-
derivative filename/jpeg
-
363-04498 to 363-04508.pdf
-
Digital Object Identifier
-
363-04498 to 363-04508
-
Title
-
Article about Vietnamese attitude to the War
-
Description
-
Original title: "Mood", Keever's title: "Peace Talks and Communist Offensive Strike Gloom-and-Doom Mood in Vietnam." Article draft about South Vietnamese civilians' feelings about the state of the war in early August 1968. 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
--------------------
Deverly peepe
38, Vo Tanh
Saigon, Vietnam
August 8, 1968
Mood--page 1
SAIGON-It was mid-morning on April when the words were received here
of President Lyndon Johnson's speech reducing the bombing over North Vientm
Vietnam, thus setting the initial stage for the bilateral Paris peace talks.
Shortly after the news broke, I stopped in the kitch kite a kitchen to
inform a Vietnamese maid working for an American of the developments, expesurt
expostulating that maybe peace would come to Vietnam. The maid stopped
mopping the kitchen floor to listen-and then her face brightened into
the most exquisite expression of joy and hope I had ever seen during my six
Her mouth blossomed into a full smile, but her eyes
years in Vietnam.
drew tears; her lips moved but no words jumped out. In her handskemmop
gnarled hands, the mop hand became a momentary crutch. Her speechless
moments finally passed and she muttered in scissored English,
"fini ken
boom ben boom--very very good. I have three brothers and my husband
in the army."
For a fleeting moment, her face was a political cameo
expressing more of the hopes of the Vietnamese people than all the words of
official
international platitudes and é debates
ose government communiques,
over rejected and projected peace plans.
--more reuter
--------------------
- Page 2
--------------------
zDeepe
Mood--page 2
This momentous period of hope for peace is certinaly a fragment
C.
of the mood-mosaic of Saigon; captured Communist documents, revealing
even more intensive and extensive indoctrination sessions, inci indicates
that perhaps even "the other side" is having difficulty among its own
troops in of squashing the magic and passion of peace and keep of keeping
the war ih in motion.
Yet, in Saigon,
these hopes for peace among the people
are not great it is just that these hopes never existed before April 1,
except in dreams and propaganda speeches.
One Saigon laborer explained this week:
"The little people without much money talk about peace every day.
We know there's been more than ten sos i sessions of talks in Paris--and
that not onl one forward step has been made. We all watched carefully
when President (Maye (Nguyen Van) new Thieu fley to flew to Honolulu
(to meet President Johnson on July 16) July 19). We though maybe they
would do something about peace-but again not one forward step was made.
Now we just wait and listen./"
He seemed on the one hand pleased that anyone should have asked
HumBLE CO
his political viewpoint, yet afraid of expressing the true depths
of that sentiment, which ran counter to the current Vietnamese government
t policy. But, he buckled up and @ntinued:
more reuter
--------------------
- Page 3
--------------------
Deepe
Mood-page 3
"Most of the working people just want peace. They no longer want
to be caught in the crossfire between the government and the Communists.
They want just one government to them it doesn't m matter much which one.
If the Communists take-over, it won't make much difference to the working
people we still have to work hard for a living no matter who is in
power. Of course,,
the people with pleny of money don't want the
Communists in power because they'd lose their businesses and their money
and they'd have to go to France to sta y alive." A deeply relibiou
religious person, the laborer always dutifully prayed during ancestral
anniversaries and arranged special offerings for in his home; he said,
the Communists regarded this as superstitut superstition and
would not toera tolerate these practices if they assumed power. But,
somehow, even the threat of losing any freedom to worship in this
the
traditional manner paled in significance to day-to-day agonizing
of course,
uncertainties of the present time.
These little people are what the Communists call "the mass;" what
the Americans call "the majority" and what the Vietnamese elite call
"the black people." These lilliputians, as dead well as some of
the elite,
watch this mutual "fighting while neog negotiating"
stage
of the current period and they clearly anticipate more fighting than
negotiating. Their hopes for peace are distinctly overshaw overshadowed
by-in fact, nearly unindated by the hopelessness and concern of
threats of more fighting near or in saigon.
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 4
--------------------
Deepe
Mood--page 4
In this sense,
never in the eight-year history of the war has the
mood of the Saigonese reached such depths of emotional despair, depression
anguish and sometimes bitterness. For the American, Vietnamese government
and Communist war machines, this represents & potential political dynamite.
This mood is quite explainable; not until this year had Saigon itself
become a military battleground. Before, it had been an island
unto itself, detached from the bloodbath in the countryside, suspectible
only to the pressures and repercussions of the wi war without witnessing
or feeling the war itself.
With the Communist Tet offensive in January this year, and the
mini-Tet of May, Saigon itself has become a battleground--perhaps the
main and final one. This escalation in war misery has counter-escalated
a war weariness and pleas for peace.
of despair engulfing the capital is based not simply on the memories
of these traumatic shocks, but also on the prevailing expectations
of more fighting.
But, the de current black cloud
The resulting fright and an agonizing uncertainties of
family and personal survival po predominate almost evory the thinking of
almost all Saigonese most of the time. Whether all these fears are
GET this question.
justified is often debated, but is generally considered irrelevant.
The state of Saigon's psychologi psychological mood may be different from
the realities around it; the "hard" facts of the situation may be different
from what the Saigonese believe to be the facts. The gloom and doom
of Saigon is a prevailing mood, whether this mood is justified or whatever
its causes.
More.
--------------------
- Page 5
--------------------
Deepe
Mood--page 5
or American-
these
Every day now, the Saigon newspapers carry half-page headlines
predicting another Communist offensive in or near the capital;
predictions are madd made either by Vietnamese officials or military
commanders, or, in the latest case, by President Lyndon Johnson
himself.
The people expectations of new fighting, however,
does not
The
Rather
stem solely from the fact that the officialdoms have forecast it.
Many Saigonese only half-listen to the government's announcements and accept
them only when they jibe with their own prejuidices or viewpoints.
their fears of another offensive seesm to res/more on the fact that the
common Vietnamese man in the street--and even many Vietnamese officials-
believe the Communists are already in and around Saigon,
the Allied eight Allied divisions poised around the capital may well
prevent a main-force assault, but hav they have not alleviated
the fear of, nor eliminated the presence of, the Communists already
around the town.
and hence that
Whether these Communists are newly infiltrated,
that have lived here for years and have now emerged,
or ones
or whether they
are recent converts is in some cases fairly discernible--and in most cases
irrelevant--to them.
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 6
--------------------
Deepe
Mood-page
The presence
of the Communists, pro-Communists and neutralists
is clearly felt in Saigon and like a heavy river-bottom fog, seems to be
rising from the Ivel level of the "masses" upwards to ensho enshroud the
towers of national g central government strength.
NA down
No Saigonese is thus surprised that he receives a lecture-ette Restauron
from a Chinese waiter while his breakfast is being served. The waiter
tells matter-of-factly about Communist troops movements near the Cambodian
border; he tells of a super-duper new Communist automatic weapon which
and he relates his version of the
can fire o 100 rounds at a whack
to have the war
and the desire of "the people"
great agony of the war
If the Communists win, he will have to work
over no matter who wins.
just like before, he concludes; only the rich will be inconvenienced.
Clearly, the waiter has "connections with the other side," the Vietnamese
concluded while munching his breakfast; clearly too the Communists are
on the political init initiative in Saigon--having captured the great appeal
of peace by word-of-mouth propaganda, having captured the in Saigon
the peace offensive the Allies themselves themselves created and launched
a nd maintained in the world outside of Vietnam.
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 7
--------------------
Deepe
Mood-page 7
of Saigon.
And, likewise, no Vietnamese army officer is surprised when
"Communist agents" are uncovered in the Vietnamese army, including
several at the High Command Command; he matter-of-factly announces
that seven or eight were picked up recently. Nor was a Vietnamese
airborne officer supri surprised that the Communists consistently
evaded his hard-charging unit on a sweep in Hoc Monk district outside
"The Viet Cong have told their troops not to fight the
Vietnamese, ## he explains. "They are to fight only the Americans.
The Viet Cong have circulated leaflets outside the little government
saying the popular forces can go anywhere outside the post,
even in uniform, if they leave their weapons behind--and the Viet Cong
will not shoot them. And, so the popular forces not longer fight the
Viet Cong When the paratroopers come in, we know they there are lots
of V. C. all around. But, they just fade away and won't fight us.
just wait for the Americans."
outposts,
==more
They
--------------------
- Page 8
--------------------
Deepe
Mood-page 8
HOWEVER,
Even senior Vietnamese officers and government officials are known
to be receiving personal visits from Communist sympathizers, attempting to
convince them of either changing sides or giving up the fight right now.
