Madame Nhu’s Legacy

“A Journey From Glory to the Grave” on Nov. 5 (by Saundra Saperstein and Elsa Walsh, the Washington Post) about the Chuong family brought back memories of more than 20 years.

We went to the Statler Hilton to see and hear Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu--her detractors called her the Dragon Lady. She and her daughter were in the U.S. to raise money and support for the Diem regime. They were both elegantly gowned and coiffed, two of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.

Madame Nhu’s pitch was not for herself. I can remember it as if it were yesterday when she said, “I can live on a bowl of rice a day.” She could mesmerize an audience.

Sometime later I sadly read that her beautiful young daughter was killed in an auto accident in Paris. Both Vietnam and this family seem to sustain a star-crossed legacy. It was our country’s tragedy too.

GERRY W. WILLIAMS

Santa Monica