South Viet Nam: 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...