SOUTH VIET NAM: The New Regime

FOR a while, Saigon looked like a city liberated. Vietnamese G.I.s guarding public buildings munched oranges, bananas and candy, showered on them by civilians grateful for the overthrow of the regime. Pretty girls embraced soldiers, draped tank turrets with garlands, scrambled squealing aboard army Jeeps. With the lifting of a temporary curfew and Mme. Nhu's ban on dancing, Saigon's long-repressed night life flowered as never before. In bars and cabarets, the B-girls shucked the white, hospital-like smocks they had been forced to wear under the morality laws, wriggled back into their traditional slit skirts, or into U.S.-style slacks, to twist and tango with Viet and American soldiers into the small hours.

Shops reopened, repairmen restrung power lines blown down by battle, and saffron-robed Buddhist monks emerged from jail or hiding (among them: top Buddhist Thich Tri Quang, who had sought asylum ten weeks ago in the U.S. embassy). At Xa Loi Pagoda, principal scene of last August's government crackdown, thousands prayed. From Poulo Condore prison island and other jails, 150 political prisoners were freed, telling bitter tales of torture.

Two Corpses. Behind the first euphoric reaction to the coup there was some fairly grim political business for the crowd of generals who had accomplished it. The officers under Lieut. General Duong Van ("Big") Minh first moved to consolidate their victory. Reportedly they executed the captured commander of Diem's elite Special Forces, Colonel Le Quang Tung, his brother, the Special Forces Chief of Staff, Major Le Quang Trieu, and a former leader of Diem's Republican youth. They also placed under "protective custody" several former Diem officials.

In Hue, the rebels had no difficulty laying their hands on Ngo Dinh Can, 50, Diem's brother and tough overlord of Central Viet Nam. Wearing tattered clothes but carrying a valise containing cash, Can sought refuge in the U.S. consulate, only to be turned out after the State Department received assurances that the generals would allow him "due process of law."*

The new regime's most embarrassing problem was two corpses--those of Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. The official talk of suicide was obviously phony (see following story). At the beginning, the generals apparently tried to spare the brothers' lives, but after Diem escaped from the palace, the junta evidently fell back on the philosophy of 19th century British Poet Arthur Hugh Clough:

Thou shall not kill; but need'st not strive Officiously to keep alive.

Three Strongmen. For the living, there remained the task of putting together a government. Premier Nguyen Ngoc Tho, Diem's longtime Vice President, appointed nine civilian ministers --mostly nonpolitical civil servants in the old regime. To counsel Tho's government, the brass named a 15-man "Council of Sages," including business and professional leaders. But it is the military that is running the country. Lieut. General Tran Van Don, 46, the polished, French-schooled staff officer who helped mastermind the coup, was appointed Defense Minister. Major General Ton That Dinh, 36, the aggressive, vain commander of the Saigon district, was named Minister of Public Security, which gives him control of Ngo Dinh Nhu's secret police.

Over both the Cabinet and the "sages" is the rebel officers' 23-member "Military Revolutionary Committee," which last week decreed that "the legislative and executive powers are centralized" in itself, and named General "Big" Minh Chief of State. Within the committee is a twelve-man inner council, with Big Minh as chairman, Don and Dinh as vice chairmen--obviously the ruling triumvirate.

The generals promised that when "all democratic institutions have been set up," the rebels will "transfer all the powers back to our entire people," hinted at elections within a year. In the meantime, as many political shades as possible will be represented in the new government, but, said Defense Minister Don, "we don't want any neutralists." Before the week was out, the regime lifted martial law and censorship. First to recognize South Viet Nam's new government were Malaysia and Thailand, followed by Great Britain and the U.S., which also prepared to restore a $12 million-a-month import aid program suspended under Diem.

Four Tigers. The most serious danger to the new government is potential rivalry among the generals. The first hints of this were already appearing as little Major General Ton That Dinh injected himself into the limelight with amazing speed. In the first week of victory, Security Minister Dinh conducted several press conferences of his own, and during one interview, while protesting that "we must stay as one," Dinh insinuated that Big Minh was really only his "front man."

But the U.S. is betting that, for at least half a year or so, the generals will stand together, and there are high hopes for a more vigorous, more efficient pursuit of the war against the Communists, with more autonomy for local commanders than allowed by Diem. Said Big Minh: "Our main problem is to make the population happy. This and the military problem are intertwined. If the population does not feel protected, it will go over to the Viet Cong."

In the war, the Communist Viet Cong stepped up probing actions, but Big Minh & Co. ordered a new corps commander into the Mekong Delta, also replaced three division chiefs. Said one pleased American adviser: "They are putting some young tigers out there." Red North Viet Nam's radio charged that "U.S. imperialists schemed through the recent coup to replace the inefficient Ngo Dinh Diem clique by other henchmen who can serve more effectively their aggressive war." It was a handsome testimonial from the enemy.

* Diem's eldest brother, Ngo Dinh Thuc, 66, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hue, was in Rome attending the Ecumenical Council. Another brother, Ngo Dinh Luyen, 49, was in London, where he resigned as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. Diem's 92-year-old mother remained in Saigon, unmolested.

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