New York, Aug. 28: President Nixon feels sure that the Vietnam war will be over soon and “not hanging over us in a second term.” He said his conviction “derives from no spectacular breakthrough in Henry Kissinger’s negotiation… but from my own reading of the logic of the situation in Vietnam.” Therefore, President Nixon expects in the next four years to “be paying a lot of attention to our friends and allies — to the Latin Americans, Japan, especially Western Europe” and also to the West Asia difficulties. Mr. Nixon discussed foreign and domestic affairs in an interview published in Newsweek yesterday. Mr. Nixon said he expected that there would be a narrowing of the big lead shown for him in the present public opinion polls over the Democratic Party candidate, Mr. George McGovern. He said there would be “no complacency” in his attitude towards Mr. McGovern, but developments would dictate how vigorously he would campaign.” Discussing foreign affairs, President Nixon was quoted as saying, “We have made a breakthrough with China and Russia. But as Winston Churchill said, this is not the beginning of the end — it is the end of the beginning. Now we have to exploit the breakthrough — the second phase of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, for example, and the ripening of our relations with China.” He added that the U.S. should not underestimate the continuing “opposition” of China and the Soviet Union.
