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out there. Hoyt and I were flown up almost to the border of--I guess it was called I Corps. They had ICOR. One corps. Roman numeral I Corps. Roman numeral II. Roman numeral III. And the capital was in the fourth zone. The absolute front line was way up in I Corps.

We went up in General [William] Westmoreland's T--39, a very small plane, because we didn't want to attract any fire. It was a scary trip. We were not doing well, and there was a great deal of talk in the press corps, with whom we spent a lot of time when we were there, and some of the military--although Westmoreland was--I had dinner with him on two occasions. I say: “I had dinner.” The three of us had dinner with him and his chief--of- -staff was there. I think there were four or five of us. That's all.

I never thought we got a frank answer from them at that time, as to what was the best thing for the country. They were covering for their chain of command and they didn't know what our mission was, really. They should have been--there was no way we could disarm them, in terms of establishing a close relationship, because, hell, we flew in on Presidential mission; and you don't do that without getting the hackles up of the military. You know, they want to know what you're up to.

Did Johnson have the view that the military would be very receptive to whatever he said? I mean, did he feel the military was sort of in his pocket, or did he sense some tensions there?

Oh, no. He said to me one time: “Don't ever let the civilian lose control of the military.” He understood the importance of keeping that relationship. I think he was