In South Vietnam, the ruling junta of General Nguyễn Khánh was threatened by a coup attempt headed by Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức. The coup attempt collapsed the next day. Dissident army officers attempt to overthrow Khánh’s government. The coup is led by Major General Lâm Văn Phát, a Roman Catholic who was dismissed as interior minister on 3 September, and Lieutenant General Dương Văn Đức, commander of 4th Corps. Calling their movement the People’s Council for the Salvation of the Nation, they are motivated by the growing influence of the Buddhists and Khánh’s reorganization of the top military commands.
Four battalions of rebel troops moved before dawn towards Saigon from the Mekong Delta, with armored personnel carriers and jeeps carrying machine guns. After cowing a police checkpoint on the edge of the capital, they put sentries in their place to seal off Saigon from incoming or outgoing traffic. They then captured communication facilities in the capital. As the rebel troops took over the city without any firing and sealed it off, Phát sat in a civilian vehicle and calmly said, “We’ll be holding a press conference in town this afternoon at 4 pm.”
Claiming to represent The Council for the Liberation of the Nation, Phát proclaimed the deposal of Khánh’s “junta” over national radio, and accused Khánh of promoting conflict within the nation’s military and political leadership. He promised to capture Khánh and pursue a policy of increased anti-communism, stronger government and military. Phát stated he would return to the crypto-fascist, Catholic integrist ideology of the Ngô family to lay the foundation for his junta. According to historian George McTurnan Kahin, Phát’s broadcast was “triumphant” and may have prompted senior officers who were neither part of the original conspiracy nor fully loyal to Khánh to conclude that Phát and Đức would not embrace them if they rallied to their side.
Ambassador Taylor is en route back to Saigon but his deputy, Alexis Johnson, meets with the cabinet and encourages them to remain loyal to Khánh. Meanwhile, government troops loyal to Khánh move against the coup’s main base near Tân Sơn Nhứt air base. But the final blow to the coup comes when Air Vice Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ orders air force planes over the insurgent generals’ headquarters and threatens to bomb them if they do not surrender. By the 14th, Ky is holding a news conference with the dissident leaders and claiming ‘there was no coup’ and Khánh returns to Saigon from Đà Lạt.
Vietnam’s latest military dissidents rumbled out of the south today, but Saigon seemed initially unaware of what was going on. The Administration said it “fully supports this duly constituted Government” and deplored any effort to interfere with General Khánh’s plan to broaden participation in his regime. The highest United States officials of the Government were deeply disturbed by the new crisis in Saigon, and one of them described the situation as “ominous.” But they saw no alternative to a vigorous effort to salvage General Khánh’s position. The events at breakfast time even found some United States advisers unaware that they were accompanying units in process of rebelling against the United States‐backed Government. The Americans were with the units as they swept in from the Mỹ Tho Road, more than five battalions strong.
United States military policemen who came out to see what was going on were ordered away by rebel leaders who set up an early command post about 150 yards from the Starcom complex. If the people of Saigon cared about the revolt, there was little outward evidence. The shops stayed open and many people did not even bother to look up as the vehicles carrying troops poured into the city. During the afternoon South Vietnamese Air Force planes with rockets, bombs and cannons began swooping down on rebel headquarters without firing, and there was no firing from the ground. The planes were American‐made Skyraiders. Early in the day, as the uprising started, many American personnel sent here to help in the war against Communist guerrillas went out into the streets to photograph the happenings.
The Administration sought desperately on this day to help keep Major General Nguyễn Khánh in power in South Vietnam at least as a symbol of governmental authority. By tonight that effort appeared to be paying off, although officials here cautiously refused to proclaim the collapse of the dissidents’’ challenge. They decided to let events in Saigon speak for themselves, but for the first time in 24 hectic hours the tension in Washington had noticeably declined. This evening—at about daybreak in Saigon—the United States issued a formal statement deploring the attempted coup and declaring that South Vietnam’s triumvirate, with General Khánh acting as Premier, “continues to operate.”
