Nguyen Cao Ky
Encyclopedia
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ served as the chief of the Vietnam Air Force
in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister
of South Vietnam
in a military junta from 1965 to 1967. Then, until his retirement from politics in 1971, he served as Vice President
to bitter rival General Nguyen Van Thieu
, in a nominally civilian administration.
Born in northern Vietnam, Kỳ joined the Vietnamese National Army
of the French-backed State of Vietnam
and started as an infantry officer before the French sent him off for pilot training. After the French withdrew from Vietnam and the nation was partitioned, Kỳ moved up the ranks of the Vietnam Air Force
to become its leader. In November 1963, Kỳ participated in the coup
that deposed President Ngô Đình Diệm
and resulted in his execution
. During 1964, Kỳ became prominent in junta politics, regarded as part of a group of young, aggressive officers dubbed the “Young Turks”. Over the next two years, there were repeated coup attempts, many of which were successful, and Kỳ was a key player in supporting or defeating them. In September 1964, he helped put down a coup attempt by Generals Lâm Văn Phát
and Dương Văn Đức
against Nguyễn Khánh
, and the following February he thwarted another attempt by Phát and Phạm Ngọc Thảo
. Kỳ’s favored tactic in such situations was to send fighter jets into the air and threaten large-scale air strikes, and given his reputation for impetuosity, he usually attained the desired backdown.
After the latter attempt, he also had the weakened Khánh forced into exile and eventually took the leading position in the junta in mid-1965 by becoming prime minister, while General Thiệu was a figurehead chief of state. During his period at the helm, Kỳ gained notoriety for his flamboyant manner, womanizing, risky and brash behavior, which deeply concerned South Vietnam’s American allies and angered the Vietnamese public, who regarded him as a “cowboy” and a “hooligan”. He cared little for public relations, and on occasions, publicly threatened to kill dissidents and opponents as well as to flatten parts of North Vietnam and South Vietnamese units led by rival officers with bombings, although none of this materialized. However, a public threat to rig elections, if necessary, was fulfilled.
Nevertheless, Kỳ and Thiệu were able to end the cycle of coups, and the Americans backed their regime. In 1966, Kỳ decided to purge General Nguyễn Chánh Thi
, another officer in the junta regarded as his greatest rival, from a command role. This provoked major unrest
, particularly in South Vietnam, where some units joined with Buddhist activists supportive of Thi and hostile to Kỳ in defying his junta’s rule. Three months of large-scale demonstrations and riots paralyzed parts of the country, and after much maneuvering and some military battles, Kỳ’s forces finally put down the uprising, and Thi was exiled, entrenching the former’s grip on power.
In 1967, a transition to elected government was scheduled and after a power struggle within the military, Thiệu ran for the presidency with Kỳ as his running mate—both men had wanted the top job. To allow the two to work together, their fellow officers had agreed to have a military body controlled by Kỳ shape policy behind the scenes. The election was rigged to ensure that Thiệu and Kỳ’s military ticket would win, and strong executive powers meant that junta effectively still ruled. Leadership tensions persisted and Thieu prevailed, sidelining Kỳ supporters from key military and cabinet posts. Thiệu then passed legislation to restrict candidacy eligibility for the 1971 election, banning almost all would-be opponents; Kỳ and the rest withdrew as it was obvious that the poll would be a sham; Thiệu went on to win more than 90% of the vote and the election uncontested, while Kỳ retired.
With the fall of Saigon
, Kỳ fled to the U.S. He continued to heavily criticize both the communists and Thiệu, and the former prevented him from returning. However, in 2004, he became the first South Vietnamese leader to return, calling for reconciliation between communists and anti-communists.
A northerner, Kỳ was born in Sơn Tây
, a town west of Hanoi
. After completing his secondary schooling in Hanoi, he enlisted in the French-backed Vietnamese National Army
of the State of Vietnam
and was commissioned in the infantry after attending an officers’ training school. After a brief period in the field against the communist Việt Minh
of Hồ Chí Minh
during the First Indochina War
, the French military hierarchy sent Kỳ, then a lieutenant, to Marrakech
in Morocco
to train as a pilot. Kỳ gained his wings on September 15, 1954.
The French defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ
and the Geneva Conference
ended the colonial presence in Indochina
, and Kỳ came back to the new Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The commander of a transport squadron, Kỳ was put in charge of Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base
, the main aerial facility in the capital, Saigon. Kỳ then went to the United States
to study for six months at the Air Command and Staff College
at Maxwell Field
in Alabama
, where he learned to speak English
. He returned to Vietnam and continued to rise up the ranks.
A soldier in the Vietnamese National Army
who eventually became commander of the South Vietnam Air Force
, Prime Minister
and Vice President
of the Republic of Vietnam, Kỳ early on had little political experience or ambition. After flight training by the French, he returned to Vietnam in 1954 and held a series of commands in the South Vietnam Air Force. Under the regime of Dương Văn Minh
, whose coup Kỳ had supported, he was made an air marshal, replacing Colonel Do Khac Mai as the head of the Vietnam Air Force
.
deposed Minh
, and it was under Khánh’s one-year rule that Kỳ rose to become one of the leading powers in the junta.
Having been demoted, disgruntled Generals Lâm Văn Phát
and Dương Văn Đức
launched a coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh
before dawn on September 13, using ten army battalions that they had recruited. Their faction consisted mainly of Catholic
elements. They took over the city without any firing, and used the national radio station to proclaim the deposal of Khánh’s junta. There was little reaction from most of the military commanders. Kỳ had two weeks earlier promised to use his planes against any coup attempt, but there was no reaction to begin with.
Some time after the plotters had made their broadcast, Kỳ consolidated the troops on Saigon’s outskirts at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base
, the largest in the country and where the military was headquartered. He barricaded the soldiers into defensive positions and vowed a “massacre” if the rebels attacked the base. A stand-off of tanks and troops around the perimeter of the base occurred, but it petered away without any violence as the rebels were withdrawn. Kỳ had apparently been angered by comments made by a rebel source who claimed that he was part of the coup attempt. At the same time, Kỳ was also well-known for his hawkish attitude and close relations with the U.S. military establishment in Vietnam, and American opposition to the coup was thought to have been conveyed to him efficiently. Đức mistakenly thought that Kỳ and his subordinates would be joining the coup, but was wrong.
The announcement of U.S. support for the incumbent helped to deter ARVN officers from joining Lâm and Đức. Khánh returned to Saigon and put down the putsch, aided mainly by Kỳ and the Air Force. Kỳ decided to make a show of force as Phát and Đức began to wilt, and he sent jets to fly low over Saigon and finish off the rebel stand. He also sent two C-47s to Vũng Tàu
to pick up two companies of South Vietnamese marines who remained loyal to Khánh. Several more battalions of loyal infantry were transported into Saigon. Kỳ’s political star began to rise.
As the coup collapsed, Kỳ and Đức appeared with other senior officers at a news conference where they proclaimed that the South Vietnamese military was united, and announced a resolution by the armed forces, signed by them and seven other leading commanders, claiming a united front against corruption. The officers contended that the events in the capital were misinterpreted by observers, as “there was no coup”. Kỳ claimed that Khánh was in complete control and that the senior officers involved in the stand-off “have agreed to rejoin their units to fight the Communists”, and that no further action would be taken against those who were involved with Đức and Phát’s activities, but Khánh arrested them two days later.
Kỳ and Nguyễn Chánh Thi
’s role in putting down Phát and Đức’s coup attempt gave him more leverage in Saigon’s military politics. Indebted to Kỳ, Thi and the Young Turks for maintaining his hold on power, Khánh was now in a weaker position. Kỳ’s group called on Khánh to remove “corrupt, dishonest and counterrevolutionary” officers, civil servants and exploitationists, and threatened to remove him if he did not enact their proposed reforms. Some observers accused Kỳ and Thi of deliberately orchestrating or allowing the plot to develop before putting it down in order to embarrass Khánh and allow himself to gain prominence on the political stage. In later years, Cao Huy Thuần, a professor and Buddhist activist based in the northern town of Đà Nẵng, claimed that during a meeting with Kỳ and Thi a few days before the coup, the officers had discussed their plans for joining a coup against Khánh.
, commander of I Corps
Thi and Admiral Chung Tấn Cang
, the head of the Republic of Vietnam Navy
. They and Khánh wanted to forcibly retire officers with more than 25 years of service, as they thought them to be lethargic, out of touch, and ineffective. However, the unspoken and most important reason was because they viewed the older generals as rivals for power and wanted to conceal this real motive. Specific targets of this proposed policy were Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn
, Lê Văn Kim
and Mai Hữu Xuân
.
The signature of Chief of State Phan Khắc Sửu
was required to pass the ruling, but he referred the matter to the High National Council
(HNC), a junta-appointed civilian advisory body, to get their opinion. The HNC turned down the request. This was speculated to be due to the fact that many of the HNC members were old, and did not appreciate the generals’ negativity towards seniors. On December 19, the generals dissolved the HNC and arrested some of the members as well as other civilian politicians, and the older generals, who were removed from the military. The actual arrests were made by a small force commanded by Thi and Kỳ. The deposal prompted U.S. Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor
to angrily berate Thiệu, Thi, Kỳ and Cang in a private meeting and threaten to cut off aid if they did not reverse their decision. Kỳ later admitted to being stung by Taylor’s comments. However, this galvanized the officers around the embattled Khánh for a time and they ignored Taylor’s threats without repercussions as the Americans were too intent on defeating the communists to cut funding.
