News stories from Thursday September 23, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Justice John M. Harlan has retired due to failing health, creating the first Supreme Court double vacancy in 30 years; it is believed that a Southerner and a woman may fill the Black and Harlan seats. Justices William O. Douglas and Thurgood Marshall have recently been ill as well. President Nixon will be the first president since Franklin Roosevelt to fill four vacancies in a single term.
Those being considered include Rep. Richard Poff, Charles Rhyne, judge Edward Gignoux, Senator Edward Brooke, Vice President Spiro Agnew, judges Shirley Hufstedler, Cornelia Keaney, Sylvia Bacon and Normalie Johnson.
Bethesda Naval Hospital reports Justice Black's condition as serious; Black suffered stroke on Sunday.
[CBS] - White House press secretary Ron Ziegler stated that President Nixon approved the air strikes against North Vietnam last Tuesday and denied that the raids signify a change in U.S. policy. The Pentagon claims that the strikes were authorized in order to knock out gas and oil storage facilities; the raids are considered to have been highly successful. President Nixon is threatening to bomb military sites in North Vietnam if the Communists develop the capacity to increase their level of fighting. [CBS]
- American forces are being alerted and confined to posts in anticipation of possible enemy activity as the South Vietnam presidential election nears. President Nguyen Van Thieu maintains his greatest political strength in rural South Vietnam; 72% of registered voters live in small hamlets. The deputy hamlet chief in Hoa Tri said that all 218 voters will cast ballots in the upcoming election, but villagers don't know the procedures for voting against President Thieu. [CBS]
- A hearing was held in Col. Oran Henderson's trial concerning a missing report that was supposedly filed by Henderson regarding his investigation of the My Lai massacre. [CBS]
- Senator George McGovern returned from South Vietnam and charged that President Thieu's government engineered an attack on him at a Saigon church last week. McGovern said that South Vietnam is full of war-weary Vietnamese and demoralized U.S. soldiers; he believes that the only result of President Nixon's trip to China will be news photos of Nixon with a ping-pong paddle.
McGovern says that draft evaders and conscientious objectors should be granted amnesty after the Vietnam war.
[CBS] - A change may be taking place in China's political leadership; the White House is concerned that the change could affect President Nixon's trip. [CBS]
- Sudan President Gaafar al-Nimeiry charged that the Soviet Union was behind attempted coups in Sudan and Egypt. [CBS]
- The British Parliament ended two days of talks on the situation in Northern Ireland and announced that further violence won't be tolerated. British soldiers were attacked by snipers and mobs again today. [CBS]
- Pontiac, Michigan, anti-busing leader Mrs. Irene McCabe announced an end to her organization's school busing boycott; she vowed that the fight will be continued in the courts. [CBS]
- The federal government filed suits against 35 companies for failing to request permits to dump waste in waterways. [CBS]
- A three-man Yippie movement panel ruled that Abbie Hoffman must pay journalist Tom Forcade $1,000 and give him 10,000 copies of "Steal This Book" for using Forcade's material. [CBS]
- The cost of welfare was over $16 billion for the last fiscal year; an increase of 18%; the number of people on welfare is up 17%. [CBS]
- A judge will order the Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, school board not to pay teachers' raises. [CBS]
- Price increases have been granted for American Motors cars because of the cost increases of new standard equipment. [CBS]
- The U.S. dollar continued to fall on world money markets. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 891.28 (-2.27, -0.25%)
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* |
| September 22, 1971 | 893.55 | 98.47 | 14.25 |
| September 21, 1971 | 903.40 | 99.34 | 10.64 |
| September 20, 1971 | 905.15 | 99.68 | 9.54 |
| September 17, 1971 | 908.22 | 99.96 | 11.02 |
| September 16, 1971 | 903.11 | 99.66 | 10.55 |
| September 15, 1971 | 904.86 | 99.77 | 11.08 |
| September 14, 1971 | 901.65 | 99.34 | 11.41 |
| September 13, 1971 | 909.39 | 100.07 | 10.00 |
| September 10, 1971 | 911.00 | 100.42 | 11.38 |
| September 9, 1971 | 915.89 | 100.80 | 15.79 |