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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-05159 to 363-05172.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-05159 to 363-05172
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Title
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Article about the tenousness negotiations between North Vietnam and the U.S.
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Description
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Original title: "tho", Keever's title: "Up-in-the-Air Peace Talks Leave Saigonese Suspended(?)", Article draft about the tenousnessness of negotiations between North Vietnam and the U.S., for the Christian Science Monitor, page 1-14
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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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zczc sag
yy nnm
tho 1 (normass/deepo)
SAIGON,
OCTOBER 17-With the Hongational catapulting of the
pivotal American cessation of the bombing into the high altitudes of
the diplomatic stratospheres, the momentary focus appears from here to
North Vietnamese
rest on a diminutive man who has written hundres of pooms.
Le Duc Tho.
His name is
The assumption here at the time of this writing is that the
56-year-old diplomat is carryinga
a
gee Un message to Uncle Ho
President Ho Chi Minh--and the rest of the North Vietnamese government.
The message,
transmitted in Paris, where Tho serves as advisor to the
North Vietnamese negotiating team at the peace talks--presumably contains the
last-minute definitions and seo specifications of the "necessary
assurances" President Johnson wants from Hanoi before
topping the
controversial bombing aerial attacks of the N against the North Vit Nam.
==more reuter
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2020 sag
yy nnm
tho 2 (normass/deope)
When and if the message is answered, the contents will probably be
calibrated, digested and ultimately decided on by one man---President Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson. And, as one Vietnamese intellectual here explained, "Who
in Saigon can read Mr. Johnson's mind?
Tho,
with more than 30 years' experience as a Communist "activist
with a current stop-over in
is currently flying from Paris to Hanoi,
Moscow, and perhaps one in Peking, as well.
arriving in Hanoi has not been announced.
When His w schedule of
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ZOZO seg
yy nnm
tho 3 (normass/doope)
Tho
The son of a traditional, high-class, mandarinal family,
is currently considered to rank as No. 7 in the Commun hierarchy of the
North Vietnamese regime. One of the founder members of the Indo-Chinese
Communist Party, the frail-faced diplomat,-who is known for his "iex
the
"flexibility"--is a member of Lao Dong (Communist) Politburo and
Secretariat. He was also director of the training school for Communist Party
members before taking up a prominent,
but behind-the-scenes role on
the North Vietnamese delegation at the Paris talks.
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zcze sag
yy nnm
tho 4 (normass/deepe)
One may suppose this must be an awesome moment for both President Johnson
with
and Mr. Tho-President Johnson fo wi weighing the momen decision to reverse
his bombing policy initiated
two and a half years ago and Mr. Tho for
carrin carrying a message of compzonk
t designed to bring peace to
the country in which he was a prim4 prime-nover for initiating war eight years.
ago.
In the late 1950's,
Tho's interest converged on the "infrastructure"-
the non-military cadres and organization-of the Communist Party in both
North and South Vietnam.
He was at one time responsbile for Communist
AS
Party affairs in South Vietnam and Hanoi initiated its "rein "reunification"
campaign between the North and the South.
In september, 1960, Tho dev delivered a report at the historic 3rd
Congress of the Lao Dong Party-the curtain-raiser to Hanoi's campaing
campaign of waging armed guerrilla warfare and insurrection in the South.
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2020 sag
Jy nnm
tho 5 (normass/deepe)
Imprisoned xxx by the Frepel for Communist activities before World
An
War II,
Tho escaped to China, roturing to returning to Hanoi in 1945
when the Communists took over the government from the defeated Japanese.
that fall
During the subsequent Indo-French Indo-China-War, Tho spent much of his
He
most of his time working as a political cadre in South Vietnam. Beginning
in 1949,
Tho waged a bigger be bitter struggle for pummmm leadership in
t South Vietnam. with Le Duan; Tho won the battle Le Duan was called
to the North. Le Duan, like Tho,
and advocates of initiating morrilla warfare in South Vietnam in 196
was one of the chief art architects
beginning in 1960;
member or
like Tho, Le Duan is an even more influential
the Communists ruling inner circle.
