Evening star., 1961-08-19
POLICY
Continued From First Page

ton, however much the SovietS
may denounce it.
The reason for sending the
battle group into Berlin was
not military but political and
| psychological, it was said. For
several days the White House
and State Department have
been increasingly worried by
reports from Berlin of a slump
in morale among the 2,250,oO0
people after the Soviet-backe
East German action Sunday in
cutting off refugee flights. The
Reds closed the East Berlin
border with West Berlin.
What gradually became ap-
parent to policy makers here
through dispatches they re-
ceived from Berlin was that the
West Berliners expected strong
Western counter measures.
They came to regard the West
ern reaction as evidence of how
the United States, British and
French governments would re-
Spond to some future pressure
from Mr.. KhruShchev against
West Berlin itself.
1 Leaders of the three Western
governments who had expected
a breakdown on the massive
outflow of refugees. apparently
were surprised at the nature of
the West Berlin reaction and
began to fear the effects on
morale in the city.
They decided against using
an East-West trade embargo or
other sweeping economic sane
tionS which might be needed
later on if Western rights were
directly threatened, but became
convinced within the last two
or three days that something
had to be done. The decision
to send Mr.. Johnson to confer
with Mr.. Adenauer and Mr..
Brandt and to make a personal
appearance in Berlin was one
of the results; the decision to
send a token force to strength.
en- the garrison was another.
The White House said the
British and French govern
mentS had been advised of Mr..
Kennedy'S decisions. Presum-
ably, the word also was given
to the West German govern
ment well in advance of the
public announcement. In fact
it is understood that the troop
reinformecent plan was dis
cussed by State Department
officials with British, French
and West German embassy
representatives who are now
meeting almost daily at the
department.
The first reaction from West
Berlin came from Mr.. Brandt's
office, which welcomed the as
Signment of additional troops,
Deeds a spokesman said,
ARE better than words"
The spokesman said Mr..
Brandt had not asked for such
a measure, but had advance
word and personally welcomed
it.
The meetings in Washington
are concerned both with the
current phase of the crisis re-
sulting from the East Berlin
border closing and with the
longer-range aspects expected
to develop when Mr.. Khru-
shchev makes his next move.
He has announced that near
the end of the year he will sign
a separate peace treaty with
East Germany which will rec
ognize East German sovereignty
over West Berlin and the sup
ply lines leading to it. At the
same time he has offered guar
antees of access to the West
although Washington officials
say they do not know what he
means by guarantees"
The United States takes the
position that negotiations to
put an end to the crisis are
possible and will be proposed at
some point but that three
basic rights" are not negoti-
able, These have been defined
by Secretary of State Rusk as
he right of the Western powers
to maintain troops in West Ber-
lin, the right to have free
access to West Berlin and the
right of the people in West
Berlin to live their own lives
independent of surrounding
Communist rule.