WASHINGTON: President Johnson today [May 30] deplored the “despairing acts” of Viet-Namese Buddhists for the purpose of expressing their political convictions.

He said such acts slowed down progress towards the setting up of a constitutional Government.

The President was speaking in a Memorial Day address in Washington.

Mr Johnson said that there would be no possibility of “policy of compromise” and democratic elections in Viet-Nam unless the “internal aggression” against the country was repelled.

US policy, he said, was alive towards an objective set by President Kennedy before his death: To win the war, prevent the Communist advance, and enable Americans to return home.

After paying tributes to US forces in Viet-Nam, the President said: “In Viet-Nam the United States is committed to a decent limited purpose, to defend aggression and to let the people of Viet-Nam decide in peace their own political future. I pledge to those who have died there, to those who have been wounded, to those who are fighting, to those who may fight, that we shall help the people of South Viet-Nam see this through”. — Agencies

[Meanwhile, as also reported by agencies from Washington,] American Civil Rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Dr Martin Luther King, appealed in a televised interview last night for “an honourable end” to the Viet-Nam war.

He urged the United States to cease bombing of North Viet-Nam so as to create a climate favourable to negotiations and to declare that she was ready to negotiate directly with the Viet-Cong and to recognise China.

Dr. King said the Viet-Nam war would make it impossible to carry out President Johnson’s programme for a “Great Society”.

President Johnson, Dr. King continued, was “very sincere about his desire to make the great society a reality” and implement great society programmes. But the constant escalation of the Viet-Nam war would make it impossible for many reasons to implement these programmes.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2016