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Saigon troops force
North from capital
SAIGON. South Vietnam (AP) A South Vietnamese
provincial capital 40 miles east of Saigon came under attack
today for the second successive day, military sources said.
Fighting had been reported throughout the day yesterday in
the area of Xuan Loc, and the Saigon command said North
Vietnamese forces were pushed out of the town by nightfall.
The second attack came just after dawn today,' the sources
said.
It was the first drive on a major city in the Saigon region
sinc° a five'-week-old offensive gave the Communist-led side
control of three-fourths of the country, with demoralized
government troops withdrawing without a fight from central,
northern and coastal areas.
The Xuan Loc fighting is being watched closely as an in
dicator of whether the South Vietnamese army has the will to
fight. \ : '
The Communist-led forces struck at Xuan Loc for the second
time soon after daybreak today, the sources said, opening up
first with about 1,000 rounds of artillery, rocket and mortar
fire. They said, tank and infantry assaults followed, but there
was no immediate word on casualties or a trend in the
fighting. .
An unofficial source claimed as many as 300 North Vietr
namese were kjjled in Wednesday's fighting at Xuan Loc, but
there was no confirmation and the figure generally was felt to
be high. Four' North Vietnamese tanks reportedly were
destroyed. . „
In Saigon, a Viet Cong spokesman said the pilot who bombed
President Nguyen Van Thieu spalace Tuesday had landed his
F 5 fighter-bomber at a Viet Cong-held airfield. Thieu, who is
widely blamed for the military losses, was not hurt, but at
least two pfersonswere killed. \
Air f officials said the flier had acted alone, but political
sources said more opposition politicians went into hiding to
avoid a new police crackdown on dissent.
Frence President Valery Giscard d'Estaing told his Cabinet
in Paris the South Vietnamese government must be in the
hands of persons willing to resume political negotiations with
(he Viet Cong, a statement interpreted by Frence political
observers as a demand for Thieu’s resignation.
French officials reportedly have held talks with neutralist
South Vietnamese in search of ways to reopen negotiations.
The Viet Cong repeatedly has said it will not negotiate an end
to the fighting as long as Thieu heads the Saigon government.
Pa. jobless
HARRISBURG (AP) —Pennsylvania's
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
rose to 9.3 per cent in March,, a per
centage that could deplete the unem
ployment compensation fund by the
year's end and force the state tomorrow
from the federal government.
Labor Secretary Paul J. Smith said
however, that if the fund is exhausted
the state could borrow needed funds
interest free to pay unemployment
benefits.
The 9.3 per cent figure is up from 8.4
per cent in February. The adjusted
figures exclude persons who normally
would be unemployed now because of
seasonal layoffs
Smith estimated 481.000 Penn
sylvanians looking for work were unable
to find employment. The rate was the
James Cory
T. E. Feuchtwang
Collegian
the
d^ily
rate rises to 9.3%
highest since June, 1961, when the
unadjusted rate was- 9.6 per cent.
Adjusted statistics were not kept then
but officials said the adjusted rate would
have exceeded that of last month!
Tlie national adjusted rate for March
wasB.7 percent.
“As has been the case for the past
three or four months, the unemployment
increase resulted from the general
stagnation throughout the economy,"
Smith told a news conference.
“Layoffs and the lack of available jobs
continued in the durable and nondurable
goods sector of manufacturing and in
retail trades."
Smith said the most serious problems
were in the construction and apparel
industries and plants that make supplies
for automobiles, such as carpets and
Mideast
By LAURIE PEACHER
Collegian Staff Writer
Participants in last night's Arab-
Israeli panel discussion offered four
diverse solutions for a negotiated peace
in the Middle East.
The discussion, sponsored by the
Undergraduate Student Government,
went fairly well despite the con
troversial nature of the subject, ac
cording to moderator Kenneth Frand
sen. a speech professor.
