Biography

Premier (1965-1967) and vice president (1967-1971) of the former Republic of South Vietnam.

Father of Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen.

He returned to his country in 2004 where he became the highest ranking former South Vietnamese official to return to Vietnam at the invitation of the Communist Government.

He fled his country during the 1966 uprising to the United States where he settled in Southern California and Louisiana. He ran a liquor store in Southern California from 1977 to 1984 and a shrimp fishing business in Louisiana.

In 1954, he fled south to join the South Vietnamese Air Force. In 1965, he was Commander of the Air Force and chosen by his fellow military officers to lead the country as prime minister ending the cycle of coups following the 1963 assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem.

American diplomats, generals and journalists nattered about my preference for purple socks, noted that I wore my hair longer than a U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor or reported erroneously but often, that I packed a pearl handled revolver.

If I had stolen millions of dollars I could live like a king in this country, but obviously I don't live like a king.

[on running a liquor store in Southern California] When a former national leader becomes a storekeeper, it is news. Journalists of every sort visited my store. One day a bus driver came in to ask if his passengers, German tourists, could enter and see me. I discovered that my business was a standard stop on his tour which ended at Disneyland.

I think Americans and Vietnamese can achieve today what we could not achieve during the Vietnam War: a final victory over the Communists.

[on his return to Vietna]: Last night, I thought, 30 years ago I cried because I left my homeland. And today I cried once again because I found my homeland.