OTEPKA TO RECEIVE PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP71B00364R000500280008-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2000
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: March 10, 1969
• Content Type: OPEN

March NAIrcliteFor FaipliTADN2a.: CIABERIMBEMAIRWOWOMOM
paper with a man in Saigon who kept a
sharp eye on the daily communiques could
get figures on enemy-initiated attacks. Obvi-
ously the totals on enemy attacks do not
keep any information from the enemy he
does not already know. This is political not
Military censorship, designed not to confuse
the enemy but to hide what is going on
from the American public. We hope some
Members of Congress will insist that these
figures be released.
The course in Vietnam becomes clearer if
one compares it with U Thant' s original 3-
point plan for peace. At his press conference
January 28 the Secretary General noted
that two of the points had been put into
effect?the bombing of the North had ended
and talks =mg all the parties involved had
begun. U T'hant's third point was a gradual
de-esclation of the fighting. Instead of de-
escalating in response to the conslclerable
de-escalation en We Other side, we have been
stepping up both ground and aerial action
in the South, as we have the bombings over
Laos.
Tacitly or explicitly, it is now becoming
clearer. Johnson exacted a sharp price when
he ended the bombing of the North. Heim-
posed severe rePtrICti911s oz eneiny activity
whi?le making it possible for PS to increase
ours. The Nixon adMinistration is _carrying
On the Strategy of Johnson's. This strategy
has two elements. The first is to threaten
resUMptiOn of- the bombing in the North if
the other Side should resume substantial
forays or shellings from the DMZ or should
attack the larger cities. The second is to take
advantage of these military limitations on
the other Side to ineVe coASIdera101e forces
from the northern part 41 South Vietnam
Where they have been on guard against a pos-
sible invasion from the DIV/E. _These forces
hAve been moved south, for "pacification"
operations in the Mekong Delta. This has
been a guerilla stronghold since the earliest
days of the uprising against the French. The
aim is to reconquer the Delta for the Saigon
regime.
TE SEMANTICS Or ACC.RLRRAWRIk WAR
The bombing of the North ended Nov. 1.
The escalation from 91,17 aide, began at the
same time. In the three Months since more
than 2,000 Americans have lost their lives.
White House orders explain the rising casual-
ty lists. Clark Clifford lifted. the curtain On
them last November a ?when he said "Gen-
eral Abrams has specific instructions to
Maintain constant and interiSIVe pressure on
the enemy." The fight-and-talk strategy was
ours. Our Madison AVenue-minded military
invented a new seep ad phrase to sell this
accelerated warfare. They renamed it "ac-
celerated pacification." Clifford added loyally
that this was "the right psychology and the
right strategy to follow now," but he ex-
pressed the hope that When "we begin to
Make progress in Paris", and agreement "in
certain areas" was,reached "then instruction
could, be given by Hanoi to th?elr battlefield
commanders, and instiuction cOuld be. given
here by President Johnson to General Abrams
't0 withdraw from contacts _with enemy
forces." The enemy began withdrawing from
Contact and trying to evade ?hattle months
ago. But there has been no de-escalation on
our side. Three weeks later on-Face the Na-
tion, Clifford (see p. 1 box) declared him-
self "inordinately impatient with the cell-
tinued deaths of American boys in Vietnam"
arid urged a cease-fire, Neither Johnson nor
Nixon seem to share this impatience. Nixon
can., cut the easilaltieS any time he orders
de-escalation And a ?defensive strategy, as
proposed by Senator McGovern in a speech
Feb. 3 to Clergy and Laymen Concerned
About Vietnam.
The premisapf negotiations is that neither
side can win a military victory. If we are
negotiating, why go on killing? If we hope
tO achieve our Mins in, South Vietnam 1;)y a
stepup in the killing, why negotiate? The
cynical answer is that the negotiations serve
as a smokescreen. Neither the U.S. military
nor the Saigon regime ever wanted to nego-
tiate. The Paris talks for them only make
it easier to continue the war. There is a
steady flow of optimistic stories from Saigon'
on how well the war is now going. One '6y
Charles Mohr in the New York Times. Jan. 3
put its finger on a crucial, though nonmili-
tary factor. "One important factor on which
present optimism is based," Mohr wrote, "is
-the hope that a decision to continue to prose-
cute the war can be reconciled with the do-
mestic American desire 'to ease the pain' ".
REALITIES FEW NOT/CE
Few notice the realities reflected in the
last AP weekly casualty report from Saigon
(Washington Post, An. 31). The report cov-
ered the week endtd Jan 18 (196 U.S. dead
and 1277 woundedfl and the week ended Jan.