One senior government official was recently visited by a long-time
friend a friend who had actively supported Prime Minister Tran Van
Huong as a candidate during the 1967 President election. Now/the friend
voiced a sermonette in favor of the allegedly pro-Communist Alliance form
Poznaxhonenxmagnaninn of National, Democratic and Peace Forces. And,
young university students, who, in 1964 favored American bombing of
North Vietnam, who, in 1965, actively supported the anti-government
Buddhist monks, have now turned active advocates of the same pro-Communist
Alliance; they use the classrooms as conspiracy halls.
==morex
--------------------
- Page 9
--------------------
Deepe
Mood page 9
Even Americans officials and officers, without benefit of knowing
the local a language, discuss this nebulous Communist presence in the city-
AWARD Cvider.
and the ramifications of it.
One official still can not forget he hear
that during the Tet offensive, he heard the C Viet Cong troops loading
their mortar tubes under his windom-and he suspects they are still
in his neighborhood. A British journalist recalls a similar incident.
One visitor from Washington remarked how much closer the American artillery
rounds now seem to be around the city.
In fact, he was told, Americ
a Vietnamese artillery batter and two cub tigers captured in battle are
add recent additions to the Saigon zoo right next door to the Prime
Minister's office.
BesT
One American officer, who had ever served in Vietnam during the
dark days of 1964, remarked recently:
"The B-52 raids are so close to Saigon
I can feel my billet sway from the shock waves.
I live on the seventh
floor and the other night I was writing a letter to my wife and drinking a
coke. A B-52 raid came along and I could see the coke wafting back and
forth in the glass-that's how much the building was swaying.
You know how
fragile these Vietnamese buildings are made-ten parts sand and one part
cement. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the B-52 raids didn't cause
these crackerboxes to come tumbling down."
==more reuter
--------------------
- Page 10
--------------------
Deepe
Mood page 10
all
Many Vietnamese families have taken e preparations possible to
protect themselves against any future fighting in their area-knowing
that no preparations can fully guarantee their lives. Many of the
elected Senators and Assemblymen now sleep in the home of a different
friend each night, hoping to evade assassination squads.
Others
live in their own home, protected by several government troops and a
Since the rocketing attacks
high wall of concrete around thier their yards.
in mid-June, many Saigonese have built sandbagged bunkers in their homes
the Equival
or yards. One upper-class housewife, who spend more than $1000 equiiv
equivalent for sandbags in her air-conditioned living room,
endure the complaints of her husband,
now must
who maintains the bunker "makes
Experations.
FOR quick
Almost every family has
me sick to look at whenever I come home."
packed a small suitcase of the most necessary items:
all their legal
papers, high school and college certificates, marriage license,
family lists and individual identity papers-those which are irreplac difficult
Sometimes family squabbles result over things to be put in
to replace.
the suitcase} one housewife wanted to take her modest collection of jewelry,
from their
Homes
R.SK
but the husband argued it was better to tat people looters steal//than
to have a soldier or bandit shoot her to snatch the suitcase.
A few clothes
for the children and milk is generally packed too. Middle-class housewives
BEBORE HAD SVELIL
who only worn sl the silken flowing ao dais have now had tailored the
pajama-styled ba-bas of the poorer class so that they will become less
In many cases, the Saigon busa beauty shops
conspicuous in a crowd.
are unique now unique gossiping places where housewives swap suggestions
on how to prepare keep their family together best prepared for the offensive.
--------------------
- Page 11
--------------------
Deepe
Mood page 11
MOVED
Many families have slip items of special iter interest-milk
VALUA
to
Several
for the children or gold leaf-among the homes of their closest friends
and relatives who live in different sections of the city, on the assumption
not all that at least a portion of their valuables and necessities can
DURING
figating
be salvaged from any offensive
OR
Rocketing.
As one Saigonese housewife explained:
"Almost everyone
family
ha s has two montal thoughts. First, wo want the whole family
to live together or to die together; we don't want some to live, some
to die and some to be wounded. Second, we think that tomorrow we don't
TOMORROW
know if we will live or we will die,
so it is best just to think about
today. "
-30-
-
Date
-
1968, Aug. 8
-
Subject
-
Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Public opinion; Civilians in war
-
Location
-
Saigon, South Vietnam
-
Coordinates
-
10.8231; 106.6311
-
Size
-
20 x 26 cm
-
Container
-
B10, F38
-
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
