THE MYTH OF THE 'BLOODBATH'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300360004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 17, 1972
• Content Type: OPEN

' Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601 R000
18554. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -SENATE
that the Senator for New Mexico (Mr.
ANDERSON), the Senator from Indiana
(Mr. BAYII), the Senator from Texas
(Mr. BENTSEN), the Senator from Nevada
(Mr. CANNON), the Senator from Alissis-
sippi (Mr. EASTLAND), the Senator from
Louisiana (AMrs. EDWARDS), the Senator
from Oklahoma (Mr. HARRIS), the Sena-
tor from Indiana (Mr. HARTHE), the Sen-
ator from South Carolina (Mr. Hot-
LINGS), the Senator from Iowa (Air.
HUGHES), the Senator from Montana
(Mr. METCALF), the Senator from New
Mexico (Mr. MONTOYA), the Senator
from Alabama (Mr. SPARlrMAN), the Sen-
ator from Virginia (Mr. SpoNC), the Sen-
ator from Georgia (Mr. TALMADGE), and
the Senator from Arkansas (Mr. MCCLEL-
LAN) are necessarily absent. I also an-
nounce that the Senator from Wyoming
(Mr. McGEE) is absent on official busi-
ness.
On this vote, the Senator from Iowa
(Mr. Huclrxs) is paired with the Senator
from Mississippi (Mr. EASTLAND).
If present and voting, the Senator
from Iowa would vote "yea" and the Sen-
ator from Mississippi would vote "nay."
I further announce that, if present and
voting, the Senator from South Carolina
(Mr. HOLLINGS), and the Senator from
Arkansas (Mr. MCCLELLAN), would vote
"yea."
Mr. GRIFFIN. I announce that the
Senator from Colorado (Mr. ALLOTT), the
Senators from Tennessee (Air. BAKER and
Ail'. BROCK), the Senator from Oklahoma
(Mr. BELLMON), the Senator from Dela-
ware (Mr. Boccs), the Senator from Ne-
braska (Mr. CURTIS), the Senator from
Kansas (Mr. DOLE), the Senator from
Hawaii (Mr. FONG), the Senator from
Arizona (Mr. GOLDWATER), the Senator
from Florida (Mr. GURNEY), the Senator
from Oregon (Mr HATFIELD), the Sena-
tor from Iowa (AMr. MILLER), the Sena-
tor from Kansas (Mr. PEARSON), the Sen-
ator from Ohio (Mr. SAxaE), the Senator
from South Carolina (Mr. TIIURMoND),
the Senator from Texas (Air. TOWER),
and the Senator from Connecticut (Mr.
WEICKER) are necessarily absent.
The Senator from Kentucky (Mr.
CooK) is absent on official business.
Roth
Stevens
Tunney
Schweiker
Stevenson
Williams
Smith
Symington
Stafford
Taft
NAYS-12
Allen
Ervin Scott
Bennett
Fannin Stennis
Byrd.
Hansen Young
Harry F., Jr.
Hruska
Cotton
Jordan, Idaho
NOT VOTING-36
Allott
Eastland
Metcalf
Anderson
Edwards
Miller
Baker
Fong
Montoya
Bayh
Goldwater
Mundt
Belimon
Gurney
Pearson
Bentsen
Harris
Saxbo
Bogs
Hartke
Sparkman
Brock
Hatfield
Spoil-,
Cannon
Hollings
Talmadge
Cook
Hughes
Thurmond
Curtis
McClellan
Tower
Dole
McGee
Weicker
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this
vote the yeas are 52, and the nays are 12.
Two-thirds of the Senators present and
voting having voted in the affirmative,
the bill, on reconsideration, is passed, the
objections of the President of the United
States to the contrary notwithstanding.
EMERGENCY HEALTH PERSONNEL
ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1972
Air. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask
the Chair to lay before the Senate a mes-
sage from the House of Representatives
on S. 3858, a bill to amend the Public
Health Service Act to improve the pro-
grain of medical assistance to areas with
health manpower shortages, and for oth-
er purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER laid be-
fore the Senate the following message:
Resolved, That the House concur in the
amendments of the Senate numbered 1 and
2 to the bill (S. 3858) entitled "An Act to
amend the Public Health Service Act to im-
prove the program of medical assistance to
areas with health manpower shortages, and
for other purposes."
Resolved, That the House Insists on its dis-
agreement to the amendments of the Senate
numbered 3 and 4 to the aforesaid bill.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I move
that the Senate recede from its position
on amendments 3 and 4.
The motion was agreed to.
