LOW SILHOUETTE RISING

Friday, Oct. 31, 1969

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Did all the cheery talk mean that these Senators have some secret information about the Administration's plans? Apparently not. Admitted Baker: "It's a hope based on little bits of information—a general feeling." A member of Fulbright's committee staff put it more wryly: "There's a feeling that if people say often enough what they hope they'll be hearing from the President, he'll end up saying it himself."

Actually, the Administration moved swiftly to squelch the rising expectations of any dramatic announcement. Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, in particular, tried to knock down all the talk about a unilateral ceasefire. He said that it "would not be a successful approach," because a cease-fire requires the cooperation of both sides and should be the subject of negotiation in Paris.

Breaking Storm. The notion that U.S. troops are under orders that approach any kind of truce was ridiculed by U.S. commanders in Viet Nam. "I'd like to get Mansfield and Scott over here," scoffed Lieut. Colonel Burton Walrath, a battalion commander at a fire-support base near Cu Chi. "We're killing the Communists today just like we always have." The only change, many officers say, is that they send out smaller patrols to find the enemy. Nonetheless, American commanders are emphasizing the policy of "Vietnamization" more vigorously than ever.

That difference in combat perspective between Viet Nam and Washington is something Nixon might well clear up in his speech. If a unilateral cease-fire seems to be ruled out, he may still offer a faster withdrawal schedule for U.S. forces. After all the time he has allowed for speculation, anything short of that could make the speech a dampening disappointment.

For nearly eight months the President's strategy of low-key persuasion and attempts to let national tensions ease by avoiding political conflict seemed promising, one White House aide contends. But shortly after Nixon's month-long summer stay at San Clemente, Calif., the troubles piled up. "Then everybody started unloading on him and the storm broke. It's been forced on him, but now the President sees that he's going to have to fight." Fights, of course, are risky—but vacillation and drift at a time of national distress seem more so.