Confident in His Course

President Johnson was still making specific decisions about the war in Viet Nam on a day-by-day, intuitive basis. But he was supremely and serenely confident of the correctness of his general course. And because of that confidence, he was almost philosophical about the criticism that was coming his way. To be sure, he wished the critics would go away, but at least they no longer fired him to fury.

It was in that spirit that he spoke last week to some 1,500 members of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington. "Our first purpose--America's only purpose--is to work with others for the good of all mankind," he said. "But let this be clear: if choice must be made, we would rather that men quarrel with our actions to preserve peace than to curse us through eternity for inaction that might lose both our peace and our freedom." Cattiness & Caterwauling. Of course, there was plenty of quarreling going on about Administration policy. In a "national teach-in" held in Washington's Sheraton Park Hotel ballroom and beamed to dozens of U.S. college campuses via radio and educational television channels, academicians of varying qualifications arose to attack or defend the U.S. commitment in Viet Nam.

It turned out to be far less an educational forum than a platform for intra-academy cattiness and pointless caterwauling. Anti-Administration speakers showed a woeful lack of accurate information and a disturbing tendency to use only the facts that proved their case for reduction or total abolition of the U.S. involvement in Asia. The star performer--and chief advocate for the Administration--was to have been McGeorge Bundy, the President's No. 1 White House aide on foreign affairs. At the last minute. Bundy sent his regrets, saying only that he could not attend because of "other duties."

Shortage of Targets. Whatever the pros and cons about his policies, the President remained consistent. As always, he was ready to go to the negotiating table--but not as an exercise in futility, and not if the only prospect was to be the abandonment of Viet Nam by the U.S. Time and again, he told White House visitors, he had been urged by foreign statesmen to negotiate. Time and again he had expressed his willingness. Time and again he had asked those statesmen to go out and find some responsible party for him to negotiate with. So far, no luck.

Early last week U.S. bombings continued in North Viet Nam. Although the U.S. made no point of publicizing the damage, the raids added to the growing toll that included bridges, highways, communications centers and factory facilities (see cut). Then there was a little lull in the raids against the North. This aroused some talk among pundits that the pause might be an Administration ploy to give Hanoi a breathing spell that could lead to negotiations. Maybe. But bombings of Viet Cong encampments in the South continued. Indeed, there may have been a good deal of truth in the assessment of Air Force Lieut. Colonel Robinson Risner, veteran pilot in South Viet Nam who was in Washington to get a medal (see PEOPLE). When a reporter asked Risner if U.S. flyers were simply running out of bridges to hit in North Viet Nam. Risner said tersely, "Yes, we are."

"Damage Without Conquest." President Johnson never let up in his patient efforts to explain to the U.S., as well as to the Communists, his credo for Viet Nam. In a carefully prepared speech before 150 members of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists in the White House East Room--his tenth foreign policy utterance in two weeks--the President said, "We know, as our adversaries should also know, that there is no purely military solution in sight for either side. We are ready for unconditional discussions. Most of the non-Communist nations of the world favor such unconditional discussions.

And it would clearly be in the interest of North Viet Nam to now come to the conference table. For them, the continuation of war without talks means only damage without conquest."

Then, in an obvious effort to drive a wedge between North Viet Nam and Red China, the President said: "Communist China apparently desires the war to continue, whatever the cost to their allies. Their target is not merely South Viet Nam. It is Asia. Their objective is not the fulfillment of Vietnamese nationalism. It is to erode and to discredit America's ability to help prevent Chinese domination over all of Asia." Speaking slowly and emphatically, he added: "In this domination they shall never succeed. And I am continuing, and I am increasing the search for every possible path to peace."

For Works of Peace. Johnson spoke at length about economic aid in South Viet Nam--the third of the "three Ds" in his policy of determination, discussions and development. The U.S., he said, has pumped $2 billion into the country since 1954. "With our help," he declared, "South Viet Nam has already doubled its rice production. We have already helped vaccinate over 7,000,000 people against cholera and millions more against other diseases. More than a quarter-million young Vietnamese can now learn in more than 4,000 classrooms that America has helped to build; and 2,000 more schools are going to be built by us in the next twelve months. The number of students in vocational schools has gone up four times. The 8,000,000 textbooks that we have supplied to Vietnamese children will rise to more than 15 million by 1967."

Yet, said the President, there is more to be done, and he urged that other nations should help. Said Johnson: "I call on every other industrialized nation, including the Soviet Union, to help create a better life for all of the people of Southeast Asia. Surely, surely, the works of peace can bring men together in a common effort to abandon forever the works of war."

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