Skylab 4, the third crewed mission to NASA’s Skylab space station, was launched from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 9:01 a.m. EST (1401 UTC). Commander Gerald Carr docked the command module to the space station eight hours after launch. Space rookies Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue today began the longest human voyage in space. Their command module docked with Skylab successfully. Dr. Charles Barry, the astronauts’ physician, said he has no fears for their health.
The all-rookie astronaut crew arrived aboard Skylab to find that they had company – three figures dressed in flight suits. Upon closer inspection, they found their companions were three dummies, complete with Skylab 4 mission emblems and name tags which had been left there by Al Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott at the end of Skylab 3.
In the Mideast, the prisoners of war exchange continued without incident. In Tel Aviv, Premier Golda Meir greeted returning prisoners with tears in an emotion filled meeting. Mrs. Meir stated that relations between Egypt and Israel have improved somewhat with the exchange of prisoners. But Syria’s refusal to release Israeli POWs is a source of grief for the country.
United Nations forces evacuated the first civilians from Suez City, Egypt.
An Israel armored force pushed briefly into Lebanese territory this morning, but pulled back when it came under artillery fire, the Lebanese Defense Ministry reported. No casualties were announced here from the reported two‐hour incursion, the first since the United Nations Security Council’s original Middle East cease‐fire appeal of October 22. It was widely assumed here that the foray was connected with Arab commando activity that Israeli authorities maintain has been going on in southern Lebanon, although the Lebanese authorities have said repeatedly that there has been no activity warranting reprisals by Israeli forces.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger returned to Washington after his round the world diplomatic trip. Secretary of State Kissinger returned to Washington today and planned to give top priority to working out the final details for the stare of a Middle East peace conference that he hopes can be convened next month. He intends to meet tomorrow with top Defense, State Department and intelligence officials to review with them the results of his 12-day, 24,400-mile trip to 10 countries in the Middle East and the Far East, and also to confer with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin on the plans for the Soviet-and-American-sponsored peace conference and other matters that have arisen in recent weeks.
Although the war in Vietnam is supposedly over, some areas are still being contested by Saigon and the Viet Cong. Hoài Sơn is controlled by the Viet Cong. Local administrators run the villages. Fighting still occurs, as government airplanes continually make bombing runs over Hoai Son. Americans hoped to strengthen the government of South Vietnam by moving villagers such as those at An Lão into areas already under government control. The plan has been a failure.
The battle for control of South Vietnam’s border with Cambodia in the Central Highlands has intensified with the North Vietnamese Army counterattacking a government thrust to recapture border bases. The South Vietnamese command said that two relief columns attempting to regain three bases and a stretch of Route 14 in Quảng Đức Province, 120 miles northeast of Saigon, were under fire for the second day yesterday. In the two days of battles, the North Vietnamese launched a flank attack from a forest on a column driving toward Bu Prăng base and a second column was met head‐on on the road to Đắk Song base. The Government said 45 soldiers had been killed or wounded, while North Vietnamese losses were estimated at 126 killed. The command said North Vietnamese forces also struck at a government column in Pleiku Province 150 miles farther north. Military sources said that the South Vietnamese column in Pleiku had been weakened in the last two weeks to free reinforcements for the Quang Duc battle to the south. “In effect, in striking in Pleiku they are attacking the rear of the Quảng Đức operation,” one staff officer said.
Cambodian government troops broke through today to an encircled garrison 14 miles northwest of Phnom Penh, catching insurgent forces in a pincer movement and killing at least 54, reports from the field said. A news reporter said that he had counted 54 bodies. He said that Gen. Oun Kauv, a government commander, had offered $16 for every body brought in by his troop. Six government battalions were reported to have come from two directions, boxing in the insurgent forces surrounding the Trapeang Thnet Garrison. On Phnom Jenh’s southern front, a government operation along Route 38 advanced two miles west of Dei Kraham and another moved two miles south on Route 2. Dei Kraham, 10, miles south of Phnom Penh, forms the junction of Routes 38 and 2.
Korea University, where 3,000 demonstrators clashed with police yesterday, closed down today for one week to prevent students from gathering at the school for further demonstrations. Meantime, anti-Government protests by South Korean students in Seoul continued as about 1,000 at Yonsei University staged a demonstration on their campus, demanding the restoration of democracy in this country.
