Politics in the Jet Age
SACKS, I. MILTON
EFFECTS OF THE GUAM CONFERENCE Politics in the Jet Age By I. Milton Sacks Reports from the White House that President Johnson plans to hold semi-annual meetings similar to last month's Guam...
...The Ambassador, they are aware, has been under attack from conservative critics at home as an appeaser and political manipulator who might be soft toward the Vietcong in his zeal to find a way out of the war before the 1968 elections...
...and Vietnamese leaders certainly exist on this matter...
...It also was obvious from the exhausted condition of the participants when they returned home that even today's high-speed jets cannot overcome the time gap between Washington and Saigon, raising further doubts about the value of symbolic enterprises as against the more careful day-to-day Executive planning and work patterns on a matter so vital as Vietnam...
...Tension between the military leadership and civilian elements in the Cabinet are openly acknowledged...
...While in Australia in January Premier Ky also expressed opposition to dealing directly with the National Liberation Front (nfl...
...But he hastened to add that since the Communists "are very strong and well disciplined, whereas South Vietnam's political parties are as yet underdeveloped and weak," Communist participation was undesirable "as long as we are not well organized...
...Now the entire leadership of the United States Mission in Saigon is about to be changed...
...While the organizers did not plan it that way, the session highlighted three principal and immediate problems requiring greater study and understanding: 1) the changes in leadership of the American Mission in Saigon...
...forces in Vietnam, will shortly be given another major assignment...
...The country and its problems remain, crisis and war continue...
...It is not surprising that President Johnson reacted with "amazement" to news stories that played up Ky's statement...
...Still another is Major General Edward W. Lansdale, a behind-the-scenes figure in the American effort, who presumably will leave with his whole team...
...EFFECTS OF THE GUAM CONFERENCE Politics in the Jet Age By I. Milton Sacks Reports from the White House that President Johnson plans to hold semi-annual meetings similar to last month's Guam conference of South Vietnamese and American leaders have given new impetus to the debate over the wisdom of such get-togethers...
...and Robert W. Komer, special assistant to the President with responsibilities for Vietnam, who is expected to concentrate on pacification...
...To mitigate the situation, U.S...
...And the Vietnamese, with all the emphasis on personal relationships that is so characteristic of their society, are forced to adjust and adapt themselves to the endless succession of Americans too many of whom, alas, first become aware of history when they begin a new job...
...There is no sense talking to a subordinate when you know who makes all the decisions," he observed...
...The startling announcement of the U.S...
...Consequently, there is a continual movement of United States personnel in and out of Vietnam...
...Another important figure scheduled to depart soon is Barry W. Zorthian, director of the Joint United States Public Affairs organization, who is in charge of informational, cultural and educational matters as well as psychological warfare...
...After all, the South Vietnamese voters have already shown themselves capable of choosing a constituent Assembly with an overwhelming anti-military majority...
...This hard stance may well express the military leaders' especial concern over the appointment of Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker...
...Like the Honolulu meeting in 1966, its most apparent characteristics were a lack of preparation and rather unexpected convocation...
...Two men are replacing Porter: Eugene M. Locke, who will serve as Deputy Ambassador...
...Philip Habib, political counselor, will return to the United States after his tour of duty...
...The generals have reciprocated by publicly indicating their contempt for the politicians, who have not been able to create a stable political force...
...In the end, perhaps realizing that they had gone too far with their belligerent stance, Premier Ky and Chief of State Thieu affirmed that they were willing to talk peace to Hanoi??as suggested in South Vietnam's response to a United Nations query addressed to both Hanoi and Saigon...
...Added to this are the difficulties of a tropical climate, the strain of long working hours, the absence of family, and the myriad hardships of living in areas lacking the amenities taken for granted in American society...
...But whether Ky's strong views represent Vietnamese public opinion is another question, which will be answered in the forthcoming general elections...
...These changes and the resultant feelings of uncertainty undoubtedly influenced Chief of State Nguyen Van Thieu and Premier Nguyen Cao Ky to take a stand at Guam which contrasted markedly with President Johnson's position...
...2) the differences in approach to peace negotiations on the part of the South Vietnamese leadership and President Johnson...
...Thus, the Guam conference helped to avoid a possible open confrontation between the generals and the Constituent Assembly...
...The government and assembly that will emerge from these elections will certainly have great bearing on the moves and negotiations toward peace in embattled Vietnam...
...Worse still, American personnel in Saigon have publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Komer...
