THE LEGALITY OF U.S. POSITION IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000400070008-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 27, 2005
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: May 18, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN

A2684
Approved For ROMirtignaiMin ICIDNEWIR67-BOU44BRDIREC400070008-3 May 18, 1966
c. Agricultural Processing, etc. Workers.?
Approximately 200,000 additional workers
would be covered by adopting the definition
of "agricultural labor" that applies to the
social security system, with a modification.
Included among the newly covered workers
would be those working in processing plants
where more than half of the commodities
handled were not produced by the plant
operator and others working on specific
commodities, such as maple sugar workers
and those engaged in off-the-farm raising of
mushrooms and poultry. The bill would not
cover the employees of certain agricultural
cooperative organizations who are covered
under social security system.
d. Employees of Non-Profit Organizations
and State Hospitals and Institutions of
Higher Education.?Approximately 1.9 mil-
lion employees of non-profit organizations
and State hospitals and institutions of
higher education would be brought under the
unemployment compensation system. Cov-
erage would not be extended to certain em-
ployees of non-profit organizations, however,
Including duly ordained or licensed ministers
of the church; employees of a church; em-
ployees of schools other than institutions of
higher education; professors, research per-
sonnel and principal administrators in an
institution of higher education; and physi-
cians and similarly licensed medical per-
sonnel of a hospital, but nurses would be
covered under the program.
Non-profit organizations must be allowed
the option of either reimbursing the State
for unemployment compensation attributable
to service for them or paying the regular
State unemployment insurance contribu-
tions. They would not be required to pay
the Federal portion of the unemployment
tax. A separate effective date would allow
the States to put the reimbursable option
into effect at any time after December 31,
1966.
The extension of coverage would apply
only to non-profit organizations that em-
ploy 4 or more workers in 20 weeks during a
calendar year.
Certain types of workers, such as domestic
servants in private homes, would continue to
be excluded from the coverage of the Fed-
eral law. In addition, a new exclusion is
provided by the bill for students employed
under specified work-study programs ar-
ranged by the schools they attend, effective
January 1, 1967.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
States would be required to amend their
laws, effective not later than January 1, 1969,
in order to obtain approval by the Secretary
of Labor for the purpose of receiving tax
credits for employers and payment of ad-
ministrative expenses, to provide that-
1. A claimant must have had work since
the beginning of his benefit year in order to
obtain unemployment compensation in his
next benefit year (prohibiting the so-called
"double dip" which allows a worker to draw
full benefits in 2 successive years following
a single separation from work);
2. The wage credits of a worker may not
be cancelled or totally reduced by reason of
a disqualifying act other than discharge for
misconduct connected with his work, fraud
in connection with a claim for compensation
or receipt of disqualifying income such as
pension payments. But a State could, for
example, disqualify a worker for the dura-
tion of a period of unemployment following
a disqualifying act, such as a voluntary quit,
so long as the worker's benefit rights are pre-
served for a future period of involuntary
unemployment during the benefit year;
3. Compensation may not be denied to
workers who are undergoing training with
the approval of the State unemployment
compensation agency; and
4. Compensation may not be denied or
reduced because a claimant lives or files his
claim in another State.
Related provisions of the bill permit the
States to reduce the tax rates of new em-
ployers (to not less than 1 percent) during
the first three years they are In business and
provide a sanction to enforce an existing
prohibition against discriminatory treatment
of maritime employees.
JUDICIAL REVIEW
Under existing law the decisions of the
Secretary of Labor as to whether or not
a State law conforms to the requirements of
the Federal law are final. There is no spe-
cific provision in the law allowing a State
to appeal these decisions to a court.
The bill would furnish the States a proce-
dure for appealing these decisions of the
Secretary to a United States Court of Ap-
peals within 60 days after the Governor of a
State has been notified of an adverse deci-
sion by the Secretary. Findings of fact by
the Secretary would be conclusive upon the
court "unless contrary to the weight of the
evidence." The provision would be effective
upon enactment.
FEDERAL-STATE EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT
COMPENSATION PROGRAM
The bill would establish a new perma-
nent program which would require the
States to enact laws, that would have to
take effect beginning with calendar year
1969, to pay extended benefits to workers
who exhaust their basic entitlement to un-
employment compensation programs dur-
ing periods of high unemployment.
