244. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Parsons) and the Vietnamese Ambassador (Chuong), Department of State, Washington, November 18, 19601
SUBJECT
- Vietnamese Pamphlet Alleging Americans Involved in Coup Attempt
REFERENCE
- Saigon’s Telegram No. 10932
PARTICIPANTS
- His Excellency Tran Van Chuong, Ambassador of Viet-Nam
- Mr. Nguyen-Duy-Lien, Counselor, Embassy of Viet-Nam
- Mr. J. Graham Parsons, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs
- Mr. Chalmers B. Wood, Officer in Charge, Viet-Nam Affairs
Mr. Parsons spoke in the following vein: He was pleased that the circumstances of this meeting with the Ambassador were much happier than those which prevailed at the time of the coup. The Americans were greatly relieved that President Diem had escaped [Page 680] unharmed. We admired very much his courage and the way he faced the crisis. Our support for President Diem as the leader of his people and as the head of the Vietnamese Government continued as it had for so long. We looked forward to continuing good relations with the GVN.
However, we had been shocked by a leaflet distributed in Saigon attributed to the People’s Committee Against Rebels and Communists. We felt it is necessary to speak in rather strong terms and not to leave to Ambassador Durbrow the sole responsibility for discussing this matter.
It was utterly false to say that the United States supported the coup. We felt President Diem well knew the role which we played. When the rebels controlled the entire center of Saigon, we attempted to urge moderation on both sides and avoid a bloodbath. It is strange to see such language employed against foreigners, especially those who have tried to help the regime. It is dangerous to incite xenophobia. Also the leaflet used the words and techniques of the Communists.
This leaflet was gift to the Communists. Their radios in Moscow and Peking would use it to disparage the Government of Viet-Nam.
We knew that the “Committee” was said to be private. However, it was also alleged that the leaflet was distributed by Army trucks. Furthermore, we understood that the members of the “Committee” included many general officers and police officers. While it was certain that the President had nothing to do with the leaflet, someone approved it.
It was gratifying that Secretary Thuan had indicated publicly that no foreign governments were involved in the coup. But he had also said that foreigners were involved in a campaign of disparagement and that they thus shared indirect responsibility.
Any comments that we have made about certain problems faced by the GVN have always been made privately to high GVN officials and there has been no campaign of disparagement.
It was noted that there has been no Vietnamese disavowal of the leaflet.
On another subject, we noted that the GVN was considering political, economic and social reforms, and we would be interested to learn more about them.
Ambassador Chuong replied that he had no information and no instructions and could only say that he could not believe his ears when he had heard an American radio broadcast mentioning the allegations in the leaflet. He promised to transmit Mr. Parsons’ remarks to Saigon immediately. He thanked Mr. Parsons for his sympathy during the crisis when the Ambassador had asked Mr. Parsons to see what the Americans could do to remedy the situation in Saigon. He [Page 681] believed that General McGarr’s conference in Saigon might have helped. He fully appreciated that Mr. Parsons in no way wished to embarrass the Vietnamese Government. He hoped there had been a misunderstanding and could only say that Secretary Thuan’s disavowal may have been made to correct misimpressions formed during the tense atmosphere immediately following the crisis.
The Ambassador then said, speaking personally, that he had been surprised by an article in Le Monde Diplomatique which he had received that day. He handed Mr. Parsons a copy of the article which had presumably been written before the coup and which indicated that Washington had decided to support a coup d’état of young officers.
Mr. Parsons thanked the Ambassador for bringing the article to our attention. The article appeared to be very mischievous. We would bring it to the attention of our Embassy in Paris.
The Ambassador also pointed out a section of the article which alleged that some members of the Vietnamese opposition had been active in both Washington and Paris.
Mr. Parsons and Mr. Wood denied that we had given any advice or encouragement to Vietnamese oppositionists operating out of Paris. We understood that one of them had evidently come to Washington without encouragement and had contacted General Collins. General Collins had given no advice nor encouragement to this individual and he had not been received in the State Department.
Mr. Parsons concluded by emphasizing that we regretted the entire episode and that we hoped that the leaflet could be more clearly disavowed since we desired to continue our good relations with the GVN.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/11–1860. Secret. Drafted by Wood.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 241.↩