SCHOLARS AND UNITED STATES OFFICIALS EXAMINE POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01720R000500060020-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 19, 2004
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: May 12, 1967
• Content Type: PREL

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RELEASE:
Immediate Release
SCHOLARS AND UNITED STATES
OFFICIALS EXAMINE POLITICAL
DEVELOPMENT IN VIETNAM
Racine, Wisconsin -- A group of thirty leading scholars and
United States government specialists discussed the development of
political and social forces in war-torn South Vietnam at Wingspread,
conference center of The Johnson Foundation, May 14 and 15, 1967.
Among the participants in the off-the-record discussions was
Vu Van Thai, former South Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States.
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Looking to the future of South Vietnam, the specialists and
government representatives examined the influence of elite groups
in Vietnamese politics, social forces and political insititutions, rural
political development and forces of political change in South Vietnam.
The two-day meeting was convened by the Council of Vietnamese
Studies of the Southeast Asia Development Advisory Group, which is
under the auspices of The Asia Society and the Agency for International
Development (AID). The conference was carried out with the cooperation
of The Johnson Foundation.
Under the chairmanship of Robert Miller, specialist on Vietnam
in the State Department, one conference panel examined the interaction
between social forces and political institutions. The panel included:
Ithiel De Sole Pool of the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology; Milton Sacks of Brandeis University; Robert
Johnson, of the Policy Planning Council of the Department of State;
and Robert Tilman of Yale University.
Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard University served as
conference chairman and also presided during a discussion of rural
political development in South Vietnam, with papers presented by
John Donnell and Charles joiner, of Temple University, and Edward
Mitchell, of The Rand Corporation. A member of the staff of the World
Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development), J. Price
Gittinger, and Professor John Montgomery, of the John F. Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard University, also participated in this
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In another session, tine role of elite groups in Vietnam was
discussed by a panel under the chairmanship of Wesley Fishel, of
Michigan State University. Professor Fisnel also serves as an advisor
to the United States government.
The implications for research of United States involvement in
Vietnamese policy-making was discussed in an evening session by
Kenneth Young, Chairman of the Asia Society, and formerly United States
Ambassador to Thailand.
During the final session of the conference, the forces for political
change in South Vietnam were discussed by John Bennett of the Agency for
International Development and Ambassador Vu Van Thai. A complete list
of participants in the meetings is attached.
At the conclusion of the conference, Leslie Paffrath, President of
The Johnson Foundation, noted that "This conference on the political
development of Vietnam has been an appropriate continuation of the
broad-focus concern of the Foundation's Trustees over recent years for
Vietnam, Southeast Asia, and China. This concern has been not only
for the military aspects of United States involvement in South Vietnam,
but for the economic, political and social development of Southeast Asia.
Earlier conferences supported by The Johnson Foundation included a
Wingspread Briefing on Vietnam in March, 1964, and a symposium,
"Prospects for Southeast Asia," held in September, 1965.
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"The Trustees of The Johnson Foundation place a high priority
on support for deliberations between officials of the United States
government and independent specialists. The Wingspread conference
just completed was of this order, and the topic of Vietnam's future
could not be more timely. It
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RACINE. WISCONSIN 153401
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH VIETNAM
May 14 - 15, 1967
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
John Bennett
VN/P/RD
Agency for International Development
New State Building
Washington, D.C. 20523
Edward C. Britton
The Rand Corporation
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
George A . Carver, Jr.
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C.
John Donnell
Department of Political Science
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 18144
Russell Fifield
Department of political Science
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan 43104
Wesley Fishel
Department of Political Science
Michigan State University 48823
East Lansing, Michigan
1. Price Gittinger
World Bank
1313 H Street N.W.
20006
Washington, D.C.
William Henderson
The China Institute
125 East 65th Street
New York, New York 10021
Samuel Huntington
Center of International Affairs
6 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02135
Robert Johnson
Policy Planning Council
State Department
New State Building 20520
Washington, D.C.
Charles A. Joiner
Department of Political Science
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
H. Charles Ladenheim
VN/P/RD
Agency for International Development-
Room 2841, New State Building
Washington, D.C. 20523
John McAlister
Woodrow Wilson School
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Robert Miller
FE/VN State Department
Room 5207
New State Building
Allan Goodman
Washington, D.C. 20520
Harvard University
56 Perkins Hall
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
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Edward Mitchell
The Rand Corporation
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
Charles Sweet
Agency for International Development
New State Building
Washington, D.C. 20523
John Montgomery
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Littauer 119
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
James Osborn
The Asia Society
112 East 64th Street
New York, New York 10021
Leslie Paffrath
President
The Johnson Foundation
Racine, Wisconsin
Guy Pauker
The Rand Corporation
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, California 90405
Ithiel de Sola Pool
Center for International Studies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
E 53-401 Hermann Building
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
Milton Sacks
Department of Politics
Brandeis University
Waltham, Massachusetts 02154
Robert Scalapino
Department of Political Science
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
Robert Scigliano
Department of Political Science
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan 48823
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Robert 0. Tilman
Department of Political Science
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut 06520
Sheldon Turner
VN/P/PRE
Agency for International Development
New State Building
Washington, D.C. 20523
Vu Van Thai
8000 Glenhill Lane
Chevy Chase, Maryland
David Wurfel
Department of Political Science
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Kenneth T. Young
Chairman
The Asia Society
112 East 64th Street
New York, New York 10021
Staff Members - The Johnson Found.aticn:
Leslie Paffrath, President
Kenneth A. Kautzer, Administrative
Assistant
Mrs. Lilian May, Program Assistant
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