Word: minh
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...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 our fatherland alone," he warned, "but by doing that Saigon may become a sea of fire and a mound of bones. I wish to avoid this...
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...
Privately, Minh and his advisers admit that elections may never take place. They would thus accept a government consisting of Communists, neutralists and token anti-Communists that would undoubtedly be dominated by the pro-Communist P.R.G. Nobody in Minh's camp believes that the Communists can be denied the lion's share of power, but a few believe that a political settlement will enable the non-Communists to exert some influence. "You can hope to have a solution that will give an opportunity to the non-Communist side to prepare for a new life," says a Minh adviser. "Forming...
...complete military victory would create problems for the Communists," says a close associate of Big Minh. "Problems of stability, problems of security, political problems. It is much better for them if the first step is by political solution." Even if Big Minh manages to get negotiations started, however, the Communists could still launch limited or even all-out attacks around Saigon as a reminder to the new "third force" government of who was really in control. One likely target would be Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport, the scene of the ongoing evacuation of both Americans and Vietnamese...
...considered most likely to take charge of dismantling the Saigon regime was one of that regime's principal architects: General Duong Van ("Big") Minn. Nearly twelve years ago, Minh helped usher in the period of South Vietnamese history that is now rushing to a close. He and a group of fellow officers began it all by toppling the unpopular, autocratic President Ngo Dinh Diem. If Minh is now chosen to preside over the transfer of effective political power to the Communists, it will be largely for one reason: the past dozen years have left him relatively untainted by either...