In January 1965, the junta-appointed Prime Minister, Trần Văn Hương
, introduced a series of measures to expand the anti-communist war effort, notably by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Hương riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists. Reliant on Buddhist support, Khánh did little to try to contain the protests. Khánh then decided to have the armed forces take over the government. On 27 January, Khánh removed Hương in a bloodless putsch with the support of Thi and Kỳ. He promised to leave politics once the situation was stabilized and hand over power to a civilian body. It was believed that some of the officers supported Khánh’s increased power so that it would give him an opportunity to fail and be removed permanently.
By this time, Taylor’s relationship with Khánh had already broken down over the issue of the HNC, and the U.S. became more intent on a regime change as Khánh was reliant on Buddhist support, which they saw as an obstacle to an expansion of the war. Knowing that he was close to being forced out, Khánh tried to start negotiations with the communists, but this only increased the plotting. In the first week of February, Taylor told Kỳ, who then passed on the message to colleagues in the junta, that the U.S. was “in no way propping up General Khanh or backing him in any fashion”. Taylor thought his message had been effective.
was locked in a power struggle with junta leader General Nguyễn Khánh
, and began plotting a coup against Khánh, who he thought was trying to kill him. Thảo consulted Kỳ—who wanted to seize power for himself—before the plot, and exhorted him to join the coup, but the air force chief claimed that he was remaining neutral. Thảo thus believed that Kỳ would not intervene against him. Kỳ had actually been preparing his own coup plans for a fortnight and was strongly opposed to the likes of Thảo and Phát. The likes of Kỳ, and the American-preferred Thiệu, Có
and Cang were not yet ready to make a coup, and their preparations were well behind that of Thảo, an endless creator of plots.
Shortly before noon on 19 February, Thảo and General Lâm Văn Phát
used around fifty tanks, and some infantry battalions, to seize control of the military headquarters, the post office and the radio station of Saigon. He surrounded the home of General Khánh and Gia Long Palace, the residence of head of state Phan Khắc Sửu
. The ground troops also missed capturing Kỳ, who fled in a sports car with his wife and mother-in-law. Kỳ ended up at Tân Sơn Nhứt, where he ran into Khánh, and the pair flew off together, while some of their colleagues were arrested there. Thảo made a radio announcement, stating that the sole objective of his military operation was to get rid of Khánh, whom he described as a “dictator”, while some of his fellow rebels made comments eulogizing Diệm and indicated that they would start a hardline Catholic regime, something that did not impress Kỳ.
Phát was supposed to seize the Biên Hòa Air Base
to prevent Kỳ from mobilising air power against them. The attempt to seize Biên Hòa failed, as Kỳ got there first and took control, before circling Tân Sơn Nhứt, threatening to bomb the rebels.
A CIA report and analysis written after the coup concluded that “Ky’s command of the air force made him instrumental” in preventing Khánh from being overrun, “until Ky changed his mind” on Khánh’s continuing hold on power. Most of the forces of the III
and IV Corps
surrounding the capital disliked both Khánh and the rebels, and took no action.
The Americans decided that while they wanted Khánh out, they did not approve of Thảo and Phát, so they began to lobby Kỳ and Thi, the two most powerful officers outside Khánh, to defeat both sides. They unofficially designated Kỳ the duty of moderating between the coup forces and Khánh’s loyalists, preventing bloodshed and keeping them apart until some further action was planned. Kỳ’s work slowed the advance of several Khánh-loyalist units into the capital. During all of these moves, Kỳ’s hand was strengthened by the mistaken belief of Khánh and his faction that the air force commander supported them.
At 20:00, Phát and Thảo met Kỳ in a meeting organised by the Americans, and insisted that Khánh be removed from power. The coup collapsed when, around midnight, loyal ARVN forces swept into the city from the south and some loyal to Kỳ from Biên Hòa in the north. Whether the rebels were defeated or a deal was struck with Kỳ to end the revolt in exchange for Khánh’s removal is disputed, but most analysts believe the latter. Before fleeing, Thảo managed a final radio broadcast, stating that the coup had been effective in removing Khánh. This was not the case yet, but later in the morning, Kỳ and Thi led the Armed Forces Council in adopting a vote of no confidence in Khánh, and they assumed control of the junta.
In May 1965, a military tribunal under Kỳ sentenced both Phát and Thảo, who had gone into hiding, to death in absentia. As a result, Thảo had little choice but to attempt to seize power from Kỳ in order to save himself.
On 20 May, a half dozen officers and around forty civilians, predominantly Catholic, were arrested on charges of attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Phan Huy Quát
and kidnap Kỳ, among others. Several of the arrested were known supporters of Thảo and believed to be abetting him in evading the authorities. In July 1965, he was reported dead in unclear circumstances; an official report claimed that he died of injuries while on a helicopter en route to Saigon, after having been captured north of the city. However, it is generally assumed that he was hunted down and murdered or tortured to death on the orders of some officials in Kỳ’s junta. In his memoirs, Kỳ claimed that Thảo was jailed and “probably [died] from a beating”.
In 1965, Kỳ was appointed prime minister by a special joint meeting of military leaders following the voluntary resignation of civilian President Phan Khắc Sửu
and Prime Minister Phan Huy Quát
, who had been installed by the military. South Vietnam’s system of government shifted to that of a strong prime minister, with General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
becoming a figurehead president
. Kỳ ended the cycle of coups that plagued South Vietnam following the overthrow of Diệm.
Kỳ and Thiệu’s military junta decided to inaugurate their rule by holding a “no breathing week”. They imposed censorship, closed many newspapers that published material deemed unacceptable, and suspended civil liberties. They then sidelined the civilian politicians to a “village of old trees” to “conduct seminars and draw up plans and programs in support of government policy”. They decided to ignore religious and other opposition groups “with the stipulation that troublemakers will be shot”.
The generals began to mobilize the populace into paramilitary organizations. After one month, Thích Trí Quang
began to call for the removal of Thiệu because he was a member of Diệm’s Catholic Cần Lao Party
, decrying his “fascistic tendencies”, and claiming that Cần Lao members were undermining Kỳ.
and military revolt in Thi’s I Corps. Within the junta, Thi was seen as Kỳ’s main competitor for influence. Many political observers in Saigon thought that Thi wanted to depose Kỳ, and regarded him as the biggest threat to the other officers and the junta’s stability. According to Kỳ’s memoirs, Thi was a “born intriguer” who had “left-wing inclinations”. Time
magazine published a piece in February 1966 that claimed that Thi was more dynamic than Kỳ and could seize power at any time. The historian Robert Topmiller thought that Kỳ may have seen the article as destabilizing and therefore decided to move against Thi.
The historian Stanley Karnow
said of Kỳ and Thi: “Both flamboyant characters who wore gaudy uniforms and sported sinister moustaches, the two young officers had been friends, and their rivalry seemed to typify the personal struggles for power that chronically afflicted South Vietnam. But their dispute mirrored more than individual ambition.” Both were also known for their colourful red berets.
There were reports that Thi was showing insubordination towards Kỳ. The U.S. military commander in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland
, said that Thi once refused to report to Kỳ in Saigon when requested. On one occasion, Kỳ came to I Corps to remonstrate with him in early March, Thi addressed his staff and asked mockingly, “Should we pay attention to this funny little man from Saigon or should we ignore him?” Thi made this comment rather loudly, within earshot of Kỳ, and the Vietnamese politician Bùi Diễm
thought that the prime minister viewed Thi’s comment as a direct challenge to his authority.
A native of central Vietnam, Thi was the commander of I Corps
, which oversaw the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam and the 1st and 2nd Divisions
. He was known to have the “deep-rooted” loyalty of his soldiers. A large part of the South Vietnamese military was the Regional and Popular Forces, which were militias who served in their native areas, and they appreciated a commander with a regionalistic rapport. The support from the Buddhists, his troops and the regional tendencies gave Thi a strong power base and made it hard for the other generals and the Americans to move against him.
Time magazine said that Thi “ran it [I Corps] like a warlord of yore, obeying those edicts of the central government that suited him and blithely disregarding the rest”. Historian George McTurnan Kahin
said that Kỳ may have feared that Thi would secede from Saigon and turn central Vietnam into an independent state. CIA analyst Douglas Pike
, who worked in Vietnam, speculated that this would have been a large part of Ky’s thinking, as Vietnamese people often had strong regional tendencies.
A combination of those factors resulted in Thi’s dismissal. Kỳ mustered the support of eight of the generals on the 10-man junta, meaning that along with his vote, there were nine officers in favour of Thi’s removal. With Thi the only non-supporter, Kỳ and his colleagues removed Thi from the junta and his corps command on March 10, 1966. Kỳ threatened to resign if the decision was not unanimous, claiming that the junta needed a show of strength, so Thi decided to vote for his sacking. The junta put Thi under house arrest pending his departure from the country, and then appointed General Nguyen Van Chuan
, the erstwhile commander of 1st Division and a Thi subordinate, as the new I Corps commander.
