Talk:Nguyễn Cao Kỳ

Visit back--POV? Citation?

"He made headlines in 2004 by being the first South Vietnamese leader to visit Vietnam since the war. A move that is seen as a shameful one by many Vietnamese-Americans."

Particularly in view of the sentence fragment, this sounds like a remark that someone with an axe to grind slipped in. It seems very POV, and I think that unless there can be found some strong citation, it should probably come out. 140.147.160.78 20:58, 21 September 2007 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

Use of Torture

Ky was widely charged with employing torture. I hope some discussion is warranted. More to come. Mydogtrouble (talk) 20:34, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Accusations by MLK Jr.

Ky was mentioned in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech Why I am Opposed to the Vietnam War. In this speech, he was quoted as "who fought with the French against his own people, and who said on one occasion that the greatest hero of his life is Hitler. This is who we are supporting in Vietnam today." This is not only a notable reference to the man (the recording also won a Grammy in 1971), but also some highly charged accusations which might need to be mentioned on the page. Faldizzle (talk)

MLK's accusation seems to be backed up by over a hundred roughly contemporaneous newspaper accounts. According to one website, the statement in question originated from an interview Ky gave to the London Sunday Mirror. Also, the quote is referred to in the German version of this page and a reference is provided. I strongly agree that this is noteworthy and should be mentioned on the page. -WK — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.114.19.95 (talk) 07:30, 10 June 2017 (UTC)

Change Nguyen Cao Ky photo

Photo of Nguyen Cao Ky should be changed to the previous one, as the current photo appears to be non-neutral. The current photo has Ky placing is hand over his chest with an American flag behind him, implying that he's honouring, obiedient or is some political puppet to the U.S., which would mean that the photo has political implications and is therefore not neutral. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nguyen1310 (talk • contribs) 15:52, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Nguyễn Văn Thiệu which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:01, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Nguyen Cao Ky Exile

The article current claims that:

After the defeat of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, on the last day of the fall of Saigon, 30 April 1975, Kỳ left Vietnam aboard the USS Blue Ridge and fled to the United States and settled in Westminster, California, where he ran a liquor store.

For one, I am not sure where the reference to Westminster came from. It's never mentioned in either source and to my knowledge, he has never been associated with that city (only Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana); his autobiography alludes to a boutique in Westminster Mall though I am not certain whether he is referring to the boutique his wife owned in Garden Grove or a different one. Even if that were to be replaced with "Orange County" or "Huntington Beach," I still think it is a bit deceptive since it implies he was immediately resettled to that area, whereas he actually was resettled in Fairfax, Virginia or Washington D.C.

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The Time article The Privileged Exiles says that "Former South Vietnamese Premier and Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky apparently has no qualms about settling in the U.S... Air Vice Marshal Ky commandeered a helicopter the day before the surrender and personally piloted it onto the deck of the U.S.S. Blue Ridge."

Karnow 451 claims that "Ky opened a modest liquor store in California despite his alleged gains." The word "Westminster" does not appear anywhere in this text. Karnow 706 does claim that he "Fled to California and opened a liquor store in 1975."

Now, in his autobiography Buddha's Child, chapter 16 Exile (page 346) it claims that "Not long after I was reunited with my family in Fairfax, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C." (345) "Afterward I stayed a few days with a Vietnamese friend in Orange County, and one morning after breakfast a real estate agent came by. After a time he revealed that he knew of a beautiful house for sale, and invited us to see it. I liked this home, so I dickered with the owner and finally made a deal. Jack [Hanshaw] suggested that I consider buying my own liquor store, and offered to help teach me how to run it profitably. Because of his position, the bank loaned me enough to buy a store." (350-351)

In this United Press article in the The Herald, it claims that "Ky said he has been living in Washington, D.C., and supporting himself by lecturing and writing, but plans to move to Huntington Beach, Calif. 'I have had enough of politics and politicians," Ky said. "Being in Washington I cannot avoid being around them.'" It appears he moved to Huntington Beach by August 1976 (Viet's Ky now a Californian, Independent, Long Beach, California).

Regarding his FIRST liquor store (more on this later), (1), [(2) https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-ky-operates-southe/178121863/] the LA Times reports in Saigon's Ky Lives Quiet Life in Huntington Beach that he took over a Norwalk liquor store on April 28, 1977, also noting that it was his first business acquisition in the United States. Sometimes this liquor store is reported as being in Huntington Beach (UPI - Nguyen Cao Ky accused of leading Vietnamese gangs) but here's a contemporary AP article reported from Norwalk, California that claims to have seen him (The Akron Beacon Journal - Ky still wants to fight). He sold the Norwalk Liquor store in 1981 (Premier among survivors)

When he declared bankruptcy in 1984 (UPI - Former South Vietnamese premier files for bankruptcy), it was claimed he then owned two liquor stores: one in Santa Ana and one in Garden Grove. It also claims that he had a home in Garden Grove and in Huntington Beach.

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Now the tough part is: compiling this all into a well-sourced and cited summary of events. There doesn't seem to exist an exhaustive text listing his time in exile and his obituaries seem to focus entirely on his history pre-1975.

What I believe to be the most true version of events is: Kỳ fled to the United States and stayed at the Camp Pendleton resettlement camp where he would later be resettled to Fairfax, Virginia. By summer 1976, he moved to Huntington Beach and purchased a liquor store (Ski's Liquor Store) in Norwalk which he ran until 1981. He would later run two liquor stores in Santa Ana and Garden Grove.

But that would perhaps be a bit too much detail, especially since these details are perhaps not that notable. I do believe they all can be validated by contemporaneous accounts but compiling sources would be really difficult.

Personally, I would opt for a minor change along the lines of:

After the defeat of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, on the last day of the fall of Saigon, 30 April 1975, Kỳ left Vietnam aboard the USS Blue Ridge and fled to the United States. He later settled in Orange County, California where he ran a liquor store.

But I am curious to hear your thoughts John Kinslow (talk) 01:57, 4 August 2025 (UTC)