(2 of 2)
Poet Premier. Getting back to business, President Thieu chose as Premier of his new government Saigon Lawyer Nguyen Van Loc, 45, a mild, apolitical lawyer who was educated in France and writes novels and poetry in his spare time. As Premier, Loc is constitutionally the third most powerful man in the country after Thieu and Ky, and will preside over meetings of the 22-man Cabinet that is now being formed. His selection as Premier was no surprise. He is a Southerner and thus a good balance to Thieu, a Central Vietnamese, and Ky, a Northerner. Moreover, he had managed the Thieu-Ky campaign and, as a protege of Ky's, was probably given the premiership as part of the bargain struck between the two rivals when Ky stepped down in favor of Thieu for the presidency.