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National Security Adviser
Saigon Embassy Files Kept by Ambassador
Graham Martin: Copies Made for the
NSC, 1963-1975 (1976)
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
Copies of State Department telegrams and
White House backchannel messages between U.S. ambassadors in Saigon and White
House national security advisers, talking points for meetings with South
Vietnamese officials, intelligence reports, drafts of peace agreements, and
military status reports. Subjects
include the Diem coup, the Paris
peace negotiations, the fall of South Vietnam,
and other U.S./South Vietnam
relations topics, 1963 to 1975.
QUANTITY
4.0
linear feet (ca. 8000 pages)
DONOR
Gerald
R. Ford (accession number 82-73)
ACCESS
Open. The collection is administered under terms of
the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, and under
National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR
1256).
COPYRIGHT
President
Ford has donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished
writings in National Archives collections.
The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or
organizations are presumed to remain with them.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official
duties are in the public domain.
Prepared by
Karen B. Holzhausen, November 1992; Revised March
2000
[s:\bin\findaid\nsc\saigon embassy files kept by ambassador
graham martin.doc]
VIETNAM WAR
CHRONOLOGY
(Related to this collection)
August 21, 1963 Ngo
Dinh Nhu's forces attack
Buddhist temples.
August 22, 1963 Ambassador
Henry Cabot Lodge arrives in Saigon.
November 1, 1963 Coup against Ngo and Diem.
November 2, 1963 Ngo
and Diem murdered.
June 2, 1964 Dean
Rusk, Robert McNamara, and others meet in Honolulu to discuss increased aid to
South Vietnam.
1967 Ellsworth Bunker becomes U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam
July 25, 1969 "Nixon
Doctrine" announced.
October 15, 1969 Massive anti-war
demonstrations in Washington.
February 20, 1970 Secret
talks between Kissinger and Le Duc Tho begin in Paris.
October 8, 1972 Kissinger
and Le Duc Tho reach peace
agreement. Thieu rejects it.
November 20, 1972 Kissinger
presents Le Duc Tho
sixty-nine amendments demanded by Thieu.
January 8, 1973 Nixon
and Le Duc Tho resume
talks.
January 23, 1973 Peace
agreement initialed.
January 27, 1973 Cease-fire
agreements formally signed in Paris.
March 29, 1973 Last
American troops leave Vietnam.
May 1973 Ellsworth Bunker
resigns post as U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. Charles Whitehouse fills in until Graham
Martin arrives.
July 20, 1973 Graham Martin, new U.S.
ambassador, presents credentials to President Thieu.
January 1974 Thieu declares that
war has begun again.
January 6, 1975 Communists capture Phuoc Long province, north of Saigon.
February 5, 1975 North
Vietnamese General Van Tien Dung goes south to take
command of Communist forces.
March 11, 1975 Communists
capture Banmethuot.
March 15, 1975 Thieu orders northern provinces of South Vietnam abandoned.
March 20, 1975 Thieu reverses himself, orders Hue held at all costs.
March 25, 1975 Hue falls.
March 30, 1975 Danang falls to Communists.
April 17, 1975 Phnom Penh, Cambodia, falls to the Khmer Rouge.
April 21, 1975 Xuan Loc, last South Vietnamese defense line before Saigon, falls.
April 23, 1975 President
Ford, speaking in New Orleans, calls the war
"finished."
April 25, 1975 Thieu leaves Saigon for Taiwan.
April 28, 1975 Vice-President
Tran Van Huong transfers chief of state authority to
General Duong Van Minh.
April 29, 1975 Evacuation
of last Americans from Saigon.
Ambassador Martin leaves.
April 30, 1975 Communist
forces capture Saigon.
INTRODUCTION
The
Saigon Embassy Files Kept by Ambassador
Graham Martin is one of many subcollections that
comprise the National Security Adviser Files.
The provenance and nature of the National Security Adviser Files as a
whole are described in Appendix A.
In January 1978, the North Carolina
State Police found a cache of classified documents in the trunk of a car that
had been stolen from former U.S.
ambassador to South Vietnam Graham A. Martin.
They turned the documents over to the FBI. The documents were embassy files Martin had
taken with him when he evacuated Saigon on April 29, 1975, just hours before the
city fell to the Communists. The Justice
Department, in considering prosecuting Martin for misuse of classified
documents, sent copies of the files to the National Security Council for a
damage assessment. The copies remained
in NSC files until 1982, when the NSC determined that they should have been considered
presidential papers and sent them to the Ford Library.
