Foreign Relations: The One-Two Punch

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Standing at a lectern in the East Room of the White House, the President of the U.S. hefted his big fists and clenched them. "We're like a man in the ring," he said, assuming a pose and a phraseology he has been using a lot in private. "We're using our right and our left constantly." Out shot his right fist. That, he said, symbolized U.S. power. "I say to Secretary McNamara, 'You be sure that our men have the morale and have the equipment and have the necessary means of seeing that we keep our commitments in Viet Nam.'" Then he poked his left fist forward. That, he said, represented U.S. diplomacy's continuing effort "to get us away from the battlefield and back at the conference table."

In adopting this uppercut-with-olive-branch stance at his press conference, Lyndon Johnson once again sought to underscore his hope of ending the Viet Nam war with a one-two punch—military success leading to a settlement from a position of strength.

Fancy Feints. The week's events showed that his strong right hand, at least, was having some effect. In the wake of the U.S. Marines' victory over four veteran Viet Cong battalions at Chu Lai, the guerrillas were lying low; in fact, they have initiated no action above battalion-size in eight weeks. North of the 17th parallel, U.S. planes plastered a power plant, rail lines and bridges.

Despite some fancy feints and jabs, it was hard to tell whether Lyndon's left hand was landing on target or merely shadowboxing. According to a British white paper on Viet Nam, the U.S. is thinking of another, "more prolonged" pause in its bombing of North Viet Nam in exchange for an "appropriate and commensurate" military move by Hanoi, such as recalling its 9,000-man regular infantry division, which is deployed in South Viet Nam. It was unclear just how the U.S. could verify such a withdrawal, if it took place, or how the Reds could be kept from sneaking another division over the sievelike border to replace it. Nor was it clear whether Hanoi was even interested in bargaining. "Thus far," said Dean Rusk, "my antennae have not picked up the key signal."

Richard Nixon's antennae also were out. In the course of a business trip to the Far East, Nixon told newsmen in Tokyo that Washington's "constant repetition" of its willingness to negotiate would only prolong the war.

Other diplomatic moves were afoot, though without benefit of Lyndon's left. At the U.N., Secretary-General U Thant was sounding out 14 nations—among them Red China and the Soviet Union—to determine whether another U.S. bombing pause would help pave the way to peace talks. In Moscow, United Arab Republic President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced that he too would help negotiate a cease-fire to halt "American aggression."