Three Cheers

For the first time in more weeks than anybody cared to count, the critics of U.S. foreign policy last week were able to stop wringing their hands long enough to applaud. The reasons:

o BRAZIL. After a two-and-a-half-year tailspin toward chaos and Communism under the erratic rule of leftist President Joao ("Jango") Goulart, the armed forces of Latin America's biggest country finally lost patience and sent him packing (see THE HEMISPHERE). Despite the fact that this was a military coup against a constitutional regime, State Department officials made no attempt to conceal their pleasure over Jango's fall. The moment Brazil's Congress gave the new regime a legal base by naming Goulart's next-in-line to succeed him, President Lyndon Johnson extended his "warmest wishes" and hinted at quick recognition. All this was in line with the policy laid down by Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Thomas C. Mann (TIME cover, Jan. 31) that the U.S. will deal with such situations as occurred in Brazil on their merits, not according to a rigid doctrine that condemns all coups as evil.

o PANAMA. Three months after the Canal Zone riots, the U.S. and Panama ended their silly semantic squabble and agreed "to seek prompt elimination of the causes of conflict between the two countries without limitations or preconditions of any kind." Diplomatic relations were restored, and Johnson immediately named fellow Texan Robert B. Anderson, who was Dwight Eisenhower's second Secretary of the Treasury, as special U.S. emissary to work out "a just and fair agreement." As the new Ambassador to Panama, he named Latin American Peace Corps Director Jack Hood Vaughn, an ex-boxer and Marine captain. Said Johnson: "This is truly a great day for America, for Panama and for all the people of the Western Hemisphere." Asked during a weekend press conference at the White House about the developments in Brazil and Panama, the President replied, "I would say that this has been a good week for this hemisphere." He was "encouraged" by the agreement with Panama, he said, and in Brazil, "we look forward to brighter hopes."

o NATO. Turning to another area of U.S. foreign policy, President Johnson marked the 15th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by telling more than 100 guests at an East Room ceremony that the alliance was "a tested and recognized foundation stone of America's foreign policy." There was an implied slap at Charles de Gaulle's disruptive tactics in Johnson's statement that "we, for our part, will never turn back to separated insecurity." But the President generously added that the U.S. welcomes "the new strength of our transatlantic allies" and sees "no contradiction between national self-respect and independent mutual reliance." As for relations with the Communist bloc, he urged the allies to "be alive to the new spirit of diversity that's now abroad in Eastern Europe" and to "be alert to any hope of stable settlement." But flexibility, he added, does not mean softness. "Danger has receded, but it has not disappeared. The task of building our defenses is never really done. The temptation to relax must always be resisted."

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