One American soldier was killed and another critically wounded in clashes with Communist guerrillas on the Laotian border, it was officially reported today. A United States military spokesman in Saigon said a Special Forces enlisted adviser was shot and killed in an ambush as he tried to help a wounded American in the isolated Dakse River valley, about 325 miles northeast of Saigon and less than two miles from Laos.
The report followed the release of information by the United States Military Assistance Command that Vietnamese Government forces sustained their heaviest losses of the war during February with 4,140 dead, wounded and missing. The report added that 1,730 Việt Cộng troops were killed in combat during the month. The previous high casualty toll of government troops was 4,050 in December.
On the basis of statements from Hanoi since the American and South Vietnamese bombing raids Tuesday, United States analysts have concluded that North Vietnam does not expect immediate combat support from other Communist countries.
The Soviet Government warned today that “peaceful coexistence” between the United States and the Soviet Union was being “undermined” by American policies in Vietnam. Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko made the statement orally in a meeting with Ambassador Foy D. Kohler. The text of the statement was made public by Tass, the official press agency.
The continued strain in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, due chiefly to Vietnam, seem to make more remote the possibility of a Moscow visit by President Johnson.
An angry mob assembled at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to protest the bombing of North Vietnam, before finally being driven away by police on horseback and soldiers. There were serious injuries of both protesters and Soviet police. No one in the embasy was injured. The next day, the Soviet Union formally apologized to the U.S. government and began replacement of 310 broken windows in the ten-story high embassy building, and the removal of stains from more than 200 inkpots that had been shattered against the walls.
Although windows were shattered even on the sixth floor. no one on the embassy staff was injured. The demonstrators fought their way through a cordon of 600 policemen, hurdled a yard-high metal barrier and scrambled across a line of 30 big snow plows standing bumper to bumper. A group of wiry young men, identified as Chinese students by their uniform-like blue overcoats, led the charge across the trucks. The protesters carried red banners and inscriptions. Some placards bore a caricature of a bomb-wielding President Johnson drawn to resemble Hitler.
Ambassador Foy D. Kohler, in a protest note to Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko, said Soviet protection of the embassy had been “grossly inadequate.” Later the embassy said Mr. Gromyko had expressed regret for the damage and had promised compensation.
President Sukarno of Indonesia delivered a long attack on “Western imperialism” today at the “conference of Indochinese peoples,” but made no specific proposal for a settlement in South Vietnam.
Intensification of the hostilities in Vietnam produced increasing criticism of United States policy by the Japanese this week.
The U.S. formally requested New Zealand to participate in the Vietnam War. Prime Minister Keith Holyoake did not respond initially, and a second request would be sent eight days later.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced today that for the first time the Việt Cộng Communist rebel authorities in South Vietnam had taken delivery of letters and parcels for American prisoners.
Secretary of State Dean Rusk declared tonight that negotiations for a settlement in Southeast Asia remained impossible because North Vietnam had shown no indication of ending its aggression.
Republican leaders of Congress urged that the United States adopt a “no concession, no deal” policy in its dealings with the Communist world until Red subversion and aggression end all around the globe. The Senate and House Republican leaders proposed today that the United States refuse to consider any economic or political agreements with Communist nations so long as Communists continued overt aggression or subversion anywhere in the world.
The Government of Syria tonight ordered the nationalization of nine oil companies. Included were affiliates of two American concerns — the Socony-Mobil Oil Company and the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) — and a member of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, which is under British and Dutch ownership. The six other companies were Syrian. A decree by the Presidency Council broadcast by the Damascus radio declared that the) companies had become state property and that the original owners would be compensated in 15-year bonds carrying 3 percent interest. The bonds could be negotiable, the decree added.
The government of British Prime Minister Harold Wilson survived a censure motion in the House of Commons by a margin of only five votes, with 293 in favor of the condemnation of his national defense policy, and 298 against. Prime Minister Harold Wilson survived an opposition challenge on defense policy in the House of Commons but immediately afterward faced a revolt of his Labor Party’s leftists against U.S. bombings in Vietnam.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson assured the Bonn Government tonight that Britain would honor her military commitments in West Germany even though they were costly and out of date.
