The coalition Laotian Government formed a year ago is close to collapse, and there is fighting between the Pathet Lao (supported by North Vietnamese troops) and rightist factions. Demonstrations by students and others are increasingly aimed at U.S. buildings and operations. By the end of the month, many of the top right-wing officials of the government have resigned under pressure from pro-Communist forces.
The new Communist rulers of South Vietnam announced that their forces had completed the takeover of all areas of resistance that had remained after the surrender of Saigon. Describing their victory as now complete, they broadcast a series of decrees forbidding the publication of all newspapers, books and other printed matter by private citizens, and banning prostitution, dance halls and “acting like Americans.”
Authoritative sources in Hanoi said that two different political, economic and social systems would probably prevail in Vietnam for some time, leading in steps to the reunification of the North and South. They said that two governments — North and South — were likely to go on representing Vietnam at the international level.
Defense Secretary James Schlesinger said that United States Navy ships, which had been picking up refugees fleeing in small boats, had left the coast of South Vietnam. He did not exclude the possibility that one or two ships might still pick up refugees at sea, nevertheless it was clear that the evacuation effort that began Tuesday morning had ended.
The House overwhelmingly rejected a bill that would have authorized $327 million in aid for Vietnamese refugees as the administration reported that the number of refugees had grown by 10,000 to 54,000. The vote was 246 to 162. President Ford later issued a statement saying he was “saddened and disappointed.” The vote came at noon after a last‐minute appeal by President Ford for passage of the authorization had been read to the House and after an hour of often impassioned debate. President Ford later issued a statement saying he was saddened and disappointed by the vote, adding: “This action does not reflect the values we cherish as a nation of immigrants. It is not worthy of a people which has lived by the philosophy symbolized in the Statue of Liberty.”
The arrival in the United States in the last few days of the first of thousands of South Vietnamese refugees has set off a groundswell of controversy. Opposition to their resettlement appeared to be strong across the nation and may have been reflected in part by the rejection in the House of a bill that would have provided $327 million in aid for the refugees.
Discussions among Cambodian Communist, French and Thai government officials failed to produce any firm word on the whereabouts of foreigners who have been isolated in the French Embassy compound in Phnom Penh. There were reports through the day that all 610 foreigners, whom the Cambodians had promised to deliver by truck convoy to this border town 250 miles from Phnom Penh, were near the bridge. It spans a small stream that is the border here. The reports reached diplomats, relief workers and newsmen gathered here, but at nightfall there was still no firm evidence that the Phnom Penh evacuees were near.
All two‐way communications between Phnom Penh and the outside world have been cut since Saturday. Only through radio broadcasts and news releases issued by the Cambodian Communists did the intentions of the Cambodians to release the foreigners become known. Officials at the frontier scurried around all day, trying to satisfy every request made by the Cambodian troops at the border crossing. It is the only direct contact still maintained between the new Government of Cambodia and the outside. All of these efforts appeared to be fruitless. At one point the Cambodian, soldiers indicated that the problem was a shortage of gasoline for the trucks. Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who have set up an emergency medical center for the evacuees here, immdately prepared to deliver the fuel. But later a higher Cambodian official said there was no such shortage and no evidence that the convoy was being delayed for lack of gasoline.
In Paris the principal foreign representative of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s government accused France of harboring hundreds of “war criminals” on the grounds of the Phnom Penh embassy. A French Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that any Cambodians remained within the embassy confines.
The United States Government has agreed to a substantial withdrawal of American forces from Thailand, Foreign Minister Chatichai Choonhavan said at a news conference today.
Former Secretary of State Dean Rusk said America needs to engage in a new dialogue over its role in world affairs. “At the present time, there’s a mood of withdrawal in the American people and such debate may be dangerous at this time,” Rusk told the 20th annual College and University Machine Records Conference in Atlanta.
There is no evidence to indicate a recent worldwide Soviet naval exercise involved a mock nuclear attack on the United States, Navy officials said in Washington. Columnist Jack Anderson reported the exercise began with a simulated Soviet nuclear attack on the United States. The Navy said the exercise concerned itself mainly with anti-submarine, anti-convoy and anti-carrier tactics.
