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Title:
Preliminary appraisal of new South Vietnamese Cabinet
Date of Creation:
February 11, 1964
Date of Declassification:
June 7, 1985
Type of Document:
Current intelligence memorandum
Level of Classification:
SECRET
Status of Copy:
SANITIZED
Pagination, Illustration:
4 p.
Abstract:
The government established on 8 February by Maj. Gen. Nguyen Khanh appears more broadly based and on the whole stronger than the Cabinet it replaces. The extent to which the civilians in the Cabinet assume significant policy roles will depend largely on whether Khanh, as Prime Minister, devotes his attention primarily to the military effort, as he has indicated he intends to do. While the new Cabinet retains some civil servant technicians from the deposed one, it gives more balanced representation to the three main geographical regions of Vietnam and has drawn in some politicians prominent in the loose political opposition to the former Diem regime. The agreement of General Duong Van "Big" Minh to serve as Chief of State, a titular and ceremonial position which Khanh told Ambassador Lodge would be "exactly like the King of England", is a favorable development. The future executive power of the Military Revolutionary Council, which previously exercised a supra-cabinet function, is obscure.
Declassified Documents Reference System Location:
1986-000031