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We sah var Freres PEACE IN VIE! Assistant to the President, flew to Ottawa. (Canada is he “member of the Control Commission.) Arthur Goldberg, Creatas Lacon d ne tn Tee atta = Wale Ambassador us the United Nations, visited Pope Fat and then had high-level talks in Rome, Paris, and London. President Hubert Humphrey made a tour to the Far Ea discuss Vietnam, among other things. Ambassador Kohler ferred with Soviet officials in Moscow, Assistant Secreta State G. Mennen Williams explained Washington’s position t leaders of several African countries, and Under Secretary of Thomas C. Mann did the same in Mexico City. This rather ting switch from secrecy to glaring publicity, from carcfully trolled channels to “jet-diplomacy,” as James Reston calle brought forth no concessions from Hanoi and only more dé ciations of a “peace-hoax.” The intensive peace efforts of those days may indicate tha President was genuinely interested in stopping the war, but the r ods and the terms were not Tkely ta he arrentahle to the ; RRR aERS SYR Bay danke POR UR Gee RA side. As Ambassador Charles E. Bohlen has said, “In dealing the Communists, remember that in their mind what is sect serious, and what is public is merely propaganda.” * A si: assessment is usually made in Washington concerning Comm approaches. The muin ingredient iacking in the American E recipe was any assurance that the National Liberatton Front ¢ have its own representative in the peace conference or in future political arrangements for South Vietnam. The conti bombing in the South during the cessation of bombing ir North made it difficult for Hanoi to make offers without see to betray its ally in the South. Moreover, new units of troops landed in South Vietnam, bringing the total to 190,060 at the of the year, and the bombing of supply routes in Laos was gr intensified. Neither of these developments was likely to bi garded by Hanoi as an indication of peaceful intent or as a tribution to an atmosphcre of negotiation. This experience of the “peace offensive” of the 1966 Year period brought into relief the false premises and mist TT er: th o is wo E my re B Pa wi fi ae it eu hited States public opinion “ Quoted by James Reston, New York Times, January 2, 1966. “ New York Times, January 8, 1966.