Viet Premier Says Students, Buddhists 'Play Reds' Game'

Item

derivative filename/jpeg
363-04738.pdf
Digital Object Identifier
363-04738
Title
Viet Premier Says Students, Buddhists 'Play Reds' Game'
Description
Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about the recently elected "civilian" (actually puppet of military junta) Premier Trần Văn Hương and his condemnation of protestors, page 2
Transcript
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- Page 1
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Viet Premier Says Students,
Buddhists 'Play Reds' Game'
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SIAGON.
South Viet Nam's Premier
Tran Van Huong charged in
an interview yesterday that
students and Buddhists ap-
parently attempting to spark
the overthrow of his 20-day-
old civilian government were
"playing the game of the
Communists."
Mr. Huong's statement was
the first condemnation of
demonstrating Buddhists and
students, by a high-ranking
government official since the
days of the late President Ngo
Dinh Diem, a Roman Cath-
olic. It came only hours after
a communique issued by a
ranking Buddhist monk,
Thich Tam Chau, asked Chief
of State Phan Khac Suu and
the High National Council to
apply a "non-confidence vote"
for the dismissal of the Huong
government.
an
These statements were in-
terpreted as
apparent
declaration of war between
the Premier and the Buddhist
movement, which has been
growing in militant political
importance since initiating
the overthrow of the Diem
regime Nov. 1, 1963, and since
the routing of Maj. Gen.
Nguyen Khanh from the
Presidency in late August.
Many Saigonese accept
the prediction of a leading
Buddhist monk that blood-
shed would prevail in the
streets of the capital before
the end of the year.
As students of four Saigon
technical and high schools
boycotted classes-a stone-
throwing melee broke out in
one school yesterday-the
63-year-old Premier said:
"This is only one phase in
the over-all Communist pro-
gram. Since I am deter-
mined to oppose commu-
nism, I am not sprised at
them. If they are deter-
mined to subvert my coun-
try, I am determined to op-
pose it.
"The students are not
aware they are playing into
the hands of the Commu-
nists. It is the same way the
Buddhist Institute is playing
the game of the Commu-
nists."
Thich Tam Chau's state-
ment, made public after a
daylong meeting of the Bud-
dhist hierarchy, said he was
"not at all involved" in the
formation of Premier
Huong's Cabinet. The Budd-
hists and students have crit-
icized the Cabinet's compo-
sition because some members
of it formerly served in the
Diem regime. The Buddhist
leader's statement, however,
made no mention of Saigon's
current civil disorders.
The students' protest
the government reached its
height yesterday at the fash-
ionable Le Quy Don school,
across the street from the
U. S. Navy commissary. U. S.
military policemen had to
duck for shelter as students,
who had barricaded them-
selves in their classrooms,
hurled stones into the com-
pound of the commissary,
where most American were
here to do their marketing.
Signs reading "To Hell with
Huong" were put up by stu-
dents.
Meanwhile, U. S. Ambassa-
dor Maxwell D. Taylor, bor-
rowing words of Benjamin
Franklin in 1776, warned the
South Vietnamese people that
they "must hang together or
hang separately" in their
struggle against the Commu-
nist Viet Cong guerrillas. On
the eve of his departure for
Washington for a policy re-
view, Gen. Taylor said in an
interview taped for television
viewers in the U. S. that the
American attitude toward
Viet Nam is one of "tolerance
and understanding."
"This country never had a
chance to govern itself in the
past, and it is not surprising
that there is some fumbling
uncertainty now," he
and
said.
Date
1964, Nov. 25
Subject
Trần, Văn Hương, 1903–1982; Vietnam (Republic)--History--Coup d'état, 1963; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Religious aspects--Buddhism; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--Vietnam (Republic); Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government; Vietnam 1961-1975
Location
Saigon, South Vietnam
Coordinates
10.8231; 106.6311
Container
B4, F6
Format
newspaper clippings
Collection Number
MS 363
Collection Title
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
Creator
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Copyright Information
These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
Publisher
Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
Language
English