Nhu, Madame (1924–)

views updated

Nhu, Madame (1924–)

Vietnamese political hostess. Name variations: Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu; Tran Le Xuan. Born Tran Le Xuan (pronounced Trahn Lay Shuen); dau. of Tran Van Chuong (large landowner in central Vietnam and ambassador to US) and Nam Tran Tran van Chuong also known as Madame Tran van Chuong (Vietnamese councilor of the French Union); attended Lycee Albert Sarraut in Hanoi; m. Ngo Dinh Nhu, 1944; children: daughter Tran Le Thuy.

Official hostess of President Ngo Dinh Diem of Republic of Vietnam, the wife of his powerful brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, and a fiery actor in the politics of US-Vietnamese relations, was at the epicenter of Vietnamese politics (1955–63); earned a reputation as an extremist supporter of brother-in-law's regime, but also fought to modernize her country, and in particular to liberate its women from traditional Confucian feudalism; as sister-in-law of the unmarried Ngo Dinh Diem, became acting first lady of the Republic of South Vietnam and attained a worldwide reputation as "Madame Nhu" (1955); became founding president of the paramilitary Women's Solidarity Movement (1961); lost power and went into exile in France upon the assassination of husband (1963).

See also Women in World History.