News stories from Tuesday December 12, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- President Thieu of South Vietnam offered a cease-fire and prisoners of war exchange. South Vietnam would release all North Vietnamese POW's. Both Thieu's enemies and his friends are angered because Thieu mentioned nothing about South Vietnamese POW's.
French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann predicts that there will be a settlement by January 3. Three talks were held today. U.S. Ambassador William Porter and Undersecretary William Sullivan hosted North Vietnam's representatives; Henry Kissinger joined their meeting at Neuilly later in the day. At Choisy-le-Roi, U.S. and North Vietnamese technical experts met. At Gif-sur-Yvette, Kissinger and Le Duc Tho and their staffs met. Kissinger will return to the U.S. after tomorrow's meeting.
Thieu's cease-fire offer puts South Vietnam in a precarious position, and American officials fear a rupture with South Vietnam. Thieu's speech increases the possibility that President Nixon may sign a separate peace with North Vietnam, but a cease-fire won't be effective if the South Vietnamese army continues to fight. If that happens, the U.S. may cut off all aid to South Vietnam, which the administration doesn't want to do.
[CBS] - New York City went to federal court to force President Nixon to spend the full $18 billion which was approved by Congress for water clean-up; the President is withholding $6 billion. The $18 billion amount was vetoed, but Congress overrode the veto. Senator Edmund Muskie called President Nixon's action an illegal act and he urged Congress to oppose it. [CBS]
- In six cities across the country, newsmen are currently in jail for refusing to testify regarding their sources. Senator Lowell Weicker of Connecticut plans to introduce a bill to protect reporters in such situations. [CBS]
- A civil rights symposium is underway at the Lyndon Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, coinciding with the with opening of LBJ's documents on civil rights. Yesterday Johnson received the praise of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. Today many civil rights activists were on hand.
Reverend Kendall Smith confronted security guards, demanding that the conference take a stand on civil rights immediately. Smith claimed that he speaks for CORE's Roy Innis, and wanted the symposium to go on record as supporting the National Urban League's call for a "black summit" with President Nixon. The NAACP's Clarence Mitchell said that Johnson had the courage to speak out against white demagogues. LBJ is now identified in a positive way with the civil rights movement of the 1960's.
[CBS] - Former President Harry Truman is still in serious condition at Research Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. [CBS]
- Vote counting has begun in the United Mine Workers presidential race between Tony Boyle and Arnold Miller. Ballots are arriving in tightly sealed boxes in this court-ordered, closely supervised election. Boyle currently leads. [CBS]
- The FDA determined that two commercial self-tests for pregnancy, OVA II and LPT, are unreliable; they will be withdrawn from the market. [CBS]
- Refugees seeking political asylum arrived today in Florida from Haiti. 65 Haitians, several suffering from malnutrition, arrived after a 19-day journey; 12 of the men were political prisoners in Haiti. Their boat initially landed in Cuba, where authorities took the refugees' possessions in exchange for food and water. U.S. authorities are undecided on whether to let the refugees stay. [CBS]
- New York City Mafia leader Carlo Gambino is much like up-tight middle America and the Nixon administration. Gambino says that today's hoods are not as good as the old-timers. Younger hoods goof off and complain. Gambino wants to import Mafia originals from the old country. Gambino is also shuffling old Mafia leaders and wants to consolidate New York's five families into three. [CBS]
- The Federal Trade Commission charged the Xerox Corporation with having a monopoly in the office copier industry. Xerox called the complaint ill-founded. [CBS]
- Astronauts Cernan and Schmitt are preparing for their second moon walk; the astronauts will explore for 7 hours. Apollo 17's camera, 250,000 miles away on the moon, can be controlled from Houston. [CBS]
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Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1033.19 (-3.08, -0.30%)
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| Market Index Trends | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | DJIA | S&P | Volume* |
| December 11, 1972 | 1036.27 | 119.12 | 17.23 |
| December 8, 1972 | 1033.19 | 118.86 | 18.03 |
| December 7, 1972 | 1033.26 | 118.60 | 19.32 |
| December 6, 1972 | 1027.54 | 118.01 | 18.61 |
| December 5, 1972 | 1022.95 | 117.58 | 17.80 |
| December 4, 1972 | 1025.21 | 117.77 | 19.73 |
| December 1, 1972 | 1023.93 | 117.38 | 22.57 |
| November 30, 1972 | 1018.21 | 116.67 | 19.34 |
| November 29, 1972 | 1018.81 | 116.52 | 17.38 |
| November 28, 1972 | 1019.34 | 116.47 | 19.21 |