Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VII, Vietnam, September 1968–January 1969

273. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State¹

Saigon, January 6, 1969, 1045Z.

245. Ref: A. Saigon 154; B. Saigon 160; C. State 1411.²

1. Having given them two days to let our message (Ref A) sink in, I had Herz telephone Thanh this morning to ask what the GVN proposed to do next. Thanh made it clear that Thieu would not take the initiative to see me, and so I did two things: I sent Berger and Herz to call on Thanh to prepare the ground further, and meanwhile I immediately asked for an appointment this afternoon with Thieu.

2. The word from the Palace is that Thieu was sick this morning and that we would be informed if he was able to see me this afternoon. Word has just come from the Palace, in response to my further inquiry, that Thieu is still not feeling well and is unable to see me. If he is well enough to go to II Corps tomorrow, as scheduled, I have asked to see him on his return, but I conclude that it may be Wednesday³ before I am able to see him.

3. Meanwhile, the conversation with Thanh served to bring out the attitude with which we will have to contend. Thanh said the President “is not satisfied” that Vance put forward all the six new proposals in one session, just to have them turned down one after the other. He (and Duc, who was also present) indicated that the GVN would like us to mark time, put pressure on the other side, and make it clear that we are waiting for them to call the next meeting. They also felt that after the Secretary’s press conference we are in a good position and all that is required is to hammer away at the theme that the table is not a procedural but a substantive question.

4. We quickly disabused Thanh of the idea that the Secretary shares his view that we are in a good position. We stressed that there is no chance at all that the American public, or world opinion, would feel that the difference between a circular table with and without a baize strip is worth delaying the inception of serious negotiations. We explained that the other side has made important (though conditional) concessions, including the important statement that they do not regard a round table as expressing their contention that the meetings are four-sided. We went over the elements of the present situation as compared to that in which we would be if we made a reasonable proposal along the lines of Ref C.

5. The upshot of this meeting was that Duc undertook to convey to Thieu what we had said and also to give him a paper that we had brought for the occasion. (Thanh left for Dalat immediately after our meeting.) So the stage is somewhat better set for the meeting I hope to have with the President tomorrow or Wednesday.

Bunker

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Vietnam, HARVAN Paris Todel-Paris Delto, Vol. XVIII. Secret; Immediate; Nodis/HARVAN. Received at 6:57 a.m. Repeated to Paris for the Vietnam Mission.
2. See Document 270 and footnote 6 thereto, and Document 272.
3. January 8.