Coimbra
—  Cidade/City  —
A panoramic view over the city and River Mondego, from the university
Flag Seal
Coimbra Location of the city of Coimbra
Coordinates: 40°12′40.26″N 8°25′44.96″W / 40.2111833°N 8.4291556°W / 40.2111833; -8.4291556Coordinates: 40°12′40.26″N 8°25′44.96″W / 40.2111833°N 8.4291556°W / 40.2111833; -8.4291556
Country	Portugal
Region	Centro
Subregion	Baixo Mondego
Municipality	Coimbra
Câmara Municipal de Coimbra	fl. 456
Founder	Afonso Henriques
Municipality	Coimbra
GovernmentThe administration and legal authority is invested in the Câmara Municipal of the Municipality of Coimbra
• Presidente	João Paulo Barbosa de Melo (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM)
Elevation	43 m (141 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	101,069
	Refers to the urbanized portions of the parishes of Almedina, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Santo António dos Olivais, São Bartolomeu and Sé Nova only
Demonym	Conimbricense
Time zone	WET (UTC0)
• Summer (DST)	WEST (UTC+1)
Postal Zone	(+351) 239 XX XX XX
ISO 3166 code	PT
Website	http://www.cm-coimbra.pt

Coimbra (Portuguese pronunciation: [kuˈĩbɾɐ]) is a city in the municipality of Coimbra in Portugal. Although it served as the nation's capital during the High Middle Ages, it is better-known for its university, the University of Coimbra, which is one of the oldest in Europe and the oldest academic institution in the Portuguese-speaking world.

According 2001 Census, provided by the Portuguese Instituto Nacional de Estatística (English: National Institute of Statistics), the city proper had a population of 101,069.^[1] The city of Coimbra is one of the most important urban centres in Portugal (after the much larger cities of Lisbon and Porto), playing a central role in the northern-central littoral and interior of the country. It is the principal centre in the Centro region, the District of Coimbra and the Baixo Mondego subregion.

There are many archaeological structures which date to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, such as its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus. Similarly, buildings from the period when Coimbra served as the capital of Portugal (from 1131 to 1255) still remain. During the Late Middle-Ages, with its decline as the political centre of the Kingdom of Portugal, Coimbra began to evolve into a major cultural centre, helped by the university finally established there in 1537. The university, one of the oldest in Europe, apart from attracting many European and international students, is visited by tourists for its monuments and history.

History[link]

The west façade of Coimbra's Old Cathedral (Sé Velha), one of the best-preserved Romanesque buildings in Portugal

The Manueline façade of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, final resting-place of the first Portuguese monarch (Afonso Henriques).

The Cathedral of Sé Nova

The city, located over a hill by the river Mondego, was called Aeminium in Roman times. During late Antiquity it became the seat of a Diocesis substituting the nearby city of Conímbriga, which had been captured and partially plundered by invading Germanic peoples in 465 and 468, adopting later the name of the destroyed city. After the Roman city of Civita Aeminium, between 586 and 640, the Visigoths altered the name of the town to Emínio. The Moors occupied Coimbra (Arabic: قُلُمْرِيَة‎, Qulumriyah) around the year 711, turning it into an important commercial link between the Christian North and Muslim South. The city was reconquered by Ferdinand I of León in 1064.

After being reconquered by the Christians, Coimbra became the capital of a new County (County of Coimbra), governed by the Mozarab Sesnando (Sisnando Davides), later incorporated into the County of Portugal. In the mid-12th century, the first Portuguese King, Afonso Henriques, turned Coimbra into the capital of the new Kingdom, a condition the city would keep until the year 1255. Many important monuments of the city date from this early period, like the Old Cathedral, the Church of St. James (Igreja de Santiago) and the Santa Cruz Monastery, which was the most important Portuguese monastic institution at the time.

As early as the Middle Ages, Coimbra was divided into an upper city (Cidade Alta or Almedina), where the aristocracy and the clergy lived, and the low city (Cidade Baixa) by the Mondego River, where most commercial activities took place. The city was encircled by a fortified wall, of which some remnants are still visible like the Almedina Gate (Porta da Almedina). The most important work in Gothic style in the city is the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha, founded on the left side of the river Mondego by Queen Elizabeth in the first half of the 14th century. The Monastery was located too close to the river, and frequent floods forced the nuns to abandon it in the 17th century, when the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova was built uphill. The Queen's magnificent gothic tomb was also transferred to the new convent. The ruins of the old convent were unearthed in the 2000s, and can be seen today in the left bank of the river.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, during the Age of Discovery, Coimbra was again one of the main artistic centres of Portugal thanks to both local and royal patronage. Coimbra bishops, religious orders and King Manuel I supported artists like Diogo Pires (father and son), Marcos Pires, João de Castilho, Diogo de Castilho and the Frenchmen, João de Ruão and Nicholas of Chanterene, among others, who left important manueline and renaissance works in the town. Dating from this period are the remodelling (in manueline style) of the Santa Cruz Monastery, including the tombs of Kings Afonso Henriques and Sancho I, the renaissance Manga Fountain, the altarpieces and triumphal portal of the Old Cathedral, among other works.