The Federal Government would pay 50
percent of the benefits under the program,
with the States paying the other 50 per-
cent.
These benefits would be paid to workers
only during an "extended benefit" period.
Such period could exist, beginning after
December 31, 1968, either on a national or
State basis by the triggering of either a na-
tional or State "on" indicator.
A national extended benefit period would
be established if (a) the seasonally ad-
justed rate of insured unemployment for
the nation as a whole equalled or exceeded
5 percent for each month in a 3-month pe-
riod and (b) during the same 3-month pe-
riod the total number of claimants exhaust-
ing their rights to regular compensation
(over the entire period) equalled or ex-
ceeded 1 percent of covered employment
for the nation as a whole. The national
extended benefit period would terminate
if the rate of insured unemployment re-
mained below 5 percent for a month or if
the number of claimants exhausting their
rights to compensation added up to less than
1 percent for a 3-month period.
An extended benefit period would be es-
tablished for an individual State if (a) the
rate of insured unemployment for the State
equalled or exceeded, during a running 13-
week period, 120 percent of the average rate
for the corresponding 13-week period
in the
preceding two calendar years and (b)-,if such
rate also equalled or exceeded 3 percent.
An extended benefit period in a State would
terminate if either of these conditions was
not satisfied.
During either a national or State extended
benefit period an individual claimant would
be entitled to receive payments equal in
amount to those he received under regular
compensation (including dependents' allow-
ances) for up to one-half of the number of
weeks of his basic entitlement but for not
more than 13 weeks. No claimant could
receive more than 39 weeks of combined
regular and extended compensation.
FINANCING
The bill would increase the rate of tax
under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act
from the present 3.1 percent of taxable
wages to 3.3 percent, effective with respect to
wages paid in calendar year 1067 and there-
after. The taxable wage base under the act
would be increased from the present $3,000
per year to $3,900 per year, effective with
respect to wages paid in calendar Years 1969
through 1971 and to $4,200 beginning in
1972 and thereafter.
The bill in effect increases the net Fed-
eral unemployment tax from 0.4 percent to
0.6 percent. A portion (0.1 percent) of the
net Federal tax would be put in to a sepa-
rate new account in the Unemployment
Trust Fund to finance the Federal share
of the extended benefits programs estab-
lished by the bill.
OTHER PROVISIONS
The bill also contains provisions to?
? 1. Authorize funds to conduct research
relating to the unemployment compensation
system and to train Federal and State un-
employment compensation personnel;
2. Change the date with respect to which
the Secretary of Labor certifies that the
State laws are in conformity with the re-
quirements of the Federal law from Decem-
ber 31 to October 31 of each year;
3. Extend for another five years the time
within which the States could expend for
administrative purposes funds returned to
them as ax ss Federal tax collections.
The Legality of U.S. Position in Vietnam
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
OF
HON. JAMES C. CORMAN
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, May 18, 1966
Mr. CORMAN. Mr. Speaker, last
February the House of Delegates of the
American Bar Association declared that
the U.S. position in Vietnam is legal
under international law and is in accord-
ance with the Charter of the United
Nations and the Southeast Asia Treaty.
Mr. Eberhard P. Deutsch is chairman
of the ABA Committee on Peace and Law
Through the United Nations. This com-
mittee helped to sponsor the ABA reso-
lution. The American Bar Association
Journal for May 1966 contains Mr.
Deutsch's excellent statement on this
matter and I commend it to the attention
of my colleagues:
[From the American Bar Association Journal,
May 1966]
THE LEGALITY OF TIIE UNITED STATES POSITION
IN VIETNAM
(By Eberhard P. Deutsch, Chairman of the
American Bar Association Committee on
Peace and Law Through United Nations)
By the Geneva Accords of 1954, the com-
manders in chief of the French Union Forces
in Indochina, on the one hand, and of the
People's Army of Vietnam, on the other,
established the 17th parallel as the military
demarcation line between North and South
Vietnam, with a demilitarized zone on each
side of the line. They stipulated that the
armed forces of each party were to respect
the demilitarized zone and the territory of
the other zone, and that neither zone was
to be used "for the resumption of hostilities
or to further an aggressive policy"? The ac-
cords additionally provided for the creation
of an International Commission, composed of
India (chairman), Poland and Canada, to
supervise the agreements?
