News stories from Tuesday January 23, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Nixon will address the nation tonight at 10 p.m. EST on the status of the Vietnam peace talks. Before his speech he will brief the cabinet and congressional leaders. Nixon is expected to announce a cease-fire, but press secretary Ron Ziegler refused to confirm or deny that.
Henry Kissinger returned to Washington from Paris and talked with the President. Reports are that Kissinger initialed the cease-fire earlier today at a session with Le Duc Tho. Kissinger, Tho and Xuan Thuy were all smiles and handshakes after their meeting in Paris. Kissinger then lunched with South Vietnam Foreign Minister Lam. Hanoi is expected to begin releasing POWs within two or three days of the cease-fire.
[CBS] - South and North Vietnam are still fighting for territory in South Vietnam. The U.S. supported South Vietnam with air strikes. [CBS]
- Lyndon Johnson lies in state at the L.B.J. Library in Austin, Texas. Funeral services will be held in Washington, DC on Thursday, and Johnson will be buried in the family cemetery at the L.B.J. ranch. [CBS]
- The United States is experiencing an "energy crisis" across the country. But many believe that the fuel shortage is being artificially created. New York Public Service commissioner Joseph Swidler says that at present no shortage of fuel resources exists. Swidler stated that much gas and oil are still in the ground, and much coal remains. Oil exploration is down 40% in the last 14 years though demand is up. By the time the energy supply is exhausted, improved technology should be providing new sources of energy. Nuclear power, solar energy and geothermal power are all possibilities. But for the next 5-15 years, pressing problems exist.
Fuel which would be used to dry grain which is stored in elevators has been unavailable for much of Iowa, so crops are rotting. Many Iowa businesses are running out of fuel. Chicago is also short of fuel. The natural gas industry says that federally-regulated gas prices are too low. Gasoline prices give a better profit, so companies produce this rather than heating fuel. Office of Emergency Preparedness director George Lincoln said that during Phase II economic controls heating fuel was given a low price, but gasoline had a high price ceiling; during Phase III heating fuel prices are expected to rise which will lead to more production.
The oil industry is advertising the existence of shortages and it claims that prices must rise. John McLean, the chairman of Continental Oil, publicly worried about the energy crisis in full-page ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other national magazines. McLean says that new reserves must be developed and this requires higher prices.
[CBS] - A House committee blamed recent racial disturbances aboard the Navy aircraft carriers Kitty Hawk and Constellation on poor discipline. [CBS]
- The names of John Mitchell and Maurice Stans came up in the Watergate case today. Jeb Stuart Magruder, a high Nixon campaign official, testified, like Robert Odle and Herbert Porter, that G. Gordon Liddy was assigned a $250,000 budget to set up an intelligence-gathering network to try to avert disruption of campaign rallies and violence against Republicans. Magruder cited numerous death threats against John and Martha Mitchell as examples. Under examination by prosecutor Earl Silbert, Magruder said that one report from Liddy about possible demonstrations in San Diego was responsible for having the Republican National Convention moved to Miami Beach. Magruder insisted that Liddy was never authorized to conduct wiretaps, and nobody knew he was doing it.
However, the testimony of campaign treasurer Hugh Sloan raised doubts about whether Liddy was acting on his own. Sloan gave Liddy $199,000 in cash, but said he didn't know what it was for. Sloan testified that after the bugging was discovered by police, Liddy came into Republican headquarters saying his boys got caught and that he made a mistake by using somebody from headquarters which he (Liddy) told them he would never do. Sloan claimed that the funds for Liddy were authorized by Mitchell, Magruder and Stans.
[CBS] - The cost of living was up 0.3% in December and rose 3.4% overall in 1972. [CBS]
- Switzerland cut the franc loose from the dollar, which set off a brief run on the dollar in Europe. [CBS]
- The FTC asked Congress to include little cigars in its ban on radio and TV cigarette advertising. [CBS]
- Senator George McGovern says that the U.S. close to having a dictatorship; Senator Barry Goldwater called McGovern a "poor loser". [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1018.66 (-0.15, -0.01%)
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* |
| January 22, 1973 | 1018.81 | 118.21 | 15.57 |
| January 19, 1973 | 1026.19 | 118.78 | 17.02 |
| January 18, 1973 | 1029.12 | 118.85 | 17.81 |
| January 17, 1973 | 1029.12 | 118.68 | 17.68 |
| January 16, 1973 | 1024.31 | 118.14 | 19.17 |
| January 15, 1973 | 1025.59 | 118.44 | 21.52 |
| January 12, 1973 | 1039.36 | 119.30 | 22.23 |
| January 11, 1973 | 1051.70 | 120.24 | 25.05 |
| January 10, 1973 | 1046.06 | 119.43 | 20.88 |
| January 9, 1973 | 1047.11 | 119.73 | 16.83 |