Nguyễn Cao Kỳ

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1967)

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (born September 8, 1930 in Sơn Tây , Tonkin , French Indochina , † July 23, 2011 in Kuala Lumpur ) was a South Vietnamese air force general and politician .

Military career

Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was born the son of a teacher in the province of Sơn Tây. He completed his school education at the Lycée Chu Văn An in Hanoi . He was trained as an officer at a military school in Nam Định and left this with the rank of lieutenant in the army of the Republic of Vietnam, which was under construction . From 1953 to 1954 he was trained as a pilot by the French Air Force in France and North Africa, then served as a transport pilot and briefly took part in the Algerian War. After the French defeat in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ , he returned to Vietnam in December 1954.

Political activity

He was involved in the 1963 military coup against the South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm and at that time held the rank of colonel in the South Vietnamese Air Force. The then 35-year-old was described as an excellent air officer with French training who, however , seemed to lack any political understanding . His positive reference to Hitler in an interview made an embarrassing impression in Europe .

The coup brought a clique of military officers around Nguyễn Khanh to power. Nguyễn Cao Kỳ participated in the further power struggle within the military and, together with Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, was able to take power in the military regime. In 1967 he became Vice President of South Vietnam with Văn Thiệu's support, while Văn Thiệu held the presidency.

During K Amts’s tenure, the United States increased its participation in the Vietnam War considerably on behalf of the South Vietnamese side. At that time Kỳ believed in an imminent victory. In 1967 a new constitution came into force, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was elected president, whereupon Kỳ largely lost his political influence. He was Vice President until 1971.

During the reign, Nguyễn Cao Kỳs relationship with the more powerful Nguyễn Văn Thiệu deteriorated. As a result, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was not allowed to run for president in 1971. He then left politics. After the communist victory in the Vietnam War , he left his country and emigrated to the United States. In 2004 he undertook a trip to his home country that was widely recognized in the media.

Publications

• Twenty Years and Twenty Days. Stein and Day, New York 1976, ISBN 0-8128-1908-X
• with Marvin J. Wolf: Buddha's Child. My Fight to Save Vietnam. St. Martin's Press, New York 2002, ISBN 0-312-28115-3
• How We Lost the Vietnam War. Cooper Square Press, New York NY 2002, ISBN 0-81-541222-3

literature

• Fernand Oosten: The new phase in South Vietnam. In: Außenpolitik , Vol. 16 (1965), pp. 718–725
• Spencer Tucker : Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War. A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85109-960-3

Web links

• Obituary in the New York Times
• Article about Nguyễn Cao Kỳ in Spiegel from April 11, 1966

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christopher Goscha : Dictionary of the Indochina War (1945-1954) , Copenhagen 2011, p. 317
2. ^ Oosten, p. 719.
3. ^ William J. Duiker , Bruce Lockhart: Historical Dictionary of Vietnam. Lanham, 2006, p. 262