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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-07648 to 363-07654.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-07648 to 363-07654
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Title
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Article about free election in South Vietnam
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Description
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Original title, "elections", Keever's title: "'A big gamble' to hold election in South Vietnam: Saigon Foreign Minister", article about free election in South Vietnam, for the New York Herald Tribune
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Transcript
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"--------------------
- Page 1
--------------------
deepe
elections--page 1
february 28, 1966
SAIGON--Vietnamese Foreign Minister Tran Van Do said
free elections would be ""a big gamble"" for his country.
""We don't know what the results of the election will be,"" he
said. ""But we want to be really, truly democratic so we take the
risk to have an election and it is only fair that we x accept the
results.""
The statement of the veteran diplomat was distinctly less
optomistic than those of high officials within the Johnson Administration
in Washington, who have claimed that the Saigon govemment could
at the ballot box
beat the Communists
(More)
one in South Vietnam.
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- Page 2
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deepe
elections--page 2
february 28, 1966
Dr. Do, a medical doctor by profession,
Baba comum was:
an official observer at the 54 1954 Geneva Conference ending the
French Indo-China War. He openly wept when the French and the
Communists signed the agreement dividing his country into a Communist
North and an anti-Communist South.
""We are now on a deadline to have free elections (in South Vietnam),
he explained. ""If we can't have elections by the end of 1967
(which the government has officially announced), it will be a failure-
a collapse. But we are convinced that we will control enough
territory and people to have the election.""
(More)
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- Page 3
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deepe
elections-page 3
february 28, 1966
The distinguished-looking foreign minister said that
the Honolulu Conference attended by President To Lyndon Johnson
and Teata South Vietnamese leaders earlier this month was also
a ""gamble, too. The question is now whether or not we can obtain
and reach the goals,"" which have been given world-wide publicity..
The exclusive interview with the Foreign Minister, made last
week, came in the aftermath of the statements by Sen. Robert Kennedy
(Demo, N. Y.) advocating that the Communist Viet Cong be given
a chunk of power and responsibility in the Saigon government.
""We can't accept the proposition to have the Viet Cong in
the South Vietnamese government,"" Dr. Do emphasized.
""We have
seen the results of the toik troika system in Laos and it has never
worked. So we never accept such a proposition.
A col coalition
government has never worked either in under-developed countries
B
or in Central Europe. .... The Communists will succeed to take over, the
Eliminati
q
government, if not by force, then sooner or later they eliminate
""
their adversaries
A COAL
(More)
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- Page 4
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deepe
elections page 4
february 28, 1966
Dr. Do said the statements of Senator Kennedy were based
on ""alot of misunderstanding."" He urb urged Western leadersnot
not to envision a ""democratic regime im an Occidental conception.""
He explained that the South Vietnamese people have for years
lived under French colonialism and dictatorial regimes and so ""we aren't
able to have nationalist parties as well organized as the Comm Communist
Party. In Asia or Africa, the Comm Communists are the only party
In Vietnong we have an economic-
well organized and disciplined.
political-social structure notrptnot comparable to more advanced
countries like the United States or Europe. So we can't afford to
have a democratic regime in Occidental conception....We have to
give the people political education so that when elections are held they
will have some meaning. Some people say we should have elections now-
but they will be no meaningless if the people aren't prepared and
they don't know they are voting for.""
(More)
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- Page 5
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deepe
elections page 5
february 28, 1966
The ""gamble""
of free elections in South Vietnam is directly
related to the future success or failure of the two-year ""Pacification
Program, which was discussed extensively at the Honolulu Conference,
in an attempt to fight the war on the social-economic front as well
as the military front.
Reliable sources estimate that currently the South Vietname se
government controlls fi controls fifty percent of the nation's
fourteen-plus million people; twenty five per cent are considered
to be controlled by the Communist Viet Cong and
remaining twenty five percent live in ""contested""
the end of
the
areas.
the Vietnamese government
By the end of 1967, when free elections are officially
scheduled,
the Vietnamese government hopes to have seventy six
percent of the population secured and living under its control.
The Vietnamese government has operull hopefully planned to ""pacify""
about thirteen or fourteen percent of the required twentyfive percent
by the end of this year.
(More)
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- Page 6
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deepe
elections page 6
february 28, 1966
In this narrow belt of villages to be pacified, rural
✓ construction teams
are assigned to give the population
political instruction,
other
to help them build schools and local
self-help pog projects, to assist in training local villagers
to provide rural defense.
Now
""We hope that in two years, our rural construction teams
e working in pacified areas in order
our people,"" Dr. Do explained.
to educate and assist
""We hope that in two years we'll
be able to hold free elections.
It's a matter of phasing and
timing.
We
""If we have free elections with the people well educated,
then we'll accept the result of the election-it's only fair.
take the risk to have the election and accept the result.""
Dr. Do said it was ""difficult""
to achieve a military victory
in this type of guerrilla war, but that a type of political victory
would result by bringing security to the villagers, and then achieving
""social work, introduci introducing education, building schools and
education and a more prop prosperous era with more liberties for our
people.
(More)
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- Page 7
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deepe
elections page 7
february 28, 1966
""We always want to negotiate with the Communists on a basis that
they stop their aggression,"" Dr. Do sing said.
He explained the government's three-part program in dealing
with the Viet Cong internally. First, those ""that misunderstand us,
can join us (in the Open Arms program for returnees); second,
who want to go back to North Vietnam can g9;"" third,
CHOICE
who make neither chose will be treated as pirates and ou
outlaws and we'll eliminate them.""
""Those
""those
is that
Dr. Do explained, ""We want nothing in North Vietnam--all we want
North Vietnam stop their aggression and withdraw
their troops beyond the seventeenth parallel.
No
""we want
more.""
-30-
And he added hyd hastily, ""We want no less.""
"
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Date
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1966, Mar. 28
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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
