Word: ky
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Most disastrous from Saigon's point of view was the unexpected weakness of its army's defense. In Tarn Ky and Quang Ngai City, government forces simply evaporated before the Communist advance, often dropping their arms and supplies in the process. In Ban Me Thuot, the provincial capital 160 miles northwest of Saigon, panicky troops fled a Communist offensive three weeks ago, abandoning 1 million gallons of gas, 3,200 tons of ammunition and 10,000 tons of rice. Three days before the city's collapse, 100 trucks arrived with supplies that were soon captured...
Close enough, it seemed, for some extraordinary political events to take place in Saigon. On Wednesday a group of leading anti-Communists met for tea at the officers' club at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. Their host was Nguyen Cao Ky, the flamboyant airman who was Prime Minister from 1965 to 1967. Among Ky's 30-odd guests were such prominent figures as Dr. Tran Van Do, former Foreign Minister and head of the South Vietnamese delegation to the Geneva Convention of 1954, and Father Tran Huu Thanh, leader of the Catholic anticorruption movement that has sponsored several...
Thieu's response was swift and characteristic. He had a handful of lesser-known dissidents arrested, including two who had been at the tea meeting, as well as a number of journalists and politicians who tend to support Ky. The arrests were clearly meant to frighten the bigger fish in the opposition and demonstrate that Thieu not only was still in power but also intended to remain there...
Still, given the collapse of the military effort, opposition to Thieu's government is bound to increase, especially among Saigon's strongly non-Communist conservative groups. The day after the arrests, Ky and Father Thanh held a news conference to announce the formation of an Action Committee for National Salvation that would press Thieu to relinquish his near absolute power. None of the action committee sponsors favored an overthrow of Thieu; indeed, they seemed to believe that a coup would only further lessen public confidence in the government. But the conservative opposition argued that South Viet...
...also touched ground once, in the ninth round, after tripping over the challenger's foot. Referee Tony Perez ruled it a knockdown and gave the surprised Louisville, Ky., native a mandatory eight-count...