THE
*
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
64th Year No. 48
NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 1963
Per Copy 15 <t
Gov. Egan Demands Shooting Down
Of Russ Planes That Overfly Carriers
J
PHOENIX, Ariz. W — Gov. Wm. |
Egan of Alaska went one step fur- j
ther Sunday and demanded that !
American fighting forces shoot
down Russian planes that fly over
U.S. aircraft carriers, “regardless
of where they are.”
Egan previously called for shoot
ing down Soviet planes over Alas
ka. This came after two Russian
planes were detected over his
state’s Kuskokwim Bay last March
14.
The Democratic governor, arriv
ing for the Western Governors
Conference, said the firing on Rus
sian planes over international
waters might be considered an act
of war.
But he said it’s necessary to
“show Mr. Khrushchev that we
mean business.”
Referring to his demand to halt
carrier flyovers by the Russians,
he said, “I don’t see that we have
any alternative if we are going
to show the Russians this can’t
be done.”
Egan protested anew what he
termed the lack of air defenses
along Alaska’s coastline. He told
a news conference that all present
American air bases are inland.
The governor said the March
flyover pointed up the need for
fighter planes along the western
and northwestern coasts. He said
that if they had been available
there last month, they probably
would have brought down the Rus
sian planes.
“I don’t see how our nation can
fail to take drastic action in a
case like this,” he said.
Egan said the people of Alaska
have the feeling that their remote
state has been written off mili
tarily.
“The people feel they are con
sidered expendable,” he said.
Egan said he wrote Secretary of
Defense McNamara after the March
flyover to ask for a strengthening
of the Alaskan frontier defenses
but that the reply “didn’t say any
thing.”
He said McNamara said in es
sence that his department would
review the matter but he didn’t
deal directly with any specific
matters.
Egan said he would ask the
Western Governors Conference,
which opened today, to adopt a re
solution supporting his plea for
stronger defenses for his state.
For one thing, he said, Washing
ton “could sacrifice some military
components” on the mainland in
I
New Cease-Fire
Promise Made in Laos
VIENTIANE, Laos U!) — With
a new cease-fire promise from the
Pathet Lao, neutralist Premier
Souvanna Phouma says “all hopes
are not lost to restore peace” in
northern Laos.
Souvanna appeared doubtful,
however, that the latest stop-gap
arrangement will work any better
than last week’s cease-fire. It was
broken within hours.
Souvanna reported after a fly
ing visit to his half-brother, Prince
Souphanouvong, that the pro-com
munist command agreed to halt
its drive against the Plaine Dos
Jarres until after the Premier re
turns to the area in a day or so
to resume peace efforts.
The Premier said Gen. Kong
Le, commander of the beleaugered
neutralist force, also was ordered
to observe a temporary cease-fire.
i
order to bolster defenses along
the Alaskan frontier.
On another front, Gov. Grant
Sawyer of Nevada handed in a
report to the opening session on
the heavy ownership of land by
the federal government in the far
west.
“Most of us are, or soon will be,
running out of room,” he said.
Sawyer, 44-year-old Democrat
serving his second term, urged
the governors to start thinking of
doing something about the situa
tion. He cited these figures on fed
eral holdings of total land areas:
Alaska, 93.8 per cent; Nevada,
86.1; Utah, 67.3; Idaho, 64.1; Cali
fornia, 49.6.
Otuside the conference itself, the
western governors gave these views
on 1964 presidential prospects:
Republican Gov. Paul Fannin of
Anzona predicted that Sen. Barry
Goldwater will win the Republican
nomination if he decides to go
after it. He said Goldwater’s pop
ularity has boomed in the past
year; that as he sees it now, the
Arizona senator could carry the
south, California and most of the
western states.
Gov. Mark Hatfield of Oregon
sometimes mentioned as a possible
Rockefeller runing mate, said if
the nominating convention were
held right away the delegates
would probably elect Rockefeller
because they consider him more
j electable.
Camera Will Search
Ocean Bottom for Thresher
WASHINGTON <#> — Navy
| ships trying to find the sunken
j submarine Thresher have located
six ocean - bottom proturbances
rated as “real good prospects”
which will be examined by under
water cameras.
The Atlantis II, an oceano
graphic research ship, will lower
special cameras about 8,400 feet
to the floor of the Atlantic tomor
row, in an effort to determine
whether one of these objects is the
atomic submarine which sank off
the Massachusetts coast April 10
with 129 men aboard.
Capt. C. B. Bishop, a submarine
expert in the Office of the Chief
of Naval Opeartions, told report
ers today that Navy ships which
have been combing the bottom
with fathometers, have detected a
dozen “anomalies” which are rated
as worth closer investigation.
