Foreign Relations: On the Line

It all seemed pretty terrific. News paper headlines bannered the fact that the U.S. was sending 4,000 battle-ready troops into Thailand. New Frontier and Penta gon flacks vied with one another to see who could put out the most stirring state ments about U.S. determination to save Southeast Asia from Communism. White House staffers got to complaining that the Pentagon was leaking news about decisions even before those decisions were made.

The whole hullaballoo stemmed from the fact that Communist forces in Laos had broken a cease-fire agreement, sent Laotian government troops scampering, and were now threatening Thailand as well as...

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