The Real Stalemate

The real impasse over Viet Nam lies not in the frustrating military situation out there but in the strident stalemate of the debate at home. Whatever the original merits of the arguments on either side, most of the debating points have been made so often by now that they impinge on the American imagination about as stirringly as a halitosis commercial.

Last week was no exception. The State Department once again lamented any civilian casualites in North Viet Nam caused by American bombing, but pointed out that Communist terrorism in the South has taken an infinitely greater toll of civilian lives. Michigan's George Romney once again proposed that all of Southeast Asia be "neutralized" and the war "defused." At an impromptu news conference, the President once again affirmed his belief in the right to dissent, but suggested that the dissenters were only playing into the hands of Red propagandists. Minnesota's Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy once again threatened to run as a "peace candidate" unless Johnson ended the war, and Massachusetts' Teddy Kennedy once again decried the maltreatment of refugees.

Hit Him Harder. There were occasional unscripted moments of relief. At Indiana University, Secretary of State Dean Rusk kept his customary cool as he faced a student audience speckled with hecklers shouting "Murderer!," "Fascist!," "Lies!" and "Hell no, we won't go!" Rusk at first shrugged off the heckling with a joke: "Thank you for letting me be your Halloween guest. But after a student yelled, "You invited yourself," the urbane Georgian grew grim. "Let's be clear about one thing, and I'll be as gentle as I can," he said. "I am prepared to be your guest, but I will not engage in a shouting match with anyone." The measured seriousness of the statement sobered the crowd, and later when a little old lady in the audience smote a bearded heckler with her umbrella, a chant went up: "Harder, harder, hit him again harder!"

On the Senate side, talk of turning the Viet Nam question over to the United Nations rumbled on, with Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Minority Leader Everett Dirksen both supporting such a move. The Foreign Relations Committee also heard U.N. Ambassador Arthur Goldberg clarify for the first time in public the Administration's willingness to allow the Viet Cong to participate in Security Council peace talks.

While the U.N. to date has shown no interest in tackling the Viet Nam dilemma, Goldberg said also that if the Geneva Conference is reconvened, the U.S. will not argue with the conference cochairmen, Russia and Britain, about invitations or agenda. Thus, the Viet Cong could participate in Geneva talks with no American objection--a significant softening of the U.S. position to date.

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