SOUTH VIET NAM SUICIDE IN MANY FORMS A SOUTH VIETNAMESE NOVELIST AND 
POLITICIAN NAMED NGUYEN TUONG TAM SENT HIS SONS OUT TO BUY 
A BOTTLE OF WHISKY ONE NIGHT LAST WEEK . FOR A 
WHILE HE SAT DRINKING WITH THEM AT HIS HOME IN SAIGON 
. " MY SONS, I FEEL VERY HAPPY TONIGHT, " HE 
SAID . " I AM GOING TO DIE VERY SOON . 
" SUDDENLY HE KEELED OVER, WAS RUSHED TO A HOSPITAL WHERE 
HE DIED NEXT MORNING . IN HIS GLASS WAS FOUND A 
LETHAL DOSE OF CYANIDE . NOVELIST TAM, 58, WAS A REVOLUTIONARY 
LEADER IN INDO-CHINA'S WAR AGAINST THE FRENCH . BUT AFTER INDEPENDENCE 
IN 1954, HE GREW INCREASINGLY DISENCHANTED WITH THE AUTHORITARIAN RULE OF 
SOUTH VIET NAM'S PRESIDENT NGO DINH DIEM . FORTNIGHT AGO, DIEM'S 
GOVERNMENT CHARGED TAM AND 34 OTHERS WITH TREASON BY CONSPIRING TO 
OVERTHROW THE PRESIDENT IN AN ABORTIVE COUP ATTEMPT IN NOVEMBER 1960 
. IT WAS JUST TWO DAYS BEFORE THE SCHEDULED TRIAL THAT 
TAM COMMITTED SUICIDE, AND HE EXPLAINED WHY IN A NOTE HE 
LEFT BEHIND . " THE ARREST AND TRIAL OF ALL NATIONALIST 
OPPONENTS OF THE REGIME IS A CRIME THAT WILL FORCE THE 
NATION INTO THE HANDS OF THE COMMUNISTS, " HE WROTE . 
" I OPPOSE THIS CRIME, AND I KILL MYSELF AS A 
WARNING TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRAMPLING ON OUR FREEDOMS . 
" DRAGGING FEET . DIEM'S GOVERNMENT MOVED QUICKLY TO HEAD OFF 
DEMONSTRATIONS OVER TAM'S DEATH, POSTHUMOUSLY ACQUITTED HIM OF ALL CONSPIRACY CHARGES 
AT THE SAIGON TREASON TRIAL . AT THE SAME TIME, THE 
PROSECUTORS TRIED TO IMPLICATE THE U.S . AS BEING BEHIND THE 
1960 COUP ; THE CHARGE WAS VIGOROUSLY DENIED BY THE U.S 
. AT THE END OF THE TRIAL, GOVERNMENT JUDGES SENTENCED 20 
DEFENDANTS TO PRISON TERMS RANGING FROM FIVE TO EIGHT YEARS ; 
NINE OTHERS WHO HAD FLED THE COUNTRY AFTER THE ATTEMPTED COUP 
WERE SENTENCED TO DEATH IN ABSENTIA . TAM'S SUICIDE AND THE 
SAIGON TRIAL SERVED ONCE AGAIN TO STOKE SOUTH VIET NAM'S SMOLDERING 
RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL CRISIS . LAST MONTH BUDDHIST MONK THICH QUANG 
DUC BURNED HIMSELF TO DEATH ON A SAIGON STREET CORNER IN 
PROTEST AGAINST RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED ON THE COUNTRY'S 12 MILLION BUDDHISTS BY 
DIEM'S PREDOMINANTLY ROMAN CATHOLIC REGIME . AFTER A SERIES OF NATIONWIDE 
DEMONSTRATIONS, THE GOVERNMENT, UNDER U.S . PRODDING, YIELDED TO BUDDHIST DEMANDS 
AND GRANTED THEM EQUAL RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL STANDING WITH THE NATION'S 
1,500,000 CATHOLICS . BUT INFLUENCED BY HIS BROTHER, NGO DINH NHU, 
