Word: nguyens
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...There is something like a generation gap between the new leaders of the North and those below the 17th parallel. South Viet Nam's President Nguyen Van Thieu is 46, Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky turns 39 this week and Prime Minister Tran Thien Khiem is 44. Advanced age is no handicap in Viet Nam,, however; it is considered a badge of merit...
...leadership has been remarkably stable. No other Communist Party in the world has endured so long without a major purge. When it was formed in 1945, the Party's Politburo had eleven full members. Today nine of the eleven remain in power; the missing members are Ho and Nguyen Chi Thanh, the North's second-ranking military man, who died in 1967. There were always divisions and differences, but Ho helped keep them submerged by the force of his personality and, in his declining years, by his mere presence. "He was the hoop that held the staves of the barrel...
...back in China, a temporary ally of the Chinese Nationalists in the battle against Japan. Early in 1941, Ho returned to Viet Nam, then occupied by the Japanese, for the first time in 30 years. He was accompanied by Dong and a young ex-teacher named Vo Nguyen Giap, now the North's military leader. A few months later, Ho founded an independence league called the Viet Minh, and established a base area conveniently near the Chinese border. Ostensibly, the front was intended to lead the anti-Japanese resistance; in fact, it was a sword at the throats...
...Saigon, the reaction was ambivalent. There was "nothing important" in Ho's death, said President Nguyen Van Thieu. "What is important is whether the North Vietnamese will end their aggressive policies or will end the war." Communist defectors felt that Ho's death would cause deep morale problems among the Viet Cong, who admired Ho hugely. One defector noted that the guerrillas have long dreamed of seeing Ho riding triumphantly into Saigon, which then would be renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Nobody expects the V.C. to lay down their weapons because that dream has dissolved, but their righting spirit could...
...NGUYEN GIAP, the military commander. The victor of Dienbienphu, Defense Minister Giap now commands the Hanoi regulars and Viet Cong guerrillas facing U.S. troops. He is the best-known Vietnamese other than Ho and, with Israel's Moshe Dayan, the most successful soldier since World War II. His chances-of succeeding Ho seem slim, however, though he could be chosen if Hanoi decided that an international reputation were required. Before joining Ho in China in 1940, Giap studied and taught law, politics and French military history. "He could draw every battle plan of Napoleon," a pupil recalled...