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1: roots of the past, seeds of the future (august 1945) as the Imperial Seal and Royal Sword were passed from Emperor Bao Dai1 to Tran Huy Lieu,2 I knew I was part of a truly momentous day in Vietnamese history . This abdication by the last ruler of a traditional Vietnam dynasty and transfer of power to Tran Huy Lieu, representing the revolutionary government of Ho Chi Minh,3 was significant, not merely symbolic. Roots from Vietnam’s past were being torn out, and seeds for the future planted in their stead. It marked a turning point for the nation: the beginning of events that would affect Vietnam, and me personally, more than anyone dreamed at the time, in ways we could never have imagined. Who could have foreseen that I would be, in turn, a Viet Minh cadre; a South Vietnamese officer and government official; mayor of Danang, and a provincial governor under both President Diem and the generals who ruled after the coup in which Diem was assassinated; secretary general of the National Assembly’s House of Deputies—and then a prisoner in both South Vietnamese and Communist prisons? In the coming years I found myself just inches and seconds from death many times. I visited other countries and met people from faraway places, including American ambassadors, generals, and such well-known men as Daniel Ellsberg, William Colby, John Paul Vann, Edward Lansdale, Sir Robert Thompson, Rufe Phillips, Richard Holbrooke, Keyes Beech,4 and many more. I would even, when arrested and imprisoned by President Thieu in 1970, be the focal point of an international cause célèbre that reached into the U.S. State Department and was reported worldwide in newspapers and magazines. I had no inkling about any of those things on that early autumn day so long ago. The date was August 30, 1945; the place was the Citadel in Hué, where the emperor traditionally lived and worked. Such events seemed as unlikely for my future as the idea would have been just a few years earlier that our traditional leader would step aside in favor of Ho Chi Minh. Ho at that time was virtually a nonentity, known to very few Vietnamese after spending three decades in exile, mostly in Russia and France (utilizing a variety of “cover” names), studying and attempting to gain support in other countries for an independent Vietnam.5 Signs of excitement and change appeared everywhere in this city of mossy walls, blue water, and glossy green trees. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children poured into the Citadel area from all corners of the city. More people flocked in from surrounding villages. All waved the new red and yellow flag of the revolution, 4 vietnam labyrinth adding splashes of vivid color under the gray overcast skies. Milling crowds created an atmosphere that was charged with energy and anticipation. Hué, Vietnam, and its people—indeed the entire world—had changed drastically in the last few years. Repercussions from the fall of France early in World War II were felt in Indochina. France surrendered its colonial power to Japan in 1940 and thereafter functioned as a puppet government under Japanese control. The situation, beneficial to both sides, continued until March 1945. The Japanese, threatened by an imminent invasion from Indochina, mounted a coup that overthrew the French administration . There were a few brief battles, but eventually all French not killed were captured and sent to prisons or internment camps. Japan granted Vietnam “independence ” within its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and installed Bao Dai as ruler.6 Just six months later, bowing to the power of two atomic bomb blasts, Japan surrendered to the Allies—and the Vietnamese rose up to join Ho Chi Minh’s fight to prevent France from taking back control of its former Indochina colony. The Japanese-supported government with Bao Dai as its figurehead had not really had time to begin functioning effectively. Meanwhile, the Viet Minh, which had spearheaded resistance against Japan, now emerged as the strongest of several nationalist factions. To many Vietnamese, Ho seemed to be the best hope to achieve eventual freedom for their country. (Being perceived as too closely associated with the Chinese compromised other potential or would-be nationalist leaders. After living in exile in China, they accompanied the Chinese troops who marched into northern Vietnam during this period. The result was that most Vietnamese viewed them suspiciously , regarding them as intruders, not true nationalists, so...

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