Madame Nhu
Trần Lệ Xuân | |
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Nguyễn Thị Mai Anh | |
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Born | Cần Lao | 22 August 1924
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Alma mater | Lycée Albert Sarraut |
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Trần Lệ Xuân (22 August 1924
Known for her harsh and incendiary comments that denounced anti-government protests by some Buddhist sects and the strong U.S. influence and presence in the country, she went to live in exile in France after her husband and her brother-in-law, Diệm, were assassinated in 1963.
Early years
Trần Lệ Xuân, whose given name means "Spring's Beauty," was born in 1924 into a wealthy
Lệ Xuân's education at the Lycée Albert Sarraut, a prestigious French school in Hanoi, was entirely in French, and she remembered as a schoolgirl learning about French history but nothing about Vietnamese history, and of singing songs about the forests and mountains of France, observing later the purpose of her education was to eradicate any sense of a Vietnamese identity, and to make her into a proper young Frenchwoman.[7] The purpose of French educational policies in Vietnam was always in reference to France's self-proclaimed mission civilisatrice ("civilizing mission") to make all Vietnamese into "Frenchmen with yellow skin," and thus French teachers tried to stamp out any sense of a Vietnamese identity in their students.[7] The message French teachers taught their students was that to be French was to be "civilized" and to be Vietnamese was to be "uncivilized." She then dropped out of Lycée Albert Sarraut. 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.[3] She gained a reputation in her youth as a tomboy who loved ballet and piano, once dancing solo at Hanoi's National Theatre.[9] She had an elder sister named Trần Lệ Chi (who married the Frenchman Etienne Oggeri and changed her name to Lechi Oggeri) and a younger brother, Trần Văn Khiêm.[10] Like many other Vietnamese, Lệ Xuân was to find that no matter how hard she tried to be French, that the French were only prepared to accept whites as French.[11]
When she became an adult, her mother introduced her to a series of eligible young men, but she insisted on Nhu. He was fourteen years her senior and referred to her as "little niece" in accordance with Vietnamese custom.
She, her mother-in-law and her eldest daughter, at the time a baby, were captured. Thinking her piano was a radio for communicating with French colonialists, the Viet Minh blew it up and then exiled her to a remote village for four months, where she lived on two bowls of rice a day.
Rise to power
Madame Nhu's brother-in-law, Ngô Đình Diệm, had been appointed Prime Minister of the
In order to ensure American support for Diệm, Madame Nhu befriended Americans working at the embassy in Saigon known to be CIA agents.[22] For their part, the French backed General Nguyễn Văn Hinh as Prime Minister, and he in turn had won the support of the Bình Xuyên crime syndicate that dominated the economic life of Saigon.[23] Giving Madame Nhu an additional reason to intrigue against Hinh was his repeated boasting that when he deposed Diệm he would make Madame Nhu into another of his concubines.[24] At a party, Madame Nhu confronted Hinh to tell him: "You are never going to overthrow this government because you don't have the guts. And if you do overthrow the government, you will never have me because I will claw your throat out first!"[24]
To win support for Diệm, Madame Nhu hit upon the idea of enlisting support from the million or so refugees from North Vietnam, many of them Catholics who fled to the south after the Geneva accords had partitioned Vietnam, organizing them for a massive pro-Diệm demonstration on 21 September 1954.[25] The rally in Saigon led to a confrontation on the streets between Madame Nhu and Bình Xuyên gunmen, with Madame Nhu daring the thugs to kill her right then and there, which caused them to demur, and the rally went on.[26] Emboldened by this triumph, Diệm saw a chance to put his puritanical Roman Catholic values into practice and to strike a blow at the Bình Xuyên at the same time by shutting down the brothels, gambling houses and opium dens of Saigon owned by the Bình Xuyên while having pornographic magazines burned on the streets (the Bình Xuyên were the largest producers and sellers of pornography in Vietnam).[27]
A referendum was scheduled for 23 October 1955, to determine the future direction of the south. It was contested by
Post-elections
After the election, the couple moved into the
In 1962, she had a
Her father became the ambassador to the United States while her mother was South Vietnam's observer at the United Nations. Two of her uncles were cabinet ministers.[39]
