 Thiệu saw an opportunity to consolidate his personal power and he took it . His only real political rival was Vice President Kỳ , the former Air Force commander , who had been outmaneuvered by Thiệu in the presidential election of 1967 . In the aftermath of Tet , Kỳ supporters in the military and the administration were quickly removed from power , arrested , or exiled . A crack @-@ down on the South Vietnamese press also ensued and there was a worrisome return of former President Ngô Đình Diệm 's Cần Lao Party members to high positions in the government and military . By the summer of 1968 , the President had earned a less exalted sobriquet among the South Vietnamese population , who had begun to call him " the little dictator . " 