In 1962 the International Commission re-
ported, with approval, findings of its Legal
Committee to the effect that "there is evi-
dence to show that arms, armed and unarmed
Footnotes at end of speech.
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A2683
in his f ght against the dangers of air
pollution, is seeking the best available
talent.
t am very pleased to note that he has
appointed Robert A. Fox, a constituent
of mine, as a member of the board of
air pollution control.
The announcement from the mayor
hollows:
Mayor John V. Lindsay today announced
the appointment of Robert A. Fox, a chemi-
cal engineer, as a member of the Board of
Air Pollution Control.
to announcing the appointment Mayor
leay said, "For too long the Board of Air
''oltution Control has lain dormant despite
fact that it was specifically empowered
'iy the City Charter to serve as a policy-
raking body.
it is my Intention to revive the Board
and give it new importance_ It will work
closely with the new Air Pollution Control
)lommissioner, AUSH n Heller, in the fight to
;Sea n up New York's skies.
ins pleased Unit Robert Fox. 34, who
was a member of the Task Force on Air Poi-
aition, has agreed to continue his service to
New York City by joining the Weird of Air
leillution Control.
"Mr. Fox will apply his skill and knowledge
La the problem of air pollution control as the
wiard and the Department carry out the
recommendations of the Task Force report.
"T know that he will bripg great personal
;Iedication, energy )IIId talent to his work on
c Board."
The Air Pollution Control Board is com-
posed of the Air Foliation Control Commis-
:.1oner, the Buildings Commissioner, the
lealth Commissioner and two private eiti-
;sena who have experience in fields related
oi air pollution control.
'Sr rare of the two civilian members, Mr.
Pox will be paid 850 for each meeting of the
;Ward he attends up to $3,000 a year. The
iionrci is required by the City Charter to meet
;it ,least once every month.
Mr. Fox tills the term of Richard A. Wolff
which expires Decern her 2, 1967. Terms of
office for the private eitieen members is four
The Board of Air Pollution Contrril is em-
powered by Section 895 of the City Charter
Pr or and amend rules, consistent with
tee law, governing emissions into open air.
Nir. Fox was born in Philadelphia, Pa., De-
cember 24, 193L
Ite earned a BEI, dew:ee in chemical en.gi--
Y,l'ering from Yale thaversity in 1953 and a
;Pf el. degree in Industrial and Man agement
Eagineering from Columbia University in
11)59.
)''rom 1954 -1956 lie served in the U.S. Navy
ii both the Atlanthi and Pacific fleets with
rank or It. (j.g )
:le is employed by Columbia Gas System
.erviee Corp., where he is Senior Project
taiineer, responsible for market development
;old economic analysis in petrochemicals.
Previously with California Texas Oil Corp.,
worked in the Netherlands and in England
ann Waa living in London during the Decem-
ier 1962 air pollution episode.
(Psi responsisility ot his work abroad was
design of air nod vater pollution controls
:s; ii iiii,rochemic.0 complex then under con-
;it action in Frankfurt Germany.
Ile is co--author ot "The Forgotten Fall-
mti,---The Filth we Breath," a report by the
New York Young Republican Club's Com-
mittee on City Affairs
ite is a, member of the Air Pollution Con-
I oil Association is on the Board of Directors
and is Chairman of the Speaker's Bureau for
1 ii Lizens for Clean Air, and serves on the Pol.-
tion Control Conimittee, New York Sec-
; am for the American Institute of Chemical
ie active in the American Chemical So-
ciety and is a member of the Yale Engineer-
ing Association and the Chemical Industry
Association.
He is married to the former Jane .l'age
Gunn of Longmeadow, Mass. They have one
son, Christopher Allen, who attends the Al-
len-Stevenson School in Manhattan. His.
parents are Mr. and Mrs. G. Earle Fie: of
North Palm Beach, Florida.
Hammonton's 100Ith Birthday
EXTEN;7;ION OF R.EIMARKS
OF'
HON. THOMAS C. Itt?CRATUI
01, NEW JERSEY
IN THE HOUSE CIF REPRF,SINTATIVIS
Wednesday, May 18, 1966
Mr. 1\leGRATII, Mr. Saeaker, the
lovely city of Hammonton is markira, its
100th anniversary Saturday evening ?; Ah
a communitywic e centennial ball. I am
pleased to pay tribute to the forward-
looking residents of Hammonton, wf ich
is located in Atlantic County in !few
Jersey's Sirconil Congre.3sional Dist, let,
which I have the honor to roaresent.
