Mary McCarthy Goes to Hanoi, North Vietnam

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Mary McCarthy.


James Mossman (BBC) interviewed Mary McCarthy about Vietnam for The Listener (1968):

JM: Could you tell me, Mary McCarthy, what is your fundamental objection to your country's involvement in Vietnam?

The application of a technology and a superior power to a political situation that will not yield to this.

JM: That means you are accusing your people of stupidity and not wickedness.

I think they are wicked too, but sometimes those things seem to be somewhat equivalent.

JM: Why do you think they are wicked?

The absolute indifference to the cost in human lives of the pursuit of US foreign policy - that I consider wicked.

JM: I gather that your name is absolute mud out there and CIA men actually spit when your name is mentioned.

I am delighted to hear it. I didn't think I had made so much of an impression.





Sources:

Hanoi - 1968, Mary McCarthy.  New York Review of Books.

CIA Men Spit When Your Name Is Mentioned, Mary McCarthy Centennial (18 Jan 2013)


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