Ngô Đình Nhu (; 7 October 19102 November 1963) was a Vietnamese archivist and politician. He was the younger brother and State Counsellor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm. Although he held no formal executive position, he wielded immense unofficial power, exercising personal command of both the ARVN Special Forces (a paramilitary unit which served as the Ngô family's de facto private army) and the Cần Lao political apparatus (also known as the Personalist Labor Party) which served as the regime's de facto secret police.
In his early years, Nhu was a quiet and bookish individual who showed little inclination towards the political path taken by his elder brothers. While training as an archivist in France, Nhu adopted the Roman Catholic ideology of personalism to create the Person Dignity Theory, although critics claimed that he misused that philosophy. Upon returning to Vietnam, he helped his brother in his quest for political power, and Nhu proved an astute and ruthless tactician and strategist, helping Diệm to gain more leverage and outwit rivals. During this time, he formed and handpicked the members of the secret Cần Lao Party, which swore its personal allegiance to the Ngô family, provided their power base and eventually became their secret police force. Nhu remained as its head until his own assassination.
In 1955, Nhu's supporters helped intimidate the public and rig the 1955 State of Vietnam referendum that ensconced his elder brother, Diệm, in power. Nhu used the Cần Lao, which he organised into cells, to infiltrate every part of society to root out opposition to the Ngô family. In 1959, he organized a failed assassination attempt via mail bomb on Prince Sihanouk, the prime minister of neighbouring Cambodia, with whom relations had become strained. Nhu publicly extolled his own intellectual abilities. He was known for making such public statements as promising to demolish the Xá Lợi Pagoda and vowing to kill his estranged father-in-law, Trần Văn Chương, who was the regime's ambassador to the United States, after the elder man condemned the Ngô family's behavior and disowned his daughter, Nhu's wife, Madame Nhu."Change in Will Linked to Saigon Aide's Death", The New York Times, 8 August 1986
In 1963, the Ngô family's grip on power became unstuck during the Buddhist crisis, during which the nation's Buddhist majority rose up against the pro-Catholic regime. Nhu tried to break the Buddhists' opposition by using the Special Forces in raids on prominent Buddhist temples that left hundreds dead, and framing the regular army for it. However, Nhu's plan was uncovered, which intensified plots by military officers, encouraged by the Americans, who turned against the Ngô family after the pagoda attacks. Nhu was aware of the plots, but remained confident he could outmaneuver them, and began to plot a counter-coup, as well as the assassinations of U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and other American and opposition figures. Nhu was fooled by the loyalist General Tôn Thất Đính, who had turned against the Ngô family. On 1 November 1963, the coup proceeded, and the Ngô brothers (Nhu and Diệm) were detained and assassinated the next day.Karnow, p. 326.
Early years Nhu's family originated from Lệ Thủy district, Quảng Bình in central Vietnam. His family had served as mandarins in the imperial court in Huế. His father, Ngô Đình Khả, was a counselor to Emperor Thành Thái during the French colonisation. After the French deposed the emperor on the pretext of insanity, Khả retired in protest and became a farmer. Nhu was the fourth of six sons, born in 1910.Karnow, pp. 229–33.
In his early years, Nhu was aloof from politics and was regarded as a bookish and quiet personality who preferred academic pursuits. By the 1920s, his three elder brothers Ngô Đình Khôi, Ngô Đình Thục and Ngô Đình Diệm were becoming prominent figures in Vietnam. Thục became the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế in 1960. In 1932, Diệm became the interior minister but resigned within a few months after realising that he would not be given any real power.Jacobs, pp. 10–20. Nhu showed little interest in following in their footsteps.Miller, p. 448.
Nhu completed a bachelor's degree in literature in Paris and then studied paleography and librarianship, graduating from the École Nationale des Chartes, the leading archivists' school in Paris. He returned to Vietnam from France at the outbreak of World War II. He was influenced by personalism, a concept he had acquired in the Latin Quarter. It had been conceived in the 1930s by Catholic progressives such as Emmanuel Mounier. Mounier's heirs in Paris, who edited the left wing Catholic review Esprit denounced Nhu as a fraud. Personalism blamed liberal capitalism for the Great Depression and individualistic greed and exploitation, and disagreed with communism due to its opposition to spirituality.Miller, p. 449.
Nhu worked at Hanoi's National Library and in 1943, he married Trần Lệ Xuân, later known as Madame Nhu. She was a Buddhist but converted to her husband's religion. Nhu worked with scholar Ching Ho A. Chen on Nguyễn dynasty documents. The French dismissed Nhu from his high-ranking post, due to Diệm's nationalist activities, and he moved to the Central Highlands resort town of Đà Lạt and lived comfortably, editing a newspaper.Karnow, pp. 280–84. He raised orchids during his time in Đà Lạt. In 1945, he returned to work as a leading archivist in the Empire of Vietnam, and later in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
After the August Revolution of 1945, when Hồ Chí Minh's communist Viet Minh declared independence, various groups as well as the French colonialists jockeyed for political control.Jacobs, pp. 20–23. Nhu became more politically active, especially in helping his brothers to establish a political base among Vietnamese Catholics. By this time, Khôi had been assassinated by the communists, so Diệm became the leading political figure in the family. Diệm had little success in the late 1940s and went into exile in 1950 to campaign from abroad after the communists sentenced him to death in absentia.Jacobs, pp. 24–32.
