A Measured & Fitting Response

"Repeated acts of violence against the armed forces of the United States," said the President, "must be met not only with alert defense but with positive reply." Even as Lyndon Johnson spoke to the nation in a late-evening television appearance, U.S. naval air craft were hurtling through the South east Asian skies to attack selected tar gets in Communist North Viet Nam. That was the reply about which the President spoke, a reply to one of the most ill-considered Communist moves against the U.S. in recent years: two torpedo-boat attacks against U.S. destroyers that had been steaming in inter national waters in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Chorus of Approval. That reply, carefully measured and fitted to match the challenge, won instantaneous, wide spread support for the President within the nation and from a strong array of U.S. friends around the world. Editorial pages throughout the country blossomed with a rare chorus of approval. On Capitol Hill, the Congress endorsed a resolution backing the President. In California, where he had been yachting, Barry Goldwater got a personal telephone call from Johnson, heard him out and issued a statement of support even before the President made his appearance on television. "I am sure that every American will subscribe to the actions outlined in the President's statementment," said the Republican presidential candidate. "I believe it is the only thing he can do under the circumstances. We cannot allow the American flag to be shot at anywhere on earth if we are to retain our respect and prestige."

Even more widespread than support for the U.S. action was bafflement about the basic question: Why did Hanoi mount attacks on the U.S. might in the first place? Why, after failing in the first attack and being warned of reprisal, did the North Vietnamese try again with somewhat more of their tiny force? In answer, Washington experts could only offer theories. Among them:

1) the North Vietnamese, their nerves frayed by the recent talk in Saigon and Washington of carrying the war "to the north," simply decided to end the suspense by testing U.S. resolve;

2) the Reds staged the incident so as to alarm neutrals and prompt them to beat the drums for an international conference on Southeast Asia, something that the U.S. wants to avoid until South Viet Nam is in better shape to parley;

3) the North Vietnamese, by deliberately provoking a stern U.S. response, hoped to draw Red China, and perhaps even Russia, deeper into the Southeast Asia mess; 4) they figured that by sinking an American destroyer in a successful strike they would embarrass the U.S., and give substance to Red China's taunts that the U.S. is a "paper tiger."

To the Brink. While the fourth theory seemed the most plausible, the fact was that even the U.S. had no clear idea of what the attacks might foreshadow. Moscow, of course, weighed in with a charge that the U.S. retaliation was an "open and hostile action," but its reaction was remarkably restrained. The Kremlin was clearly anxious to avoid getting involved too closely in Communist China's designs. Hanoi reacted to the U.S. action with contrived indignation. Peking waited nearly 24 hours, then declared that the U.S. "has gone over the brink of war" and warned that "the debt of blood incurred by the U.S. to the Vietnamese people must be repaid." Despite this bombast, the Red Chinese made no specific commitment of support to their southern neighbors, and U.S. experts could find no scrutable clues as to whether they might launch a new Korea.

No military response such as the U.S. dealt out could be performed without allowing for the worst. Knowing that, the President ordered fresh American forces into the Pacific area, and the U.S. shield was poised. The U.S. action was precisely limited, but in a sense, this nation had once more gone to the brink. And for all the fears of those who caution against strong response, it was established once again that in the cold war, strength and resolution are indispensable weapons.

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