Johnson Said To Be Pleased

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30952, 7 January 1966, Page 9

Johnson Said To Be Pleased

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, January 6. President Johnson is pleased with the results so far of his Vietnam peace offensive, according to the Associated Press.

He is confident the travels of his special peace envoys are having a global impact still largely hidden behind a curtain of diplomatic secrecy. Although there has been no outward evidence of a favourable response from Hanoi, President Johnson reportedly remains hopeful of a breakthrough. On the hopeful side, word has come through diplomatic channels that many countries visited by such travelling American diplomats as Mr W. Averell Harriman and Mr Arthur Goldberg are getting in direct touch with North Vietnam to urge steps toward peace. Diplomatic traffic with the Government of North Vietnam has reached a new peak since the concerted American peace effort began. Some of this hidden diplomatic intervention has come from countries sceptical in the past about American policy. In North Vietnam remains deaf to such appeals, President Johnson believes his efforts, at the very least, will reinforce his claim that if there are obstacles to peace, the blame lies elsewhere, the A. P. said. In a sense, the Johnson

peace offensive has been a developing thing, with the President personally ordering each new move, often on short notice.