Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 37

i- "-o'" A 0 1 i 1 AkUtth (Tribune July 9, 1 972 lrfenr Art Can He End War and Bring Home POWs Before Election? uchmld Scenario for the Convention i i WASHINGTON Everyone has his own scenario for this weeks Democratic National Convention. The way things have been going with the party, one scenario has as much validity as the This is the one that I have written and if if comes true, remember, you read it here. It is the fourth day of the convention and' the Democrats have been unable to decide oil a presidential candidate. The fight to seat delegations has taken tip three days and those 4 people who were ruled ineligible have refused to give up their seats to those who were officially designated as delegates to the convention. Almost every state delegation has two people sitting in every chair.

No one dares leave the floor for fear that someone will grab his seat. When someone tries to speak he is hooted' down by the opposition faction. Larry the chairman of the party, has the podium ringed with the National Guard so no one. can grab the microphone. The nomination speeches have not been heard, but the candidates have been nominated McGovern, Humphrey, Wallace, Chisholm, Jackson and Muskie.

Tliere have been no demonstrations for the candidates in the hall because everyone is afraid if he gets up and marches they wont let him back in his section again. On the first ballot McGovern picked up votes, well shy of the 1,509 he needed. The rest were split between the other candidates with the uncommitted refusing to vote for anyone. The second and third ballot found no one-; budging. By the tenth ballot of Wednesdays all-night session, the convention was hopeless-.

ly deadlocked. By COURTNEY R. SHELDON WASHINGTON Richard M. Nixon approaches a new hour of decision on Vietnam as President and as candidate for re-election. Can he negotiate an end to the war and return of the trapped American prisoners of war in the short four months before the November election? 1 White House officials say publicly there is no clear evidence the North Vietnamese are now ready to compromise-even in the face of U.S.

hints that it might shave further its own already generous settlement offer. But, as U.S. bombs cascade down on the North Vietnamese countryside, U.S. officials express quiet hopes that Hanoi might have to make some move to halt or temper the devastation. The first step could be resumption July 13 of the Paris talks in public or privately with aide Henry A.

Kissinger, who has now dealt with Hanoi in behalf of two presidential administrations. Mere reopening of the talks is not sought by Mr. Nixon. He first wants a sign of change of heart by Hanoi. In the days ahead the President is expected to try to preserve the image of gradual U.S.

withdrawal from Vietnam' by further cutbacks of ground troops such as Wednesdays announcement that the ground force is being reduced by to a total of 39,000 men or alteration of the military input into Vietnam. The President could, sooner or later, take a leaf from President Johnsons book -and let up on the air and naval warfare, if that form of war escalation appears to have served its military and political purposes. The Democrats and their presumed presidential candidate, Sen. George McGovern, have an equally agonizing dilemma. Can they offer an alternative program-for terminating the eight-year-old war which will be salable to the American public? As of today, public approval of Mr.

Nixons handling of the Vietnam war, particularly the mining of North Vietnamese harbors, appears high. Should Mr. Nixons end-the-war strategies fail and war critics like W. Averell Harriman expect they will McGovern Democrats anticipate the public will be ready for a quick U.S. military puilout from Indo-China and a cutoff of aid to the Nguyen Van Thieu government in Saigon.

One piece of ammunition in the McGovern storehouse is Secretary of De- fense Melvrn R. Lairds yes answer to the question of George H. Mahon, of Texas, on whether the war could go on for four or five years now with varying degrees of. intensity. The prisoner-of-war issue has been quiet for many months.

This could be inflamed if there is no visible sign that POWs would be released in the near future and planes continue to be shot down over North Vietnam, adding to the POW totals. On the surface, relations between Hanoi and Washington seem little different than in the days of President Johnson. A further disclosure of secret Pentagon papers by columnist Jack Anderson shows Mr. Johnson using a carrot-and-stick initiative not unsimilar to Mr, Nixons maneuvers today. Then, as now, North Vietnam was (suffering a fearsome load of U.S.

bombs and was fashioning makeshift devices for survival Today, according to U.S. intelligence, reports, Hanoi is trying to complete a plastic-pipe fuel line from China to count-'er the mining of North Vietnam harbors and the denial of Soviet fuel by tanker. The Chinese have denied the use of their ports to funnel fuel from. Soviet tankers to North Vietnam. Should the pipeline prove effective and presently, it is said, U.S.

bombs have difficulty in keeping it severed Hanois dependence on Peking could be increased. There are several central differences between the Nixon and McGovern formulas for ending war. McGovern would set a date for withdrawal of all U.S. forces and. then expect in the normal course of events that the POWs would be returned, as they have been in earlier wars.

He hints that he would take action of some kind if this hope were not fulfilled. He is not a pacifist, he has said on some occasions. His attitude toward the Saigon government is not as protective as Mr. Nixois. There is some speculation that in the last analysis Mr.

