VIETNAM February 2, l968 Dallas Townsend In tlie streets of Saigon - in the ancient imperial capital of Htte - in at least three other major provincial cities - the battle rages on tonight in Vietnam. The enemy's biggest and boldest strike of the war - now teetering on the brink of oblivion; but still - a tough time dying. In Saigon, at least - the end perhaps in sight. U.S. tanks and infantrymen - fast searching out the last r••allt"'6 pockets of Viet Cong resistance. At Hr,e tllough .. about eigl,,t hundred North Vietnamese are laoled up - iJt an old walled section of tlae city. Today hurling back a co•bhted assault - by U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese Rangers. SEA OF JAPAN Far to the North - another close call in the Sea of Japan, a U.S. destroyer ramming a R1,ssian freighter in pre-dawn darkness - about a hundred miles off tlie coast of South Korea. Luckily, no one h . urt. Not m,,ch damage either - tl,e Soviet vessel signaling - "no assistance required." As to cause of tlie crash - the Pentagon later saying it was a "cross situation;" the U.S. S. Rowan supposedly liaviJtg tl,e riglit of way - when it plowed into the Ru . ssian shit,, altlao•gla Moscow - laas since filed a protest. BRITAIN B'f'itis I, Joreig,a Secretary George Brown to,aiglit s e,a t •• appeal to Soviet Foreigx Minister Gromyko - urgi,ag tlat tltey Joi,a at o,ace in an appeal Jo.,- ax end to Ille figllti,ag l,a Viet,aam. B.,-o,on called - a matter of Ille most ago,aial,ag •ge,acy. WHITE HOUSE Vietnam and the Pueblo - in tltat order - again tlte cit ief tot, ics today at a White Bouse news co,.ference. On Vietnam - President Jolrn110,a firmly refr,ti,ag ••••Y claim• of tremendous victory - in tltat co,ali,a,,i,ag Red rampage. r,, sut,t,ort of Ilia 11ta,rd - Ille Preside,at cithcg Viet Co11g lo•••• totalireg more tl1are ten tlro11sa,cd tilled - more tllare l11ro tllousa,cd cat,tured; a, agai,.,t Allied losses - set at a6o•I eigltt lauredred me,e. From a military sta,cdt,ol,et - tit• Comm•,cist attact11 llave bee,c a "comt,lete fail•r•;" a,ed t,sycllologically - lte said - ,eot m•clr better. Addireg tllal "Comm•,ci•t leader• co11•ted 011 t,otndar ••t,t,ort for tlaelr effort" - b•I "tlley fo11•d little or ,aoree." A• for tlle P11eblo - tl,e Preslderet ret,orti,cg a ••co•II meetl,cg at Pa,em11,aJo• - aimed at freei•6 Ille sll~f) ••d ••r ere"'. As yet t lloMgll - reo t,rogre• s. Tlr e Pre• Ide rel fMrt laer s11ggestl,eg it may be some time - before we get o•r me,e baclt; tlle sllit, - maybe ,rever. PUEBLO North Korean radio today broadcast an alleged confession by ll,e first officer of tl,e Pueblo - Lt. Stel)la•• Harris - tl,e voice sayi,w tlaat lae laad e,egaged i,a collecti11g Military i,atellige11ce. SUGGESTED LEAD-IN TO THOMAS TAPE As you may laave guessed by now -Lowell T11omaa is cu-r-re,atly flyi,ag n,e Atla,atic; en -route to G-re,aoble, F-ra,ace, to c o v e -r t la e W i,. I e -r O l y mp i c s - i,. Iii s ow,. i,. i m i I a bl e fa• II i o,. -sta-rti,ag ,aext week. lrt t"e mea,atime - a special taped -ret,o-rt lie left•• J11st befo-re det,a-rtu-re. Rememb-rances of ea-rly t-ra,asAtlo11tlc flye-ra - floodt11g back ac-ross Ille years : Lo•ell . . .. Tape for Fri . , Feb . 