25 (190 U.S. deaf and 1224 wounded) Why
are casualties still so heavy? The AP ex-
plained that wile "there has been no sus-
tained large-sc e fighting since last Fall ...
thousands of U.S., and government troops
carry out claill operations in search of the
elusive enemy]" It added that "pushes are
also being made into areas long held by the
Vietcong, and 1n. these, even when no opposi-
tion is encountered, there are casualties from
mines and booty traps." How Zang can these
offensive operations go on without a counter-
offensive from ithe other side? As we write,
for the first tAanze in three months, there
have been three battalion size enemy attacks
in the past few Vays. It is time to make the
U.S. public aware of all this before fighting
flares up again is full fury.
It is nonsense ai say that you cannot have
a cease-fire in Vietnam. Fighting ended in
the first vietnamele war when a cease-fire
was negotiated at dkeneva in 1954. Then it
was part of the general settlement. The
question is one of policy, not feasibility. The
Viet Cong and Handl oppose a cease-fire
until there has been al political settlement.
The U.S. and Saigon dop't want a cease-fire
until there has been a mIlitary "settlement".
They cling to the old hope that the war will
end with the enemy "fadipg away", a favor-
ite phrase of Henry Cabot Lodge whom
at Paris. The U.S. military eem to be mak-
ing hi chief their plans on the assumption that there
will be no settlement in Paris. They plan a
prolonged American occupati n, though on
a reduced scale. "From thos?ost deeply
involved in overall strategy" li Saigon and
Washington, U.S. News & Worl Report Jan.
27 reported that our military f resee a slow
reduction of U.S. forces in Viet am to 200,-
000 men by the end of 1971. Tley set that
level as "the basis for a long-ha 1, low-cost
effort in Vietnam that could ccatinue in-
definitely." On such a scale "low st" could
still mean $5 or $6 billion. The military men
U.S. News interviewed regard Iarea as a
precedent. There we still have 50,00 men 15
years after the shooting stoppe4 We also
have no peace treaty, a continuec trickle of
casualties and the ever present d nger that
the war may break out again ati any time.
That is not a comforting precedefr.
t
CEASE-FIRE AGITATION IN S IGON
. For the Vietnamese people he end of
bombing in the North has mean/ an intensi-
fied terror from the skies in the-South, B-52s
are employed like buckshot, preading de-
struction over wide areas, oft n on the edge
of the cities, wherever we thInk a few guer-
rillas may be hiding. Nobod but the victims
have any conception of 4,hat this horror
means, It is not strange at in Saigon, de-
spite press control and the thousands im-
ation, the cry for a
it(
prisoned for peace ag
cease-fire has been r e ing, though little re-
ported in the U.S. prrp s. Both Le Monde (Jan.
28-29) and Le FifOo (Jan. 29) report that
elements which have hitherto strongly sup-
orted Thief; 7 joined the militant Budd-
hists in demanding a cease-fire. They quote
Father Ca Van Lau, head of the Dan-Tien
bloc in the Saigon Chamber of Deputies, as
calling for a cease-fire now, as have two
_leaders of the Don Xa and the Grand Union
Forces, organs respectively of the Hoa Hao
sect and one faction of the Catholics. Both
parties demonstrated last November in favor
of Thieu. Now both parties have swung over
to the Buddhist demand for an immediate
cease-fire. In this, as in so much else, we
are very poorly informed as to what ordinary
Vietnamese think. To call for peace is still to
risk jail in Saigon. The ungaged voice of
popular sentiment may be better expressed in
a manifesto issued in Paris (Le Monde, Jan.
30) of a Movement of the Free Forces of
Vietnam, representing both civilian exiles and
former Vietnamese officers who fought in the
army organized by the French. It terms the
present regime "nothing but a prolongation
of the Facist regime of Ngo Dinh Diem",
which "governs by terror". It calls for its re-
placement by a provisional government which
can negotiate in Paris with the Viet Cong
and Hanoi.
This parallels the position taken by Hanoi
and the NLF in the Paris peace talks. The
NLF spokesman called for the formation of
a broadly representative provisional govern-
ment in Saigon which would organize "free
general elections in South Vietnam" and be
prepared to deal with the NLF in the Paris
talks as an independent and equal party.
(See texts in Le Monde, Jan. 28), "Although
they speak of negotiations for peace," the
NLF delegate to the Paris talks said, "the
United States continues to intensify the war,"
and still does not wish to renounce their
aggressive aims in South Vietnam." We are
paying heavily in American lives in an effort
to impose the Saigon regime by force on the
South Vietnamese. That is *why the casualties
rise as the peace talks go on.
