Word: ho
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What most interests U.S. officials is how Ho's successors will prosecute the war. "Premise No. 1," says a member of the Administration in Washington, "is that nobody knows anything about what will happen now?and if they say they do, they are lying." There is little doubt that Ho's departure will have a profound effect. Accordingly, the sentiment among many responsible officials in Washington is to "let the dust settle," in Dean Acheson's unforgettable words on China in 1949, rather than to seize the initiative. There are, however, other alternatives. At the extremes, the U.S. could either...
Inaction, however, seems unwise to many experts outside the Administration. In Saigon, Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, an adviser to former President Johnson, said that Ho's death had provided a "timely moment" for the U.S. and South Viet Nam to propose negotiations on a ceasefire. Brzezinski argued that the death of a Communist leader creates a period of "intense political conflict" during which there is an opportunity to focus attention of the successors on "initiatives from abroad." At the very least, he said, "it is always possible that some faction will argue that a positive response ought to be made...
...fact is that the North Vietnamese were reluctant either to suggest or to respond to new initiatives while Ho lay dying. As Historian Lacouture pointed out last week, the key men in Hanoi today are "the executors of Ho Chi Minh's political testament, which really is an appeal to resist to the end." If they are faithful lieutenants, they will not be quick to abandon his policies?or his dreams...
...Ho Chi Minh is irreplaceable-as his admirers and enemies alike will agree-but he must now be replaced. At week's end, Hanoi Radio announced that a collective leadership "selected and well-trained" by Ho would rule the country, at least for a while. Its members were not named, but these four men are almost certain to be among them: PHAM VAN DONG, the Premier. He was closer to Ho than anyone, although that will not necessarily help him succeed his mentor. Ho called him "my best pupil" and "my other self." Dong's striking face...
...DUAN, the party chief. Though he is First Secretary of the Hanoi party and was second only to Ho in the Vietnamese Communist hierarchy, he is little known in the West. Nikita Khrushchev once said Le Duan (pronounced Lay Zwan) "talks, thinks and acts like a Chinese," but he is believed to be neutral, or even mildly inclined toward Moscow, in the Sino-Soviet dispute. Imprisoned for ten years by the French, he began his career late but climbed fast. When the country was divided in 1954, Hanoi withdrew its crack troops from the South but assigned Le Duan there...