News stories from Thursday March 23, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The cost of living rose 0.5% in February. Inflation has been greater during Phase II of the President's economic plan than it was before the freeze. Food prices rose 1.9% overall, meat was up 4.6%. Economic advisor Herb Stein noted that prices other than food rose little. Price Commission chairman Jack Grayson stated that the commission will hold hearings on rising food costs. AFL-CIO president George Meany said that the increase shows that the price control program is a sham. [CBS]
- The White House expressed optimism about the economy and reacted to the resignations from the Pay Board. President Nixon told the board to continue despite the pullout of most labor leaders, and said that AFL-CIO president Meany's quitting the board after the cut in the longshoremen's wage increase was wrong. Nixon vowed that the Pay Board will continue, even with few labor leaders remaining.
The UAW decided to join the AFL-CIO in pulling out from the Pay Board. Meany predicts court suits against board decisions and support for unions who strike against board settlements.
[CBS] - The U.S. and South Vietnam broke off the Paris Peace Talks. U.S. Ambassador William Porter suspended the talks until the Communists decide to negotiate seriously. North Vietnamese minister Xuan Thuy accused President Nixon of using North Vietnam as a new "weapons laboratory", intensifying the war and sabotaging the peace talks. [CBS]
- Two American combat deaths were reported for the week in Vietnam; 12 were wounded. [CBS]
- Northern Ireland Prime Minister Brian Faulkner returned to London for more meetings with British Prime Minister Edward Heath. British peace proposals for Northern Ireland are said to be unacceptable, and the BBC reported that Faulkner and his cabinet will resign if Britain persists in trying to impose its peace plan. British soldiers in Northern Ireland shot a teenager who was armed with a firebomb. [CBS]
- Senator Mike Mansfield called for action by the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Richard Kleindienst as Attorney General, and not postpone it until the ITT affair is settled. [CBS]
- The State Department denied that the U.S. attempted to block the election of Chile's Marxist president, Salvador Allende, but refused to comment on the memo published by columnist Jack Anderson which charges that it did. [CBS]
- In Harrisburg, Pa., the government rested its case in the trial of Reverend Philip Berrigan and six others. Prosecutor William Lynch's case depends on the testimony of FBI informer Boyd Douglas, who detailed former prison-mate Berrigan's plots to kidnap presidential aide Henry Kissinger, destroy draft records and blow up Washington, DC heating tunnels. Defense attorney Ramsey Clark labeled Douglas a liar and a provocateur. FBI agent Delmar Mayfield, in a letter to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, described Douglas as an accomplished con man. Seminarians supporting the defendants will form a human chain around the White House during Holy Week. [CBS]
- The Supreme Court struck down a Georgia law forbidding profanity as violating freedom of speech. Justices Burger and Blackmun dissented. [CBS]
- The Justice Department asked a federal judge to defer action on the Detroit school desegregation case pending Congress' action on the President's request for a busing moratorium. The Department of Health, Education and Welfare will not enforce the cutoff of funds to schools which do not comply with desegregation orders until Congress acts on the matter. [CBS]
- A new movie called "The Godfather" is getting great reviews and box office sales. In Kansas City, Missouri, the local Italian-American Unification Council bought every seat in a theater so that no one could see the movie's "cultural prejudices". [CBS]
- Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. Twenty-two years later, one was hung in the Livermore (California) Fire Station and turned on. It still burns. The hand-blown bulb was made by the Shelby Electric Company. [CBS]
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| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| March 22, 1972 | 933.93 | 106.84 | 15.40 |
| March 21, 1972 | 934.00 | 106.69 | 18.61 |
| March 20, 1972 | 941.15 | 107.59 | 16.42 |
| March 17, 1972 | 942.88 | 107.92 | 16.04 |
| March 16, 1972 | 936.71 | 107.50 | 16.70 |
| March 15, 1972 | 937.31 | 107.75 | 19.46 |
| March 14, 1972 | 934.00 | 107.61 | 22.37 |
| March 13, 1972 | 928.66 | 107.33 | 16.73 |
| March 10, 1972 | 939.87 | 108.37 | 19.69 |
| March 9, 1972 | 942.81 | 108.94 | 21.46 |