Tran Kim Tuyen
Encyclopedia
Dr. Trần Kim Tuyến was the chief of intelligence of South Vietnam
under its first President Ngo Dinh Diem
from 1955 to 1963. As a Roman Catholic, he was trusted by the Ngo family, and was part of their inner circle. Tuyen was responsible for a variety of propaganda campaigns against communists, and was prominent in operating the secret Can Lao Party
that helped maintain the Ngo family's rule. In the course of his work, Tuyen emulated the tactics of the communists. He eventually became disillusioned and plotted against the regime before being exiled. When Diem was toppled, he returned to South Vietnam, but the military junta that replaced the Ngos jailed him for five years. As South Vietnam was in the process of falling in 1975, he fled the country to avoid being captured by the communist victors.
in northern Vietnam. He studied at the French-founded university in Hanoi
, obtaining degrees in law
and medicine
. As a university student, he had protested against the French colonial administration's control over Vietnam's Catholic clergy
, landing him in trouble with the police. However, his religious convictions caused him to spurn the Ho Chi Minh
-led Vietminh independence movement, which was strongly atheist. Although he was ambitious, Tuyen was aware of his provincial accent and his manner of stumbling over long words, which was not considered to be consistent with the archetypal leader with a city accent. He was a very short man even by Vietnamese standards, and had a bashful smile. In 1946, while still a student, Tuyen came to know the Ngo family by chance. His future mentor Ngo Dinh Nhu
wanted to travel from Hanoi to a Catholic area near the border with Laos and needed a guide. A Catholic priest asked Tuyen to lead the way on a bicycle while Nhu followed in a covered cyclo
to evade French colonial and Vietminh attention.
had concluded, Tuyen had been working as a military surgeon for the anti-communist Vietnamese National Army
of the State of Vietnam
in an outlying province, only travelling to Hanoi during the weekends. As a result of the discussions in Geneva, Vietnam was to be temporarily partitioned
pending national reunification elections in 1956. In the meantime, the Vietminh controlled the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
in the north, and the State of Vietnam was handed the south. The agreements also allowed for the free passage of civilians between either side for 300 days, while military personnel were obliged to move to their respective zones.
Tuyen had been responsible for persuading a substantial number of northern Catholics to leave their homes and move south. As a result, he later tried to persuade Diem to maintain some contact with members of the communist regime in Hanoi in the hope of persuading them to defect.
Tuyen was in Hanoi visiting his girlfriend Jackie, a midwife, when his sister's husband told him that he could travel to Saigon immediately on the plane of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem
of the State of Vietnam—Diem had been in Hanoi to urge civilians to flee communist rule and head into the south of the country.
Tuyen decided to make use of the opportunity and left with only a pair of spare trousers and the clothes on his back. Jackie accepted his indirect marriage proposal—he asked her if she would join him in the south. Tuyen agreed to Diem's offer that he work for his younger brother Nhu's operations. Tuyen lived in the Independence Palace
, sleeping on the floor, as Diem sought to create order in the south. Tuyen was unemployed for two months before being assigned to the Ministry of Information, essentially a propaganda unit.
before the partition of Vietnam
. Most were Catholics who had moved after a propaganda campaign designed to build a strong Catholic anti-communist powerbase for Diem in the south, using the slogan "The Virgin Mary has gone south". Believing they had made a great sacrifice to move, the northerners insisted on settling in or near the overcrowded capital Saigon, which had better urban amenities than regional and rural areas. Tuyen was an admirer of communist propaganda techniques, and decided to emulate them. He sent some elderly people to a Saigon camp to pose as refugees, and then ordered the police to stage a noisy arrest scene. His staff took photographs of the incident and distributed pamphlets claiming that communists had infiltrated the camps. This scare campaign prompted the refugees to disperse for fear of being arrested for being communists. Tuyen then targeted a clandestine newspaper run by anti-Diem nationalist intellectuals, by printing counterfeit copies of the magazine with communist propaganda substituted in place of the real content. He then circulated the fake copies and then had the outlet banned for being communist.