The University of Coimbra, was founded as Studium Generale in Lisbon in 1290 by King Dinis I. The University was relocated to Coimbra in 1308, but in 1338 the King D. Afonso IV make the University return to Lisbon. The University was definitively transferred to the premises of Coimbra Royal Palace in 1537 by King John III. Since then, the city life has revolved around the state-run university, and for many decades, several colleges (colégios) created to provide an alternative to the official form of teaching and established by the religious orders in the city, which were later gradually discontinued through the times with the secularization of teaching in Portugal. Built in the 18th century, the Joanina Library (Biblioteca Joanina), a Baroque library, is other notable landmark of the ancient university. The Baroque University Tower (Torre da Universidade), from the school of the German architect Ludovice and built between 1728 and 1733, is the city's «ex-libris».

In 1772, the prime-minister of king José I, the Marquis of Pombal, undertook a deep reform of the University, where the study of the sciences assumed vast importance. The collections of scientific instruments and material acquired since then are nowadays gathered in the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra, and constitute one of the most important historical science collections in Europe.

The first half of the 19th century was a difficult period for Coimbra, being invaded by French troops under the command of Andoche Junot and André Masséna during the Peninsular War. A force of 4,000 Portuguese militia led by Nicholas Trant dealt Masséna a heavy blow when it recaptured the city on 6 October 1810. In March 1811, the militia successfully held the place against the retreating French army. The city recovered in the second half of the century with infrastructure improvements like the telegraph, gas light, the railway system and a railway bridge over the Mondego river.

Apart from the monuments already mentioned, it is also worth a visit to the New Cathedral of Coimbra (17th century) and the Machado de Castro Museum, the second most important one in Portugal, housed in the former Palace of the Bishops. The city also houses the University of Coimbra General Library, Portuguese second biggest library, after the National Library in Lisbon, and the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra from the 18th century.

Coimbra is also known for the reduced child-scale buildings in the Portugal dos Pequenitos park, an educational theme park built during the Estado Novo. Its buildings are scale copies of Portuguese architectural landmarks and were completed in the 1950s.

Geography[link]

The historic city of Coimbra is located in central Portugal, 120 km south of Porto, 195 km north of Lisbon. One of Portugal's biggest crossroads, Coimbra is served by the A1, the main highway of Portugal. It is set by the Mondego River, about 40 km east of Figueira da Foz, a neighbour coastal city with several beaches, summer and seaport facilities on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Just outside the municipality, there are also several picturesque mountain towns such as Lousã and Penacova and spa towns and villages such as Luso, Buçaco and Curia.

With a dense urban grid the city of Coimbra is famous for its monuments, churches, libraries, museums, parks, nightlife, healthcare and shopping facilities, but above all for its intense cultural life, centered on the University of Coimbra, one of the oldest universities in Europe. This relevance within the context of the country's cultural life can be seen in the large number of writers, artists and academics connected with the city, which has thus secured throughout its history a reputation as the Lusa Atenas (Lusitanian Athens). For details, see the 'Culture' and 'Famous inhabitants' sections below.

A view of Coimbra's University Hill as seen from the Mondego River

The city of Coimbra (the built-up urban area) consists of six civil parishes:

• Almedina
• Santa Clara
• Santa Cruz
• Santo António dos Olivais
• São Bartolomeu
• Sé Nova

Economy[link]

Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) in the Baixa of Coimbra.

Coimbra-A railway station.

The wealth of the city rests mostly on its University of Coimbra with about 20,000 students – the city has a total of 35,000 higher education students considering the other higher education institutions based there – but also in shopping, technology and health sciences industry, administrative offices, financial services, law firms and specialized medical care. The city has many private clinics, medical offices and two large independent state hospital centres: the H.U.C. – Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, which is a university hospital, and the C.H.C. – Centro Hospitalar de Coimbra, which includes a general hospital. Coimbra has also the regional branch of the national cancer hospital – the I.P.O. – Instituto Português de Oncologia, as well as a military hospital. The Instituto Nacional de Medicina Legal, the state-run forensic science institute of Portugal, is headquartered in Coimbra.

Notable companies based in the municipality of Coimbra include software companies Critical Software and Ciberbit which have their global headquarters in the city, mechanical and electronics engineering company Active Space Technologies, telemetry and Machine to Machine company ISA, Cimpor's cement factory in Souselas (CIMPOR Souselas), the pan-European service facility of Olympus Corporation, the pharmaceuticals companies Bluepharma and BASI, the iron foundry Fucoli-Somepal and several ceramics, food processing (Probar produces cold meat products and Dan Cake produces sponge cakes and swiss rolls), textiles, wine, civil and engineering construction, architecture, public works and housing construction firms. Handicraft industry is well represented by traditional tapestry and pottery manufacture, and the surroundings of the city have besides forestry, dynamic horticulture production, vineyards and livestock raising. The Instituto Pedro Nunes (Pedro Nunes Institute), a business incubator, dynamically hosts several start-ups which are usually dedicated to technology-related businesses and became independent spin-off companies headquartered across the whole region.

Coimbra has a fresh produce open-air market on every 7th and 23rd days of the month at Feira dos 7 e dos 23, and a large fresh produce market in downtown at Mercado D. Pedro V. The Baixa (downtown) of Coimbra has many coffeehouses and bakeries, and features several specialty shops selling all kind of products in typical old-fashioned architectural surroundings. Large commercial facilities with car park, include a medium-sized shopping center (CoimbraShopping); two larger shopping centers with hypermarket, restaurants, movie theaters and several shops with a selection of some of Portugal's and the world's most famous and stylish international brands (Centro Comercial Dolce Vita and Forum Coimbra); and two retail parks found on the fringes of the city, offering an alternative to the busy city centre (Retail Park Mondego in Taveiro, and Coimbra Retail Park in Eiras).