The coup move in South Vietnam has “demonstrated once again on what a rotten foundation Washington’s policy in South Vietnam is based,” the Moscow radio said tonight. The broadcast, monitored in London, said that the “leader of the routine coup,” Major General Lâm Văn Phát, had announced “the setting up of a new military junta.” It said the junta was called the National Salvation Council.
By the next morning, the coup had collapsed in equal measures drama and farce, as Air Vice Marshal Kỳ threatened to unleash his bombers. The coup plotters issued a statement denying that there had been any coup, and the regime announced no one would be punished.
Roger Hilsman Jr., former Under Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, has said that the United States cannot win a total victory in the war in Vietnam. Mr. Hilsman expressed this view in an interview appearing in this week’s issue of Newsweek magazine. He declared, however, that South Vietnam could gain a sufficient military advantage over the Việt Cộng guerrillas to force negotiations for peace with North Vietnam. Mr. Hilsman, who resigned from his Government post last March and now is a professor of government at Columbia University, said that “we’re not going to be able to make South Vietnam into an anti‐Communist bastion.” The best we can hope for in the long run is “an independent state, neither pro‐Western nor pro‐Communist,” he said.
The New York Times opines:
“The attempted revolt in Saigon has further complicated the political and military situation in South Vietnam and given new cause for dismay to all who have hoped for a new unity to permit a more effective struggle against the Communist‐backed Việt Cộng. The rebellion was certainly not foreshadowed by Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor’s assertion at his recent Washington press conference that “General Khánh has the backing of the principal elements” of Vietnamese society, including “the military, the Buddhists, the Catholics” and others.
“Despite the quick collapse of yesterday’s attempted coup, one fact has indisputably emerged these past weeks: For many non‐Communists in South Vietnam the struggle to save that country from Communist domination is subordinate to the effort to win individual or group power. The recent bleak record of political turmoil is explicable only in terms of jealousies and squabbles among individual military leaders, and between different religious and political groups. It is indicative of the true priorities among the competitors for power that many of the troops used yesterday to occupy Saigon came from the Mekong River Delta, one of the chief areas of the struggle against the Việt Cộng.
“The time has come for Washington to take a really cold, hard look at the situation in South Vietnam in order to seek the best course for future American policy there. The Johnson Administration would like to preserve the status quo, at least until November’s election, but events in South Vietnam are unlikely in the future, any more than in the recent past, to follow a course governed by the timing of American elections. Many of the premises on which American policy in this area has been based this past decade have proved to be faulty, to say the least, and it is high time to evolve a policy based on more realistic assumptions.”
United Nations helicopters lifted two tons of emergency rations today to besieged Turkish Cypriots in the northwestern village of Kokkina. The supplies were taken from the United Nations peace‐keeping force’s stocks to aid the 1,500 refugees in the area blockaded by Greek Cypriote forces. The Cypriot President, Archbishop Makarios, agreed yesterday to “allow adequate amounts of supplies to be sent to Kokkina,” but delays in shipment seemed inevitable. The shipments, likely to be made by Turkey, were arranged by the United Nations troop commander, General Kodendera S. Thimayya, after he toured the region and found its residents near starvation. In view of General Thimayya’s assessment that only four days of food reserves were left in Kokkina, and that the situation could deteriorate, a spokesman said the United Nations was “taking urgent measures.”
Senior United Nations officials said the Makarios Government, dominated by Greek Cypriots, had agreed to let the United Nations escort emergency supplies to Kokkina from Turkish Cypriot stockpiles in Famagusta. Turkish Cypriot leaders, United Nations sources said, want to create an incident by forcing a relief ship from Turkey to break the blockade by taking supplies direct to the village. The United Nations reported that an unidentified submarine was seen yesterday 500 yards off Kyrenia, a Greek Cypriot town about 50 miles from Kokkina. A Greek Cypriot gunboat is stationed there. The two United Nations helicopters carried flour, canned milk, cheese and sugar. Another took 200 Red Cross blankets to refugees crowded into caves around Kokkina.
