News stories from Monday March 31, 1975
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Amid growing fears of an attack on Saigon, North Vietnamese troops swept into South Vietnamese government enclaves on the country's central coast and thwarted the American evacuation of refugees. The Saigon command reported that Chon Thanh, a district town 50 miles north of Saigon, was heavily attacked and that 12 Communist tanks were destroyed in the battle. Some American and other Western officials now term the overall situation in South Vietnam as one of panic and some anarchy, and claim that the North Vietnamese are surging through the country and meeting only sporadic resistance, and that territory is being taken by virtual default. [New York Times]
- Thousands of refugees were milling about in the seaside city of Nha Trang amid reports that North Vietnamese forces were moving rapidly in its direction. American officials said the North Vietnamese were moving toward Nha Trang both down the coast from Binh Dinh Province and from the Central Highlands. Nha Trang is the last major city in government hands along the coast north of Saigon. [New York Times]
- President Lon Nol of Cambodia boarded a military helicopter and took off on a journey that was expected to carry him to permanent exile after going through a series of tearful farewells in Phnom Penh. Sources at the presidential palace said that Marshal Lon Nol had been too overwrought to record a planned farewell address to the nation, which learned of his plans only from foreign broadcasts. [New York Times]
- Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger said that the United States would be "reluctant" to enter into any new arms commitments to Israel while the current reassessment of American policy in the Middle East was going on. The policy review was ordered by President Ford last week, and the State Department said that the ambassadors to Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan had been summoned home. [New York Times]
- President Ford's clemency program for Vietnam war deserters and draft evaders has ended with results that are as controversial as the program itself has been since it was established six months ago. As the program ended, only about 22,500 of the 120,000 men eligible for it had signed up. Charles Goodell, chairman of the Presidential Clemency Board, said that he had regarded the program as "reasonable and successful," and that he would have liked the program extended but the President had said it was not possible. [New York Times]
- The Agriculture Department reported that farm prices declined 2 percent in the month ended March 15 from the averages of a month earlier, extending the easing of major agricultural commodities for the fifth consecutive month. The decline was generally viewed by department officials as reinforcing earlier predictions by the department of lower food prices for consumers despite a slight firming of the farm markets since mid-March. [New York Times]
- Portugal's leftist military government, in keeping with its decolonization policy, has been trying to give Macao back to China, but the Peking government has said no, according to diplomatic officials in Washington. Macao has been Portuguese territory since 1887, but Macao has functioned as a Chinese dependency for some years and Peking proclaimed it "part of Chinese territory" in 1972. The Chinese leadership reportedly has advised the Lisbon government that it wanted no change in the status of Macao. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 768.15 (-2.11, -0.27%)
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* |
| March 27, 1975 | 770.26 | 83.85 | 18.30 |
| March 26, 1975 | 766.19 | 83.59 | 18.58 |
| March 25, 1975 | 747.89 | 82.06 | 18.50 |
| March 24, 1975 | 743.43 | 81.42 | 17.81 |
| March 21, 1975 | 763.06 | 83.39 | 15.94 |
| March 20, 1975 | 764.00 | 83.61 | 20.96 |
| March 19, 1975 | 769.48 | 84.34 | 19.03 |
| March 18, 1975 | 779.41 | 85.13 | 29.16 |
| March 17, 1975 | 786.53 | 86.01 | 26.78 |
| March 14, 1975 | 773.47 | 84.76 | 24.84 |