IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG, Reel 2

[Music] I think the American onethird of the Senate regardless of whe they're going to vote democr Congressman said well Mr to Nations which in turn shipped the Senus of Economic and Military strengths to Red China which is running the war in Indo China keeping in mind if we lose in China Mr Jenkins we will lose the Pacific and we'll be an island in a communist sea situation in the area as we found it was it was subject to the so-called domino theory that meant that if one nation went then another Nation would go and so on we're trying to change that so it won't be the case that's the whole theory of collective security agreement between the commanderin-chief of the French Union forces in Indochina and the commander-in-chief of the People's Army of Vietnam on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam signed at Geneva July 20 1954 article 14 pending the general elections which will bring about the unification of Vietnam the conduct of civil Administration in each regrouping Zone shall be in the hands of the party whose forces are to be regrouped there in virtue of the present agreement article 16 with effect from the date of entry into force of the present agreement the introduction into Vietnam of any troop reinforcements and additional military personnel is prohibited article 18 with effect from the date of entry into force of the present agreement the establishment of new military bases is prohibited throughout Vietnam territory we for the objectives that are involved in this thing because it was done in the Eisenhower Administration in 1954 we were not signers of the so-called Class B treaty or convention at Geneva Switzerland but we did make a formal and solemn pledge that we were going to safeguard the independence and the freedom of Vietnam now we can reneg if we like but what will happen to our credibility in the world if we take that course every day someone jumps up and shouts and says tell us what is happening in Vietnam and why are we in Vietnam and how did you get us into Vietnam well I didn't get you into Vietnam you've been in Vietnam 10 years Saigon was in a state of Civil War the rebel binen movement tried to incite the people to overthrow the government in 36 hours non-stop fighting 500 were killed more than a th000 [Music] [Applause] [Music] wounded Vietnam Premier DM was still in office when we receive these pictures unfortunately the West does not agree about Saigon General on the spot Commander for France is instructed to oppose dim Malcolm McDonald has flown there reportedly to do the same whereas America stands behind Premier meanwhile Saigon suffers the agonies of civil war inan is the absentee Emperor Bai first reported deposed Bai may stay a comeback as it is Vietnam seems ripe for communist invasion [Music] yam I said before was the B of the hour why once colonialism came to an end through the victory of the vietn against the French at the NBN Fu and through the agreement in Geneva this trend in vietnames history which favored the Communists exclusively could be broken since colonialism the creator of Communism so to speak was now dead there was a a chance that other forces might be able to compete with hoimin however under certain conditions they had to be as nationalistic as huim they had to be free of the taint of collaboration with the French they had to be the opposite of Puppets of colonialism now Jim was precisely that man A lot of it was rather skillfully done in public relations I think there's no doubt about that uh there was sort of a cult of the little fellow in the shark skin suit and the little Mandarin who's going to stop the Reds and there was a a great many articles along this line you know sort of neod in Zim our man and Saigon you have exemplified in your corner of the world patriotism of the highest order you have brought to your great task of organizing your country the greatest of Courage the greatest of stship qualities that have aroused our ad ation and make us indeed glad to work it I thank you very much part of my involvement with Vietnam was to be active in founding the so-called American friends of Vietnam a private organization dedicated to the promotion of understanding spread of information and support of JM I was in fact more or less uh running the organization as chairman of the ex executive committee the American friends of Vietnam was a Lobby group set up I think about 1955 uh ready to a Lobby for the the Godin ZM regime in this country and I think the particularly interesting thing about it was it was uh so much of it and so many of it more more distinguished names were liberal names people like Max learner and Arthur slesinger uh a Senator John F Kennedy people like that and this gave of course the ZM government a very good liberal um I mean the the Sens the sensitivities and the sensibilities of many liberal people who might otherwise have been dubious about that regime uh were eased off that the ZM regime got right from the start I think the benefit of the doubt it is under same plan that the interests of the Vietnam are identical with the interest of the people of the fre world it is only plan it is on this plan that your and our fight is one and the same we do will continue to fight communism is not it might be really repeated here there is no two vietnams there is only one Vietnam temporary divided in Geneva in 54 between a free zone with the North Vietnam and an occupied Zone occupied by the French but and the French had still after Geneva the jurisdiction of over sou Vietnam because they could not hand it over