Word: thieu
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
That possibility continued throughout last week to be stymied by the unwillingness of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu to agree to send a delegation to Paris and sit at the same negotiating table with the National Liberation Front of the Viet Cong. There were reports and rumors that he was about to change his mind. But the delay brought to nearly a month the elapsed time since the bombing halt. Meanwhile, the war on the ground in South Viet Nam sputtered...
...same time, Saigon claimed that, despite the understanding that cities should not be hit, the Communists had shelled 98 civilian areas in the first two weeks since the halt-five times as heavy a bombardment as in the fortnight preceding it. Such statistics would clearly be useful to Thieu if he wanted further justification for boycotting the talks...
...Thieu meanwhile was quietly lining up support in the Senate and the National Salvation Front for a change of stance that would enable his country to join the talks. Ambassador Bui Diem was recalled from Washington for consultations with the President. From Paris, Ambassador Pham Dang Lam reported that arrangements for the arrival of a South Vietnamese delegation had been completed: housing had been secured and cars had been hired. Thieu also spent time working on the composition of a delegation, amid insistent demands from Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky that he head the negotiating group...
...North Vietnamese vowed that they would not talk without the presence of an N.L.F. delegation. The N.L.F. declared that there was no impediment to three-sided talks (minus Saigon) and that it was perfectly willing to discuss South Vietnamese affairs, indeed to speak for South Viet Nam-exactly what Thieu fears it will try to do anyway...
Looking back, it now appears that although Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker may have thought that President Nguyen Van Thieu was firmly pinned down, the Vietnamese leadership had never been completely committed. Thieu may have told Bunker that he favored a bombing-halt communiqué-indeed, the U.S. Embassy sent such verbatim quotes on to Washington-but the deal was never really confirmed. This, in turn, suggests that the Americans may have missed subtle South Vietnamese hints prior to the halt; after all, Saigon never liked to give the American ambassador a flat no on anything. When Thieu finally...