March 22, 1970

Nixon says he will ask Cong to help state and local authorities deal with recent wave of bombing and bomb threats such as those that have plagued NY, news conf

Nixon says it is difficult to appraise new developments but US has established relations with new Govt, news conf; White House sources clarify statement

M Frankel comment on coup; Norodom Sihanouk illus

NYC lr carriers shout down Govt proposal for return to work pending settlement talks and vote to continue strike at noisy meeting; Johnson presents Govt plan; he gets ovation; faces arrest for defying ct antistrike injunction; he and other Branch 36 officers get subpoenas to appear in Fed Ct to show cause why they should not be held in contempt; Rademacher, who had promised Adm he would 'sell this pact' to negotiate, is hanged in effigy at meeting; other demonstrations noted; strikers angered by Nixon Adm condition that they must return to jobs before negotiations begin; postal clerks and drivers vote to strike; strike spreads to other cities, including Detroit, Denver and Minneapolis; nearly half of nation without mail service; only South unaffected; deputy dir for PO operations in NY region repts situation worsens; Manhattan-Bronx Postal Union members illus voting strike

Nixon, at impromptu news conf, says if strike continues another day, 'l will meet my constitutional obligation to see to it that the mails go through'; does not say whether he will use troops; in statement urges strikers to remember their oath to Const and to return to work; use of mil personnel seen only alternative open to Adm; comdrs of Natl Guard and Army Reserve conf at Pentagon; Rademacher sends telegram to 6,500 branches of Lr Carriers Assn throughout nation urging return to work; text; at news conf says he opposes use of troops; offers to resign after strike is over if 'sufficient number' of union members demand it; leaders of organized labor in NYC express support for strikers