Hanoi Journal, 1967

European Preparations and the Journey to Hanoi,September 9–29, 1967

3 European Preparations and the Journey to Hanoi, September 9–29, 1967 ‫ﱘﱗﱖ‬ TRIP TO HANOI September 1967 9 September 1967, I think, was the date we learned about the Hanoi trip. By the evening of the 11th selections were formalized, and the following people were to go1: Tom Hayden Vivian Rothstein Rennie Davis John Brown John Wilson Myself Bob Allen (National Guardian) Norm Fruchter Ron Young Stoney Cooks The morning of the 13th everyone left for Prague, from Bratislava.2 Nick Egleson3 and some of the other Americans from the conference came to 1 See introduction for the actual delegation. 2 See introduction for description of Bratislava Conference. 3 Nick Egleson was president of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) during 1966–67. Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS (New York: Random House, 1973), 664. 4 Hanoi Journal, 1967 Prague as well. I went to Vienna for a day to arrange airline tickets and the like. 13 September 1967—evening In a Vienna hotel room—a strange one!—Carol Brightman (editor of Viet Report and a very sharp gal who spent a month in Hanoi last January for the war crimes tribunal),4 spent hours talking. She made many useful suggestions for the trip: Places to visit: 1. Catholic provinces: main → Thanh Hoa, and Ninh Binh, Thai Binh, Nam Ha districts: Tinh Gia (in Thanh Hoa) 2. north of Hanoi: Viet-tri, Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho 3. northeast: Haiphong, Ha-long Bay, Hangai (a coal-mining region, resorts, and model worker’s towns) 4. south: Ninh Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces 5. near Hanoi: Thai Binh (heavily populated and large rice producer) 6. working quarters near Long Bien Bridge, Hanoi People: 1. Pham Ngoc Thach: Minister of Health 2. Dr. Lan Le Duan: head of mobile surgery team in Thanh Hoa (city area) 3. Dr. Pham Quy: head medical officer of Thanh Hoa province 4. Nguyen Van Vy: interpreter Other suggestions: 1. ask regularly for: Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI) releases, 2. propaganda: look for leaflets, transistor radios, etc. dropped along coast, all psychological warfare, 3. get pieces of (guava) bombs, 4. in villages, especially look at places where women hold administrative positions 4 Refers to the War Crimes Tribunal held by the Bertram Russell Peace Foundation in Sweden in May 1967. The tribunal accused the U.S. government of atrocities in the conflict in Vietnam. John Duffett, ed., Against the Crime of Silence: Proceedings of the Russell International War Crimes Tribunal (New York: O’Hare Books, 1968), 3–5. European Preparations and the Journey to Hanoi 5 17 September 1967 Discussion with Ivo Vasiljev, Czech specialist and interpreter of Vietnamese —a warm, lovely man with a very deep feeling for the Vietnamese. Several suggestions of things to look for: 1. the English school, i.e., where English is taught, 2. phenomenon of towns with only women and children, 3. road-building brigades We talked a lot about customs, a conversation continued September 20th with Pham Van Chuong of the NLF [National Liberation Front]5 mission in Prague. Many helpful suggestions. Ivo’s main points were: 1. always smile, 2. respect local customs (dress, walking people outside, accepting food), 3. bring gifts, 4. inquire about behavior Chuong added some: 1. greet each other by handshakes, 2. ask guides about photographing, 3. ask mothers about holding children The general point of all: American and European customs are rather barbaric compared to a great deal of Vietnamese culture. Their culture is important to them, and disrespect for its importance is insulting. Discussing this dramatized for me how varied and untraditional our American culture is, and how unable we are to perform properly with foreigners. Part of it is a healthy dislike of fetish and a suspicion of formalities that lack sincerity. But the difference of the Vietnamese culture, according to Ivo and to many Vietnamese we have met, is that it is dear to them, an important element of their life, and part of their history that lives strong. 5 Established in December 1960, the National Liberation Front (NLF) was a communist-led guerrilla group that sought to organize the countryside against the corruption of Diem’s American-backed regime in Saigon. The organization, according to historian George Herring, was “designed to rally all those disaffected with Diem by promising sweeping reforms and establishment of genuine independence .” George Herring, America’s Longest War: the United States and...