News stories from Sunday December 13, 1970
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- White House deputy Stephen Hess chaired an administration conference on children. 4,000 people poured into Washington for the conference, which urged the creation of a national health insurance plan. Kids at the conference said that schools stress grades too much, teachers are too old, there shouldn't be any dress codes, teachers don't respect pupils, and American troops should get out of Vietnam. [CBS]
- An American Air Force B-57 bomber carrying intelligence equipment was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in southern Laos, the U.S. command in Saigon said. The two-man crew was rescued, and informants said the craft's secret detection equipment was believed to have been destroyed in the crash. Twenty such planes were recently refitted with such equipment for combat missions over Laos. [New York Times]
- The London Sunday Times reported that Israel is pumping oil through a secret pipeline in order to supply Eastern Europe. Arabs and Israelis both gain financially from the arrangement. [CBS]
- General Willard Pearson announced that Fort Lewis, Washington, is increasing security due to fears of radical sabotage. [CBS]
- Former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's memoirs appeared in Life magazine. The story stated that Robert Kennedy feared an American military overthrow of Cuba, and claims that President John F. Kennedy wouldn't have sent as many men to Vietnam as his successors have. [CBS]
- The National Governors' Conference declared that President Nixon must repair the economy or face defeat in '72. [CBS]
- FCC commissioner Nicholas Johnson said that President Nixon is using television as a propaganda arm for the administration, and he wants equal time for both parties. [CBS]
- A survey of much of the nation found that bombings carried out by such groups as the Westhermen have alienated large numbers of radicals and many college youths who might otherwise support the bombers' causes, and that the harsh repression that some bombers have said would lure others to their side has not developed. [New York Times]
- Based on data for the first 11 months of this year and projections for December, traffic safety experts said fewer people will die on the highways in 1970 than in 1969 -- the first significant decline since 1958. Most experts said that safety improvements in cars -- introduced largely because of pressure from Ralph Nader and others -- and better highways were responsible. [New York Times]