News stories from Thursday December 20, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Federal energy czar William Simon announced guidelines for voluntary gasoline limits. Simon requested that station owners sell only 10 gallons of fuel per car, and he asked drivers to use only 10 gallons per week. If the voluntary system works, gasoline rationing won't be needed. Simon skirted the issue of President Nixon and Vice President Ford failing to conserve energy with their holiday plane trips. [CBS]
- Jet fuel will be allocated to airlines to help them get through the holiday season by diverting fuel from the military to the airlines. The Pentagon is furious over energy czar William Simon's decision; Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger is extremely irritated. Simon allegedly ordered the action without consulting the Pentagon. Two weeks ago, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Thomas Moorer, predicted a slump in combat readiness if fuel restrictions on the military continued.
The Airlines Pilot Association decided to delay its threatened strike which was to be a protest of fuel cutbacks.
[CBS] - A joint committee of Congress completed its study of the White House "enemies list" and their tax returns. Former White House counsel John Dean requested former IRS commissioner Johnnie Walters to audit the tax returns of 500 persons on a list supplied by the White House. Treasury Secretary George Shultz told Walters to ignore the request. [CBS]
- The House Judiciary Committee named John Doar as special counsel to head the Nixon impeachment resolution probe. Doar's ties to the Kennedy family run deep through his political life, but Doar claimed that he will be fair and objective in his new job. Committee Republicans hope to hire a special counsel of their own. Vice President Ford asserted that no sufficient evidence for President Nixon's impeachment exists. [CBS]
- Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt revealed that he spied on Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign on behalf of President Lyndon Johnson. [CBS]
- Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid, killed by an explosive device buried beneath a street. His chauffeur and bodyguard were also killed. A Basque separatist organization claimed responsibility for the assassination. [CBS]
- Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho in Paris to discuss the crumbling Vietnam cease-fire. No details of the meeting were released. [CBS]
- Kissinger then arrived in Geneva for the beginning of the Mideast peace conference. He stated that the conference will try to end the uneasy cease-fire and bring true peace to the Mideast. Both Israel and Egypt have developed tentative (but different) plans for troop withdrawal. Kissinger and conference co-chairman Andrei Gromyko discussed Israel's and Egypt's plans. [CBS]
- Kuwaiti officials are considering turning over the Arab terrorists who murdered over 30 people at the Rome airport earlier in the week to the Palestine Liberation Organization for trial. Italy also requested that the terrorists be delivered to them. [CBS]
- Many homes in the Northeast are still without power after the New England snowstorm. Now a new storm has dumped snow unmercifully on the Midwest. Fifteen inches of snow fell in some areas, in the worst Midwestern storm in many years. [CBS]
- A government study showed that 40% of persons receiving welfare are either completely ineligible or receive too much money. [CBS]
- President Nixon's friend Bebe Rebozo discussed the President and Watergate in a CBS interview. Questioned about the "arrogant" attitude of the Nixon administration, Rebozo insisted that the President himself isn't arrogant, though some in his administration may have deserved that adjective at certain times. Asked about how the talk of impeachment is affecting the Nixon family, Rebozo said that he hates to see the President endure personal agony, but doesn't think he will resign. Regarding Watergate, Rebozo stated that Nixon's fault lies in having too much loyalty to his people, and he believed his aides when they denied being involved. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 828.11 (-1.46, -0.18%)
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* |
| December 19, 1973 | 829.57 | 94.82 | 20.67 |
| December 18, 1973 | 829.49 | 94.74 | 19.49 |
| December 17, 1973 | 811.12 | 92.75 | 12.93 |
| December 14, 1973 | 815.65 | 93.29 | 20.00 |
| December 13, 1973 | 800.43 | 92.38 | 18.13 |
| December 12, 1973 | 810.73 | 93.57 | 18.19 |
| December 11, 1973 | 834.18 | 96.04 | 20.10 |
| December 10, 1973 | 851.14 | 97.95 | 18.59 |
| December 7, 1973 | 838.05 | 96.51 | 23.23 |
| December 6, 1973 | 814.12 | 94.42 | 23.26 |