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PRESIDENT JOHNSON (17 April) rejected proposals that he suspend bombings over North Vietnam to enhance peace prospects. He said he would willingly hold "unconditional discussions" with any government immediately, but warned North Vietnam and the NLF that there is no "human power capable of forcing us" from Vietnam and said the US aim to make South Vietnam free was unchanged. The next day, propaganda leaflets dropped over North Vietnam carried excerpts from the President's Johns Hopkins speech as well as a Saigon statement rejecting recognition of the National Liberation Front.

The INDIAN GOVERNMENT suggested both sides cease fire and an Afro-Asian force be created to police the borders which would not change until the Vietnamese people elected to do so. The US expressed interest in the proposal and discussed it with the Indians. Hanoi and Peking rejected it.

A CONFERENCE on CAMBODIA was discussed seriously in April. The US was interested, thinking it might lead to talks on Vietnam; Moscow and Saigon showed some interest initially. But Sihanouk announced he would not participate in any conference convened as a pretext to discuss Vietnam and saw no need for the US, Thailand or South Vietnam to attend. China also opposed the idea -- and it died. On 3 May, Cambodia broke diplomatic relations with the US.

May 1965

TTTO and NASSER urged an end to US air raids and negotiations to end the conflict. FRANCE and RUSSIA called for an end to foreign intervention. U THANT felt the situation was worsening and asked for peace talks. SAIGON began a diplomatic offensive to garner support for both war and peace from non-aligned nations (although on 29 April, Premier Ky had called for an immediate invasion of the DRV by South Vietnamese forces). ALGERIA and the UAR advocated Hanoi's acceptance of US proposals. Calling again for unconditional peace talks on 13 May, PRESIDENT JOHNSON charged China's opposition to a political solution -- which would be in Henoi's interest -- was meant only to discredit American ability to prevent Communist Chinese domination of Asia.

From 13 to 17 May: US bombing of North Vietnam was halted (five days, 20 hours). At the time it was known that some US effort to find a way out of the conflict was underway but few details were revealed. In an editorial of 30 December 1965, however, the New York Timesreported Secretary Rusk had sent a message to Hanoi through the North Vietnamese Embassy in Moscow, explaining the bombing suspension could or would be extended if there were "significant reductions" in Communist