[Pelham]

“Third is the Ngo family as payback for the events of 1 Nov 1963 in Saigon”

Of course there was very little Ngo family left by the end of the month. It wasn’t just Diem who was murdered but his family as well. A Medieval thought which I’ll admit to harboring is that JFK’s death was divine retribution for his role in the murder of Diem and his family. Frederick Nolting was outraged by our role in Diem’s death.

That 1963 coup was one of our stupidest moments. It left Vietnam rudderless for years, Ho Chi Minh could barely believe his good fortune. Lyndon Johnson inherited an out of control South Vietnam and this led to his decision to send in US combat troops, opening an entirely new problem.

[robowombat]

Actually the Ngo family is much larger than most westerners realize. Firstly the Viets and maybe the South Chinese as well, I don't know, count descent in several ways. All descendants of all males descending from the eldest son in each line, all descendants of all other sons in each line, all other descendants counting all males from all females nit otherwise enumerated as descending from eldest or other sons. This large accumulation of persons is watched over by a designated family protector called theTuc, I believe. The Tuc, as explained to me, is an elder male, not particularly the oldest normally descendant from an elder sob. His entire function is to look after family interests in the widest sen se of the word. Adjusting disputes, dealing one way or another with governments to advance family interests or help family members out of jams.

I remember as a young man listening to a friend of my cousin who worked for the State Department in Saigon. This friend who was only introduced by his first name spent an hour or so one Sunday afternoon during siesta time unsealing the size and inferred influence and wealth of the Ngo’s and a couple of other Viet families, the Tho’s I think was another such. Members of the Ngo family were spread around the world, in Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, the USA, and Great Britain. While not nearly as large or wealthy as the Soong clan from China they had global reach of a quite but very persuasive sort and probably, this man observed, had the resources and the capacity to orchestrate something like the JFK murder within a few weeks.

On other thing, Ido know that it was generally believed ‘Big Minh’ gave the direction before the coup to kill off the Ngo leadership. While he remained in SVN he appeared very take in public and lived in a heavily guarded villa. After 1975 he fled to the US and lived in Honolulu until his death. Again, he was a virtual, wees,thy recluse living in a pretty big house that was guarded as tightly as the Kremlin by male members of his family. Minh apparently did not leave his house fir months or eventually years. He was clearly apprehensive of someone.
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