Photograph: Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, November 14, 1973 in Washington. The committee is hearing testimony on possible legislation to provide for a court appointed special Watergate prosecutor. A federal judge ruled today that Bork acted illegally in firing former Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox.
The Defense Department reported that emergency airlifts to Israel will end. Material will travel by ship in the future. A Pentagon spokesman, Jerry W. Friedheim, said that the United States would make no resupply flights to Israel tomorrow for the first time since shortly after the war broke out October 6. “In our view the emergency that called for the airlift supplies is essentially over,” Mr. Friedheim said. But he declined to rule out all future flights. Mr. Friedheim noted that Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger said two weeks ago that the airlift of arms and ammunition would be phased out when shipment by sea was ready to take over. He said that war supplies were at present being delivered to Israel by ship.
Soviet supply flights to Syria and Egypt have been running at two or three a day for the last week. But the Pentagon said that the Russians had delivered more than 100,000 tons of arms and ammunition to the Arabs since the war began — more than twice the amount reported sent to Israel by the United States. The Deputy Secretary of State, Kenneth Rush, later told Congressmen that the United States intended to provide additional equipment to Israel to maintain the military balance in the Middle East.
A full‐scale meeting of Arab chiefs of state, requested by Egypt and Syria, will be held in Algeria on Nov. 26 to review the Middle East war and plan future Arab strategy, it was announced today. All 18 countries in the Arab League and Palestinian leaders are expected to attend the meeting, which could be the most comprehensive Arab summit meeting ever held. “We have heard of no objections to the meeting,” said M’hammed Yazid, Algeria’s Ambassador to Lebanon, who said he believed that Iraq and Libya, two of the more radical Arab countries, would attend. Among the Arab leaders who have given assurances of attending are King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Arab strategy of blocking oil supplies to supporters of Israel and the principal financial backer of the Egyptian and Syrian armed forces. President Anwar el‐Sadat of Egypt and President Hafez al-Assad of Syria, whose forces attacked Israel on October 6, asked for the meeting through the Arab League, which has its headquarters in Cairo.
After ending his talks in Peking, Secretary of State Kissinger flew to Tokyo to discuss Mideast oil. As Kissinger arrived in Tokyo, a joint communique from the United States and China was released. It stated that the U.S. now recognizes only one China which includes Taiwan. On his last day in Peking, Kissinger had announced that U.S. policy toward China would not change.
Viet Cong envoys refused to resume peace talks with South Vietnam in Paris. South Vietnam has retaliated against Viet Cong attacks with heavy air strikes over the past few weeks.
Each Viet Cong-controlled village in South Vietnam has its own guerrilla force. V.C. guerrillas serve as the local police force. Each house in a village has a bunker; government air force jets hit villages daily.
Laotian Premier Souvanna Phouma has invited Prince Souphanouvong, his half-brother and leader of the pro-Communist Pathet Lao, for talks on the formation of a new coalition government and a national political council, the well-informed Vientiane newspaper Xatlao reported. The creation of a coalition government and a political council. falls within the framework of the peace agreement the two sides signed on September 14.
North Korea today used its first speech in the United Nations to demand that the United Nations military command in South Korea be dissolved, the remaining American troops withdrawn, and the two Koreas left alone to work out their reunification. There was a welcoming round of applause from the East Germans and a few others for the Deputy Foreign Minister, Li Jong Mok, and many more delegates turned to stare at the newcomers in a session of the General Assembly’s Political Committee.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $2.6 billion military construction bill, 366 to 29, and sent the measure to the Senate. The bill, however, was stripped of $18.5 million for ground facilities required in an Air Force program to replace the present presidential nuclear war command planes with jumbo jets. Chairman Robert L. F. Sikes (D-Florida) of the military construction appropriations subcommittee said the Air Force had not justified its plan to use jumbo Boeing 747s from which a President could conduct nuclear war and that the committee had doubts about the entire $548 million program. He indicated that the full House Appropriations Committee would cut all funds for the program out of its upcoming defense appropriations bill.
In the United Kingdom, Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, married Captain Mark Phillips in Westminster Abbey. Princess Anne, fourth in line of succession to the British throne, was married in Westminster Abbey to Capt. Mark Phillips, a commoner, in a ceremony wrapped in traditional pageantry. It was the 10th royal wedding in the Abbey since 1100. They would divorce in 1992. Among the guests of importance were Prime Minister Heath, Labor party leader Harold Wilson and Lord Mountbatten.
