News stories from Monday September 18, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- North Vietnam is threatening to take Mo Duc; South Vietnamese troops are trying to reinforce the threatened town. Two U.S. aircraft were shot down in the fight for Mo Duc, but their crews were rescued.
South Vietnamese marines and paratroopers are pushing out from Quang Tri city. The Quang Tri citadel was taken undramatically as the opposition faded away. Flag raisings were held for the benefit of the press; the citadel is in shambles. Rubble must be cleared if a headquarters is to be located here, but the South Vietnam flag flies and some are celebrating. The battle for Quang Tri city took nearly three months, and some units suffered 40% casualties just to retake this one area. South Vietnam now controls the area up to the Ben Hai river. But troops must now push across the river, an action which is predicted to be costly.
[CBS] - George McGovern attacked the Nixon administration's record on narcotics. President Nixon responded, in a kind of long-range campaign debate. Face-to-face debates are said to be unlikely. The President answered McGovern's charges at a State Department narcotics seminar today.
McGovern had challenged Nixon to say how North Vietnam is a greater threat to America than drugs, and he questioned the cost of the Vietnam war as compared to the money spent to fight heroin. McGovern also charged that our allies in South Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia are involved in narcotics traffic but U.S. officials ignore it because of the need for Thai airbases, Laotian mercenaries and South Vietnamese soldiers for the war.
[CBS] - John Banzhaf, a law professor at George Washington University in Washington, DC, dislikes the way the Watergate bugging affair is being handled. He accused Democrats of hypocrisy and Republicans of bias, and he filed a motion to call for the appointment of a special prosecutor. [CBS]
- The House Agriculture Committee is continuing its investigation of U.S. wheat sales to the Soviet Union, particularly the allegation that advance information helped big grain firms to reap windfall profits. Telephone calls were of special concern today.
Agriculture Department officials admitted making telephone calls to grain firms, but denied that the calls provided insider information that aided pricing. Charles Pence said that he made calls on August 24 to tell firms of a policy change -- that the government would no longer guarantee subsidy levels; Pence claims that this information was not beneficial to exporters. One Republican called the investigation a witch hunt, but Democrats are unconvinced. Clarence Palmby, an Agriculture Department official who was involved in the negotiations with the Soviets, later joined a grain firm. Palmby will appear before the committee tomorrow.
[CBS] - President Idi Amin of Uganda charged that yesterday's attack against his country by Tanzania was unprovoked; he stated that the invaders included regular Tanzanian soldiers and Ugandan guerrillas supported by British and Israeli mercenaries. Tanzania denies that its forces invaded Uganda; Uganda says they did, and were beaten back. Tanzania claims that Ugandan planes hit a border town. In Kampala, an order is out to arrest all foreign journalists. Some U.S. citizens have been arrested, including the wives of U.S. missionaries and some Peace Corps workers. CBS newsman Bert Quint escaped and fled to Nairobi, Kenya.
The differences between Uganda and Tanzania are evident. The Tanzanian president is a friend of the man who was ousted by Amin. A major war between the two nations is doubtful, however. The so-called invasion on Sunday created little excitement locally; some armored vehicles were seen. White residents are the most nervous because the Ugandan government has accused the British of being involved and of having spies in the country; this puts all whites under suspicion.
[CBS] - Foreign Secretary Sir Alex Douglas-Home stated that Britain would be happy to mediate in Egypt-Israel affairs in order to help bring peace to the Mideast. Israeli forces pulled back today after a weekend strike on Arab guerrilla bases in southern Lebanon, and an uneasy truce was reportedly reached there. [CBS]
- Senator William Proxmire brought groceries to the Senate today to illustrate the rise in food costs, including baloney, under President Nixon's economic policy. Senator Hugh Scott called Proxmire's argument all "baloney," considering George McGovern's desire to lift price controls. [CBS]
- Democrats say that the McGovern campaign has caught fire; Congress thinks otherwise. By the time President Nixon starts campaigning, McGovern may have "started a fire", but may only have deepened the feeling of boredom. Three issues that could affect the campaign are the Watergate scandal, economic uncertainty and the Vietnam war. Vietnam is seen as a good issue for the President whichever way it goes, but ending the war early may hurt Nixon by causing attention to be focused on domestic issues. [CBS]
- President Nixon has increased oil imports 35% to take care of domestic insufficiency, especially in New England. [CBS]
- The Civil Aeronautics Board proposes separating smokers from non-smokers on airplanes. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 945.36 (-1.96, -0.21%)
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* |
| September 15, 1972 | 947.32 | 108.81 | 11.69 |
| September 14, 1972 | 947.55 | 108.93 | 12.50 |
| September 13, 1972 | 949.88 | 108.90 | 13.07 |
| September 12, 1972 | 946.04 | 108.47 | 13.56 |
| September 11, 1972 | 955.00 | 109.51 | 10.71 |
| September 8, 1972 | 961.24 | 110.15 | 10.98 |
| September 7, 1972 | 962.45 | 110.29 | 11.09 |
| September 6, 1972 | 963.43 | 110.55 | 12.01 |
| September 5, 1972 | 969.37 | 111.23 | 10.63 |
| September 1, 1972 | 970.05 | 111.51 | 11.60 |