News stories from Friday April 11, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The united States announced that because of the "seriously deteriorating military situation" it was closing its embassy in Phnom Penh and evacuating several hundred Americans and Cambodians from the encircled Cambodian capital. The State Department said the evacuation was being carried out by United States military helicopters protected by a United States Marine security force and fighter planes. The decision to pull out the last Americans underscored the belief in Washington that the Cambodian government could not hold out much longer against the attacking insurgent forces. [New York Times]
- Counterattacking Cambodian government troops reportedly gained a two-mile stretch north of Phnom Penh, but insurgents holding a village less than three miles from the capital's airport fought off attempts to retake it. Although Phnom Penh remained under severe rebel pressure, the government's army appeared to be fighting back more effectively than at any time in the last two weeks. [New York Times]
- South Vietnamese soldiers, militiamen and fighter-bombers reportedly pushed Communist troops out of Xuan Loc, a city 38 miles northeast of Saigon. Xuan Loc was in ruins, but the battle was not over. Communist gunners continued their rocket and artillery attacks. [New York Times]
- Congressional resistance developed against President Ford's request for authority to use American troops, if necessary, to protect the evacuation of South Vietnamese citizens. Mike Mansfield, the Senate Majority leader, predicted that Congress would show "great reluctance" to give the President the authority. Senator Robert Byrd, the Democratic whip, said he was flatly opposed to using American troops in an evacuation. Opposition also continued to mount in Congress to the President's request for $722 million in military aid for the Saigon government. [New York Times]
- Partly reversing some of its earlier decisions, the Senate Budget Committee gave final approval to a proposed ceiling of $365 billion on government spending for next year. The figure was $9.4 billion, or 2.6 percent, higher than the administration has proposed for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. It was also $32 billion lower than the one approved last week by the House Budget Committee. [New York Times]
- Mrs. Aristotle Onassis, under the will of her late husband, receives $3 million, a behest far smaller than published reports had indicated she would get, according to friends of the Onassis family. Shortly before his death, Mr. Onassis reportedly had decided to divorce his wife, and the bequest was the minimum her husband could leave her under Greek law. [New York Times]
- Six major Portuguese parties signed away almost all their power to devise a constitution for a democratic Portugal and accommodated themselves to several years of tight military rule -- a necessity, the Portuguese President said, to protect the new government from its enemies. [New York Times]
- The Soviet Union signed an agreement to borrow $250 million from a group of Western banks. The loan was said to be the largest the Soviet Union has ever arranged with private Western financial institutions. Lazard Freres heads the group of lenders, which includes Morgan Guaranty, Banque National de Paris and several other West European and North American banks. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 789.50 (+8.21, +1.05%)
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 10, 1975 | 781.29 | 83.77 | 24.99 |
| April 9, 1975 | 767.99 | 82.84 | 18.12 |
| April 8, 1975 | 749.22 | 80.99 | 14.32 |
| 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 |