World: The Unfinished Business

For Premier Ky, victory in Danang was a significant strike toward stability but hardly the end of his troubles. "Certainly the Ky government is stronger today than it was two weeks ago," said one Saigon expert, "but two weeks from now? It is a rash, rash man who would try to predict." For one thing, Buddhist Political Leader Thich Tri Quang was still in Hué, South Viet Nam's capital of discontent, which was in rebel hands.

In backing Ky, the U.S. in effect was opposing Tri Quang, whose influence in I Corps is paramount. Tri Quang openly accused the U.S. of supplying...