The High Cost of Western Union in Hanoi

When Amb. Leonard Woodcock wants to send a brief message to President Carter about his meetings with the North Vietnamese in Hanoi, Amb. Quinn describes how he and the support team had to first encode the text, a difficult and complex process in a foreign capital. Once completed, he had to take it to the government telegraph office to transmit it as a commercial message. Arriving near midnight, he had to awaken the only agent on duty who then informed him that the cost would be close to $1,000 to send a relatively short message that in the United States might only cost about $5-$10.