Please Send Orders

In the two months since the overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem, the news out of South Viet Nam has been mostly bad. The Communist Viet Cong have scored alarming gains in vital Long An province south of Saigon, which feeds the capital. For all the fanfare with which they were welcomed by Diem's critics, the generals who succeeded the slain President have demonstrated an unsettling lack of political leadership; recently, the civilian chiefs of nine northern provinces relayed a plea to junta chairman Major General Duong Van ("Big") Minh: "Please send us orders."

Last week U.S. Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara flew from the NATO meeting in Paris to Saigon, for his second Viet Nam inspection visit in three months. Joined by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Chief John A. McCone, McNamara plunged into briefings at the U.S. military mission. Then he spent an afternoon conferring with Big Minh and the other junta chiefs.

Under discussion were plans for a major new offensive against the Viet Cong. Before boarding his plane for home, McNamara turned to Vietnamese Defense Minister Major General Tran Van Don with some stern words of advice. "Now," said McNamara, "let's be real tough."

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