The Communists gained official control over the labor movement with the help of Portugal’s military rulers in a move that directly challenged the non-Communists’ election victory last week. Official recognition was granted to the Communist-dominated Trade Union Confederation, making it the only representative of Portuguese workers. Informed sources said the military council had been deeply divided over the issue. But such a clear military pronouncement in the Communists’ favor so soon after the elections indicated the ruling armed forces movement did not feel bound to heed the 64% poll won by the Socialists and center-left Popular Democrats.
U.S. Army deserter William Brindle won a last-minute reprieve against being returned to his unit in West Germany when the high court in London granted him leave to appeal. Brindle’s case is considered by lawyers to be of great importance to other U.S. deserters who are returnable to their units under North Atlantic Treaty Organization commitments. His appeal is due to be heard in about three weeks when the Home Office and American military authorities are expected to be represented.
A British consumer stampede for kitchen appliances, phonographs, fur coats, television sets, cigarettes and wines and liquors ended today as sweeping tax increases aimed at balancing the government’s budget went into effect. Many stores experienced their most frantic sales periods ever as buyers raced to beat the deadline for the rise in the national sales tax — or value-added tax — on “less essential” goods and services to 25 percent from 8 percent.
Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Britain urged the nations of the Commonwealth today to support his proposals for stabilizing the prices of food and raw materials through a general agreement on commodities, to which producer and consumer nations would adhere.
Northern Ireland voted today for a 78‐member convention that is intended to work out a new form of self‐government for Britain’s troubled province. Two Roman Catholic candidates escaped bomb attacks last night and election workers were shot at in two incidents near voting places in Belfast today.
The Soviet Union named an imprisoned South American Communist leader, a Belgian clergyman and an African woman politician to receive this year’s Lenin peace prizes. A government decree awarded the prize to Chilean Communist Luis Corvalan, Jeanne Martin Sisse of Guinea and Raymond Goor of Belgium. The Lenin prizes are awarded each year on May Day.
President Ford will meet with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in Salzburg in early June and is considering a later meeting with Premier Yitzhak Rabin of Israel. Formal announcement of the meeting in Salzburg, set for June 1 and 2, is expected to be made in Washington and Cairo today. In a May Day speech today, President Sadat apparently hinted at a meeting when he said he would reveal tomorrow a major diplomatic move to end the “no war, no peace” situation in the Middle East. In the speech, Mr. Sadat also disclosed that the Soviet Union had rejected his request for a rescheduling of Egypt’s debt. As news of the Ford‐Sadat meeting began to spread Washington, some American Jewish groups perceived a symbolic snub to Israel in the announcement of a meeting with Mr. Sadat without a simultaneous scheduling of talks with Mr. Rabin. American Jewish leaders and the Israelis have been concerned about a drift in American policy away from Israel, following the failure of Secretary of State Kissinger in March to bring about an Egyptian‐Israeli pact.
The World Council of Churches has appealed to the government of Taiwan to return more than 2,000 Bibles confiscated by the army in Taipei last January. In a statement issued in Geneva, Alan Brash, the council’s acting general secretary, said that the council had cabled Premier Chiang Chingkuo saying the action was “a serious infringement of religious freedoms.”
The chief opponent of the martial-law government in the Philippines requested the Roman Catholic sacrament of the sick as his hunger strike neared the end of its first month. Benigno S. Aquino Jr., 42, a former senator, was still conscious, according to his lawyer, but had lost 33 pounds. Aquino has been detained since September, 1972, on charges of rebellion, murder and illegal possession of firearms.
Almost 4 million workers marched throughout Mexico in a massive but peaceful demonstration of support for President Luis Echeverria. In Mexico City, troops, police and security officers guarded the Main Plaza where an estimated 800,000 unionist paraded in front of Echeverria but there were no reports of serious disturbances. An estimated 3 million more workers demonstrated their support in other cities, again without reports of disturbances.
For the first time in the history of independent Kenya, President Jomo Kenyatta failed today to capture and carry with him a mass crowd, an event that seemed to confirm a shift in political sentiment here. “Why are you not applauding?” asked the aged President after he had announced at May Day rally an increase in the national minimum wage. “Kidogo! Kidogo!” shouted the crowd, using a word in the Kishwahili language that means small or tiny. Other members of the crowd in the port of Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city, shouted a word meaning hunger.
