The LBJ Brand

While De Gaulle was taking Gaullism to the Mexicans and President Johnson was putting the LBJ brand on U.S. Latin American policy (see THE NATION), one of the most intensive examinations of hemisphere problems in years went on behind closed doors in Washington last week. All 17 U.S. ambassadors and 19 aid-mission officials were summoned from their posts south of the border for three days of shirtsleeve discussions that ranged from economic and political problems of the Alliance for Progress to rising Latin American nationalism. On the third anniversary of the Alliance, diplomats accredited to the Organization of American States gathered to launch the newly coordinated Inter-American Committee of the Alliance and hear Lyndon Johnson deliver his first major Latin American policy address.

Andes to Appalachia. Johnson's words could hardly have been more heartening for his audience. He emphasized his determination "to meet all the commitments" of the Kennedy Administration's ten-year, $20 billion development program for the Alliance. "We will carry forward our Alliance for Progress," the President promised the OAS ambassadors, "in such a way that men in all lands will marvel at the power of freedom to achieve the betterment of man."

Conceding that the Alliance has had "difficulties and flaws," he spoke with feeling of land and tax reforms, of education and economic progress for "every American, from the Indian of the Andes to the impoverished farmer of Appalachia." Already, said William D. Rogers, deputy coordinator of the program, the Alliance has made "substantial" advances.

More Muscle. While all this sounded good--as the Alianza's promises have all along--the Administration's performance in Latin American policy continued to raise questions. Word leaked that Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Mann told the U.S. ambassadors that the Administration planned to jettison as ineffective the U.S. policy of withholding diplomatic recognition and economic aid from new military regimes that take power by force. In the past three years, six Latin American governments--Argentina, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Honduras--have been overthrown by military coups. And in every case, temporary U.S. nonrecognition has proved more embarrassing to Washington than to the junta.

When Mann denied any basic policy shift, a State Department spokesman explained: "U.S. policy toward unconstitutional governments will, as in the past, be guided by the national interest and the circumstances peculiar to each situation as it arises." This approach echoed the pragmatism Mann has been preaching since he took over the Latin America job in January. But now the tone seemed somewhat firmer in its suggestion that the Johnson Administration expects to employ greater flexibility and possibly more muscle in U.S. dealings in Latin America.

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