185. Editorial Note
On November 1, 1965, retired Foreign Service officer Paul Sturm (Y) replaced Edmund Gullion as Mai Van Bo’s contact. The unpublished portion of United States-Vietnam Relations summarizes Sturm’s instructions as follows:
“November 1, 1965—X introduces Y by letter to R
“Instructions for Y:
- “1. Stress building pressures in the U.S. for escalation—not a threat but a fact.
- “2. Take an anti-Chinese tack.
- “3. Develop theme of Asian economic development and aid.
- “4. DRV Aide-Memoire,
September 23, 1965:
- “a. Asserts U.S. insists on keeping forces in SVN. With respect to this, pursue the idea of stages.
- “b. Asserts U.S. insists on separate Vietnams forever.
- “c. Seeming change on point three—now NLF ‘must have decisive say.’
- “d. What is meant by ‘solemnly declaring acceptance of four points—stopping all action, withdrawal or agreement to withdraw, bombing cessation?’
- “e. Rules out any DRV response to a bombing cessation.” (United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967, Book 12, Part VI, C, 1, page 21)
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam’s aide-memoire, September 23, is printed ibid., Book 12, Part VI, B, pages 160-163.
On November 18, when Sturm and Bo met, their discussion was unproductive with Bo expressing puzzlement that Sturm had no new knowledge to convey. (Ibid., Book 12, Part VI, C, 1, page 21)