Magnetic Thi Roils Viet Politics

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derivative filename/jpeg

363-04820.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04820

Title

Magnetic Thi Roils Viet Politics

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about General Nguyễn Chánh Thi's position in South Vietnam as a unifier, despite his contraversies, page unknown

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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.

Transcript

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Magnetic Thi Roils Viet Politics
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
Flamboyant Maj. Gen.
Nguyen Chanh Thi is a one-
man symbol of the paradoxical
pitfalls and pathos of Viet-
namese political intrigue.
The constant bubbling of
Franco-Oriental maneuvering
is considered a major obstacle
to effective American-South
Vietnamese opposition to the
Communists, who have the
best organized political ma-
chine in the countryside.
Gen. Thi was dismissed
Thursday from his command
of the five northern provinces,
where for the last two years he
ruled in warlord fashion. He
was dismissed by the nine
other generals of the military
junta who were barely ruling
at all.
Gen. Thi was a sporadic
author of political instability
in Saigon, with an abortive
coup in 1960 and several
"palace coups" to his name.
Yet his dismissal is con-
sidered to be only a prelude to
more instability (other military
leaders are expected to be.
ousted) if not outright chaos
through student-civilian mili-
tary committees now organiz-
ing demonstratons in Gen.
Thi's ex-bailwick.
The 43-year-old Gen. Thi
was the strongest individual,
in terms of political popularity
and appeal in the junta. But
he was not so strong as the
other nine collectively oppos-
ing him. Since Gen. Thi was
the first general to fall from
the junta in its nine-month
existence, his expulsion in-
dicated that committee leader-
ship was no longer sacred-
nor even workable.
ing expelled from the junta
and their position of power.
The four corps commanders
The ouster of Gen. Thi-and their subordinate division
commanders hold the actual
easily could spark political in-
stability within Viet Nam on
at least three counts:
It means the junta is not
unified which delights the
pro-neutralist civilian poli-
ticians, and obviously the
Communists.
In the five northern prov-
inces formerly commanded by
Gen. Thi, where nearly 4,000
American Marines are fight-
ing, a whirlwind shift of Gen.
Thi's administrative person-
nel, province chiefs, and at
least one of the two division
commanders is expected. This
probably will set back the
Marines' pacification efforts.
Followers of Gen. Thi in
Saigon and some of the com-
manders of the other three
corps areas may also be
shifted. Gen. Thi was con-
sidered to have previously had
the support of the National
Police director Col. Pham
Van Lieu, as well as some
division and regimental com-
manders near Saigon.
A slender bright spot in the
otherwise gloomy political
picture is that the executive
branch of the government
headed by Premier Nguyen Cao
Cao Ky has become stronger.
By breaking the power of
Gen Thi, the strongest, most
magnetic personality in the
10-man junta, the Saigon
regime is expected to find it
easier to handle weaker corps
commanders. Their alterna-
tives:
Carry out orders from
Saigon efficiently-or face be-
basis of power in the country four Vietnamese
-the raw power of guns.
They were once described
as being so independent from
Saigon that "Viet Nam has
war lords
ruling the provinces-and
three American wariors where
American
three
warlords
where United States troops are

Date

1966, Mar. 13

Subject

Nguyễn, Chánh Thi, 1923-2007; Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government

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