 The South Vietnamese eventually had their way . As the generals and Hương were unwilling to reinstate the HNC , Taylor sent General John L. Throckmorton to meet them and <unk> relations . Throckmorton told the Vietnamese generals they had read too much into Taylor 's comments and that the US had no intention of <unk> them out of power with aid cuts . Cang appeared unimpressed , while Thiệu and Kỳ made indirect and vague comments about what they perceived to be misleading tactics during the talks . Khánh appeared <unk> by Throckmorton 's overtures and made a public statement on December 30 , saying he was not as hostile to the Americans as reported , and he wanted Thiệu and Cang to meet the Americans to relieve any remaining tension . He also claimed privately that the statements attributed to him by Deepe were false and set up a bilateral committee to discuss tensions . The generals eventually won out , as the Americans did not move against them in any way for their refusal to reinstate the HNC . The South Vietnamese won in large part because the Americans had spent so much on the country , and could not afford to abandon it and lose to the communists over the matter of military rule , as a communist takeover would be a big public relations coup for the Soviet bloc . According to Karnow , for Khánh and his officers , " their weakness was their strength " . An anonymous South Vietnamese government official said " Our big advantage over the Americans is that they want to win the war more than we do . " 
