News stories from Thursday August 8, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Nixon, in an address to the nation, said that he would resign the presidency at noon tomorrow. At that hour, Gerald Ford, whom Mr. Nixon nominated for Vice President last October, will be sworn to serve out the remainder of Mr. Nixon's term. Mr. Nixon said he had felt it was his duty to persevere but "in the last few days it was evident that I no longer had a strong political base in Congress to continue with the effort." He said that to have resigned several months ago would have been unfaithful to the political process, but with the disappearance of his political base "I now believe the constitutional purpose has been served." [New York Times]
- The young women who work in the White House press office wept, and Ron Ziegler, the White House press secretary, choked on his words and struggled visibly to keep himself under control when he announced to reporters that the President would address the nation. President Nixon was said to be "unbelievably serene" as he went through a busy day. He conferred with the Vice President and the bipartisan leadership of Congress, appointed federal judges, accepted resignations from federal agencies and signed several laws. [New York Times]
- The possibility still remained that President Nixon might be charged and stand trial for his part in the Watergate case. Leon Jaworski, the special Watergate prosecutor, said after Mr. Nixon's resignation speech, that no deals had been either made or offered that would have given Mr. Nixon immunity from prosecution on charges that might stem from the Watergate case. [New York Times]
- Vice President Ford praised President Nixon for "one of the greatest personal sacrifices for the country and one of the finest personal decisions on behalf of all of us as Americans." He vowed to continue Mr. Nixon's foreign policy and announced that Secretary of State Kissinger had agreed to stay on in the new administration. [New York Times]
- The question of who will be Mr. Ford's choice as Vice President was a much-discussed mystery in Washington. One Senator said, "So far I'd say he's a loner on this issue," Close friends of Mr. Ford continue to feed speculation about more than a dozen possible candidates. Several men put out word of their availability. [New York Times]
- President Nixon's decision to resign drastically altered the political landscape of America. It seemed to presage an era of more open government, of more cooperation and less antagonism between Capitol Hill and the White House, and the decline of the White House staff as an independent power center. It also improved Republican prospects in the congressional elections in November, and put Mr. Ford in the favorite spot in the 1976 presidential election, [New York Times]
- In 1968 and 1972, Suffolk County gave Richard Nixon the largest single election plurality of any county in the United States. All that was changed in Shelter Island, a conservative community 100 miles east of New York City. One resident, Evans Griffing, sadly stripped off his bold red-lettered bumper sticker proclaiming "NIXON" -- six years after he had put it on the car. Mr. Griffing felt a sense of loss, as did hundreds of other Shelter Islanders. [New York Times]
- Despite the continued fighting in Cyprus, the Foreign Ministers of Greece, Turkey and Britain, the guarantors of the independence of Cyprus, resumed talks in Geneva to try to establish an effective cease-fire and also to tackle the political problems underlying the fighting. [New York Times]
- Glafkos Clerides, the acting President of Cyprus, announced a new cabinet containing no militant advocates of the union of Cyprus with Greece. The cabinet eliminates all the ministers named by Nikos Giorgiades Sampson, an advocate of union with Greece, who briefly held the presidency with the support of Greek officers, after the coup against the government of President Makarios. The men appointed by Mr. Clerides are said to be without political experience, for the most part, but have strong business connections. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 784.89 (-12.67, -1.59%)
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* |
| August 7, 1974 | 797.56 | 82.65 | 13.38 |
| August 6, 1974 | 773.78 | 80.52 | 15.77 |
| August 5, 1974 | 760.40 | 79.29 | 11.23 |
| August 2, 1974 | 752.58 | 78.59 | 10.11 |
| August 1, 1974 | 751.10 | 78.75 | 11.47 |
| July 31, 1974 | 757.43 | 79.31 | 10.96 |
| July 30, 1974 | 765.57 | 80.50 | 11.36 |
| July 29, 1974 | 770.89 | 80.94 | 11.55 |
| July 26, 1974 | 784.57 | 82.40 | 10.42 |
| July 25, 1974 | 795.68 | 83.98 | 13.31 |