VICE PRESIDENT NEI.SON ROCkEFEIXKK, behind President Ford, and
Grim 9 itljntinn speaker of the House Carl Albert, left, have troubled expressions as Ford asks
Congress for nearly a billion dollars aid to South Vietnam.
Collegian
S. Viet troops hold key defense
SAIGON. South Vietnam iAP)—The
Saigon command claimed today that
more lhan 400 Communist-led troops
were killed in the first two davs of battle
for Xuan Loe. 40 miles east of Saigon Yesterday. Communist-led for-
Seattered action was .reported early ces—whp already control three-fourths
today around the provincial capital, of the [country—also shelled Mekong
whose defense is considered a key test of Delta areas south of Saigon and Tav
South Vietnam's fighting capacity. Ninh. 55'miles to the northwest.
In Cambodia, insurgents drove to' In Washington, President Ford asked
within two miles of Phnom Penh airport. Congress for nearly SI billion in aid for
their deepest penetration ever, field South Vietnam andfpr clear authority to
reports said. - use American jroops il necessary to
No resumption was reported early evacuate Americans: »
today ot the heavy, rocket and artillery In a' televised “State of the World"
assaults employea . Wednesday and address, Ford urged Congress to ap
yesterday in the North Vietnamese and propriate $722 million in military aid and
Viet Cong assault on Xuan Loc. an initial $250 rpillion in economic and
The Saigon command said govern- humanitarian a^d— more than triple the
mcnt troops and planes killed 404 • $3OO million Fond asked in January and
Communist troops, destroyed five tanks w hich Congress pas not yet approved.
If House kills Shapp budget
Gillespie: tax rise likely
By JANICE SELINGER
Collegian Staff Writer
A Delaware County Stale represen
tative has predicted Gov. Shapps
proposed budget for next year will not be
passed in the House, meaning an
inevitable tax increase.
The budget will be overturned because
state agencies, colleges and universities
are only going to get'a minimal amount
of money under the proposed budget.
Gillespie told 60 people at a Student
Trace Union Conference yesterday.
Gillespie said, he supports a bill that
would appropriate $12.6 million more to
the 14 state-owned colleges but warned
the passage of this bill probably would
require a tax increase.
"I know students can't afford an in
crease in tuition but taxpayers can't
afford an increase in taxes either."
Gillespie said.
Gillespie, elected to the legislature
last year attributed his election, to rank
Connally trial recessed
WASHINGTON iUPI) Watergate prosecutors rested
their bribery case against John B. Connallv yesterday, still
relying heavily on the testimony of lawyer Jake Jacobsen that
he gave the former Treasurv secretary two payoffs totaling
$lO,OOO. ’ ;
Connally’s trial on two counts of bribery was recessed until
Monday morning, when his lawyer, Edward Bennett
Williams, will argue a routine motion for dismissal of the
charges.
Although the government put 36 .witnesses on the stand in
the first seven days of the trial. Jacobsen was the only one who
testified directly about the payoffs.' i .
He said he paid the money to Connally in 1971 to enlist his
help in getting an increase in milk price supports and con
spired with him again in 1973 to cover up the transaction.
Ihe other 35 witnesses all presented circumstantial
evidence to bolster Jacobsen's testimony. A Treasury
Department secretary verified the two met on the days of the
alleged payoffs.
An official of Associated Milk Producers, Inc., said he gave
Jacobsen the money. Bank tellers told of Jacobsen’s visits to
safety deposit boxes on the relevant dales, and hotel clerks’
told of more meetings between the two men. j
Seventeen of the witnesses were Federal Reserve bank
officials who traced of one batch of bills totaling
$lO,OOO that Jacobsen said Connally gave him two years after
the alleged payoffs in an attempt to cover up the transaction.
The final prosecution witness was Anthony J. Passaretti; an
investigator for Watergate prosecutors Who saidthat between
June and February of 1971 Jacobsen met with Connally in the
Treasury Department for a total of more that six and a half
hours.
and 25 trucks and captured 155 weapons
in those first two days of fighting.
Government casualties were listed as 16
men killed and 85 wounded.
and file union 1 support, and suggested issues that come before the legislature
wavs {to improve relations between should be handled in local unions.'
unions and the legislature. "The union could rectify some
The key to 1 getting input into the problems which could then be Brought to
legislature is lo become politically in- a friendly legislature," Gillespie saich
volved. he said. "Then they mav get them passed and
“The days of the oil company men or enacted into ’law. An unfriendly
oil baron witji a j black bag over his legislature can result in a reversed ef
shoulder are over.l now the only way to feet, with something that was bargained
talk and have legislators listen is to have for- being 1 eradicated at the state
voter potential," Gillespie said legislature."’
