THE EXHILARATING CRUCIBLE OF CRISIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP69B00369R000200290040-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 7, 2001
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: June 23, 1967
• Content Type: OPEN

Approved For Release 20(]'3/1Af- CIA-RDP69B00369R000200290040-9
2 3 JUN ?4S7
The
Presidency / by HUGH SID:= Y
r 1J1 v.7 ~:?i it it El
a aa
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\~, 113
OSII.
Crisis, in it bizarre way, fascinates strong
men. And the ultimate arena for it in this
age is the White House. Those who work
in he back corridors where decisions are
made are completely gripped by it, en-
thralled not only by the peril but also by
the exe;?, isc of raw and instantaneous pow-
cr an the purest sense.
`\'hen it crisis is at hand, the normal
routines of diplomatic mush dissolve into
te;?se orders that send fleets into position
.,r planes aloft. Many of the hotline mcs-
sages between Lyndon Johnson and Alesei
,,osygin were only a sentence or two long,
r-t each word spelled out more than all
ambassadorial cables of the year 1w-
SO compelling is the brotherhood of
risis that those who once were part of it
never forget. There is no doubt, for ex-
ample, that McGeorge Bundy, the former
Kennedy and Johnson national security
staff chief, was lured back to help guide
U.S. policy on the Middle East crisis. by
his relish for the kind of intense diplomatic
contest that seemed to be in the oiling.
In a very real sense international crisis
s a high wire act in which a man and his
..tetliods are put to a test. It is also a eru-
le in which reputations are enhanced or
'uccd. As the bearer of ultimate author-
and responsibility, Lyndon Johnson
i,nerally gets good marks for his restraint
he la t two weeks. But the weaknesses
iu to U.S. Middle East policy are coin-
ing .o the surface now and they will be de-
bated on the political stump as well as in
the world courts. Preoccupied by events
ip Vietnam, the President and his advisers
had allowed the Middle East to become
such an orphan that for five months last
fall and winter the job of Assistant Secre-
tary of State for Near East and South
Asian Affairs went unfilled. And for the
crucial three months before the onrush of
arrived only a few days before the confla-
gration and by that time Nasser was be-
yond earshot: Nolte never got to see hiin.
Just as the President is judged by his
performance under extreme stress, so are
those who work for him. It was U.N. Am-
bassador Arthur Goldberg's misfortune to
be on view not only before his peers in the
Administration but also before the world.
Thus the assessment of his performance
turned largely on style rather than sub.
stance, and as a result the generally high
esteem in which he Was held is now some-
what Larnished. Ilis performances in the
Security Council were considered less than
ins,riring. Over-wordy, cliche-ridded,
downright i;orin,g at times, he did not pro-
vido those rrunncnts of soaring insl,ira-
tion that are needed by both the dele-
gates and the Lelcvision audience. Those
who watched remembered the old jibe of
John F. E.eruiedvv, whose fondness for
Co1,l .erg ~?;a.s unmatched but who also
prized brevity. "Once Arthur pets in front
of ., mienpplione," Kennedy said, "it
would be extremely helpful if lie would
inst uil s;l..
On the other hand, there were two men
who -:aiiwd considerably in the eyes of
liwi:- peers and the President: General
Earle ("Bus") Wheeler, the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of. Staff, who provided
Johnson vit.li capability estimates that
shot, ed the Israeli army gaining victory
ill throc or four (lays; and,C'r" _r.
I (hard 11,is. N%lio helped supply Whcel-
c"r data on which the estimate was
based. Goldberg and others were so skep-
Lical that Johnson sent Wheeler back to
restudy and to check his predictions with
lIeh s. The estimate Caine back as before
and events proved it out. Indeed, the
abysmal failure of Russian intelligence as
compared.. to tl.ie. CIA. has already helped
the agency regain some of the stature lost
in the recent disclosures about its involve-
ment with educational and labor groups.
Public opinion samplers routinely zero
in on crises and their aftermaths to evalu-
ate Presidents. Pollster Louis Harris be-
lieves that new data will show L.B.J.'s
the criy p~p~ed Iox I~~lsSst:taG i111/01'I"rTFa -R 9BO@MkO1?62M36040-9
bassador to Egypt. Indeed, Richard Nolte, ably because of the way the Middle Ea.,-.
the man bclattdly appointed to that post, crisis Caine ouj:. Beyond that, Harris es-
Continued
 Approved For Release 2001/11/01 : CIA-RDP69B00369R000200290040-9
timates that Lite Meditcrraneitri episode
will help rally !'ietnani r:.pp cc r the
President and tend li-c:~uragc