WASHINGTON

refuses to participate in the Paris negotiations.
It seems clear that the American people simply will not permit further escalation of the war, and while public opinion is willing to wait for the war to end, it expects that a negotiated settlement will permit American troop withdrawals from Vietnam in the relatively near future. Nixon can only escalate the war with tremendous domestic risks to himself and his administration, and it is far from clear that the war can be militarily won regardless of American escalation. Thus, the prospects for peace in Vietnam remain relatively bright, although certainly less bright than if Humphrey had won the election. In the general area of foreign affairs, there is likely to be little change in American policy. Public opinion has become more isolationist as a result of the Vietnam tragedy, but the United States has so many financial and military commitments that isolationism can only go so far. Events in Czechoslovakia plus Nixon's more negative attitude toward the Soviet Union mean that the detente between the United States and the Soviet Union may be slowed, but certainly not stopped. Certainly, the Americans will be less anxious to commit themselves militarily in Asia after Vietnam, but the confrontation between China and the United States is bound to continue.