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In 1858, France launched an attack on Đà Nẵng, starting its invasion of Vietnam. In 1867, France completed its conquest of southern Vietnam (Cochinchina), comprising the provinces of Biên Hoà, Gia Định, Định Tường, Vĩnh Long, An Giang, and Hà Tiên. To consolidate the newly established colony, on 23 February 1868, Lagrandière, Governor of Cochinchina, held a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of a new palace to replace the old wooden palace built in 1863.<br/><br/> The new palace was designed by Hermite, who was also the architect of the Hong Kong City Hall. The first cubic stone, measuring 50 cm along each edge, with indentations containing French gold and silver coins bearing Napoleon III's effigy, came from Biên Hòa. The complex covered an area of 12 hectares, including a palace with an 80-meter-wide façade, a guest-chamber capable of accommodating 800 people, with a spacious gardens covered by green trees and a lawn. Most of the building materials were imported from France. Owing to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, construction fell behind schedule and was not completed until 1873. The palace was named Norodom Palace after the then king of Cambodia, Norodom (1834–1904).<br/><br/> On 27 February 1962, two pilots of Ngo Dinh Diệm’s Vietnam Air Force rebelled and flew two A-1 Skyraider aircraft towards the palace and bombed it, instead of going on a raid against the Việt Cộng. As a result, almost the entire left wing was destroyed. However, Diệm and his family escaped the assassination attempt. As it was almost impossible to restore the palace, Diệm ordered it demolished and commissioned a new building - the current Reunification Palace - in its place.
Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnamese: Ngo Dinh Diem (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963). In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diem led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam.<br/><br/> Accruing considerable US support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a 1955 plebiscite that was widely considered fraudulent. Proclaiming himself the Republic's first President, he demonstrated considerable political skill in the consolidation of his power, and his rule proved authoritarian, elitist, nepotistic, and corrupt.<br/><br/> He was assassinated by an aide of ARVN General Duong Van Minh on November 2, 1963, during a coup d'état that deposed his government.
Phat Diem is 120 km south of Hanoi and 30km southeast of Ninh Binh and was an early centre of Christianity in Vietnam.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, the Jesuit from Avignon who developed Vietnam’s romanised writing system, preached here in 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral combines European Gothic church architecture with the Sino-Vietnamese temple tradition.
Phat Diem Cathedral is located in Kim Son district of Ninh Binh Province. It is one of the most celebrated and unusual churches in Vietnam. Phat Diem church architecture is a synthesis of Sino-Vietnamese and French Catholic styles.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit from Avignon who first developed Vietnam’s quoc ngu writing system, preached here as long ago as 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral complex is dominated by a monumental bell tower with curved Chinese eaves and triple gateway that could easily be mistaken for the entrance to a Vietnamese temple, were it not for the angels and crucifixes prominently in evidence. Behind the bell tower the main body of the cathedral extends back along a dark, cool nave about 75 metres (246 ft) long, the roof supported by the gigantic trunks of 52 single ironwood trees, the Latin rubric pax domini, ‘the peace of the lord’, inscribed on many.<br/><br/> An altarpiece of extraordinary cultural syncretism frames the altar, cut from a single block of marble. The centrepiece, behind a large crucifix, is a statue of the Virgin and Child, but the whole is completely surrounded by a background of elaborate crimson lacquer and gold leaf, more like the Temple of Literature in Hanoi than a Catholic church.<br/><br/> To compound the syncretic effect, a barred shrine houses a statue of the Virgin Mary in a gilded mandarin’s palanquin, while representations of phoenixes, lions, bamboo groves, peach blossoms and other typically Vietnamese motifs are carved into the pillars and elaborate ceiling joists. Beside the main door to the cathedral, the figures of two angels are incised into the stone.<br/><br/> Outside, in front of the cathedral, is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the Christ-child in her arms. As is quite common in Vietnam, the appearance of the ‘Mother of God’ bears much in common with Sino-Vietnamese statues of Guanyin, the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ – but here the syncretism is compounded by the Virgin’s dress, as she is clad in an elegant Vietnamese ao dai.
