Clifford Takes Over

The new man in the third-floor of fice of the Pentagon's E-Ring could not have assumed command at a more critical juncture. As Clark McAdams Clifford, 61, was sworn in last week as the nation's ninth Secretary of Defense, succeeding Robert S. McNamara, the U.S. once again stood at a crossroads in Viet Nam--perhaps the most important one. And it is Clifford who, from the massive desk once owned by General of the Armies John ("Black Jack") Pershing, will play a major and possibly decisive role in determining which path the U.S. takes.

The question confronting Clifford and every other top policymaker from the President on down is whether to commit scores of thousands of additional troops to Viet Nam to regain the momentum lost when the Communists launched their Tet offensive in January. U.S. commanders are pleading for 100,000 to 200,000 more troops beyond the 525,000 already authorized. Seven or eight separate plans are under study at the Pentagon, all calling for sizable reinforcements and all entailing substantial political risks for the President.

Dispatching even 100,000 extra men would not simply be "more of the same" but would cause a qualitative change in the war. It would probably force Lyndon Johnson to mobilize the reserves, call up the National Guard, increase the draft, and put the economy on a full war footing--all unpleasant options in an election year. Withholding the troops, on the other hand, could force the U.S. to abandon for good the tactics of flexibility and mobility that long kept the enemy off balance, and shift instead to a static, enclave-style stance.

The U.S. has been pushed toward this hard decision by what Assistant Secretary of State William P. Bundy last week confirmed as "a change in the basic strategy" of the North Vietnamese. "They have sent down a great deal more equipment, a great many more North Vietnamese men," said Bundy. Agreed a concerned U.S. general in Viet Nam: "We are scrambling, and we will continue to scramble un less we get more men."

Curdled Opinion. If there is a note of anguish in the pleas of U.S. officers for more men, that is due to the dangerously exposed situation of U.S. troops as a result of Hanoi's new thrust. "I see no easy end to this war," admitted Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Earle G. Wheeler last week after conferring with General William C. Westmoreland on troop requirements. "We must expect hard fighting to continue. The enemy retains substantial uncommitted resources."

Nearly half the ten U.S. combat divisions in Viet Nam are jammed into I Corps, the northernmost provinces of South Viet Nam, facing a potent concentration of Communist regulars (see overleaf). There is growing concern that the 5,000 Marines at the besieged outpost of Khe Sanh can be overrun by the North Vietnamese infantry divisions that are inexorably tightening the circle around them. Warned Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Richard Russell: "I am afraid this position may be difficult to defend. I hope we will be able to reinforce our troops there sufficiently." Even South Viet Nam's President Nguyen Van Thieu is said by associates to believe that the Americans should evacuate Khe Sanh rather than risk a defeat that could curdle U.S. opinion about the war.

As it is, the nation's mood is a distinctly sour one, compounded of frustration, impatience and a desire to get it over with--though not at any price. In the supposedly dovish stronghold of Concord, Mass., voters defeated a resolution opposing "continued U.S. prosecution of the war" by a 2,188-to-1,405 margin. But a sense of impatience and of anguish over apparent U.S. impotence was evident. Said the Hearst news papers, firm supporters of Johnson on the war, in an editorial: "This war has gone on too long, it is causing too much disaffection in the country, it is killing and maiming too many Americans. It must be brought to an end--with new ideas, new tactics and new methods."

Obscene Proposal. As rumors of a new troop buildup spread, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield urged a trial suspension of bombing raids against the North as "preferable" to heeding "the insatiable calls for more men as the war spreads and intensifies." But a pause does not appear to be in the cards. Secretary of State Dean Rusk told a group of college editors last month that a halt in the bombing as a step toward peace proposals was "almost an obscene proposal." Revisiting Dallas for the first time since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President Johnson seemed determined to stand fast at what he described as "a turning point" in the war. "I do not believe that America will ever buckle," he said. There must be "no breaking of our trusted commitments, no weakening of will that would encourage the enemy and prolong the bloody conflict."

For the time being, the President thinks a bombing pause would be interpreted as a weakening of will unless coupled with an agreement by Hanoi not to step up its infiltration. His new Defense Secretary agrees. "I would not favor cessation of the bombing under present circumstances," said Clifford during his confirmation hearing in January. "We've not asked for much. The President has asked for almost the irreducible minimum."

