TUESDAY, MAY 9, 1967
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAE TTiiMir
TUESDAY, MAY 9,1967 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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'Reveal Story
Behind
Unsuccessful Peace
By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER
WASHINGTON VP) -President
' Johnson had a man ,in Warsaw
early last December read; and
waiting to open secret peace talks
with a representative of North
Vietnam who never showed up.
This peace probe failed. The
reasons why are disputed between
the U.S. and Polish governments.
But the secret diplomacy which
led to Warsaw produced the near-
est approach yet to a U.S. and
Communist statement on how the
war might be settled.
The statement may yet play an
important part in bringing the war
to an end, if it is ever to end
through negotiation, some high
officials here believe.
The Warsaw maneuver, initiated
and directed by Polish diplomats,
had another result. Indirectly at
least it led President Johnson to
prohibit all U.S. bombing near the'
North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi
for more than four months.
North Vietnam was invited
through Polish and other diplo-
matic channels to take some re-
sponsive step of de-escalation but
never did so.
The story of this peace effort,
from mid-November until two
weeks ago when the bombs fell
again at Hanoi, has been obtained
from various official and diplo-
matic sources.
So far as official Washington is
concerned, it can now be told be-
cause the episode has ended in
failure to produce either peace
talks or a scaling down of the war.
At the State Department, press
oficer Robert J. McCloskey said
he had no comment on the story.
During the period there were
three brief truces, at Christmas,
New Year's, and the Vietnamese
lunar new year in February.
Johnson personally wrote a let-
ter to President Ho Chi Minh of
North Vietnam.
Pope Paul VI, U.N. Secretary
General U Thant, British Prime
Minister Harold Wilson, Soviet
Prime Minister Alexei N. Kosygin
and others took a hand in the
search for negotiations.
In a sense the kickoff man for
these endeavors was Januz Lew-
andowski, a Polish member of the
International Control Commission
which operates in both Saigon
and Hanoi.
Lewandowski went to Hanoi in
late November and on his return
to Saigon about Dec. 1 he arrang-
ed a secret session with Henry
Cabot Lodge, then the U.S. am-
bassador.
Lewandowski told Lodge he be-
lieved North Vietnam was pre-
pared to open secret exploratory
discussions with 'the United States.
He did not interpose the condition
that the United States would have
to call off unconditionally the
bombing of the north.
The Polish diplomat gave Lodge
a 10 point statement of topics and
principles for the proposed talks.
The statement constituted a Polish
summary of what the United
States would be willing to talk
about, presumably based on pub-
lished declarotions and previous
Lewandowski talks with Lodge.
Lewandowski said the North Viet-
namese were also willing to talk
about these points.
President Johnson and Secretary
of State Dean Rusk speedily ad-
vised Lodge that the United States
was willing to talk on the basis
of the 18 point statement though
some points would need clarifica-
tion.
Lodge suggested to Lewandowski
that the talks shift to Warsaw,
and Johnson instructed John A.
with a North Vietnamese repre-
Poland, to be ready for a meeting
Gronouski, U.S. ambassador to
sentative.
Gronouski met with Polish For-
eign Minister Adam Rapacki to
disuss a U.S. desire for clarifica-
tion of a couple of the 10 points.
Rapacki warned Gronouski such
clarification might block the whole
project.
Rapacki's strong resistance to
the clarification proposal caused
some concern in Washington
where officials were not sure the
Polish had any commitment from
North Vietnam to go into the
talks. Some high officials here
doubted that Rapacki was in fact
relaying U.S. views and readiness
for talks to Hanoi.
While these efforts were under
way in Warsaw Dec. 6-12, the
Johnson administration decided
not to suspend air raids against
North Vietnam, partly because
there had been so many diplo-
matic moves in the past and part-
ly because the Communists were
making terror strikes in the
vicinity of Saigon.
Informants now say an impor-
tant element in the administration
decision not to suspend the bomb-
ing plan was an attack by Com-
munist forces on Saigon's main
airfield and an unsuccessful try to
blow up a major bridge in Saigon.
