News stories from Monday March 20, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- In Belfast, Northern Ireland, a bomb went off outside a Protestant newspaper office in a crowded street. The bomb exploded in a parked car as two policemen were inspecting it, blowing them to pieces. Four civilians were also killed and 146 people were injured. Victims had taken shelter in the street after being warned that a bomb was around the corner. Police say the warning was a trick designed to frighten shoppers into the bomb's killing zone. [CBS]
- Phnom Penh, Cambodia, suffered intense enemy rocket fire; at least 10 people were killed. The American base at Long Cheng, Laos, is in danger of failing again, as many of the base's defenders have deserted. [CBS]
- Communist party leader Leonid Brezhnev said that Russia desires better relations with the United States, but he suspects the U.S. of making a secret pact with China. [CBS]
- The Supreme Court agreed to reconsider certain aspects of its 1966 Miranda decision restricting the use of confessions in trials. The Court also upheld a California ruling against the death penalty and announced that it will issue a decision on capital punishment soon. [CBS]
- The Attica prison riot six months ago ended with 43 men dead. The debate over reform vs. tighter security at the prison continues. One visible change at Attica since the revolt is the presence of more guards, more heavily armed. One guard said that conditions at Attica since the riot have worsened, and he predicts more trouble. The wives of prison guards are organizing a political movement, calling for the establishment of programs for emergency situations, adherence to civil service laws in the hiring of corrections officers, a "maxi-prison" for incorrigibles, censorship of inmates' mail, reinstatement of capital punishment and the suspension of civil rights for prisoners. Most guards want more discipline and less permissiveness for prisoners.
Blacks are being recruited for guard positions in a move to improve the ratio of black to white guards, and there is a new training program for guards.
[CBS] - The Illinois presidential primary will be held tomorrow. Edmund Muskie faces former Senator Eugene McCarthy in a popularity poll which has no meaning except for psychological impact. Muskie is being more aggressive and issue-oriented now, taking on the Vietnam war, tax reform and big business. Muskie says that President Nixon broke his promises to end the war, inflation, and unemployment. George McGovern is campaigning hard in Illinois, and McCarthy said that he too expects to do well in the balloting, irrespective of the lack of committed delegates. Mayor Daley of Chicago has not said which candidate he will back in the Illinois primary.
The Treasury Department offered Secret Service protection to the five leading Democratic presidential candidates: Muskie, McGovern, Humphrey, Jackson and Wallace. It denied protection to others including Chisholm, Lindsay and McCarthy. Secret Service men are on the job in accord with a 1968 law which was passed following the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Treasury Secretary John Connally decided which candidates would receive protection.
[CBS] - In the wake of the ITT affair, Life magazine accused the Nixon administration of intervening to block the prosecution of influential San Diego citizens, including tax charges against C. Arnholt Smith and bribery charges against former Mayor Frank Curran.
Speaking in Los Angeles, vice-president Spiro Agnew said that he hadn't read the story, but he doubts the accuracy of a magazine gullible enough to print Clifford Irving's novel. Acting Attorney General Richard Kleindienst said that Life's story is absolutely false.
[CBS] - ITT lobbyist Dita Beard's secretary signed an affidavit that she typed a memo similar to the one in question, but said that it contained no mention of a link between ITT's antitrust settlement and ITT's contribution to the Republican national convention. Columnist Brit Hume claims that he went over the memo line by line with Mrs. Beard, and she did not deny it until three weeks after its publication. California Secretary of State Jerry Brown has filed suit to block ITT's contribution to the Republican convention. [CBS]
- The Interior Department released a report supporting the claims of environmental groups that an oil pipeline across Alaska from Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez could kill vegetation, drive away wildlife and thaw permafrost. The report advocates an alternate route through Canada. The final decision by Interior Secretary Rogers Morton will be delayed until after the elections. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 941.15 (-1.73, -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* |
| March 17, 1972 | 942.88 | 107.92 | 16.04 |
| March 16, 1972 | 936.71 | 107.50 | 16.70 |
| March 15, 1972 | 937.31 | 107.75 | 19.46 |
| March 14, 1972 | 934.00 | 107.61 | 22.37 |
| March 13, 1972 | 928.66 | 107.33 | 16.73 |
| March 10, 1972 | 939.87 | 108.37 | 19.69 |
| March 9, 1972 | 942.81 | 108.94 | 21.46 |
| March 8, 1972 | 945.59 | 108.96 | 21.29 |
| March 7, 1972 | 946.87 | 108.87 | 22.64 |
| March 6, 1972 | 950.18 | 108.77 | 21.00 |