The remaining South Vietnamese soldiers, in the last fight against North Vietnamese invaders, surrendered at 9:00 am in the battle of Long Xuyên, in An Giang Province.
The Saigon headquarters of the South Vietnamese labor movement was reportedly seized by 3,000 workers as the revolutionary authorities continued the reorganization of all aspects of national life. The Saigon radio, monitored in Bangkok, said that a revolutionary trade union organization was being formed. The old labor chief, Trần Quốc Bửu, was branded a traitor.
President Ford intends to authorize the admission of 30,000 more South Vietnamese refugees into the United States, bringing to 123,000 the number that will be allowed to settle in this country, the State Department said. The 30,000 were discovered aboard 26 South Vietnamese naval ships and are being escorted to safety by United States ships in the South China Sea, State and Defense Department officials said.
As many as 50,000 to 80,000 Vietnamese refugees, many suffering from lack of food and water, were still at sea today, according to messages reaching the Seventh Fleet command and communications ship USS Blue Ridge. A message from a Vietnamese vessel appealing for aid said about 200 children, might die of hunger and exhaustion if no help was forthcoming. Other messages said 3,000 refugees aboard a barge were hungry and in a serious situation. The messages said a 27‐ship convoy was carrying from 10,000 to 30,000 refugees from the island of Phú Quốc off the southern coast of Vietnam.
The first Vietnamese refugees to be flown to a processing point in the United States beyond the West Coast arrived at Fort Chaffee, an Army post in northwest Arkansas, and were welcomed by civilian and military officials. Many of them were English-speaking professionals. Six other planes arrived throughout the day, bringing a total of 490 refugees. About 21,000 are expected to be processed at the post.
Anger and concern have risen sharply in Paris over the continued retention of the French and other foreigners held by the new Cambodian Government. Foreigng Minister Jean Sauvagnargues conferred this afternoon with President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing about the refugees and said, upon leaving the Elysée Palace, that France had employed “all her diplomatic means, but the local Cambodian authorities refuse all contact.” The Foreign Minister said that France would ask Secretary General Waldheim of United Nations to help resolve the problem, since all direct French contacts with the Cambodian chief of state, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and leading members of his government in Peking had failed to produce results.
Secretary General Waldheim of the United Nations said today that he had instructed his office in New York to urge the new Government of Cambodia to allow 610 foreigners to travel to Thailand “as fast as possible.” Asked about the delay in arrival of the foreigners at the border, Mr. Waldheim said, “I have heard of some technical problems but I do not know any details, especially if this means lack of gasoline or something else.”
A French official expressed a view widely held when he said that since their military, triumph on April 17 a profound xenophobia has characterized the actions of the Cambodian Communists. In that context, French sources cited unconfirmed reports reaching here to the effect that since the capture of Phnom Penh, a number of its deserted foreign embassies have been physically destroyed. A Cambodian well-placed to study French relations with his country in recent years said the Communists mean to punish France, as well as Prince Sihanouk.
The White House announced that President Ford, on his coming European trip, would meet not only with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in Salzburg, but would also make visits to Spain and Italy to bolster ties with those key Mediterranean countries. On June 1 and 2, Mr. Ford will confer in Salzburg, Austria, with Mr. Sadat on what are being called crucial talks on the troubled course of Middle East diplomatic efforts. Informed diplomats in Cairo say that the meeting between Mr. Ford and Mr. Sadat means that Egypt continues to look on the United States as the main power in the search for Middle East settlement — despite setbacks from the fall of Saigon and the failure of Secretary of State Kissinger’s Middle East diplomacy in March. Mr. Ford is also concerned about stability in the Mediterranean region, particularly in nearby Portugal, Administration officials said today, and wants to reaffirm American ties to Spain, where a leadership change is expected, and to Italy, which is facing severe economic and political problems.