Transportation[link]

The two banks of Mondego river at Coimbra, are linked by three main bridges: the Ponte do Açude; the Ponte de Santa Clara (Santa Clara bridge), which is the oldest, and the Ponte Rainha Santa also known as Ponte Europa, finished in 2004. The Ponte Pedonal de Pedro e Inês was is the ultimate bridge being constructed and is the only footbridge in the city.

The city is internally connected by an extensive bus network, the SMTUC (Serviços Municipalizados de Transportes Urbanos de Coimbra, Coimbra Municipality Urban Transport Services) and the Coimbra trolleybus system (the only such system in Portugal). In the past, the city also had a tram network (some are now parked inside a transportation museum). Taxicabs are also available, and are recognizable as cream or black and green (black car with green rooftop) taxis. The city is a hub for interregional bus services for all the country and abroad. A light-rail metro system, Metro Mondego, is currently being built.

Coimbra has several rail stations. The principal station Coimbra-B is on the main line between Porto and Lisbon. From this, a small spur runs to Coimbra-A, the main station in the city centre. A small regional rail line (Linha da Lousã) also runs from Coimbra Parque at the south edge of the city centre. From Coimbra-Parque is possible to travel to Miranda do Corvo, Lousã and Serpins, among others. Also it is possible to travel by train between Coimbra and Figueira da Foz (Ramal de Alfarelos), and Coimbra, Guarda and Vilar Formoso (Linha da Beira Alta [international]).

Coimbra is served by motorway A1 which connects Lisbon to Porto.

A regional airfield is located in Cernache (Aeródromo Municipal Bissaya Barreto) (CBP) [PCO], 7.5 km SW of the city downtown. With a 920 metre runway and Flight Information Service until the sunset, this regional airport has all the fundamental facilities for private flights.

Education[link]

The main square and buildings of the historic block of the University of Coimbra

The interior stacks of the Joanina Library, one of the oldest collections in Portugal

Coimbra has been called A cidade dos estudantes (The city of the students) or Lusa-Atenas (Lusitan-Athens), mainly because it is the site of the oldest and one of the largest universities in Portugal – the University of Coimbra, a public university whose origins can be traced back to the 13th century. Nowadays, it has students from 70 different nationalities; almost 10% of its students are foreigners, making it Portugal's most international university.

Coimbra is also the place where the oldest and biggest university students' union of Portugal was founded – the Associação Académica de Coimbra (Academic Association of Coimbra), established in 1887.

Besides that, there are also some other schools and institutes of higher education in the city: the Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, a public polytechnic institute; the Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, a public nursing school; and some private higher education institutions such as the Instituto Superior Miguel Torga; the Instituto Superior Bissaya Barreto; the Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama and finally, the Escola Universitária das Artes de Coimbra, an art school.

A large number of higher education students from all of Portugal chose Coimbra's higher learning institutions to study, due to the wide availability of degrees offered in different fields, the student-friendly environment of the city, and the prestige of many of its learning institutions allied to the ancient tradition of Coimbra as the historical capital of higher studies in Portugal.

The city has also a large number of public and private basic and secondary schools, among these some of the best-ranked in the country, like Escola Secundária Infanta D. Maria (public), Escola Secundária José Falcão (public), "Escola EB2/3 Martim de Freitas" (public) and Colégio Rainha Santa Isabel (private), as well as several kindergartens and nurseries. There is also the Coimbra Hotel and Tourism School.

Culture[link]

Coimbra fado[link]

Fado de Coimbra (Coimbra Fado) is a highly stylized genre of fado born in the city of Coimbra. Guitar player Carlos Paredes and singer Zeca Afonso, are among its most renowned and historical figures.

Orfeon Académico de Coimbra, the oldest and most famous academic choir in Portugal, an autonomous organization of the students' union Associação Académica de Coimbra, established in 1880 by a law student of the University of Coimbra (UC), and the fado section of UC's Associação Académica de Coimbra itself, are important organizations in Coimbra fado promotion and preservation.

According to tradition, to applaud fado in Lisbon one would clap his hands, while in Coimbra cough as if clearing the throat is the typical way.

Student festivals[link]

Undergraduate Medicine students participating in Coimbra's Queima das Fitas parade

Coimbra is also known for its university students' festivals. Two are held every year. The first one, Latada or Festa das Latas ("The Tin Can Parade") is a homecoming parade that occurs at the beginning of the academic year, and is a welcome to the new university students (Caloiros).

The Festa das Latas goes back to the 19th century when the Coimbra students felt the need to express their joy at finishing the school year in as loud a way as possible, using everything at their disposal that would make noise, namely tin cans. The highlight of this festival, which now takes place at the beginning of the academic year (November) is the special parade known as the Latada. After marching through the streets of the city the new students are "baptized" in the Mondego River thus entering into the Coimbra academic fraternity. The 2nd year's students are awarded their Grelos (a small ribbon). The Grelo is a small, woollen ribbon with the color(s) of the student's faculty that is attached to a student's briefcase. Previous to this, at the morning the students must have visited the Dom Pedro V market where they must get a turnip to sustain the Caloiros during the day's festivities. Besides the tin cans they have tied to their legs, the new students wear all kinds of costumes made up according to the creativity and imagination of their godmothers or godfathers who are older students. They also carry placards with ironic criticisms alluding to certain teachers, the educational system, national events and leaders.

