Jan. 5, 1965 - Warily, often reluctantly, most of the U.S. Senators ready to prescribe a course in South Vietnam support the current U.S. policy but call for efforts to make American military backing more effective, according to an A.P. survey. (Pictured below, U.S. Air Force Col. Robert Ackerly escrots Nguyen van Thieu of South Vietnam on an inspection tour today of the Bien Hoa Air Base.)
And many of them see corrective action as a temporary measure, a prologue to negotiations aimed at settling the guerrilla warfare in the Communist-beleaguered nation. Sen. Philip Hart (D-Mich.) offered this terse prescription: “Continue present policy until we can negotiate from a position of strength.”
Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) argues: “Our present policy is leading us toward the same calamity as befell the French 10 years ago.” France withdrew from Vietnam after a disastrous defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Church called for negotiations now, pointing toward a neutrality that would be guaranteed by the U.N. or a special international commission.
Some Republicans who declined to be quoted by name renewed an allegation voiced by Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, during his campaign — that President Johnson has not told Congress or the nation what is going on in South Vietnam and that there should be a detailed accounting from the White House.
Most of the legislators who responded to the survey shunned the idea of pulling out, of committing U.S combat troops, or of extending the war into Communist North Vietnam.
One Republican, J. Caleb Boggs of Delaware, came up with a new formula. He suggested a U.S. call for Vietnamese elections within three months to choose a government supported by the people. “Our future conduct in South Vietnam would depend on whether or not the new government wanted us to keep up our assistance or get out,” Boggs said. Pending an election, Boggs added, the U.S. aid should continue.
Senate Democratic Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana spoke for the consensus when he offered this view of current U.S. policy: “For the present, we have no other choice which, in my judgment, would fit the needs of the situation.”
Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.) suggested expansion of the war into North Vietnam and, at the same time, held out hope for a negotiated settlement. Tower said present policies are losing the war.
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