Hanoi Didn’t Remember Nixon Fondly

* I read with interest “Nixon Remembered as Vietnam’s Savior in O.C.’s Little Saigon” (April 24).

I would take exception to Yen Do’s remark that “Now there are no more American politicians who were involved deeply in Vietnam left.” Mr. Do has overlooked Nixon’s secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.

It was Kissinger who was instrumental in opening U.S. policies toward China and who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1973.

Also awarded the Nobel was North Vietnamese negotiator, Le Duc Tho, who refused the prize and $100,000 on the ground that peace in Vietnam had not in fact been achieved.

On a recent fact-finding mission to Vietnam I found myself in a classroom of one of Hanoi’s large foreign language schools.

The students here were eager to test their English skills (excellent) and joust with an American journalist. Amid noisy banter, we joked about pop icons Madonna and Michael Jackson.

Then came a bombshell question: “What is your opinion of Mr. Nixon?”

You could hear a pin drop.

Nixon was after all the man responsible for escalating the bombing of their city when these students were just babies.

I told them candidly that Mr. Nixon, as both a man and politician, had good and bad qualities. That though he was forced from office for unethical conduct, he would still be remembered as a world statesman.

“Mr. Nixon, in fact, wrote a book, ‘No More Vietnams,’ and genuinely wanted peace.” This was met with stony silence. I realized then that the memory of Richard Nixon had already been buried in Hanoi long before his body was laid to rest in Yorba Linda.

MICHAEL J. NALLY

Editor, Viet & World Magazine

Westminster