A statement by South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky that Adolf Hitler is his personal hero has upset Washington officials committed to the Saigon regime, it was learned here today. Gen. Ky told the London Sunday Mirror, in an interview printed in the Washington Post, that “People ask me who my heroes are. I have only one–Hitler.”
Gen. Ky explained that the basis of his admiration for the Nazi Fuehrer was that Hitler succeeded in unifying a divided Germany around himself. He reportedly added that South Viet Nam should have “four or five Hitlers to deal with subversive elements and unify the Vietnamese nation.”
One official source here said that Gen. Ky may have admired Hitler as a nationalist leader of Germany, but that Washington authorities felt this should not be interpreted as an endorsement of Hitler’s anti-Jewish policies.
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