Demand for a Voice

While President Johnson kept his own counsel on the issue of additional U.S. troops for Viet Nam, the Senate for the first time in months held an angry debate on the war. What troubled its members--including some longtime supporters of the Administration's policy--was the fact that Johnson was preparing to act without so much as a by-your-leave from Congress. "I think it would be a mistake," declared Bobby Kennedy, "for the President to take a step towards escalation of the conflict without having the support and understanding of the Senate and of the American people." The chief issue, said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman J. William Fulbright, is "the authority of the Administration to expand the war without the consent of Congress and without any debate or consideration by Congress."

Fulbright's demand for a voice in any new decision was swiftly echoed. "I think we must insist upon that," said New Jersey Republican Clifford Case. It also quickly spread into a wide-ranging attack on the war. Said Case: "It is now a question as to whether or not the war is winnable without the destruction of South Viet Nam and much of American might itself."

Iowa Republican Jack Miller, proponent of a tough stance in Viet Nam, chimed in with a plea that "something should be done about a change in the conduct of the war." Idaho Democrat Frank Church, a longtime critic, warned that the Administration seemed to be "poised to plunge still deeper into Asia where huge populations wait to engulf us, and legions of young Americans are being beckoned to their graves." Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield was no less concerned. "We are facing today the most troublous days in the entire history of the Republic, and I bar no period in making that statement," he said. "We are in the wrong place, and we are fighting the wrong kind of war." He credited Johnson, however, with having "tried hard and vigorously and consistently to find a way to the negotiating table," and expressed the hope that other Senators "will not impugn his motives."

The most stinging attack came from Kennedy, further widening the gulf between him and Johnson's Administration. "If we have learned anything over the last seven years," he said, "it is the fact that just continuing to send more troops, or increasing the bombing, is not the answer in Viet Nam. We have tried that. Something different should be tried." Precisely what, Bobby did not say.

Quit Talking. Only two Senators countered the critics. Texas Republican John Tower congratulated Johnson for "doing what a number of us have been saying for 2 1/2 years -- that you cannot win a war by gradual response, that the only way to achieve military victory is through massive air and sea superiority." Crusty Ohio Democrat Frank Lausche did not defend the President so much as attack Fulbright. "The only way we can reach a decision is for the Senator of Arkansas to present a resolution to the Senate," he proposed. "Until he does that, I suggest that he quit talking."

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