A Sense of Urgency

One thing that survived the Communists' Tet offensive largely intact was South Viet Nam's lively political arena. In the center ring, of course, President Nguyen Van Thieu and Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky continue to maneuver for paramount influence. But the Tet offensive seems to have injected a new sense of urgency, a readiness to ask hard questions and to accept some unpleasant answers, into the Saigon body politic. Many pro-government political leaders, as well as those who oppose the government, are displaying a fresh critical spirit that begins with the realization that the government has to reform and renew itself.

A surprising amount of the new critical spirit looks toward the U.S. as the best instrument and prod for government reform (see box). Only a month or so ago, a South Vietnamese who publicly suggested U.S. interference in the government ran the risk of being charged with "licking the American boots." Now the crisis has convinced many Saigon politicians of the need for more, rather than less, U.S. direction and firmness in guiding the government to reform and action.

Surprising Turndown. Last week the government responded to a reform long urged by the U.S. by finally doing something about the blatant corruption that has traditionally attached to the powerful and tempting "warlord" posts of the corps commanders. It appointed as IV Corps (the Delta) commander General Nguyen Due Thang, the country's onetime pacification chief, who is generally regarded as one of the ablest, brightest and most honest officers in the Vietnamese army. He replaces General Nguyen Van Manh, a portly, indecisive officer who has presided over the steady disintegration of the government's Delta position. In II Corps, which comprises the Central Highlands, General Lu Lan, a respected combat officer, took over from General Vinh Loc, a relative of deposed Emperor Bao Dai, who had earned himself the sobriquet "Lord of the High Plateau." And, in an effort to remove some of the temptations of leadership, Thieu last week decided that henceforth province chiefs would report directly to Saigon rather than to their corps commanders.

President Thieu discovered, though, that not everything could be accomplished by decree. He had asked the National Assembly for special powers to rule the country's economic sphere by fiat for one year. By a surprising vote of 85-10, the House of Representatives turned Thieu down. Explained one representative, Nguyen Van Nheiu: "Special powers lead to dictatorship." Thieu still has a chance to have his way if the Senate approves the measure and sends it back to the House. But if nothing else, the exchange demonstrated that the fledgling constitutional rule begun last fall amid such high hopes was still alive and functioning despite all the havoc wrought by the Communists in the last month.

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