Kerry’s Hanoi tapes
September 2nd, 2004
As is now well known to everyone except those in the news media, John Kerry and other representatives of his group, the Vietnam Veterans Against The War (VVAW), met with the North Vietnamese and Vietcong peace delegations numerous times circa 1970-72, both in Paris and Hanoi.
The VVAW was so proud of these meetings they made cassette tapes and transcripts of the momentous events:
On page 1705 of the FBI’s Kerry/VVAW files there is an excerpt from the August 1971 issue of the National VVAW News:
Tapes of conversations with the representatives at the Paris Peace Talks are available for $45.00 for eight cassettes and a bound transcript. These are conversations between the VVAW delegation and the representatives of the four parties. If you are interested send the money and the order to the regional office and we will forward it for you to the office in Connecticut that is handling this.
Much has been made over the years about Jane Fonda’s trips to Hanoi and her broadcasting propaganda over Radio Hanoi for the North Vietnamese against the American forces. But Kerry’s own group also supplied material to Radio Hanoi for their broadcasts to the US troops.
In fact, the current incarnation of the VVAW is hawking some of these tapes that were recently unearthed:
Radio Hanoi Tapes Found In Barn
By John 'Doc' Upton
The Vietnam Veterans Radio network has obtained audio tapes, recorded between 1964 and 1971, of regular daily broadcasts from Radio Hanoi's 'Voice of Vietnam', "...to American soldiers involved in the war in Vietnam," featuring reporters Thu Houng (better known as 'Hanoi Hannah') and Van Tung.
VVRN received the Radio Hanoi tapes, as well as recordings of Radio Peking, from Jack Bock, a W.W.II vet from Washington state, who had worked as a civilian communications technician in Japan and Thailand during the Vietnam War. In a letter, Jack said he had heard VVRN on Radio For Peace International's short-wave broadcasts, and thought we might be interested in the tapes, which he had stored in his barn until now. Jack said he had recorded the tapes "to get another slant on the news," and pointed to the "charges and counter-charges over the so-called Gulf of Tonkin Incident in August of 1964" as an example, adding, "Looking back, it is easy to see who was lying."
After receiving the tapes, VVRN's initial review found, as Jack had told us, that they contained a great deal of static and interference, including, no doubt, US jamming. We contacted Chuck Haddix, director of the Marr Sound Archives at the University of Missouri-KC, who offered to 'clean' the tapes for us. However, after hearing a portion of 'partially cleaned' tape, and realizing the historical significance of their content, Chuck put us in touch with Les Waffen, director of the Motion Picture, Sound and Video Branch of the National Archives. Les told us that the tapes of Radio Hanoi were "very rare," and said that his department had the equipment and staff necessary to clean the tapes digitally. They did an incredible job!
Except for a change from patriotic Vietnamese music in the earlier tapes to American rock and folk music later, the format of Radio Hanoi's Voice of Vietnam remained basically the same over the years, and includes:
News headlines and reports critical of the Vietnam War from the World, and from around the world
Combat Action Reports, with descriptions of the fighting and the names and locations of the American units involved
Lists of the names, ranks, and serial numbers of Americans killed in action during the previous 24 hours, along with their families' names and hometown addresses
Speeches, poems and songs by American POWs, deserters and antiwar activists
Reports on the anti-Vietnam War activities of active duty GIs, primarily in the US and in Europe, and on VVAW's actions (including the Winter Soldier Investigation, Operation Heart of America, and the signing of the People's Peace Treaty)
Reminders that "Vietnam is not American soil," concern that "you could go home in a body bag," and encouragement to "demand your withdrawal from Vietnam now"
Copies of the Radio Hanoi/Radio Peking tapes, cassette and reel-to-reel, are available from VVRN. To receive a chronological catalog outlining the contents of these historic and revealing broadcasts (68 separate entries) from the Voice of Vietnam, send a self-addressed and stamped (52 cents) envelope plus $1.00, or just a buck and a half, to: VVAW/VVRN, 7807 North Avalon, Kansas City, MO 64152.
(By the way, John "Doc" Upton, was also at the Kansas City meeting in November 1971, where the assassination of US Congressmen was discussed. As was John Kerry.)
There is no mystery as to how Radio Hanoi came to have this material about the VVAW’s Winter Soldier Investigation or the VVAW’s signing of the People’s Peace Treaty -- Kerry’s VVAW sent them to Hanoi:
There are two references in the FBI documents to VVAW members making propaganda tapes for Radio Hanoi. One says, "Tapes would be sent from the United States to North Vietnam to broadcast over Radio Hanoi to get U.S. servicemen to stop fighting in Vietnam…"
These are the self-same tapes that Vietnam POWs, such as Paul Galanti, have stated were played to them by their captors to convince the US prisoners they should confess to being war criminals.
And thanks to the VVAW/VVRN, you can now buy them for your enjoyment in your own home. |