Phat Diem Cathedral is located in Kim Son district of Ninh Binh Province. It is one of the most celebrated and unusual churches in Vietnam. Phat Diem church architecture is a synthesis of Sino-Vietnamese and French Catholic styles.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit from Avignon who first developed Vietnam’s quoc ngu writing system, preached here as long ago as 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral complex is dominated by a monumental bell tower with curved Chinese eaves and triple gateway that could easily be mistaken for the entrance to a Vietnamese temple, were it not for the angels and crucifixes prominently in evidence. Behind the bell tower the main body of the cathedral extends back along a dark, cool nave about 75 metres (246 ft) long, the roof supported by the gigantic trunks of 52 single ironwood trees, the Latin rubric pax domini, ‘the peace of the lord’, inscribed on many.<br/><br/> An altarpiece of extraordinary cultural syncretism frames the altar, cut from a single block of marble. The centrepiece, behind a large crucifix, is a statue of the Virgin and Child, but the whole is completely surrounded by a background of elaborate crimson lacquer and gold leaf, more like the Temple of Literature in Hanoi than a Catholic church.<br/><br/> To compound the syncretic effect, a barred shrine houses a statue of the Virgin Mary in a gilded mandarin’s palanquin, while representations of phoenixes, lions, bamboo groves, peach blossoms and other typically Vietnamese motifs are carved into the pillars and elaborate ceiling joists. Beside the main door to the cathedral, the figures of two angels are incised into the stone.<br/><br/> Outside, in front of the cathedral, is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the Christ-child in her arms. As is quite common in Vietnam, the appearance of the ‘Mother of God’ bears much in common with Sino-Vietnamese statues of Guanyin, the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ – but here the syncretism is compounded by the Virgin’s dress, as she is clad in an elegant Vietnamese ao dai.
Phat Diem Cathedral is located in Kim Son district of Ninh Binh Province. It is one of the most celebrated and unusual churches in Vietnam. Phat Diem church architecture is a synthesis of Sino-Vietnamese and French Catholic styles.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit from Avignon who first developed Vietnam’s quoc ngu writing system, preached here as long ago as 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral complex is dominated by a monumental bell tower with curved Chinese eaves and triple gateway that could easily be mistaken for the entrance to a Vietnamese temple, were it not for the angels and crucifixes prominently in evidence. Behind the bell tower the main body of the cathedral extends back along a dark, cool nave about 75 metres (246 ft) long, the roof supported by the gigantic trunks of 52 single ironwood trees, the Latin rubric pax domini, ‘the peace of the lord’, inscribed on many.<br/><br/> An altarpiece of extraordinary cultural syncretism frames the altar, cut from a single block of marble. The centrepiece, behind a large crucifix, is a statue of the Virgin and Child, but the whole is completely surrounded by a background of elaborate crimson lacquer and gold leaf, more like the Temple of Literature in Hanoi than a Catholic church.<br/><br/> To compound the syncretic effect, a barred shrine houses a statue of the Virgin Mary in a gilded mandarin’s palanquin, while representations of phoenixes, lions, bamboo groves, peach blossoms and other typically Vietnamese motifs are carved into the pillars and elaborate ceiling joists. Beside the main door to the cathedral, the figures of two angels are incised into the stone.<br/><br/> Outside, in front of the cathedral, is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the Christ-child in her arms. As is quite common in Vietnam, the appearance of the ‘Mother of God’ bears much in common with Sino-Vietnamese statues of Guanyin, the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ – but here the syncretism is compounded by the Virgin’s dress, as she is clad in an elegant Vietnamese ao dai.
