Nixon's Pace

His aides have begun to call him "Richard the Relentless," and last week Dick Nixon showed why. Even with no candidate of stature against him, he stepped up his pace in the final days before this week's New Hampshire primary. And instead of talking in winner's generalities, he attacked the Johnson Administration and focused on the two most worrisome issues of the times: Viet Nam and urban violence.

"Of course I have no pushbutton solutions, no magic gimmicks," he said of Viet Nam. "But I pledge that if the war isn't over [this year], the new leadership will end the war and achieve peace in the Pacific." Exactly how? Nixon did not specify, but what he did say on the subject pointed toward military means rather than concessions to the Communists. Under Lyndon Johnson, he said, "we have wasted our military power by using it gradually instead of effectively." Further: "We can't withdraw. We've got to mobilize our effort. We can pull out, but that would lose the peace." For good measure, nonetheless, he accused Johnson of putting too much emphasis on the military aspects of Viet Nam.

Conspiracies. His talk was also tough, if somewhat more tempered, on civil disorders. Both directly and by implication, he disputed the President's riot-commission findings. "A major deficiency" of the report, he said, is its "tendency to lay the blame for the riots on everyone except the rioters." Disputing the commission's attempt to debunk the notion that riots are planned by extremists, Nixon in a radio-network speech alluded to conspiracies to ignite next summer. Only a combination of efforts can avert racial upheavals, Nixon said, and he attributed equal importance to bringing "the American dream to the ghetto" and preparing "to meet force with force if necessary." What attracted the most attention was his reiteration of the need to make it "abundantly clear that these preparations are made, and that retaliation against the perpetrators and the planners of violence will be swift and sure."

The reasons for Nixon's increased pace were clear. He had to maintain interest in the contest so unkindly rendered meaningless by George Romney's withdrawal. He needed more than ever to hold the spotlight lest it wander to the late-blooming Rockefeller write-in campaign. And looking beyond New Hampshire, he had to sustain the momentum that so far has put him ahead in the competition for the Republican nomination.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.