751G.00/9–652; Telegram
The Ambassador at Saigon (Heath) to the Department of State
533. Rptd info Paris unnumbered. Justice William O. Douglas1 was my house guest from Aug 26 to September 2. I arranged for him to travel Hanoi and Hue, entertained for him and arranged for him meet leading Fr and Vietnamese officials and personalities including Letourneau and Pres Tam. Letourneau gave him luncheon.
The noon before his departure he was luncheon guest of Pickering and Gregory of USIS and, unknown to me, local newspaper correspondents were invited to affair. Douglas had previously stated he desired no press conf. At the luncheon he stated to Reuter correspondent “There is no place in SEA I have so far visited where I have seen so many forces of disintegration pulling asunder as in IC. If all the popular forces were behind the ruling powers in IC, the war shld end in matter of few weeks. One of the most depressing statements I ever read is that of Governor Thomas Dewey of New York state in his current book on SEA; saying the IC program was purely military.”2 Douglas is also quoted as stating he “did not mean that Amer aid to IC shld be withdrawn or slackened.” But he “wanted the Amer Govt to see that IC should not prove a new China as far as Amer aid is concerned”.
In his talks with me Douglas expressed full realization of the contribution made by the Fr and progress realized here in past years.
The Fr High Commissariat here has complained to me of his press statements altho no complaint was made of another interview in Hong Kong which declared that it wld take five years to construct a Vietnamese Govt to govern without Fr aid and Fr troops were temporarily indispensable to Southeast Asia. I informed High Commissariat that Douglas was here on private trip, his views on fon affairs were highly personal and highly independent.