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Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai / Le Van Hoanh Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai was born in Hanoi in 1931 to a Mandarin family. She joined the Việt Minh resistance to French colonial rule in the 1940s and then studied abroad in the United States in the 1950s. She returned to Vietnam to raise her family, do voluntary social service, and, briefly, to engage directly in politics, as this essay explores. “Electioneering” was published under Mai’s authorship, but she claims in her later memoir (The Rubber Tree) that her husband Le Van Hoanh wrote it. Le Van Hoanh served as director general of the Vietnam Press from 1957–1961. Disillusioned with the Diệm government, he accepted a fellowship to Harvard in 1961 that allowed him to take his family out of Vietnam . While abroad, he publicized his critique of Diệm in Is South Vietnam Viable? (published in the Philippines in 1963). The family moved back to Vietnam in 1964 before returning permanently to the United States in 1967. “Electioneering: Vietnamese Style” (1962) My entree into South Vietnamese electoral politics was largely unpremeditated for it was at the urging of some young followers of the Diem government ,1 interested in testing the democratic character of the Diem regime, that I finally decided to contest the elections. This was obviously an ambitious undertaking, but I received encouragement and assistance from various quarters. My husband endorsed this decision even though he was an enthusiastic supporter of President Diem and, indeed, had been recalled to South Vietnam from the United States in 1954 when Diem assumed power. He had been an active participant in the new regime for some years, first publishing and editing the only English-language newspaper in Saigon , the Times of Vietnam, then in 1957 being appointed Director General of the semi-official news agency, Vietnam Press. All this is to stress the fact that our footing with the Diem regime was much better than average. I had no reason to fear any injustice from the regime and had every opportunity to test the “democracy” of South Vietnam. 42 | “Electioneering: Vietnamese Style” Several of the friends who encouraged me to submit my candidacy were also American-returnees holding high positions in the government and in several instances were even affiliated with the Can-lao party of Mr. Ngo Dinh Nhu, the President’s brother.2 They encouraged a number of other young Vietnamese to contest the 1959 elections in order to discover the truth about the regime to which they were so deeply committed. Like my husband, they were undecided about the changes which had taken place within the government they were serving and were desperately seeking ways to determine whether it was really as undemocratic and dishonest as its critics claimed. I agreed to be a guinea pig for this test. On the final day for the filing of candidature applications, I decided to run in the first electoral district in Bien Hoa Province, approximately twenty miles northeast of Saigon. I had grown up in Bien Hoa where my father had been a public works engineer before 1945. Also, this constituency contained about 40,000 Catholic refugees from North Vietnam3 and I felt that, win or lose, it would be good to meet them and help them in any way possible. One hour prior to the closing time for registration of candidacy (I barely made it because I was desperately chasing down a missing birth certificate), I arrived at the office of the Governor of Bien Hoa Province (now safely retired) to hand in my papers. The Governor was unpleasantly surprised at my decision and strongly urged me to withdraw the application. I did not stand a chance, he informed me. Besides there were so many other constituencies in which I could run. At that time I did not understand the true significance of his words, so I very stubbornly adhered to my decision to run in Bien Hoa district. As the election campaign got under way, I began to appreciate fully the Provincial Governor’s eagerness to have me withdraw from this constituency and run elsewhere. Three other candidates had filed for election in this district. One was a highly respected man in the community, Mr. Do Cao Lua, who was the local head of the pro-government National Revolution Movement and the father of two highly placed sons, one the SecretaryGeneral of the National Assembly and the other a colonel in the army. The second candidate was...

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