360. Telegram From the Chargé in Vietnam (Anderson) to the Department of State1
2633. 1. Diem called me in yesterday to outline his thoughts on measures to 1) enhance security especially in plateau and border regions and 2) promote development small industries.
2. On first point, he said he was ordering establishment of “posts” each consisting of 50 to 500 older members of Garde Civile or army in such areas as Kontum, Pleiku, Ban Me Thuot and Plaine des Joncs. Men would be ordered to posts but would be given land to cultivate on retirement and thus become nuclei for permanent settlements. Establishment of posts would encourage other settlers to enter areas and would also facilitate resettlement in event of any future major movement of refugees from north. In this way uninhabited but strategically important parts of Vietnam could be made secure and threat of Communist infiltration or rapid occupation in war would be minimized.
3. With respect to development of small industries, Diem had been in touch with Acting Director USOM and Vice President to explore possibility of manufacturing and processing in Vietnam items which have been imported for armed forces. Heretofore many such items had been coming for example from Japan, whose industrial potential had now been reestablished. It was therefore high time Vietnam take constructive steps in this field. This should certainly be possible when manufacturers have an assured market provided by armed forces.
4. Neither of these ideas is new. However, with respect to establishment of posts Diem indicated great sense of urgency, pointing out housing should be put up before rains begin about mid-April. It seemed likely to me that his interest in this subject had been stimulated by recent attempt on his life,2 which he said he now had reason believe had been engineered by Communists, and believed might have grown out of their resentment of his plans to populate and develop plateau country, thus depriving them of easy access to that part of Vietnam.
[Page 765]5. Have discussed foregoing with Chief MAAG and Acting Director USOM.3
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751G.5/2–2757. Confidential. Passed to the Army, Navy, Air Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and CINCPAC.↩
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As Diem was arriving on foot for the inauguration of the Ban Me Thuot Economic Fair on the morning of February 22, an assailant fired a shot at him at close range which missed him but seriously wounded South Vietnam’s Secretary of Agrarian Reform. (Telegram 2590 from Saigon, February 22; ibid., 751G.11/2–2257)
The following message from Eisenhower was transmitted to Diem by the American Embassy in Vietnam: “Greatly shocked to hear of outrage at Banmethuot and relieved to know you are unharmed. Dwight D. Eisenhower”. (Telegram 2223 to Saigon, February 23; ibid., 751G.11/2–2357)
↩ - Wesley C. Haraldson.↩