When the area which is Hammonton
today was first settled by colonists it
was the site of a Leni-Lenapo Indian vil-
lage. In 1812, a settlement was founled
by William cotnn sonic 30 :miles eat of
Philadelphia, and 30 miles from the co rat,
That settlement received its name from
Coffin's son's name?John Hamm, aid
Coffin.
William Coffin brought the fir:A indas-
try?a sawmill?to Hammonton allel
shortly after, ga.ss manufacturing an
there. Throughout its history, Ham-
monton has been a center of glass mar
facture, from the flasks produced in the
infancy of the industry to the wide va-
riety of glass items made there in mare
recent times.
In 1866, Hammonton received a char-
ter by a special act of the New Jer-ey
Legislature and was ruled by it president-
and-council fermi of government until
1907, when the present mayor-council
form was adopted.
Today, a century after its charter y.as
received, Hammonton's industrial make-
up includes agric.ulture--the growing of
berries and veaetables, principally? in
addition to clothing factories, a laage
pharmaceutical plant, cookle factories
and frozen foods plants.
Located in the center of New Jersey's
widest section,, it is a lovely recreatioaal
area, and the center of these activities
are found in Hammonton Lake Park.
The residents of Hammonton, uneer
the leadership of Mayor Peter Par.si,
have not been content to mciAy review 2
their history during this centennial ye; sr,
but have been making plans for future
improvements for their community?im-
provements which will rank with the re- a
cent erection of a new hospital, a new
junior-senior high school and new
Protestant and Catholic churches in dc
starting Hammonton's second centui y.
As Hammonton's Representative in tile a
Congress, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to t
call the attention of my colleagues to this a
important anniversary in its history.
The Unemployment Insurance Amend-
ments of 1966
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
05'HON. WILBUR D. MILLS
Os' ARKANSAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE;
Wednesday, May 18, 1966
Mr. MILLS. Mr. Speaker, 'metal- re
to extend my remarks in the REPOLI', I
include the following:
Chairman WILBUR D. Mims (D., Ark,), Cc ii- -
mittee on Ways and Means, today annouitasi
that he and the Honorable JOHN W. BYRN us
(R., Wis.), the ranking Republican Limn-
bar of the Committee, have introduced id 'a-
Heal bills, HR. 15119 and H th
.R. 15120, e
"Unemployment Insurance Amendments of
1966". The Committee ordered Mr. Ma,,-,'bill, H.R. 15119, reported to the House.
The bill extends coverage of the Fedenii-
State unemployment insurance system to ;in
estimated 3.5 million additional workers; Tee;
tablishes a permanent program of extrisiod
benefits to workers who exhaust their e
entitlement to unemployment compensa Lam
payments during periods of high unemploy-
ment; furnishes the States a procedure for
obtaining judicial review of certain of 'he
findings of the Secretary of Labor with re-
spect to a State's program by appeal
ITS. Court of Appeals; provides certain athii-
tional requirements which must be met by
a State in order to have its unemployment
compensation law approved by the Secrete ,w;
n
and makes other changes which will streg-
then and improve the Federal-State unem-
ployment insurance system.
A summary of the major provisions of the
bill follows:
EXTENSION OF COVERAGE
Today approximately 49.7 million jobs
eluding those of Federal employees, ex-s;s v-
icemen and railroad workers) are protectsd
by unemployment compensation. Appro i-
rnately 15 million jobs are not covered.
Nearly 7 million of the workers not covered
are in the employment of State or local (,:a v-
ernments and, except for certain employees
in State universities and hospitals, unaffected
by the bill. Of the approximately 8 milli:In
remaining workers not presently covered, Hie
bill would extend coverage to about 3.5 old-
lion, effective January 1, 1969.
The following are the groups of work) l's; whom coverage would be extended by tele
bill:
a. Definition of Employer (workers in hremploy of persons or firms with less than-1
employees) .----Present Federal law applies
only to those employers who have 4 or pm,'
workers in their employ in 20 weeks in a ye) r.