2, 1968 FLYING THE ATLANTIC Hello Dallas. Good Evening E v erybody - from JFK . Today I'm making, I hope, one more flight across tire Atlantic. Some of us still remember when men first decitled to try to fly the Atlantic. Tire year Nineteen Nineteen - right after tire First World War, when there toere so many airmen looking for something to do; ne• world• to conquer. It turned into a tlrrilling i11ternatio11al race. Forty-nine years ago. What a contrast between tire planes the,., and tlli• modern Pa,. An, clipper llere Oft tire r1111way. In September, Ninetee11 Tleirty-011e a doze" of•• tool, t,art ifl a dinner in lroftor of Dr. James Kimball, tlae wlrite-lraired gentle meterologist who told tire early Trans-Atlantic fliers wlren it might be all right for tlrem to take tire big chance . In the Picture on m y studio wall Dr. Kimball is flanked by Amelia Earhart, and Ruth Elder, tlae,a Clarence Cira m be rlain next to A me lia, w ith Jam es Fitzmawrlce FLYING THE ATLANTIC - 2 and myself on the other side . In the row behind us witty Lon Yancy who made the first fliglit to Rome, Charles Lindbergh, Frank Courtney from Engla•d, Armand Lotti, the Italian, Harry O'Connor and Bernt Balchen, first to t,ilol a plane over both poles, also an earl y trans-Atla,alic flier. Only three of that group are still around. The otlaer t•o, Li,adbergh and Balche,a. By tlte •ay, today is the thirty-third a,a,aiversary of Amelia Earhart's flight from Honolr,lu to Califor,aia - 1935. Ho• surprised Amelia •ould be to hear •laal llas happened to over-oceart flying since she /le• the Atla,alic solo i,a 1932 . Over t•o millio,a last year . A 1'1illio• "'•"• it with Pan Am, Dallas. SUGGESTED FOLLOW TO THOMAS TAPE Thank you, Lowell. Ba~k to the news .... MANCHESTER The aelV R icltard Nixon - front and ce,ster today ;,. Ne• Ramps I, Ire. Launc Iring II is bid fo-r t11 e Ret,ubllca,a noml,aation - an official candidate in Ne., Ha•t,slaire '• first-in-the-nation P-resitlential t,ri•ary. First questio,a: Wllat of Nixo,a's reactlort to tlat claalle,ege from Miclliga,a 's Gover,ao-r Ro•ne, - to delial• lie• I•••••. No dice - said Nlxo•. It •ould ,aot "serv• t•• f,aferest of Ila• Re'/)•bllca• Party." Atltll•g: "2'•• 0111, •l•••r of • debate 6eta,ee,a Ret,•bllca,aa - a,o■ ltl 6• Presitle•I Johnson." No• - a w,ortl fro• Warre11 Mora,a. JUSTICE From the Justice Department in Washi,sgton - comes word of a proposed new banking bill. One that would force the nation's banks to install protective devices - hidde,a cameras, alarm systems and so on; in order to co,aU,sue to qualify - for Federal Deposit Insurance coverage. Tli is - at t1,e urgi•g of the FBI; in the face of skyrocJ,etir,g bar,k robberies - •P some sixty per ce•t last year. •oti,eg tliat lidde• cameras, ,,. particular - ca11 prove a,a extremely effective delerre,at to crime. Ca•• ,,. t,oi,et - tlaat of a tu,,adit •lao 1,a11ded a ,aole lo a ba,et teller - tl,e ,aote say i,eg: "Tia is is a stick up, - l'•I 11,e •o,eey ,,. a bag a,ed 1,a,ed it o · ver." 'l,asta11tly, a secret b•llo,a activati,ag cameras - also alerti,eg g11ards; as tl,e teller laa,aded back l,is •rittefl reply - sayi•g: "Straiglale,e your tie, s l•l>id - tlaey 're taki,sg your Pictare. " Good Nigl,t.