THE First Lady of Vietnam, Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, arrives in this country today as leader of the Vietnamese Parliamentary delegation. Hers is an unusual office, but then she is a woman of unusual attainments and adventurous background even in this modern world. Officially, Deputy to the National Assembly, president and founder of the Vietnamese Women's Solidarity Movement (which has nearly 1,000,000 active members), she is also sister-in-law of the President, Ngo Dinh Diem, for whom, as he is a bachelor, she acts as official hostess.
HER FAMILY
Daughter of the present Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Tran van Chuong, Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, is descended on her father's side from an old mandarin family, on her mother's from the former royal family, and, though brought up in strict family tradition, her education followed modern western lines. She married while still very young; her husband, adviser to the President, is a graduate of l'Ecole Nationale des Chartes de Paris, and a former Conservateur des Archives et Bibliotheques de l'Indochine.
With two sons and two daughters: "Tender and attentive as a mother", it is said of her, "nevertheless she does not hesitate to become very severe when necessary. She requires strict discipline in her children's studies as well as in their play".
Vietnamese women have their healthy baby and fine arts contests as well as western women. They also win prizes for swimming and writing essays. It is not surprising therefore that Madame Nhu has expressed a wish to meet some of the women's organizations in this country during the nine days she and her delegation will spend here. A small luncheon party is being given in her honour by the British Federation of University Women at Crosby Hall on April 17, when she will meet the presidents of several organizations of British women. Whatever the precise political implications of her visit, it can be suspected that her personality both as a woman and as an acute politician will leave its mark.
Madame Nhu can look back upon remarkable experiences. In 1946 during the Viet Minh regime, while her husband was being hunted in the North, she and her household were arrested and accused of anti-communist activities. For several months she was held under house arrest in a remote village. With the help of Catholic partisans she escaped to the South, and eventually found her husband, who had fled on foot over the Annamite mountains and through the jungles of Laos to escape communists and other political enemies.
Their marriage has been one of collaboration socially, intellectually and politically. She was elected to her country's constituent assembly in 1956 to represent the refugees of Cholon, a suburb of Saigon, where last month she presided at the national convention of the women's movement. She became a Deputy when the constituent assembly became the first National Assembly of Vietnam. This is her second visit to Britain, the first being a private one in 1958.
Together she and her husband worked for the return of Mr. Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of the country. The years were perilous, and when in 1954 Madame Nhu marched at the head of a demonstration organized by herself, some of the crowd were killed, others wounded, and she has not forgotten that experience. Her appearance in Saigon last month was her first since the recent bombing raid on Independence Palace. She then declared that, having faced almost similar attacks, she had "come to be insensitized to these sorts of crimes".
A SYMBOL
The embodiment of feminine gentleness and charm, Madame Nhu has grace, vivacity, and extreme good looks. Her chief political concern is with the development of the women's part in national life, and at Saigon it was she who unveiled a statue of the Trung Sisters, who have become the symbol of Vietnamese women. These sisters became national heroines of the First Century, when they led the rising against Chinese invaders of the country, expelled them, and were proclaimed queens. Young women on elephants led the parade in their honour.
In recent years Madame Nhu has drafted and presented to the National Assembly a Family Bill abrogating polygamy; prohibiting concubinage and giving full equal rights to women. She is also author of the resolution "to make society healthier and reinforce the National Force" which proposed partial military service for women. The measure was adopted by the National Assembly last October.
Her women's movement is so organized as to function through local committees at all levels from village to city. Its aims are emphatically the exaltation of national consciousness as well as the promotion of "friendship, help and assistance".
.lcThis very friendly and slightly condescending article dates from before the Vietnam war got under way.
