500 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS January 23, 1986 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS THE LAMONT-LODGE LETTERS thermore, you were willing to become Am­ ground that that country all along had been bassador a second time precisely when Mar­ invading South Vietnam and bore the major shal Ky, the new Premier of the South Viet­ responsibility for the troubles there. John­ HON. TED WEISS namese Government, had proclaimed that son and his military advisors invented this OF NEW YORK his great hero was Adolf Hitler. line in order to justify their own savage ag­ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Like Secretary Rusk and the U.S. State gression against North Vietnam. Thursday, January 23, 1986 Department, you have pretended that This crass propaganda issuing from the South Vietnam was established as a perma­ White House you, Cabot Lodge, have sup­ Mr. WEISS. Mr. Speaker, Corliss Lamont nent independent state in the Geneva Ac­ ported all the way in public statements. In has long been one of our Nation's most princi­ cords of 1954, whereas you well know that your heart of hearts, can you possibly think pled and articulate voices on questions of the division of Vietnam into South Vietnam that this is Veritas? U Thant of the United public and foreign policy. If his warnings of the and North Vietnam was designed as a tem­ Nations was right when he said in reference emerging folly of our Vietnam policy had been porary measure and that the Accords pro­ to Vietnam: "In times of war and of hostil­ heeded in time, thousands of lives might have vided for all Vietnam elections in 1956 to ities, the first casualty is truth." unify the country. You must be aware, too, been saved and untold suffering avoided. You have also misled your fellow Ameri­ that it was the United States and its puppet, cans by claiming that the U.S. Govern­ An exchange of letters between Corliss President Diem of South Vietnam, that re­ Lamont and Henry Cabot Lodge, who served ment's purpose in Vietnam is to save free­ fused to permit these elections and thus dom and establish democracy. In fact, start­ as Ambassador to South Vietnam, has now clearly violated the Geneva treaty. ing with the brutal dictator Diem, the been published in Harvard Magazine. The cor­ As Walter Lippmann has pointed out: United States has bolstered up one puppet respondence begins with Corliss Lamont's "While our government endorsed the dictatorship after another in Saigon-nine open letter to Lodge dated November 1, 1965, Geneva agreements, and especially the pro­ different governments in the past two and concludes with Lodge's revealing note of vision for free elections, it opposed free elec­ years-as successive military coups have tions when it realized that Ho Chi Minh August 2, 1984. This material is of special rel­ taken place. These South Vietnamese gov­ <President of North Vietnam) would win ernments rule through police-state methods evance as we again consider proposals to es­ them. Gen. Eisenhower states this frankly calate U.S. military involvement in the Third of crude violence, terror and torture. None in his memoirs. Since that time, we have in­ of them would have lasted a week without World. I commend the text of these letters to sisted that South Vietnam is an independ­ the military support of the United the attention of all Members of the House. ent nation." <New York Herald Tribune, States.... THE LAMONT-LODGE LETTERS April 20, 1965). What all of this adds up to is that in this matter the United States has In all frankness, Cabot, how can you sleep Corliss Lamont and the late Henry Cabot been guilty of double-dealing and a failure nights when you sanction the horrible and Lodge were classmates and close friends, but to honor its pledged word. wholesale slaughter by U.S. bombers of throughout the course of a long-running The inscription on the seal of Harvard is women, children and peasants-on noncom­ correspondence they were fierce political Veritas, a motto that has deep meaning for batant civilians in general-throughout adversaries. The Vietnam war brought the Harvard men. Do you really think, Cabot, Vietnam? In the past few months, American two into opposition once more, resulting in that you are serving Truth when you join in planes have repeatedly dropped napalm and a series of public and private documents distorting the meaning and history of the heavy-duty bombs indiscriminately on that deserve a place in the historical record Geneva Accords that are so basic to under­ South Vietnam villages where a few Viet­ of the Vietnam era. standing the situation in Vietnam? cong were "reported" to be. Here is what a In November 1965, when Lodge was in his Again, every objective observer knows U.S. Air Force officer recently told the Asso­ second tour as U.S. Ambassador in Saigon, that the National Liberation Front in South ciated Press: "When we are in a bind, we Lamont wrote a long open letter reproving Vietnam, with its military arm-the so­ unload on the whole area in order to save him for supporting a militarily imposed so­ called Vietcong-is leading a nationalist up­ the situation. We usually kill more women lution to the crisis in Vietnam. Lodge tena­ rising supported by the vast majority of the and children than we do Vietcong." In ciously defended the Johnson administra­ population. The fact that Communists North Vietnam, our bombers have destroyed tion's position in a communication that the strongly back this revolution and share in hospitals and patients, schools and school New York World Journal Tribune published its leadership does not nullify its indigenous children, residential houses and civilians. in September 1966. Lamont replied in a character. What we have here is the reso­ Owing to the terrific bombings in South second open letter. Lodge did not respond, lute and unyielding effort of a former colo­ Vietnam, more than 600,000 destitute refu­ but long afterward, in the summer of 1984, nial people to assert its freedom. Opposing gees have fled to the coastal cities. he wrote Lamont a brief and compelling this is a white Western nation, the U.S.A., You are among those responsible not only note resolving their disagreement. determined to re-impose shackles such as for the killing of scores of thousands of Vi­ Lamont's first open letter is reprinted France maintained for almost a century. As etnamese, but also for the death of more below in slightly shortened form; Lodge's the noted British historian Arnold Toynbee than 1,000 American soldiers who have reso­ newspaper statement appears in full. tells us, the Vietcong struggle is part of a lutely given up their lives in this futile, use­ LAMONT TO LODGE world-wide "revolt of the 'native' majority less war 10,000 miles from our Pacific Dear Cabot: You will recall that as class­ of mankind against the domination of the Coast-a madcap adventure in which the mates in the great Harvard Class of 1924, we Western minority." United States has already wasted billions of both helped to found the Harvard Debating The Vietcong guerrillas possess effective dollars collected from American taxpayers. Union, and that you and I had brisk ex­ modern weapons in considerable quantity, The probabilities are all against our winning changes at its meetings. Ever since, we have but only a trickle of arms reached them this confliCt, even if our trigger-happy carried on a running debate concerning from North Vietnam <at least up to Febru­ President sends 1,000,000 troops to Vietnam. basic issues that have confronted our coun­ ary 1965). It is the United States that has We cannot win because of the jungle ter­ try and the world. You consistently main­ been the main source of supply. For the rain, because the overwhelming majority of tained a conservative position, and before guerrillas have obtained their guns chiefly the Vietnamese people is opposed to the long became a prominent member of the from deserters bringing in American-made U.S. intervention and because no stable, ef­ Republican Party. In my judgment you arms or by capturing such arms from the fective government can be established in were always one of the better Republicans. apathetic troops of the South Vietnamese Saigon. Now our disagreement has become more Government. Yet the United States buildup increases at far-reaching and fundamental than ever be­ In spite of these well-recognized facts, the a rapid rate. On June 30, 1964, a well-known cause of your active support, as American U.S. Government last February, when it re­ U.S. diplomat was asked what he thought Ambassador to South Vietnam, of the John­ alized the Vietcong was winning the civil would be the consequences of massive Amer­ son Administration's cruel, illegal and im­ war, suddenly started intensive bombing of ican involvement in Vietnam. His answer moral war of aggression in Vietnam. Fur- Communist North Vietnam on the specious was: e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. January 23, 1986 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 501 Well, that means we become a colonial peace conference that includes the National Clearly such a defeat would shake confi­ power and I think it's been pretty well es­ Liberation Front as an independent author­ dence in us not only in Asia, but also in the tablished that colonialism is over.