The second one, Queima das Fitas ("The Burning of the Ribbons"), takes place at the end of the second semester (usually in the beginning of May) and it is one of the biggest student parties in all Europe. It lasts for 8 days, one for each University of Coimbra's Faculty: Letras (Letters), Direito (Law), Medicina (Medicine), Ciências e Tecnologia (Sciences and Technology), Farmácia (Pharmacy), Economia (Economics), Psicologia e Ciências da Educação (Psychology and Education Sciences) and Ciências do Desporto e Educação Física (Sports Sciences and Physical Education).

Although being University of Coimbra's festivals, other higher education students of Coimbra such as the polytechnic's students or private institution's students, are invited every year by the University of Coimbra students who manage and organise this events, to participate in the Tin Can Parade and also in the Burning of the Ribbons. The academic festivities are opened to the entire city community and attract a large number of national and international tourists as well.

Reportedly, during Queima das Fitas, more beer is drank during one week than Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.^{[citation needed]}

Music acts[link]

Coimbra has a lively music scene that caters for most tastes with lots of festivals and events beyond the academic festivals and the traditional Coimbra fado genre. It boasts several live music venues, and some of the most popular club nights and music festivals in Portugal. Moreover, the Conservatório de Música de Coimbra,^[2] the music-related departments of the Associação Académica de Coimbra and the music programmes of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra are regularly cited among the top music schools in the country. Modern bands and artists with some degree of recognition in the Portuguese music scene include André Sardet, Bunnyranch, WrayGunn and JP Simões.

Media[link]

The Centro region is the third-largest regional media market in Portugal. The Portuguese public radio and television broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal has regional offices and studios in Coimbra. The Diário de Coimbra and the Diário As Beiras are the two major newspapers based in Coimbra. The students' union of the University of Coimbra has also notable media like the Rádio Universidade de Coimbra radio station and A Cabra newspaper.

Leisure[link]

Aspect of the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra

Accommodation[link]

There is a wide variety of accommodation available, ranging from the camping-park or one of the many inexpensive hostels to the charming downtown hotels and international chain hotels.

Parks/gardens[link]

Coimbra has many attractive and pleasant green spaces such as parks, playgrounds, gardens and forests. The most famous park in the city is probably the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra, the fifth oldest in the world.

The city's green areas also include the Mata Nacional do Choupal, the Mata Nacional de Vale de Canas, Jardim da Sereia (also known as Jardim de Santa Cruz), Penedo da Saudade, Parque Manuel Braga, Parque Verde do Mondego and Choupalinho. Quinta das Lágrimas, a 19th century palace and estate, which was transformed into a hotel and golf resort, contains also a large park. Also noteworthy is the Paul de Arzila, a natural reserve occupying an area in Coimbra municipality (in Arzila), and in the neighbouring municipalities of Condeixa-a-Nova and Montemor-o-Velho.

Not far away from the urban center, close to the city itself, and fully set in the municipality of Coimbra, there are plenty of mountain and river landscapes. These include the river beach of Palheiros do Zorro in the parish of Torres do Mondego.

Sport[link]

The 30,210-seater Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (Coimbra City Stadium).

Coimbra is home to Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F. (known simply as Académica), a professional football autonomous organism of the University of Coimbra students' union Associação Académica de Coimbra, founded in 1872 and having its current statute of autonomous football organization since the 1980s. Académica football team plays in the Portuguese Liga at the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra. Clube de Futebol União de Coimbra, another sports club with tradition in the city, owner of a football team which plays in the Portuguese Second Division, is other important club of Coimbra. Coimbra also has one of the largest multisports clubs in Portugal: the University of Coimbra's students' union Associação Académica de Coimbra, includes sections dedicated to a wide array of sports such as rugby, volleyball, handball, rink hockey, basketball, baseball, tennis, swimming, rowing, among many others.

The Estádio Cidade de Coimbra (30,000 seats), which was a site of 2004 European Football Championship and includes olympic swimming pools (Piscinas Municipais), as well as a multiuse sports facility (Pavilhão Multiusos de Coimbra), located both near the stadium; the Estádio Municipal Sérgio Conceição; and the Estádio Universitário de Coimbra, an extensive sports complex of the university on Mondego's left bank, are the main athletics and sports venues in Coimbra. The Pavilhão Jorge Anjinho sports arena (headquarters of Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F.), Pavilhão dos Olivais, and Pavilhão do C.F. União de Coimbra, are other places where some of the most important indoor sports clashes involving teams of Coimbra are played.

