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Ngô Đình Nhu
James (Giacôbê) Ngô Đình Nhu (7 October 19102 November 1963) was a Vietnamese archivist and politician. He was the younger brother and State Counsellor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm. Although he held no formal executive position, he wielded immense unofficial power, exercising personal command of both the ARVN Special Forces (a paramilitary unit which served as the Ngô family's ''de facto'' private army) and the Cần Lao political apparatus (also known as the Personalist Labor Party) which served as the regime's ''de facto'' secret police. In his early years, Nhu was a quiet and bookish individual who showed little inclination towards the political path taken by his elder brothers. While training as an archivist in France, Nhu adopted the Roman Catholic ideology of personalism to create the Person Dignity Theory, although critics claimed that he misused that philosophy. Upon returning to Vietnam, he helped his brother in his quest for politica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with its capital at Saigon, before becoming a republic in 1955, when the southern half of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War after the 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954 division of Vietnam. South Vietnam was bordered by North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) to the north, Kingdom of Laos, Laos to the northwest, Khmer Republic, Cambodia to the southwest, and Thailand across the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and 87 other nations, though it failed to gain admission into the United Nations as a result of a Soviet Union, Soviet veto in 1957. It was succeeded by the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, Rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
École Nationale Des Chartes
The École Nationale des Chartes (; ) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the auxiliary sciences of history, historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at the Archives Nationales (France), National Archives, and later at the Sorbonne (building), Palais de la Sorbonne (5th arrondissement). In October 2014, it moved to 65 rue de Richelieu, opposite the Richelieu-Louvois site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, National Library of France. The school is administered by the Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche, Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research. It holds the status of a ''grand établissement''. Its students, who are recruited by competitive examination and hold the status of trainee civil servant, receive the qualification of archivist-paleographer after completing a thesis. They generally go on to pursue careers as heritage curators in the archi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world, each overseen by one or more bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, upo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secret Police
image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secret police (or political police) are police, Intelligence agency, intelligence, or Security agency, security agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, ideological, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of Authoritarianism, authoritarian and Totalitarianism, totalitarian regimes. They protect the political power of a dictator or regime and often operate outside the law to repress dissidents and weaken political opposition, frequently using violence. They may enjoy legal sanction to hold and charge suspects without ever identifying their organization. History Africa Egypt Egypt is home to Africa and the Middle East's first internal security service: The Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Army
A private army (or private military) is a military force under the command of a private person or organization, rather than a nation or state. History Private armies may form when landowners arm household retainers for the protection of self and property in times of strife, and where and when central government is weak. Such private armies existed for example in the Roman Empire following the collapse of central authority. The dynamics at play in such circumstances can be observed in modern-day Colombia: on the one hand there are those forces affiliated with the drug cartels, existing to protect their criminality, and on the other those of the landlords created to resist kidnappings and extortion, i.e. Muerte a Secuestradores and the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia. In many places these private household retainers evolved into feudal-like structures, formalising obligations and allegiances and becoming household troops, and in some cases gaining the strength to allow them to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Of The Republic Of Vietnam Special Forces
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces ( — LLDB) were the elite military units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Following the establishment of the Republic of Vietnam (commonly known as South Vietnam) in October 1955, the Special Forces were formed at Nha Trang in February 1956. During the rule of Ngô Đình Diệm, the Special Forces were run by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, until both were assassinated in November 1963 in a coup. The Special Forces were disbanded in 1975 when South Vietnam ceased to exist after the Fall of Saigon. Early years The Special Forces came into being at Nha Trang in February 1956 under the designation of the First Observation Battalion/Group (FOG). By 1960, most Special Forces units were involved in the FOG program. At Long Thành, they were trained in intelligence gathering, sabotage and psychological operations (PSYOP). The main duties of the Special Forces entailed the recruitment and training of one-to-four man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nguyễn Văn Thuận
Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Thuận, also known as Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (; 17 April 1928 – 16 September 2002), was a Vietnamese cardinal in the Catholic Church. He was a nephew of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. Thuận, targeted for his faith as well as his family connections to Ngô Đình Diệm, was detained by the communist government of Vietnam in a re-education camp for 13 years, nine in solitary confinement. Pope Francis named him as Venerable on 4 May 2017, a significant step on the road towards canonization. Early life Thuận was born in Huế in 1928, the son of Nguyễn Văn Ấm and Elizabeth Ngô Đình Thị Hiệp, daughter of Ngô Đình Khả. He joined the seminary at An Ninh as a teenager, and was ordained a priest on 11 June 1953, by Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Urrutia. After three years of further studies in Rome, he was appointed in 1959–1967 as a faculty member and r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngô Thế Linh
Ngô Thế Linh (born 6 December 1928, Hà Tĩnh Province, Vietnam, French Indochina – died 25 February 1999) was a colonel in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), South Vietnam. He was the first Commander of Coastal Security Service (CSS). He was the commander of South Vietnam's Special Forces. Linh graduated from Thủ Đức Military Infantry Officer Academy, Class Number 3 (in 1952) with General Nguyễn Khoa Nam. During the next twenty three years of service, he held key positions in Presidential Liaisons Services, Strategic Technical Directorate of the South Vietnamese Army. He was in charge of many important clandestine missions by land, by air and by sea to North Vietnam. Emigration and death After the fall of Saigon in April 1975, Colonel Ngô came to the United States with his family. They resided in San Jose, California. He died on 25 February 1999, aged 70. Family His grandfather, it is claimed, was in charge of ruling Vietnam for six months while Emperor H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trần Văn Chương
Trần Văn Chương (; 2 June 1898 – 24 July 1986) 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 Đồng Khánh. They had a son and two daughters, including Lệ Xuân, who became the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu, 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 in the 1920s to become Vietnam's first Foreign Secretary under his wife's cousin Emper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngô Đình Luyện
Ngô Đình Luyện (1914 – 1990) was a Vietnamese diplomat. He was one of six sons born to affluent Roman Catholic parents and also had three sisters. His father, Ngô Đình Khả, was a mandarin during the French colonial era. Luyện's brothers included Provincial Governor Ngô Đình Khôi, South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm and Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Huế. Khôi was killed by Việt Minh insurgents in 1945, who reportedly buried him alive. Diệm appointed Luyện as ambassador to the United Kingdom. Diệm and another brother, Ngô Đình Nhu, were executed on 2 November 1963 during a military coup. Another brother, Ngô Đình Cẩn, was captured a few days later and eventually sentenced to death and executed. Luyện was able to escape assassination because he was in London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the Unit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngô Đình Cẩn
Ngô Đình Cẩn (; 1911 – 9 May 1964) was the younger brother and confidant of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, and an important member of the Diệm government. Diệm put Cẩn in charge of central Vietnam, stretching from Phan Thiết in the south to the border at the 17th parallel, with Cẩn ruling the region as a virtual dictator. Based in the former imperial capital of Huế, Cẩn operated private armies and secret police that controlled the central region and earned himself a reputation as the most oppressive of the Ngô brothers. In his youth, Cẩn was a follower of the nationalist Phan Bội Châu. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he worked to organise support for Diệm as various Vietnamese groups and international powers sought to stamp their authority over Vietnam. Cẩn, who succeeded in eliminating alternative nationalist opposition in central Vietnam, became the warlord of the region when his brother became president of the southern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngô Đình Diệm
Ngô Đình Diệm ( , or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955) and later the first president of South Vietnam ( Republic of Vietnam) from 1955 until his capture and assassination during the CIA-backed 1963 coup d'état. Diệm was born into a prominent Catholic family with his father, Ngô Đình Khả, being a high-ranking mandarin for Emperor Thành Thái during the French colonial era. Diệm was educated at French-speaking schools and considered following his brother Ngô Đình Thục into the priesthood, but eventually chose to pursue a career in the civil service. He progressed rapidly in the court of Emperor Bảo Đại, becoming governor of Bình Thuận Province in 1929 and interior minister in 1933. However, he resigned from the latter position after three months and publicly denounced the emperor as a tool of France. Diệm came to suppo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
