[3] As a South Vietnamese government official, cabinet minister, Magsaysay Award winner, journalist, editor, historian and professor, Tôn Thất Thiện supported the independence of Vietnam from foreign political and cultural control including French colonialism, communist dictatorship and American dominance.
In his life and writings, Thiện upheld the ideals drawn from the old, essentially Confucian traditions of the country - service to society, rule of customs and laws and orderly government.
His conception of Viet Nam's post-colonial society echoed that of Phan Chu Trinh, a leading Vietnamese nationalist and Confucian scholar of the early 20th century who nevertheless supported modernization through unreserved westernization.
As an independent political commentator after 1966 he could be equally critical of misguided South Vietnamese government policies and abuses and the heavy-handedness of U.S. intervention in Viet Nam.
His writings on the Vietnamese communist threat and the negative impact of American cultural, economic and political interventions showed a balanced and analytical approach that was recognized as distinctive in its time.
[6] In 1945-1946 Thiện personally witnessed the momentous events which were to mark Viet Nam's post-war history: the overthrow of French rule by the Japanese and Emperor Bảo Đại's proclamation of the termination of the French protectorate over Viet Nam (March 1945), the formation of the first independent government of Viet Nam (April 1945), Emperor Bảo Đại's abdication in Huế (August 1945) and Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence in Hanoi (September 1945), the arrival of the Americans and the Chinese (September 1945), the return of the French (March 1946), and the breaking out of the Franco-Vietnamese war (December 1946).
As a result, he remained non-committed to either side throughout the war until Ngo Dinh Diem became Prime Minister of the State of Viet Nam in June 1954.
Born on September 22, 1924, in Huế, the imperial capital of the Nguyễn dynasty, Tôn Thất Thiện was descended from a family with a long history of service to the state.
His father Tôn Thất Quảng (1883–1972) served for thirty years in the Imperial government, rising to the rank of Minister, in charge of Rites.
[5] In April 1945, after the French colonial administration was ended by a Japanese coup, Emperor Bảo Đại set up the first independent government of Viet Nam led by Mr. Trần Trọng Kim.
Dismissive of communist ideology from his economics studies and unable to support the radical political aims of Ho Chi Minh which included on-going systematic persecution of Vietnamese nationalists, he left Hanoi and returned to Huế in late 1946.
In the fall of 1955 he went to the U.S. where he was an instructor at Michigan State University which was initiating a major government contract to provide technical assistance to Ngo Dinh Diem's administration.
As a close aide to Ngo Dinh Diem, he was with the President on 1 November 1963 when the South Vietnamese military successfully launched a coup d'état which was condoned by the U.S. government.
On the night of the second day, the communist forces staged a surprise general offensive and succeeded in occupying almost the entire city including the area of Thiện's family home.
With the central hospital still under communist occupation, and no other medical service available she died of cerebral hemorrhage and had to be buried on the spot, on the lawn of the old French Resident's office adjacent to the Huế bridge.
Thien's sister-in-law, Thu Ba (Hanh's wife) risked her life to get a coffin with money given to Thiện's family by an American journalist who happened to be in the area.
His first act was to remove all censorship of the press although South Viet Nam was facing a widespread long standing insurgency and invasion from the North.
The official citation read: Ton That Thien relentlessly has sought to digest the essence of Western scientific method and wed it to Vietnamese cultural values.
Thiện's alternating roles as Presidential personal interpreter and press secretary, journalist and professor provided him with a platform for critical commentary on political events as well as the advocacy of the ideals he thought the country should uphold: traditional Confucian values which he considered to have universal and perennial value and basic to the good functioning of a society, namely: service to community, respect of traditions, honesty and faithfulness to recognized and honourable freely elected leaders.
These included, among government and political officials: Major Archimedes Patti, Edward Lansdale, Wesley Fishel, Wolfe Ladejinsky, Ted Serong, William Colby, Chester Cooper, Daniel Ellsberg, Douglas Pike, John Mecklin, Barry Zorthian, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, General William Westmoreland, Dr. Tom Dooley and Senator Mike Mansfield.
In 1965 Don Luce, the International Volunteer Service (IVS) field director arranged a private meeting with Senator Edward Kennedy during a fact-finding trip to Viet Nam.
His press contacts included: Stanley Karnow, Robert Shaplen, Homer Bigart, Sol Sanders, Keyes Beech, Bernard Kalb, David Halberstam, Malcom Browne, Charles Mohr, Neil Sheehan, Denis Warner, Peter Arnett, Joel Blocker, François Sully, Ward Just, Marguerite Higgins, Frances FitzGerald, Beverly Deepe, Elisabeth Pond, R. W. Apple, Don Oberdorfer, William Tuohy, Arthur Dommen, Michael Field, Bernard Crozier, Bernard Fall, Olivier Todd, Richard Gwynn, Max Clos, and François Nivolon.
He also was consulted by or became friends with several leading academics, including Joseph Buttinger, Gerald Hickey, Patrick J. Honey, Denis Duncanson and George Tanham.
[12] By early 1975 as it became apparent that the anti-communist South's fall was inevitable, he knew too well that under communist rule a normal life - particularly one of independent political discourse – would be impossible.
Although assured by a man known to have connections with Hanoi that he would be "welcomed by the Revolution", the painful memories of Tet 1968 in Huế were still fresh in his mind and he made plans for an emergency evacuation.
As the communist forces closed in on Saigon, Thien put his escape plan into effect: with the help of a foreign friend, he smuggled his family out of Vietnam to Paris.
Fluent in both French and English, with a good educational background and a great deal of professional experience, he had no difficulty finding employment and settling down in his new country.
[13] It is historically intriguing to compare Tôn Thất Thiện's life history with that of Bùi Tín, Thien's neighbour, who also grew up in Huế, and whose father was also a Minister in the Imperial cabinet of Emperor Bảo Đại.
[14] When he claimed asylum in France in 1990 his life's path once again became conjoined with that of Ton That Thien in their common experience of exile and their shared political beliefs in multi-party democracy, individual freedoms and traditional cultural values.
Another infringement of traditions was that they got married in Paris, in a simple ceremony with a small attendance instead of an elaborate and lavish wedding party involving a large gathering presided by the parents surrounded by all members of the two families.