Major sports teams based in Coimbra include:

Famous people[link]

Portugal's first king, Afonso Henriques, is buried in the Santa Cruz Monastery

The poet Luis Vaz de Camoes is linked with the city of Coimbra

Carlos Seixas one of Portugal's notable sons: born and raised in Coimbra

• Afonso Henriques, first king of Portugal. He is buried at the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra.
• Sancho I, second king of Portugal, son of Afonso Henriques. He is buried at the Santa Cruz Monastery in Coimbra.
• Afonso II, third Portuguese king (1211), was born and died in Coimbra
• Sancho II, fourth king of Portugal, was born in Coimbra on September 8, 1209
• Afonso III, the youngest brother of Sancho II, fifth king of Portugal, was born in Coimbra on August 15, 1210
• Elizabeth of Portugal (Holy Queen Isabel), wife of King Denis I. She was buried at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha.
• Pedro I, king of Portugal.
• José de Anchieta, Spanish Jesuit, humanist and writer.
• Anthony of Lisbon, Catholic saint.
• Francisco Álvares, Portuguese missionary and explorer.
• Luís Vaz de Camões, Portuguese poet and author of the Lusiad.
• Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet of the Renaissance.
• Mem de Sá, Governor-General of Brazil.
• António Nobre, Portuguese poet.
• Mário Simões Dias, violinist and musicologist.
• Al Berto, Portuguese poet.
• Lúcia dos Santos, Carmelite nun and one of the three visionaries of Fátima.
• José de Anchieta, Spanish Jesuit and writer.
• Pedro Nunes, Famous mathematician in the 16th century.
• Christopher Clavius, German-born jesuit mathematician, one of the responsibles for the gregorian calendar.
• Carlos Seixas, prominent Portuguese composer of the 18th century.
• Joaquim Machado de Castro, Portuguese sculptor of the 18th century.
• João Maria Correia Ayres de Campos, 1st Count of Ameal, Portuguese art collector.
• Álvaro Cunhal, Portuguese politician, noted communist leader. He was born in Coimbra.
• Miguel Torga, Portuguese writer of prose and poetry, pseudonym of Adolfo Correia Rocha who was a medical doctor.
• Carlos Paredes, Portuguese musician.
• Zeca Afonso, Portuguese musician.
• Carlos Mota Pinto, Portuguese political figure, interim prime minister of Portugal between 1978 and 1979.
• Mário Crespo, Portuguese journalist and reporter. He was born in Coimbra.
• Zita Seabra, Portuguese politician, formerly a high profile member of the Portuguese Communist Party, who renounced and criticized communist ideology just before the fall of Berlin Wall.
• Pedro Passos Coelho, Portuguese Prime Minister, politician. He was born in Coimbra.
• Sérgio Conceição, Portuguese international footballer.
• Zé Castro, Portuguese international footballer.
• Nuno Piloto, Portuguese footballer, captain of the Academica Coimbra OAF football team.
• Luis de Matos, Portuguese magician.
• Paulo Furtado, the leading vocalist of the band Wraygunn.
• JP Simões, singer and musician.
• André Sardet, Portuguese singer and musician.
• Filipe Albuquerque, Portuguese race car driver.
• João Neto, Portuguese judo champion.
• Miguel Veloso, Portuguese international footballer
• Pedro Miranda, Merthyr Tydfil, legend.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Coimbra

• University of Coimbra
• Associação Académica de Coimbra
• Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra
• Queima das Fitas
• Fado de Coimbra
• Joanina Library
• Associação Académica de Coimbra - O.A.F.
• Coimbra Group of universities
• Centro, Portugal

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

Official websites

• Coimbra's Municipality City Hall
• Centro's Tourist Region

Other websites

• Coimbra City Guide from Wikitravel

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (January 2012)

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Amália Rodrigues
Streetart of Amália Rodrigues, Lisbon
Background information
Birth name	Amália da Piedade Rodrigues
Also known as	Queen of fado
Born	(1920-07-23)July 23, 1920
Origin	Lisbon, Portugal
Died	October 6, 1999(1999-10-06) (aged 79)
Genres	Fado
Occupations	Singer, Actress
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Valentim de Carvalho
Website	http://www.amalia.com/

Amália da Piedade Rodrigues,^[1] GCSE, GCIH, (July 23, 1920 – October 6, 1999), known as Amália Rodrigues (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈmaliɐ ʁuˈðɾiɣɨʃ]), was a Portuguese singer and actress. She was known as the Rainha do Fado ("Queen of Fado") and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a 50-year recording and stage career. Amália' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado's boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Amália wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female fadista — or fado singer — should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards. Amália enjoyed an extensive international career between the 1950s and the 1970s, although in an era where such efforts were not as easily quantified as today. She was the main inspiration to other well-known international fado and popular music artists such as Madredeus, Dulce Pontes and Mariza.

The early years[link]

Amália Rodrigues remains today as Portugal's most famous artist and singer, a woman who was born into an almost destitute family and who grew to become not only Portugal's major star but also an internationally acclaimed artist and singer, whose career spanned 55 years of activity, recording songs in several languages (specially Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Italian), versions of her own songs, most famously 'Coimbra' (April In Portugal), and performing all over the world, achieving tremendous success in countries like France, Italy, Spain, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Romania, Japan and The Netherlands, among many others.

Her personality and charisma, the beauty of her face and her extraordinary timbre of voice, gave depth and intense life to her chant: the impression she made on the public, her immediacy and the natural way she empathized with her public were tremendous and attracted more and more admirers throughout the world.

As of her death in 1999 Amália had received more than 40 decorations and honors from all over the world (mostly France, including the Légion d'Honneur, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, Israel and Japan).

Most importantly Amália put fado as a musical genre on the map of world music, in dictionaries, libraries and musical essays. She paved the way for the generations that would follow, and that continue her legacy.