Under the bill an employer would come le ;-
der the Federal-State system if he employs
one or more persons during 20 weeks in a
calendar year, or pays wages of $1,500 or mere
any calendar quarter in a calendar ye"
Approximately 1.2 million additional won:--
would be covered under this provision.
b. Definition of Emp/oyee.----Approxi ma 1.-;
00,000 additional workers would be cover; ?l
by adopting the definition of employee wli;i
s used for social security purposes, with a
modification. Those affected by this cham
re persons who are not considered emplue.
under common law rules, such as cents) e
agent-drivers and outside salesmen, aa
oncept of employee as adopted by the bill
iffers from that of the Social Security ATI.
n that it does not apply to full-time ins w -
rice salesmen and persons who work on ni -
erials in their homes which are furnished by
nother (if they are not employees under
ommon law)..
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personnel, munitions and other supplies have
been sent from the Zone in the North to the
Zone in the South with the objective of sup-
porting, organizing and carrying out hostile
activities, including armed attacks, directed
against the Armed Forces and Administra-
tion of the Zone in the South", and that the
People's Army of Vietnam "has allowed the
Zone in the North to be used for inciting,
encouraging and supporting hostile activities
in the Zone in the South aimed at the over-
throw of the Administration in the South".8
The evidence further demonstrates that
the aggression by North Vietnam against
South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam)
had been going on unabashedly since the
signing of the Geneva Accords and that
North Vietnam had consistently violated
those accords from their inception. An offi-
cial State Department report recites:
"While negotiating an end to the Indo-
china War at Geneva in 1954, the Commu-
nists were making plans to take over all for-
mer French territory in Southeast Asia.
When Viet-Nam was partitioned, thousands
of carefully selected party members were or-
dered to remain in place in the South and
keep their secret apparatus intact to help
promote Hanoi's cause. Arms and ammuni-
tion were stored away for future use." 4
It is important to bear in mind that
neither the Republic of (South) Vietnam nor
the United States is a party to the Geneva
Accords, and that while the United States
participated in the discussions leading up
to the accords, it did not sign the final dec-
laration. However, during the last plenary
session of the Geneva Conference on July
21, 1954, Under Secretary of State Walter
Bedell Smith, head of the United States
delegation, said in an official statement that
his Government "would view any renewal of
the aggression in violation of the aforesaid
agreements with grave concern and as seri-
ously threatening international peace and
security".,
On September 8, 1954, just a few weeks
after the Geneva Accords were executed, the
Southeast Asia Collective Defense (SEATO)
Treaty was signed. Parties to it were the
United States, Great Britain, Australia, New
Zealand, Thailand, Pakistan and the Philip-
pines. The United States Senate ratified
the treaty on February 1, 1955, by a vote of
82 to It took effect on February 19, 1955.1
Paragraph 1 of Article IV of the SEATO
Treaty provides that each party thereto "rec-
ognizes that aggression by means of armed
attack in the treaty area 8 against any of the
Parties or against any State or territory
which the Parties by unanimous agreement
may hereafter designate, would endanger its
own peace and safety, and agrees that it will
in that event act to meet the common danger
in accordance with its constitutional proc-
esses".? By a protocol to the treaty executed
on the same day, the parties "unanimously
designate [d] for the purposes of Article IV
* * the free territory under the jurisdic-
tion of the State of Vietnam" .?
The SEATO Treaty was made by the parties
in a reiteration of "the faith in the purposes
and principles set forth in the Charter of the
United Nations"," nothing in which, accord-
ing to Article 52 thereof "precludes the
existence of regional arrangements or agen-
cies for dealing with such matters relating
to the maintenance of international peace
and security as are appropriate for regional
action . . .". Article 53 of the charter pro-
vides that "no enforcement action shall be
taken under regional arrangements or by re-
gional agencies without the authorization of
the Security Council . . .". These two arti-
cles are at the head of Chapter VIII.
