Molotov

From CBS News Headquarters in New York, this is the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and our correspondents around the globe.



“Good evening.”

Midterm Elections Spell Bad News for Republicans

"The midterm elections have come and gone here, in the world's admired democracy, and bad news rolls in for President Nixon as the Democrats hold both the Senate and the House of Representatives. In a hard fought battle, the Republican Party gained two seats in the Senate, but lost twelve in the House, marking yet another step backwards for this President's term in office. With party divisions growing over a number of issues, including most notably the continuing war in Vietnam, which may have contributed to the overall losses for the Republican Party, the next two years are sure to be ones of contention between the White House and the Capitol."

Vietnam: Military Deaths Continue to Fall

"In that very war that is proving so divisive an issue in our nation, President Nixon's continuing policy of 'Vietnamization' of the war effort continues to show its fruits in terms of the loss of life amongst our fighting men. After weeks of high death tolls being reported, it was announced on November 10th that no US servicemen lost their lives in Southeast Asia that week. The figures, from the United States Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, mark the first time in five years of fighting that such has been the case - a result hailed as a triumph for the President's policy, though one that came too late to have a marked effect on the results of the midterm elections."

Arms for Allies

"The President may grow to regret this electoral defeat increasingly in coming days, as he issues a request for 155 million dollars of supplemental aid for the Cambodian government to Congress, aiming to continue his policies. With public opinion so markedly turning against conflict in the region as a whole, it remains to be seen how the outcome of the midterm elections will effect the administration's plans. They may have hopes, however, given Congress's approval of plans to sell arms to Israel in September, though the political issues there are substantially different. The State Department also announced earlier that plans have been renewed for arms sales to Pakistan, who continue to maintain important relations with the United States."

Russians on Venus

"And finally, we may have landed on the Moon the first men from Earth, the stunning images of which the world will never forget, but in smaller ways the space race lives on as Russians land a probe successfully on the surface of Venus. Largely overshadowed in space news by the dramatic events of Apollo 13 earlier in the year, NASA's Office of Public Affairs spokesperson used this opportunity to underline the importance of continued spending on the space program, in spite of having already reached the Moon.

We'll see how that, and other stories, develop.

And that’s the way it is. December 31st, 1970."