Nation: The Quiet Man

• Share

(6 of 6)

The Front Edge of Change. Under Johnson, as one German foreign officer put it, "I don't think there's much question but what the Secretary of State will play a much bigger role than he did under President Kennedy." For one thing, Johnson has no Vice President to act as his emissary abroad, thus is likely to ask Rusk to do so. Even so, Rusk is no more likely to change his way of doing things than Johnson is to drop his drawl. He will be meticulous, even somewhat plodding when necessary. "It can be a tedious job no matter how glamorous it looks," he says. "We don't deal with great issues as drama. We deal with them by quiet, persistent, repetitive effort. If we can make a quiet contribution to the settlement of a dispute, O.K. And if we don't get any credit for it, O.K. too."

Looking ahead, Rusk believes that the world is on "the front edge of change," and that policies, consequently, will be fluid. "Kennedy's foreign policy was not frozen, nor will our policies now be frozen," he says. He maintains that there will be continuity, since "it is important, for example, for Moscow to know that we stand by our commitments just as solidly as before." But "continuity does not rule out fresh approaches to fresh situations," he adds. "The most important thing is to get on with our work. Every piece of unfinished business is potentially dangerous."