The
Vietnam War
Centennial

Celebration

 

Distance lends enchantment and a historian sees things very differently from the people who made history.

 

RALPH E. HAMIL

 

The following documents are ex­cerpted from the appendix of His­tory of The Vietnam War Centennial Commission (2057-2077) by Uhuru Stuyvesant Chang (Sansan: Ecumenopolitan Press, 2081).

Chang, after several years' unre­warded efforts to find a publisher, fi­nally secured sufficient myriabucks to propagate his book himself. It en­joyed only modest sales in the United States but became a best­seller in Great China and Austra­lasia and was later translated into Sovangliski, Spanglish, Franglais, and Deutschlisch.

Chang held that the Vietnam War Centennial Commission, though ridiculed by contemporaries, served to reinforce the psychic barriers against a revival of the institution of warfare. "By memorializing the in­glorious, indecisive Vietnam War," he commented, "we are clamping another nail into Moloch's coffin."

Chang was killed during the early days of the Optiman Rebellion of 2088.

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 1

 

Public Law 134-49 (April 7, 2055)

Joint Resolution

To establish a commission to com­memorate the one hundredth anni­versary of the Vietnam War, and for other purposes.

Whereas the years 2057-2077 will mark the centennial of the Vietnam War, a supreme experience in our history as a nation; and

Whereas the sacrifice of our people in that great ordeal was se­vere in all sections of the land; and

Whereas the Vietnam War occa­sioned a severe internal crisis which, nonetheless, strengthened the na­tional and world desire for per­manent peace; and

Whereas the sons of Asia and America have subsequently helped construct what hopefully will prove to be such a peace; and

Whereas it is incumbent upon us as a nation to provide for the proper observances of the centennial years of this great event: Therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress as­sembled, That (a) in order to provide for appropriate, coordinated, world­wide and nationwide observances, there is hereby established a com­mission to be known as the Vietnam War Centennial Commission, here­after in this Act referred to as the "Commission," which shall be com­posed of members as follows:

(1) The President of the United States, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representa­tives, and Secretary of State, who shall be ex officio members of the Commission;

(2) Three Members of the Senate to be appointed by the President of the Senate;

(3) Three Members of the House of Representatives to be appointed .by the Speaker of the House of Rep­resentatives;

(4) Five Members to be ap­pointed by the President of the United States, two of whom shall be from the Department of State and two others of whom shall be from the Department of Defense;

(5) With the approval of the Sec­retary General of the United Na­tions, two Members from the Wash­ington Division of the World Library.

The President of the United States shall call the first meeting for the purpose of electing a Chairman. The Commission, at its discretion, may appoint honorary members, and may establish an Advisory Council to as­sist it in its work.

It shall be the duty of the Com­mission to prepare an overall pro­gram to include specific plans for commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the Vietnam War. In preparing its plans and programs, the Commission shall give due con­sideration to any similar and related plans advanced by international, transnational, national, megalopoli­tan, state, civic, patriotic, hereditary, and historical bodies, and may desig­nate special committees with repre­sentation from the above-mentioned bodies to plan and conduct specific ceremonies. The Commission may give suitable recognition such as the award of medals and certificates or by other appropriate means to persons and organizations for out­standing accomplishments in pre­serving and writing the history of the Vietnam War.

The President of the United States is authorized and requested to issue proclamations inviting the people of the United States to participate in and observe the centennial anniver­saries of significant historic events, the commemorations of which are provided for herein.

The President of the United States is authorized to direct the Secretary of State to enter into negotiations with accredited representatives of the Governments of the Australasian and Great China Regions, the Dol­phin Liberation Front, and the Link­age of Cybernetic Polities to seek means of jointly honoring the brave men, women, dolphins, and pre-sentient computers that participated in the Vietnam War.

There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such funds as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this resolution, not to exceed $10,000,000.

Approved April 7, 2055.

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 2

 

Memo from the President

To: Herb

From: NAR III

Subject: Attached Proclamation Date: 12/6/56

Must I sign this? The only good thing about that messy war was that my grandfather was lucky enough not to have been elected during it, thus avoiding the ruination of our family name. Do you know we're still paying for the damn thing? There are a couple dozen veterans and a few hundred widows and de­pendents drawing benefits. And we won't finally close the books until the century is out!