Her parents resigned from their posts in 1963, in protest over the treatment of Buddhists under the regime of President Diệm and disowned their daughter.[40]
Howard Jones says "Madame Nhu was chauffeured in a black Mercedes and wore a small diamond crucifix",[14] and "wore form-fitting apparel so tight that one French correspondent suggestively described her as 'molded into her ... dress like a dagger in its sheath.' On formal occasions, she wore red satin pantaloons with three vertical pleats, which was the mark of the highest-ranking women of the imperial court in ancient Annam." When Diệm once criticized her collarless apparel, she snapped: "It's not your neck that sticks out, it's mine. So, shut up."[41]
Advocacy
During her brother-in-law's presidency, Madame Nhu pushed for the passing of "morality laws" outlawing abortion,
Madame Nhu exerted influence with her fiery attitude, often abusing Diệm and Nhu, who bowed to her angry tirades. Madame Nhu was frequently mocked by the media for her ostentatious flaunting of power, and was sometimes called the "Dragon Lady",[42] as well as "Lucretia Borgia" and "The Queen Bee".[43][44] She once stated "Power is wonderful. Total power is totally wonderful."[45] In Vietnam, Madame Nhu was called the Tiger Lady as dragons are considered lucky and benevolent (mythical) animals in Vietnamese culture that are the wise and kindly friends of humanity, whereas the tiger is considered a symbol of ferocity, and many Vietnamese found the term "Dragon Lady" mystifying and insulting.[46] She once told a group of American congressmen, "I'm not exactly afraid of death. I love power and in the next life I have a chance to be even more powerful than I am."[47] U.S. Defense Secretary McNamara noted that "I saw Madame Nhu as bright, forceful, and beautiful, but also diabolical and scheming—a true sorceress."[48]
She had a message to Diệm's opponents: "We will track down, neutralize and extirpate all these scabby sheep."[49] French journalist François Sully wrote that Madame Nhu was "conceited, and obsessed with a drive for power that far surpasses that of even her husband ... It is no exaggeration to say that Madame Nhu is the most detested personality in South Vietnam."[50] Sully was promptly expelled from Vietnam by the Ngô family.[51]
Madame Nhu claimed that she and her husband were responsible for Diệm's triumph over the
As her husband's influence grew, as did her own vicariously, so did American distaste for them.
She often exerted her influence through bouts of shouting. Sometimes when she disagreed with a proposal or decision that had been made inside the palace by some ministers or other senior public servants, she would verbally abuse them and intimidate them into adopting her preferred stance.[55]
On 27 February 1962, two dissident
Diệm reacted to the bombing by cracking down on political dissidents and further tightening control of the press.[57] Madame Nhu added, "[y]ou open a window to let in light and air, not bullets. We want freedom, but we don't want to be exploited by it."[58] In a radio interview in late 1962, she mockingly remarked that American journalists were "intoxicated with communism".[59]
The following year she instructed her Women's Solidarity Movement to oppose American attempts "to make lackeys of Vietnamese and to seduce Vietnamese women into decadent paths."[60] As relations became strained, she publicly accused the Americans of having supported the 1960 coup.[61]
Buddhist crisis
On 8 May 1963, a series of celebrations were held by Buddhist priests all over South Vietnam to honor Buddhist holiday of
Her own father went on radio to condemn her comments.[44] A Confucian, Chương said that the regime had alienated "the strongest moral forces", implying that they had lost the Mandate of Heaven. She responded by calling him a "coward". Her mother said that "There is an old proverb in my country which means 'one should not make oneself or one's family naked before the world'... I was sick... Now, nobody can stop her ... She never listened to our advice."[14] After these comments, the U.S. ambassador, Frederick Nolting, told Diệm that if he did not denounce his sister-in-law's comment in public, the U.S. would have to stop supporting him, but the president refused to do so, and assailed the monks.[66] In an interview with David Halberstam, Madame Nhu said that it was "embarrassing to see people [Buddhist leaders] so uncultured claiming to be leaders". The U.S. embassy told Diệm that these comments violated an agreement between the Buddhists and his regime to avoid verbal exchanges, but Diệm refused to keep his family's end of the bargain, saying that his sister-in-law was obliged to expose "extremists" to keep the public informed.[64] In July, the U.S. government rejected a request from her to travel to the United States for a public speaking tour, fearing a public relations disaster.[67] On 3 August, she called the Buddhists "seditious elements who use the most odious Communist tactics to subvert the country."[68]
