The resources of the United
States would henceforth be deployed to reserve Indochina and Southeast Asia
from further Communist encroachment. Dean Rusk... late l949
Throughout the afternoon, approximately one hundred students stayed til the end. All were vastly interested, and many stayed hoping that the discussion period after the Washington talks ended would be stimulating. Schofield came and left, a number of times, and talked to students, and faculty members in the lobby. Phyllis listened carefully, jotting down notes in her notebook.
Finally, the talks ended. Jim got up, pounded his gavel and announced to some of the students that prepared to leave,"please don't leave, We have the best part to come... The question and answer period. Professor Schofield tells me that we can have the auditorium until midnight... so there's plenty of time."
Some of the students left but others, decided to stay, and a few moved closer to the front, some lined up behind a microphone to ask questions.
The question and answer period proved to be the most stimulating and lasted late into the night. The first question, led to others, and almost immediately, the audience's reaction was exciting. Some defended the policies of the government, others criticized, some were just confused and couldn't decide but found the experience worthwhile, something to think about.
"Since South Vietnam asked the United States to come to their defense, what's wrong with that... to protect them from the Communist?" asked one student. From that one question, many followed, excitement flourished.
Jim looked around to see who wanted to answer. No one moved, so he began," well, as Professor Kalin, and many others have said the same thing...the war in South Vietnam is a nationalist movement. It's really a civil war, and the question is, whether or not we should be involved in a civil war?"
Glenn was anxious to give his input, he nervously clutched the microphone, waited for a chance to interject.
But Jim continued, knowing that Glenn wanted to say something, "Vietnam is not really a democracy anyway. Diem was a dictator. The United States government set him up in office, He was not a national leader, had little support, he spent much of his time in exile, and when he returned to South Vietnam in l954, only 500 supporter showed up...Is he the popular leader of the South Vietnamese people?" Jim asked rhetorically.
Jim continued, "and once in office, he and his brother, ruled South Vietnam with an iron fist. And since his fall, we had nothing but a string of dictators replace him... so why is it important to protect dictators, is it valid that we support the request of any dictator, who values are opposed to ours."
Glenn finally took control of his microphone, and overcame Jim's answer," wait a minute. Let me say that the reason there's not a stable government in South Vietnam, is because of Communist infiltration from the North into South Vietnam. Their purpose is to disrupt the Buddhist, create dissent among the students and the young workers and to spy on and disrupt the government. Many of the Buddhist uprisings are directly related to Communist agitators, that's how they operate. They secretly infiltrate and disrupt, thus weakening the government...." Then Glenn strongly stated," Once the Communists are eliminated, the government will stabilize, and democracy will return."
Kathy grabbed the microphone away from Glenn, and shouted," North Vietnam is a dictatorship also. In fact over a million Catholics fled North Vietnam after the l954 Geneva convention agreement... Not to mention the brutal treatment and mass murder of the farmers in the Communist's attempts to collectivize agriculture in l956...The Agricultural Reform tribunal, determined that two per cent of the population were landlords or members of the feudal class, so Ho Chi Minh sent terror gangs from village, to village killing two percent of the population. If they didn't find the required two per cent, they picked the remaining at random, or relied on the word of jealous peasants who blamed their enemies...Thousands were killed and thousands were sent to forced labor camps...If you want to talk about dictators, and violence, don't forget the North Vietnamese . Not to mention ."
Kathy also, wanted to mention the terror and murderer of more than 6000 village chiefs and school teachers in South Vietnam, and the lack of support that the Vietcong had, and that only terror, ruled , but she never had a chance, because Karl interfered.
"Wait a minute now," Karl stood up and shouted into the microphone, "the Buddhist's and student demonstrations had nothing to do with the Communists. They opposed the string of dictatorships that had plagued South Vietnam .Diem abolished elections not only on the issue of reunification as outlined by the Geneva Accord, but he even abolished elections of the village chiefs, and appointed his own Catholic cronies, and military officers who function was to eliminate the land reforms instituted by the Vietcong and gave the land back to the landlords. And what land they gave back to the peasants, they made them pay for it, land that the VC gave to them for free...That's why there's a civil war...That's why, students and the Buddhist protest in the streets. Under Diem, corruption was rampant. Diem gave promotions in the military only to the Northern Catholic who fled with him to South Vietnam, gave his cronies all the favored business deals with the government, and key civilian posts, and when the people protested he sent out his brother's secret police to smashed any form of dissent. Anyone who opposed them were called Communists, just like McCarthy during the fifties. I repeat, the student demonstrations, are not the doings of the Communists."