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 3

 

Office of the Assistant

to the President

for Peace and Freedom

December 6, 2056

 

Dear Mr. President:

Regarding the proclamation, I don't think we have much choice in the matter. Congress seemed to think that the Centennial observances would serve to immunize Americans against a reintroduction of war by ordering a revival of its boring and odious panoply.

As you point out, wars were ex­pensive. The Vietnam episode has cost this country some five terabucks. And the human casualty list is not yet closed; some weeks ago, four Vietnamese children did not live to regret their playing with an unex­ploded artillery shell. But, if it's any solace, the last pension for depen­dents of Revolutionary War veterans was paid out in 1911. The last pay­ments for the War of 1812 and the Mexican War were made in 1946 and 1962, respectively. Your own Administration is still paying for World War II and Korea.

A second beneficent output of the Vietnam War was that it forced my great-grandfather to join another hundred thousand refugees in the Great Emigration of '76. Thus, the fifty-fourth President of the United States was provided with this humble oriental braintruster.

S. Herbert Dinh

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 4

 

Vietnam War Centennial Proclamation No. 3883

By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation

 

The years 2057-2077 will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochinese War.

That war was America's longest tra­gic experience. But like all truly great tragedies, it carries with it an enduring lesson and a profound inspiration. It was a demonstration of heroism and sacrifice by beings of both sides who valued principle above life itself and whose devotion to duty is a profound part of history's heritage.

Military history records nothing finer than the courage and spirit dis­played at such battles as Pleiku, Hue, First and Second Khe Sanh, and Hamburger Hill. That America could produce men so valiant and so enduring is a matter for deep and abiding pride.

The divisions aroused by this war were fierce and deep. Yet, out of these divisions was born a new and tran­scending sense of unity and common national purpose. This unity, which inspired our ancestors to construct a greater, freer, and happier America, must be a source of inspiration as long as our country may last.

By a Joint Resolution approved on April 7, 2055, the one hundred and thirty-fourth Congress established the Vietnam War Centennial Com­mission to coordinate the nationwide and worldwide observances of the one hundredth anniversary of the Vietnam War. The Resolution au­thorized and requested the President to issue proclamations inviting the people of the United States to par­ticipate in those observations.

NOW THEREFORE I, NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER III, President of the United States of America, do hereby invite all the people of our country to take a direct and active part in the Centennial of the Viet­nam War.

I request all units and agencies of government, federal, megalopolitan, state, and local, and their officials, to encourage, foster, and participate in Centennial observances. And I espe­cially urge our nation's multiversities and think tanks, its libraries and mu­seums, its churches and religious bodies, its civic, service, and patriotic organizations, its learned and profes­sional societies, its arts, sciences, and industries, and its informational media, to plan and carry out their own appropriate Centennial observances during the years 2057 to 2077; all to the end of enriching our knowledge and appreciation of this great chapter in our nation's history and of making this memorable period truly a Centennial for all Americans.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Sear of the United States of Amer­ica to be affixed.

DONE this seventh day of Decem­ber in the Megalopolis of Boswash in 2056 C.E., and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eightieth.

Nelson A. Rockefeller III

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 5

 

Solarian HoloVision

"More Realistic Than Life Itself"

August 9, 2059

SHV's That Old Da Nang Gang

 

Dear Jane:

I have no moral qualms about cashing in on the public's nostalgia for a simpler day. I have a soft spot myself for the quaint old Soaring Sixties. Nonetheless, life in a twen­tieth century prison camp, under the very best of circumstances, was an experience far less idyllic than de­picted on TODNG. On my trips and in my dreams, I am haunted by the ghosts of once-real people who were unfortunate enough to have been born in a lousy century and die in a lousier war. To salve my conscience and appease these shades, please let your actors suffer a little—not enough to arouse the ire of the UNCC—but some. As your cast loves to say, I am rather "uptight."

McGeorge Murdock

President, SHV

(Editor's Note: This memo was ad­dressed to Miss Jane Fonda Rahman, Directress of That Old Da Nang Gang which appeared for three seasons on SHV.)

