Chapter 4: Cautious Action

Going into 1963, the Administration had several major thrusts: Southeast Asia in foreign policy and civil rights at home. Next year held a presidential election, so politics could not be ignored. The First Family also were relative rock stars and cultural icons. Jackie held the eyes of the fashion world.

Southeast Asia was more a reflexive anticommunism than part of a coherent strategy. It’s based on Sir Robert Thompson’s work in Malaya, widely agreed to be, along with the work of President Magsaysay and Edward Lansdale in the Philippines, the great Western counterinsurgency successes. The Malayan challenge, however, differed from the situation in Vietnam in that the insurgents were of a different ethnicity than the Malay majority, and could be separated more easily. In many respects, the Philippines was a more relevant model, in that its focus was recognizing grievances, correcting them, bringing legitimacy to government, and genuinely welcoming former insurgents. An important difference, however, was that the former colonial power in the Philippines, the United States, was generally admired and truly intended to make the Philippines independent. In the former Indochina, the Americans were often seen as a colonial proxy for the French.

The various South Vietnamese and American official elements seemed to have converged on a “Strategic Hamlet Program” as the long-term approach to economic growth, security, and land reform.

January 1963

“Lois, I believe you’ve had some contacts, at AU, with Roger Hilsman. I happen to believe that he may be a very key player in moving things in the right direction.”

“Yes, I’ve met him. He seemed very pleasant and willing to talk. I was surprised to realize how high he was in government.”

“Correct. At present, he heads the State Department’s intelligence organization, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, with Assistant Secretary rank. Some Assistant Secretaries are more equal than others, and the regional bureau heads are most prestigious. I understand that the White House is considering moving him to Assistant Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs, which would happen if they promote someone more senior.

“JFK appears to be most appreciative of Hilsman’s relationship to the military. As opposed to some of the Ivy League academics they dismiss easily, he’s a West Point graduate with WWII combat experience, significantly as a guerrilla. Since that was with an OSS unit, it also gives him credibility with the CIA paramilitary folk. As they said of Civil War combat veterans, he’s seen the elephant. Looking at his field experience, he also set ambushes for elephants and shot the hell out of them, although he got a tusk in his belly while machine-gunning pachyderms. When Kennedy came to the presidency and sought to spark U.S. government action on counterinsurgency, Hilsman edited a book excerpting writings on the subject, one well-received at the Kennedy White House. These analogies are getting too weird.

“For that matter, he actually was in the early CIA, retaining his Army rank. The Army sent him to Yale, where he obtained a MS and PhD, and then took him back as a planner for NATO and SHAPE. He resigned from active duty but kept his reserve rank of major.

“From what I know of him, I want to do everything possible to improve his role in government. If we can make him personally more comfortable, all the better -- yes, that means what you think I meant. He’s married, and may have a great love life. If not, however, let’s help him. That can be friendship as well as sex.”

Lois pointed out “He seems to be good at mentoring people.”

Happily, on her next visit to the School of International Service at AU, Lois was delighted to encounter Dr. Hilsman, who apparently stopped there as a way to refresh his mind. He seemed genuinely happy to find a woman interested in the field. It turned out that Lorna Meitner also knew and liked him. Much to their surprise, he asked them to visit his home for drinks and dinner with Mrs. Hilsman and himself.

Back at home, they told me about the invitation. “Great! Any insights?”

Lois said “I’m not quite sure how to interpret it. Oh, there is zero question that he’s appreciative intellectually, and honestly likes to share his knowledge and develop people. But there’s a vibe beyond that. In no way is he a lecher, but it was a little more than just a man appreciating an attractive woman.”

“Interesting, Lois.” Lorna agreed. “He’s invited me as well, mentioning his wife. It simply wasn’t possible on the date he mentioned. My intuition is that it wouldn’t hurt to be a bit sexy for the visit.”

Civil Rights

“Arlene, you and Terry are our political observers. What’s happening with civil rights?”

“Not necessarily civil rights in a racial sense, but Bobby Kennedy did make his single appearance before the Supreme Court, arguing in favor of reapportionment that challenged a system that advantaged rural candidates over urban ones, the latter representing more citizens. It’s traditional for an Attorney General to present at least one case to the Court, and this is probably his only one. He’s not a natural litigator. The Washington Post reported that he looked “ like a nervous and uncomfortable young bridegroom”. He did sound better as he warmed up, although he was working largely from notes prepared by Solicitor General Archibald Cox.