[From the New York Times, Mar. 7, 1969]
MR. NIXON AND THE VIETNAM CASUALTIES
(By James Reston)
In a few weeks, at the present casualty rate,
more Americans will have been killed in
Vietnam than in any other conflict in U.S.
history except the Civil War and the two
World Wars.
Last week, 453 Americans were killed in
Vietnam and 2,693 wounded. This brought
the total U.S. combat dead to 32,376?very
close to the 33,629 total for the entire Ko-
rean War.
In the face of this terrible waste and kill-
ing, the urgent need for a new and creative
effort to end the fighting is manifest. The
negotiators are stuck in Paris. The new gov-
ernment in Washington is following the
same old policies. The language of the war
is lower but the cost is higher.
THE DEATH TALKS
In fact, 9,425 Americans have been killed
in Vietnam since the preliminary peace talks
began in Paris last May 13, and 2,319 of these
have died since South Vietnam joined the
enlarged talks last Dec. 7.
The carnage among the Vietnamese mean-
while is almost beyond comprehension. On
the enemy side alone, according to the offi-
cial U.S. command in Saigon, at least 457,131
Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers
have been killed since the beginning of 1961
when the United States entered the war, and
nobody has the heart to estimate the dead
among the civilian population, North and
South.
The reaction to all this is remarkably cas-
ual. Even expressions of pity are now seldom
heard. The enemy continues his rocket at,
tacks on Saigon. Ambassador Henry Cabot
Lodge says in Paris that "the consequences
of these attacks" are the enemy's responsi-
bility. President Nixon says that if the at-
tacks go on, he will make "some response
that is appropriate." And Secretary of De-
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Tar March 10, 1969
fense Laird says in Saigon; "We will not
tolerate isontinued enemy escalation of the
war."
There is not even any agreement on the
terms of the Paris peace talks or on whether
the enemy Was first to step up the military
pressure, at vice versa. Washington says it
had an "unclfrattancling." that there would be
ne enemy attacks on the cities if it stopped
the bombing, of North Vietnam, Hanoi holds
there Was no SUch understanding. Hanoi
says the U.S, kept up the bombing pressure
and the seaich-and-destroy raids early this
year; Washington says it did so in response
to the enetnY's increasing pressure.
Meanwhile, despite all the recent expres-
sions of mntual understanding between
President Nixon and officials pf the Soviet
Union and the Western European countries,
the efforts of London, Paris, Moscow and
even the United Nations tis bring about a
cease-fire have virtually ceased,
THE CRITICAL POINT
Iia this situation, it is fairly clear that
President Nixon is not going to get a settle-
ment without a shift in policy. He has ap-
parently been hoping that by sounding rea-
sonable toward both Saigon and Hanoi, the
enemy will come forward with the compro-
mise President Johnson could not get, but
this is not forthcoming.
The sticking point for the enemy is his
doubt that the United States intends to
withdraw from that peninsula. Hanoi simply
cannot believe that the United States would
sacrifice over 32,000 lives and spend over $30
billion a year in defense of a principle, then
make peace and take its men back home.
In actual fact, there is reason for believing
that if Mr. Nixon could get a negotiated
peace, he would be willing to do precisely
that, but he has not made the point clear,
and so long as the enemy is in doubt about
this critical point, the chances are that the
war will go on indefinitely.
If this intention were emphatically stated
instead of merely being discussed around the
White House as a likely objective of U.S.
policy, then it might be possible to bring the
influence of the world community, including
the Soviet Union, to bear on the Paris talks.
THE wisisssuL WAITING
But the President hesitates. He is still
hoping the old policy will work simply be-
cause it is In new hands and is being ex-
pressed in different language. He is back on
the brink again of one more military re-
sponse to the enemy's attacks, though there
is no evidence that the enemy, having lost
over 450,000 men, will hesitate to keep on
sacrificing until it is sure American power
will definitely be removed as part of any
settlement.
Sooner or later, Mr. Nixon will probably
have to come to this detsion, and the longer
he waits, the harder it will be to make the
switch, the greater the danger of one more
round of escalation, and the higher the
death tolls.
[From the New York Times, Mar. 9, 1959]
THE PRESIDENT'S VIETNAM TEST
The challenge Confronting President Nixon
in the current Vietcong offensive is to resist
the Lyndon Johnson tendency to react, in
the words of one highofficial of the old
Administration, "as if his manhood were at
stake."