Most
of the more than 6000 pages are from the Nixon and Ford administrations,
although a few documents originating in Lyndon Johnson's administration and one
segment regarding the Diem coup from John F. Kennedy's administration are also
present. With a few exceptions, the
materials have been maintained in the "packets" that were designated
by the FBI. In most cases, the reverse
chronological order in which they were received has been changed to forward
chronological order.
The
bulk of the materials in this collection are "backchannel" cables
between the U.S.
ambassadors in Saigon (Henry Cabot Lodge, Ellsworth
Bunker, and Graham Martin, successively) and the President's national security
advisers (McGeorge Bundy, Henry Kissinger, and Brent
Scowcroft, successively) regarding the situation in South
Vietnam or the peace negotiations. In addition, there are straight State
Department cables, usually between the Secretary of State and the U.S.
ambassador in Saigon; talking points prepared for meetings between the
ambassador and South Vietnamese officials, mainly President Nguyen Van Thieu; reports and memoranda of conversations of those
meetings; drafts of speeches and proposed agreements prepared by both sides;
military situation reports; and intelligence reports.
The
largest segment of the collection consists of communications between Ambassador
Ellsworth Bunker and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger during the
period of the Paris peace
talks. They include: (1) Kissinger relaying to Bunker details of
his secret talks with the North Vietnamese in Paris, and later the formal Paris
peace negotiations, including drafts of proposed agreements and negotiations
over signing procedures; (2) Bunker's prepared talking points for meetings with
President Thieu of South Vietnam to relay that
information, and his reporting to Kissinger of Thieu's
reaction to the information; (3) "think pieces" by both Bunker and
Kissinger on the situation in Vietnam and the strategy for handling President Thieu; and (4) post-ceasefire diplomatic maneuvering,
implementation of the agreements, and handling of allegations of ceasefire
violations. The ambassador also
transmitted drafts of major Nixon speeches regarding the peace negotiations to Thieu and relayed Thieu's
reaction.
Graham
Martin became ambassador to South Vietnam
in early May 1973. His communications
with Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft deal primarily with implementation of the
ceasefire, violations of the ceasefire, the question
of aid to South Vietnam
and congressional relations centered around that issue, contacts with South
Vietnamese officials, and the deterioration of the "peace" and the
eventual evacuation of South Vietnam
by the Americans. Many of the cables
relate to diplomatic relations with other countries regarding the situation in Vietnam,
including the Soviet Union, Saudi
Arabia, France,
and the members of the International Commission of Control and Supervision in Vietnam. The cables range from topics as specific as
arrangements for the evacuation of certain individuals to philosophical
discourses by Martin on the history of U.S.
involvement in Vietnam
and his role in it.
Some,
but not all, letters between Presidents Nixon/Ford and President Thieu are present in these files.
The
nearly 200 pages of material dating from the Henry Cabot Lodge's tenure as U.S.
ambassador to South Vietnam
under President John F. Kennedy relate primarily to events, beginning in August
1963, leading up to the November 1963 coup and assassination of President Diem
of South Vietnam. They consist mainly of communications between
Henry Cabot Lodge and Secretary of State Dean Rusk or McGeorge
Bundy, national security adviser, regarding meetings with South Vietnamese
officials, intelligence reports, evaluations of the situation, and instructions
from Washington.
Also
included is a collection of documents apparently drawn together by Graham
Martin for use in his congressional testimony in 1976. Unlike the bulk of the collection, which
consists almost exclusively of White House or State Department documents, this
material includes many documents originated by the various U.S. military
entities involved in the Vietnam War.
Related
Materials (March 2000):
The
Ford Library holds a great deal of material related to the Vietnam War. Much of it concerns the MIA/POW issue and the
treatment of refugees, but there is also substantive information about the fall
of Saigon and the question of aid to South
Vietnam.
The various collections from the office of the National Security Adviser
are a key source. In addition, the
Congressional Relations Office files are particularly noteworthy, as are
several categories of White House Central Files and the Presidential
Handwriting File. The files of Richard
Cheney, James Connor, Robert Wolthuis, Philip Buchen, John Marsh, William Baroody,
and Ron Nessen also contain materials on Vietnam. The Milt Mitler
files contain extensive files on MIA/POWs.
The Theodore Marrs files contain extensive
files on the refugee problem.
Several
of the James Reichley interview transcripts relate to
Vietnam, as
does the Jerrold Schecter interview with President
Ford, which is located in the Composite General Accessions.
Series Descriptions
1-7 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin, 1963-76. (4.0 linear feet)
Backchannel
cables, regular State Department cables, correspondence between the U.S.
president and U.S.
ambassador to South Vietnam,
correspondence between the U.S.
president and the president of South Vietnam,
talking papers for meetings between ambassador and president of South
Vietnam, memos of conversations, draft
diplomatic agreements, draft speeches, military situation reports, and
intelligence reports.
