Prime Minister of SVN, Major General Nguyen Cao Ky
	This bloke, who looked and acted like a jumped up sleazy dancing master in a poor quality whore-house did more to destroy the belief of average Australians that the regime in South Viet Nam deserved backing than any other person in the world. I watched in awe as he toured Australia, acting like a carnival barker and dressing like a South American dictator in a B Grade movie. Major General Nguyen Cao Ky Born: September 8. 1930, Son Tay (North Vietnam) Married, six children Education: Graduate, Chu Van An High School, Hanoi, 1948 Graduate, Nam Dinh Reserve Officer School, Class I, 1952 Graduate, Marrakech Air Force Training School, Morocco, 1954 Graduate, Air Command and Staff College, USA, 1958 Whos Who In Vietnam Vietnam Press, Saigon 1967 Courtesy of Adam Sadowski
Nguyen Cao Ky was a young officer when he took part on the coup that led to Diem's demise. The subsequent games of power within the military junta propelled Ky to the position of Prime Minister, which he held between 1965 and 1967. That year he run for Vice President in a compromise ticket with Nguyen Van Thieu bidding for the presidency. Even though he had renounced to his own candidacy for the highest office under an agreement guaranteeing him a sizable share of power, he was outsmarted by Thieu, who accumulated power on his own Office. In 1971, Ky again challenged Thieu on the elections, but was forced to withdraw his candidacy. He finally fled to California in 1975, after the fall of Saigon.
Former positions: - Commanding Officer, First Transport Squadron, VNAF, 1955 - Concurrently Acting Commanding Officer, Third Air Support Base, 1956 - Participated in the delegation visiting US Air Bases (Staff Orientation visits/VIP), 1958 - Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations VNAF, 1959 - Charge d'Affaires, VNAF Command, during the VNAF Commander's absence, March 6, 1959 - Commanding Officer, First Transport Group, March 1, 1960 - Charge d'Affaires, VNAF Command, during the VNAF Commander's absence, April 9, 1960 - Acting Commander, VNAF, December 16, 1963 - Concurrently, Commanding Officer, 83rd Special Group, since July 31, 1964 - Commander, VNAF, August 12, 1964-November 1967 - Prime Minister, Government of the Republic of Vietnam, June 19, 1965 - September 1967

Ngo Dinh Diem, the first elected President of the Republic of South Vietnam

The tragic Beginning of how American took control of the Vietnam War.

On the way to church on November 2nd, 1963, the Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Nhu were murdered by Captain Nhung - at the order of General Mai Huu Xuan, General Big Minh, and CIA Lou Conien.

President Diem was betrayed by his American friends and President Kennedy. Ten years later President Thieu and the South Vietnamese were once again betrayed by President Nixon, Henry Kissinger at Paris conference. The tragic end came twelve years later on April 30th, 1975.

Eventually three million Vietnamese fled the country, hundreds of thousands of "boat-people" died in the China sea, and countless thousands of former ARVN Officers, government officials died in "re-education" camps. Vietnam became one of the poorest countries in the world.

The U.S. Regime initially supported President Diem but six years later supported a coup d'etat by ARVN Military Junta (Mai Huu Xuan and other Generals) who ordered the murder of President Diem, his brother Nhu, Colonel Le Quang Tung, Colonel Ho Tan Quyen, LTC Le Quang Trieu and other Special Forces Staff.

To cover up the blunder, US press reported that President Diem was corrupted. When he was assassinated, he owned only one very small and simple home. The death of President Diem was a political embarrassment for President Kennedy.

Less than three weeks after President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated, President John F. Kennedy was likewise killed by an assassin's bullet, and the burden of Vietnam passed to Vice President Lyndon Johnson.
Johnson supported South Vietnam's ineffectual military rulers with extensive military and economic aid and, beginning in 1965, large numbers of U.S. ground troops. Ten years and 58,000 American deaths later, the communists with Russia-China's aid took over South Vietnam.

Nguyen Van Thieu; President of South Vietnam 1967 - 1975

Nguyen Van Thieu, born April 5, 1923, was president of South Vietnam from 1967 until it was overrun by North Vietnamese armed forces in 1975.

From 1945 to 1946, Thieu joined Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh but disagreed with its communist sympathies.

He fought with the French from 1946 to 1954 against the Viet Minh and rose in the South Vietnamese Army.

A leader of the 1963 coup d'état against Ngo Dinh Diem, he became South Vietnam's military chief of state in 1965 and was elected president of a civilian government in 1967 and 1971.

When the Paris agreement to end the Vietnam War was announced on Jan. 24, 1973, he warned his people to be vigilant "because peace does not mean a long-lasting peace. I tell you that I believe this is solely a cease-fire agreement, no more, no less."

After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, he went to Taiwan, then to London. Thieu moved to Boston in 1989. He died there in 2001.