North Viet Nam: A Certain Reversal

The growls that emanated from Hanoi and Peking last week had all the gruff timbre of true paper tigers. Both Ho Chi Minh and Mao Tse-tung sneeringly declined to receive British Envoy Patrick Gordon Walker, who had planned a visit to discuss negotiations over Viet Nam. The U.N.'s Secretary-General U Thant got a more raucous rebuff: "U Thant is knocking at the wrong door," bellowed Peking to the suggestion of U.N. involvement. Ho dismissed Lyndon Johnson's offer of "unconditional discussions" over Viet Nam as "stinking of poison gas," and demanded complete withdrawal...

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