Word: huong
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...Saigon. Then followed President Nguyen Van Thieu's disastrous strategic withdrawal, which turned into a rout. Within weeks, Communist forces had advanced virtually unopposed to the very outskirts of Saigon. Forced to resign and flee the country, Thieu was replaced by his aging, ineffectual Vice President, Tran Van Huong, who in turn gave way after just six days to the only man thought to have a chance of negotiating a ceasefire: Buddhist opposition leader Duong Van ("Big") Minh. His presidential tenure proved the briefest of all and set the stage for the final Communist triumph...
...Still, Huong was hardly in a position to shape that destiny singlehanded. He made one valiant effort to establish his credentials as a peacemaker, offering to send a government minister to Hanoi to open up direct negotiations; the North Vietnamese firmly rebuffed the overture. Huong then made a dramatic, ceremonious appearance at South Viet Nam's National Assembly. Speaking in halting gasps, wearing dark glasses, he told the legislators that it was for them to decide if he should stay in office or make way for General Minh. "Now our ally has abandoned us and we have to defend...
Astonishingly, the Assembly refused to take the initiative and told Huong that he had the power to make his momentous decision himself. He would have to act quickly. Most observers in South Viet Nam were convinced that Saigon was running out of time. Already, North Vietnamese forces had responded to the capital's indecision by launching what could turn into a major offensive against Ba Ria, which controls Saigon's escape route to the sea. For the first time in two years, they also lobbed several rockets on Saigon itself...
...Even as Huong was trying to tough it out, however, Minh's acceptance speech was being written. It would be realistic, said one of the general's associates, making no reference to the "lost" provinces or any hope of regaining them. It would reject U.S. "interference" in Viet Nam's internal affairs. Most important, it would suggest negotiations to set up a council for national reconciliation to organize national elections...
...South Viet Nam's most durable and well-liked leaders. A southerner, born in My Tho, 35 miles southwest of Saigon, and a Buddhist, he was educated in a French lycee and served in the French colonial army. He was once a student of President Tran Van Huong, whom he generally addresses by the respectful term "Master." Imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II, Minh had half of his teeth yanked out by torturers. He now wears a bridge...