United Nations peace‐force officers told the Turkish Cypriots they would provide an immediate escort for a shipment of relief supplies from Famagusta where 7.8 tons of goods sent by the Turkish Red Crescent (Red Cross) are stored. General Thimayya and Galo Plaza Lasso, the United Nations special representative in Cyprus, continued to meet with Cypriot Government and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the food crisis. They scheduled another meeting with President Makarios for tomorrow.
Meanwhile a Swedish patrol under the United Nations flag was prevented by Turkish Cypriote forces from inspecting military positions near Lefka in the northwest. “The United Nations said this was interference with the peace force’s freedom of movement — a charge often made against Greek Cypriotes but rarely against the Turkish faction.
Eastern Orthodox Christians over the world are voicing increased concern over recurrent rumors that, because of the Cyprus crisis, Turkey may abolish the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has been in Istanbul since ancient times. Patriarch Athenagoras I is regarded as “first among equals” in the hierarchies of Eastern Orthodoxy. From his headquarters in Istanbul he exerts spiritual leadership over about 225 million persons. In recent months, Turkish officials have charged that the patriarchate was conducting pro‐Greek activities. Last May two prelates of the patriarchate were ordered to leave Turkey despite their Turkish citizenship.
Police in West Germany, aided by U.S. Army soldiers, fought a gun battle with East Germany border guards as an East German man fled across the Berlin Wall from the East’s Friedrichshain district to the West Berlin Kreuzberg district. “Because communist bullets were hitting West Berlin territory,” a police officer told reporters, “West Berlin police on duty at the wall opened fire.” U.S. Army Specialist 4th Class Hans W. Puhl of East Weymouth, Massachusetts, a military policeman and a native of Bremerhaven, was praised by his commander for holding off the border guards with a pistol and throwing a tear gas grenade while civilians and firemen came to the aid of Michel Meyer, who was wounded while scaling the wall.
An American soldier helped to save the life of an East German refugee at the Communist‐built border wall early today amid gunfire from East German soldiers. During a gun battle across the border, the American, assisted by other United States servicemen, German civilians, firemen and policemen, pulled the wounded East German across the wall to safety. At least 160 shots were exchanged. The soldier, Specialist 4 Hans Puhl, 22 years old, of East Weymouth, Massachusetts, who was lifted up by two Germans, looked across the wall and told the refugee what to do. The soldier was not injured.
None of the Americans took part in the firing, but Specialist Puhl threw a tear‐gas grenade at the East Germans, and pointed his rifle and his pistol at them at various times during the 45‐minute rescue. The refugee was taken to a West ‐German hospital with five bullets in his legs and arms. Doctors said he was not in critical condition. He was identified as Michael Meyer, a 21‐year‐old jockey from Fredersdorf, near East Berlin. A man and a woman in a house in West Berlin were injured when the East Germans opened fire. The West Berlin police returned the fire, but no East Germans were reported to have been hit.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. heard German church leaders and Christian believers today pledge their support of the civil rights movement in America. Addressing 25,000 West Berliners at a church rally in Waldbuehne Stadium, the Black integration leader said American Negroes were following the call “to be the conscience of the nation.” Bishop Otto Dibelius, the 84year‐old head of the Protestant Church in Berlin, declared that “the whole of Christianity will be at your side in your struggle of nonviolence.” Later Dr. King, who was invited to Berlin by Mayor Willy Brandt to help open the city’s annual Cultural Festival, went across the border wall to preach nonviolence to East Berliners. Several thousand heard his sermon at the Marienkirche in downtown East Berlin.
