A U.S. military spokesman in Saigon reports that guerrilla attacks on hamlets, outposts and patrols in November have resulted in 2,800 government casualties and 2,900 Viet Cong losses. The Viet Cong have captured enough weapons to arm five 300-man battalions.
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk and his British and French colleagues were reported by French sources tonight to have virtually agreed on the need to call an international conference to guarantee the neutrality of Cambodia. U.S. and British officials cautioned, however, that the matter was only discussed with no decision reached by Rusk, Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville and British Foreign Secretary R. A. Butler in an hour-and-10-minute meeting in Paris. The uneasy situation in Southeast Asia, and particularly Cambodia, which has threatened to break relations with the United States, was the exclusive subject of the meeting.
Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev in a speech published today said that he plans to reduce Soviet military expenditures and cut Soviet armed forces in what appears to be the beginning of a new attempt to get general and complete disarmament. The 17-nation disarmament conference resumes next month in Geneva.
The Soviet Union is reported to have begun a new buildup of Fidel Castro’s military power in Cuba. Eight bombers are reported to have been delivered to Castro last month. A Cuban exile, who left Havana via Mexico after the arrival of the Soviet bombers, brought out the news. The bombers are being assembled at the San Julian air base in the province of Pinar del Rio, the exile, a 68-year-old former businessman, said. The base is 20 miles from Havana. It was built by the United States in World War II and serves as Castro’s main fighter base in western Cuba. The aircraft are reported to have been unloaded in crates at the port of Havana. The crates were moved by trucks at night through the streets of the capital. The exile said that he saw eight fuselage crates and 16 wing crates. His business activities enabled him to determine that the destination of the cargo was the San Julian air base, he said.
President Johnson said today that the central object and foremost goal of his administration will be steps directed at the achievement of peace, as exemplified by the nuclear test-ban treaty. The President made the statement to a group of bureaucrats assembled in the White House for a two-day meeting on arms control.
Pierre Salinger, White House press secretary, said the group included Walt Whitman Rostow, head of the policy planning board of the State Department and drafter of a “soft-line” policy toward communism under the late President Kennedy. Also at the meeting were McGeorge Bundy, Kennedy’s top security adviser, held over by President Johnson; Llewellyn Thompson, the State Department’s chief adviser on Russian affairs; and William Foster, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
It was learned that President Johnson, who did not take part in their discussions but merely spoke with them briefly, said that the test-ban treaty will be long remembered as the most significant achievement of the Kennedy administration. He told the bureaucrats that he is aware of the military, economic, and social problems facing the United States and intends to lead from strength in his quest for solutions to the questions of peace, a high official said.
President Johnson has sent a personal message to French President Charles de Gaulle, apparently in a new attempt to thaw relations between the United States and France, American officials disclosed tonight. The message of personal greetings will be presented to de Gaulle by American Secretary of State Dean Rusk when he calls on the French president at noon Monday, the officials said. It was not disclosed whether the message repeated Johnson’s invitation to de Gaulle to visit Washington. French officials have indicated that de Gaulle probably will not make such a trip during 1964. Rusk told western diplomatic leaders in Paris today that Johnson favors a diplomatic pause in the immediate future and has no plans for summit talks with Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev of Russia in 1964. Johnson, it was said, will be occupied with the upcoming presidential campaign.
Premier Chou En-lai of Communist China began an African junket today by pledging friendship to Egypt “throughout the ages, like the ever-flowing Nile and Yellow rivers.” Egyptians greeted the visiting Chinese leader with just enough warmth to be friendly, just enough aloofness to show they took his pledges with a pinch of salt. President Gamal Abdel Nasser, in Tunisia when Chou arrived in Cairo, delegated his prime minister, Aly Sabry, to greet Chou at the airport. In other respects, Chou was given treatment as a head of state.
