Can the Negotiations Bring Peace to Vietnam?

The realities of the Vietnam War, long disregarded by Washington, are at last beginning to assert themselves. That the other side —the NLF and Hanoi—could not achieve a military victory has long been clear. The surprising strength displayed by the enemy in the Tet offensive, and the military, political, and psychological advantages gained through it, have not altered this fact. But the Tet offensive has once more demonstrated that the war cannot be won by the “allies” either.

This, so it seems, President Johnson has at last begun to realize. His longing for peace has no doubt always been genuine, as was his desire to bring it about through negotiations. But until very recently his idea of peace was a political set...