Remember John Gunther Dean?

[Carl Robinson]

Hi, Everyone:  

Several of us have been chatting about getting the last US ambassador in Phnom Penh to drop into our planned reunion there 20-23 April 2010.   Compared to his predecessor, John Gunther Dean was a nice guy and quite sociable too, as I recall.   He now lives in Paris and after reading the following you can understand why !!!   Henry Kissinger sure had a nice way of telling people to shut up, didn't he ?!    Just proves what a sad & horrible "sideshow" Cambodia was to the Nixon Administration.   I can forgive Nixon for a lot of shit -- but not what he did to Cambodia.       Fascinating stuff here.

He'd be a welcome addition and i do hope he can make it.

Best,

Carl

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christopher Decherd <mekong...@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 11:53 AM
Subject: Dean's Controlled Solution - six-part series RE: Gunther Dean
To: DG...@ap.org
Cc: CARL ROBINSON <cd...@optusnet.com.au>, Carl Robinson <robinso...@gmail.com>, Barry Broman <broma...@comcast.net>, cdec...@voanews.com

FYI VOA Khmer reported and wrote this six-part series 2 1/2 years back or so, pegged to Dean's formal turnover of his documents to National Archives, and Jimmy Carter Center. Brian Calvert took the reporting and writing lead. His work was translated and adapted into Khmer, then radio broadcast, and then posted on website in English.  The presentation on the VOA Khmer website is one of our better efforts.  Direct link to page, hosting six-part series.  http://www.voanews.com/khmer/dean.cfm Link to the VOA Khmer home page, with the 'Dean - Controlled Solution' series at * * bottom on first page, with black & white photo icon, link.  www.voacambodia.com. Here's text of the opening, of part I, with editor's note: The Year Before Zero: Dean's Controlled Solution - Failure of Control Brian Calvert, VOA Khmer  Original report from Washington 24 July 2007 Yann Ker narrates in Khmer Part One: Failure of Control This April, John Gunther Dean, the last US ambassador to Cambodia before it fell to the Khmer communists in 1975, turned over thousands of documents to the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, Ga., part of the US National Archives. In the papers, most being made public for the first time, Dean outlines his views on a controlled solution to the civil war. His efforts failed, he says, because Washington didn’t listen. Dean today says that America's failure in Cambodia 30 years ago holds lessons for today's policy-makers. This is the first in a series of VOA Khmer reports on the Dean documents and the final year of the Khmer Republic. By February 1975, the situation in Phnom Penh was dire. Communist insurgents controlled nearly all the Cambodian countryside. Daily shelling of the capital spread fear and discontent through the populace.   The national army was in tatters. The communists had launched a spirited dry-season offensive that had blocked the Mekong River, strangling the capital. From the Royal Palace, you could see the tops of submerged ships, sunk by communists dug in along the banks. The short-lived Khmer Republic, it seemed, was nearly as sunk.  At the US Embassy, a beleaguered ambassador, John Gunther Dean, furiously cabled his boss in Washington, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. He was concerned, Dean wrote, that Cambodia could wait no longer, not for the end of the dry season campaign, and not for a decision by Congress on funding for Cambodia. The communists had to be negotiated with, immediately. Deans words were urgent, terse for a diplomatic telegram, and outlined frustration that had been brewing for months.  “To be blunt, we are wasting time,” Dean wrote. “In my major assessment last June, I made clear that time was working against us. In September, I thought I had convinced everyone concerned that we would never again be in a stronger position than we were then, and it would all be downhill thereafter. Now it is February and these predictions have been borne out by events.”  Though sharper in tone, the missive was similar in content to those the ambassador had sent, repeatedly, since arriving eight months earlier, a fresh head of mission thrown into an impending disaster. A first-time ambassador, Dean wanted to bring Prince Norodom Sihanouk, then in Beijing and sinecure head of a coalition with the Khmer communists, into negotiations with the Khmer Republic, led by the US-backed marshal and president, Lon Nol. Dean wanted Washington to pursue every channel available to bring the communists into a coalition with the Republic and its standing army, religious leadership and other assets. The dwindling power of the Republic, Dean thought, would countervail the rising power of the communists. He called this his “controlled solution” and warned that an uncontrolled solution would lead to a disaster for Cambodia’s seven million civilians.  For months, Dean had pushed for and clamored for a controlled solution. By February, Kissinger was tired of the crusade. The communists were stonewalling negotiations, seeking instead a takeover by force, and Sihanouk was incapable now of bringing a settlement, Kissinger wrote Dean. Kissinger also assailed the ambassador.  “We are continuing to work on this matter through the various means open to us,” Kissinger wrote. “You will be kept informed when it is necessary for you to take some action. In the meantime, you should resist the urge to read the department the lectures contained in the [telegram].”  More than 30 years later, Dean, now retired in Paris, still wishes his “lectures” would have registered. And even if they didn’t back then, he said, maybe the lessons of the failed diplomacy to settle Cambodia’s civil war will have an impact on today’s statesmen. In an interview with VOA Khmer following the hand-over of a collection of documents in April, Dean urged today’s policymakers to pursue compromise and avoid unnecessary bloodshed and unsustainable financial expense as America fights two ongoing wars. ...xxx ... --- On Tue, 2/23/10, Christopher Decherd <mekong...@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Christopher Decherd <mekong...@yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Gunther Dean To: DG...@ap.org Cc: "CARL ROBINSON" <cd...@optusnet.com.au>, "Carl Robinson" <robinso...@gmail.com>, "Barry Broman" <broma...@comcast.net>, cdec...@voanews.com Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 6:07 PM Dear Denis, Great to see you. Thanks for breakfast. Here's email address I have for John Gunther Dean - Johnmar...@aol.com.   Johnmar...@aol.com He lives in Paris. He visited Washington last May and a colleague and myself met with him at the Kenwood Club. He remains engaged with and passionate about global contemporary issues, and about Cambodia.  best regards, Chris   --- On Tue, 2/23/10, Gray, Denis <DG...@ap.org> wrote: From: Gray, Denis <DG...@ap.org> Subject: RE: Gunther Dean To: "Carl Robinson" <robinso...@gmail.com>, "Barry Broman" <broma...@comcast.net>, "Chris Decherd" <mekong...@yahoo.com> Cc: "CARL ROBINSON" <cd...@optusnet.com.au> Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 12:03 AM Great. I'll send him an invite when I get his e-mail from Chris Decherd of VOA. Cheers, Denis From: Carl Robinson [mailto:robinso...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:53 AM To: Barry Broman Cc: Gray, Denis; CARL ROBINSON Subject: Re: Gunther Dean Hi, Denis and Barry: I'd be most pleased to have John Gunther Dean attend the Phnom Penh Reunion.   You are most welcome to invite him. Best, Carl On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 1:28 PM, Barry Broman <broma...@comcast.net> wrote: Al Rockoff who I saw in Phnom Penh a couple of months ago at a book launch should be happy to see Dean again.  Dean gave approval for Air America to fly Al out of Kompong Chhnang when he got shot in the heart.  The flew him to Saigon with a Swedish nurse hand-pumping his heart all the way.  When Al finally made it back to Cambodia (after discharging himself from intensive care) I was at the welcome home party.  Al's quote:  "I bought the farm, but the check bounced." On Feb 22, 2010, at 6:10 PM, Gray, Denis wrote: Greetings Carl,    How about inviting John Gunther Dean to join the PP reunion? Just heard this morning from a VOA reporter in D.C. that he's still going strong and comes to D.C. from Paris for conferences, etc. He would be a great addition. I am getting his e-mail soon. CHeers, Denis The information contained in this communication is intended for the use of the designated recipients named above. If the reader of this communication is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify The Associated Press immediately by telephone at +44-20-7482-7400 and delete this e-mail. Thank you. [IP_UK_DISC] msk dccc60c6d2c3a6438f0cf467d9a4938

