From: jmk@cbnews.cb.att.com (joseph.m.knapp)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.elections
Subject: Re: Kremlin_Gate: Bill Clinton in Moscow during Viet Nam.
Keywords: NYT articles from late 1969
Date: 7 Oct 92 03:52:03 GMT
Organization: AT&T

On Larry King Live October 5, Bill Clinton said that he had traveled
throughout northern Europe in late 1969, spending Christmas in Helsinki
and also traveling to Moscow briefly during the first week of 1970,
when relations between the US and USSR were thawing.

From Bill Clinton's letter to the ROTC, December 3, 1969, made public
by the Clinton campaign during the primaries:

        I have written and spoken and marched against the war. One of
     the national organizers of the Vietnam Moratorium is a close friend
     of mine. After I left Arkansas last summer, I went to Washington to
     work in the national headquarters of the Moratorium, then to
     England to organize the Americans here for demonstrations Oct. 15
     and Nov. 16.

Here are some excerpts from articles in the New York Times giving some
context to Clinton's antiwar activities and travels:

**********
December 16, 1969
NIXON TO REDUCE VIETNAM FORCES 50,000 BY APRIL 15
NEW LEVEL 434,000
President Also Notes 'Disturbing' Rise in Infiltration

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 -- President Nixon announced tonight a third round
of American troop withdrawals from Vietnam, reducing authorized strength
by an additional 50,000 men. ...

"There are some who believe," he said, "that to continue our withdrawals
at a time when enemy infiltration is increasing is a risk we should not
take. However, I have consistently said that we must take risks for
peace."

In Canberra, Prime Minister John Gorton said that some of the 8,000
Australian troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam in connection with
the next large-scale withdrawal of American troops.

The size of the pullout, somewhat larger than anticipated, redeemed the
President's expressed hope of announcing reductions of at least 100,000
men by the end of the year. ...

What seems clear is that as the President's hope for a negotiated solution
in Paris has steadily diminished, his commitment to gradual disengagement
tied to "Vietnamization" has increased. ...

"This reduction in our forces is another orderly step in our plan for
peace in Vietnam," he said.

"It marks further progress in turning over the defense of South Vietnam
to the South Vietnamese. It is another clear sign of our readiness to
bring an end to the war and achieve a just peace." ...

**********
December 18, 1969
50% UPHOLD NIXON IN A CAMPUS POLL
Gallup Finds Vietnam Policy Has Gained Student Favor

PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 17 -- Fifty percent of college students approve of
President Nixon's Vietnam policies while 44 percent disapprove, according
to a Gallup survey released today.

Six percent expressed no opinion in the survey, conducted during the
first half of November among 1,902 students on 57 campuses.

In a similar mid-November poll among adults, 64 per cent approved of the
President's policies, 25 per cent disapproved, and 11 per cent had no
opinion. ...

The students were also asked this question: ... How would you describe
yourself -- as a "hawk" or as a "dove?"

Sixty-nine per cent classified themselves as doves and 20 per cent as hawks.
In a poll in the spring of 1967, 49 per cent called themselves hawks and
35 per cent called themselves doves.

Somewhat fewer than half of those who called themselves doves last month
favored the President's policies, and those who did approve apparently felt
that de-escalation was being effectively carried out.

The Gallup organization concluded that the campus mood had shifted sharply
toward peace in the last two and a half years. ...

**********
December 18, 1969
War Foes Planning Winter-Spring Drive for a U.S. Pullout

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 -- Leaders of November's massive antiwar rallies
announced plans today for a "winter-spring" offensive that may include
large-scale demonstrations. ...

According to Ron Young, the youngest of several co-chairmen of the New
Mobilization, the resistance campaign will culminate on March 27, Good
Friday, and May 30, Memorial Day, with "massive G.I. support 
demonstrations," which may be held around Army bases. ...

The Mobilization is a coalition of antiwar and radical organizations. Its
leaders are generally middle-aged and have been active in left-wing causes
for years.

The more moderate Vietnam Moratorium Committee, which is headed by
youthful former supporters of Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy,
planned only quiet local demonstrations this month and has not announced
its activities for next year.

**********
December 19, 1969
Church Leaders Plan Day of Prayer on Christmas Eve to Widen War Protest

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 -- A national day of prayer on Christmas Eve,
sponsored by the Vietnam Moratorium Committee, was announced today by the
Right Rev. Paul Moore, the next Episcopal Bishop of New York, and Mrs.
Cynthia Wedel, president of the National Council of Churches. ...

Mrs. Wedel... said that the day of prayer offered opponents of the Vietnam
war who did not believe in demonstrations an opportunity to display their
opposition. ...

She said that she believed many members of the National Council supported
the Nixon Administration's efforts to end the war. "Its efforts should be
helped by prayers for peace," she added. ... 

