The South Vietnamese Cabinet formed only two weeks ago, resigned last night as urgent efforts got under way to organize a government acceptable to the Việt Cộng as a negotiating agent. A new Cabinet had not been formed at the time a government spokesman announced the resignation this morning, but nearly continuous conferences between the newly installed President, Trần Văn Hương, and various political leaders were in progress. Conversations were said to center on Lieutenant General Dương Văn Minh, who led the coup that overthrew President Ngô Đình Diệm in 1963. But neither the Việt Cộng nor the North Vietnamese have been willing to offer a list of appropriate names for such a government. Fighting around Saigon was minimal.
Last month former President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu announced the removal of his Cabinet headed by General Trần Thiện Khiêm to make way for a “war cabinet.” Two weeks ago, Nguyễn Bá Cẩn was named as the. new Premier and an entirely new Cabinet was brought in with him. But the collapse of the military situation led earlier this week to the resignation of President Thiệu himself.
The resignation of Mr. Cẩn’s Cabinet last night was more or less automatic and all resignations were accepted immediately by President Hương. The primary objective in day of confusing high‐level want any sort of American diplomatic presence in Saigon after they take over.” The officials said that the United States had not sought and was not in direct contact with Hanoi or the Việt Cộng because Secretary of State Kissinger feels that “no purpose” would be served by such contacts other than to legitimize the Communist take‐over of South Vietnam.
Mr. Kissinger is said to believe that the Saigon Government of President Trần Văn Hương will last only a few days. He is known to expect that the regime will undergo several changes before one is established that will be acceptable to the Communist side. The speculation is that Lieutenant General Dương Văn Minh, known to Americans as Big Minh, will be the choice. General Minh headed the group that overthrew President Ngô Đình Diệm in November, 1963.
In Paris today, the Việt Cộng rejected appeals from the new Saigon Government for a ceasefire and new peace talks. A spokesman for the Provisional Revolutionary Government repeated demands for “total cessation of United States military interference in South Vietnam” and a Saigon Government sincerely desiring “peace and independence and national reconciliation.”
The new Saigon proposal went beyond the position of former President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu by stating a willingness to talk about establishing a National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord as called for in the 1973 Paris accords. The council would include Việt Cộng and neutralist representatives.
There was an ominous warning from the Hanoi radio today. Referring to the American force now off South Vietnam “to save its henchmen, prolong the war and interfere in the internal affairs of South Vietnam,” the broadcast said, “This adventurous course of action may lead to disastrous consequences.”
Discussing indirect contacts with Hanoi, Administration officials would not say which nations were serving as intermediaries for Washington. They did say, however, that the intermediaries were not the Soviet Union, China, France, or the United Nations. “The French are basically acting on their own,” one official explained, “but we are encouraging their efforts. And still nothing from Moscow and Peking.”
The officials said that while the intelligence community was telling Mr. Kissinger that the Communists would take Saigon by force, he was going on the assumption that some kind of diplomacy might be possible. Mr, Kissinger is said to discount the latest intelligence judgment because it almost completely reverses the position of a week ago. At that time, the estimate was that the odds were sharply against a Communist storming of Saigon. He is said to feel that the intelligence services, and particularly the Central Intelligence Agency, may be trying to protect their record in the event that the worst happens.
He thinks that Hanoi may want to support its assertion that it has no troops in South Vietnam and therefore may wait until an acceptable coalition government assumes power, in Saigon, then send just Việt Cộng troops into the city. One official said that based on this reasoning and on the possibility that Hanoi might prefer an orderly take‐over of Saigon, Mr. Kissinger has been trying to signal the Communists that it is in their interest to wait. He said at a House committee meeting Friday, “The negotiating process has its own logic that will become apparent.” The official said that in effect, Mr. Kissinger was telling Hanoi that if its attack on Saigon was delayed, a Saigon government might soon be formed that would negotiate an orderly transfer of power.
Mr. Kissinger is also said to think that Hanoi might prefer to have the United States evacuate a significant number of South Vietnamese rather than for Hanoi to have to kill them or have to live with security risks. There is also the possibility that Hanoi might want to avoid the appearance of a bloodbath in Saigon with the world community as witness.
