Reflections of the "Viet Cong Queen"

Forty years ago, on January 27, 1973, the "Agreement on Ending War and Restoring Peace to Viet Nam" was signed, ending America's direct military participation in the Viet Nam War. The agreement wrapped up 56 months of protracted, often dramatic negotiations that are believed the longest in diplomatic history. 

Foreign Minister Binh (second from right) represented the PRG signed the Agreement on Ending War and Restoring Peace to Viet Nam in Paris.

Any person recalling the Paris peace negotiations would be hard-pressed to forget the image of a petite woman in the sea of suits, her hair knotted at the nape of her neck, wearing the distinctive Vietnamese ao dai (traditional robe). She is Nguyen Thi Binh, known worldwide as "Madame Binh".

Overseas Vietnamese Tran Thi Ty, now in her 80, recalled that from 1968 to 1972 she and her friends, living in Paris often saw "Madame Binh", looking sophisticated and smart in her ao dai covered by a coat with a dark fur collar, entering the International Convention Centre (ICC) on Avenue Kleber 1 to join the four-sided peace talks.

Binh was foreign minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) of the Republic of South Viet Nam, and head of the PRG delegation during the talks. Other three parties were delegations from the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (North Viet Nam), the United States and the Republic of Viet Nam (the Sai Gon administration).

"We were very lucky that our house was located near the Convention Centre so we could see Binh and her delegation. We often stood along the street waving the PRG and DRV flags to welcome them and wish them success," Ty said, adding that Madame Binh always smiled at them.

Binh had a much less glamorous recollection of that time. As the PRG delegation was very poor, she said, she could not buy the fashionable clothes that were popular in Europe and had to make do with what she could afford: "On the way to Paris, we stopped at what was then the Soviet Union, where we entered an international shopping centre. I saw a very nice fur coat. I liked it very much but I didn't dare to buy it because it was very expensive," Binh recalled.

"I tried to go to a rural market to buy it, but finally I just bought a fur collar and fastened it to my coat. While in Paris, I was very lucky to meet a Viet kieu (oversea Vietnamese) girl who sewed me several ao dai that I wore all the time during my mission in Paris."

Binh said between talks sessions at the Kleber Convention Centre, she often had to organise press briefings to answer reporters' questions, join other international conferences as foreign minister of the PRG and visit some Asian, European and African countries to tell the world about the Vietnamese struggle against the US and lobby them for their support.

"Diplomatic work is very tense," she said, recounting how one time a Western reporter asked her if she was a Communist Party member. She replied, "I belonged to the patriotic party'."

Binh said, "We always confirm that they (reporters) have the right to ask and we have the right to answer. But the most important thing is how we should answer them to win their admiration and respect for the just struggle of our nation."

She said she has had to stand before big press conferences involving more than 200 reporters from France and the US, as well as live TV broadcasts. Sometimes she has had to conduct interviews entirely in French.

"I felt very tense, but I always tried to smile and speak softly before the media," Binh said. "I still remember that after each press conference, journalists and reporters clapped for a long time. Some of them asked me where I had my ao dai made or got my hair cut. They were very surprised when I answered that I do it by myself at our office!"

Binh cannot remember how many interviews she gave in those days, but it was not by chance that the Western media dubbed her the ‘Viet Cong (Vietnamese Communist) Queen''.

Many Americans in the anti-war movement were proud to wear T-shirts printed with the portrait of "Madame Binh". By then, she had become a symbol for female soldiers of the legitimacy of Viet Nam's efforts.

During those long days of negotiations, Binh recalled, the most memorable moments were when the American B-52 bombers raided Ha Noi.

"No one as well as Ha Noi delegations in my team could sleep, wondering whether North Viet Nam could win and overcame the US's pressure. But just a few days later when the news broke that many B-52s had been shot down, and our negotiators found renewed strength and confidence to continue with the talks," Binh said.

During all those years, Binh had only one chance to return home to visit her ill father. When she finally saw him, he asked why she had even returned, saying: "My illness is just a minor thing. What you are doing over there is more important!"

She never saw him again, but his words fuelled her strength and determination.

Binh was born in the southern province of Dong Thap's Sa Dec in 1927. She is a niece of Phan Chu Trinh (1872-1926), a patriotic scholar.

Oversea Vietnamese Professor Tran Thanh Van and his wife Le Kim Ngocï in France recalled that during the Paris talks, the image of Madame Binh really impressed people when it appeared in Western newspapers - not just because of her fine manner and attitude, but also due to her smart and firm words, which made the world admire Viet Nam and encouraged Vietnamese people to continue their struggle against the US aggressors.

Prof Van recalled that from October 1972, there were many secret meetings between Democratic Republic of Viet Nam's Government Special Adviser Le Duc Tho and US Security Adviser Henry Kissinger in the Maison Du Gros Tilleul in Gif-sur-Yvettle, about 30km southwest of Paris.

Van's wife Kim Ngoc recalled that on November 22, 1972, she and her husband were sitting at a table in their house with representatives from the SOS organisation to discuss how to build a house for orphans in Da Lat in Viet Nam's Central Highlands when reporters knocked on their door to ask for permission to go upstairs to take photographs of the next house, where Tho and Kissinger were talking.

"The talks were too secret that even neighbours like us didn't know anything until the reporters came," Ngoc recalled.

The Maison du Gros Tilleul was a residence of Frenchman Fernand Leger since 1955. After he passed away, the French Communist Party arranged for the Vietnamese delegation to use it as a place to hold secret meetings with the US side.

Ngoc said that 40 years ago the tung thap (juniperus squamata) trees between her house and the Maison du Gros Tilleul were very short, so her family and reporters could see clearly what was going on at that house's garden.

"At that time many reporters took photographs of the secret talks between Tho and Kissinger in the house's garden," Ngoc said.

The house is now owned by photographer Minier Bernard and his wife, who have made efforts to keep the house's architecture unchanged.

There is a small sign on the gate describing the house's role in history, and regular tours of the house are also offered for curious visitors, according to Bernard's wife.

After the Paris Peace Agreement was concluded in 1973, Binh returned home to continue working as Foreign Minister of the PRG. In 1976, she became minister of education of reunified Viet Nam.

She was elected Vice President in 1992, and currently serves as the president of the Viet Nam Children's Fund and honourary president of both the Fund for Disabled Children and Fund for Agent Orange Victims.

VNA