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 6

 

Auction of Americana:

Bargains Galore!

 

Well-preserved memorabilia and relics of the latter years of the last century will be offered for laughably low prices at the greatest collectors' happening since the fall of Rome. Special rates obtainable on a wide variety of political buttons and post­ers; irresistible slogans include "I Like Ike," "Peace Now," "Who Lost Laos?" "Remember Milwaukee," "Bomb Ho Chi Minh City," "Gooks Go Home," "I Crave Dave," "All The Way With JPK," "Hands Off Zimbabwe," and "The Baptist Is Back." Bulkier objets d'art include antique TVs, early refrigerators, pot pipes, bugging devices, englassed moon rocks, and souvenir baseballs signed by the 1988 World Champion Fairbanks Braves.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportu­nity is yours tomorrow, May 5, at the Americana Auction, the Four Plan­ets Antique Exhibition at Madison Square Garden, 7th Avenue and 78th Street, Manhattan 10024.

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 7

 

Invocation at Abrams' Tomb by Reverend James B. Smith, Rabbishop of the Judeo-Chris­tian Syncretist Ecumenical Church, on September 15, 2064, the Sesquicentennial of the birth of General Abrams.

 

"Dear Lord: Bless Thy Servant, General of the Army W. Creighton Abrams, a warrior in Thy Name, be­fore Bastogne, in Vietnam, and at the Defense of Sacramento. Bless also the valiant shades of those he commanded and those he opposed. And we especially implore, O Lord, help us preserve the peace of these last six decades. For Thy Name's sake. Amen."

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 8

 

Transcript From CBS HV Broadcast, 6:46 p.m. EST, April 25, 2066

 

"One hundred years ago today, an American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, remarked on the then-raging Vietnam War, 'If we were not in Vietnam, all that part of the world would be enjoying the obscurity it so richly deserves.'

"Today, it can hardly be said that Vietnam is an obscure part of our globe; though Sino-Malay race con­flicts seem to have outlasted equally heated squabbles elsewhere, there are some happier notes to report.

"A century ago, the area where I'm now standing was part of what was then called the 'Iron Triangle'. To the north was 'Zone C' and the `Fish Hook'; to the east was 'Zone D'. To the west was the 'Duck's Bill', later known as the 'Parrot's Beak'. All of these quaint, apparently in­nocuous expressions located bloody battlefields in what undoubtedly was the dreariest war ever conducted by American arms.

"Looking about this peaceful scene, it is difficult to imagine its being attacked by an American Army brigade whose commander could afterwards proclaim, 'I have entered the Iron Triangle and the Iron Triangle is no more!' Today, of course, viewing the graceful spiral towers on the outskirts of the Ho Chi Minh Sector of the Canton-Java megalopolis, it is immediately ap­parent that the 'Iron Triangle' is 'one with Nineveh and Tyre'.

"It is difficult to imagine that men fought and died not so terribly long ago to win the unassuming soil upon which I speak. As I holocast, other men disturb the bones of those who fell at Thermopylae, Waterloo, and Stalingrad for causes somewhat more noble. All died for what they felt were noble causes—causes en­nobled by contemporary sloganry. Such slogans tended to be rather grandiose during the last century. The American First Division that fought hereabouts answered to the motto `No Mission.Too Difficult; No Sacrifice Too Great; Duty First'. The nearby Fourth Division modestly prided itself on being 'Steadfast And Loyal'. The more businesslike First Cavalry Division simply proclaimed,' `Move In On 'Em And Kill 'Em'.

"No doubt their brave adversaries rallied to war cries no less militant or bizarre. But today such echoes have faded. Vietnam has taken its rightful place in the world. This nation is un­abashedly and especially proud of a native daughter born not fifty meters from where I stand: Luy Van Thuc, first, woman and first Vietnamese to be nominated by a major party for the office of Secretary General of the United Nations.

"This is Fred Godwin in Ben Suc, Vietnam."