President Victor Paz Estenssoro said tonight the Bolivian government has successfully concluded negotiations for the release of 19 hostages, including four Americans, being held by Communist-led tin miners. Paz Estenssoro said final details of the release were expected to be worked out during the night and the hostages, seized December 6, might be released today. “The conflict is concluded,” an official government statement said. The president said leaders of the miners union have agreed to deliver the hostages to the army in Oruro, 30 miles north of Catavi where the hostages were being held.
A five-year long drought in the Jordan River valley began to come to an end when heavy rains began falling, three weeks before the first visit (since the days of Saint Peter) by a Roman Catholic pope to the Holy Land. “When the pope arrives Saturday,” one reporter noted in advance of the Pope Paul VI’s January 4 flight to Amman to tour the areas occupied at the time by both Israel and Jordan, “the hills will be greener than anyone has seen them at this time of year for at least a quarter of a century.”.
The Spanish freighter Castillo Montjuich carrying 37 crew and 9,000 tons of cargo from Boston to La Coruña, Spain, sent a radio call reporting that it was encountering strong winds 400 miles northwest of the Azores Islands, and then was never heard from again. Six days after the ship failed to make its scheduled December 21 arrival, Spanish authorities issued an alarm Finally, on December 31, the search was abandoned, without any trace of wreckage, bodies or even an oil slick being sited.
The defense ministers of six Central American nations (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) signed the protocol for CONDECA, the Cononsejo de Defensa Centroamericana (Central American Defense Council).
At 3:38 in the afternoon, an earthen dam gave way, sending one million cubic meters (300 million gallons) of water from a city reservoir down into the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Hills, California. More than four hours earlier, the dam’ caretaker reported an unusual amount of water flowing over the spillway and notified Los Angeles Department of Water Resources engineers and safety officials. Evacuation of the suburb of 16,500 residents began while an attempt was made to slow the leakage with sandbags, but by 1:30, a one-fifth inch wide crack in the wall began to widen. By 1:45, the gap had increased to three inches, and the downstream side of the dam began to leak by 2:00. By 3:15 the break had widened to nearly 10 feet and the dam burst 23 minutes later. More than 200 homes were destroyed but, because of the evacuation, only five people were killed in the disaster.
It began with signs of lining failure, followed by increasingly serious leakage through the dam at its east abutment. After three hours, the dam breached, and “it took only 77 minutes for all the water to pour out into Cloverdale Avenue, La Brea Avenue, La Cienega and Jefferson Boulevard.” The collapse resulted in a release of 290 million US gallons (1,100,000 m3), causing five deaths and the destruction of 277 homes. Damage totaled $12 million and the disaster caused a water shortage for 500,000 people. Some 16,000 people lived in the flooded area. Vigorous rescue efforts averted a greater loss of life.
The reservoir was constructed on a low hilltop between 1947 and 1951 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, directly on an active fault line, which was subsidiary to the well-known nearby Newport–Inglewood Fault. The underlying geologic strata were considered unstable for a reservoir, and the design called for a compacted soil lining meant to prevent seepage into the foundation. The fault lines were considered during planning, but were deemed by some, although not all, of the engineers and geologists involved as not significant.
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thomas C. Mann as State Department undersecretary for Latin America, a move which critics described as a shift away from social and political reform and toward protection of American investments and economic development.
Clues supplied by Frank Sinatra Jr., led to the arrest of three men accused as his kidnappers and to the return thus far of $233,885.76 of the $240,000 ransom money, it was learned tonight. The 19-year-old singer noted enough during his captivity to give Federal Bureau of Investigation agents a good idea of the location of the ramshackle house in suburban Canoga Park, California, where he is believed to have been held until his release late Tuesday night.
President Johnson today signed a bill for a one-year extension of the program for admitting Mexican farm laborers into the United States during 1964. The bracero program, begun in 1949 and extended several times since, would have expired at the end of this year. Conditions for employment of the Mexican workers were established by a treaty between the two nations. Congress agreed to the one-year extension after several differences over enabling legislation between the House and Senate. Sponsors of the legislation said the Mexicans were needed to help harvest and cultivate important crops for which domestic labor is not available.