Labor is am important force now, Gillespie's speech was part of the
Gillespie said. In fact, the legislature is Student Trade Union Conference
75 per cent pro-labor since AFL-CIO sponsored bv the Labor Studies Club
support can bd very helpful to legislators The Conference also included a day of
during electiori years, he added workshops to promote greater un-
Gillespie cited his own experience in between student and trade
politicos as an, example of what an or- union members,
dinary union member can do. A member f'.
of the Operating Engineers Union, he
decided to get involved in'state politics
and iwon by tfct) votes, although
predictions had him losing two to one.
However. Gijjpspie said many o'! the
The President made no new aid
request for Cambodia beyond the 5222
million already asked.
In Cambodia, rebel forces pushed
closer to the Phnom Penh airport after a
misdirected government artillery
barrage rained death on Phnom Penh
troops on the northwestern front, soft
ening the perimeter for an insurgent
assault, field reports said.
The rebels also forced the U.S. rice lift
info a five-hour suspension. The U.S.
Embassy flew in six more Marine
guards from Bangkok for security duty
and they helped stockpile rifle am
munition at the embassy. One diplomat
said more Marines aboard a carrier in
the Gulf of Thailand might be landed to
evacuate Americans if chaos breaks out
in Phnom Penh.
In other developments
Weather ,
Partly cloudy and cool through Sunday
Highs 4fi to Lows 30 to 34.
Williams, when he his defense next week, is expected
to accuse Jacobsen of lying to cover up the pocketed
the cash himselfJ He also will charge the prosecution’s star'
witness with agreeing to testify in return for a light sentence
in this case and the dropping of charges in an unrelated Texas
bank fraud case for which Jacobsen could have been jailed for
35 vears.
In a plea bargaining agreement with Watergate
prosecutors, Jacobsen admitted to a single count of making an
illegal payment to a public official—which carries a
maximum sentence ot two years.
Jacobseh testified he gave Connally the first $5,000 payment
on May 14, 1971. and the second $5,000 on Sept. 24,1971 He said
Connally had requested the money.
Two years lajer when Watergate prosecutors began in
vestigating the case, Jacobsen said he and Connally conspired
to cover up the payoff. He said that on Oct. 29.1973, Connally
gave him $lO,OOO in a cigar box toreplace the payoff money..
This was the money that the 17 Federal Reserve Bank Of
ficials testified could have been in circulation by that date. If
they had testified that even one of the 280 bills comprising the
$lO,OOO had been circulated at a later date, it would have
contradicted Jacobsen's story.
Jacobsen said! Conrlally gave him a second $lO,OOO on Nov.
25,1973. He saidjthe switch was necessary because some of the
bills in the box were “too new” to have been in cir
culation at the time of the alleged payoffs in 1971.
"Under cross-examination by Williams, Jacobsen admitted
he lied several j times to Watergate investigators about the
Case, but insisted thid was all part of the cover-up conspiracy
between him and Connally.
Ford asks Congress
for emergency funds
WASHINGTONi AP)—President Ford
asked Congress last night for nearly $1
billion in emergency military and
economic aid for South Vietnam and for
clear authority to use U.S. military
forces to evacuate Americans and en
dangered South Vietnamese, if
necessary.
Members of Congress, howe'ver,
reacted strongly against Ford’s military
aid request.
Ford, in his “State of the World”
address, did not renew his $222 million
aid request for Cambodia.
Administration officials told newsmen
Cambodia probably would.' fall in the
next few days and there was no point in
asking for funds no'w. !
Ford called for Congress to provide
without delay $722 million in additional
military hardware for Saigon and
Friday. April 11.1975
Vol 75.N0.148 12pages
University Park, Pennsylvania
Published by Students ol The Pennsylvania State University
Ten cents per copy
—ln Bangkok, Thai officials said
Communist-led rebels launched a major
ground assault; using rockets and
automatic weapons, against government
forces in northern Thailand, killing 16
government troops and wounding 20.
—Cambodian President Lon Nol flew
from Balivlo Hawaii for medical treat
ment, Indonesian officials said. He'left
Phnom Penh April 1 in hopes his
departure would create a climate for
peace talks.
—More than 300 Indochina orphans
leave Saigon and Phnom Penh today for
homes in the United States thanks in
part to Betty Tisdale of Columbus, Ga.,
who vowed: "I -am not going to let the
Communists have these children."
She told newsmen in Saigon that
Deputy Premier Phan Quang Dan gave
permission for 257 Vietnamese children
to be airlifted to the U.S. West Coast. In
Phnom Penh, about 50 Cambodian or
phans are scheduled to board U.S.
planes today for flights to Los Angeles.
