News stories from Friday April 27, 1973
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Ruckelshaus has been named to replace L. Patrick Gray as acting FBI director. Gray told Senator Lowell Weicker today about a meeting with John Dean and John Ehrlichman in which Gray was given and told to destroy files containing forged documents about late President John F. Kennedy. Ehrlichman denied telling Gray to destroy the files. Senator Robert Byrd stated that Gray participated in the obstruction of justice and it was right that he should resign. Ruckelshaus said that his position as FBI director will be strictly temporary. [CBS]
- The Watergate case and the Pentagon Papers case are linked. In Los Angeles, Pentagon Papers judge Matthew Byrne read a memo from Watergate prosecutor Earl Silbert to the Justice Department, which states that Silbert has information that Watergate spies E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy burglarized the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, seeking Ellsberg's file. Judge Byrne ordered prosecutor David Nissen to find out who hired the burglars and whether any stolen information was used in the Pentagon Papers case. The defense questioned why the prosecution waited 10 days after receiving the information to tell the court about it.
Ellsberg believes that the burglary is probably linked with an attempt to beat him up which was made last year by Cubans who were paid by Hunt. Ellsberg said that in the eyes of the President's aides, all law stops at the White House fence.
[CBS] - Jeb Magruder, a former Nixon campaign worker and Commerce Department official, has resigned over being implicated in the Watergate affair. The General Accounting Office today accused the Nixon campaign of secretly and illegally spending money to try to shape public opinion.
Three more campaign spending law violations have been charged against the Nixon re-election committee: unreported payments to a student for purposes of spying; to an advertising group for pro-Nixon Vietnam advertising in the New York Times; and to a campaign official assigned to drum up support for the mining of Haiphong harbor. General Accounting Office chief Philip Hughes stated it is now clear that the secret fund was much more than the $350,000 originally reported, and he said that the Justice Department has done nothing about previous charges, including Watergate money. Hughes urged the Attorney General to act on the reported violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act. The GAO also urged that action be taken against Nixon campaign treasurer Hugh Sloan for filing a deliberately false report about campaign contributions and expenditures. Sloan spent two hours with Watergate prosecutor Earl Silbert today.
Jeb Magruder was the second-ranking official on the President's campaign committee and he worked directly under John Mitchell and Clark MacGregor. He represented Bob Haldeman at the Republican convention. Magruder's job at the Commerce Department paid $36,000 a year. He had a limousine paid for by the Nixon re-election committee. Magruder earlier charged that John Mitchell and John Dean authorized the Watergate burglary. Dean's resignation is also expected now.
[CBS] - President Nixon flew to Mississippi to view the flooded area of the Mississippi River and then went to Meridian to dedicate a new military facility to Senator John Stennis. Stennis told the President to "tough out" the Watergate crisis. Aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman accompanied Nixon to Mississippi. Press secretary Ron Ziegler stated that the President and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst decided, after returning to Washington, that L. Patrick Gray should resign from the FBI. [CBS]
- President Nixon declared Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Wisconsin disaster areas. Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi were already so declared because of floods. [CBS]
- The U.S. bombed enemy positions near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The Pentagon has declassified information regarding the bombing in Cambodia. The information reveals that the air raids are directed from a headquarters in Phnom Penh. The U.S. flew over 9,000 sorties into Cambodia between February 16 and April 18. While flights originally were directed against North Vietnamese troop infiltrations, 80% of the bombing now being carried out is against native Khmer Rouge guerrillas. [CBS]
- Assistant Secretary of State William Sullivan is meeting in Paris with North Vietnamese officials to lay the groundwork for the upcoming talks between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho regarding Vietnam peace. The North Vietnamese embassy in Paris says it knows nothing about the proposed meeting. [CBS]
- In 1970, Green Berets were sent on a mission to raid the prison camp at Son Tay, North Vietnam, and free American prisoners being held there; the mission was unsuccessful. In San Francisco, the Green Berets and former POWs met today. A Texas millionaire planned and paid for the POWs' meeting with the Green Berets. The POWs were honored with a parade and festivities. John Wayne was present at the celebration, as was Green Beret raid leader Col. Bull Simmons. Former POW Col. Robinson Risner praised the Green Beret raid. [CBS]
- For the first time since the ouster of Nikita Khrushchev in 1964, the Soviet Union has shaken up the ruling Politburo. Andrei Grechko and Andrei Gromyko were promoted. Pyotr Shelest and Gennady Voronov, who are at odds with Leonid Brezhnev over detente with the United States, were thrown out. [CBS]
- Government social service cutbacks are being felt across the country. Over the last decade, the federal government has spent millions training farm workers to become farmers. But the Office of Economic Opportunity is going out of business, and OEO director Howard Phillips has proposed dropping the training program and handing over the remaining funds to the states. Some migrant farm workers are convinced that the states will never help migrants, and it is believed that farm workers might revolt. [CBS]
- Congress is recessed for Easter. Many are taking the opportunity to sample public opinion back home. Clarence Brown of Ohio's 7th congressional district is a Republican who supports President Nixon. Brown told a group of students that the Watergate bugging was a stupid operation, and said that he doesn't know if John Mitchell was involved in Watergate. Ohio's 7th district is representative of middle America and went for Nixon 2 to 1 in the 1972 election. It is also the home of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Brown believes that his area mostly supports the President, but Watergate may hurt Republicans in general. [CBS]
- At least 36 lawyers have been hired in connection with the Watergate scandal. These appear to be the only winners so far in the whole incident. [CBS]
|
Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 922.19 (-15.57, -1.66%)
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* |
| April 26, 1973 | 937.76 | 108.89 | 16.21 |
| April 25, 1973 | 930.54 | 108.34 | 15.96 |
| April 24, 1973 | 940.77 | 109.99 | 13.83 |
| April 23, 1973 | 955.37 | 111.57 | 12.58 |
| April 19, 1973 | 963.20 | 112.17 | 14.56 |
| April 18, 1973 | 958.31 | 111.54 | 13.89 |
| April 17, 1973 | 953.42 | 110.94 | 12.83 |
| April 16, 1973 | 956.73 | 111.44 | 11.35 |
| April 13, 1973 | 959.36 | 112.08 | 14.39 |
| April 12, 1973 | 964.03 | 112.58 | 16.36 |