The Sierra Aranzazu, a freighter from Spain, was attacked by gunboats and sunk off of the coast of Cuba, and its captain, first mate and chief engineer were killed by gunfire. A group of Cuban exiles, opposed to Cuba’s Fidel Castro and part of the American-funded Movimiento Revoluionario Rebelde paramilitary group had attacked the Spanish ship after mistaking it for a Cuban vessel, the Sierra Maestra. The ensuing scandal was an embarrassment to the Johnson presidency’s relations with Spain, and “generated a major reevaluation within the administration of the wisdom of continuing the CIA’s clandestine support of paramilitary operations”, and “marked the beginning of a slow, protracted, shutdown of active CIA support for violent anti-Castro activities.”
Chinese Communist leaders, waging a worldwide struggleagainst what they consider capitalist tendencies in the Soviet Union, are apparently running into the same type of heresy at home. Ideological documents reaching Hong Kong indicate that Peking is undertaking the most far‐reaching repression of intellectuals since its anti-rightist campaign of 1958. The Soviet “sin” of revisionism — defined by Peking as atendency to slide back toward capitalism and to accept reconciliation with the United States — is said to have tainted even senior members of the Chinese Communist party.
The third sitting of the Vatican II council opens in Rome. Pope Paul urged the faithful today to pray for the success of the Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, in adapting the church’s course to closer contact with the world in working for “its salvation, its prosperity and its peace.”
The new attempt at a coup d’état in Saigon this morning posed a sharp threat to the Johnson Administration’s policy in South Vietnam and was expected to provide new campaign ammunition for Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for President. President Johnson made no comment on the new situation today, although he was keeping closely in touch with it. The press office in the White House was closed. Senator Goldwater had no comment, and a member of his staff said no statement was being prepared. But he had already made South Vietnam a campaign target, charging that the United States policy there is “soft.” It seemed certain that the attempted coup would give him new room for criticism on the line that American policy was failing, that a bad situation was growing worse, that a change of leadership was needed.
Senator Hubert H. Humphrey called on Senator Barry Goldwater today to retract allegations that President Kennedy ”played politics” with the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and President Johnson is preparing to turn the Vietnam struggle to his political advantage in the national campaign. The Democratic candidate for Vice President charged Mr. Goldwater knew or could easily find out that his “shoddy and shabby political talk” was untrue. Mr. Humphrey also said the Republican Presidential candidate had injected the racial issue into the campaign to bid for the votes of those angered by racial demonstrations and riots and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The campaigning Democrat, obviously angered by Mr. Goldwater’s recent speeches attacking “lawlessness” and his accusations regarding Cuba and Vietnam, spoke out at a news conference. Contrasting with the somber tones and carefully measured words of the candidate was the setting of the news conference. It was held at midday on the picturesque poolside patio of the Western Skies Hotel in Albuquerque. Later this afternoon Mr. Humphrey cautioned a cheering crowd of about 7,500 at a political barbecue on Santa Fe’s rodeo grounds against ”those who seek to divide; America so that they may conquer.” His reference was to political extremists.
President Johnson continued to press for a compromise today to break the Senate deadJock over the issue of reapportionment of state legislatures. A key vote on the issue, which has slowed the Congressional drive for adjournment to a crawl, is scheduled for Tuesday. However, even with this out of the way, Congress would still face at least two weeks of work on such major legislation as medical care for the aged and economic aid to Appalachia. Over the weekend, Administration leaders centered their attention on two fronts: seeking to woo Democratic liberals to support the reapportionment compromise; and attempting to line up votes to instruct House conferees to agree to some form of health insurance for the aged, under Social Security.
The reapportionment dispute involves efforts by Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, Republican of Illinois, to attach a rider to the $3.3 billion foreign aid authorization bill to delay reapportionment of the state legislatures. Off and on for more than a month, a small band of Democratic liberals has conducted what has become known as a “baby filibuster” against the Dirksen rider. Last week, by a vote of 63‐30, the Senate refused to shut off debate on the Dirksen proposal. But, the Senate then turned around and refused, by a vote of 49‐38, to kill the rider.