The action around Xuan Loc was being
followed closely for indications of
whether it might signal the start of a
major thrust on already nervous Saigon
A classic pose
wtastmtm
requested an initial $250 million in
economic and humanitarian assistance.
The humanitarian aid.r.he said, will
“ease the misery and pain of the
•monumental human crisis which has
" befallen the people of Vietnam.”
His request for additional military aid
was greeted with absolute silence. A few
long-time opponents of U.S. action in
South Vietnam, such as Rep. Bella
Abzug, D-N.Y., shook their heads in a
disapproving manner.
Ford’s hour-long address was in
terrupted just 12 times for applause,
mostly by Republicans and most of it in
the last 10 minutes when the President
warned against destruction of the
nation’s intelligence-gathering system
and called for a continued strong
national defense. -
Ford declared in his speech that
federal laws should be revised to permit
U.S. fofces to help evacuate South
Vietnamese.
Administration official's said up to
200,000 South Vietnamese might be
pulled out along with 6,000 Americans.
While indicating it may be too late to
rescue Cambodia from a Communist
takeover. Ford said a stabilization of the
military situation in South Vietnam
"offers the best opportunity for a
political solution.”
The $972 million aid request for
combined military ahd economic
requests for South Vietnam .more than
triples the $3OO million' Ford sought in
January and which Congress has not yet
approved.
Ford, departing from his prepared
remarks, opened his address by saying:
“I stand before you after many
agonizing hours and after many solemn
prayers-to the Almighty."
“The national interests of the United
States and the cause of world stability
require that we continue to give both
military and humanitarian assistance to
the South Vietnamese," Ford declared.
At the same time, he said Congress
should immediately clarify its
restrictions on the use of U.S. military
forces in Southeast Asia "for the limited
purposes of protecting American lives
by ensuring their evacuation, if this
should become necessary.
"I hope that this authority will never
be used, but if it is needed there will be
no time for congressional debate,” he
said.
Members of Congress, in,early reac
tion to the address, said they doubted
Ford’s aid request would be approved.
Sen. John McClellan. D-Ark., chair
man of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, said further military
assistance would only prolong the suf
fering in Indochina..
Sen. Harry F. : Bvrd Jr.. Ind-Va..
remarked. “I would say the odds are
against Congress approving any
military aid."
Ford urged Congress to complete
action on his Indochina proposals by-
April 19 "because of the urgency of the
situation."
THIS MODEL POSES while his figure is sketched by an art class
3 COP»S
Congress barred all UiS. combat
activity in the area as of August -1973,
and has balked at giving the Ford ad
ministration special miltary aid ap
propriations of $3OO millron for South
Vietnam and $222 million for Cambodia.
“Let us start afresh," the President
said in outlining his Indochina program.
"The options before us are few and time
is short,”
He said, however, that "it may be too
late" to assist Cambodia, where rebel
forces are currently pressing Phnom
Penh, the capital.
Addressing North Vietnam, Ford
called for an immediate halt to military
operations and compliance with the 1973
Paris cease-fire agreements He said the
Soviet Union and China as well as all
other members of the Paris conference
were being urged to use their influence
to halt the fighting in South Vietnam.
While appealing to Congress for
partnership in foreign policy. Ford also
traced the debacle in Cambodia in part
to legislative restrictions. Because of
them and "steady external support." he
said the Communist insurgents have
shown no interest in negotiation, com
promise or a political solution. He
renewed the pledge he made on entering
the White House last August to work
cooperatively with Congress while
asking the legislators "to keep
America's word good throughout the
world."
The firm tone throughout his address,
delivered to a joint session assembled in
the House, belied advance billing that he
would strike a conciliatory stance
Despite Ford's expression of sym
pathy for the Cambodia government, he
significantly made no new request
himself for food and ammunition for the
Cambodians.
Ford's speech reflected a grim
assessment also expressed previously
by Secretary of State Henry A
Kissinger.
On other fronts Ford said:
—ln seeking peace in the Middle East
the United States, has “agreed in prin
ciple" to reconvene the Geneva con
ference but is prepared "as well to ex
plore other forums." moving ahead on
whatever course looks most promising.
"We will not accept stagnation or a
stalemate, with all its attendant risks to
peace and prosperity and to our
relations in and outside of the region,"
he said.
—Congress should lift the U.S. arms
embargo against Turkey, a vital ally for
the '* security of the Eastern
Mediterranean, the southern flank of
Western Europe and the collective
security of the Western Alliance.
—ln its review of the Central
Intelligence Agency and other in
telligence services, Congress should
avoid “a sensationalized public debate”
that would serve to tie America's hands
“while our potential enemies operate
with secrecy, skill and vast resources "
He intends “in the very near future"
to attend a conference of Western allies
Photo by St«ph#n Gvrhari