Word: lieuts
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...More Siestas. In Saigon, Lieut General Duong Van ("Big") Minh, the head of the ruling military junta, rode about almost unnoticed in a black Citroen (in contrast to Diem's vast motorcades), visiting a few government offices and military units. He also opened promising negotiations with Vietnamese sects that had withdrawn sup port from Diem but were not ready to rally to the new regime. But while still clearly favored by the population, the new regime seemed oddly reluctant to assume political leadership. One of its few decisions: to abolish the siesta that has traditionally closed government offices...
Obviously, the Communists were trying to get the jump on the country's new military leader, Lieut. General Duong Van ("Big") Minh, before he could get his own campaign organized. Minh and his fellow generals have assigned aggressive new officers to combat commands, but their forces have not regained the momentum against the Viet Cong...
...Diem's longtime Vice President, appointed nine civilian ministers -mostly nonpolitical civil servants in the old regime. To counsel Tho's government, the brass named a 15-man "Council of Sages," including business and professional leaders. But it is the military that is running the country. Lieut. General Tran Van Don, 46, the polished, French-schooled staff officer who helped mastermind the coup, was appointed Defense Minister. Major General Ton That Dinh, 36, the aggressive, vain commander of the Saigon district, was named Minister of Public Security, which gives him control of Ngo Dinh Nhu's secret...
...August. Serious talk about an uprising had first started in August, after Diem raided the Buddhist pagodas. Lieut. General Tran Van Don, then acting chief of the Joint General Staff, got word that a coup seemed imminent, and felt (as he now explains it) that the moment was not right. He feared that whoever was planning the affair might not be able to control things, that the Communist Viet Cong might move in on it and take over Saigon. So Don supported Diem's imposition of martial law, and the August coup never surfaced...
...when crackdowns on the Buddhists continued, Don and Lieut. General Duong Van ("Big") Minh grew troubled. Egged on by the disturbed U.S. official community, Don, Minh and most of the key generals prepared a 20-page paper outlining proposed reforms, mostly aimed at getting the war against the Viet Cong back on the move, and presented it to President Diem. The President, said one officer, "agreed to every clause," but did nothing whatever to put the reforms into practice. Diem's determined inaction, say the generals, more than anything else, sealed his fate...