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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07218 to 363-07242.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07218 to 363-07242
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Title
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Article about Senator Charles Percy's visit to South Vietnam
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Description
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Original title: "Percy", Keever's title: "Dovish U.S. Senator Visits Battlezones; Stays Dovish; Correspondents Gather", Article draft about Senator Charles Percy's (R-IL) visit to South Vietnam, for the Christian Science Monitor
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AI Usage Disclosure
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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.
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Transcript
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zC2c sag
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Percy 1 (Normass/Deepe)
FELD
SAIGON, December 14-On his first trips to the war-battered
provinces, Senator Charles Percy was dressed like a tourist from
Washington; the next day on his second trip, he was dressed in
jungle fatigues and boots.
Did the change in attire mean the most dovish prospect
in the Republican Presidential aviary had transformed into a hawk?
Did it mean he had been "brainwashed" as another Republican
Alleged Agonist
hope-ful, George Romney,
VIETNAM?
-performed on him?
elained the American officialdom
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Percy 2 (Normass/Deepe)
No. In the only specific answer to a question of
political substance during his five-day visit to Vietnam, the
unofficially
fair-haired Senator from Illinois, wholrates himself a very dark)
horse presidential candidate, said he had seen nothing in Vietnam
to convince him to change his moderately dovish posture on the
increasingly volatile war issue.
DARK
VIETNA
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Percy 3 (normass/deepe)
His change in attire seemed to indicate the Senator
in one day had shifted from an intellectual, white blue-shirt
assessment of the political problem to the down-to-earth, jungle-fatigue
realities of highly complex unconventional and equally unpredicatable
war.
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Peroy 4 (normass/doope)
75
Fest
On his first field trip
miles north of Saigon, soant
the Senator Percy wore the trousers of his bioge Ivy League suit,
loafers and a light blue "tv" shirt. His wife, Loraine, wore a pleated
oatmeal-colored af semi-mini-skirt, spool-high heels and a sleeveless
blouse the color of lime sherbert. His foreign affirs affairs aide
wore a noko necktie. The threesome had finished an early morning
visit with Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu and then decided
on the spur of the moment to visit the battered hamlet of Dak Son-
labeled one of the biggest Communist atrocity sites of the war.
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Percy 5 (normass/deepe)
Leaving Mrs. Peroy in the white, unarmed Air America
Compamon
helicopter, the Senator, his aide, two American correspondents and
an American civilian official inspected the bunkers were where
Vietnamese civilians had been suffocated when the Communist flamethrowers
sucked away the musty air of the tunnels.
Suddenly, small arms fire from the finger fringes
of the village--and then the first of five mortar shells, the closest
landing fifteen feet from him. The helicopter carrying Mrs. Percy
left, dropped her at a nearby military base, and with five armed
gunships, the civilian helicopter returned to pick up the senator
and his party. The Senator n suffered a scratch on his arm and
several scratches on his 1's legs as he scout scooted along the
bunkerlines and ground.
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Percy 6 (normass/deopod
Later, the Senator explaineds "This is closer to action
than I got in three years of World War Two."
Mrs. Percy: "It happened so fast--you don't socnyth
anything in that jungle. It makes you realize they can be tiiviil
invisible and yet there they are all around. No movies and no no
nows story can tell you that until you've been there."
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Percy 7 (normans/deope)
(This incident has raised considerable debate between
the Saigon press and American officialdom, although the Percy
party accepts responsibility for the snafu as well as the glory of the
press accounts. Because the Senator decided suddently to visit Dak
Son, the regular correspondents in Saigon were not notified of
the trip.
Some veteran correspondents, who have covered Vis
vicious battles, expressed doubt that the Senator would have not been
Hub
scratched had the mor Communist mortars actually landed only te
fifteen feet from him. The correspondents were also astonished that
a prominent American of either party would not be escorted by a fi
SCORTE
FELD
military officer; TV crews are restricted in their movements wa
without being accompanied by a commissioned officer.
