Article about Henry Cabot Lodge's visit

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

363-05735 to 363-05743.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-05735 to 363-05743

Title

Article about Henry Cabot Lodge's visit

Description

Original title: "lodge", Keever's title: "Lodge's Second Ambassadorship to Saigon Seeks New Political Initative", article for the New York Herald Tribune about Henry Cabot Lodge arriving in Vietnam during the Buddhist Crisis and being labelled as "The American Mandarin"

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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

deepe lodge--page 1A August 26, 1965 (Two years ago this week, Henry Cabot Lodge arrived in the upside-down city of Saigon as the celebrated Buddhist crisis zenithed. “The American Mandarin”--as he was soon labelled--found he had no one to [XXXX indicating deletion] whom to [deletion: formally] present his Ambassadorial credentials; the Foreign Minister had resigned, shaved his head like a Buddhist monk and agitated the students for more anti-government demonstrations. One year ago this week, [XXXX indicating deletion] Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor celebrated his 63rd birthday on August 26; it wasn’t a very happy one. The upside-down city was [deletion: [illegible]] ruled by student mobs which toppled momentarily [deletion: Lodge’s] the military government. This week, Lodge presented his second set of Ambassadorial credentials; this time, Viet Nam did have a Foreign Minister, but [deletion: the] Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky [deletion: de] evaded the Ambassador’s arrival by touring other Asian countries.) DEEPE LODGE--PAGE 1 AUGUST 26, 1965 SAIGON--The second era of Henry Cabot Lodge introduces the Third Phase of the American [XXXX indicating deletion] strategy for Viet Nam, observers here believe. (More) deepe lodge--page 2 This Third Phase is not in conflict with, nor a contradiction of the strategy of ex-ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor. It is, instead, a complement to, and a completion of, the Taylor strategy. The first phase of the Taylor strategy was the bombing of North Viet Nam; the second phase was the introduction of American combat troops on the ground. (In this phase, Taylor of 1965 reversed Taylor of 1961, when he advised against American ground troops in Asia.) deepe lodge--page 3 Under Lodge, the Taylor strategy will be completed with more American ground troops within the South and further escalation in North Vietnam, not only by expanding the bombing raids to include Hanoi’s industrial basis, but possibly in the future of clandestine ground operations. The Third Phase of the American strategy is to formulate a political policy for the South Vietnamese within the south--that will [deletion: either] reverse [XXXX indicating deletion] the sharp deterioration caused by whirlwind changes of government, and more hopefully, will seize the political [deletion: initiate] initiative from the Communists [insertion: in the countryside]. deepe lodge--page 4 In short, Taylor decided to fight the anti-Communist war solely on military terms--but on two fronts, in North Viet Nam and within the South. The [deletion: new era] new Lodge era is expected to continue--to expand, to escalate and to [deletion: intensive] intensify this--while simultaneously fighting the Communist subversives politically within the South and, preparing to overtake their “revolutionary” [XXXX indicating deletion] promises to the Vietnamese peasantry. (More) deepe lodge--page 5 The fate of South Viet Nam--barring negotiations with the North--depends on whether this third phase of the strategy succeeds or fails. To translate this strategy into meaningful terms for the Vietnamese peasants and city-dwellers depends on not solely on Lodge, but also [insertion: on] Edwin C. [deletion: Landsdale] Lansdale, a retired [deletion: air] U.S. Air Force general [XXXX indicating deletion] who became [deletion: [illegible]] renowned in the ‘50’s as the kingmaker behind President Ramon Magsaysay during the Huk insurrection in the Philippines and later as the initial kingmaker behind Ngo Dinh Diem during his early days as President of Vietnam in 1955. The Lodge-Lansdale team is considered an exquisitely balanced political duo-ambassadorship. The greatest [deletion: strengt] hidden political strength of Lodge is considered by Vietnamese observers to lie first in his [deletion: impact] influence on the Republican Party within American politics and in his appreciation of the Russian mentality because of his United Nations’ ambassadorship. Hence, the Vietnamese intellectuals [deletion: on] consider Lodge a key factor to keep America unified and to keep Russia neutral during the [deletion: coming months or years] future. deepe lodge--page 6 Internally, within South Viet Nam, Vietnamese observers consider Lansdale as the key “wheeling & dealing operator” type. Together, the Lodge-Lansdale team forms a controversial [deletion: team] duo in the Saigon political arena, each attracting totally [deletion: [illegible] dif] diverse political factions; [insertion: with] Lansdale [deletion: magan] magnetizing the [deletion: Catholic] support of the right-wing Catholics and their related political factions, [deletion: while] and with Lodge attracting the pro-Buddhist elements because of his [deletion: siding] supporting [deletion: with] them in their fight against Catholic President Diem in 1963. deepe lodge--page 7 While American officials define this strategy as a policy of initiative, most Vietnamese observers here consider it a policy of reaction to the overwhelming and consistent Viet Cong political and military offensive conducted since the fall of President Diem, which [XXXX indicating deletion] occurred two months after Lodge arrived on his first Ambassadorship. [deletion: With] The fall of Diem [deletion: ,] also [deletion: meant] caused the fall the strategic hamlet program and the loss of the government control of the Vietnamese villagers, as well as the fall of an intelligence channel [deletion: in] into the countryside. While the Lodge-Taylor-Lodge flipflop in the Ambassadorship is [XXXX indicating deletion] considered the completion of the strategic circle, the long-term tactical implementation within the South has found each key American official of one era nullifying the [XXXX indicating deletion] preceding ones. deepe lodge--page 8 Hence, Lansdale [insertion: ,] [deletion: in the early ‘50’s was] the kingmaker behind Ngo Dinh Diem, was nullified by Lodge in 1963, when American support was withdrawn from the Catholic president. Lodge gave political [deletion: ass] asylum in an air-conditioned room in the American Embassy to Thich Tri Quang, the leader of the Buddhist anti-Diem political movement. Lodge then suffered through an 89-day committee-type government of the first military junta, [deletion: then] and subsequently threw his support behind General Nguyen Khanh who coup-ed to power. [deletion: Then] First first Thich Tri Quang and later Ambassador Taylor nullified Lodge, when [deletion: student demonstr] pro-Buddhist student demonstrations toppled Khanh from the Presidency in August of last year and when Taylor disagreed with him in February of this year. Khanh left for an announced ambassadorship [insertion: to which] he was never appointed [deletion: to]; most Vietnamese observers considered Thich Tri Quang a pro-Communist sympathizer, or pro-neutralist agent. This week, Lodge finds the political situation similar to that of his first appointment, with a leader-less committee-type government of the first military junta; students in Saigon expounding anti-government--and anti-American--theories in seminars; demonstrations of students and townspeople in the political hotbed city of Hue. “Lodge No. 2 has come to straighten out the mess caused during the reign of Lodge No. 1,” one Vietnamese intellectual explained. “He’s brought Lansdale to find the new Ngo Dinh Diem.”

Date

1965, Aug. 26

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Visits of state; Lodge, Henry Cabot, Jr., 1902-1985; Public opinion; Ambassadors

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B187, F5

Format

dispatches

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English