The Administration threw its support last week behind a “sense of Congress” compromise, sponsored by Senators Jacob K. Javits, Republican of New York; Eugene J. McCarthy Democrat of Minnesota, and Hubert H. Humphrey, the Democratic nominee for Vice President. This compromise would state that it was the “sense of Congress” that states be given “adequate time” to comply with the Supreme Court ruling of last June 15 that districts for both houses of state legislatures be substantially equal in population.
The compromise also would state that it was the “sense of Congress” that adequate time be allowed for states to consider any constitutional amendment of apportionment approved by the required two‐thirds of both houses of Congress. A vote on this compromise is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, However, Democratic liberals have said that they will oppose it, too. Efforts to reword the compromise in such a way as to win their support are expected to continue right up to the vote. Senator Humphrey will play a key role in seeking support of the liberals.
If the Senate resolves the reapportionment issue this week and passes the long‐stalled foreign aid authorization bill, it will then resume debate on the billion‐dollar program of economic aid to Appalachia. Debate on the five‐year Appalachia program began last week. The bill is expected to pass the Senate but could run into serious trouble in the House.
Also facing an uncertain fate in the House is the Senate-passed bill embracing health insurance for the aged. The bill passed the House without any medical care feature. It merely called for increases in Social Security benefits and taxes. The Senate added health insurance and sent it back to the House. An attempt will be made tomorrow to send the bill to conference, but an expected objection would place the matter before the House Rules Committee.
Women voters prefer President Johnson more than men do, but both favor him over Senator Barry Goldwater, according to a poll published yesterday by Newsweek magazine. The poll, taken by Louis Harris, showed women now favortag the President by 64 to 36 percent. Among men, the margin is 60 to 40. The survey also indicated that 53 percent of the women believed that Senator Goldwater, if elected, would involve the country in war. This contrasted with 45 percent of the men polled.
[Ed: Good thing Lyndon Johnson is not planning a war… poker face]
Republican suburbanites in the San Francisco area in unusual numbers are swinging this year to President Johnson. Mostly they say, “We can’t take Goldwater” or “Johnson is the lesser of two evils.” This is the foremost finding of a spot check made in communities near San Francisco. Random interviews produced these further observations:
Apart from those Republicans who are outspoken in their opposition to, or in their defense of, Senator Barry Goldwater, a smaller number is fence‐sitting, wistfully hoping that the Senator’s “actions and speeches” before Election Day may still enable them to vote Republican.
Few registered Democrats are showing a determination to bolt the party for Goldwater.
Negro voters, who are moving into the suburbs in growing numbers, will vote almost solidly for Mr. Johnson. The single exception encountered in the survey was a small‐businessman, still waiting to make up his mind, who commented:
The interviewing was done principally in Marin County to the north of the Golden Gate, in San Mateo County, adjoining San Francisco on the south, in Republican Palo Alto of Santa Clara County, and to a lesser extent in Alameda County, on the east side of San Francisco Bay. In all of thoses counties the presence of anti‐Goldwater senment reminds observers that Governor Rockefeller of New York carried every one of them handily over Mr. Goldwater in the California Republican primary June 2. This was in sharp contrast to the Los Angeles bedroom counties, which went to the Arizonan.
A bill requiring banks to report changes in their control to the Federal Government was signed into law over the weekend by President Johnson. The new law also requires banks to report loans secured by 25 percent or more of their stock, and changes in top management after a change of control. National banks will make, such reports to the Controller of the Currency, Federal Reserve System banks to the Federal Reserve Board, and other banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers returned to the contract bargaining table today. But the negotiators recessed after an hour and said they had made no attempt to fit the union’s new settlement at the Chrysler Corporation to Ford. Apparently the full‐scale attempt to win a Chrysler‐size package at Ford was delayed until tomorrow’s meeting, scheduled to begin at 10 AM.
U.S. National Championship Men’s Tennis, Forest Hills, New York: Roy Emerson beats fellow Australian Fred Stolle 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 for his 3rd Grand Slam title of the year.