WHO BELIEVES THAT THE BUDDHISTS ARE RED DUPES, THE MILITANTLY CATHOLIC 
DIEM HAS DRAGGED HIS FEET IN IMPLEMENTING THESE CONCESSIONS . MANY 
VIETNAMESE BUDDHISTS, SAYS NHU, " HAVE BECOME FANATIC, LOST THEIR COMMON 
SENSE, AND ARE READY TO FOLLOW ANYONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO 
EXPLOIT THEM UNDER THE BANNER OF RELIGION . " THIS WAS 
THE KIND OF DOGGED ANTI-BUDDHIST ATTITUDE THAT HAS DANGEROUSLY UNDERCUT GOVERNMENT 
SUPPORT . ALREADY ONE GENERAL HAS RESIGNED HIS FIELD COMMAND IN 
PROTEST OVER GOVERNMENT BUNGLING OF THE BUDDHIST ISSUE . SIMPLE REASON 
. DIEM'S INTRANSIGENCE HAS DISMAYED U.S . OFFICIALS, WHO FEAR THAT 
MOUNTING BUDDHIST DISCONTENT CAN ONLY HINDER THE WAR EFFORT AGAINST THE 
VIET CONG, JUST WHEN IT IS BEGINNING TO GO WELL . 
OVER THE PAST YEAR, GOVERNMENT FORCES AND THEIR 14,000 U.S . 
MILITARY " ADVISERS " HAVE VASTLY INCREASED THEIR MOBILITY AND STRIKING 
POWER AGAINST THE RED GUERRILLAS . MORE THAN 7,000 " STRATEGIC 
HAMLETS " HAVE BEEN BUILT, NOW PROTECT 8,000,000 VIETNAMESE FROM VIET 
CONG RAIDS . DESPITE ALL MISGIVINGS, THE U.S . STILL STANDS 
BEHIND DIEM FOR A SIMPLE REASON THAT HE HIMSELF SPELLED OUT 
IN A BLUNT WARNING LAST WEEK : " FOR A MOMENT, 
IMAGINE THAT ANOTHER GOVERNMENT REPLACES THIS ONE : IT COULD NOT 
HELP RESULTING IN CIVIL WAR AND DREADFUL DICTATORSHIP . " WASHINGTON 
HAS CONSIDERED ALTERNATIVES TO DIEM, BUT FEARS THAT THE CONFUSION OF 
A COUP COULD ONLY BENEFIT THE VIET CONG AND MIGHT END 
UP WITH A REGIME NO BETTER THAN THE PRESENT ONE . 
THUS U.S . AMBASSADOR FREDERICK NOLTING, WHO IS SOON TO BE 
REPLACED BY HENRY CABOT LODGE, RETURNED TO SAIGON FROM WASHINGTON CONSULTATIONS 
LAST WEEK WITH A PERSONAL MESSAGE OF CONFIDENCE FOR DIEM FROM 
JOHN KENNEDY . BUT NOLTING ALSO LIGHTLY RAPPED DIEM ON THE 
KNUCKLES FOR LETTING THE BUDDHIST CRISIS CONTINUE . " THE U.S 
. STANDS FOR AND SUPPORTS FREEDOM OF RELIGION FOR ALL PEOPLE, 
" HE SAID . " IT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY IF 
THE GAINS AGAINST THE VIET CONG WERE WIPED OUT BY DISSENSIONS 
AMONG VIETNAMESE CITIZENS, WHO DESIRE ABOVE ALL FREEDOM OF CHOICE FOR 
THEMSELVES AND FOR THEIR COUNTRY . WATCHING ONE BUDDHIST DEMONSTRATION IN 
SAIGON LAST WEEK, NINE U.S . REPORTERS WERE JOSTLED BY GOVERNMENT 
POLICE AND HAD THEIR CAMERAS SMASHED . THE COPS SAID THE 
REPORTERS HAD STARTED THE ROW . THE VOCIFEROUSLY ANTIDIEM U.S . 
PRESS CORPS IN SAIGON PROTESTED TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY . 