Gained Rapport Mainly Through Vitality, Wit - The powers of his office are so limited that an American Vice President can bring Africa only good will and homilies and take back the same. That must be understood when trying to assess Vice President Humphrey's African tour. In his visit to nine countries in 12 days, Humphrey offered no new foreign aid projects, wrought no changes in American policy toward Africa, and solved no African problems. But he did show a flair for establishing rapport quickly with Africans, who liked his brashness, enthusiasm, vitality, frankness, wit, and interest. Without that rapport, the trip would have been lackluster and tepid, just like that of the last high-ranking American tour in Africa, Nicholas D. Katzenbach's, the phlegmatic undersecretary of state. Humphrey's trip seems to have been planned with two goals. The first was to demonstrate to African leaders that the United States, despite all its preoccupation with Vietnam, still cares about Africa. The second was to excite a little interest back home about American nonmilitary agencies abroad, like the Peace Corps, which is having trouble recruiting young people to its ranks, and the Agency for International Development, which is having trouble recruiting congressmen to its budget...

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