New Premier

South Viet Nam's 1967 constitution endows the office of Premier with wide responsibilities--and potential power--in the day-to-day administration of the country on behalf of the President. In the constant clash-and-compromise bargaining between South Viet Nam's two top men, Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky persuaded President Nguyen Van Thieu to accept as the country's first Premier a Saigon lawyer and Ky confederate with no political experience, Nguyen Van Loc. Ever since Tet, Saigon has rumbled with rumors that Thieu was going to replace Loc, who had proved a less-than-efficient administrator in the wake of Communist offensive. "He turned out to be a turtle," even Ky admitted, "a poor upside-down turtle." Last week Thieu fired not only Loc but his entire Cabinet.

Addressing the nation on television and radio, dressed in an open-necked set of fatigues without insignia, Thieu named as new Premier Tran Van Huong, 64, one of the most popular and respected civilian politicians in South Viet Nam. A grey-haired schoolteacher renowned for his rigid honesty, Huong was twice mayor of Saigon and briefly Premier in 1964-65. He ran for President of the new civilian government last fall, and finished fourth--but handily carried the city of Saigon.

During his campaign, Huong indicated that he would be willing to sit down and negotiate with the Viet Cong's National Liberation Front if he were certain that it would assure "genuine peace and freedom" for South Viet Nam. Those sentiments do not endear him to Ky and his followers, who are far more fretful than Thieu about the U.S.-North Vietnamese negotiations in Paris. Ky, in fact, was off in Nha Trang when Thieu changed Premiers last week, a fact that led Saigon's hyperactive gossip mills to conclude that Ky might decide to plot a coup against Thieu in retaliation.

Huong might prove important in getting together with the Viet Cong in the future. But for now, his accession is not likely to affect the government's firm public stance against any coalition with the Communists, nor make much difference to the talks that are going on in Paris. Far more important from the point of view of the U.S., which wholeheartedly endorses Huong's premiership, is that Huong is likely to replace the technicians of the outgoing Cabinet with civilian politicians like himself. If he does so, the government will be considerably strengthened in terms of popular support. It is likely to need all such support it can get in the trying days of talking and fighting that lie ahead.

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