WHITE PEBBLE

No other Vietnamese family in modern time had such an intense involvement in high politics and public affairs as the Ngô Đìnhs. Through the tenure of President Ngô Đình Diệm of the Republic of Vietnam (1955–1963), this family helped shape Vietnamese history in numerous ways. President Diệm’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 they view the family’s role in history?

Sixty years after the death Ngô Đình Nhu, English-language readers can now learn about Madame Ngô Đình Nhu’s life from her own words and recollections. Furthermore, in an essay accompanying their mother’s narrative in The White Pebble, the late Ngô Đình Lệ Quyên and Quỳnh (along with Jacqueline Willemetz) join their mother to defend the integrity of the Diệm government and the Ngô Đình family against their critics. By telling the family’s history alongside that of the Vietnamese nation, Ngô Đình 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 Đình family by its members but also illuminates politics in Republican Vietnam and its troubled relationship with the United States.

Madame Ngô Đình Nhu (given name Trần Lệ Xuân) (1924–2011) was the influential and controversial de facto First Lady of South Vietnam, known for her  forceful personality and striking beauty, for her advocacy for gender equality, and for her audacity in challenging powerful men, including US and South Vietnamese leaders. As the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu, brother and adviser to President Ngô Đình Diệm, she was among the most important yet poorly understood figures in postcolonial South Vietnamese politics.