The Pirates swap Harvey Haddix to the Orioles for infielder Dick Yencha and cash.
NFL Football:
The Green Bay Packers kept their championship hopes alive today with long passes that edged the San Francisco 49ers, 21—17. The Detroit Lions must defeat the Chicago Bears tomorrow to give Green Bay its fourth consecutive Western Conference crown in the National Football League. Fought to a standstill on the ground, the Packers took to the air. Bart Starr found Boyd Dowler behind the San Francisco secondary with passes that were good for 53- and 50-yard touchdowns. The Packers marched 78 yards to a score the first time they got the ball with Tom Moore going over from the 1. But the 49ers retaliated with an 80-yard ground drive led by J. D. Smith and Joe Perry, Smith scoring from the 2. Green Bay fumbled the ensuing kickoff and San Francisco recovered on the Packer 23. When the 49ers got stalled on the 15, they decided to try for a touchdown on fourth down instead of a field goal that would have given them a 10—7 lead. They failed. Two minutes after the Packers got the ball, Starr faked and then hit Dowler with a 53-yard touchdown. San Francisco tied the score, 14—14, when Smith broke over tackle and went 52 yards. Starr’s next pass to Dowler, for 50 yards, came in the third quarter and put the Packers ahead permanently. Tommy Davis, who tied the league record of 156 consecutive conversions with his kick after the second San Francisco touchdown, added a 44-yard field goal in the last quarter. The Packers had been 17-point favorites.
Green Bay Packers 21, San Francisco 49ers 17
AFL Football:
Len Dawson passed for three touchdowns today and ran 43 yards for another to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a 35—3 triumph over the Boston Patriots in 11-degree temperatures. The Chiefs’ victory, coupled with the Buffalo Bills’ victory over the New York Jets, dropped the Patriots into a tie with the Bills for the American Football League Eastern Division lead. Boston opened the scoring late in the first period on a 15-yard field goal by Gino Capelletti. The Patriots’ only score was set up when Jerrell Wilson of Kansas City dropped the ball while preparing to punt. Boston took possession on the Chiefs’ 30-yard line. After that, it was Kansas City’s game offensively and defensively. In the second period, Dawson tossed a 14-yard scoring pass to Chris Burford for a 7—3 lead at half-time. In the third period, Dawson hit Fred Arbanas with an 81-yard touchdown pass. Minutes later, Dawson raced 43 yards along the sideline for another Kansas City touchdown. The Chiefs’ quarterback threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Frank Jackson in the final period, and Abner Haynes ended the scoring with a 36-yard touchdown run.
The New York Jets were eliminated from the Eastern Division race in the American Football League yesterday when they lost to the Buffalo Bills, 19—10, before a crowd of 5,826 in the Polo Grounds. Since Kansas City downed the Boston Patriots, the Bills and Patriots wound up in a tie for first place with 7-6-1 won-lost-tied records. Houston, which has a 6-6 mark and two more games to play, could finish on top with two victories. The Jets, who closed out their home season with a 4-2-1 record, had a half-time lead of 10—3, but the Bills were on the 5-yard line when the half ended and that proved to be an indication of things to come. Buffalo scored in the first period on Mack Yoho’s 13-yard field goal after a 13-play, 66-yard drive. The Jets replied with a 73-yard touchdown pass play from Galen Hall to Don Maynard at 11:04 of the period. It was Maynard’s ninth touchdown of the year and Hall’s third touchdown pass. In the second period, the Jets increased their margin on Dick Guesman’s 17-yard field goal, after a march from their own 28. The turning point was the substitution of Jack Kemp for Daryl Lamonica at quarterback early in the second quarter. It was Kemp who turned the Bills into a winning team. The 201-pound quarterback brought Buffalo to within a point of the Jets, scoring on a 4-yard burst around his own left end at 1:52 of the third quarter. Cookie Gilchrist added a 4th quarter touchdown to put the Bills ahead, and a safety sealed the game for Buffalo.