This occurred after
The United States, in a position of some leverage owing to the considerable U.S. aid flowing into South Vietnam, in August 1963 wished to give President Diệm a chance to rid himself of both his brother and Madame Nhu. In a cable drafted by Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs,
Her comments further stoked open infighting with her parents, who would eventually disown her and seek refuge in the United States. Her father, Trần Văn Chương, the ambassador to the United States, resigned in protest,[75][76] along with all but one of the staffers at the embassy.[77] Chương charged Diệm with having "copied the tactics of totalitarian regimes".[75] His wife, who was South Vietnam's observer at the United Nations, resigned and spoke of mass executions and a reign of terror under Diệm and Nhu. She predicted that if Diệm, Nhu, and Madame Nhu did not leave Vietnam, then they would inevitably be killed.[78] Madame Nhu claimed Buddhist leader Thích Trí Quang "spoke for many intellectuals who had repeatedly ridiculed her."[79]
Following the pagoda raids, Trí Quang was given asylum at the U.S. Embassy after Ngô Đình Nhu's plans to assassinate him were uncovered. Madame Nhu gave a media interview in which she called on government troops to invade the American embassy and capture Thích Trí Quang and some other monks who were staying there, saying that the government must arrest "all key Buddhists".[79] In a media interview, her husband responded to his parents-in-law by vowing to kill his father-in-law, claiming his wife would participate. He said "I will have his head cut off. I will hang him in the center of a square and let him dangle there. My wife will make the knot on the rope because she is proud of being a Vietnamese and she is a good patriot."[80]
Visiting the United States
When acting U.S. ambassador
Madame Nhu's comments were such that President
There was also speculation that she could turn up at the United Nations in New York and embarrass South Vietnam and the U.S.
In Madame Nhu's first destination, Belgrade, she said in an interview that "President Kennedy is a politician, and when he hears a loud opinion speaking in a certain way, he tries to appease it somehow", referring to the opposition to her family's rule.[84] She continued: "if that opinion is misinformed, the solution is not to bow to it, but the solution should be to inform."[85][86]
The issue resulted in an awkward confrontation when U.S. Defense Secretary
On 29 September 1963 meeting with Diệm, McNamara bemoaned "the ill-advised and unfortunate declarations of Madame Nhu",[88] who had described U.S. military advisors as "acting like little soldiers of fortune".[88] McNamara said that such comments would damage bilateral military cooperation and deter American officers from helping the South Vietnamese forces.[88] Lodge denounced the comments and said, "These men should be thanked, not insulted."[89] However, one of his aides lost his composure and asked if "there were not something the government could do to shut her up."[88] Diệm was stunned by the comments and retorted that "one cannot deny a lady the right to defend herself when she has been unjustly attacked", saying his sister-in-law was entitled to freedom of speech.[88] But McNamara reinforced the point, noting to Diệm that "This is not satisfactory. The problems were real and serious. They had to be solved before the war could be won."[90]
Madame Nhu arrived in the United States on 7 October, and her arrival was greeted by the United Nations' launching of an inquiry into the repression of Buddhists in South Vietnam.[91] Kennedy had resisted the temptation to deny her an entry visa and his administration soon came under a flurry of verbal attacks.[91]
Despite U.S. Vice President
She denounced American liberals as "worse than communists"[92] and Buddhists as "hooligans in robes".[93] Her father did not share the same beliefs and followed her around the country rebutting her comments,[91] denouncing the "injustice and oppression" and stating that his daughter had "become unwittingly the greatest asset to the communists." She predicted that Buddhism would become extinct in Vietnam.[94] The Oram Group, the Madison Avenue PR firm that had been hired to promote Diệm's image in the U.S. for $3,000 per month ended its relationship with Diệm during Madame Nhu's visit under the grounds she had so badly damaged the image of the Diệm government in America that there was nothing that could be done to improve his image and a continued association was going to cost the Oram Group other clients.[95] American journalists had discovered Madame Nhu was "unfortunately too beautiful to ignore" as a Kennedy administration staffer complained, and that it was easy to provoke her into saying something outrageous, causing a media circus to develop around her as she traveled across America.[96]