U.S. National Championship Women’s Tennis, Forest Hills, New York: Defending champion Maria Bueno of Brazil wins her 3rd U.S. singles title; dominates American Carole Graebner 6–1, 6–0.
Ed Charles drove in four runs with two doubles and Rocky Colavito hit a homer as the last‐place Kansas City Athletics defeated the American League leading Baltimore Orioles, 7–5, today and further tightened the pennant race. The Orioles have lost 12 of their last 22 games. Two walks and a single by Bert Campaneris, the second of his three hits, broke a 5–5 tie in the fifth inning. The costly walks, issued by Chuck Estrada, the loser, were two of the 13 yielded in the loosely played game that belied its importance in the pennant race. The Orioles jumped in front on Brooks Robinson’s two‐run single in the first inning off Diego Segui, but the A’s chased Steve Barber with four runs in the third.
Dalton Jones drove in the deciding run with a ninth‐inning single today and gave the Boston Red. Sox relief pitching star, Dick Radatz, a 4–3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in his 73rd appearance of the season. Radatz posted his 15th victory, and moved within one game of tying Jim Konstanty’s major‐league record for pitching appearances in a season.
Joe Pepitone and Tom Tresh supplied the power yesterday and Whitey Ford and Pedro Ramos the pitching as the New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins, 5–2, at Yankee Stadium and further improved their position in the American League pennant race. Tresh and Pepitone did their heavy hitting in successive innings, early in the game. Tresh opened the second with a double to left, and Pepitone slammed his 24th homer, against the third deck in right. Ramos, who took over in the fifth, allowed two hits the rest of the way and earned his first victory as a Yankee. He was acquired only nine days ago from Cleveland for $30,000 and two players to be named. By scoring the 15th triumph in their last 20 games, the Yankees regained second place for the first time since August 7. With 84 victories and 58 defeats, they are 26 games above 500 for the first time this season and half a game ahead of the Chicago White Sox, who have 61 defeats. The Yankees are one game behind the league‐leading Orioles, who lost to the Kansas City Athletics for their 59th defeat.
Luis Tiant posted his eighth victory and drove in the decisive run with a single in the sixth inning today as the Cleveland Indiana defeated the Chicago White Sox, 5–4. The White Sox closed to 5–4 in the seventh on a walk, Mike Hershberger’s double, an infield out and Floyd Robinson’s single. The loss was the White Sox’ fifth in the last seven games. Tiant, bringing his won‐lost record to 8–2 since July, got his key hit in the sixth as the Indians scored twice and pushed their lead to 5–2. Juan Pizarro, 17–9, suffered the loss.
Don Lock hit two homers today and Don Zimmer added four hits as the Washington Senators defeated the Detroit Tigers 5–1. Zimmer got a double and three singles. His seventh‐inning single scored Claude Osteen with the run that put the Senators ahead to stay. He singled during a two‐run ninth inning.
St. Louis becomes the first National League club to score in each inning since the Giants did it on June 1, 1923. The Cardinals coast over the Cubs, 15–2, at Wrigley Field with Curt Simmons improving his record to 15–9. Dick Ellsworth goes to 14–15 for Chicago. Julian Javier, Lou Brock and Mike Shannon hit homers in the assault against six Chicago pitchers. Javier smashed his 11th home run and a pair of doubles. Shannon drove in four runs and Dick Groat Three. Curt Simmons worked eight innings, and scattered eight hits. The Cards battered Wick Ellsworth for seven runs in the first four innings in a victory that mathematically eliminated the Cubs from any pennant chance they might have had.
Johnny Callison singled home the tie‐breaking run in the 10th inning today and Richie Allen followed with a homer to give the National League‐leading Philadelphia Phillies a 4–1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. The triumph kept the Phillies’ lead at six games over secondplace St. Louis. San Francisco and Cincinnati are seven games behind. Jim Bunning, who improved his won‐lost record to 17–4 with a seven‐hitter, was locked in a duel with a Giant rookie, Dick Estelle, until the Phillies broke through in the 10th.
