SUMMARY OF CONGRESSIONAL COMMENT REGARDING SOUTHEAST ASIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000300120001-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 4, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 15, 1964
• Content Type: SUMMARY

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Summary of Congressional Comment Regarding
Southeast Asia
15 June 1964
Senator Wayne Morse commented upon a briefing that morning
by the Secretary of State. He reiterated a challenge to debate the
subject of South Viet Nam publicly with the Secretary and reported that
Viet Cong activities, and the casualties they had inflicted, had doubled
during the past week. The Senator also attacked a NEW YORK TIMES
article supporting the war. He remarked that South Viet Nam is not
independent and that our actions there were as imperialistic as those
of the Soviet Union or Great Britain and were a violation of international
law and the Geneva Accords.
Senator E. L. Bartlett likewise commented on the entire
subject of Indochina. He attacked the idea that Southeast Asia would
fall like a house of cards over a single crisis in the area. He stated
that our purpose in Indochina is not to obtain total victory but simply
to give the nations there a chance for national independence. He
engaged in an extensive historical analysis of the situation pointing
out the lack of our knowledge concerning Chinese intentions, and
urging that Viet Nam is but a part of the larger Indochinese problem.
Senator Bartlett's thesis was that we still have several political options
open to us in this vital area and that the choice is not between simple
withdrawal and total war.
16 June 1964
Senator Morse charged that the United States Government
"deliberately and intentionally to conceal from the American people
the facts concerning this government's illegal course of action in
Southeast Asia" had carried out a Laotian bombing mission without
notifying the Royal Laotian Government. He asserted that this warfare
was illegal under interantional law and the United States Constitution.
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He also accused Australia of encouraging United States aircraft attacks
while withholding any participation in their own right. He made a
similar charge with respect to members of SEATO. Morse also attacked
the State Department for refusing to act through the United Nations with
respect to this problem.
17 June 1964
Representative Charles E. Chamberlain expressed deep
concern over the deteriorating situation in South Viet Nam and the
fact that Department of Defense information on the subject was being
classified Confidential. He charged that DOD memorandums on the
subject were "so devoid of substance that it had to be classified in order
to obscure the true facts from the American people. " He introduced an
article from the 18 May issue of U. S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORTk
which quoted extensively the remarks of Mr. Robert L. Moore of
Boston, Mass. Mr. Moore asserted that Secretary McNamara and
other officials were being shielded from the true facts in South Viet
Nam. Representative Chamberlain also introduced a DOD memorandum
criticizing the Moore article. Morse pointed out, however, that
Secretary Ailes did not doubt the integrity of Mr. Moore. Chamberlain
believes that it is time the Administration became more forthright
with the American people and released information concerning the
state of hostilities in South Viet Nam.
Senator Morse again requested the Department of State to
take the Southeast Asia situation before the United Nations, and, in
support thereof, he introduced 31 pages of letters from constituents
criticizing the United States policy.
Senator Frank Church introduced several newspaper editorials,
most of which suggested withdrawal from Southeast Asia under
international supervision.
Representative Daniel J. Flood inserted an article on Laos in
the appendix of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. The article questioned
the wisdom of another Geneva Conference and discounted the possibility
of a political settlement in Laos.
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18 June 1964
Senator Jacob K. Javits inserted in the RECORD a press
release from a Republican Citizens Committee's Critical Issues
Council calling for a sweeping revision of United States policy in the
Far East. The paper made five basic charges: (1) that we had backed
away from commitments to anti-Communist forces; (2) pressured anti-
Communist leaders to accept coalition governments; (3) failed to condemn
armed aggression by neutralists at expense of our allies; (4) failed to
relate tactical situations, such as Viet Nam, to the overall struggle;
(5) allowed the concept of counter-insurgency to dictate a strictly
defensive policy. The Council called for a clearer commitment,
coordination of arms and policy, and the development of competent
personnel in the Far East.
Senator Morse again attacked "McNamara's war." He suggested
that United States aid was producing more weapons for the Viet Cong
than any other source. He criticized as being deceitful Secretary Rusk's
comment that the Viet Namese, just as the Malayan government years
before, could not do the job alone. Morse pointed out that the Communists
in Malay were foreigners, whereas the only foreigners in South Viet Nam
were Americans. He said "we are doing very much what Nazi Germany,
Fascist Italy and Communist Russia did in Spain during the Spanish Civil
War. We are intervening in someone else's civil war." He reiterated
his charge that American boys are being killed illegally, unjustifiably
and in shocking betrayal of their own government's obligation to them.
He compared the United States to the Soviet Union or Hitler's Germany
in concealing fact of its military movements from its own people. At
this point he inserted in the RECORD an editorial attacking the use of
official lies, mentioning among other items development of the A-11 by
the CIA.
The Senator claimed that with concealment of the Laotian air
attack, the "credibility gap" was growing apace. He introduced additional
articles from the NEW YORK TIMES critical of the war in Southeast
Asia.
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On the floor of the House, Representative H. R. Gross pointed
out that Peiping radio was the first to inform the American people
that United States planes had been bombing in Laos and that CIA hired
mercenaries for bombing in the Congo. He submitted that instead of
a hot line from the White House to Moscow, one was needed between
the Congress and Peiping to inform the Congress and the citizens of
what the United States Government was doing.
22 June 1964
Senator Morse attacked President Johnson's statements in
San Francisco as a gross overstepping of the President's moral and
legal rights. He pointed out that the President alone is not entitled
to threaten war or commit the United States to it. The Senator pointed
out that the SEATO charter itself would be no substitute, and that in
fact the organization is defunct. In addition to renewing his previous
charges, the Senator made the following remarks: "President Johnson
is making the United States the world's leading threat to world peace;
and he will discredit himself and his Administration in the eyes of
history if he leaves our people the legacy of unilateral war in Asia."
The Senator asserted that such a war could not be justified by any
American interest or defense thereof. He asserted that by confronting
China we would simply be doing Russia's job. The Senator attacked
Admiral Felt's remarks by saying that he never believed that a man
in a uniform of our country would be allowed to make such threats and
exercise such powers. The Senator made a strong argument against
American actions in Asia on moral grounds.
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