October 26, 1974

Judge John J Sirica stirs up something of a furor when he says in presence of jury that he feels defense attys had done 'pretty good job'--'that he (John W Dean 3d) has admitted his participation in this alleged cover-up case'; appears to regret remark; following prosecution objections, Sirica tells jurors that they are 'sole judges' of case; prosecutors ask for stronger statement and Sirica drafts one; Dean's testimony over 8 days revd; Sirica's comments regarding Dean came during cross-examination conducted by David Bress, who with Thomas C Green, is defending Robert C Mardian; law regarding a remark by judge in presence of jury that is damaging to prosecution discussed; Sirica's ideas about how trials should be conducted noted; Sirica grants request by former Pres Nixon for transcripts of all White House tapes that have been played and will be played at trial; illus of Watergate burglar E Howard Hunt Jr (L)

USAF successfully test-fires Minuteman I missile, traditionally launched from underground silo, from C-5A transport plane flying at 20,000 ft over Pacific Ocean off Calif; 78,000-lb missile, said to be largest object dropped from airplane, was pulled out of rear door by drogue parachutes and fell to 8,000 ft; engines ignited and burned for 10 seconds, carrying missile to 20,000 ft before they were extinguished; Defense Dept spokesman says test formed part of USAF concept involving development of mobile ICBM, able to be launched from planes or trucks, and believed to be less vulnerable to attack by Soviet MIRV's than fixed, land-based missiles in underground silos; mobile missiles offer mil advantage of moving target; USAF is loathe to admit vulnerability of present Minuteman force, but is reluctant to abandon position in missile field to Navy (L)

 

Kissinger and Brezhnev conf for over 5 hrs Oct 25, almost exclusively on arms limitation; Pravda gives front-page treatment to previous day's meetings and publishes excerpts from kissinger-Gromyko exch of toasts; Nancy Kissinger, who accompanied her husband to Moscow, spends Oct 25 sightseeing in Leningrad (M)

US BLS repts NYC unemployment rate increased from 7% in Aug to 7.4% in Sept while rate fell in suburbs; rates for Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester and Rockland Counties given; dept economists note that while all suburban NY counties have unemployment rates below 5.8% natl avg, NYC's figure is higher than natl avg; BLS regional Dir Herbert Bienstock comments; says higher figure for NYC probably reflects recent coll grads returning to job market after being unable to find jobs last June; Census Bur's Current Population Survey finds blacks and young people having hardest times finding jobs; while natl avg unemployment rate for all groups is 4.9% in '73, rate was 12.6% for 16- to 19-yr olds and 30.2% for blacks of same age in '73; graph shows monthly unemployment rates in NYC, NYS and US, Jan-Sept (M)