A revised cabinet assumes office this week, as Premier Trần Văn Hương tries to placate the Buddhists, who continue their demonstrations and strikes. On 24 January the Armed Forces Council, headed by Nguyễn Khánh, resolves to get rid of Trần Văn Hương; the U.S. Deputy Ambassador is informed secretly, but U.S. officials can only stand by.
Premier Trần Văn Hương presented a reorganized Cabinet today after overcoming the reluctance of leading military men to enter the government. As the Cabinet crisis ended, Buddhist leaders began another hunger strike and pledged that they would carry it to the death unless the Premier resigned. In the tin-roofed shrine of the Buddhists headquarters compound, five robed monks announced in the glare of television lights that their hunger strike began at 3 PM. Loudspeakers carried their declaration outside to 2,000 listeners, mostly peasant women and youths gathered in the compound under the Buddhist leaders’ direction. The monks distributed anti Government pamphlets.
In a proclamation of the Unified Buddhist Church, Thích Tâm Châu, chairman of the church’s Institute for Secular Affairs, accused the Huong Government of attempting to split the Buddhist movement and of persecuting its political activists. For months Thích Tâm Châu has led a militant campaign to overthrow the Huong Government and gain influence for his political organization. He and Thích Trí Quang, secretary of the Institute for Religious Affairs, are the leading hunger strikers. The Buddhist proclamation asked members of the church throughout South Vietnam to remain calm as they fasted, but violence occurred shortly after the announcement. About 200 Buddhist youths marched out the front gates of the compound headquarters and head on into 50 army paratroopers and 70 policemen. The Buddhists threw rocks at the security forces, witnesses said, and the troops threw teargas grenades and fired submachine guns into the air. At least six security patrolmen were injured, and a number of Buddhist youths were also hurt before they were called off by monks. The police said 24 of the youths had been arrested.
In the presidential palace, meanwhile, Premier Hương was formally presenting his new Cabinet, including four military leaders, to the chief of state, Dr. Phan Khắc Sửu. The ceremony was abruptly postponed yesterday after one military leader, Air Vice Marshal Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, declined to accept his appointment as Minister of Youth and Sports. Marshal Kỳ upset an agreement reached by Premier Hương and the Armed Forces Council, a committee of top general officers. With encouragement from United States officials, Premier Hương had granted Cabinet posts to the generals to strengthen his Government and to satisfy the military demands for more influence. Reliable sources said that; Marshal Kỳ’s consent came after he was assured that he would be permitted to remain as commander of the air force. Pressure was put on the 34-year-old marshal in a meeting of the military leaders and at a conference between the generals and the Premier. At 11:45 AM, the Premier received Maxwell D. Taylor, the United States Ambassador, and Deputy Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson and informed them of the resolution of the crisis. It was understood that concessions had also been made to Major General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, commander of the IV Corps area, to persuade him to accept the post of Second Deputy Premier.
The two other military appointees — Major General Trần Văn Minh, the chief of staff who became minister of the armed forces, and Brigadier General Linh Quang Viên, director of military security, who assumes the ministry of psychological warfare — were not in direct command of troops. Like General Thiệu, they have given up their military posts. Despite Marshal Kỳ’s acceptance of the Cabinet post, it was evident that he had not been able to settle all of his differences with Lieutenant General Nguyễn Khánh, the commander in chief, and with other generals. He remarked during the presentation ceremony that he was “not a born politician” and that he hoped a replacement might be found for him in the Cabinet within two weeks.
The Buddhists’ hunger strike appeared to be a desperate move to arouse a population that has yet to respond enthusiastically to the anti-Government agitation of the last few months. The monks have staged hunger strikes previously, but only for 24-hour to 48-hour periods. They have been known to sip orange juice or milk in the course of their fasts, The country is expected to be more stirred by a hunger strike “unto death” by Thích Trí Quang, who commands a substantial following.
North Vietnam has charged that three warships of “the United States and its lackeys” shelled the village of Vinh Thái for 15 minutes early today, wounding a villager. Vinh Thái is in the Vĩnh Linh area, close to the demilitarized zone dividing North and South Vietnam. In a broadcast heard in Tokyo, the Hanoi radio said the warships opened fire at 4 AM with 40-mm cannons, machine guns, and mortars, then sailed away. It said an “emergency protest message” had been sent to the International Control Commission, which is charged with enforcing the 1954 treaty against intervention in Vietnam.
