Foreign Relations: Chill Winds on the East River

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U.S. Ambassador Arthur Goldberg's speech before the 22nd United Nations General Assembly last week proved something of a disappointment to those who for no particular reason expected it to outline a dramatic U.S. initiative on Viet Nam. There were no new proposals for Hanoi to mull, no offers of bold concessions by Washington. The speech was notable nonetheless for its carefully conciliatory tone, its two score references to peace, negotiations and the like, and its effort to present a thorough and thoroughly honest summary of the U.S. position.

Goldberg made it clear that Washington is willing to enter negotiations with Hanoi at any time without any conditions. Despite insistent reports from foreign officials that Hanoi is ready to talk as soon as the U.S. quits bombing the North, Goldberg noted that the Johnson Administration has repeatedly "sought such a message directly from Hanoi without success." What the U.S. wants, he said, is some assurance that a bombing pause would in fact lead to negotiations, and would not be used to hurt South Viet Nam's military position. In a rhetorical question whose wording proved practically incomprehensible even to diplomats, he asked: "Does North Viet Nam conceive that the cessation of bombing would or should lead to any other results than meaningful negotiations under circumstances which would not disadvantage either side?"*

Soap Bubble. With considerably more clarity, Goldberg posed another question to "those governments which support Hanoi's cause"— principally the Soviet Union. "If the U.S. were to take the first step and order a prior cessation of the bombing," he asked, "what would they then do or refrain from doing, and how would they then use their influence and power?" The Russians, however, quickly made it clear that they had no intention of either reducing their aid to the North or trying to persuade Hanoi to come to terms.

Replying to Goldberg next day, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko dismissed the U.S. suggestion as a "soap bubble," announced a step-up in aid to Hanoi, branded Washington a "barbarous" aggressor, and demanded nothing less than an American pullout from Viet Nam as the price for peace. Gromyko's intransigent tone made it obvious even to Secretary-General U Thant that the U.N. is not likely to be the arena in which the Viet Nam impasse will finally be broken.