Despite official documents which give her date of birth as July 23, Amália always said her birthday was July 1, 1920.^[2] She was born in Lisbon, in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), neighborhood of Pena. Her father was a trumpet player and cobbler from Fundão who returned there when Amália was just over a year old, leaving her to live in Lisbon with her maternal grandmother in a deeply Catholic environment until she was 14, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.

She sang from the early age of 4 or 5, in the streets of Lisbon, playfully and naturally, and started singing as an amateur as early as 1935.

Her miserable childhood in Lisbon, almost destitute and having to do odd jobs (one of which included selling fruit in Lisbon's quays), gave her a very important outlook on life, which would always be present in soulfulness of her chant.

After a few years of amateur performances, Amália's first professional engagement in a fado venue took place in 1939, and she quickly became a regular guest star in stage revues.^[3] There she met Frederico Valério, a classically trained composer who, recognizing the potential in such a voice, wrote expansive melodies custom-designed for Amália’s voice, breaking the rules of fado by adding orchestral accompaniment. Among those fados were 'Fado do Ciúme', 'Ai Mouraria', 'Que Deus Me Perdoe', and 'Não Sei Porque Te Foste Embora.'

In the meantime Amália became Portugal's most renowned singer, and she became first the toast of Lisbon and then the toast of Portugal, attracting friends and admirers both from the people, then from the aristocracy. Artists, poets, politicians, former Kings and bankers were attracted by her personality and charisma.

At the same time Amália began an interesting career in the movies: her box office power was a major asset, and she debuted in the movies in 1946 with 'Capas Negras', followed by a major success, which is still Amália's most known movie, 'Fado' (1946).

Her Portuguese popularity began to extend abroad with trips to Spain, a lengthy stay in Brazil (where, in 1945, she made her first recordings on Brazilian label Continental) and Paris (1949). In 1950, while performing at the Marshall Plan international benefit shows, she introduced 'April in Portugal' to international audiences, under its original title "Coimbra".

In the early fifties, the patronage of acclaimed Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira marked the beginning of a new phase: Amália sang with many of the country's greatest poets, and some wrote lyrics specifically for her. Though Amália came from an extremely poor family, she had an intuitive intelligence which made her admire the arts and made her choose with increasing criteria and taste her own songs and their words. Her relationship with poetry would once again contribute to major changes in traditional fado: not only popular poets produced words for the songs, but the so-called great poets started contributing and writing specifically for her. The 'grand poetry' crossed its paths with those of fado.

The middle years[link]

Amália had indeed taken a few steps outside of Portugal, the above mentioned appearances in Spain (1943), Brasil, (1945) with her first recordings, and Berlin (1950). Her success wherever she went paved the way for further appearances abroad: she was the first Portuguese artist to ever appear on American television on ABC in 1953, and later to appear in Hollywood singing at the Mocambo, among others, in 1954. She also appeared on Mexican television. Wherever she went, a new group of admirers followed her.

She refused a proposal to appear in the movies in 1954, partly because of her shy nature and partly because allegedly she missed home.

But Amália would become a truly international name in 1954.

In 1954, Amália's international career skyrocketed through her presence in Henri Verneuil’s film The Lovers of Lisbon (Les Amants du Tage), where she had a supporting role. By the late 1950s the USA, Britain, and France had become her major international markets; Japan and Italy followed suit in the 1970s. In France especially, her popularity rivaled her Portuguese success, and she graduated to headliner at the prestigious Olympia theatre within a matter of months. This led to the release of the album Portugal's Great Amália Rodrigues Live at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, in 1957, on Monitor Records (now under Smithsonian Folkways). Over the years, she performed nearly all over the world — going as far as the Soviet Union and Israel.

In France she performed on television and became a well-known figure and artist and a much admired singer. Charles Aznavour even wrote a fado in French especially for her 'Aie Mourir Pour Toi' and she created versions of her own songs (Coimbra became Avril au Portugal, among others). She would perform at the prestigious Olympia for 10 seasons between 1956 and 1992, a feat almost unequaled by any other artist. From France she became a truly international star. Her voice, however, demanded more of the music and the words she sang.

At the end of the 1950s, Amália took a year off. Amália had been briefly married (1940–43) to a guitarist, whom she would later divorce, and fell in love with the son of a Portuguese immigrant in Brazil, an engineer, César Seabra (1922–1997) and they married in 1961. She then said she would sing only once in a while, but after a year's absence, she was no longer able to resist the appeal of the music she loved. She returned in 1962 with a richer voice, concentrating on recording and performing live at a slower pace. Her comeback album, 1962's Amália Rodrigues, was her first collaboration with French composer Alain Oulman, her main songwriter and musical producer throughout the decade. As Frederico Valério, before him, Oulman wrote melodies for her that transcended the conventions of fado.

In fact Alain Oulman (1929–1990), created in that album, also known as 'Busto' (Bust), a different kind of fado, with more extensions and which introduced aspects attributed traditionally to opera: the legatos, the extension of the voice, which adapted and fitted perfectly Amália's voice. She sang with renewed power, and became a true enchantress of the song. Also in that record she sang her own poems ('Estranha Forma de Vida') and poems written by great Portuguese poets, like Pedro Homem de Mello, David Mourão-Ferreira and others. She created longlife successes, which became classics and immortal songs in Portugal, like 'Povo Que Lavas no Rio', 'Maria Lisboa' and 'Abandono'.

