Word: lairds
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...system. Even while concentrating on negotiations at the peace table in Paris, he continued to prosecute the war in Viet Nam at a cautious but undiminished pace. The task of defending those decisions, however tentative they remain, has largely been handled by Nixon's Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, who has emerged as the Administration's principal confronter. Last week a good part of Laird's task was taken over by Secretary of State William P. Rogers, a man whom Nixon has described as "the best negotiator in the world...
Besides recruiting the experienced Packard, Laird has kept on two key men: Secretary of the Army (since 1965) Stanley Resor and the Pentagon's research and engineering chief, Dr. John Foster, an extremely articulate scientist who has had the job for four years. When Laird wanted to provide a questioning Senator with technical data during last week's hearings, he turned either to Packard or Foster. Laird is hardly unsympathetic to the uniformed military Establishment, but he has laid down one ground rule for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Under McNamara, top generals and admirals often aired their...
...have always been a critic," Laird confessed last December after Nixon had named him to head Defense. "I used to have the reputation of being a good questioner," he said last week. He began his ABM testimony with a disarming prologue. "I come before you today with rather mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am happy to be back in the familiar surroundings of the committee hearing room. On the other hand, I have an uneasy feeling that I may be on the wrong side of the table-where one is expected to have good answers and not just...
...this is great because, without some sign that the U.S. can turn over more of the fighting to the South Vietnamese, the American nation may simply not be prepared to continue the Viet Nam war effort long enough to reach a satisfactory settlement in Paris. When Defense Secretary Melvin Laird arrived in Viet Nam on a fact-finding tour, he suggested that it might be possible to bring some 50,000 soldiers home this year. Last week, his tour completed, Laird reported in Washington that at present this did not seem possible after all. It was unwelcome news, allayed only...
Whatever route the President elects, he will soon be confronted with revoking Laird's statement that 1969 is too early to contemplate any U.S. troop reductions. It should not be too difficult for Nixon to manage. By ordering the withdrawal of a relatively modest 15,000 combat troops plus their 25,000 support troops in the latter half of 1969, Nixon could manage to bring home 40,000 men. If nothing else, such a decision would at least buy him a concession from Hanoi (if the withdrawal were negotiated) and certainly, as the South Vietnamese watched the first layer...