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hee, stam tet ws te ete ee JHE NFEGOTIATI® PUZZLE 5 be extended if there were “significant reductions” in Communist armed attacks in South Vietnam. “A permanent end” to the bomb- ing in the North, it said, could only come through an end to armed attacks by the Vietcong in the South. There was no mention of negotiations or even informal discussions, such as President John- son had proposed on April 7. There was no reference to Hanoi’s “Four Points” peace plan of April 8, 1965. The bombings were resumed after five days, hardly enough time for the National Lib- eration Front and North Vietnam to consult on any proposal for negauations. In spite of this short interval of time and the tone of the American note. which was close to an ultimatum, a response did come from Hanoj, The day before the bombings were re- sumed, the government of North Vietnam contacted the French government and asked it to inform Washington that North Vietnam was prepared to negotiate on the basis of its Four Points without demanding the prior complete withdrawal of United States forces from South Vietnam. High-ranking French officials, while admit- tine that this offer from Hanoi did not make any substantial con- cessions to the United States, expressed regret that cven though, as the State Department contends, the offer was not transmitted to it until a few hours after the bombings had been resumed, the United States did not again halt the bombings long enough to in- duce a possible improvement in the offer.?4 One cannot but be amazed, in view of these seven documented missed opportunities for exploring the sincerity of North Viet- namese offers for negotiation, that President Johnson declared at his press conference on July 13, “J must say that candor compels me to tell you that there has not been the slightest indication that the other side js interested in negotiation or in unconditional dis- cussion, although the United States has made some dozen separate attempts to bring that about.” The experience in November and December 1965, regarding another apparent peace feeler, seems to emphasize the lessons of incident At th 3 prior incidents. At the very time that Secretary of State Rusk was secking clarification of a reported statement on negotiations by Ho Chi Minh, United States planes bombed a power plant only fourteen miles from Haiphong, opening up a new phase of escala- ™ New York Times, November 19, 1965.