United States Army Special Forces teams in central Vietnam are reorganizing their camps in an effort to tighten security along the Laotian border. The six teams of Special Forces guerrilla-warfare experts in the I Corps area will be cut to five, but their patrol boundaries will be extended until jurisdictions overlap. The Vietnamese Army has been charged with patrolling several border sections that the Special Forces men cannot reach. Officers said the new system, while offering some improvements, would fall far short of securing the border against infiltration from Communist-held areas in Laos. The camps in the I Corps area, however, are north of the Communists’ major entry routes into South Vietnam — the terminals of the network of paths known as the Hồ Chí Minh Trail.
Indonesia confirmed its decision to become the first member to withdraw from the United Nations, as Foreign Minister Subandrio gave formal notification to Secretary-General U Thant. Indonesia would return to the UN twenty months later, on September 19, 1966.
The British Government has authorized its forces in Malaysia to pursue attacking Indonesians back to their own territory and to strike at their bases, but only in the direst necessity. Officials who were aware of the decision said today that it was made in the hope of dissuading the Indonesians from mounting an attack across the frontier into the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah. The states are on the island of Borneo, most of which is Indonesian. Britain has committed about 11,000 troops to the jungle war in Malaysia, a commonwealth member that President Sukarno of Indonesia has pledged to destroy.
British commanders in the area have long been pressing for authority to hit back at raiding parties, chase them into their own territory and cut their lines of communication and supply. Prince Abdul Rahman, the Malaysian Prime Minister, woh the agreement of his Cabinet on January 4 to retaliate against the Indonesians on their own. territory if this were necessary.
On December 24, Abdul Razak, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, warned the Indonesians that they would be pursued across the border in the event of a large-scale attack. Although theoretically the Malaysians would have to authorize any strike at Indonesian territory, the British provide most of the heavy equipment and front-line troops in Malaysia, and their consent to a tougher military line was needed. As the British see it, a tougher line might intensify the war and bring new accusations of British imperialism and neocolonialism from other Asian and African states. The British believe that while hot pursuit can be justified in international law, it might also bring irresistible pressure on the Indonesian Government to distribute arms to the populace, a move that the Communists there have been clamoring for.
But Britain was persuaded by the massing of Indonesian troops along the Borneo frontier. As many as 20,000 troops are said to be there, including well-trained units from two Indonesian divisions normally based in Java. Indonesian forces are also reported to be massing on Sebatik Island, which faces Sabah. The British policy was threshed out at a meeting of the Defense and Overseas Policy Committee of the Cabinet a week ago. Admiral Sir Varyl Begg, commander in chief of British forces in the Far East attended. It was agreed that there would be no indiscriminate retaliation for a major Indonesian attack, and that hot pursuit or strikes in Indonesian territory would be conducted as far as possible on land and concentrated on the attacking units and their bases.
France and West Germany agreed today on new initiatives toward reunification of Germany and political unity in the European Common Market. But, after six hours of discussions, President de Gaulle and Chancellor Ludwig Erhard had made little headway on the key issue of German aspirations on nuclear defenses. The Germans still seek a role in Western nuclear strategy through the mixed-manned nuclear fleet proposed by the United States, the broader Atlantic nuclear force proposed by Britain, or a combination of the two.
The United States will probably not accuse the Soviet Union of having violated the treaty on nuclear tests if it develops that the release of radioactive debris from an underground explosion was accidental, officials said today. The United States was still awaiting an explanation from the Soviet Union as to why it permitted radioactive debris to escape from an unusually large underground atomic test last Friday in central Asia. The treaty, signed in Moscow in the summer of 1963, prohibits all but underground nuclear tests. By a strict interpretation of the treaty, officials acknowledged privately, it was apparent that the Soviet Union had committed a violation by permitting radioactive debris to pass beyond Soviet boundaries.
West Germany has begun, in cooperation with other European countries, to deliver $80 million in modern arms to Israel. The 16-month delivery program, which began last October, involves the shipment of helicopters, anti-aircraft guns, American-made tanks and submarines. Chancellor Ludwig Erhard authorized the arms aid, for which the West German Government is paying, on the ground that West Germany has a moral obligation to contribute to the security of the Jewish state. In doing so he overrode the objections of some senior West German politicians, including Dr. Eugen Gerstenmaier. the President of the Bundestag or lower house of Parliament, who believes that Bonn should limit military aid to its North Atlantic Treaty allies. The West German aid program has also evoked a sharp reaction from Arab governments. They have renewed threats to penalize Bonn by recognizing Communist East Germany. The United Arab Republic has intensified recruiting of German technicians to assist in its slowly progressing rocket project.