At first, Kỳ said that Thi was leaving the country to receive medical treatment for his nasal passages. An official announcement said that the junta “had considered and accepted General Thi’s application for a vacation”. Thi retorted that “The only sinus condition I have is from the stink of corruption.” Kỳ then gave a series of reasons for dismissing Thi, accusing him of being too left-wing, of ruling the central regions like a warlord, of having a mistress who was suspected of being a communist, and being too conspiratorial. Kỳ did not say that Thi supported negotiations as a means of ending the war, but he did have a history of removing officials and military figures who promoted such a policy.
Despite Thi’s good relations with the Buddhists in his area, most notably the leading activist monk Thích Trí Quang, Kỳ reportedly had the monk’s support for Thi’s removal. If Kỳ thought that Thích Trí Quang would not orgnaize demonstrations against Thi’s dismissal, he turned out to be wrong, as the monk used to crisis to highlight Buddhist calls for civilian rule. There were claims that Thích Trí Quang had always intended to challenge Kỳ, regardless of whether or not Thi had been cast aside.
The Americans were supportive of Kỳ and his prosecution of the war against the communists, and they opposed Thi, regarding him as not being firm enough against communism. On the other hand, Thi did have the support of Marine Lieutenant General Lewis Walt, who commanded American forces in I Corps and was the senior adviser to Thi’s ARVN forces. This caused problems during the dispute.
The dismissal caused widespread demonstrations in the northern provinces. Civil unrest grew, as civil servants, disaffected military personnel, and the working under-class joined the anti-government demonstrations led by the Buddhists. At first, Kỳ tried to ignore the demonstrations and wait for them to peter out, but the problem escalated and riots broke out in some places.
Kỳ gambled by allowing Thi to return to I Corps, ostensibly to restore order. Kỳ claimed that he allowed Thi to return to his old area of command as a goodwill gesture, to keep central Vietnamese happy, and because he promised Thi a farewell visit before going into exile. However, Thi received a rousing reception and the anti-Kỳ protesters became more fervent. Kỳ then sacked the police chief of Huế
, a Thi loyalist. The local policemen responded by going on strike and demonstrating against their chief’s removal.
The Buddhists, and other anti-junta civilian activists joined together with I Corps units supportive of Thi to form the Struggle Movement, leading to civil unrest and a halt in I Corps military operations. On April 3, Kỳ held a press conference during which he claimed that Đà Nẵng was under communist control and vowed to stage a military operation to regain the territory. He thus implied that the Buddhists were communist agents. He then vowed to kill the mayor of Đà Nẵng, saying “Either Da Nang’s mayor is shot or the government will fall.” The following evening, Kỳ deployed three battalions of marines to Đà Nẵng. The marines stayed at Đà Nẵng Air Base
and made no moves against the rebels. Soon after, they were joined by two battalions of Vietnamese Rangers
, as well as some riot police and paratroopers. Kỳ took personal command and found that the roads leading into the city had been blocked by Buddhist civilians and pro-Thi portions of the I Corps. After a stand-off, Kỳ realized that he could not score a decisive victory and had lost face. He arranged a meeting and media event with Thi loyalist officers, and various Struggle Movement supporters.
The humiliated Kỳ arrived back in Saigon, where he met with Buddhist leaders for negotiations. The Buddhists demanded an amnesty for rioters and mutinous soldiers, and for Kỳ to withdraw the marines from Đà Nẵng back to Saigon. The monks said they would order the Struggle Movement “temporarily suspend all forms of struggle to prove our good will”.
After a period of tension and further tensions, Kỳ’s forces gained the upper hand in May, pressuring most Struggle Movement members to give up and militarily defeating the rest. He then put Thích Trí Quang under house arrest and finally had Thi exiled, cementing his junta’s grip on power and ending the Buddhist movement as a political force.
During his rule, Kỳ made many foreign state visit
s to bolster South Vietnam’s legitimacy. One visit to Australia in 1967 was somewhat controversial. Over time, Australian attitudes towards South Vietnam became increasingly negative, despite a contribution of ground troops to assist the fight against the communists. Over time, the bipartisanship of the 1950s evaporated. The centre-left Australian Labor Party
became more sympathetic to the communists and their leader, Arthur Calwell
, stridently denounced Kỳ as a “fascist dictator” and a “butcher” ahead of his 1967 visit. Despite the controversy leading up to the visit, Kỳ’s trip was a success. He dealt with the media effectively, despite hostile sentiment from some sections of the press and public.
During the trip to Australia, a power struggle with General Nguyễn Hữu Có
, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, climaxed. Kỳ saw Có as a political threat and a magnet for dissidents, while Có deemed Kỳ to be “immature”. At the same time as his visit to Australia, Kỳ sent Có to Taiwan
, ostensibly to represent the junta at a ceremonial event. With Có out of the country and unable to stage a coup, and Kỳ not within striking distance in case anyone wanted to capture him, news of Có’s removal was broken in Saigon. Có expressed a desire to return to Saigon, but was threatened with arrest and trial, and soldiers were deployed to the airport. Có was allowed to return in 1970 after Kỳ’s power had waned.
and the two were elected with 35% of the vote in a rigged poll. American policymakers heard rumors that the generals had agreed to subvert the constitution, and The New York Times revealed the formation of a secret military committee that would control the government after the election. What had happened was that in the negotiations within the military, Kỳ had agreed to stand aside in exchange for behind-the-scenes power through a military committee that would shape policy and control the civilian arm of the government. Kỳ flatly denied these reports to Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker
, and the U.S. Embassy notified Washington that The New York Times’ story was baseless. However, the story was later vindicated, as intelligence sources obtained the charter that told of the functions of the secret Supreme Military Committee (SMC). Walt Rostow briefed President Johnson and concluded that the SMC was “in effect, a scheme for ‘guided democracy’ in which a half dozen generals would decide finally what was good and bad for the country.”
The campaign was overshadowed by U.S. media criticism of Kỳ and Thiệu’s unfair electoral practices and sneaky tricks. All the candidates were scheduled to attend a rally at Quảng Trị
in the far north of the country on August 6. Due to the security situation and the possibility of communist attacks, the politicians were transported to joint campaign events by the military, rather than being free to go to separate events as their strategy dictated. However, the Quảng Trị event had to be canceled after the candidates’ plane landed 23 km away at an air base in Đông Hà. Believing that the mishap was a deliberate attempt to make them look chaotic and disorganized—Thiệu and Kỳ had decided not to attend rallies—the candidates boycotted the event and flew back to Saigon. There they denounced the government bitterly. The leading opposition candidate, Trần Văn Hương
, claimed that Thiệu and Kỳ “purposefully arranged the trip to humiliate us and make clowns out of us.” As air force chief, Kỳ had previously stranded opposition politicians on a trip to the central highlands
. Kỳ and Thiệu maintained that no malice was involved, but their opponents did not believe it. None of the candidates made good on their threat to withdraw, but their strident attacks over the alleged dirty tricks dominated the media coverage of the election for a period.
The negative coverage embarrassed Washington; instead of hearing reports about progress and good governance in South Vietnam, most reports focused on corruption and fraud. The heavy and negative coverage of the election provoked angry debate in the U.S. Congress, criticising Kỳ’s junta and Johnson’s policies. Such sentiment came from both houses and political parties. On August 10, 57 members of the House signed a statement condemning Kỳ’s electoral malpractices and threatening a review of U.S. policy in Vietnam.
Kỳ and Thiệu were reluctant to campaign and meet the populace as they saw such events as liabilities rather than opportunities to win over the public, and showed little interest in gaining popular support in any case, as they could always count on a rigging of the ballot. The CIA reported that the pair had no intention of participating on the arranged rallies with the civilian candidates because they felt that “possible heckling from the audience that would be too humiliating”. Thiệu and Kỳ were correct; they made one public campaign appearance at a rally, where a very disapproving crowd in Huế assailed Kỳ as a “hooligan” and “cowboy leader”.
Kỳ and Thiệu decided to campaign indirectly by appearing at set piece ceremonial appointments, such as transferring land titles to peasants, as hostile elements from the general population were less likely to be present. Thiệu took a restrained and more moderate stance during the campaign towards the issue of demoncracy, while Kỳ, the public face of the ticket and the incumbent government, went on the attack, damaging the pair’s image and supposed commitment to democracy. Kỳ did not hide his distaste for democracy or his opponents and “described the civilian candidates as ‘ordure’ [dirt, filth, excrement], ‘traitors’, and ‘destroyers of the national interest’”. Kỳ went on to say that if his opponents continued to attack him, he would cancel the poll.
In the accompanying senate election, Kỳ openly endorsed 11 slates, but only one was successful in gaining one of the six seats.
to President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, although behind the scenes there was a fierce rivalry that left Kỳ marginalized. In the aftermath of the Tết Offensive, Thiệu enforced martial law and used the situation to consolidate his personal power. Kỳ supporters in the military and the administration were quickly removed from power, arrested, or exiled, ending any hopes of Kỳ exerting any power through the SMC or elsewhere.
Alienated from Thiệu, Kỳ intended to oppose him in the 1971 elections, but Thiệu introduced laws to stop most of his rivals from running. Realizing that the poll would be rigged, Kỳ withdrew from politics. Thiệu ran unopposed and took 94% of the vote.
, on the last day of the fall of Saigon in 1975, Kỳ left Vietnam aboard the USS Blue Ridge
and fled to the U.S. and settled in Westminster, California
, where he ran a liquor store
.