President Ford vetoed the farm bill, saying he was acting to hold the line on the budget deficit, which he has vowed to limit to $60 billion. “A line must he drawn against excesses,” the President said in a veto message to Congress. “Although the aim of this bill is laudable,” he added, “its result would be costly not only to consumers and taxpayers but to American farmers in the long run.” The House and Senate today approved guidelines for Federal spending next year that were higher than the President has proposed and would produce higher deficits. The deficit in the budget bill approved by the Senate was put at $67.2‐billion. Under the House bill it would be $70.2‐billion. The two bills will have to be reconciled in conference. Passage of the bills, which set targets for spending and revenues, ended the first phase of a new procedure aimed at giving Congress a mechanism for considering over‐all Government spending in relation to probable tax collections.
The House Judiciary Committee approved a 10-year extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, defeating every Republican attempt to modify its provisions. Earlier, the committee defeated amendments that would have killed the act’s coverage of Spanish-Americans and other minorities and limited the proposed permanent ban on literacy tests to five years. Seven Southern states plus parts of New York, Arizona, California, Idaho and Wyoming come under the act’s coverage. It provides for federal examiners and poll watchers in areas where voter discrimination has occurred and requires federal preclearance of any changes in a delinquent state’s voting procedures and laws.
Acting with unusual speed, the Senate expressed opposition today to President Ford’s intention to end all crude oil price controls within two years. By a vote of 47 to 36, the Senate approved a bill that would give congress more time to nullify any Presidential price‐decontrol action. Specifically, the present. disapproval period of live days would be lengthened to 30. A majority vote in either House would be sufficient to block a decontrol plan, even under present law. The bill, S. 621, contained other provisions opposed by the Administration, including a rollback to January 31 levels of prices of crude oil that is now exempt from controls — roughly three million of the nine million barrels a day of domestic production. It would also require the executive branch to put a ceiling price on uncontrolled oil, which Mr. Ford also opposes.
Senator John V. Tunney (D-California) has urged full funding for the Air Force’s B-1 bomber, saying it will assure “the bargaining power of our strategic deterrent.” In a letter to members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is considering the bomber. Tunney said. “The B-1 is an indispensable item in our nation’s arsenal.” Full funding of the program would mean 41,300 jobs for California directly connected to the program and another 62,000 jobs generated indirectly.
A former National Security Council official filed suit in Washington, D.C., for release of CIA Director William E. Colby’s secret report to President Ford on domestic spying by the agency. Morton Halperin, who was the target of government wiretapping when he worked for the NSC. also asked for the long secret Central Intelligence Agency budget in a series of suits filed in federal court. The suits came after the CIA, Treasury Department and State Department turned down requests for the material under the Freedom of Information Act.
Arthur Burns, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, disclosed to Congress for the first time the Reserve’s target for growth of the nation’s money supply (checking account deposits and currency) in the year ahead and defended the figure as “sufficient to finance a vigorous economic recovery.” The target is a range of 5 to 7½ percent from last March to next March.
Electronic surveillance by states and the federal government declined in 1974, a report showed. The survey by the Administration Office of the U.S. Courts, required by Congress in the 1968 Omnibus Crime Act, included wiretaps and bugs installed and removed during 1974. It did not include those still in use at the end of the year. Federal agencies made 120 installations, continuing a downward trend under way since 1971. The states reported 574, marking the first reduction since the annual reporting began. The installations were made in just 16 states. The report does not include national security surveillance.
Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall said tonight that he opposed all the varying plans that would ease the Supreme Court’s workload by creating a new national court of appeals to share the judicial burden. Speaking at a Law Day dinner in New York City, Justice Marshall added his voice to those of other liberal members of the high court, arguing that a few relatively modest changes in the present system would be better than creating a potentially cumbersome and inefficient new tribunal. The text of his remarks was made available here. Chief Justice Warren E. Burger has avoided endorsing any of the reform plans, but has been active for several years in speaking out for more judicial manpower, at one level or another, to handle the rising tide of Federal litigation.
Under pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange dropped the requirement of a fixed commission for stock transactions. Free to vary their rates, brokerage houses could compete for large investors by offering a lower charge than that for individuals. “Overnight…the average commission dropped by 75 percent,” Alan C. Greenberg would note in 2010, adding “the 5,000 share trade of IBM stock 35 years ago included a $1,500 commission but today can be executed online for $8.95.”
