Bùi Diễm
Bùi Diễm in 1940
South Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States
In office
19 January 1967[1] – 1972[2]
PresidentNguyễn Văn Thiệu
Preceded byVũ Văn Thái
Succeeded byTrần Kim Phượng
Personal details
Born(1923-10-01)1 October 1923
Phủ Lý, Hà Nam, French Indochina
Died24 October 2021(2021-10-24) (aged 98)
Rockville, Maryland, U.S.

Bùi Diễm (1 October 1923[3] – 24 October 2021) was South Vietnam's ambassador to the United States under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu from 1965 to 1972,[4][5] then re-appointed ambassador-at-large and served until 1975.[6] He played a key role in the last desperate attempt to secure US$700 million in military aid to defend South Vietnam against the North in 1975.[7]

Bui Diem was born in Phủ Lý, Hà Nam, French Indochina, on October 1, 1923.[8] He was the nephew of Trần Trọng Kim, who served as the Prime Minister of Emperor Bảo Đại.[9] Diem had been active in politics since he studied at Pomelo School and joined the Nationalist Party of Greater Vietnam in 1944 through the introduction of a friend.[10][11] At age 31, Bui Diem became a member of the delegation to the 1954 Geneva Conference.[8] He also founded the Saigon Post newspaper in South Vietnam, which operated from 1963 to 1975,[12][13] and was a member of the negotiating team appointed by President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu at the Paris Peace Accords.[14] In 1973, concerned about the threat of the United States Congress to cut off spending for the Vietnam War, Diem was sent by President Thieu as a delegation to Washington to set out South Vietnam's position on the peace talks.[15]

Bui Diem and Anna Chennault acted as intermediaries between President Thieu and Richard Nixon in the "Anna Chennault Affair" to delay peace negotiations in Paris,[16][17] creating an opportunity to help then-republican candidate Nixon win the 1968 United States presidential election.[18] President Johnson knew this entire plan,[19] he forced the FBI, CIA, and NSA to monitor Diem and Anna's activities.[20][21] For his part, Bui Diem repeatedly denied making any deals with the Nixon campaign to sabotage the peace talks.[22]

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, he settled in the United States, living in Rockville, Maryland and running a Jewish delicatessen.[23] He wrote articles and worked for the RAND Corporation, then borrowed money and was a part- owner of Goldberg's Delly in downtown Washington until 1982.[6]

He was a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and at the American Enterprise Institute,[24] as well as a research professor at George Mason University.[7] Bui Diem was interviewed by Stanley Karnow for Vietnam: A Television History, where he recounts in a stunning allegation that Lyndon B. Johnson had unilaterally deployed Marine ground troops into South Vietnam without consulting the South Vietnamese government.[25]

Bui Diem was the author of the book In the Jaws of History (1987),[26] and appeared as a witness in Ken Burns's series The Vietnam War, produced by PBS in 2017.[27][28] He has three children, two daughters and a son.[8] Diem speaks fluent English and French.[29] He passed away in Rockville, Maryland, on 24 October 2021, at the age of 98.[30]

References

  1. ↑ "New South Vietnamese Ambassador To Us Bui Diem Presents His Credentialls To LBJ". Associated Press. 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  2. ↑ "The Kissinger-Le Duc Tho Negotiations". Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "Biographic Report, Republic of Vietnam - Bui Diem - CIA Research Reports" (PDF). Vietnam Center and Archive. 29 January 1965. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  4. ↑ Herring, George C. (19 September 2017). "Opinion | How Not to 'Win Hearts and Minds'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  5. ↑ Hagan, Kenneth (April 1998). "Late Vietnam: Loyalty to Whom?". United States Naval Institute. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  6. 1 2 Clarity, James F.; Weaver Jr., Warren (5 January 1984). "Briefing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  7. 1 2 Gamarekian, Barbara (26 October 1987). "Washington Talk: Bui Diem; a Voice From Vietnam Hoping to Be Heard". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 The Washington Post (31 October 2021). "BUI DIEM Obituary (1923 - 2021) - Washington, DC". Legacy.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  9. ↑ "Exhibits - Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM)". Vietnam Center and Archive. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Nguyễn Mạnh, Hùng (16 November 2022). "Phỏng Vấn Bùi Diễm". US-Vietnam Research Center - UO (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Politically Significant Groups in South Vietnam" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 4 May 1966. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "The Saigon post | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  13. ↑ "The Saigon post - Catalogue". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "Hòa đàm Paris: VN và các cường quốc". BBC (in Vietnamese). 22 January 2013. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  15. ↑ Fox Butterfield Special (5 January 1973). "Saigon Senators to Lobby in Washington". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  16. ↑ Kettle, Martin (9 August 2000). "Nixon 'wrecked early peace in Vietnam'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  17. ↑ Clifford, Clark; Holbrooke, Richard (12 May 1991). "Serving the President III-The Vietnam Years". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  18. ↑ O’Sullivan, Shane (26 December 2018). "The national security adviser who colluded with foreign powers — decades before Michael Flynn". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  19. ↑ Farrell, John A. (6 August 2017). "When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election". Politico. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  20. ↑ Locker, Ray (28 May 2015). "Memo to Nixon detailed his campaign's interference in Paris peace talks". USA Today. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  21. ↑ Farrell, John A. (19 July 2017). "The real parallel between Nixon and Trump: backdoor pre-election contacts with a foreign power". Vox. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  22. ↑ Veith, George J. (9 May 2022). "The Anna Chennault Affair: The South Vietnamese Side of the War's Greatest Conspiracy Theory". Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Archived from the original on 13 January 2024. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  23. ↑ Rosellini, Lynn (15 September 1981). "Saigon Aide: 'They Say, How Are You, Mr. Goldberg?'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  24. ↑ Mehren, Elizabeth (4 August 1987). "Reliving Vietnam: The Next Wave : Vietnamese Voice Begins to Emerge in Books on War". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "Vietnam: A Television History; Vietnamizing the War (1968 - 1973); Interview with Bui Diem [1], 1981". WGBH-TV. 3 June 1981. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  26. ↑ Tonelson, Alan (13 September 1987). "Vietnam: What Might Have Been". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  27. ↑ Robinson, Jennifer (17 August 2017). "THE VIETNAM WAR - A Film By Ken Burns & Lynn Novick". KPBS-FM. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  28. ↑ "Episode 1: Déjà Vu (1858-1961) | The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick". PBS. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  29. ↑ "(Est Pub Date) Bui Diem Viet-nam" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  30. ↑ Quốc, Phương (25 October 2021). "Cựu Đại sứ VNCH Bùi Diễm qua đời là 'mất mát to lớn không gì thay thế'". BBC World Service (in Vietnamese). Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.

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