Word: minh
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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When Major General Duong Van Minh attempted to return to his native South Viet Nam in 1965, the tower at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport refused to grant his plane landing clearance and he had to head back into exile in neighboring Thailand. It was a humiliating rebuff for burly "Big Minh,"* the man who ousted Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963 and who rose to chief of state before he was shelved and then banished in a subsequent coup. Last year Minh tried another route-by filing as a presidential candidate-only to have his application rejected...
...invitation to return came from President Nguyen Van Thieu who, under pressure from some military associates, had long held out against a Minh comeback. Now, after months of political maneuvering during which he has managed to shoulder aside ambitious Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky and his supporters, Thieu has consolidated his position to the point where U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker recently described his government as "more stable than at any time since the early days of Diem." Thieu described Minh's return as part of a national reconciliation plan, said he would soon send emissaries to Bangkok to bring...
Uncertain Role. The move would end long years of anguish for Minh. A generous monthly pension of $1,800 has allowed him to live well in Bangkok, raising orchids, working on his memoirs (465 pages so far) and playing tennis at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club...
Precisely what Minh will do if and when he returns remains uncertain. He could become a presidential adviser -though there is some question whether Minh would agree to serve under a man who was a relatively lowly army colonel when he was already a general...
...Buddhist, a southerner and a close friend of Premier Tran Van Huong (a former student of ex-Teacher Huong, Minh still addresses him as "Master"), Minh would be an obvious asset in any national reconciliation effort...