On Dec. 13-14 U.S. planes raid-
ed transportation targets on the
edges of Hanoi. Some explosives-
whose source is controversial-fell
in the city and there were loud
protests that the United States
was bombing the civilian popula-
tion.
Prbbe
The plan for U.S. North Viet-
namese talks fell through. Polish
diplomats said privately that the
United States had blown up the
most hopeful peace initiative in a
long time.
U.S. officials simply said that
the bombing gave the N4orth Viet-
namese-or the Poles-a con-
venient excuse to end that peace
probe, if they needed one. But per-
haps the bombing did have a real
effect.
Word was sent to the North
Vietnamese that the United States
would continue not to bomb Hanoi
and would welcome any response
action by North Vietnam.
This proposition remained open
during the various holiday truces,
but nothing ever came of it.
Viet Cong Claim
Huge U.S. Losses
Pentagon Cites Captured Papers
In Exposing Hanoi's 'Exaggerations'
TWO OBJECT:
Supreme Court Rejects Pleas
Of New York Demonstrators
WASHINGTON (IP)-Top Viet
Cong leaders in South Vietnam in-
formed Hanoi late last year that
Communists troops killed 88,000
i Americans during the first nine
months of 1966, Pentagon sources
disclosed yesterday.
If that 'claim were correct, the
Viet Cong would have wiped out
well over one fourth of the peak
U.S. strength in Vietnam in Sep-
tember, 311,000.
Defense figures for the same
period, however, showed 3,558
American dead-and about 41,000
Commmunist killed.
This amazing disparity between
Government
Still Fighting
Poverty War
WASHINGTON UP) - President
Johnson said last night the gov-
ernment is not backing away
"from our commitment to fight
poverty" despite the cost of the
war in Vietnam.
"Nor will we-so long as I have
anything to say about it," the
President said. "We have just
begun."
Again Johnson said people are
wrong who claim the administra-
tion is "spending too much or
wasting too much on a losing
battle to help poor Americans."
Johnson told some 450 people
attending a conference on women
in the war on poverty that some
Americans complain "we are
spending too little, that we have
'backed away from our commit-
ment to this war, because of our
commitment to the other war-in
Vietnam.
"I say no-we are not backing
off," Johnson said.
"We are staying for the long
pull."
Johnson said the federal gov-
ernment will spend $22 billion this
year through all social programs
to help the poor in America, and
that sum will rise to $25.3 billion
under the 1968 budget.
He said that is 2 2 times as
much as was spent in 1960.
"To those who believe we are
spending too much, I want to ad-
dress a special word," Johnson
said. "You and I are against crime
in the streets, violence and de-
linquency, the dulling effects of
dependency on welfare.
"We want our fellow men to be
productive and responsible citi-
zens," he said, not dropouts from
our society.
Johnson said the government
has spent over $100 billion in the
past six years to break the vicious
circle of unemployment, bad hous-
ing, bad schools, discrimination.
what the Viet Cong claim to be
achieving militarily in South Viet-
nam and what is actually happen-
ing was shown in a captured Com-
munist document.
The paper, among many seized
in the fighting, was a report on
the war by the presidium of the
Communist military organization
in South Vietnam, the Central)
Office.
Pentagon sources say it illus-
trates how the Viet Cong may be
deceiving their leaders in Hanoi,
as well as their troops, about the
progress of the Communist effort
to overthrow Saigon.
Officials feel the enemy's mask-
ing of the true military situation
may be one reason the North Viet-
namese continue pressing the war
despite growing allied power. In
short, they appear to be victims
of their own lies.
U.S. officials last March spoke
of. how the Viet Cong were deli-
berately understating their battle
losses while exaggerating Amer-
ican casualties 20 to 40 times.
The Associated Press asked for
specific examples of distorted
claims. Pentagon sources, while
unwilling to provide copies of the
documents because of intelligence
reasons, gave excerpts from some
captured papers.
A report by the Viet Cong mil-
itary staff of the Communist's
Region 4 last November claimed
5,754 U.S. troops killed in the Chu
Chat district northwest of Saigon
'- tween Feb. 1 and Sept. 20, 1966.
The Pentagon said actual U.S.
losses were 276.
