Caravelle Manifesto

The Caravelle Manifesto was written in April 1960 as a public criticism of Ngo Dinh Diem by a group of anti-Communist politicians and other Vietnamese notables. The manifesto criticized the Diem regime's restrictions on freedom and pushed for reforms in South Vietnam.

Its name was derived from the fact that the signatories of the manifesto presented the document's contents at a press conference held at the Caravelle Hotel in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.

from The Pentagon Papers

Volume 1, Chapter 5, "Origins of the Insurgency in South Vietnam, 1954-1960

MANIFESTO OF THE EIGHTEEN

The President of the Republic of Viet-Nam Saigon

Mr. President:

We the undersigned, representing a group of eminent citizens and personalities, intellectuals of all tendencies, and men of good will, recognize in the face of the gravity of the present political situation that we can no longer remain indifferent to the realities of life in our country.

Therefore, we officially address to you today an appeal with the aim of exposing to you the whole truth in the hope that the government will accord it all the attention necessary so as to urgently modify its policies, so as to remedy the present situation and lead the people out of danger.

Let us look toward the past, at the time when you were abroad. For eight or nine years, the Vietnamese people suffered many trials due to the war: They passed from French domination to Japanese occupation, from revolution to resistance, from the nationalist imposture behind which hid communism to a pseudo-independence covering up for colonialism; from terror to terror, from sacrifice to sacrifice-in short, from promise to promise, until finally hope ended in bitter disillusion.

Thus, when you were on the point of returning to the country, the people as a whole entertained the hope that it would find again under your guidance the peace that is necessary to give meaning to existence, to reconstruct the destroyed homes, put to the plow again the abandoned lands. The people hoped no longer to be compelled to pay homage to one regime in the morning and to another at night, not to be the prey of the cruelties and oppression of one faction; no longer to be treated as coolies; no longer to be at the mercy of the monopolies; no longer to have to endure the depredations of corrupt and despotic civil servants. In one word, the people hoped to live in security at last, under a regime which would give them a little bit of justice and liberty. The whole people thought that you would be the man of the situation and that you would implement its hopes.

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