News stories from Friday May 12, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Environmental groups won a battle with the auto industry when EPA administrator William Ruckelshaus told car manufacturers that they will not get a one-year reprieve from the 1975 deadline for producing pollution-free cars, despite the companies' warnings that they may be driven out of business. Senator Edmund Muskie, author of the Clean Air Act, praised Ruckelshaus' action.
The automobile industry protested the EPA's decision. American Motors Company says that the technology doesn't exist to meet the new standards, Chrysler is considering an appeal, General Motors called the decision "regrettable", and Ford warned of severe economic repercussions. Ford's environmental chief, Herbert Misch, stated that Ford cannot meet the 1975 standards and will be forced to shut down.
[CBS] - American pilots knocked out a bridge, severing North Vietnam's rail link with China. The two-man crew of a Navy plane shot down their 3rd, 4th and 5th MiGs of the Vietnam war, making them the first American aces of the current conflict. Lieutenants Randy Cunningham and William Driscoll were previously shot down once themselves, but were rescued in the Gulf of Tonkin. [CBS]
- The Pentagon reports that the mining of North Vietnamese ports has so far been 100% effective: no mines have exploded or been removed. Some of the 25 merchant ships bound for North Vietnam have altered course and may use Chinese ports instead. Some of the U.S. 7th fleet's warships are moving south toward Quang Tri city, the captured South Vietnamese provincial capital. Two Russian gunships are currently sailing south between Japan and Korea. [CBS]
- The enemy siege on An Loc is in its 37th day. North Vietnam continues shelling while American B-52's drop bombs on enemy positions. Two U.S. planes were shot down near An Loc today; their pilots are missing. An American adviser was killed in ground fighting. In the Central Highlands, many of the 2,800 Americans at Pleiku were evacuated as the enemy closes in on Kontum. [CBS]
- The probability is increasing that the U.S.-Soviet summit will take place despite the mining of North Vietnamese ports. Henry Kissinger and other White House officials who were dubious about the summit last week have now resumed Russian briefings. The Soviet Union is showing a surprising willingness to turn the other cheek. [CBS]
- The American delegation to the Paris Peace Talks stated that it is ready to resume negotiations if the Communists agree to bargain in good faith; North Vietnam refused. The Communists want no prior conditions attached to the talks. [CBS]
- Antiwar demonstrators continued protests around the nation. In San Francisco, police used clubs and stun guns to break up a demonstration by several thousand at a hotel where California Governor Ronald Reagan and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller were meeting to launch President Nixon's re-election campaign. Tear gas was used at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The United Nations remains closed to tourists. Telephone lines were cut by protestors in Salt Lake City.
In Fort Walton Beach, Florida, a parade in support of President Nixon's war policy took place. Police led the parade; children were released from school to march, and high schools sent their bands. The military community near Eglin Air Force Base is solidly behind the President.
[CBS] - In West Germany, bombs damaged police buildings in Munich and Augsburg, and there was a bomb scare at the U.S. Army post exchange at Frankfurt. Yesterday, three bombs damaged the headquarters complex at the Army's 5th Corps in Frankfurt. A colonel was killed and 13 others were injured. U.S. military installations in Europe have tightened their security. [CBS]
- Ten people are dead in New Braunfels and Seguin, Texas, due to flooding of the Guadalupe River. More than 1,000 have lost their homes in the worst flooding in the area in 20 years. [CBS]
- All miners have been found (91 dead) in the Sunshine Silver Mine fire. A Senate Labor Committee investigator says that the Kellogg, Idaho, mine had been cited for 14 fire safety violations in the past 21 months. [CBS]
- After eight days on the job as FBI director, L. Patrick Gray made some changes to the policies of the late J. Edgar Hoover -- he dropped the barrier to women as agents, liberalized dress standards and opened some FBI operations to public scrutiny. Gray says that the new policies merely indicate a change in style between himself and Hoover, but no change in substance. [CBS]
- 23-year-old Vietnam veteran Richard Lapoint was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for hijacking an Air West jet in January. He parachuted from the plane with the ransom money and was captured. In Washington today, Federal Aviation Administration director John Shaffer called for stronger deterrents, telling a Senate committee that judges should impose the maximum penalty for air piracy -- death. [CBS]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 941.83 (+7.00, +0.75%)
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* |
| May 11, 1972 | 934.83 | 105.77 | 12.90 |
| May 10, 1972 | 931.07 | 105.42 | 13.87 |
| May 9, 1972 | 925.12 | 104.74 | 19.91 |
| May 8, 1972 | 937.84 | 106.14 | 11.25 |
| May 5, 1972 | 941.23 | 106.63 | 13.21 |
| May 4, 1972 | 937.31 | 106.25 | 14.79 |
| May 3, 1972 | 933.47 | 105.99 | 15.90 |
| May 2, 1972 | 935.20 | 106.08 | 15.37 |
| May 1, 1972 | 942.28 | 106.69 | 12.88 |
| April 28, 1972 | 954.17 | 107.67 | 14.16 |