The original purpose of what will be Mr. Ford’s first trip to Europe as President was to confer with Western leaders at a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in Brussels on May 29 and 30, on ways of strengthening the alliance. The White House announced today that Mr. Ford would go to Madrid on May 31 and June for talks with Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the chief of state, and other Spanish officials, including Prince Juan Carlos, the designated heir. Mr. Ford, who will probably meet with Premier Yitzhak Rabin of Israel in Washington later in June, will discuss with Mr. Sadat ways of increasing American economic aid to Egypt. In Salzburg, Mr. Ford will meet also with the Austrian Chancellor, Bruno Kreisky, before going to Rome on June to confer with President Giovanni Leone and other Italian officials. During the Rome visit, Mr. Ford will have an audience with Pope Paul VI.
Stricter international procedures for protecting nuclear material have been proposed by a panel of experts from 11 countries convened in Vienna by the International Atomic Energy Agency. To earner proposals aimed at preventing individuals from trying to make their own weapons, the group added suggestions for the employment of armed guards to protect nuclear materials from theft or sabotage. But they did not go into details of how such a force should be organized, reportedly because it could be the equivalent of a national police force, a touchy issue in the United States and some other countries. The experts also dealt similarly with the question of protecting nuclear materials in transport from one country to another, skirting any suggestion of an international police force for that task. They urged that an international convention be considered to set standards for guarding international transportation.
Senior diplomats from the Western, Eastern, and neutral nations attending the European security conference in Geneva say that there is no sign of a breakthrough on several key issues, some of which appear trivial or procedural but are considered politically significant by East and West. Timing, itself, is a political issue. Communist sources said that the Soviet Communist party leader, Leonid T. Brezhnev, had set a calendar of significant events leading up to next February’s 25th congress of the Soviet Communist party. A ranking Communist official said he expected Mr. Brezhnev to retire afterward. A 35-nation East-West summit conference at Helsinki was to come first; then a trip to the United States and the signing of a new American-Russian agreement on strategic weapons; then a meeting of European Communist parties and, finally, the Soviet party meeting, and a new Soviet Constitution.
British Conservatives had a net gain of 200 seats today at the expense of the Labour party in local elections in 36 provincial cities and towns. The vote yesterday was the first substantial test of public opinion since the general election last October, when the Labor party became the largest party in the House of Commons and formed a minority government. A senior member of the government, Anthony Crosland, Secretary for the Environment, conceded that the results amounted to “a setback.” But, he added, “there is no reason in these results for the government to change tack.”
The British pound came under heavy selling on foreign exchange markets throughout Europe today and closed at a record low against other major currencies.
The number of people without jobs in West Germany went down in April for the second month in a row, according to information that leaked out in Bonn today. The drop in the number of unemployed was said to be from 1,114,000 to 1,080,000 or 4.7 per cent.
The Arab League is sending an Arab information expert to the United States to speak for the Arab cause while the Administration is reassessing its Middle East policy.
Faced with American protests, Thai Government officials appeared today to be backing down from previous statements that they would return to Saigon the 125 South Vietnamese planes flown here by fleeing pilots in the closing hours of the war.
The Canadian Government will renew its joint air defense agreement with the United States for five years, despite the arguments of nationalists in Ottawa that the 17‐year‐old pact infringes on Canada’s sovereignty. A decision by the Cabinet yesterday to extend the agreement for five years rather than for two, as had been fixed in the last renewal, May 10, 1973, was taken as a firm rebuff to those who had advocated that the arrangement be canceled. A parliamentary committee rejected a recommendation by the Minister of National Defense, James A. Richardson, that the pact be extended indefinitely. Meanwhile, in a separate but related action more palatable to hardcore nationalists, the government has initiated a program that will bring under Canadian control certain electronic defense functions that utilize Canadian airspace. To date these functions have been carried out under American commanders at bases in the United States.
A Chinese diplomat whose removal was ordered by the Canadian Government this week was ousted at the request of the United States after he was found picking up industrial and military information for his embassy on missions to Washington, according to Canadian newspaper and radio reports today.
Supporters of two rival black African nationalist movements attacked each other’s offices with grenades and mortars today in the fourth day of fierce battles that have killed at least 250 persons in the West African country of Angola. No official casualty figures have been released, but hospital sources reported 250 killed and 700 wounded in fighting between the Popular Movement; for the Liberation of Angola and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola.
