News stories from Wednesday March 31, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- The jury in Lt. William Calley's trial sentenced him to life imprisonment. Defense attorney George Latimer noted that President Nixon can pardon Calley at any time, but he won't see the President without an invitation and will instead appeal through the justice system. The White House has received 16,000 telegrams since the verdict was announced and Congressmen have received 20,000; the White House says that most of the telegrams favor Calley. Five hundred people attended a rally for Lt. Calley in Columbus, Georgia. The Western Union office in Columbus has received hundreds of telegrams supporting Calley. [CBS]
- The congressional Democratic caucus voted to end to U.S. involvement in Indochina by the end of next year. The House resolution follows a vote by Senate Democrats last month and calls for presidential initiatives to end U.S. involvement. Rep. John Dent said that the resolution will force President Nixon to really deal with the issue of ending involvement. Rep. Olin Teague said that he feels President Nixon would rather have a resolution supporting his policies, but he doesn't think this will disturb Nixon much. [CBS]
- Saigon announced that North Vietnam attacked Duc Duc, South Vietnam, last Sunday and killed 200 civilians. President Thieu visited troops in Dong Ha and said that South Vietnam has the capability to attack North Vietnamese territory, but the form and scale of the attack depends on support from allies. Thieu also announced that South Vietnamese forces attacked a North Vietnamese base in Laos this morning.
The Pentagon issued a draft call of 15,000 for May.
[CBS] - North Vietnamese Communist party leader Le Duan addressed the Communist Party Congress in Moscow and thanked the Soviet Union for its support. [CBS]
- The State Department will charter commercial planes to evacuate Americans from East Pakistan. [CBS]
- Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa's parole was denied. Hoffa must now spend at least 14 more months at the Lewisburg, Pa., federal prison. Hoffa's control of the union is expected to be challenged in the upcoming Teamsters election. [CBS]
- Housing Secretary George Romney says that violations in federal housing programs are more serious and widespread than Congress' investigations revealed. He reported that 200 cases have been referred to the FBI. [CBS]
- A Justice Department spokesman stated that half of all crimes in the U.S. are committed by youths under the age of 18. [CBS]
- A 14-year-old boy in Birmingham, Alabama, was talked out of hijacking a Delta Airlines plane to Havana; an Eastern Airlines plane was hijacked to Havana on a flight from New York City to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Red China permitted the Philippines Airline plane which had been hijacked to Canton yesterday to return to Manila while the hijackers remained in Canton. [CBS]
- Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst, testifying before a Senate committee, placed the Nixon administration on record as favoring the repeal of equal time broadcast regulations. [CBS]
- President Nixon announced that the federal government will turn over six miles of beachfront property at Camp Pendleton to the state of California to be used for a park. [CBS]
- There were more than 220 aftershocks today from the Los Angeles earthquake. The aftershocks in the Northridge area registered between 4 and 5 on the Richter Scale. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 904.37 (+0.98, +0.11%)
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 30, 1971 | 903.39 | 100.26 | 15.43 |
| March 29, 1971 | 903.48 | 100.03 | 13.65 |
| March 26, 1971 | 903.48 | 99.95 | 15.56 |
| March 25, 1971 | 900.81 | 99.61 | 15.87 |
| March 24, 1971 | 899.37 | 99.62 | 15.72 |
| March 23, 1971 | 908.89 | 100.28 | 16.47 |
| March 22, 1971 | 910.60 | 100.62 | 14.29 |
| March 19, 1971 | 912.92 | 101.01 | 15.15 |
| March 18, 1971 | 916.83 | 101.19 | 17.91 |
| March 17, 1971 | 914.02 | 101.12 | 17.07 |