The North Vietnamese and Việt Cộng have told Washington through intermediaries that they do not wish to humiliate the United States in the coming days, but beyond that they do not even say whether they are prepared to negotiate. It is assumed to mean that if Washington accepts a Communist take‐over of South Vietnam, Hanoi would do what it could to “save American face.” Authoritative administration officials say the United States is asking the Communists for a safe evacuation for American citizens, for their dependents and for some South Vietnamese. One official said: “They won’t even tell us whether they want any sort of American diplomatic presence in Saigon after they take over.”
Panic is clearly visible in Saigon as thousands of Vietnamese try to flee their country. There are few exits left, and most involve knowing or working for Americans. United States Air Force C‐141 jet transports took off all day and night from the Tân Sơn Nhứt air base, the lucky passengers heading for Clark Air Base in the Philippines or for Andersen Air Force Base, on Guam. A young American-trained economist offered an American $10,000 to marry his wife, three months pregnant, and take her to the United States. Others are buying up sleeping pills and tranquilizers for suicide if the worst should come.
Although anxiety over the fate of Saigon had been building with the Communists’ inexorable advance down the length of the country since last month, real panic erupted only after President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu’s resignation Monday. It was fueled yesterday by reports of military clashes on the edge of the city and by new rumors about what the Communists will do when they take control. According to military informants, a small Communist team attacked the Phú Lâm communications base on the southern edge of Saigon yesterday. They reportedly did little damage to the large base, which is only four or five miles from the center of the city, but the police and soldiers guarding the area fled into Saigon.
In Saigon, three civilians were killed and three other were wounded last night when an explosion caused by a hand grenade ripped through a crowded food market. It was not clear whether Communist terrorists or renegade Saigon troops were responsible. Many Vietnamese repeated tales about what the Communists planned to do. One was that every unmarried girl would be forced to yield herself to ten “comrades.” Another was that the Việt Cộng had issued warnings that 16 prominent writers would have to “cleanse their consciences with blood.”
There were those among Saigon’s two million to three million inhabitants—the already jammed city has been swollen by a vast, uncountable number of refugees just in the past month—who said they would remain and go about their lives. “This is my country, I am a Vietnamese,” a journalist remarked. “My pride in being a Vietnamese is greater than my concern about politics.”
The Senate, by a vote of 75 to 17, approved legislation that would give the President limited authority to use American troops to protect the evacuation of Americans and South Vietnamese from Saigon. Like a separate measure before the House of Representatives, it also authorizes emergency humanitarian aid for South Vietnam. But there was overwhelming opposition to any additional military aid to the Saigon government, which had also been requested by President Ford.
Speaking to an audience of students at Tulane University in New Orleans, U.S. President Ford announced that “Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.” Earlier in the day, the U.S. Senate had voted 75–17 to approve $250 million in humanitarian aid and use of U.S. troops to evacuate South Vietnam, but declined to take up Ford’s request for any further military aid.
Pol Pot, the rarely seen Khmer Rouge commander-in-chief and new leader of Cambodia, arrived at Phnom Penh to begin his revolutionary plans to build Democratic Kampuchea… By murdering millions.
Tensions are high in the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet as heavily armed Thai and Cambodian Communist troops glower at each other across a 50‐foot bridge that once linked these two countries but now separates them. Several shouting and shooting incidents have flared on the border in recent days. The most serious occurred yesterday when a merchant pushing a cart filled with wood was severely wounded in the back by a rifle shot fired from the Cambodian side. Thai border policemen also tell of gunfire aimed over the heads of sightseers on the Thai side, apparently when the Communists thought they were pushing too close to Cambodian soil.
The shouting incidents sprang from demands by the Cambodians that Thailand return the substantial amounts of military equipment, including six armored personnel carriers, that Cambodian Government troops used to flee across the border, There have been numerous episodes of mutual jeering, with jubilant Cambodian Communist soldiers threatening to march on Thailand. So far, Thai policemen, soldiers and border guards have been restrained in their responses. They have been ordered not to return fire unless there have been casualties on this side. Border guard details are kept small, usually just a pair of men. However, just behind the border are considerable numbers of Royal Thai Army troops. Trucks are standing by as helicopters fly overhead.
