US sought Vatican role in Vietnam
WASHINGTON -
Faced with mounting public anger over the escalating US role in Vietnam, former president Lyndon Johnson repeatedly sought
help from the Vatican to mediate the conflict, according to classified documents released this week.
Despite the lack of diplomatic ties between Washington and the Vatican, between 1965 and 1968 Johnson met twice with
Pope Paul VI, sent him at least three personal letters and dispatched numerous emissaries, including his vice president, to
encourage the pontiff's active participation in ending the war.
The letters, diplomatic cables and memorandae, released Monday by the State Department, paint a portrait of a government
desperate to enlist the moral authority of the pope in its struggle with the deepening conflict.
Johnson requested papal declarations critical of North Vietnam, Vatican intervention with Hanoi over the treatment of
American prisoners of war and lobbying by Catholic officials in Saigon to open a dialogue with communist sympathizers in
South Vietnam.
Pope Paul, an avowed anti-communist, privately sympathized with Johnson's position and goals in Vietnam and publicly called
for peace and dialogue, and he appeared eager to do whatever he could to help secure an end to the conflict, and considered
celebrating Christmas Mass in Saigon in 1968.
Preserving his impartial image, however, and a desire not to be perceived as supporting war, particularly US bombing of the
north, were tantamount, the documents show.
Pope Paul's desire for peace -- reflected in a February 10, 1965, diplomatic missive from the Vatican relayed to Washington
by the US embassy in Rome -- may have sparked Johnson's interest in approaching the pope.
"His holiness is deeply worried over developments in Southeast Asia," the cable read. "He appreciates the gravity and delicacy
of the situation and is gravely concerned lest it lead to general war."
Eight months later, Johnson and Pope Paul met in the president's suite at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel where they first
discussed the "quest for peace."
In May 1966, in an audience with the pope, US Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge explained Washington's
Vietnam policy and the US dilemma in dealing with the North Vietnamese who Lodge said had no interest in negotiating
reduced hostilities.
The pope, concerned there was no contact between the two sides, appeared to understand "the real problem was a lack of
Hanoi's desire for peace rather than a lack of channels of communication," Lodge reported.
Apparently encouraged, Johnson in July wrote to the pope of his continued frustration at North Vietnamese rebuffs to US
overtures.
"Our efforts have so far been in vain," the president wrote.
In November, Johnson again wrote the pope of Washington's reluctance to accept a North Vietnamese proposal for a
Christmas truce.
"I feel... it would have been far better for the cause of World Peace had the United States been able to announce it would
accept a Christmas truce in response to the request of Your Holiness," Johnson wrote.
In early 1967, perhaps spurred by Johnson's disappointment, Pope Paul in a meeting with vice president Hubert Humphrey in
Florence offered suggestions on how to improve the US image in Vietnam and "repeatedly volunteered his services to us,"
Humphrey said.
The pontiff suggested using South Vietnamese officials as military spokesmen instead of Americans because it appeared to the
average person that "big, strong America is being brutal and cruel" with its overwhelming public presence in Saigon, Humphrey
wrote.
Shortly before Christmas 1967, Johnson, returning to the United States from Australia, stopped at the Vatican for his second
meeting with Pope Paul.
The pontiff again indicated his support of US goals in Vietnam while stressing his need to remain neutral, but warned Johnson
his policies risked failure.
"I must differentiate my position from yours although I very clearly understand your good intentions and your good hopes," the
pope said, according to a transcript of the conversation.
"I want to further the solidarity of my agreement with your intentions but you must understand I can never agree to war," he
said, asking if he could tell Hanoi's Soviet sponsors Washington truly wanted peace.
Johnson asked for help with a new strategy to encourage Saigon to speak with South Vietnamese communist sympathizers, in
an effort to cut Hanoi out of the picture, and the pontiff in turn agreed to dispatch an envoy to ask the North Vietnamese to
respect international agreements over treatment of US prisoners of war.
Pope Paul also indicated he would lobby the Catholic leadership in Saigon on a dialogue.
In early 1968, Johnson announced he would not stand for re-election and the Vietnam conflict took a turn for the worse for the
United States with the rebel penetration of Saigon and the US embassy there during the Tet Offensive.
The offensive in part prompted the May opening of the Paris Peace Talks, but Washington still looked to the pope for help.
Pope Paul's hopes to visit both North and South Vietnam in December 1968 were dashed by Hanoi's refusal to grant his
request, thereby forcing a cancellation of the entire papal visit in the interest of neutrality.
In late August, with the US presidential campaign between Humphrey and Richard Nixon in full swing, Johnson's aides decided
to drop the Vatican as a Vietnam mediator fearing it might undercut the ongoing peace talks in Paris.
Agence France Presse - April 22, 2001.
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