Trần Văn Chương

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Trần Văn Chương
Ngô Đình Diệm
Preceded byTrần Văn Khá
Succeeded byTrần Thiện Khiêm
Personal details
Born(1898-06-02)2 June 1898
Died24 July 1986(1986-07-24) (aged 88)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
SpouseThân Thị Nam Trân
Children4, including Lệ Xuân, Trần Văn Khiêm

Trần Văn Chương (2 June 1898[1] – 24 July 1986[2]) was South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States from 1954 to 1963 and the father of the country's de facto first lady, Madame Nhu (1924–2011). He was also the foreign minister of the Empire of Vietnam, a Japanese puppet state that existed in 1945.

Family life

He married Thân Thị Nam Trân (died 24 July 1986), who was a member of the extended Vietnamese royal family. Her father was Thân Trọng Huề, who became Vietnam's minister for national education, and her mother was a daughter of Emperor

Ngô Đình Diệm
.

Chương's family alliances enabled him to rise from being a member of a small law practice in the Cochin-Chinese (

Foreign Secretary under his wife's cousin Emperor Bảo Đại, while Japan occupied Vietnam during World War II. His wife Madame Chuong was accused by the French secret police (French Sûreté) of sleeping with Japanese diplomats so her husband was hired by them.[3] He eventually became South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States, but resigned in protest and denounced his government's anti-Buddhist policies after the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids. He proclaimed there was “not one chance in a hundred for victory” over the Communists with his daughter and her husband and brother-in-law in power.[4]

1963 South Vietnamese coup d'état

On 1 November 1963, Chuong's son-in-law

Ngô Đình Diệm were assassinated in a coup d'état led by General Dương Văn Minh. Chuong's daughter, Ngô Đình Nhu's wife, Madame Nhu (1924–2011), was in Beverly Hills, California, at the time of the coup.[citation needed
]

Death

Chương and his wife remained in the United States in Washington, D.C. On 24 July 1986, they were found strangled to death at their home. Their son, Trần Văn Khiêm, was accused but found unfit for trial. The remains of Chương and his wife were interred at Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.[5]

References

  1. ^ Le Minh (1958). "Vietnam". In Wu, Felix L. (ed.). The Asia Who's Who. Hong Kong: Pan-Asia Newspaper Alliance. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  2. ^ "TRAN CHUONG (1898-1986) - SSDI"
  3. ^ Baker, Katie (24 September 2013). "Finding The Dragon Lady: In Search of Vietnam's Infamous Madame Nhu". The Daily Beast.
  4. .
  5. ^ Deaths of Trần Văn Chương and his wife

External links

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Post created
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1945
Succeeded by
Preceded by Ambassador of Republic of Vietnam to United States
1954–1963
Succeeded by