News stories from Wednesday May 23, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Gerald Alch, the former attorney for James McCord, testified today at the Senate Watergate hearings that McCord and his present attorney, Bernard Fensterwald, conspired to wage a personal vendetta against President Nixon.
Former White House aide John Caulfield said he felt that Nixon was aware that he conveyed messages to McCord, offering him executive clemency and other help in return for remaining silent about the Watergate scandal. In response to questions by Daniel Inouye and Lowell Weicker, Caulfield indicated that he knew he was taking part in an obstruction of justice. Anthony Ulasewicz, a former New York City detective and intermediary for Caulfield, said that the Watergate burglary was very badly executed.
The star Watergate witness for day was Gerald Alch. Alch stated that he never urged McCord to plead guilty or tried to get him to blame the CIA for Watergate. Alch flatly denied ever telling McCord he that could forge McCord's CIA personnel records with the cooperation of acting CIA chief James Schlesinger. Alch said that President Nixon would never have given McCord executive clemency, and testified that it was E. Howard Hunt's attorney, William Bitman, who suggested that this was possible. Alch charged Fensterwald with conspiring with McCord in an attempt to blame Watergate on the President. Both Fensterwald and McCord denied Alch's accusation. Committee chairman Sam Ervin will probably allow McCord to submit a written rebuttal to Alch's testimony.
President Nixon seemed to be in good spirits at a meeting with congressional leaders. Senator Hugh Scott urged the American people to give the President the benefit of the doubt unless he is proved guilty of involvement in Watergate.
[CBS] - The Senate confirmed Elliot Richardson as Attorney General. Richardson's confirmation was in doubt until he appointed special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and granted him full power to pursue an independent investigation of the scandal. Senator Robert Byrd said that he still has doubts about Richardson, but the primary concern of the Senate was that Richardson appoint an independent investigator to the Watergate case and that has been done. [CBS]
- President Nixon hinted in his last Watergate statement of FBI activities in gathering foreign intelligence. Sources say that he was referring to FBI break-ins at foreign embassies in Washington which had taken place in the past. Such burglaries were stopped when Ramsey Clark became Attorney General in 1966. During the Nixon administration, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover refused to renew the break-in practices when asked to do so by the White House. [CBS]
- The Washington Post reported that former White House aide Charles Colson and two of his law partners planned to use Colson's position to influence the appointment of a Securities & Exchange Commission official to a key post. [CBS]
- Canadian officials have issued a warrant for the arrest of the partner of financier Robert Vesco. Norman LeBlanc is wanted on charges of fraud and failing to account for $107 million that is now frozen in a Montreal bank. LeBlanc issued a statement from Costa Rica, saying that his disclosure of the details regarding the resignation of G. Bradford Cook as SEC chairman would "startle the world". Vesco was indicted along with John Mitchell and Maurice Stans on charges of obstructing a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into a $200,000 contribution by Vesco to the Nixon campaign in 1972.
Vesco said that he will return to the United States only if a special prosecutor is named and certain ground rules are laid down for an investigation. He fears that his assassination by the CIA is possible.
[CBS] - The House sustained President Nixon's veto of a bill which would have required Senate approval of the appointment of Roy Ash as Budget Director. [CBS]
- The Internal Revenue Service reported that it is auditing the tax returns of seven governors. That report comes in response to a charge by Democrat Governor David Hall of Oklahoma that the Nixon administration is trying to discredit Democrats by auditing their tax returns. The IRS claims that four of the governors under investigation are Republicans and three are Democrats. [CBS]
- England's undersecretary of the Royal Air Force, Lord Lambton, has resigned because of his relations with a call girl. The scandal is reminiscent of the Profumo affair. [CBS]
- Two Ford Motor Company employees were wounded in Argentina yesterday. Today leftist terrorists warned Ford to send $1 million worth of medical supplies to hospitals in Argentina or expect to have more employees shot or kidnapped. Ford will comply with the demand. [CBS]
- Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho concluded their first round of talks in Paris, France, regarding the Vietnam truce. Talks will resume on June 6. Kissinger stated that significant progress has been made. [CBS]
- Treasury Secretary Shultz defended the administration's energy program. Meanwhile in San Antonio, Texas, 1½ million residents face the cutoff of electrical power. The energy crisis materialized in San Antonio when the supplier of natural gas for the area cut back supply by two-thirds. The National Petroleum Council says that shortages in other parts of the country are likely. [CBS]
- Defense Secretary Elliot Richardson ordered a reduction in the number of enlisted aides assigned to generals and admirals. Senator William Proxmire has recommended that the entire program of aides be ended because aides are often used as personal servants. [CBS]
- Movies that were taken by Eva Braun while living with Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgarden, Bavaria, were released. Hitler, Braun, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels and others are depicted in moments of relaxation and recreation. [CBS]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 895.02 (+2.56, +0.29%)
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* |
| May 22, 1973 | 892.46 | 103.58 | 18.02 |
| May 21, 1973 | 886.51 | 102.73 | 20.69 |
| May 18, 1973 | 895.17 | 103.86 | 17.08 |
| May 17, 1973 | 911.72 | 105.56 | 13.06 |
| May 16, 1973 | 917.14 | 106.43 | 13.80 |
| May 15, 1973 | 917.44 | 106.57 | 18.53 |
| May 14, 1973 | 909.69 | 105.90 | 13.52 |
| May 11, 1973 | 927.98 | 108.17 | 12.98 |
| May 10, 1973 | 939.34 | 109.54 | 13.52 |
| May 9, 1973 | 949.05 | 110.44 | 16.05 |