Gunmen firing at a British army outpost in Belfast killed an elderly Roman Catholic man on his way home. Hours later, other gunmen killed a young girl on a Londonderry street with a volley of shots intended for a passing army patrol. Earlier, gunmen shot at but missed a Catholic man when he opened the door to them in Belfast’s Andersonstown district, according to a British army spokesman. Another man behind him was hit in the knee.
Eight members of the Provisional IRA were convicted of bombings that had taken place in London during March 1973.
France’s price war gathered momentum as taxi drivers went on strike for higher fares and housewives crowded food stores to stock up against a 24-hour shutdown planned today by restaurants and small retailers. Traders estimated 1 million shops would close-the food stores and restaurants protesting government-ordered price controls, and laundries, gas stations, auto repair shops and betting offices that are striking in sympathy.
Preliminary tests on an ear mailed to a Rome newspaper indicate it may belong to Paul Getty III, vanished grandson of the oil millionaire, Rome police said. The tests, which showed the ear came from a living person, were complicated because the parcel containing it took 20 days to get from Naples to Rome, 137 miles away, though sent by express post. The parcel’s senders demanded a $3.5 million ransom for the 17-year-old youth who disappeared July 10.
A West German millionaire restaurant chain owner said in Munich his daughter had been kidnaped and he had received a ransom demand for 3 million marks (about $1.25 million). The businessman, Friedrich Jahn, said the abductors had named a rendezvous for him to hand over the money and he intended to pay the sum demanded.
About 3,000 students occupied Athens Polytechnic School and said they would stay there to press for more political and academic liberties in Greece. The students barricaded themselves inside the building while a strong police force stood by to prevent major incidents. Earlier, about 5,000 students had assembled to discuss student problems, but the meeting turned into an anti-government protest. When the students began their occupation of the school, they reported that they had enough food and water to stay inside indefinitely.
Gold-hoarding nations including the United States released gold onto the free market today. Gold prices dropped; dollar prices were unaffected. The price of gold dropped $7 to about $90 an ounce on major European markets in the wake of the termination of an agreement that had barred free‐market gold sales by national monetary authorities.
Judge Gerhard Gesell ruled that the firing of former Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox by President Nixon was illegal. Current Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski stated that the President has pledged to hand over all documents required for the Watergate investigation. Judge John Sirica declared that there is no legal barrier keeping the President from making Watergate materials public.
Jaworski met today with President Nixon to discuss getting tapes of conversations between Nixon, John Ehrlichman and Egil Krogh. Sirica announced that he will refuse to accept unsubpoenaed tapes that have been offered by the President. Sirica rejected a Presidential offer to give the court nonsubpoenaed White House tapes, saying that it would turn the court into a “depository” and clearing house for extraneous material. In a memorandum, the judge said he was seeking evidence regarding the “failure to produce subpoenaed material”—the two “nonexistent” tapes—and had no interest in receiving material that had not been subpoenaed.
Warning against moves to obtain his resignation or impeachment, President Nixon told Republican members of Congress, “if you cut the legs off the President, America is going to lose.” In a new series of White House meetings designed to help to restore his public acceptance, Mr. Nixon warned that United States allies might lean toward the Soviet Union if the authority of the Presidency were diminished.
Representative Gerald R. Ford’s conservative voting record on civil rights and other domestic issues came under attack today from his critics as the Senate Rules Committee neared a decision on whether to confirm him as Vice President. There are indications that the committee will approve his nomination, possibly as early as tomorrow and almost certainly before Thanksgiving. However, Senator Howard W. Cannon of Nevada, chairman of the committee, said that the panel was still pursuing “various leads” and wanted to check these out before taking a vote: He declined to say what further information was being sought. The House Judiciary Committee will open its hearings tomorrow into the nomination, with Mr. Ford as the first witness.
Oil company executives appeared before the Senate Watergate committee to discuss illegal corporate contributions to President Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. Ashland Oil Company board chairman Orin Atkins described being pressured for a contribution and said that the pressure bordered on “extortion”. Gulf Oil spokesman Claude Wild also claimed to have made contributions out of fear.