Glenn fought back, "that's not true. The people of South Vietnam support the Saigon government. The Vietcong do not have support of the South Vietnamese. They rule by terror. They'll enter a village, drag out the village chief, many of them popularly elected by the villagers, torture him, then murder him, and not only him, but murder his wife and kids a well. What danger are children to the Vietcong?...The only purpose in killing them is to terrorize the other villagers. South Vietnam is a sovereign country, and have asked for the help of the United States. And we have a duty to help them. Just like we would help other countries in Asia, as well as in Europe...What would we do if this occurred in England...,We would help out? Well that's exactly what we re doing in South Vietnam."
Karl, tried to interrupt, "but you..."
Kathy grabbed the microphone from Glenn,"...and you forgot about the referendum, Diem had when he asked for support in ousting Bao Dai...and the free legislative elections in l959, proves that South Vietnam is on the path to a democracy."
"That's crap," shot back Jim, "the referendum was rigged, in fact designed by an American, Col. Edward G. Lansdale, who designed red ballots for Diem,, which symbolized good luck in Vietnam, and green ballots, for Bao Dai, which symbolized bad luck... Now, who would you vote for? Those who voted the green ballot were beaten, others were just told to vote the red ballot, or else. He got 98.2 % of the vote. Can you believe that. A 'free' election, encouraged by our own government...and the l959 elections, too were rigged. He stuffed the ballot boxes, told the peasants who to vote for, and those who ran against him, were disqualified from running. That's why the
Vietcong have the support of the people, they control most of the countryside.
Kathy steamed at Jim's flamboyant rhetoric. She wasn't sure she liked him anymore.
Jim continued, "even the strategic hamlets concept,
designed to protect the villages behind a protective shield served only to alienate the peasants. They were forced to live miles away from their markets, fields and ancestral burial grounds. It took two hundred thousand peasants to build the strategic hamlets for 60,000, thus took many of them away from their farming, and the promises for pay ended up in the corrupt officials pockets. And if that's wasn't all, the promised rat poison, pesticides and fertilizers, were stolen by officials, and diluted so much that they weren't effective, and what chemicals were left they sold back to the peasants on black market at twice the normal costs. Likewise the government rice for planting was stolen and sold to the peasants. So, what happened, they all joined the Vietcong.
They only pretend to support the South Vietnam government, during the day, but at night, they support the Vietcong.
Chris took the microphone from Jim," I think that it's necessary at this time to go over the history of Vietnam. Maybe that will help in understanding of the problem."
Chris felt the tensions rising, and that someone needed to calm the discussion. He took out some notes, and quietly repeated the history of Vietnam.
"Vietnam's history goes back thousands of years and is a history of Vietnamese fighting off foreign invaders. The Kingdom of Vietnam was founded in 208 B.C. by Trieu Da a renegade Chinese general, who ruled the natives of Mongolian origin, who called themselves, the Viets. He named the kingdom, Nam Viet. For the next 1000 years, the kingdom was for the most part occupied by the invading Chinese who periodically were thrown out by nationalist movements."
"In 967 peace was made with the Chinese in return for payments of tributes. For the next 500 years , the kingdom was loosely ruled by competing families as well as continued Chinese forays into Vietnam.
By 1426 China was defeated in battle for the last time by Emperor Le Loi, whose family were to rule till 1859. During the fifteenth and sixteenth century continued civil war, erupted between the North and the South. Since l859, the French and Spanish armies occupied the country and Vietnam, now was known as French Indochina consisted of North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
In l940 Japan occupied Vietnam and because they did not have the resources allowed Vietnam to be administered by the Nazi Vichy French government. In March of l945 the Vichy government in Europe was defeated. In Vietnam, the French administration supported one of the many rival fighting Vietnamese groups vying for power, so the Japanese overthrew the French administration, and set up the puppet government of Emperor Boa Dai.
