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Q. Mr. Secretary, do you consider the United States now owes any allegiance at all to the Paris pact? Are we now bound in any way by the Paris agreements?
Secretary Kissinger: Well, as far as the United States is concerned, there are not many provisions of the Paris agreement that are still relevant. As far as the North Vietnamese are concerned, they have stated that they wish to carry out the Paris accords, though by what definition is not fully clear to me. We would certainly support this if it has any meaning.
20:15:58 Q. May I ask one follow-up? Do you now favor American aid in rebuilding North Viet-Nam? Secretary Kissinger: North Viet-Nam? Q. North Viet-Nam. No, I do not favor American aid for rebuilding North Viet-Nam.
20:16:16 Q. South Viet-Nam?
Secretary Kissinger: With respect to South Viet-Nam, we will have to see what kind of government emerges & indeed whether there is going to be a South Viet-Nam. We would certainly look at particular specific humanitarian requests that can be carried out by humanitarian agencies, but we do believe that the primary responsibility should fall on those who supply the weapons for this political change.
20:16:53 Q. Mr. Secretary, I would like to ask a question about the length of time that it took to complete this evacuation. First, the question of whether days went by after the end became obvious before ordering the evacuation; second, if after ordering it there was a one-hour delay in helicopter landings, apparently caused by military confusion; third, whether the evacuation was prolonged by picking up thousands of Vietnamese instead of concentrating on Americans; & fourth, whether this was delayed even further by Ambassador Martin's desire to be the last man to leave the sinking ship. In other words, I tried to put the specifics in in order to ask you, did it take too long to get out of there, to write this last chapter?
Secretary Kissinger: We got out, w/ all of the personnel that were there, without panic & without the substantial casualties that could have occurred if civil order had totally broken down. We also managed to save 56,000 people whose lives were in the most severe jeopardy. We had to make a judgement every day how many people we thought we could safely remove without triggering a panic & at the same time still be able to carry out our principal function & the remaining functions. I think these objectives were achieved & they were carried out successfully. Therefore I do not believe that there was an undue delay, because an evacuation has been going on for two weeks. The difference between the last stage & the previous period was that the last stage was done by helicopter & the previous stage had been done by fixed-wing. I think the ability to conduct a final evacuation by helicopter without casualties during the operation, at least casualties caused by hostile action, is closely related to the policies that were pursued in the preceding two weeks. As for Ambassador Martin, he was in a very difficult position. He felt a moral obligation to the people w/ whom he had been associated, & he attempted to save as many of those as possible. That is not the worst fault a man can have.
20:19:45 Q. Mr. Secretary, there have been numerous reports of American appeals to the Soviets, to the Chinese. Can you say today in the evacuation effort were either the Soviets or the Chinese helpful or unhelpful in this diplomatic effort?
Secretary Kissinger: I think that we received some help from the Soviet Union in the evacuation effort. The degree of it we will have to assess when we study the exchanges. Continued...
Vietnam War End; Saigon Evacuation; Secretary of State; 29Apr75; 1975;
NOTE: Up to any continuous 24 minutes of 20:00:00 - 20:47:26 sold at per reel rate.
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NOTE: FOR ORDERING See: www.footagefarm.co.uk or contact us at: Info@Footagefarm.co.uk Q. Mr. Secretary, do you consider the United States now owes any allegiance at all to the Paris pact? Are we now bound in any way by the Paris agreements? Secretary Kissinger: Well, as far as the United States is concerned, there are not many provisions of the Paris agreement that are still relevant. As far as the North Vietnamese are concerned, they have stated that they wish to carry out the Paris accords, though by what definition is not fully clear to me. We would certainly support this if it has any meaning. 20:15:58 Q. May I ask one follow-up? Do you now favor American aid in rebuilding North Viet-Nam? Secretary Kissinger: North Viet-Nam? Q. North Viet-Nam. No, I do not favor American aid for rebuilding North Viet-Nam. 20:16:16 Q. South Viet-Nam? Secretary Kissinger: With respect to South Viet-Nam, we will have to see what kind of government emerges & indeed whether there is going to be a South Viet-Nam. We would certainly look at particular specific humanitarian requests that can be carried out by humanitarian agencies, but we do believe that the primary responsibility should fall on those who supply the weapons for this political change. 20:16:53 Q. Mr. Secretary, I would like to ask a question about the length of time that it took to complete this evacuation. First, the question of whether days went by after the end became obvious before ordering the evacuation; second, if after ordering it there was a one-hour delay in helicopter landings, apparently caused by military confusion; third, whether the evacuation was prolonged by picking up thousands of Vietnamese instead of concentrating on Americans; & fourth, whether this was delayed even further by Ambassador Martin's desire to be the last man to leave the sinking ship. In other words, I tried to put the specifics in in order to ask you, did it take too long to get out of there, to write this last chapter? Secretary Kissinger: We got out, w/ all of the personnel that were there, without panic & without the substantial casualties that could have occurred if civil order had totally broken down. We also managed to save 56,000 people whose lives were in the most severe jeopardy. We had to make a judgement every day how many people we thought we could safely remove without triggering a panic & at the same time still be able to carry out our principal function & the remaining functions. I think these objectives were achieved & they were carried out successfully. Therefore I do not believe that there was an undue delay, because an evacuation has been going on for two weeks. The difference between the last stage & the previous period was that the last stage was done by helicopter & the previous stage had been done by fixed-wing. I think the ability to conduct a final evacuation by helicopter without casualties during the operation, at least casualties caused by hostile action, is closely related to the policies that were pursued in the preceding two weeks. As for Ambassador Martin, he was in a very difficult position. He felt a moral obligation to the people w/ whom he had been associated, & he attempted to save as many of those as possible. That is not the worst fault a man can have. 20:19:45 Q. Mr. Secretary, there have been numerous reports of American appeals to the Soviets, to the Chinese. Can you say today in the evacuation effort were either the Soviets or the Chinese helpful or unhelpful in this diplomatic effort? Secretary Kissinger: I think that we received some help from the Soviet Union in the evacuation effort. The degree of it we will have to assess when we study the exchanges. Continued... Vietnam War End; Saigon Evacuation; Secretary of State; 29Apr75; 1975; NOTE: Up to any continuous 24 minutes of 20:00:00 - 20:47:26 sold at per reel rate. NOTE: FOR ORDERING See: www.footagefarm.co.uk or contact us at: Info@Footagefarm.co.uk