The Ugly American

Homer Atkins is in a room speaking to a group of “the princes of bureaucracy” (190). French, English, and Vietnamese officials are asking him questions about engineering. For 10 weeks, he has been traveling across Vietnam investigating potential locations for roads and dams. He concludes that there are more immediate problems to focus on, such as the food shortage. In his report, he has recommended that they begin with smaller, solvable problems, but he sees that no one has read it. He asks if any of them have been deep into the countryside, and they have not. 

MacWhite stands and says he would like to hear the recommendations from the report. Atkins says that they need to help the Vietnamese start building brick factories, setting up stone quarries, and building roads that lead to currently inaccessible land that could be farmed. The others shout that he is speaking beyond his area of expertise, but MacWhite listens. After the meeting, MacWhite buys Atkins a drink and they talk. MacWhite asks Atkins to relocate to Sarkhan to help him, and Atkins agrees.

Atkins and his wife Emma leave for Sarkhan two weeks later. He develops a prototype for a more efficient system that will help lift water up to the highest elevations of the rice paddies. Emma reminds him that because something works does not mean it will be accepted if it means changing tradition. 

The next morning, he drives to a small village called Chang ‘Dong. He meets with the leader of the village and shares his idea for the water pump. The leader brings a mechanic nicknamed Jeepo to work with Atkins. Atkins likes Jeepo, because he is a competent mechanic, and Atkins thinks that they are both physically ugly. By that evening, Jeepo and Atkins demonstrate the pump they have successfully fabricated. The leader is pleased, saying, “In a few minutes you have lifted more water than we could lift by our old methods in five hours of work” (205). Jeepo says that although the machine is clever, it is not sensible for Sarkhan. It requires the pedaling mechanism of a bike to function, and few Sarkhanese have enough money to afford two bikes. After a couple of hours of testing different ideas, Jeepo produces a mechanism that will allow a removable bike to work the pump, which can second as a transportation vehicle when needed. 

Atkins tells the leader that he would like to go into business with Jeepo to design the pumps, and that Jeepo will be the foreman of the shop as well as receiving half of the profits. Jeepo insists they do not patent or license the design. It will be made available to anyone who can build it, and they will be paid only for pumps they build themselves. 

Two days later, they rent a large warehouse and hire 12 men, sometimes working 18 hours a day. Emma moves to Chang ‘Dong to join Atkins. After six weeks, there are 24 pumps. Atkins explains to the men that they must now sell them. The men have never heard of a sales commission before and are excited at the prospect of being paid to sell pumps. The men leave for different provinces, pulling the pumps with oxcarts. 

The first salesman returns five days later with an order for eight pumps. Atkins hugs Jeepo. There is a celebration party that night in Chang ‘Dong. 

After two weeks in Chang ‘Dong, Emma notices that all of the elderly people walk with their backs stooped. She asks one of her acquaintances to tell her why. The woman tells her that it is simply what happens to old people, but Emma is not satisfied with the answer. 

Three weeks after the end of a monsoon, Emma watches older people sweeping the paths to their homes, and then the road itself. The brooms use palm fronds and have short handles which cause the people to bend as they sweep. Emma suggests to an elderly woman that she should try making a long handle for the broom, but the woman says that would be a waste of wood, and they have always used short-handled brooms. That night, Emma tells Atkins she wants his help getting long-handled brooms for the people. 

Emma finds a reed outside of the city that she thinks will work. She takes six of them home where she plants and tends them. When they are ready, she uses one for a broom. The old women watch her and notice that her back is straight. The next day, an old man asks Emma how he can get a broom. She shows him the reeds planted behind her house and invites him to take one. She also tells him where she found the reeds. Hours later, she sees him heading into the hills with a group of people, leading a water buffalo to carry the reeds. 

Four years after returning to America, Emma receives a letter from the leader of Chang ‘Dong. He thanks her for her discovery and says they have built a small shrine in the village for her, “In memory of the woman who unbent the backs of our people” (221). 

Senator Jonathan Brown gained his seat in 1924 through an act of corruption. He had told the president of the state’s biggest private electrical company that, if he were elected, he would “turn over the entire power output of the Elk Heart Dam to the utility company” (223). In return, he asked that the company convince other candidates not to run and deposit $150,000 into his campaign fund. The president agreed, and Brown became a senator. 

Years later, Brown realizes his corruption has passed, as his pride in being part of the Senate has grown; one day, “his personal conscience became inflexible” (223). In 1942, he becomes a member of the Senate Foreign Affairs committee and plans a lengthy trip to Asia to better understand the various conflicts. 

The American Ambassador to Vietnam, Alexander Gray, receives a note from an old friend regarding Brown’s visit to Vietnam. The note warns that Brown is adept at getting anyone to talk to him, and that Gray must be careful about whom he allows Brown to speak with. Gray holds a three-hour meeting with his staff to discuss the details of Brown’s visit, even planning a menu intended to gain his favor. 

After the meeting, he speaks with Major Ernest Cravath and Dr. Hans Barre. Cravath is the military attaché of the embassy, and Barre is a specialist in Oriental languages. He tells Cravath that he is concerned with how the newspapers have portrayed French tactical decisions in Vietnam. He asks him to speak with any French staff and officials that he can to ensure they all give a cohesive story about France’s importance to the war. He asks Barre to stay close to Brown and act as his translator. Gray subtly encourages him to translate for Brown in a way that will help their cause while still appearing to be honest and accurate. 

After Brown arrives, Cravath and Barre take Brown and his wife on an inspection tour. Cravath had the shock absorbers on their vehicle tightened so that every bump in the road is more jolting than it would be otherwise. They see a group of Vietnamese natives being trained to use a recoilless rifle. Brown wants to know how many times one of the men has fired his weapon, and at what targets. The man tells Barre that he has never fired it before; this is his first day of instruction, and he is usually a cook. Barre inaccurately tells Brown that the man has been working with the rifle for several weeks and is eager to use it against Communists. However, his ability to practice is limited because they have few shells. 

After visiting several sites, Brown says he will return to his hotel with his driver. As they ride through the town, they see two drunk soldiers in uniform outside of a café—Tex and Monet. Brown gets out and demands to know why they are drinking in the middle of the day. Tex tells him, “[K]eep your mouth shut, or I’ll kick your ass all the way back to the weapons-carrier” (237). 

That night, Brown and his wife have dinner with the wife of the assistant to the French Commissioner-General and her husband. Over dinner, the assistant shows Brown photos of the fighting around Dien Bien Phu. The photos are grisly, showing men with their hands chopped off and piles of unburied bodies. Nauseated, Brown finds his respect for the French growing. 

The next day, Brown asks to fly to Hanoi, where the worst of the fighting is taking place. He asks to be taken to the prisoner’s stockade, outside the city, so that he can question prisoners. Cravath tells him that they will have to walk the final two miles. Brown has arthritic legs, but he is too proud to say the walk is too difficult. On the way, they pass a line of refugees going toward Hanoi. He asks Barre to ask an elderly woman why she is going to Hanoi. The woman tells Barre that the Communists and the French are equally barbaric, but there is food in Hanoi. Barre tells Brown that she said she would rather leave the Delta forever than live under Communism. 

Brown leaves one week later. On the flight home, he realizes that he only spoke to two natives on his trip, and the only two officers he spoke with had been drunk.

MacWhite receives a letter from the Secretary of State. It comes three weeks after Brown reported to Congress and attacked all of MacWhite’s reports on Vietnam as being false and naïve. The letter does not ask for his resignation, but intends “to save the Department embarrassment, and to aid your career” (248). 

MacWhite responds in a letter. He restates his report on Vietnam and Sarkhan, and he maintains that if America does not change its policies in Asia, the Russians will win the war and Communism will prevail. He lists several conditions that the government must meet, or otherwise, he will resign. The first is that every American in Sarkhan must read and speak Sarkhanese. Second, American officials should not bring their dependents with them. If they do, they must live in modest homes and purchase food available at local stories. Third, he wishes for the removal of American commissaries. All goods must be provided in Sarkhanese stores. He also requests that all Americans serving in Sarkhan mandatorily read books by Mao Tse-tung, Lenin, Marx, and other leading Communists. 

There is no response to his letter for three weeks. MacWhite continues to work in Sarkhan. One day, while in his car, he sees 50 cattle recently imported from America. Children are now beginning to drink fresh milk, and there are the beginnings of a leather industry in six nearby towns. MacWhite knows that there will be some improvement. 

He receives a telegram from Washington. It denies his requests, orders him to return to America, and announces that Joe Bing will be his replacement, given that “[w]e consider his extensive press and recruiting experience excellent qualification for a high position” (253). MacWhite leaves Sarkhan three weeks later as the book concludes.