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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04773.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04773
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Title
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Khanh Plays Middle Vs. Both End; Rusk Pleads for End to Bickering
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about General Khánh attacking American officials in speeches, namely Ambassador Taylor. Khánh's goal was to curb Buddhist influence and unrest by distancing himself from the unpopular American administration, pages 1 and 4
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Transcript
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Khanh Plays Middle Vs. Both Ends:
Rusk Pleads for End to Bickering
THE MILITARY INTRIGUE
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
Lt. Gen. Nguyen Khanh's bold attack Tuesday on
American policymakers-particularly Ambassador Maxwell
D. Taylor-appeared yesterday to be part of an intricate
campaign to outmaneuver the politically militant Buddhist
movement.
Pro-neutralist Buddhist politicians-who inspired last
year's overthrow of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime and drove
Gen. Khanh from the Presidency with a wave of riots last
August-were about to do the same to Premier Tran Van
Huong and the nine-member High National Council.
The Buddhist anti-government campaign now has
been blocked by the action of the Armed Forces Council,
More on KHANH STRATEGY-Page 4
MIDDLE VS. BOTH ENDS
(Continued from page one)
of which Gen. Khanh is chairman, in dissolving the High
National Council last weekend and arresting most of its
members and other leading politicians. The High National
Council was one of the three components of a civilian gov-
ernment set up last October, the other two being Premier
Huong and Chief of State Phan Khac Suu, who remain in
office.
Younger generals on the Armed Forces Council, who
originally were believed to have engineered the coup them-
selves, now acknowledge privately that it was in fact
planned by Gen. Khanh.
The effect has been that the armed forces, under Gen.
Khanh's leadership, rather than the Buddhists got credit
for taking action against a weakening and unpopular
regime.
Public criticism of Ambassador Taylor was also initi-
ated by the Buddhists while the Ambassador was in Wash-
ington for strategy talks early this month. But now Gen.
Khanh is capitalizing on this drive that the Buddhists
began.
In a meeting Tuesday with other members of the
Armed Forces Council, Gen. Khanh reportedly reiterated
anti-American views and maintained that South Viet
Nam could get along without American aid, which is being
poured into the country at the rate of $1.5 million a day
to help the fight against the Communist Viet Cong.
The net effect of Gen. Khanh's maneuvers has been
to diminish the political prestige of the Buddhists and
weaken the arguments they were using to attract mass
support.
The illusion has been created that Gen. Khanh has
allied himself with the Buddhists. But actually he is mov-
ing only parallel with them-and several steps ahead.
LESSER OF EVILS
In attacking the Right-wing Catholic-backed Premier
Huong, the Buddhists now appear to be supporting Gen.
Khanh. But actually Gen. Khanh has forced the Buddhist
leadership to accept him as the lesser of two evils.
Without assurances of Buddhist support or at least
neutrality, no South Vienamese leader could effectively
rule and press the anti-Communist war.
Tactically, the general has chosen to try to capture
the Buddhist masses through a spectacular anti-American
campaign rather than give in and commit himself to the
pro-neutralist policies of the Buddhist leadership.
This maneuvering-though so far it appears brilliantly
successful-is so elaborate that even some of Gen. Khanh's
supporters are confused by it.
But its results promise to be of benefit not only to
the general but also to American policy, which seeks
governmental stability in Saigon and firm prosecution of
the war.
The fact is that Gen. Khanh and American policy are
almost inseparably intertwined. The general is staunchly
anti-Communist. Last July, he was even more aggressively
anti-Red than Washington when against American wishes
he began calling for a drive to liberate North Viet Nam
from communism.
As commander-in-chief of the Vietnamese armed forces
-the most organized anti-Communist force in the nation-
Gen. Khanh is the center of anti-Communist influence in
South Viet Nam. And he is fully in control of the 20-man
Armed Forces Council, in whose name the purge last week-
end was staged.
FOES SWEPT AWAY
More important, he is more powerful and politically
more mature than last August, when the student-Buddhist
demonstrations that forced him from office broke out. Since
then, both personal and organized opposition to Gen. Khanh
has been swept away.
The Dai Viet political party, which opposed him, is now
leaderless. Lt. Gen. Tran Thien Khiem, his rival for Roman
Catholic support, has been sidelined to the post of Ambas-
sador in Washington. And Gen. Duong Van (Big) Minh,
ormer Chief of State who was Gen. Khanh's competitor for
the support of the Buddhists and some military elements,
has been discredited and sent off on a good-will tour. Yes-
terday he was in Formosa. He is among 40 older generals
facing compulsory retirement.
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Date
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1964, Dec. 24
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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 War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--Vietnam (Republic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Religious aspects--Buddhism; Buddhism and politics--Vietnam (Republic)
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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
