On the Right

New York, March 10—On little cat feet, the myth is closing down on us that the troubles in Indochina today result from the failure of the government of President Thieu to abide by the terms of the ceasefire. It was so twenty years ago after the Geneva conference, when before we knew it, we were all listening to accusations against President Diem for failure to call general elections as specified by the Geneva accord.

Now, the principal salesman of this line is Anthony Lewis, who in the encyclopaedias he has written on the general subject that I have seen published, has been absolutely consistent in a) blaming Thieu for his failure to abide by the peace treaty; b) blaming the United States for provisioning Thieu’s continued resistance to the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong; c) failing to blame the North Vietnamese for continuing the war in territory over which they have no legitimate claim; and d) failing to blame the Soviet Union and the Red Chinese for provisioning Hanoi’s continued wars of aggression against its neighbors.

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

Featured Tags

New York, March 10—On little cat feet, the myth is closing down on us that the troubles in Indochina today result from the failure of the government of President Thieu to abide by the terms of the ceasefire. It was so twenty years ago after the Geneva conference, when before we knew it, we were all listening to accusations against President Diem for failure to call general elections as specified by the Geneva accord.

Now, the principal salesman of this line is Anthony Lewis, who in the encyclopaedias he has written on the general subject that I have seen published, has been absolutely consistent in a) blaming Thieu for his failure to abide by the peace treaty; b) blaming the United States for provisioning Thieu’s continued resistance to the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong; c) failing to blame the North Vietnamese for continuing the war in territory over which they have no legitimate claim; and d) failing to blame the Soviet Union and the Red Chinese for provisioning Hanoi’s continued wars of aggression against its neighbors.