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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07817 to 363-07822.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07817 to 363-07822
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Title
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Article about General Trần Thiện Khiêm and General Nguyễn Khánh
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Description
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Original title: "generals kh", Article draft about General Trần Thiện Khiêm and General Nguyễn Khánh, for the New York Herald Tribune
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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deepe, 101 cong ly; saigon. generals kh--1 Sent Aug. 18. Shadow. Add. (Note to Editor: Please hold this until I cable that Gen. Khiem has been named No. 2 man in the new government. I might also cable an insert or correction when his new position becomes official). SAIGON--Seventeen years ago, two young cadets graduated as classmates from a French military academy in the mountainous jungles bordering Cambodia. One was a dynamic [deletion: soccer-player soccer exuberant] outgoing 2/Lt. nguyen khanh. The other was shy, soft-spoken 2/Lt. tran thien khiem. Today, they are known as the Generals HK and are the two most powerful men in Viet Nam. They are the [deletion: two] key leaders on whom America has based their hopes for a [XXXX indicating deletion] clear-cut victory against [deletion: Communist] Viet Cong Communist guerrillas. But the tasks before the two generals encompass more than military tactics or strategy. They must also clearly solve the formidable political problems facing the country--of building a [deletion: strong] political unity among nationalist forces strong enough to counter the [deletion: political pro] Communist [deletion: propaganda] ideology amongst the peasants in the countryside [deletion: where the war is being waged.] and [illegible] urban populations where Communists are attempting to infiltrate. (More) deepe; 101 cong ly; saigon generals kh--2 Maj. Gen. Khanh was recently elected by his military junta as president of the Republic of Viet Nam. He is also Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces [insertion: and chair of the junta, called MRC] Lt. Gen. Khiem--with one [XXXX indicating deletion] higher rank than Gen. Khanh--is Minister of Defense, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Vice President of the Republic [insertion: and 1st Vice Chair of the junta]. Both were born in the southern provinces of Vietnam, Khanh the son of a wealthy landowner and Khiem the son of a middle-class family. [insertion: Both are nominal Bud., but don’t [illegible] Bud. support.] During the closing days of World War II, both fought [insertion: together] in the Plain of Reeds, [XXXX indicating deletion] a wasteland south of Saigon which looks like the prairies of the Old West, but prairies submerged in two feet of salt water. Then both [XXXX indicating deletion] became cadets in the French Military academy in Dalat, a mountain resort city north of Saigon. Of the 17 members in the class, only 11 graduated--and these eleven are among some of the most important field commanders and administrators now in the Khanh government. [XXXX indicating deletion] During their school-days, Khanh distinguished himself on the soccer field and earned the affectionate nickname [XXXX indicating deletion] of “Little Boy” from his classmates. Eight of these 11 [insertion:--including Khanh and Kiem--] then joined for several months the Communist Viet Minh movement which was fighting French colonialism. [deletion: Included in these eight were Khanh and Khiem.] (More) deepe 101 congly; saigon generals kh--3 They supplemented their French-styled conventional warfare schooling with the realities of Viet Minh guerrilla warfare tactics--a combination of which is of value to them today. Ironically, [deletion: when the eight joined the Viet Minh] against communists, they were put under the supervision of an cadre named Pham Ngoc Thao, now [deletion: as an ex-Communist acting as] Khanh’s press secretary and an influential political advisor. As 1/lts., both Khiem and Khanh were married; Khiem to a beautiful woman from a traditional family; Khanh to an even more beautiful [insertion: [illegible]] woman who had been married to a Viet Minh engineer who has since been seen in Peking and Moscow. After the French Indo-China war in 1954, both [deletion: Khiem and Khn] Khanh and Khiem became staunch military supporters of President Ngo Dinh Diem. Khanh became a brilliant regimental team commander, but was distrusted by Diem. In 1958, he was commander of Zone 5 in the now battle-weary Mekong Delta area. Khiem was his deputy. According to Khanh, the Cambodian newspapers at that time carried stories that the “colonels KH” might launch a coup which could overthrow Diem. Two years later, however, [deletion: Khanh] Brig. Gen. Khanh became Chief of Staff at the Joint General Staff in Saigon. Khiem became a colonel and took over Khan’s command in the delta. During the abortive 1960 paratrooper coup against Diem, Khanh--in his pajamas, according to versions in Saigon--ran to the Palace to convince deepe generals--kh--4 Diem to negotiate with the rebels. [deletion: During] The long hours of negotiation gave Diem a chance to call in troops and armored cars from the provinces--including [deletion: those under Khiem] Khiem and his units from the Delta--to rout the rebels. The [deletion: leader of] military leader of the paratrooper coup is now one of Khanh’s division commanders named Sub Brig-Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi. [insertion: Add--[illegible] close contact [illegible] pro-Diem elements is 2 now, opponent to Khanh call him “Diem w/o Diem.” While both generals are Bud., can’t lock Bud. supp. “ alley E K. 2 is Diem Regime cut Diem. But during the next three years, [deletion: both Khiem and Khanh] the support of both Khiem and Khanh for President Diem continually diminished. During the Buddhist crisis of last year, Khanh, then a [deletion: major] brig-general [deletion: commander] commanding the northern Corps II, was known to be plotting a coup, but according to [deletion: some] reliable sources, an American CIA agent reported details of it to President Diem’s brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. Meanwhile in Saigon, [insertion: Brig. Gen.] Khiem as a [deletion: staff officer] chief of staff in the Army headquarters, was able to manipulate troops. On November 1, 1963, [deletion: he] his manipulation and execution of the coup plans of other generals brought down the House of Ngo--President Diem, his brother Nhu, Nhu’s wife now in exile in France, Diem’s dictatorial brother Can in the Central Provinces (now executed) and another brother, Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc. [XXXX indicating deletion] When the first military junta took power on November 1, Khanh told a group of military officers--again in Dalat, that if the military did not uphold the spirit of the revolution, he would launch his own coup against them. deepe generals kh--5 The other junta generals were evidently suspicious of him and assigned him as I Corps commander--as far from Saigon as possible. But [XXXX indicating deletion] three months later, Khanh’s vow to launch a coup against the coup-makers came true. The [deletion: other] junta generals had forgotten the other General KH, who as Commander of III Corps controlled most of the troops around Saigon. On Jan. 30, the other junta generals were arrested while in their pajamas during an early morning raid. They are still exiled in the city of Dalat. Khanh became premier and Khiem his minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. [insertion: Khanh, as election pres., has strong Am. support--call him Am. puppet.] During recent weeks, Saigon lavished in rumors that Khiem would again attempt a coup--this time against the other General KH. Khanh’s own security officers repeatedly asked him whether Khiem could be trusted. Always the reply was “Gen. Khiem is my very good friend.” Asked by a newsman whether there would be a coup, Khanh laughed and answered, “The next coup will be mine.” The current government reshuffle naming [deletion: him] Khanh president and [deletion: allowing] installing a hard-core of government officials loyal to him indicates his coup may now be [deletion: in the process] underway. But observers here believe the success of the coup--and the dynamics of winning the anti-Communist war--also depend on the other General KH. (End) deepe generals kh--photos Enclosed roll of undeveloped film shows Khanh and Lt. Gen. Tran Thien Khiem (on the left with four stars on collar). Taken by Bev Deepe.
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Date
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1964, Aug. 18
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Subject
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Vietnam (Republic), 1961-1975; Trần, Thiện Khiêm, 1925-; Nguyễn, Khánh, 1927-2013; Generals; Military leadership; Vietnam (Republic). Quân lực
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B3, F7
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Format
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dispatches
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Collector
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
