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1 VISIT
THE WAR ZONE
Saigon, South VieUlam: Marcb 16, 1971
A
T THE
suggestion of Ambassador to
.I1..
South Vietnam Ellsworth Bunker, I
decided to visit Saigon, war capital of South Vietnam.
You will ask the same question 1 first asked him: "ls
it safe to fiy into Saigon?"
"You are more safe than you would be on the
streets of Washington, D.
C.,"
responded the Ambas–
sador. Actually, many government officials in Washing–
ton, and many senators and congressmen, have visited
Saigon.
This is Tuesday afternoon, March 16th. We flew over
here from Manila this morning, arriving shortly before noon.
En route from the airport to our hotel, I was surprised to see
so little evidence of the war. I was mostly impressed by the
congested traffic. Automobile congestion was heavy. But for
every car there were two to four "Hondas" -
J
apan-made
motor bikes.
"Before the war, everybody rode bicycles," said an Ameri–
can now resident
in
Saigon, who met us at the airport. "Now
everybody rides motor-bikes and automobiles. They have to
pay cash for them, too. No time payments."
"They must be sold at a low price," I suggested.
"No, they cost about three times as much as they would
in
the U. S., due
to
the heavy tax."
Since the partitioning of North and South Vietnam, the
same thing has happened here that happened in east and west
Berlín, east and west Germany, north and south Korea.
Non-Communist South Vietnam has prospered economically–
Communist North Vietnam has not.
"How much of this new South Vietnam prosperity has
come from United States dollars?" I asked.
"About 99.98%," grinned my Saigon friend.
It
has come
from American "aid," and from G. I . spending. Traffic moves
slowly, through mid-day, and almost not at all during morning
and evening rush hours. Saigon is a city listed in our aircraft
atlas as having about 1,750,000 population. But locally they
(Continued on page 45)
In This lssue:
What
Our
Readers
Soy
. . . . . .
lnside
Front Cover
Personal from the Editor
....
At Last- The Plain Truth
About
the Vietnam Warl
2
Exclusive lnterview with
Ellsworth
C.
Bunker
. . . . . . .
7
Europe's Common Market-
Rising World Colossus
. . . . .
9
Advance News
............
15
Nations in Chaos
. . . . . . . . . .
J7
Australia
-
Aftermath
of
Record-Breaking Floods
. . .
25
How to Overcome
Emotional Stress
. . . . . . . . .
27
What
YOU
Can
Do . . . . . . . . 3
J
An
Al/ Play and No
Work Society?
. .. . . . . . . . .
33
The Great
SST
Roce
. . . . . . . .
35
TV Log
..................
43
Radio Log
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
44
Wide World
Photo
OUR COVER
Cover photo sbows U. S. Ambassa–
dor to Souch Vietnam Ellsworch C.
Bunker. Recently, Mr. Herbert W.
Armstrong, Editor of
The
PLAIN
TRUTH, accompanied
by
Stanley R.
Rader, general counsel of Ambassa–
dor College, flew to Saigon. In their
45-minute conference at tbe Embassy,
Ambassador Bunker gave some
illuminating information about tbe
Vietnam war. Notes of tbc inter–
view are r ecordcd beginning page 7
of tbis issue.