[Chhang Song]

Dear Carl,

I support the invitation to the last US ambassador in Phnom Penh, John Gunther Dean to drop by our Reunion. He would have much to share, that was not shared by the end of the war and thereafter. I think he keeps Cambodia in his heart like many press correspondents. I, too, hope he can make it.

Best,

Chhang Song

---

Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:26:37 +1100
Subject: Remember John Gunther Dean?
From: robinso...@gmail.com
To: vietnam-...@googlegroups.com

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[Bruce Palling]

I have his email if you want it - he lives in Paris

[Ted Marks]

There was certainly no love lost between Dean and Kissinger. I've been doing a lot of research in recent months for a book I'm just completing, and Kissinger has all sorts of nasty things to say about Dean in his memoirs (plus his book, Ending the War in Vietnam).  For his part, in HIS memoirs Dean responds in kind (see my review of Dean's memoir on Amazon).  But there is even more in the oral histories (compiled by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training) by Dean at the Jimmy Carter library (the oral histories are by all sorts of diplomats and cover a lot more than Indochina.  Many of the interviews can be accessed online).  Robert Keeley, Dean's DCM who organized the PPenh evacuaution, also has his say, and he takes Kissinger's side in the discussion about Dean's efforts to wring a  peace accord between the Cambodian government, Sihanouk and the KR..  He says Dean went way beyond  his mandate in those efforts. I would love to get Dean, Kissinger and Keeley in the same room....it would be quite a dustup!

