News stories from Monday July 16, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- A surprise witness, former White House aide Alexander Butterfield, told the Senate Watergate Committee today about widespread White House bugging and telephone tapping. Butterfield disclosed knowledge of tapped phones in the Oval Office, Executive Office, Camp David office and the Lincoln Room. For two years the President's conversations and meetings have been recorded by the Secret Service for historical reasons. Butterfield stated that President Nixon, H.R. Haldeman, Larry Higby and himself knew about the recording devices; he guessed that John Dean and John Ehrlichman were definitely unaware of them.
Butterfield said that the President seems oblivious that recording machines are present, but confirmed that all calls to and from four phones in the aforementioned offices were taped. Senator Talmadge asked if there is any warning signal on the machine to allow a caller to know that his conversation is being taped. Butterfield replied that the buzzing sound should be a warning, but no one was explicitly told that their conversation was being recorded. At the end of his testimony, Butterfield stated that he answered all questions honestly, and he doesn't think that President Nixon is guilty of any wrongdoing.
The Watergate committee intends to ask for the tapes in order to find the truth regarding the President's involvement in Watergate, as alleged in John Dean's testimony.
[CBS] - After Alexander Butterfield's testimony, committee chairman Sam Ervin read a letter from White House counsel Fred Buzhardt which claimed that the bugging system is similar to former President Lyndon Johnson's system. However, the Secret Service denies recording meetings for President Johnson or any other president besides Nixon.
The White House had no comment except for Buzhardt's letter confirming Butterfield's testimony. Joseph Califano, a close aide to LBJ, asserted that President Johnson never tapped phones on a "regular, automatic" basis as Nixon has. The White House had no comment on the legality of the recordings.
[CBS] - The Senate Watergate Committee continued its hearings with former Nixon attorney Herbert Kalmbach on the stand today. Kalmbach admitted raising and distributing money for the Watergate defendants on John Dean's orders, saying that Dean indicated he wanted money for the legal defense and family support of Watergate defendants.
Kalmbach stated that he obtained $75,000 from campaign finance chief Maurice Stans. He then gave $25,000 to convicted Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt's lawyer and most of the remaining money to Mrs. Hunt for distribution to other defendants. Kalmbach became worried and went to John Ehrlichman for reassurance; he asked Ehrlichman if Dean really had the authority to give such orders, if the assignment was proper, and whether he should proceed. Ehrlichman advised him to go ahead.
Ehrlichman noted that secrecy was necessary to keep the press from misinterpreting the concept of raising funds for the defendants. Last January Kalmbach got out of fund raising. Responding to questioning from Republican counsel Fred Thompson, Kalmbach contradicted Dean regarding meeting places and dates. Kalmbach is to return to the hearings for further testimony tomorrow.
[CBS] - Lawyers for John Mitchell and Maurice Stans asked a New York federal judge to drop the charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice against their clients regarding illegal contributions to the Nixon re-election committee. The lawyers also charged that the Watergate hearings prevent Mitchell and Stans from receiving a fair trial. [CBS]
- Senate Watergate committee chairman Sam Ervin defended the Watergate committee's actions by using past quotes from President Nixon. [CBS]
- President Nixon continues to improve in his bout with viral pneumonia. Chest specialist Dr. Sol Katz said that the infection in Nixon's lungs is now almost completely gone. [CBS]
- Bombing surrounded Phnom Penh on all sides today. U.S. war planes bombed Communist targets near the city. [CBS]
- Air Force major Hal Knight told the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. bombing in Cambodia was secretly carried out in early 1970 before the public announcement of U.S. involvement in Cambodia. Knight alleges that his superiors told him to destroy orders to bomb Cambodia and to write fake reports. Senator Strom Thurmond questioned Knight on his motives. Knight said that he was actually in favor of the bombing, but objected to false reports. He questioned the reports but never filed a formal complaint. Senator Harold Hughes could find no report regarding the bombing of Cambodia at the time in question, and stated that the Senate Armed Services Committee knew nothing about bombing, calling the current revelations "official deception".
The Pentagon has confirmed Knight's story, and new Air Force Chief of Staff George Brown admitted that fake reports were part of a larger security plan, and higher officials were aware of the real story. The White House admits that President Nixon officially approved Cambodian raids even as the U.S. officially recognized Cambodia's neutrality.
[CBS] - In South Vietnam, the Viet Cong freed two Canadian members of the International Control Commission. Captain Ian Patten said that he was treated humanely and with respect, except by certain persons. The prisoners were bound while being forced to march, and were denied sleep at times. Captain Fletcher Thomason stated that the Viet Cong told them they would be treated as International Control Commission prisoners only if they would admit going into the area illegally; if not, they would be considered spies. Patten and Thomason were held for 18 days. [CBS]
- An Air Force colonel brought charges against eight POWs who were with him in Vietnamese prison camps, but the Pentagon has dismissed his charges for lack of evidence. Captain John Parsels says that the eight men should have been brought to trial.
At Maxwell AFB in Alabama, Colonel Theodore Guy, who originally pressed the charges, was present but had no comment. Former POW Parsels stated that the eight who were charged would cooperate with their Vietnamese captors in any way, and he related stories of those POWs aiding the enemy. Parsels said he would like to see the eight dismissed with dishonorable discharges. Some of the accused said that their actions in the prison camp were based on sincere opposition to the war.
[CBS] - Recent mistaken raids by federal drug enforcement agencies have led to revised guidelines. Those guidelines now include obtaining a warrant before raiding a home. Only the head of the FDA's enforcement division or his deputy may give the go-ahead for a nighttime, no-knock raid. New FDA enforcement director John Bartels vowed that no blemishes will be tolerated by his administration, and another incident such as the one in Collinsville, Illinois, won't happen. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 897.58 (+11.59, +1.31%)
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* |
| July 13, 1973 | 885.99 | 104.09 | 11.39 |
| July 12, 1973 | 901.94 | 105.50 | 16.40 |
| July 11, 1973 | 908.19 | 105.80 | 18.73 |
| July 10, 1973 | 888.32 | 103.52 | 15.09 |
| July 9, 1973 | 877.26 | 102.14 | 11.56 |
| July 6, 1973 | 870.11 | 101.28 | 9.98 |
| July 5, 1973 | 874.32 | 101.78 | 10.50 |
| July 3, 1973 | 874.17 | 101.87 | 10.56 |
| July 2, 1973 | 880.57 | 102.90 | 9.83 |
| June 29, 1973 | 891.71 | 104.26 | 10.77 |