A bomb explodes in a car parked in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, virtually destroying the building; 19 Vietnamese, 2 Americans, and a Filipino are killed and 183 others are injured. The attack occurred when a Vietnamese policeman began arguing with the driver of a car parked in front of the embassy but the driver refused to leave and then another Viet Cong member drove up alongside the car and fired on the policeman. Quickly following the brief exchange of fire, the car, which contained 300 pounds of plastic explosives, detonated in front of the embassy killing two Americans, one female CIA employee, Barbara Robbins and another American, as well as 19 Vietnamese and one Filipino serving in the U.S. Navy along with injuring 183 others. These include CIA Saigon Station Chief Peer de Silva and Deputy U.S. Ambassador Ural Alexis Johnson. Robbins is the first woman CIA officer to die in the line of duty. The U.S. Congress appropriated $1 million to reconstruct the embassy in a new location following the attack and although retaliatory raids on North Vietnam were suggested, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson refused. Following the attack, South Vietnamese Foreign Minister Tran Van Do posthumously decorated Barbara Robbins and the Filipino U.S. Navy Storekeeper Second Class Manolito W. Castillo with the Medal of Honor First Class.
Statement by the President on the Bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon:
“The terrorist outrage aimed at the American Embassy in Saigon shows us once again what the struggle in Viet-Nam is about. This wanton act of ruthlessness has brought death and serious injury to innocent Vietnamese citizens in the street as well as to American and Vietnamese personnel on duty. I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of all who lost their lives.
“Outrages like this will only reinforce the determination of the American people and Government to continue and to strengthen their assistance and support for the people and Government of Viet-Nam. The embassy is already back in business, and I shall at once request the Congress for authority and funds for the immediate construction of a new chancery for the American Embassy in Saigon. This will be one more symbol of our solidarity with the people of Viet-Nam. It is they who are the real targets of the Communist aggressors.
“Led by Ambassador Johnson, the Americans in Viet-Nam have once again shown outstanding qualities of courage and coolness. They have the admiration of their countrymen.
United States and South Vietnamese pilots bombed an important air base in North Vietnam today, but an American spokesman indicated that the raid was not in retaliation for the terrorist bombing of the United States Embassy in Saigon this morning. The spokesman said the air raid, at Đồng Hới, had been scheduled before the attack on the embassy. He avoided linking the embassy bombing directly to the Communist Government of North Vietnam. A Saigon Government spokesman said he believed the North Vietnamese had directed the attack.
In the air strike on Đồng Hới, 24 Vietnamese Skyraiders were supported by 15 American jets suppressing anti-aircraft fire and taking photographs. No planes were reported lost. Although Vietnamese officials said 90 percent of the target was destroyed, other Vietnamese sources said the figure was an arbitrary one. They were skeptical of statements by the pilots that the airport could not be used again. There was no immediate information that North Vietnamese aircraft had been destroyed. Soviet-built North Vietnamese MIG-15’s and MIG-17’s are reported to have made use of the base this month. The base had five big fuel reservoirs and an ammunition depot and barracks.
Communist China today welcomed the bombing of the United States Embassy in Saigon as “heartening news to revolutionary people throughout the world.” The statement on the terrorist attack was contained in a commentary in Jenmin Jih Pao, the authoritative party organ. Analysts here said that the tone of the commentary was in line with recent Peking declarations urging the Vietcong to step up their attacks on United States forces in South Vietnam. The commentary, distributed abroad by Hsinhua, the Chinese Communist press agency, called the embassy bombing “added proof” that the South Vietnamese people were “determined to struggle to the end until the last United States soldier is driven out.”
The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China signed an agreement allowing Soviet trains to travel through China to deliver economic and military aid to North Vietnam. However, Chinese leader Mao Zedong rejected a request by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to allow the Soviets the privilege of overflights through an air corridor for shipments.
Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroder warned today that defeat for the United States in Southeast Asia could have serious consequences for the cause of freedom in Europe.
A revolt led by two Laotian Army colonels collapsed today when Government troops and paratroopers captured Thakhek without firing a shot. The revolt’s ringleaders, Colonel Khamsy Sayarath and Colonel Sipraseuth Sykosy, are being pursued, according to Laotian military sources. They were accompanied by a Thakhek police colonel and another officer. Parts of the rebel forces have escaped north towards the Mekong River town of Paksane, where government forces await them with tanks and artillery. Twenty-six rebels have been captured by troops from Paksane, military spokesmen said. The action started with a dawn jump by government paratroopers who seized an airstrip four miles outside Thakhek, which is on the Mekong, 130 miles southeast of Vientiane.