to a regime which did not exist is not even mentioned in the Geneva agreement the regime of saon is only a temporary one in waiting for uh election the refusal was amply justified if only because the kind of election envisaged by the Geneva agreement of 1954 a free election could not have been held anyone who thinks that a free election was possible in communist North Vietnam knows little of how Communists operate and could have fallen into a Moscow ping trap the United States could not agree today any more than in 1956 six to legitimizing communist control of all Vietnam by a device of a communist style election and you ought have sat with me on the Foreign Relations Committee in 1956 when our intelligence forces brought in their reports warning that if the election called for by the Geneva accords for July 1956 were held hoimin would be elected president in South Vietnam by at least 80 % of the vote and our country that boasts about believing in self-determination used its power and its Prestige and its influence really to get our first puppet government under GM not to cooperate and holding those elections that's just a matter of historic record as you know when Odin Zim and new uh were finally uh killed in 1963 some 50 to 60,000 and we the the precise number is not readily available but some 50 to 60,000 uh political prisoners were released from prisons in South Vietnam subsequent to this uh elements of the rotating governments that followed the death of Z and new have indicated that most of those people were not Viet Kong sympathizers in any way shape or form which indic would indicate that all political activity that was antithetical to J was met either with murder in the South or imprisonment and from 1958 we see the existence confirmed by some American experts and some broadcast from an of a national front for liberation of South Vietnam it was in fact a confederation of all the forces who for years were struggling against the regime and it was not as it has been said too much and to often the political arm of ano the national front for Liberation included the former remnants of this political religious sex K how the ban 2 the former Viet the Democratic Party The Radical Socialist Party and various other elements were United in the common aim to overthrow the regime to create a coalition government Democratic regime in the south in order to be able to discuss with the north uh the vision of Geneva that means the end of the occupation regime in the South and uh peaceful reunification between the two parts of Vietnam um the front is not what you would call a puppet of Hano the two organizations and I do stress that they are two organizations work very closely together many of their aims are parallel aims uh but their ideas do not always coincide and indeed sometimes their policies are in conflict Land Reform was a total failure there were sporadic attempts to try and deal with land but they never had any real support from ZM what he did was that he gave to the 1,200,000 tenants some land actually he didn't give it to them he sanctioned the fact that the Viet had given it to them but he made them pay for it now the uh downhill trend of the DM regime is best uh described by the increase of corruption by the increase of the influence of a near psychopath like his brother new and his wife Madame new both of whom had a drive for power which I can only describe as pathological I had once dinner with them and new told me you see we could have an opposition in Vietnam if I led it but since I am the only intelligent man in South Vietnam all my mental capacity goes into leading my brother to rule South Vietnam I have nothing left to organize an opposition now this kind of conceit is of course pathological however this man gained more and more influence over JM together with his wife this this is the kind of psychology you had in a turbulent changing Asia I mean this old sort of Mandarin idea you know that I am right I have this almost this divine right to rule how can you challenge what I say because I am Incorruptible Staley bought the Strategic Hamlet from new new uh brought it out as a new little goody and no pun intended but came up with a strategic Hamlet and this amounted to the same old approach of forc relocation the living Behind Bars the total regimentation of the social and the fabric of the society one of the more significant things about the Strategic Hamlet is that they were physically and literally demolished by the Viet Kong after DM and new were killed that every stick was taken down they and the every piece of wire and the enemy took this off to make use of it and told the people return to your ancestral home and at that time they began to take control effective control over the countryside uh ZM was a corrupted on vanity and power uh new on on his own ego a Madam new certainly on power she was the one who really understood what they were doing the most she was the most realistic one she had no Illusions about them that she was a smart strong Dynamic woman no Illusions about herself and tended to to set policy she she knew what they wanted she didn't worry about what the Americans were saying you know be nice or do this nice popular thing the important thing to her was the survival of the family and anybody who got in the way of the survival of the family uh was a threat in this aair I do not think that we should worry too much because we have the same Faith whatever is happens in my country we shall not feel it alone you also you will feel it the base of ZM was his army which was American supported then American Aid coming through and this the