Word: thieu
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...huff, they flew back to Saigon and held a press conference. There they blamed the mix-up on their military rivals, Chief of State General Nguyen Van Thieu and Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, who, they said, were sabotaging the campaign...
Wartime Snafu. Honestly surprised by the furor, Thieu and Ky called a press conference of their own to ex plain what went wrong. Far from being sabotage, the dustup at Dong Ha, said Thieu, was only a wartime snafu. And the person most responsible for the foul-up was not a government official; he was the chairman of the central cam paign committee, whom the civilian candidates themselves had appointed. The chairman had failed to give the province chief the correct information. But even though the reception committee found itself at the wrong airstrip, Thieu continued, it rushed to Dong...
After the press conference, Thieu and Ky went further to deny sabotage. In a letter to the candidates, they pointed out that each slate was given $45,000 for campaign travel and literature. The law requires no more. Use of government planes and cars, the letter said, is a fringe benefit supplied out of government "good will." Wryly the letter concluded: "In the DMZ area there are not as many conveniences as in rear areas. If conditions are not as expected, you are requested please not to consider these little things as important...
...Unite?" Though no one questioned the accuracy of Thieu's report on the Dong Ha dustup, the significant details went largely unreported in the U.S. until aired in a statement by Assistant Secretary of State William P. Bundy. Before that, Senators of both parties jumped at the chance of charging Ky with turning the election into a "fraud" and a "charade...
Whether or not the civilians pull out of the campaign, Thieu and Ky are likely to remain the heavy favorites. Although they are not campaigning with the civilians, they are showing no signs of complacency. Last week Ky helicoptered from one Mekong Delta hamlet to another, snipped a ribbon that officially reopened the long-besieged Mang Thit-Nicolai canal (TIME, Aug. 11), handed out gifts of U.S. outboard motors and blankets, chatted with the villagers. He was not campaigning, Ky said with a straight face. He was only doing his duty as Premier...