office said that 100 communications had been received within a few days. Of these 87 sided with the minister and only 13 backed the governor.
Some of the members of the parish vestry voted to apologize to the president and this started a sharp conflict within that respectable body.
In face of the widening dispute, Johnson decided that he had to indicate where he stood. In his November 17 press conference he tried the old tactic of giving his critic the back of the hand.
"The Secretary of State," he said, "has made this clear dozens and dozens of
times -- and I made it enough that I thought even all the preachers in the country had heard about it."
It remains to be seen whether that will stop the ripples started by the single stone cast by the minister who wanted a clear answer on what the U.S. is doing in Vietnan.