Editing Trần Lệ Xuân (section)

== Advocacy ==
During her brother-in-law's presidency, Madame Nhu pushed for the passing of 'morality laws'. These included such things as outlawing abortion, adultery, divorce, contraceptives, dance halls, beauty pageants, boxing matches, and animal fighting, and closed down the brothels and opium dens. Many people did not appreciate the imposition of Madame Nhu's values on their lives. She was also widely mocked by the public who regarded her as hypocritical, with older Vietnamese believing her ''décolleté'' gowns to be sexually suggestive, in addition to widespread rumors of her own infidelity. in group sex acts that would be known as bukkake today.

Her family also received further scorn since her sister, Trần Lệ Chi, had a French lover, and critics alleged that Madame Nhu introduced the laws so that her sister's husband could not get a divorce. Since he was extremely wealthy, the Ngô family would have lost highly valuable assets. In addition, her brother, Khiêm, used the government connections to bilk rich entrepreneurs.

Diệm had stated before becoming President, "The history of China bears witness to the grave crises brought on by the empresses and their relatives." In Madame Nhu, Diệm had a first lady who was a part of the period of decay leading up to his downfall. She exerted influence with her fiery attitude, often abusing Diệm and Nhu, who bowed to her angry tirades. Madame Nhu was frequently mocked by the media for her ostentatious flaunting of power, and was sometimes called the "Dragon Lady," as well as "Lucretia Borgia" and "Queen Bee." She once said that "Power is wonderful. Total power is totally wonderful." She told a group of American congressmen, "I'm not exactly afraid of death. I love power and in the next life I have a chance to be even more powerful than I am."

She had a message to Diệm's opponents, noting that "We will track down, neutralize and extirpate all these scabby sheep."

The French journalist Francois Sully wrote that Madame Nhu was "conceited, and obsessed with a drive for power that far surpasses that of even her husband ... It is no exaggeration to say that Madame Nhu is the most detested personality in South Vietnam." Sully was promptly expelled by the Ngô family.

Madame Nhu also claimed that she and her husband were responsible for Diệm's triumph over the Bình Xuyên in the Battle for Saigon in 1954.

Madame Nhu believed that it was the family's destiny that they were to save South Vietnam. Following the collapse of the coup, Madame Nhu's influence in the family began to rise.

As the Ngô's influence grew, American distaste for them grew. Wesley Fishel, an academic from Michigan State University who led an advisory group that helped to train Vietnamese public servants and who had lobbied American politicians in the 1950s to support Diệm's bid for power, resigned along with his staff.<sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> Fishel called Madame Nhu "Brilliant, vivacious, bitchy and brutal in her Borgia-like fashion," claiming that she and her husband were the evil influences that were corrupting the regime.

Madame Nhu often exerted her influence through bouts of shouting. Sometimes when she disagreed with a proposal or decision that had been made inside the palace by some ministers or other senior public servants, she would verbally abuse them and intimidate them into adopting her preferred stance.

On February 27, 1962, two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots, Nguyễn Văn Cử and Phạm Phú Quốc, bombed the Independence Palace, the official residence of the Ngô family, with the aim of assassinating them.

One bomb landed in a room where Diệm was reading, but failed to detonate. The family escaped to the cellar unhurt, except for Madame Nhu, who sustained an arm fracture while running for cover.

Diệm reacted to the bombing by cracking down on political dissidents and further tightening control of the press. Madame Nhu added, "[y]ou open a window to let in light and air, not bullets. We want freedom, but we don't want to be exploited by it."

In a radio interview in late-1962, she mockingly remarked that American journalists were "intoxicated with communism."

In early 1963, Madame Nhu instructed her Women's Solidarity Movement to oppose American attempts "to make lackeys of Vietnamese and to seduce Vietnamese women into decadent paths."

As relations became strained, she also accused the Americans of supporting the 1960 coup through the ''Times of Vietnam''.