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Draft's End. Before flying to Hawaii, Nixon had donned his military commander's hat to make two announcements freighted with political impact. He said that he intended to end the draft by next July and shift to an all-volunteer Army if Congress passes a bill including some new incentives for building up the National Guard and Reserve forces and retaining specialists of certain types in the service through pay bonuses. He also revealed that he will withdraw another 12,000 troops from South Viet Nam by Dec. 1, which would reduce the authorized U.S. troop level there to 27,000.
Both announcements left much un said. By citing the draft's end as a goal for next year but hedging the promise as dependent upon the Democratic Congress and other qualifications, Nixon reaps the political gain right now even if he is unable to deliver next spring. Actually, although Pentagon leaders are pushing hard, there is serious doubt that regardless of congressional action, enough volunteers in all of the necessary specialties can be acquired to make a large all-volunteer force feasible. Even with the aid of pressure from the draft and less likelihood that enlistees will have to serve in Viet Nam, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are failing to meet their current enlistment quotas. Nor did Nixon's emphasis on the Viet Nam troop cut take into account the massive air, naval and other support forces operating just out side South Viet Nam's borders. This manpower has been growing rather than declining, but has now leveled off at about 100,000.
Also before his trip, Nixon had held his first "political" press conference, an untelevised dialogue in front of the guest house of his San Clemente home. He was in cool, sharp form. Asked if he still believed, as he had said in 1968, that "those who have had a chance for four years and could not produce peace should not be given another chance," he neatly turned the answer into an attack on George McGovern. "We always set our goals high," he said, pretty much admitting that he had failed to reach that one, "but those who have faulted this Administration on its efforts to seek peace are the ones that would have the U.S. seek peace at the cost of surrender, dishonor and the destruction of the ability of the U.S. to conduct foreign policy in a responsible way." Nixon also pledged that "as long as there is one P.O.W. in North Viet Nam, or one missing in action not accounted for, there will be an American volunteer force in South Viet Nam." Last weekend, on the occasion of North Viet Nam's National Day, Hanoi announced that three P.O.W.s—one Air Force and two Navy pilots—will be freed. Within the next few weeks, members of American antiwar groups will fly to Indochina to escort them home. They are the first P.O.W.s to be released since 1969.