Dragon Lady" Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu Vietnamse Ultra Catholic Pictures

Dragon Lady" Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu dies in Rome

Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the outspoken beauty who served as South Vietnam's unofficial first lady early on in the Vietnam War and earned the nickname "Dragon Lady" for her harsh criticism of protesting Buddhist monks and communist sympathizers, has died at age 86, a Rome funeral home said Wednesday.

She died on Easter Sunday in a Rome hospital. The Gualandri funeral home said she was registered as Tran Le Xuan, her original Vietnamese name, meaning "Beautiful Spring."
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"Dragon Lady" Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu dies in Rome
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This Aug. 1963 photo shows Tran Le Xuan, known as Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, in an unknown location. (AP Photo/File)

Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the outspoken beauty who served as South Vietnam's unofficial first lady early on in the Vietnam War and earned the nickname "Dragon Lady" for her harsh criticism of protesting Buddhist monks and communist sympathizers, has died at age 86, a Rome funeral home said Wednesday.

She died on Easter Sunday in a Rome hospital. The Gualandri funeral home said she was registered as Tran Le Xuan, her original Vietnamese name, meaning "Beautiful Spring."

Madame Nhu lived in the former presidential palace in South Vietnam's capital, Saigon, with her husband, the powerful head of the secret police, and his bachelor brother, President Ngo Dinh Diem, who served from 1955 to 1963. She took on the role of first lady as U.S.-backed South Vietnam fought northern communist forces before Washington broadened its military effort.

In the early 1960s, the trendsetting Madame Nhu was often photographed with her bouffant hairdo and glamorous clothes, including a tight version of the traditional silk tunic known as the ao dai, which showcased her slender body. She was equally well known for her fiery rhetoric, and was particularly outspoken against Buddhist monks who were setting themselves on fire to protest Diem's crackdown — once saying she would "clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show, for one cannot be responsible for the madness of others."

Her Buddhist father, Tran Van Chuong, who was serving as the South Vietnamese ambassador to the U.S., resigned in protest as did her mother, Nam-Tran Chuong, who was South Vietnam's permanent observer to the United Nations.

Madame Nhu later called her father "a coward."

She was in the United States on a speaking tour on Nov. 1, 1963, when her husband, Ngo Dinh Nhu, was killed along with Diem in a U.S.-backed coup, ending his eight-year rule.

Madame Nhu went into exile in Italy and remained in Europe until her death, living a reclusive life in which she left her home only to attend Mass, according to family friend Thu Phu Truong of Seattle.

"When you hear the news one of your friends or relatives passes away, you are probably very sad. In this case, I am kind of joyful," Truong told The Associated Press. "When her husband was killed, she was away, and she lived by herself ... for what? She is waiting for the day she can be reunited with her husband."

Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, fell to the communists on April 30, 1975 when tanks rolled into the city, reunifying the country.

Madame Nhu had been raised Buddhist in Hanoi by well-off and highly influential aristocratic parents, but she converted to Catholicism in 1943 when she married Nhu, who was nearly twice her age. She remained deeply religious until her death, Truong said.

Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu was the most famous and influential woman in the brief history of South Vietnam. As the sister-in-law of Vietnam’s bachelor President Ngo Dinh Diem, she considered herself the nation’s First Lady. No stranger to controversy, and thriving on publicity, Madame Nhu had the complete support of President Diem along with the complete loathing of President John Kennedy and the government of the United States, both at the same time. This is the story of the rise and fall of Madame Nhu, known as the Dragon Lady of South Vietnam.

Madame Nhu was born in1924 into one of the wealthiest and most aristocratic families in Vietnam. Her maiden name was Tran Le Xuan (“Beautiful Spring”). Her father was a lawyer, and the Tran family made its fortune serving the French colonial government. At her home in Hanoi she was attended by 20 servants. She was a mediocre student who never finished high school. She became fluent in French but never learned to write Vietnamese. Beautiful Spring felt unloved by her mother, against whom she rebelled. She had an unhappy childhood and was anxious to marry in order to escape her domestic circumstances.

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