For years,
Senator Peroy has had been cleared for top secret classified information;
as a member of the space Senato Senate space committee, he wouldkx
have proved a valuable prize if captured by the Communists.
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Peroy 8 (normass/deepe)
(senator Percy said he specifically requested the
Protection
absence of military escort officers and the regular practice of
armed helicopter gunships so as to minimize in hindrance of
military operations. "We are at the mercy of these people
to do what they ask," e military official explained.)
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Peroy 9 (Normass/Deepe)
How much does an American official learn in visiting
as the Michigan governor
Vietnam?
Can one be "brainwashed"
charged?
dignitaries
Ng
The visitors admit they have access to as me much official
information in Washington from the State Department and the Pentagon
as they do in Saigon and observers here view the visitors
I come to Vietnam more to gain ammunition for pre-established
viewpoints than to weigh facts of the situation.
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Percy 10 (Normass/Deepe)
But, the official visitors, desiring a big-picture
assessment of Vietnam, do find a different texture, dimension
and perspective of the problem.
One Percy aide explained: "Somehow the conversations
here are more real. They are not based so much on statistics
but on emotions deeply felt as a result of personal experience.
This adds a new dimension to the arguments. Moreover, some
different kinds of ideas have emerged. For example, in the United
States, the debate rages on the bombing of North Vietnam. At home,
they think this is the central question. But, here the debate
seems to be whether this war is winnable. Some people
say it can be and some say it can't. But this is the fundamental
question really./
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Percy 11 (Normass/deepe)
"I was also surprised that the taxi journalists in
one doesn't
Saigon are so hostile to the admin officialdom;
get that impression from rom their reports in the United States.
Also the dov-ish reporters in Washington are different from the
dov-ish reporters in Saigon. In Washington, people express their
view with statistics and objective date data they can get to support
their view; here poep people talk on the basis of what they have
seen or personal experiences.
"Another difference: in Washington, people talk
NOR
of finding a formula for negotiations; here,
both Vietnamese and
much.
Americans, don't discuss negotiations.
The Vietnamese just say
this government (Thieu government) won't do it.
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Percy 12 (Normass/Deepe)
On brainwashing", the Percy party seemed to believe, "The
official people do sustain the administration policy-that's their job
and we expect them to do it. You can't dispute that. But it's
our job to hear the other side."
Correspondents
who covered many of the visiting
dignitaries expressed privately the view that the Percy five-day
trip was the best organized with the broadest scope. The secret
appeared to be that the party was well-prepared before coming to
Vietnam. His aide said the Sean Senator spent three months organizing
and briefing himself on Vietnam especially,
places
as well as other countries
he would visit Bangkok, New Delhi, Tel Aviv, Teheran, Paris, Rome,
NATO Headquarters in Brussels and London.
(Vientiane was mysteriously
added to his schedule as the result of conversations in Saon South
Vietnam).
This preparation included talking with dining with the
five top American specialists on Red Communist China and writing briefing
papers on key issues, such as refugees and pacification in Vietnam.
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Percy 13 (normass/deepe)
In South Vietnam, the Senator requested free-time
to talk with Vietnamese students, Vietnamese anti-communist nationalists
in and out of government, Vietnamese newly- two Vietnamese newly-elected
begislator informal conversations with five veteran correspondents.
The Seantor also paid a courtesy call on President Thieu, was briefed
by the U. S. Navy command inm and 7th Air Force commands in Saigon,
saw General Westmoreland and received from the high command a
two-and-half hour briefing by goateen seventeen headquarters officers,
including one major general and two brigadier generals.
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Peroy 14 (normass/deepe)
On December 14, -Beant Senator Percy ist visited the
huge Cam Ranh Bay airbase and logistical facility; his foreign
affairs aide, Scott Cohen, accompanied the pixx twenty correspondents
on a separate press flight. The A we
mie brief, worms-eye
view of is this segment might be typical of the many visits of
other dignitaries to follow.
military
The press plane was met by air longe bus,
which carried
hem where the Senator was to
CORRESPOrders
them to a small strip t
land. The Sean Senator was delayed by cloud covers further north;
the press was wise whisked off to lunch.
