Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume VII, Vietnam, July 1970–January 1972

82. Telegram From the Department of State and Department of Defense to the Embassy in South Vietnam¹

Washington, December 7, 1970, 8:31 p.m.

199387. Subject: Prisoner of War Initiative. Refs: A. State 198683,² B. Saigon 19270.³

1. This supersedes guidance contained Ref A.

2. In order further to underline our desire for earliest possible release of PWs in all of Indochina, the President would like to make a joint US/GVN proposal which would consist of following elements:

A. Recall the PW proposal in the President’s October 7 speech, approved by the Governments of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, for “the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of war held by both sides.”

B. Underline that this humanitarian issue need not—and should not—await resolution of other military and political issues.

C. Point to last week’s United Nations resolution on this subject which reflected global concern.⁴

D. State that the holiday season is a particularly apt occasion for movement on this humanitarian issue.

E. Make a specific offer of the immediate release of the 8,200 NVA PWs held in SVN in exchange for the immediate release of all US and free world personnel held in Indochina and all GVN personnel held outside South Vietnam.⁵

F. Say that Ambassadors Bruce and Lam are ready to meet daily with the other side’s negotiators to make immediate progress on this question, starting December 11.

3. This formulation, while reaffirming the October 7 proposal, deals only with prisoners being held in countries other than their country of origin. Our line would be that the October 7 proposal still stands, and that we have only broken out a part of it to generate movement.

4. For maximum impact we would hope this offer could be made jointly by US and GVN spokesmen in Paris at the Dec. 10 session.

5. Please raise this with President Thieu with a view to getting his approval for the proposal to be made jointly at the Dec. 10 plenary. You should explain to Thieu that we greatly appreciate his cooperation, as well as the considerations raised by him reported Ref. B. However, judgment here is that omission from proposal of US PWs held elsewhere than NVN would be politically unacceptable in US, and would undermine our consistent position that NVN, as moving force in aggression against GVN and other nations in Southeast Asia, is accountable for all US missing and captured personnel regardless of location of loss.⁶

Rogers

1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 190, Paris Talks/Meetings, Paris Talks, 1 Oct 70–Dec 70. Secret; Nodis; Paris Meetings. Drafted by Frank Sieverts (U/PW) and R. Jefferson (DOD/ISA); cleared by Green, Laird, Brigadier General Smith (Joint Staff (J3)), and Kissinger; and approved by Johnson. Repeated for information to the Delegation in Paris.
2. In telegram 198683 to Saigon, December 6, the Department reported the President wanted the U.S. and GVN delegations in Paris to make a joint offer at the December 10 plenary meeting to release all DRV prisoners held in the South in exchange for all GVN and allied prisoners in the North. Additionally, if either delegation was asked why allied prisoners held in the South were not included, it should offer to include them in exchange for all VC in the South. The Department also instructed Bunker to discuss the proposal with Thieu and noted that the Department of Defense wanted to have all U.S. prisoners throughout Indochina included. (Ibid., Box 94, Vietnam Subject Files, Vietnam—US POWs in NVN, Vol. I) Laird made this POW proposal to Nixon in a November 18 memorandum; however, according to an attached NSC correspondence profile, Kissinger saw it but it was never forwarded to Nixon. (Ibid.)
3. In telegram 19270 from Saigon, December 7, Bunker reported on his meeting with Thieu who was not prepared to release all 25,000 VC imprisoned in the South for fear that they would rejoin the VCI. Thieu also believed that including prisoners throughout Indochina would complicate the proposal. (Ibid.)
4. A U.S.-sponsored resolution aimed at protecting U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam was approved in the UNGA Social Committee on December 1.
5. In a December 7 memorandum to Kissinger, Haig wrote that Laird wanted to change the original version of this paragraph, which called for an exchange of prisoners held in North and South Vietnam, to the text here. Laird’s concern was that the original version would upset the relatives of those POWs being held outside Vietnam. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 336, Subject Files, Items to Discuss with the President, 8 September 70–December 70)
6. The two delegations made the offer at the December 10 plenary, and the DRV and NLF responded by offering an immediate cease-fire if the United States would remove all its forces from the South by June 30. (The New York Times, December 11, 1970, p. 5) Nixon followed up by issuing an “Open Letter” to the families of U.S. POWs on December 26, in which he recounted the administration’s efforts to secure the POWs’ release and DRV intransigence. He noted that the December 10 offer was still good and that the South would release a group of sick and wounded prisoners as it had each year as a demonstration of “our readiness to comply with international standards.” (Public Papers: Nixon, 1970, pp. 1157–1160)