News stories from Wednesday November 5, 1980
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Ronald Reagan began shaping plans to carry out his campaign pledge to trim federal spending. The President-elect was elated over Tuesday's national swing to the right that gave Republicans gains at all levels. In addition to Mr. Reagan's sweep, 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Carter, the Republicans picked up 12 seats in the Senate, 32 in the House, four governorships and more than 200 state legislative seats.
Democrats were shocked over the Republican sweep. Thousands of government employees in Washington will be job hunting.
[New York Times] - Republicans will control the Senate for the first time in 26 years and many veteran conservatives, including Barry Goldwater and Strom Thurmond, are likely to become influential committee chairman. In the House, the Democrats retained a solid majority. [New York Times]
- Republicans enhanced their influence for the coming decade by winning control of state legislative chambers and governorships in states such as Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania that face key redistricting battles. State legislatures will redraw legislative district lines next year, subject to governors' vetos, to take account of the population shifts reflected in the 1980 census. [New York Times]
- A major political landmark occurred in New York as a result of the stunning victories of Mr. Reagan and Alfonse D'Amato in the liberal state. A new generation of moderate-to-conservative Republican officials is emerging. Representative Jack Kemp of suburban Buffalo, who was a top Reagan adviser, is a potential candidate for Governor in two years. [New York Times]
- Federal budget cuts will be pressed by Mr. Reagan, according to his economic advisers, who said they expected him to put the highest priority on plans to reduce the budget for the 1982 fiscal year, which begins next Oct. 1, and to seek changes in the current budget. The business community predicted that Mr. Reagan would be the most pro-business President since Dwight Eisenhower. Stock prices soared in record trading.
A cut in government spending is to be ordered by Mr. Reagan, according to his aides, resulting in an across-the-board reduction of at least 2 percent in the expenditures of departments and agencies and a freeze on hiring. His chief of staff said that the reductions would be primarily in "administrative overhead."
[New York Times] - President Carter was philosophical about his landslide defeat. He said he believed that the voters had expressed their frustration over the economy, the hostages in Iran and the diminished position of the United States in world affairs, rather than "a personal turning against me." [New York Times]
- Plains, Ga., was eerily silent after the election. The day in the sun for Jimmy Carter's wilted hometown was over. Some residents defended the native son who made the hamlet famous and crowded for awhile, but others said they were happy that its sleepy life could resume. [New York Times]
- Foreign policy officials are uncertain about how to deal with some crucial issues requiring speedy action by the United States in the interim before the Reagan administration takes office on Jan. 20. The senior officials expressed concern that the magnitude of the Reagan victory and the Republicans' assumption of power in the Senate have curtailed the Carter administration's ability to conduct foreign policy decisively in this lame-duck period. The reaction of foreign leaders to the Reagan victory ranged from expressions of hope to uneasiness and concern. Officials in Western Europe were worried by Mr. Reagan's inexperience in foreign policy. [New York Times]
- The hostage crisis will be prolonged because of Mr. Reagan's election, according to the spiritual leader of the Moslem militants occupying the American Embassy in Teheran. But he and other Iranian leaders said there would be no change in the terms for freeing the American captives.
Iran rejected Iraq's latest offer of negotiations to end their war. Asserting "there must be no compromise," Ayatollah Khomeini exhorted Iranian forces to break out of the besieged city of Abadan and to oust Iraqi troops from Iranian soil. Both sides reported accelerated fighting.
[New York Times] - Inaction on chemical hazards was attributed to the Environmental Protection Agency by the General Accounting Office. In a report to Congress, for which it acts as an investigative arm, the accounting office said that the agency had done little to carry out its mandate under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act to protect the public and the environment. [New York Times]
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Stock Market Report
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 953.16 (+15.96, +1.70%)
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* |
| November 3, 1980 | 937.20 | 129.04 | 36.62 |
| October 31, 1980 | 924.29 | 127.47 | 40.11 |
| October 30, 1980 | 917.75 | 126.29 | 39.06 |
| October 29, 1980 | 929.18 | 127.91 | 37.20 |
| October 28, 1980 | 932.59 | 128.05 | 40.30 |
| October 27, 1980 | 931.74 | 127.88 | 34.44 |
| October 24, 1980 | 943.60 | 129.85 | 41.03 |
| October 23, 1980 | 939.51 | 129.53 | 49.19 |
| October 22, 1980 | 955.12 | 131.92 | 43.06 |
| October 21, 1980 | 954.44 | 131.84 | 51.30 |