A government armored column linked with the paratroopers and pushed into Thakhek. The military sources said many rebels and others had rallied to the government side. The reason for the colonels’ revolt, which started Sunday morning, as given by Premier Souvanna Phouma’s office and the army command, was that the officers had been ordered removed from their posts on charges of incompetence in the struggle against the pro-Communist Pathet Lao forces. Informed Western sources noted that the two colonels have family and political ties with the exiled rightist strongman General Phoumi Nosavan. Though the Thakhek revolt has been smashed there is still the possibility of military action to the north as the rebels attempt to escape.
The United Nations mediator for Cyprus, Galo Plaza Lasso, urged today that the Greek and Turkish Cypriotes end their communal conflicts by establishing a government in which all would have equal rights without regard to origin. He called on the sides to meet for talks on any basis to break the deadlock. They have refused to meet up to now. He warned that any effort to unite Cyprus with Greece or divide the island into Greek and Turkish areas might cause serious conflict. The essence of Mr. Plaza’s report was that the United Nations had done everything that could be done toward an agreement as long as the two parties would not confer directly, and that it was now up to them. He has said privately that if they will even meet to discuss his findings, that will be a gain. Summing up the failure to find a solution, Mr. Plaza said: “Cyprus continues to be the center of a dispute which endangers both the safety of its own population and the relationships of the countries most directly concerned — Cyprus itself and Greece and Turkey — and therefore the peace of the eastern Mediterranean area and possibly the world.”
He emphasized that even where life appeared normal in Cyprus, there was a background of “constant uncertainty, recurring tensions” and “hostility and distrust.” Mr. Plaza remarked in his formal report to the Secretary General, U Thant, that it was essential for leaders on both sides to present a settlement that the people could accept or reject “as a single package and not in its various points,” so as to avoid haggling over details. Mr. Plaza reported that Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, had indicated he was willing to invite the United Nations “to appoint a commissioner with a staff of observers and advisers to be present in Cyprus for as long as necessary” to supervise incorporation of the Turkish Cypriotes into normal community life.
West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard promised the President of the American Jewish Congress today that West Germany’s diplomatic relations with Israel would be “more than a formality.”
Six of 13 Arab nations have asked West Germany to hold off recognition of Israel while they seek to avert a crisis.
Two British patrol craft intercepted three Indonesian boats off Singapore shortly before midnight. Shots from the patrol craft struck one boat and killed three persons aboard, a Defense Ministry spokesman reported.
Chou En-lai, Premier of Communist China, arrived today in Algiers for what is believed to be another attempt at countering Soviet influence in Africa and Asia. He received a quiet welcome. Premier Chou, who flew in from Tirana, Albania, on a Pakistan Airways jet, will talk with President Ahmed Ben Bella about the African-Aslan conference set for June 29. There is speculation that they will discuss South Vietnam. It is understood that Premier Chou has come to seek Algerian backing for the exclusion of the Soviet Union from the African Asian conference. China is bitterly opposed to letting the Soviet Union join the meeting.
The Soviet Union has been training Kenyans as fighter pilots without the Kenyan Government’s knowledge, it was disclosed in Parliament today. Dr. Njoroge Mungai, Defense Minister, said he had no way of knowing how extensive the program was. He was replying to a question from Elijah Agar, a left-leaning member who asked why three Soviet-trained pilots were unable to get into the air force. “Many people have been trained in the armed forces in other countries and the first we know about it is when they get back,” Dr. Mungai said. It is an open secret that Kenyans are getting military training not only in the Soviet Union but also in Communist China and Bulgaria, ostensibly under the auspices of the Kenya African National Union, the only political party.
Central Chile struggled today to repair the wreckage left by Sunday’s 90-second-long earthquake. Rescue operations continued In the nearby rural and mining communities that suffered the brunt of the disaster. Mild, early fall weather kept temperatures in the sixties even after sunset. This has helped to reduce the physical suffering of thousands left homeless. In Valparaiso, Chile’s second largest city, with 300,000 inhabitants, 40 percent of the private dwellings were declared unsafe. There was practically no running water for the second consecutive day, and authorities were struggling to provide emergency services.
The Rhodesian Parliament was dissolved tonight and a general election called for May 7 in this self-governing colony. Sir Humphrey Gibbs, the British Governor of Rhodesia, dissolved the colonial Legislative Assembly, in hopes of ousting the Rhodesian Front (RF) government led by Prime Minister Ian Smith. New elections were ordered that would end up strengthening the Front’s control of the Assembly, and Smith would unilaterally declare Rhodesia’s independence as a white-minority ruled republic in November.
