News stories from Friday December 29, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Bombing of the Hanoi and Haiphong area continued. The U.S. lost four more planes today, and 12 airmen are dead or were captured. Hanoi calls the bombing "extermination raids." Some members of foreign missions in Hanoi have evacuated the city. Several reports say that the bombing is indiscriminate, and there are many civilian deaths.
The Pentagon is releasing little information on the bombing and has refused to comment on the reports of civilian casualties. Pentagon spokesman Jerry Friedheim suggested that North Vietnamese SAM's and crashing planes are causing civilian deaths, but he had no comment regarding the bombing of civilians. The White House is maintaining complete silence on the North Vietnam bombing through acting press secretary Jerry Warren. American Association for the Advancement of Science vice president Dr. Everett Mendelsohn and a group of distinguished scientists got a cold reception from White House authorities when they brought their antiwar petition to the White House. President Nixon is secluded at Camp David.
[CBS] - Eighteen Democrats from the House urged a national campaign to mobilize opposition to the Vietnam bombing. The group sent a letter to House Speaker Carl Albert and party chairman Robert Strauss asking them to help lead the campaign. Two Republican Senators oppose the bombing, Edward Brooke and William Saxbe. Brooke noted that President Nixon is saying nothing about the areas of disagreement either to Congress or to the American people, and Brooke promised to introduce antiwar legislation. Saxbe said that Nixon has taken leave of his senses. [CBS]
- Swedish Premier Olof Palme has been severely criticizing the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam. Today the U.S. instructed Sweden not to replace its ambassador here next month when the present ambassador ends his assignment. [CBS]
- The expected spring meeting between Soviet Communist party boss Leonid Brezhnev and President Nixon may be called off. Kremlin reporter Victor Lewis said that Brezhnev won't visit the U.S. until the Vietnam war is settled. Chinese premier Chou En-lai told a Washington Post reporter that the bombing of North Vietnam could have a negative effect on U.S.-Chinese relations. [CBS]
- Many high administration officials are having second thoughts about President Nixon's strategy of continuing to bomb North Vietnam, because of the heavy losses of planes and personnel. Congress is another problem. Senator William Fulbright asked Secretary of State Rogers and presidential adviser Henry Kissinger to testify about the bombing to the Foreign Relations Committee; both are expected to decline that invitation. International criticism of the bombing has grown enormously recently. Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin repeated Leonid Brezhnev's denunciation of the bombing. [CBS]
- Four Arab terrorists arrived in Cairo after holding six Israelis hostage at the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok. The Thai government negotiated an end to the siege by promising the terrorists safe conduct to Egypt in exchange for the release of the hostages. The terrorists gave up their demand to exchange the hostages for the release of 36 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Thai Air Marshal Dawee, deputy Foreign Minister Chatichai and the Egyptian ambassador accompanied the four members of the "Black September" organization on the flight to Cairo as a guarantee of safe passage. [CBS]
- It was reported that George Wallace will run for re-election for governor of Alabama in 1974 and will then seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. [CBS]
- New York congressman John Murphy proposed new anti-hijacking legislation. But the already-approved procedures for searching passengers at air terminals are raising constitutional questions. The fourth amendment forbids searching persons without a warrant or without probable cause that criminal evidence will be discovered.
On January 5 new searching procedures at air terminals will go into effect. So far 6,000 airport arrests have been made, but only 1,100 of those were for possession of weapons or other offenses possibly connected with hijackings. The ACLU is protesting the mass searching of passengers; they suspect that the primary purpose of airport searches is to catch all kinds of illegal activity (such as drug possession, illegal aliens and fugitives) and not simply to deter hijacking. Assistant Secretary of Transportation Benjamin Davis says he is happy that violators of the law are being arrested.
A California court ruled that the airport seizure of marijuana is illegal because a warrantless search is justified only to meet the threat of hijacking. The government may appeal that decision to the Supreme Court.
[CBS] - The White House stopped the emergency farm loan program for budgetary reasons. Congressman William Harsha, in a telegram to President Nixon, said whoever made that decision was crazy. Yet today the administration announced the elimination of the low-cost rural electric credit system which was established as part of the New Deal. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1020.02 (+12.34, +1.22%)
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* |
| December 27, 1972 | 1007.68 | 116.93 | 19.10 |
| December 26, 1972 | 1006.70 | 116.30 | 11.12 |
| December 22, 1972 | 1004.21 | 115.83 | 12.54 |
| December 21, 1972 | 1000.00 | 115.11 | 18.29 |
| December 20, 1972 | 1004.82 | 115.95 | 18.49 |
| December 19, 1972 | 1009.18 | 116.34 | 17.00 |
| December 18, 1972 | 1013.25 | 116.90 | 17.54 |
| December 15, 1972 | 1027.24 | 118.26 | 18.30 |
| December 14, 1972 | 1025.06 | 118.24 | 17.93 |
| December 13, 1972 | 1030.48 | 118.56 | 16.54 |