Battlefield Losses Kept U.S. From Viet Nam Peace Table
WASHINGTON — (UPI) There is an old axiom in diplomacy that you're not likely to gain at the conference table anything the enemy doesn't believe you can win on the battlefield.
This, according to authoritative administration sources, sums up the reasons for the American rejection about a year ago of two Communist Viet Nam offers to meet for peace talks at Rangoon, Eurma.
President Johnson's top advisers, particularly Secretary of State Dean Rusk, felt that the perilous U.S. military position in late 1964 plus the shakiness of the Saigon government then made the American negotiating position impossibly weak.
RUSK ARGUED that the Communists, knowing this, must be willing to meet only in the hope of getting a settlement which would amount to surrendering South Viet Nam to the Reds, The President agreed.
In confirming reports early this week that the United States had rejected two offers to talk which came through United Nations Secretary General Thant, the State Department said only that it did so because there was no evidence of "serious intent on the other side." There was no elaboration.
But other administration officials, speaking privately, provided these additional details;
When the first offer from Hanoi came in September, 1964, Rusk opposed accepting it on these grounds:
The presidential election campaign was just getting started and it was a poor time to explore dubious peace feelers.
The United States would be negotiating from a position of weakness in the light of recent military reverses suffered by
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South Vietnamese and American forces, then less than one-eighth the size they are now.
- Word of the proposed Rangoon talks inevitably would reach Saigon and cause the collapse of the toterting regime at a time when the United States could least afford this.
In early February, the United States began bombing North Viet Nam. It already had begun aerial attacks on Communist supply lines through neighboring Laos, although Washington still will not acknowledge these officially.
AT THE SAME time, a buildup in American military strength was starting. On April 7, President Johnson, under pressure from allied and neutralist nations as well as some Americans, announced his willingness to enter "unconditional discussions" with the Reds.
Meantime, U.S. troop strength mounted. There now are more than 165,000 American servicemen
in Viet Nam, plus a powerful segment of the Navy's Seventh Fleet offshore providing some of the attacking planes.
By the end of 1965 U.S. strength will be near the 200,000 mark. Although victory is nowhere near in sight, the Communists are taking increasingly heavy punishment—both in North Viet Nam and in the jungles of the South.
THE UNITED STATES now would be negotiating from a vastly stronger position than a year ago. Yet Rusk's "extremely sensitive" diplomatic antenna has not picked up any new offers to talk.
This confirms the administration view that the Reds a year ago were willing to talk peace only because they believed the United States ready to give up.
Wednesday, November 17, 1965
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The student commander of the NROTC, Virgil L. Young, St. Joseph, Mo., senior, will represent KU at 32nd convention of the National Society of Scabbard and Blade, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Friday and Saturday.
ROTC Chief To Conclave
Young will join more than 150 campus leaders in Army, Navy and Air Force reserve programs throughout the country.
During the two-day convention, top military leaders of the armed forces will address the Scabbard and Blade delegates.
Convention business will include discussions of local company activities designed to further public understanding of the military establishment and the needs of national security. The role of ROTC on the American college campus will also be reviewed.
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