police U Force and and generally an increasingly police State uh technique but there was no dissent they controlled the the legislature which was a rubber stamp and uh about that question of a horrible St Parliament I have repeatedly said but what wrong to have understand the laws we approve a major policy paper issued by the State Department in December of 1961 stated flatly and I quote the years 1956 to 1960 produced something close to an economic miracle in South Vietnam it is a report of progress over a few brief years equal by few young countries end quote it has been said by confucious wonderfully well he said never have laws to precise because the Precision of the law gives the possibility to get around it have laws that are built by governments which are reliable which know you which are close to you and this is how in the organization of the Vietnamese Society The Village was so essential and I think that this has been the great mistake of Anum to replace the leader of the village who was the expression of the country the expression as they see of the wind and the water of the of the locality he replaced that by appointed Village Chiefs now when the Viet Kong assassinated Village Chiefs they were not at all Village Chiefs but people who were not belonging there and it was a scandle to a village that were them there and so when the Viet Kong assassinated so many of those people and I am not a man who likes to hear that people have been assassinated and some of them might have been very good people the majority might have been acceptable if they had been the expression of the village but at the very point where the Vietnamese Nation the Vietnamese Earth arises and speaks to the government through the not Chiefs through the representatives of the village the Elders of The Village at that very point where the life of the country is put simply a wet blanket of functionaries just at the point where was the life of the country he brought the extinguishing methods of a government which was not a government for the Vietnamese well one of the uh very significant events uh toward the end of the DM regime which indicated the degree of uh Decay particularly in the morale of the army was the Battle of abpac it indicated that militarily the DM regime was unable to handle the Insurrection and it brought about the discussions in Washington which eventually led to the decision to put in our own troops and not only our equipment I think the vice president's Journey represented a great Public Service there are members from both parties here today to greet him there were members of both parties in his group uh going around the world this was an American effort to indicate our great concern for the cause of freedom in significant and important countries uh around the world we visited in several countries where the population would add up to more than 3/4 of a billion people we didn't see all of those people but we saw a good many of them as well as their leaders we never heard a hostile voice and we never shook a hostile hand when uh Vice President Johnson which was also part of the 61 Arrangement when he came to Vietnam he announced a series of things that the United States was going to do and this is when we made a fundamental change in our policy I can remember Bernard fall in 1962 interviewing fam van dong the prime minister of North Vietnam and talking about the American Aid and van vong was a sort of saying oh poor ZM poor ZM he is unpopular and because he is unpopular the Americans must give him Aid and because the Americans give him Aid he becomes less popular because he gives he becomes less popular the Americans must give him more Aid and because they give him more Aid he becomes even less popular and Bernard fall interrupted and said that sounds like a vicious circle fangdong paused and said no not a vicious circle a downward spiral I'm Roger hillsman I was director of intelligence and research in the state department under John F Kennedy and then assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs under Kennedy and for a while under President Johnson [Applause] the most dramatic was one day in Saigon when a Buddhist parade started off with a sort of a hypnotic chant uh the yellow Rob priests uh marching along and then there stepped forward a very AF frail old man in his 70s who turned out to be this uh priest but I don't think anything really gives the flavor or the fever of that time other than to point out that when this monk burned himself neod and ZM really believed that American television networks had staged they had paid the Buddhists to Stage this Burning for their own benefit I mean after all the Americans were zm's allies and then suddenly a powering flame and what was and the and the priests and the nuns and the audience moaned and prostrated themselves towards this Burning figure and he sat there unflinching in the smell of gasoline and of burning flesh in the air for 10 minutes the political effects of this were enormous it was so dramatic it hit the headlines all over the world it had enormous political consequences uh outside of Vietnam and inside of Vietnam uh people uh thought they saw the face of Buddha in the clouds that night people have spoken very much about the the mons who burned themselves but those monks who burned themselves burned themselves because they were incited to do it the American idea which was that uh sink or swim with neod in ZM as my colleague Homer biger had coined the phrase I think the idea of that was well that he had become an Expendable man the American policy had always been that he was he was the only man