Photograph: President John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy at the performance of the Black Watch Tattoo. White House, South Lawn, 13 November 1963.
Nine days to Dallas.
Two hours after Radio Baghdad announced that Syria’s Ba’athist Party was now led by Prime Minister Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, the station was taken off of the air by supporters of recently deposed leader Ali Salih al-Sadi, Iraqi fighter jets strafed the Presidential Palace, and thousands of demonstrators protested the shakeup. Premier al-Bakr and eight of the new 15-member Ba’athist council were overthrown and sent into exile in Beirut, Lebanon, the next day.
North Korean gunfire trapped eight unarmed American and South Korean soldiers in the Korean Demilitarized Zone yesterday, wounding one American and possibly killing a South Korean, the United Nations command said today. Heavy communist fire from the North Korean side of the zone forced the Americans and South Koreans to plunge into the cold Han River and hide beneath the bank for almost four hours, a U.N. spokesman said.
He said the Communists had been informed in advance that the small unit was going into the Demilitarized Zone on authorized business under terms of the Korean war armistice. The Americans and Koreans were properly identified by yellow arm bands, he said. One South Korean soldier, a captain, was seriously wounded and was left behind when the small unit withdrew under cover of darkness, he said. He was presumed dead by the U.N. command.
The unit was trapped north of the Hwachon reservoir. A small boat sent to evacuate the Americans and South Koreans also was fired on and had to be abandoned. It was recovered later when darkness fell and the Americans and South Koreans made their way south across the river, the spokesman said. Communist attackers fired an estimated 1,000 rounds of ammunition, much of it from automatic weapons, the spokesman said. The gunfire broke out at about 1:30 p.m. and let up only when darkness fell, he said. In Washington a State Department spokesman said he had not yet received official word of the incident, and could not comment. First reports reaching the Pentagon said one United States officer and one United States enlisted man were in the small unit, military sources said.
General Paul D. Harkins feels the coup that toppled President Ngô Đình Diệm will have little overall effect on the prosecution of the war against the communist guerrillas. In an interview, the commander of American forces in South Vietnam said today he believed Diệm had a good anti-communist campaign underway with effective United States support before the coup, and that this pattern will continue under the new revolutionary government. Harkins’ views differ from those of key generals in the junta. General Tôn Thất Đính said last week, for example, that the war against the communist Viet Cong could never have been won under Diệm.
Communist guerrillas today ambushed Vietnamese civil guards rushing to the aid of an attacked outpost. A military junta spokesman said 110 troops were killed, wounded, or missing. It was the worst mauling suffered by Vietnamese forces since the military overthrow of Ngô Đình Diệm two weeks ago. The spokesman said 40 troops were killed, 50 were wounded, and 20 were reported missing in the Viet Cong ambush about 100 miles south of Saigon early today. He said the Communists left 20 dead on the battlefield and are believed to have carried off 10 casualties. Two government soldiers were killed and four were wounded when the guerrillas launched a predawn attack on the military outpost in Kiên Giang province, the spokesman said.
A company of civil guards was dispatched to rescue the outpost but fell into the communist trap, he said. The government forces lost 56 weapons. The Communist guerrillas have stepped up their activities in the last week, apparently hoping to take advantage of the situation after the military coup. The military junta has pledged to intensify the war against the Viet Cong. Belated reports told of scattered attacks on small outposts and strategic hamlets in the Mekong River delta.
The Reds also were active in the north. Late Sunday, a Viet Cong company killed two defenders and wounded eight in an attack on a Montagnard strategic hamlet in Darlac (Đắk Lắk) province north of Saigon. An American CH-21 helicopter on a medical evacuation mission in the central highlands hit a tree today. Three Americans suffered minor injuries. They were removed safely.
A grim-faced Madame Ngô Đình Nhu today charged that the United States was responsible for the South Vietnamese coup that took her husband’s life and overthrew her family’s regime then flew off for Rome for a family reunion. In a statement she read at the airport, the former strong woman of Vietnam charged that the lives of her husband, his brother, President Ngô Đình Diệm, and other Vietnamese patriots had been sold for American aid dollars as “Judas sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver.” She questioned how American economic aid, now restored to the new South Vietnamese government, can do any good because it is “stained with the innocent blood of the saviors of their country.” The tiny woman, regal in a gold gown and a beige coat and speaking in a low voice, vowed she will keep fighting to reveal the truth about Vietnam despite “utter physical weakness,” and her own defenselessness. She cautioned some reporters not to take “statements out of context” and to note her thanks for “the affectionate understanding and warm sympathy from so many people from America and all over the world.”
