Word: johnsons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Saigon, Thieu found himself swinging from the same pendulum. When Bunker initially informed him of Johnson's new proposals, he was amenable. Then he reverted to a hard line. To protect himself from the even harder-line advocates within his government−and without-Thieu insisted on public acknowledgment from Hanoi of any concessions it was making in exchange for a bombing pause. He also firmly refused to countenance N.L.F. participation as an independent entity at the Paris talks. But under insistent pressure from his American allies, he began to weaken, seemed ready to accept the "two-sides" formula...
When the peace talks began in May, the State Department established a separate communications channel with Paris and drew up the nation's most exclusive readership list. Once the final phase began about a month ago, Lyndon Johnson emphasized to Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Defense Secretary Clark Clifford that it was "a period of the utmost sensitivity," specifically instructed them to remain silent about developments. At that point, the minuscule distribution list for cable traffic from Paris and Saigon was trimmed even further. At the end, the club that had access to the cables included only five...
Decisive Element. The ultimate decision was obviously up to Lyndon Johnson, who has never stopped trying to extract from Hanoi the assurances of the mutual de-escalation that he had al ways demanded. Given China's heavy pressure on North Viet Nam not to make any overt agreement with the U.S., it seemed doubtful that such assurances would be forthcoming. Hanoi might also have reasoned that the closer the U.S. election drew, the more willing Johnson would be to give ground. On the other hand, the North Vietnamese might prefer to deal with L.B.J. -a known, if occasionally inscrutable...
...Hence Johnson's dilemma: a pause would become possible only if he were to go ahead on the basis of what he once considered insufficient evidence of a favorable response-namely, the fighting lull and veiled assurances from Hanoi's agents that the U.S. was not being lured into a trap...
...line party loyalists, Lyndon Johnson came out at his fightingest. Before a Democratic National Committee group in New York City, Johnson, red-faced and leaning forward as though to bite the microphone, waved his fist and slammed at Nixon as "a man who distorts the history of his time." For a change, Johnson seemed to be enjoying the battle and to believe, like Humphrey, that the party might survive this week...