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 9

Transcript From CBS HV Broadcast,

6:38 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2067

 

". . . Today, May 30, 2067 marks the two hundredth Memorial Day celebrated in this country. By Con­gressional fiat, it and Veterans Day, next October 24, will be the very last to be legally observed. Sponsors of the bill terminating the two holidays unanimously declared their contin­ued respect for the few remaining veterans of the Millenarian Disorders, now numbering sixteen. There was, however, a strong con­sensus that warfare was, like canni­balism and slavery, a dark aberration of the past and best forgotten.

"Nonetheless, though the tidal waves of yesteryear's wars are but mere ripples today, their ravages are, as yet, not toally repaired—as this re­port from Fred Godwin in Tay Ninh, Vietnam illustrates. . ."

"Tomorrow, May 31, will witness the completion of a ninety-four­-year-old dream. At 3:00 p.m., China Time, Pope Pham Cong Tac III, spiritual leader of eighteen million Cao Daists, will consecrate a mag­nificently imposing and beautiful building—half cathedral and half palace—as the new Holy See of his co-religionists. The vast structure, known locally as Vatican East, re­places the original gingerbread-like cathedral accidently destroyed by American bombs in 1973.

"The ruins of the old cathedral, lo­cated about a kilometer from here, have become a kind of Wailing Wall for Cao Daists across the System. There are few Americans among the many pilgrims, but surprisingly nu­merous Vietnamese can be heard praying for the soul of that errant bombardier.

"This is Fred Godwin in Tay Ninh, Vietnam."

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 10

 

Dedication of the "Horrors of War Museum" at My Lai, Vietnam By Adam Clayton Powell V—Only Earthman to Win the Nobel, Lenin, and Lin Piao Peace Prizes.

 

" 'Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' So Luke records Jesus upon the Cross. Thus blessed were His tormentors, soldiers of the Third Gallic Legion.

"In the 1900-odd years between that trivial episode and the minor outrage by the equally proud Ameri­can Division commemorated here today, hardly a single page of history remained unsplattered by the su­preme atrocity of war, or for that matter, capital punishment. But, like that earlier sacrifice, the innocent blood spilt here was not shed in vain. It helped remind the world that the human toll of the best-intentioned crusades might be as little justified as any exaction by Philistine, Hun, or Nazi.

"I dedicate this 'Horrors of War Museum' in the firm hope that ideal­ists and philanthropists of the future will uncover no opportunity to con­tribute new exhibits to this shameful monument to man's inhumanity."

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 11

Excerpt from Official Guide, 2069
Moon's Fair (English Edition), Vietnam War Centennial

 

This is a small exhibit located just off Gagarin Levibelt in the shadow of the Cyborg Pavilion. Its shape is that of a contemporary American "Special Forces Camp." The pavilion's purpose is to remind fairgoers that Armstrong's Landing could only temporarily divert attention from the 1969 Summer-Fall Campaign of Earth's third most expensive war.

Piped music brings the visitor a medley of such contemporary favor­ites as "The Ballad of the Green Ber­ets," "We'll Hang Le Duan From a Sour Apple Tree," and "Mademoi­selle from Phnom Penh."

The simulated "Jungle Combat Game," which reproduces the fa­mous "Charge Up Hamburger Hill," is by far the most popular of several simulated games.

 

Highlights

 

THE JUNGLE COMBAT GAME: Everyone will enjoy playing this near-perfect hallucinogenic sim­ulation of the heroic "Charge Up Hamburger Hill." You, yourself, are an American "grunt" struggling to stay alive on the man-eating moun­tain. Admission limited to persons over eighteen Earth years with Car­dio-Reliability Indices (CRIs) of .87 or above.

MADAME MINH'S MASSAGE PARLOR: American soldiers back from "search-and-destroy" missions liked to relax at old-fashioned mas­sage parlors run by beautiful "dragon ladies." Let supple Asian hands rub away your aches and pains under Luna's one-sixth gravity.

FIND COSVN: U.S. President Nixon once ordered a whole army to go search for COSVN, the mys­terious North Vietnamese headquar­ters. Perhaps you will succeed where he failed. If you can raise the fifty-star Old Glory over COSVN's walls, you receive an embossed certificate granting associate membership in the Sons (or Daughters) of the Cam­bodian Incursion. CRI limitation at .94.

