News stories from Saturday February 13, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- South Vietnam reported capturing large quantities of North Vietnamese supplies today during the heaviest fighting since the beginning of the Laos operation on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
An American unit attacked North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam. A U.S. artillery position and South Vietnamese engineers are pulling back because of heavy enemy shelling. With Route 9 closed, U.S. helicopters are the only way to ferry South Vietnamese forces into Laos.
[CBS] - Some U.S. forces near the Laos border were involved in today's fighting. U.S. forces seem to be targets for North Vietnam resistance. [CBS]
- Three thousand South Vietnamese demonstrators staged an anti-American riot in Qui Nhon after a soldier's accidental killing of two South Vietnamese children. [CBS]
- Cambodian Premier Lon Nol was flown to Hawaii for treatment for a stroke he suffered last week. [CBS]
- Vice President Agnew hit three spectators with golf drives during the Bob Hope Golf Tournament. [CBS]
- President Nixon asked Congress for increased pay and more money to improve living conditions for armed services personnel to help achieve the goal of an all-volunteer army.
The military draft has existed since 1948; President Nixon has talked of ending the draft for years but the administration feels it can't end the draft completely until mid-1973. Some Pentagon officials and congressmen don't think that an all-volunteer army will work. Rep. Edward Hebert says that patriotism doesn't exist in the U.S. to the extent necessary for an all-volunteer army. Enlisted men's pay is now so low that many soldiers are on welfare, and housing conditions are poor. The administration's proposal would double enlisted men's pay.
Some fear that an all-volunteer army could lead to a military takeover of the U.S. government.
[CBS] - Senator Karl Mundt, who was partially paralyzed by a stroke 15 months ago, announced that he plans to run for a fifth term if his doctor approves. [CBS]
- The Soviet policy-making body approved a new five-year economic plan. [CBS]
- NASA released pictures that were taken by Apollo 14 on the moon. The film shows the landing on the moon, astronauts on the moon, take-off from the moon, and astronauts in the spacecraft on their return to earth. A film of the second moon walk was accidentally left behind. [CBS]