News stories from Tuesday April 8, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Gen. Frederick Weyand, the Army Chief of Staff, has recommended that the United States rush additional aid to re-equip South Vietnam's regular army and arm its regional forces to defend Saigon, according to Ford administration officials. The general was said to have advised asking Congress for at least $500 million in emergency military aid. He told congressional committees that without additional aid South Vietnam could not survive. Senator Henry Jackson, Democrat of Washington, said he had been reliably informed of secret agreements with South Vietnam envisioning "fateful decisions." The State Department referred newsmen to Secretary of State Kissinger's statement on Saturday that the United States had a moral but not a legal commitment to come to South Vietnam's aid. [New York Times]
- Two North Vietnamese divisions began an offensive in the upper Mekong Delta apparently aimed at cutting the highway link between Saigon and its sources of food further south. Government armor was said to be in place to defend the link. [New York Times]
- President Ford's chief refugee coordinator suggested at a congressional hearing that 3,000 to 4,000 more Vietnamese children might be airlifted to the United States, but a State Department officer said that that many could not be processed in the two remaining days of the emergency airlift. George Meany, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said rescue plans should also include "people who've been on our side." [New York Times]
- Jake Jacobsen, the government's central witness in the bribery trial of John Connally, conceded that he was uncertain on some details of his account of an alleged $10,000 payoff to the former Treasury Secretary in 1971. As he completed his testimony under cross-examination, he did not budge from the main thread of his payoff accusation. A later witness was Bob A. Lilly, former assistant to the general manager of Associated Milk Producers, Inc. He said that he provided $10,000 from corporate funds after Mr. Jacobsen told him the cooperative was obligated to the defendant for having helped to win an increase in federal milk price supports. [New York Times]
- The Department of Health, Education and Welfare reported that in the last six months of 1974, national costs of welfare were cut $62 million in the campaign to remove ineligible recipients from the rolls and reduce payment errors. But the reductions were $80 million short of the target. Although New York accounted for $21.1 million of the "savings", the state and many others face a curtailment in federal welfare funds later this year unless further improvements are made, the department said. [New York Times]
- Governor Carey of New York deferred a decision on a request that he appoint an independent individual or group to investigate the "management and affairs" of the state's prosecution of crimes arising from the rebellion at Attica prison in September, 1971. The request came from Robert Patterson Jr., attorney for Malcolm Bell, a former member of the Attica prosecution team who has accused the chief prosecutor, Anthony Simonetti, of covering up possible crimes by law enforcement officers at Attica. Mr. Carey instead urged a prompt meeting between Mr. Patterson and State Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz. [New York Times]
- Michael Tzur, one of Israel's leading financial officials, was indicted in Tel Aviv for fraud, bribery and breach of trust in international transactions that allegedly diverted millions of dollars intended for development. The complaint centered on Mr. Tzur's relations with the International Credit Bank of Geneva and its founder, Tibor Pinchas Rosenbaum. He, like Mr. Tzur, is facing criminal charges brought by Baron Edmond de Rothschild of the famous banking family. [New York Times]
- An administration official said that the Portuguese government had advised Washington that in the event of a new Middle East conflict the United States could not use an air base in the Azores for refueling, as in the 1973 conflict. Lisbon's new relations with Arab countries were said to be a prime factor. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 749.22 (+6.34, +0.85%)
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* |
| April 7, 1975 | 742.88 | 80.35 | 13.86 |
| April 4, 1975 | 747.26 | 80.88 | 14.17 |
| April 3, 1975 | 752.19 | 81.51 | 13.92 |
| April 2, 1975 | 760.56 | 82.43 | 15.60 |
| April 1, 1975 | 761.58 | 82.64 | 14.48 |
| March 31, 1975 | 768.15 | 83.36 | 16.27 |
| March 27, 1975 | 770.26 | 83.85 | 18.30 |
| March 26, 1975 | 766.19 | 83.59 | 18.58 |
| March 25, 1975 | 747.89 | 82.06 | 18.50 |
| March 24, 1975 | 743.43 | 81.42 | 17.81 |