The Cincinnati Reds ruined Warren Spahn’s return to the Milwaukee starting rotation and broke the Braves’ winning streak at six games by romping to a 9–2 victory today. Spahn, making his first start since August 23, was knocked out in the third inning after yielding eight hits and five runs. The loss, Spahn’s sixth in a row, left him with a 6–13 wonlost record and a 5.43 ERA.
Don Cardwell’s four‐hit pitching stymied the Houston Colts tonight and gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 3‐0 victory. Cardwell was in trouble only once. Houston put men on first and third with two away in the second, but Cardwell got Jerry Grote to pop up. Pittsburgh got the only run it needed in the first, on a leadoff walk to Dick Schofield, Bill Virdon’s double, and a sacrifice fly by Roberto Clemente. The Pirates added two runs in the ninth on Virdon’s single, Clemente’s double and Donn Clendenon’s two‐run single.
The Los Angeles Dodgers scored one run in the last half of the ninth inning today on two walks, a bunt, and an error to defeat the New York Mets, 5–4, in their final meeting of the year. The debacle occurred without a ball being hit out of the infield before the smallest crowd of the season in Dodger Stadium — 15,885 — after the Mets had pulled a couple of upsets and appeared en route to another. The New Yorkers scored their first run in 23 innings off Don Drysdale and hit their first home run of the season in Dodger Stadium — all in a four‐run fourth inning, with Charlie Smith the hero. Then, on the threshold of beating Drysdale for the first time in nine games, the Mets lost it all in the last two innings. Frank Howard’s solo homer tied it in the 8th, and then the Mets lost it in the ninth.
NFL Football:
Baltimore Colts 24, Minnesota Vikings 34
Chicago Bears 12, Green Bay Packers 23
Cleveland Browns 27, Washington Redskins 13
Detroit Lions 26, San Francisco 49ers 17
Los Angeles Rams 26, Pittsburgh Steelers 14
New York Giants 7, Philadelphia Eagles 38
The Minnesota Vikings, led by the passing of Fran Tarkenton and the running of Tommy Mason and Bill Brown, defeated the Baltimore Colts, 34–24, in a National Football League game today. A circus pass catch and fumble recovery led to two Baltimore touchdowns and a pass interception set up Lou Michaels’s field goal. Johnny Unitas passed for two touchdowns and Lenny Moore scored twice. Brown ran for one Viking touchdown and caught a 48-yard pass for another. The Colts managed only 11 first downs to the Vikings’ 27.
Paul Hornung ran, kicked and passed his way back into the hearts of Green Bay Packer fans today and showed why the Packers were favored to regain the Western Conference title of the National Football League. The Golden Boy, who spent the 1963 season under suspension for gambling on NFL games, was greeted warmly by the 42,327 fans at City Stadium and once again was the local hero as he led the Packers to a 23–12 victory over the league champions, the Chicago Bears. Last season, Chicago beat the Packers twice in the deciding games for the Western championship and went on to defeat the New York Giants for the league title. The 28‐year‐old Hornung kicked three field goals, 2 extra points, ran for 77 yards and tossed a pass for 9 yards and an important first down. One of his field goals came on a rarely used maneuver. With seconds remaining in the first half, Elijah Pitts made a fair catch of a punt on the Green Bay 48, The Packers then lined up for a free kick from placement (similar to a kickoff alignment) and Hornung booted the ball 52 yards for 3 points on the final play of the half.