Up to this point, Nhu had kept a relatively low-key profile as a political activist. However, he appeared to imbue personalist ideas into his elder brother, who used the philosophy's terminology in his speeches. Diệm and Nhu thought that personalism went well with their "Third Force" anti-communist and anti-colonial ideology. After 1950, Nhu became a leading figure in the mobilizing of his elder brother's support based among anti-communist Vietnamese. He became assertive in pushing personalism as a guiding ideology for Vietnam's social development. In April 1952, Nhu gave a talk on the topic at the newly opened Vietnamese National Military Academy in Đà Lạt. He said the Catholic concept was applicable to people from all backgrounds, especially in the fight against communist and unadulterated capitalism. He called on all Vietnamese to engage in a personalist-driven social revolution to strengthen the society and country.Miller, p. 450.
Nhu was known for making long, abstract and difficult-to-understand speeches, something which many Vietnamese resented. Although Nhu was known for his pretensions as an intellectual and political philosopher, he was to become quite effective as a political organizer. Around 1950, Nhu started the forerunner of what would become Cần Lao (Personalist Labor Party), forming the power base and control mechanism of the Ngô family. A secret organization, initially, little is known of the Cần Lao's early years. The body consisted of a network of cells, and most members knew the identities of only a few colleagues. After 1954, its existence was declared, but the public knew little of its activities, which were mostly hidden from public view or oversight. In the early 1950s, the Cần Lao was used to mobilize support for Diệm's political campaign. Around 1953, Nhu began an alliance with Trần Quốc Bửu, a trade unionist who headed the Vietnamese Confederation of Christian Workers. Nhu and his supporters began publishing a Saigon journal called Xa Hoi (Society), which endorsed Bửu's movement and trade unionism in general.Miller, p. 451.
At the time, opportunities for opposition politicians began to open up. Bảo Đại, head of state of the State of Vietnam, an associated state of the French Union became increasingly unpopular as the citizens became increasingly impatient with his strategy of allying with the French against the communists in return for gradually increased autonomy and eventual independence. Many felt that the Bảo Đại's policies would never deliver meaningful self-determination.Miller, p. 452.
In late-1953, Nhu began to try to foment and exploit anti-Bảo Đại sentiment. He organised a Unity Congress, a forum of various anti-communist nationalists such as Nguyễn Tôn Hoàn's Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam, various Catholic groups and activists, as well as the Hòa Hảo and Cao Đài religious sects, and the Bình Xuyên organised crime syndicate. Nhu's real objective was to gain publicity for Diệm, especially while Bảo Đại was overseas and unable to respond effectively. The conference turned into chaos, but Nhu achieved his objective of gaining publicity for his brother; additionally, the other groups had engaged in angry denunciations against Bảo Đại.Miller, pp. 452–53.
The Emperor Bảo Đại announced that a National Congress would be opened in October. The leaders of most of the other parties agreed to participate, but Nhu and his organizations were absent. He was worried that the body might play into Bảo Đại's hands by endorsing him. This appeared to be the way the delegates were heading at first, but a sudden change saw an upsurge of condemnation against Bảo Đại's policies of coexistence with France.Miller, p. 453.
Rise to power
Nhu's brother Diệm had been appointed Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam by Bảo Đại on 16 June 1954 after the French had been defeated at Điện Biên Phủ and 12 days after his Vietnam became a fully sovereign country within the French Union. At the start of 1955, French Indochina was dissolved, leaving Diệm in temporary control of the south.Maclear, pp. 65–68. A referendum was scheduled for 23 October 1955 to determine the future direction of the south. It was contested by Bảo Đại, who advocated for the restoration of the monarchy, while Diệm ran on a "republican" platform. The elections were held, with Nhu and the family's Cần Lao political apparatus, which supplied Diệm's electoral base, as well as organising and supervising elections.Langguth, p. 99.
Campaigning for Bảo Đại was prohibited, and the result was rigged, with Bảo Đại supporters attacked by Nhu's workers. Diệm recorded 98.2% of the vote, including 605,025 votes in Saigon, where only 450,000 voters were registered. Diệm's tally also exceeded the registration numbers in other districts.Karnow, p. 239.Jacobs, p. 95. Nhu created a web of covert political, security, labor and other organizations, and built a structure of five-man cells to spy on dissidents and promote those loyal to Diệm's regime.
Power