The sudden doubling of American casual-
ties in South Vietnam is a bitter new indi-
cation of the high price of this dismal war,
one that makes clearer than ever the neces-
sity for ending it with maximum speed. That
endeavor Ll not be aided by another rash
of self-defeating responses dictated by frus-
tration and anger. -
In his foreign policy news conference last
week, President Nixon confirmed that the
Communist attacks in South Vietnam have
been "primarily directed toward military tar-
gets." Only "techrdcally," in his phrase, do
they contravene the American warning that
attacks against major cities would make it
impossible to maintain the bombing halt.
Several factors need considerating before
an Administration decision on what to do
about the present attacks. The first is that
experience at all stages of the war indicate
that Communist offensives soon run out of
supplies and that their duration is not
significantly affected by bombing North
Vietnam.
Before President Johnson ordered the halt
last Nov. 1, it had become abundantly clear
that attempts at aerial interdiction of supply
routes through North Vietnam were incapa-
ble of stopping the tortuous flow of arms and
equipment into the South. Nor has the pun-
ishment and economic damage inflicted on
the North ever visibly shaken Hanoi's will
to fight
The most predictable effect of precipitate
resumption of the bombing would be to
alienate world opinion again and hamper
negotiations on Vietnam and other critical
issues with the Russians. It certainly would
halt the Paris talks, prolong the war and
escalate the fighting, thus increasing instead
of reducing the ultimate cost in American
casualties.
Moreover, as former Ambassador Harriman
last week told James A. Wechsler of The New
York Post, the present Vietcong offensive is
"essentially a response to our actions rather
than a deliberate, reckless attempt to dictate
the peace term or torpedo the talks." Gen-
eral Abrams after the Nov. 1 bombing halt
was instructed by Washington to maintain
"silent pressure an the enemy" in South
Vietnam.
Pentagon figures show that from Novem-
ber to January the number of allied batta-
lion-sized operations increased more than
one-third, from 800 to 1,077. Of these 919
were South Vietnamese, 84 American and 74
combined. Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese
pulled all but three of their 25 regiments
in the northern sections of South Vietnam
back across the borders. This freed more than
a full division of American troops to join in
maximum military pressure further south as
a means of maintaining morale there and
encouraging Saigon to get into the Paris
talks.
American spokesmen have heralded suc-
cesses on the battlefield and in renewed
pacification efforts as improving both the
allied bargaining position in Paris and the
Saigon Government's chances for surviving a
peace settlement. There have even been re-
peated claims that an allied military victory
was ripe for the taking.
The United States simply cannot have it
both ways. It cannot demand the right to
press the fighting with increased vigor itself
while charging doublecross whenever the
Communists do the same. The sad fact is
that the Paris talks have been left on dead
center while Ambassador Lodge awaits a
White House go-ahead for making new peace
proposals or for engaging in private talks out
of which the only real progress is likely to
come. Everything has been stalled while the
Nixon Administration completes its military
end diplomatic review.
Now that the Communists have responded
with a new military offensive in South Viet-
nam, the United States will simply have to
grit its teeth and see the battle through.
Hanoi as well as Washington and Saigon must
once again learn the hard way that military
victory is an impossibility for both sides, that
the sole real hope lies in ending the drift in
the peace talks. Anything either side does to
retard progress there simply condemns more
life and treasure to destruction in the bot-
tomless pit that is the Vietnam war.
OTEPKA TO RECEIVE PRESIDEN-
-.' IAL APPOINTMENT
HON. JOHN M. ASHBROOK
OE OH/0
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, March 10. 1969
Mr. ASHBROOK. Mr. Speaker, there
is much justifiable elation over the re-
cent news stories that Otto F. Otepka, the
State Department security officer who
had been demoted by former Secretary of
State Dean Rusk, was to be offered the
position of Commissioner on the Subver-
sive Activities Control Board, a Presi-
dential appointment.
Concerned about his good name and
the stigma on his record of the State De-
partment action, Mr. Otepka was fearful
that his vindication of the charges would
still be left in doubt. When assured that
the Presidential appointment would wipe
out any hint of wrongdoing on his part,
the security evaluations officer accepted.
As a lawyer and by virtue of his long
involvement in security and subversive
matters, Mr. Otepka is well qualified to
sit on the Board, a quasi-judicial agency
which rules on subversive cases referred
to it by the Justice?Department. In the
liast there has been some m isunderstand-
ing concerning the function of the SACB.
it has been overlooked by some people
in high places that the Board cannot
initiate action, but must wait for referral
by the Justice Department before swing-
ing into operation. The responsibility for
any inaction on the part of the SACB
in the past must be traced directly to the
Justice Department under Attorney Gen-
eral Ramsey Clark. As the newsweekly,
Human Events, points out, it is a new
ball game as far as the BACB is con-
cerned for "Attorney General John
Mitchell has every intention of breathing
new life into the Board."