we had uh Johnson had called him the Winston Churchill of Southeast Asia which unique tribute to to Mr Churchill uh and so I think that with this they had changed the American policy view of them that that they were They Were Expendable and what happened was of course the coup did take place on that day in November and they were murdered and it had taken place in an atmosphere spere where the Americans who had in a sense created this regime who had given it what little sustenance it had whose invention neoden Zim had really always been had withdrawn because after all the VC were about to take the cities without even a fight I mean the VC were running rampant over the countryside the Strategic Hamlet program was really finished it didn't exist it was not so much that the Americans had aided the coup or created it but as they had given all their aid to CM they had moved back and they had said no we just support the anti-communist effort uh it wasn't that they were on the side of the others but they were no they made it very clear that they would stand aside and with that they spelled the final end of that regime [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Laughter] r now we've gone in on the Assumption this is the myth that a friendly government has asked us to come in and prevent a takeover or what friendly government that government has changed half a dozen times since that time it changes from week to week no one knows just what the government is I am very much impressed by the military and economic and the social programs instituted by General Khan I appreciated also the opportunity to talk with the chief of state general men other words you you cannot defeat the Communist without the support of the people and to have this support you must bring Justice to the people in other words equality and freedom how do you achieve this now justice justice banish corruption give to the people uh higher stand up of leaving and make them feel free would Kennedy have done what Johnson has done there were two things that he very very much wished to avoid one was making this an American War as he used to say it's their War the South Vietnamese we can give them Aid we caners but they must win it or lose it and I think he was fully prepared to let them lose it rather than make it an AM American war he felt that if we put Americans in there it would drive with their white faces it would drive communism into the nationalism into the arms of Communism the second thing he wished to avoid was internationalizing the war as we called it by this we meant bombing the North or attacking the north first and foremost because it would not work and here 30 some odd months of bombing has shown that his judgment was right I think that U uh there's great danger in this country uh because because of the fact so much of our economy is geared uh in the military area there is grave danger of uh a military U Industrial Alliance of a kind uh actually affecting policy now uh Vietnam is a case in point uh not the only place because we're spending $50 billion a year outside of Vietnam 4 millon milary and uh I do think that uh having dropped more bombs on Vietnam and were dropped by all the Allied Powers in World War II in tonnage on that small country I mean it's to me it's just how silly can you get [Music] [Music] PR h [Music] [Applause] [Music] I think communist aggression must result in communist disaster and I don't think you're going to get that at the conference table and the world is watching us in Vietnam to see if we'll put our money where our mouth is it's just that simple and I just wish that uh uh we would decide to win the war and that we would step out and close the port of Hong and hit every military Ruma Target over there and I think you're uh a better chance to bring the Communist to the conference table uh than if we do not hurt them however American Instinct makes us want to jump in with both feet and get an unpleasant job over with as soon as possible but traditional Oriental patience makes them willing to carry on the struggle in the generation after generation if necessary we're fighting a war over there with a commodity most precious to us and held far more cheaply by the enemy the lives of men I don't think it's necessary to have an invasion of North Vietnam and it would be just exactly what the enemy wants he'd like us to put down 100,000 men in the field and they put down 100,000 they're willing to lose half of theirs and ours is a precious commodity and I wouldn't trade one dead American for 50 dead Chinamen we fight the war from our strength not the enemies we must fight at at least cost to ourselves and a greatest cost to the enemy we must change the currency of this game from man to material now what is the greatest single problem we're facing in Vietnam well it's the Despicable communist enemy no question about it and the sooner we smash him as we should have done in Korea if we' done it in Korea in our first test of arms with Communism we wouldn't be confronted I don't think with the situation we have in Vietnam do you have respect for the Viet Kong do you think they're a good soldier well there's no question about they're willing to die readily as all orientals are and uh their leaders will sacrifice them uh and we won't sacrifice ours the only solution I see is to use our strength our aera Naval power in the most Humane possible man manner possible to destroy North Vietnamese capability to wage war against the free people of South Vietnam so I think the sooner that we hit everything we can and hurt him over there we got a better chance to win that war and