Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu

Trần Lệ Xuân (born 1924 in Hanoi, Vietnam), popularly known as Madame Nhu but more properly Madame Ngô Đình Nhu, was considered the First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem. Since Diem was a bachelor, she was considered to be the First Lady and lived with her husband in the Independence Palace.

Early years

Trần Lệ Xuân was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Hanoi. [Robert Trumbull, "First Lady of Vietnam", The New York Times, 18 November 1962, page SM33] Her paternal grandfather was close to the French colonial administration, while her father, Tran Van Chuong, studied law in France, before marrying into the ruling imperial dynasty. Her mother, Tran Than Trong Nam, was a granddaughter of Emperor Dong Khanh and a cousin of Emperor Bao Dai.http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Vietnam/annam9.htm] Madame Nhu's mother was widely reputed to have had a series of lovers, among them her future son-in-law Ngo Dinh Nhu.

A mediocre student, Madame Nhu dropped out of Lycée Albert Sarraut, a prestigious French school. She spoke French at home and could not write in Vietnamese; as an adult, she drafted her speeches in French and had them translated into Vietnamese.Karnow, pp. 280–284.] She gained a reputation in her youth as a tomboy who loved ballet and piano, once dancing solo at Hanoi's National Theatre.Jones, pp. 117–119.] She had an older sister and a younger brother and was known for beating him up in their childhood. [Warner, p. 93.]

When she became an adult, her mother introduced her to a series of eligible young men, but she insisted on Nhu. He was twice her age and referred to her as "little niece" in accordance with Vietnamese custom.Prochnau, pp. 122–123.] In 1943, she married Nhu and converted from Mahayana Buddhism to Roman Catholicism, her husband's religion. After an uprising by the Vietminh in December 1946, her brother-in-law Ngo Dinh Khoi was buried alive, and Nhu and another brother, Ngo Dinh Can, were forced to flee. Madame Nhu, her mother-in-law and her eldest daughter, at the time a baby, were captured. Thinking that her piano was a radio for communicating with French colonialists, the Vietminh blew it up and then exiled her to a remote village for four months, where she was forced to live on two bowls of rice a day. The French dismissed Nhu from his post at the National Library due to Diem’s nationalist activities, and he moved to Da Lat and lived comfortably, editing a newspaper, where his wife bore three more children.

Rise to power

Madame Nhu's brother-in-law, Diệm, had been appointed Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam by her distant cousin, Emperor Bao Dai, after the French had been defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. At the start of 1955, French Indochina was dissolved, leaving Diem in temporary control of the south. [Maclear, pp. 65–68.]

A referendum was scheduled for October 23, 1955 to determine the future direction of the south. It was contested by Bao Dai, the Emperor, advocating the restoration of the monarchy, while Diem ran on a republican platform. The elections were held, with Nhu and the family's Can Lao Party, which supplied Diem's electoral base, organising and supervising the elections. [Langguth, p. 99.] Campaigning for Bao Dai was prohibited, and the result was rigged, with Bao Dai's supporters attacked by Nhu's workers. Diem recorded 98.2% of the vote, including 605,025 votes in Saigon, where only 450,000 voters were registered. Diem's tally also exceeded the registration numbers in other districts.Jacobs, p. 95.] Karnow, p. 239.]

Post-elections

After the election, the couple moved into the Presidential Palace. Madame Nhu was influential on government policy and, since her brother-in-law Ngô Đình Diệm was unmarried, was regarded as the "first lady" of Vietnam. Madame Nhu attempted to combine Catholicism with herself as a modern reincarnation of Vietnam's fabled Trưng Sisters, who temporarily defeated the invading Han Dynasty Chinese troops in 40 CE. In 1962, she had a statue erected in Saigon to the memory of the Trưng Sisters, with the facial features modelled on herself, and also established the "Women's Solidarity Movement," a female paramilitary organization. Diệm often appointed relatives to high positions, so her father became the ambassador to the United States while her mother, a former beauty queen, was South Vietnam's observer at United Nations. Two of her uncles were cabinet ministers. [Tucker, p. 293.] Madame Nhu's parents resigned their posts in 1963, in protest over the treatment of Buddhists under the regime of President Diệm. [The couple were found strangled to death in Washington, D.C. in 1986, killed by their only son, Tran Van Khiem, after he was cut from his parents' will, according to "Change in Will Linked to Saigon Aide's Death", The New York Times, 8 August 1986]

Advocacy

During her brother-in-law's presidency Madame Nhu pushed for the passing of 'morality laws'. These included such things as outlawing abortion, adultery, divorce, contraceptives, dance halls, beauty pageants, boxing matches, and animal fighting, and closed down the brothels and opium dens. Many people did not appreciate the imposition of Madame Nhu's values on their lives. She was also widely mocked by the public who regarded her as hypocritical, with older Vietnamese believing her décolleté gowns to be sexually suggestive, as well as widespread rumours of her own infidelity.