**********
December 21, 1969

[Chart showing Vietnam troop ceilings]

        June 8, 1969           532,000
        August 31, 1969        509,000
        December 15, 1969      472,000
        April 15, 1970         434,000  (authorized)
        December 31, 1970      275,000  (predicted)
        December 31, 1971      150,000  (predicted)
        June, 1972              50,000  (predicted)

**********
December 21, 1969
[Advertisement of the Vietnam Moratorium Committee]
Pray for Peace. 

It is a lonely Christmas this year for many Americans.

Lonely because their sons, husbands or fathers are thousands of miles
from home, fighting a terrible, senseless war.

While you are enjoying this Christmas season, think of what it must be 
like for them.

The hopeful counting of days until their men come home.

The dreadful knowledge that even as they are counting, their men may be
dead or dying in Vietnam.

It is not a joyful time for these Americans, nor for the families of those
who have already given their lives. ...

**********
December 21, 1969
[full-page advertisement]


                                  WAR

                                  IS

                                  OVER

                             If you want it.

                 Happy Christmas from John & Yoko Lennon

**********
December 23, 1969
FULL ARMS TALKS TO OPEN IN VIENNA, SHIFT TO HELSINKI

HELSINKI, Finland, Dec. 22 -- The United States and the Soviet Union
agreed today to begin full-scale negotiations in Vienna April 16 in an
effort to impose some restraint on their rivalry in strategic nuclear
weapons. ...

"Five weeks ago, in this hall, we began talks between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
on limiting strategic nuclear arms," said Gerard C. Smith, the head of
the American delegation, who is director of the Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency in Washington.

"The main task is, of course, still ahead of us," he said. ... 

It is time, Mr. Smith said, that the two countries devote more of their
resources toward solving some of the problems of modern society. ...

**********
Captives' Letters Brought
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 23 (AP) -- Two women leaders of the antiwar movement
who have just returned from North Vietnam said today that they had brought
with them the names of 132 Americans they said were captives of the Hanoi
regime.

The women said the State Department had confirmed that the letters they
carried from the prisoners would provide the first word for some families
that the men were alive. ...

**********
December 24, 1969
Perot Reaches Bangkok

BANGKOK, Thailand, Wednesday, Dec. 24 -- The Texas industrialist H. Ross
Perot arrived here today with a planeload of Christmas gifts and supplies
that he hopes to give to American prisoners of war in North Vietnam.

Despite a warning by North Vietnamese officials in Paris that his airlift
of gifts was considered a "provocative action" by Hanoi, Mr. Perot said
he would fly to Vientiane, Laos, late today and seek a private meeting
with North Vietnamese diplomats there to press his plea to the Hanoi
government.

Yesterday, arriving in Hong Kong, the Texan reiterated his hope that
Hanoi would reconsider his offer to deliver 75 tons of food, clothing,
and medical supplies to an estimated total of 1,400 American prisoners.

**********
December 26, 1969
Foreign Affairs: New Frontiers for the Seventies
by C. L. Sulzberger

PARIS -- For the first time since World War II ended with the world
dividing into ideological blocs a generalized effort to break down
artificial barriers appears to be underway. The 1970's may mark a
historic watershed in modifying outmoded philosophical and political
prejudices. ...

President Nixon, himself a veteran of John Foster Dulles and the old
morality, is taking a lead in the new pragmatic approach. He wants to
judge nations by their actions rather than their political credos. ...

While this movement remains a long time away, the trend toward
negotiations is increasingly evident, as for example the promising
SALT talks...

The new atmosphere of diplomatic exploration does not seem merely an
attempt to rework old positions and restate old formulas but, tentatively
at least, to try and find novel approaches acceptable to both sides and
applicable to new circumstances in a new decade. ...

**********
December 27, 1969
Troop Pullout Now is Supported in Poll in Upstate Section

The Student Moratorium Committee of Broome County reported here yesterday
that a four-day canvass among registered voters in a predominantly
Republican community near Binghamton. N. Y., had produced a majority
in favor of immediate withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. ...

The students said that of 1,169 Republicans reached, 610 or 52.2 per cent,
had signed Christmas cards bearing the message: "Mr. President -- Peace
this Christmas. Bring all the troops home now." ...

**********
December 28, 1969
[Editorial]
Moscow's Satellites Are Stirring

BELGRADE -- Something is stirring in Eastern Europe. Snow carpets the land
from Berlin to Moscow. Obedient to an impulse older than Christianity the
people turn toward merrymaking as the old year ends. But the distant scents
of spring, of political change, are strong.

Here, in the headquarters of the successful -- and defiant -- Communist
heretics, Yugoslavs believe they see more than an expected generation-old
restiveness under Russian control. The widening exchanges between East
and West are forcing a re-examination, in most cases still underground, of
the fundamentals of Soviet hegemony. ...

---
Joe Knapp    jmk@cbvox.att.com
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.elections,talk.abortion