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News stories from Tuesday March 31, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Reagan was recovering from surgery after Monday's assassination attempt as Vice President Bush filled his place at the White House to demonstrate that the government was running smoothly. Mr. Reagan met with senior aides and signed a bill that was brought in on his breakfast tray at George Washington University Hospital. [New York Times]
- The President's initial condition minutes after he was shot Monday was much more serious than previously acknowledged. A surgical intern who first treated Mr. Reagan said that he was having serious trouble in breathing and was experiencing chest pain, his blood pressure was low and falling, and he had been spitting up blood from the wound in his left lung. [New York Times]
- The most gravely wounded man in the shootings, James Brady, the White House press secretary, showed signs of recovering from the bullet that had pierced his brain. There were a number of encouraging signs, but several neurosurgeons expressed doubt that he would be able to resume a post as intellectually taxing as the President's spokesman. [New York Times]
- A possible motive in the shooting of President Reagan was reported by sources familiar with the inquiry. Federal investigators, they said, found an unmailed letter that John W. Hinckley apparently intended to send to a teenage actress who appeared in the movie "Taxi Driver," in which the protagonist stalked a Senator.
The early years of the accused man were comfortable and full of promise. But many people who had known John Hinckley said that his passive shyness intensified in his late teens and early manhood and that he shifted increasingly into reclusive and aggressive behavior. [New York Times]
- The handgun "trace" took 16 minutes. Federal weapons agents confirmed that the revolver used in the assassination attempt had been bought in a pawn shop in Dallas. A stress on rights for the mentally ill, the lack of cultural restraints on expressions of hostility and the ready availability of handguns are combining to make assassination an increasingly common American occurrence, according to psychiatrists. [New York Times]
- Diplomatic activities were pressed by the Reagan administration in an effort to show that American foreign policy was proceeding as usual during the President's hospitalization. In one key area, officials said that Washington was ready to discuss with southern African leaders this month a possible modification of the stalemated United Nations plan for independence for South-West Africa. [New York Times]
- Coal miners rejected a proposed pact designed to end a four-day strike by 160,000 workers in the East and the Middle West. The United Mine Workers union acknowledged that the tentative contract had been turned down by more than two-thirds of the membership in voting that opened the possibility of a long walkout. [New York Times]
- The body of a 13-year-old Atlanta boy was identified shortly after Mayor Maynard Jackson had reasserted his view that the victim was a runaway. The police had repeatedly declined to include the youth in the case of the missing and murdered children whose total is now 23. [New York Times]
- Harrison Williams was termed a "corrupt public official" who plotted to make $12 million illegally, and a "trusting, easygoing, forgiving man" victimized by "immoral" government agents. The contrasting descriptions were given as the prosecution and defense presented opening arguments in the Abscam trial of the Democratic Senator from New Jersey. [New York Times]
- The Unification Church lost a libel suit against The Daily Mail of London. After a five month trial, the jury in London ordered the church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon to pay court costs estimated at nearly $2 million and recommended that its tax-free status be reviewed on the ground that it is a political organization. [New York Times]
- Polish union representatives ratified with reluctance their leadership's agreement not to proceed with a general strike. Members of the union's national commission denounced the accord with the government as too vague and conciliatory, but, in an apparent show of confidence in the leadership of Lech Walesa, ratified it by a vote of 25 to 4 with 6 abstentions. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1003.87 (+11.71, +1.18%)
S&P Composite: 136.00 (+1.72, +1.28%)
Arms Index: 0.53
| Issues | Volume* |
|---|
| Advances | 1,156 | 38.51 |
| Declines | 416 | 7.35 |
| Unchanged | 354 | 5.12 |
| Total Volume | 50.98 |
* in millions of sharesArms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish.
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| Market Index Trends |
|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
|---|
| March 30, 1981 | 992.16 | 134.28 | 33.49 |
| March 27, 1981 | 994.78 | 134.65 | 46.93 |
| March 26, 1981 | 1005.76 | 136.27 | 60.37 |
| March 25, 1981 | 1015.22 | 137.11 | 56.34 |
| March 24, 1981 | 996.13 | 134.67 | 66.40 |
| March 23, 1981 | 1004.23 | 135.69 | 57.87 |
| March 20, 1981 | 992.80 | 134.08 | 61.97 |
| March 19, 1981 | 986.58 | 133.46 | 62.44 |
| March 18, 1981 | 994.06 | 134.22 | 55.74 |
| March 17, 1981 | 992.53 | 133.92 | 65.92 |
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