Foreign Relations: Outrages like This

For at least three weeks Saigon had been rife with rumors that a Communist suicide squad was going to try to blow up the U.S. embassy in reprisal for air attacks on North Viet Nam. Last week the Communists made the rumors come true.

It happened on a clear, hot morning. More than 150 embassy staff people were at work inside the five-story building. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor was in Washington for talks with President Johnson; left in charge was Deputy Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson. Out side the embassy, a sentry unit of six Saigon policemen ambled conversationally along the sidewalk.

At...

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