MUNDT) is absent because of illness.
If present and voting, the Senator from
Texas (Mr. TowER) would vote "yea."
On this vote, the Senator from Tennes-
see (Mr. BAKER) and the Senator from
Delaware (Air. Boccs) are paired with
the Senator from Nebraska (Air. CURTIS).
If present and voting, the Senator from'
Tennessee and the Senator from Dela-
ware would each vote "yea" and the Sen-
ator from Nebraska would vote "nay."
The yeas and nays resulted-yeas 52,
nays 12, as follows:
[No. 571 Leg.]
YEAS-52
Aiken
Fulbright
Mathias
Beall
Gambrell
McGovern
Bible
Gravel
McIntyre
Brooke
Griffin
Mondale
Buckley
Hart
Moss
Burdick
Humphrey
Muskie
Byrd, Robert C.
Inouye
Nelson
Case
Jackson
Packwood
Chiles
Javits
Pastore
Church
Jordan, N.C.
Pell
Cooper
Kennedy
-Percy
Cranston
Long
Proxmire
Dominick
Magnuson
Randolph
Eagleton
Mansfield
Ribicoff
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
THE MYTH OF THE
"BLOODBATH"
Mr. GRAVEL. Mr. President, with all
that has been written about the Vietnam
war it is not often that we are able to
be moved by yet another piece of writ-
ing. Yet this must be the effect on any-
one who objectively reads the recently
released report by D. Gareth Porter of
Cornell University entitled, "The Myth
of the Bloodbath: North Vietnam's Land
Reform Reconsidered." Toward this end
I ask that the report be reprinted In Its
entirety at the conclusion of my short
remarks.
Its findings are contained in the title-
it exposes as myth the notion made pop-
ular by the Nixon administration that
the land reform period of 1953 to 1956
was characterized by a deliberate reign
of terror against former foes of the North
Vietnamese leaders. Who can deny the
monstrous mischief-indeed the disas-
ter-this misplaced belief has visited on
us through our tortured rationalization
for continuing the war?
It is of course only a short step from.
swallowing the story of the "earlier
bloodbath" to imagining the "slaughter"
of the vanquished South Vietnamese or
the full-scale attack on American troops
on the beaches as they finally quit the
country. Such a view fits nearly with the
common tendency to picture' all enemies
.as bloodthirsty, fanatical, irrational,
broadly unpopular with their own people
and ready to wreak their vengeance on
then at the slightest whim. How tragic
our misguidance.
The reason this Cornell study is so im-
portant, of course, is that the bloodbath
story is as we all know, one of the prin-
cipal arguments the administration has
used for remaining in Vietnam-or, if
you do not believe we are remaining, for
doing what we have been doing there
these last 4 years. Some of us attacked
the thesis on the grounds that the blood-
baths are daily bringing to that sad
country and region through our cam-
paign of massive air strikes surely ex-
ceeds any likely killing of Vietnamese by
other victorious Vietnamese. Now we find
in the Porter report that there is very
convincing evidence that even the earlier
"bloodbath" was in fact a hoax in num-
bers and extent, What a cruel way to play
with American public opinion to gain
support for this perversion of policy of
destroying life in order to save it.
It is nearly inconceivable to me that
an administration would base so much of
its conduct of the war on a thesis so
scantily researched, so little thought out,
and so highly speculative. With such vast
resources in the administration devoted
to foreign affairs-or at least military
ones-why was so little research done to
support or refute the bloodbath story?
Where is the scholarship on the admin-
istration's side or was it in fact a matter
of extrapolating the experience of a few
villages plus a mountain of hearsay from
others?
If there has been sloppy scholarship on
this crucial point the State Department,
the Department of Defense, and the Na-
tional Security Council must share a
major portion of the blame. And if there
were darker motives behind the perpetu-
ation of this myth-if myth it be-then
we should hold the administration fully
accountable. We are constantly reminded
of how quick the administration is to play
fast and loose with statistics, as for ex-
ample, the President's assertion last July
when justifying his POW stand that
15,000 French prisoners were never ac-
counted for after France quit Indochina.
The French Veterans Ministry subse-
quently stated that the figure was 6,200
and that the last French prisoners were
returned less than 3 months after the
Geneva agreements were concluded.
I commend the reading of the Cornell
report to each and every colleague for its
implications are powerful and strip away
still another "reason" for doing what
our country is c?oirin in and to Vietnam,
and I ask unanimous consent that It be'
printed in the R,ECOc,D.
There being no objection, the report
ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as
follows:
Approved For Release 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-016Q1 R000300360004-9