Kỳ wrote two autobiographies: How We Lost the Vietnam War and Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam. Historian James McAllister openly questioned Kỳ’s honesty, saying that Buddha's Child, as Kỳ called himself, “is filled with unverifiable conversations and arguments that do not at all correspond with the historical record. Like his earlier memoir, it is often a self-serving attempt to continue his ongoing feud with the late President Nguyen Van Thieu.” He said that “with everything Ky writes about Vietnam … skepticism is in order”.
He made headlines in 2004 by being the first South Vietnamese leader to return to Vietnam after the reunification, a move that was seen as a shameful one by many anti-communist group in the Vietnamese American community . Kỳ had previously been critical of the Vietnam
government while in exile and had been denied a visa on several occasions. Upon setting foot on Vietnam, Kỳ defended his actions by saying that the Vietnam War was “instigated by foreigners, it was brothers killing each other under the arrangements by foreign countries”. He added that “In another 100 years, the Vietnamese will look back at the war and feel shameful. We should not dwell on it as it will not do any good for Vietnam’s future. My main concern at the moment is Vietnam’s position on the world map.” Kỳ said that he only wanted to help build up Vietnam and promote national harmony, and assailed critics of his return, saying that “Those who bear grudges only care about themselves”.
Kỳ later moved back to Vietnam permanently and campaigned for increased foreign investment. Kỳ was involved in organizing trips to Vietnam for potential U.S. investors.
, colorful conduct and dress during his younger days. His trademark fashion accessory before he faded from public view in the 1970s was a purple scarf, which he wore with his black flight suit. He often raised eyebrows when he was the military prime minister by arriving at events to meet civilians with his wife in matching black flight suits, boots, blue caps, and purple scarves. He rarely was seen without a cigarette.
He was notorious for his love of gambling, women, and glamour, which made American officials wary of him. One official called him an “unguided missile”. When he was a young pilot, Kỳ once landed a helicopter in the road in front of a girlfriend’s house in order to impress her, causing the locals to panic and earning the ire of his commander for misusing military equipment. On one occasion, Kỳ is said to have pulled a handgun on a journalist whose questions annoyed him.
Many in the South Vietnamese public service, military and the general public hated his tempestuous and impetuous style and regarded him as a “cowboy”, and “hooligan”. During his only public campaign appearance during the 1967 presidential election, the large crowd repeatedly heckled him loudly, calling him a “cowboy leader” and “hooligan” and as a result he did not make any more appearances at rallies.
Kỳ met and married his first wife, a Frenchwoman, in the 1950s when he was training as a pilot in France
. Soon after, he divorced her and married an Air Viet Nam
flight attendant, who was his spouse during his years in power. He later married for the third time.
Kỳ’s daughter from his second marriage, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên
, is a wellknown in the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry as a mistress of ceremonies
and occasional singer on the music variety show Paris by Night
. Many Vietnamese Americans called for her sacking after her father returned to Vietnam.
, Malaysia, where he was receiving treatment for "respiratory complications."
|-
|-
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Vietnam Air Force
The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...
in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister
Leaders of South Vietnam
This is a list of leaders of South Vietnam, since the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946 until the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975.-Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina :-Republic of South Vietnam :...
of South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
in a military junta from 1965 to 1967. Then, until his retirement from politics in 1971, he served as Vice President
Leaders of South Vietnam
This is a list of leaders of South Vietnam, since the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in 1946 until the fall of the Republic of Vietnam in 1975.-Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina :-Republic of South Vietnam :...
to bitter rival General Nguyen Van Thieu
Nguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...
, in a nominally civilian administration.
Born in northern Vietnam, Kỳ joined the Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
of the French-backed State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
and started as an infantry officer before the French sent him off for pilot training. After the French withdrew from Vietnam and the nation was partitioned, Kỳ moved up the ranks of the Vietnam Air Force
Vietnam Air Force
The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...
to become its leader. In November 1963, Kỳ participated in the coup
1963 South Vietnamese coup
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of the Buddhist crisis and, in general, his increasing oppression of national groups in the name of fighting the communist Vietcong.The...
that deposed President Ngô Đình Diệm
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
and resulted in his execution
Arrest and assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
The arrest and assassination of Ngô Đình Diệm, then president of South Vietnam, marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed coup d’état led by General Dương Văn Minh in November 1963...
. During 1964, Kỳ became prominent in junta politics, regarded as part of a group of young, aggressive officers dubbed the “Young Turks”. Over the next two years, there were repeated coup attempts, many of which were successful, and Kỳ was a key player in supporting or defeating them. In September 1964, he helped put down a coup attempt by Generals Lâm Văn Phát
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...
and Dương Văn Đức
Duong Van Duc
Major General Dương Văn Đức was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He is best known for leading a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh on September 14, 1964...
against Nguyễn Khánh
Nguyen Khanh
Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...
, and the following February he thwarted another attempt by Phát and Phạm Ngọc Thảo
Pham Ngoc Thao
Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...
. Kỳ’s favored tactic in such situations was to send fighter jets into the air and threaten large-scale air strikes, and given his reputation for impetuosity, he usually attained the desired backdown.
After the latter attempt, he also had the weakened Khánh forced into exile and eventually took the leading position in the junta in mid-1965 by becoming prime minister, while General Thiệu was a figurehead chief of state. During his period at the helm, Kỳ gained notoriety for his flamboyant manner, womanizing, risky and brash behavior, which deeply concerned South Vietnam’s American allies and angered the Vietnamese public, who regarded him as a “cowboy” and a “hooligan”. He cared little for public relations, and on occasions, publicly threatened to kill dissidents and opponents as well as to flatten parts of North Vietnam and South Vietnamese units led by rival officers with bombings, although none of this materialized. However, a public threat to rig elections, if necessary, was fulfilled.
Nevertheless, Kỳ and Thiệu were able to end the cycle of coups, and the Americans backed their regime. In 1966, Kỳ decided to purge General Nguyễn Chánh Thi
Nguyen Chanh Thi
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Chánh Thi was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for frequently being involved in coups in the 1960s and wielding substantial influence as a key member of various juntas that ruled South Vietnam from 1964 until 1966, when he was...
, another officer in the junta regarded as his greatest rival, from a command role. This provoked major unrest
Buddhist Uprising
The Buddhist Uprising of 1966 was a period of civil and military unrest in South Vietnam, largely focused in the I Corps area in the north of the country in central Vietnam...
, particularly in South Vietnam, where some units joined with Buddhist activists supportive of Thi and hostile to Kỳ in defying his junta’s rule. Three months of large-scale demonstrations and riots paralyzed parts of the country, and after much maneuvering and some military battles, Kỳ’s forces finally put down the uprising, and Thi was exiled, entrenching the former’s grip on power.
In 1967, a transition to elected government was scheduled and after a power struggle within the military, Thiệu ran for the presidency with Kỳ as his running mate—both men had wanted the top job. To allow the two to work together, their fellow officers had agreed to have a military body controlled by Kỳ shape policy behind the scenes. The election was rigged to ensure that Thiệu and Kỳ’s military ticket would win, and strong executive powers meant that junta effectively still ruled. Leadership tensions persisted and Thieu prevailed, sidelining Kỳ supporters from key military and cabinet posts. Thiệu then passed legislation to restrict candidacy eligibility for the 1971 election, banning almost all would-be opponents; Kỳ and the rest withdrew as it was obvious that the poll would be a sham; Thiệu went on to win more than 90% of the vote and the election uncontested, while Kỳ retired.
With the fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
, Kỳ fled to the U.S. He continued to heavily criticize both the communists and Thiệu, and the former prevented him from returning. However, in 2004, he became the first South Vietnamese leader to return, calling for reconciliation between communists and anti-communists.
Early years and rise up the ranks
Son Tay
Sơn Tây is an urban district and city in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It was the capital of Son Tay province before merging with Ha Dong province in 1965...
, a town west of Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
. After completing his secondary schooling in Hanoi, he enlisted in the French-backed Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
of the State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
and was commissioned in the infantry after attending an officers’ training school. After a brief period in the field against the communist Việt Minh
Viet Minh
Việt Minh was a national independence coalition formed at Pac Bo on May 19, 1941. The Việt Minh initially formed to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. When the Japanese occupation began, the Việt Minh opposed Japan with support from the United States and the Republic of China...
of Hồ Chí Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
during the First Indochina War
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
, the French military hierarchy sent Kỳ, then a lieutenant, to Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
to train as a pilot. Kỳ gained his wings on September 15, 1954.
The French defeat at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
and the Geneva Conference
Geneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
ended the colonial presence in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
, and Kỳ came back to the new Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The commander of a transport squadron, Kỳ was put in charge of Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...
, the main aerial facility in the capital, Saigon. Kỳ then went to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to study for six months at the Air Command and Staff College
Air Command and Staff College
The Air Command and Staff College is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and is the United States Air Force's intermediate professional military education school. It prepares field grade and equivalent officers of all U.S...
at Maxwell Field
Maxwell Field
Maxwell Field was the football stadium located behind the former location of Louisville Male High School, 911 S. Brook St., Louisville, Kentucky, 40203 which was bounded by the streets of Brook, Breckinridge, Floyd, and Caldwell streets in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1984 a double murder known locally...
in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, where he learned to speak English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. He returned to Vietnam and continued to rise up the ranks.
A soldier in the Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
who eventually became commander of the South Vietnam Air Force
Vietnam Air Force
The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...
, Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
and Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
of the Republic of Vietnam, Kỳ early on had little political experience or ambition. After flight training by the French, he returned to Vietnam in 1954 and held a series of commands in the South Vietnam Air Force. Under the regime of Dương Văn Minh
Duong Van Minh
Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta, the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration...
, whose coup Kỳ had supported, he was made an air marshal, replacing Colonel Do Khac Mai as the head of the Vietnam Air Force
Vietnam Air Force
The Vietnam Air Force began with a few hand-picked men chosen to fly alongside French pilots during the State of Vietnam era. It eventually grew into the world’s sixth largest air force at the height of its power, in 1974...
.
Rise to prominence in junta
In January 1964, General Nguyễn KhánhNguyen Khanh
Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...
deposed Minh
1964 South Vietnamese coup
Before dawn on January 30, 1964, General Nguyen Khanh ousted the military junta led by General Duong Van Minh from the leadership of South Vietnam without firing a shot. It came less than three months after Minh's junta had themselves come to power in a bloody coup against then President Ngo Dinh...
, and it was under Khánh’s one-year rule that Kỳ rose to become one of the leading powers in the junta.
Having been demoted, disgruntled Generals Lâm Văn Phát
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...
and Dương Văn Đức
Duong Van Duc
Major General Dương Văn Đức was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He is best known for leading a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh on September 14, 1964...
launched a coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh
Nguyen Khanh
Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...
before dawn on September 13, using ten army battalions that they had recruited. Their faction consisted mainly of Catholic
Roman Catholicism in Vietnam
The Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. Vietnam has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines, India, China and Indonesia....
elements. They took over the city without any firing, and used the national radio station to proclaim the deposal of Khánh’s junta. There was little reaction from most of the military commanders. Kỳ had two weeks earlier promised to use his planes against any coup attempt, but there was no reaction to begin with.
Some time after the plotters had made their broadcast, Kỳ consolidated the troops on Saigon’s outskirts at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base
Tan Son Nhut Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. It is located near the city of Saigon in southern Vietnam. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...
, the largest in the country and where the military was headquartered. He barricaded the soldiers into defensive positions and vowed a “massacre” if the rebels attacked the base. A stand-off of tanks and troops around the perimeter of the base occurred, but it petered away without any violence as the rebels were withdrawn. Kỳ had apparently been angered by comments made by a rebel source who claimed that he was part of the coup attempt. At the same time, Kỳ was also well-known for his hawkish attitude and close relations with the U.S. military establishment in Vietnam, and American opposition to the coup was thought to have been conveyed to him efficiently. Đức mistakenly thought that Kỳ and his subordinates would be joining the coup, but was wrong.
The announcement of U.S. support for the incumbent helped to deter ARVN officers from joining Lâm and Đức. Khánh returned to Saigon and put down the putsch, aided mainly by Kỳ and the Air Force. Kỳ decided to make a show of force as Phát and Đức began to wilt, and he sent jets to fly low over Saigon and finish off the rebel stand. He also sent two C-47s to Vũng Tàu
Vung Tàu
Vũng Tàu is a city in southern Vietnam. Its population in 2005 was 240,000. The city area is including 13 urban wards and one village. It is the capital of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, and is the crude oil extraction center of Vietnam. It is also known as one of the most beautiful cities of tourism...
to pick up two companies of South Vietnamese marines who remained loyal to Khánh. Several more battalions of loyal infantry were transported into Saigon. Kỳ’s political star began to rise.
As the coup collapsed, Kỳ and Đức appeared with other senior officers at a news conference where they proclaimed that the South Vietnamese military was united, and announced a resolution by the armed forces, signed by them and seven other leading commanders, claiming a united front against corruption. The officers contended that the events in the capital were misinterpreted by observers, as “there was no coup”. Kỳ claimed that Khánh was in complete control and that the senior officers involved in the stand-off “have agreed to rejoin their units to fight the Communists”, and that no further action would be taken against those who were involved with Đức and Phát’s activities, but Khánh arrested them two days later.
Kỳ and Nguyễn Chánh Thi
Nguyen Chanh Thi
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Chánh Thi was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for frequently being involved in coups in the 1960s and wielding substantial influence as a key member of various juntas that ruled South Vietnam from 1964 until 1966, when he was...
’s role in putting down Phát and Đức’s coup attempt gave him more leverage in Saigon’s military politics. Indebted to Kỳ, Thi and the Young Turks for maintaining his hold on power, Khánh was now in a weaker position. Kỳ’s group called on Khánh to remove “corrupt, dishonest and counterrevolutionary” officers, civil servants and exploitationists, and threatened to remove him if he did not enact their proposed reforms. Some observers accused Kỳ and Thi of deliberately orchestrating or allowing the plot to develop before putting it down in order to embarrass Khánh and allow himself to gain prominence on the political stage. In later years, Cao Huy Thuần, a professor and Buddhist activist based in the northern town of Đà Nẵng, claimed that during a meeting with Kỳ and Thi a few days before the coup, the officers had discussed their plans for joining a coup against Khánh.
December 1964 South Vietnamese coup
Kỳ was part of a group of younger officers called the Young Turks—the most prominent apart from himself included IV Corps commander General Nguyễn Văn ThiệuNguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...
, commander of I Corps
I Corps (South Vietnam)
The I Corps Tactical Zone was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps which the ARVN oversaw. This was the northernmost region of South Vietnam, bordering North Vietnam...
Thi and Admiral Chung Tấn Cang
Chung Tan Cang
Admiral Chung Tấn Cang was the commander of the Republic of Vietnam Navy from 1963 to 1965...
, the head of the Republic of Vietnam Navy
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...
. They and Khánh wanted to forcibly retire officers with more than 25 years of service, as they thought them to be lethargic, out of touch, and ineffective. However, the unspoken and most important reason was because they viewed the older generals as rivals for power and wanted to conceal this real motive. Specific targets of this proposed policy were Generals Minh, Trần Văn Đôn
Tran Van Don
Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...
, Lê Văn Kim
Le Van Kim
Lieutenant General Lê Văn Kim is a former general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He was the brother in law of General Trần Văn Đôn and together with General Dương Văn Minh, the trio organised the 1963 South Vietnamese coup which toppled President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his arrest and...
and Mai Hữu Xuân
Mai Huu Xuan
Major General Mai Hữu Xuân was a general of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and a participant in the November 1963 coup that deposed President Ngô Đình Diệm and ended in his assassination....
.
The signature of Chief of State Phan Khắc Sửu
Phan Khac Suu
Phan Khắc Sửu was President of South Vietnam from 1964–1965.-Biography:He was an octogenarian, a trained agricultural engineer and was a member of the Cao Đài religion.He was a member of Emperor Bảo Đại’s political cabinet....
was required to pass the ruling, but he referred the matter to the High National Council
High National Council (South Vietnam)
The High National Council was a body of 17 civilians appointed by the ruling Military Revolutionary Council of South Vietnam in October 1964 to give a semblance of civilian rule. They chose the figurehead chief of state Phan Khac Suu, who chose the civilian Prime Minister Tran Van Huong, although...
(HNC), a junta-appointed civilian advisory body, to get their opinion. The HNC turned down the request. This was speculated to be due to the fact that many of the HNC members were old, and did not appreciate the generals’ negativity towards seniors. On December 19, the generals dissolved the HNC and arrested some of the members as well as other civilian politicians, and the older generals, who were removed from the military. The actual arrests were made by a small force commanded by Thi and Kỳ. The deposal prompted U.S. Ambassador Maxwell D. Taylor
Maxwell D. Taylor
General Maxwell Davenport "Max" Taylor was an United States Army four star general and diplomat of the mid-20th century, who served as the fifth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after having been appointed by the President of the United States John F...
to angrily berate Thiệu, Thi, Kỳ and Cang in a private meeting and threaten to cut off aid if they did not reverse their decision. Kỳ later admitted to being stung by Taylor’s comments. However, this galvanized the officers around the embattled Khánh for a time and they ignored Taylor’s threats without repercussions as the Americans were too intent on defeating the communists to cut funding.
In January 1965, the junta-appointed Prime Minister, Trần Văn Hương
Tran Van Huong
Trần Văn Hương was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the penultimate president of South Vietnam prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam.-Biography:...
, introduced a series of measures to expand the anti-communist war effort, notably by widening the terms of conscription. This provoked widespread anti-Hương riots across the country, mainly from conscription-aged students and pro-negotiations Buddhists. Reliant on Buddhist support, Khánh did little to try to contain the protests. Khánh then decided to have the armed forces take over the government. On 27 January, Khánh removed Hương in a bloodless putsch with the support of Thi and Kỳ. He promised to leave politics once the situation was stabilized and hand over power to a civilian body. It was believed that some of the officers supported Khánh’s increased power so that it would give him an opportunity to fail and be removed permanently.
By this time, Taylor’s relationship with Khánh had already broken down over the issue of the HNC, and the U.S. became more intent on a regime change as Khánh was reliant on Buddhist support, which they saw as an obstacle to an expansion of the war. Knowing that he was close to being forced out, Khánh tried to start negotiations with the communists, but this only increased the plotting. In the first week of February, Taylor told Kỳ, who then passed on the message to colleagues in the junta, that the U.S. was “in no way propping up General Khanh or backing him in any fashion”. Taylor thought his message had been effective.
