Nguyễn Cao Kỳ

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ
Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam
In office 1965–1967
Preceded by	Phan Huy Quát
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Văn Lộc
Personal details
Born	(1930-08-09)9 August 1930 Sơn Tây, French Indochina
Children	Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (born 8 September 1930) is a Vietnamese politician, who served as Prime Minister of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1967, and then as Vice President until his retirement from politics in 1971.

Early life and military service

LBJ, Westmoreland, Thieu and Ky together in 1966

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was born on September 8, 1930 in Son Tay, French Indochina. He joined the Vietnamese Armed Forces as a soldier in the Vietnamese National Army. In his early years Ky had little political experience or ambition. He was later sent to Morocco for flight training under French supervision. In 1954 Ky graduated from the Marrakech Air Force Training School. Returning to Vietnam in 1954 Ky held a series of commands in the South Vietnam Air Force. In late 1963 he became acting Commander of the South Vietnam Air Force before becoming the substantive commander in summer 1964. This occurred under the regime of Duong Van Minh, whose coup Ky had supported. Ky was made an air marshal (general).

Political life

1965-1967

In 1965 Ky was appointed Prime Minister by a special joint meeting of military leaders following the voluntary resignation of civilian President Phan Khac Suu and Prime Minister Phan Huy Quat. South Vietnam's system of government shifted to that of a strong prime minister, with General Nguyen Van Thieu becoming a figurehead president. Ky ended the cycle of coups that plagued South Vietnam following the CIA-encouraged overthrow of President Ngo Dinh Diem.

During his rule, he made many foreign state visits to bolster South Vietnam's legitimacy as a sovereign nation. Ky 's greatest struggle came in 1966, when a Buddhist Uprising and a military revolt in the government of Da Nang threatened to escalate into widespread chaos, when he dismissed Buddhist General Nguyen Chanh Thi.

In the Presidential election that was held in 1967, the military government council, which Ky chaired, intended to only endorse one candidate for the presidency. Ky intended to run, but at the last minute changed his mind and backed Thieu, a move he now calls "the biggest mistake of my life." Thieu nominated Ky as his running mate and the two were elected with 38% of the vote. The results were fixed - Ky had stated that if a civilian candidate wins, he would respond "militarily," because when living in a "democratic country you have the right to disagree with the views of others" (McWilliams and Piotrowski 212).

1967-1971

He served as Vice President to President Nguyen Van Thieu, although behind the scenes there was a fierce rivalry that left Ky marginalized. Alienated from Thieu, Ky intended to oppose him in the 1971 elections, but was outmaneuvered and retired from politics.

In his book The Politics of Heroin in South East Asia, drug trade historian Alfred W. McCoy alleges that Ky was directly involved in the burgeoning opium and heroin trade operated in part by corrupt elements in the South Vietnamese administration, and that Ky was dismissed from his role in a CIA-sponsored Air America air lift program because he was using government aircraft to transport opium.

Ky's withdrawal from the race left Thieu running unopposed. According to some sources, the "sham election" of 1971 was the main reason why many - including U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger - lost any remaining illusions that credible democratic institutions could be established in South Vietnam.

For three years, Ky retired from politics and lived on a farm commune in the countryside. He returned as a military commander in 1975 as the military forces of Communist North Vietnam closed in on the South. Many military leaders hoped he would be re-appointed as Prime Minister in this time of crisis, but President Thieu, still distrustful of Ky, refused. In his autobiographies, How We Lost the Vietnam War and Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam, Ky recounted his last-minute attempts at bolstering the troops and establishing an effective defense. He had support from the French government, which was hoping to reenter Vietnam and supplant the US. Ultimately he was unsuccessful.

Life in exile

After the defeat of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, on the last day of the fall of Saigon in 1975, Ky left Vietnam aboard the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and fled to the United States, and settled in California where he ran a liquor store.

He made headlines in 2004 by being the first South Vietnamese leader to visit Vietnam since the war, a move that was seen as a betrayal by some Vietnamese who fled South Vietnam. They argued it grants legitimacy to what they call a corrupt government, but this ideology is now "at odds with the flood of overseas Vietnamese who now return annually to their country" for travel and business.

Many of the 2.5 million people who left Vietnam are increasingly renewing ties through travel and business. He returned there again in early 2005, this time accompanied by his current wife. They attended a formal reception given by Vietnam's leaders to representatives of overseas Vietnamese and announced his decision to move back to Vietnam to live permanently. Ky also declared he would try to help bring more investments to Vietnam.

Ky was well-known for his flamboyant and colorful personality and dress during his younger days. His trademark fashion accessory was a purple scarf (while he was in uniform in the 1960s and 70s) and he was rarely seen without a cigarette. A purported "ladies man," Ky was married three times and fathered at least six children.

Ky's daughter, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, is a well-known personality in the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry (usually in the role of MC for musical programs).

Quotes

• "Americans are big boys. You can talk them into almost anything. Just sit with them for half an hour over a bottle of whiskey and be a nice guy."
• "People ask me who my heroes are. I admire Hitler because he pulled his country together when it was in a terrible state in the early thirties. But the situation here [Vietnam] is so desperate now that one man would not be enough. We need four or five Hitlers in Vietnam." - July, 1965 interview with the Daily Mirror.
• "Always emphasizing the role of the Americans in Vietnam, they transformed the Vietnam war into a conflict between the United States and North Vietnam, relegating the people, the government and the armed forces of South Vietnam to a subordinate role. The government of South Vietnam thus became, in the eyes of the peoples of Vietnam and of the world, a puppet regime serving the interests of American imperialists."
• "Many times, I asked President Johnson and other people to stop this war. To win, you have to go offensive."
• "The US was and is the world's leading naval power, but, fearing to offend the Soviets, failed to blockade Haiphong. A river of munitions flowed through that port to be used against South Vietnam and its allies."
• "After Watergate, America was a ship without a rudder. Vietnam was left to its own devices, drifting along towards its fate."

See also

• Vietnam Air Force

External links

• VNAF The South Vietnamese Air Force - Không Quân Việt Nam Cộng Hòa
• Vietnam welcomes former enemy
• Vietnam's wartime 'cowboy' softens his act
• Speech by General Nguyen Cao Ky
• "Buddha's Child My Fight to Save Vietnam" by General Nguyen Cao Ky
• Photos of General Nguyen Cao Ky during the Vietnam War
• Book Review "Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam" by the Washington Post
• Who's Who in Vietnam in 1967