. . . or click on the link here for Audio Player – NBC Nightly News – November 11, 1970 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
A November 11th in 1970 that passed into history with scant mention of what that day meant. Maybe because we were knee-deep in Vietnam and up to our eyeballs in excuses. Not actually a day to honor the cause of Peace when we were busy fighting yet another war. A world without conflict and strife was becoming less the norm and more the anomaly. In this case, people were asked to pay special attention to the 1600 soldiers listed as missing and presumed POW‘s of the North Vietnamese.
But on this November 11th in 1970 we were busy dealing with Labor issues in the States, with an Auto Workers Strike heading for tentative agreement between the Auto Makers and the UAW. Meanwhile, the Railroads were threatening to go on strike, and that had everybody worried.
A diplomatic nightmare with two U.S. Army Generals being held for questioning by the Soviets some 20 days before being released. Funeral arrangements for Former French President and War hero Charles DeGaulle and the flood of dignitaries expected to attend the simple, yet jammed memorial. A potential kerfuffle was developing between Poland and West Germany over territory the Germans claimed was theirs and was part of a settlement at the end of World War 2 where Poland was assuming custody of the land. Shades of 1939? Hopefully not. Cooler heads were prevailing over this one.
And the Supreme Court was getting ready to hear cases pertaining to Conscientious Objectors and the Military Draft. Seems many of the CO’s weren’t objecting to War in general, just Vietnam in particular. The speculation was rife over whether or not SCOTUS would go along with that selective objection. The Nixon White house chimed in, asking the Court not to rule on appeals such as that one. The reason being, if SCOTUS ruled in favor of the C.O.’s that would mean you could pick and choose the wars you were objecting to and, as the White House reasoned, that was causing a moral question to be trumped by a political one.
And that’s just a slice of what went on this particular November 11th in 1970 as presented by The NBC Nightly News.