During this time, the nationalist guerrilla movement called the Viet Minh, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, by August of l945,at the time of the Japanese surrender, controlled most of the countryside. And with surrender, the populous overthrew the cities, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was declared. Ho Chin Minh hoped the British who accepted the surrender of the Japanese in the South, would support the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, but instead they turned the government back to the French who drove the Viet Minh out of the South.
In the North, 200,000 Chinese troops came down to disarm the Japanese. In order for Ho Chi Minh to get the Chinese out, who he feared more since historically the Chinese had plundered Vietnam, he agreed to a negotiated treaty between China and France. The Chinese would turn the government over to the French, in exchange for France's relinquishing its control over Shanghai and other China ports. Part of the agreement was for French troops to return to North Vietnam, but also the French agreed to recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, as part of the French Union. With this the Chinese left leaving Ho Chin Minh and the French to negotiate further on the independence of Vietnam.
The French , however had other ideas, and in November of l946, they bombed Haiphong harbor, forced the Viet Minh into the countryside, and for the next eight years the Viet Minh fought and eventually defeated the French at Diembienphu. During this time President Truman gave increasing aid to the faltering French.
The Geneva Convention accords stated that Vietnam would be divided at the 17th parallel, the French would go South, the South would be administered by Bao Dai for two years, then national elections would take place and the French would depart. The United States government however replaced Bao Dai with Ngo Dinh Diem who with added military support, prevented the elections in l956 and in a short time became heavily dependent upon U.S. aid. In l959 the first American advisors were sent. In l960, the National Liberation Front was formed and now we have a situation similar to that at the end of World War II, that is the Vietcong controlled most of the countryside, while the cities are still in the control of the South Vietnam Government."
Exhausted, Chris took out a cigarette and lit it and enjoyed a long drag. Slowly he blew out the smoke and answered short questions about the history of involvement in Vietnam, "you see, Ho Chi Minh feels that he was betrayed twice, the first time by the French in l946, and the second time by the United States in l954 with its violation of the Geneva Accords."
A long silence followed the questions. Chris knew that he affected many who didn't know the true history, just like he didn't a few weeks ago, but once he looked into it, he was convinced that the United States made and is making a mistake in Vietnam.
Kathy finally grabbed the microphone, Chris sat down," the first thing I should say, is that the United States did not... I repeat ,did not sign the Geneva Accords, nor did South Vietnam. And the provisions for elections was an oral agreement only. Details to be worked out later. Thus South Vietnam wasn't obligated to fulfill the pledge. and not to mention the Vietcong broke many of the terms of the Geneva agreement also."
She continued," you have to understand, that if the government allowed an election, that would be the last election in South Vietnam. They didn't have elections for the obvious fact that the Communists would have won. That's one of the reasons why we are in Vietnam, to preserve democracy."
Jim interrupted, "oral agreement or not, the United States represents democracy. Ho Chi Minh has petitioned the West three times for support. In l9l9 he petitioned President Wilson at the Versailles Conference. President Wilson had written a document extolling self determination for the world and Ho sought his support, which was ignored. Again during world war II, Ho fought for the allies, assuming that after the war the West would abide by the l941 Atlantic Charter which pledged to restore sovereign rights and self government to those countries deprived. You can imagine Ho's surprise when the West turned Vietnam back to the French. He felt betrayed, a second time by the believers in freedom and democracy. And the final betrayal, the violation of the spirit of the Geneva Accords promising free elections. Ho chi Minh had been fighting for the very things we take for granted, self determination. In fact Ho Chi Minh's Declaration of Independence begins with 'We the people...' he borrowed many of the points from our own Declaration of Independence."
Kathy steamed and was flustered. Jim proved a tough foe.
Jim continued, "and now what do we have, an escalating war
in Vietnam."
Kathy grabbed the microphone and shouted over Jim, "Lyndon Johnson wants negotiations, but we have to have a stable government in South Vietnam, and the Vietcong have to agree to cease fighting."
Frustrated Jim answers," that's just it... how can you have negotiations when the government won't negotiate with the party there are fighting with, the Vietcong. That's why the government's policy is so stupid," Jim slammed his fist on the table making a point, "if we are to have peace in Vietnam, we have to talk to the people we're fighting against."
Angry, Kathy replies, "look, I won't be treated like this. Just because you can yell, doesn't mean that you're right." Someone in the audience cheered.
