In the oppressive sultriness of a tropical afternoon, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson stepped down from his silver-colored Boeing 707 at the Saigon airport in South Viet Nam, to be greeted with ruffles and flourishes, an honor guard, and all the pomp and circumstance of a high state visit. To accompanying U.S. newsmen who remembered L.B.J. as the hand-squeezing, baby-kissing politician on the 1960 campaign trail, the airport ceremonies seemed a bit incongruous. But things soon got back to normal: as soon as the formalities were over, Lyndon hurried out to the crowd...
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