1965–1967
Between January and February 1965, Colonel Phạm Ngọc ThảoPham Ngoc Thao
Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...
was locked in a power struggle with junta leader General Nguyễn Khánh
Nguyen Khanh
Nguyễn Khánh is a former general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam who variously served as Head of State and Prime minister of South Vietnam while at the head of a military junta from January 1964 until February 1965. He was involved in or against many coup attempts, failed and successful,...
, and began plotting a coup against Khánh, who he thought was trying to kill him. Thảo consulted Kỳ—who wanted to seize power for himself—before the plot, and exhorted him to join the coup, but the air force chief claimed that he was remaining neutral. Thảo thus believed that Kỳ would not intervene against him. Kỳ had actually been preparing his own coup plans for a fortnight and was strongly opposed to the likes of Thảo and Phát. The likes of Kỳ, and the American-preferred Thiệu, Có
Nguyen Huu Co
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Hữu Có served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and was prominent in several coups and juntas in the 1960s....
and Cang were not yet ready to make a coup, and their preparations were well behind that of Thảo, an endless creator of plots.
Shortly before noon on 19 February, Thảo and General Lâm Văn Phát
Lam Van Phat
Major General Lâm Văn Phát served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . He is best known for leading two coup attempts against General Nguyễn Khánh in September 1964 and February 1965...
used around fifty tanks, and some infantry battalions, to seize control of the military headquarters, the post office and the radio station of Saigon. He surrounded the home of General Khánh and Gia Long Palace, the residence of head of state Phan Khắc Sửu
Phan Khac Suu
Phan Khắc Sửu was President of South Vietnam from 1964–1965.-Biography:He was an octogenarian, a trained agricultural engineer and was a member of the Cao Đài religion.He was a member of Emperor Bảo Đại’s political cabinet....
. The ground troops also missed capturing Kỳ, who fled in a sports car with his wife and mother-in-law. Kỳ ended up at Tân Sơn Nhứt, where he ran into Khánh, and the pair flew off together, while some of their colleagues were arrested there. Thảo made a radio announcement, stating that the sole objective of his military operation was to get rid of Khánh, whom he described as a “dictator”, while some of his fellow rebels made comments eulogizing Diệm and indicated that they would start a hardline Catholic regime, something that did not impress Kỳ.
Phát was supposed to seize the Biên Hòa Air Base
Bien Hoa Air Base
Bien Hoa Air Base is a Vietnam People's Air Force military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about 20 miles from Saigon near the city of Bien Hoa within Dong Nai Province....
to prevent Kỳ from mobilising air power against them. The attempt to seize Biên Hòa failed, as Kỳ got there first and took control, before circling Tân Sơn Nhứt, threatening to bomb the rebels.
A CIA report and analysis written after the coup concluded that “Ky’s command of the air force made him instrumental” in preventing Khánh from being overrun, “until Ky changed his mind” on Khánh’s continuing hold on power. Most of the forces of the III
III Corps (South Vietnam)
III Corps was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975...
and IV Corps
IV Corps (South Vietnam)
The IV Corps was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975...
surrounding the capital disliked both Khánh and the rebels, and took no action.
The Americans decided that while they wanted Khánh out, they did not approve of Thảo and Phát, so they began to lobby Kỳ and Thi, the two most powerful officers outside Khánh, to defeat both sides. They unofficially designated Kỳ the duty of moderating between the coup forces and Khánh’s loyalists, preventing bloodshed and keeping them apart until some further action was planned. Kỳ’s work slowed the advance of several Khánh-loyalist units into the capital. During all of these moves, Kỳ’s hand was strengthened by the mistaken belief of Khánh and his faction that the air force commander supported them.
At 20:00, Phát and Thảo met Kỳ in a meeting organised by the Americans, and insisted that Khánh be removed from power. The coup collapsed when, around midnight, loyal ARVN forces swept into the city from the south and some loyal to Kỳ from Biên Hòa in the north. Whether the rebels were defeated or a deal was struck with Kỳ to end the revolt in exchange for Khánh’s removal is disputed, but most analysts believe the latter. Before fleeing, Thảo managed a final radio broadcast, stating that the coup had been effective in removing Khánh. This was not the case yet, but later in the morning, Kỳ and Thi led the Armed Forces Council in adopting a vote of no confidence in Khánh, and they assumed control of the junta.
In May 1965, a military tribunal under Kỳ sentenced both Phát and Thảo, who had gone into hiding, to death in absentia. As a result, Thảo had little choice but to attempt to seize power from Kỳ in order to save himself.
On 20 May, a half dozen officers and around forty civilians, predominantly Catholic, were arrested on charges of attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Phan Huy Quát
Phan Huy Quat
Dr. Phan Huy Quát served as acting Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam and also as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam.-Biography:On July 2, 1949, Dr. Phan Huy Quát was appointed Minister of Education by Head of State Bảo Đại....
and kidnap Kỳ, among others. Several of the arrested were known supporters of Thảo and believed to be abetting him in evading the authorities. In July 1965, he was reported dead in unclear circumstances; an official report claimed that he died of injuries while on a helicopter en route to Saigon, after having been captured north of the city. However, it is generally assumed that he was hunted down and murdered or tortured to death on the orders of some officials in Kỳ’s junta. In his memoirs, Kỳ claimed that Thảo was jailed and “probably [died] from a beating”.
In 1965, Kỳ was appointed prime minister by a special joint meeting of military leaders following the voluntary resignation of civilian President Phan Khắc Sửu
Phan Khac Suu
Phan Khắc Sửu was President of South Vietnam from 1964–1965.-Biography:He was an octogenarian, a trained agricultural engineer and was a member of the Cao Đài religion.He was a member of Emperor Bảo Đại’s political cabinet....
and Prime Minister Phan Huy Quát
Phan Huy Quat
Dr. Phan Huy Quát served as acting Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam and also as Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam.-Biography:On July 2, 1949, Dr. Phan Huy Quát was appointed Minister of Education by Head of State Bảo Đại....
, who had been installed by the military. South Vietnam’s system of government shifted to that of a strong prime minister, with General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...
becoming a figurehead president
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
. Kỳ ended the cycle of coups that plagued South Vietnam following the overthrow of Diệm.
Kỳ and Thiệu’s military junta decided to inaugurate their rule by holding a “no breathing week”. They imposed censorship, closed many newspapers that published material deemed unacceptable, and suspended civil liberties. They then sidelined the civilian politicians to a “village of old trees” to “conduct seminars and draw up plans and programs in support of government policy”. They decided to ignore religious and other opposition groups “with the stipulation that troublemakers will be shot”.
The generals began to mobilize the populace into paramilitary organizations. After one month, Thích Trí Quang
Thich Tri Quang
Thích Trí Quang is a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam’s Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963....
began to call for the removal of Thiệu because he was a member of Diệm’s Catholic Cần Lao Party
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...
, decrying his “fascistic tendencies”, and claiming that Cần Lao members were undermining Kỳ.
Power struggle with Thi and Buddhist Uprising
Kỳ’s greatest struggle came in 1966, when he dismissed General Thi, resulting in a Buddhist UprisingBuddhist Uprising
The Buddhist Uprising of 1966 was a period of civil and military unrest in South Vietnam, largely focused in the I Corps area in the north of the country in central Vietnam...
and military revolt in Thi’s I Corps. Within the junta, Thi was seen as Kỳ’s main competitor for influence. Many political observers in Saigon thought that Thi wanted to depose Kỳ, and regarded him as the biggest threat to the other officers and the junta’s stability. According to Kỳ’s memoirs, Thi was a “born intriguer” who had “left-wing inclinations”. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine published a piece in February 1966 that claimed that Thi was more dynamic than Kỳ and could seize power at any time. The historian Robert Topmiller thought that Kỳ may have seen the article as destabilizing and therefore decided to move against Thi.
The historian Stanley Karnow
Stanley Karnow
Stanley Karnow is an American journalist and historian.After serving with the United States Army Air Forces in Asia during World War II, he graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in 1947; in 1947 and 1948 he attended the Sorbonne, and from 1948 to 1949 the Institut d'Études Politiques de...
said of Kỳ and Thi: “Both flamboyant characters who wore gaudy uniforms and sported sinister moustaches, the two young officers had been friends, and their rivalry seemed to typify the personal struggles for power that chronically afflicted South Vietnam. But their dispute mirrored more than individual ambition.” Both were also known for their colourful red berets.
There were reports that Thi was showing insubordination towards Kỳ. The U.S. military commander in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland
William Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland was a United States Army General, who commanded US military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak , during the Tet Offensive. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army. He later served as...
, said that Thi once refused to report to Kỳ in Saigon when requested. On one occasion, Kỳ came to I Corps to remonstrate with him in early March, Thi addressed his staff and asked mockingly, “Should we pay attention to this funny little man from Saigon or should we ignore him?” Thi made this comment rather loudly, within earshot of Kỳ, and the Vietnamese politician Bùi Diễm
Bui Diem
Bùi Diễm was South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. He played a key role in the last desperate attempt to secure US$700 million in military aid to defend South Vietnam against the North in 1975...
thought that the prime minister viewed Thi’s comment as a direct challenge to his authority.
A native of central Vietnam, Thi was the commander of I Corps
I Corps (South Vietnam)
The I Corps Tactical Zone was a corps of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975. It was one of four corps which the ARVN oversaw. This was the northernmost region of South Vietnam, bordering North Vietnam...
