News stories from Thursday February 22, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The U.S. and China issued a joint communique in the wake of Henry Kissinger's visit. Kissinger announced that the U.S. and China will set up trade missions in Peking and Washington to serve as informal embassies. China will release American pilots Phillip Smith and Robert Flynn, who were shot down over China during the Vietnam war. CIA pilot John Downey will have his case reviewed; Downey has been held since the Korean war. Cultural exchanges will be made.
Kissinger stated that no plans exist to reduce American forces on Taiwan, and that reconstruction money for North Vietnam represents a long-term investment in the structure of peace in Vietnam.
[CBS] - Fighting continued in the first day of the Laos cease-fire. [CBS]
- Controversy rages on over Israel's downing of a Libyan passenger plane over the Sinai. At least 99 persons were killed in the crash. Israel says the plane was over the most sensitive and restricted area of the Sinai desert, but Egypt claims that the plane simply strayed off course and the pilot didn't realize he was in Israeli air space. One passenger reported that Israeli planes opened fire after 3 to 5 minutes; after that he remembers nothing. Crew member Pierre Boudier said that the plane's radio was working but weather was bad; there was a sand storm and navigational aid was not working. Israeli Chief of Staff Mordecai Hod reported that a crew member in the hospital said that the plane knew Israel wanted it to land, but decided to try to escape.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan called the incident a military one, not political, and he regrets that it happened. Egyptian Information Minister Dr. Abdul Hatam says the incident is an outrage and shows the aggressive nature of Israel. All hopes of Mideast peace were shot down along with the plane.
[CBS] - Retail food prices were up 2.1% in January, but the cost of living was down overall. AFL-CIO president George Meany urged that the government improve its price controls. [CBS]
- President Nixon will submit a tax reform bill to Congress. The bill will propose tax relief for elderly homeowners and for parents whose children attend private schools.
The Office of Economic Opportunity is being swiftly dismantled before Congress can act to save it. OEO director Howard Phillips says that stopping the Office of Economic Opportunity will actually benefit the poor, as the office was ineffective in fighting poverty. Poverty Commission chairman Senator Gaylord Nelson stated that Congress is being asked by anti-poverty organizations to stop President Nixon's "illegal" actions. Former OEO legal aid director Theodore Tetzlaff said that the aid program is being dismantled even though the President stated earlier that it would be retained.
[CBS] - The Supreme Court ruled that a federal law to prevent labor racketeering cannot be used against workers trying to obtain legitimate union objectives, even if they use illegal means. [CBS]
- The judge ordered the prosecuting attorney in the Pentagon Papers case to turn over the secret CIA memo that Daniel Ellsberg's lawyers say will help their case greatly. The memo purportedly indicates that the secret information in the Pentagon Papers was actually fabricated by Pentagon officials and therefore was of no value to the enemy. [CBS]
- CBS vice-chairman Frank Stanton called for strong legislation to protect reporters from being forced to reveal confidential information. [CBS]
- Former Arkansas governor Winthrop Rockefeller died today of cancer at the age of 60. [CBS]
- The coffin of Philippe Petain has been returned to the island off of France from which it was stolen. Petain's coffin was recently stolen by right-wing activists who want Petain to be reburied at Verdun. Petain was a World War I hero of the Battle of Verdun but became a Nazi collaborator during World War II. The government of President Pompidou is embarrassed by the incident; elections are near. [CBS]
- Wyn Sargent, the writer-photographer who married a tribal chief in Indonesia, was kicked out of the country shortly after her marriage. Sargent says she didn't go to Indonesia to study the sex habits of natives, and claims that the stories about her adventures have been created by Indonesian officials who want her out of the country to prevent her from divulging their corruption and maltreatment of natives by authorities who are charged with protecting them. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 971.78 (-2.56, -0.26%)
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* |
| February 21, 1973 | 974.34 | 114.69 | 14.88 |
| February 20, 1973 | 983.59 | 115.40 | 14.02 |
| February 16, 1973 | 979.23 | 114.98 | 13.32 |
| February 15, 1973 | 973.13 | 114.45 | 13.94 |
| February 14, 1973 | 979.91 | 115.10 | 16.52 |
| February 13, 1973 | 996.76 | 116.78 | 25.32 |
| February 12, 1973 | 991.57 | 116.06 | 16.13 |
| February 9, 1973 | 979.46 | 114.68 | 19.26 |
| February 8, 1973 | 967.19 | 113.16 | 18.44 |
| February 7, 1973 | 968.32 | 113.66 | 17.96 |