Word: huong
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Forming a government is a traditionally unenviable task in politically fragmented South Viet Nam, as new Premier Tran Van Huong discovered last week. It took tough bargaining with President Nguyen Van Thieu, Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky, the nation's collegium of generals and politicians of various persuasions. After seven days, Huong put together a Cabinet more or less acceptable to everyone. When he finally presented his choices, they failed to measure up to the hopes of those Vietnamese and Americans who had wanted the popular Huong to shape a government of national unity...
Addressing the nation on television and radio, dressed in an open-necked set of fatigues without insignia, Thieu named as new Premier Tran Van Huong, 64, one of the most popular and respected civilian politicians in South Viet Nam. A grey-haired schoolteacher renowned for his rigid honesty, Huong was twice mayor of Saigon and briefly Premier in 1964-65. He ran for President of the new civilian government last fall, and finished fourth-but handily carried the city of Saigon...
During his campaign, Huong indicated that he would be willing to sit down and negotiate with the Viet Cong's National Liberation Front if he were certain that it would assure "genuine peace and freedom" for South Viet Nam. Those sentiments do not endear him to Ky and his followers, who are far more fretful than Thieu about the U.S.-North Vietnamese negotiations in Paris. Ky, in fact, was off in Nha Trang when Thieu changed Premiers last week, a fact that led Saigon's hyperactive gossip mills to conclude that Ky might decide to plot a coup...
...Huong might prove important in getting together with the Viet Cong in the future. But for now, his accession is not likely to affect the government's firm public stance against any coalition with the Communists, nor make much difference to the talks that are going on in Paris. Far more important from the point of view of the U.S., which wholeheartedly endorses Huong's premiership, is that Huong is likely to replace the technicians of the outgoing Cabinet with civilian politicians like himself. If he does so, the government will be considerably strengthened in terms of popular...
...likely to be his campaign manager, Saigon Lawyer Nguyen Van Loc, or perhaps Suu's running mate, Dr. Phan Quang Dan. In the effort to broaden the base of the government, a goodly number of the Cabinet posts are slated for civilians; Thieu and the U.S. had hoped Huong and Suu would be among those chosen. Even if they do come into the Cabinet now, their prestige is badly tarnished. And Dzu himself, as the French saying goes, is not ministrable. Thieu would not have him, and Dzu would probably not accept, even if asked...