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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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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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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 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 government could beat the Communists [deletion: with free elections] at the ballot box in South Vietnam. (More) deepe elections--page 2 february 28, 1966 Dr. Do, a medical doctor by profession, [XXXX indicating deletion] was an official observer at the [deletion: 154] 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) deepe elections--page 3 february 28, 1966 The distinguished-looking foreign minister said that the Honolulu Conference attended by President Lyndon Johnson and [deletion: leading] South Vietnamese leaders earlier this month was [deletion: 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 troika system in Laos and it has never worked. So we never accept such a proposition. A coalition government has never worked either in under-developed countries or in Central Europe. ….The Communists will succeed to take over the government, if not by force, then sooner or later [deletion: they eliminate] by eliminating their adversaries [insertion: in a coalition].” (More) deepe elections--page 4 february 28, 1966 Dr. Do said the statements of Senator Kennedy were based on “alot of misunderstanding.” He urged Western leaders not to envision a “democratic regime in 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 Communist Party. In Asia or Africa, the Communists are the only party well organized and disciplined. In Vietnam, we have an economic-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 [deletion: 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 meaningless if the people aren’t prepared and they don’t know [deletion: who] whom they are voting for.” (More) 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 Vietnamese government 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 [deletion: twenty] the remaining twenty five percent live in “contested” areas. [deletion: By the end of] [XXXX indicating deletion] [deletion: 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 hopefully planned to “pacify” about thirteen or fourteen percent of the required twenty [deletion: five] six percent by the end of this year. (More) deepe elections--page 6 february 28, 1966 In this narrow belt of [XXXX indicating deletion] villages to be pacified, rural construction teams are assigned to give the population political instruction, to help them build schools and [deletion: local] other self-help [deletion: prog] projects, [insertion: and] to assist in training local villagers to provide rural defense. “We hope that in two years, our rural construction teams [deletion: [illegible]] now working in pacified areas [deletion: in order to] can educate and assist our people,” Dr. Do explained. “We hope that in two years we’ll be able to hold free elections. It’s a matter of phasing and timing. “If we have free elections with the people well educated, then we’ll accept the result of the election--it’s only fair. We 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, introducing education, [insertion: and] building schools, [deletion: and education and] and by introducing a more prosperous era with more liberties for our people. (More) deepe elections--page 7 february 28, 1966 We always want to negotiate with the Communists on a basis [insertion: that] they stop their aggression,” Dr. Do said. [XXXX indicating deletion] 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 programs for returnees); second, “Those who want to go back to North Vietnam can go;” third, “those who make neither [deletion: chose] choice will be treated as pirates and [deletion: [illegible]] outlaws and we’ll eliminate them.” Dr. Do explained, “We want nothing in North Vietnam--all we want is that [deletion: Norty] North Vietnam stop their aggression and withdraw their troops beyond the seventeenth parallel. We want [deletion: to] no more.” And he added hastily, “We want no less.” -30-
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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