One correspondent: did you ever notice when they don't
i know what to do with the press they feed us?
Another: Not always. Remember the Humphrey trip. The
Marines wouldn't give us any food-we stood in front of their 1000-man
mess hall and had to watch everyone else eat."
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Peroy 15 (normass/deepe)
Discussion between Percy aide and sere correspondents
to
ranged from such items of Senator Percy's "moderate dovishness"
his future schedules, to his January 14th ss "Meet the Press"
national television show where his Vietnam views would be
articulated, to the previous day's mortaring incident.
"Why didn't you have a military escort?" one correspondent
"Every since the ear-cutting fiasco, TV crews can't
asked Cohen,
go out into the field without x being escorted by
military officer. It was a new dirgetive military directive that
came out after CBS showed the American troops cutting off the
ears of Communist dead."
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Percy 16 (Normass/Deepe)
the
Waiting on sandy strip airstrip, the correspondents
reminisced about their battlefield experi
Ond One said:
One writer: "The North Vietnamese have some kind of communications
between South Vietnam, North Vietnam and Cambodia, I believe.
Another: "Yeah, when I was out with the Marines along the DMZ,
the colonel said the North Vietnamese have the same kind of radios
we have and they can jam our frequencies-listen to everything the
Marines say, and of course, they speak good English.
Another writer: I was out up in a helicopter over Dak
To and we radioed the ground troops to pop smoke. The chopper Taurved
so we could make a rocket run. The chopper radioed, 'Yeah we see
your yellow smoke.' 'No, no-not yellow-purple,' the ground commander
screamed."
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Percy
(Normass/deepe)
Mentioned the
the
Another correspondent minkin pointed out
He recalled
suspicion that American weapons were being stolen out of the American
logistical bases and falling into the hands of the Communists.
on June 15th in the Mekong Delta, an American company, almost wiped
out by the Communists, had found several American Fly-ly F
M-16 rifles and ammunition for them in them one Communist bunker
when it was finally overrun. Why didn't Senator Percy ask tough
questions inre like that in the official briefings and
ust the results.
tell
Answer: "Percy wouldn't buxx get a straight answer either.
There's a certain style in which they answer these tough questions.
The officials don't deny anything; they are very reasons reasonable,
saying
it's not a serious problem and they are overcoming
the propreme How can you fight with that line?"
Correspondent:
The problem is the credibility
bureaucracy
gap is within the official structure as well as between the structure
and the public.
it?
Another correspondent: That's a good line.
Can I use
Answer: No, if I could document it, I'd
use it in my own story.
more Rente
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Pero 17 (Normass/deepe)
is
Another
A third correspondent:
Material
the problem is that items
are classified not simply for ml military secrity security but
to hush-up political
In Africa
snafus. I remember I worked for USIS for
six months-that's all I could take--and I resigned.in The
officials didn't want to release it to the natives so they classified
it. One night the Marine guard found my own resignation in my desk
aus!
drawer and gave me a security violation.
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Percy 18 (normass/deepe).
CNALLY
The Senator arrived one and half hours late, inspected
a new method of transporting and unloading logistical cargo, was
escorted by two colonels in three sedans, six military policeal
policeman in three police jeeps to the briefing room.
A et lieutenant announced the briefing was classified
and the press were barred. The press revolted, saying other journalists
were already in the briefing room--and send the lieutenant to talk to
the colonel. The press was allowed in; a fifteen-minute briefh
VERY
briefing a followed that was neither classife classified nor
comprehensible.
