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AN EMPEROR & HIS EMPIRE(S)
Ambassador Averell Harriman and his lieutenant, Deputy Ambassador Cyrus Vance, had sent off a coded message to Washington, D.C. on the morning of November 27, the day before Thanksgiving, that said simply "The Crown Has Returned!" Meanwhile, Admiral Harry D. Felt, the commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), had sent a similar recorded message saying, "The King Sails By Day." Both messages meant something crucial to a volatile South Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was Emperor of Annam. During this period, Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina. He abdicated in 1945, however returning from 1949 until 1955, Bảo Đại was the chief of state in a state that was covering all of South Vietnam and a portion of the southern North Vietnam. The State of Vietnam was a constitutional monarchy Falsely presented as a puppet of the French, in 1955, his own Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diệm called for a referendum to remove Bảo Đại and establish a republic with Diệm as president. The campaign leading up to the referendum was punctuated by personal attacks against the former emperor. His supporters had no way to refute them, as campaigning for Bảo Đại was forbidden. The October 23 referendum was widely reckoned as fraudulent, showing an implausible 98% in favor of a republic. As it turned out, the official results showed that the total number of votes for a republic exceeded the total number of registered voters by some 380,000—an obvious sign of fraud. Bảo Đại wished to avoid any further bloodshed and calmly went into exile. After the bloody overthrowing of Diệm and his brother Nhu, then the counter-revolution against those rogue Generals by General(s) Khánh and Thieu, they knew from Harriman's insistence that there needed to be some stability. So General Thieu approached the former Emperor and asked him would he be willing to return to South Vietnam to be restored as a constitutional monarch. Thieu knew Bao Dai held great influence among local political figures in the Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên provinces of Huế. The Communist government of North Vietnam sent representatives to France hoping that Bảo Đại would become a member of a coalition government which might reunite Vietnam, in the hope of attracting his supporters in the regions wherein he still held influence. The question now for Ambassador Harriman was to see if Emperor Bảo Đại backed by General(s) Nguyễn Khánh and Nguyen Van Thieu would be able to bring stability to South Vietnam. One thing was sure, the populace seemed to be enthusiastic in their celebration of the return of their monarch.
Ambassador Averell Harriman and his lieutenant, Deputy Ambassador Cyrus Vance, had sent off a coded message to Washington, D.C. on the morning of November 27, the day before Thanksgiving, that said simply "The Crown Has Returned!" Meanwhile, Admiral Harry D. Felt, the commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), had sent a similar recorded message saying, "The King Sails By Day." Both messages meant something crucial to a volatile South Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was Emperor of Annam. During this period, Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina. He abdicated in 1945, however returning from 1949 until 1955, Bảo Đại was the chief of state in a state that was covering all of South Vietnam and a portion of the southern North Vietnam. The State of Vietnam was a constitutional monarchy Falsely presented as a puppet of the French, in 1955, his own Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diệm called for a referendum to remove Bảo Đại and establish a republic with Diệm as president. The campaign leading up to the referendum was punctuated by personal attacks against the former emperor. His supporters had no way to refute them, as campaigning for Bảo Đại was forbidden. The October 23 referendum was widely reckoned as fraudulent, showing an implausible 98% in favor of a republic. As it turned out, the official results showed that the total number of votes for a republic exceeded the total number of registered voters by some 380,000—an obvious sign of fraud. Bảo Đại wished to avoid any further bloodshed and calmly went into exile. After the bloody overthrowing of Diệm and his brother Nhu, then the counter-revolution against those rogue Generals by General(s) Khánh and Thieu, they knew from Harriman's insistence that there needed to be some stability. So General Thieu approached the former Emperor and asked him would he be willing to return to South Vietnam to be restored as a constitutional monarch. Thieu knew Bao Dai held great influence among local political figures in the Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên provinces of Huế. The Communist government of North Vietnam sent representatives to France hoping that Bảo Đại would become a member of a coalition government which might reunite Vietnam, in the hope of attracting his supporters in the regions wherein he still held influence. The question now for Ambassador Harriman was to see if Emperor Bảo Đại backed by General(s) Nguyễn Khánh and Nguyen Van Thieu would be able to bring stability to South Vietnam. One thing was sure, the populace seemed to be enthusiastic in their celebration of the return of their monarch.
- DCPritt
- Word Count: 440