From the S&S archives:
Nixon's GI chats range from Apollo to Packer 11s

DI AN, Vietnam — President Nixon mixed serious talk of the war with good humored banter about baseball and football as he moved among the troops of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division Tuesday.

The President played up to his reputation as a sports fan during much of his visit to the division's headquarters, located in red, muddy, scrub-covered flatlands 12 miles north of Saigon.

To a young man from Dallas, Tex., he said: "You got a good football team. Think they can take the Packers this year? You know they lost their quarterback."

He asked a young rifleman from Chicago if he was a fan of the Cubs or the White Sox.

"I'm a Yankee fan, sir," the young soldier answered.

"That World Series is going to be tough for the Yankees," said the President. "They're not the best team, but they're moving along. Got a lot of speed ... Stick with the Yankees. Our daughter is a Yankee fan."

As the President walked among the GIs crowding around him to shake his hand, he grew reflective.

He turned to a group of newsmen and said: "You look at these men, their determination, their leadership and you heard them talking quietly about their homes, why they're here, what they think, and in some way you ran sense their feelings ... We are very fortunate that we can produce men like that."

He grinned as he said he thought one question universal in the minds of servicemen was the quality of the food.

"They gripe about the food," he said. "But I must say I have been in some mess halls here on previous trips. The food is a great improvement over what we used to have. New refrigeration has come along . . . new food processes.

"Actually, if you didn't have the food to gripe about you'd have to find something else."

The chief executive chatted occasionally about the astronauts. He was told by one soldier that many men at the base had stayed up all night to watch reruns of the moon trip on armed forces television.

"You fellows are young enough," he said. "You'll be going to Mars."