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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07602 to 363-07607.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07602 to 363-07607
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Title
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Article about a South Vietnamese political crisis and elections
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Description
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Original title: "politics", Keever's title: "Saigon's political future teetering National Elections and Government stability", article about a disruptive Vietnamese political crisis, 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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- Page 1
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deepe
politics--page 1
march 23, 1966
SAIGON--The disruptive Vietnamese political crisis
represents the beginning of a sizeable, swerving step away
from winning the anti-Communist war here.
Political observers here foresee at least three key
factors emerging from the simmering, potentially explosive,
crisis. They are:
1. A long process of political deterioration, which
will severely damage the already weak anti-Communist political
forces attempting to administer the social-economic-political
the
programs which are an important part of winning the war,
plus a whirlwind change of Vietnamese military commanders who
Na
are responsible for conduction the purely military campaigns.
2. The growing probability that the ten-man ruling
military junta will be diluted in its authority and anti-
Communist composition--if it survives at all.
3. The longer-term prospect that Prime Minister
Nguyen Cao Ky is heading only a transitional government rather
than a permanent anti-Communist bulwark of internal strength.
(More)
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deepe
political-page 2
march 23, 1966
Political as observers here are carefully watching to determine
if, when and whether the military junta and Prime Minister Ky-at a
later stage-fall in a bloody, chaotic showdown with pro-neutralist
Buddhist leaders, or whether and if they will fall in a smooth
transition of power in behind-the-scenes Palace intrigues and interludes
of invisible maneuvering.
Of immediate concerns to Ashort-range American national
iper interest is whether or not Prime Minister Ky will survive. He
is known to have often threatened to resign from his post;
VIETNAMESE
he has told/national leaders that he carries a copy
of his resignatiom in his flight suit. Even more dangerous, however,
is that "clandestine" government-oppositionist leaflets have begum
to attack the Prime Minister by name. Previously, then they had
attacked only sleet selected members of the ten-man ruling junta,
Many
most of them Catholic generals.
Because the loss of Ky from the Prime Minister-ship would be a
direct political slap in the face of President Lyndon Johnson, who
tightly
Band Del
embraced in the mustacheoed general at the Honolulu Conference last
month, Ky is considered to have a better chance to survive them the
other ruling generals.
(More)
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deepe
politics--page 3
March 23, 1966
Of far more immediate importance internally, however, and of
longer-range American national interest--is the fate of
future of
the ten-ma n military junta, rather than the Hrime Minister Ky
2
HMSEL
The military juht junta, officially named the the National
Leadership Committee or the The Direco Directorate, is the legal
#
as the head of the
executive branch of government, is subordinate to the ruling council.
basis of the government and Prime Minister Ky,
The military junta of hardlin hard-line, anti-Communist generals
to Be
is now considered in a significant position in that it would decide
the composition of
the future civilian councils to draft a national consitut constitutition-
whether these bodies would be predominantly pro-neutralist or
anti-Communist-and would finally approve the election regulations
which could give the right to vote to Communist elements,
or could
decide whether covert Communist agents or pro-neutralist sympathizers
would be eligible for candidates in the election.
(More)
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deepe
politics page 4
March 23, 1966
If the ruling military junta is wankingmamam toppled-either
peacefully, violently or gradually-however, anti-Communists here
fear thatthe key decision-making councils would be pro-neutralist
thatthe
in orientation and that gradually through the years an internal
political Rege arrangement would be made with the National
Front for the
Liberation of South Vietnam ((NFLSVN)--
the political backbone of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese armed
forces.
"The great freedom fighter, Prime Minister Ky, could easily
find himself in the any curious, but unhappy plight of having
American and Buddhist support--but preme presiding over a neutralist
government," one Western observer explained.
(More)
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deepe
politics- page 5
March 23, 1966
The gist of the conflict between the pro-neutralist Buddhist
leaders and Ky's military junta is notrptnot a difference in
Nation AL
programs for Vietnam-is is but is the time period in which these
programs are to be implemented.
Prime Minister Ky, at the Honolulu
Conference, presented his famous two-year program,
unveiled publically to the Vietnamese in mid-January.
Ard
which had been
His plan called for the pacification, security of
Curren
rural areas, new controlled or influenced by the Viet Cong, along
with active social-economic programs in these fareas plus the urban
rural areas as well as the cities. According to government estimates,
at the end of 1967, the Saigon government would have controlled
seventy six per cent of the Vietnamese population politically as well
as securing them militarily from the increasing pressure of
Viet Cong and North Vietnamese units. At this time, the population
could have voted freely for a national legislative assembly, which,
if a Prime Ministerial system of government was outlined in the
Constitution, would also have selected a new government.
2
Most observers political observers fee here believe that
this ambitious program would have given Ky and the military junta
Sorts
a political victory while gradually "phasing themselves out of the
political responsibilities and handing over power to relatively
anti-Communist civilians. (More)
R
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deepe
politics page 6
March 23, 1966
The Buddhist leadorship which has spearheaded the toppling
of several past regimes, however, wants to telescope the time
period in which the gradual evolution towards civilian government
takes place. Few political observers here believe that the
Vietnam possesses" such a luxury of time", fearing that growing
Communist military pressure and increasing political confusion on
the non-Communist side preclude any as substantial shifts of power
during
at the central government echelon at the current period.
Ironically, the Buddhist demands for democratic and
independent structure of the government "as soon as possible," appear
to opers observers here to be in step with the poia key decision
des.RE
made at the Honolulu Conference--including the deicion o decision
of President Lyndon Johnson--a
-At that elections for a national
legislative assembly so be held soon.
Hence, while American officials have reiterated their
for
support of Prime Minister Ky, the growing question in Saigon is
whether or not the American government also supports Ky's
two-year program and his military junta of nine other generals.
-30-
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Date
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1966, Mar. 25
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Subject
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Vietnam (Republic), 1961-1975; Vietnam (Republic)--Politics and government; Elections
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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
