LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Feb Grand Format Book & Manuscript #682  / 

56313

Moshe Dayan Israel Vietnam Diary Manuscript

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:48,750.00 USD Estimated At:50,000.00 - 75,000.00 USD
Moshe Dayan Israel Vietnam Diary Manuscript
<B>Moshe Dayan Original Autograph Manuscript of his </B></I><B><I>Vietnam Diary</B></I></B></I><B> in Hebrew</B></I>, approximately 190 pages, mostly 8" x 10.5", almost all penned on one side of the lined paper, with a first printing of the illustrated paperback Hebrew edition of <I>Vietnam Diary</B></I>, 169 pages, 5.25" x 8.25" (Dvir Co. Ltd.: Tel-Aviv, 1977), inscribed and signed on the half title page "<I>Moshe Dayan/28.3.77</B></I>" in Hebrew. The book and manuscript are housed in a custom-made 9.25" x 11.75" x 3" white leather case with the Israeli flag on the front and Dayan's trademark black eye-patch on the back. The spine is in seven compartments with six raised bands, lettered in gilt, in English: "Vietnam/Diary," "Moshe Dayan," The Original Remaining/Manuscript in his Hand," "1966."<BR><BR>The entire manuscript is not present but it begins at the beginning with page "<I>1</B></I>" numbered by Dayan, titled by him "<I>Vietnam Diary</B></I>," datelined "<I>Paris 4/7/66</B></I>," continuing on to his July 5, 1966 entry (12 pages). He had been asked by the Israeli newspaper <I>Maariv</B></I> to be its war correspondent in Vietnam. Before going there, he went to France, England, and the United States to speak with friends and retired military leaders about Vietnam. His book begins with a report from Paris on July 4, 1966. He arrived in Vietnam on July 25th.<BR><BR>Most pages are numbered and some are dated (July-August 1966). Dayan has noted in English specific quotes, terms, and proper names including (his original spelling): <I>"Lt. Col. Jack Spaulding," "Cam-Lo, F Company," "North Vitcong Army," "Army Special Warfare School," "W.W. Rostow Adviser to the President on National Security Affairs," "U-Thant," "ten minutes fighters," </B></I><B><I>"the only good thing he did was his crash in his airoplen,"</B></I></B></I><I> "come and tell me what its like - and </B></I><B><I>tell the Americans they are mad!</B></I></B></I><I>," "What's going on in the World?," "Do not go on Moscow. No good...cannot do it," Pacification," "Mrs. Katharine Graham President of Washington Post and Newsweek," "Eric Sevaried," "Rutherford M. Poats - Assitant Administrator (Far East) Agency for International Development," </B></I><B><I>"the fade out concept,"</B></I></B></I><I> "Institute for Defence Analyses," "1st Air Cav. Div.," "Van-Minh," "Da-Nang," "1/Lt. Charles C. Krulak Company G 2nd Battalion 1st Marines Division," "Constellation," </B></I><B><I>"Search and kill - Westmoreland,"</B></I></B></I><I> "Paul Revere," </B></I><B><I>"Not to destroy him, to defeat him,"</B></I></B></I><I> "Perhaps its not fair to ask you such a question," "gunship," "Major General Jack Norton," "Pleiku," "Tran Dai Minh," "Vietnam Christian Service," "Frank R. Pavich," </B></I>and <B>"</B></I><B><I>Some Chickens some necks</B></I></B></I><B>,"</B></I> a reference to British Prime Minister Churchill's December 30, 1941 address to the House of Commons: "When I warned (the French) that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, 'In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.' Some chicken; some neck." Neatly penned in fine condition.<BR><BR>Born in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire, now Israel, Moshe Dayan (1915-1981), at the age of 14, joined the Haganah, which defended Jewish settlements from Arab attacks. In 1939, the Haganah was outlawed by the British and Dayan was arrested. After his release in 1941, he served with the Allied forces that liberated Lebanon and Syria from the Vichy French. During this campaign, he was wounded and lost his left eye, thereafter adopting the black eye patch that became his trademark. During Israel's War of Independence (1948-1949), Dayan was commander on the Jerusalem front, and in 1952 he became Chief of Operations at General Headquarters. In 1953, he was elected Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. He engineered the plan for the invasion of Sinai in 1956, which he brilliantly executed. In 1959, Dayan was elected to the Israeli Parliament and served (1959-1964) as Minister of Agriculture under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. It was after he left Ben-Gurion's cabinet that he went to Vietnam as a war correspondent. After being named Defense Minister on June 1, 1967, his collaboration with General Yitzhak Rabin led to Israel's overwhelming victory in the Six-Day War (June 5-10, 1967), less than a year after he penned this manuscript. Dayan served under Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir until 1974. From 1977-1979, he was Prime Minister Menachem Begin's Foreign Minister.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Requires 3rd Party Shipping (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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