The
integrity and inconsistent chronological arrangement of the FBI
"packets" was maintained, although the documents within the packets
were rearranged so that they are in straight, rather than reverse,
chronological order for the convenience of researchers.
Container List
Box 1 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 12/15/69 to 12/16/71 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 12/15/69
to 12/16/71 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 1/3/72 to 1/28/72 (1)-(4)
Washington
to Saigon, 1/3/72
to 1/28/72
Saigon
to Washington, 2/21/72 to 7/23/72 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 2/21/72
to 7/23/72 (1)-(2)
Box 2 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 7/25/72 to 9/13/72 (1)-(3)
Washington
to Saigon, 7/25/72
to 9/13/72 (1)-(3)
Saigon
to Washington, 9/16/72 to 10/17/72 (1)-(3)
Washington
to Saigon, 9/16/72
to 10/17/72 (1)-(2)
Box 3 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 10/22/72 to 11/6/72 (1)-(3)
Washington
to Saigon, 10/22/72
to 11/6/72 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 11/7/72 to 11/24/72 (1)-(3)
Washington
to Saigon, 11/7/72
to 11/24/72 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 11/26/72 to 12/23/72 (1)-(3)
Washington
to Saigon, 11/26/72
to 12/23/72 (1)-(2)
Box 4 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 12/27/72 to 1/15/73 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 12/27/72
to 1/15/73 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 1/18/73 to 1/23/73
Washington
to Saigon, 1/18/73
to 1/23/73 (1)-(3)
Saigon
to Washington, 1/24/73 to 2/26/73 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 1/24/73
to 2/26/73 (1)-(2)
Box 5 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 2/26/73 to 3/30/73 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 2/26/73
to 3/30/73 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 4/16/73 to 5/22/73 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 4/16/73
to 5/22/73 (1)-(3)
Saigon
to Washington, 5/23/73 to 6/4/73 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 5/23/73
to 6/4/73 (1)-(2)
Box 6 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 6/5/73 to 6/11/73 (1)-(3)
Washington
to Saigon, 6/5/73
to 6/11/73
Saigon
to Washington, 6/11/73 to 7/12/73 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 6/11/73
to 7/12/73
Saigon
to Washington, 7/23/73 to 8/27/73
Washington
to Saigon, 7/23/73
to 8/27/73 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 9/4/73 to 1/10/74 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 9/4/73
to 1/10/74 (1)-(2)
Saigon to Washington, 7/25/73 to 12/31/73
Saigon to Washington, 1/12/74 to 11/21/74 (1)-(3)
Box 7 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Washington
to Saigon, 1/12/74
to 11/21/74 (1)-(2)
Saigon
to Washington, 1/7/74 to 12/3/74 (1)-(4)
Washington
to Saigon, 1/7/74
to 12/3/74 (1)-(2)
Washington
to Saigon, 1/5/75
to 4/1/75
Saigon
to Washington, 1/5/75 to 4/1/75
(1)-(3)
Box 8 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
Saigon
to Washington, 4/9/75 to 4/28/75 (1)-(5)
Washington
to Saigon, 4/9/75
to 4/28/75
Henry
Cabot Lodge, Including Diem Coup, 1963-65 (1)-(3)
Ellsworth
Bunker, Graham Martin, 1972-75, Miscellaneous (1)-(2)
SECRET-NODIS,
Bunker to Washington, 1968-69
SECRET-NODIS
to Ambassador, Saigon, 11/6/68 to 4/27/72
Box 9 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador
Martin
NODIS-CHEROKEE:
TO SECSTATE, 9/15/70 TO
10/14/70 (1)-(2)
NODIS-CHEROKEE:
From SECSTATE, 9/13/70 TO
12/16/70 (1)-(2)
Memos,
speeches, correspondence, draft agreements, 1/25/72 to 9/26/72
(1)-(3)
Memos,
speeches, correspondence, draft agreements, 9/26/72 to 11/11/72
(1)-(3)
Draft
Agreement, 10/15/72
Bunker and
Weyand to Kissinger - Ceasefire, 11/4/72 to 11/19/72
Box 10 Copies of Files Removed by Ambassador Martin
To
American Ambassador - Saigon, 11/4/72 to 12/15/72 (1)-(2)
Troop
strengths, end of 1972
Talking
Papers for Ambassador Bunker, March 1973 (1)-(2)
Memcon - Singapore,
8/4/73
Travel of
Vice President Huong, October-November 1973
Charge Lehmann, January-February 1975
Weyand Report, 4/4/75
American
Embassy - Manila
Martin
Testimony - Support Materials, 5/75 to 1/76 (1)-(5)
