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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Larry Berman
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October 22 - November 2, 2025
Not losing Vietnam to “Communism” was seen as vital to the security interests of the United States. It was about the cold war, containment, and dominoes; it was never about the Vietnamese. Only death and destruction would follow.
He never had to steal top-secret documents because he was always being provided with classified materials by his sources in order to explain the broader political or military context.
What makes An’s life story so incredible is that he apparently loved living his cover; being a correspondent for a free press was a dream come true in his vision of the revolution. For over twenty years An lived a lie that he hoped would become his reality—working as a newspaper correspondent in a unified Vietnam.
He admired and respected the Americans he met in Vietnam as well as during his time in the States. He just believed that they had no business being in his country.
Time was an independent news organization, not an official government office building, Anson argued. There should be two flags side by side—the American flag as well as that of the Republic of Vietnam. His colleagues reluctantly acquiesced, but when Anson saw that the American flag was much larger than the Vietnamese, he went to Time’s office manager, Mr. Dang, and challenged him to get a larger flag of his country so that the two flags would be at least of equal size. Mr. Dang complied.
McCulloch identified several stages every reporter went through in Vietnam: “The first stage: very upbeat, Americans can save these people and they really want to be saved and will be grateful for it. Second stage (usually about three months later): we can do it but it’s harder than I thought and right now it’s being screwed up. Third stage (perhaps six to nine months later): you Vietnamese (always the Vietnamese, never the Americans) are really screwing it up. Fourth stage (twelve to fifteen months later): we are losing and it’s much worse than I thought. Fifth stage: it isn’t working at all,
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An collected rare birds, providing excellent cover so that he could disappear for a few days without anyone questioning his whereabouts.
Nine days later, as he left captivity, his fellow soldiers of the revolution gave Anson a gift of Ho Chi Minh sandals with soles made from a truck tire and straps from inner tubes. “We use only the best. American made. Four-ply,”
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Vo Nguyen Giap later wrote, “Uncle [Ho] and the sea of people became one.”13 An would later tell me that “no leader in the South, Diem or Thieu, not anyone ever had this bond. We always exploited that basic truth.”14
Policymakers ignored the fact that Ho received the translation of the Declaration of Independence from Archimedes Patti of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS); that he had helped rescue American pilots and furnished intelligence reports on Japanese operations, earning him the position OSS agent 19, code name Lucius; and that Viet Minh militia had also joined with the OSS Deer Team for training and exercises near the Chinese border.
To pay off millions of dollars in gambling debts, Bao Dai had sold leases to the Binh Xuyen on all gambling operations in Cho Lon, including the Grand Monde casino as well as Asia’s largest brothel, known as the Hall of Mirrors. Bao Dai had also sold control of the national police to Binh Xuyen leader, Brigadier General Bay Vien.
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“He spoke English better than anyone else and possessed a God-given gift for his profession. One of the greatest strengths of a spy is to remain calm and have many friends; to be consistent with everyone so that no attention is drawn. An was able to do that with everyone, and this is why I consider him to be one of the greatest spies in our country’s history.”
Pham Xuan An, himself an undercover Communist spy, was now preparing Dr. Tuyen’s anti-Communist agents for their cover. In Vietnam, nothing was ever as it seemed to be.
“You see, nothing is too small to analyze and apply in my job. I hope you write it that way too.”
