News stories from Tuesday July 17, 1979
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- General Somoza resigned as President of Nicaragua and flew into exile in Miami. But the general, whose family has ruled Nicaragua since 1933, left a country still gripped by civil war and in apparent disarray over a negotiated plan for a rebel-backed provisional junta to assume power. The new President appeared intent to stay in office and urged Sandinist guerrillas to lay down their arms.
General Somoza blamed Communists, not the Nicaraguan people, for his ouster. He appeared pained but resolute as he told reporters at his island villa in Miami that he had gone into exile because he is a realist and saw that he could not win the civil war.
Washington welcomed the resignation of President Somoza but expressed "grave concern" that the agreement for ending Nicaragua's civil war was being violated. The State Department accused Mr. Somoza 's successor, Francisco Urcuyo Maleano, of threatening to upset the accord by asserting he would stay in power until 1981 instead of turning it over to the rebel-backed provisional government.
[New York Times] - A reshaping of the administration is in prospect. President Carter's cabinet and all members of the senior White House staff offered their resignations orally, and top aides said that Mr. Carter would accept some of them within a few days. Secretary of Energy James Schlesinger confirmed that he had agreed to leave by autumn. [New York Times]
- President Carter gained approval from a public that agrees overwhelmingly with his warning that the nation faces a "crisis of confidence," according to a New York Times/CBS News Poll. Those approving his performance rose to 37 percent, compared with 26 percent last week. However, only 35 percent of respondents said they believed the energy shortage was real, while 53 percent said they did not. [New York Times]
- In the Chappaquiddick Island tragedy, Senator Edward Kennedy reaffirmed that he acted irrationally and irresponsibly. But in an interview on the auto accident that caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne nearly 10 years ago, he said he did not believe that his performance in that crisis meant that he could not meet the pressures of the presidency.
The parents of Mary Jo Kopechne granted an uncustomary interview. The Kopechnes, while expressing no bitterness over her death, said they still believed that "we don't know the whole story" and felt that the inquest held by the state of Massachusetts was grossly inadequate.
[New York Times] - A California judicial inquiry broke up in turmoil. A state appeals court upheld a justice's contention that hearings investigating the California high court were unconstitutional because they were being held in public. [New York Times]
- A threat to racial harmony in Birmingham, Ala., arose when Mayor David Vann refused to dismiss a white policeman for what a citizens review panel termed the unjustified fatal shooting of a black woman. A coalition of civil rights groups announced a protest march along the route used in the 1963 demonstrations in the city. [New York Times]
- New York City's fiscal problems eased further. For the first time since the crisis began in 1975, a consortium of out-of-state and foreign banks agreed to join city banks in acting as "backup" lenders for up to $600 million in short-term notes to be marketed publicly in the next five months. The accord also marked the first time that any bank agreed to make such a pledge without the participation by the city's pension funds. [New York Times]
- A Niagara Falls rock slide was feared. Terrapin Point, an observation site overlooking the 168-foot-high Horseshoe Falls, has been closed since Friday when a seismic sensor sounded an alarm, indicating there had been a shift deep within the rock. [New York Times]
- Five new Soviet missile systems could be deployed under the strategic arms accord. Senate aides said this disclosure was made at a closed hearing when Adm. Stansfield Turner, Director of Central Intelligence, acknowledged that Moscow would be permitted the added deployment. Some Senators felt they had been misled by previous government testimony into believing that only one new missile system would be permitted.
Opposing views over the arms treaty with Moscow were expressed by a group of retired military officers. In Senate testimony, two said that the pact was militarily dangerous and they urged that it be substantially amended. Three others called the treaty a useful step in restraining the size of the Soviet nuclear arsenal.
[New York Times]
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Dow Jones Industrial Average: 828.50 (-6.40, -0.77%)
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* |
| July 16, 1979 | 834.90 | 102.74 | 26.62 |
| July 13, 1979 | 833.53 | 102.32 | 33.07 |
| July 12, 1979 | 836.86 | 102.69 | 31.77 |
| July 11, 1979 | 843.86 | 103.64 | 36.64 |
| July 10, 1979 | 850.34 | 104.20 | 39.73 |
| July 9, 1979 | 852.99 | 104.47 | 42.46 |
| July 6, 1979 | 846.16 | 103.62 | 38.57 |
| July 5, 1979 | 835.75 | 102.43 | 30.29 |
| July 3, 1979 | 835.58 | 102.09 | 31.67 |
| July 2, 1979 | 834.04 | 101.99 | 32.06 |