The Japanese Government announced an emergency program today to ration oil and electric power for industry and appealed to the Japanese public to conserve fuel voluntarily at home, at work and on the highway. Under the Government’s plan, which will take effect next week, industry will be required to cut its consumption of oil and electricity by 10 percent.
The United States and the Soviet Union today recessed the second phase of their talks in Geneva on the limitation of strategic arms to permit the negitiators to return to their capitals for consultations. U. Alexis Johnson, the United States negotiator, left for Washington by special plane after meeting for two hours with Vladmir S. Semyonov, leader of the Soviet delegation.
A joint Soviet‐American Committee on Cooperation in Agriculture met here this week, and statistics on Soviet crops are expected to start flowing soon to United States officials. The delegates were headed by Carroll G. Brunthaver, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, and B. Runov, a Soviet Deputy Minister of Agriculture. The joint committee was established after an agreement by President Nixon and Leonid I. Brezhnev during the Soviet leader’s visit to the United States last June. The Soviet Union agreed then to the regular exchange of information including long-term estimates on production and demand of major agricultural commodities.
In Bonn, West Germany, Chancellor Willy Brandt said that West Germany would ban Sunday driving, beginning November 25 and impose other restraints on oil consumption.
Students took over university buildings in three Greek cities. In Athens, rioting occurred before police moved in to restore order. Greek workers joined students protesting against the government. The attack on the university followed a night of clashes between the students, who had occupied the university beginning Wednesday, and the police, in which at least one anti-Government demonstrator was reported to have been killed. The student challenge to the Government of President George Papadopoulos appeared to be the most serious since, the former army officer engineered the coup d’état that brought him to power in April, 1967. As the troops and policemen stormed the university, students screamed at the troops: “Soldiers, you won’t shoot, you are our brethren.” The army fired into the air as it rushed the university, and many of the demonstrators were arrested as they tried to escape.
French President Pompidou arrived in London today for two days of talks with Prime Minister Heath on the European Common Market and its future relations with the United States and Japan. They also planned to discuss Middle East developments. He was welcomed by Mr. Heath, who took him by car to Chequers, his official country mansion, where the discussions are being held. The two leaders last held talks in May in Paris. At Chequers they will be concentrating on ways of strengthening the nine‐nation European community and planning for a Common Market meeting in Copenhagen on December 14 and 15.
U.S. President Richard Nixon signed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline. President Nixon signed the Alaska pipeline construction bill, but even if the Arab oil embargo was lifted the energy crisis still wouldn’t be solved. Speaking at the White House bill signing, the President stated that environmental concerns must be put aside until the energy crisis is under control.
Nixon later met with Republican congressmen regarding Watergate. Representative Bud Shuster declared that the President is on the offensive with facts to back up his stand. Shuster said that the President may disclose many facts during his speech in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend. Representative John Anderson was more subdued and said that Shuster’s reaction was somewhat strong. Nixon supporters have been sending messages of encouragement to the White House.
President Nixon reportedly accused Archibald Cox today of reneging at the last minute on a compromise settlement of the Watergate tapes case. But the President’s account of events that led to his dismissal of the Watergate special prosecutor last month was challenged by Mr. Cox and apparently contradicted by published records of the unsuccessful effort to resolve the tapes controversy out of court. According to Representative Charles W. Whalen Jr., an Ohio Republican who took notes—which he said included verbatim quotes—on Mr. Nixon’s eighth and final Watergate meeting with members of Congress today, the President gave the following explanation for ordering Mr. Cox’s dismissal on Saturday, October 20: “Cox changed his mind on Friday night (October 19) because of lack of confidence in Senator Stennis. We did not know until Saturday he had changed his mind.”
President Nixon will answer questions at the gathering of Associated Press editors in Orlando tomorrow night. CBS will cover the event live beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Judge John Sirica revealed that he is opposed to the courts naming a special Watergate prosecutor. Sirica voiced his view in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman James Eastland.
Senate Watergate investigators are now examining the dairy industry’s contributions to President Nixon’s ’72 campaign and their possible link to increased federal subsidies for milk. Robert Isham, the former comptroller of American Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI), and milk lobbyist Robert Lilly received full immunity from prosecution to testify.
