Ky Decision

As the South Vietnamese Air Force DC-3 approached the mountain resort town of Dalat, Premier Nguyen Cao Ky left the passenger compartment, took over the controls and skillfully guided the plane down onto the tiny airstrip. Soon after landing, he summoned reporters to the lovely presidential palace once used by President Diem and announced that he would run for President in the Sept. 3 elections.

Did that mean that Ky would be the ruling generals' military candidate against the five civilians who have so far thrown their hats into the ring? Yes, said Ky: "There will be no other military candidate." As for General Nguyen Van Thieu, Chief of State and Ky's chief rival among the generals, Ky said: "I will never oppose him, but I do not think General Thieu will run." Then he added thoughtfully: "Although nothing is certain in Viet Nam."

It was a prudent afterthought. Back in Saigon, Thieu announced that it was "entirely possible" that he, too, might enter the lists. After all, he said, "we want a hard campaign, with as many candidates as possible." Thieu allowed as how he had an informal election staff already at work and planned a number of "inspection tours" throughout Viet Nam in June, but as a matter of "little tactics" might delay a formal declaration of his candidacy until the July 5 filing deadline. It all spoke well for Viet Nam's evolving sense of democracy, if perhaps not so well for the internal harmony of the nation's military establishment, which is about equally divided between supporters of Ky and Thieu.

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