Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
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handles many of the more sensitive political party and intelligence "special operations" for President Diem, as well as helping him privately with speeches, planning, and family affairs. Some Americans have been strongly critical of brother Nhu, seeing in him a continuing influence towards a Diem dictatorial regime, with control of the press, arrests of political dissenters, etc. Actually, brother Nhu is a whole complex subject in himself, as is Madame Nhu in herself. Both have been defamed maliciously. There is a grain of truth in some of the stories about them. But, the reality is that Diem trusts Nhu for certain activities which he cannot entrust to anyone else, and needs him. We will hardly help Diem be the strong leader we desire by insisting that he get rid of his trusted right-hand man; we would do better to influence that right-hand man more effectively. Incidentally, Madame Nhu is the daughter of Tran Van Chuong, the Vietnamese Ambassador in Washington.
The Ngo family needs mention further. Diem's father was Grand Chamberlain of the old Imperial Court at Hue, in central Vietnam. He spent his life striving to maintain some semblance of Vietnamese rule under French control -- and brought up his sons to carry on the fight for eventual Vietnamese independence. In effect, it was a family organized for revolution. The sons are:
Ngo Dinh Khoi - killed by the Communists
Ngo Dinh Thuc - ("Took") - Catholic Archbishop
Ngo Dinh Diem - President
Ngo Dinh Nhu - Presidential Adviser
Ngo Dinh Luyen - Ambassador in London
Ngo Dinh Canh - At family home, Hue - in local politics there.
In Vietnamese family style, each brother is responsible for his next younger brother. Thus, Archbishop Thuc feels a heavy responsibility for President Diem (and is well-worth talking to about his brother's problems), and President Diem feels a heavy responsibility for brother Nhu.
Diem was educated at Hue, in the Vietnamese equivalent of legal training. He was the honor graduate of the last Government class
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