Finding the Dragon Lady : the mystery of Vietnam's Madame Nhu

"When Monique Demery set out to find the infamous Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the former First Lady of South Vietnam had been in exile for over forty years, and had lived in near seclusion for the last thirty of them. Entire books have been written about the consequences of that November coup: sorting out America's role and what effect it had on the coming war, but for the most part, historians were flummoxed by the Dragon Lady. Her hourglass figure filled and splash of color enlightened what were otherwise murky beginnings to a dismal war. And she gave Americans something to rally around, even if it was only to cheer against her. But little was heard from the woman herself. The last New York Times reporter who tried to get access to Madame Nhu in 1987 was turned away at the door and told she charged for interviews--one thousand dollars a pop. But somehow, through a mixture of patience, cunning, and a bit of luck, Demery managed to strike up a years-long relationship with the Dragon Lady and ultimately was entrusted with her diary and autobiography. This book is the story of that improbable connection and a deeper look at the woman who was feared and despised by so much of the world"-- Read more... Abstract: "When Monique Demery set out to find the infamous Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the former First Lady of South Vietnam had been in exile for over forty years, and had lived in near seclusion for the last thirty of them. Entire books have been written about the consequences of that November coup: sorting out America's role and what effect it had on the coming war, but for the most part, historians were flummoxed by the Dragon Lady. Her hourglass figure filled and splash of color enlightened what were otherwise murky beginnings to a dismal war. And she gave Americans something to rally around, even if it was only to cheer against her. But little was heard from the woman herself. The last New York Times reporter who tried to get access to Madame Nhu in 1987 was turned away at the door and told she charged for interviews--one thousand dollars a pop. But somehow, through a mixture of patience, cunning, and a bit of luck, Demery managed to strike up a years-long relationship with the Dragon Lady and ultimately was entrusted with her diary and autobiography. This book is the story of that improbable connection and a deeper look at the woman who was feared and despised by so much of the world" In November 1963, the president of South Vietnam and his brother were brutally executed in a coup that was sanctioned and supported by the American government. President Kennedy later explained to his close friend Paul "Red" Fay that the reason the United States made the fateful decision to get rid of the Ngos was in no small part because of South Vietnam's first lady, Madame Nhu. "That goddamn bitch," Fay remembers President Kennedy saying, "She's responsible ... that bitch stuck her nose in and boiled up the whole situation down there." The coup marked the collapse of the Diem government and became the US entry point for a decade-long conflict in Vietnam. Kennedy's death and the atrocities of the ensuing war eclipsed the memory of Madame Nhu -- with her daunting mixture of fierceness and beauty. But at the time, to David Halberstam, she was "the beautiful but diabolic sex dictatress," and Malcolm Browne called her "the most dangerous enemy a man can have." By 1987, the once-glamorous celebrity had retreated into exile and seclusion, and remained there until young American Monique Demery tracked her down in Paris thirty years later. Finding the Dragon Lady is Demery's story of her improbable relationship with Madame Nhu, and -- having ultimately been entrusted with Madame Nhu's unpublished memoirs and her diary from the years leading up to the coup -- the first full history of the Dragon Lady herself, a woman who was feared and fantasized over in her time, and who singlehandedly frustrated the government of one of the world's superpowers.