It might, and should, have been a historic debate, a solemn, searching in quiry into the fundamental aims, origins and prospects of America's deepening commitment to a land war in Asia.
If its five-day hearings on Viet Nam fell short of that ideal, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee may nonetheless have served well to quicken public interest in the conflict and—though certainly not by intent—to bulwark the Administration's case that it is a necessary war.
For the 30 million or more Americans who followed the proceedings each day on television, Chairman William Fulbright...