Lilly admitted giving a contribution from the dairy industry to a White House lawyer who took the money directly to Herbert Kalmbach. Former AMPI attorney Jake Jacobson testified that money was given to Kalmbach to get more “understanding” from the White House for the dairy industry’s problems. After the contribution, dairymen were more favored by the Nixon administration, though John Connally denied that contributions were linked with the decision to increase federal subsidies to the dairy industry. AMPI president Dr. George Mahren stated that he once told former President Lyndon Johnson that no more illegal contributions would be made to presidential campaigns. Dairy farmers are caught in the middle of the scandal. Some believe that the dairy industry should admit its wrongdoing, then continue producing milk without getting involved in politics.
Interior Secretary Rogers Morton warned of upcoming gasoline rationing unless fuel conservation becomes a reality. Oil allocation guidelines for consumers will be issued by the government before Christmas. Homes heated by natural gas are not likely to feel any effects. The administration has established a priority on diesel fuel for mass transit and farming machinery. Senator Mike Mansfield urged the government to begin gasoline rationing immediately.
The Senate voted today to take away assigned, chauffeur‐driven limousines from most high Federal officials in an effort to conserve gasoline. By a vote of 53 to 16 and with three of its leaders who have limousines voting “present,” the Senate added an amendment restricting the use of Government automobiles to a pending bill giving President Nixon emergency powers to deal with the energy shortage. If the amendment passes the House and becomes law, only the President, Cabinet members, the Chief Justice and the elected leaders of Congress would have chauffeur‐driven limousines assigned to them on a full‐time basis.
Gerald R. Ford defended his civil rights record today, declaring that every American is entitled to equal treatment. “I’ve lived that, I believe that, I insist on that,” he told the House Judiciary Committee as he underwent a second day of close questioning on his fitness to be Vice President. Accusations that Mr. Ford attempted to cripple key civil rights bills with amendments were the subject of attacks by spokesmen for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Americans for Democratic Action at Senate hearings earlier this week. His defense today of his civil rights record was greeted somewhat skeptically by Representative Barbara C. Jordan, a black Democrat from Texas. She recalled that Mr. Ford had once said in a speech, “In politics, when the train is moving, you’d better jump on because you don’t get a second chance.”
Fire in a Los Angeles apartment building left 24 dead and 49 injured in the worst residential disaster in city history. Open stairwells are blamed for the high number of casualties. In response, the mayor of Los Angeles reduced the allotted time for safety measures to be installed in apartment buildings.
Senator Edward Kennedy’s son, Edward Jr., will have his leg amputated as a result of bone cancer. President Nixon called the Kennedy family to express his sympathy.
Milk distributors in the metropolitan New York area reached a tentative agreement yesterday on a contract with 3,000 employes whose pay raises, together with raw‐milk price increases decreed by the Government, will send the retail price of milk up 3 or 4 cents a quart on December 1. The price effect was estimated by Paul Corash, executive director of the Metropolitan Dairy Institute, trade association of the industry. He said the increase in labor costs would account for half the impending rise, which would send the typical price of milk from 39 cents a quart to 42 or 43 cents. He attributed the other half to the rise in farm prices, which he said was responsible for most of previous recent increases.
Apple Records releases John Lennon’s fourth studio album, “Mind Games” in the UK.
Singer David Bowie performs on TV’s “Midnight Special”, set includes duet with Marianne Faithfull covering Sonny & Cher’s hit “I Got You, Babe”.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 891.33 (+16.78, +1.92%).
Born:
Joe Hudepohl, American 800m freestyle relay (Olympics 2 gold and 1 bronze medal, 1992, 1996), in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Jude Monye, Nigerian track and field athlete (Olympic 4×400 relay gold medalist, 2000) in Onicha-Ugbo, Delta State, Nigeria.
Mark Wotton, Canadian NHL defenseman (Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars), in Foxwarren, Manitoba, Canada.
Sedrick Shaw, NFL running back (New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns), in Austin, Texas.
Ben Handlogten, NBA center (Utah Jazz), in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Christian Horner, English racer and manager of the Red Bull Racing team; in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom.
Brendan Laney, New Zealand-born Scottish rugby union player and sportscaster; in Invercargill, New Zealand
Marcus Lemonis, Lebanese-born American businessman, philanthropist and politician; in Beirut, Lebanon
Died:
Amedeo Escobar, 85, Italian film score composer
Lorenzo Fernández, 73, Uruguayan footballer and national team player for the 1930 World Cup winners and the 1928 Olympic champions
Alfredo Ghierra, 82, Uruguayan footballer and national team player for the 1924 Olympic champions
Alan Watts, 58, English-born American philosopher, author and educator, of a cardiac arrest
History Diaries 