Peking today announced publication of book containing the major ideological attacks it made on Moscow during the year before Nikita S. Khrushchev was ousted as Premier.
Premier Moïse Tshombe of the Congo arrived in Nairobi, Kenya by air today to present to the Organization of African Unity his case for more political support. As a conference of the organization was going into its seventh consecutive day, the Congolese leader landed with a retinue of 29, including some newsmen. He met later with Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta. The conference had put off the tangled Congo issue, partly in expectation of Mr. Tshombe’s visit and partly because it was the most difficult item on the agenda. Mr. Tshombe will be faced with Uganda’s charges that his planes bombed border posts at Goli and Paida and a primary school at Nyapea. The Congolese leader has accused Algeria, the United Arab Republic, and Sudan of supplying weapons to Congolese rebels.
All U.S. libraries and reading rooms in Indonesia were closed because of “intolerable” behavior by the Indonesian government, U.S. Information Agency Director Carl T. Rowan said. Rowan, director of the agency, said the action, which affects five libraries and reading rooms. was being taken “most reluctantly.” But he explained in the statement that the Indonesian Government “has left us no choice.” “Not only has it failed to restrain those who have attacked the libraries periodically.” he said, “but it has now seized the libraries and placed the whole U.S.I.A. operation under conditions that we find intolerable. “Until such time as our libraries and personnel can function under conditions that meet an acceptable standard of international conduct. U.S.I.A. will cease to operate in Indonesia.” The action marks the first time the U.S.I.A., which operates in 100 countries, has withdrawn its activities from a nation. It reflects rising indignation within the Administration over the Indonesian Government’s failure to prevent mob attacks on the libraries and increasing harassment of the activities of the agency.
The United Arab Republic formally charged three West Germans with spying for Israel and said they had carried on a terrorist campaign against West German rocket and aircraft experts here. An Egyptian statement said Johann Wolfgang Sigmund Lotz, who was described as a former Nazi officer posing as a horse breeder, was the leader of the spy ring. The statement said he had confessed to spying for Israel and to sending booby-trapped letters to German experts here that last fall injured an Egyptian postmaster and in November, 1962, blinded the secretary of a German rocket expert, Wolfgang Pila. The statement also indicated Mr. Lotz was responsible for the disappearance of Heinz Krug, a German rocket specialist, in Munich in 1962. Although the Government statement briefly mentioned the spy ring had been guilty of “murder” it specified no killing nor did officials indicate that murder charges were being filed.
The Syrian Minister of Information said in Damascus today that the United States had begun to retaliate against Syria for the execution of American spies and that Israel was cooperating in the reprisals.
Turkey’s new four-party coalition Government headed by Premier Suat Hayri Urguplu received a vote of confidence from the Chamber of Deputies today by having its program accepted by 231 votes to 200. There was one abstention.
The whereabouts of Lucien Rivard. narcotics-smuggling suspect who leaped the walls of a Montreal prison two nights ago remained a mystery tonight. A huge manhunt is underway.
Foreign Minister March Manirakiza of Burundi said at a news conference here today that his government was satisfied that neither the United States nor Communist China was involved in the assassination of Premier Pierre Ngendandumwe on January 15.
At 6:04 AM, a neighborhood in Natchitoches, Louisiana, was destroyed and 17 people were killed by the explosion of a natural gas pipeline. The blast left a 15-foot (4.6 m) deep crater where seven homes had stood. The disaster was later traced to high pressure that had ruptured the pipe; an area of 13.8 acres (5.6 ha) of land was incinerated, and pieces of metal weighing hundreds of pounds were hurled as far as 351 feet (107 m) by the explosion.
In a special manpower message to Congress, the President called for the goals of full employment, jobs for new workers, and a 4¾% economy growth rate. President Johnson said today that unemployment was still “intolerably high” despite recent improvement. In his annual Manpower Report to Congress, the President placed special stress on the complexity of the unemployment problem, particularly the difficulties faced by teenagers, Blacks, and the uneducated and unskilled. He reiterated the need for programs that he had proposed earlier, such as education, more manpower training, and a stepped-up anti-poverty drive. The President’s report was accompanied by a report from the Department of Labor. This report said that to reduce unemployment from the current 5 percent to “a more acceptable level” by 1970 would require an annual increase in the gross national product of 4.75 percent.
