The White Pebble

No other Vietnamese family in modern time had such an intense involvement in high politics and public affairs as the Ngô-Ðìnhs. Through the tenure of President Ngô-Ðình Di?m of the Republic of Vietnam (1955–1963), this family helped shape Vietnamese history in numerous ways. President Di?m’s rule in South Vietnam was perceived by many to be authoritarian and nepotistic, but it is important for historians in general and for anyone interested in Vietnamese history in particular to learn more about his family members who played such important roles in his government. How did they see themselves, their country, and their compatriots? How did each member of the family think of others? How did they view the family’s role in history? Sixty years after the death Ngô-Ðình Nhu, English-language readers can now learn about Madame Ngô-Ðình Nhu’s life from her own words and recollections. Of all the Ngô-Ðìnhs, Madame Ngô-Ðình Nhu (Tr?n L? Xuân) was perhaps the most controversial figure. In this posthumous memoir translated from French, Madame Nhu narrates important events in her life, from her childhood to her marriage to Mr. Nhu, from her time in Hu? during the Franco-Vietnamese war to the happy years of the Di?m government, and from her forced exile to the last days of her life. A complex individual and a strong-willed woman who refused to accept the terrible hands fate dealt her, Madame Nhu bared her pains, lamented the plight of Vietnam, and railed against the foreign powers that meddled in Vietnamese affairs. In an essay accompanying their mother’s narrative in The White Pebble, the late Ngô-Ðình L? Quyên and Ngô-Ðình Qu?nh (along with Jacqueline Willemetz) join their mother to defend the integrity of the Di?m government and the Ngô-Ðình family against their critics. By telling the family’s history alongside that of the Vietnamese nation, Ngô-Ðình Nhu’s children wanted to demonstrate the sincerity and depth of patriotism in the family. This book not only provides a unique account of Madame Nhu and the Ngô-Ðình family by its members but also illuminates politics in Republican Vietnam and its troubled relationship with the United States.