Trivia

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.

He was born near Hanoi and raised by his Aunt. He joined the Communist resistance to French colonial rule in 1946 inspired by Ho Chi Minh. He was ill with malaria. When he recovered, he was drafted by the French controlled government which sent him abroad to train as a pilot.