-
derivative filename/jpeg
-
363-01468 to 363-01472.pdf
-
Digital Object Identifier
-
363-01468 to 363-01472
-
Title
-
Article on Vietnamese public opinion on 1968 peace talks
-
Description
-
Original title: "LBJ Peace talks - concern." Keever's title: "Rice-Roots Level Peace with Communists is Iffy." Article by Keever on the Vietnamese people's concerns surrounding the 1968 Peace Talks
-
AI Usage Disclosure
-
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
-
--------------------
- Page 1
--------------------
1
goso seg
yy ljp
concern 1 (normass/deepe)
BIEN HOA, SOUTH VIETNAM, APRIL 22-The pragmatic problems of
establishing a negotiated, rice-roots level peace with the Communists
is shaping up as a major concern here.
Informed sources here indicate the lower-level problems in the
provinces of a negotiated poace settlement between belligerents in South
Vietnam revolve around two main points: politically, the formation
of a coalition government between the anti-Communist and pro-Communist
factions at the central, provincial and village levels, and on second,
the military disposition of Communist forces-especially the North Vietnamese
who are currently intermingled individually with local Viet Cong, rather
than operating in soparate units.
==more reuter
BC2C sag
Jy 1jp
concern 2 (normass/deepe)
"At my level, we are unprepared for a ceasefire,"
one informed
source said in Bion Hoa, the headquarters city responsible for military
and political control of the eleven provinces around Saigon.
"There's no plan as to our modus vivendi (ital) if there's not a
war,"
he continued. "In the government areas, if there were a ceasefire
by negotiations, we could move out on a grand scale, opening roads,
building schools and bridges. That's not a massive problem and at higher
levels, this has been analyzed I'm sure. If there were simply a ceasefire
without a coalition government, every day of the ceasefire would work
We are far better able to organize the
to the advantage of the Allies.
population and get them involved than the Viet Cong.
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 2
--------------------
2020 sag
Jy 1jp
concern 3 (normass/deepe)
he
"We're counting on the pragmatic makeup of the Vietnamese people,"
said. "I've down some roads and seen the tv antennas sticking out of
thatch-roofed houses. These people aren't about to choose freely a monastic,
So, the C63 Communists must continue to fight
communistic existence.
while talking or the people will be wooed away from them by the Allies."
But,
the sources believe, if there were a ao coalition government
as well as a ceasefire by negotiation between the belligerents, the situation
would be un-workable in the provinces.
==more reuter
2020 sag
yy 1jp
concern 4 (normass/deepe)
"The people who propose a coalition government misunderstand one
thing," an informed source explained. "These people--like Bobby Kennedy-
are ja swayed by what they consider the r fact that most of the
National Liberation Front is non-Communist, so a coalition government
to thonnan those them are those people fifth for fighting for a
better government. As a position, this is possible-maybe as many as
ninety five per cent of the NLF is non-Communist.
"But, what they forget--the big obstacle-is the NLP leadership.
The leadership is Communiste and it's the leadership, not the followers,
who will go into a coalition government, and that is just like asking the
Vietnamese government in Saigon to commit suicide. The Allies can eventually
have most of the NLF members in the government-but the NLF per seň can't
be admitted because it is directly controlled by Communists for Communist
purposes and Communism is incompatible with the government these people
have or any form there will be."
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 3
--------------------
2020 80g
yy 1jp
concern 5 (normans/deepe)
The source said that Vietnamese in responsible positions soo no
basis of negotiations and often point out to American officials that the
Vietnamese government is not strong enough at this timo to participate in
a coalition government. They see that if the Communists get their foot
in the door, they could seize control," he said.
Another source explained that "it will be extremely difficult to set
up a coalition government in the Communist-dominated areas. The
Vietnamese government could not hold any political-psychological presence
in those villages under tab Communist control. If the Communte
Communists control the villages now and there's a ceasefire, then
they'll control them even more tightly." Most informed sources do not
repeat not see the agreement
on a ceasefire as one of the first itoms
should negotiations begin.
to be decided by at the conference table,
#more router
2020 sag
yy 1jp
concern 6 (normans/deepe)
On the military side in the provinces around Saigon, roughly fifty
per cent of the local Viet Cong order of battle strength is composed of
North Vietnamese troops serving as battlefield replacom replacements,
reliable sources report. This is a set trend from the provinces along
the domilitarized zone where the many whole units are of North Vietnamese
origing both for troops and officers.
"I don't see how the diplomats can spin out the Viet Cong and the
North Vietnamese from these units here," one source explained.
"The
Communist units will hole up after peace in secret base areas and without
neutral inspection--which they've never allowed before--it will be very
difficult to ong enforce that side of any settlement. We'd know sooner or
later from agent's reports if the units had been sent back home or disarmed,
but that's circumstanial evidence only and it would take awhile to
more Re
--------------------
- Page 4
--------------------
2030 906
yy 1jp
concern 7 (normass/deepe)
The
The exact impact in the provinces of President Lyndon Johnson's
peace offensive and Hanoi's tenuous acceptance has not been fully
ascertained at all levels. The American Embassy officials are known to be
amassing somepolitical information along these lines, but the surveys
are still underway and would be classified for general consumption.
view is that while the en senior leader Vietnamese leadership in the
provinces have become more determn determined to continue fighting against
the Communists, some sources fear that low-level Vietnamese soldiers and
government officials in isolated outposts and district toms me might
seok an "accommodation"
thus giving up the fight.
with the Communists,
#more router
2020 sag
yy 1jp
concern 8 (normans/deepe)
Senior Allied commanders are known to be "worried about the
impact of that statement (by President Johnson). The enemy says this
is an American sell-out. The Americans were driving the South Vietnamese
to fight from the beginning and now the Americans are quitting. I believe
this will require positive psychological opat explanations by the Vietnamese
government targeted at their own people-saying the Allies are standing
firm together, that there's no intention to compromise the sovereign
sövörn sovereignty of South Vietnam thand that we're too together in
our objectives to mainan maintain South Vietnam as an independent nation.
I don't know how to br how to big bridge this political gap-this big
chasmt's up to diplomatís and they should think of something."
===more reuter
--------------------
- Page 5
--------------------
2020 sag
yy 1jp
concern 9 (normass/deepo)
(Hanks We will send you three or four more pieces this week.
it remains this a quiet on all fronts this week, what do you think
about a three or four day field trip to the Mekong Delta next week,
mentioned in my long momo? Regards Bov).
ond reuter
If
as I
-
Date
-
1968, Apr. 22
-
Subject
-
Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Peace; War--Public opinion; Diplomatic negotiations in international disputes
-
Location
-
Biên Hòa, South Vietnam
-
Coordinates
-
10.9574; 106.8427
-
Size
-
21 x 27 cm
-
Container
-
B11, F7
-
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
-
Language
-
English