Ted Marks

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Ted Marks

tma...@mfamedia.com

Tel:   207-389-2620

Cell: 860-307-0005

[Alber...@aol.com]

Ted,

Keep me posted on your book.  When it's published, I will give it a plug in my New Books column in the OPC Bulletin.

al

[Elizabeth Becker]

His predecessor was Amb. Emory Swank, a diplomat who was as honest as
Dean but who was overshadowed by Tom Enders, his number two. It was
Enders who managed the bombing from his office, following the
Kissinger-Nixon doctrine. I vote against inviting Dean or any other
diplomat. Let's keep this a journalists' reunion.
Chhang Song counts as a journalist - he was a journalist interpreter
for me and several others after he left Am Rong and before he joined
the cabinet of Lon Nol.
Thanks, Elizabeth

On Feb 24, 1:26 am, Carl Robinson <robinsoncar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, Everyone:
>
> Several of us have been chatting about getting the last US ambassador in
> Phnom Penh to drop into our planned reunion there 20-23 April 2010.
> Compared to his predecessor, John Gunther Dean was a nice guy and quite
> sociable too, as I recall.   He now lives in Paris and after reading the
> following you can understand why !!!   Henry Kissinger sure had a nice way
> of telling people to shut up, didn't he ?!    Just proves what a sad &
> horrible "sideshow" Cambodia was to the Nixon Administration.   I can
> forgive Nixon for a lot of shit -- but not what he did to Cambodia.
> Fascinating stuff here.
>
> He'd be a welcome addition and i do hope he can make it.
>
> Best,
>

> Carl---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Christopher Decherd <mekongcast...@yahoo.com>

> Date: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 11:53 AM
> Subject: Dean's Controlled Solution - six-part series RE: Gunther Dean
> To: DG...@ap.org
>

> Cc: CARL ROBINSON <c...@optusnet.com.au>, Carl Robinson <
> robinsoncar...@gmail.com>, Barry Broman <broman0...@comcast.net>,
> cdech...@voanews.com

>
> FYI
>
> VOA Khmer reported and wrote this six-part series 2 1/2 years back or so,
> pegged to Dean's formal turnover of his documents to National Archives, and
> Jimmy Carter Center. Brian Calvert took the reporting and writing lead. His
> work was translated and adapted into Khmer, then radio broadcast, and then
> posted on website in English.
>
> The presentation on the VOA Khmer website is one of our better efforts.
>

> Direct link to page, hosting six-part series.http://www.voanews.com/khmer/dean.cfm

>
> Link to the VOA Khmer home page, with the 'Dean - Controlled Solution'
> series at * * bottom on first page, with black & white photo icon, link.www.voacambodia.com.
>
> Here's text of the opening, of part I, with editor's note:
>
> The Year Before Zero: Dean's Controlled Solution - Failure of ControlBrian
> Calvert, VOA Khmer
> Original report from Washington

> *24 July 2007

>
> Yann Ker narrates in Khmer

> *
>
> *
> *
>
> *Part One: Failure of Control*
>
> *This April, John Gunther Dean, the last US ambassador to Cambodia before it

> fell to the Khmer communists in 1975, turned over thousands of documents to
> the Jimmy Carter Library in Atlanta, Ga., part of the US National Archives.
> In the papers, most being made public for the first time, Dean outlines his
> views on a controlled solution to the civil war. His efforts failed, he
> says, because Washington didn’t listen. Dean today says that
> America's failure in Cambodia 30 years ago holds lessons for today's
> policy-makers. This is the first in a series of VOA Khmer reports on the

> Dean documents and the final year of the Khmer Republic.*

> --- On *Tue, 2/23/10, Christopher Decherd <mekongcast...@yahoo.com>* wrote:

>
> From: Christopher Decherd <mekongcast...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: RE: Gunther Dean
> To: DG...@ap.org
> Cc: "CARL ROBINSON" <c...@optusnet.com.au>, "Carl Robinson" <
> robinsoncar...@gmail.com>, "Barry Broman" <broman0...@comcast.net>,
> cdech...@voanews.com
> Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 6:07 PM
>
> Dear Denis,
> Great to see you. Thanks for breakfast.

