August 3, 1972

group of Dem and Repub Sens, with Nixon Adm support, plans to introduce a resolution containing number of reservations about arms limitation accords with USSR; official sources say that Adm backs reservations in hope they will strengthen US hand in 2d round of SALT talks; say resolution will be offered by Sen Jackson with Sens Scott and Allott as co-sponsors; reservations reptdly will warn USSR not to take advantage of period of negotiations for comprehensive treaty covering offensive weapons by deploying improved weapons that could threaten Amer land-based forces; also will urge Nixon Adm, in forthcoming talks on offensive weapons, to insist that forces of each side be roughly equal

Aug 3: N Vietnamese gunners, Aug 2, fire about 2,000 rounds at S Vietnamese marines fighting to retake Quangtri city; Saigon command spokesman says it is the heaviest enemy arty bombardment since the S Vietnamese launched their drive to retake the city; Saigon command repts its forces, supported by US B-52 strikes, have recaptured Fire Base Bastogne; S Vietnamese troops continue sweep of Caibe; US planes fly more than 260 strikes against N Vietnamese targets; map

C S Lardiere, wife of organized-crime figure J Lardiere, is killed by poison on July 2 in her home in Dover Township (NJ), less than 2 hrs after having soft drink; police are investigating as if death is murder, but have no suspects or motives; analysis of remaining contents of bottle reveals arsenic; mfr of soft drink tells police that arsenic is not used at plant and could not have gotten into drink accidentally; husband J Lardiere is currently serving indefinite term in Yardville Reformatory (NJ) for refusing to testify before state comm on crime in northern NJ; is reputed to be soldier in alleged Mafia family of late V Genovese

US Sen, Aug 2, adopts, 49-47, Sen Brooke amendment to mil procurement bill requiring withdrawal of all US troops from Indochina in 4 mos, subject to the concurrent release of POWs; action taken over strenuous opposition of White House; amendment will go to a Sen-HR conf com; it is doubtful that it will survive in a conf between the 2 conservative armed services coms, which have tended to back the Nixon Adm's Vietnam policy; Brooke amendment is virtually identical to one Sen adopted 10 days ago but which then died when Sen defeated the foreign aid bill to which it was attached; White House officials lobbied intensively against the bill throughout the day; votes on bill by various Sens noted; White House, which would have preferred no amendment at all, decided to fight Brooke proposal with a pro-Adm amendment offered by Sen Aiken; Aiken amendment, providing for withdrawal of all forces in 4 mos, subject to an internationally supervised cease-fire and release of POWs, was adopted by vote of 50 to 47, but Sen then adopted Brooke amendment, offered as a substitute for Aiken proposal

Natl Fertility Study links plummeting US birth rate and decline in unwanted births to dramatic increase in married couples' use of 3 most effective methods of birth control--oral contraceptives, sterilization and intrauterine devices; comparison of data gathered in '65 and '70 for fertility study reveals that nearly 6 in 10 married couples using-contraceptives were relying on 1 of 3 methods by end of '70; '65 study repts fewer than 4 in 10 were using such methods; Dr C F Westoff, 1 of study's dirs, says that voluntary sterilization has become most popular method of contraception currently used by older couples (in which wife is between ages 30 and 44); most effective contraceptive methods are currently used nearly equally by whites and blacks and by couples of higher and lower educ levels; major difference in contraceptive practice of black and white couples is that in black couples using steriliztion, it was nearly always the woman who was sterilized, while in white couples, operation was more common among men than women; comparative statistics on use of 3 methods noted