October 27, 1972

Lincoln Center Repertory Theater artistic dir J Irving repts on Oct 26 that because of insufficient funds season of Forum Theater at center will be cancelled after coming S Beckett festival; submits resignation to bd of dirs of theater; bd pres C Coggeshall repts theatrical curtailment is inevitable 'based on econ facts'; City Center bd chmn R Clurman says his co, City Center Acting Co, has no plans to move into Forum; illus of Irving

Nixon makes campaign appearances in Huntington, W Va, and Ashland, Ky; accompanied by wife; illus in Huntington; they return to Washington

Oct 27: H A Kissinger says 'peace is at hand' in Indochina and that a final agreement on a cease-fire and pol arrangement could be reached in one more negotiating session with the N Vietnamese 'lasting not more than 3 or 4 days,' news conf, Oct 26, Washington; says that 'having come this far, we cannot fail and we will not fail over what still remains to be accomplished'; remaining problems include last-min US desires to strengthen machinery for internatl inspection, a wish to make sure S Vietnam can sign draft agreement along with Hanoi and US, and some questions arising from linguistic differences in the English-language and Vietnamese versions; Kissinger confirms N Vietnamese announcement broadcast by Hanoi radio, Oct 26, that a breakthrough occurred at the Paris talks on Oct 8 and both sides reached over-all agreement on a 9-point peace plan; disputes Hanoi's contention that the US consented as a condition of the agreement, to sign the accord by Oct to 31; says Adm had made a major effort sign by that date; tends to minimize differences that remained with Hanoi and problems that arose last wk in his talks in Saigon; says US will not be 'stampeded' into an agreement until its provisions are right; says Hanoi gave a 'very fair account' of the draft agreement in its broadcast; offers his own summary of the accord; principal provisions are a cease-fire in place in S Vietnam, withdrawal of US forces within 60 days, a total prohibition of reinforcement of troops and repatriation of POWs and foreign civilians in 60 days; Hanoi will account for all POWs and missing listed by the US, not only in S Vietnam but throughout Indochina; Vietcong and Saigon would negotiate the pol aspects of the settlement: timing of elections, nature of elections and the offices to be set up; US Sec Rogers has begun consulting nations on belonging to an internatl supervision comm; France, Poland, Canada and Japan are among nations mentioned for the comm; Kissinger says agreement 'will usher in a new period of reconciliation' between the US and N Vietnam; US, by the accord, is pledged to help reconstruct the countries of Indochina; comments on difficulties that prevent completion of the agreement; asked about problems that arose in Saigon, expresses confidence that agreement will be reached with the time frame he has described; Kissinger and Deputy Asst Sec W H Sullivan illus at news conf

Sikorsky, Igor Ivanovich

S Vietnam Foreign Ministry on Oct 27 issues statement that S Vietnam is 'ready to accept a cease-fire' but will never accept a pol settlement that 'goes against the interests and aspirations' of S Vietnamese people; statement, issued in response to N Vietnam radio broadcast that US and N Vietnam had agreed to a cease-fire beginning Oct 31, appears designed to indicate that main obstacle to cease-fire is Pres Nguyen Van Thieu's doubts about details of pol settlement; stresses people's right to self-determination'; US Amb Bunker meets twice with Thieu; Foreign Min Tran Van Lam doubts a cease fire will occur before US Pres election; says key condition is complete withdrawal of N Vietnam troops from S Vietnam; sources in Saigon confirm new agreement in principle worked out by Kissinger and N Vietnamese would allow 145,000 Communists to remain in S Vietnam but Thieu is seeking support from legislators and others for his stand against any coalition govt including the Communists