He preferred to spend his time, as he had done in the past, getting to know the key Vietnamese players—listening to them and winning their trust in his characteristic, low-key style. A young, Vietnamese-speaking USIA officer who met Lansdale for the first time in 1965 found that he had not lost his mastery of the art of conversation. “He was one of the few skilled conversational operators that I encountered over time,” recalled Frank Scotton, “in that he was a sensitive listener who drew people’s thinking and motivation forth, then when he wished, melded it with his own purpose, and fed back a
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