PRESIDENT DELAYS ENTRY INTO ARENA

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31633, 20 March 1968, Page 13

PRESIDENT DELAYS ENTRY INTO ARENA

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, March 19.

President Johnson feels strongly that Vietnam and the nation’s domestic problems should come first on his list of priori* ties, rather than a quick, “barnstorming” entry into the election battle, according to highly-placed Administration sources.

Mr Johnson is described as adamant In his determination to keep out of the active campaign as long as the pressures of political life allow him to do so. His determination is said to have been bolstered by a quiet, reflective weekend with his family at his Texas ranch.

The President’s feeling that he should remain aloof as long as possible is said to be unchanged by the dramatic entry of Senator Robert Kennedy into the race for the Democratic Party nomination. Mr Johnson, who is 59 and has been President for nearly 4i years, apparently thinks he stands to gain more by pressing his policies for Vietnam and massive "grass roots” improvement projects, and leaving his political opponents to fight among themselves.

Those close to him say he feels his place now is in the White House, grappling with the problems facing the nation and the world, rather than at the hustings. But many observers think his attitude may change as the Democratic Party split widens.

He frequently compares himself with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was reelected in 1944, during the Second World War, after a quiet campaign confined largely to patriotic rallies at military bases and munitions plants. Mr Johnson has already started on a similar trail, flying across the country to give a send-off to Vietnam-bound troops, dropping in suddenly at business conferences to press for more help for the Negro unemployed and for greater efforts to halt the dollar drain.

His friends agree these trips are semi-political, that they help promote the President’s “image,” and that, in any case, he gains much by constant exposure through his official activities. Homeward ■ bound from Texas yesterday, Mr Johnson stopped at a farmers’ conven-

tion at Minneapolis, Minnesota, for what some describe as the toughest fighting speech he has made since the election campaign began. Waving his arms, and often raising his voice to a shout, he defended his Vietnam policies determinedly, calling for “a total national effort to win the war, to win the peace, and to complete the job at home.” Mr Johnson demanded a programme of national austerity, promised to cut Government spending, insisted on higher taxes, told the farmers better times were coming, and again said the United States was ready to go on to a battlefield victory in Vietnam if the Communists refused to negotiate. The President warned that strident campaigning by American "peace doves” bolstered North Vietnam’s resolve. “What they cannot win from our boys out there they are trying to win in Washington,” he declared. Reliable informants say Mr Johnson feels that the Kennedy and McCarthy campaigns may harden Hanoi’s stand against negotiations, particularly if the Communists believe they can obtain better terms from a “peace dove” after the November election.

In his Minneapolis speech, the President did not spell out details of the cuts he had in mind, but he offered to re-

duce spending on “many” needed programmes so that he could win Congressional approval of his proposal for a 10 per cent income tax surcharge, which, Administration sources say, would hardly be felt by most Americans. Observers say it would leave the “guns and butter” economy virtually intact, with perhaps a little less butter than before.