> Here's email address I have for John Gunther Dean - Johnmartined...@aol.com.
>
> Johnmartined...@aol.com

>
> He lives in Paris. He visited Washington last May and a colleague and myself
> met with him at the Kenwood Club. He remains engaged with and passionate
> about global contemporary issues, and about Cambodia.
>
> best regards, Chris
>

> --- On *Tue, 2/23/10, Gray, Denis <DG...@ap.org>* wrote:
>
> From: Gray, Denis <DG...@ap.org>
> Subject: RE: Gunther Dean
> To: "Carl Robinson" <robinsoncar...@gmail.com>, "Barry Broman" <
> broman0...@comcast.net>, "Chris Decherd" <mekongcast...@yahoo.com>
> Cc: "CARL ROBINSON" <c...@optusnet.com.au>
> Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 12:03 AM
>
> Great. I'll send him an invite when I get his e-mail from Chris Decherd of
> VOA. Cheers, Denis
>

>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Carl Robinson [mailto:robinsoncar...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 23, 2010 11:53 AM
> *To:* Barry Broman
> *Cc:* Gray, Denis; CARL ROBINSON
> *Subject:* Re: Gunther Dean

>
> Hi, Denis and Barry:
>
> I'd be most pleased to have John Gunther Dean attend the Phnom Penh
> Reunion.   You are most welcome to invite him.
>
> Best,
>
> Carl
>

[Carl Robinson]

Re Elizabeth's comment, as co-organiser here, I don't see any problem with ex-US ambassador John Gunther Dean showing up at the reunion in Phnom Penh.    We've already got some other official types such as Barry Broman interested in attending.  (In fact, the US Embassy is even interested in hosting a function for us.)   Gosh, if we can't get over these silly "labels" and even prejudices after all these years, there's no point in even having a reunion.  The whole reunion idea came from Chhang Song and he was never really one of us in the first place, despite what you say about his freelancing between jobs.   Besides, with no more constraints on anyone, it'd be great to speak -- and even argue -- quite openly with these old "adversaries" and clear the air on those long-ago events and policies.   (I can hardly wait!)   These selected invitations to non-journos only started going out in the wake of what -- for various reasons -- was a rather disappointing response from old hacks and I thought it'd be fun to recreate more of the era with a few other players.   In any case, it's still our party.   

Best,

Carl

[don kirk]

Actually, I more or less agree about the undesirability of inviting old officials. Don't mind running into them on rare occasions but not too interested in listening to more of their bs, whatever the relationship. The case of John Gunther Dean, however, may be a little different. He shd have some special insights and memories, at least for the duration of a dinner. And his presence may encourage more old-timers to drop by. Best, Don --- On Wed, 2/24/10, Carl Robinson <robinso...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Ted Marks]

I agree with Elizabeth Becker that Dean should not be invited. Dean
and his colleagues and predecessors tried to play the press like a
fiddle over the years I was in PPenh. Even tho I will not, alas, be
able travel to PPenh, the presence of Dean and the others we had to
work around would put a damper on the proceedings, in my view. That
was serious, serious stuff we were trying to cover, and frankly we
didn't get a lot of help from the embassy (unless they wanted to use
us, which they did regularly). And, frankly, I still resent that.

Ted Marks

[Carl Robinson]

I am a bit disappointed at some of the reactions here re Amb Dean.   We're not talking open slather on invites but someone for whom we had lots of respect in totally fraught circumstances.   (And I had even less time than most of you about US Officialdom after my time with usaid and their attitude after I'd joined the "enemy" by becoming a journalist.)   At least now, there's no more reason to lie to each other and we can finally get e'thing out into the open.     

As for decades-old resentments, Ted, I do think - with respect - that we must move along.    If I was still nursing the same negative mind-set from that depressing war and afterwards, I frankly wouldn't be running this Google Group thing at all.   I am trying not only to bring us to terms with our pasts -- but also each other and those who were also there.    And at our age, no reason why we can't just "slag off" at each other without any lasting damage.    Life is indeed too short.   

Finally, I would caution that "journalists only" mind-set.   Following some early back & forth on "membership," we've turned this site into quite a broad church and there's lots of mutual respect amongst us.  But every time we start talking exclusively about "just us," we risk losing others who have come into our group. 

Best,

Carl




     

[Ted Marks]

I understand what you are saying, Carl, but I suggest you and others read the aforementioned autobiography of Dean; controversy surrounded the man, beyond his Lao and Cambodian adventures. I'm not making the case for or against him, vis a vis his career.   But, it seems to me that this reunion should be focused on the Old Hack group and their experiences in Cambodia, without having to attend to other external issues.

And I agree totally that your stewardship of this blog is an open one (dare I say progressive?);  and that is to our benefit, for which I thank you and your colleagues.

Ted Marks