The participants, who spoke to an
audience of about 100 in the HUB
Assembly Room were: former Young
Socialists president, James Cory and
Lebanese student Adnan A 1 Rubae for
Palestine; graduate student Douglas
Falk and physics professor T. E. Feuch
twang, for t^-aeL
In his closing remark's, Falk said it
was “evident that the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) does not
intend to seek peace with Israel. For
Israel to deal with this organization
would be fruitless," he said.
Douglas Falk
Thieifcays '.e will not quit and will not form a coalition with
the Viet Cong.
In neighboring Cambodia, Communist-led Khmer Rouge
insurgents penetrated Phnom Penh’s northern defense line at
Stung Kambot seven miles north of the city, but field reports
said government forces had driven the rebels from the market
at the center of Kompong Speu, 30 miles to the west.
The reports said rebels drove defenders from a former
combat police fort and an abandoned refugee camp at Stung
Kambot, then dug in and were under counterattack by
government troops. Soldiers also reported that the Khmer
Rouge massacred or abducted 100 recruits at a training center
overrun two days ago southeast of Phnom Penh.
The Vie/ gong spokesman at the Joint Military Commission
in Saigorfsaid the flier who bombed Thieu’s palace—identified
in South Vietnam as Nguyen Thanh, Trung—had been
promoted from lieutenant to captain and given the Liberation
Distinction Service Order Second/Class after landing his
plane. He did not give the location, but there was specu
lation it may have been the former U.S. air base at Da Nang,
nowheld by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.
A Viet Cong radio broadcast said the pilot assailed the Thieu
government for seeking to “enrich itself"over the bloSd'and
bones of the people," and denounced what he called an in
vasion of the country by “American colonialists. ”
Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin voiced criticism of the
Thieu government, telling guests at a Kremlin dinner that the
“Saigon clique” is responsible for the continued fighting.
“The Saigon regime commits a new crime by forcibly
driving away, on a mass scale, civilians of South Vietnam
from the territory surrendered by the puppet army,” Kosygin
added. “The so-called refugees are j needed by Saigon to
continue the war.”
North Vietnam, in an editorial in theparty newspaper Nhan
Dan, demanded that the United States give up its efforts at
“forcible evacuation" of refugees ‘ and “abduction” of
children, and remove its ships, planes and Marines from
waters off Vietnam.
Announcements of humanitarian aid to Vietnam continued.
The West German Cabinet approved j $4.5 million for South
Vietnam, bringing its 1975 total to $ll million. The British
government announced $l.B million Jor three international
agencies helping both sides in the wari and set aside another
$600,000 for later decisions. f
windows.
“When Detroit is down, Pennsylvania
gets the ripple effect,” in its autojrelated
industries, he commented. .
Smith said he will ask a U.Sj
congressional committee to, keep
unemployment benefits in effect for 65
weeks. Benefits currently last that long,
but the maximum term will revert to 52
weeks unless Congress restores the
extra 13 weel^s.
Pennsylvarfia s maximum benefits*
are $ll9 weekly. Average benefits are ;
$7l weekly.
Smith said the unemployment fund,
financed solely by a tax on employers,
began the year at $520 million, dropped
to $356 million a month ago and now
stands at $256 million.
Earlier in the evening. Falk called the
PLO an “umbrella organization for
several terrorist groups.’ It was created
to be a political tool in the hands of the
Arab governments, he said; and was
"wrought with irony and con
tradictions."
PLO’s arguments about their par
ticipation in Israeli talks Falk said;
included the fact they could “only exist
in an atmosphere of continuous
struggle."
Cory said the Zionist movement was
the main problem in the Middle East.
“Only until Zionism as an ideology is
destroyed politically and broken down,
can any type of peace come about,” he
said.
“The olive branch is only being ex
tended by the PLO," Cory said, adding
that he gave all’ his encouragement to
the organization so that a “secular
democratic Palestine” could be created.
“To be Jewish is not necessarily to be
a Zionist,” he had said earlier in the
evening. Cory said Zionism is the far
right wing of Judaism.
views debated
Photos by Kathy O'Donovan
Abnan AI Rubae
Ice Cream Eating
YVIVIAJ DISC JOCKEY Todd Jeffers (left) warms his tongue before ice cream eating contest. Contestant Roxanne Leonard!
