220. Telegram From the Ambassador in Vietnam (Durbrow) to the Department of State1
1022. Joint Embassy USIS msg. Following is line being taken locally with press re current crisis here, if asked:
“Representatives of both the Diem government and the Revolutionary Council have been in touch with the American Embassy. They have stated their respective positions and the Embassy has made clear, in response, that the American Ambassador remains accredited to President Diem so long as he remains president. The Embassy has emphasized that the policy of the United States remains firmly committed to the anti-Communist struggle in Vietnam as elsewhere in the world.”
“So far as the alleged differences between the ‘opposition’ and the government are concerned, the American Embassy is of course not in a position to mediate or even to comment upon them. They are of concern to the Vietnamese government led by President Diem and to the people of Vietnam. The Embassy has told both parties, however, that its prime concern is the reestablishment of unity in the [Page 637] country in its fight to maintain its freedom. We hope there will be no further bloodshed.”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/11–1160. Priority. Received at 9:32 a.m. Marked “Department pass USIA.”↩