Mystery Mission

Secretary of State William Rogers and the man often mentioned as his possible successor were both on the road. Rogers visited Australia and moved on to South Korea and Indonesia, the Middle East, then wound up his tour in Eastern Europe. His aims were varied. In Yemen, he reopened diplomatic relations for the first time since the Six-Day War; in Greece he acted moderately chummy with the colonels and reaffirmed U.S.-Greek ties under NATO (the political opposition boycotted Rogers during the visit). In the case of John Connally, the Texas Democrat who resigned last May 16 as Treasury Secretary, the meaning of the mission was a good deal more elusive.

For the past five weeks, Connally has been popping up in remote foreign capitals with the persistence of a political Punch, shaking hands here, patting backs there, talking about the international monetary situation, and briefing all and sundry on the President's summit visits to Moscow and Peking. Nobody seemed quite sure why.

Although the President had specifically denied that Connally would "undertake a permanent Government assignment," speculation continued that he was being groomed for Secretary of State or Vice President--without any real evidence. In Latin America, there were warm talks with Argentine President Alejandro Agustin Lanusse and Peruvian dictator Juan Velasco Alvarado, but nothing concrete seemed to come out of the discussions. The inconclusive pattern continued in Australia and New Zealand. One Australian Minister called Connally a "high-powered Averell Harriman, only more impressive." Diplomats in Washington say he has proved to be a shrewd observer and called his mission a success as far as it went.

In India and Pakistan, Connally made a point of praising the "high statesmanship" of Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in their efforts to ease current strains, but there was no sign of a thaw in U.S.-India relations. From Pakistan, the magical mystery tourist flew on to a meeting with Pope Paul VI in Rome, then back to the U.S.

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