European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 08, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday May 8, 1977 Tom Wicker the stars and stripes Page 15 alleged Aid Promise puts Shadow on talks 977 just As Richard Nixon emerged fro two and a half years of obscurity representatives of the United states and Viet Nam ended their first round of talks on establishing Normal relations talks Over which the secret diplomacy of Nixon and Henry Kissinger cast a dark Shadow. Much Progress apparently was made but one of the problems left for later talk was what the vietnamese cautiously Call contributions by the United states toward the reconstruction of Vietnam. Phan Hien the Leader of Hanoi s delegation even mentioned in a Public statement though apparently not in the conference itself what he said was a pledge of $3.25 billion in Aid made by Nixon at the time of the 1973 cease fire agreement Kissinger who negotiated the 1975 agreement denied for years that he and Nixon had made a secret pledge of postwar Aid. Then after a congressional delegation visiting Hanoi in 1976 was told that Nixon had signed an unpublished letter promis ing $3.25 billion in Aid Kissinger insisted that the pledge had been conditional Ona cease fire in Cambodia that never came  this year president Carter re plying to a question at a news conference said he accepted no War guilt for the United states therefore he said the United states had no obligation to pay reparations to  in the april 30 Issue of the nation Gareth Porter an experienced student of Vietnam and a staff consultant to the House delegation that went to Hanoi Dis closes part of what purports to be the text of the Nixon letter. Aided by several inter views with an official who participated in the Paris talks in 1973, and who is still inthe government Porter is Able to conclude that there was a Nixon Kissinger pledge of $3.25 billion in postwar Aid without an political conditions but that the pledge was broken when it became Clear in july1973 that there would be no cease fire in  s researches and interviews led him to believe that Kissinger had negotiated the Aid letter because Hanoi refused to sign the rest of the ceasefire agreement without the $3.25 billion pledge. Kissinger tried to condition the pledge on Hanoi s help in getting a cambodian ceasefire but columns comments William f. Buckley scenario for Bay of pigs quest on. _ _. Cunikin mar ruins tit a Clofa it Iran my qr�vl1fmtindpr Al Hal  declassified documents reference system published by the Carrollton press of Arlington va., has got hold of memorandum written for president Ken Nedy by his aide professor Arthur Schle Singer jr., one week before the Bay of pigs la makes excellent Reading in a season in which there is evidence that people Are groping for historical perspectives about Richard m. , Days before the invasion is troubled that Kennedy s direct sponsor ship of the Bay of pigs May be discovered by the woodwards and bernsteins of 1961. Early in the memorandum he discusses the merits of having someone else actually trigger the invasion ". Someone whose head can later be placed on the Block if things go terribly  some Gordon buddy or Howard Hunt or even John Ehr Lichman or John Mitchell. Then or. Schle Singer writes out the kind of pres conference president Kennedy might expect supplying the most appropriate an Swers to the most embarrassing questions for his Boss a. Or. President can you Tell us about the reported invasion of Cuba this morn ing a. We Are doing our Best to get the fads. So far As i can Tell at present number of opponents of the Castro regime have landed on Cuba. I understand that the revolutionary Council is trying to make Contact with these  " loing could Nixon have in at the earliest possible moment to restore Freedom to their Homeland. I suppose that just As the Castro forces got Money and arms from sources in the United slates these new rebels May Well have too. But so far As i can Tell this is a purely cuban operation. I doubt whether Cuba s Patriot sin exile would have to be stimulated and organized by the United Stales in order Lope Suade them to liberate their nation from a communist  can you imagine what the watergate committee or John dear s impeachment committee would have done with that one a. Or. President is Cia involved in this affair a. As i said a moment ago i imagine that elements in the United states helped these opponents of Castro As they helped Castro himself in 1958. I can assure you that the United states government has no intention of using Force to overthrow the Castro regime or contributing Force to that purpose unless compelled to do so in Lite in tents of  is what one might Call the smoking pistol. But hark Arthur Schlesinger was worried about it because he added in brackets " hardly satisfactory it is imperative that a better formula be worked jut before your next press conference " it would of course have been better still  the next press conference a belter invasion had been worked out. A. Or. President would you say that so far As Cuba is concerned the . Has been faithful to its treaty pledges  in other countries would you that it has resolutely enforced the Laws even or. Schlesinger had exhausted his reserves of artifice. He had coached the president on How to lie about everything involving the . Sponsorship of the Bay of pigs invasion. But he got stuck on that one Point How to answer that one Tricky question. Would that Exchange have served As a candidate for an in minute rubbed out tape Well we ail know what happened. Ken Nedy launched the Bay of pigs and i became obvious that they had been trained and directed by the . Government. He then went to the people and told the the truth and survived. If he had gone to the people and Given such a speech a Schlesinger recommended in his memo he d have been As guilty As Nixon. But such memos As in the Public mind Are identified with the kind of people attracted to Nixon we see now were  written by the kind of people attracted to Juk.  history repeats itself especially at the hands of historians. Ulsa a i Veu in water / Camps and supplied by american Agen ties. Gus what answer Arthur Schlesinger Jinan refugees in r Iona months. I have no doubt that Many of them have been determined to do what they can usaa. Vhf secret document  the vietnamese insisted they had no control Over events in Cambodia and Kissin Ger then was obliged to pledge the Aid  strings attached in order to get a cease fire in vie Namas later published by nhan Dan. A Hanoi newspaper and confirmed to Porter by one of the participants in the negotiations the letter signed by Richard Nixon on feb. 1, 1973 spoke of principles for american help in the reconstruction of North Vietnam. The first two principles were i the government of the United states of America will contribute to postwar re construction in North Vietnam without any political conditions."2. Preliminary United slates studies indicate the programs appropriate for . Contribution will fall in the Range of $3.25 billion Grant Aid Over five  inserted a provision that the Aid could be granted Only in accordance with constitutional processes and even joked that when the vietnamese came Todeal with Otto Passman then the con Gressional Czar of foreign Aid they would Long for Henry Kissinger. He never made the letter Public or acknowledged its exis tence however despite a Law requiring the Senate to be Given the text of any executive agreement made by the United states. When negotiations on carrying out the details of the vietnamese american agree ment opened later in 1973, Kissinger again demanded a cease fire in Cambodia As a prior condition for postwar economic  agreed to try but again insisted that it had no Power to bring about a cambodian ceasefire. According to Porter when Kissinger became convinced the North vietnamese really did not control the s Itu action in Cambodia he quietly called off Thea id Nego Timons in effect abrogating the Aid pledge in the Nixon letter although the$3.25 billion had been explicitly promised without any political  the Ford administration later said that it would not provide help for vietnamese reconstruction because Hanoi in the Offen Sive that finally ended the War in 1975. Had violated the 1973 cease fire  speculates plausibly that it was just the other Way around that the broken Nixon Kissinger Promise in 1973 took away the last incentive which Hanoi had to maintain a defensive posture in the South and led ultimately to the drive that brought Saigon s  More certainly the unpublished Nixon letter poses the most difficult prob Lem in the renewed negotiations of 1977.  the opinion tips Tel in int comma and Burtom Zonini pm re front Tom Olmo autumn to Etc Onikama menu Fiji Tut to a to Sun and strip or on Unildo Sut to Mont