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Nguyen Cao Ky was born September 9, 1930 and he fought with the French forces that opposed the Vietnamese Liberation Movement. When the country was partitioned in 1954, he joined the Vietnamese Air Force and became commander after the 1963 overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem. Nguyen Cao Ky was one of three rulers who led South Vietnam after another coup in 1965. In 1971 he failed to win an election against incumbent President Thieu, so he returned to the Air Force. He escaped from Vietnam in 1975 and settled in the United States. Nguyen Cao Ky was a favorite with American advisors because of his strong anti-Communism.

Colonel George Budway was Commander of the Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam from April, 1965 until May, 1966. During this time he formed a friendship with Nguyen Cao Ky, Defense Minister and future leader of South Vietnam. Colonel Budway and journalist Charles J. V. Murphy collaborated with Nguyen Cao Ky in conducting a number of interviews in which all three participated in covering various aspects of Nguyen Cao Ky’s life and his participation in the South Vietnamese government and its defense forces until 1966.

Charles J. V. Murphy planned to write a book on Nguyen Cao Ky during 1967-1968, but he abandoned the project. Mr. Murphy was a journalist who frequently contributed to Time and Fortune magazines while publishing books on Richard Byrd, James Forrestal and the Windsor family. He was a close friend of fellow Yale graduates, Henry Luce, Allen Dulles, James Angleton, and Frank Whisner, who were important in the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency. His CIA activities included writing stories for the agency during the Allende period in Chile. Murphy and Budway maintained a correspondence between 1967 and 1984.