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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-01943 to 363-01953.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-01943 to 363-01953
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Title
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Second article on the cabinet of Prime Minister Trần Văn Hương
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Description
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Original title: "cabinet." Keever's title: "Cabinet Seeks Triumvirate Rule." Original caption: "This is the second of a two-part series on the newly-installed Cabinet of Prime Minister Trần Văn Hương." Article by Keever about the cabinet of Prime Minister Trần Văn Hương
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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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ZCZC SE
yy nnm
huong 1 (normass/deepe)
(This is the second of a two-part series on the newly-installed Cabinet of
Prime Minister Tran Van Huong
SAIGON, MAY 27--The newly-announced Cabinet of Prime Minister Tran Van Huong,
entrusted with unifying the non-Communist sector political sector-is regarded here
as shifting the internal political power structure away from a duumvirate-perhaps
towards a triumvirate.imxitkaxxemb
To unify the
government, the three leading power personalities who need
38-close cooperation are the 65-year-old Prime Minister, President Nguyen Van Thieu
and Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky.
-more reuter
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ZCZC sag
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huong 2 (normass/deepe
Before the appointment of Huong, the duumvirate of President Thieu and Vice
President Ky were the chief policymakers; Prime Minister Nguyen Van Loc
had been appointed on the recommendation of Vice President Ky; Loc's Cabinet was
approved by the most powerful generals in the country.
one Western diplomat noted, "was he was
Loc's chief virtue,
was a compromise candidate between Ky
and Thieu--a bridge between then them, and this is not insignificant.' But, with the
personal and political rivalries between by Ky and Thieu and the inertia of the Loc
Cabinet, the net result
virtually left South Vietnam's executive
functions paralyzed.
Thieu and Ky appear
Besides the personal rivalries between Thieu and Ky,
D.
also to distrust each other on the question of negotiating with the Communists; Ky
fearing that Thieu is much more willing to compromise on letting the Communists
into the South's political structure. The Ky group, which includes other
powerful generals, are also critical of some
civilians serving in Thieu's
Presidential offices, some of whome they come consider as pro-Communist.
Early last week
--more reuter
When Thieu named Huong as prime minister and fomen invited the entire Loc
Cabinet to resign, Western diplomats were impressed by Thieu's "courage and e
decisiveness." Later in the week, as bickering over the Cabinet formation in
continued, another diplomat viewed Thieu the President as "an empty container.
HNyon
The Americans can put any policy they want to in him."
--more reuter
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zczc sag
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huong 3 (normass/deepe)
With the appointment of Huong, a Southern school teacher, as Prime Minister,
the power structure has shifted-the full direction of the shift has to be revealed
in the future. Huong is not a compromise Prime Minister between Ky and Thieu.
In fact, highly informed sources say that he was the first choice of neither.
ther.!
They say Ky's first choice for Prime Minister was General Nguyen Duc Thang, a
dynamic Northerner who is strongly anti-corruption and anti-Communist. He is
currently commander of the 16 provinces south of Saigon. Thieu's first choice
was reportedly General Tran Thien Khiem, a four-star general, close friend of
Thieu's and former ambassadorte to Taiwan. If General Khiem was not acceptable,
then Thieu wanted a weak political, but competent administrative prime minister.
But, these sources say, the American officialdom threw its full wight weight
behind Huong, who had long been a favorite of the Western diplomatic set, and
Thiếu
gave in to Huong's appointment.
--more reuter
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ZCZC sag
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huong 4 (normass/deepe)
Instead of either a Ky pro-Ky or a pro-Thieu Prime Minister in office, both
Ky and Thieu fine find an independent one who is somehwat som a national figure
his own right.
In
Thus far, on the surface, all three officials appear to be unified. Both
Thieu and Huong carefully noted that "the constitution must be respected"-a defined
clear that the President was responsible for the policy direction of the government
and the Prime Minister was simply responsible for executing that policy.
an interview with the semi-official government news agency, Vietnam Press,
also specifically applied this procedure both to foreign policy and
military affairs. Yet, a pivotal question being asked by political sources in Saigon
is how well Thieu and Huong will cooperate in their respective roles.
