Edward L. Rowny
Nevertheless, the bad publicity we received from the Ap Bac operation set us back.
In fact, the U.S. press was one of our most serious problems in Vietnam. The
newspapers and wire services were in keen competition with one another and sent
some of their most ambitious reporters to Vietnam. For example, David
Halberstam reported for the New York Times and Neil Sheehan for UPI. Some of
these reporters, Halberstam in particular, were more interested in pursuing their
own political agendas than they were in reporting on the military situations. On
several occasions I would take a reporter with me when I went to witness an
operation. After one such trip I read in the following day's New York Times that
the Vietnamese did not do very well. The reporter said that this was due to the
unpopularity of Madame Nhu, Diem's sister. After reading the article I
approached Halberstam and said, "You know, Dave, that the operation was rather
successful. And whether it was or not had nothing to do with Madame Nhu. The
soldiers don't even know who she was."
"Ed," he said, "the readers don't want to read anything about these military
skirmishes. What they are interested in is the Dragon Lady [Madame Nhu].
The New York Times had one objective reporter, Peter Braestrup. But his stories
were not often picked up. He subsequently quit his job and wrote the best book
about reporting in Vietnam. The Big Story told about how the reporters operated
and denounced them for their misrepresentation of the U.S. effort in Vietnam. It's
a pity that The Big Story did not get as much attention as it deserved because it
outlined in detail the way in which U.S. public support for Vietnam, especially
after the military success of the Tet operation, was undermined.
One of the main difficulties in Vietnam in the early 60s was the serial killings of
the village leaders. The Viet Cong systematically singled out and assassinated the
village chieftains. As a result, the villages were unable to put up any serious
resistance to the guerrillas. In the calendar year 1962 over 1,200 village and
hamlet chieftains were killed. It was an effective way of demoralizing the
Vietnamese and preventing any organized resistance against the Viet Cong. The
Dragon Lady had nothing to do with this situation. Nor was the Viet Cong able
to infiltrate the Vietnamese because the leaders had not been elected by a
democratic process. Had there been a free electoral process, no candidates would
have been found to take on the suicidal jobs of becoming village chiefs.
Shortly before I left Vietnam in 1963, Diem was assassinated. Since there was no
one of stature to take his place, Diem's death marked the beginning of the end of
the South Vietnamese effort. Events unfolded rapidly after Diem's brother, the
Bishop of South Vietnam, got involved in a religious squabble at Hue. The bishop,
a Catholic, was able to get South Vietnamese troops ordered to attack a Buddhist
demonstration at Hue. A number of messages passed quickly between Saigon and
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