ACTOR HESTON'S FIERY TELEPHONE PITCH ENLISTS SUPPORT TO SAVE VIETNAM POWS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970040-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: December 27, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970040-9
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WALL STREET JOURNAL
27 December 1984 -
Actor Heston's Fiery Telephone Pitch
Enlists Support to Save Vietnam PO Ts
By BIu.. PAUL
Stiff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Nearly 10,000 Americans in recent weeks
have heard a fiery telephone sales pitch by
actor Charlton Heston, enlisting support for
a project to bring back U.S. prisoners of war
who he says are still being held in Vietnam
and Laos.
Air. Heston is seeking to raise money for
Skyhook II, a lobbying effort to build sup-
port for the POW issue. The project's organ-
izers hope public outcry will pressure Wash-
ington into taking some action.
Based on evidence that the U.S. has com-
piled over the years. it "defies logic" not to
believe that Vietnam and Laos still hold U.S.
prisoners, Air. Heston said.
About 2.500 U.S. servicemen and civilians
are still listed as missing in action in South-
east Asia. and Vietnamese refugees have re-
ported seeing American POWs. Although
many of those accounts have been discred-
ited by U.S. officials, the Defense Depart-
ment says it is evaluating 176 unresolved
sightings of U.S. POWs by refugees and
other supposed witnesses.
John LeBoutillier. Skvhook II's organizer
and a U.S. congressman from 1981 to 1983,
wrote in a newspaper article last August
that Defense intelligence Agency analysts
privately concede that between 20 and 253
POWs are being held. Mr. LeBoutillier, a
Long Island Republican, served on the
House Task Force on Prisoners of War in
Southeast Asia.
'Highest National Priority'
The White House doesn't officially sup-
port Skyhook II, although President Reagan
has said that resolving the POW issue has
the "highest national priority." The Reagan
administration's position is that it can't rule
out the presence of U.S. POWs in Indochina
and that increased public awareness is im-
portant to resolving the issue.
But a White House spokesman said the
POW issue is too controversial for the ad-
ministration to endorse a public fund-raising
effort, and that Skyhook II can't be sup-
ported because it isn't "in coordination with
the U.S. government.
Mr. Heston said administrations of both
parties "have chosen to ignore" the POW is-
sue because "it's embarrassing (and) de-
structive to international relations." In
short, Mr. Heston said, it has been "too hot
an issue" for Washington.
Strong words, but his recorded telephone
sales pitch is even stronger. "Many of our
men were held behind.' he says in the re-
cording. "They're still there to this day.
Locked in bamboo cages in the jungle or in
caves in the mountains. Some of our men
are used as slaves, forced to drag plows in
rice paddies. ... America can't forget
these men. We have to'bring them home, all
of them.... They're ours and they're he-
roes, real heroes."
Robert Pittenger, chairman of Mark I
Communications Inc. of Bedford. Texas, the
telecommunications concern doing the solic-
itation, declined to say how much money
has been raised so far, but he said that at
least one of every five listeners has contrib-
uted. Air. Pittenger said he offered his com-
pany's services at a cut rate and intends to
keep calling Americans until all the POWs
have been returned, no matter how long that
takes.
"After 13 years this issue clearly isn't re-
solved," Mr. LeBoutillier said. "Millions out
there care and have never been con-
tacted."
Chance to Be Saved
The Air Force said Skyhook is the name
of a communications network that enables
pilots in distress to contact experts as the
fliers try to correct in-flight problems. Air.
LeBoutillier said the name Skyhook II sym-
bolizes for the POWs a second chance to' be
saved.
Air. LeBoutillier said he has lined up an
advisory board of celebrities, including
baseball figures Willie Lays and Billy Mar-
tin; Gloria Vanderbilt. Mr. LeBoutillier's
cousin; and retired Army Gen. Daniel 0.
Graham, who helped develop the "Star
Wars" defense concept. Gen. Graham, in a
letter to Mr. LeBoutillier, said he believes
that "some of our men are still alive and
imprisoned," and that "the Skyhook II proj-
ect is the best approach to recover these
men."
Some of the funds raised by Skyhook II
will be used to run television advertisements
presenting evidence that U.S. prisoners are
still held in Southeast Asia. But it is uncer-
tain, whether the ads will be aired on the
major television networks. Representatives
of CBS and NBC strongly suggest that such
ads would be too controversial and would
contain too strong an advocacy position.
ABC said it would have to review such ads
before deciding to run them.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/30: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200970040-9