Views of Ngo Dihn Nhu
Originator: CIA
Document date: 04/02/1963
Document type: PAPER-TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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176-10036-10093

2023 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM

IDENTIFICATION FORM

AGENCY : NARA

RECORD NUMBER : 176-10036-10093

RECORD SERIES : National Security Files

AGENCY FILE NUMBER :

ORIGINATOR : CIA

FROM :

TO :

TITLE : Views of Ngo Dihn Nhu.

DATE: 4/2/1963

PAGES: 4

SUBJECTS :

DOCUMENT TYPE :

CLASSIFICATION.:

RESTRICTIONS :

CURRENT STATUS :

DATE OF LAST REVIEW : 9/10/2000

OPENING CRITERIA :

COMMENTS : National Security Files, Box 197: Vietnam, 4/63-5/63. Box 2

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EXEMPT NUK-81: 314

TELEGRAM INFURMATIONT REPORT TELEGRAM

1.51s

CENTRAS INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

This matorial contains information. affecting the

National Defenso

of the

Unitad Slater

meaning of the Espionage Laws, Titlo 18, U.S.C

793. 0nd 79461

transmission orarelation.hich.mannertoamunacherted.parton.it.orohibited.by.19.=

Sece

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COUNTRY:

SUBJECT.

SOUTH VIETNAM

VIEWS ONGO DEN NEG ON TES

MANSFIELL

REPORT NO. TDCS: -3/542,408

2 APRIL 1963

REPORT, AND. ON AMERICAN AID

AND

PRESENCE IN SOUTH VIETNAM

DATE DISTR.

0472 813

PRECEDENCE ROUTINE

DATE OF

LATE MARCH 1963

REFERENCES

IN

INFO.:

PLACE &

VIEINAM, SAIGON (27 MARCH 1963)

DATE ACO..

APPRAISAL

SEE BELOW

FIELD REPORT NO. FVS-8719

•THIS IS: UNEVALUATED INFORMATION. SOURCE GRADINGS ARE DEFINITIVE: 'ÄPPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.

SOURCE AN, AMERICAN: OBSERVER (B); FROM NGO DINH NHU.

APPR

NGO. DINH NHU PROBABLY EXPRESSED THE VIEWS STATED AND

WAS AWARE THAT THEY

WOULD REACH AMERICAN OFFICIALS.

L.. IN LATE MARCH 1963 NGO DINH NHU SAID THAT HE DISAGREED WITH THE

POSITIONS APPARENTZY TAKEN BY SENATOR MANSFIELD AND COVERAL CLAY WHICH SEMED

A19 060r.

TO HIM TO IMPLY THE DESIRABILITY OF WITHDRAWAL OF AMERICAN AID AND PRESENCE

FROM CERTAIN COUNTRIES AND CONCENTRATION ON OTHER COUNTRIES. HE THOUGET THAT

THE, WITHDRAWAL OF AMERICAN AID AND PRESENCE FROM ANY COUNTRY IN WHICH THE

COMMUNIST PRESENCE AND ACTIVITIES CONSTITUTED A DANGER WOULD CREATE A VACUUM

WEECH THE COMNUNISTS WOULD FILL. HE EMPHASTZED SEVERAL TIMES THE DANGER OF

COMPLETE WITEDRAWAL.

2. AT THE SAME TIME, NEU STATED THAT HE RECOGNTZES THE NEED FOR

7H.C.6G

LESSENING THE BURDEN OF

BY ACHIEVING A BETTER QUALITATIVE DISTRIBUTION AND

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DIA JARMY/ACSI NAVY AIR JOS SECOES NSA.

.-#IC...._A.ID

US. LA_

ONE

GROUP 1

Encluded Irom automals

downgreding and

declasslicairon

STATE! INR

SJATE/D iR

D/D/

TELEGRAM INFORMATION RERORT

EXO

TELEGRAM

FORM

5-03

1Kb OBSQLETE PREVIOUS EDITIONS.

(19-20)

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TDCS - 3/542,408

IN

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EFFECT OF AID WITHIN ANY GIVEN COUNTRY.

