173. Telegram From Prince Sihanouk to President Kennedy1
161/SPU/T. For several years now we have followed with sorrow the development of the exceedingly cruel religious persecution of the monks and faithful of the Cambodian Buddhist community in South Viet-Nam. In vain, we have attempted to alert international public opinion.
Today, this persecution has overtaken the Vietnamese Buddhists themselves. Their nonviolent protests and the heroic act of martyrdom of the venerable Thich Quang Duc have roused the conscience of the world. Through my voice, Cambodia, where Buddhism is a State religion, and the Cambodian people, deeply moved by the suffering of the Buddhists of South Viet-Nam, beg Your Excellency to intercede with the full force of your moral prestige and that of your country to the end that the Catholic South Vietnamese Government may accord Buddhists the right to practice freely their religion of peace and brotherhood.
Here in Southeast Asia, where the coexistence of all religions had been established in an atmosphere of reciprocal tolerance and esteem, it rests with the great powers to bring back to reason a government that has revived religious conflicts that had been quiescent for more than a century.
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, SOC 14-1 S VIET. A copy of the original French text is Ibid. A notation on the French text indicates that the telegram was sent by MacKay Radio. In telegram 964 from Phnom Penh, June 14, the Embassy reported that Agence Khmere Presse in Phnom Penh had published in that day’s issue the text of Prince Sihanouk’s message to President Kennedy, along with the texts of similar telegrams sent by Sihanouk to U.N. Secretary-General U Thant, British Prime Minister Macmillan, French President De Gaulle, and Indian President Radhakrishnan. Ambassador Sprouse reported that the Foreign Ministry also told him the Cambodian Government had given a diplomatic note to the South Vietnamese Charge in Phnom Penh expressing concern over events in Vietnam following the deaths in May of Buddhists in Hue. (Ibid.) On June 18, Ceylonese Prime Minister Bandaranaike also sent a letter to President Kennedy expressing concern over developments in South Vietnam, and requesting that the United States use its good offices to enable the Buddhist majority in South Vietnam to enjoy the right to practice their religion. (Ibid.) And on June 28, the Representatives at the United Nations of Cambodia, Ceylon, and Nepal called on the U.S. Delegation at the United Nations to express mounting concern over religious difficulties in South Vietnam. (Telegram 4686 from USUN, June 28; Ibid.)↩