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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04813.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04813
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Title
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Viet Strongman Defies U.S. on Civilian Rule
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about General Khánh's opposition to Ambassador Taylor's push for civilian rule in South Vietnam, pages 1 and 4
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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Viet Strongman Defies U.S. on Civilian Rule
KHANH ASSAILS GEN. TAYLOR
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON
Lt. Gen. Nguyen Khanh
South Vist Nam's strong-
man, said yesterday that if
United States Ambassador
Maxwell D. Taylor does not
act more intelligently, the
United States will lose South-
east Asia and we will lose.
our freedom.
The commander of South
Viet Nam's armed forces
sharply criticized Gen. Taylor.
for having engaged in "ac-
tivities beyond imagination"
during American efforts to
obtain the restoration of the
civilian High National Coun-
cil and the release of Council
members and other politicians
arrested by the army last
Sunday
His comments, the harshest
made against Gen. Taylor
by a non-Communist Viet-
namese, appeared to be the
beginning of a campaign
against the U. S. Ambassador.
Gen, Khanh, Tormer Pre
mier spoke at his official
residence in an exclusive in-
terview. He also broadcast an
order of the day to his troops
in which he assailed U. S.
efforts to restore South
Vietnamese political stability.
In the order of the day,
broadcast by the Saigon ra-
dio, he threw his support be-
hind the young generals who
staged the weekend purge.
Gen. Khanh asserted the
army's right to intervene in
politics a step deplored by
the U. S and delivered a
thinly veiled admonition to
the Americans to stay out.
of the current crisis.
More on STRONGMAN--P 4
New York Herald Tribune
Wednesday, December 23, 1964
Viet Strongman Defies U.S. on Civilian Rule
(Continued from page one)
"We make sacrifices for the
country's independence and
he Vietnamese people's lib-
erty, not to carry out the
policy of any foreign coun-
try, he declared in the
broadcast.
In
yesterday's interview,
Gen. Khanh said bluntly that.
the High National Council
will not be reactivated" as
the U. S. desires.
Gen. Khanli said bitterly
that the United States and
their representatives in Viet
Nam like Taylor should work
with the decisive elements in
the nation those that have
the power of decision-and
not try to exert pressure."
"If you want to have a good
solution for one problem you
must be more realistic
you must be more practical
and not have a dream of hav-
ing Viet Nam be an image of
the United States, because
the way of life and the peo-
ple are entirely different,"
Gen Khanh added.
"Mostly one should not im-
pose on the Vietnamese peo-
ple and Vietnamese Army
those leaders they do not
want.
"The attitude of Gen.
Taylor during the last 48
as my small
head is concerned and his
activity have been beyond
immagination as far as an am-
bassador is concerned," Gen.
Khanh added. He did not
specify further but said that.
one day I hope to tell the
Vietnamese people and the
American people about this."
"It is a pity because Gen.
Taylor is not serving his
country well," Gen. Khanh
said. "Yet he is the represent-
ative of that country-the
United States which we
(Vietnamese) admire, like
and even love."
He pointed out that he was
not referring to Gen. Taylor
as "Ambassador" because "I
do not know if Taylor is
doing his job well."
The purge of the High
National Council was staged
Saturday and Sunday by the
young generals' faction, act-
ing in the name of the re-
cently formed Armed Forces
Council, of which
Gen.
Khanh is chairman. The
generals proclaimed the dis-
solution of the National
Council one of the three
components of
the two-
month-old civilian regime
which replaced Gen. Khanh's
regime last October but
affirmed their allegiance to
the other two components
Premior Tran Van Huong and
Chief of State Phan Khac
Suu
The U. S which has been
Associated Press radiophoto
FLANKING MANEUVER Gen. Nguyen Khanh, com-
mander of Viet Nam's armed forces, leaving his office
yesterday in Saigon. Armed paratrooper is at the ready.
seeking to shore up the shaky
civilian regime as the best
way to win popular support
in the anti-Communist war.
was dismayed by the forcible
re-entrance of the South
Vietnamese Army into poli-
tics. Gen, Taylor reportedly
warned the generals Sunday
that the U. S. might have to
reconsider its aid to South
Viet Nam unless they backed
down.
The general, who spoke in
French and was interpreted
into English by a skilled aide,
appeared confident of his own
position and denied rumors
that
he himself had been
put under house arrest or
threatened with ouster by the
young general's clique.
Asked about the future of
Gen. Duang Van (Big)
Minh, his chief political rival.
and former Chief of State in
the Khanh regime, Gen.
Khanh said. "He will be re-
tired like every one else."
Gen Minh is in Taipei, For-
mosa, on a goodwill tour.
Gen Minh is one of the older
officers whose retirement is
demanded by the increasingly
dominant young generals, Ted
by Bric Gen Nguyen chanh
Thi and Air Vice-Marshal
Nguyen Cao Kỳ.