She resumed her stage career singing all over the world, including Israel, the UK, France, and returning to the USA for Promenade Concerts in Hollywood at the Hollywood Bowl, and New York City, accompanied by Andre Kostelanetz, both in 1966 and 1968, achieving an extraordinary success. She also sang in Soviet Union and Romania, among other countries.

She continued her acting career, in films like 'Sangue Toureiro' (1958), and 'Fado Corrido' (1964).

Amália did not shy away from controversy: her performance in Carlos Vilardebó’s 1964 arthouse film The Enchanted Islands was better received than the film, based on a short story by Herman Melville, and her 1965 recording of poems by 16th century poet Luís de Camões generated acres of newspaper polemics. Yet her popularity remained untouched. Her 1968 single Vou dar de beber à dor broke all sales records and her 1970 album Com que voz won a number of international awards.

Having been given Portugal's Film Award for Best Actress for 'Fado' in 1947, once again she was awarded as Portugal's Best Film Actress in 1965, in a movie where she didn't sing.

In between she extended her talents to other kinds of songs: she recorded some of her old songs with an orchestra, recorded an extraordinary album with jazz saxophonist Don Byas 'Encontro' (1968), and recorded an album of American songs with Norrie Paramor's orchestra, 'Amália On Broadway' which includes a sensitive and powerful rendition of 'Summertime', 'The Nearness of You' among others.

Meanwhile, Alain Oulman, who was by heart a left-wing intellectual, was arrested by Portugal's political police in 1966, and forced into exile, but he continued to contribute with his music to Amália's voice, leaving behind many compositions which would enable her to record his music.

But her most important album in the 60s was indeed 'Com Que Voz', (1969), reprising many of her successes and adding a few more, all poems by great Portuguese-speaking poets, and music by Alain Oulman. Amália was at the height of her vocal and performing powers during the 60s. But the 70s would bring more countries, more success and an array of awards all over the world.

The later years[link]

During the 1970s, Amália concentrated on live work, and embarked upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. During the frenetic post-April 25, 1974 period she was falsely accused of being a covert agent of the PIDE, causing some trauma to her public life and career. In fact, during the Salazar years, Amália had been an occasional financial supporter of some communists in need. At the same time she had occasionally expressed some admiration for Salazar himself. But as a singer she always remained above politics, before or after the Revolution. The democratic regime would in fact decorate her far more than the dictatorship. During the 70s Amália had a tremendous success and following in two countries: Italy and Japan. Wherever she went there she was the toast of town. She would record an album of Italian traditional songs 'A Una Terra Che Amo' (1973) and again created versions of her own songs in Italian. And would record her live performances in an album called 'Amália In Italia' (1978). Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with Cantigas numa Língua Antiga was received as a triumph. Soon after, however, Amália suffered her first health troubles which caused her to be away from the stage for a short period again, and forced her to concentrate on performing especially in Portugal, though she still traveled abroad. Those problems were followed by a period of depression, and an introspection which led to the recording of two very personal albums: 'Gostava de Ser Quem Era' (1980) (literally 'I Wish I Were whom I Was')and 'Lágrima' (1983): all these songs were written by her own hand, since she used the poems she herself wrote. They were both successes, and in between she sang Frederico Valerio's songs again, in an album called 'Fado' (1982). The 1980s and 1990s brought her enthronement as a living legend. Her last all-new studio recording, Lágrima, was released in 1983. It was followed by a series of previously lost or unreleased recordings, and the smash success of two greatest hits collections that sold over 200,000 copies combined.

In fact, increasingly away from the stage on a regular basis, Amália found herself ill again in 1984, and went to New York in order to attempt suicide, but she couldn't go through with it and instead sought and got medical care. Upon her return home, and after a year of interruption, she was invited by a French journalist and admirer, Jean-Jacques Lafaye, back on stage. She then returned to the Olympia in Paris in 1985, for a series of concerts, and again from Paris she retook the world. The years 1985-1994 were of great and renewed international success, especially up until 1991. She again sang all over the world, being paid tributes and being celebrated as one of the world's major voices and singers: she sang all over France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and major concerts in Portugal in 1985 and 1987, and so many others, being decorated and paid regular tributes.

In her home country she was an icon and a symbol of Portugal. In 1990 the celebrations of her 50th career anniversary started with a major concert in Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios, appearing at the age of 69, to an overwhelmed public. She was decorated by the President of the Republic on stage, and started a series of concerts all over the world, including a comeback to New York in late 1990, as described below. Her voice had changed: it was lower but intense, and her on stage presence overwhelmed everybody, her beauty and charisma untouched.

Despite a series of illnesses involving her voice, Amália continued recording as late as 1990. She eventually retreated from public performance, although her career gained in stature with an official biography by historian and journalist Vítor Pavão dos Santos, and a five-hour TV series documenting her fifty-year career featuring rare archival footage (later distilled into the 90-minute film documentary, The Art of Amália). Its director, Bruno de Almeida, has also produced Amália, Live in New York City, a concert film of her 1990 performance at The Town Hall.

Amália Rodrigues in 1998

Amália launched a final album of originals in 1990, 'Obssessão', and from 1991 to 1994 it was felt that she was saying good-bye to her public, who still attended her performances. However, new health problems and difficulties took their toll: in December 1994 she gave her last concert, within the Lisbon European Capital of Culture concerts: she was 74, and was operated on a lung soon after in 1995. She would never again return to the stage. She was however much celebrated in the country and abroad. Television specials, interviews and tributes were held. She released a new album with original recordings from the 60s and 70s, 'Medo' (1997), and a book of her poems, including the ones she had sung: 'Amália: Versos' (1997).