that's exactly what we should do in my opinion all the harbor at Hong and the entire capacity to receive outside help close it the power system at fuels ever War making facility the transportation system rails Rolling Stock Bridges yards eliminate every Factory and every industrial installation beginning with the biggest and the best and never ending so long as our two bricks still stuck together and if necessary the irrigation system on which food production largely depends we must be willing to continue our bombing until we destroyed every work of man in North Vietnam if this is what it takes to win the war then there was a little crisis there uh the military thought that there was a great infiltration and secretary mcnamer went out and came back and said no there wasn't a crisis at that time but I thought it was very significant that President Johnson then appointed a committee to prepare a list of Targets in the North in case he should decide to bomb the north the more I thought about this the more I became convinced that if there were a crisis he would escalate the war this is part of the steady escalation that's taken place uh during The Last 5 Years uh first we sent in only advisors then it developed these advisors were also in combat then we sent in the Marines and the first thing was said that they were there only to defend and the next thing was that they would shoot back if attacked and now there is an admission that they we're all in some others are eager to enlarge the conflict they call upon us to supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do they ask us to take Reckless action which might risk the lives of millions and engulf much of Asia and certainly threaten the Peace of the entire world a second deliberate attack was made during darkness by an undetermined number number of North Vietnamese PT boats on the USS Maddox and the USS C Turner Joy while the two destroyers were cruising in company on routine Patrol Duty in the Tonkin Gulf in international waters some 65 miles from the nearest point of land they put out that propaganda but they got caught because we were able to disclose within two days that if they would check upon the log of the Maddox for example they would find she was only 11 to 13 miles from the bombing of those islands and of course that's coverage and the North Vietnamese knew that it was coverage we do our uh Naval vessels afford any cover for these our Naval vessels afford no cover whatsoever now the sad fact is history will record that the United States was an aggressor in tonen Bay we were violating the rights of North Vietnam had no right to proceed on the second day to ourselves bomb uh North Vietnam the areas where her torpedo Boats were kept but we had to duty that wasn't self-defense bombing bombing North Vietnam was not within the right of the president to act in self-defense of the Republic my duy is on board the SE plane tender were uh nuclear weapons officer on August 4th there was an alleged attack upon the USS Maddox and Turner Joy two of our destroyers in the Gulf of tonen the Destroyer Personnel indicated at first that they were under attack and later indicated uh uncertainty as to whether or not they were under attack large numbers of torp Tes were supposed to have been uh fired the ship was uh reporting itself as continuously maneuvering to avoid torpedo attack and yet there was also indicated in these messages doubt as to whether or not they were under attack at all and I have a feeling therefore that this harassment attack and this attack with 20 or more Torpedoes upon two of our destroyers was designed to uh Force us out way lest we precipitate a greater struggle I have a feeling that they've misread America once again in the course of our conversation this chief petty officer told me that he was a sonar man on board the USS Maddox and that he had been in sonar the sonar room during the attack he told me that in his estimation there were no Torpedoes fired at the ship or otherwise during that alleged attack and furthermore he constantly repeated this uh sent this information to the commanding officer on the bridge the north vietnames have no submarines what is the purpose of that movement this is purely precautionary so that the fleet will be prepared for all eventualities what sort of eventualities General well possible submarine attack by whom by anyone well you always contended that in the first incident they were having I'm I'm contending that having the the madx and the joy there constituted in view of the knowledge as to what South Vietnamese Boats were up to an act of constructive aggression on our part the Vietnamese situation as I noted on my visit back home last week and this week has taken on some real spirit and real interest and I thought perhaps a statement by the joint Senate house Republican leadership would be timely and quite in order at this moment as a result of what we have done in South Vietnam not only has the psychology changed there but also it has had a most beneficial effect in my opinion among other free Asian countries who looked at South Vietnam as a test okay today today is the day hey it's a big one this is the one we've been waiting for this is the one you've all been saying to yourself what this company need is a good fight by the grace of God we're going to get it from there we're going to S inde Search and Destroy the thing you guys like okay some of you I know this is going to be a shock to you but it's a switch for old Alpha troop we're riding in and we're not riding in on one of those Dusty old apcs We're Going In First Class pwa teeny weeny Airlines