-
derivative filename/jpeg
-
363-04177 to 363-04189.pdf
-
Digital Object Identifier
-
363-04177 to 363-04189
-
Title
-
Article about South Vietnam's reaction to North Vietnam accepting peace talks
-
Description
-
Original title: "talks", Keever's title: "Hanoi Accepts LBJ's Peace Bid, Electrifying Saigon." Article draft about the South Vietnamese political elite in Saigon and their reaction to North Vietnam agreeing to peace talks, which came as an almost total surprise to Saigon and American officials alike. Written for the Christian Science Monitor
-
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
--------------------
2020 sag
yy 1jp
talks 1 (normass/deepe)
SAIGON, April 26-Hanoi's acceptance to start talking p
produced a second political bombshell in South Vietha Vietnam, its second
in four days.
saigon is electric with emotional, frenzied talk of peace,
coalition government,
an American withdrawal,
wild speculation of what
will happen next and the reaction to all of this vis varied and
mixed depending on among the different elements of the Vietnamese population.
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 2
--------------------
ZCZC sag
yy lop
talks 2 (normass/deepe)
But, Hanoi's acceptance was only a baby bombshell compared to
President Johnson's speech four days ago outlining his d- de-escalation
policy on bombing North Vietnam and his refusal to accept a second
terms as president.
and
Still, the Saigon government, behind closed doors,
Vietnamese political sophisticates were clearly surprised by Hanoi's
early acceptance.
== mone Ranta.
--------------------
- Page 3
--------------------
2020 sag
yy 1jp
talks 3 (normans/deepe)
Only four hours before the Hanoi Radio broadcast its government's
answer to President Johnson, the Saigon government was known to be
continuing mapping out its plans for a general mobilization, calling
up all men into military service between the ages of 18 and 33.
The Hanoi announcement did little to alleviate the "state of depressions"
G President Ngy Nguyen Van Thieu was known to have fallen into since
the Amb American Embassy notified two days before President Johnson's
speech of the American initiate iniat initiative towards peace talks.
No, did the Hanoi acceptance solace Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky
who reacted to President Johnson's peace move by "scaling the af
walls in a rage and oursing the Americans for deserting the Vietnamese,"
informed sources report.
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 4
--------------------
2020 sag
yy 1jp
tak
talks 4 (normass/deepe)
HAKSH
Here
Ho
The American community did not seem to have any set expectations
of Hanoi would reply to the Johnson peace offer, and they many Americans
were still stepping out of their daze from President Johnson's
speech
Monday morning here.
"Everything has either swung & 011010,
of case is stiff
swinging around in circles," one source explained.
Clearly though, the Hanoi acceptance intensified the
long-held fears of American hawks that xin talks with North Vietnam
more reuter
would take on ap prolonged, agonizing form of Panmunjon during the Korea
War and that the bitterest,
bloodiest fighting lay ahead.
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 5
--------------------
5020 sag
yy 1jp
talks 4 (normass/deepe)
HAD
The xxx politically-informed Vietnamese sophisticates,
however, expected Hanoi to flat-out reject the President's offer;
"Hanoi wants 100 per cent bombing cessation, and won't talk until they
get it," one source explained.
Saigonese throughout last night listened switched their
radio dials between VOA, BBC, Radio Hanoi, Radio Peking, Moscow and
Liberation Radio.
the ye h dissected every word of the Hanoi Radio
communique as answering President Johnson, and two divergent regions
interpretations results:
Hanoi did not say anything about South Vietnam
Vietnam and so the war will continue here, and its opposite argument,
Hano18 Hanoi's acee acceptance to talk about anything is, an predlue
prelude to settling the war war in the South.
--Omore reuter
--------------------
- Page 6
--------------------
zozo sag
Jy 1jp
talks 6 (normass/deepe)
Since President Johnson's Monday speech, Saigon has been buzzing
saigonese, including ministers within the government, has been buzzing
with the possibility of a coalition government, but the scales were
tipped when Hanoi accepted to begin talking.
President Johnson's omitting President Thieu from the roll of
American digna digna dignitaries during his official visit to Honolulu
was considered a "orude" diplomatic move, and one which indicated to
the Vietnamese that the American support
support
of
the Thieu government was
weakening and that the Amrr American government might be willing to
meet Hanoi's previous condition of accepting the National Liberation
Front into a new Saigon government.
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 7
--------------------
2020 sag
yy lmp
talks 7 (normass/deepe)
As the news of Hanoi's decision came over radios in Saigon, one
maid working for an American officials exclaimed: "Fini him-hom
boom, boom, very, very good. I have three brothers in Vietnamese
army.
At the working level, another Vietnamese laborer explained
throughou an interpreter, "If peace comes, it woulbe would be a wonderful
thing. I have an nephew who is about to be tra drafted, and I'm
trying to buy him into a safe position, in a non-combat unit, a
safe unit. We tried to get him into the Vietnamese Navy, but they
already have too many volunteers. I've arranged to buy him a job at the
ordnance depot in Vung Tau. It will cost me 40,000 piastres ($400)
to give to the major-and unfortunately, my nephew mys must hide from
the draft evade the police for another month before he can go there.
Frankly, it's much better to raise chickes chickens than to ras ras
raise children. We can sell chickens for 100 pies piastres, but
children only cost us money and if we're lucky we only get back the
dead body from the battlefield. It would be good to have peace.
