The 11 main Buddhist sects in South Vietnam, concluding a four-day convention in Saigon, announce that they are forming an Institute for Secular Affairs, to coordinate Buddhist political and social activities. This is clearly a move to present a united front against a government the Buddhists regard as insensitive to their goals.
A U.S. military spokesman in Saigon reports that there has been considerable increase in arms shipments from Communist nations to the Viet Cong, so that the Viet Cong are “better equipped and better organized than 12 months ago.” U.S. military sources also claim that the bulk of the arms come from Chinese and North Vietnamese ports via Cambodia and the Mekong River to South Vietnam.
An offensive that began on 31 December, when 10 ARVN battalions set out to crush a Viet Cong force of two battalions in the Bến Súc region some 40 miles west of Saigon, ends when the Communist force disappears. Only two Viet Cong are killed while the ARVN lose 15, and U.S. military advisers openly describe the operation as a failure.
Pope Paul VI became the first Roman Catholic pontiff to fly in an airplane, the first to visit the Holy Land, and the first to venture outside of Italy since Pius VII 1809. Pope Paul departed from Rome on a chartered Alitalia DC-8 jet to Amman, Jordan, and was welcomed in the Muslim kingdom by King Hussein. Afterward, the Pope and his party traveled by motorcade to the border crossing at Jenin (then a part of Jordan) and into Nazareth in Israel, followed by a welcome by over 100,000 at Jerusalem.
Patriarch Atheragoras arrived in Rhodes today on his way to the Holy land to meet Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem tomorrow. The patriarch, who is primate of honor in the Eastern Orthodox church, said: “The ice is broken. Soon a new era will be- gin in the history of Christendom. New shapes and forms will emanate as well as new methods of Christian church contribution to world peace.” The Orthodox prelate said of his meeting with the pope: “Our meeting is of great significance. I am engaged in a great endeavor which should not be judged from only one result.”
The Mo-e-Muqaddas, an important Islamic holy relic which had been stolen on December 27, 1963 from the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar, was recovered seven days after it disappeared. Disappearance of the item, a 600-year-old strand of hair from the beard of the prophet Muhammad, had led to riots in the Jammu & Kashmir state because of it was sacred to India’s Kashmiri Muslims and a symbol of their faith, and one author would note that it “was somewhat miraculously recovered and returned to its original site.” The authenticity of the returned Mo-e-Muqaddas would be verified in a ceremony on February 3.
İsmet İnönü, the Prime Minister of Turkey, won a vote of confidence in the Turkish National Assembly. Although the vote in the İnönü government’s favor was 225 to 175, but not without the help of 46 votes from an opposition group, the New Turkey Party, which was raising the question of whether the Premier’s Republicans and Independents coalition could remain in power without the New Turkey party support.
The number of West Berliners crossing the communist wall to see relatives in the eastern sector today broke all records. Prospects are that in even larger number will go over tomorrow. This will be their last chance for family reunions before the five temporary openings in the wall are closed again at midnight Sunday. However, a reassuring statement by Egon Bahr, chief spokesman of the West Berlin Senate, that chances are better than 50-50 that the present Christmas pass plan will be renewed, failed to stem the human flow through the wall. Before daybreak, thousands already were waiting at the crossing points. Red border officials had set up tables in the open to facilitate checking. Mile-long lines of automobiles were rushed through, six abreast, creating one of the largest traffic jams in this city. By noon the communist-run elevated train, which can handle 18,000 passengers an hour, had transported more than 100,000 West Berliners to Friedrichstrasse station, one of the five crossing points. By tonight 235,000 West Berliners had swarmed into East Berlin through the Wall.
Former West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, warning against “capitalistic stupidity,” said the West must demand that Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev make an agreement on disarmament in exchange for economic aid.
A commuter train pulling into the station at Jajinci, eight miles south of the Yugoslavian capital, Belgrade, and crashed into the back of another train that was awaiting departure. Sixty-six people were killed, and 157 were injured. Both trains were filled with passengers who were returning to work after the New Year holiday; the commuter train was on its way from Belgrade to Pozarevac and traveling in the fog before dawn, and the engineer on board said that he had seen no signal to indicate that the track was blocked. The impact was severe enough to crush eight of the coaches on the train at the station.
Ivan Asen Christof Georgiev, a 56-year-old Bulgarian diplomat who had once been the Eastern European nation’s delegate to the United Nations, was executed by firing squad after pleading guilty to spying for the United States. Georgiev had testified at his trial on December 26 that he had sold military secrets to the CIA between 1956 and 1961, although the United States denied being aware of any connection to Georgiev. Prosecutors charged that he had received $200,000; that he had spent most of the money “to support mistresses”; and that “the CIA was so satisfied with Georgiev’s work that he was given a diploma commending his services.”