She continued, "look!...the people Washington needs to negotiate with are the North Vietnamese and Ho Chi Minh. They are the ones fighting the war. They are the ones sending troops, spies and supplies to the South. They are the ones who direct the war in South Vietnam. The Vietcong are nothing more than a front for the North Vietnamese government. They control the Vietcong. They supply them with arms, they feed them, they send them into South Vietnam, and everything that the National Liberation Front does is under the direction of Ho Chi Minh. The Nation Liberation Front, is just that, a front. A front for Communist takeover of South Vietnam."
Kathy slammed her fist on the table but quickly withdrew it trying not to flinch as the pain streaked through her hand. Damn she thought to herself, that hurts. When she sat down, she smiled as students stood and cheered.
Karl leaned over to Chris and whispered into his ear, "one for Kathy, zero for Jim... he should never take on a pretty chick like that."
Chris whispered back, "I know. With Glenn he could have got away with it, but not her."
Jim slouched in his chair. He couldn't be angry with her. He loved the way she took off, the fire she had, and the vigor in which she defended her position. He watched her in awl, not so much listening, he was spell struck. He couldn't dislike her, and now he even wanted her even more. She was a tiger, a real tiger when she mad. I bet she really gets excited when she gets hot, smiled Jim to himself.
Karl took the microphone from Jim," I think we need some calm... What we are really talking about is that there is no evidence that the North Vietnamese are directing the war in South Vietnam. The National Liberation Front, is composed of southerners, not northerners. Sure,a few North Vietnamese are captured now and then, but that's a small number. In fact the Government itself estimated in l963, 4,200 North Vietnamese infiltrated into South Vietnam...Well I would like to tell you that 34,000 American troops have , well lets say 'infiltrated' into South Vietnam, not to mention tons of supplies, equipment planes and now there are even bombing North Vietnam on a daily basis. I should add, that it's a violation of the Geneva Accords which allowed only for troop replacements, not an increase, and also, the same applies to arms."
Karl picked up steam as he continued," In fact, most of the arms are captured from the Vietcong are U.S. arms."
Glenn interrupted," wait a minute. First the 4,200 are the known infiltrators. They're many thousands more. Just because we know of at least 4,200 troops from North Vietnam, that doesn't mean that`s all of them. Also, it's true that many of the Vietcong are from the South, but you have to remember that in l954 when the Viet Minh were supposed to go to North Vietnam, that many were ordered to stay in the south. and that's where all of these supposed southern Vietcong came from."
Kathy anxious to say something, reached for the microphone as Glenn talked, finally he turned it over to her , "just last month, the South Vietnamese sunk a ship off the coast of South Vietnam. A ship proven to be from North Vietnam with over 100 tons of military arms, a million rounds of ammunition all from the Communist countries, such as Communist China, Czechoslovakia, North Vietnam and Russia. Now that's proof that the Communist from the North are supplying the Viet Cong in South Vietnam."
Jim answered, "one small ship is not proof that the North Vietnamese are the sole support and directors of the civil war in South Vietnam. That was the only boat and I say boat because its tonnage was small, no larger than the usual Chinese junk. Anyway, it was the only boat that the South Vietnamese have found in all the years that they have been extensively patrolling the coastal shorelines. If the North Vietnamese are supplying most of the arms to the Vietcong, than one would think that they would have at least found more than one boat. Yes BOAT." he emphasized again.
Kathy wanted to say something but Jim wouldn't let her . He continued. "now, one small boat, with arms from Communist countries does not necessary mean that they came from North Vietnam. In fact one can buy Communist arms in the United States, in the Army surplus stores, leftovers captured arms from World War II. Are you telling me that the United States is infiltrating arms into South Vietnam," laughed Jim," Of course not. I don't know where the arms came from. It can't be proven. Even if they did come from North Vietnam, it's nothing compared to the arms that the United States sent to help the South Vietnamese, and who sent in the arms first...The United State, has been sending in arms since the end of World War II. In fact, by the end of l954, we were supporting 80 % of the French effort in Vietnam. But regardless, is it worth escalating the war which may involve Red China ? Chris just told you that the Vietnamese have fought the Chinese for centuries. Ho even gave the country back to the French, in fear that the Chinese would stay in Vietnam. North Vietnam does not want to invite the Chinese back, but if the escalation continues, they may have no choice. Do we want to fight the hoards of Chinese... No, I don't think so. Red China in fact yesterday exploded its second atomic bomb, it won't be long until they will have the ability to deliver that bomb. Do we want to risk a nuclear war with Red China?"
