The Host

Last week President Johnson played the most gracious sort of national host to Italy's visiting Premier Aldo Moro. He afforded Moro the rare privilege of attending a U.S. Cabinet meeting. He showered Moro with gifts--including a 19th century Sheraton gilt mirror, a pen stand with two gold pens, a matching Accutron desk clock, a photograph of Italy taken from U.S. satellite Tiros IX, a stained-glass cross, a blue nylon sleeping bag for a Moro daughter, and a Texas cowboy costume for Moro's son.

Pompano & Postponement. The President also presided over an elegant state dinner in Moro's honor (the fish course was listed on the menu as Pompano Moro), participated in a notably laudatory exchange of toasts. Lyndon: "I salute you as a friend and companion, as a leader in the community of Europe, as a wise and respected voice on the stage of the world." Moro: "We hope that all of your endeavors, so enlightened and outward-looking both in the domestic and foreign fields, may prove effective and fruitful."

Johnson plainly enjoyed the company of Moro and his party, which included Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani. And he probably made more of a show of it than usual because he was under criticism for having postponed the visits of Pakistan's President Ayub Khan and India's Prime Minister Lai Bahadur Shastri.

So far this year, Lyndon Johnson's foreign guests have included such dignitaries as Japan's Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, the Upper Volta's President Maurice Yameogo, The Netherlands' Prince Bernhard, Britain's Prime Minister Harold Wilson (see cover story) and Canada's Prime Minister Lester Pearson, who annoyed the President during his U.S. visit by making a critical speech about the Johnson Administration's policy toward Viet Nam.

Protocol & Pain. The President's general feeling is that guests from abroad are fine, but that the 19th century diplomatic protocol that surrounds state visits is both time-consuming and obstructive to really getting anything done. These days, if there is any serious matter to discuss with any foreign statesman, it can be done almost instantly by modern communications. Visits are fine to get a personal appraisal of a man, but they take a disproportionate time on the schedule of the world's busiest executive. In this spirit, Johnson has also been cutting back on appearances before domestic groups; he skipped the Gridiron dinner and the conventions of newspaper editors and publishers this year.

To be sure, Johnson was perhaps a bit abrupt in shunting aside the Ayub Khan and Shastri visits. Both men are critics of U.S. policy in Viet Nam. Both felt insulted and expressed their feelings vocally. Last week U.S. officials tried to soothe the pain by saying that both Shastri and Ayub would be welcome some other time; neither seemed particularly anxious to reschedule his trip. But both undoubtedly would.

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