(Jrd-Liberal Arts) at right is cheered on by Peg Thompson <9th-Elementary and Kindergarten Education). See story page 12.
Secrecy charges denied
WASHINGTON (UPI) —President Ford assured
Congressmen yesterday that no “private agreements” exist
between the United States and South Vietnam, Rep. John
Anderson, R-Hl., said after a conference with Ford.
Anderson’s summary appeared to sharpen the White House
response to Sen. Henry M. Jackson’s charge that the United
States entered into “secret agreements” with Saigon in an
apparent effort to induce it to sign the Paris peace accords.
In the first White House response -to that charge, press
secretary Ron Nessen disclosed earlier yesterday that former
President Richard M. Nixon had confidentially promised
Saigon the United States would “react vigorously” to any
major Communist violations of the peace accords.
But Nessen stressed these confidential assurances merely
reflected public.U.S. policy, often stated by Nixon.
In a nationally broadcast address on March 29, 1973 —two
rr."".ths after the accords were signed—Nixon said, “We will
continue to comply with the agreement,” and “we shall insist
that North Vietnam comply j with the agreement and the
leaders of North Vietnam should have no doubt as to the
consequences if they fail to comply with the agreement. ”
On Capitol Hill, Jackson called the White House explanation
“obviously not satisfactory.” He demanded disclosure of "the
specific language of the communications” between Nixon and
Saigon officials.
Shortly, after Nessen's news conference, Ford conferred
with a group of congressional leaders, including Anderson.
• “We were assured that therje are no private, off-the-record
assurances on the part of this government to the government
of South Vietnam" regarding the 1973 Paris accords,
Anderson told reporters.
In response to questions, Anderson said Ford had assured
the group “there are no private agreements” with Saigon, and
"The first step to finding peace, ac
cording to A 1 Rubae, is to recognize the
Palestinian people.
"If you deny the existence and rights
of people in an area,” he said, “you
won’t have any security. I’m talking
about both sides —the Arabs and the
Israelis."
Everytime Israel expands in the af
termath of a war, Rubae said, the
problem is still present because Israel is
not secure.
Feuchtwang offered a fourth proposal,
saying he didn't think the Middle East
problem was urgent because “we have
lived with it for 27 years.” There is a
slow tangible progress in Palestine now,
he said, and “time will cure all.”
“We have human needs, human at
tributes. are not the devil incarnate and
can live together," he said. “They have
to realize that they cannot dislodge or
destroy Israel.”
“It would be much better for both
sides to stop the wars and learn how to
live together," he said.
Another discussion earlier in the
evening centered -around Israel’s land.
Falk answered an audience question
about the opposing identity of
Palestinians and how they had
originated. Im describing what, another
had seen on th’e land, he said, there was
“no consciousness among the people
living on the land to actually work it.”
Cory disagreed, saying “it is the
height of chauvinism to Say that Zionism
came to Palestine and made the
civilization bloom.”
“It’s not the height of chauvinism,"
Feuchtwang said, “but the height of the
damaging truth. Palestine was created
by the sweat, blood, and toil of the
Jewish worker. What the Arabs have
done is to systematically erode and
destroy it,” he said. -
But the audience applauded after A 1
Rubae’s statement; “This implies we
have the right to slaughter people and
move them away because we feel we’re
better than them. This is purely racist.”
r< - Weather
Mostly cloudy and cool today. High 45.
Showers and a few flurries tonight. Low
34.; Chance of light rain or snow Friddy.
High 40, a •*
Ten cents per copy
Thursday, April 10,1975
Vol. 75, No; 147 12 pages University Park, Pennsylvania
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
“no hidden chapters yet to be revealed.” He said Ford assured
the congressmen specifically that there was no commitment
for U.S. military intervention under any circumstances.