Two publications which have worked
long and hard in behalf of justice for
Otto Otepka are the Chicago Tribune and
the above-mentioned Human Events. Mr.
Willard Edwards, Tribune's veteran
newsman, has expended an told effort and
time in bringing to public attention the
many ramifications of the case. Human
Events, and in particular its Capitol Hill
Reporter Allan Ryskind, has likewise per-
formed a journalistic service by helping
the public keep abreast of this long and
arduous case over the years. They are
certainly to be commended for their ef-
forts which at times must certainly ap-
peared to be all but futile.
I insert at this point the column
"Otepka Vindicated," from the March 15,
1969, issue of Human Events and the
Aory of Mr. Edwards in the Chicago
Tribune of March '7, 1969, in the R,ECORD:
[From Human Events, 15, 19691
OTEPKA VINDICA1 ED
Intent on keeping his cr mpalgn promise
to accord justice to Otto P. Otepka, Presi-
dent Nixon last week offered the former
high-ranking State Departm( nt security of-
ficer an important position with the Sub-
versive Activities Control Board (SACB). The
board's main job is to search out Com-
munist-front organizations,
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The tender was an apparent rebuff to Sec-
retary of State William P. Rogers, who, as
early as January 21, it is now learned, had
made up his mind that he did not want
Otepka to 'Work in the department. Two
weolts ago Rogers formally notified Otepka
he would not be reinstated in the security
duties which have been his life's work.
Rogers, it seems, had fallen for the anti-
Otepka line dished out to him by former
Secretary of State Dean Rusk and did not
want to antagonize current holdovers in the
department?particularly Idar Rimestad dep-
uty Under secretary for administration, the
man who would have been Otepka's superior
had he been reinstated.
The proposed Presidential nomination to
the SACB is regarded as a victory for Otepka
in his five-year fight for vindication after
he was constantly harassed, fired-pending-
hearings, demoted and then stripped of se-
curity duties for telling the truth_and de-
manding that the Kennedy and Johnson Ad-
minisrations adhere to proper security pro-
cedures.
Otepka agreed to accept the nomination?
Which must be approved by the Senate?
only after consulting Sens. Strom Thurmond
(R.-S.C.), Barry Goldwater (R.-Ariz.) and
Everett Dirksia (R.-Ill.). They assured him
that a White House noMinatiOn would erase
all the charges previously leveled against
him by the State Department under Rusk.
Roger Robb, the skilled attorney who vig-
orously defended Otepka through his harass-
ment, called it a "glorious vindication" and
there is some indication that Nixon may
make the announcement from the White
House with Otepka by his side.
In accepting the offer, Otepka was assured
by Dirksen that the SACB would becozne a
vigorous arm of the government. Under the
, Johnson Administration, Atty. Gen. Ramsey
Clark deliberately weakened the board by
refusing to forward cases to it, but Atty.
Gen. John Mitchell has every intention of
breathing new life into the board.
Otepka's involvement in security matters
May increase men further if the Senate, as
Dirksen also promised Otepka, gets to work
on S. 12, a special piece of legislation that
would enormously enhance the powers of
the SACB.
?
Sponsored by Sen. James Eastland (D.-
Miss.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, this bill would create a special
Security Administration for gxecntive De-
partments which would take over the task Of
conducting security cheeks on government
employes working in such major departments
'as Defense and State. Currently, each of the
_ departments conducts its own security
checks.
Under the clear intent of the bill, the ad-
ministrator of this new security panel would
also be the Chairman of the Subversive
Activities Control Board (now the very re-
spected John W. Mahan). The other four
members of the SACB would also be involved
in helping out with the work of the new
security panel.
Thus, if t. 12 becomes law, it is very likely
that Otto Otepka will be involved in more
security work than he had ever been in the
State Department. To help Otto become
fully vindicated, Human Events readers
should now start asking what their law-
makers are going to do about S. 12,
[From the Chicago Tribune, Mar. 7, 19.Q9j
SECURITY JOB FOR OTEPKA?NIXON OFFERS
, SUBVERSIVE BOARD POST?DIRKSEN ADVISES
Hiss To AccEPT
(By Willard 4dwarcla)
WASHINGTON, March 6.?President Nixon
tonight fulfilled his pledge to accord justice
to Otto F. Otepka by offering him appoint-
ment to the subversive activities control
board, one of top security posts in the gov-
ernment.
The proposed nomination was regarded as
a victorious climax to Otepka's five-year fight
for vindication against what a Senate sub-
committee termed "calculated and extraor-
dinary harassment" for conscientious per-
formances of his duties.
