Read Online Tucker's Last Stand by William F. Buckley - Free Book Online

experts, traffic managers, doctors, nurses. It was the intention of the architect of this Trail, a full description of which the enemy surely had in hand, to expedite the passage of 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers per month upon the Trail’s completion. And yes, that detail too, 20,000 North Vietnamese soldiers per month, appeared on the document.
    Ho Chi Minh turned to Frédéric Gruyère, the archaeologist who had defected from the French and served now as principal monitor of the news as it came in from the French press and from his myriad contacts in the French intelligence community. How would President Johnson react on seeing the Trail document?
    Gruyère said that, after all, the Americans had already begun surveying the area, obviously in anticipation of infiltration through a much heavier use of it than at present, but 20,000 troops per month could only sound like an invading army.
    Ho nodded. He had always done so ceremoniously. Bui Tin found himself wondering whether he nodded in that way when receiving ultimatums from the French. (Would he nod in that way to someone who ordered him executed? Probably.) But Ho also kept his own counsel. Instead of replying to Gruyère, he asked for his current estimate of the political situation in the United States. Gruyère replied that it had not changed, in respect of Vietnam. There was solid support from both parties for continued aid to the enemy, and President Johnson regularly went on with his stream of public pronouncements to the effect that the United States would stand by its “allies” to “curb Communist expansion.” The party of Republicans would almost surely nominate a senator named Barry Goldwater, a most bellicose man who would look for the least provocation to move in the direction of converting the American military cadre now in South Vietnam into a full fighting force.
    General Giap said that it was his impression that President Johnson would move in the same direction.
    Gruyère said that yes, this was so, but President Johnson—he looked over at Ho, pausing very briefly—was not as decisive as the senator from Arizona, and had many conflicting concerns.
    Once again, Ho bowed his head. “It will be a long war,” he said, his lips parted in a half smile. He turned first to General Giap, then to Colonel Nguyen, then to Colonel Tin, with just the faintest tilt of his head. They rose. Ho Chi Minh had dismissed them.
    Ho told Gruyère to summon Xuan Thuy, who acted as his foreign minister. He was there immediately, coming in from his office next door. Ho asked his foreign minister whether he had told the Canadian member of the International Control Commission that the government of North Vietnam would reply to the American overture on a given date.
    â€œI didn’t say when we would reply, Excellency. I just listened.” Xuan Thuy looked up at Gruyère and back to Ho. Did the President wish him to repeat what he had been told? In front of Gruyère? Ho blinked an assent.
    â€œPresident Johnson made an advance through Canada. If you will stop the war against South Vietnam he promises you a vast program of economic aid to rebuild the entire country, to restore it after all the damage done in the current conflict and in the conflict with the French.”
    Ho looked over at Gruyère. “Is there any public knowledge of this initiative?”
    Gruyère shook his head. “None.”
    Ho turned back to Xuan Thuy. “You will almost certainly be hearing again from the Canadian ambassador. Do not approach him. Wait until he comes again to you. When he comes, which I think will be very soon, he will no doubt tell you that U.S. Intelligence has picked up a document that suggests we are preparing to move as many as 20,000 soldiers per month down the Trail when it is built up.”
    Xuan Thuy nodded. Yes, he said. He knew about the captured document.
    â€œYou are to tell him the document is a