“There are no secret, as yet undisclosed, agreements be
tween this government and the government of South Vietnam
that would in any way require or obligate us to make a
military response to the invasion by North Vietnam,"
Anderson said. (
Nessen said the “confidential exchanges" between Nixon
and President Nguyen Van Thieu, who was balking at signing
the accords, merely reflected known U.S. policy com
mitments.
“Assurances to the Republic of Vietnam as to both U.S
assistance and U.S. enforcement of the Paris agreement were
stated clearly and publicly by President Nixon," Nessen said
He said there were confidential communications between
Nixon and Thieu at a time in late 1972 and early 1973 when
Thieu was balking. But he maintained Nixon publicly stated
many times the same assurances he gave Thieu
“The publicly stated policy and intention of the United
States government to continue to 1 provide adequate economic
and military assistance and to react vigorously to major
violations of the Paris agreements reflected confidential
exchanges between the Nixon administration and President
Theiu at the time," Nessen said.
He declined to say whether Nixon's original concept of
vigorous reaction might have included renewed U.S. military
intervention or bombing.
He said, however, the August, 1973. congressional ban on
further U.S. military involvement in Indochina “of course
ruled out the possibility of American military reaction to
violations of the agreement:"
Budget Committee
recommends deficit
WASHINGTON (UPII The
Senate Budget Committee
recommended last night that
Congress adopt a budget of $366.1
billion with a deficit of $71.6
million—far higher than President
Ford says he will tolerate.
The Senate committee reached its
tentative conclusions during a 13-
hour work day.
The Senate-proposed alternative
budget is close to a $368.2 billion
budget recommended Tuesday by
the House Budget Committee which
would entail a’deficit of $73.2 billion.
Ford, in signing the tax cut bill
Mar. 29, said he would tolerate a
deficit of $6O billion but no more.
However White House Press
Secretary Ronn Nessen described
Ford as “gratified” the House
measure was as low as it was but
hopeful it would be reduced by the
full House.
* Democratic leaders of both -
Congressional % committees con
tended that recession, by draining
off tax revenues and increasing
expenditures for unemployment
compensation and welfare, would
automatically swell Ford’s deficit
to about $67 billion.
They said their proposed deficits
would carry a measure of economic
stimulation to help the country get
out of the recession.
The chief difference between the
Senate and House committe’s
recommendations was in the size of
proposed cuts in Ford’s's94 billion
Pentagon budget.
The Senate,, committee rebuffed
Democratic attempts to cut from $4
billion to $ll billion from the
Defense budget and settled on
of only $2.1 billion.
But the House committee agreed
to a $4.3 billion reduction in Ford’s
proposed defense budget for the
fiscal year which begins July 1.
V? ;W‘. r **--
In the 11-4 vote, opposition to
holding the defense cut to only $2 1
billion came from four Democrats
who wanted a deeper cut—Chair
man Edntund S. Muskie. Me,
Frank E. Moss. Utah, James D.
■Abourezk. S.D., and Walter F.
Mondale, Minn.
Although these proposals are not
binding, they could be influential in
floor-debate when the committees
which- oversee the .defense
budget—usually friendly to Pen
tagon requests—make their
recommendations.
, The Budget Committee defense
decision was made after rpore than
four hours of wrangling in a
crowded committee room which
became so overheated some
senators shed their suit jackets.
In the debate. Mondale'and Sen
s Alan Cranston. D-Calif.. com
plained they could not make
"responsible decisions"because the
administration had refused to
reveal how much of the defense
budget was used to conceal the
budget of the Central Intelligence
Agency and other intelligence
activities.
Mondale proposed that the
proposed cut in defense spending
specify that the overall amount
spent on intelligence be reduced by
$5OO million. His plan was defeated.
Said Mondale: “I don’t know how
vye can go to our people and tell
them we could not get more money
for jobs or school lunch programs or
human needs when we don’t even
know how much we’re giving to
secret intelligence activities.”
Although the Senate panel did not
specify what cuts it would like to see
in reducing Ford’s proposal by $2.1
billion, several areas were singled
out in debate. ’
Photos by Jim Capno
$