Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, 1924–2011
The ‘Dragon Lady’ of Old Saigon
When Vietnamese Buddhist monks started setting themselves on fire in the early 1960s to protest brutality and corruption in her brother-in-law’s regime, Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu’s reaction was not sympathetic. She called them “barbecues” and vowed to bring mustard to the next one.
Madame Nhu was born Tran Le Xuan, or “Beautiful Spring,” to the daughter of a Vietnamese princess and her lawyer husband, said The New York Times. Raised as a Buddhist, she converted to Catholicism upon marrying Ngo Dinh Nhu, who came to control the secret police in the authoritarian regime of his bachelor brother, Ngo Dinh Diem. During Diem’s presidency, from 1955 to 1963, she became “the glamorous official hostess in South Vietnam’s presidential palace.”
The “diminutive and wasp-waisted” beauty exerted a powerful influence on the government, said The Washington Post, through her “sex appeal, fist-pounding persistence, and sporadic charm offensives.” When she heard that a general was bragging that he would hold a coup and take Madame Nhu as his concubine, she told him that if he ever did, “you will never have me because I will claw your throat out first.” Comments like that earned her the nickname “the Dragon Lady.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Branded an icon of women’s rights,” said the London Telegraph, Madame Nhu formed an elite women’s paramilitary corps and banned polygamy and beauty contests, but also abortion and contraception. She was in Beverly Hills in 1963 when she learned that her husband and brother-in-law had been killed in a U.S.-supported coup. She lived the rest of her life in France and Italy, never returning to Vietnam.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The lab-made meat that 'could kill the EU'
Under The Radar Concerned at 'unintended consequences for farming' some farmers are 'turning rabid' over the rise of cultured meat
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine solutions - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
Magazine printables - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of lives
In the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
By The Week UK Published
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald's
In the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me
By The Week UK Published
-
Benjamin Zephaniah: trailblazing writer who 'took poetry everywhere'
Why Everyone's Talking About Remembering the 'radical' wordsmith's 'wit and sense of mischief'
By The Week UK Published
-
Shane MacGowan: the unruly former punk with a literary soul
Why Everyone's Talking About The Pogues frontman died aged 65
By The Week UK Published
-
'Euphoria' star Angus Cloud dies at 25
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia Published
-
Legendary jazz and pop singer Tony Bennett dies at 96
Speed Read
By Devika Rao Published
-
Martin Amis: literary wunderkind who ‘blazed like a rocket’
feature Famed author, essayist and screenwriter died this week aged 73
By The Week Staff Published
-
Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk legend, is dead at 84
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published