Into the Pool

FOREIGN RELATIONS

Accompanied by a 23-man team of advisers, Britain's Prime Minister Har old Wilson arrived in Washington last week for two days of intensive talks with Administration officials. This was his first visit to the U.S. since the elections, and it was occasioned by the effort to settle the problems of the nuclear multilateral-force idea proposed by the U.S. and so far embraced enthusiastically only by West Germany. Wilson wanted to "throw our proposals into the common pool of Western thought"--and Johnson wanted to hear him out.

"Stand Up, Lew." There were, of course, the social amenities. To a state dinner Lyndon invited a varied group including Dr. Benjamin Spock, every body's baby doctor (who confided that he may picket the White House in protest against MLF), Dan Blocker, the strapping "Hoss" of TV's Bonanza, Mrs. Robert V. H. Duncan, president of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and nine relatively unknown couples from Texas. Johnson was in fine fettle. Before toasting the Queen, he introduced nearly everyone at the table: "Our own beloved Chief Justice Warren. The Vice President-elect, Mr. Humphrey. The next chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate--if the Republicans come to power--Mr. Hickenlooper. Our own Secretary of State, Dean Rusk. Our Secretary of Defense, Bob McNamara. Our Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Douglas Dillon. One of the great leaders of our time, the former Secretary of State, Mr. Dean Acheson. Mr. Lewis Douglas, former Ambassador to Great Britain. Now Lew, you stand up a little longer. There are some girls down here who didn't get to see you . . ."

Wilson congratulated Johnson on his "great victory" in the November election, and referring to his own narrow win, observed wryly: "It may be if we took the elections as seriously as you, we would have had a majority like yourself. All 1 can say is, if the British people were free to express their votes in your election, your majority would have been even better than it was."

Unity & Sympathy. Partying aside, there still remained MLF. The two leaders hit it off so well in their private talks and in conferences with their advisers that Wilson declared elatedly that the talks were "completely successful" and that "there is a total identity of view between the U.S. Administration and ourselves" on how to approach other allies on nuclear issues.

Wilson and Johnson agreed that the main purpose of MLF, whatever its ultimate form, was to stem nuclear proliferation. Explained Wilson: "The main emphasis has been on our determination to strengthen and unify the joint nuclear responsibilities of our partners and ourselves in such a way as to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons." Without MLF, this reasoning goes, West Germany might eventually demand its own nuclear force; De Gaulle's incipient force de frappe is enough of a NATO headache.

But Wilson stood firm on British insistence that an MLF must be broader than the U.S. proposal for a fleet of 25 ships armed with nuclear missiles and manned by crews of mixed nationality. He suggested that Britain might commit its entire nuclear deterrent, including V-bombers and Polaris submarines, now abuilding, to such a force. Johnson and his advisers received this suggestion with some interest.

The Prime Minister also softened his earlier denunciation of the surface fleet concept. He is not opposed to "mixed manning"; he only objects to "any proposals which recommend dropping the fundamental American veto" over the firing of nuclear weapons. Wilson's insistence on such a U.S. veto was meant to calm British fears that West Germany might get its finger on the nuclear trigger through MLF. Johnson assured him that the U.S. will retain its veto in any event.

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