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Percy 19 (normass/deepe)
The standard "flip chart" briefing began with the
colonel pointing to the plastic-covered crabor cardboard squares
and
an enlisted man a whisking thom away as he finished: chart ',
the mission of the Army support command; chart 2, the organization
of the command; ohart 3, a map showing the geop geographic
area for which the command was responsible; followed by a schematic
showing the location of the Navy base at the tip of the peninsula,
the Army pot depots, storage area ammo storage aras areas and
A
the Air Force runways, the seven-miles of pit pipeline to the
petroleum area were 350,000 barrels were stored. Then ca charts
r labelled
"wharehouse denials", a chart on the doopé
and shallow water transport areas, a monthly average of days k
shez sape ships stayed in port, port tonnage, and a map of the
land routes of transport communication. with green and amber roads
to indicate the scourity situation status.
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Percy 20 (normass/deepe)
The Senator took no repeat no notes; nor did he appear
to be carrying a notepad. Haxhimmm While the television lights
WIRRED
ar glared and cameras in ground away, ve the Senator
gave a series of speech-lets, which ended with queries directed
The sono colonel had mentioned a convalescent
to the colonel.
hospital was located in the
situated in the ca Cam Ranh complex
and the Senator elaborated on his Senate committee work to initiate
inventory controls on drugs that asses which had expired in
usefull usefulness. Them Did the military hospitals
do the same?
The Son colonel replied he was not responsible for the operation
of the hospital in any way.
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Peroy (normass/deepe)
After several more questions, the Senator met for seve
minutes the American commander of Special Forces in Vietnam, then was
escorted by car around the giant amm stockpiles, and warehouses.
The U. S. Army sedan drove through one of the wou warehouses, followed
by the
ad of journalists, one of whom gaaped, "This is
the first VIP trip straight through a field maintenance shop."
A TV correspondent:
This is going to be a non-story.
up.
Ng We've got to hivi liven this un
He performs when the cameras
are on him--but he performs feebly.
A second TV journalists
"Ile's as good a performer as
Humphrey. You stick a mike in front of his nose and he starts talking.
A thirds 'No, he's not as good as Humphrey. Humphrey
is the old pro when it comes to thinking on his feet.
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23.
Percy 2 (normass/deepe)
Again the press followed the deant Senator through
a warehouse where half dozen privates and corporals indexed the
spare parts on hand in the sub-commands.
"Better look busy," one
GI whispered to another. The Senator, in front of hand-carried TV
cameras, chatted with an Illinois lieutenant--the brother of a
Political
friend and Peroy supporter.
The Senator departed for the Mekong Delta.
"I didn't get to talk to him," another Illinois GI
complained. "I wanted to wish him good luck."
"It doesn't matter," his buddy answered.
back to the world (The 0 (the U. so in 39 days."
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Syy-lip,
Peroy 23 (normass/deepe)
The military officer with the press commented: What a
funny game this is, jumping in and out of the bus.
The journalists musod about their non-story.
One said: I like Percy's fatigues. One the right
hand side (across the chest) it read simply 'Peroy' and on the
left hand side where thos' CI's have their branch of service it read
Senator'. I wish the press could write their descriptions--liko
candidate, or dark horse, or unlikely candidate.
Another carried on: I would be fun to see Wallace
come out here in grey fatigues.
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Percy (normass/doope)
Another thinking of Romney's upcoming Christmes visit,
to be followed by Bdward Kenney's tour, respondsted: These
new nominating tooni (Presidential) nominating techniques are being
beginning to be burdensome. It all started in the Korean War when
politicians had to go to the frontline to got their pictures taken.
Another added: Yes, we used to have to chase the
dan candidates around New Hampshire, where wo only had to bother
Now we've got to chase them around Vietnam.
with now.
(Hank: I'll interview foreign minister do tomorrow and
if it's of hot news value I'll cable Friday; if not then, on Saturday).
End Reuter
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Date
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1967, Dec. 14
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Visits of state; Percy, Charles H., 1919-2011; Peace movements
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B7, F5
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Format
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dispatches
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Collector
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