Committee chairman Sam Ervin rejected the President’s offer to meet with a bipartisan group of members of the committee to discuss Watergate.
The United Auto Workers reported that problems with the Ford contract can be negotiated. No strike is expected.
The United Auto Workers union said it would call “ministrikes” against individual plants instead of a national walkout if bargaining at General Motors failed to bring a national contract by Monday’s deadline. UAW President Leonard Woodcock said he had “overwhelming” support for the strategy. The decision came after the union’s executive board directed its Ford Motor Co. bargaining committee to renegotiate with Ford a part of an overtime provision that drew fire from skilled trades workers. The Ford agreement was passed by the majority of the union’s 185,000 Ford workers, however, and the board ruled that the pact would stand.
Twymon Ford Myers, one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives, was shot to death in a sidewalk gunbattle in the Bronx in which two policemen and an FBI agent and a passerby were slightly wounded. Myers had been sought for bank robbery and for interstate flight to avoid prosecution for attempted murder and robbery in connection with a 1971 holdup in New York City. Myers, who had been on the FBI top 10 list since September 27, 1973, was described by police as a member of the Black Liberation Army, said to be an organization of black militants dedicated to murdering police officers.
Three persons were questioned in connection with the murder of Grand Ole Opry star David (Stringbean) Akeman and his wife, Nashville police said. Police refused to release the names of the three because no formal charges have been lodged but sources indicated that two were brothers and the third was a woman. Akeman, 58, and his wife, Estelle, 59, were found shot to death in an apparent robbery early Sunday morning on their isolated farm in Davidson County.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has removed his bar against the Federal Trade Commission’s rule requiring gasoline stations to post the octane ratings of their fuel. U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. took the action in response to a plea by the FTC. His restriction. has been reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals and the National Petroleum Refiners Assn. is appealing the appeals court decision to the Supreme Court. But Robinson’s ruling will have no immediate effect since octane ratings are already posted under regulations adopted by the Cost of Living Council. The CLC rule, however, also is being challenged in court.
Commerce Secretary Fred Dent said that a recession is likely unless Americans fight the energy crisis together.
The go-ahead for the launch of Skylab 3 launch has been given for Friday. The countdown proceeded smoothly today for the launching Friday morning of the twice‐delayed Skylab 3 astronauts on a planned 85‐day mission orbiting the earth. After another review of the spaceship systems, officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported a “go” for liftoff at 9:01 A.M. Friday. The Apollo spacecraft’s electricity‐generating system was activated early today. The Saturn 1‐B rocket’s first‐stage tanks, drained prior to repairs of the booster’s tail fins, were loaded with 41,500 gallons of kerosene‐like fuel today.
Elsa Schiaparelli, a leading high‐fashion designer for more than 40 years, died at her home in Paris. She was 83 years old and had been in a coma since suffering a stroke seven weeks ago.
“Good Evening” opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 438 performances.
Canada begins production of Olympic coins marking the upcoming 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.
Oakland A’s Reggie Jackson, who hit .293 with 32 home runs, 117 RBI’s and slugged .532 is selected unanimously as the American League’s MVP. The 27-year-old right fielder led the A’s to their second straight World Championship, who captured all of the writers’ 24 first-place votes, easily outdistances Oriole right-hander Jim Palmer (22-9, 2.40) and Royals outfielder Amos Otis (.300, 26, 93) the runners-ups for the honor.
Baltimore Orioles right-hander Jim Palmer, runner-up for the AL MVP honors, is named as the 1973 American League’s Cy Young Award winner. The 28-year-old future Hall of Famer compiled a 22-9 along with an ERA 2.40 for the first-place Birds this season.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 869.88 (-21.15, -2.37%).
Born:
Lawyer Milloy, NFL strong safety (NFL Champions, Super Bowl 36-Patriots, 2001; Pro Bowl, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002; New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks), in St. Louis, Missouri.
DeRon Jenkins, NFL cornerback (Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers, Tennessee Titans), in St. Louis, Missouri.
Rubén Rivera, Panamanian MLB centerfielder (World Series Champions-Yankees, 1996; New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants), in Chorrera, Panama.
Dana Snyder, American stage and voice actor (“Aqua Teen Hunger Force”; “Chowder”), in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
History Diaries 