There are 32 institutions of higher learning in North Vietnam which enroll 62,000 students (in 1936 there were only 600 students in higher education in all of Indochina). Admission to one of the universities requires in part passing the baccalaureate, given throughout the country on the same day each year, a schedule which was reportedly maintained throughout the bombing of North Vietnam. There is only a single baccalaureate for science and non-science students alike.

Q. How adequate is the medical care in North Vietnam?

A. I can't really say how effective it is. Certainly it is striking to compare Hanoi to Saigon or Vientiane, or any other Asian capital. I've seen in the general cleanliness, in how people look and dress, that the general state of health seems remarkable. You don't see the open sores, undernourishment, tuberculosis, and all those things that are so prevalent in so many other Asian cities. The North Vietnamese claim that the infant mortality rate has been reduced to about seven per thousand, which is about what it is in America. I can't say whether this is true or false, but from what I've seen it might very well be true.

The basic medical effort in North Vietnam is preventive medicine. They were fortunate in having an extraordinary man, Thach, to head their efforts in this area. He was recently killed in an American bombing raid just north of the DMZ. I think medical people would be interested in reading what he had to say.

One of the interesting things that goes on in North Vietnam is that they take very seriously the tradition of Oriental medicine. One day we visited the Oriental medicine institute in Hanoi where we learned that they regard the practices of Oriental medicine as a challenge to research. They are now subjecting some of the traditional remedies to scientific analysis to find out which ones work and which ones don't. If they find one which works they attempt to find out how it works.

In the meantime you see throughout the country dispensaries of Western medicine side by side with dispensaries of Oriental medicine. Characteristically their interest in Oriental medicine is not tied to dogma. They simply realize that there is good reason to think that some of these practices are effective and they are going to find out about them. They are not intimidated by people who laugh at practices which aren't in the Western mold. In fact some of the most important drugs in Western medicine are derived from Oriental cures.

Q. Do they smoke dope there?

A. Not as far as I could see. Drink a lot of tea though.

Q. What preparations are they making to deal with the problems the country will face at the end of the war?

A. One major problem will be plastic surgery to overcome war wounds induced by anti-personnel bombs and napalm. Apparently a vast quantity of anti-personnel weapons have been used, mainly pellet bombs, and the disfiguration will be difficult to take care of. For this they may ask for some outside help.

The other thing I heard talked about is that they realize that while fighting, a terrific amount of the anguish and suffering that people feel can be repressed. If the war stops and if they survive (two propositions which remain hypothetical) they expect that these neuro-psychiatric difficulties will surface. Attempts are being made to plan now to deal with these problems.

Q. What did you learn about Vietnamese society?

A. When I got there I was interested in learning how socialism was developed in North Vietnam, but I was told quite frankly that there simply wasn't enough time; there were too many scientific questions and there wasn't time to go into detail about how the society works. I suspect that they thought that without great explanation I wouldn't understand, and I suspect they were right. I gather that the party is very broadly based with something like a million members. What the relationship is between being in the party and being at the University is something I don't know.

The distribution system seems to be very efficient. You don't see long lines. Food is being sold everywhere and there seems no problem in getting enough to eat. I was told later that a lot of this distribution is done through the factories, collectives, and villages.

I spent a lot of time walking around Hanoi taking pictures. One night we went into a museum which was showing posters. The place was full of kids. I went up to one of the posters and started to put my finger on it to see if it was an original or a print. I looked around to see if there was a guard, but there was none. I asked my guide about this and he seemed confused. I had to explain to him that I would have thought that with a museum full of kids one would need guards to keep them from touching the paintings. He said that there are no guards and that Vietnamese children are taught from an early age that public property belongs to everyone and so you don't harm it.