– NBC Nightly News – October 6, 1970 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
October was shaping up to being a confused, violent and ultimately sad month in 1970.
With word that Israeli-Egyptian talks could resume for another 90 days was met with suspicion by the U.S., amid reports that Egyptian forces had moved in missiles along the Suez Canal and the U.S. was accusing the Egyptians of serious and continuing violations of the ceasefire. Because of that, the U.S. State Department announced it was breaking off the current talks on the Middle East, being held in New York by the deputies of the Big 4 Ambassadors.
The White House announced earlier in the day that President Nixon would observing the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations by going there to address the General Assembly on October 23rd.
The White House also announced that President Nixon would address the nation the following evening (October 7th) regarding the situation in Vietnam. Nixon made an unusual appearance before the Press Corps to announce it would include a major new proposal for the Paris Peace Talks as well as, as Nixon put it – the most comprehensive statement ever made on this subject since the beginning of the conflict – it will not be limited to Vietnam, but will cover all of Southeast Asia, and that the proposal was to be laid on the conference table in Paris the following morning.
News of the crash of a charter airplane which carried 30 people connected with the Wichita State University Football team earlier in the week. Investigators indicated there may have been some wrong-doing in the crash of the plane. FAA officials said the plane may have been taken out of mothballs just before the flight, that its engines may not have been powerful enough, and that the crew may not have enough Mountain flying experience. The plane crashed near Loveland Pass, flying at low altitude. The man handling the charter of the plane was the school Athletic Director, but he died in the crash, so it was doing to be difficult to find out just how thoroughly Wichita State checked into the aircraft it leased and the qualifications of the flying crew.
And the shadow of the events at Kent State earlier in the year showed up in the news this day. The Ohio National Guard asked the Army to supply them with short-range non-lethal arms in the wake of the criticisms of the Kent State disaster. But Adjutant General Sylvester Del Corso said that the Ohio Guard units would continue to carry high-power rifles and load them on command.
All that, and a lot more for this October 6th (also a Tuesday) in 1970, as presented by the NBC Nightly News.
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