Editing Ngô Đình Nhu (section)

==Power==
[[File:LBJ nhu.jpg|thumb|Ngô Đình Nhu meets then US Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] in 1961]]
Nhu held no official role in the government, but ruled the southern region of South Vietnam, commanding private armies and secret police. Along with his wife and Archbishop Thục, he lived in the Presidential Palace with Diệm.<ref>Karnow (1997)</ref> Pervaded by family corruption, Nhu competed with his brother [[Ngô Đình Cẩn]], who ruled the northern areas, for U.S. contracts and rice trade.<ref>Karnow, p. 246.</ref> He controlled the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces]] commanded by Colonel [[Lê Quang Tung]], not for fighting the [[Viet Cong]] but in Saigon to maintain the authoritarian rule of his family.<ref name="Karnow, pp. 280–284"/> Tortures and killings of "communist suspects"  were committed on a daily basis, and extended beyond communists to anti-communist dissidents and anti-corruption whistleblowers.<ref>Maclear, pp. 70–90.</ref> His agents infiltrated labor unions and social organizations, and he expanded the police forces from 20 to 32 officers. They conducted arrests without warrants and selective suppression of criminal activity and graft while turning a blind eye to regime loyalists.<ref>Tucker, p. 461.</ref>

Nhu and his wife amassed a fortune by running numbers and lottery rackets, manipulating currency and extorting money from Saigon businesses.<ref>Olson, p. 98.</ref> In 1956, Diệm created a rubber stamp unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. Nhu won a seat in the body, ostensibly as an independent, but never bothered to attend a single session of debate or vote, but this made no difference as Diệm's policies were overwhelmingly approved in any formal show of numbers.<ref name=scig155>Scigliano, p. 155.</ref>

In June 1958, the ARVN were involved in border clashes with Cambodia and made gains in the northeastern Cambodian province of [[Stung Treng]].<ref>Osborne, p. 107.</ref> This provoked a war of words between Diệm and Sihanouk.<ref name=o108>Osborne, p. 108.</ref> On 31 August 1959, Nhu failed in an attempt to assassinate Sihanouk. He ordered his agents to send parcel bombs to the Cambodian leader. Two suitcases were delivered to the Sihanouks' palace, one addressed to the head of state, and the other to Prince Vakrivan, his head of protocol. The deliveries were labeled as originating from an American engineer who had previously worked in Cambodia and purported to contain gifts from Hong Kong. Sihanouk's package contained a bomb, but the other did not; however, Vakrivan opened both on behalf of the monarch and was killed instantly, as was a servant. The explosion happened adjacent to a room in the palace where Sihanouk's parents were present.<ref name=o112>Osborne, p. 112.</ref><ref>Clymer, pp. 74–76.</ref> At the same time, anti-Sihanouk broadcasts emanated from a secret transmitter located somewhere in South Vietnam, widely attributed to Nhu.<ref>Dommen, p. 364.</ref> Sihanouk quickly blamed the Ngôs and his aides made statements implying the United States might have played a role in the assassination attempt.<ref name=o112/>

The relationship between the two countries became strained thereafter, and Cambodia gave refuge to Vietnamese military personnel involved in attempts to overthrow Diệm. Colonel [[Nguyễn Chánh Thi]] and Lieutenant Colonel [[Vương Văn Đông]] were given immediate refuge after a [[1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt|failed coup in November 1960]],<ref>Hammer, pp. 131–33.</ref> and [[Republic of Vietnam Air Force]] pilot Lieutenant [[Nguyễn Văn Cử]] was accorded the same treatment after he failed to kill the Ngôs in February 1962.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 131–32.</ref><ref>Karnow, pp. 280–81.</ref>