Trần Văn Chương Souverains et notabilites d'Indochine

Trần Văn Chương (2 June 1898 – 24 July 1986) was South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States in the early 1960s and the father of the country's ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' first lady,

Madame Nhu Trần Lệ Xuân (22 August 1924 – 24 April 2011), more popularly known in English as Madame Nhu, was the ''de facto'' First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu, who was the brother and chief advisor ...

(1924-2011). He was also the foreign minister of the Empire of Vietnam, a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...

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

Đồng Khánh Đồng Khánh (, vi-hantu, 同慶, lit. "collective celebration"; 19 February 1864 – 28 January 1889), born Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Kỷ (阮福膺祺) or Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đường (阮福膺禟), also known as Chánh Mông (正蒙), was the ...

. They had a son and three daughters, including Lệ Xuân, who became the wife of

Ngô Đình Nhu Ngô Đình Nhu (; 7 October 19102 November 1963; baptismal name Jacob) was a Vietnamese archivist and politician. He was the younger brother and chief political advisor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm. Although he held n ...

, the brother of South Vietnam's first President, Ngô Đình Diệm. Chương's family alliances enabled him to rise from being a member of a small law practice in the Cochin-Chinese ( South Vietnamese) town of

Bạc Liêu Bạc Liêu () is a provincial city and capital of the Bạc Liêu Province in the Mekong Delta region in southern Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country i ...

in the 1920s to become Vietnam's first Foreign Secretary under his wife's cousin Emperor

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...

, 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. He eventually became South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States, but resigned in protest in 1963, denouncing his government's anti-Buddhist policies.

South Vietnam coup d'état

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

and Nhu's brother, President Ngô Đình Diệm were assassinated in a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

led by General

Dương Văn Minh Dương Văn Minh (; 16 February 19166 August 2001), popularly known as Big Minh, was a South Vietnamese politician and a senior general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and a politician during the presidency of Ngô Đình Diệm ...

. Chuong's daughter, Ngô Đình Nhu's wife, Madame Nhu (1924-2011), was in Beverly Hills, California, at the time of the coup.

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 Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. It is across the stre ...

in Washington, D.C.Deaths of Trần Văn Chương and his wife
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References

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070930031018/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870390-2,00.html "The Queen Bee" ''Time Magazine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Tran, Van Chuong 1898 births 1986 deaths Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War Vietnamese people murdered abroad Ambassadors of South Vietnam to the United States Vietnamese expatriates in the United States Deaths by strangulation in the United States People murdered in Washington, D.C. Place of birth missing Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery