JOHN S. KNIGHT WRITES THAT SOUTH VIETNAM IS NOT WORTH THE COST

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• Publication Date: March 12, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN

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1964 CONGRESSIONAL. RECORD - SENATE 4869
Mr.--bA 6RSR. Mr. President, if the ous and dreary task which will win no in south Vietnam Is not even a SEATO
Senator from Minnesota will yield, I friends for the United States, action.
There Is also, as I have mentioned, the
have a suggestion to make. Of course, we have no business there
Mr. HUMPHREY. I yield. risk of escalating the war and finding our- unless SEATO is in, for the only selves locked in mortal combat with millions pos-
Mr. MORSE. It will be possible to of Red Chinese. In such a struggle, the sible legal connection that we can make
obtain a quorum more quickly if the United States would have no allies at our between the activity of the United States
piles of junk in the basement which are side. in South Vietnam and international law
termed "tramway cars" begin to op- How the Soviet Union might react under is SEATO. All the SEATO nations did
erate at 50 percent of efficiency, rat er these circumstances is left to your ima.gina- was to join the United States, for we, too,
than 10 percent. tion. ~ are a signatory to the SEATO treaty.
If the United States couldn't muster up At the time those nations signed the
enough courage to throw Fidel Castro out SEATO treaty they agreed among them-
JOHN S. KNIGHT WRITES THAT of neighboring Cuba, why should we be
hellbent selves that South Vietnam was an area
SOUTH VIETNAM IS NOT WORTH upon saving South Vietnam from
the Communists? of concern to the SEATO nations-not
THE COST Cuba is far more important to our secu- merely to one, not merely to the United
Mr. GRUENING. Mr. President, in, rity and that of the hemisphere than South States, but to all of them-and yet our
view of the previous generous waiving Vietnam. Yet we failed miserably when so-called SEATO allies have done ab-
vf the the minute previous rule, I ne us waiving tested at the say of Pigs. And the Commu- solutely nothing in connection with the
consent that I may proceed for 10 min- nist subversion of Latin America continues question of South Vietnam. They are
utes. unabated. If the South Vietnamese begin to show more willingness to fight their en- perfectly willing for the United States to The PRESIDING OFFICER. With- emy than in the past, let us continue to pick up what the Secretary of State tes-
out objection, it is so ordered, support them with limited military assist- tified the other day was 97 percent of the
Mr. GRUENING. Mr. President, the once. Ultimately, southeast Asia will be cost and to sacrifice American blood.
day before yesterday, Tuesday, March lost to the west no matter which course we I do not welcome the idea of a national
10, in an address on the Senate floor pursue. debate on South Vietnam, but it has
of considerable length-an address on If this be true, and I am convinced it is, started. The editorial to which the Sen-
of team-I gave my view that ton why should we sacrifice countless American
Vietna
lives in a southeast Asian death struggle stet has referred is only one of many
United States ought to get out of Viet- when the subversionists and saboteurs are being written these days. There will be
nam. I reviewed the history of our 10 free to carry on their diabolical work in this a full scale national debate on South
years there. I gave my view that Presi- hemisphere where our true interests lie? Vietnam because the American people
dent Johnson had inherited the mess in are entitled to it. They will participate
Vietnam and that he now had the op- And, Mr. Knight concludes, in reply in it by increasing millions. The pro-
pro-
Vietnity to reappraise he now
policies and to a question posed by his grandson, gram cannot be justified as unilateral
and to policies and John, as to what we should do in Viet- American action in southeast Asia.
pr to t the past decade the
errors
important past de to to make nam, by writing that he hopes that his Whom are we deluding? if we got
the we or would r ant continue is n not is to whe the reply "will help him to understand the into a wgr with Russia tomorrow, we
lives of American boys in what has folly of going to war for unrealistic and unattainable objectives." would not keep a boy in South Vietnam.
proved a disastrous venture, of fighting Mr. President, Mr. Knight is well- We all know that if we gat into a war
for a people that shown no disposition with Russia, the war would be a nuclear
to fight for their own freedom. known and respected throughout the war. The great danger is that the situ-
I realize that the decision is not an Nation. He is a person of conservative ation In Vietnam might be an ignited
easy one and that there are substantial and enlightened views. He is an out- fuse that could start such a war. Let us
differences of opinion on this subject. standing molder of public opinion. . I face the issue. There are those who wish
Some of these differences were voiced believe time will show, as indeed it to escalate the war. There are those
on the floor of the Senate yesterday by should already have shown, that we who wish to start using nuclear power in
some of our able colleagues, whose views committed a folly when we moved Into North Vietnam. I believe that the first
were expressed forthrightly, eloquently, Vietnam over 10 years ago, and that it is nuclear bomb dropped in North Vietnam
and with deep conviction and sincerity. high time that we reassessed our policy would start a holocaust.
I respect their views, although I do not and our past actions. What makes us think that the United
agree with them. I repeat my view that we should with- States can call unilateral shots in the
I find substantial support of my view draw our men from combat in Vietnam, field of foreign policy in areas far be-
that the United States should get out of where they are presumably serving as yond the perimeter of American defense?
Vietnam, from a very distinguished advisers. This is a war which the South We should keep ourselves in a position in
newspaper editor and publisher, John S. Vietnamese have to fight and win, if they which we ' are always defensibly right,
Knight, now nearing the respectable age can be. brought to show-which they - and where there is no question about the
of 70. He has been a past president of have not to date-their willingness to fact that we are following a nonagression
the American Society of Newspaper Edi- fight in their own defense and for their course of action. But if we escalate the
tors, and is the publisher of papers in own freedom, as did the South Koreans war into North Vietnam, I can hear our
Chicago, Miami, Detroit, and elsewhere. at the time when the United States-not so-called allies dissociate themselves
He has a distinguished military record. singlehandedly and alone, as in South from us on the ground that we are fol-
being a member of the Veterans of For- Vietnam, but under the auspices of the lowing an aggressive course of action.
b
eig ean Wars, the American Legion, and the United Nations and with the forces of a I will make one other point, if the
Forty and Eight. dozen other nations fighting by our Senator from Alaska and other Senators
In a widely read, syndicated column side-went into Korea. will permit me to do so. Take a look at
under the general heading: "John S. Mr. MORSE. Mr. President, will the the population of South Vietnam. The
Knight's Notebook," entitled "Vietnam: Senator from Alaska yield? American people need to be told that the
It Isn't Worth the Cost," he writes as Mr. GRUENING. I yield with pleas- overwhelming majority of the Vietcong-
follows: ure. that is, the Communist Vietnamese-are
If it were my decision to make + + + I Mr. MORSE. Once again I commend South Vietnamese.
would not get th decision States involved in the Senator 'from Alaska for his tour- The sad fact is that many of the fami-
a major war to save south Vietnam and age-for it requires courage-in warning lies of South Vietnam are split. Uncles,
southeast Asia. the American people about the shocking cousins, and brothers are on opposite
My personal view-stated many times-is International fiasco the United States is sides and, in some instances, I under-
that the white man is through in Asia and conducting in South Vietnam. stand, fathers are on one side and sons
that there is nothing we can do to turn the
tide of The Senator from Alaska has referred on the other. That situation has all the
rising nationalism,
Furthermore, even a swift military victory to South Korea; but the situation in characteristics of a civil war.
,
over North Vietnam would produce no per- South Vietnam has nothing in common What are we doing in a civil war in
manent and peaceful solution in that area. with the situation in South Korea. The South Vietnam? Can any Senator tell
The winning of such a war must inevitably action in South Korea was a United Na- me? I do not know. The American peo
be followed by prolonged occupation, a tedi- tions action, whereas the present action pie are entitled to all the facts. The
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE March 12
Senator has heard me say previously that
in a democracy there is no substitute for
full public disclosure of the public busi-
ness.
There is a great deal of monkeybusi-
ness in South Vietnam that the public
does not know about. It is about time
that the Congress proceeded to find out
all the facts and disclose them to the
American people, because the sons of
American mothers and fathers are dying
in South Vietnam and, in my judgment,
that cannot be justified.
As a member of the Foreign Relations
Committee-and my colleagues on the
committee know it and many disagree
with me-I do not propose to vote an-
other dollar for South Vietnam. I was
against going in; I have been against
staying in, I am for getting out imme-
diately.
As I suggested to the administration
a' while back, I wish to see that long
list-and it ought to be a long list-of
honorary pallbfarers selected from the
personnel of the Pentagon and the State
Department to meet the ships laden with
flag-draped coffins that will start coming
into western ports in much larger num-
ers if we escalate that war.
A serious public policy Is Involved. It
had better be debated openly and
frankly. I am for debating it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The
time of the Senator has expired.
Mr. GRUENING. Mr. President, I ask
unanimous consent, in view of the cir-
cumstances, that I may proceed for an
additional 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
objection? The Chair hears none, and
it is so ordered.
Mr. GRUENING. I thank the Senator
from Oregon for his pertinent and per-
spicacious contribution. He is quite cor-
rect in what he has said. He has added
greatly to the value of the discussion. I
shall proceed.
We should continue to furnish the
South Vietnamese with arms and am-
munition, but we should not sacrifice
another American life and add to the
tragic number of our American boys
who have already lost their lives there,
I deeply believe that South Vietnam Is
not worth the life of a single American
boy.
I ask unanimous consent that the ar-
ticle from "John S. Knight's Notebook,"
printed in the Chicago Daily News on
Saturday. March 7, 1964, entitled "Viet-
nam: It Isn't Worth the Cost," be
printed at the conclusion of my remarks,
as well as an accompanying article by
Peter Lisagor, Washington bureau chief
of the Chicago Daily News, entitled "Viet
Solution: It Just Ain't That Easy."
There being no objection, the article
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
VIETNAM: IT Is NOT WORTH THE COST
(By John S. Knight)
Views on the news: Our young people
have an embarrassing way of asking the
blunt, direct questions which disconcert
their elders.
My grandson, for instance, Is Interested in
South Vietnam and recently gave a talk on
that baffling situation at Lawrenceville
School.
But now he writes: "I have been following
your editorials with interest and note your
constant pleadings to avoid a 'needless and
bloody war in southeast Asia: But what
specifically do you suggest?"
Well, Johnny, If I knew the single, simple
answer to that question, I'd request a White
House appointment with our President and
unfold my plan. But even this would be an
impertinence since no individual has access
to the classified information on South Viet-
nam which Is available only to the President
and his advisers.
As background, Vietnam was occupied by
Japan In 1940 and used as a base for the in-
vasion of Malaya. At war's end, the Com-
munist forces began a long guerrilla strug-
gle with the French which ended with de-
feat of France's expeditionary troops at Dien
Bien Phu in May of 1954.
A cease-fire signed at Geneva in July of
the same year divided Vietnam along the
Ben Hai River. South Vietnam was to com-
prise 39 provinces with the country's future
status to be determined by a plebiscite.
These elections have never been held.
Under the Eisenhower-Dulles policy of at-
tempting to oppose the expansion of com-
munism, the United States became involved
in the protection of South Vietnam from
the Vietcong guerrilla fighters of the north.
Our protege was the late Ngo Dinh Diem,
an obstinate man with an obsessive sense of
mission but who had little to offer his peo-
ple as a counterattracLion to communism.
The Americans trained the South Viet-
namese Army for a conventional war which
never took place. By 1961, it was recognized
that different measures were needed. The
emphasis was shifted to counterguerrilla
tactics with U.S. military "advisers" directing
the struggle.
ALL REGLMF.S ARE THE SAME
What has happened since is well known,
Mr. Diem was murdered III a palace coup and
his successor ruled only briefly before he,
too, was overthrown.
Meanwhile, the Vietcong became stronger.
Their forces are now 10 times as large as
back in 1969. Even with American aid and
military assistance, the South Vietnamese
can point to no significant victories.
Gen. Nguyen Kharth, current leader of
South Vietnam, is attempting to popularize
himself. as the economist of London's cor-
respondent reports, "by kissing babies, hand-
Ing out money to village headmen, raising
the pay of the demoralized soldiery, while
keeping an anxious ear cocked for portents
of the next coup."
General Khanh Is said to be the ablest and
toughest man available to lead his people.
Yet "che clo nao, cung vay" is the comment.
It means "all regimes are the same"
So we find ourselves today In a deteriorat-
Ing situation, with U.S. military advice large-
ly Ignored, diplomacy uncertain and waver-
Ing. and the South Vietnamese having little
appetite for the struggle.
Our late President once told me that he
recognized we had become overcommitted
in southeast Asia but, like the rest of us,
had no sure solution for the problem.
And that is the dilemma facing President
Johnson today.
ONLY TWO CHOICES WE CAN MAKE
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and
other Pre:,identlal envoys are once again in
South Vietnam on another "factnnding"
tour and will presumably bring home recom-
mendations for a future course of action.
As I see it, there are only two choices we
can make.
The fire.t is to recognize the impossibility
of a military victory and negotiate for what-
ever political advantages can be found in a
stalemate. This is the plan advocated by
Gen. Charles de Gaulle who says we can't
win and should settle for the "neutraliza-
tion" of what used to be French Indochina.
The second alternative Is to carry the war
into North Vietnam and risk another Korea.
Neither would settle anythrr g w'Sth Reality.
The first Is merely an accommodation with
reality, yet humbling and bitter to the taste.
The second could Involve E. war of major
proportions if carried to the limit with no
privileged sanctuaries In North Vietnam.
The latter course would surely lead to
Chinese intervention and could precipitate
a nuclear war between the United States and
the Soviet Union.
TWO VIEWS: HAWKS VERSUS DOVES
However. there are some White House ad-
visers, known as the hawks, who think
there Is little danger of massive retaliation
from the Communist bloc. Others, called
the doves. believe that U.S. sorties across
the 17th parallel would cause Moscow and _
Peiping to resolve their ideological differences
and make common cause against this coun-
try.
President Johnson Is convinced that we
cannot afford to lose South Vietnam to the
Communists lest other guerrilla wars break
out and all of southeast Asia he doomed.
He is also sensitive to Rep'ablican charges
that his administration is pursuing "soft"
policies with respect to the Communists.
The only thing that can be said with cer-
tainty about South Vietnam Is the urgency
of decision making in a rapidly deteriorating
situation,
It is a trying judgment to make, President
Kennedy believed the South Vietnamese,
with our aid, could bold off the Vietcong
Indefinitely. But Mr. Kennedy's view was
too optimistic, and the troubled man who
succeeded him must now act.
WHITE MAN ON WAY OUT
If It were my decision to make-and I
hope my grandson will not think me
cowardly-I would not get the United States
involved in a major war to save South
Vietnam and southeast Asia.
My personal view-stated many times-is
that the white man Is throtgh in Asia and
that there is nothing we can do to turn the
tide of rising nationalism.
Furthermore, even a swift military vic-
tory over North Vietnam would produce no
permanent and peaceful solutions in that
area.
The winning of such a war must inevitably
be followed by prolonged occupation, a tedi-
ous and dreary task which wi'.l win on friends
for the United States.
There is also, as I have mentioned, the risk
of escalating the war and finding ourselves
locked In mortal combat with millions of
Red Chinese. In such a struggle, the United
States would have no allies at our side.
How the Soviet Union might react under
these circumstances is left to your imagi-
nation.
If the United States could not muster up
enough courage to throw Fit:el Castro out of
neighboring Cuba. why should we be hell-
bent upon saving South Vietnam from the
Communists?
Cuba is far more important to our secu-
rtty and that of the hemisphere than South
Vietnam. Yet we failed miserably when
tested at the Bay of Pigs. And the Commu-
nist subversion of Latin America continues
unabated.
If the South Vietnamese begin to show
more willingness to fight their enemy than
in the past, let us continue to support them
with limited military assistance.
THREE BIG QUEST-CONS
Why cannot South Vietnam conduct as ef-
fective guerrilla operations as their foes to
the north?
Is it because the South Vietnamese lack
the will to protect themselves, or have they
no confidence in their leadership?
Or, is it because they have found no real
counterattraction to communism?
Ultimately, southeast Asia will be lost to
the West no matter which course we pursue.
If this he true, and I am convinced it is,
why should we sacrifice cov.ntiess American
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD SENATE
lives in- a' southeast Asian death struggle
when the subversionists and saboteurs are
free to carry on their diabolical work In this
hemisphere where our true interests lie?
This is a long reply to Johnny's one-para-
graph question.
But I hope it will help him to understand
the folly of going to war for unrealistic and
unattainable objectives.
For, as they say in Saigon, "all regimes are
the same."
VIET SOLUTION: "IT JUST AIN'T THAT EASY"
(By Peter Lisagor)
WASHINGTON.-The Johnson administra-
tion may soon wish it had sneaked Defense
Secretary Robert McNamara out of town on
his present mission to Saigon instead of
allowing it to be ballyhooed as the key to this
country's future course in South Vietnam.
01' Doc Mac may be the resident genius at
the Pentagon, but nothing in the'record sug-
gests that his diagnosis of what's wrong in
the war against the Communist Viet Cong
will be any more precise or any less mislead-
ing than almost all of the fever charts of
the recent past.
Yet it is part of the prevailing Washington
mentality to dispatch factfinders and balm
dispensers to the trouble spots and expect
them, through some occult gift for discovery
or healing, to settle matters.
Assistant State Secretary Tom Mann tried
it in Panama, without success; Under Secre-
tary of State George Ball came away from
Cyprus with an empty bag, and now McNa-
mara goes to Vietnam burdened by the Presi-
dent's stated conviction that he will cor-
rectly appraise the situation and return with
appropriate recommendations.
jungle, in remote mountain passes, and in
the great river deltas."
This terrain, MANSFIELD noted, "favors an
enemy whose tactics are hit-and-run, plun-
der and retreat."
The strategic hamlet plan of defense, estab-
lished on the antiguerrilla plan that worked
in Malaya, changed the picture somewhat
from the 1953 depiction by MANSFIELD, but
not, according to Fishel, enough to matter
materially.
If McNamara succeeds in making an ac-
curate appraisal of the will and wisdom of
the latest coup leader, Gen. Nguyen Khanh,
he may deserve a medal. The Khanh regime,
for example, reportedly is considering a break
in relations with France on the ground that
Paris is actively promoting President Charles
de Gaulle's neutralization plan.
France has a firm cultural and economic
stake in Vietnam. Nearly half of South
Vietnam's exports go to France, and French
interests keep the coal mines working and
help keep the railroads running, among other
enterprises there. Uncle Sam would have to
pick up the entire tab in Saigon if the French
were thrown out-a prospect viewed with no
enthusiasm here.
THE ALASKA LEGISLATURE SUP-
PORTS LEGISLATION TO REVI-
TALIZE THE GOLD MINING INDTJS-
TRY
Mr. GRUENING. Mr. President, the
Legislature of the State of Alaska has
taken note of the grave plight of Our
gold mining industry.
This industry has suffered a discrim-
ination in the United States which is
is turned into a major exercise in divination unique not only in our free enterprise
and prophecy. South Vietnam has proved to' economy but unique among the gold
be a boneyard for the prophets, and those
who thought that the removal of President
Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Nhu would
solve everything are now struggling to keep
their heads above the quicksands of doubt.
"It just ain't that easy," as the ivy-
encrusted experts in the Government will tell
you. Both the White House and Emissary
rr rr4 ara may regret the swollen view of the
places. tralia. They all kept their gold mines
By almost every account available, the working as did all other gold producing
campaign in Vietnam corresponds to the nations.
judgment of Wesley R. Fishel, a Michigan in addition to that, our Federal Gov-
annd d a onetime University consultant to the e Diem regime politics a n specialist in Asian ernment has imposed upon the industry
gim
in Saigon. the restriction to sell gold at the price
In a recent analysis of the Vietnam situa- fixed 30 years ago in 1934 at $35 an
tion for the Foreign Policy Association, Fishel ounce. Obviously, since that time all
bluntly states that the United States is In for costs have risen sharply; the costs of
a long and costly haul and that the tide labor, equipment, materials, and so
of battle now "flows in the Communists' forth, have more than doubled. But the
ment persists in forbidding our
favor
" G
.
overn
The bleak alternative of neutralizing Viet- gold mining industry to sell its gold at committee on Mines, Materials, and
nam, North and South, or carrying the war other than this price and only to the Fuels, of which I am chairman and by
across the 17th parallel into the Communist U.S. Government. the full Interior Committee. It now
North are viewed as unlikely by Fishel, the
- awaits action before the Senate. But it
first because it would eventually lead to a Mr. LONG of Louisiana. Mr. Presi
Communist takeover and the second because dent, will the Senator yield? is highly desirable that that action be
it would risk a war against Communist Mr. GRUENING. I yield. preceded by a moratorium on the Treas-
China, or another Korea. LONG"of Louisiana. If anyone ury Department's unwarranted opposi-
But more pertinent to the McNamara mis- Mr. tion.