Phat Diem Cathedral is located in Kim Son district of Ninh Binh Province. It is one of the most celebrated and unusual churches in Vietnam. Phat Diem church architecture is a synthesis of Sino-Vietnamese and French Catholic styles.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit from Avignon who first developed Vietnam’s quoc ngu writing system, preached here as long ago as 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral complex is dominated by a monumental bell tower with curved Chinese eaves and triple gateway that could easily be mistaken for the entrance to a Vietnamese temple, were it not for the angels and crucifixes prominently in evidence. Behind the bell tower the main body of the cathedral extends back along a dark, cool nave about 75 metres (246 ft) long, the roof supported by the gigantic trunks of 52 single ironwood trees, the Latin rubric pax domini, ‘the peace of the lord’, inscribed on many.<br/><br/> An altarpiece of extraordinary cultural syncretism frames the altar, cut from a single block of marble. The centrepiece, behind a large crucifix, is a statue of the Virgin and Child, but the whole is completely surrounded by a background of elaborate crimson lacquer and gold leaf, more like the Temple of Literature in Hanoi than a Catholic church.<br/><br/> To compound the syncretic effect, a barred shrine houses a statue of the Virgin Mary in a gilded mandarin’s palanquin, while representations of phoenixes, lions, bamboo groves, peach blossoms and other typically Vietnamese motifs are carved into the pillars and elaborate ceiling joists. Beside the main door to the cathedral, the figures of two angels are incised into the stone.<br/><br/> Outside, in front of the cathedral, is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the Christ-child in her arms. As is quite common in Vietnam, the appearance of the ‘Mother of God’ bears much in common with Sino-Vietnamese statues of Guanyin, the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ – but here the syncretism is compounded by the Virgin’s dress, as she is clad in an elegant Vietnamese ao dai.
Phat Diem Cathedral is located in Kim Son district of Ninh Binh Province. It is one of the most celebrated and unusual churches in Vietnam. Phat Diem church architecture is a synthesis of Sino-Vietnamese and French Catholic styles.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit from Avignon who first developed Vietnam’s quoc ngu writing system, preached here as long ago as 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral complex is dominated by a monumental bell tower with curved Chinese eaves and triple gateway that could easily be mistaken for the entrance to a Vietnamese temple, were it not for the angels and crucifixes prominently in evidence. Behind the bell tower the main body of the cathedral extends back along a dark, cool nave about 75 metres (246 ft) long, the roof supported by the gigantic trunks of 52 single ironwood trees, the Latin rubric pax domini, ‘the peace of the lord’, inscribed on many.<br/><br/> An altarpiece of extraordinary cultural syncretism frames the altar, cut from a single block of marble. The centrepiece, behind a large crucifix, is a statue of the Virgin and Child, but the whole is completely surrounded by a background of elaborate crimson lacquer and gold leaf, more like the Temple of Literature in Hanoi than a Catholic church.<br/><br/> To compound the syncretic effect, a barred shrine houses a statue of the Virgin Mary in a gilded mandarin’s palanquin, while representations of phoenixes, lions, bamboo groves, peach blossoms and other typically Vietnamese motifs are carved into the pillars and elaborate ceiling joists. Beside the main door to the cathedral, the figures of two angels are incised into the stone.<br/><br/> Outside, in front of the cathedral, is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the Christ-child in her arms. As is quite common in Vietnam, the appearance of the ‘Mother of God’ bears much in common with Sino-Vietnamese statues of Guanyin, the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ – but here the syncretism is compounded by the Virgin’s dress, as she is clad in an elegant Vietnamese ao dai.