The South African Government has restored to urban blacks the right to own their homes. The concession, announced in Parliament yesterday, denotes a significant shift in the Government’s attitudes toward racial policies. Prime Minister John Vorster’s Government has abandoned the principle adopted under the late Hendrik Verwoerd, his predecessor, that urban blacks are “temporary sojourners” who must look to the rural black reserves for any rights of residential security.
The nation’s unemployment rate rose in March even though the total number of employed persons increased for the first time since last September, the Labor Department said. At 8.9 percent of the total labor force, after allowing for normal seasonal factors, the unemployment rate was the highest since 1941, when it averaged 9.9 percent for the year. The number of jobless persons totaled 8.2 million in March, a rise of 3.3 million since the steep decline in the economy began last August.
The American Civil Liberties Union called today upon Representative Lucien N. Nedzi to affirm his intention to investigate the activities of American intelligence gathering organizations or to resign the chairmanship of a House select committee set up for that purpose. In a letter to the Michigan Democrat and House Speaker Carl Albert, two A.C.L.U officials pointed out that 71 days had passed since the House established the panel that Nedzi heads and that no chief counsel, staff director, or staff had been appointed.
The Justice Department acknowledged today that a special investigation into possible mismanagement or corruption within the Drug Enforcement Administration had been under way since March. Attorney General Edward H. Levi (ordered the internal inquiry, which is headed by Michael DeFeo, on detachment from the Organized Crime Strike Force in Kansas City, Missouri) and two Criminal Division crfficials. Thomas Henderson and Arthur Norton. Their investigation is reported to cover a wide range of issues, from rumors of sexual escapades by agents to mismanagement by top officials. The Washington Star said that one case involves an alleged bribery incident and another the protection of a narcotics figure.
The special Watergate prosecution asked the United States Court of Appeals here today to affirm the convictions last summer of John D. Ehrliclunan, once the chief domestic affairs adviser to Richard M. Nixon, and his three codefendants in the socalled “plumbers” case. The prosecution, in a 151-page brief filed with the court in response to defense appeals, strongly defended both its own actions in the case and those of the trial judge, Gerhard A. Gesell. It said among other things that it had sustained its burden of proving all the elements of the central charge in the case, conspiracy to violate civil rights. It said, too, that Judge Gesell had been right to refuse to call former President Nixon as a witness in the case; that the judge had not, as Mr. Ehrlichman alleged, violated the former White House aide’s right to a fair trial through alleged mannerisms and facial expressions; and that the judge had conducted an adequate jury selection process.
Governor Calvin L. Rampton of Utah, chairman of the National Governors Conference, sent telegrams today to 21 Governors and former Governors asking them to confirm or reject his authority to tell the Senate Interior. Committee that they supported the nomination of Stanley K. Hathaway to be Secretary of the Interior.
President Ford, putting aside for a sunny afternoon the problems of Vietnam and rising unemployment, turned his attention to his 17-year-old daughter Susan today as he crowned her queen of the 48th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival.
The Right Rev. John Allin, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, was cited for contempt of an ecclesiastical court for failing to appear, despite a subpoena, at the trial of the Rev. William Wendt. Father Wendt is accused of disobeying his bishop by allowing the Rev. Alison Cheek, one of 11 women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood last July, to celebrate communion at his church in Washington.
New York’s U.S. Senator James Buckley, surrounded by anxious ship workers and executives at the old Brooklyn Navy Yard, said he had received “strong, strong assurance” in Washington of a federal loan guarantee that could restore 3,000 jobs at the depressed Seatrain shipworks in the yard. Senator Buckley said a $40 million loan guarantee, awaiting final approval by the Ford administration, would enable Seatrain to resume work on two supertankers that was halted when the tanker market plummeted.
Northern California physicians entered the second day of their strike today to protest the high cost of malpractice insurance. For the second consecutive day, only operations regarded as emergencies were performed at hospitals throughout the eight Northern California counties affected by the protest action. Officials at the San Francisco Medical Society have estimated that about half the 4,000 doctors in this area have not renewed their malpractice insurance under new, higher rates and are participating in the work stoppage.
The National Park Service has officially banned nude sun and sea bathing on the Cape Cod National Seashore.
The federal government and nearly half the states have passed laws granting equal job opportunities to millions of working-age Americans with physical, medical and mental disabilities. But in many cases the laws are not having the desired effect because of inade quate enforcement and difficulties in interpreting them.