Her family also received further scorn since her sister, Le Chi, had a French lover, and critics alleged that Madame Nhu introduced the laws so that her sister's husband could not get a divorce. Since he was extremely wealthy, the Ngo family would have lost highly valuable assets. In addition, her brother Khiem used the government connections to bilk rich entrepreneurs.

Diem had stated before becoming President: "The history of China bears witness to the grave crises brought on by the empresses and their relatives". In Madame Nhu, Diem had a first lady who was a part of the period of decay leading up to his downfall. According to A. J. Langguth, she exerted influence with her fiery attitude, often abusing Diem and Nhu, who bowed to her angry tirades. Madame Nhu was sometimes called the "Dragon Lady". [Langguth, pp. 109-111] She had a message to Diem opponents, noting that "We will track down, neutralize and extirpate all these scabby sheep." [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,829109-2,00.html Joan or Lucrezia] TIME Magazine - Mar. 23, 1962]

Buddhist crisis

She often caused controversy because of her strong anti-Buddhist, pro-Catholic ideology. When she heard that Diem was to sign a statement offering compensation to the families of Buddhist protestors shot by the police of his brother Ngo Dinh Can, Madame Nhu was reported to have thrown a bowl of soup at him.Langguth, p. 216] Notably she mocked the protest by Thích Quảng Đức, who performed a self-immolation in a crowded Saigon street in response to the shooting of Buddhists by Diem's regime. Madame Nhu called it a "barbecue" and stating "let them burn and we shall clap our hands". Her parents disowned her because of her role in the persecution of Buddhists, with her father resigning as ambassador to the United States and criticising her brother-in-law's regime. [Karnow, p.301] This occurred after special forces loyal to Nhu raided the Xa Loi Pagoda in Saigon in August. The pagoda was vandalised, monks beaten, the cremated remains of Thích Quảng Đức, which included a heart which had not disintegrated, were confiscated. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940704-1,00.html The Crackdown - TIME ] ] Simultaneous raids were carried out across the country, with the Tu Dam Pagoda in Huế being looted, the statue of Gautama Buddha demolished, and a body of a deceased monk stolen. When the populace came to the defence of the monks, the resulting clashes saw 30 civilians killed and 200 wounded. Through her paramilitary organisation, Madame Nhu claimed that the Buddhists were "controlled by communism" and that they were manipulated by the Americans, calling on Diem to "expel all foreign agitators whether they wear monks' robes or not". [Jacobs, p. 146] When William Trueheart warned that aid might be withheld if the repression orchestrated by the Nhus continued, Madame Nhu denounced it as "blackmail". Nhu and Diem, fearing a cut in aid, sent Madame Nhu to the United States on a speaking tour. She denounced American liberals as "worse than communists" and Buddhists as "hooligans in robes". Her father did not share the same beliefs and followed her around the country, denouncing the "injustice and oppression" and stating that his daughter had "become unwittingly the greatest asset to the communists." Madame Nhu also defiantly predicted that Buddhism would become extinct in Vietnam. [Karnow, pp. 296-320]

In the wake of the tumultuous events, Madame Nhu appeared on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" on October 13, 1963, defending her actions and those of the South Vietnamese government. "I don't know why you Americans dislike us," she said. "Is it because the world is under a spell called liberalism? Your own public, here in America, is not as anti-Communistic as ours is in Vietnam. Americans talk about my husband and I leaving our native land permanently. Why should we do this? Where would we go? To say that 70 percent of my country's population is Buddhistic is absolutely true. My father, who was our Ambassador to the United States until two months ago, has been against me since my childhood."

Downfall

On November 1, 1963 her brother-in-law, President Ngô Đình Diệm, and her husband, Ngô Đình Nhu, were assassinated in a coup d'état led by General Dương Văn Minh with the understanding that the United States would not intervene. At the time of the assassinations, Madame Nhu had been in Beverly Hills, California since October, with her daughter Ngô Dinh Le Thuy. When she learned of the coup d'état, she immediately suspected the United States, saying "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies." She went on to predict a bleak future for Vietnam and said that, by being involved in the coup, the troubles of the United States in Vietnam were just beginning.

