March 2, 1969: The Ussuri River Skirmish

March 2, 1969: The Ussuri River Skirmish begins. It lasts until September, when Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin, on his way home from the funeral of North Vietnamese dictator Ho Chi Minh, met with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing, and they decided to stop the fighting and keep the prewar borders.

Most Americans, taught to believe that the Communist world was completely united against them, didn't know at the time that this conflict was even happening. Nor were most Americans aware of "the Sino-Soviet Split," which occurred sometime after Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 "de-Stalinization" speech, to which Mao Zedong, still overall in charge of mainland China by 1969, did not react kindly.

For most Americans who were watching the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China from 1964 onward, when China got the atomic bomb, the fear was that either one of them would start World War III by launching nuclear missiles at us. It didn't occur to most of us that they could go to war with each other.

There were, however, some people who did think of it. Australian writer Morris West published The Shoes of the Fisherman in 1963. Robert J. Serling, brother of Twilight Zone creator and host Rod Serling, published The President's Plane Is Missing in 1967. Both came out before the Ussuri River Skirmish. These were filmed in 1968 and 1973, respectively. Both featured a protagonist (a new Pope in the former, the President of the United States in the latter), trying to prevent a dispute between the Soviets and the Chinese from turning into World War III.

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March 2, 1969 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls, 99-92 at the Boston Garden. Jerry Sloan, later the Hall of Fame coach of the Utah Jazz, scored 36 points in defeat for the Bulls.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 112-108 at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum (now the McCamish Pavilion) in Atlanta.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Detroit Pistons, 126-112 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. Hal Greer scored 39 for the Sixers.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Francisco Warriors -- not then, and still not now, much of a rivalry despite the usual rivalry between the cities -- 107-92 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

There were 5 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 106-94 at the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Mavericks, 133-128 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. Mel Daniels scored 39 points for the Pacers.

* The Miami Floridians beat the Minnesota Pipers, 136-132 in overtime at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Les Hunter scored 32 for the Floridians, Charlie Williams 39 for the Pipers.

* The Denver Rockets beat the New Orleans Buccaneers, 147-120 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. Larry Jones scored 37 for the Rockets, who became the Denver Nuggets in 1974, in anticipation of being admitted to the NBA, who already had the Houston Rockets.

* And the Dallas Chaparrals beat the Los Angeles Stars, 112-95 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

And there were 5 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0 at the Boston Garden.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Philadelphia Flyers and the Oakland Seals played to a tie, 4-4 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.