Otepka, after consulting with Senators
Dirksen (R., Ill.) and Barry Goldwater (R.,
Ariz.), said he was agreeable to the nomina-
tion which is subject to scrutiny by the
Senate.
FIRED IN 1963 BY RUSK
He was assured by both that, in their opin-
ion, the appointment canceled out all the
charges previously leveled against him by the
state department under secretary Dean Rusk.
Rusk fired Otepka in November, 1963, on
charges of conduct unbecoming a state de-
partment officer. Four years later, Rusk was
compelled to cancel the discharge but he
substituted a severe reprimand and a de-
motion which cut Otepka's salary as chief
of evaluations, office of security, from $20,000
to $14,000 a year.
ADVISED TO ACCEPT
If confirmed as a member of the SACB,
Otepka will receive a $36,000 salary, The
board has jurisdiction over all cases in-
volving communist organizations and indi-
viduals forwarded by the attorney general
for rulings.
Otepka carefully considered the appoint-
ment before agreeing to accept it. He was
prepared, if necessary, to reject it and ap-
peal to the courts but members of the Sen-
ate and his attorney, Roger Robb, persuaded
him that a Presidential nomination was the
equivalent of a court opinion clearing him
of all charges alleging misconduct.
At a Senate hearing on his nomination, it
was noted, a record can be made which will
emphasize his clearance.
Dirksen also assured him that he was not
being appointed to a board which will be in-
effective. Under the Johnson administration,
Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark made an attempt
to weaken the board by not forwarding cases
to it. Dirksen said he had been informed
by Nixon's attorney general, John Mitchell,
that the board will be a vigorous branch of
the government.
In naming Otepka, Nixon was keeping a
promise he made during his Presidential
campaign to see that "justice is accorded to
this man who has served his country so long
and so well."
?
ROGERS WAS RELUCTANT
Secretary of State William P. Rogers, how-
ever, was reluctant to reinstate Otepka, in
the state department as chief security officer.
Rogers informed Otepka's attorney that he
could not. see Otepka performing a useful
service in his old post because holdover offi-
cials, hostile to him, would be his superiors.
Rogers had been warned that a House ap-
propriations subcommittee would slash his
spending funds if he fired one of these offi-
cers, Idar Rimestad, deputy undersecretary
for administration.
Otepka agreed that his position under these
circumstances would be untenable. He con-
tinued, however, to demand reinstatement
and a letter stating, in effect, that he had
been wronged by false charges. If this was
done, he said, he would seek suitable means
to retire.
DIRKSEN NOTES VACANCY
M the deadlock continued, letters began
to pour in on the White House, state de-
partment, and Congress, protesting that the
President had not kept his campaign pledge.
The heat, as pne aid put it, was on.
Dirksen noted a Republican vacancy on
the SACB [Otepka is a Republican] and
suggested Otepka's appointment might serve
the dual purpose of placing him in a high
post and wiping the slate clean of all the
allegations previously made against him.
The President and his secretary of state
Welcomed this solution. Goldwater talked
E1817
to the President and called Otepka, urging
him to accept the nomination. Senators
Strom Thurmond [R., S.C.] and James 0.
Eastland [D., Miss.], chairman of the Senate
judiciary committee, also agreed that the
appointment could be regarded as a com-
plete vindication for Otepka.
They were joined in this urging by James
Stewart, head of the American Defense fund,
Palatine, Ill., which had raised $27,000 for
Otepka's legal expenses during the long
battle and was prepared to raise more money
if needed to finance a court appeal.
Otepka after talking it over with his wife,
said his doubts were resolved. The arrange-
ment was made final after a talk with
Dirksen late today.
HOPES TO CLEAR RECORD
Otepka said he hoped the appointment,
the subsequent Senate hearing, and floor de-
bate, would make clear that the charges
against him were false.
The Senate judiciary committee will con-
sider the nomination, It is the parent of the
Senate interal security subcommittee which
called Otepka six years ago and called upon
him to testify frankly about lax security in
the state department. He responded and his
troubles began.
Otepka's ordeal had started even earlier
when he was called by Rusk and the late
Robert F. Kennedy, then attorney general,
In December, 1960, and asked to_ waive secur-
ity investigations for a number of state
department appointees then under consider-
ation by President-elect Kennedy.
WOULDN'T BREAK RULES
He refused to break the rules. In the next
two years, he was demoted, isolated, and put
under surveillance and his telephone was
tapped. Two state department officers, caught
lying under oath in the Senate inquiry, were
forced to resign.
When Rusk fired him, Otepka appealed
under civil service regulations. The case
dragged on for four years before most of
the charges against him were dismissed and
the discharge retracted. He continued to
fight, however, taking leave without pay. He
had to borrow from relatives and subsist on
his wife's salary as a school teacher.