...The abrupt convocation of the Guam meeting??and Washington's clear indication that it assign a high priority to progress toward an elected, broadly-based government??led the generals to scrap their reservations to the Assembly's draft...
...diplomatic changes in Saigon points up the unsettling effect of American personnel policies...
...The war, with its daily lists of casualties, is grim enough...
...In addition, speculation is rife that General William C. Westmoreland, Commander of the U.S...
...Premier Ky found it more expedient to make President Johnson a gift of the new Constitution than to attempt to revise it...
...One can only hope that the newly appointed men will prove skillful in overcoming the difficult problems of transition...
...Guam, as has been widely noted, was clearly a hasty, improvised affair...
...At the end of last January, Foreign Minister Tran Van Do indicated that he believed the Communists might soon want negotiations because of the "rapid weakening of their strength" and went so far as to say that "he did not think that Communists should be indefinitely excluded from participation in South Vietnamese politics...
...military and civilian organizations rotate their personnel after what each considers an appropriate period of service, and this varies from a minimum of six months to a maximum of two years...
...It is most likely that Premier Ky will be a candidate for President, since he seems to have more support in military and political circles than his main rival, Chief of State Thieu...
...A shake-up of such proportions in the midst of a situation like the one that exists in Vietnam must inevitably have negative effects on virtually every phase of American operations...
...Such remarks are not unusual for the South Vietnamese Premier, who also stressed the "close solidarity among the generals of the Armed Forces...
...of a trip just to make sure that Westy, Bunker and Komer get along all right out there...
...Premier Ky further softened his stand to bring himself more in line with the United States by stating that if Hanoi has "the intention to have members of this so-called Front of Liberation with them, we have no objection...
...There is some confusion, however, concerning the precise division of responsibility between the two men...
...and 3) the importance of elections in Vietnam based on the new Constitution drawn up by the Constituent Assembly...
...The simple fact is that a large section of the political elite in Vietnam is not disposed to accept military rule...
...The Premier's strong words at Guam are probably an accurate reflection of his true feelings: "Even to permit the Front to pose as representatives of any segment of the South Vietnamese people would betray the sacrifices made by thousands of Vietnamese, Americans and our other allies...
...Last February 25, at ceremonies marking the distribution of 100,000 land certificates to 42,000 peasant families in Can Tho, Premier Ky observed that "only the Armed Forces have more capabilities than other organizations to bring welfare and security to the people . . ." and that "the Armed Forces are entrusted with the task of building the nation...
...Not only is Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge being succeeded by Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, but Deputy Ambassador William Porter??who just recently revamped the whole structure of the American civilian effort??is also leaving Vietnam...
...In fact, his whole line was calculated to emphasize the South Vietnamese military regime's determination to carry out a win-the-war policy...
...Indeed, one American official is said to have commented, "It was a heck Nonetheless, the Guam conference was important if only because it underscored the difficulties and frustrations facing the United States in the conduct of the Vietnamese war and the search for peace...
...I. Milton Sacks, Associate Professor of Politics at Brandeis, recently returned from a two year tour of Southeast Asia and Vietnam...
...Premier Ky raised several questions designed to promote escalation of the war in Vietnam, and he clearly intended some of his comments as a rebuke to peace critics of the Johnson Administration in the U.S...
...Elections are now set for September and October 1967...
...Before Guam, the ruling generals insisted that the Constituent Assembly fashion a document coinciding with their concept of their role in the new system...
...In effect, Ky and some of the generals see themselves as playing the same role in Vietnam that the military played so successfully in South Korea...
...The President has always felt that the nlf would have no difficulty making its views heard in any negotiations, and nothing that happened at Guam caused him to change his mind...
...Nevertheless, differences between the U.S...
...It remains to be seen, however, if either of the generals will be able to fashion a military-civilian coalition that can win popular approval from the electorate...
...Service in Vietnam, whether civilian or military, is hazardous and onerous...
...Prior to the Guam meeting, the ruling generals had shown considerable displeasure with the Constituent Assembly's draft of a new constitution for South Vietnam...
...In any event, it is clear that the South Vietnamese government leaders do not share American views on the desirability of negotiating with the Vietcong, though they have themselves stated contradictory views on the matter...
...Elsewhere, Ky has sought to emphasize that "what is important is not a matter of having a civilian or military government, but rather a government which is popularly elected...
Vol. 50 • April 1967 • No. 8
