On Tour

Richard Nixon is a great believer in education by travel. He has said that his grounding in international affairs derives from his peripatetic years as Vice President. So it was only a matter of time until Nixon pinned wings on his own Vice President. Last week Spiro Agnew, his wife Judy, Apollo 10 Astronaut Eugene Cernan, ten newsmen and a score of aides and Secret Servicemen boarded Air Force Two to begin a 25-day, 37,000-mile tour of Pacific and Asian countries.

Agnew's departure was not without the flourish of controversy that has become his signature. He personally picked an unusually small group of reporters to make the trip, and thus provoked another run-in with the press. Among the 34 publications that applied for space and were rejected were several that invariably cover such state trips: the Washington Post, TIME, the Ridder newspapers and the Baltimore Sun, Agnew's hometown paper. When the Sun complained, Agnew's press secretary Herbert Thompson replied: "To be quite honest, he doesn't like the Sun. He feels he is a hometown boy, and instead of taking pride in him, [the Sun] acts like it is ashamed of him." The Hearst papers got a seat without applying for one. With spots reserved for U.S. News & World Report, the Chicago Tribune and a correspondent for the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner, the Greenville (S.C.) News and the Jackson (Miss.) Daily News, the press delegation seemed safe from a leftward tilt.

Briefing Books. Preparations in Washington for Agnew's journey were necessarily elaborate because of his inexperience in international affairs. He has gone abroad only twice before, both times to Europe. In the week before he left, Agnew pored over massive State Department briefing books and held lengthy discussions with Presidential Adviser Henry Kissinger.

While Nixon said that Agnew would be "prepared to discuss bilateral matters" with heads of state, the Vice President is expected to reiterate the so-called "Nixon doctrine" enunciated by the President last July in Guam. At that time, the President promised to respect existing treaties and to continue aid, but he described a lower U.S. profile in Asia--with no more Viet Nams. "Most of Agnew's time will be spent listening," one aide confessed. "On his first trip, it would be a little presumptuous for him to be wheeling and dealing."

Agnew's first foreign stop is in Manila, to attend the inauguration of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The three-day layover--and loose schedule --give Agnew a chance to make an unannounced visit to South Viet Nam.

Agnew is to present Marcos--and the other leaders on his itinerary--with five milligrams of lunar dust encased in a Lucite block. The gifts are in fulfillment of a promise made by the President last summer when he visited some of the countries on Agnew's tour in the afterglow of the first moon landing.

Big Boeing. During a 22-hour Taipei stopover, Agnew will probably hear out President Chiang Kai-shek's misgivings about the Administration's new overtures to Peking. In Bangkok, after an audience with King Bhumibol, the Vice President will undoubtedly discuss with government officials the future of 12,000 Thai troops currently in Viet Nam. Next stop on Agnew's itinerary is Nepal; he will be the highest-ranking U.S. official ever to visit the country.

The Vice President will then make stops in Afghanistan, Malaysia and Singapore, finally coming to rest for a few days at a plush beach hotel in Bali. Revived by dips in the Indian Ocean, a set or two of tennis and perhaps a few rounds of golf--Agnew packed his clubs, rackets and bathing trunks--the Vice President will fly the final leg of his journey, stopping in Australia and New Zealand and returning to Washington in mid-January.

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