Sir Winston Churchill weakened again tonight. As his physician, Lord Moran, emerged from the Churchill home after the third visit of the day, he was asked if Sir Winston was at a very low ebb. “Yes,” the physician replied. The bulletin he issued said: “The weakness of Sir Winston’s circulation is more marked. There is nothing else to report. There will be another bulletin in the morning.”
The British Government said today it was standing by its treaty obligations to proceed with the Concorde supersonic airliner.
The Warsaw Pact’s Political Advisory Committee ended a two-day meeting in the Polish capital today, but there was no official word on the results.
Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain.
Eighteen young Basque nationalists went on trial in Madrid before the Tribunal of Public Order here today on charges of illegal association and propaganda. A 19th defendant was being tried in absentia.
The European Parliament asked today for broader powers for itself in the development of the European Community from now on.
Several thousand people jammed the streets of Cairo tonight to hear Gamai Abdel Nasser accept the nomination for a third term as President of the United Arab Republic.
Marshal Chen Yi, Chinese Communist Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister, is reported to have told a Japanese parliamentarian this week that Peking had repeatedly urged Moscow to return the Soviet-occupied Kurile Islands to Japan.
Lyndon B. Johnson was inaugurated for his own full term as President of the United States. Hubert H. Humphrey was given the oath as the U.S. Vice-President, which had been vacant since Johnson had been sworn in on November 22, 1963. Johnson’s inaugural address was only 1,259 words long, and was completed in 22 minutes, including 11 interruptions for applause. “Applause was discouraged by his sober delivery”, reporter Walter Trohan of the Chicago Tribune wrote the next day. Johnson used the term that would define his domestic policy when he said, “In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer and die untended. In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write…. I do not believe that the Great Society is the ordered, changeless, and sterile battalion of the ants. It is the excitement of becoming-always becoming, trying, probing, falling, resting, and trying again–but always trying and always gaining.” He also alluded to the war in Vietnam that would ultimately prove the undoing of his foreign policy, saying “If American lives must end, and American treasure be spilled, in countries that we barely know, then that is the price that change has demanded of conviction and of our enduring covenant.”
Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson today became the first President’s wife in history to hold the Bible while her husband took the oath of office.
Members of Congress acclaimed President Johnson’s first Inaugural Address today as a fitting statement of the country’s abiding principles, aspirations and goals. Republicans and Democrats agreed that the President had sketched, in appropriately broad and nonpartisan terms, the lofty objectives behind which all patriotic Americans should unite.
A few minutes before noon today, Hubert Horatio Humphrey — his right hand upraised and his left hand on an old Bible belonging to his wife’s family — intoned after Speaker John W. McCormack, “So help me God,” and the nation had a Vice President for the first time since November 22, 1963.
The White House had sent out inaugural invitations to more than 200,000 households, an unprecedented number, but there was a catch. The vast majority of those were labeled “souvenir invitation” and had a disclaimer that said “the invitation in itself does not constitute an admission to any of the inaugural events.” As one cynic noted, “the souvenir invitation just admits you to the city of Washington.”
The heaviest concentration of security forces ever assembled in the nation’s capital was mobilized today to insure the safety of the President and Vice President and to control the record Inaugural crowds.
A rift in the white community over Sheriff James G. Clark’s militant actions in dealing with Blacks attempting to register as voters broke into the open today while the sheriff was arresting 150 applicants on a charge of unlawful assembly. Sheriff Clark and Selma’s Director of Public Safety, Wilson Baker, stood 10 feet apart in front of the Dallas County Courthouse and glared at each other. They communicated through representatives. The city administration and a number of business leaders had been trying to adopt a more moderate course in dealing with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s direct-action campaign against voter discrimination. Sheriff Clark has angrily turned down this suggestion. The hefty sheriff, surrounded by deputies and a special force of men armed with nightsticks and cattle prods, was waiting at the corner of Alabama and Lauderdale Streets when the Blacks arrived at the courthouse under police escort.
