Peace Offering From Johnson Spurned by Ho

WASHINGTON, D.C.; March 21 -- President Johnson Personally wrote to North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh on Feb. 8 with a package offer aimed at initiating direct U.S.-North Vietnamese peace talks, it was disclosed today.

In his letter, the President offered to end all U.S. raids on the north and to put a freeze on U.S. troop levels in the south "as soon as I am assured that infiltration into South Vietnam by land and by sea has been stopped."

Ho rejected Johnson's proposal in a personal letter delivered on Feb. 15 -- the day after the lunar new year cease fire truce -- when the United States resumed bombing the North.

The disclosure came as Johnson was returning home from his Vietnam strategy conference at Guam.

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy '48 (D-N.Y.) said Johnson's letter to Ho added a further condition to the U.S. position on de-escalation -- "that we have evidence that Hanoi has already ceased infiltration before we stop the bombing."