--more reuter
Pros fent Th
th. Noth
Huong
6
V.
Sth
To cl
unity
made
Mamm
tens
hace
M
ter-
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zczc sag
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huong 5 (normass/deepe
Also, Huong in a private session with Vice President Ky, persuaded the Vice
President to support him. Ky was reportedly impressed with the are
humility, integrity and patriotism of Huong. Ky privately promised and
publicly announced his support for Huong. But, below these official positions lies
a great deal of disgruntled feelings, reliable sources report, which could
easily surface to snarl the government. One of the first tests in the Ky-Huong
relationship
is expected to arise if Huong attempts to fire or replace
a pro-Ky general, such as General Nguyen
Ngoc Loan as chief of National Police,
One of Huong's announced first missions
a move widely rumored in Saigon for days.
is to curb corruption and malpractices among the government's administration; to
accomplish this will create frictions among high-placed
officials.
--more reuter
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ZCZC sag
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huong 6 (normass/deepe)
Other points of signicance about the Huong Cabinet
are:
Most
First, in the strict Vietnamese definition, the Huong Cabinet is not
considered to be pro-neutralist, which has consistently meant pro-French.
of the Huong's 18 cabinet members have served in previous governments which
maintained a hard-line anti-Communist position. But, the slice March
since the beginning of the Paris peace talks, when American foreign policy
openly moved into peace negotiations, a new trend has begun to unravel in Vietnam.
That large category of Vietnamese leadership which had once been ju embodied in
the "pro-American, anti-Communist" bloc is now forced to choose between being
pro-American and anti-Communist. * is large coalition is now feat
fragmenting. Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky probably symbolizes best the
Vietnamese who have chosen to remain anti-Communist (against a coalition government)
even if it also means becoming anti-American. (In another past crisis of the same A
nature, a Vietnamese politician explained, "Please remember it is the people who
are most anti-Communist who eventually become the most anti-American. In little ways,
your policy al always ends up helping the Communists, rather than the anti-
Communists)").
Typifying the officials ☑ who have chosen
to be pro-American,
Dr.
pro-negotiation, rather than remaining anti-Communist might be
Phan Quang Dang, a Harvard-educated minister without portfolio and
also Minister of the Open Arms program, or Buu Diem, Vietnamese
The ele
a mbassador to Washington who is now acting as official observer in Paris.
political coloration of the Huong Cabinet is considered to be more pro-American than it
is anti-Communist; and more
pro-American than pro-French.
leftist elements who were rumored to be in the Huong Cabinet were later dropped,
the most prominent example being
Lawyer Tran Van
Tuyen and ex-general
Le Van Kim.
more reuter
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huong 7 (normass/deepe}
Second, in terms of quality, the Huong Cabinet is credited here as being
a vast improvement over the Loc Cabinet, although some doubt that the Cabinet
has improved proportionate to the increase in hon-military problems since the
Tet offensive. Huong is easily acclaimed to have more prestige and stature
than Loc, however
to serve Huong.
Achern one-third of the Loc Cabinet has remained
In terms of quantity, the Huong cabinet is regarded as
than the Loc Cabinet.
more
civilian
Loc's cabinet had three generals serving in it; Huong's
has two generals, a colonel, and a military-oriented civilian in charge of the
Prime Minister's office.
a favorite
Regarding a government with a "broad political base,"
expression of American officialdom here, Huong did not appoint political party
1 eaders to his cabinet as was expected. Instead, he replaced Loc's non-political
administrators with what he has termed "patriotic people." This move has
cost Huong the support of some political figures; it was the basis of the disagreement
between Huong and Ha Thu ✓ Ky, leading a faction of the Dai Viet party, who refused
to join the Huong Cabinet. To a lesser extent, some of the religious sect
factions are also dissatisfied because their political leadership is poorly represented,
in the Cabinet.
