Where the Domino Fell - America And Vietnam 1945-1995 by James S. Olson, Randy W. Roberts Page A
Authors: James S. Olson, Randy W. Roberts
Tags: United States, Asia, History, European, Ebook, Politics & Social Sciences, Social Sciences, Military, 20th Century, Europe, Political Science, Vietnam War, Southeast Asia, International Relations, World, Asian, Politics & Government, Americas, International & World Politics, Modern (16th-21st Centuries), Humanities
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three-hundred-year-old Nguyen dynasty, was occupied in theory by Emperor Bao Dai. Born as Prince Nguyen Vinh Thuy in 1913, he had been tutored by French nannies and teachers from birth. Bao Dai was round faced with a high brow, husky and full but not fat, a face reflecting the cherubic complacency of a man who had never missed a meal. S. J. Perelman, who met him in Hanoi in 1946, has left a description: “Bao Dai was seated in a snug alcove surrounded by several hostesses.... The royal exile, a short, slippery-looking customer rather on the pudgy side and freshly dipped in Crisco, wore a fixed, oily grin that was vaguely reptilian.”
In 1921, Bao Dai left Vietnam for Paris. When his father, Emperor Khai Dinh, died in 1925, he returned to Vietnam for the funeral, but the French whisked him back to Paris. He did not return to Vietnam until 1932; by that time his French was better than his Vietnamese. In Paris, Bao Dai had learned more than French literature and history. He spent his spare time in high-class Paris brothels and cabarets, becoming more infatuated with sexual acrobatics and mirrored ceilings than he had ever been with Rousseau or Voltaire. Bao Dai was intelligent, but he suffered from a fatal political weakness. He was a “man who resisted nobody.” He did attempt some modernization of imperial rule, and wanted for Vietnam as much independence as the French would allow, but he had no real ability to stand up to France. During the Japanese occupation of Indochina in World War II, Bao Dai served as the head of state for the Japanese. When Ho Chi Minh called for his abdication in 1945, Bao Dai was quick to agree, not wanting, in his own words, “to make the same mistake Louis XVI made.” Later the French restored him, and once more he accepted a role that others demanded of him. Bao Dai was careful in public to wear the regal, gold-brocaded
ao dai
, speak Vietnamese, and conduct himself with regal reserve. In private, he preferred to wear double-breasted suits, speak French, and hunt, dance, eat, and enjoy women. Bao Dai was still on hand in 1954, but most Vietnamese held him in contempt.
December 8, 1950—Ex-emperor Bao Dai and General Marcel Carpentier, commander in chief of French forces in the Far East, enjoy refreshment in the presidential palace in Saigon after signing the French-Vietnam military pact creating a pro-French Vietnam army. (Courtesy, Library of Congress.)
Huynh Phu So, source of the effective Hoa Hao movement, was born in 1919 in the Mekong Delta village of that name. He had a sickly childhood accompanied by a mystical sensibility. In 1939 he entered a Buddhist monastery where, in his own words, he underwent a “vision and miraculous cure.” An extraordinary speaker and jpgted practitioner of herbal medicine and acupuncture, Huynh Phu So returned to the Mekong Delta and began preaching a curious mixture of Buddhism and nationalism. He believed people should pray four times a day to Buddha as well as such ancient Vietnamese heroes as the Trung sisters, Ly Bon, Tran Hung Dao, and Le Loi. The nationalist mystic, bitterly hostile to France, converted thousands of southern Vietnamese and earned from the French police the title the mad monk. They arrested Huynh Phu So in 1940 and placed him in a mental hospital, where he converted his psychiatrist and most of the staff.
Hoa Hao conversions skyrocketed during World War II. Enjoying the protection of the Japanese, Huynh Phu So raised a personal army of 15,000 troops in the Mekong Delta. In 1946 he established the Dan Xa, or Social Democratic party, to oppose the French. But in 1947 Ho Chi Minh, concerned about Huynh Phu So’s growing power, ordered his death, and that year Vietminh assassins killed him. One of the new Hoa Hao leaders was a man named Ba Cut. A committed nationalist, Ba Cut sliced off the tip of his forefinger in 1947 to remind himself how much he hated the French. By the early 1950s the Hoa Hao had more than
In 1921, Bao Dai left Vietnam for Paris. When his father, Emperor Khai Dinh, died in 1925, he returned to Vietnam for the funeral, but the French whisked him back to Paris. He did not return to Vietnam until 1932; by that time his French was better than his Vietnamese. In Paris, Bao Dai had learned more than French literature and history. He spent his spare time in high-class Paris brothels and cabarets, becoming more infatuated with sexual acrobatics and mirrored ceilings than he had ever been with Rousseau or Voltaire. Bao Dai was intelligent, but he suffered from a fatal political weakness. He was a “man who resisted nobody.” He did attempt some modernization of imperial rule, and wanted for Vietnam as much independence as the French would allow, but he had no real ability to stand up to France. During the Japanese occupation of Indochina in World War II, Bao Dai served as the head of state for the Japanese. When Ho Chi Minh called for his abdication in 1945, Bao Dai was quick to agree, not wanting, in his own words, “to make the same mistake Louis XVI made.” Later the French restored him, and once more he accepted a role that others demanded of him. Bao Dai was careful in public to wear the regal, gold-brocaded
ao dai
, speak Vietnamese, and conduct himself with regal reserve. In private, he preferred to wear double-breasted suits, speak French, and hunt, dance, eat, and enjoy women. Bao Dai was still on hand in 1954, but most Vietnamese held him in contempt.
December 8, 1950—Ex-emperor Bao Dai and General Marcel Carpentier, commander in chief of French forces in the Far East, enjoy refreshment in the presidential palace in Saigon after signing the French-Vietnam military pact creating a pro-French Vietnam army. (Courtesy, Library of Congress.)
Huynh Phu So, source of the effective Hoa Hao movement, was born in 1919 in the Mekong Delta village of that name. He had a sickly childhood accompanied by a mystical sensibility. In 1939 he entered a Buddhist monastery where, in his own words, he underwent a “vision and miraculous cure.” An extraordinary speaker and jpgted practitioner of herbal medicine and acupuncture, Huynh Phu So returned to the Mekong Delta and began preaching a curious mixture of Buddhism and nationalism. He believed people should pray four times a day to Buddha as well as such ancient Vietnamese heroes as the Trung sisters, Ly Bon, Tran Hung Dao, and Le Loi. The nationalist mystic, bitterly hostile to France, converted thousands of southern Vietnamese and earned from the French police the title the mad monk. They arrested Huynh Phu So in 1940 and placed him in a mental hospital, where he converted his psychiatrist and most of the staff.
Hoa Hao conversions skyrocketed during World War II. Enjoying the protection of the Japanese, Huynh Phu So raised a personal army of 15,000 troops in the Mekong Delta. In 1946 he established the Dan Xa, or Social Democratic party, to oppose the French. But in 1947 Ho Chi Minh, concerned about Huynh Phu So’s growing power, ordered his death, and that year Vietminh assassins killed him. One of the new Hoa Hao leaders was a man named Ba Cut. A committed nationalist, Ba Cut sliced off the tip of his forefinger in 1947 to remind himself how much he hated the French. By the early 1950s the Hoa Hao had more than
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