The Cold War: Toward Negotiation

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Said Nikita Khrushchev to U.S. Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson at a special conference last week in the Kremlin: "If we all keep our heads and do nothing provocative, we can find a way out of our problems in Laos." For 90 minutes Khrushchev and Thompson went over the Soviets' long-delayed reply to the Anglo-U.S. offer of negotiated peace in the faraway Southeast Asia state that is sundered by Communist attack. The Soviets accepted the proposal, more or less, announcing their decision in a note to London, and agreed to join Britain in an "appeal for a cessation of hostilities in Laos.''

The agreement cracked like a broken spring after ten days of mounting tension that saw John Fitzgerald Kennedy matched off against Nikita Khrushchev in a classic war of nerves. The war was fought against a sizable buildup of U.S. forces all across the Pacific. Tempers sharpened as the U.S. passed quiet word of deadlines that were just as quietly ignored by the Russians. The U.S. set out to rally its allies at the SEATO meeting in Bangkok while the Russians met secretly with theirs at a meeting of the War, saw Pact countries. With a loose agreement to negotiate, neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev came out the clear-cut victor. But by delaying their answer, the Russians had once again indicated that they felt that time was. and would continue to be, on their side.

Time for Advancement. Rather than submit to the Anglo-U.S. demand that an immediate cease-fire order precede any peace conference. Moscow called for talks forthwith and said vaguely that the Laotian belligerents should hammer out their own ceasefire. This could conceivably give time for the Red-led Pathet Lao forces to advance as they did last week (see THE WORLD). The talks would include prompt convocation of the three-nation International Control Commission (Canada, India, Poland) in Delhi and the opening of a 14-nation conference—notably including Communist China—in Cambodia. The U.S. shuddered at the thought of being involved in a prolonged negotiation while the Pathet Lao continued its offensive.

Just back from SEATO. Secretary of State Dean Rusk flew to Palm Beach to discuss the Soviet note with President Kennedy. "The Soviet note contains certain observations with which we cannot agree.'' said Kennedy dryly. But. he added, it "offers hope that a way can be found to establish a neutral and independent Laos through negotiations. The first need is to bring the present fighting in Laos to an end.''

Into the Garden. President Kennedy's flexings of U.S. diplomacy and power were the first of his Administration. Fortnight ago. he roused his countrymen by declaring that the safety of Laos "runs with the safety of us all." and he dispatched the U.S. Seventh Fleet and supporting forces toward Laos to back his implied deadline on a cease-fire in Laos. Kennedy flew to Key West for a first meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Harold Macmillan early last week, met next day at the White House with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko at Gromyko's request.