Nhu took Tuyen under his wing and asked him to draft the rules for the Can Lao Party
, a secret Catholic body founded by Nhu. The Can Lao consisted of many small cells that were used to spy on South Vietnamese society at all levels, in order to detect and quash opposition. The Can Lao was anti-communist but drew its totalitarian techniques from both Stalinist and Nazi models. In mid 1956, Nhu appointed Tuyen as his go-between with CIA agents stationed in South Vietnam. The US ambassador Frederick Reinhardt arranged for Tuyen to work with CIA agents such Philip Potter and William Colby
, who later became the Director of CIA under President Richard Nixon
. An agency named the Social and Political Services was formed; Nhu and Tuyen used it to send men into North Vietnam to engage in sabotage and propaganda. Almost all were either imprisoned or killed. His methods led CIA agents to refer to him as "Vietnam's Goebbels
".
Tuyen had an intelligence unit of 500 men, and was used by Nhu as a fixer, to arrange secret meetings with dissidents.
He was a key figure in persuading undecided ARVN divisions to support Diem and put down the 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt
.
In 1962, Nhu appointed Tuyen and Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao
, an undetected communist agent and fellow Catholic, to oversee the Strategic Hamlet Program
, which attempted to isolate the Vietcong by barricading villagers inside fortified compounds, theoretically locking the communists out of the communities. Tuyen led the way in promoting the concept to the populace.
into politics. Eventually, Nhu took offense and began to ignore Tuyen. In early 1963, Tuyen was ordered to go home and rest by Diem, who felt that he had been too lenient in his meetings with disillusioned military officers and politicians who were veering towards opposition. He was not called back to work, effectively sacked. Tuyen responded by dispatching his staff back to the position they held before they joined his department, leaving the intelligence bureau in a state of collapse. In May, when the Buddhist crisis
erupted after Diem's forces had banned Buddhists from flying the Buddhist flag
to commemorate Vesak
, and fatally fired on them
, Diem recalled Tuyen, hoping that he could resolve the crisis.
Tuyen eventually began to plot against the Ngo family. He began meeting with Colonel Do Mau
, the chief of military security and other colonels in key leadership positions in the marine
and paratroop divisions
around Saigon. He also used his contacts in the Cao Dai
and Hoa Hao
religious sects in plotting the coup. With growing displeasure among the populace against the Diem regime, Tuyen targeted July 15 as the date for a coup, but was unable to recruit the generals required for his plan, since he was too closely associated with Nhu to gain their trust. In the end, Tuyen's old group ended up being led by Thao, who was deliberately fomenting discord among the army in order to help the communists. Thao's group did not lead the coup, as they were integrated into the main group led by Generals Duong Van Minh
and Tran Van Don
, which toppled and killed Diem and his brother Nhu.
Aware that Tuyen might be involved in plotting against Diem, Nhu sent him to Cairo
as ambassador. At the time, the Soviet Union-aligned Egypt
was leading a campaign of African countries against South Vietnam at the United Nations
, and Nhu ostensibly sent him to Cairo to lead a diplomatic push against communist influence there. It was effectively an exile for Tuyen, and there were rumours that Madame Nhu's younger brother Tran Van Khiem
was planning to assassinate him. Upon arriving in Cairo, Tuyen was greeted with the news that Egypt had extended diplomatic relations to North Vietnam. Tuyen eventually flew to Hong Kong
, where British intelligence provided him with protection. There he kept in contact with anti-Diem plotters in Vietnam.
After Diem was overthrown in November 1963, Tuyen decided to return to Vietnam. His wife was pregnant and he reasoned that as he had no enemies in the military junta and had worked well with them in the past, he would be safe. However, he was arrested and tried by the junta for corruption and abuse of power, and sentenced to five years in prison. Tuyen believed that he was jailed because the generals were afraid that he would claim that they were corrupt and were puppets of Nhu.
When his prison term ended, he remained under house arrest after the brother of President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
intervened. His wife was allowed to teach in a high school and Tuyen was allowed to write political columns under an assumed name. In April 1975, as South Vietnam collapsed amid a communist onslaught
, British intelligence arranged for Tuyen's wife and their three youngest children to leave for Cambridge, where their eldest son was studying. Tuyen was reluctant to leave, but did so on April 29, 1975, a day before the fall of Saigon
. He departed on one of the last helicopters out of the besieged city with the help of Pham Xuan An, a Time magazine correspondent and communist spy.
