Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume I, Vietnam, 1964

447. Message From the Ambassador in Vietnam (Taylor) to the President¹

Saigon, December 16, 1964—1 p.m.

Embtel 1764.² Since returning from Washington, my primary preoccupation has been to meet with the politically important groups in Saigon in compliance with your instructions to make crystal-clear the attitude of the USG toward the minority efforts to overthrow the Huang cabinet and to undertake to offset these efforts. I have stressed our firm intention to continue to support the struggle of SVN but the essentiality of a durable government in order to permit that support to be effective. Among those with whom I have spoken are Chief of State Suu, Huong and his senior advisers, the members of his cabinet, most of the members of the High National Council, the key Generals, and many of the local editors. Key members of the Embassy staff have also been spreading the word to all their contacts. Although there has been little discussion of the views presented in these meetings and no attempt to rebut them, my impression is that these comments have had an effect and are receiving wide currency in Vietnamese circles.

During the week, the opposition of the Buddhist Institute leadership to the government and to Huong personally took the form of public letters to Chief of State Suu and to me,³ castigating Huong and claiming Suu and I bear responsibility for the government. Three Institute leaders carried on a hunger strike against the government, among them Tri Quang who has taken full charge of the anti-GVN campaign. I have deliberately avoided direct contact with the Institute leaders preferring to work through Embassy officers who are regularly in touch with them. The immediate problem appears to establish communication between them and a spokesman for Huong who personally has no desire to talk to the bonzes, much less to compromise with them.

The relatively restrained character of the Buddhist campaign thus far suggests that the Institute leadership is well aware of their lack of a broad base of support even among most other Buddhists and lack of a truly religious issue to use against the government. They appear to be trying to provoke the government to take actions against them which will give them an issue and an appeal to popular sympathy. Needless to say, the Mission is giving this entire matter of the Buddhist opposition its priority attention.

General Khanh is the cause of some uneasiness again, not primarily because of any anti-governmental inclination but because of the restlessness of many of the Generals under his leadership. While he continues to be the most able of the lot, he often displays a fundamental lack of principle which eventually erodes the confidence in him of most of his associates. So far as I can see, he is having little luck in unifying the Armed Forces and eliminating the factions, the primary task he set for himself upon quitting the government.

There is little newsworthy to report in the other areas of our activity. Except for a rather large action at An Lao in Binh Dinh Province on December 7, military operations have been relatively routine. Pacification progress around Saigon seems to be picking up but probably will not reach all year end target objectives.

We had another series of heavy rains which have caused some flooding north of Saigon and south of the area devastated by typhoons last month. Relief action is in progress and the situation appears to be in hand.

In response to your expressed interest in the attitudes of minority groups toward the Huong government, I am sending to State today a comprehensive summary of attitudes of the principal minority elements toward the government as we presently appraise them.⁴

Taylor⁵

1. Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T–161–69. Secret; Priority; Nodis. Drafted by Taylor and transmitted as telegram 1826 from Saigon, which is the source text.
2. Telegram 1764 from Saigon, December 9, transmitted Taylor’s report to the President on the activities in Vietnam while Taylor was in Washington. (Ibid.)
3. Translations of these letters were transmitted in telegram 1790 from Saigon, December 11. (Department of State, Central Files, SOC 12)
4. Infra.
5. Telegram 1826 bears this typed signature.