Photo, above: Ðông-Khánh, Khải Định and the boy Bao Dai, by courtesy of and with thanks to indochinamedals.com .  The last Emperor of Viet-Nam was born Prince Nguyen Phuoc Vinh Thuy in the Imperial Capital of Hué, An-Nam on October 22, 1913, to the Emperor Khai Din. On March 10, 1922, Khai Din officially declared his son heir to the throne with the title of "Dong Cung Hoang Thai Tu". On April 28, 1922, on the second day of the fourth month of the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Khai Din, the nine-year-old was formally invested as the Crown Prince in an elaborate ceremony in the Palace of Supreme Peace.

Prince Vinh Thuy was sent to France to receive his education and was still there when his father died. He was only thirteen years old when he was returned to Vietnam to be enthroned as Hoang De and Thien Tu, the august Emperor and Son of Heaven. It was the last time the ancient ritual would ever be held in the "Great South". On January 8, 1926, in the Forbidden City, with the Esplanade of Great Welcome full of kowtowing nobles and mandarins, Prince Vinh Thuy became Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam, "the Keeper of Greatness".

Still only a young man, the new monarch was sent back to France to complete his education. It was not until September 10, 1932, that the French government allowed him to return home to take up his imperial duties. Nationalistic feelings in Vietnam had been increasing and it was hoped that Emperor Bao Dai's presence would calm the people. However, the Emperor wanted independence too and was extremely frustrated when the French authorities would not support his efforts to reform. He asked for limited independence, which was denied. In his efforts to modernize the Vietnamese monarchy he improved education, abolished the court harem, allowed people to stand upright in his presence and outlawed the use of forced labor except in extreme cases of national emergency.

On March 24, 1934, Emperor Bao Dai married Jeanette Nguyen, a well-known Catholic Vietnamese young lady who was renamed Hoang Hau Nam Phuong, "Empress of the South". The marriage was a happy and colorful celebration for the people of Vietnam, but international crisis soon overshadowed the emperor's family life. With conflict unavoidable in Europe, Emperor Bao Dai made new demands for more autonomy for Vietnam. The French knew he was moving toward full independence and kept putting the emperor off. After Nazi Germany conquered France in World War II the French government allowed the Japanese to occupy Vietnam.

The Japanese promised not to interfere with the court at Hué but in 1945 forced Emperor Bao Dai to declare Vietnam's independence from France as a member of Japan's "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". The Japanese had a Vietnamese pretender, Prince Cuong De, waiting to take power in case . . .   See Hour 1, Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall

 

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (1 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (2 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (3 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (4 0f 4)

Hour Two

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines' Finest Hour in Vietnam by Gregg Jones (1 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines' Finest Hour in Vietnam by Gregg Jones (2 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines' Finest Hour in Vietnam by Gregg Jones (3 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines' Finest Hour in Vietnam by Gregg Jones (4 of 4)

Hour Three

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75 by George J Veith (1 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75 by George J Veith (2 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75 by George J Veith (3 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75 by George J Veith (4 0f 4)

Hour Four

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Shadow Warrior: William Egan Colby and the CIA by Randall B. Woods  (1 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Shadow Warrior: William Egan Colby and the CIA by Randall B. Woods  (2 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Shadow Warrior: William Egan Colby and the CIA by Randall B. Woods  (3 0f 4)

Saturday 6 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Shadow Warrior: William Egan Colby and the CIA by Randall B. Woods  (4 0f 4)

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