Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume III, Vietnam, January–August 1963

238. Memorandum of Conversation¹

Washington, July 26, 1963.

PARTICIPANTS

• Roger Hilsman
• Robert Manning
• Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge

SUBJECT

• Press Problems in Viet-Nam

Mr. Manning, who had just returned from a trip to Saigon, thought that the essence of the press problems lay in getting more of the members of the press corps in that city in frequent and meaningful touch with the “horse’s mouth”, i.e. the Ambassador and other top U.S. officials. This was certainly not the best press corps in the world nor the worst. It was divided between those who remained permanently in Saigon and who tended to be somewhat in-bred and to suffer from localitis and those coming in on trips from the outside who were more seasoned and had better perspective. Key reporters among. the first group were Halberstam of the New York Times and the AP and UPI correspondents. In the second group the leading reporters were Keyes Beech, Pepper Martin of U.S. News and World Report, and Jim Robinson of NBC.

Mr. Manning thought the main aspect in removing the dissatisfaction of some of these correspondents was to take them into our confidence more, give them an “in” feeling, and invite them more often not only to ritualistic type functions but specifically to say small dinners given by the Ambassador for Vietnamese officials and leading personalities including perhaps one correspondent at a time.

Ambassador Lodge indicated he intended to do just that, that one of the first things he planned to do was to have lunch with several of the key correspondents. Mr. Manning said as a whole the correspondents approved the program we are pursuing in Viet-Nam and supported our effort there—though they were unanimous in despising the Diem regime and in their conviction that we could not win with it.

The impasse between the GVN and the American press corps was well nigh insoluble. Diem’s and Nhu’s recent offers to have back-grounders with the American press, laudable as this offer was on their part, would almost certainly not result in changing the conviction of the correspondents that the government is doomed. Yet Mr. Manning thought that we should continue encouraging Diem and Nhu in this direction and to seek as much contact with the correspondents as possible. Ambassador Lodge indicated that he was well aware of this whole problem and very concerned about it. He was also concerned at the feeling among American intellectuals regarding the Diem government and had been harassed by communications on their part advocating that we change our policy on the Diem regime. He thought it likely he would try to return here after some six months in Saigon to make several speeches to improve the domestic atmosphere.

Mr. Manning suggested that Ambassador Lodge may wish to keep the present USIS team and the press attache in Saigon who he thought were handling the situation well. Ambassador Lodge agreed and indicated he did not intend to make personnel changes in this area.

Mr. Manning referred to Director of Information Dang Duc Khoi who is under Civic Action Secretary Hieu and who he said was very savvy. There had been some discussion in Saigon of sending Khoi to New York to endeavor to correct editorial impressions there on Viet-Nam. Mr. Manning thought this suggestion had merit.

1. Source: Department of State, Vietnam Working Group Files: Lot 67 D 54, PR-11 Press Relations. Confidential. Drafted by Kattenburg who is not listed among the participants. The meeting was held at the Department of State.