News stories from Tuesday January 18, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Two college students have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder by plotting to poison the Chicago water system; 19-year-old Allen Schwander and 18-year-old Steve Pera were charged after typhoid germs were found in their possession. States attorney Edward Hanrahan said that a group called "RISE" planned the inoculations of a select few in order to immunize them from the germs which would be dispersed to the rest of the population via water filtration plants. Mayor Richard Daley affirmed that the water in Chicago is safe. [CBS]
- The second session of the 92nd Congress convened, with a focus on politics. Senator Edward Kennedy blasted President Nixon for failing to end the Vietnam war; Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott attacked Kennedy's statement. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield admitted that Kennedy's speech was a threat to political harmony. [CBS]
- One hundred women, demonstrating for an end to the war, were evicted from the House galleries. [CBS]
- U.S. bombers hit the Ho Chi Minh Trail in order to dampen the expected Communist offensive. North Vietnamese MiGs fired on U.S. Phantom jets. [CBS]
- Columnist Seymour Hersh, who won the Pulitzer prize for exposing the My Lai massacre, reported in the New Yorker that Pentagon figures show that 347 civilians were killed at My Lai and 100 more at My Khe.
A murder charge against Capt. Thomas Willingham in connection with My Khe was dropped. Hersh received a transcript of the Pentagon's investigation into the My Lai cover-up, which the Pentagon refused to release while Lt. William Calley's case was being reviewed. Former Army Secretary Stanley Resor once promised to publish the results of the investigation, but the new Army Secretary refuses.
[CBS] - The Paris Peace Talks are three years old today. The French Foreign Minister said that the talks linger on the verge of death. [CBS]
- Canada ordered a one-year ban on the slaughtering of seals by ships and planes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. [CBS]
- Congress is being pressured to legislate an end to the renewed west coast dock strike. Oregon Governor Tom McCall, representing seven western governors, flew to Washington to appeal to the Nixon administration for action to end the strike. Ship owners are refusing to accept military cargo, which was previously exempt from the strike. [CBS]
- A U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker captured Russian fishing ships in U.S. territorial waters off the coast of Alaska and escorted them to a U.S. Naval base in the Aleutians. [CBS]
- Senator Harold Hughes endorsed presidential candidate Edmund Muskie; Muskie says that Hughes is automatically included on his list of candidates for vice-president. [CBS]
- President Nixon's strategy for the 1972 presidential campaign is to be aloof from battle, yet a campaign organization operates on his behalf. The central headquarters for the Nixon re-election campaign is in the White House, but offices have been rented in the First National Bank Building for carrying out operational details. A youth drive with 18-21 year old workers, led by Republican college director Karl Rove, will campaign among young voters. [CBS]
- Pete Conrad and Alan Bean will command the teams of rookie scientist-astronauts who will comprise the orbiting space laboratory crews. [CBS]
- Sheik Mujibur Rahman refused the offer of Pakistan President Ali Bhutto to be the leader of Pakistan and reunite the country. [CBS]
- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation loaned the Detroit Bank of Commonwealth $60 million to prevent its financial collapse. [CBS]
- The Commerce Department reported that the number of housing starts in 1971 set a new record, more than 2 million. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 917.22 (+6.10, +0.67%)
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* |
| January 17, 1972 | 911.12 | 103.70 | 15.86 |
| January 14, 1972 | 906.68 | 103.39 | 14.96 |
| January 13, 1972 | 905.18 | 102.99 | 16.41 |
| January 12, 1972 | 910.82 | 103.59 | 20.97 |
| January 11, 1972 | 912.10 | 103.65 | 17.97 |
| January 10, 1972 | 907.96 | 103.32 | 15.32 |
| January 7, 1972 | 910.37 | 103.47 | 17.14 |
| January 6, 1972 | 908.49 | 103.51 | 21.10 |
| January 5, 1972 | 904.43 | 103.07 | 21.35 |
| January 4, 1972 | 892.23 | 102.09 | 15.19 |