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
under its first President Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
from 1955 to 1963. As a Roman Catholic, he was trusted by the Ngo family, and was part of their inner circle. Tuyen was responsible for a variety of propaganda campaigns against communists, and was prominent in operating the secret Can Lao Party
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...
that helped maintain the Ngo family's rule. In the course of his work, Tuyen emulated the tactics of the communists. He eventually became disillusioned and plotted against the regime before being exiled. When Diem was toppled, he returned to South Vietnam, but the military junta that replaced the Ngos jailed him for five years. As South Vietnam was in the process of falling in 1975, he fled the country to avoid being captured by the communist victors.
Early years
Tuyen hailed from the Catholic district of Phat Diem in Ninh Binh ProvinceNinh Bình Province
-Festivals:* Thai Vi festival * Truong Yen Festival* Yen Cu Festival* Non Khe Festival-Transportation:...
in northern Vietnam. He studied at the French-founded university in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
, obtaining degrees in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
. As a university student, he had protested against the French colonial administration's control over Vietnam's Catholic clergy
Roman Catholicism in Vietnam
The Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. Vietnam has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines, India, China and Indonesia....
, landing him in trouble with the police. However, his religious convictions caused him to spurn the Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
Hồ Chí Minh , born Nguyễn Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyễn Ái Quốc, was a Vietnamese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam...
-led Vietminh independence movement, which was strongly atheist. Although he was ambitious, Tuyen was aware of his provincial accent and his manner of stumbling over long words, which was not considered to be consistent with the archetypal leader with a city accent. He was a very short man even by Vietnamese standards, and had a bashful smile. In 1946, while still a student, Tuyen came to know the Ngo family by chance. His future mentor Ngo Dinh Nhu
Ngo Dinh Nhu
Ngô Ðình Nhu was the younger brother and chief political advisor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Ðình Diệm. Nhu was widely regarded as the architect of the Ngô family's nepotistic and autocratic rule over South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963...
wanted to travel from Hanoi to a Catholic area near the border with Laos and needed a guide. A Catholic priest asked Tuyen to lead the way on a bicycle while Nhu followed in a covered cyclo
Cyclo
Cyclo may refer to:* Cycle rickshaw* Cyclo , a 1995 Vietnamese film* Cyclo , a 2001 album by Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai* A chemical compound with a cyclic structure such as a cycloalkane* Cyclo-cross bicycle* Cyclo Industries...
to evade French colonial and Vietminh attention.
Rise to power
In mid-1954, at the time the Geneva ConferenceGeneva Conference (1954)
The Geneva Conference was a conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to unify Korea and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina...
had concluded, Tuyen had been working as a military surgeon for the anti-communist Vietnamese National Army
Vietnamese National Army
On March 8, 1949, after the Elysee accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại. The Vietnamese National Army or Vietnam National Army was the State of Vietnam's military force created shortly after that. It was commanded by...
of the State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
in an outlying province, only travelling to Hanoi during the weekends. As a result of the discussions in Geneva, Vietnam was to be temporarily partitioned
Partition of Vietnam
The Partition of Vietnam was the establishment of the 17th parallel as the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone in 1954, splitting Vietnam into halves after the First Indochina War.The Geneva Conference was held at the conclusion of the First Indochina War...
pending national reunification elections in 1956. In the meantime, the Vietminh controlled the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
in the north, and the State of Vietnam was handed the south. The agreements also allowed for the free passage of civilians between either side for 300 days, while military personnel were obliged to move to their respective zones.
Tuyen had been responsible for persuading a substantial number of northern Catholics to leave their homes and move south. As a result, he later tried to persuade Diem to maintain some contact with members of the communist regime in Hanoi in the hope of persuading them to defect.
Tuyen was in Hanoi visiting his girlfriend Jackie, a midwife, when his sister's husband told him that he could travel to Saigon immediately on the plane of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
of the State of Vietnam—Diem had been in Hanoi to urge civilians to flee communist rule and head into the south of the country.
Tuyen decided to make use of the opportunity and left with only a pair of spare trousers and the clothes on his back. Jackie accepted his indirect marriage proposal—he asked her if she would join him in the south. Tuyen agreed to Diem's offer that he work for his younger brother Nhu's operations. Tuyen lived in the Independence Palace
Ho Chi Minh City Museum
Ho Chi Minh City Museum is an historical site in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The museum is situated at the corner of Lý Tự Trọng street and Nam Kỳ khởi nghĩa street, near Reunification Palace, originally Independence Palace.-History:The building now occupied by the museum was built during the...
