BIB_ID
323093
Accession number
MA 2581.37
Creator
Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968.
Display Date
[1967 Feb. 14].
Credit line
Gift of John Steinbeck, 1967.
Description
1 item (4 p.) ; 31.1 cm
Notes
Date of writing from the publication details of this letter in "John Steinbeck and Newsday" by Robert B. Harmon; see publication details below.
Part of a collection of letters from John Steinbeck to Alicia Patterson Guggenheim, written during his travels in Vietnam in 1967. Alicia Patterson Guggenheim was the editor and publisher of Newsday from 1940 until her death in 1963 and Steinbeck addressed his letter "not....to someone who is dead, but rather to a living mind and a huge curiosity" (see MA 2519.39). Steinbeck wrote the letters in this series as a weekly column for Newsday. Letters in the collection have been cataloged individually; see collection-level record for more information.
Written on yellow legal pad paper.
Part of a collection of letters from John Steinbeck to Alicia Patterson Guggenheim, written during his travels in Vietnam in 1967. Alicia Patterson Guggenheim was the editor and publisher of Newsday from 1940 until her death in 1963 and Steinbeck addressed his letter "not....to someone who is dead, but rather to a living mind and a huge curiosity" (see MA 2519.39). Steinbeck wrote the letters in this series as a weekly column for Newsday. Letters in the collection have been cataloged individually; see collection-level record for more information.
Written on yellow legal pad paper.
Provenance
Gift of John Steinbeck in 1967.
Summary
Discussing Saigon's street gangs, the Saigon Cowboys, who are young boys usually 10-14 years old; saying that "in many ways they are not the worst but the best of the species, the cleverest, the most versatile, inventive and intelligent. In one sense they are not criminals at all but successful survivors through sheer ability in an impossible situation that has been forced upon them. They could be very valuable if their talents could be channeled;" saying that if he were to write an open letter to the head of state of the Republic of South Vietnam he would suggest that he has "the best intelligence service conceivable. I refer to the kids of the city, the so-called Saigon Cowboys. These boys are more expert at concealment than the V.C. themselves...I submit that these kids, this reservoir of talent, are no different than anyone else. They would rather be honored than punished. They would rather be needed than unwanted."
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