Phat Diem Cathedral is located in Kim Son district of Ninh Binh Province. It is one of the most celebrated and unusual churches in Vietnam. Phat Diem church architecture is a synthesis of Sino-Vietnamese and French Catholic styles.<br/><br/> Catholicism came early to Phat Diem. Alexandre de Rhodes, a Jesuit from Avignon who first developed Vietnam’s quoc ngu writing system, preached here as long ago as 1627, but it was a Vietnamese priest, Father Tran Luc (also known as Cu Sau or ‘Old Six’) who conceived and organised the construction of Phat Diem’s extraordinary cathedral between 1875 and 1898.<br/><br/> The cathedral complex is dominated by a monumental bell tower with curved Chinese eaves and triple gateway that could easily be mistaken for the entrance to a Vietnamese temple, were it not for the angels and crucifixes prominently in evidence. Behind the bell tower the main body of the cathedral extends back along a dark, cool nave about 75 metres (246 ft) long, the roof supported by the gigantic trunks of 52 single ironwood trees, the Latin rubric pax domini, ‘the peace of the lord’, inscribed on many.<br/><br/> An altarpiece of extraordinary cultural syncretism frames the altar, cut from a single block of marble. The centrepiece, behind a large crucifix, is a statue of the Virgin and Child, but the whole is completely surrounded by a background of elaborate crimson lacquer and gold leaf, more like the Temple of Literature in Hanoi than a Catholic church.<br/><br/> To compound the syncretic effect, a barred shrine houses a statue of the Virgin Mary in a gilded mandarin’s palanquin, while representations of phoenixes, lions, bamboo groves, peach blossoms and other typically Vietnamese motifs are carved into the pillars and elaborate ceiling joists. Beside the main door to the cathedral, the figures of two angels are incised into the stone.<br/><br/> Outside, in front of the cathedral, is a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying the Christ-child in her arms. As is quite common in Vietnam, the appearance of the ‘Mother of God’ bears much in common with Sino-Vietnamese statues of Guanyin, the ‘Goddess of Mercy’ – but here the syncretism is compounded by the Virgin’s dress, as she is clad in an elegant Vietnamese ao dai.
The ao dai (Vietnamese: áo dài) is a Vietnamese national costume, now most commonly for women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pantaloons. The word is pronounced ow-zye in the north and ow-yai in the south, and translates as 'long dress'. The name áo dài was originally applied to the dress worn at the court of the Nguyễn Lords at Huế in the 18th century. This outfit evolved into the áo ngũ thân, a five-paneled aristocratic gown worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by Paris fashions, Nguyễn Cát Tường and other artists associated with Hanoi University redesigned the ngũ thân as a modern dress in the 1920s and 1930s. The updated look was promoted by the artists and magazines of Tự Lực văn đoàn (Self-Reliant Literary Group) as a national costume for the modern era. In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit to produce the version worn by Vietnamese women today. The dress was extremely popular in South Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s, frowned upon as frivolous and borgeois in the North between 1952 and 1986, but is today increasingly popular nationwide, having become once again a symbol of Vietnamese nationalism and Vietnamese female beauty.
After the end of the French rule in 1954s, Catholicism declined in the North, where the Communists regarded it as a reactionary force opposed to national liberation and social progress. In the South, by contrast, Catholicism was expanded under the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem, who promoted it as an important bulwark against North Vietnam.<br/><br/> Diem, whose brother was Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc, gave extra rights to the Catholic Church, dedicated the nation to the Virgin Mary and preferentially promoted Catholic military officers and public servants while restricting Buddhism and allowing Catholic paramilitaries to demolish temples and pagodas.<br/><br/> In 1955 approximately 600,000 Catholics remained in the North after an estimated 650,000 had fled to the South in Operation Passage to Freedom.
Vietnamese refugees board LST 516 for their journey from Haiphong, North Vietnam, to Saigon, South Vietnam during Operation Passage to Freedom, October 1954. This operation evacuated thousands of Vietnamese refugees from the then newly created Communist North Vietnam to pro-American South Vietnam.<br/><br/> By the end of the operation, the Navy had carried to south more then 293,000 immigrants including many Catholic refugees.
Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnamese: Ngo Dinh Diem (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963). In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diem led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam.<br/><br/> Accruing considerable US support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a 1955 plebiscite that was widely considered fraudulent. Proclaiming himself the Republic's first President, he demonstrated considerable political skill in the consolidation of his power, and his rule proved authoritarian, elitist, nepotistic, and corrupt.<br/><br/> He was assassinated by an aide of ARVN General Duong Van Minh on November 2, 1963, during a coup d'état that deposed his government.
Ngo Dinh Diem (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963). His rule proved authoritarian, elitist, nepotistic, and corrupt. A Catholic, Diem pursued policies that oppressed the Republic's Montagnard natives and its Buddhist majority. Amid religious protests that garnered worldwide attention, Diem lost the backing of his US patrons and was assassinated on November 2, 1963, during a coup d'etat that deposed his government.
Tran Le Xuan (born April 15, 1924 in Hanoi, Vietnam), popularly known as Madame Nhu but more properly Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, was considered the First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem.<br/><br/> As Diem was a lifelong bachelor, and because the Nhus lived in the Independence Palace, she was considered to be the First Lady. Diem often appointed relatives to high positions, so her father became the ambassador to the United States while her mother, a former beauty queen, was South Vietnam's observer at the United Nations. Two of her uncles were cabinet ministers.<br/><br/> Madame Nhu was chauffeured in a black Mercedes and wore a small diamond crucifix. She also wore form-fitting apparel so tight that one French correspondent suggestively described her as, 'molded into her ... dress like a dagger in its sheath'. On formal occasions, she wore red satin pantaloons with three vertical pleats, which was the mark of the highest-ranking women of the imperial court in ancient Annam.<br/><br/> After the overthrow of the Diem government in 1963, Madame Nhu went into exile in France and died at Rome, Italy, in 2011.
Ngo Dinh Diem, accompanied by U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, arrives at Washington National Airport in 1957. Diem is shown shaking the hand of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Tran Le Xuan (born April 15, 1924 in Hanoi, Vietnam), popularly known as Madame Nhu but more properly Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, was considered the First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem.<br/><br/> As Diem was a lifelong bachelor, and because the Nhus lived in the Independence Palace, she was considered to be the First Lady. Diem often appointed relatives to high positions, so her father became the ambassador to the United States while her mother, a former beauty queen, was South Vietnam's observer at the United Nations. Two of her uncles were cabinet ministers.<br/><br/> Madame Nhu was chauffeured in a black Mercedes and wore a small diamond crucifix. She also wore form-fitting apparel so tight that one French correspondent suggestively described her as, 'molded into her ... dress like a dagger in its sheath'. On formal occasions, she wore red satin pantaloons with three vertical pleats, which was the mark of the highest-ranking women of the imperial court in ancient Annam.<br/><br/> After the overthrow of the Diem government in 1963, Madame Nhu went into exile in France and died at Rome, Italy, in 2011.
Tran Le Xuan (born April 15, 1924 in Hanoi, Vietnam), popularly known as Madame Nhu but more properly Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, was considered the First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem.<br/><br/> As Diem was a lifelong bachelor, and because the Nhus lived in the Independence Palace, she was considered to be the First Lady. Diem often appointed relatives to high positions, so her father became the ambassador to the United States while her mother, a former beauty queen, was South Vietnam's observer at the United Nations. Two of her uncles were cabinet ministers.<br/><br/> Madame Nhu was chauffeured in a black Mercedes and wore a small diamond crucifix. She also wore form-fitting apparel so tight that one French correspondent suggestively described her as, 'molded into her ... dress like a dagger in its sheath'. On formal occasions, she wore red satin pantaloons with three vertical pleats, which was the mark of the highest-ranking women of the imperial court in ancient Annam.<br/><br/> After the overthrow of the Diem government in 1963, Madame Nhu went into exile in France and died at Rome, Italy, in 2011.
Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnamese: Ngo Dinh Diem (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963). In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diem led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable US support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a 1955 plebiscite that was widely considered fraudulent. Proclaiming himself the Republic's first President, he demonstrated considerable political skill in the consolidation of his power, and his rule proved authoritarian, elitist, nepotistic, and corrupt. He was assassinated by an aide of ARVN General Duong Van Minh on November 2, 1963, during a coup d'état that deposed his government.
Bình Xuyên, often linked to its infamous leader, General Le van 'Bay' Vien, was an independent military force within the Vietnamese National Army whose leaders once had lived outside the law and had sided with the Viet Minh. During its heyday, Binh Xuyen funded itself with organized crime activities in Saigon while effectively battling Communist forces. Binh Xuyen was located in Nha Be, in the marshes and canals along the southern fringes of Saigon-Cholon.<br/><br/> In 1949 Bay Vien, a former brigand and a revolutionary, was given the rank of major general of the Vietnamese National Army and his troops became the Binh Xuyen. The Binh Xuyen was a self-funded army with revenues from legally-run brothels and casinos. General Vien made arrangements with Emperor Bao Dai giving them control of their own affairs in return for their nominal support of the regime. The Binh Xuyen's military forces were mostly wiped out by the Vietnamese National Army under Big Minh's command in Operation Rung Sat in 1955. Bay Vien, the leader of the organization, was exiled to Paris after his unsuccessful attempt to take power from Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem in May 1955.
The Second Indochina War, known in America as the Vietnam War, was a Cold War era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the U.S. and other anti-communist nations. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam and part of their wider strategy of containment.<br/><br/> The North Vietnamese government viewed the war as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state. U.S. military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive.<br/><br/> U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the US-Vietnam War.
Tran Le Xuan (April 15, 1924 – April 24, 2011), popularly known as Madame Nhu but more properly Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, was considered the First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother and chief adviser to President Ngo Dinh Diem. As Diem was a lifelong bachelor, and because the Nhus lived in the Independence Palace, she was considered to be the First Lady.<br/><br/> Ngô Ðình Nhu (October 7, 1910 – November 2, 1963) 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. Although Nhu did not hold a 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 Party, which served as the regime's de facto secret police.
Buddhist monks, especially from Hue in Central Vietnam, but also from other locations including Saigon, practiced self-immolation to protest the division of Vietnam into north and south, the authoritarian nature of consecutive South Vietnamese regimes, and South Vietnamese involvement with the United States of America.
In 1858, France launched an attack on Đà Nẵng, starting its invasion of Vietnam. In 1867, France completed its conquest of southern Vietnam (Cochinchina), comprising the provinces of Biên Hoà, Gia Định, Định Tường, Vĩnh Long, An Giang, and Hà Tiên. To consolidate the newly established colony, on 23 February 1868, Lagrandière, Governor of Cochinchina, held a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of a new palace to replace the old wooden palace built in 1863.<br/><br/> The new palace was designed by Hermite, who was also the architect of the Hong Kong City Hall. The first cubic stone, measuring 50 cm along each edge, with indentations containing French gold and silver coins bearing Napoleon III's effigy, came from Biên Hòa. The complex covered an area of 12 hectares, including a palace with an 80-meter-wide façade, a guest-chamber capable of accommodating 800 people, with a spacious gardens covered by green trees and a lawn. Most of the building materials were imported from France. Owing to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, construction fell behind schedule and was not completed until 1873. The palace was named Norodom Palace after the then king of Cambodia, Norodom (1834–1904).<br/><br/> On 27 February 1962, two pilots of Ngo Dinh Diệm’s Vietnam Air Force rebelled and flew two A-1 Skyraider aircraft towards the palace and bombed it, instead of going on a raid against the Việt Cộng. As a result, almost the entire left wing was destroyed. However, Diệm and his family escaped the assassination attempt. As it was almost impossible to restore the palace, Diệm ordered it demolished and commissioned a new building - the current Reunification Palace - in its place.