On the war, Clifford says: "I want to get out of there, but I am not going to give it away." He argues: "If we weren't there, it would not be a question of years but of weeks and months until Southeast Asia succumbed, nation by nation. That is not happening, because we have extended this shield. We must continue to do so."

Soother & Smoother. Despite his tough views on the war, Clifford is a diplomatic, undogmatic moderate who enjoys amicable relations with men as disparate as Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman J. William Fulbright and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mendel Rivers. "He knows how to disagree," says Washington's Democratic Senator Henry Jackson, "without being disagreeable."

Probably the most successful lawyer in the country--he made roughly $1,000,000 in law fees during the past year--Clifford has served three Presidents. He was the architect of Harry Truman's 1948 upset victory and a frequent adviser to Kennedy. Before his appointment, L.B.J. summoned him so often from his regal, oak-paneled office just north of the White House that he was spending at least half of his time on presidential missions.

Clifford is known as a soother and smoother. Such talents should serve him well in his dealings with Congress and the press--but not always. During his swearing-in ceremony in the White House East Room, the handsome, 6-ft. 2-in. Secretary conceded in his mellow baritone that the reporters who were now saying "Give the little fella a chance" would pretty soon be crying "Throw the bum out!"

Out of the Kitchen. At the White House ceremony, his handsome blonde wife Margery ("Marny") carried the Bible he used to take the oath of office administered by U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren, while his three daughters and most of his ten grandchildren looked on. Said the President: "This is a great day for us at the White House. We finally got Clark Clifford to move from the Kitchen Cabinet to the East Room."

Clifford's accession was one of three major Cabinet changes during the week. Also taking over, as Secretary of Commerce, was American Airlines Chairman C. R. Smith, 68, to succeed ailing Alexander Trowbridge, 38.* And Under Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Wilbur J. Cohen, 54, became Acting Secretary when John W. Gardner, 55, quietly departed last week--with no visit from Johnson, no speech, no formal ceremonies of any kind. The President is believed to be annoyed with Gardner, perhaps his most brilliant appointment, for leaving at a crucial time.

Out of Heart. Robert McNamara's leave-taking was considerably more conspicuous as official Washington staged one of its more ambitious displays of pomp and grandeur. Early in the week, McNamara held a farewell reception for reporters, who presented him with a collection of W. B. Yeats's poems. Newsmen drew his attention to two pieces in the thick volume. One begins:

The fascination of what's difficult

Has dried the sap out of my veins,

and rent

Spontaneous joy and natural content

Out of my heart.

The other begins:

Being out of heart with

government . . .

That was a particularly painful reference, for rumors persist that the reason for McNamara's departure was Johnson's displeasure over his growing reservations about the war. Nevertheless, the President lauded him as "one of America's most valuable public properties," and a "brilliant and good man" later in the week, when he presented him with the nation's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. McNamara, who has been labeled "the human computer" and "the man with the cost-effective soul," responded in a most unprogrammed way. He choked up. "I cannot find words to express what lies in my heart today," he began. Then, losing control of his facial muscles, he haltingly concluded, "I think I'd better respond on another occasion."

En route to the final ceremonies next day, McNamara, Johnson and eleven others got stuck in the Pentagon's elevator No. 13 for twelve minutes. Once outside, they learned that a chilling rain had forced the cancellation of an Air Force and Navy flyover. After four 105-mm. howitzers boomed out a 19-gun salute, Johnson told an audience of 1,000 before the columned Potomac River entrance to the Pentagon: "I have heard this place here referred to as the 'puzzle palace.' Bob McNamara may be the only man who ever found the solution to the puzzle, and he is taking it with him." His words were lost; the public-address system had broken down.

During his seven-year tenure, McNamara did indeed go a long way toward solving the puzzle of the Pentagon. Most notable were his application of sophisticated managerial techniques to the department's often chaotic budgetary and systems analysis practices, his firm assertion of civilian control, and his emphasis on conventional as well as nuclear forces. On the debit side were his reluctance to concede error and his inability to get along with Congress. "There is a way for a man to say no without offending, and there is a way for a man to say yes without offending," said one of the key men on Capitol Hill. "McNamara could not do either. Clark Clifford can do both."

