At a news conference, Secretary of State Dean Rusk makes controversial comments in which he says that congressional proposals for peace initiatives—a bombing halt or limitation, United Nations action, or a new Geneva conference—were futile because of Hanoi’s opposition.
Without the pressure of the bombing, he asked, “Where would be the incentive for peace?” He added that the Vietnam War was a test of Asia’s ability to withstand the threat of “a billion Chinese…armed with nuclear weapons.” Critics claimed that he had invoked the familiar “yellow peril” of Chinese power.
