SPOKEN or unspoken, the assumption is often made that any agreement reached in Paris to end the Viet Nam war must also bring an end to the present government of South Viet Nam. Either it must be sacrificed to a larger coalition government as part of the price of an accord with Hanoi, so the reasoning goes, or it is certain to collapse from its own infirmities once the prop of U.S. support and the urgency of waging a war is removed. That may or may not prove true. Meanwhile, President Nguyen Van Thieu's elected government continues to go about the necessary business of trying to govern while the Communists threaten a new wave of attacks on cities, aimed at toppling Thieu.
So complex and overwhelming are the problems confronting South Viet Nam that the nation's progress must be judged in terms of effort rather than achievement. By that arbitrary measure, Thieu's government has performed with markedly more distinction than its predecessors. Admittedly it has not achieved dramatic results in the dual task of fighting a war and building a nation. But, as its first year in office draws to a close, the government deserves some good marks for trying.
Taking Trips. When Thieu emerged from last September's elections, he shared presidential powers with his volatile running mate, Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky. The result for a time was an intrigue-laden, awkward dualism that South Viet Nam's new constitution had not anticipated. The Communists' Tet offensive, Washington's decision to back Thieu and an accident that killed a host of Ky supporters finally pushed the Vice President into the background (TIME, June 21), and the President has quickly consolidated his position by a succession of shrewd maneuvers that have removed remaining Ky backers from influential posts. These days Thieu is working hard to broaden the base of support for the presidency. He takes trips into the countryside, where he is virtually unknown. He consults more often with political leaders and the National Assembly. He prods the military and civilian establishments to prepare for the day when the South Vietnamese will have to take on a greater share of waging the war or policing the peace by themselves.
Buoyed by President Johnson's assurances last month in Honolulu of continued U.S. support, Thieu has been preaching a hard line on the war and against negotiations with the Communists that lends a considerable air of unreality to some of his pronouncements. He has left much of the country's day-to-day administration to Premier Tran Van Huong, 64, a onetime schoolteacher widely respected for his political acumen and his honesty. Huong moved into the Prime Minister's office at No. 7 Thong Nhut (Unity Street) eleven weeks ago, with the warning that corruption, a problem frequently discussed but little acted on in the past, would be a major target of his administration. "What I want to do is eradicate the big fish," he says.