, sleeping on the floor, as Diem sought to create order in the south. Tuyen was unemployed for two months before being assigned to the Ministry of Information, essentially a propaganda unit.
Campaigns
Tuyen's first task was to disperse the approximately 800,000 northerners who had migrated south during the free travel period in Operation Passage to FreedomOperation Passage to Freedom
Operation Passage to Freedom was the term used by the United States Navy to describe its transportation in 1954–55 of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam...
before the partition of Vietnam
Partition of Vietnam
The Partition of Vietnam was the establishment of the 17th parallel as the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone in 1954, splitting Vietnam into halves after the First Indochina War.The Geneva Conference was held at the conclusion of the First Indochina War...
. Most were Catholics who had moved after a propaganda campaign designed to build a strong Catholic anti-communist powerbase for Diem in the south, using the slogan "The Virgin Mary has gone south". Believing they had made a great sacrifice to move, the northerners insisted on settling in or near the overcrowded capital Saigon, which had better urban amenities than regional and rural areas. Tuyen was an admirer of communist propaganda techniques, and decided to emulate them. He sent some elderly people to a Saigon camp to pose as refugees, and then ordered the police to stage a noisy arrest scene. His staff took photographs of the incident and distributed pamphlets claiming that communists had infiltrated the camps. This scare campaign prompted the refugees to disperse for fear of being arrested for being communists. Tuyen then targeted a clandestine newspaper run by anti-Diem nationalist intellectuals, by printing counterfeit copies of the magazine with communist propaganda substituted in place of the real content. He then circulated the fake copies and then had the outlet banned for being communist.
Nhu took Tuyen under his wing and asked him to draft the rules for the Can Lao Party
Can Lao Party
The Cần lao Nhân vị Cách Mạng Ðảng, or Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party, was a secret party formed to support the Ngô Đình Diệm regime in South Vietnam, and largely operated by his brother, Ngô Đình Nhu...
, a secret Catholic body founded by Nhu. The Can Lao consisted of many small cells that were used to spy on South Vietnamese society at all levels, in order to detect and quash opposition. The Can Lao was anti-communist but drew its totalitarian techniques from both Stalinist and Nazi models. In mid 1956, Nhu appointed Tuyen as his go-between with CIA agents stationed in South Vietnam. The US ambassador Frederick Reinhardt arranged for Tuyen to work with CIA agents such Philip Potter and William Colby
William Colby
William Egan Colby spent a career in intelligence for the United States, culminating in holding the post of Director of Central Intelligence from September 1973, to January 1976....
, who later became the Director of CIA under President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
. An agency named the Social and Political Services was formed; Nhu and Tuyen used it to send men into North Vietnam to engage in sabotage and propaganda. Almost all were either imprisoned or killed. His methods led CIA agents to refer to him as "Vietnam's Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
".
Tuyen had an intelligence unit of 500 men, and was used by Nhu as a fixer, to arrange secret meetings with dissidents.
He was a key figure in persuading undecided ARVN divisions to support Diem and put down the 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt
1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt
On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Van Dong and Colonel Nguyen Chanh Thi of the Airborne Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam ....
.
In 1962, Nhu appointed Tuyen and Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao
Pham Ngoc Thao
Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, known to friends as Albert Thảo , a major provincial leader in South Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's Army...
, an undetected communist agent and fellow Catholic, to oversee the Strategic Hamlet Program
Strategic Hamlet Program
The Strategic Hamlet Program was a plan by the governments of South Vietnam and the United States during the Vietnam War to combat the Communist insurgency by means of population transfer.In 1961, U.S...
, which attempted to isolate the Vietcong by barricading villagers inside fortified compounds, theoretically locking the communists out of the communities. Tuyen led the way in promoting the concept to the populace.
Downfall
As time passed, Tuyen began to show displeasure at the increasing interference of Madame Ngo Dinh NhuMadame Ngo Dinh Nhu
Trần Lệ Xuân , popularly known as Madame Nhu, was considered the first lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu who was the brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem...
into politics. Eventually, Nhu took offense and began to ignore Tuyen. In early 1963, Tuyen was ordered to go home and rest by Diem, who felt that he had been too lenient in his meetings with disillusioned military officers and politicians who were veering towards opposition. He was not called back to work, effectively sacked. Tuyen responded by dispatching his staff back to the position they held before they joined his department, leaving the intelligence bureau in a state of collapse. In May, when the Buddhist crisis
Buddhist crisis
The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam from May 1963 to November 1963 characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks....
erupted after Diem's forces had banned Buddhists from flying the Buddhist flag
Buddhist flag
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century to symbolise and universally represent Buddhism. It is used by Buddhists throughout the world.-History:...
to commemorate Vesak
Vesak
Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia...
