The War: Thunder from a Distant Hill

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that he will wait us out. For he won't. Second, we will provide all that our brave men require to do the job that must be done—and that job's going to be done."

Precious Commodity. Probably the only thing that can prevent its getting done would be an overwhelming upsurge of war weariness within the U.S. McNamara carries in his pocket a recent editorial from the London Economist pointing out that the President is in danger of losing a precious commodity—"patient public support for the whole idea of a limited war." Agreed Maxwell Taylor: "This country is being tested as it never has been since the Civil War. We impatient Americans like the Hollywood solution where the good guy hits the bad guy, and it's all over. We want the quick and easy out. There is none now."

In fact, most informed Americans realize only too well that there are no instant, painless answers to the ordeal in Viet Nam, and that the options are growing fewer. The President's determination to stay the course promises a sorely trying year for the nation. Even Lyndon Johnson's well-hedged hint of another bombing pause should raise no undue hopes. Nor, if the halt is ordered, is there any guarantee that it will move Hanoi any nearer to the conference table than the six previous suspensions of the air war in the North. Nonetheless, conscience and practical politics alike dictate that the Administration devise and pursue every conceivable alternative to warfare within its power. Some day—who knows?—Hanoi may get the message.