Ba?o DDa.i not as a "playboy" king? (fwd)

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

>From vn-forum:
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...
I tend to agree that Bao Bai was not much of a King.  In
fact, by calling him "the playboy king", many historians did not think much
of his patriotism.  

However, many others thought otherwise.  In 1983 (?), he visited the U.S. as
part of "Giai Phap Bao Dai" or Bao Dai's plan which was proposed and
supported by many former SVN polititians, generals, and  Red China.  The plan
failed but it showed that many VN's still believed in Bao Dai.  
On his memoir (Con Rong VN ?, or The Vietnamese Dragon), Bao Dai defended his
roles in the VN history.  I did not remember the details but the book was
well written (probably writen by one of his relatives).  It painted Bao Dai
as a patriotic king who; due to the circumstances such as the French
occupation of VN, WW2, Japanese occupation, the rise to power of VCP, etc.;
could not do much to help VN.  In summary, the book tried to justify Bao
Dai's action using the commonly VN reasoning expressed by the poem of Dda.ng
Dung:
     "Tho+`i lai ddo^` ddie^'u tha`nh co^ng di.
       Va^.n bi' anh hu`ng a^?m ha^.n dda"  
     "When the time is right, many common people can become successful easily
       When the time is not right, many talented people can only drown in the
sorrow of failure"
 On Bao Dai's death, a discussion of his legacy, his memoir, and historical
role may be appropriate.

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