sion, Fishel quotes a supporter of neutrali- should look for a moment at what high The Legislature of the State of Alaska,
zation, Senator MIxE MANSFIELD, Democrat; interest rates are costing our Govern- which State was once one to our great
of Montana, to show how difficult it is to ment-our action being justified on gold-producing which State States, one of taken great
determine the status of the fighting, to "cor- the balance-of-payments argument-he zance of the situation, and its Senate
rectly appraise" the situation. would find that it would be very cheap, Resolution 17 urges action on my bill.
MANSFIELD wrote in 1953, when the French by comparison, to subsidize the produc-
were mired in Indochina, that the "war is a tion of gold compared with what it costs I ask unanimous consent that this res-
grim one. It is a strange and elusive strug- us even to maintain the national debt olution be printed at this point in my
alone. I estimate that that cost is about remarks.
ise a a war of shadowy sdden without
raids in the nlines. It ight, of
parachute drops on scattered supply dumps, $6 billion a year. That is the cost There being no objection, the resolu-
of interminable patrol actions, of ambush, merely to take care of the national debt tion was ordered to be printed in the
terrorism and sabotage " * fought in dense at the higher interest rates that have RECORD, as follows:
producing nations of the world. The
United States alone during World War
II issued an order closing our gold mines.
This was done under the mistaken view
that the production of gold was not nec-
essary to the war effort. But no other
country "took such a step, including those
that were associated with us in the war
4871
prevailed since President Eisenhower
came into office about 11 years ago. For
a fraction of that cost we could subsidize
the production of gold and have no prob-
lem about our balance of payments.
Mr. GRUENING. The Senator is cor-
rect. For not much more than the one-
hundredth part of that cost we could
take care of the needs of the gold-mining
industry. We could revive a once great
American industry, which has played so
great a part in our history for whose
extinction the Federal Government is
uniquely responsible, and bring a whole
economy back to life. By creating em-
ployment where there is now unemploy-
ment, it would contribute greatly to the
success of President Johnson's declared
war on poverty. I thank the Senator for
his contribution.
In consequence, of Federal action,
unique and arbitrary, and constituting
an unprecedented and unparalleled dis-
crimination in our free enterprise sys-
tem, our gold mining industry is virtually
extinct.
Over the years valiant efforts have
been made to sponsor legislation that will
relieve this situation. Our able col-
league, the Senator from California [Mr.
ENGLE], when a Member of the House
and chairman of its Interior and Insular
Affairs Committee, sponsored such legis-
lation and held extensive .hearings on it.
He did the same 2 years ago in the Sen-
ate. More recently, these attempts have
been renewed and various approaches to
a solution of this problem have been
tried. They always run against the
stubborn opposition of some theorists in
the Treasury Department who insist that
aid to the gold-mining industry will
somehow have an adverse effect on the
stability of the dollar.
Those of us who attended these hear-
ings consider this claim to be without
merit. But, unfortuantely the Treasury
Department has so far been able to make
its views prevail. And while stubbornly
opposing all such efforts it declines to
cooperate in proposing any alternatives.
My bill, S. 2125, which has no relation
whatever to the price of gold but would
merely subsidize gold mining, to com-
pensate the mining enterprises for the
differences in cost that have taken place
in the last quarter of a century-and
from which the industry cannot escape
because of Federal action-has been ap-
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4872 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE March 12
SENATE RESOLUTION 17 David Hapgood, which appeared in the of the Nation." The next steps were-unsur-
ResOlution relating to Federal assistance to March 2 issue of the Nation. prising: Senghor proclaimed austerity, be-
the domestic gold production industry I hope that the contents of this article Cause of a huge budget deficit-and the mili-
Whereas the mining of gold in the United will register not only with my colleagues tary appropriation went up.
States has declined sharply for years because in the Senate and House, but with the Other Presidents have hsd less cause to
of enormously Increased costs of production thank the army;
as contrasted with a gold price that has re- executive agency that is responsible for In January 1963, unemployed veterans as-
mained fixed; and promoting and supporting military aid eaesinated President Sylva 1us Olympic of
Whereas a sharp reflection of the decline to these new countries. Togo.
of the domestic gold production industry Is I shall expect to move, when the for- In August, the army ousted President
found In the State of Alaska, which produced eign aid bill comes up for discussion, Youlou of the ex-French Congo.
