221. Editorial Note
At approximately 10 a.m. (Saigon time) on March 30, an automobile loaded with explosives blew up outside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon killing 2 Americans and 20 Vietnamese. Nearly 200 people were wounded. Charge d’Affaires U. Alexis Johnson, who was on the fifth floor of the building, received cuts above his eyes. Central Intelligence Agency Station Chief Peer de Silva was partially blinded. For their reminiscences of the event, see Johnson, The Right Hand of Power, pages 432–435, and de Silva, Sub Rosa, pages 265–268. For the recollections of General William Westmoreland, who was en route to the Embassy to meet with Johnson when the blast went off, see A Soldier Reports, page 130.
For President Johnson’s statement of March 30 condemning the bombing, see Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, Book I, page 347. On April 1 President Johnson sent letters to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives requesting authorization of $1 million to build a new Embassy building in Saigon. (Ibid., page 357)