The preceding chapter (VII) deals with
"Action with Respect to Threats to the Peace,
Breaches of the Peace, and Acts of Aggres-
s.ion". The first twelve articles (39 to 50,
Footnotes at end of speech.
inclusive) of that chapter prescribe the
measures to be taken by he Security Coun-
cil to meet "any threat to the peace, breach
of the peace or act of aggression". By the
last article (5) of that chapter, it is stip-
ulated expressly that "nothing in the present
Charter shall impair the inherent right of
individual or collective self-defense if an
armed attack occurs against a Member of
the United Nations, until the Security Coun-
cil has taken measures necessary to maintain
international peace and security".
It was clearly with these provisions of
Articles 51 and 52 of the Charter of the
United Nations in mind that, in Article IV
of the SEATO Treaty, each party thereto
agreed that it would "act to meet the com-
mon danger" in the event of "aggression by
means of armed attack [anywhere] in the
treaty area" (Southeast Asia and the South-
west Pacific) . "Enforcement action" is clear-
ly action to enforce decisions of the Security
Council under Articles 39 to 50 of Chapter
VII of the charter. Equally clearly, "en-
forcement action" does not include measures
of "individual or collective self-defense".
So that when Article 53 of the charter pro-
vides that "no enforcement action shall be
taken under regional arrangements . . .
without the authorization of the Security
Council", it does not refer to such measures
of "self-defense" as are contemplated under
the SEATO treaty, particularly in light of
the explicit recital of Article 51 of the
charter that "nothing in the present Charter
shall impair the inherent right of individual
or collective self-defense".
DECLARATION STATES PURPOSE OF AGREEMENT
The "Final Declaration of the Geneva Con-
ference", issued on July 21, 1954, the same
day on which the Geneva Accords were
signed, states:
"The Conference recognizes that the
essential purpose of the agreement relating
to Viet Nam is to settle military questions
with a view to ending hostilities and that
the military demarcation line is provisional
and should not in any way be interpreted as
consituting a political or territorial bound-
ary." '3
It was by no means contemplated, how-
ever, that there was to be no ultimate par-
tition of Vietnam. On the contrary, the very
next article (7) of the final declaration pro-
vided expressly that the political problems
of "independence, unity and territorial in-
tegrity" were to be determined by free elec-
tions, internationally supervised. That ar-
ticle reads "that, so far as Viet-Nam is con-
cerned, the settlement of political problems,
effected on the basis of respect for the prin-
ciples of independence, unity and territorial
integrity, shall permit the Vietnamese peo-
ple to enjoy the fundamental freedoms, guar-
anteed by democratic institutions estab-
lished as a result of free general elections
by secret ballot . . . under the supervision
of an international commission . .
It will be recalled that by the protocol to
the SEATO Treaty, South Vietnam (the free
territory under the jurisdiction of the State
of Viet Nam") was promised protection as
such under the treaty. Reference has since
been made to South Vietnam as a protocol
state".'4
In addition to the reference in the con-
temporaneous protocol to the SEATO Treaty
to the State of Viet Nam", the Republic of
(South) Vietnam "has been recognized as
a separate international entity by approxi-
mately sixty governments around the world.
It has been admitted as a member of several
of the specialized agencies of the United
Nations. In 1957, the General Assembly
Voted to recommend South Viet Nam for
membership in the United Nations, and its
admission was frustrated only by the veto
of the Soviet Union in the Security
Council."
The right of self-defense under Article 51
of the Charter of the United Nations is ex-
pressed to be unimpaired "if an armed attack
occurs against a Member of the United Na-
tions", and it has been asserted by oppo-
nents of United States' policy in Vietnam
that this amounts to explicit denial of such
a right in the event of attacks against non-
members of the United Nations. A thesis
that members of the United Nations are not
permitted to participate in collective self-
defense to repel aggression, on the ground
that the aggrieved nation is not a member of
the United Nations, can hardly be supported
on its face, in reason, logic or law.-,G Would
proponents of this doctrine suggest that
members of the United Nations would have
no right to assist Switzerland in self-defense
against a foreign invader?
