President Lyndon B. Johnson today said that an effective cease-fire “will be only a beginning” and that with the Egyptian acceptance of the cease-fire resolutions “we seem at the edge of progress” in achieving Mideast stability.
The President made known his views in a letter to Senate Democratic leader Mike Mansfield, Montana Democrat, who had informed the White House that there had been many questions raised in Congress on U.S. Mideast policy. Mr. Johnson wrote that he looks beyond the conflict to a “new era of greater stability.”
“The U.S. continues to be guided by the same basic policies which have been followed by this Administration and three previous Administrations,” the President said. “These policies have always included a consistent effort on our part to maintain good relations with all the peoples of the area, in spite of the difficulties caused by some of their leaders.”
“This remains our policy despite the unhappy rupture of relations which has been declared by several Arab states,” he continued. “We hope that the individual states in the Middle East will now find new ways to work out their differences with each other by means of peace, and in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. We look beyond the current conflict to a new era of greater stability which will permit all the peoples of the area to enjoy the fruits of lasting peace. Our full effort will be directed to this end.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