Prince Norodom Sihanouk has said that he will not be upset if the victorious Khmer Rouge did not abide by their offer to let him return to Cambodia as chief of state. In a statement circulated in Peking, the Prince said that he did not want to return to Phnom Penh, which had “bad memories” for him and would instead ask the Khmer Rouge to restore the airport near the ancient capital of Angkor. There, he said, he would bring the ashes of his mother. She is ill in Peking and the Prince said she would die shortly.
Prince Sihanouk said that elections would be unnecessary in Cambodia because the Khmer Rouge victory constituted “the only valid popular verdict.” “It was the leaders of the Khmer Rouge themselves who asked me to remain as chief of state of Cambodia until my death,” Prince Sihanouk said. “If one day these leaders change their minds about me shall not be upset in the least since the only goal of my life has been already achieved: the total and irreversible liberation of Cambodia and the restoration of its independence and its nonalignment.”
Three days of fighting between troops of the right-wing and left-wing partners in the Laotian coalition Government have ended with the Marxist Pathet Lao in complete control of a vital road junction north of Vientiane, military officials said today. Pathet Lao troops have also taken over a nearby airfield and two other positions from the right‐wing Vientiane forces, according to military sources. A spokesman for the right‐wing delegation on a joint peace committee, set up under the 1973 peace agreement, said military committees were meeting today to set up a joint team to investigate the situation.
The Pathet Lao has not publicly admitted taking control of the road junction at Sala, Phou Khoun, 92 miles north of Vientiane on Route 13 leading to Luang Prabang, the royal capital. The right‐wing side said two of its men had been killed and four wounded during the fighting, which broke out on Sunday and ended last evening. It was the most serious clash since the establishment of the coalition Government, in which each side has equal representation, two years ago.
The latest fighting followed other clashes last week, in which right‐wing forces lost five positions to the Pathet Lao along Route 7, from the same road junction east to the North Vietnamese border. In those clashes 11 Pathet Lao troops were reported killed. The rightist forces had two killed, six wounded and one missing, Vientiane officials said.
The West toughened its position at the European security conference in Geneva on several issues involving human freedoms, including freer working conditions for Western newsmen in the Soviet Union, Western diplomats said. They reported that it was unlikely the negotiations could be completed by May 30, in time for a summit signing ceremony in Helsinki on June 30, which is desired by Soviet Communist Party leader Leonid I. Brezhnev.
The Soviet Union completed its largest worldwide naval exercise, Britain’s naval commander reported. Admiral Terence Lewin said, “The Soviets deployed a record total of 220 ships in the global exercise, which began just over a week ago, thus reaffirming that they are one of the world’s leading maritime powers.” A British spokesman reported that the exercise appeared to have been a test of operations against submarines.
President Valery Giscard d’Estaing unveiled a $3.45 billion program to boost the flagging French economy. The program comprises six specific measures aimed at encouraging productive investment in industry and reducing unemployment, currently running at nearly 770,000. The most striking of the measures was a $966 million program to modernize the French telephone system.
An investigating judge has asked the Athens appeals court to drop charges against 104 leading members of Greece’s former military regime. Judge Constatine Potamianos made his request to the council of judges of the appeals court after conducting an investigation that was expected to lead to a trial involving charges of complicity in high treason.
Norway’s ruling Social Democratic Labor Party approved moderate Odvar Nordlir, 47, as successor to Premier Trygve Bratteli “when the time comes” and left-leaning Reiulf Steen as new chairman of the party. Bratteli, 65, announced last year he intended to step down before the next general elections in September, 1977.
Defense Secretary James Schlesinger assured the Israeli Ambassador, Simcha Dinitz, that the Ford administration’s current reassessment of its Middle East policies will not diminish American support for Israel’s security. Reports of the meeting were provided by Pentagon and Israeli sources. The reports tended to ease the concern of Israelis and their American supporters, who have been concerned about the Administration’s freeze on new military commitments to Israel pending the conclusion of the policy reassessment. The review, in the form of a National Security Study Memorandum, is to be concluded by the end of April or early in May. Its focus is said to be on developing a new American diplomatic strategy for coping with the situation that resulted from the collapse of Secretary of State Kissinger’s latest diplomatic efforts.
Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko told the Foreign Minister of Syria today that the Soviet Union was prepared to guarantee Israel’s existence as an independent state. “Israel may get, if it so wishes, the strictest guarantees with the participation — under an appropriate agreement — of the Soviet Union,” Mr. Gromyko said. “These guarantees would insure peaceful conditions for the existence and development of all states of the Middle East.” The reference to Israel was considerably stronger than one made by Mr. Gromyko to Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy of Egypt four days ago. It underscored the more conciliatory posture that the Russians have taken toward Israel at a time when they are trying to bring all the belligerents in the Middle East, including the Palestinians to a new peace conference at Geneva.
President Anwar el‐Sadat of Egypt and President Hafez al‐Assad of Syria announced today that they had agreed to set up a committee to help unify strategy against Israel. The decision, made public in a statement by the two Presidents and King Khalid of Saudi Arabia, seemed intended to put an end to a long period of coolness between Cairo and Damascus over tactics in the Middie East crisis. The committee will consist of Egypt’s Vice President, Lieutenant General Hosni Mubarak, and Syria’s Premier, Mahmoud al-Ayoubi. The statement came after the two‐day meeting of the Egyptian and Syrian Presidents in which King Khalid took part briefly. It was the first top‐level Arab effort to coordinate policies toward Israel after the failure of Secretary of State Kissinger’s effort to arrange an Egyptian‐Israeli accord for a troop disengagement in Sinai.
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi of Iran received President Sadat today with warm words and kisses that emphasized Iran’s new amity toward the Arab world. President Sadat, whose Government has been promised total of almost $1‐billion in aid by Iran, arrived for a two‐day state visit during which he and the Shah were expected to discuss the Arab‐Israeli confrontation and other Middle East issues. The visit is seen by some highly placed Iranians and foreign diplomats as essentially another in a recent series of gestures of Arab‐Iranian solidarity. In the last several weeks the Shah has ended Iran’s longstanding quarrel with Iraq and has declared that the latest United States peace efferts failed because “Israel is much too stubborn.”
India took the first formal step to annex the Himalayan country of Sikkim when the lower house of Parliament approved a constitutional amendment that would make Sikkim a constituent state. The bill must be approved by the upper house and endorsed by at least 11 state assemblies, but this is regarded as a foregone conclusion in New Delhi in view of the government’s majorities.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos is expected to visit China, most likely this summer, for talks with Chinese leaders on the establishment of diplomatic relations, an informed source said in Hong Kong. Marcos will be accompanied on the trip by his wife, who paid a goodwill visit to Peking last September and who has been in Hong Kong since Monday for talks with Chinese officials there.
A powerful quake rumbled through southwestern Mexico with a force that jolted sleeping residents of Mexico City awake but apparently caused no serious damage or casualties. The government’s Tacubaya seismographic office said the quake registered “more than 6 on the Richter scale.” The epicenter was placed on the Pacific Coast of Oaxaca state.
The Honduran armed forces chose a new government of civilian technocrats after their coup which ousted Gen. Oswaldo Lopez Arellano Tuesday. The new cabinet, which includes three of Lopez’ former ministers, was regarded as a moderate choice reflecting a compromise between the new rightist head of state, Colonel Juan Melgar, and the radicals among the officers who led the coup.
The United States has indicted more than half of the 200 active drug traffickers in Colombia for narcotics violations in this country, but under existing international agreements they cannot be extradited from Colombia or prosecuted at home. So these dealers continue in business, supplying much of the cocaine sold in New York and other major cities.
If ballots instead of guns are permitted to settle the future of Angola, a political unknown may emerge as the African country’s new leader. He is Jonas M. Savimbi, the charismatic leader of the National Union, for the Total Independence of Angola, one of three rival “liberation movements.” The political strength and dexterity that Mr. Savimbi has shown have constituted one of the most notable surprises in Africa in recent months. Portugal has agreed to give full independence to Angola on November 11. Last January 31, transitional government was formed in which the three liberation movements share power with Portuguese officials. The two other liberation movements are the Popular Front for the Liberation of Angola, led by Dr. Agostinho Neto, and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola, headed by Holden Roberto. The most important task given to the transitional government was to arrange for elections by November 1 of an assembly to draft a constitution. This assembly will probably elect a president. However, the first two months of the transitional government have been marked by violence.
