LENINGRAD December 24, l.970 Mike Wal/ace Al Lenin , Krad - a Sovie/ cu11rl today orde,• e d the deallt p c II a I I Y - f o r I. " o l e a de rs of a p I o l to ~ i j a c k a S o i,; e t a ; r I i ,i e , •. Th e c o u r t a I s o s e ,, t e n c i n g n i n e o tlie rs - t o s e n l e n c es r a n gin g _(-,·om four lo fiflee11 years. As you perhaps know - all but fou.r of the 1/efendanls lis · ted a . s "ethnic" Jews. Admitting in court that they 1>lanned to hijack a /)lane to Boden, Sweden - there seek 1>olitical asylt1m - a,id then make their way to Israel. Bt1t the severity of their sentences - coming as sometlling of a surprise. AP1>arently prompted by a recent So,1iet sensitivity - to airliner hijackings; along with testimony that tile defendants planned to kill in cold blood - both the pilot a'lld co-pilot of the pla,ie i11 question . VIETNAM In Vietnam - a relative! _,, "silent 11ight · " f ollowed b _\' ll C Ii ,. i s I m a s m or n , Sa i go ,i - t i m e - u ; t It 111 e g 11 ,, s o J w a r still sl? · nngely silent. Boll, sid es - obser vi ng a Christmas cease-Ji1·e: for once, ii seems - Jairl_v effective. Saigon also reports another U.S . casual(v list - showing twent y- thr ee kill e d in action the past week; the lowest JiguYe - in more than Jive _vears. The Pentagon adds that accidents and illnesses - are now killing more U . S. ser v icemen in Vietnam than actual combat. COST Th e U . S . c o s I o / Ii u i 11 g i II de x - 11 p a g ai 11 / a s I m o 11 1/1 , i 11 c: <t s c .\' o u h ad 11 ' I II o I i c e <I ; _; u m p i II K a 11 o 1/1 e r l/1 r e e - l c II th s of a P er cent - according to go, er 11m e 11l figures a11no1111ced I o day . A II d .V e I - i I c o u. I d I, a u e b e e ,i w o rs e . The No ve mber rale-of-i11crease - onl y Tia// that of O c lober ; comparing f a v o r b I _v w i l I, I I, e s II m m e r m o ,i l h s of J" n e , J II l y a n d A u g u s t when ll1e,·c were those u ho said that inflation had clearly bee11 checked. ,ion Ho w e er , l h e A d m in is tr a t ...,,,,. ow ta k in g - a s o ,n e w ha I softer line. Paul McCracken - the President's chief economic ad uis or - saying : "Tlais kind of good news is always 11 e/come." "011 the other hand" - he added - "we do h:zue to b e ca II ti o us - ab o 11, l ma k i II g too m ll c h o" t of mo,, th - to - mo n t It swi,ig.o;." WHITE HOUSE From th e White House press c orps - a report today tha t Tricia Nixon w ill be spending Christmas weekend - with her :long-time escort : namel . v - Ed Cox . This in the wake of published reports - that the First Family's first daughter will be setting her wedding date - sometime during llae holiday season . However, the White Bouse itself - takhrg a dim vie., of the nuptial story. Orte of Mrs. Ntxo11, aides - sayi,rg : "We absolutely deny it - there is no imminent engagement to announce . " Tl,e sf)ok · e · sman adding : "If a11d aoie11 - it .,,,, - be an noun c e d b } ' Pre si den t a,. d Mrs . Nixon •• - a" d "o o" e els e .... CAPE KENNEDY At Cape Kennedy - a stef>- u p today in a camt,ai,'gn, undertaken by U.S. space officials; · with the goal that of impressing on moon port workers - the imt>ortanc · e of making Apollo- Fourteen as Perfect as possible - · when. it takes 0 1 ff fo,r the moon next month . This, in f>art, because of tlce war-disaster tllat befell Apollo-Thirteen - just eigh . t montl,s ago. Also. tl,.e res11lt of cutbacks in 11,e U.S. space f>rog-ram - wleicll farced a great ,u,mber of layoffs; for a time - causing a serio•s morale problem. Sf>ace officials are i,asislhcg t1tougll - morale is agair, good. Those who si,rvived tl,e halcJon days of tl,e st,ace program - having now accef>ted tlle fact - we are told - tl,at what goes uf> must come down; here on earth - aayaoay. MOSCOW The death of an "Old Bolshe vi k" - re(>or ted today from Moscow. Nikolai Shvernik - a