Word: duane
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...other leaders had tried to lay the groundwork for a tranquil succession. Over the past several years, Ho had gradually moved away from the day-to-day exercise of power, turning over routine responsibilities to a triumvirate consisting of Premier Pham Van Dong, Party First Secretary Le Duan and high-ranking Politburo Member Truong Chinh, all in their early 60s (see box, page 28). For the immediate future, Ho's title will probably be taken by Vice President Ton Due Thang, an 81-year-old nonentity. Actual power will probably be wielded by the triumvirate?plus Defense Minister Vo Nguyen...
...will remain the same?unifying Viet Nam under Hanoi's control?but the five contenders are likely to differ on the means. Pike believes, for example, that they disagree on the major policy issue confronting Hanoi?how best to win the war in the South. Giap, Dong and Le Duan support the current policy: intensive guerrilla activity interspersed with conventional, regular-force battles or "high points," all aimed at inflicting a decisive victory in the tradition of Dienbienphu. Truong Chinh, clearly influenced by the theories of Mao Tse-tung, favors dropping to a lower level of warfare. He argues that...
...DUAN, the party chief. Though he is First Secretary of the Hanoi party and was second only to Ho in the Vietnamese Communist hierarchy, he is little known in the West. Nikita Khrushchev once said Le Duan (pronounced Lay Zwan) "talks, thinks and acts like a Chinese," but he is believed to be neutral, or even mildly inclined toward Moscow, in the Sino-Soviet dispute. Imprisoned for ten years by the French, he began his career late but climbed fast. When the country was divided in 1954, Hanoi withdrew its crack troops from the South but assigned Le Duan there...
...gave him the job of running the whole party. Le Duan also organized the Liberation Front, the Viet Cong's political structure now represented at the Paris talks...
After Ho, North Viet Nam may well inherit a Russian-style rule by collegium. With Dong as President, the party chieftainship now held by Ho would likely go to the shadowy Le Duan, 59, the Central Committee's first secretary and chief whip behind North Viet Nam's attempt to seize South Viet Nam. General Vo Nguyen Giap, 56, the Defense Minister and man in charge of North Viet Nam's armed forces, would almost certainly join Dong and Le Duan in any leadership troika...