Another Communist document,
stamped top secret by intelligence
experts because it contains a
wealth of information about ene-
my plans, stated that 48,522 Amer-
icans were, as the Viet Cong
phrased it, "put out of action"
during the firht half of 1966. The
Pentagon places American losses
during the same period at 2,477.
-Associated Press
PARTY WITHOUT TRUMAN
With former President Harry Truman not being able to attend, a birthday cake sits before his
empty chair at the birthday party given for Truman by Henry Talge, left. Talge is reading the
announcement of the Eddie Jacobson Memorial Foundation-an award to be given each year to a
member of the U.S. Senate who has given distinguished service in foreign policy objectives.
ARMY BAFFLED:
Militar Junta Expertences
Smooth Takeovear of Greece
WASHINGTON OP)- The Su-
preme Court let stand yesterday
disorderly conduct convictions of
17 New Yorkers who participated
in the Times Square area in mid-
summer 1964.
However, the 7 to 2 ruling drew
from the dissenters, Justices Wil-
liam 0. Douglas and Abe Fortas,
objections that the majority failed
to state its views on the free
speech questions raised for the
defendants by the New York Civil
Liberties Union.
"Where First Amendments rights
are involved as they are here,"
Douglas wrote, "we have been
meticulous to insist upon clear cut
violations of ordinances protecting
law and order, lest broad or fuzzy
applications be used to suffocate
or impair the exercise of those
constitutional rights."
The unsigned majority opinion
was only one sentence, saying the
appeal, heard last month, had
been "improvidently granted"-
meaning that the high court
should never have taken the case.
In another major decision, the
court gave new protection from
prosecution to distributors of pub-
lications some consider obscene.
It said "girlie" magazines and
spicy paperbacks were covered by
the First Amendment free speech
provision.
In a 7 to 2 decision it threw out
obscenity rulings against publish-f
ers and retailers of 10 magazines
and two paperbacks.a
"Wa have concluded, in short,
that the distribution of the pub-
lications in each of these cases is convicted under state obscenity,
protected by the First and 14th laws.
Amendments from governmental However, the majority decided
suppression, whether criminal or that the magazines and paper-
civil," the unsigned opinion said. backs before the court cannot be
The ruling, in cases from Ar- legally held obscene-and there-
kansas, Kentucky and New York, fore the court did not resolve the
followed seven months of delibera- contents question.
tion. Justices John M. Harlan, and This caused Harlan and Clark
Tom C. Clark dissented. to complain that "the court dis-
The sweep of the obscenity rul- poses of the cases on the issue that
ing was a surprise. The court took was deliberately excluded from re-
the three cases ostensibly to de- .
cide whether knowledge of the view, and refuses to pass on the
contents of a publication must be questions that brought the cases
shown before a retailer -can be here."
U.S. Protests Hanoi Parade
Of Pilots Captured in North
WASHINGTON {P)-The United. 39, and Lt. James R. Shively, 25,
States yesterday protested in all based in Thailand. They were
strong terms the parading through downed Friday during a strike six
the streets of Hanoi of three miles east of Hanoi, according to
American pilots shot down over an American spokesman in Saigon.
the Hanoi area. The State Department spokes-
The State Department fired off man said "we are concerned that
a protest to the International American prisoners of war were
Committee of the Red Cross in paraded and put on display at the
Geneva and indicated that further press conference. It is a flagrant
action would be taken through di- violation of the Geneva conven-
plomatic channels if the Geneva tions of war."
Red Cross group did not get a re- Article 13 of the convention
dress from the North Vietnam stipulates that prisoners of war
regime. must at all times be protected
Press officer Robert J. McClos- against acts of violence or in-
key disclosed that the protest to timidation and against insults and
Geneva called attention especially public curiosity.
to what he said were indications "We have repeatedly called on
that one or more of the three Hanoi to live up to the Geneva
pilots were wounded and ailing. Convention. The United States is
Geneva Treaty . sending a protest through the In-
Pointing out that North Viet- ternational Committee of the Red
nam had signed the Geneva con- Cross."
vention on the treatment of war Accounts from Hanoi indicated
prisoners in 1957, McCloskey said that Col. Hughes appeared to be
"they don't seem to give a damn suffering from a back injury and
all about taking care of their re- was wounded. Larson was said to
sponsibilities to adhere to the be in a state of shock.