The national unemployment rate rose in February to 5 percent, the Labor Department reported today. It had been 4.8 in January.
Legislation authorizing a program of research and development aimed at the establishment of passenger trains running more than 100 miles an hour between New York, Boston, and Washington was proposed to Congress today by President Johnson. The President’s letter transmitting the proposal to the Senate and the House said that progress in rail transportation had failed to match progress in planes and automobiles. He said that “striking advances” in intercity ground transport were “needed and possible.” “We face,” the President said, “an imminent need for improved Intercity transportation in the densely populated East Coast — between Washington and Boston — where travel is expected to increase by 150 to 200 percent between 1960 and 1980.” He called for test projects such as one that has been under study to provide passenger service between New York and Washington on trains hitting speeds up to 150 miles an hour over present rights-of-way.
The Office of Economic Opportunity has held up a $132,000 planning grant to Louisiana because it does not like some of Governor John J. McKeithen’s appointments under the state’s anti-poverty program. Federal officials here acknowledged today that the delay had been prompted by complaints that “at least two” of the Governor’s four appointees were “segregationists” or “extremists.” The agency is investigating the complaints, spokesmen said. Investigators were said to have been in Baton Rouge, the state capital, today. It was the first time that any anti-poverty funds had been withheld because of a racial issue. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Federal agencies are prohibited from making grants or loans to state or local agencies that discriminate on the grounds of race, creed, or color.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. affirmed here yesterday his conviction that more and more responsible white people in the Southern states favored and supported the restoration of racial peace on the basis of social justice and equality. Dr. King indicated that he believed white resistance to the civil rights movement had begun to recede, although he stressed, on the other hand, the immense difficulties that remain. He said that in Alabama he was receiving increased sympathy from white people for the civil rights cause. He has been leading the Black voter-registration drive in two Alabama cities, Selma and Marion, and has encountered stern resistance from officials in those towns. In support of his view that the civil rights movement has resulted in progress, Dr. King said that most of the communities in the Deep South had been complying with the Public Accommodations Section of the Civil Rights Act.
Senator J. W. Fulbright introduced a foreign aid bill that would only authorize economic assistance, and omitting military aid proposals.
The United States is prepared to help foreign birth control programs with information, educational material, training and auxiliary equipment, but will not supply any contraceptives.
Defenders of the Supreme Court’s historic “one-man, one-vote” ruling testified that efforts to nullify the decision are designed “to preserve the rotten borough system in the state legislatures.”
Roman Catholic bishops in the United States have been told not to participate in joint worship services with Protestants until a procedure for such participation has been approved by the Vatican.
The National Space Agency said that Tuesday’s explosion of an Atlas-Centaur rocket at Cape Kennedy will not delay landing of an unmanned Surveyor craft on the moon late this year.
The United States can produce within 30 months a flyable rocket capable of generating seven million pounds of thrust, Harold W. Ritchey, president of Thiokol Chemical Corporation, said yesterday. The most powerful rocket now in operation is the Saturn 1 booster, which generates about 1.5 million pounds of thrust.
Willard Motley, 52, author of “Knock on Any Door,” died Thursday in a clinic in Mexico of gangrene.
David Attenborough becomes the new controller of BBC2.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 897.75 (-3.01)
Born:
Khaled Hosseini, Afghan novelist (“The Kite Runner”), UNHCR Ambassador, and former physician, in Kabul, Afghanistan (official birth date).
Paul W. S. Anderson, English filmmaker (“Resident Evil”), in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, United Kingdom.
Stacy Edwards, American actress (“Santa Barbara”), in Glasgow, Montana.
Mark Duckens, NFL defensive end (New York Giants, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), in Wichita, Kansas.
Died:
Willard Motley, 55, African-American novelist and author of “Knock on Any Door,” later adapted for film.
History Diaries 