Bao Dai
Bao Dai (1913 – 1997) was the emperor of Annam under French protection, during the period Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina. From 1926 to 1945, he was the 13th and last ruler of the Nguyen Dynasty. Bao Dai took the throne in 1926 at the age of 13. During World War II, the Japanese ruled French Indochina through Bao Dai. At this time, Bao Dai renamed his country "Vietnam." He abdicated in August 1945 when Japan surrendered. From 1949 to 1955, during the First Indochina War, he was chief of state of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Bao Dai was criticized as being closely associated with France and spending much of his time outside of Vietnam. Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem ousted him in a referendum held in 1955.
Bao Dai was born Prince Nguyen Phuc Vinh Thuy on October 22, 1913, in Hue, central Vietnam, French Indochina, to Khai Dinh. Having been educated in France, he was named emperor in 1926 after the death of his father, adopting the name of Bao Dai. Since Indochina was a French colony, his reign was under the control of France. In 1934, he married Jeanne Marie-Thérèse (Mariette) Nguyen Huu-Hao Thi Lan, who became Empress Nam Phuong.
In 1940, the Japanese invaded French Indochina. Although they did not expell the French, the Japanese politically controlled Indochina. But, in 1945, before the end of the World War II, the Japanese military forced Bao Dai to declare the independence of Indochina, renaming it Vietnam, from the French. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies on August 15, 1945, the Viet Minh insurgent movement, led by Ho Chi Minh, temporarily seized power on August 25, 1945, and Bao Dai abdicated as emperor the same day, but remained as an adviser of the new government. When the French returned to Indochina, the political situation of the country turned chaotic and extremely violent and Bao Dai had to run away into exile in Hong Kong. However, the French persuaded him to return in 1949 to serve as "head of state", not as "emperor". He soon travelled to France, showing little interest in the affairs of his own country when his own personal interests were not directly involved.
Without external aid, the communists, led by Ho Chi Minh, would have probably been beaten by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and French Foreign Legion units. Nevertheless, the victory of the communist forces, under Mao Tse Tung, in China in 1949 led to a revival of the fortunes of the Viet Minh. To counteract both Soviet and Chinese political and military support for the Viet Minh, the United States extended diplomatic recognition to Bao Dai’s government in March 1950 soon after communist nations recognized Ho Chi Minh’s government. The outbreak of the Korean War in June led to U.S. military aid and active support of the French anti-communist war effort in Indochina.
The war between the French colonial forces and the Viet Minh raged on until 1954, when the French Far East Expeditionary Corps was defeated by the Viet Minh at the Battle of Dien Biên Phu. The 1954 peace deal between the French and the Viet Minh, known as the Geneva Accords, involved a Chinese-inspired, supposedly temporary partition of the country into "Northern" and "Southern" Vietnamese administrations. Bao Dai moved to Paris, France, but remained "Head of State" of South Vietnam, appointing the Roman Catholic nationalist, Ngo Dinh Diem, as his prime minister. Nevertheless, in 1955, Diem used a referendum to remove Bao Dai and establish a republic with Diem as president. The referendum was widely regarded as fraudulent, showing an alleged ninety-eight percent in favor of a republic. Bao Dai abdicated once again and remained in exile for the remainder of his life in Paris, France. Bao Dai died in a military hospital in Paris, France in 1997. He was burried in the Cimetière de Passy.
[...] – 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963). Prime Minister of Emperor Bao Dai, Diem became President after the 1955 referendum to determine the future form of government of the [...]