If the Huong government is to acquire a broad political base,
(will be
it in derived from the prestige--and later performance-of Huong and his subordinates,
rather than the backing of the traditionally factionalized political parties.
--more reuter
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zczc sag
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huong 8 (normass/deepe)
revealed himself much more as a
Thieu
Third, in appointing Huong, Thieu
President and much less as a general. The Huong appointment seems a significant
step in line with a trend Thieu has quietly been establishing: to bede
move the Vietnamese generals out of non-military political roles.
initiated this trend earlier this year when he decreed that the four powerful
military corps commands would no longer wield political power or make political
decisions in their respective zones. Without informing or consulting his
top generals, Thieu appointed Huong, thus temporarily curtailing the power
of military officers at the central government level. The generals accuse
Thieu--and be Americanser making this move
as a means of initiating a compromise solution
into the national government.
to
reduce their power
bringing the Communists
-more reuter
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zczc sag
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huong 8 (normass/deepe)
Third, in appointing Huong, Thieu Be revealed himself much more as a
President and much less as a general. The Huong appointment seems a significant
step in line with a trend Thieu has quietly been establishing: to keep the
move the Vietnamese generals out of non-military political roles.
Thieu
initiated this trend earlier this year when he decreed that the four powerful
military corps commands would no longer wield political power or make political
decisions in their respective zones. Without informing or consulting his
top generals, Thieu appointed Huong, thus temporarily curtailing the power
of military officers at the central government level. The generals accuse
Thieu-and the Americanser making this move to to
as a means of initiating a compromise solution
into the national government.
reduce their power
bringing the Communists
--more reuter
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zcze sag
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huong 9 (normass/deepe)
Fourth, while the power of the Vietnamese generals has been seriously
temporarily reduced, they still form what amounts to an invisible "super-government,"
which at this time would prohibit a major shift and allowing the formation
of a Communist-dominated government in the South. This ten-man council of generals
Pe
In exchange,
is extra-legal, much like the formation of the American Cabinet in the early days
of the United States government. It's formation is based on a political agreement
going back to the time when the generals backed Thieu, instead of Ky, as their
resultent dative candidate during descent's elections last September.
Thieu promised that the nine other generals could name
the future Cabinet and that Ky, chairman of the council, could name the Prime
Minister. Ky's me choice was Nguyen Van Loc, who has just been dismissed.
When Thieu announced he was changing the government, the generals
called on Thieu and reportedly asked if Loc would also be removed. Thieu assured them
WeLoc would remain in office. On Saturday, May 25, Vice President Ky flew to
Nha Trang with his wife to entertain students at the resort beach--and President Thieu
national Vietnamese television announcing he had replaced Loc with
appeared on
Huong.
--more reuter
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zC2c sag
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huong 10 (normass/deepe)
Sources close to Thieu say that Ky and the other generals had been informed in
advance; erges sources close to Ky say "that's a big lie by Thieu," and consider
that Thieu has betrayed them. Two days later, the nine generals, excluding Thieu,
In the
met in Ky's office left-wing of the Presidential Palace,
what should be done. Following Huong's visit to see Ky,
became the moderate element of the group and reportedly
huong
and decided to "wait and see"
later in the week, Ky
persuaded the others to support
Although Thieu may have appointed a prestigious Prime Minister
during the
past week, he has lost the confidence of his powerful generals, who seem clearly
to be watching the Paris peace talks with one eye and the
attacks with the other.
Intensity of Communist
(Hank: I'm off to Danang and probably will not file the remainder of this week).
Regards Bev).
== End
Ret
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Date
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1968, May 27
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Subject
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Vietnam, 1961-1975; Trần Văn Hương; Vietnam (Republic); Cabinet officers
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6297
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Size
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19 x 26 cm
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Container
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B10, F37
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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
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Language
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English