Of these, six are considered
“good bets,” Bishop said.
The dozen objects — which
Bishop said could turn out to be
rock outcroppings or the sunken
wrecks of other ships—are within a
100 square miles some 220 miles
east of Cape Cod. Navy vessels
have been sweeping the area for
about 12 days.
WEATHER OUTLOOK
Continued cloudy with occasional
light snow. Partly cloudy tonight.
Low tonight 31, high tomorrow 38.
In the last 24 hours: High of 34,
low of 24. Max. wind 18 mph from
the NE. Sunrise at 4:00 a.m., sun
set 7:59 pjm.
Temps, a year ago today: High
of 27, low of 16. Extremes on this
date since 1907: High of 54 in
1940, low of -8 in 1960.
In Nenana today it was raining
and had a high temperature of 36
above with NNW winds 10 miles
an hour.
No ICBM Bases
Planned for Alaska
WASHINGTON UP> — The De
fense Department has no plans
now to put Intercontinental Bal
listic Missiles (ICBMS) in Alaska,
Sen. Warren Magnuson said today.
Magnuson made public a letter
from Defense Secretary Robert S.
McNamara saying ICBMS can be
used more effectively and at less
expense in other areas.
World-wide disposition of ICBMS
is continually under review, in
cluding the possibility of basing
them in Alaska, McNamara said.
“The range of our ICBMS is,
however, such as to permit their
effective employment from the
United States proper,” McNamara !
said.
“Since they can be so employed
at less expense than jwould be the
case in Alaska and other regions,
present planning does not contem
plate ICBM bases in that state,”
he added.
Magnuson, after the recent So
viet flyover of Alaska asked the|
Defense Department for a report
on the condition of military forces
in Alaska and plans for the future.
McNamara said that the De
fense Department lias sizable forces !
in Alaska including the “most
sophisticated* air defense weapons
in the Army inventory.”
u.b. forces in Alaska, he said,
“are tailored to meet the current
Soviet threat.” For many years,
he added, a close watch on Soviet
military activity in the area oppo
site Alaska has been maintained.
“Considerable knowledge of So
viet installations and activities in
the Chukotski Peninsula and ad
jacent Siberian areas does exist,”
McNamara said, adding:
“Any step-up in military acti
vity in Siberia would most certain
ly be viewed with deep concern.”
However, the secretary said, in
dications are that the Soviets are
currently “preoccupied with the
United States as a whole and the
Alaskan area has not been singled
out for special consideration in
their offensive plans.”
Any indication of an increase in
Soviet capability for attack against
Alaska “will surely be detected,”
the letter said. I
McNamara said both the Army
and Air Force have “nuclear and
conventional capable” forces in
Alaska and that the newly formed
U.S. Strike Command “has the
capability to augment rapidly the
Alaskan Command with significant
numbers of Army and Air Force
units, nuclear or conventional.”
68 More Reservations Made
For Malaspina's Inaugural Run
JUNEAU UP> — Sixty-eight more
persons have made firm reserva
tions to make the formal inaugu
ral run on the state ferry Mal
aspina April 27-May 2, Director
Morris Ford of the Alaska Travel
Division said today.
The new reservations bring to
156 the number of persons who
will be aboard the Malaspina on
a trip which will touch at all of
ports served by the new Southeast
Alaska Marine Highway system.
MOSCOW UD — the Soviet
Union launched another unmanned
satellite today in its scientific
Cosmos series. This one was
named Cosmos 15.
The Tass news agency said the
satellite carried scientific appara
tus designed to continue space re
search in' accordance with the
Soviet program announced March
16, 1962.
The launching was described as
routine.
Canada's Liberal Leader
Lester Pearson Sworn
In as Prime Minister
OTTAWA — Smiling and
jaunty, Liberal leader Lester B.
Pearson was sworn in today as
Canada’s 14th Prime Minister.
As he took over from Conserva
tive John Diefenbaker. Pearson
released the names of the members
of his new cabinet.
Paul Martin, Liberal specialist
on foreign affairs, was named
Foreign Secretary as expected.
Lionel Cheverier, named Jus
tice Minister, would act as Prime
Minister in Pearson's absence as
a senior member of the cabinet.
Pearson first met alone with
Gov. Gen. Georges Vanier and
took the oath of office. Then he
introduced the members of the
cabinet, who took their oaths.
Although the Liberals defeated
the conservatives in the April 8
elections, they did not win a ma
jority. Canada thus has its second
minority administration in 10
months.