Harold A. Franklin became the first African-American student to be enrolled at Auburn University in Alabama. A team of three United States marshals was parked across the street to protect Franklin from violence and intimidation by the crowd and by 100 Alabama state policemen.
Arizona’s Senator Barry Goldwater, heading east to launch his bid for the White House, said today that New York’s Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller is more Democrat than Republican. The conservative senator, stopping here on his way back to Washington, said he sees no sense in the face-to-face debates proposed by Rockefeller, the only other announced candidate for the G.O.P. nomination. “I’d rather take on President Johnson on the weaknesses of his administration,” Goldwater said.
But he added in an airport interview that Rockefeller advocates policies more in keeping with the Democratic platform than with Republican principles. And Goldwater, who plunged into the race for the G.O.P. nomination yesterday, saying the nation should have a clear choice of philosophies, added: “Debating him would be more like debating a member of the New Frontier than like debating another Republican.”
Goldwater said that if he captures the nomination, he wants to meet President Johnson in debate. He said he thinks Johnson will debate during the Presidential campaign. “I see no sense in Republicans berating other Republicans,” Goldwater said. But he said that seems to be the course Rockefeller has chosen. “If I can get the nomination, I think I can run a stronger race than any other Republican,” Goldwater said.
President Johnson will end a holiday vacation at his Texas ranch tomorrow and plans an afternoon flight to Washington. President and Mrs. Johnson have been at the LBJ ranch west of Austin since December 24. The President has been meeting almost daily with cabinet officers and administration officials, principally on the fiscal 1965 federal budget he will send to Congress about mid-January and the state of the Union message to Congress Wednesday. Congress convenes for its second session Tuesday after a holiday recess.
President Johnson concluded his working sessions today with conferences at the ranch with Najeeb Halaby, federal aviation agency administrator, and John A. McCone, director of the central intelligence agency. Halaby and the President discussed the FAA head’s recent trip to Russia and the outlook for supersonic air transportation. McCone flew to the ranch from Palm Desert, California, where he had talked with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower yesterday and Thursday.
A Russian professor studying at Harvard university is injured in a mysterious plunge from a third-floor apartment shortly after being granted asylum in the United States.
Rep. Paul Findley (R-Illinois) demands President Johnson explain the 25-million-dollar subsidy on Russian wheat sale.
Philadelphia mummers stage a quiet parade, with blackface makeup barred, but crowds are the smallest in the event’s 100-year history.
Eva Gabor and her husband were beaten and robbed on entering their Miami apartment.
The thirteenth woman victim of the Boston area strangler is found in her apartment.
The National Football League Commissioner, Pete Rozelle, admitted today that he had been investigating rumors concerning “undesirable contacts” by some players of the Chicago Bears and “three or four other clubs” but had found nothing of a criminal nature. The league continues to work to keep anything associated with gambling away from the players.
15th Senior Bowl: The South collegiates, coached by the Dallas Cowboys’ Tom Landry, beat the North. The South combined the running of Mississippi State’s Ode Burrell and the passing of Miami’s George Mira to topple the North 28—21 on a muddy field. Halfback Burrell ran for two touchdowns and quarterback Mira passed for one. The Rebels got another score on an accidental bit of razzle-dazzle when Georgia Tech’s Billy Lothridge, trying a field goal, retrieved a bad pass from center and converted it into a touchdown pass to end Billy Martin, also of Georgia Tech. Lothridge kicked all the South’s extra points. Burrell was named the game’s outstanding player.
Born:
Stephanie Maxwell-Pierson, American rower (Olympics, Coxless pairs, bronze medal, 1992), in Somerville, New Jersey.
Scott Meents, NBA power forward (Seattle SuperSonics), in Kankakee, Illinois.
Chuck Banks, NFL running back (Houston Oilers, Indianapolis Colts), in Baltimore, Maryland.
Derek Wimberly, NFL defensive end (Miami Dolphins), in Miami, Florida.
Dot Jones, American TV actress, 15-time world women’s arm wrestling champion, and women’s shot put record holder; in Turlock, California.
Died:
Mary Sullivan, a 19-year-old clerk at a finance company in Boston, became the 13th and last victim of the Boston Strangler. Her two roommates found her nude body after they returned from work to their apartment on Charles Street at Beacon Hill. As with other victims, Sullivan had been raped, and then strangled with a scarf.
(Arthur) “Artie” Bernstein, 54, American jazz and session double bassist (The Dorsey Brothers).
History Diaries 