Gen. Khanh had criticized
Gen. Taylor last August in an
interview with this corres-
pondent. He said he believed
Gen. Taylor favored Gen.
Minh over himself (Gen.
Khanh was then Premier).
but his remarks then were
veiled and indirect.
Replying to Gen. Khanh's
comments, a U. S. Embassy
official said: "Ambassador
Taylor has undertaken no
activities which can be con-
sidered improper in any way
in view of the United States
involvement and commitment
in this country. All his activi-
ties are designed to serve
the best interests of both.
Viet Nam and the United
States."
Gen. Taylor and Gen.
Khanh had met Monday to
discuss the weekend purge.
but the substance of their
talks was not known.
In his broadcast state-
ment, Gen. Khanh out-
spokenly defended the right
of the army to interfere in
politics, defying U. S. feeling
that such steps cripple the
development of democratic
civilian government as the
chief hope Vietnamese politi-
cal stability.
"Although the military al-
ways supports a clean civilian
government, when necessary
it still has the task of acting
as an intermediary to settle
all disputes and differences if
they create a situation favor-
able to the common enemies
communism and colonial-
ism in any form," he said.
He said the High National
Council, main target of the
young generals' "little coup,"
had been "exploited by coun-
terrevolutionary elements
who placed partisan consid-
erations above the homeland's
sacred interests." The dissi-
dent generals arrested seven
of the Council's nine active
members over the weekend
and proclaimed it dissolved,
to the dismay of American
officials.
America has committed
22,000 fighting men to South
Viet Nam to help in the anti-
Communist war there and
has poured in hundreds of
millions of dollars in aid-
more than $230 million in
economic aid alone during
1964. There has been grow-
ing anxiety for more than a
year that South Vietnamese
political instability is depre-
ciating the value of this in-
vestment.
The High National Council
was a key body in the change-
over from nearly a year of
military rule to civilian gov-
ernment last October. It in-
stalled both Premier Huong
and Chief of State Suu. Its
next task was to be forma-
tion of a parliament.
Recently the Council had
been torn by dissension and.
failed to give solid support
to Mr. Huong in his struggle
against Buddhist militants
opposed to his regime. But it
remained one of the three
pillars of civilian rule-with
My Huong and Mr Suu
and U. S. officials were ap-
palled by the generals' ac-
tion dissolving it and re-
the
army in
establishing
politics.
Gen. Khanh, however, had
nothing but praise yesterday
for the military intervention.
The armed forces decision
to again assume their re-
sponsibility before history is
proof of their good faith," he
declared.
"The armed forces are not.
the tool of any organization
or individual but must be the
weapon wielded by the peo-
ple in order to achieve their
objectives in the fight against
all forms of enslavement.
Besides criticizing the High
National Council, he made an
apparent attack on Buddhist
anti-government demonstra-
tors, denouncing those "en-
gaged in inciting the people,
arousing revolt, while our
comrades-in-arms are shed-
ding their blood at the front."
The latest Saigon turmoil
came at a time of talks be-
tween Ambassador Taylor
and South Vietnamese politi-
cal and military leaders on
new moves to win the war
against the Communist Viet
Cong possibly including ex-
tension of the war outside
South Viet Nam.
Presumably as part of this
planning, Gen. Phoumi Nosa-
van, Right-wing Deputy Pre-
mier of neighboring Laos, ar-
rived in Saigon yesterday
and conferred immediately
with Premier Huong.
It was believed the two
men discussed the possible
use
of South Vietnamese
troops in Laos to cut Viet
Cong supply lines running
from Communist North Viet
Nam through Laos to South
Việt Nam.
Reliable sources said that
South Vietnamese and Lao-
tian officers have already
met secretly in the moun-
tain city of Dalat to discuss
ways of interdicting the
network of Communist-used.
paths known as the Ho Chi
Minh Trail, after the leader
of the Communist North
Vietnamese.
were
The Vietnamese
understood to be particu-
larly interested in a blow
at the Laotian Communist
base at Tchepone, possibly
by South Vietnamese Sky-
raider fighter-bombers.
In Moscow, the official
news agency Tass reported
that the Soviet Union has
warned Laotian Premier
Souvanna Phouma that U. S.
broadening of the Viet Nam
War "could spread to the
territory of Laos."
In Formosa, Gen. Minh in
an interview urged unity and
popular confidence in the
Saigon government and the
armed forces.
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Date
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1964, Dec. 23
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Subject
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Nguyễn, Khánh, 1927-2013; Taylor, Maxwell D. (Maxwell Davenport), 1901-1987; United States--Relations--Vietnam (Republic); Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government
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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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Container
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B4, F6
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Format
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newspaper clippings
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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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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