Nixon is prepared to see a Communist-dominated coalition be formed in South Vietnam. But that kind of acquiescence is regard- ed as so far down the road to not be a part of Mr. Nixons thinking today. He is determined that the U.S. exit from Vietnam will be under circumstances he regards as honorable by world opinion, principally by U.S.

allies. The basic Nixon negotiating position is that there must be a cease-fire throughout all Indo-China Laos and Cambodia included and a return of the POWs before the United States will depart. He. and President Thieu have promised new elections in South Vietnam, with Thieu stepping down 30 days in advance. Copyright 197 Tho Christian Scioncn Publishing Sotttfy Captured U.S.

pilots play basketball at a prisoner of war camp in North Vietnam (above) while in other games diplomats will return to a scoreless peace table (below) at Paris International Conference Center. The stale delegations caucused right on-the floor, trying to get people to change their minds. But it was impossible. On NBC, John Chancellor and David' Brinkley became short-tempered and refused to talk to each other. Howard K.

Smith and'. Harry Iteasoner on ABC were also not speak ing to each other, and on CBS, Walter Cronkite wasnt talking to himself. It was obvious to everyone in and out of. the convention hall that a compromise candidate had to be found one who had not already been nominated. But who? The Democratic parly leaders' call a recess behind the podium.

They argue and thrash it out for several hours. The only man whose name is proposed as the compro: mise candidate is a very famous, but contro-. versial, figure on the American scene. He announced many times that he is not a candidate for the presidency or the vice presidency, and has said under no conditions would he-A accept a draft. McGerfii He Is Certainly Pulling in The Isolationist Direction Yet, the leaders argue he is the one person.

who can save the party. This young man, whose name had been' associated with a very embarrassing incident, is a household word now. Because of the dead-1 lock at the convention, he is the only one who can possibly beat Nixon in November. The compromise candidate is not at the convention. He has purposely stayed away so people would believe he was not interested in the nomination.

to deeper involvement in Vietnam. They are a far cry from the McGovern position today, supported as itls by most of the former Kennedyites, and by Senator Edward Kennedy himself, who affirms that times have changed. Thus the way is open, on the Democratic side, to the new isolationism. President Nixons role in the changed times has been different. He has reduced the American commitment in Vietnam, drastically but has not been able to liquidate it.

He has opened major new relationships with the two Communist giants. He continues a strong defense posture. When the foreign policy issues are, more clearly on the table, it will be an important and critical debate for the American voters to decide. Copyright 1971, Thu ChritKon Sciuncu Publishing Society the small soefetu OBrien puts in a call to him. Everyone, in-1 turn, gets on the phone and tells him he has to -be the candidate.

The compromise candidate speaks to George McGovern, Humphrey, Mu-' skie and Wallace. They urge him to run. The, candidate finally agrees to a draft and says he' will take the next plane to Miami. And thats how Bobby Fischer, the U.S. chess champion, became the Democratic nominee for 1972.

en. By ERWIN D. CANHAM WASHINGTON At a time when the great thrust of President Nixons policies is in the field of international affairs, it is perhaps understandable that his chief Democratic opponent should say very little about foreign policy. Sen. George McGovern, of course, has one major foreign policy plank: get out of Vietnam on any terms.

But he has been very quiet on other aspects of world relations, so quiet as to suggest almost a relapse to isolationism. Now he has a group of brain trusters Working on his foreign programs, and doubtless some interesting ideas will emerge. But insofar as Senator McGovern represents the discontents and disillusion-inents of the American public, he is certainly pulling in the isolationist direction. Obviously any Democratic aspirant vould have hard sledding against the Nix-m position. The opening to China and the Agreements with the Soviet Union make a rery strong groundwork Any president, iffice, when world policies are going rea-ionably well, has a great advantage in unning for re-election from the vantage joint of world leader.

Senator McGoverns proposed cuts in lefensa spending also add up to very Irastic isolationism, unless they are A good deal 'of money could, and hould be saved from defense loveramental commissions have pro- posed extensive reorganization and economies, few of which have come about. But McGovern cutbacks are complicated and severe. Their impact, taken literally, would almost reduce the American role in world affairs. INSTANT EXPERT N.Y. Doily Nw His proposal to diminish U.S.' forces assigned to NATO, and to cut the number of U.S.

aircraft carriers from 16 to six, have a direct bearing on the Middle East and combined efforts to deter Soviet expansionism. Supporters of Israel, specifically, fear the McGovern policies, and he has gone some way to reassure them. V-' It is, curious 'that isolationism should. I nowadays have became so attractive to liberals. Time was 'when a monopoly on America first was held on the far The argument now is that the best posture for the United States aboard is to stay healthy at home.

Reaction against- the Vietnam experience has spread to many other involvements, in many parts of the world. Thus, if the United States were to plunge into domestic revolution of the magnitudes suggested in Senator McGoverns proposals, it would certainly have a bearing on American energy overseas. The United States would be inner-directed for a considerable time, just as it was during the early stages of the New Deal in 1933. Senator McGoverns position is a very sharp break with the policies affirmed by the past four Democratic presidents. Few presidents have presented a more activist program than did John Kennedy.

In his inaugural address in 1960 he said: Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. 1 i And again: In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role bf defending freedom fit its hour of maximuni danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility I welcome it. Such words revealed the Cold Var at its peak. They led to the Bay of Pigs and.