President Kenneth D. Kaunda of neighboring Zambia was quoted here today as having said that he thought would take more than 10 years to achieve majority rule for the blacks of Rhodesia. He also reportedly said that any sudden move to majority rule could lead to a breakdown in the economy and would help no one. These statements were contained in a report written by two white Rhodesian farmers, Sandy Firks and John Strong, lafter a recent tour of Zambia and an interview with the President. A copy of the report, which was not intended for publication, was obtained by Edson Sithole, publicity secretary of the African National Council, the main black political organization in Rhodesia. According to the report, which was published today, Mr. Kaunda noted that it had taken Zambia 10 years to move from a qualified franchise to a one‐man, one‐vote system. But, he was quoted as saying, it might take longer in Rhodesia because the economy is more complex and the racial problems are more difficult.
The police shot and killed a black and wounded 10 others — three seriously — when they opened fire on a stone‐throwing crowd in Windhoek, South-West Africa (Namibia) today, the South African Government said. Police Minister James Kruger, in a statement to Parliament in Cape Town, added that 295 blacks had been arrested, 127 in connection with the stonethrowing and 168 for being in the township illegally. He said the policemen, who sustained slight injuries, opened fire in self‐defense. Spokesmen for the blacks were not available for comment.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted to give Congress until April, 1977, to cancel or modify the 20 cent increase in the federal gasoline tax that is a key element in the energy conservation bill. The present draft would apply the tax on January 15, 1977, if 1976 consumption exceeds the 1970 record high. The committee action reflected the basic ambivalence of many in Congress on taxing gasoline more heavily to discourage consumption.
Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Committee on Intelligence Operations, accused the White House of inexcusable delays in producing requested documents and thus holding up the panel’s investigation of the Central Intelligence Agency. Church and Vice Chairman John G. Tower (R-Texas) renewed their requests for the material and Church said the committee staff had been instructed to begin interviewing witnesses and to pursue the investigation of the CIA at “full tilt.” Church added that subpoenas have not been necessary up to now but that he would not hesitate to use them if they were.
The Treasury Department proposed stiffened gun laws that would have prohibited manufacture of more than half the handguns produced in the United States in 1974. But in making the recommendation to the Senate juvenile delinquency subcommittee, Assistant Treasury Secretary David R Macdonald also said it had not been cleared with the White House. Macdonald said the same criteria used to identify and prohibit the importing of “Saturday-night specials” should be placed on U.S.-made weapons. A report has estimated that 2 million handguns made in the United States in 1974 failed to meet the import standards.
Radio and television stations and cable TV systems must require the sponsors of political broadcasts to name the candidates that the broadcasts support, under new rules announced by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC deleted language that gives the stations and cable systems the choice of not requiring that candidates be named. It also relaxed its requirements that stations maintain a list, open to the public, of the names of chief executive officers or directors of an entity sponsoring political broadcasts and broadcasts on controversial issues of public importance.
The Federal Trade Commission ordered A&P, the nation’s second largest food chain, not to advertise items at sale prices unless the stores have them on hand for the shoppers to buy. The decision backed up a ruling issued in January by an FTC administrative law judge. An A&P spokesman said the new requirements “were acceptable to the company. The judge found that the unavailability of sale items was not necessarily intentional, but sometimes resulted from poor planning. In any event, there was widespread unavailability of some items and that constituted misleading and deceptive advertising.
A federal judge in Syracuse, New York has awarded more than $8,300 to a suburban Fayetteville man who claimed that a low flying Air Force jet fighter had impaired his hearing and damaged his property. U.S. District Judge Edmund Port ruled that the F-106B fighter was flying at an altitude of only 200 feet over Dan Messmer’s property in 1971 when the plane’s afterburners were turned on, causing an explosive sound strong enough to damage hearing and a summer home and boat house.
The annual retail cost of a farm-produced food market basket dropped $9 in March, the first drop since last July, the Agriculture Department said. In March, a year’s supply of food cost an average of $1,821 for a theoretical household of 3.2 persons. The indicator had risen to a record annual rate of $1,830 in February. The decline came after months. of falling farm prices, including substantial drops in what farmers get for cattle and grain. But there were signs that the decrease might be short-lived since retail beef prices are rising again.
Racial fighting erupted among 200 high school students in Boca Raton, Florida, forcing the school to close, police said. Two students at Boca Raton High were arrested while three others and a police officer were treated for injuries. Four cars parked outside the school were smashed by rocks before officers were able to quell the disturbance. Officials said the fighting between white and black students was triggered by a racial slur written by whites on a gymnasium wall.