#more reuter
--------------------
- Page 8
--------------------
2020 986
yy 1jp
talks 8 (normass/deepe)
At the other end of the economic spectrum, the upper-orust
intelleg intellectuals began with the Communist Tot offensive making
up their minds about how to get out of the country and how they would
do it. They thought they had times the Hanoi acceptance today
told them didn't. Some are trying to buy Chinese Nationalist
passports, selling under the table for 300,000 piastres-$3000,
a sizeable sum of money in Vietnam. Others are attempting to buy
Laotian passports, less expensive, ranging from $100 t $1000 to $2000,
depdning on connections.
While the black market rate on the American dollar has remained
stable, the rate of French franc, a very alim market, has jumped
from 36 to 45 piastres per fra nouv new france on the black market.
Those would be the rich, French-educated Vietnamese who sought to
leave for France, which is the most likely escape hatch for Vietnamese
with French leanings and connections. Ironically, a number of French
women and children have during past weeks also been leaving Vietnam,
leaving behind their husbands to maintain their plantations and economic
interests.
Other Vietnamese are arranging-nobe sougated to Cambodia,
the
and try to
buy
Cambodian passports, reliable sources report.
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 9
--------------------
2020 886
yy 1jp
talks 9 (normass/deepe)
A Vietnamese bar-girl, who had made a fortune off the American
military buildup, began buying diamonds which she could sell once
with a French husband asked
she got to France.
"A friend invited
me a week ago to go to France with him.
She said there's going to be a
coalition government and you and I can't live under thom. When
I heard Radio Hanoi last night, I decided to go with her and l
take my three children."
It was not uncommon to find mixed contradictory emotions within
one Veitnamese individual.
A 44-year-old Vietnamese businessman,
who had served the
Vietnamese army 15 years and now faced being recalled under Thieu's
upcoming general mobilization scheme pondered:
I'm glad Hanoi is going to talk,
the Americans
so I don't get called up. But, then
might agree to a settlement and in the long range,
which the Communists
South Vietnam will have a coalition government,
will dominate."
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 10
--------------------
2020 sag
yy lmp
talks 10 (normass/deepe)
In a business office in Saigon, a smalo small no knot of
importero had profited from the war, discussed the Hanoi
ann9o annou communique.
A 40 year old explained: "In general,
we should be proud of the
Communist Vietnamese. Not only has the United States suffered a
defeat--because the Americans were supposed to win this war militarily
at any cost and they have failed. Unfortunately, thxx regret
these Vietnamese countrymen are Communist and we can not live with them.
I fled No the Communists once-in 1954 from North Vietnam and I don't
know what I'll do this time.
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 11
--------------------
yy l.jp
talks 11 (normass/deepe)
A businesswoman joined the conversation: "Look it. If the
we are finished-comp p completely
Americans agree to negotiate,
lost. I'm afraid my children will be dumped into a Communist
dye-bath and come out rosy or red.
Children are just like new
white cloth and their (political) co. colors can be died. But,
I'm sure it won't do the Communists any good to try to dye us older
persons-vere're already colred colored.
Anoh Another businessman explained:
we haven't been doing a good business.
anyway since Tet,
Purchasing power has dropped
by 97 per cent
and the inflation is getting worse. Maybe with peace
we will have some kind of order instead of this chaos.
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 12
--------------------
5050 seg
yy 1jp
talks 12 (normass/deepe)
A Vietnamese army officer:
will make my job much harder.
"I'm afraid Hanoi's acceptance
It's will be more difficult to control
the troops and there is going to be more fighting ahead of us.
But why should be Vietnamese troopers want to fight hard-and risk
being killed the last minute before peace."
A Vietnamese member of the National Assembly:
"I don't
The Communists are smark smart enough not too
have to worry too much.
bee too tough on the hot-tempered South Vietnamese. They need our
And we still have more military strenth than they do.
cooperation.
If they make concessions, they'll have the cooperation of the
Vietnaše se soldiers and politicians, who will accommodate with them.
But, if they're too tought, the anti-Communists will fight back."
"The Americans are generous people
Another assemblyman added:
and they won't abandon us without making a deal with the Communists
not to assassinate the anti-Communists. But, in general it is very sad
to end the war by negotiations-the Vietnamese government is just now
0
ready to fight--but it is not ready to negotiate at all."
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 13
--------------------
5020 sag
yy 1jp
talks 13 (normass/deepe)
One Vietnamese woman,
with two sons in the Vietnamese army
cancelled her decision to out her hair
and a third to be called up,
and become a Buddhist nun when she heard of Hanoi's acceptance. "Peace
is always good she said and war is always destructive.
One rich Chinese businessman bought a pet shepherd puppy
as an additional pet. He warned a fellow Saigon playboy: "If a
coalitiong government is formed, you won't have a chance to fool around
You'll have to get to work.' to help the society heal the
wounds of war. So you should live it up now that the war is going on,
and before it is too late."
any more.
The playboy responded: "Yes, it's too bad Vietnam doesn't have
island, which
a big island like Formosa. But, we have only Phu Quoc
is too little for the million Vietnamese who want to flee here. Besides,
the Cambodians are already claiming they own Phu Quoc,"
An elderly woman: If peace comes back to Vietnam,
be so many Amei Americans or so many cars.
there won't
I can go back to the countryside
and be buried properly when I die. Not like the war victims who are buried
without coffins."
==endi treuter
-
Date
-
1968, Apr. 26
-
Subject
-
Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Peace; Vietnam--Foreign relations--United States; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnam (Democratic Republic); Vietnam (Republic)
-
Location
-
Saigon, South Vietnam
-
Coordinates
-
10.8231; 106.6311
-
Size
-
20 x 26 cm
-
Container
-
B10, F19
-
Format
-
dispatches
-
Collection Number
-
MS 363
-
Collection Title
-
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
-
Creator
-
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