A federal jury in Chicago found Pasquale Marzano guilty but acquitted Luigi DiFonzo of involvement in the nation’s biggest cash theft, the $4.8 million Purolator Security, Inc., vault burglary. Marzano, 40, a burglary alarms expert, was convicted on eight of 10 counts. The government’s star witness, Peter Gushi, had pleaded guilty to his role in the Oct. 20 theft. Two other men also have pleaded guilty and a third is scheduled for trial later.
New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson Jr. personally confronted about 150 demonstrators on the Statehouse steps in Concord and was shouted down by jeers and catcalls. The demonstrators, who showed up to protest 25% cuts in welfare aid by the New Hampshire House, refused to let Thomson speak. A bodyguard had a cup of coffee thrown in his face, some of which landed on Thomson’s suit. Thomson later said. “I have a mixed reaction, obviously some of the people here are deserving of welfare and help and the state wants to help them.”
Surgical care at most hospitals in northern California was severely curtailed in a controversy over the soaring cost of malpractice insurance. Hundreds of physicians refused to work in protest against the cost of new individual insurance policies. Group coverage for the 4,000 physicians in the area was ended.
Eben Gossage, 20-year-old son of the late Howard Luck Gossage, one of the nation’s leading advertising executives, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in San Francisco today in the slaying of his younger sister, Amelia.
Major League Baseball:
Hank Aaron goes 4–for-4, driving in 2 runs in the Brewers 17–3 win over Detroit. This brings his career RBI total to 2,211, breaking Babe Ruth’s published record of 2,209. His third inning single off Vern Ruhle drives in Lezcano with his 2,210th RBI. On February 3, 1976, the Records Committee will revise Ruth’s total to 2,204; so, in actuality, Aaron set the record on April 18, 1975. Robin Yount, 19, and born three years after Aaron made his major league debut with the then-Milwaukee Braves, also had a big day at bat. The shortstop homered and doubled, driving in four runs.
At Royals Stadium, Kansas City edges the Angels, 11–10, with 2 runs in the 11th inning. The Royals swipe 7 bases, four by Amos Otis, and California steals 3 bases. Morris Nettles has 4 hits as does George Brett, and each team hits a homer.
Lenny Randle’s infield single two out in the ninth scored Jim Sundberg from third base with the deciding run as the Rangers extended their winning streak to five games, edging the White Sox, 2–1.
New Yankee Catfich Hunter outpitched Jim Palmer, the talented Baltimore Oriole who preceded him as the American League’s Cy Young Award winner. Hunter, who pitched 7 ⅔ hitless innings before settling for a three‐hitter his last time out, stymied the Orioles on five hits in the Yankees’ 5–0 victory. Thurman Munson socked a two‐run homer in the fourth inning.
The Red Sox held on to beat the Indians 7–6. Bernie Carbo started a three‐run first inning with a double and then tagged Jim Perry for a two‐run homer in the second as the Red Sox ended a four‐game losing streak. Rico Carty’s pinch‐hit single made it 7–6 in the ninth before Diego Segui, in relief of Lee, got the final out and his second save.
The Astros downed the Padres, 6–3. Bob Watson and Doug Rader drove in two runs apiece as the Astros unleashed a 13‐hit attach. Watson singled in a run in the first and hit his fourth homer in the third. Rader rapped a two‐run double in the fifth. Ken Forsch stopped the Padres on six hits to gain his first victory after two losses.
Cleveland Indians 6, Boston Red Sox 7
New York Mets 2, Chicago Cubs 5
California Angels 10, Kansas City Royals 11
Detroit Tigers 3, Milwaukee Brewers 17
Baltimore Orioles 0, New York Yankees 5
Houston Astros 6, San Diego Padres 3
Chicago White Sox 1, Texas Rangers 2
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 830.96 (+9.62, +1.17%)
Born:
Austin Croshere, NBA power forward (Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, San Antonio Spurs) and broadcaster (Fox Sports Indiana Pacers analyst), in Los Angeles, California.
Died:
Nguyễn Khoa Nam, 48, Major General of IV Corps in Cần Thơ, South Vietnam, committed suicide at 7:00 A.M at home a day after South Vietnamese President Dương Văn Minh announced unconditional surrender to North Vietnam on Fall of Saigon.
History Diaries 