Geneva convention." The United States has long
Press reports from Hanoi on sought to influence Hanoi through
Saturday identified the U.S. pilots the International Committee of
as Lt. Col. James L. Hughes and Lt. the Red Cross to give better treat-
Col. Gordon Albert Larson, each ment to American prisoners.
ATHENS (P) - The military
junta in Greece appears to have
run into an unforeseen develop-
ment. It may not have expected its
takeover to go so smoothly.
As a result, some diplomats be-
lieve, the officers in charge are
being forced to face this critics'
question earlier than anticipated:
What do they intend to do with
the government they now rule?
The army established itself in
power with remarkable speed after
the April 21 coup. The coup itself
was virtually bloodless. And there
have been no violent or passive
demonstrations since.
New Government
Greeks are waiting to see what
the new government comes up
with in the future.
It seems clear from the leaders'
vague and sometimes contradic-
tory statements that they simply
do not yet know.
They have promised a "new
Greek state," a revised constitution
and a new government. They have
spoken about strengthening the
executive branch over the legis-
lative.
New Greece
Brig. Stylianos Patacos, the in-
terior minister and one of the
most powerful new leaders, in-
dicated doubt to one group of for-
eign reporters as to whether there
would be a Parliament in the
"new Greece," but to another
group he said definitely there
would be.
The new constitution, expected
to be placed before the people inI
a referendum, is not expected to
be ready in the very near future.,
Speculation
There has been some specula-
tion on what the new government
would be like.
The executive branch could be
strengthened by making the pre-
miership an elected position, like
the U.S. presidency, instead of
appointive by the king. An alter-
native would be to keep appointing
the premier as in the past, but to
give him a mandate for four or
more years during which he could
not be ousted by a parliamentary
vote of no confidence.
A new Parliament, most agree,
would be cut from 300 members
to 150.
Analysts do not exclude the pos-
sibility that the junta's military
leaders will run for office as civil-
ians in any future elections.
South Arabia Hopes for Change
In Britain's Plans To Withdraw
World News Roundup
LONDON (P)-Britain was re-
ported yesterday to be standing
fast on plans to quit South Arabia
next year-despite new pleas to
stay on in strength by leaders of
that troubled region.
Informed sources also disclosed
that a special British envoy will
fly black to the Middle East this
week with high hopes of face to
face talks with top men among
South Arabia's self-exiled nation-
alist groups. He is Lord Shackle-
ton, minister without portfolio.
On the eve of a state visit by
King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, in-
formants outlined a series of pro-
posals awaiting endorsement of
the British Cabinet in the next
few days.
Leaders of the country's fed-
eral regime urged the British
t1- rough Shackleton recently to
rM7
defer independence day and to
provide ironclad commitments for
the defence of the new state
against aggression.
Faisal himself, who fears an
Egyptian military thrust into
South Arabia, also wants the Brit-
ish to provide these guarantees.
French Fold Is Here!
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK-A member of the
journalism jury that screened en-
tries for the 1967 Pulitzer Prize in
national reporting said today the
five man panel "never even saw"
the entry of the ultimate winners
--Stanley W. Penn and Monroe
W. Karmin of the Wall Street
Journal.
Paul Sann, executive editor of
the New York Post, said columnists
Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson
were the unanimous choice of the
jury ,not only for their series on
the financial affairs of Sen.
Thomas J. Dodd (D-Conn), but
also for their disclosures involving
the actions of Rep. Adam Clayton
Powell (D-NY), as chairman of
the House Education and Labor
Committee.
* * *
WASHINGTON-AFL-CIO Pres-
ident George Meany denied yester-
day renewed reports of widespread
subsidies from the Central Intel-
ligence Agency for U.S. labor pro-
grams over seas.
Meany denied a Saturday Even-
ing Post report that some $2 mil-
lion was funneled from the CIA
through American unions.
I
Eli
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