HE SAID THAT FOR THE PAST: TWO OR

THREE MONTHS, HE HAD COMMENTED ON PRESIDENT DIEM'S AND HIS OWN RECOGNITION

THAT SOUTH VIETNAM MUST ACHIEVE BETTER QUALITATIVE UTILIZATION OF AMERICAN

AID, HE REITERATED HIS CONCEPT OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY, HIS THEME THAT AN

UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRY SHOULD NOT BECOME ACCUSTOMED TO LIVING AT TOO

ARTIFICIALLY HIGH A STANDARD BASED ON FOREIGN AID, AND HE EXPRESSED THE

BELIEF THAT SOUTH VIETNAM IS MOVING TOWARD A BETTER "STRUCTURED" UTILIZATION

OF. AID AND IS CONCENIRATING IT AT THE GRASS ROOTS AMONG THE PEASANTRY. HE

COMMENTED THAT URBAN INDUSTRIALIZATION AND OTHER FORMS OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

DID NOT MEET THE NEEDS OF THE MASS OF PEOPLE AND PROVED TOO SLOW IN ACHIEVING

AN IMPACT. HE REMARKED THAT HE CONTINUES TO SEARCH FOR WAYS TO DIMINISH THE

LEVEL OF FOREIGN AID REQUIRED IN SOUTH VIETNAM AND BELIEVES ALSO THAT WAYS

SHOULD BE FOUND TO DIMINISH THE NUMBERS OF AMERICANS DEPLOYED THERE. HOWEVER,

NHỤ DID NOT IMPLY THAT ESSENTIAL AID OR ESSENTIAL AMERICAN PRESENCE SHOULD IN

ANY WAY BE DISCARDED..

3.

NHU SAID THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND CONGRESS TEND TO LOOK UPON

THE PROBLEM OF UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES AS AN ISOLATED PROBLEM ACCENTUATED

CRITICALLY BY THE COMMUNIST THREAT, AND TO CONSIDER. AID AND AMERICAN PRESENCE

MORE AS MEASURES IN THEMSELVES BY WHICH IO MEET THESE CRISES. ON THE OTHER

HAND, NHU AND DIEM SEE AMERICAN AID AND PRESENCE IN SOUTH VIETNAM, ACCORDING

TO NEU, GIVEN THE LARGE SCOPE OF THE PHENOMENA, AS A RAMIFYING "MEETING OF

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TIN

TDCS - 3/542,408

PAGE THREE

CIVILIZATIONS. " NEU SAID THAT DIEM HAD USED THIS EXPRESSION RECENTLY IN AN

INTERVIEW WITH AMERICAN REPORTERS TO MEAN THE MEETING OF WESTERN (AMERICAN)

CIVILIZATION WITH SOUTH VIETNAMESE CIVILIZATION. NEU REMARKED THAT THIS WAS

A FERMENTING PROCESS AND COULD HAVE "EXPLOSIVE" CONSEQUENCES FOR SOUTH VIETNAM.

NEU COMMENTED THAT THESE CONSEQUENCES OF THE "MEETING OF CIVILIZATIONS" WERE

INHERENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE FOREIGN AID AND PERSONNEL WERE PRESENT TO

A LARGE DEGREE. IN THIS CONNECTION, NHU SAID THAT COLONIALISM IN ITSELF HAD

NOT BEEN ALL BAD. REFERRING TO VIETVAM'S EXPERIENCE WITH THE FRENCH, NEU SAID

THAT THE WORST ASPECTS OF COLONIALISM HAD COME AT THE LOWER RANKS OR AT THE

BOTTOM OF THE FRENCH COLONIAL STRUCTURE AND THAT THEY HAD RESULTED FROM THE

ACTIVITIES OF FRENCH "ADVENTURERS," COMMERCIAL REPRESENTATIVES, AND LOWER

FUNCTIONARIES. HE: ADDED THAT THESE KINDS OF REPRESENTATIVES WERE PRESENT ALSO

AMONG THE AMERICANS CURRENTLY IN SOUTE VIETNAM, WHILE, AT THE UPPER ECHELON OF

AMERICAN PRESENCE, THERE WERE MANY REPRESENTATIVES WHOSE ROLE WAS CONSTRUCTIVE

AND HELPFUL TO SOUTH VIETNAM.

4. NHU CONTINUED BY EMPHASIZING THAT HE IS NOT ANTI-AMERICAN AND THAT

HE HOPED THAT HIS COMMENTS WOULD NOT BE MISCONSTRUED IN THAT SENSE. HE SAID

THAT THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM HAS ATTEMPTED TO PROVIDE ITS PEOPLE WITH A

CLEAR NATIONAL DOCTRINE AND THAT HE FELT THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD MADE CONSIDERABLE

PROGRESS IN ACHTEVING THIS GOAL. HE COMMENTED THAT IN HIS OPINION, THIS WAS NOT

THE CASE TWO OR THREE YEARS AGO, BUT HAS BECOME TRUE GRADUALLY DURING THE

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TDCS - 3/542,408

IN

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE CURRENT WAR, AND ESPECIALLY THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT AND

PROGRESS OF THE STRATEGIC HAMLET PROGRAM.

5. FIELD DISSEM. STATE ARMY NAVY AIR USMACV MAAG AID USIA

2ND AIR DIVISION 9TH FIELD STATION CINCAC ARPAC PACFLT PACAF.

END

• OF

MESSAGE

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