In the wake of the tumultuous events, Madame Nhu appeared on
Upon the assassination of the Diệm brothers, President Kennedy's feelings were expressed to close friend
That goddamn bitch. She's responsible for the death of that kind man. You know, it's so totally unnecessary to have that kind man die because that bitch stuck her nose in and boiled up the whole situation down there.[97]
Downfall
On 2 November 1963, Diệm and Nhu were assassinated in a coup d'état led by General
In response to the killings of Diệm and Nhu, she immediately accused the United States, saying "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies",[101] and that "No coup can erupt without American incitement and backing".[98] 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.[98] She called the deaths an "indelible stigma" against the U.S. and said "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."[98] She invoked biblical analogies, saying "Judas has sold the Christ for thirty pieces of silver. The Ngô brothers have been sold for a few dollars."[98] When asked if she wanted asylum in the United States, she said, "I cannot stay in a country whose government stabbed me in the back. I believe all the devils in hell are against us."[102]
In the aftermath of the coup, the statues of the
Life in exile
The military government of Vietnam under General
In November 1982 Madame Nhu accorded a first significant interview on the historic events in Vietnam to Judith Vecchione[105] in Rome. Vecchione was a producer for Vietnam: A Television History.[106] The interview, one of at least two hundred and fifty-nine for the series,[107] lasts a recorded fifty-two minutes but Madame Nhu's subjectivity was far from the hard facts demanded of the producers' intended content and barely two minutes of her observations found use.[108] The series subsequently aired on PBS in 1983.
On 2 November 1986, Madame Nhu charged the United States with hounding her family during the arrest of her younger brother, Trần Văn Khiêm, who was charged in the strangling deaths of their parents in their Washington, D.C., home after being cut out of their will.[2]
In 1993, she sued her parents' insurance company to prevent it from awarding their death benefit because she contested the validity of their wills. Her parents allegedly changed their wills, disinheriting their son Khiem and Madame Nhu and making their sister Le Chi the sole beneficiary.[109]
In the 1990s, she was reportedly living on the French Riviera and charging the press for interviews. In 2002, she gave an interview to journalist Truong Phu Thu of Dân Chúa Mỹ Châu, a Vietnamese Catholic community publication. It was published in October 2004. The article stated that she was living in Paris and working on her memoirs.[110]
In her last years, she lived with her eldest son, Ngô Đình Trác, and youngest daughter, Ngô Đình Lệ Quyên, in Rome, and was reportedly working on a book of memoirs to be published posthumously.[110]
In early April 2011, she was taken to a hospital in Rome where she died three weeks later, on
Books about Madame Nhu
- Finding the Dragon Lady: the Mystery of Vietnam's Madame Nhu, authored by Monique Brinson Demery
(PublicAffairs Books, published September 2013).[113] There is the significant claim upon this book that the author was ultimately entrusted with Madame Nhu's unpublished memoirs; and that additionally revealed to the author had been a diary presented as Madame Nhu's, from the years leading up to the coup, this having the only known provenance, a Vietnamese-American U.S. Army Captain James Văn Thạch.[114] - Trần Lệ Xuân Giấc Mộng Chính Trường (Vietnamese book)
- Đệ Nhất Phu Nhân Trần Lệ Xuân (Vietnamese book)
- La République du Viêt-Nam et les Ngô-Đình – written by the children of Madame Nhu, Ngô Đình Quynh and Ngô Đình Lệ Quyên, also family friend Madame Jacqueline Willemetz (French book)
Influence on Vietnamese fashion
In the early 1960s, Madame Nhu popularized her own version of the traditional áo dài that was considered controversial in its day due to its tight fit and low-cut neckline. According to Boi Tran Huynh, 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."[115]
Children
- Ngô Đình Lệ Thủy was born in Hue in 1945. She died on 12 April 1967, in an automobile accident in Longjumeau, France.
- Ngô Đình Trác (son) was born in Dalat in 1949. He graduated with a degree in agricultural engineering, married an Italian woman, and had 4 children. He died in 2021 due to a stroke.
- Ngô Đình Quỳnh (son) was born in Dalat in 1952. He graduated from ESSEC (École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales), a private school training professionals in the economy; currently works as a trade representative for a U.S. company in Brussels, Belgium.