President of Sukarno of Indonesia dissolved his cabinet, six days after the death of First Minister Djuanda Kartawidjaja. The acting First Minister, Dr. Johannes Leimena, was dismissed, and Sukarno abolished the position entirely, then revived the office of Prime Minister of Indonesia and appointed himself as head of government in addition to head of state.
King Hassan II of Morocco, who had been ruling as both head of state and head of the government since ascending the throne in 1961, appointed a Prime Minister and replaced his Foreign Minister. The shakeup in the north African nation came following the border conflict with neighboring Algeria. Justice Minister Ahmed Bahnini was appointed as the first civilian Prime Minister of Morocco since King Mohammed V had removed Abdallah Ibrahim on May 20, 1960. Foreign Minister Ahmed Balafrej, who had briefly served as Premier in 1958 and who wanted to keep Morocco neutral, was replaced by Agriculture Minister Ahmed Reda Guedria, who wanted more co-operation with the Western nations.
The United States today demanded the release forthwith of Professor Frederick C. Barghoorn of Yale University, held by the Soviet Union as a spy. The demand was made by Ambassador Foy D. Kohler in a 15-minute session at the foreign office with Deputy Foreign Minister Valerian Zorin. Kohler called the arrest unwarranted and insisted on being allowed to see Barghoorn at once. The foreign ministry announced Barghoorn’s arrest Tuesday and has refused to give the embassy any details of the time, place or circumstances. Officials here presume it must have been soon after October 31.
New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, admitting he is the underdog candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination, assails President Kennedy for being soft on communism and accuses him of failures at home and abroad. Rockefeller addresses more than 500 of the nation’s editors at an Associated Press Managing Editor’s convention at Bal Harbour, Florida. Rockefeller also assails Senator Barry Goldwater for the policies. Goldwater has advocated. Asked about the possible candidacy of former Vice President Nixon, Rockefeller says: “Well, he is offstage, but he is peeking around the corner.”
The Robert G. Baker investigation took a bizarre twist with a reported threat by Baker to “blow the whistle” if senators do not rally to his support.
A private study group, including three former Eisenhower administration officials, called for a compulsory medical care program for the elderly that would be more costly than proposals backed by President Kennedy.
Some of the nation’s top funeral officials, worried about recent unfavorable publicity, held a top-secret conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss ways of reshaping their public image.
The Senate overcomes objections of its bipartisan leadership and cuts 20 million dollars more off of the foreign aid bill. Senator Wayne Morse (D-Oregon), who co-sponsors the cut, says that he will seek more reductions in the face of a drive to get the bill passed today or tomorrow. The 20-million-dollar cut is made in economic assistance to defense pact nations. The aid ceiling is now $3,722,365,000. A House appropriations leader served notice that he will try to deepen by about $1 billion the cuts Congress already has made in the $4.5 billion foreign aid bill.
Approving a $102 million appropriation for the Peace Corps in fiscal 1964, the House voiced praise of the corps and its director, Sargeant Shriver.
A private study group calls for a compulsory medical care program for the aged more costly than proposals backed by President Kennedy. The plan would provide for payment of all costs of hospital care for persons over 65 for from 70 to 90 days. Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-New York) plans to offer a bill incorporating parts of the social security-financed plan.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted for $5.19 billion for the civilian space program. This was more than the House voted but less than the Space Agency asked.
The Senate Appropriations Committee ordered suspension for the rest of this year on Project Mohole.
Dale Wasserman’s stage play “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, adapted from the novel by Ken Kesey, starring Kirk Douglas, Ed Ames; Joan Tetzel, and Gene Wilder, opens at Cort Theatre, NYC; runs for 82 performances.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 751.11 (+0.90).
Born:
Vinny Testaverde, American College Football Hall of Fame and NFL quarterback (Heisman Trophy 1986, U of Miami; Pro Bowl 1996, 1998; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns-Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Carolina Panthers), in Brooklyn, New York, New York.
Jon Hand, NFL defensive end (Indianapolis Colts), in Sylacauga, Alabama.
Walter Johnson, NFL linebacker (Houston Oilers, New Orleans Saints), in Monroe, Louisiana.
Mitch Daum, NFL tight end (Houston Oilers), in Kimball, Nebraska.
Joe Dooley, Irish hurler, in Clareen, County Offaly, Ireland.
History Diaries 