, which oversaw the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam and the 1st and 2nd Divisions
2nd Division (South Vietnam)
The 2nd Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam —the army of the nation state of South Vietnam that existed from 1955 to 1975—was part of the I Corps that oversaw the northernmost region of South Vietnam, the centre of Vietnam....
. He was known to have the “deep-rooted” loyalty of his soldiers. A large part of the South Vietnamese military was the Regional and Popular Forces, which were militias who served in their native areas, and they appreciated a commander with a regionalistic rapport. The support from the Buddhists, his troops and the regional tendencies gave Thi a strong power base and made it hard for the other generals and the Americans to move against him.
Time magazine said that Thi “ran it [I Corps] like a warlord of yore, obeying those edicts of the central government that suited him and blithely disregarding the rest”. Historian George McTurnan Kahin
George McTurnan Kahin
George McTurnan KahinSometimes referred to as George Kahin or George McT. Kahin. Some, but fewer, sources may also cite him as George M. Kahin. was an American historian and political scientist. He was one of the leading experts on Southeast Asia and a critic of United States involvement in the...
said that Kỳ may have feared that Thi would secede from Saigon and turn central Vietnam into an independent state. CIA analyst Douglas Pike
Douglas Pike
Douglas E. Pike was a leading historian and foremost scholar on the Vietnam War and the Viet Cong based at Texas Tech University from 1997, was director of the Indochina Archive at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 and prior to that served as Foreign Service Officer in Asia, with...
, who worked in Vietnam, speculated that this would have been a large part of Ky’s thinking, as Vietnamese people often had strong regional tendencies.
A combination of those factors resulted in Thi’s dismissal. Kỳ mustered the support of eight of the generals on the 10-man junta, meaning that along with his vote, there were nine officers in favour of Thi’s removal. With Thi the only non-supporter, Kỳ and his colleagues removed Thi from the junta and his corps command on March 10, 1966. Kỳ threatened to resign if the decision was not unanimous, claiming that the junta needed a show of strength, so Thi decided to vote for his sacking. The junta put Thi under house arrest pending his departure from the country, and then appointed General Nguyen Van Chuan
Nguyen Van Chuan
Major General Nguyen Van Chuan was an officer of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. He served as the commander of I Corps, which oversaw the northernmost part of the country, from 14 March 1966 until 9 April of the same year, when he was replaced by Lieutenant General Ton That Dinh.Tucker, pp....
, the erstwhile commander of 1st Division and a Thi subordinate, as the new I Corps commander.
At first, Kỳ said that Thi was leaving the country to receive medical treatment for his nasal passages. An official announcement said that the junta “had considered and accepted General Thi’s application for a vacation”. Thi retorted that “The only sinus condition I have is from the stink of corruption.” Kỳ then gave a series of reasons for dismissing Thi, accusing him of being too left-wing, of ruling the central regions like a warlord, of having a mistress who was suspected of being a communist, and being too conspiratorial. Kỳ did not say that Thi supported negotiations as a means of ending the war, but he did have a history of removing officials and military figures who promoted such a policy.
Despite Thi’s good relations with the Buddhists in his area, most notably the leading activist monk Thích Trí Quang, Kỳ reportedly had the monk’s support for Thi’s removal. If Kỳ thought that Thích Trí Quang would not orgnaize demonstrations against Thi’s dismissal, he turned out to be wrong, as the monk used to crisis to highlight Buddhist calls for civilian rule. There were claims that Thích Trí Quang had always intended to challenge Kỳ, regardless of whether or not Thi had been cast aside.
The Americans were supportive of Kỳ and his prosecution of the war against the communists, and they opposed Thi, regarding him as not being firm enough against communism. On the other hand, Thi did have the support of Marine Lieutenant General Lewis Walt, who commanded American forces in I Corps and was the senior adviser to Thi’s ARVN forces. This caused problems during the dispute.
The dismissal caused widespread demonstrations in the northern provinces. Civil unrest grew, as civil servants, disaffected military personnel, and the working under-class joined the anti-government demonstrations led by the Buddhists. At first, Kỳ tried to ignore the demonstrations and wait for them to peter out, but the problem escalated and riots broke out in some places.
Kỳ gambled by allowing Thi to return to I Corps, ostensibly to restore order. Kỳ claimed that he allowed Thi to return to his old area of command as a goodwill gesture, to keep central Vietnamese happy, and because he promised Thi a farewell visit before going into exile. However, Thi received a rousing reception and the anti-Kỳ protesters became more fervent. Kỳ then sacked the police chief of Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, a Thi loyalist. The local policemen responded by going on strike and demonstrating against their chief’s removal.
The Buddhists, and other anti-junta civilian activists joined together with I Corps units supportive of Thi to form the Struggle Movement, leading to civil unrest and a halt in I Corps military operations. On April 3, Kỳ held a press conference during which he claimed that Đà Nẵng was under communist control and vowed to stage a military operation to regain the territory. He thus implied that the Buddhists were communist agents. He then vowed to kill the mayor of Đà Nẵng, saying “Either Da Nang’s mayor is shot or the government will fall.” The following evening, Kỳ deployed three battalions of marines to Đà Nẵng. The marines stayed at Đà Nẵng Air Base
Da Nang Air Base
Da Nang Air Base was a Republic of Vietnam Air Force facility. The United States used it as a major base during the Vietnam War , stationing Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine units there...
and made no moves against the rebels. Soon after, they were joined by two battalions of Vietnamese Rangers
Vietnamese Rangers
The Vietnamese Rangers, properly known in Vietnamese as the Biệt Ðộng Quân, more commonly known as the ARVN Rangers, were the Rangers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Trained and assisted by American Special Forces and Ranger advisers, the Vietnamese Rangers infiltrated beyond enemy lines in...
, as well as some riot police and paratroopers. Kỳ took personal command and found that the roads leading into the city had been blocked by Buddhist civilians and pro-Thi portions of the I Corps. After a stand-off, Kỳ realized that he could not score a decisive victory and had lost face. He arranged a meeting and media event with Thi loyalist officers, and various Struggle Movement supporters.
The humiliated Kỳ arrived back in Saigon, where he met with Buddhist leaders for negotiations. The Buddhists demanded an amnesty for rioters and mutinous soldiers, and for Kỳ to withdraw the marines from Đà Nẵng back to Saigon. The monks said they would order the Struggle Movement “temporarily suspend all forms of struggle to prove our good will”.
After a period of tension and further tensions, Kỳ’s forces gained the upper hand in May, pressuring most Struggle Movement members to give up and militarily defeating the rest. He then put Thích Trí Quang under house arrest and finally had Thi exiled, cementing his junta’s grip on power and ending the Buddhist movement as a political force.
During his rule, Kỳ made many foreign state visit
State visit
A state visit is a formal visit by a foreign head of state to another nation, at the invitation of that nation's head of state. State visits are the highest form of diplomatic contact between two nations, and are marked by ceremonial pomp and diplomatic protocol. In parliamentary democracies, heads...
s to bolster South Vietnam’s legitimacy. One visit to Australia in 1967 was somewhat controversial. Over time, Australian attitudes towards South Vietnam became increasingly negative, despite a contribution of ground troops to assist the fight against the communists. Over time, the bipartisanship of the 1950s evaporated. The centre-left Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
became more sympathetic to the communists and their leader, Arthur Calwell
Arthur Calwell
Arthur Augustus Calwell Australian politician, was a member of the Australian House of Representatives for 32 years from 1940 to 1972, Immigration Minister in the government of Ben Chifley from 1945 to 1949 and Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1960 to 1967.-Early life:Calwell was born in...
, stridently denounced Kỳ as a “fascist dictator” and a “butcher” ahead of his 1967 visit. Despite the controversy leading up to the visit, Kỳ’s trip was a success. He dealt with the media effectively, despite hostile sentiment from some sections of the press and public.
During the trip to Australia, a power struggle with General Nguyễn Hữu Có
Nguyen Huu Co
Lieutenant General Nguyễn Hữu Có served as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and was prominent in several coups and juntas in the 1960s....
, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, climaxed. Kỳ saw Có as a political threat and a magnet for dissidents, while Có deemed Kỳ to be “immature”. At the same time as his visit to Australia, Kỳ sent Có to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, ostensibly to represent the junta at a ceremonial event. With Có out of the country and unable to stage a coup, and Kỳ not within striking distance in case anyone wanted to capture him, news of Có’s removal was broken in Saigon. Có expressed a desire to return to Saigon, but was threatened with arrest and trial, and soldiers were deployed to the airport. Có was allowed to return in 1970 after Kỳ’s power had waned.
1967 elections
In the presidential election that was held in 1967, the military junta, which Kỳ chaired, intended to endorse only one candidate for the presidency. Kỳ intended to run, but at the last minute changed his mind and backed Thiệu, a move he now calls “the biggest mistake of my life”. Thiệu nominated Kỳ as his running mateRunning mate
A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position but can also properly be used when referring to both candidates, such as "Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen were...
and the two were elected with 35% of the vote in a rigged poll. American policymakers heard rumors that the generals had agreed to subvert the constitution, and The New York Times revealed the formation of a secret military committee that would control the government after the election. What had happened was that in the negotiations within the military, Kỳ had agreed to stand aside in exchange for behind-the-scenes power through a military committee that would shape policy and control the civilian arm of the government. Kỳ flatly denied these reports to Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker
Ellsworth Bunker
Ellsworth F. Bunker was an American businessman and diplomat...
