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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07707 to 363-07712.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07707 to 363-07712
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Title
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Article about changes in the South Vietnamese military leadership and structure
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Description
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Keeve title: "Shake-up extended for Saigon government stumble assigned 'to build-up democracy'", article about current and upcoming changes in the South Vietnamese military leadership and power structure, 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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(Morgan Gandy)
Saigon 04210 (UPIS) The Vietnamese military regime
has on the drawing boards a medium-sized shake-up in the
Cabinet and armed forces field commanders, plus a major
the
re-arrangement of
future power structure.
The upcoming changes--expected to be announced
officially within the next week--will notrptnot affect
the current status of Chief of State Nguyen Van Thieu or
Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky.
Both the Cabinet and the ten-man military junta-which
is the actual basis of the government--have held sessions
late this week to iron out the details. Highly reliable
sources indicate these changes are under consideration:
(More--Malloy--BD)
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First add--Morgan gandy--saigon
x x x under consideration
1. The naming of an eighty--man National Consultative Council,
which may cause the long-term chain-reaction rivalling or
counter-balancing the military junta as the legal basis of
government.
2.
The ousting of two or three of the Cabinet's 15 ministers
and the naming of new ones.
3.
The creation of at least three new ministries--possibly
industry, trade and supply.
4. The change of at least one more of Vietnam's ten division
One of the ten has already been changed this
commanders.
week, it was officially reported.
5.
The change of at least half a dozen of the 43 province
chiefs in the country. About four or five province chiefs
have already been shifted within recent weeks.
Reliable Vietnamese sources predicted that the change
of division commanders and province chiefs might touch off
more bitter in-fighting amongs the factionalized Vietnamese
generals--and possibly the eventual transfer of several
of the four corps commanders.
The corps commanders who run
the war and govern the country outside of Saigon hold more
power the power of guns than the central government,
according to reliable sau observers.
(MORE MALLOY - BD)
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Second add--morgan ga
gandy--saigo
x x x reliable observers x*x >
The expected upcoming changes come at a crucial
juncture in internal Vietnamese politi shortly after the
resumpt
ption of the airstrikes against North Vietnam, during the
continued buildup of US combat troops,
and at a time when
American officials were expressing pleasure at the "stability"
of the regime.
While some American officials are known to either to
approve or be neutral about the upcoming changes, low-ranking
American officials in the provinces have consistently
believed that at least six months' time is lost with the
transfer of new province chiefs and division commanders.
In the past two years, the Vietnamese government and military
command has been beset with whirlwind changes of personnel,
which are believed to have impeded the effective prosecution
of the anti-Communist war.
The changes of the province chiefs, for example,
would hamper the governments two-year plan to pacify the
rural areas now held by the Viet Cong Communists.
(More--Morgan--BD)
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third add--morgan gandt--saigon
x x x Viet cong communists x x
changes,"
"The government hopes to buy time by making these
one highly reliable Vietnamese source explained.
"It is attempting to keep one step ahead of the people's
dissatisfaction with the local situation--especially the
inflation."
The retail price index of consumer items which
generally drops in the period following the Vietnamese Lunar
New Year, has instead continued to rise--by 18 percent--
during the past two weeks, according to official sources.
(More--Malloy--BD)
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fourth add--morgan gandy--saigon
x x x official sources x x x
During the past year, the price of household necessities
have increased two to three hundred percent, with the exception
of rice, which has been stabilized by massive American-financed
emergency imports.
For weeks, the ten-man military junta has been drawing
up acceptable lists and consulting political and religious
groups to form the eighty-man National Consultative Council,
which is expected to be empowered to draft aye national
constitution and also, "to buildup democracy." About sixty
of the eighty men are to be handpicked by the four corps
commanders who are also administrative delegates to represent
the rural provinces and the remaining twenty are to represent
the country's political parties, religious groupings and ethnic
minorities. The government's official two-year program
envisages the National Consultative Council to pave the way
for a civilian regime as a replacement for the military junta
in late 1967.
(More--Morgan--BD)
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fifth add--morgan gandy--saigon
x x xlate 1967 x x I
The major political and religious groupings outside
of the government are known to be waiting for the announcement
of the list of members comprising the National Consultative
Council--and hope to either exploit or to attack the body,
according to highly reliable sources.
"If the National Consultative Council is a good cat,"
one political oppositionist explained, "we'll make it into
if it's a
a tiger to topple the military junta. But,
weak cat--that is,
really a mouse, we'll use it as an
excuse that the military junta is insincere and then we'll
wreck the council."
Considerable anti-war,
anti-American politieal
forces--possibly pushed by Communist subversives--are known
to be brewing beneath the apparently calm political surface
in Vietnam
(Endit--Malloy--BD)
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Date
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1966, Feb. 4
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Subject
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Vietnam (Republic), 1961-1975; Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government; 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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B188, F3
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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