SOUTHWARD HO: You are a North Vietnamese truck driver on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and must pi­lot your convoy past fierce Meo tribesmen, crewcutted spy chiefs, and South Viet paratroops—always under a fiery tempest of napalm and HE. Persons with CRIs of .89 or be­low not admitted.

TEST YOUR GRIP: In the last half of the Vietnam War many South Vietnamese were forced to travel clutching to the skids of U.S.helicopters. You, the player, are being evacuated from "Fire Base Liz" hundreds of meters above Lao­tian jungles. Persons with CRIs of .88 or below not admitted.

Other hallucinogenic games in­clude: GUNSHIP PILOT, CAP­TURE THE EMBASSY, YANKEE DIE, ROBIN HOOD AND THE U MINH FORESTERS, and THE LOVES OF HANOI HANNAH.

IMPORTANT: Under the provi­sions of the International War Toy Convention of 2004, children under eighteen are barred from admission to most of the above-mentioned ex­hibits. The pavilion souvenir stand is, moreover, not permitted to sell any representations of weaponry or war equipment other than uniforms.

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 12

 

December 6, 2069

(Lunation 1252)

 

OFFICIAL INFORMAL

Muhamad Ali Olsen

Vietnam Centennial Commission 1231 B Street NW

Washington, Boswash 20099

USA, Earth

 

Dear Muhi:

When, oh when, will the Commis­sion inform me, a poor civil servant, what I am to do with 21,473 leftover green berets and 6,520 pairs of black pajamas now that the Moon's Fair is closed? Were it not for the anti-lit­tering provisions in the Fair's ground rules, I would dump them down the nearest crater—a green and black splotch to shine down on the Earth forever. The alternative is to ship them back from Tranquillity Base at the horrendous price quoted in my last formal missal.

Forget the newspad bubbling about how Luna has begun its sec­ond century on an upbeat note thanks to the big lift of the Fair. If you ask me, trying to tie our little Vietnam pod onto the moon landing liner was moronic. Having the Com­mission open a concession stand, much less a pavilion, was imbecilic. And for yours truly to have agreed to manage the greatest flop since the Elizabethan Diamond Jubilee dis­qualifies me as brain donor to an un­der-achieving chimp.

When will I get word on the sur­plus gear so that I can leave this acned planet?

Sincerely,
Robert Morris
Manager, Vietnam War Pavilion
123 Clarke Avenue
Tranquillity Base, MT, Moon

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 13

Excerpt from Boswash News Times
Telepad: May 26, 2072

 

VIET, US UNITS MARK SECOND KHE SAHN

Detachments from the UN's 7th Spaceborne (101st U.S.) and the 13th Shielded (325th Vietnamese) Divi­sions paraded down Avenue St. Daniel Berrigan in colorful ceremo­nies marking the hundredth anniver­sary of the Second Siege of this beautiful metropolis of Khe Sanh. Parent units of the two divisions fought on opposite sides of the histo­ric battle following the ill-fated U.S. "incursion" into North Vietnam af­ter peace talks broke down over a dispute about war prisoners. The fall of Khe Sanh signaled the beginning of unprecedented convulsions in the United States. The "Milwaukee Massacre" evoked the "Berkeley So­viet," which in turn brought about the short-lived "Military Council for National Renaissance." Civil War was forestalled only by UN inter­vention on behalf of President Lindsay's Democratic-Republican coalition government.

Meanwhile, at Arlington Ceme­tery today, Vietnamese Consul Gen­eralissimo Nguyen Tho Giap placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Five Unknowns. Some hours earlier, his American counterpart, Kimberley Cotrell, paid similar homage before the Eternal Flame in front of Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum in Hanoi.

At the Peace Statue on Alcatraz Is­land, however, android militants dis­rupted a folk mass.

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 14

 

Remarks of Senator Amund­sen Drury (Eupsychic Biocrat of Marie Byrd Land) U.S. Congress. Senate., 144th Cong., 2nd sess., April 29, 2076. Congressional Record, C, 5709.

 

"Madame President, on my recent visit to Asia, I spent several days touring the impossibly overcrowded stretches of the Canton-Java mega­lopolis in pursuit of my eccentric hobby of collecting histories and memorabilia of the Vietnam War. My colleagues have often expressed considerable amusement at this strange impulse of mine.