The Cleveland Browns took advantage of three Washington mistakes to score three easy touchdowns, then drove 77 yards on the ground for a fourth‐quarter touchdown to beat the Redskins, 27–13, in a National Football League game today. Playing in a steady rain, the Redskins jumped off to a 10–0 lead in the first half — to the delight of a capacity crowd of 47,577 — but then Washington suddenly found the ball too slippery and began to drop it in key situations. The Redskins built their quick lead in the second quarter on a 12‐yard field goal by Jim Martin and a 17‐yard run by Charlie Taylor. At this point the Redskins looked unbeatable. Then a rookie, Ozzie Clay, fumbled a punt and the Browns recovered on the Redskins’ 26. On the second play. Frank Ryan threw 23 yards to Gary Collins for a touchdown. Cleveland then rolled 70 yards for a touchdown. A pass interference call against Johnny Sample gave the Browns the ball on the 5. Jim Brown carried it over in two plays.
Milt Plum, Detroit’s hot and cold quarterback, set up four scores on key third‐down pass plays and Wayne Walker kicked a club record of four field goals today to lead the Lions to a 26–17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Bernie Casey caught two John Brodie passes for touchdowns; the first, a 64-yarder, gave the 49ers a brief 7–3 lead. But then the Lions ran off 20 unanswered points to take control of the game.
The Los Angeles Rams capitalized today on Pittsburgh Steeler mistakes for a 26–14 National Football League victory. The Rams turned two interceptions and two fumbles into scores before a crowd of 33,988. The Steelers’ troubles began in the second period when Jerry Richardson intercepted Ed Brown’s pass and ran 39 yards to the Pittsburgh 10. Four plays later Bruce Gosselt kicked a 9‐yard field goal and the Rams had a lead they never relinquished.
That the New York Giants lost the game to the Philadelphia Eagles today was surprising enough. But how they lost was truly shocking. The Eagles, last in the National Football League a year ago and the winners of only two games, routed the Giants, the defending Eastern champions, 38–7. It was an immense upset that delighted the capacity crowd of 60,671 at Franklin Field on the first day of the season with a full schedule of pro football. The Eagles, a resurgent team with a new owner, a new coach and 18 new players out of 40, took a calculated risk with Y. A. Tittle, the renowned Giants quarterback, then challenged him and beat him. They did it with an unorthodox defense employing a blitzing safetyman, Don Burroughs, who in past seasons had been a patsy for New York. Burroughs left his normal position in the secondary wide open and depended upon Iry Cross, the cornerback, to cover R. C. Owens, playing in place of the injured Del Shofner at split end for New York. Cross did cover Owens and Burroughs spent a long afternoon crashing in upon Tittle before Y.A. had time to get rid of the football or to collect his wits.
AFL Football:
Kansas City Chiefs 17, Buffalo Bills 34
Boston Patriots 17, Oakland Raiders 14
The Buffalo Bills struck for 31 points in the first period, then fought off repeated assaults by Kansas City to score a 34–17 victory over the Chiefs in an American Football League opener today before a crowd of 30,157 in War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo. Jack Kemp engineered the Bills opening attack by completing eight passes, three for touchdowns. Two of them found Glenn Bass and one was taken in by Elbert Dubenion. Defender Tom Sestak added a fourth first quarter touchdown on a 15-yard interception return.
A 48‐yard field goal in the fourth quarter by Gino Cappelletti gave the Boston Patriots a 17–14 American Football League victory today over the Oakland Raiders before a crowd of 21,126. The kick came with 12 minutes 52 seconds left in the game and sailed squarely between the uprights. Boston scored in four plays in the second quarter on a pass from Babe Parilli for 70 yards to Art Graham. Cappelletti booted the extra point for a 7–7 tie at the half. With a minute 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Tony Romeo gathered in a 19-yard pass from Parilli to score.
Born:
Greg Hibbard, MLB pitcher (Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners), in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Patrick Scott, NFL wide receiver (Green Bay Packers), in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Keith Neubert, NFL tight end (New York Jets), in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
Jerry Parker, NFL linebacker (Cleveland Browns)
Tavis Smiley, African-American TV and radio talks show host, in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Simegnew Bekele, Ethiopian dam engineer (Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam), in Maksegnit, Ethiopia (d. 2018).
History Diaries 