Le Duan may be
one
to which Tho reports upon his return to Hanoi.
of Party hierarchy
Tho is married to a Southern-born woman, the daughter of a wealthy
landowning family in the Mekong Delta region.
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ZC2C sag
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the 6 (normass/deepe)
The occasional reports of a real clear cleavage of or of a power struggle
between pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese factions in North Vietnamese Politburo
have consistently been seriously questioned here by Westerner specialists
who study Vietnamese Communist leadership in both the North and the South.
Most of these specialists believe the North Vietnamese Communist Party
is essentially unified--and that m that it makes it national decisions
independent from the dictates or pressures of either Moscow or China and
that the center of the decision is generally what is best for Communist
Hub
North Vietnam, no matter which side of the Sino-Soviet split it puts them.
mose
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zcze sag
yy nnm
tho 7 (normass/deepe)
"People forget that when they call the North Vietnamese pro-Soviet--
one Western
it is at best an old-line Statl Stalinist type of Soviet,"
source explained. "The North Vietnamese Communist Party has been more
unified than any other in the world; all of the Politburo members have
been there for years and years and there have been no sensational
or China. In fact,
purges as was the case in either Russia or
you could say that the Hanoi leadership is a collective Stat Stalinist
regime with an even more inflated sense of megleiom megleomania.
the Battle of Din Dien Bien Phu (in 1954 Hanoi though the though
could wipe the world and this may be their essential miscalculation."
Since
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Zeze sag
yy nnn
tho 8 (normass/deepe)
The best appraisal of these specialists, plus diplomats the views
of diplomats in touch with Viet Cong thinking, is that the Communists
+
would like to have peace in 1969-and some of their political sympathizers
are even predicting that it will come.
"Communis
After The bombarg
But, it is still peace very much on Communist torms.
+2
issue in sett settlement of the war in the South is the
The key
continuation
of the constitutional process and elected governmental system that the
Dom Has
American officials here no nurtured and have supported with money and
51
blood. The Communist still domand the destruction or the overthrow of
the Saigon government,
currently headed by President Nguyen Van Thieu
and bombing halt or not b, they still intend to stick to that point,
these sources say.
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zcze sag
yy nnm
tho 9 (normass/deepe)
and
Hence, these sources say the Communists are still willing to
negotiate but to get more than their share of the political pie,
far more political of the pie then their military strength in
the South is capable of capturing on the battlefield.
High-level military sources here believe the Communists have been
so tilted off-balance and suffered such severe casualty losses that
they are in no position to launch a major offensive until sometime in
1969. These sources fear that a halt to the bombing-when the Ho Chi
trick
Minh Trail is becoming dry enough for large/convoys of
and movemen of heavy equipment would simply give the Communists a
"breather" so that they can prepare again for
another hectic military
campaign.
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zczc sag
yy nnm
the 10 (normass/deepe)
Military sources still say that all evidence available to them at this
will
time indicates that the Communist continue to press on with the war
part of their "fighting while negotiating" doctrine.
However,
as
diplomatio
sources in Saigon report that the Communists are known to be weighing the
advantages and disadvantages for them of a ceasefire in the South.
period.
In Saigon,
the mood of the city sommersaulted within a 15 hour
Last evening, after alon full-day of conferences between
Vietnamese government officials and two da calls by Ambassador Ellsworth
Bunker on President Thieu, the city became electric with excitement as
it searched for a more news and what it meant. The "runor-mongers"
flourished and the officialdom sent out "zunor-hunters"
who was leaking in
at the information about
to traqt down
dan conferences and
discussed.
more router
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zcze sag
yy nnm
the 11 (normass/deepe)
The Vietnamese language newspapers, printed in the late afternoon,
carried banner headlines about the American cessation of the bombing--but
most papers carried a cautious question mark after the statement.
