they are available. [CBS]
- The prosecution called its star witness to testify in the trial of Maurice Stans and John Mitchell. Harry Sears was granted total immunity from prosecution by Judge Lee Gagliardi before his testimony. Sears testified about fugitive financier Robert Vesco and Mitchell. [CBS]
- Thomas Luken, a Democrat and a former mayor of Cincinnati, eked out a narrow victory in a special election in Ohio's 1st congressional district -- an election in which Watergate played a role. He defeated Willis Gradison, the Republican nominee, who is also a former mayor of Cincinnati. It was the third Republican district won by Democrats this year in other congressional elections. The district had gone Democratic only three times in this century. [New York Times]
- The official board studying the pay of Britain's striking coal miners has proposed that they get raises of about 35 percent, more than twice the offer that caused the dispute. Sources who have seen the Pay Board report disclosed its findings as Prime Minister Wilson announced his new Labor cabinet and moved to end the three-week strike. The proposals raised hopes that the strike would soon be over. [New York Times]
- The scheduled meeting of Arab oil ministers in Libya Sunday brings prospects for a relaxation of Arab oil restrictions, including the embargo against the United States, according to Arab diplomatic sources. But there were signs of continuing doubts among some Arab governments over a complete abandonment of the "oil weapon" until more progress is made on Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territories. [New York Times]
- Premier Golda Meir of Israel announced that she would complete the formation of a new coalition cabinet tomorrow and that it would include Moshe Dayan as Defense Minister. She also announced that Shimon Peres, the Minister of Communications, would join the cabinet. Both men changed their minds about joining the coalition after a special cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. [New York Times]
- Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, confronted by continued unrest and increasing demands for sweeping change, announced that he had agreed to a constitutional convention to create a new system of elected democratic government. This is expected to lead to the end of the absolute monarchy that had ruled for many centuries. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 872.42 (+19.24, +2.26%)
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* |
| March 4, 1974 | 853.18 | 95.53 | 12.27 |
| March 1, 1974 | 851.92 | 95.53 | 12.88 |
| February 28, 1974 | 860.53 | 96.22 | 13.68 |
| February 27, 1974 | 863.42 | 96.40 | 18.73 |
| February 26, 1974 | 859.51 | 96.00 | 15.86 |
| February 25, 1974 | 851.38 | 95.03 | 12.90 |
| February 22, 1974 | 855.99 | 95.39 | 16.36 |
| February 21, 1974 | 846.84 | 94.71 | 13.93 |
| February 20, 1974 | 831.04 | 93.44 | 11.67 |
| February 19, 1974 | 819.54 | 92.12 | 15.94 |