The Presidency: More Light, Less Heat

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Fulbright's committee also hammered at Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, who testified for the third time in ten weeks. Unperturbed under needling from Morse, McNamara reported that 3,234 Americans had been killed since 1961 in Viet Nam, and some 15,000 wounded. But without those sacrifices and the great increase in U.S. forces there, he declared, "the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese would have won. They would have slaughtered thousands, probably tens of thousands, of South Vietnamese, and all of Southeast Asia would be in a turmoil." As for the bombings in North Viet Nam, which reached new peaks last week (see THE WORLD), the Defense Secretary said flatly that destruction of Communist communications and supply lines had produced "a noticeably adverse effect on Viet Cong morale and expectation of victory."

Clearly the morale of Americans at home is equally crucial to victory. In belated recognition of that fact, the President last week commanded Democratic Party workers to spread the word across the land that "America will persevere until peace comes to Viet Nam." Thus, there could no longer be speculation that Johnson intends to mute the war issue between now and November.