Harrison Salisbury, the Vietnamese Enemy, and Wartime
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From Behind Enemy Lines: Harrison Salisbury, the Vietnamese Enemy, and Wartime Reporting During the Vietnam War A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Annessa C. Stagner June 2008 2 © 2008 Annessa C. Stagner All Rights Reserved 3 This thesis titled From Behind Enemy Lines: Harrison Salisbury, the Vietnamese Enemy, and Wartime Reporting During the Vietnam War by ANNESSA C. STAGNER has been approved for the Department of History and the College of Arts and Sciences by Chester J. Pach, Jr. Associate Professor of History Benjamin M. Ogles Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 4 ABSTRACT STAGNER, ANNESSA C., M.A., June 2008, History From Behind Enemy Lines: Harrison Salisbury, the Vietnamese Enemy, and Wartime Reporting During the Vietnam War (165 pp.) Director of Thesis: Chester J. Pach, Jr. On December 24, 1966, Harrison Salisbury became the first mainstream American journalist to report from North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. From his position behind enemy lines, the New York Times reporter revealed that America’s bombing campaign was causing many more civilian casualties than the Johnson administration had acknowledged. Additionally, he challenged how Americans perceived their enemy by portraying North Vietnam’s culture and political ideology as legitimate. Evaluation of governmental and public responses to his stories reveals the significance of these reports. They sparked controversy that undermined American and international confidence in the Johnson administration’s credibility, decreased support for U.S. policies towards North Vietnam, and put increased pressure on the Johnson administration to increase efforts towards peace. This thesis analyzes those effects, the Johnson administration’s complicated relationship to the journalist, and the broad debate among journalists over the proper boundaries of wartime reporting. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Chester J. Pach, Jr. Associate Professor of History 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am indebted to the Ohio University History Department and Contemporary History Institute for their financial support in this project. I also give special thanks to the archivists at Columbia University, the Johnson Library, Yale Archives, and the University of Illinois Archives for their generous efforts in helping me obtain information on my topic. I am most thankful to my advisor, Chester Pach, for suggesting this topic to me and for his time and patience in guiding me through multiple drafts. I am also grateful to James Baughman for his suggestions and comments and to all the other individuals I consulted regarding this endeavor. Finally, this project could not have reached completion without the support of my family, who through long distance phone calls and emails constantly encouraged me, and my colleagues at Ohio University, who shared in my all struggles as well as celebrations. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 5 List of Abreviations ............................................................................................................ 7 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: A Wartime Journalist Behind Enemy Lines: Creating a New Perception ...... 29 Chapter 2: Public Reactions and the Johnson Administration’s Response....................... 63 Chapter 3: The Secret Side of the Vietnam War from Behind Enemy Lines ................... 90 Chapter 4: Journalists Debate the Image of the Enemy and the Value of Reporting from Behind Enemy Lines ....................................................................................................... 113 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 150 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 157 Appendix A: Images ....................................................................................................... 162 7 LIST OF ABREVIATIONS Hanson Baldwin Papers, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives .................BP Harrison E. Salisbury Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University .............................................................................SP Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library .............................................................LBJL Declassified Document Reference System ..........................................................DDRS National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD .......................................NACP National Archives Building, Washington, DC ...................................................NA Record Group .......................................................................................................RG Department of State .............................................................................................DOS New York Times ...................................................................................................NYT Washington Post ..................................................................................................WP 8 INTRODUCTION On 24 December 1966, American journalist Harrison E. Salisbury of the New York Times stepped off an International Control Commission plane and onto North Vietnamese soil. It was evening, and the night was crisp and cold. Salisbury would soon miss his overcoat that he had accidentally left in his seat on the plane. Yet his excitement was extraordinary. This, he knew, would be one of the biggest, most important newsbeats of his life. He was an American reporter, and he had stepped behind enemy lines.1 Salisbury’s reporting from North Vietnam became much larger than what he had ever anticipated. He was the first mainstream American reporter allowed behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War, and he revealed that contrary to U.S. governmental assertions, America’s bombing campaign was killing a substantial number of civilians. Moreover, his first-hand accounts challenged American thinking about the war by portraying the North Vietnamese enemy as genuinely good-natured and their culture and political ideology as legitimate. His unprecedented series of reports landed on the front page of the New York Times, dozens of newspapers around the country, and many more around the world. Just as soon as the articles appeared, they provoked national and international controversy among government officials, peace advocates, and journalists. Salisbury’s reports not only raised questions about Johnson’s policies in North Vietnam but also challenged the limits of what many of his peers considered proper wartime 1 Salisbury chronicled his trip to North Vietnam in Harrison Evans Salisbury, Behind the Lines: Hanoi, December 23, 1966-January 7, 1967 (New York: Harper & Row, 1967). For a specific discussion of the I.C.C. plane and Salisbury’s initial experiences, see 28- 47. 9 journalism. The central purpose of this thesis is to provide a thorough investigation of Salisbury’s reports from North Vietnam and the subsequent controversy they raised. It argues that in his role as a journalist behind enemy lines Salisbury had a significant effect on public opinion in the United States, international relations, and the profession of journalism. It consists of four chapters, focused around four main themes of his reporting. First, this study evaluates Salisbury’s articles. It examines how Salisbury portrayed the bombing of the North and the image of North Vietnamese society he produced through his articles and photographs. Part of this assessment includes a comparison between his reports and those of government officials and other journalists in the years just prior to his stories. Beyond the reports themselves it follows Salisbury’s continued activism in relation to his experience in North Vietnam after he returned home through his television appearances and testimony before government officials. Finally, it investigates Salisbury’s intentions as a journalist, evaluates the accuracy of his reports and testimony, and looks at how his background, political stance, and the nature of his visit influenced his reporting. The second chapter investigates the controversy Salisbury’s stories raised within the government and society at large. This chapter utilizes newspapers, White House correspondence, and the memoirs of Tom Hayden and other peace activists to examine how Salisbury’s stories affected domestic and international public opinion on the war. By examining both private and public governmental responses to Salisbury’s stories, it also uncovers the influence the New York Times reporter’s articles and subsequent 10 statements had on how domestic and foreign political leaders including members of Congress and top British officials viewed the Johnson administration’s policies in Vietnam. In order to give a full account of the controversy surrounding Salisbury’s stories, this chapter also addresses how the Johnson administration responded to Salisbury’s reporting and attempted to reestablish its credibility. It explores how Johnson used public