Glenn grabbed the microphone from Kathy and forced a reply, "that's very the reason we're in South Vietnam. Red China thinks that it can set up these puppet governments, designed guerrilla movements as civil wars, when in fact they are designed to take over the countries one by one, all in the name of Communism, the revolution as Mao calls it, must continues till the free world is completely taken over. Once South Vietnam falls than Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan. All of Asia is at stake unless we make a stand now. In fact right at this very moment, Red Chinese supported insurgents are trying to overthrow Indonesia.... they started already their expansionist policy.
We have to tell the Communist that we will not, I repeat, we will not let the Communist walk all over Southeast Asia. We have commitments to the SEATO counties in which we've signed a treaty with, to help protect them if attacked by the Communists. They depend on commitment. If we don't, the rest of the world will view us as weak , thus they too will eventually fall to Communism, one by one."
Chris interrupted, "the Domino theory is just that, a theory proposed by the State Department. If the Domino theory was valid, other counties in the Caribbean should've fell because of Castro's Cuba. That didn't happened. Look at Southeast Asia, when the Communist took over China, Burma, should have fallen, which is right next door. It didn't. In fact China had never interfered in Burma."
Diek finally spoke up. Doing all the discussion he didn't know what to say, mostly because Glenn and Kathy were much more aggressive, and knew more than he did. But now he had his opportunity to say something, "but you have left out Tibet. What about Tibet, conquered by the Reds, And what the invasion into India, not to mention into Korea."
Chris wanted to interrupt him and tell him that Tibet was considered to be part of China historically. Even Chiang Kai-shek had a picture of China on his office wall in Taiwan showing Tibet to be part of China. To all Chinese, Tibet was always part of China, and the problem with India was nothing more than a long disputed border dispute. After the Red Chinese captured the part they considered to be China's, they stopped. If they were expansionistic, they wouldn't have stopped. But Chris didn't want to offend Diek, maybe it was old feelings of friendship, he didn't want to alienate Diek anymore than he already had. He still hoped that one day ,they would be friends again.
Late into the night the discussions continued. Someone asked about the terror of the North Vietnamese on their own people. What would happened to the million Catholics who fled South after l954. Wouldn't they be killed if the Vietcong took over? Jim answered saying that the very fact that Ho Chi Minh allowed the Catholics to leave North Vietnam, was proof that they wouldn't be harmed.
Many more questions were asked. Chris was amazed at the complexity of the problem with Vietnam. At times he even sympathized with the United States support. After all, the Marshall Plan and a strong front, did prevent the Communists from taking over in Turkey and Greece after the war. And where strength lacked, countries fell to the tyranny of Hitler and Togo. But the counter augments swayed him back. To make decision was difficult. So Chris relied on his gut feelings, and he prayed that they would guild him. All night the debate continued. Glenn, and Kathy were certainly well prepared. So was Jim and Karl, and even Chris felt that he was well prepared. Did it help him make a better decision. He thought so. Did the teach in help the other students make a better decision. He knew so.
Yes, Chris was proud of his efforts. He realized that not all of the people changed their minds, probably very few, but at least now when they think about the war, and whether or not they supported it, at least they will have some sound reasons for their choice.
Exhausted the Chris left the table he sat at for the entire day, the ashtray overflowed with cigarette butts, the only sign of a hectic day. Jim walked home by himself, and Chris walked Kathy and Phyllis home. That night Chris slept alone. He longed for someone to hold, he felt lonely, everybody appeared happy, content, to have their thoughts together. But to Chris, he was still restless, he couldn't sleep, he tossed and turned. He was confused, He didn't know if he should try to get to know Phyllis better. Maybe she would rebuff him, that would embarrass him. He thought of Becky, at Kansas, Nancy at SUNNY and Robin, in Vermont. Robin, he missed the most, wondering what she was doing. Did he mean anything to her or was he just one of the guys? It depressed him to think that he didn't mean that much her. He had know. Chris clutched his pillow holding it as he held Robin, his true love, thinking of her soft brown eyes, her gentle body, and laugh, her soft brown hair , lying agains t his face, her softness filling his hunger, and need. Chris drifted off too sleep.