News stories from Thursday February 21, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Republican Governor Tom McCall of Oregon will leave office next January; his mother hopes to succeed him. Mrs. Dorothy McCall said she wants to change campaign tactics for seeking office. Asked about national politics, Mrs. McCall stated that she won't lower herself to discussing that subject. Her son Tom said he's concerned about his mother's plans but won't interfere. [CBS]
- Reg Murphy, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, was apparently kidnapped last night. Murphy is being held by a right-wing militia group calling itself the "American Revolutionary Army". Executive editor William Fields said that Murphy was chosen as a target because he's often in the public eye. Murphy's father-in-law Roy Rawls pleaded with the kidnappers to return Murphy safely to his family. [CBS]
- New demands have been received on tape from Patty Hearst's kidnappers. One demand is that $4 million more be added to the $2 million "free food program". If the demands are not met by Randolph Hearst, the kidnappers threatened to hold Patty until Symbionese Liberation Army members Russell Little and Joseph Remiro are released from prison. Patty Hearst's voice was on the tape to prove she's still alive.
Hearst plans to study the demands and act accordingly. He has 24 hours to make the additional $4 million commitment; grocery stores may be asked to donate food.
[CBS] - The House Judiciary Committee's legal staff issued a report regarding impeachable offenses. The report is aimed at helping the committee with its impeachment probe against President Nixon.
The Constitution outlines impeachable offenses only vaguely, so the committee's legal staff studied the case histories of previous impeachments. Republican Representative Edward Hutchinson said that impeachment conclusions should be drawn by the House Judiciary Committee and not its staff. The committee will soon formally request evidence from the White House for its impeachment probe.
[CBS] - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is reportedly investigating the apparent removal of two paragraphs from a subpoenaed White House document delivered to the special Watergate prosecutor. Sources who confirmed that the F.B.I. was conducting the investigation, ordered by Leon Jaworski, refused to identify the document. [New York Times]
- Some major oil companies are deliberately cutting back imports of crude oil because of unhappiness over the government's allocation program. The result, according to sources close to the energy situation, is that the production of gasoline and heating oil is being held below anticipated levels. [New York Times]
- Representative Angelo Roncallo and four other Republican officials of Nassau County (N.Y.) were indicted on federal charges of extorting money from a Long Island contractor to benefit the Republican party. A sixth official was indicted for perjury by the grand jury, which is also investigating possible jury-tampering by the county's District Attorney and its Republican chairman. [New York Times]
- In his speech at the opening session of a three-day meeting with 24 American and Caribbean foreign ministers in Mexico City, Secretary of State Kissinger called on the Latin nations to join the United States in creating a new "Western Hemisphere community," with practical help from the United States. Mr. Kissinger's emphasis on a geographic alignment was in sharp contrast to the remarks of two Latin American leaders, who stressed South America's identity as part of the "third world." [New York Times]
- The use of chemical defoliants by American forces in the Vietnamese war caused damage that may last at least a century, according to a report from the National Academy of Sciences. The study said herbicides, long a subject of controversy, caused serious and extensive damage to inland tropical forests and destroyed 36 percent of the coastal mangrove forests. [New York Times]
- Associates of Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said they doubted that he would accept a post in Premier Golda Meir's new minority government, despite her repeated pleas. [New York Times]
- Precisely meeting the deadline set by the disengagement treaty, the last Israeli soldiers evacuated the bridgehead of Egyptian territory on the West bank of the Suez Canal seized during the October War. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 846.84 (+15.80, +1.90%)
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 20, 1974 | 831.04 | 93.44 | 11.67 |
| 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 |