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Tough Northerner. Ky and his fellow officers of the ruling Directory had no illusions about the magnitude of their task from the beginning. As CMef of State General Nguyen Van Thieu observed in justifying the generals' takeover, the body politic was raddled with "contemptible acts of profiteering, theft, swindling, bribery, oppression of the weak, shirking of responsibility while receiving government pay, misappropriation of public funds, illegal transfer of funds to foreign countries, sabotaging the national economy, hoarding, and speculating on such prime necessities as food and medicines." Indeed, one of Ky's first statements as Premier was a rash threat to shoot all rice and salt profiteers. When the police finally caught two suspects, the evidence proved inconclusive and the men were quietly released. Ky has matured to his heavy responsibilities.
He had quite a way to go. Scarcely had Ky taken office when it was reported he had suggested that South Viet Nam needed someone like Hitler to solve its problems. Later he lamely explained that he was only endorsing Hitler's "leadership and sense of discipline, not his inhuman methods"—but that was still more comfort to Ky's enemies than to his friends. In his first few months as Premier, he was several times so depressed by the complexities of the job that he threatened to resign. He also complained to U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, with whom he has a tie of near-filial rapport, that he resented having to spend so much time with politicians and newsmen. Lodge pointed out that Lyndon Johnson is in much the same fix; since then, Ky has noticeably relaxed about the inevitable public duties of his job. And for all his indiscretions and growing pains, Ky has worked earnestly and hard as Premier, battling conditions that were often beyond his control. "Indeed," says one member of his staff, "if Ky weren't a tough damned Northerner, he wouldn't have survived this long."
Pearl & Black. A Northerner Ky is, having been born in Son Tay, just west of Hanoi. After high school in what is now the Communist capital, he earned an infantry commission from an officers' training school. The French plucked the cocky young lieutenant off his feet and sent him to Marrakech for flight training. He won his wings on Sept. 15, 1954-just four months after the French defeat in Indo-China. Ky came back to South Viet Nam with a French wife and the command of a transport squadron. By the time he was 25, the hard-boiled "hot rock" pilot was in charge of Saigon's sprawling Tan Son Nhut air force base. From there, Ky jumped to his first look at the U.S. —six months at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Field, Ala. Brief as it was, the tour permitted Ky to learn colloquial English and, says Lodge semifacetiously, "read the newspapers every day and learn what Americans are all about." Within five years of his return to Saigon, Ky was a major military figure-and commander of the entire South Vietnamese air force.