135. Telegram From the Secretary of State to the Embassy in Vietnam1
1861. During call which Thuan made alone on Parsons 9th former made renewed plea for reconsideration US support of military budget for Fiscal 1961. He said that speaking as Minister responsible for budget and as former Defense Minister he could only describe figures given him by Gardiner prior departure from Saigon as “disastrous”. He elaborated at some length on adverse psychological and material effects of seeking reduce US support so drastically at this time but mentioned no specific figure.
In course of discussion Parsons alluded again to principle underlying our budgetary support, namely that it was related to legitimate foreign exchange requirements and not to counterpart necessities. This led Thuan to refer to his talk with Under Secretary Dillon2 (subject separate tel) in terms which once again suggested Vietnamese Government is embarked on serious study of devaluation.
During talk Thuan made eloquent plea for more rapid action re textile factory at Tourane, radio project, Diem’s request for bulldozers and tractors and acceleration Saigon jet runway project.
[Page 385]Following Thuan’s exposition foregoing topics Parsons raised two basic subjects: 1) corruption3 and 2) relations between Government and Vietnamese people. Re (1) he told Thuan that Ambassador Durbrow had just had long talk with President during which specifics of several disturbing case histories had been mentioned to President. He urged Thuan to have full and frank talk with Durbrow as soon as possible after former has returned to Saigon. Thuan agreed this desirable and said he hoped Durbrow would talk to him frankly about any matter however delicate as he could always bring question to President’s attention.
Re (2) Parsons said impression had been gained by various people in Saigon and Washington that Government which had performed so effectively in many fields had not perhaps had time to cultivate popular base and that sometimes mentality of Government seemed to be too “mandarin”. This he viewed as a potential danger and he was sure Thuan and his colleagues would give full attention to problem as it existed. Thuan accepted this in good part, but denied authoritarian tendencies saying that relationships between Diem and mass of rural population were excellent. He also cited approving statements by Senator McGee and others in Congress. Thuan also spoke of difficulty of winning population which had been terrorized for so long by Communists and mentioned differences in oriental psychology which sometimes made appearances deceiving to [Page 386] occidentals as to actual relationship between people and Government. Despite his protestations and atmosphere of euphoria induced by much praise of Diem and Viet-Nam which Thuan heard daily during this visit, Parsons had impression Thuan understood what he was talking about and is aware of importance of problem. However, he made no mention of committee … of which Parsons unaware at time.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/4–1160. Secret. Drafted by Parsons. Repeated for information to CINCPAC for PolAd.↩
- See Document 133.↩
- In another
discussion between Thuan
and Wood, Apri1 7, the
Officer in Charge of Vietnam Affairs brought up the issue of
corruption. According to a memorandum of conversation by Wood, April 7, the discussion went
as follows:
“During a private moment with Mr. Thuan, I mentioned that there had been some reports in Washington recently of corruption in Viet-Nam and that unfortunately there appeared a likelihood that these reports had reached certain circles on Capitol Hill and certain business circles. I well knew that Saigon was a place where rumors were rife and if there were rumors of corruption in Saigon, it was also true that such rumors could be picked up in other capitals. However, in view of the activities of Colegrove and the attitude of some members of Congress, there is a risk that such rumors, even if untrue, might be picked up and exaggerated in a way which would not be helpful to the interests of Viet-Nam or the United States, particularly if there were any implication that US aid funds were involved, even indirectly.
“Thuan replied in a friendly and earnest manner by saying that if Americans became aware of such rumors, he hoped that they would be brought to his attention as President Diem would wish to know of them. Thuan realized and appreciated the American policy of non-involvement in Viet-Nam’s internal affairs, but felt that we could be helpful in such a situation.
“I answered that any such communications should come from Ambassador Durbrow but said that this was a delicate matter for us because of our policy of non-involvement and because so many rumors in Saigon were without foundation.
“(The above approach was based on a report from Ken Young to the effect that Valeo had told him that while in Saigon he-Valeo-had heard rumors of corruption and wondered if there were any activities which might hurt the interests of American companies there. Young stated that while he was aware of such rumors, he felt that as of that time the American companies seemed to be taking care of their own interests satisfactorily.)” (Department of State, FE Files: Lot 62 D 26, MC-Vietnam)
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