Negotiations in Vietnam

May 2, 1962

U.S. FORCES IN South Vietnam seem to be trying everything short of outright fighting to stem the growing strength of the guerilla revolt. But plush relocation camps to concentrate the peasants and helicopter supply lifts cannot sustain unpopular President Diem's rule without direct U.S. military support. Even such military action, however, would be likely to succeed only in the distant future. If U.S. policy continues, as guerilla fighting spreads and more American troops pour into Vietnam, the U.S. will doubtless be involved, in a shooting capacity, with a long and messy jungle war.

Because some of the Communist-led guerillas are non-Communists who oppose President Diem's authoritarianism, such a war could hardly be waged in the name of democracy. Because many are South Vietnamese, American intervention would mean, at best, meddling in a civil war; at worst, suppressing a popular rebellion. But the principle of national self-determination has guided American policy only when its Cold War stategy permits....

Present U.S. policy thus faces a future either of stalemate or of fast and loose brinkmanship. It seems ridiculous to waste American lives in action that can be nowhere near conclusive, especially when American aims in this region are far from clear-cut....