The War: The Cost of Pause

In hopes of bringing Hanoi closer to the negotiating table, President Johnson last December suspended U.S. bombing raids over North Viet Nam for 37 days. Though the Yuletide gesture drew only gibes from the Communists then, pressure for another pause is now mounting. Last week it appeared likely that the U.S. might again respond with some kind of conciliatory gesture.

Washington expects Pope Paul to plead for a Christmas truce, as he did a year ago. A group of prominent American clergymen has asked for a cessation of bombing. Harvard Professor Edwin Reischauer, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and now head of a State Department advisory group on Asian affairs, wrote that a gradual suspension of bombing “probably would be the wise course.” U Thant has repeatedly urged the U.S. to call off the raids, and the Administration is aware that most free-world governments also favor a pause.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk at week’s end gingerly held out the possibility of a brief pax in hello—on the ground and in the air—over Christmas and, seven weeks later, during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. Rusk pointedly withheld any promise of an extended unilateral truce. “We ought to distinguish,” he added, “between what might happen at Christmas and the idea of a general pause.” The Administration maintains that the bombing is essential since it ties down 100,000 North Vietnamese in repair work and disrupts the flow of men and matériel. By contrast, the Communists used last winter’s respite to repair facilities, strengthen antiaircraft defenses, and beef up their forces south of the 17th parallel.

Admiral David McDonald, chief of naval operations, recently returned from Viet Nam, translated this argument into flesh-and-blood terms last week. “The bombing,” he reported, “is substantially slowing down the infiltration of men and supplies into South Viet Nam, and the slowdown has saved an awful lot of lives of Marines and Army soldiers on the ground.” The price of another long pause would thus be prohibitively high unless the other side responds in kind. From Hanoi to date there has been only silence on this score.