Bao Dai (1913-1997)
Bao Dai was born in the Hue province of Vietnam in 1913. He succeded his father as the emperor in 1925 and continued to hold power until 1955. During his reign, the citizens of Vietnam desired independence and to rid themselves of French rule. However, Bao Dai was reluctant to reform the government since his lavish lifestyle was admitted by the French if Vietnam would stay under their possession.
After the Japanese had invaded Vietnam during World War II, the French rule was overthrown. However, the colony just changed hands from the French to the Japanese. When the Japanese granted Vietnam limited independence and Bao Dai had accepted them as the new sovereign of Vietnam, unrest was provoked throughout the nation. A person that was extremely angered by Bao Dai's passiveness over Japanese agression was Ho Chi Minh.
Ho Chi Minh and his organization, named Vietminh, finally defeated the Japanese in 1945. Afterwards, they took control of the government and sent Bao Dai into exile. It was until the French government decided to retake their colonial possessions in 1949 that he became reinstated, as was stated in the Elysee Agreements. The French hoped that the citizens of Vietnam would follow his leadership to challenge Ho Chi Minh. However, there was never popular support for Bao Dai because the government had to rule according to the Elysee Agreements; the Elysee Agreements gave the French control over foreign affairs and the waging of the war against the Vietminh. Another reason why Bao Dai was so ostracized by the public was because it was obvious that he was part of the puppet government the French had set up.
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Bao Dai further alienated himself from the people of Vietnam by leaving the major political decisions to his French advisers. All of the conflicts between the citizens of Vietnam and Bao Dai concluded in the prodigious battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Bao Dai remained as the president of South Vietnam until the presidency was assigned to Ngo Dinh Diem as outlined by the Geneva Accords.
After Bao Dai was exiled, he retired to the French Riviera. He would not return to Vietnam until his death on August 2, 1997. Although he was not fully support by the Vietnam public during the war, many scholars now depict Bao Dai as a man that genuinely cared for the Vietnamese people but did not encompass the leadership skills to serve Vietnam. Had he been a greater leader, perhaps the partition of the nation would have been avoided.
Photos Courtesy of Vietnam Photos