, and fatally fired on them
Hue Vesak shootings
The Huế Phật Đản shootings refer to the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on May 8, 1963, in the city of Huế in South Vietnam, at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm...
, Diem recalled Tuyen, hoping that he could resolve the crisis.
Tuyen eventually began to plot against the Ngo family. He began meeting with Colonel Do Mau
Do Mau
Brigadier General Ðỗ Mậu was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam best known for his roles as a recruiting strategist in both the 1963 coup that toppled President Ngo Dinh Diem and the 1964 coup led by General Nguyen Khanh that deposed the junta of General Duong Van Minh...
, the chief of military security and other colonels in key leadership positions in the marine
Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps
The Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps ) was part of the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam . It was established by Ngo Dinh Diem in 1954 when he was Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, which became the Republic of Vietnam in 1955. The longest-serving commander was Lieutenant General Le...
and paratroop divisions
Vietnamese Airborne Division
The Vietnamese Airborne Division was one of the earliest components of the State of Vietnam's military forces . The Vietnamese Airborne Division began as companies organised in 1948, prior to any agreement over armed forces in Vietnam...
around Saigon. He also used his contacts in the Cao Dai
Cao Dai
Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...
and Hoa Hao
Hoa Hao
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương...
religious sects in plotting the coup. With growing displeasure among the populace against the Diem regime, Tuyen targeted July 15 as the date for a coup, but was unable to recruit the generals required for his plan, since he was too closely associated with Nhu to gain their trust. In the end, Tuyen's old group ended up being led by Thao, who was deliberately fomenting discord among the army in order to help the communists. Thao's group did not lead the coup, as they were integrated into the main group led by Generals Duong Van Minh
Duong Van Minh
Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta, the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration...
and Tran Van Don
Tran Van Don
Trần Văn Đôn was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and one of the principal figures in the coup d'état which deposed Ngô Đình Diệm from the presidency of South Vietnam.-Family:...
, which toppled and killed Diem and his brother Nhu.
Aware that Tuyen might be involved in plotting against Diem, Nhu sent him to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
as ambassador. At the time, the Soviet Union-aligned Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
was leading a campaign of African countries against South Vietnam at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, and Nhu ostensibly sent him to Cairo to lead a diplomatic push against communist influence there. It was effectively an exile for Tuyen, and there were rumours that Madame Nhu's younger brother Tran Van Khiem
Tran Van Khiem
Trần Văn Khiêm was the younger brother of Madame Ngô Đình Nhu, the former First Lady of South Vietnam, and a Vietnamese politician and public servant.Khiêm was a press officer for South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm....
was planning to assassinate him. Upon arriving in Cairo, Tuyen was greeted with the news that Egypt had extended diplomatic relations to North Vietnam. Tuyen eventually flew to Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, where British intelligence provided him with protection. There he kept in contact with anti-Diem plotters in Vietnam.
After Diem was overthrown in November 1963, Tuyen decided to return to Vietnam. His wife was pregnant and he reasoned that as he had no enemies in the military junta and had worked well with them in the past, he would be safe. However, he was arrested and tried by the junta for corruption and abuse of power, and sentenced to five years in prison. Tuyen believed that he was jailed because the generals were afraid that he would claim that they were corrupt and were puppets of Nhu.
When his prison term ended, he remained under house arrest after the brother of President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyen Van Thieu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was president of South Vietnam from 1965 to 1975. He was a general in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam , became head of a military junta, and then president after winning a fraudulent election...
intervened. His wife was allowed to teach in a high school and Tuyen was allowed to write political columns under an assumed name. In April 1975, as South Vietnam collapsed amid a communist onslaught
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
, British intelligence arranged for Tuyen's wife and their three youngest children to leave for Cambridge, where their eldest son was studying. Tuyen was reluctant to leave, but did so on April 29, 1975, a day before the fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
. He departed on one of the last helicopters out of the besieged city with the help of Pham Xuan An, a Time magazine correspondent and communist spy.