21 Americans
Are Released
From Cuban Jails
MIAMI, Fla. (iP) — Internation
al prisoner negotiator James Dono
| van flew into Florida today with
I 21 pale, skinny Americans liber
i atecl from Cuban jails,
j He said six others declined to
return to the United States.
Three of these, Donovan said,
were native born Americans who
chose to fly to South America. The
other three were Cuban-Americans
who chose to stay in Cuba.
Donovan would neither identify
the Americans nor state their rea
sons for deciding against a return
to their homeland.
Several other Cubans, natural
ized Americans, remained in Fidel
Castro’s prisons. But Donovan
said, “I have arranged for review
of these various other cases.”
Mrs. Rafael Del Pino, wife of
one of the men expected to return,
broke into tears when the last
man left the plane at Homestead i
Air Force Base south of here.
“I got a letter from Mr. Dono
van saying my husband was cer
tain to be on the list,” she sobbed.
Del Pmo, a Cuban native but
a naturalized U.S. citizen, was shot
down while attempting to land a
light plane near Havana in July
1960. The Cuban government
charged that he was trying to fly
anti-Castro Cubans off the island.
James Donovan, New York at
torney, returned with the prison
ers, completing what he said would
be his last mercy mission to the
Communist island.
The plane on which the Ameri
cans arrived had flown to Havana
early this morning, carrying 11,500
pounds of baby food—part of the
$53 million in foods and medicines
that Donovan traded Castro for
the 1,113 Bay of Pigs prisoners.
Most of the Americans were
sentenced on charges of counter
revolutionary activity. Seventeen
of them are known to have been
held in a special compound on the
Isle of Pines.
The Red Cross announced that
with the cargo delivered in today’s
flight and by the freighter Amer
ican Surveyor now unloading in
Havana Harbor, $38 million in
goods will have been delivered to
Castro.
Donovan also said 1,000 Cuban
refugees will leave Cuba on the
American Surveyor.
Nikita Blames
U.S. for Everything
Wrong in World
MILAN (iP* — Soviet Premier
Khrushchev warned today that
settlement of the problem of di
vided Germany, and especially
Berlin, must take precedence over
disarmament and other burning
world issues.
Only if this East-West question
is solved, he told the newspaper
II Giorno, would others fall into
place.
Khrushchev blamed the United
States for everything going wrong,
and especially the deadlocked dis
armament negotiations.
If the United States would just
accept the Soviet’s word without
insisting on inspections, the Pre
mier said, an agreement to end
nuclear tests could easily be ne
gotiated.
He also repeated the Soviet
:hreat, made before Geneva, to
withdraw its offer of two or three
nuclear inspections a year if the
United States continued to insist
Dn seven or eight.
He himself, said Khrushchev, did
not believe in God, but those who
did — obviously meaning Presi
dent Kennedy—had a moral duty
not to build nuclear weapons.
The Soviet chieftain denounced
the stationing of nuclear subma
rines in the Mediterranean, “al
most under the walls of the Vati
can,” despite the peace pleas of
Pope John XXIII.
He claimed the subs and the
U.S. insistence on sending nuclear
warheads to Canada were intend
ed to divert any Soviet reprisals
from the United States to its allies.
Khrushchev’s giving an interview
to an Italian newsman was con
sidered strategically timed to af
fect the Italian parliamentary elec
tions next Sunday.
In Washington, U.S. officials
said they found nothing particu
larly new in Khrushchev’s state
ments.
On what he considered the key
! question of world peace, Khrush
chev said:
“The tension in tne center of
Europe cannot be eliminated with
out the conclusion of a German
peace treaty and the normaliza
tion on this basis of the situation
in West Berlin.
And without tranquility in
Europe there will not be tran
quility in the world. On the con
trary, the consolidation of peace
in Europe, including a treaty of
non-aggression between the coun
tries of NATO and the Warsaw
Pact, would serve to achieve an
understanding on other essential
problems on which general peace
depends, and above all on the prob
lem of disarmament.
“The fact is that in our epoch,
during which such tremendous
means of war have been created,
there is no middle ground be
tween wrar and peace.”
YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
American League
New York 7, Washington 6
Baltimore 7-0, Cleveland 0-2
Detroit 5, Boston 2
Minnesota 7-0, Chicago 0-8
Los Angeles 6, Kansas City 2
National League
New York 8-9, Milwaukee 5-2
Philadelphia 4-5, St. Louis 3-1
Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 3
Chicago 4-2, San Francisco 1-3
Los Angeles 11-6, Houston 3-5
Pacific Coast League
Dallas-Ft. Worth 5-2, Tacoma 1-6
Oklahoma City 15, Spokane 4
Hawaii 7, San Diego 5
Portland 12, Denver 11