CIA AND FACULTY MEMBERS SILENT ON THONG STATEMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200570013-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 22, 1999
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: February 8, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

0
Approved For Release
CPYRGHT
CIA and Facu'lty Members
Silnt on, Thong Statements
Both the CIA and critics of the
US administration's policy in Viet-
nam have refused to comment on
a statement by Huynh Sanh Thong
which charges certain members of
the CIA with intense manipulation
of the South Vietnamese political
situation.
The statement, which appeared in full
in yesterday's edition of the NEWS, al-
leges that Deputy Ambassador William
Porter and Senior Liaison Officer Ed-
ward Lansdale have lobbied for a nego-
tiation position "ever closer to . Com-
miinists in a frenzied search for peace
before; the next American elections."
lIarry J. Benda, associate professor of
hislor;' and co-chairman of the council
on Southeast Asian studies, expressed
doubts about the validity of the charges
!made by Mr. Thong.
In an interview late last night, Mr.
? Benda said that "while I claim no inside
1 knowledge of the situation, I find it very
hard to know, on.the basis of provable
factual data, whether Mr. Thong is cor-
rect in his very far reaching accusations.
"I am not among Mr. Lansdale's ad-
mirers," Mr. Benda said, "but as far as I
know, he is not, nor never has been, out
.to compromise with the Communists.
"I think from what I know that Mr.
Lansdale's end is not a rapprochement
with the Communists, but the very op-
posite," said Mr. Benda.
Yale Chaplain William S. Coffin Jr.,
Robert Cook, assistant professor of so-
ciology, and ' Staughton Lynd, assistant
professor of history, all refused to,com-
ment.
The statement further charges that
Doubts Validity of Charges
HARRY J. BENDA
American news publications such as
Newsweek, Foreign Affairs and the
Christian Science Monitor, and a mem-
ber of professional political scientists,
have propagandized in favor of a quick
settlement to the war at the expense of.,
Vietnamese Nationalism.
'A large portion of Mr. Thong's state-
meat was sent out over the national
wires of the Associated Press. Reaction
from the CIA and other sources in
Washington is expected within the next,
few days
STATINTL
Approved For Release 2000/08/26 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000200570013-7