News stories from Saturday March 21, 1970

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

Led by 6,000 mailmen in New York City, striking postal workers across the country rejected the pact made between their national leaders and the government and vowed to continue the strike. The strike continued to spread, with only the South remaining unaffected. The walkout by the carriers was expected to be aided by a strike vote of the Manhattan-Bronx Postal Union, which represents clerks and mail-handlers. The result of the vote was expected to be overwhelmingly for a walkout. [New York Times] President Nixon said at his news conference that if the postal strike continued through Monday, he would fulfill his constitutional obligation "to see to it that the mails go through." Although Mr. Nixon declined to say what he would do, he left the impression that troops might be used to move the piled-up mail. [New York Times] The President also touched on inflation at the news conference, saying that his administration had "taken the fires out of inflation" and predicting a leveling off in consumer prices by the end of the year. Mr. Nixon said that the country was not in a recession now and his administration would take action to prevent one. [New York Times] Union leaders across the country are not going to scale down their wage demands until the cost of living starts to go down, a series of interviews shows. Although many of the companies the unions will negotiate with are losing sales and laying off workers, the leaders insist that this will not make any difference in their wage and pension demands. [New York Times] New studies have led doctors to decide that they can no longer depend only on a patient's blood cholesterol level as a guide to treatment to lower the risk of heart disease. Scientists have identified five types of blood fat, of which cholesterol is only one, and their studies show that an abnormal condition can be treated much more effectively using all five as a guide. [New York Times] Israel will not receive additional Phantom jets, President Nixon hinted at an impromptu new conference, but the decision -- to be announced formally on Monday by Secretary of State William Rogers -- may be reversed at any time if the Soviet Union's arms shipments to the Arab countries upsets the balance in the Middle East. On another subject, Mr. Nixon said the increase in military activity in Laos would not affect American troop withdrawals from Vietnam. [New York Times] North Vietnamese and Laotian forces clashed in increasing but still small-scale fighting at Long Tieng, a major United States-supported base 70 miles from Vientiane. As the fighting stepped up, a courier arrived in Vientiane with proposals for a settlement from Prince Souphanouvong, a leader of the Pathet Lao. The Laotian government denied, but President Nixon confirmed, that Thai troops had been transported to Laos to help the fighting. [New York Times]