member of the Communist Party since Nineteen-Oh-Five; one of th . e last of n dying breed - who actually joined i,p before the Revolution in Nh~ teen- Seventeen. Shvernik later serving - in a number of key posts. r Eventually becoming President of the Suf>re,ne Soviet - the Soviet Parliament . Retaining lais seal in that body - riglet r,p to the end. Nikolai Slavernik - age eigllly-four. ilTLANTA Atlanta, Georxi , a - the State Arc!,,ivcs Building - a v isit today fftom Santa Claus; who ar1·i1 ed by lrelicot,ter - re d s II i t , w h is k e rs a nd a l l - in k e e fJ in g w i th h is a d v an c e billing of the t,asl week. Santa strolling to the nearby State Capitol - al ' ong the way, dispensing candy canes from a huge sack he carried . But there was something in his "ho-ho-ho" - lite way he sl,.ook hands like a veteran politictin - the Southe'Yn fried chicken in his "Merry Christmas;" some "je ne sais Quois" - that finally gave him away. Atlanta's Numbe.,. Oree Santa Claus this day - none otlteY tlaan Governor Lester Maddox. But no one told Ilse childr ' en. 4nd once his job was done - San ta disa t,p ea rillg in to his own of fie e. Expla haiNg as he went : "I have to se · e Ille Governor." SUGGESTED LEAD-IN TO THOMAS TAPE "LAKE RUDOLPH" Next - Lowell Thomas; with a message - well, ,1 you listen all the way - a message of hor,e, I hor,e . Lowell . . . L. T. Tape Insert - unedited L .,\KE R UDO LP II From Lake Rudolph in Kenya - by wa.v of London comes tile story of a remarkable find. A team of British archaeol1Jgisls dis cot eri,ig a number of shaped rocks once used as primiti, e hand tools. These dating from the year Tuo million, 0,re Hundred and Sixty-Eight Tho11sand BC. As such, the first known hand tools - conceived b _ v hllman i,ige1111ity . Also found In the same excavation - the remnants of ., , . , , , , ca ll e d "A II s t r a l op i th e c tt s " , a dis tan t r e la Ii v e of m a" . Unhappily tho11gh - the 'Australopithecus' (Jrimitive imp,°p,nents apparently did him little good . He was hunted for food - and finally wiped 011.t - by homo habilis, another ki,1d of half-human who lived abo11t the same time. All of which calls to mind - a story about Alexawder the Great; who took a lest dive in a forerunner of the . ~ ,, b ma r; n c - w a v b a c k in th e Fourth Ce n tu r y BC . The R re at Alexander coming 11{> visibly shaken ext,laininK - ever.vtlling LAKE RUDOLPH - 2 down there eats ever} 1 thi11g else." And the same ll/> here - it seems sometimes - except tllal I like to think Warren - that maybe, just maybe, we are fi11a 11 }' be ginning Io ou tgro,o it. CHRISTMAS The White Ho"se agai,z - a Christmas message today from . President Ni.xon; 11Jho observed that Christmas _ "is a f • 1 t . .., d "C h · am I Y · un e , ; · an r, s h,i as • Nine teen - Seven t y " - he added - a time that sho11ld , call forth - "a special sense of Ame · ricans as a national J , amily." The Pres dent. therefore , . urging : " "Let us r,11t aside 1ohat di v . ides 11s - and ref ind u , hat unites us; concern for one another • - love for liberty and justice - ()ride in our own di v ersity." . And 1,e continued: " L e t u s re s o l ,, e t o w o r k together - to right old wrongs an , d heal old wounds - to do ivhat needs to be done - lo make ti• s a better cou wiry a,ad a better 1Dor ld for all of our children. " The Pres ide,at also sayiag: "Our greatest laot,e - at every Christmas lime. of co•rse - ts for (Jeace i,1 tl,e world;"' and lie noted that "f>ea , ce is a fragile thing - a,ed tlaere are d , angers Iha t tllrea ten ii in many /)arts of the world. " "Bt1I J firmly b , elie , ve'' - he conctuded - "that. in this Christmas season - we can look forward with greater CHRISTMAS - 2 confi,lence than at any time since World War Two - that otcr children can have at last tuhat we all devoutly hot,e for: "A generation of peace."