Few members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee followed its televised hearings on Viet Nam more closely than the junior Senator from New York, who is not even a member of William Fulbright's debating society. As the interrogation droned on, Robert F. Kennedy restlessly paced his Washington office, occasionally caught himself talking back to the screen. Bothering Bobby was his belief that Administration spokesmen were dodging a key question: What role should the Viet Cong play during a peace conference? And afterward?
Finally, Kennedy set a squad of speechwriters to work on that unmooted issue, stayed up to polish their prose until 3 o'clock in the morning and at noon delivered his minority opinion at a well-attended press conference. When somebody asked him what he aimed to do next with his proposals, Kennedy said with a grin: "I guess I'll take them home and show them to my wife."
Heavy Artillery. Perhaps the Senator should have done that in the first place. As it was, his unsolicited comments brought on a blizzard of criticism. The uproar was provoked by Kennedy's statement that the allies should allow the Viet Cong "a share of power and responsibility" in Saigon's government. "If negotiation is our aim," he had said, "we must seek a middle ground. A negotiated settlement means that each side must concede matters that are im portant in order to preserve positions that are essential." In other words, one way to end the war might be to guarantee in advance that the Communist guerrillas would be seated in a coalition government.
The Administration, which maintains that it is self-defeating to make any concessions in advance of negotiations, called in the heavy artillery. Under Secretary of State George Ball said the idea would lead "in a very short time" to a Communist government in Saigon. White House Adviser McGeorge Bundy reminded Bobby of what his late brother had said in a 1963 Berlin speech: "I am not impressed by the opportunities open to popular fronts throughout the world. I do not believe that any democrat can successfully ride that tiger." United Nations Ambassador Arthur Goldberg warned against giving up "all your points in advance" of negotiations.
No Beards. The heaviest barrage of all came from Vice President Hubert Humphrey in New Zealand, who took time out from his Asian tour to liken Kennedy's proposal to "a prescription which includes a dose of arsenic," putting "an arsonist in a fire department," and, for good measure, setting "a fox in a chicken coop."
Editorial reaction was less than sympathetic to Kennedy. New York Times Columnist C. L. Sulzberger concluded that "both Peking and Hanoi must have gained fresh encouragement by the joining of our Know-Nothings with our Know-It-Alls." Kennedy, he observed cuttingly, would have been "more honest to suggest abandoning Viet Nam without even bothering to negotiate."