Nguyen Cao Ky

In one world, she is a hard-working law student headed for a career as a corporate or criminal attorney. In the other, she is a Vietnamese-born entertainer who has gained fame here and abroad. It's the mix of the two worlds--the American and the Vietnamese--that creates a balance for Jennifer Nguyen, enabling her to excel in the two endeavors she pursues.

It was an about-face that outraged a generation displaced by war. Nguyen Cao Ky, the former South Vietnam leader known for ruthlessly defending democracy, was suddenly, at 73, rubbing shoulders with communist officials - something that seemed unthinkable to those who had fled the country during the painful days after the Vietnam War. Vietnamese Americans who had rallied around him felt betrayed, and Ky's once-revered stature in the small...

It took more than half a century of bloodshed and exile, but Nguyen Cao Ky, the ardent anticommunist and former ruler of South Vietnam, has finally come home to this communist capital. A former air force pilot who flew bombing raids over North Vietnam, Ky arrived Friday in Hanoi on government-owned Vietnam Airlines. At 73, he has made peace with his former enemies and says he wants to help his homeland prosper. He hints that he may even move back.

A group of angry protesters held a rally in Garden Grove on Sunday to denounce the former premier of South Vietnam for returning on a mission of peace to the Communist country he fled nearly 30 years ago. "Nguyen Cao Ky is no longer in our hearts," Chanh Huu Nguyen, general secretary of the Government of Free Vietnam and a protest organizer, said of Ky's trip to Southeast Asia, where he has been feted by government officials for the last three weeks.

It was an about-face that outraged a generation displaced by war. Nguyen Cao Ky, the former South Vietnam leader known for ruthlessly defending democracy, was suddenly, at 73, rubbing shoulders with communist officials - something that seemed unthinkable to those who had fled the country during the painful days after the Vietnam War. Vietnamese Americans who had rallied around him felt betrayed, and Ky's once-revered stature in the small...

Dedication ceremonies were held in New Orleans for a pyramid-shaped monument honoring American and Vietnamese veterans of the Vietnam War. Among the 400 people attending the ceremony in the French Quarter were retired Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam, and former Gen. Nguyen Cao Ky, who headed the South Vietnamese army.

A group of angry protesters held a rally in Garden Grove on Sunday to denounce the former premier of South Vietnam for returning on a mission of peace to the Communist country he fled nearly 30 years ago. "Nguyen Cao Ky is no longer in our hearts," Chanh Huu Nguyen, general secretary of the Government of Free Vietnam and a protest organizer, said of Ky's trip to Southeast Asia, where he has been feted by government officials for the last three weeks.

As the reminders that our tax revenues are insufficient to sustain the needs of our own populace grow increasingly apparent, I am appalled to see our governing powers fork over a blank check to Russian President Boris Yeltsin to assist him in furthering his questionable agenda for economic "reform." The swift and brutal quashing of any and all dissent to Yeltsin's policies, and Yeltsin's demonstrated contempt for constitutional due process belie his purported commitment to any sort of democracy in Russia.

You would think that after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 we would have had sufficient time to evaluate the leadership of its former premiers. For that reason, I was appalled to read that Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky were attempting to reestablish their influence over the Vietnamese community in Orange County. Thieu and Ky never demonstrated any qualities of good leadership and, in fact, were concerned only with themselves and their own families. It is also well-documented that their administrations were nothing more than corrupt regimes that showed very little regard for their own people.

Nguyen Cao Ky fled Vietnam nearly 29 years ago as his nation collapsed, piloting a helicopter out to sea where he landed on a U.S. aircraft carrier. The former South Vietnamese premier and vice president headed home Thursday -- on a commercial airliner as a tourist.

It took more than half a century of bloodshed and exile, but Nguyen Cao Ky, the ardent anticommunist and former ruler of South Vietnam, has finally come home to this communist capital. A former air force pilot who flew bombing raids over North Vietnam, Ky arrived Friday in Hanoi on government-owned Vietnam Airlines. At 73, he has made peace with his former enemies and says he wants to help his homeland prosper. He hints that he may even move back.

Nguyen Cao Ky fled Vietnam nearly 29 years ago as his nation collapsed, piloting a helicopter out to sea where he landed on a U.S. aircraft carrier. The former South Vietnamese premier and vice president headed home Thursday -- on a commercial airliner as a tourist.

In one world, she is a hard-working law student headed for a career as a corporate or criminal attorney. In the other, she is a Vietnamese-born entertainer who has gained fame here and abroad. It's the mix of the two worlds--the American and the Vietnamese--that creates a balance for Jennifer Nguyen, enabling her to excel in the two endeavors she pursues.

As the reminders that our tax revenues are insufficient to sustain the needs of our own populace grow increasingly apparent, I am appalled to see our governing powers fork over a blank check to Russian President Boris Yeltsin to assist him in furthering his questionable agenda for economic "reform." The swift and brutal quashing of any and all dissent to Yeltsin's policies, and Yeltsin's demonstrated contempt for constitutional due process belie his purported commitment to any sort of democracy in Russia.

You would think that after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 we would have had sufficient time to evaluate the leadership of its former premiers. For that reason, I was appalled to read that Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky were attempting to reestablish their influence over the Vietnamese community in Orange County. Thieu and Ky never demonstrated any qualities of good leadership and, in fact, were concerned only with themselves and their own families. It is also well-documented that their administrations were nothing more than corrupt regimes that showed very little regard for their own people.

The general who once bragged he had "absolute power" over South Vietnam sat in a Little Saigon law office, chain-smoking Winstons and talking about a post-communist world. "We fought them with guns. We failed," former South Vietnamese premier Nguyen Cao Ky said Friday. "Now Marxism is finished. . . . We should fight them in the field of politics and economics."

The general who once bragged he had "absolute power" over South Vietnam sat in a Little Saigon law office, chain-smoking Winstons and talking about a post-communist world. "We fought them with guns. We failed," former South Vietnamese premier Nguyen Cao Ky said Friday. "Now Marxism is finished. . . . We should fight them in the field of politics and economics."

Re "The Tourist Who Ran the Place," Jan. 24: I'm confused. Nguyen Cao Ky boasts that he held absolute power in South Vietnam: "If I didn't like your face, I could shoot you." Then he says he believes his homeland is gradually shedding its "authoritarian" communist ways. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Perhaps those who oppose reconciliation ought to take a hard look at the Vietnam for which they are nostalgic. Virginia Cassara Irvine

Dedication ceremonies were held in New Orleans for a pyramid-shaped monument honoring American and Vietnamese veterans of the Vietnam War. Among the 400 people attending the ceremony in the French Quarter were retired Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam, and former Gen. Nguyen Cao Ky, who headed the South Vietnamese army.