But the right of self-defense has always
existed independently of the charter," and
that right is recognized expressly in Article
51. It is quite obvious that the charter
merely confirms, as to members of the United
Nations, the innate right of self-defense ap-
pertaining to both members and nonmem-
bers. Article 51 expressly retains, unimpaired,
the "inherent" right of both individual and
collective self-defense, thus implicitly recog-
nizing the independent existence of the right
of members to come to the aid of nonmem-
bers in colective self-defense against aggres-
sion, or attack "to maintain international
peace and security"?the very first purpose
of the United Nations itself as stated in the
charter JR
On August 7, 1964, the Congress adopted,
by a vote of 88 to 2 in the Senate and 416 to
0 in the House," the Joint Southeast Asia
Resolution, in which the preambular clauses
recite that "naval units of the Communist
regime in Vietnam, in violation of the prin-
ciples of the Charter of the United Nations
and of international law, have deliberately
and repeatedly attacked United States naval
vessels lawfully present in international
waters, and have thereby created a serious
threat to international peace": "these at-
tacks are part of a deliberate and systematic
campaign of aggression" against the South
Vietnamese "and the nations joined with
them in the collective defense of their free-
dom".
The resolution then states "that the Con-
gress approves and supports the determina-
tion of the President, as Commander in Chief,
to take all necessary measures to repel any
armed attack against the forces of the United
States and to prevent further aggression";
that "the United States regards as vital to
its national interest and to world peace he
maintenance in international peace and
security in Southeast Asia"; and that "con-
sonant with the Constitution of the United
States and the Charter of the United Nations
and in accordance with its obligations under
the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty,
the United States is, therefore, prepared, as
the President determines, to take all neces-
sary steps, including the use of armed force,
to assist any member or protocol state of
the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty
requesting assistance in defense of its
freedom." 2'
In an address delivered at Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1959, President
Eisenhower declared that his administration
had reached "the inescapable conclusion that
our own national interests demand some
help from us in sustaining in Viet Warn the
morale . . . and the military strength nec-
essary to its continued existence in free-
dom".. In a letter of December 14, 1961, to
the President of the Republic of Vietnam,
President Kennedy, recalling that the Com-
munist regime of North Vietnam had "vio-
lated the provisions of the Geneva Accords
. . . to which they bound themselves in
1954" and that "at that time, the United
States, although not a party to the Accords,
declared that it 'would view any renewal of
the aggression in violation of the agreements
with grave concern and as seriously threat-
ening international peace and security' ", as-
Approved For Release 2005/06/29 : CIA-RDP67600446R000400070008-3
A 2686 Approved ForclNime:1391:60M9ARATRPS7RWOBR,0400070008-3way 18, 1966,
oared him that "in accordance with that
Mich:arid:Ion, and in response to your request,
we are prepared to help the Republic of
Viet Nam to .preserve its independ-
1.11 President Johnson's message of August
5, 1964, to Congress, reporting the Comms-
nist attacks on United States naval vessels
in the in ternaiaonal waters of the Gulf of
Tonkin, he said :
. . The Niirth Vaetname.ae. regime has
ii' I LI ytioniiht to take over South Viet-
0 sn and Laos. '1'] us Commuttist regime has
violated the Geneva accords for Vietnam. It
los system), tically conducted a campaign
of subvershin, which includes the direction.
training, anfl sopply of persoimel and arms
for the condset of guerrilla warfare in South
vaniiiamese territory. . . . Our military and
cieonomie assistance to South Vietnam and.
loot; in particular has the purpose of help-
ing these countries to repel aggression and
strengthen their independence. The threat
to the free nations of SOUtileASt Asia :las
Ii ng been clear"..
II ii Lawyers Committee on Anaeriean
Policy Towards Vietnam questions whether
President Joon son's deployment of United
States forces It Vietnam can "be squared
with our Const Dation * * tor, contrary to
widely held. assumptions, the power to make
end conduct foreign policy is not vested
exclusively in the President, but is divided
between him iold Congress * * *"., In his
innange of August 5, 1964, to the Congres,s,
President Johnson went on to say unequivo-
cally that "oe President of the United States
haye conellidi'd that I should now ask the
.011!.!:reF,S on its part, to join in affirming the
national deIermination that rll such at-
will be met, and that the United States
will continue in its basic policy of assisting
the free nations of the area to defend their
rserieom." And the President forthrightly
miniested that Congress adont -a resolution
:xpressing the support of the Congress, 'for
AI necessary action to protect our armed
rces * * :aid to defend freedom and
preserve peace in Southeast Asia in accord-
ance with toe obligations of the mi 'd
;8;ates under the Southeast At Treaty."
Two days lo Lir, on August 7, in response
i;