Sound & Reality

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Though the stepped-up U.S. bombings of North Viet Nam at first produced the expectable warnings that the war might be broadened, they have actually prompted a sudden surge of speculation about new possibilities for peace. Last week, so plentiful were the diplomatic maneuverings, the travels of statesmen and the words of optimism that many people understandably got the feeling that a settlement might be near. There is no evidence that a solution to the war is imminent--but that certainly is not for lack of hoping.

Avoiding Waste. In Washington, Under Secretary of State George Ball welcomed "encouraging" signs that "there is a change of sentiment" in North Viet Nam, "not only within the government but in a greater war-weariness among the people." President Johnson told a press conference at his Texas ranch: "Our diplomatic reports indicate that the opposing forces no longer really expect a military victory in South Viet Nam." On a visit to Honolulu to discuss future manpower and equipment needs for Viet Nam, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara indicated that the time had come to begin thinking about the war's end. "We're gaining militarily," said McNamara, adding that the supply problem now "is not one of meeting our requirements but of ensuring that we don't come out of this conflict with the surplus and waste that came out of the Korean War." McNamara, too, noted the apparent "war-weariness" of the North Vietnamese, declared himself "cautiously optimistic."

On the international diplomatic front, there were equally interesting stirrings. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Arthur Goldberg flew to Rome to explain the U.S. view of the new bombings to Pope Paul VI. British Prime Minister Harold Wilson suddenly announced plans to fly to Moscow this week for a huddle with the Soviet hierarchy, touching off speculation that he will talk to the Russians about a possible solution to the war. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, departing for a trip to Cairo, Yugoslavia and Moscow, called for a three-point peace plan for Viet Nam that involved the reconvening of the Geneva Conference followed by a cessation of all fighting and bombing. Mrs. Gandhi also had dispatched a letter to Ho Chi Minh and, going her one better, French President Charles de Gaulle sent his chief Asian expert to Hanoi for a tete-`a-tete with Ho. And U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, in Japan for an annual trade and economic meeting, had a two-hour talk with Prime Minister Eisaku Sato from which it would have been hard to exclude discussion of Viet Nam.

Ringing Phone. From the other side, the rumbles were not peacelike. Sounding more bellicose than ever, Peking continued attacking the U.S. bombing, stopping just short of promising to send troops to Viet Nam. The Warsaw Pact countries rubber-stamped a resolution condemning the latest U.S. actions as "a new and more dangerous step in the American policy of escalation" and pledging continued aid to North Viet Nam. While obviously suffering under the new American blows (see THE WORLD), Hanoi in its public statements displayed no hint of any less determination than Washington. Ho Chi Minh recently told a visiting Canadian diplomat that the war would not be a protracted one, contending: "We won't have to wait too long." His reasoning: the U.S. elections in November will produce so much opposition to Lyndon Johnson's Viet Nam policies that the President will have to switch course.

However it happens--through negotiation or just by a fade-away--the war must end some day, and it is in line with this certainty that the peace efforts will and must continue. Said Rusk in Tokyo, reiterating a favorite theme: "I would be in Geneva tomorrow if there was somebody from Hanoi and Peking to talk about peace." Trouble is, as one U.S. diplomat put it, "the other side keeps hanging up the phone." Nonetheless, while the bombs keep falling, the phone will keep ringing.

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