Article about the South Vietnamese government holding little territory outside Saigon

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363-05978 to 363-05983.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-05978 to 363-05983

Title

Article about the South Vietnamese government holding little territory outside Saigon

Description

Original title: "saigon", Keever's title: "'The Viet Cong are Putting the Squeeze on Saigon', as it Fades into a Capital Without a Country", article about the South Vietnamese government holding little territory outside Saigon

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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.

Transcript

deepe saigon--1 july 1, 1965 SAIGON--Saigon is beginning to be a capital without a country. It is beginning to suffer visibly from [deletion: [illegible] economic and political] strangulation in slow-motion--but it is not [XXXX indicating deletion] yet being starved to death. “The Viet Cong are putting the squeeze on Saigon,” one Vietnamese intellectual who had once served with the Communists explained. “But they won’t go to the breaking point to starve Saigon--until they are ready to seize power. And that is several years away.” (More) deepe saigon--2 july 1, 1965 Saigon is the hub for five main road arteries plus the national railroad. Route No. 1 and the national railroad running northward for 400 miles has been cut for six months, as the Viet Cong and a devastating flood combined to sever the country, creating [deletion: an] a runaway inflation of prices in the northern provinces. A second road leading northwesterly [XXXX indicating deletion] linking Vietnam with Cambodia has also been cut for months. A Third road linking Saigon to the sea and to the popular beaching resort of Cap St. Jacques is open only at the mercy of the Viet Cong--[deletion: thus creating] which creates a shortage of salt in the city by scissoring the transportation means with the salt centers near the sea. High-class Vietnamese and French ex-colons complain bitterly when the Viet Cong will not accept their road taxes so they can spend [deletion: the] a pleasant week-end on the refreshing beaches. A fourth road leading directly to the high plateau has been cut for months; it has been the scene of so many ambushes that American GI’s call it “bloody route 14.” A fifth leads to the rich Mekong Delta region; the Viet Cong [deletion: tax products] places taxes on rice, charcoal and fish coming into Saigon, but has yet to completely [deletion: severe] snip the roads, bridges and ferry crossings. That will come later; but at this time Saigon still survives on the charcoal and other produce the Viet Cong allow to [XXXX indicating deletion] flow. deepe saigon--3 july 1, 1965 The electric power lines leading from a newly-constructed multimillion-dollar hydro-electric dam, [deletion: cons] built by the Japanese has as a part of the war reparations program, has recently been [deletion: seve] cut by the Viet Cong; now electricity is virtually rationed in Saigon, with certain blocks being blacked out each night. The largest commercial companies [deletion: to] or the [deletion: smallest] poorest families have stockpiled candles or kerosene lamps; restaurants are getting accustomed to serving dinners in [deletion: an] the eerie gaslight atmosphere of the previous century. There is a ghoulish air of fantasy and un-reality in Saigon. Saigon appears to be a seat of government; instead it is being governed. It has the aura of prosperity; yet a rice crisis [XXXX indicating deletion] surfaces--and housewives and Chinese speculators hoard the previous white grain--once the Prime Minister mentions dropping the price. Saigon appears to be a center of anti-Communist resistance; yet in the invisible subversive war, the number and influence of the Communists is growing politically within the city. It is the anti-Communist families--and not the pro-neutralist or pro-Communist ones--that are afraid of being kidnapped or assassinated. “The Western idea is to have Saigon as the capital and use it to control the countryside,” one Vietnamese intellectual explained. “The Viet Cong idea is the opposite. They use the countryside to surround the towns and ultimately seize control of the towns--but Saigon is the last of the towns to be seized.” deepe saigon--4 july 1, 1965 Under President Ngo Dinh Diem, who ruled from 1955 to [deletion: 1953] 1963, power was centralized in Saigon--specifically in the Presidential Palace. Since his fall in November of 1963, however, power and leadership has fragmented and crumbled; the ministries in Saigon no longer are linked strongly to their provincial representatives. “Never believe that these neon lights and pretty middle-class life is Vietnam,” one high-ranking Western diplomat explained. “It is the little people wearing black pjamas in the jungle that control the country and Saigon is simply reacting to these waves of pressure splashing in from the countryside.” Saigon is an upside-down city. American pilots, who risk death during their daytime flights, enjoy excellent French food and wines, while lovely Vietnamese singers harmonize in love songs. From the roof of Saigon’s hotels, where businessmen met for cocktail parties and dinners, [deletion: firing in] the bright flashes of machinegun fire can be seen. It is a city of instant sex and sin; American and Vietnamese troops use it as a military rear base for relaxation and escaping from their day-time trials of the war; the Viet Cong, however, use Saigon as the economic and political front-line--to create political divisions among political leaders, to gain intelligence information [deletion: for] from Vietnamese colonels or bargirls to buy their own drugs or black material for uniforms. deepe saigon--5 july 1, 1965 The city once known as “the Paris of the Orient” formerly sparkled with sidewalk cafes dotted [deletion: und] along the tamarind-lined streets. By 1962, with the influx of American advisors, the sidewalk cafes disappeared; they were too good a target for a Viet Cong grenade. Bars and restaurants catering to Americans quickly grilled in all the windows, some hired private doormen armed with pistols, others completely screened in their building, giving the appearance of a miniature armed camp. Since, the bombing of the American Embassy several months ago, a new security measure has [insertion: automatically] appeared. The plate glass windows of large [deletion: commen] commercial shops and Western embassies along Saigon’s mainstreet have been crisscrossed with [XXXX indicating deletion] huge strips of adhesive tape--to stop the glass from shattering. (More) deepe saigon--6 july 1, 1965 Since then, the American Embassy, the United States Information Service office have been ringed for half-blocks with white barricades, and cement drums. Vietnamese policemen stop Vietnamese cars from parking near the areas; the U.S.I.S. library for Vietnamese readers has been moved to a different location. Not many Vietnamese like to [deletion: be] walk near American installations; Vietnamese taxi drivers refuse to drop passengers near them; since various Viet Cong terrorist bombings, Vietnamese have learned to stay away from places usually frequented by Americans. Hence, as more and more Americans pour into the city, they become increasingly isolated from the Vietnamese people--which is what the Viet Cong had hoped would happen. Yet, despite the tensions, terrorist incidents, small problems of rice, Saigon is a privileged city--and considers itself such. The impact of [insertion: the] real war [deletion: in] of the countryside is noted only on the [XXXX indicating deletion] obituary pages, which daily list the [deletion: Vietnamese] condolences to the victim’s families. Or it is seen in a visit to the government-operated hospitals, where 11-year-old Nguyen Thi Tiep (Little Helper Girl) lays with a broken thigh bone. “A bomb came down out of the air and shattered our house,” she explained. “I was seriously hurt and my little brother was hurt a little bit too.” But, not many Saigonese visit the war victims.

Date

1965, Jul. 1

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Vietnam (Republic). Quân lực ; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Jurisdiction, Territorial; Military occupation

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B187, F5

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, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English