Life in Exile

The military government of Vietnam under General Dương Văn Minh confiscated all of the property in Saigon that belonged to Madame Nhu and her family, and she was not allowed to return to South Vietnam. She went to Rome briefly before moving permanently to France with her children. Her daughter Le Thuy died in 1967, at age 22, in an automobile accident in Longjumeau, France. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843633-1,00.html]

In 1964, she attempted to get a visa to re-enter South Vietnam on security grounds from the United States Department of State, but it was denied.

On October 16, 1971, Madame Nhu was robbed of more than $132,000 worth of jewelry in Rome, Italy, which was reported by the New York Times. [http://timelines.ws/20thcent/1963.HTML] [http://www.giaodiem.com/mluc/mluc_IV05/1105_hvy_hess.htm]

On November 2, 1986, Madame Nhu charged the United States for hounding her family during the arrest of her younger brother, Tran Van Khiem, who was charged in the strangling deaths of their parents, Tran Van Chuong and Nam Tran Chuong in their Washington D.C. home. [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1356255.html]

In the 1990s, the former first lady of South Vietnam was reportedly living on the French Riviera and charging the press for interviews. She has been listed in biographical publications as recently as 2001.

In 2002, Madame Nhu gave an interview to the journalist Truong Phu Thu of Dân Chúa Mỹ Châu, a magazine published for the Vietnamese Catholic community. It was published in October 2004. The article states that she is living in Paris and that she is working on her memoirs. [http://www.forums.vietcyber.net/forums/printthread.php?t=84627]

Influence on Vietnamese fashion

In the early 1960s, Madame Nhu popularized a tight-fitting version of the traditional Áo dài (long dress) that was considered controversial in its day, due to its tight fit and low-cut neckline. According to a scholar of Vietnamese visual arts, "To foreigners, this collar made sense, given the tropical conditions, but conservatives saw it as too suggestive for Vietnamese women." [http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/633/3/adt-NU20051129.15002905Chapter4.pdf]

Quotes

"Referring to the practice of self-immolation of Buddhist monks:"
* "If one has no courage to denounce, if one bows to madness and stupidity, how can one ever hope to cope with the other wrongs of humanity exploited in the same fashion by Communists?""Letters to the Times: Mrs. Nhu Defends Stand", The New York Times, 14 August 1963]
* "I may shock some by saying 'I would beat such provocateurs ten times more if they wore monks robes,' and 'I would clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show, for one can not be responsible for the madness of others.'"
* "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies."
* "Let them (monks) burn and we shall clap our hands.""Speculating on US involvement in the assassinations of her husband and brother-in-law:"
* "I cannot stay in a country whose government stabbed me in the back. I believe all the devils in hell are against us."Jones, p.423]
* "My family has been treacherously killed with either official or unofficial blessing of the American Government, I can predict to you now that the story is only at its beginning."Jones, p.433]
*"Judas has sold the Christ for 30 pieces of silver. The Ngo brothers have been sold for a few dollars."

ee also

*Tran Van Chuong - Her father served as South Vietnam's Ambassador to the United States

References

*cite book| first=Howard |last=Jones| year=2003| title= Death of a Generation| publisher=Oxford University Press| isbn=0-19-505286-2
*cite book| title=Vietnam: A History| first=Stanley |last=Karnow |authorlink=Stanley Karnow| year=1997 |publisher=Penguin Books | isbn=0-670-84218-4
*cite book| title=Our Vietnam| first=A. J. |last=Langguth |year=2000 |publisher=Simon and Schuster | isbn=0-684-81202-9
*cite book| title=Vietnam:The Ten Thousand Day War| first=Michael |last=Maclear |year=1981 |publisher=Methuen Publishing | isbn=0-423-00580-4
*cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War| first= Spencer C. |last=Tucker |year=2000 |publisher=ABC-CLIO| isbn=1-57607-040-0
*cite book| title=The Last Confucian| first=Denis |last=Warner| year=1963 |publisher=Macmillan Publishers

Notes

External links

* [http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/clipview/index.jsp?id=cd6track01 Madame Ngô Đình Nhu, sister-in-law of President Diệm] audio of her speech also available
* [http://www.earthstation1.com/Madame_Nhu.html Madame Nhu, Sounds, Images & Videos] The wife of the Chief of Secret Police Ngô Đình Nhu gives a startling response to the spectacle of Buddhist monks setting fire to themselves to protest the Diem government in 1963.
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892087-2,00.html Dainty Emancipator]

Preceded by: Empress Nam Phuong

First Ladies of South Vietnam

Succeeded by: --