"I hope all my friends are right and that
my record will be wiped clean of all stigma
In the proceedings attending this nomina-
tion," he said. "The major issue here was
a government employe's right to testify
truthfully before a congressional committee.
If this point has been made, I feel it was all
worthwhile."
BRIDGES TO THE SUN?THOUSANDS
ENJOY INNUMERABLE ATTRAC-
TIONS OF BEAUTIFUL FLORIDA
KEYS
HON. DANTE B. FASCELL
OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, March 10, 1969
Mr. FASCELL. Mr. Speaker, recent
publication of the ninth annual Sun-
shine Strip edition of the "Florida Keys
Keynoter" again calls attention to one of
the most beautiful places on earth?the
Florida Keys. I congratulate the Key-
noter on its big new edition, which is
packed with interesting and informative
news, photography, and advertising con-
cerning the Florida Keys.
I wish I could insert the entire edition
in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, for I am
sure that my colleagues would greatly en-
joy seeing this colorful and fascinating
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E 1818 Approved
For QtTslatiggiRM :Eit-807-lehEMPUPWAN?5 March 10,4,M
publication. It is so large, however-88
pages, the biggest Keynoter ever?that
this is impractical. Especially at this time
when the wintry winds are blowing their
hardest in Washington, D.C., readers of
the RECORD would be cheered by the
Florida Keys atmosphere of sunshine,
warmth, and relaxation conveyed in the
pages of this edition.
The "Conchs," as native residents of
the keys are called, say that it never
even frosts in the Florida Keys. Each
time I have the pleasure of visiting this
Part of my congressional district I mar-
vel at the natural beauty of the water and
island environment that stretches from
the mainland to Key West, the southern-
most tip of the east coast. There are 42
bridges on the famous overseas high-
way that carries thousands of delighted
visitors each year through this fubulous
spectacle of ocean and sky. They are
truly "Bridges to the Sun," which is the
theme of this special Keynoter edition,
At one time the keys were among the
most inaccessible parts of the United
States, but that was before the bridges
and highway were built. Now the keys
boast a variety of parks, wildlife refuges,
and recreation areas that provide many
delightful moments for the thousands of
visitors who come each year to marvel
and enjoy.
One of the most unusual and fascinat-
ing parks in the world Is found in the
keys--the John Pennekamp Coral Reef
State Park, the only underseas park in
the continental United States. Here,
glass-bottomed boats carry visitors over
a spectacular panorama of multicolor
coral reefs and the hulls of sunken ships
which went down in rough seas centuries
ago. Covering 75 miles lying in the At-
lantic Ocean off Key Largo, this incredi-
bly beautiful reef is a combination of
State lands and Federal holdings that
were preserved because they contain the
only living reef formation along the
North American coast. Forty of the 52
species of coral found in the Atlantic
reef system are located in park waters,
and these colorful submarine growths
provide spawning grounds for millions of
rainbow-colored tropical fish, sharks,
barracudas, eels, turtles, and a fantastic
variety of sea life. Not surprisingly, some
1,168,670 people have passed through the
gates of john Pennekamp Park since it
was opened in August 1963, and the
annual number of visitors is expected to
reach 500,000 in the next 5 years. It is
named for a Miami editor active in
conservation.
About 500,000 persons already come
each year to a less spectacular but just
as worthy Keys attraction?the National
Key Deer Wildlife Refuge on Big Pine
Key. I am proud to have had a part in
the establishment of this refuge, whose
purpose is to protect the miniature
Florida Key deer. This charmin gspecies
had almost died out by 1947 through
overhtmting, poaching, and loss of en-
vironment to housing developments.
Fortunately, visitors can now see Key
deer in this protected sanctuary. Twb
other refuges are the Great White Heron
Refuge, which was set Up in 1938 on
Big Pine Key and overlaps the Key
Deer Refuge, and the Key West National
Wildlife Refuge which includes an area
15 miles wide extending 25 miles west of
Key West.
Even further west of Key West, and
not connected with the other keys by
highway, are the seven Dry Tortugas
Islands in the Fort Jefferson National
Monument. The islands have long been
famous for bird and marine life, as well
as for legends of pirates and sunken gold.
The century-old Fort Jefferson, largest
of the 19th Century American coastal
forts and one-time "key to the Gulf Of
Mexico," is the central feature. It was
here in 1865 that Dr. Samuel A. Mudd
was interred following his having Vreated
John Wilkes Booth, Abraham LiAacoln's
assassin.