For three days, they had been trying to get into the voter registration line without having to wait in an enclosure in the alley or go through the back door. Sheriff Clark directed them today to the Lauderdale Street entrance. Leaders of the first wave of Blacks told him they wanted to go in the Alabama Street door, as had been customary for those seeking to register. In a five-minute discussion that followed, Sheriff Clark told John Lewis, chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, “You are here to cause trouble; that’s what you are doing. You are an agitator and that is the lowest form of humanity.” “If you do not disperse in one minute or go in as I have directed you, you will be under arrest for unlawful assembly,” the sheriff said. He then counted off the seconds and led the Blacks off to jail as the crowd watched.
A second wave arrived and went to jail. When the third surged across the street and stood on the corner. Sheriff Clark barked, “Captain Baker, they are blocking the sidewalk. Will you clear it?” Mr. Baker, a native of North Carolina who was recently appointed by a new city administration, told the Blacks they could line up at the Alabama Street entrance if they did not block the sidewalk. Sheriff Clark stopped them at the door as the line stretched, for one and a half blocks around the courthouse. For the next few minutes two unidentified men went back and forth between Mr. Baker and Sheriff Clark carrying whispered messages. Finally, the sheriff shouted. “You have one minute to disperse or get in the voter registration line.”
TheBlacks did not move. “You are under arrest.” the sheriff said. Yesterday, the sheriff arrested 62 persons when they refused to wait in the alley. Although Dallas County is predominantly Black, registration of Blacks is only about 300. Except for activities at the courthouse, the city has taken over most phases of law enforcement involving racial questions, a task formerly performed by the sheriff and his posse of volunteer white men.
Sheriff Clark is reported to be chafing over the way the city has handled racial demonstrations. Those arrested by the city have been whites accused of stirring up violence. Sheriff Clark has the support of the more militant whites who have favored his policy of putting down Negro demonstrations through mass arrests. The Justice Department has accused him in a lawsuit of using his office to thwart compliance with the public accommodations section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Some business leaders are worried about Selma’s reputation and are seeking a change in the rigid white supremacy policy that has existed here since the Reconstruction. The division, which showed no signs of being healed, has caused deep concern in the white community in this city of 28,000 population. Dr. King left Selma last night for speaking engagements in the North. He said that the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Educational Fund was preparing a legal attack on Sheriff Clark and Dallas County and that the Justice Department was appraising the situation.
School segregation, already abandoned in many Georgia cities, was ended officially today as a state policy by the State Board of Education.
The U.S. Jet Propulsion Laboratory proposes a modified Apollo flight to fly around Mars and return.
In the October 1961 issue of Popular Mechanics, meteorologist Irving P. Krick, who claimed that he could forecast specific weather even years in advance, had predicted that “The weather in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 1965, will be fair with unseasonably high temperatures. Highest temperature of the day will be in the 50s.” Krick was not far off; the high in Washington that day was 46 degrees and the weather was partly cloudy.
The Byrds record “Mr Tambourine Man.”
The Kansas City Chiefs traded today Abner Haynes, a halfback, to the Denver Broncos for Jim Fraser, a linebacker who is the American Football League’s punting leader, and an undisclosed amount of cash.
Rocky Colavito returns to Cleveland in a 3-way deal that sends outfielders Jim Landis and Mike Hershberger and pitcher Fred Talbot from the Chicago White Sox to Kansas City; catcher Johnny Romano, outfielder Tommie Agee, and pitcher Tommy John from Cleveland to Chicago; and catcher Cam Carreon from the White Sox to the Indians. The Colavito curse continues as Agee will win Rookie of the Year honors and John will notch another 286 wins.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 895.31 (-0.96)
Born:
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh; as Sophie Rhys-Jones in Oxford, England, United Kingdom.
Kevin Maas, MLB designated hitter and first baseman (New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins), in Castro Valley, California.
Brad Brink, MLB pitcher (Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants), in Roseville, California.
David Rivers, NBA point guard (Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers), in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Eddie Hunter, NFL running back (New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), in Reno, Nevada.
Greg K. [Kreisel], American rock bassist (The Offspring, 1984-2018), in Glendale, California.
John Michael Montgomery, American country music singer, in Danville, Kentucky.
Died:
[Albert] Alan Freed, 43, pioneering American radio disc jockey who popularized rock and roll music, and payola scandal figure, died five days after being admitted into a hospital from uremia and cirrhosis brought on by alcoholism. A biographer would later note, “He went to the grave penniless — a far cry from just a few years before, when he had been able to claim thousands of dollars a day for his services.”
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