India and Pakistan agreed today to a cease-fire following a fortnight of border shooting along the West Bengal-East Pakistan frontier. The agreement came after talks between teams that included the Pakistani and Indian High Commissioners, or ambassadors.
Canada’s Liberal Government reached a milestone today with passage in the House of Commons of its public pension plan.
Manfred Klaiber, the West German Ambassador, told President de Gaulle today of his Government’s “disquiet” at France’s rejection of an Italian proposal for talks next month on European political unity.
Movie theaters throughout France joined in a protest against a new 24% tax on tickets, by giving free admission to films for everyone.
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace met with 15 African-American civil rights leaders from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by Reverend James Bevel, and received the petition that they had brought to Montgomery five days earlier. Reverend Joseph Lowery, the delegation’s spokesman, said that Wallace received the group “cordially and courteously” and added, “We asked him to give us leadership in building bridges of communication in our state. We told Governor Wallace he is our governor. We are hopeful he will use his great power of leadership to bring peace to our state.” A spokesman for Wallace agreed that the governor and the group had a “friendly frank discussion.”
Funeral services were held for Viola Liuzzo, at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic church in Detroit. Many prominent members of both the civil rights movement and government were present, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins; Congress on Racial Equality national leader James Farmer; Michigan Lieutenant Governor William G. Milliken; Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa; and United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther.
The House Committee on Un-American Activities voted today to conduct a full investigation of the Ku Klux Klan. The action, which was unanimous, grew out of President Johnson’s appearance on television last Friday in which he denounced the organization as a “hooded society of bigots” and suggested a Congressional investigation. Committee members said the decision, under consideration since early February, had been speeded by the President’s suggestion and by the arrest of four Klansmen in connection with the slaying last Thursday night of Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white civil rights worker, in Alabama. Public hearings on the Klan may not get under way for “several weeks, perhaps a couple of months,” according to the House panel’s chairman, Edwin E. Willis, Democrat of Louisiana.
Meanwhile, the United States District Court in Washington dismissed today a suit to force a reduction in House seats of states that deny the vote to Blacks. The suit had been filed by the N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that he was determined to press his plans for an economic boycott of Alabama despite the reported opposition of the Johnson Administration to the proposal.
The National Guard Bureau has issued stern regulations that provide for the withdrawal of Federal recognition of any National Guard unit refusing membership to Blacks. Since the Federal Government provides more than 90 per cent of the cost of maintaining the National Guard, the new regulations threaten, in effect, the disbanding of those state militias that discriminate.
Senator Everett M. Dirksen (R-Illinois) sarcastically belittled efforts by House Republicans to draft legislation dealing with areas of voting discrimination not covered by President Johnson’s voting rights bill. Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach and the Senate Republican leader, Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, are agreed that the Administration’s voting rights bill should be broadened to apply to areas of discrimination not now covered.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted today to override its chairman, J. W. Fulbright, and consider the Administration’s $3.4 billion request for military and economic foreign aid in a single bill. The vote was 9 to 4. Senator Fulbright had sought to separate the two programs and had notified the Administration that he would withdraw as floor manager of the legislation unless this were done. The House Foreign Affairs Committee had insisted on taking up an omnibus bill as in the past and the Administration had remained neutral. The Arkansas Democrat introduced his own bill to authorize the $2.2 billion asked by the Administration for various forms of economic aid. He was prepared to shepherd that measure through the Senate.
But Senator Wayne Morse, Democrat of Oregon, countered this move by introducing in the Senate the same measure being considered by the House committee, and this was automatically referred to Mr. Fulbright’s committee along with his own bill. Today’s vote came on a question of which measure should be considered formally by the committee. Five Republicans joined with four Democrats in deciding the issue.
Consumer prices, taken as a whole, remained unchanged in February, the Labor Department reported yesterday.
Dr. Gorge James, the New York City Health Commissioner, told the Senate Commerce Committee today that approximately 2,000 New Yorkers died last year of lung cancer caused by cigarette smoking.
Trial of a controversial Swedish vaccine to see whether it prevents cancer in humans is expected to start this fall, the developer told a science writers seminar in New Orleans.
The New York Yankees sell pitcher Stan Williams to the Cleveland Indians.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 889.05 (+1.23)
Born:
Piers Morgan [Piers Stefan O’Meara], English journalist and television presenter (Daily Mirror, CNN); in Newick, Sussex, England, United Kingdom.
Mitch Frerotte, NFL guard (Buffalo Bills), in Kittanning, Pennsylvania (d. 2008, from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).
Died:
Philip Showalter Hench, 69, American physician and Nobel Prize laureate for cortisone in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
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