Twenty Years and Twenty Days

New York: Stein and Day, 1976. Second Printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good/Fair. Edgar Blakeney (Jacket Design). 239, [1] pages. Index. DJ has wear, tears, soiling, chips and is price clipped. Ink notation on DJ rear flap. Highlighting noted. Nguy n Cao K (8 September 1930 - 23 July 2011) served as the chief of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in the 1960s, before leading the nation as the prime minister of South Vietnam in a military junta from 1965 to 1967. Then, until his retirement from politics in 1971, he served as vice president to bitter rival General Nguy n V n Thi u, in a nominally civilian administration. In 1964 K became prominent in junta politics, regarded as part of a group of young, aggressive officers dubbed the Young Turks. Over the next two years, there were repeated coup attempts, many of which were successful, and K was a key player in supporting or defeating them. In 2004, he became the first South Vietnamese leader to return, calling for reconciliation between communists and anti-communists. Derived from a Kirkus review: An informal memoir in highly polished as-told-to style, by the former South Vietnamese air commander, 1965-67 chief of state, and vice-president under Thieu. Ky began working with the Americans in the 1950s when he and CIA's William Colby airlifted secret agents into North Vietnam. With U. S. backing, he became prime minister amid pleas from the armed forces that he end post-Diem chaos. Speaking his mind to American generals, ambassadors, and presidents, Ky voiced complaints about U. S. conduct of the war: manipulation of South Vietnamese coups, failure to understand the country's culture, responsibility for corruption, and refusal to either make an all-out fight or keep a low profile like the Soviets and Chinese. Ky sees various turning points for South Vietnam. His government's 1968 refusal to agree to a bombing halt; Watergate prevented Nixon from blackmailing Hanoi with a new bomb; and in 1975, the US forbade Ky to fight a in Saigon.