Jersey City. N. J., March 6, (P)—
Climbing through cold blue skies
more than five and one-half miles
over Jersey and Manhattan, today,
Miss Ruth Nichols, Rye, N. Y., flier,
set an unofficial altitude record for
women,

The altimeter on her Lockheed-
Vegamonoplane showed nearly 30,-
054 feet. The sealed barograph
placed in the plane was immediately
shipped to Washington for examina-
tion. If it shows over 28,074 feet,
Miss Nichols will have passed the
record now held by Elinor Smith,
young Long Island flier.

To attain recognition as the record
holder, Miss Nichols must beat Miss
Smith’s mark of 27,418 feet by more
than 600 feet.

She took off from Jersey City air-
port at 12:33 p. m., and was aloft
90 minutes.

“Everything went fine,” ehe sald,
“the engine worked perfectly. I did
not suffer any discomfort.”

She wore a flying suit Hned with
reindeer skin, the cockpit of het
plane was heated from the motor
exhaust, and, she used oxygen ap-
paratus in- breathing Yn the thit.
cold air at high altitudes. The tem-
perature at the top of her climb was
estimatéd at 50 degrees below zero
by Clarence Chamberlain, who
eaached her forthe attempt.
 
WASHINGTON (UPI) — President Nixon
and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev
pledged today to avoid military con-
frontations and threats of force that might
lead to nuclear war between their two na-
tions.

In a policy declaration, the leaders of the
two nuclear superpowers agreed to ‘“imme-
diately enter into urgent consultations with
each other’? should the risk of a nuclear
conflict arise.

Nixon and Brezhnev signed the agree-
ment —the eighth since the start of their
summit talks —in a ceremony in the East
Room of the White House a few hours be-
fore their scheduled departure aboard the
presidential jetliner for San Clemente,
Calif., for the conclusion of their week-long
conference.
 In the agreement, the two leaders prom-
ised that the United States and the Soviet
Union “will act in such a manner as to
prevent the development of situations ca-
pable of causing a dangerous exacerbation
of their relations, as to avoid military con-
frontations, and to exclude the outbreak of
nuclear war between them and between ei-
ther of the parties and other countries.”’

The accord also calls for the signatories
to proceed from the premise that each will
refrain “from the threat or use of force
against the other party, against the allies
of the other party, and against other cOun-
tries, in circumstances which may endan-
ger international peace and security.”

In advance of the signing, Nixon briefed
congressional leaders of both parties on the
declaration, which is a statement of policy
 —not a treaty — and therefore does not re-
quire Senate ratification.

Presidential adviser Henry A. Kissinger
said the intent of the doctrine was ‘‘to pre-
vent the outbreak of nuclear war.”’

The decision of the two leaders to hold a
third summit conference in as many years
was announced at a lavish banquet at the
Soviet Embassy. In a jovial atmosphere,
Nixon and Brezhnev dined and toasted
each other after signing pacts earlier in
the day to speed nuclear arms negotiations
and cooperate in research on peaceful uses
of nuclear energy.

Before they boarded the “Spirit of 76”
for a late afternoon flight to the Western
White House, Brezhnev arranged to meet
with 40 American businessmen to sell them
on expanded trade with Russia.
 