Honorable Exit by Thurston Clarke

Author:Thurston Clarke [Clarke, Thurston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2019-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

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Martin had supported President Thieu longer than events warranted. He had even intervened to persuade General Nguyen Cao Ky to postpone a possible coup against Thieu. In mid-April he had driven to Ky’s villa in a dented Volkswagen with Charles Timmes, a retired U.S. general who had trained many of South Vietnam’s military leaders and now served as a liaison between them and the CIA. Martin had disguised himself in a sports jacket and had pulled a cap down over his forehead. He greeted South Vietnam’s former prime minister by saying, “You must be surprised to see a man like me at your house.”

Ky considered the remark condescending but let it pass, partly because Martin’s appearance was so shocking. His eyes were sunken and red-rimmed, and he appeared to have shriveled since Ky last saw him. Without promising to support Ky’s rumored coup, he gave him the impression that the Ford administration wanted Thieu to resign. Timmes spread a map out on the floor, and for several hours he, Martin, and Ky discussed how Ky would stop the North’s advance so that South Vietnam would have a strong hand in any negotiations. As Martin was leaving, he said, “It’s not easy, you know. Give me a few days—then we’ll see what we can arrange.” He was just vague and encouraging enough to persuade Ky to delay his coup.

By the third week in April, Kissinger and Ford had soured on Thieu, and on April 20 Martin went to the palace and encouraged him to resign, warning that if he did not, his generals would push him out. Thieu replied that he would do what was best for his country. Martin cabled Kissinger, “I went home, read the daily news digest from Washington, took a shower, scrubbed very hard with the strongest soap I could find. It didn’t help very much.”

Thieu announced his resignation during an emotional ninety-minute speech on April 21. He blamed the United States, and speaking as if addressing the U.S. Congress and the American people, he said, “You have let our combatants die under a hail of shells. This is an inhumane act by an inhumane ally.” He read aloud from the letter that von Marbod had given Weyand in which Nixon had promised “severe retaliatory action” if North Vietnam attempted to occupy the South. The letter had not swayed Ford or Congress earlier that month, and was unlikely to do so now. Thieu also blamed his generals, charging some with being “cowardly.” He demanded his people’s pity, telling them, “Over the last ten years, all years, months, days, and hours in my life have been bad, as my horoscope forecast.” After promising to “stay close to you in the coming task of national defense,” he declared, “I am resigning but not deserting.” The next morning the South Vietnamese Communists’ Provisional Revolutionary Government issued a statement calling his resignation “a ridiculous puppet dance” and “a clumsy trick manipulated by the United States to keep the Thieu clique without Thieu.

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