South Dakota highway patrolmen used tear gas to flush eight armed Indians from the Yankton Sioux Industries Pork Plant tonight.
The U.S. Navy, in defiance of a Congressional injunction for interservice cooperation, has decided to build a fighter plane different from the Air Force’s. It announced today that as a “low cost” fighter for the nineteen-eighties, it had selected the F-18, a twin-engine plane developed by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation and the Northrop Corporation from the earlier F-17. The Air Force had previously selected the F-16, a single-engine plane made by the General Dynamics Corporation. If the Navy’s selection is approved by the Department of Defense and Congress, it plans to build 800 of the planes at total cost of $7 billion.
Seymour M. Hersh of the New York Times, who uncovered Central Intelligence Agency surveillance in the United States, was among six recipients of Sidney Hillman Foundation awards.
Smokey the Bear, a 25-year-old black bear at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was retired from service as a living symbol of fire prevention. He would pass away on November 8, 1976.
Apple records closes down.
Major League Baseball:
The Cubs give up on pitcher Burt Hooton, 0–2 in 11 innings, trading him to the Dodgers for pitchers Geoff Zahn and Eddie Solomon. Hooton will win 18 games this season, the first of 7 straight years of double-figure wins for Los Angeles.
Dennis Eckersley, a rookie righthander, picked up his initial major league triumph after taking over for Dick Bosman in the seventh, as the Cleveland Indians edged the Baltimore Orioles, 4–3. It was Baltimore’s fifth straight loss.
The A’s beat the White Sox, 4–3, in 12 innings. Bill North singled home Claudell Washington with the winning, run for Oakland, extending the White Sox’ losing streak to five games. Rollie Fingers picked up his first victory in relief of Vida Blue after the A’s lefthander, trying for his sixth victory, went 10 innings and allowed seven hits and three unearned runs.
Held to three hit through eight innings by Bill Singer, the Rangers struck for four runs in the ninth to beat the Angels, 4–3.
Homers by Mike Hegan and Don Money give the Milwaukee Brewers a 4–2 win over Doc Medich and the New York Yankees.
The Atlanta Braves edged the Cincinnati Reds, 6–5. Larvell Blanks hit his second home run of the season with two out in the ninth to carry the Braves to victory.
The Mets’ Jerry Koosman walked six but still shut out the Montreal Expos, 3–0. Koosman helped himself by singling in the first Mets run.
The Phillies downed the Pirates, 9–5, as Mike Schmidt’s home run capped a four-run first, and Wayne Twitchell pitched the first six innings to pick up his second triumph in five decisions.
The Cardinals whipped the Cubs, 5–1. Bake McBride and Ken Reitz each hit homers and Bob Forsch pitched threehit ball to even his season record at 22. Forsch has never lost to the Cubs. McBride hit his homer in the first off Rick Reuschel, who lasted two innings.
Oakland Athletics 4, Chicago White Sox 3
Atlanta Braves 6, Cincinnati Reds 5
Baltimore Orioles 3, Cleveland Indians 4
San Diego Padres 0, Los Angeles Dodgers 3
New York Yankees 2, Milwaukee Brewers 4
Kansas City Royals 1, Minnesota Twins 4
Montreal Expos 0, New York Mets 3
Pittsburgh Pirates 5, Philadelphia Phillies 9
Houston Astros 4, San Francisco Giants 5
Chicago Cubs 1, St. Louis Cardinals 5
California Angels 3, Texas Rangers 4
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 848.48 (+17.52, +2.11%)
Born:
David Beckham, English footballer (soccer) midfielder, in Leytonstone, London, England, United Kingdom.
Kevin Long, NFL center (Tennessee Titans), in Summerville, South Carolina.
Mark Johnson, MLB pitcher (Detroit Tigers), in Dayton, Ohio.
Charmin Smith, WNBA guard (Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Phoenix Mercury), in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger, American astronaut (NASA Group 19, 2004; STS-131 [Discovery], 2010), in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Kate Baldwin, American stage actress and singer (“Hello, Dolly!”), in Evanston, Illinois.
History Diaries 