"While I was deeply impressed by the traditional hospitality of my hosts and the total lack of bitterness over our past actions, I was deeply distressed at the complete disinterest in memorializing the brave men from many lands who fought across Indochina for an entire generation. At the la Drang Housing Complex, site of the 1965 battle, no space can be found for even a simple plaque. There is a faded plaque at Dak To but only in Vietnamese, a language virtually extinct, and even it has sev­eral letters missing. At A Shau there is nothing. At Pleiku, nothing sur­vives to denote a historic battlesite.

"I do not ask for tourmobiles or fried chicken palaces or hallucinoge­nic simulators or dung-encrusted statuary though Lord knows—even in Antarctica—we have plenty we could export. I do ask why the Vietnam War Centennial Commission, whose profligate expenditure of taxpayers' dollars is a national disgrace, has not been able to cajole local authorities in Vietnam to put up a few in­expensive commemorative tablets.

"It once was said that Vietnam was a land with more history than a small country could properly absorb. Madame President, no visitor to Vietnam could ever believe that to­day.

"One hundred years ago next month, President Lindsay made his famous address announcing a suc­cessful ceasefire—how The Mekong River once more ‘flows unvexed to the sea.' For myself, I wish that I could vex those living along the Me­kong to properly attest to the cour­age of fallen heroes."

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 15

Transcript From CBS HV Broadcast,

10:03 p.m. EDT, May 18, 2076

 

"Today, May 18, 2076, marks the one hundredth anniversary of the ceasefire that ended, for America at least, the Vietnam War. Despite his antiwar sentiments, the recently in­stalled President John Lindsay had been forced to resume tactical air at­tacks in South Vietnam, mostly from bases in 'Thailand, to protect the 50,000 beleaguered troops left in Vietnam by his impeached predeces­sor. In early May preliminary cease­fire accords were reached at the re­sumed peace talks in Paris. In a dra­matic afternoon television address, Lindsay told the nation that its long agony was over. Tonight, CBS will switch over to two dimensional tele­vision to bring you excerpts from its nightly news broadcast reporting the events of that momentous day."

 

The CBS Evening News

With Walter Cronkite

Tuesday, May 18, 1976

 

ANNOUNCER: Direct from our newsroom in New York, this is the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite—and Nelson Benton in Berkeley, California, Dan Rather in Washington, Roger Mudd in Paris, Don Webster in Saigon, Ike Pappas in New York, Terry Drinkwater in San Clemente, California, and Hal Walker in Johnson City, Texas.

CRONKITE: Good evening. The word that the nation had so long awaited came today. At one o'clock Eastern Time, President Lindsay told us that the country's longest war was over. All U.S. troops on the Southeast Asian mainland will be out by September first. All bombings have ceased. All prisoners of war will be released. A naval armada will op­erate unharassed taking home troops and—through the rest of the year—any Vietnamese who wish to follow. There will be no "bloodbath." In a moving appeal, heard or seen by a TV and radio audience of some one hundred and eighty million Ameri­cans, the President urged his succes­sors never to forget the bitter lessons of Vietnam.

LINDSAY: . . . There was an end to that tunnel and there is light at the end. It is not the warm glow of victory but neither is it the flush of a shameful defeat. It is rather the flaming determination of our whole people to never again take up deadly arms in defense of causes ungermane to our true national interests. I pray that no one who occupies this high office may ever come to believe that this determination may be safely dis­regarded ...

CRONKITE: CBS will rebroadcast the President's address immedi­ately following this program.

The initial reaction to the sudden speech was stunned disbelief. Al­though peace rumors had initiated a wave of buying on the New York Stock Exchange, the lateness of the truce announcement means that its full impact on the market will only be felt tomorrow. The Dow Jones In­dustrial Average was up 12.69 at 1069.47 with the ticker closing fif­teen minutes late.

In the colleges of the nation, stu­dents cramming for final exams took the announcement of Vietnam Peace with astonishing detachment. From the Berkeley campus of the Univer­sity of California, Nelson Benton re­ports.