The Second Toughest Job. Clifford will have to do a good deal more if he is to succeed in what Mississippi's Democratic Senator John Stennis describes as "the second most difficult job in the Government, second only to the presidency, and perhaps the second most difficult job in the world."

McNamara left the Pentagon in the best shape, managerially speaking, it has ever been in. Inevitably he also left behind a spate of unresolved problems that Clifford must confront even if he is only in office through next January in a caretaker role, as some officials expect. Chief among them:

> THE ARMY RESERVES AND THE NATIONAL GUARD. McNamara's efforts to merge the two forces were blocked by Congress, and Clifford seems disposed to leave them separate because of what he calls "the inherent differences existing between the two."

> NUCLEAR SHIPS. McNamara adopted a go-slow approach, for which he was upbraided last week by the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy. The Committee urged the allocation of funds for a new submarine reactor proposed by Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover and the building of more nuclear surface ships.

> SOVIET MISSILES. Though McNamara vowed that the U.S. would always maintain a sizable lead over the Russians, many Congressmen were alarmed by his report that Moscow has more than doubled its land-based intercontinental-ballistic-missile force, to 720, in a year. Clifford agrees that the U.S. "must be superior" in missile strength.

> THE F-111. Though the Air Force is pleased with its version of the sweep-wing fighter-bomber, the Navy still considers too heavy for aircraft carriers.

> MANNED BOMBERS. McNamara had no use for them, felt strategic missiles were less vulnerable and more efficient. Clifford has said that "my inclination, which is a visceral one, is to say categorically yes" to developing a new bomber. The fact that the Strategic Air Command has now canceled B-52 airborne alert flights--simulated runs on Communist targets, with nuclear bombs aboard--in the wake of the Greenland crash in which four hydrogen bombs were lost, could, however, bring the usefulness of a new manned bomber into question.

Drastic Turnover. Other dilemmas face Clifford, notably how extensive an anti-ballistic missile system to recommend and what to do about the continued deployment of 200,000 U.S. troops in Europe in the light of balance of payments problems and manpower shortages elsewhere.

Nagging as all the others may be, the overriding enigma for Clifford--and the President--is, of course, Viet Nam. All the signs indicate that Johnson is once more going through the process of preparing the nation for news of a major notch-up in the war. When the announcement will come is uncertain, but it seems likely that Johnson has in mind an increase in troop strength on the order of nearly 200,000 men. That would have far-reaching effects. It would add as much as $10 billion to the $77 billion Defense budget. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills said a "substantial acceleration" of the war "could force" Congress to raise taxes, but he warned that the Government would have to retrench spending elsewhere.

Some officials think that the President ought to ask Congress for a formal declaration of war and thereby make it easier to rein in the supercharged economy with wage and price controls, silence critics and mobilize troops. But the State Department adheres to the objections it listed in 1965 to such a declaration--chiefly, that it would risk "enlarging the scope of the conflict" and lead to "expanded involvement" by Hanoi's Communist allies. As for the legality of fighting a major conflict without a formal declaration of war, the U.S. has done so in six of its eleven major wars.*

Clifford said recently, "I cannot recall perhaps a more perilous time confronting this nation than confronts it today." Though Viet Nam is by no means wholly responsible, he believes that an unsatisfactory outcome of the conflict there could well lead to World War III. In any case, far more than Viet Nam will be at stake during Clark Clifford's tenure as Secretary of Defense. If he can help to reduce the disarray in NATO and other U.S. alliances, and to restore the amity that once existed between Capitol Hill and the White House, he will have done much to reweave the badly rent fabric of national unity.

* Clifford, who is ten years older than McNamara, and Smith added a total of 40 years to the overall age of the twelve-man Cabinet, giving it a considerably greyer look. From an average age of 50.7, it has now gone to 54.

* The five declared wars: War of 1812, Mexican War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II. The six undeclared wars: the naval war with France (1798 to 1800), the First and Second Barbary Wars (1801-1805 and 1815), the Mexican-American conflict of 1914-1917, the Korean War and Viet Nam.

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