232. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig) to President Nixon 1
Washington, July 5, 1971.
SUBJECT
- Dr. Kissinger’s Meeting with Vietnamese Politicians
Attached is Dr. Kissinger’s report of his meetings with various Vietnamese politicians on July 5, 1971.2 He makes the following significant observations:
- —Ky seems quite ready to run but is worried about getting the necessary signatures to qualify as a Presidential candidate and seems very bitter about Thieu. Ky is ready to have the Communist party function legally in South Vietnam.
- —Minh gave the impression of not having finally made up his mind to run. He feels that a “hands off” neutrality in the election by the U.S. is not enough. Minh’s program consists of the reconciliation of North and South Vietnam as separate entities, and the legalization of the Communist party without its admission into a coalition government.
- —In meetings with the President of the Senate Huyen, leader of the principal opposition party Bong, and the leading Buddhist Senator Mau, all of them showed great wariness of Madame Binh’s seven points although they thought there were some interesting new elements.