- Ngô Đình Lệ Quyên was born in Saigon in 1959. She received a PhD from the University of Rome. Lệ Quyên was a lawyer in the legal IT sector and was invited as a guest lecturer at presentations by Law Faculty of the University of Rome. She served as Commissioner of Immigration Caritas Europe. On 16 April 2012, she was killed in a traffic accident on the way to work in Rome.[116][117]
References
Citations
- ^ a b (in Vietnamese) "Bà Trần Lệ Xuân qua đời". BBC News. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ a b c Joseph R. Gregory (26 April 2011). "Madame Nhu, Vietnam War Lightning Rod, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Karnow, pp. 280–284.
- ^ J. Lacouture, Vietnam: Between Two Truces, p. 79
- ^ Lacouture, p. 79.
- ISBN 978-1-68261-794-6.
- ^ a b c Demery, p. 33.
- ^ Baker, Katie (24 September 2013). "Finding The Dragon Lady: In Search of Vietnam's Infamous Madame Nhu". The Daily Beast.
- ^ a b Jones, pp. 292–93.
- ^ Warner, p. 93.
- ^ Demery, p. 30.
- ^ Prochnau, pp. 122–23.
- ^ a b Demery, p. 37.
- ^ a b c Jones, p. 293.
- ^ "Vietnam: A Television History; America's Mandarin (1954–1963); Interview with Ngo Dinh Luyen". openvault.wgbh.org. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- ^ Demery, p. 63.
- ^ Demery, p. 64.
- ^ Demery, pp. 65–66.
- ^ Maclear, pp. 65–68.
- ^ Demery, pp. 80–81.
- ^ a b c Demery, p. 81.
- ^ Demery, pp. 81–82.
- ^ Demery, pp. 82–83.
- ^ a b Demery, p. 83.
- ^ Demery, p. 86.
- ^ Demery, p. 87.
- ^ Demery, p. 88.
- ^ Langguth, p. 99.
- ^ a b Karnow, p. 239.
- ^ a b Jacobs, p. 95.
- ^ Demery, p. 66.
- ^ a b Demery, p. 98.
- ^ Demery, p. 107.
- ^ "Dainty Emancipator". Time, Vol. 73, Issue 4, 26 January 1959. (subscription required)
- ^ Demery, p. 102.
- ^ Langguth, pp. 169–171.
- ^ a b Langguth, p. 170.
- ^ Demery, pp. 125–126.
- ^ Tucker, p. 293.
- ^ The couple was found strangled to death in Washington, D.C., in 1986, killed by their son, Trần Văn Khiêm, reportedly for being cut out of their will, according to "Change in Will Linked to Saigon Aide's Death", The New York Times, 8 August 1986.
- ^ Jones, p. 294.
- ^ Langguth, pp. 109–111
- ^ "South Vietnam: The Queen Bee". Time, 9 August 1963. (subscription required)
- ^ a b Jones, p. 292.
- ^ Warner, pp. 117–19.
- ^ Demery, p. 117.
- ^ Maitland and Weiss, p. 65.
- ^ McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 42.
- ^ "Joan or Lucrezia?", Time, 23 March 1962.
- ^ Jones, pp. 195–196.
- ^ a b Jones, p. 196.
- ^ Langguth, p. 109.
- ^ Langguth, p. 111.
- ^ a b Langguth, p. 164.
- ^ a b Langguth, p. 212.
- ISBN 0-670-84218-4.
- ^ Tucker, p. 405.
- ^ Warner, p. 92.
- ^ Sheehan, p. 208.
- ^ Jones, p. 245.
- ^ Langguth, p. 219.
- ^ Demery, p. 158.
- ^ a b Langguth, p. 216.
- ^ a b Jones, p. 266.
- ^ Vietnam: A Television History: America's Mandarin (1954–1963)
- ^ Jacobs, pp. 294–5.
- ^ Jones, p. 290.
- ^ Jones, p. 291.
- ^ "South Viet Nam: The Crackdown". Time. 30 August 1963. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ Demery, p. 166.
- ^ Jacobs, p. 146
- ^ Halberstam, p. 146.
- ^ R. McNamara, In Retrospect, p. 53.
- ^ Id., pp. 53–54.
- ^ a b Jacobs, p. 154.
