Arnett recalls reporting from famous HCM City hotel

      Renown journalist Peter Arnett said yesterday his return visits to Viet Nam are some of the most "satisfying journeys" in his life.
Speaking to local media in a press conference at the Caravelle Hotel, Arnett said: "They [his visits] close the circle from when I first arrived as a reporter in this war-torn country in 1962, to when, from the ashes of a long war, an independent nation and people have emerged to take their place proudly in the world community."
A teacher of journalism in Shantou University in southern China, Arnett returned to Viet Nam on Wednesday to keynote the celeberation of the 50th anniversary of the Caravelle Hotel where he and many foreign correspondents stayed during the war.
"Because reporters made their homes here and wrote about this place, for awhile the Caravelle Hotel as an institution became as associated with the Viet Nam War in the public mind as did military bases like Khe Sanh and Cam Ranh Bay," he said.
The 1966 Pulitzer Prize winner said his journalist work covering the Viet Nam War had a "major influence" on the remaining 35 years of his international reporting career. "It was in Viet Nam as a young idealist that I learned that no personal sacrifice could be too great for a war reporter truly committed to telling the truth about the bravery and brutalities that accompanied soldiers into battle."
"It was also in Viet Nam in the years I covered the war, from 1962 to 1975, I learned that in modern war the civilian populations often suffered more than the combatants, and that the war reporter’s role was also to tell their story."
Arnett said: "And while our news executives at the AP headquarters in New York City fully supported our reporting, they were also aware of the rising chorus of criticism leveled against us as American battle losses mounted.
"A note from our foreign editor Ben Bassett in 1966 read: ‘While continuing to tell the story as we see it, we must be sure that we cover anything that might be considered positive or optimistic from the US point of view.’
"I realised that when your own soldiers were dying in action overseas, there was the need to feel that they were giving their lives for something worthwhile – – that the country should be supportive of that sacrifice. And in my reporting, I tried to avoid making a personal judgment on the war, on whether it was a good or a bad war. I saw it as a developing story."
"The heart of the problem for me and the other reporters was that the US Government wanted more of the good in our reporting, than the bad."
"General William C. Westmorland, commander of all American forces in Viet Nam, and the President of the United States Lyndon Johnson, attempted for several years to persuade reporters like me to write positive stories. Stories to say we were winning the war. President Johnson, we later learned, even had me investigated by the FBI, to see if its agents could find damaging material on me and ruin my career. The president asked senior AP executives – my own bosses – to move me out of Viet Nam. They refused."
In the summer of 2007 Arnett brought a team of students to visit Viet Nam on a reporting trip.
"One field trip I made with the students in Viet Nam was particularly memorable. We were very busy in Ha Noi and I planned an easy day after we arrived in Hue, our second stop, visiting the imperial palace, the royal tombs and the boat people on the Perfume River. In my heart of hearts I would have preferred to head north to the huge military cemetery at Truong Son were 10,000 North Vietnamese troops were buried, most of them killed on the Ho Chi Minh trail during the American war.
Near to the cemetery is the old US Marine firebase of Con Tien that overlooked the old DMZ with North Vietnam, and was the subject of a Time Magazine cover in 1967 during a series of heavy attacks on the base. I had covered that battle. And on the way to that area there was the city of Quang Tri, itself subject to frequent attack later in the war.
"We walked the old trails to the base area over rotted sandbags and broken metal pieces, and saw the last remaining strongpoint, a concrete bunker, its walls pitted with shell and rifle fire, standing on the hilltop with a commanding view of the old DMZ, a view that many US marines gave their lives to maintain.
"We discovered something else as we moved from north to south. We found that on the surface the Vietnamese people were amiable and helpful to visiting foreigners, and we were aware that the government had long stressed the importance of strong political and economic ties with its former enemies in the west.
War time press centre looks back and ahead
The favourite haunt of international reporters and diplomats during the American War, and famous for hosting legendary writers and other prominent personalities, the Caravelle Hotel in HCM City celebrates its golden jubilee today.
Fittingly, renown wartime journalist and Pulitzer-prize winner Peter Arnett will deliver the keynote address, accompanied by Robert Wiener, another wartime scribe who later won fame as the author of Live from Baghdad.
For the occasion, the hotel will mock up the Opera Room as Rue Catinat (now Dong Khoi Street) as it looked in the 1960s. VNS spoke with John Gardner, General Manager of Caravelle Hotel, about the significance of the occasion.
Caravelle Hotel has a historic foundation as a press centre during the war with the Americans. How did this happen and where does the hotel stand now?
During the war, many foreign correspondents used to live and have their offices in the Caravelle. They also used to meet each evening on the rooftop, what is now the Saigon Saigon Bar, to discuss the day’s stories and events.
During the very early days of the hotel in the 1960s, the Caravelle was also the most luxurious hotel in the city where all VIP’s used to stay. It was also the home of the Australian and New Zealand embassies and the rooftop bar was a famous gathering place.
Fifty years is a very significant birthday for anyone or any hotel, but this is especially true for the Caravelle. Viet Nam went through some very turbulent times during the period and the hotel became part of the nation’s history.
Has the global economic recession affected Caravelle and what is it doing about it?
All hotels worldwide are suffering due to the economic crisis. At Caravelle we are controlling our expenses tightly and being very flexible with our clients’ needs to attract them to stay longer. We are also focusing a lot on staff training to improve the guests’ experience in the hotel.
What is your outlook on Viet Nam’s tourism industry at present and in the future?
Tourism in Viet Nam has huge potentials, but there is a lot to be done in terms of infrastructure, hotel development, staff training, tourism site development and so on. There also has to be an easing of visa restrictions so that people can access the country much easier with visas on arrival. Marketing should be more strategic and focused.
What next for Caravelle Saigon?
The Caravelle has reached a significant milestone in its life and we intend to build on the reputation and culture of the past 50 years to make the next 50 years even more successful.