News stories from Sunday September 15, 1974
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Former President Nixon remained secluded at his San Clemente estate instead of being hospitalized, as his physicians recommended, amid growing concern and controversy over the true state of his physical and mental health. Air Force Gen. Walter Tkach, the chief White House physician in the Nixon administration, who examined Mr. Nixon Friday, reportedly strongly urged that Mr. Nixon "not get under any more pressure." This statement has raised speculation that Mr. Nixon may rely on his medical condition to help him avoid testifying in the Watergate cover-up trial, scheduled to begin Oct. 1. [New York Times]
- Two prominent lawyers disagreed on the validity of President Ford's pardon of former President Nixon. Prof. Philip Kurland of the University of Chicago Law School said that he believed the pardon was invalid because it was issued prior to conviction and said that the special Watergate prosecutor should challenge it in court. However, Lawrence Walsh, president-elect of the American Bar Association, said it was in the national interest to keep a President's pardoning powers broad. Both men expressed their views on the "Issues and Answers" television program. [New York Times]
- The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Korean leader of the international and controversial Unification Church, some of whose followers believe he is "God's prophet," will hold an admission-free proselytizing rally at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. About 1,000 followers of the sect have been brought to New York City from abroad to help in the $350,000 effort to arrange and publicize the event. [New York Times]
- An Air Vietnam jetliner, apparently hijacked by a man demanding to go to Hanoi, exploded on the coast of South Vietnam, 175 miles northeast of Saigon, killing 62 passengers and eight crew members. It was believed that the hijacker detonated two hand grenades. All except four of the passengers were said to be Vietnamese. [New York Times]
- Soviet authorities used bulldozers, dump trucks and water spraying trucks to break up an unofficial, non-conformist art exhibition in suburban Moscow. A crowd of several hundred persons ran for cover when dump trucks and bulldozers overran what had been announced as the Soviet Union's first autumn outdoor art show. Three American correspondents were beaten by young men who patrolled the area, intimidating onlookers. The police made no effort to stop the violence. [New York Times]
- A grenade exploded in a crowd in the St. Germain des Pres drugstore on the Left Bank in Paris, killing two persons and wounding 26. Witnesses said that a young man had thrown the grenade from a balcony and escaped. [New York Times]
- The Lebanese Ministry of Defense reported that Israeli fighter bombers struck at targets in southeast Lebanon, killing one civilian and wounding two others. The raid lasted 10 minutes and was concentrated in the area of Arkub at Mount Hermon. [New York Times]
- Premier Yitzhak Rabin of Israel said on the "Meet the Press" television program that his country hoped to exchange further Israeli troop withdrawals in Sinai for Egyptian agreements to cease diplomatic and economic sanctions against Israel. [New York Times]
- The Japanese terrorists who took over the French Embassy in the Hague Friday freed two women hostages but were still holding Ambassador Jacques Senard and eight others as hostages. The area outside the embassy has been closed off. The police, the Dutch marines, diplomats from several nations and friends and relatives of the hostages had been awaiting a word or some move from the captors. [New York Times]