Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu
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Madame Nhu (born 1924 in Hanoi, Vietnam), also known as Madame Ngô Đình Nhu and born Trần Lệ Xuân, was considered the First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963.
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[edit] Biography
In 1943, she married Ngô Đình Nhu, and converted from Mahayana Buddhism to Roman Catholicism, her husband's religion. Due to the partition of Vietnam they migrated alongside thousands of other Vietnamese Catholics to South Vietnam, under the leadership of her husband's brother, Ngô Đình Diệm.
She 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 AD 40.
In 1962, she had a statue erected in Saigon to the memory of the Trưng Sisters and also established the "Women's Solidarity Movement," a female paramilitary organization.
During her brother-in-law's presidency Madame Nhu formed military units for women and pushed for the passing of 'morality laws'. These included such things as outlawing abortion, 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.
Madame Nhu was sometimes called the "Dragon Lady". She often caused controversy because of her strong anti-Buddhist, pro-Catholic ideology. Her parents disowned her because of her role in the persecution of Buddhists. Notably she mocked the protest by Thích Quảng Đức, who performed a self-immolation in a crowded Saigon street.
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 Le Thuy.[citation needed] Excerpts from her October 13, 1963 interview on NBCTV's "Meet the Press":
- "I don't know why you Americans dislike us. 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."[citation needed]
When Madame Nhu 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.
[edit] Life in Exile
The military government of Vietnam under General Dương Văn Minh confiscated all of her family's property in Saigon and she was not allowed to return to South Vietnam. She went to Rome briefly before moving permanently to France with her children.
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.
In the late 1960s, her daughter Le Thuy was killed in an automobile crash in Paris. On October 16, 1971, Madame Nhu was robbed of more than $132,000 worth of jewelry in Rome, which was reported by the New York Times.
In the 1990s, she was reportedly living on the French Riviera and charging the press for interviews. She has been listed in biographical publications as recently as 2001.
[edit] 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?"[citation needed]
- "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 barbeque show, for one can not be responsible for the madness of others.'"[citation needed]
- "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies."[citation needed]
- "Let them burn and we shall clap our hands."[citation needed]
Refuting the rumors that President Ngô Đình Diệm and her husband, Ngô Đình Nhu, had committed suicide:
- "I believe all the devils in hell are against us but we will triumph eventually."[citation needed]
- "Any crime committed against the Ngô family cannot be hidden under the label of suicide. I affirm that suicide has always been considered incompatible with our religion."[citation needed]
Madame Nhu to Jacqueline Kennedy after President Kennedy's assassination:
- "Now you know what it feels like." [citation needed]
[edit] See also
- Tran Van Chuong - Her father served as South Vietnam's Ambassador to the United States
[edit] External links
- Madame Ngô Đình Nhu, sister-in-law of President Diệm audio of her speech also available
- 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.
| Preceded by: Empress Nam Phuong |
First Ladies of South Vietnam | Succeeded by: -- |