BENTON: In 1964, riots at Berke­ley initiated a decade of student un­rest. The college itself only reopened this semester after a three-and-a-­half-year closure. Evidence of the destruction wrought during its "So­viet" period still abounds—in the physical damage and in the numbed expressions of the townspeople.

Today, with the Vietnam conflict halted, one would expect that anti­war activists would be ecstatic, yet business as normal seems to be the rule here. SDS spokesman Mark Meyer explains why.

MEYER: I think it's 'coz we've had so damn many peace rumors and hopes dashed—a lot of people still don't believe it. Also there's some feeling that the straights figure now if the war's over, all of us will shave and cut our hair and give up pot and it'll be the "Fabulous Fifties" all over again. Meet Son of Organiza­tion Man. Bleep. It won't be—ending the war was just item number one on a long, long list of things that have to be changed. And you can tell that to all your friends out there in Televi­sion Land.

CRONKITE: Elsewhere in the nation, however, there were thou­sands of instances of spontaneous demonstrations of gratitude. But, whereas most political demonstra­tions are usually almost all black, all white, all young, or all middle­aged—today's celebrants seemed re­markably representative of the entire community from which they'd been drawn. Dan Rather reports from La­fayette Park in Washington, D.C.

RATHER: Since 1:00 p.m., an es­timated 25,000 people have assem­bled outside the White House in an apparent hope to see President Lindsay. They form what is probably the most jubilant crowd seen here since V-J Day. In fact, the similarity of the two occasions has led some of the more cynical celebrants to hoist signs proclaiming, "Happy V-V Day."

Many of the people here are gov­ernment employees who simply never went back to work after lunch. Throughout Washington, the instinct that drives Americans to the White House at solemn moments of history operated to empty government of­fices, just as it did on a Friday after­noon in November, so many, many years and tears ago. This is Dan Rather outside the White House in Washington.

CRONKITE: A bittersweet, mari­juana-scented celebration that in­cluded all ranks up to three-star gen­eral is said to have taken place behind the barbed wire that sur­rounds the Pentagon. This could not be confirmed at press time.

Marvin Kalb, however, reports that at least one Government De­partment is working overtime.

KALB: Telegrams and messages of congratulations from local em­bassies have been arriving here at the State Department all afternoon. Canadian Prime Minister Stanfield, Chancellor Barzel of West Germany, French President Pompidou, British Prime Minister Heath, Pope Clem­ent, Israeli Prime Minister Sapir, President Sadat of the Arab Union and dozens of other world leaders have all expressed great praise of President Lindsay. Many add their heartfelt hopes that the United States, freed from its Vietnam ad­venture and its domestic troubles, will again be able to assume a major role in common efforts to solve the world's great problems.

Far more stinting in praise is this somewhat truculent statement by Premier Mazurov: "It is greatly to be hoped that the American aggressors have learned their lesson—that all their sinister schemes and massive weaponry could not prevail in the face of the united will of the In­dochinese peoples. The socialist community must remain vigilant, however, against the kind of re­vanchism that disturbs our relations with the Federal Republic of Ger­many. It will be the duty of all peace-loving forces to insure that af­ter its wounds are nursed, the wolf does not emerge from his den seek­ing easier prey. For the moment, we congratulate President Lindsay and hope his resolve for peace contin­ues."

This is Marvin Kalb, CBS News, The State Department.. .

 

DOCUMENT NUMBER 16

Excerpt from Boswash News Times
Telepad: June 29, 2077

 

It Happened on This Day June 29

1577-500 years ago—Peter Paul Rubens is born.

1927-150 years ago—President Calvin Coolidge catches seven trout.

1977-100 years ago—North Viet­nam & U.S. exchange ratifications of treaty formally ending Vietnam hos­tilities.

2002-75 years ago—Kings Philip VI of Spain & Mohammed VI of Morocco open Gibraltar Tunnel.

2027-50 years ago—Cheetah Ham Muggs becomes first chimpanzee to graduate from a U.S. multiversity.

2052-25 years ago—College of La­ity opens debate on proposed im­peachment of Pope John XXVI.

2967-10 years ago—First System­wide pilots' strike shuts down com­mercial spacelines.