News stories from Monday April 3, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Ten thousand South Vietnamese troops were rushed to Quang Tri province to combat North Vietnam's offensive; American ships and planes are trying to aid South Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops have reached south of the DMZ to the Cau Viet River. Dong Ha and Quang Tri are under siege. President Nguyen Van Thieu ordered his men to hold the front at any cost. Hue is also being threatened.
At Quang Tri, 150 U.S. military advisors set fire to their compound and evacuated. South Vietnamese refugees are leaving Dong Ha as North Vietnamese forces advance. Quang Tri residents have moved on to Hue and further south. The Communist offensive will test President Nixon's "Vietnamization' program, but South Vietnamese soldiers are retreating along with civilians.
[CBS] - President Nixon called North Vietnam's offensive an "invasion", violating the 1968 agreement which ended U.S. bombing of North Vietnam. U.S. troops will be withdrawn on schedule no matter what happens to South Vietnam, though American air power will still be used. A major nationwide offensive is expected from the North.
The President conferred with top his advisors including Henry Kissinger, Defense Secretary Laird, and Admiral Moorer, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The U.S. has assembled a large Naval task force off the coast of Vietnam. Aircraft carriers Hancock and Coral Sea have been joined by the Kitty Hawk and Constellation. U.S. Air Force bases in Thailand and South Vietnam will also be used. Renewed U.S. bombing campaigns in North Vietnam are expected.
[CBS] - The economy and the Vietnam war were discussed by Democratic presidential candidates on the eve of the Wisconsin primary.
In 1964, the Republican crossover vote helped Alabama Governor George Wallace against Governor John Reynolds (Lyndon Johnson's stand-in) in the Wisconsin primary. Wallace may benefit again from Wisconsin crossover voting in 1972. New York City Mayor John Lindsay urged Wisconsin Republicans to follow his lead and vote Democrat -- for him. Unsuccessful Republican challenger Rep. Pete McCloskey supports Lindsay.
Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey advised analysts to discount Wallace's vote, recognizing it as being crossover Republicans and not the legitimate preference of the Democratic party. Some reporters are speculating that Republicans who vote for Wallace now may promote a conservative third-party candidate in the fall, which would hurt their own party's nominee.
[CBS] - The jury in the "Harrisburg 7" trial remained deadlocked. Judge R. Dixon Herman re-read his instructions to the jury today. [CBS]
- The Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana cannot limit the number of minority members serving on juries, but its practice of exempting women from juries unless they ask to serve was upheld. The Court also ruled that states cannot regulate radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, saying that the Atomic Energy Commission has exclusive control in that area. [CBS]
- The American Civil Liberties Union is trying to help the Ku Klux Klan get a permit to march in a parade in McComb, Mississippi. The Klansmen could not get a hearing to obtain a permit. [CBS]
- Charlie Chaplin returned to America for the first time in 20 years, at the age of 82. He is to receive several honors from the film industry, including an Academy Award. Chaplin's liberal political views had cost him his U.S. citizenship at one time. [CBS]
- President Nixon signed legislation raising the price of gold from $35 to $38 per ounce. [CBS]
- In Belfast, Northern Ireland, the British army is destroying parked cars in order to discourage people from planting bombs in them. [CBS]
- Former Tennessee Governor Buford Ellington, 64, died of a heart attack while playing golf in Boca Raton, Florida. [CBS]
- Bruce Herschensohn, director of the U.S. Information Agency film and television division, resigned after calling Senator William Fulbright "naive" and "stupid" for objecting to the showing of an USIA film about Czechoslovakia on American television. Agency chief Frank Shakespeare praised Herschensohn. [CBS]
- ITT defended itself against Senator George McGovern's accusation that it paid no income taxes for the past three years, noting that it actually paid millions in taxes. McGovern now admits that some ITT subsidiaries paid taxes, but he says that those taxes were offset by ITT's claims of losses on other subsidiaries. [CBS]
- Striking Major League Baseball players agreed to accept the owners' offer of a $500,000 increase in their annual contribution to the players' pension fund. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 940.92 (+0.22, +0.02%)
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* |
| March 30, 1972 | 940.70 | 107.20 | 14.36 |
| March 29, 1972 | 933.02 | 106.49 | 13.86 |
| March 28, 1972 | 937.01 | 107.17 | 15.38 |
| March 27, 1972 | 939.72 | 107.30 | 12.18 |
| March 24, 1972 | 942.28 | 107.52 | 15.39 |
| March 23, 1972 | 944.69 | 107.75 | 18.38 |
| 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 |