RETREAT REJECTED

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31628, 14 March 1968, Page 13

RETREAT REJECTED

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) WASHINGTON, Mar. 13. President Johnson declared last night that there was “no safety” in isolationism or a retreat by the United States from its responsibilities in Vietnam.

“Neither reason, nor honour nor good faith commends such a course,” he said in an apparent answer to Senate critics who questioned the United States commitment during two-day televised foreign relations committee hearings. The President made a surprise appearance to speak at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Amid tremendous applause, he said the United States sought to intimidate no-one, “but neither shall we be intimidated. “And from America’s responsibilities, God willing, we shall never retreat” he

added. “There is no safety in such a course.”

Mr Johnson said the price of isolationism was “unpayable” whether it was the oldfashioned kind rooted in ignorance “or the newfashioned kind that grows from weariness and impatience.”

The only goal the United States sought in Vietnam was peace, the President said. Mr Johnson paid tribute to the Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, who testified for 10i hours before the foreign relations committee.

“I have never heard United States policy and our commitments so eloquently stated —and under very trying circumstances,” he said. Mr Johnson went on to poke fun at the Senate committee, which had sought for two years to get Mr Rusk to testify publicly on Vietnam.

“I am returning home now to watch another television replay the Dean Rusk Show,” the President quipped. “That’s the show that was two years in production. We had a great cast —but no plot.”