, and the U.S. Embassy notified Washington that The New York Times’ story was baseless. However, the story was later vindicated, as intelligence sources obtained the charter that told of the functions of the secret Supreme Military Committee (SMC). Walt Rostow briefed President Johnson and concluded that the SMC was “in effect, a scheme for ‘guided democracy’ in which a half dozen generals would decide finally what was good and bad for the country.”
The campaign was overshadowed by U.S. media criticism of Kỳ and Thiệu’s unfair electoral practices and sneaky tricks. All the candidates were scheduled to attend a rally at Quảng Trị
Quang Tri
Quảng Trị is a town district of Quang Tri province in the North Central Coastal region of Vietnam. Significantly, it was the only South Vietnamese provincial capital to be captured by the North Vietnamese forces for a limited period in the 1972 offensive....
in the far north of the country on August 6. Due to the security situation and the possibility of communist attacks, the politicians were transported to joint campaign events by the military, rather than being free to go to separate events as their strategy dictated. However, the Quảng Trị event had to be canceled after the candidates’ plane landed 23 km away at an air base in Đông Hà. Believing that the mishap was a deliberate attempt to make them look chaotic and disorganized—Thiệu and Kỳ had decided not to attend rallies—the candidates boycotted the event and flew back to Saigon. There they denounced the government bitterly. The leading opposition candidate, Trần Văn Hương
Tran Van Huong
Trần Văn Hương was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the penultimate president of South Vietnam prior to its surrender to the communist forces of North Vietnam.-Biography:...
, claimed that Thiệu and Kỳ “purposefully arranged the trip to humiliate us and make clowns out of us.” As air force chief, Kỳ had previously stranded opposition politicians on a trip to the central highlands
Tây Nguyên
Tây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....
. Kỳ and Thiệu maintained that no malice was involved, but their opponents did not believe it. None of the candidates made good on their threat to withdraw, but their strident attacks over the alleged dirty tricks dominated the media coverage of the election for a period.
The negative coverage embarrassed Washington; instead of hearing reports about progress and good governance in South Vietnam, most reports focused on corruption and fraud. The heavy and negative coverage of the election provoked angry debate in the U.S. Congress, criticising Kỳ’s junta and Johnson’s policies. Such sentiment came from both houses and political parties. On August 10, 57 members of the House signed a statement condemning Kỳ’s electoral malpractices and threatening a review of U.S. policy in Vietnam.
Kỳ and Thiệu were reluctant to campaign and meet the populace as they saw such events as liabilities rather than opportunities to win over the public, and showed little interest in gaining popular support in any case, as they could always count on a rigging of the ballot. The CIA reported that the pair had no intention of participating on the arranged rallies with the civilian candidates because they felt that “possible heckling from the audience that would be too humiliating”. Thiệu and Kỳ were correct; they made one public campaign appearance at a rally, where a very disapproving crowd in Huế assailed Kỳ as a “hooligan” and “cowboy leader”.
Kỳ and Thiệu decided to campaign indirectly by appearing at set piece ceremonial appointments, such as transferring land titles to peasants, as hostile elements from the general population were less likely to be present. Thiệu took a restrained and more moderate stance during the campaign towards the issue of demoncracy, while Kỳ, the public face of the ticket and the incumbent government, went on the attack, damaging the pair’s image and supposed commitment to democracy. Kỳ did not hide his distaste for democracy or his opponents and “described the civilian candidates as ‘ordure’ [dirt, filth, excrement], ‘traitors’, and ‘destroyers of the national interest’”. Kỳ went on to say that if his opponents continued to attack him, he would cancel the poll.
In the accompanying senate election, Kỳ openly endorsed 11 slates, but only one was successful in gaining one of the six seats.
1967–1971: Vice President
He served as Vice PresidentVice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
to President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, although behind the scenes there was a fierce rivalry that left Kỳ marginalized. In the aftermath of the Tết Offensive, Thiệu enforced martial law and used the situation to consolidate his personal power. Kỳ supporters in the military and the administration were quickly removed from power, arrested, or exiled, ending any hopes of Kỳ exerting any power through the SMC or elsewhere.
Alienated from Thiệu, Kỳ intended to oppose him in the 1971 elections, but Thiệu introduced laws to stop most of his rivals from running. Realizing that the poll would be rigged, Kỳ withdrew from politics. Thiệu ran unopposed and took 94% of the vote.
Life in exile
After the defeat of South Vietnam by North VietnamNorth Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
, on the last day of the fall of Saigon in 1975, Kỳ left Vietnam aboard the USS Blue Ridge
USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)
USS Blue Ridge is the lead ship of the two Blue Ridge-class command ships of the U.S. Navy, and is the command ship of the United States Seventh Fleet. Her primary role is to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence support to the commander and staff of the United...
and fled to the U.S. and settled in Westminster, California
Westminster, California
-Government:In the state legislature Westminster is located in the 34th, Senate District, represented by Democrat Lou Correa and Republican Tom Harman respectively, and in the 67th and 68th Assembly District, represented by Republicans Jim Silva and Van Tran respectively...
, where he ran a liquor store
Liquor store
In the United States, Australia and Canada, a liquor store is a type of store that specializes in the sale of alcoholic beverages. In South Africa and Namibia these stores are generally called bottle stores....
.
Kỳ wrote two autobiographies: How We Lost the Vietnam War and Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam. Historian James McAllister openly questioned Kỳ’s honesty, saying that Buddha's Child, as Kỳ called himself, “is filled with unverifiable conversations and arguments that do not at all correspond with the historical record. Like his earlier memoir, it is often a self-serving attempt to continue his ongoing feud with the late President Nguyen Van Thieu.” He said that “with everything Ky writes about Vietnam … skepticism is in order”.
He made headlines in 2004 by being the first South Vietnamese leader to return to Vietnam after the reunification, a move that was seen as a shameful one by many anti-communist group in the Vietnamese American community . Kỳ had previously been critical of the Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
government while in exile and had been denied a visa on several occasions. Upon setting foot on Vietnam, Kỳ defended his actions by saying that the Vietnam War was “instigated by foreigners, it was brothers killing each other under the arrangements by foreign countries”. He added that “In another 100 years, the Vietnamese will look back at the war and feel shameful. We should not dwell on it as it will not do any good for Vietnam’s future. My main concern at the moment is Vietnam’s position on the world map.” Kỳ said that he only wanted to help build up Vietnam and promote national harmony, and assailed critics of his return, saying that “Those who bear grudges only care about themselves”.
Kỳ later moved back to Vietnam permanently and campaigned for increased foreign investment. Kỳ was involved in organizing trips to Vietnam for potential U.S. investors.
Style
Kỳ was well-known for his flamboyantFlaming
Flaming, also known as bashing, is hostile and insulting interaction between Internet users. Flaming usually occurs in the social context of an Internet forum, Internet Relay Chat , Usenet, by e-mail, game servers such as Xbox Live or Playstation Network, and on video-sharing websites...
, colorful conduct and dress during his younger days. His trademark fashion accessory before he faded from public view in the 1970s was a purple scarf, which he wore with his black flight suit. He often raised eyebrows when he was the military prime minister by arriving at events to meet civilians with his wife in matching black flight suits, boots, blue caps, and purple scarves. He rarely was seen without a cigarette.
He was notorious for his love of gambling, women, and glamour, which made American officials wary of him. One official called him an “unguided missile”. When he was a young pilot, Kỳ once landed a helicopter in the road in front of a girlfriend’s house in order to impress her, causing the locals to panic and earning the ire of his commander for misusing military equipment. On one occasion, Kỳ is said to have pulled a handgun on a journalist whose questions annoyed him.
Many in the South Vietnamese public service, military and the general public hated his tempestuous and impetuous style and regarded him as a “cowboy”, and “hooligan”. During his only public campaign appearance during the 1967 presidential election, the large crowd repeatedly heckled him loudly, calling him a “cowboy leader” and “hooligan” and as a result he did not make any more appearances at rallies.
Kỳ met and married his first wife, a Frenchwoman, in the 1950s when he was training as a pilot in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Soon after, he divorced her and married an Air Viet Nam
Air Vietnam
Active from 1951 to 1975, Air Viet Nam was South Vietnam's first commercial air carrier, headquartered in District 1, Saigon. Established under Emperor Bảo Đại, the Chief of State of South Vietnam, the airline flew over one million passengers, including during the Vietnam War, before its collapse...
flight attendant, who was his spouse during his years in power. He later married for the third time.
Kỳ’s daughter from his second marriage, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên
Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên is a Vietnamese-American personality and co-host of Thuy Nga's Paris By Night shows, and is also a law school graduate.-Biography:...
, is a wellknown in the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry as a mistress of ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
and occasional singer on the music variety show Paris by Night
Paris by Night
Paris By Night is a popular Vietnamese language musical variety show, produced by an Overseas Vietnamese company Thúy Nga and hosted by Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, featuring musical performances by modern pop stars, traditional folk songs, one-act plays, and sketch comedy...
. Many Vietnamese Americans called for her sacking after her father returned to Vietnam.
Death
Kỳ died on early Saturday 23 July 2011 at a hospital in Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, Malaysia, where he was receiving treatment for "respiratory complications."
External links
- Speech by General Nguyen Cao Ky
- Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam by General Nguyen Cao Ky
- Book Review "Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam" by the Washington Post
- Who's Who in Vietnam in 1967
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