News stories from Saturday August 26, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The General Accounting Office said that "apparent and possible violations" of the Federal Election Campaign Act were committed by the Finance Committee to Re-Elect the President. The alleged violations, involving up to $350,000 in contributions to President Nixon's campaign, were referred to the Justice Department "for further investigation." The GAO, the auditing and investigative arm of Congress, said, however, it was "impossible to close certain gaps" in the record. [New York Times]
- Senator George McGovern continued a concerted effort to win back the normally Democratic Jewish voters who have drifted away from the party because of opposition to his presidential candidacy. He issued a statement sharply attacking a Nixon administration plan to use Greece as the home port for six destroyers from the Sixth Fleet as "jeopardizing our commitment to Israel." He warned that the Greek regime's friendship with Arab nations might cause it to interfere with any attempt to use the ships to support Israel in a time of need. [New York Times]
- A critic of the Warren Commission's report on the assassination of President Kennedy said that the preserved brain of the President and microscopic slides of tissues removed from his bullet wounds had been withheld, apparently by the Kennedy family, from the assassination evidence in the National Archives. The charge came from Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, the first critic of the Warren report who was permitted to see items from the Kennedy autopsy. [New York Times]
- The Soviet press has returned to a full-scale propaganda offensive against China after a lull in the mutual polemics this summer, and has started a major campaign by accusing Peking of being in league with Western European nations against Eastern European Communist countries. Tass, the Soviet news agency, asserted that the Chinese were facing "indignant criticism" in the United Nations for their "obstructionist policy" against Bangladesh's membership. [New York Times]
- American officials in South Vietnam report that the rate of civilian casualties in South Vietnam have increased more than 100% since the current enemy offensive began March 31. The latest figures show that from the start of the offensive to the end of July 24,788 civilians had been wounded, an average of 6,197 casualties a month compared to an average of 2,700 for each of the six months preceding the offensive. [New York Times]
- President Idi Amin of Uganda said his plans for black Ugandans to take over foreign-owned businesses would be extended to include European enterprises "whether they like it or not." He said that the first phase of Uganda's "economic war" was to expel all Asians with British, Indian, Pakistani or Bangladesh nationality. Currently, at least 55,000 Asians have until Nov. 7 to leave the country under a decree of Aug. 4. [New York Times]