Another park greatly favored by visi-
tors is the Bahia State Park, Florida's
southernmost park. It is located on Bahia
Honda Key where coconut palmS frame
white, sandy beaches lapped by $3th the
Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
Skin and scuba diving, deep sea and
shore fishing, boating, camping, and just
lazing in the sun are among the prime
pastimes. This is one of the most beau-
tiful and popular parks in all of the keys.
While fishing, swimming, sightseeing,
boating, and just plain relaxing are the
principal lures which attract so many
Americans to the Florida Keys, it should
be pointed out that such tourism is by
no means the only source of growth and
financial input for the keys. The im-
pressive range of advertisements in the
"Keynoter" reflects a solid base of per-
manent population and business enter-
prise. At Marathon, for example, the
population has grown 140 percent in the
last decade.
The upper keys, too, are coming in for
their share of the population and build-
tog boom. They are expected to get about
half of an estimated $10,000,000 in new
building construction during 1969 in the
middle and upper keys. Work has al-
ready started on one multimillion-dollar
motel-inn complex in Islamorada where
at least two other resort installations
have or will undergo $500,000 or more in
expansion. New home construction is also
at an all time high.
Currently, the keys are enjoying one
of their finest periods of growth and eco-
nomic activity. This winter, more visitors
than ever before are pouring in; the
bustle of commerce and tourism attests
to the grewing popularity of the keys as
a prime vacation attraction.
The Keynoter editorializes:
Records for most businesses are showing
an increase again this year. There are more
businesses in the Keys today than ever before,
with more being added and the old ones
pushed to expand to take care of the influex
of visitors.
More and more people are finding that the
Keys are nice for more than just a brief
respite from the snow and cold back home.
Orton beginning with a few days or perhaps
a couple of weeks, many visitors are working
tf,ward a full-time residence.
It's not a "retirement village." New people
of all ages are moving in. Young couples with
their families. If you don't believe it, just
check the bulging sides of schools in the Keys.
its a job to keep expanding the schools to
it.:ep ahead of the increase in students.
Keys growth isn't of the boomtown style
with accompanying honky-tonk. Growth is
steady and solid. Chain stores and motels are
moving in and many others are looking for
locations.
So from famous Key West, the largest
and most well-known keys city, to the
mainland, the keys are embarked on a
development boom that I believe will
surpass even the most optimistic expecta-
tions of their current residents. I will be
delighted to viatehathis growth as it oc-
curs, and do all that I can to bring even
greater prosperity to the keys.
On the cover of the special "Keynoter"
edition is a color photograph of a glowing
Florida Keys sunset and the shadowing
piers of Indian Key Bridge, where a lone
fisherman enjoys the beauty of the
water and sky. Everywhere in the Florida
Keys are such fabulous spots of natural
beauty, which delight and enchant the
beholder. As a Member of Congress, I am
fortunate indeed to represent this unique
and fascinating area. I congratulate the
Florida Keys as they continue their re-
markable trend of growth and progress.
FARMERS: UNITE OR PERISH
HON. ALVIN E. O'KONSKI
OF WISCONSIN
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, March 10, 1969
Mr. O'KONSKI. Mr. Speaker, 4 years
ago I inserted a speech In the CONGRES-
SIONAL RECORD emphasizing the impor-
tance of and need for the collective-
bargaining program of the National
Farmers Organization. Today the prob-
lems confronting the farmer are even
more acute, and I believe that the NFO
program is still the only answer.
I am therefore up-dating that speech
because I believe it has even more merit
today.
NECESSARY STEPS TO BE TAKEN FOR SUC-
CESSFUL BARGAINING IN A GRICULTURN--NFO
IS MAKING PROGRESS
Mr. Speaker, this is a detailed and
comprehensive study covering the mar-
keting of agricultural products. Informa-
tion and data included in this study is
based on U.S. Department of Agriculture
statistics and reports, studies and infor-
mation gathered from colleges and uni-
versities, information compiled by an
NFO Research Committee and on an
analysis prepared by this committee. The
NFO Research Committee was made up
of, NFO leaders with varied backgrounds
and experiences, including men with de-
grees from some of the Nation's leading
caleges and universities.
FARM PROBLEM GETTING WORSE
It has become quite apparent in the
last 12 years that general economic con-
ditions in agriculture are worsening.
The Nation's economy has made tre-
mendous growth in the last 20 years. The
national gross product has made spectac-
ular gains almost without interruption.
Agricultural producers are the only ma-
jor segment of the economy that have
not shared in this continually increasing
prosperity of the Nation.
Every farmer, through his own per-
sonal experience, is familiar with the fact
that the price of the products he has to
sell has been steadily decreasing* with
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