News stories from Friday May 25, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The three astronauts arrived on schedule to hook up with the crippled Skylab over Guam. The liftoff by a Saturn 1B rocket went smoothly. Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz and Joseph Kerwin confirmed the problems as diagnosed by Houston, reporting a bulging meteorite shield and the loss of one solar panel. Based on the astronauts' findings, the decision has been made for to pull out the remaining solar wing. An umbrella shade will be deployed tomorrow to lower the temperature inside Skylab. If repair procedures are successful, the goal is for the astronauts to spend a 28-day mission in space. [CBS]
- The focus now shifts back to the courts during the recess of the Senate Watergate hearings until June 5. Former presidential chief of staff H.R. Haldeman was questioned today by Democratic party attorneys regarding the Watergate bugging. Haldeman's attorney, Frank Strickler, said that he doesn't think Haldeman will be indicted. Haldeman and former aide John Ehrlichman are seeking to put the blame on former Attorney General John Mitchell and former presidential counsel John Dean for the Watergate bugging. Haldeman and Ehrlichman reported that Mitchell held a wiretap meeting late in 1971. That meeting was attended by deputy campaign manager Jeb Magruder as well as White House aides Gordon Strachan and Fred LaRue. Haldeman denied telling CIA deputy director Vernon Walters that the President wanted the CIA to stop the FBI from investigating Republican campaign funds. [CBS]
- Sources say that former White House aide Jeb Magruder is the key Watergate witness for the prosecution. Magruder was deputy director of the President's re-election campaign before taking a Commerce Department job. Magruder reportedly has admitted his guilt in the Watergate scandal to the grand jury. [CBS]
- New Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox took their oaths of office today. Richardson was sworn in at the White House with Spiro Agnew, congressional leaders and the cabinet in attendance. Chief Justice Warren Burger administered the oath. President Nixon alluded to Watergate when he asked those present to stay and meet Richardson unless they have a meeting in court.
Cox avoided the traditional swearing-in by the Attorney General, and had a judge friend administer the oath. Cox plans to move from an office in the Justice Department soon in order to show his independence from the Nixon administration.
[CBS] - ABC, CBS, and NBC have reached an agreement to rotate live coverage of the special Watergate hearings. This is a first for the networks; each week the agreement will be renewed. Viewer complaints were high against all networks providing simultaneous live coverage. [CBS]
- The White House issued an explanation of how President Nixon acquired the California White House. The President's friend Robert Abplanalp, an inventor of aerosol spray cans, loaned Nixon $1.5 million in 1969 to buy a 26-acre tract in California for his home. In 1970, the President resold all but 5.9 acres (which were reserved for the California White House) back to Abplanalp at a higher price. Abplanalp also owns a home in Key Biscayne, Florida, while the President owns two there. [CBS]
- Former prisoners of war gave President Nixon an American flag which they made while in prison. The President commented on a POW being a bachelor and noted his likely demand at dinner parties. He warned a POW of "dogs" he might be seated next to, but hastily added that there are some very pretty girls in DC. [CBS]
- Members of the unit guarding the presidential yacht "Sequoya" have been reassigned for smoking marijuana. Recently several Camp David guards were reassigned for the same reason. [CBS]
- Hector Campora was sworn in today as the president of Argentina in Buenos Aires. The handpicked choice of Juan Peron praised the people of North Vietnam and Cuba in his speech. Secretary State William Rogers seemed unmoved, but Chilean President Salvador Allende and Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos were pleased. Street violence broke out as the former military rulers left the Argentinean legislature. [CBS]
- An American war plane crashed today near the temple ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia; the pilot was killed. [CBS]
- A letter from Protestant and Catholic Church leaders was sent to all chaplains at Air Force installations in the U.S. and Asia, requesting enlisted men to halt the bombing of Cambodia. [CBS]
- Two families in Collinsville, Illinois, have filed suits against the federal government regarding false drug raids. Concern is growing over the methods of narcotics agents.
In 1972, Dirk Dickenson was living with his girlfriend Judy Arnold in the redwood country of northern California. He was shot in the back and killed by narcotics agent Lloyd Clifton. Dickenson was supposedly manufacturing illegal drugs, but he was killed during the raid before he could defend himself. Federal agents decided on an airborne raid, inviting sheriff Robert Bollman and newspaper reporters along. Eyewitness reporter Ron Rose recalled the raid as "mass confusion". The U.S. attorney in San Francisco said that the charges against Clifton should be dismissed as justifiable homicide, but the Humboldt County district attorney thinks that federal agents should be investigated; Clifton has been charged with murder and manslaughter.
Agents borrowed a helicopter from the Army, an illegal act, and fired at Dickenson without identifying themselves. Judy Arnold recalled that agents ran through the door before she could do anything. Clifton's attorney, William McKittrick, said that an agent must carry out a judge's orders to take a suspect into custody, and it's too bad if the suspect is innocent. Civil Rights lawyer Phillip Ryan filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of Dickenson and Arnold. Ryan stated that a pattern of violence, degradation and murder has become the way of federal narcotics agents.
Clifton has been reassigned to a desk job. The indictment against Clifton by Humboldt County, California, is being appealed by the federal government. The government says that lower courts have no jurisdiction over federal agents acting in the line of duty.
[CBS] - Sports are unfair to women, according to a "Sports Illustrated" article this week.
At the University of Miami, women are coming up in sports. Lynn Gienieczko was the winner of a $2,500 tuition scholarship in swimming. Gienieczko says she's helping the Women's Lib movement. The director of Women's Athletics of the University of Miami, Isabella Hutchinson, hopes that scholarships for women won't become a big business. Mary Griffiths, a diver for the University of Miami, said that she feels slighted because she missed out on the scholarships that are now being given. U.M. diver and scholarship winner Greg Tye said that scholarships for women are a very good idea, since many women are capable athletes.
[CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 930.84 (+8.40, +0.91%)
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* |
| May 24, 1973 | 922.44 | 107.14 | 17.31 |
| May 23, 1973 | 895.02 | 104.07 | 14.95 |
| May 22, 1973 | 892.46 | 103.58 | 18.02 |
| May 21, 1973 | 886.51 | 102.73 | 20.69 |
| May 18, 1973 | 895.17 | 103.86 | 17.08 |
| May 17, 1973 | 911.72 | 105.56 | 13.06 |
| May 16, 1973 | 917.14 | 106.43 | 13.80 |
| May 15, 1973 | 917.44 | 106.57 | 18.53 |
| May 14, 1973 | 909.69 | 105.90 | 13.52 |
| May 11, 1973 | 927.98 | 108.17 | 12.98 |