Madame Nhu

Madame Nhu (aka Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu), (born Tran Le Xuan) (1924), (Hanoi), Vietnam, was the granddaughter of Emperor Dong Khanh. Her parents were Tran Van Chuong and mother Nam Tran Chuon. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of South Vietnam's first President Ngo Dinh Diem.

Biography

In 1943, she married Ngo Dinh Nhu, and converted from Mahayana Buddhism to Roman Catholicism, her husband’s religion. Due to the partition of Vietnam, they along with thousands of Vietnamese migrated to South Vietnam, under the leadership of Emperor Bao Dai.

She was influential on government policy and, since her brother-in-law leader, Ngo Dinh Diem was unmarried, was regarded as the "First Lady" of Vietnam. Madame Nhu would attempt to combine Confucian Nationalism with herself as a modern reincarnation of Vietnam’s fabled Trung Sisters who temporarily defeated the Han Dynasty Chinese troops in 40 A.D.

In 1962, she had a statue erected in Saigon to the memory of the Trung Sisters and also established the "Women's Solidarity Movement" a female paramilitary organization.

During the Presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem, Madame Nhu formed military units for women and pushed for the passing of the 'morality laws'. These included such things as outlawing abortion, contraceptives, dance halls, beauty pageants, boxing matches, 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 and The Women's Paramilitary Corps

Madame Nhu was said to be called the "Dragon Lady" because she said she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show." (She was referring to the Buddhist monks who poured flammable liquids over themselves and meditated calmly while burning themselves to death). She was always causing controversy because of her blunt, outspoken manner.

On November 1, 1963 her brother in-law President Ngo Dinh Diem and her husband Ngo Dinh Nhu were assassinated in a coup d'etat led by General Duong Van Minh with the understanding that the United States would not intervene.

Madame Nhu was in Beverly Hills, California at the time since October, with her daughter, Le Thuy, for a trip to the United States and Italy, where she intended to expose a scheming President John F. Kennedy and the CIA to the American public. Her 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 false. My father, who was our Ambassador to the United States until two months ago, has been against me since my childhood."

Madame Nhu and her daughter Le Thuy

When Madame Nhu learned of the coup d'etat she immediately suspected the United States saying, "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies". Madame Nhu went on to predict a dark future for Vietnam and that, by being involved in the coup, the troubles of the United States in Vietnam were only begining.

The Military Government of General Duong Van Minh confiscated all of her family's property in Saigon and she was not allowed back to South Vietnam. She went to Rome, Italy 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 to return to South Vietnam, but it was denied.

In the late 1960s, her daughter Le Thuy was killed in an automobile crash in Paris, France

On October 16, 1971, Madame Nhu was robbed of more than $32,000 worth of jewelry in Rome, Italy, which was reported by the New York Times.

On November 2, 1986, Madame Nhu charged the United States for hounding her family with the arrest of her younger brother Tran Van Khiem in the strangling deaths of her parents Tran Van Chuong and Nam Tran Chuong, when they charged him in the killing of her parents in their Washington D.C. home.

In the 1990s, she was reportedly living on the French Riviera and charging the press for interviews, and has been listed in biographical publications as recent as 2001.

Quotes

• "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?"
• "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."
• "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies"
• "Let them burn and we shall clap our hands." - referring to the immolation of Buddhist monks
• "I believe all the devils in hell are against us but we will triumph eventually."
• "Any crime committed against the Ngo family cannnot be hidden under the label of suicide. I affirm that suicide has always been considered incompatible with our religion." - referring that President Ngo Dinh Diem and her husband Ngo Dinh Nhu committed suicide
• "Now you know what it feels like" - Madame Nhu to President Kennedy's wife after his assassination

External link

• Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, sister-in-law of President Diem (http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/archive/speech_488.html) Also Audio of her Speech available
• Madame Nhu Almost Slept Here (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:EXU0LDJSKFcJ:ngoviet.topcities.com/NVT/times03.pdf+madame+nhu&hl=en)