As Lyndon Johnson strode into a huge reception in the San Rafael Hotel on the final night of the historic Punta del Este conference of hemisphere chiefs, Latin American leaders surrounded him and embraced him in one passionate abrazo after another. When they finally turned him loose, their wives besieged him for autographs. "This has been so beautiful," sighed Brazil's President Arthur da Costa e Silva. Said Mexico's Gustavo Diaz Ordaz: "President Johnson is showing heart for Latin America."
The Punta del Este meeting was undeniably a personal triumph for Lyndon Johnson,...