On the day of oral argument, the Kennedy clan showed up in force at the Supreme Court. The Attorney General’s wife, Ethel, was there, along with his younger brother, Edward Kennedy, who had recently been sworn in as a U.S. Senator. Also there was the Attorney General’s sister in law, First Lady Jackie Kennedy. “Kennedys Outnumber the Justices” read one headline the following day.

“That’s interesting, in the sense that the Kennedys do tend to show up as a clan, yet there are quite a few rumors about their sexual adventures inside and outside it.”

Arlene pointed out, “We’re a clan and we fuck.”

“Yes, but we don’t try to be moral paragons, and we only go outside carefully and with full knowledge.”

In concluding his presentation to the Court, apparently returning to his prepared text, Kennedy gave eloquent voice to the basic principle at issue:

[T]he great miracle of the Constitution is that we’ve been able to deal with the problems of the 20th Century as well as the problems of the 18th Century. These are the great problems that are facing the United States at the present time. And this kind of invidious practice that exists now and has existed before and the Georgia County Unit System is a—strikes at the very heart of the United States. If we can give equal protection to those who feel that they’ve been deprived of their economic rights, certainly we can give equal protection to those who have been deprived of the most basic right of all, which is the right to vote. If we cannot protect them, then the whole fabric of American the system, then our way of life is irreparably damaged.

The government argument was accepted by an 8-1 majority. Justice Douglas wrote the opinion, which did include equality of representation by race.

Once the geographical unit for which a representative is to be chosen is designated, all who participate in the election are to have an equal vote—whatever their race, whatever their sex, whatever their occupation, whatever their income, and wherever their home may be in that geographical unit. This is required by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ... The conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence, to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, to the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Amendments can mean only one thing—one person, one vote.

Vietnam

I asked Lorna to give us an overview of South Vietnamese personalities and politics. “It’s interesting, Harold, that you use the word personalities. It reminds me that President Diem, who is personally ascetic and even mystic, bases his legitimacy, in his own mind, on an obscure philosophy called personalism, probably motivated even more by his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. Nhu shared intellectual concepts with his brother, but was corrupt, a drug addict, and with a charismatic, beautiful, and thoroughly nasty wife who, given Diem was a bachelor, effectively was the First Lady of South Vietnam.

“The brothers did complement one another in ruling, although not in ruling well. Nhu had been Chief Archivist of the National Library, was a classic example of power behind the throne. His brother Diem, when he decided to act, could make quick decisions on instinct, or work from a detailed plan produced by Nhu.

“It sometimes seems to me that half of the political gaffes of the country come from the Diem family, and Madame Nhu is the source of half of those. While I object to the subjugation of women, it would be wise for the Diem brothers to muzzle or drug her. Hell, they’d be better off if she never opened her mouth except to eat or to give blowjobs. I’ve heard that JFK feels about her roughly the same as I do, but more intensely. She flirted with LBJ and continued to send him suggestive notes, which LBJ ate up.”

Terry exaggeratedly batted her eyes. “May I assume that you don’t like her very much?”

“There’s no question that she is physically attractive. There’s no question that she wears form-fitting highly tailored versions of the traditional Vietnamese ao dai, but with high stiletto heels. Ironically, she calls for modest dress for other Vietnamese women. No one knows, for sure, if she has the rumored lovers, or just loves power and attention. Nhu is an opium addict, which likely leaves him impotent.

“Even if she also were bi, I wouldn’t touch her with a six-foot strap-on.”

“When speaking of the Strategic Hamlet Program, Nhu called it a “social revolution”, justified by personalism, against “Viet Nam’s three enemies: divisive forces, low standard of living, and communism.” The CIA Task Force-Vietnam observed, in forwarding this report, that Nhu’s “social revolution and strategic hamlets appear to be fuzzy concepts with little value in the fight against the Communists.” Defense Department consultants would agree that all of the expectations of the several participant groups--both U.S. and GVN--were identifiable by very early 1962 at the latest, and that the concept of the strategic hamlet program in the broad sense had been fully adumbrated. It was a skeleton--the rationale--was complete; the body--operational programs--had not yet taken form

The “social revolution” to which Nhu referred in December 1961 would be surfaced as Diem’s “personalism” drive. A CIA report from Saigon summarized Nhu’s instructions to a dozen province chiefs from the Delta in a meeting held on 14 December 1961.

One might suggest that Personalism is an uneasy mixture of Marxism, Catholicism, and Confucianism. It was created by Emmanuel Mounier, a French priest and philosopher. Personalism, although like Marxism putting the society totally above the individual, was an ideology that the Diem brothers could use to mold their north-south conflict.