New York’s Polo Grounds hosted its final sporting event with the Jets-Bills game.
Boston Patriots 3, Kansas City Chiefs 35
Buffalo Bills 19, New York Jets 10
Born:
Cindy Gibb, American actress (“Search for Tomorrow”, “Youngblood”), in Bennington, Vermont.
Died:
Dinah Washington [Ruth Lee Jones], 39, African-American blues, R&B and jazz singer (“What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”, “September In The Rain”), from an overdose of barbiturates. She was found dead by her eighth husband, pro football star Dick “Night Train” Lane.
Gustav Machatý, 62, Czech film director best known for his controversial 1933 film “Ecstasy,” described as the first non-pornographic film to depict lovers having sexual intercourse.
Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music, and gave herself the title of “Queen of the Blues”. She was a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Influenced by other female singers such as Billie Holiday, Washington began to take an interest in blues music and started playing in local clubs in Chicago. At the age of 18, Washington joined Lionel Hampton’s band and a year later she also signed with Keynote Records, releasing her first hit “Evil Gal Blues” under the name Dinah Washington. Washington was never to record any of her gospel music, despite her obvious talent for it, believing that the secular world of professional music should be kept apart from the spiritual. Washington’s penetrating and heartfelt voice ensured her success and, having moved to Mercury Records in 1948, she enjoyed a string of hits of the R&B charts, including “Baby Get Lost” (No. 1, 1949) and “Trouble in Mind” (No. 4, 1952). In 1959, she released “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes,” which some in the blues world criticized as being too commercial. Despite this, the song was a huge success in both the R&B and Pop charts in America and won Washington a Grammy Award.
By 1962, however, Washington’s record sales were falling, and despite a move to Roulette Records, she never again topped the charts. However, she left a strong legacy behind her, influencing artists such as Aretha Franklin and paving the way for African-American singers in the commercial popular music market. Washington’s private life was sometimes tumultuous; she was married seven times, divorced six, and battled both weight problems and addiction to diet pills all her life. She died at the age of 39 on December 14, 1963 in Chicago due to an accidental overdose of prescription sleeping pills. Washington is interred at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.
The 49ers staggered through a woeful year in 1963, almost as bad as they would face in 1978. John Brodie and Bobby Waters got hurt, Billy Kilmer missed the entire year after a bad car wreck, and the quarterback larder was empty. The 49ers soldiered on with a largely forgotten journeyman, Lamar McHan, finishing 2-12. They did manage an upset of the eventual NFL champion Chicago Bears in Week Six.
One of the few bright spots was the continued solid play of #86 here, local product Dan Colchico, from Port Chicago. He was a solid starter at left defensive end for five years before rupturing his Achilles tendon in the early going in 1965.
Starr and Gregg, of course, are both in the Hall of Fame, being stars on the great Packer teams of the 1960s.
Leo played in 174 straight regular-season games and counting all appearances, including 10 Pro Bowl games, he played in 266 pro contests. Nomellini was an All-America tackle for two years at Minnesota and the number one draft choice of the 49ers in 1950. Nomellini was one of the few players ever to win All-NFL recognition both on offense and defense. Leo was named all-league at offensive tackle in 1951 and 1952, and then received All-NFL honors for his defensive line play in 1953, 1954, 1957, and 1959. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.
Taylor was just as spectacular for the Packers, earning five Pro Bowl trips, four NFL titles, and two Super Bowl rings. He ran for over 1,000 yards five straight seasons beginning in 1960 but reached his zenith in 1962, when he had a career-high 1,474 yards and was named the NFL Player of the Year. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1976.
History Diaries 