Government and private experts warned that the U.S. drive to solve the energy shortage might trigger a shortage of water. What the nation must develop rapidly, the experts told the National Conference on Water, meeting in Washington, is vastly improved water use planning on the federal, state and local levels. Energy figured heavily in the conference because virtually every one of the proposed methods of boosting domestic energy production places heavy new demands on water supplies. An additional 7 million acre-feet of consumable water must be developed by 1985 to provide for energy alone, a report said.
The Los Alamos scientific laboratory has developed a laser technique that scientists believe will make it much simpler and cheaper to produce nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power. It is also expected to complicate limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. The announcement came after disclosure that Soviet scientists had achieved the same technique. The lasers allow separation of isotopes of a element more efficiently than the existing centrifuge and diffusion techniques. Easier production of Uranium-235 would obviously have implications for the production and proliferation of nuclear weapons.
[Ed: After initial euphoria, laser isotope separation research was mostly abandoned during the 1990s, mainly because it still required extensive and uncertain R&D work, while centrifuges had reached technological maturity. However, the SILEX laser technique has renewed concerns in recent years. Compared to current enrichment technologies, SILEX obtains a higher enrichment. Hence fewer stages are necessary to reach bomb grade uranium (> 90% 235U). According to GLE, each stage requires as little as 25% of the space of the conventional methods. Hence it would facilitate to rogue governments to hide a production facility for bomb uranium. The attractiveness is even enhanced by the claims of GLE that a SILEX plant is faster and cheaper to build, and consumes considerably less energy. Scientists therefore expressed their concerns repeatedly that SILEX could create an easy path towards a nuclear weapon.]
Harold Pinter’s play “No Man’s Land” premieres in London.
Major League Baseball:
The Yankees Roy White again homers from both sides of the plate, this time in an 11–7 loss to the Red Sox. White last switch-hit home runs on August 13, 1973.
At Shea, Tom Seaver wins the battle against aging Bob Gibson as the Mets beat the Cardinals, 7–1. Rusty Staub hits a grand slam in the 6–run 6th against Gibson (0–2).
Woodie Fryman, who began his major league pitching career with Pittsburgh in 1966, turned on his former teammates yesterday as he pitched the Montreal Expos to a 5–0 triumph over the Pirates in Montreal. The victory was Montreal’s fourth in four games against the Pirates this season and Fryman’s second. He shut out Pittsburgh by the same score a week ago in Pittsburgh.
Bill Madlock drove in four runs with a bases‐loaded double and single and George Mitterwald and Rick Monday hit home runs as Chicago brought a halt to its three‐game losing streak, routing the Phillies, 9–3.
Larvell Blanks, a 5‐foot‐6‐inch shortstop who was batting .140, hit a two‐out double in the 11th to score Mike Lum with the winning run as the Braves edged the Reds, 5–4. Blanks hit a pitch by Don Gullett to left‐center field and Lum, who had walked with one out, raced home from first base.
Cincinnati Reds 4, Atlanta Braves 5
New York Yankees 7, Boston Red Sox 11
Texas Rangers 1, California Angels 4
Philadelphia Phillies 3, Chicago Cubs 9
Cleveland Indians 4, Detroit Tigers 3
San Francisco Giants 2, Houston Astros 3
San Francisco Giants 3, Houston Astros 0
Baltimore Orioles 5, Milwaukee Brewers 8
Pittsburgh Pirates 0, Montreal Expos 5
St. Louis Cardinals 1, New York Mets 7
Kansas City Royals 2, Oakland Athletics 3
Los Angeles Dodgers 1, San Diego Padres 7
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 802.49 (-11.65, -1.43%)
Born:
Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson, Icelandic musician and singer (Sigur Rós), in Iceland.
Olga Kern [as Olga Pushechnikova], Russian classical pianist, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
Siobhan Hayes, English actress (“My Family”), in Saint Pancras, London, England, United Kingdom.
Vladimir Chebaturkin, Russian NHL defenseman (New York Islanders, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks), in Tyumen, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
Bobby Shaw, NFL wide receiver (Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers), in San Francisco, California.
Died:
William Hartnell, 67, British actor who had been the first to portray “Doctor Who” in the show of the same name, from 1963 to 1966.
History Diaries 