- ^ Karnow, p. 302.
- ^ Halberstam, p. 151.
- ^ Hammer, p. 171.
- ^ a b Jones, p. 306.
- ^ Jones, p. 393.
- ^ Jones, p. 351.
- ^ a b Jones, p. 352.
- ^ Jones, p. 357.
- ^ a b Jones, p. 359.
- ^ US Dept of State: Historical Documents › Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963 › Document 94 (see Note 4)
- ^ "Madame Nhu meets Belgrade Press." The Straits Times, 17 September 1963.
- ^ R. McNamara, p. 67.
- ^ a b c d e Jones, p. 372.
- ^ Langguth, p. 246.
- ^ R. McNamara, p. 76.
- ^ a b c d e Jones, p. 385.
- ISBN 0396062415.
- ^ p. 73 Newcomb, Richard F. A Pictorial History of the Vietnam War Doubleday, 1987
- ^ Karnow, pp. 296–320
- ^ Demery, Monique Finding the Dragon Lady, New York: Public Affairs, 2013 pp. 180–181.
- ^ Demery, Monique Finding the Dragon Lady, New York: Public Affairs, 2013 p. 173.
- ^ John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum archive. Oral History Interview with Paul B. Fay, Jr., November 11, 1970. (Oral transcript p.[-199-] to be found on PDF doc p.14.)[1]
- ^ a b c d e Jones, p. 433.
- ^ Jones, p. 431.
- ^ Jones, pp. 432–33.
- ^ Jones, p. 407.
- ^ Jones, p. 423.
- ^ a b Jones, p. 424.
- ^ Milestones: 21 April 1967, Time
- ^ Interviewing Madame Nhu Archived 6 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, 1982 by Judith Vecchione
- ^ "American Experience | Vietnam, a Television History". PBS. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
- ^ WGBH-TV The Vietnam Collection, interviews.[2]
- ^ openvault from WGBH-TV. Vietnam: A Television History; Interview with Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, November 1982.[3]
- ^ FindACase™ | 03/02/93 ESTATE TRAN VAN CHUONG v. FIRST AMERICAN
- ^ a b c (in Vietnamese) "'Bà Nhu như tôi từng biết' (phần 1)'". BBC News. 26 April 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ Robert Templer (26 April 2011). "Madame Nhu obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ^ (in Vietnamese) Tú Anh (25 April 2011). "Bà Ngô Đình Nhu từ trần tại Roma, hưởng thọ 87 tuổi". Radio France Internationale. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ Barnes & Noble sales dept promotion
- ^ Finding The Dragon Lady: In Search of Vietnam's Infamous Madame Nhu . . The Daily Beast, 09.24.13
- ^ Vietnamese Aesthetics from 1925 Onwards by Boi Tran Huynh; Chapter 4: Visual Arts of the Republic of Viet-Nam (The South) 1954–1975: The 'Other'
- ^ "Bà Ngô Đình Nhu – Trương Phú Thứ".
- ^ "ImmigrazioneOggi – Oblò: i rifugiati... ed il coraggio di chi salva vite umane". Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-7425-6007-9.
- ISBN 0-525-24210-4.
- Jacobs, Seth (2006). Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-4447-8.
- Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: How the Assassinations of Diem and JFK Prolonged the Vietnam War. New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505286-2.
- ISBN 0-670-84218-4.
- ISBN 0-684-81202-9.
- Maclear, Michael (1981). Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. New York City: Methuen Publishing. ISBN 0-423-00580-4.
- ISBN 0-312-08431-5.
- Tucker, Spencer C. (2000). Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social and Military History. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-040-9.
- Warner, Denis (1964). The Last Confucian: Vietnam, South-East Asia, and the West. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
- Moyar, Mark (2006). Triumph Forsaken The Vietnam War, 1954–1965. Cambridge.
- Demery, Monique (2013). Finding the Dragon Lady: The Mystery of Vietnam's Madame Nhu. New York: ISBN 978-1610392815.
External links
- Interview with Madame Nhu, 1982
- Madame Ngô Đình Nhu, sister-in-law of President Diệm speaking after the assassination of husband and brother-in-law (audio file)
- Madame Nhu speaking of "barbecued monks" (download mp3 or mpg file)
- Madame Nhu at IMDb