850,000 ounces of new gold in 1940, contrasted that this item be eliminated except In November, the army ousted President
with 114,000 ounces in 1981, and employed where the President finds that it is in In Hubert Mary 9 Dahomey.
4,000 men in gold mining In 1940, contrasted n January , Uga
64, nda army units mutinied in
with S00 men in 1962; and the national interest that it be granted Tangaaplka Uganda and Kenya.
Whereas the domestic gold production ta- to a specific country and so notifies the In February, Leon Mba of Gabon was
dustry cannot fdom ti expected to cti n in- Congress with his reasons for this excep- deposed from the Presidency by his own
production In a situation in which profit Is Lion. troops and restored by Fren,:h force of arms.
impossible; and I ask unanimous consent that the ar- In the ex-Belgian Congo, the army has of
Whereas the Honorable EaNegr GaEVNIrrc, tide by David Hapgood entitled "Africa: course been in politics since independence.
U.S. Senator from Alaska. In a bill cospon- The Mutinous Armies," be printed at iThe example is contagious. Shortly after
sored by the Honorable E. L. BASTLt'rr. U.S. this point my remarks. Liberia ra's assassination, the dLsoc Govern an army
y
Senator from Alaska and four other distln- There being the discovery of S. army
There no objection, the article plot against President William V V. S. Tub-
guished U.S. Senators, has proposed legisla- was ordered to be printed in the REcoen, man. A Liberian officer is reported to have
tion to authorize payments Individual said to his fellow officers: "It 250 Togolese
miners of gold so as to compensate for their as follows:
costs of production today as compared with AFRICA: THE MuTiwous ARMIES soldiers can take power, think what we can
the peak production year of 1940; and do with our 5,000 troops."
(By David Hapgood) Once the pattern has been established, the
Whereas the Legislature of the State of When Tanganyika's soldiers mutinied In soldiers can hardly fail to see that the gov-
Alaska holds to the view that a modest late January, President Julius K. Nyerere ernment offers them a tempting target. The
subsidy ofthe domestic gold production in- was helpless until, at his reluctant request? state Inherited by African civilians from the
dustry would in no serious way weaken the British troops returned to disarm the na- colonial powers was based cn military con-
dollar or add to International balance-of- tion's own army. Nothing could more dra- quest. When the Europeans withdrew, they
payments matieaily Illustrate the weakness of African took with them the bayonets and
Whereas this Nation should not neglect gunboats
governments. A series of army interven- on which their administrations rested.
adequate development of the ample re- tions-seven in the last 13 months-have Their African successors can create armies
sources of gold with which it has been fa- shaken the continent's rulers, and as In Asia but cannot control them. The palace is
vored, but rather should develop a gold pro- and Latin America, the military are show- there for the taking.
duction industry capable of fulfilling all do- Ing their power over the civilians. When they move against the civilians, the
mastic rr aandeme is for gold in industry, Some of the African victims of the milt- soldiers do not seem driven by any particular
Resolved, Thathe t the arts: Be It of the United tary, like President Fulbert Youlou of the Ideology, They show no signs of being social
States Is respectfully urged to take favorable Brazzavlllo Congo, deposed last August, are revolutionaries along Middle East lines; no
States on the to ialatton clownish figures whose overthrow was not Ataturk or Nasser has appeared In Black
g proposed by Sen- surprising. But Nyerere was probably the Africa. Nor, at the other extreme, are they
ator GRvKNINO to assist the domestic gold most respected of African Presidents, cynical exploiters of public power for private
mining industry; and be It Though there had been grumbling over some profit on the Latin model; Africa has pro-
Further resolved, That copies of this res- of his measures, Tanganyika seemed, after duced no Trujillo or Batista. The govern-
olution be sent to the Honorable Stewart L. 2 years of independence, to be off to a bet- meats the African military ousted or rebelled
Udall, Secretary of the Interior; the Honor- ter start than most African nations. Elected against have been among the continent's
able Douglas Dillon. Secretary of the Treas- almost unanimously, Nyerere had no or- best (Nyerere and Oiympio) sad worst (You-
ury; the Honorable Wayne N. Aspinall, chair- ganized opposition and ass apparently sup- lou).
man, House Interior and Insular Affairs ported by the great majority of Tangan- In East Africa and In Togo, the soldiers
Committee; the Honorable Henry M. Jack- yikans. He is, also, an extraordinarily ap- were simply using their guns to get some
son, chairman, Senate Interior and Insular pealing f :f re among politician& a man butter. The Togolese President, Olympio.
