News stories from Saturday July 20, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Elliot Richardson told the House Judiciary Committee last month that President Nixon imposed restrictions on Archibald Cox's Watergate investigation even before Mr. Cox officially became the special prosecutor. In an affidavit, Mr. Richardson, the former Attorney General, also said that Mr. Nixon threatened to dismiss Mr. Cox several times before he finally ordered him discharged last Oct. 20. [New York Times]
- A presidential review of the White House tape recordings of President Nixon's meetings with John Dean was started three weeks before Mr. Dean's appearance before the Senate Watergate committee last year. It was depicted in part in a transcript of an edited tape recording made public by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its analysis of the dismissal of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox last fall. The recording provided little new information about Mr. Nixon's alleged role in the Watergate cover-up, but it did depict a new kind of White House with Gen. Alexander Haig, the White House chief of staff, and Ron Ziegler, the President's press secretary, serving as replacements for H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. [New York Times]
- The House Judiciary Committee questioned its senior lawyers on their analysis of impeachment evidence, an analysis that declares that President Nixon was directly responsible for the Watergate burglary and assumed "active management" of the ensuing cover-up attempt. In a rare Saturday meeting, the committee discussed with John Doar, the special counsel, and his aides the 306-page "Summary of Information" that the bipartisan inquiry staff presented Friday as a foundation for the President's impeachment. The evidence was summarized in harsh and uncompromising terms. [New York Times]
- James St. Clair, President Nixon's defense lawyer, told the House Judiciary Committee in a formal brief made public today that there was no solid evidence that President Nixon had committed impeachable offenses. In a 151-page document, Mr. St. Clair asserted that "in light of the complete absence of any conclusive evidence demonstrating presidential wrongdoings sufficient to justify the grave action of impeachment, the committee must conclude that a recommendation of impeachment is not justified." He relied on portions of tape-recording transcripts, documents and testimony in his case against impeachment. [New York Times]
- The jobs that sustain New York City's economy -- in manufacturing for example -- are being lost at a rate that is causing concern among city officials, economists, businessmen and labor leaders. Manufacturing has had the biggest decline in employment -- 169,000 jobs since 1970. There was a decline of 251,000 jobs in all employment categories in the city over the last four years. [New York Times]
- Premier Bulent Ecevit of Turkey reported that Turkish troops landed in Cyprus at 6 A.M. local time this morning after his government had explored all diplomatic ways of solving the crisis brought on by the Cypriote coup d'etat last Monday. Turkish paratroopers were said to have dropped into the Turkish sector of Nicosia, the Cypriote capital, and sporadic fire broke out along the line separating the Greek and Turkish communities. Turkish troops also were reported landing in northern Cyprus. The Cypriote National Guard, led by Greek army officers who spearheaded the coup that deposed the government of Archbishop Makarios, prepared to defend Nicosia. [New York Times]
- The Turkish troop landing in Cyprus is expected to be taken up by the United Nations Security Council when it meets today. The Council had been scheduled to meet this morning to consider a demand for the withdrawal of Greek officers commanding the Cypriote National Guard. [New York Times]
- The Greek government announced a general mobilization and pledged to meet "expansionist Turkish acts" at any cost. The military rulers of Greece were clearly surprised by the Turkish invasion of Cyprus despite repeated warnings from Ankara. They ordered reservists to report for duty immediately and men rushed from their homes and jobs. The order could raise a force of up to 160,000 men. Armor and troop reinforcements were moved to the Greek-Turkish border in the northwest. There was no retaliatory action against Turkey, but the government left its options open, saying that it would attack "wherever" it believed the country's "national interests' were threatened. [New York Times]
- Heavy artillery and gunfire continued throughout the day in Nicosia as Turkish forces moved to widen their beachhead on the northern coast of Cyprus. About 1,000 paratroopers dropped on the plain north of the capital appeared to have secured the 16- mile road between Nicosia and the port of Kyrenia on the north coast, which was shelled by Turkish gunboats and bombarded from the air. Sea landings were also reported at Kokkina and Lapithos, west of Kyrenia, The Turkish Cypriote radio repeated throughout the day that the invasion was a police action, not a military one, and was intended only to restore the elected government of Archbishop Makarios. [New York Times]