Feb. 13, 1962 - The Republican National Committee called on President Kennedy today to “make a full report to the American people” on U.S. involvement in the fighting in South Vietnam. In its publication, “Battle Line,” the committee charged that the President had been “less than candid” in his comments on the extent of American support for South Vietnam’s battle against Communist insurgents. The publication raised the question whether the U.S. was “moving toward another Korea which might embroil the entire Far East.” At the same time, it stressed that the Republican Party “always has been and still is firmly behind any policy which will block the Communist conquest of Southeast Asia.” There was no direct response from the Kennedy Administration to the GOP attack. But W. Averell Harriman, the State Department’s chief official on Far Eastern affairs, testified before a Congressional committee that the Government had “no present plans for commitment of American combat forces” in the present hostilities. “By its very nature, guerrilla warfare is a slow operation,” Mr. Harriman said. “It is a long, slow process, but we have got to be prepared to see this thing through.”
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