0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
* elicit the assistance of other nations such as Romania, Sweden,
Norway and Italy. 63/
Initially "Marigold" showed some promise. The Polish
representative to the ICC relayed to Ambassador Lodge that Ho Chi Minh
would enter- into serious negotiations with, the US if bombing was suspended,
He also indicated that the DRV position das very flexible; that is.
* they would neither demand the establishment of a Socialist regime
nor the neutralization in the South
* they would rot interfere with the Saigon government
0 they would consider a reasonable calendar for a US withdrawal
from the South.64/
USG officials were suspicious about this initiative
which was tagged with the code name of "Marigold" and given very "close
hold" treatment on a "need to know basis."65!
Durino the early months of the "Marigold" initiative,
the war grew hotter, which in all likelihood hampered real progress towards
r formal negotiations. At a critical point during the month of December
1966, when the US Ambassador to Poland was preparing for a particularly
sensitive meeting with Polish emissariez, ()S bombers struck very sensitie
targets in the vicinity of Hanoi. The target selection was cleared
through the White House in mid-November, but bad weather delayed the
strikes.66/ Knowledgeable observers 67/ have concluded that top US policy
makers simply forgot that the planned raids had been delayed, and those
working on "Marigold" at the lower levels of the government burec-uracy did
not know about them.
Subsequent raids were not cancelled, and as a result,
contacts with the DRV repr sentatives ceasid, "Marigold" went the route of
all previous initiatives--tthe dead end.
Apart from "Marigold," one major project--called
"Sunflower"-- produced brief hope, especially with mid-level government
bureaucrats, that the DRV miqht respond. In January 1967, the US passed a
message to the North Vietnamese embassy in Mcscow proposing secret, facet3-face
talks (the DRV
wanted secrecy because of the PRC's opposition to
•I negotiations of any kind).68/ DRV intransigence and US impatience led to
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