Affairs Committee; and the members of the whose dedication is tempered with enough was an austere and stiff-necked realist who
Alaska delegation In Congress. humor to prevent fanaticism. But popular refused to waste money on tae army, which
Famed by the Senate March 3, 1964. as he is, the people stood by while a hand- he limited to 250 men. When the veterans
FRANK PERATROVICH, ful of soldiers made a mockery of his author- pleaded with him one afternoon, Olympfo
President of the Senate. ity. It Is a measure of Nyerere'a desperation contemptuously called them "mercenaries"
Attest: that he, like the leaders of Kenya and (which they were; they had fought for the
EVELYN K. STEVENSON, Uganda, was forced to call on the British French In colonial wars) and dismissed them.
Secretary of the Senate. for troops-the most humiliating request That night about two dozen veterans sur-
that an ex-colony could make rounded Olyrnpio's house and at dawn they
The plight of Julius Nyerere proves how killed him. Apparently Nyerere and the
MILITARY AID TO AFRICAN COUN- misleading the surface appearance of African other East African leaders learned a lesson
TRIES MERELY PROMOTES politics can be. Much is said about the from Olympio's death; Instead of confronting
ARIES STRIFE trend to one-party states and dictatorship their mutinous soldiers, they temporized un-
in Arrina; Nyorere himself was criticized re- til they could call in the Briaah. Once the
Mr. GRUENING. Mr. President, one cently for bringing labor unions under state troops had arrived, the essential pattern of
of the numerous follies committed in our control and making his Tanganyika African colonial rule was restored: a ,civilian admin-
of the n m rougram is to offer mina National Union the only political party. But situation resting on foreign military force.
foreig aid military the fact that a ruler jails his few opponents, Though it to Idle to seek political ideology
aid to the numerous newly born African makes and unmakes foreign policy at will, In soldiers holding up governments for
countries. Most of these countries are and Is cheered by the crowds when he passes money, there were overtones of social revolu-
desperately poor and if aid In American in his limousine does not make him a "dic- Lion in the troubles that led to military In-
dollars Is to go to them, it should be eco- tator" In the western sense. On the Con- terventlon in Brazzaville and in Dahomey.
nomic aid-aid designed to give them trary. as the army revolts have shown. weak- In both countries the army takeover was
education; to give them some know-how Hess not strength is the characteristic of preceded by riots in which labor unions
in fields that will aid their economy to African states. Behind the authoritarian demonstrated against the unemployment and
give them aid which will facade there is a pathetic lack of authority. Inflation that curse most African capitals.
promote their Popular indifference has greeted the seven In Dahomey, the rioters shouted "du pain, du
health; but under no circumstances mil- recent displays of military power. The series travail" and-a sad commentary on the dis-
itary aid, which is not only money began In Senegal, in ex-French West Africa, appointing fruits of indepencence-"vive la
wasted, but leads to conflict with their In December 1962, when a paratroop unit Frances"
neighbors, and wastes the needed sub- intervened In the struggle for power between Brazzaville is a city where niapy have suf-
stance of all involved. President Leopold Senghor and Prime fered, and few have benefited, from inde-
A graphic account of how damaging mister Mamadou Dia. The paratroopers pendence. Corruption and wx.ste were spec-
to thr countries is the support their guns for Senghor. Two weeks tacular, and lavish French aid-President
of their later, with his rival Dia In jail, Senghor Youlou was a faithful client of General de
military cliques Is found in an article: commented: "After God, it is first to the Gaulle-went down the drain Government
"Africa: The Mutinous Armies," by armed forces that I must address the thanks funds were wasted on absurd projects like
Approved For Release 2005/02/10 : CIA-RDP66B00403R000200130013-0