News stories from Saturday July 3, 1971
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- Presidential adviser Henry Kissinger met with Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and General Creighton Abrams to discuss North Vietnam's new peace proposals; South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu said that he sees nothing new in North Vietnam's proposal, but Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky is willing to explore the offer.
In Paris, Viet Cong negotiator Madame Nguyen Thi Binh said that the U.S. is capable of withdrawing equipment quickly if it is willing, and any withdrawal difficulties could be ironed out in procedural talks; she thinks that President Nixon should announce a withdrawal date publicly. Madame Binh added that Nixon will have to change his policy to make private talks worthwhile; she is not asking for a date to establishing a coalition government in South Vietnam, but the issue must be decided quickly.
National League of Families coordinator Mrs. Joan Vinson responded to North Vietnam's proposal, saying that she is glad to see the U.S. seriously considering it.
[CBS] - U.S. planes bombed enemy positions near Fire Base Fuller. [CBS]
- Authorities are deciding whether to allow the hijacked Braniff airliner to fly to Algeria from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The passengers were released in Monterrey, Mexico, in exchange for $100,000 ransom. The plane, which was en route to San Antonio, Texas, was reportedly hijacked by Robert Lee Jackson of Tennessee and Lidia Sanchez-Archila of Guatemala. [CBS]
- A Japanese plane with 68 passengers aboard crashed near Hakodate, Japan. [CBS]
- In Humboldt, Tennessee, writer Jesse Hill Ford is on trial for murdering a black soldier. The prosecuting attorney said that the soldier was trespassing on Ford's property, but shouldn't have been murdered for it. [CBS]
- President Nixon will participate in a radio-TV program beginning the celebration of the United States' 200th anniversary. [CBS]