One which did not was the "Cong Chung" (Public) which is closely
to identified with the oes Air Force officers around Vice
K4
O has often spoken against an unfair cessation
President Nguyen Cao Kya
of the bombing. "Cong Chung"
JOHNSON ORDERS THE HALT OF THE BOMBING OF NORTH VIETNAM.
headline was another, which read:
FIGHT AGAINST OPIUM?
ran the unqualified headlines PRESIDENT
Under that banner
HOW THE AMERICANS AND WESTERN COUNTRIES
US Air Force officers around Vice President Ky
have been accused of engaging in re opium smuggling from Laos,
is known
ring has
but their
from
nown to have been smashed with the eclipse of
power
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yy nnm
tho 12 (normass/deepe)
more
ers are
The opium headline was much more sensational than the story. But,
at the bottom of the page, with a two-column headline in small type,
PRESIDENT JOHNSON ORDERS THE HALT OF BOMBING OF NORTH
paper read:
VISINAM. HOWEVER, THE SOURCES WHICH GAVE XX
the
THAT NEWS IS NOT CONFIRMED BY AUTHORITIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM.
SEVERAL EVENTS HAVE MADE THE PEOPLE SEE THAT THE NORTH VIETNAMESE
IS THAT BECAUSE OF AMERICAN RAMILITARY
HOWEVER,
HAVE DE-ESCALATED ALOT.
PRESSURE OR HAS HANOI ACCEPTED THE CONDITIONS OF THE TALKS?
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2020 sag
yy nm
tho 13 (normass/deepe)
The Vietnamese Fun and English language papers newspapers have
seves in so much recent trouble with the Vietnamese government
that many qualified heavily their news articles. One example was
the pro-American, politically intellectual "Chinh Luan" (Right Opinion),
which began its story as followss
HAD
"High Vietnamese and American authorities have an avalanche of
consultations and meetings. On October 16, one noted that at
noted
Bee
Independence Palace there was an unusual avalange of activity. At 6:30 a.m.
one saw that Ambassador American Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker went in to talk
with President Thieu. It seemed that the meeting between the two
gente sentiemens lasted about three hours. After the departure of
Ambassador Bunker at 10 a.m., one noticed that Vice President Ky,
Prime Minister Huong, Minister of Defense Vy, Foreign Minister
Thanh and Chief of the Joint General Staff General Vien met the President.
Ambassador Bunker returned to meet Thieu enctyor another
time. It seems that these two gentlemen had lunch to continue the
"At 12:05,
discussion on the subject of early morning. After that at 2. p.m.,
the President invited the two Presidents of the Senate and House for
consultation. At 3 p.m. the Cabinet meeting started at the Independence
Palace.
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zcze sag
yy nnm
the 14 (normass/deepe)
"For the time being, the subject of the discussion and consultation
mentioned above has not been revere revealt revealed.
it is still
decisi
However,
speculated that all the meetings are concerned with one important decision
concerning war and peace, including consideration of the bombing of
North Vietnam."
Throughout the evening, many of the upper-class Vietnamese who had
heard thememmihmaning the of the high-level conferences tuned into their
radios and v television sets in expectation of the much-rom rumored
a.
address by President Thiou. But, the D.D Not Spent.
By the time that the Vietnamese newspapers hit the newstands
in the mornings,
the early radio broadcasts were carrying the news
White House announcements from Washington that there was no "breakthrough"
at Paris and that the American course remained unchanged.
Then, the
sparkle of the excitement at
in mid-air,
to diminish and Saigon seems suspended.
saigo
while waiting for the answers to the questions from
elsewhere.
As one Vietnamese cyclo-driver explained, "We listen to the radio
all the time. It has been mentioning bulbombing hat for weeks a
bombing halt-either with or without conditions.
It hasn't happened yet--
so there is nothing new,
00
==more reuter
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Date
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1968, Oct. 17
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Peace; United States--Relations--Vietnam (Democratic Republic); Lê, Đức Thọ (1911-1990); Diplomacy
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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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B10, F39
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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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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