In 1998 Amália was paid a national tribute at Lisbon's Universal Exhibition (Expo '98), and in February 1999 was considered one of Portugal's 25 more important personalities of the democratic period. Soon after she recorded what would become her last interview for television and the Cinématheque in Paris paid her a tribute in April 1999, with a showing of some of her movies.

On October 6, 1999, Amália Rodrigues died at the age of 79 in her home in Lisbon. Portugal's government promptly declared three days of national mourning.^[4][5] Her house, in Rua de São Bento, is now a museum. She is buried at the National Pantheon alongside other Portuguese notables.

In fact she was given a State Funeral, attended by thousands, and was later transferred to the Pantheon in 2001, the only woman to be so, after the Parliament decided to honor her with that dignity.

Upon her death and by will, she created the Foundation Amália Rodrigues, which manages her legacy and assets, except her copyright, willed to two of her nephews. Amália's estate was never exactly valued, but she left two houses, (one mansion in Lisbon), antiques, works of art, a collection of jewels and other important items, decorations, and an amount of money.

In 2007, she came in 14th in Portugal's election of Os Grandes Portugueses (The Greatest Portuguese).^[6] One year later, in 2008, a film about her life Amália was released, with Sandra Barata portraying her.^[7]

Amália, who was once considered by Variety one of the voices of the century, remains to this day as the most international of Portuguese artists and singers, and in Portugal, a national icon.

Her cultural relevance is shown by the fact that she put fado on the world map as a form of chant and music, and her steps were followed by an array of performers and singers, whom, in their own right, achieved success and worldwide fame, following in her path and many of whom sing her repertoire, under its classic form or under a new look. Amália's repertoire continues to be a major one, allowing for new performer's renewed success and international breakthrough.

Family[link]

Amália's parents had nine children: Vicente and Filipe, José and António (who both died in childhood), Amália, Celeste, Aninhas (who died at sixteen), Maria da Glória (who died shortly after birth), and Maria Odete. In 1940, she married Francisco Cruz, a lathe worker and amateur guitar player from whom she separated in 1943 and whom she divorced in 1946. In 1961, in Rio de Janeiro, she married César Seabra, a Brazilian engineer; they remained married until his death in 1997. She had no children.^[2]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amália Rodrigues

• (Portuguese) Amália: uma estranha forma de vida
• Amália Rodrigues at the Internet Movie Database

Brigadier General Ðỗ Mậu (born 1917) was an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) best known for his roles as a recruiting strategist in both the 1963 coup that toppled President Ngô Đình Diệm and the 1964 coup led by General Nguyễn Khánh that deposed the junta of General Dương Văn Minh. He was born in Quảng Bình Province.

Having abandoned the Communist-led Việt Minh resistance to join the Vietnamese National Army, the predecessor of the ARVN, Mau rose to be head of military security under Diệm. At that time a colonel with no troops to command, Mậu was nevertheless an important member of the conspiracy due to his liaisons with a wide number of officers, which allowed him to recruit widely for coup participants. He initially tried to organize a coup group himself with Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, an undetected communist agent bent on maximising infighting, and disillusioned intelligence director Trần Kim Tuyến mainly consisting of mid-level officers. Later this group was integrated into the main plot led by a group of generals; Mậu had helped to liaise between some of these generals. He also concocted false data to convince Diệm to send the ARVN Special Forces—mainly used to defend Diệm and his family from coups in Saigon—into the countryside to battle a non-existent large-scale communist attack. The coup was successful and Diệm was captured and executed.

After the coup, Mậu was promoted to brigadier general and made one of 12 members of the ruling junta. Fearing his political skills, the leading generals tried to sideline him and placed him in the non-influential post of Information Minister, where he censored newspapers. Mậu responded by plotting his own coup, joining forces with Nguyễn Khánh, Dương Văn Đức and Trần Thiện Khiêm, Nguyễn Chánh Thi and Dương Ngọc Lắm. Three months after Diệm was deposed, the next coup was successful without needing a battle. Mậu was then made one of three deputy prime ministers, overseeing social and cultural affairs. Disillusioned with Khánh's tendency toward military dictatorship, and isolated by the young generals, Mậu retired from the military for good in 1964.

Early years and career[link]

During the 1940s, Mậu had joined the Việt Minh resistance as a Battalion Commanding officer in the Central Vietnam, but became disillusioned by Communist cadres. He then joined the French-backed Vietnamese National Army (VNA) of the State of Vietnam and trained at a French military academy.^[1] A quietly spoken officer, Mậu rose up the ranks,^[1] and the VNA became the ARVN after the State of Vietnam became the Republic of Vietnam when Prime Minister Diệm deposed Bảo Đại and declared himself president in a fraudulent referendum organised by Diệm's brother and advisor, Ngô Đình Nhu.^[2][3]

1963 coup[link]

As the director of military security, Mậu was a participant in the 1963 South Vietnamese coup that deposed and executed President Diệm and his brother and chief adviser, Ngô Đình Nhu.^[4] The ruling Ngô family came under pressure in the Buddhist crisis of 1963, when discontent among the country's Buddhist majority towards the pro-Catholic regime erupted into civil unrest.^[5] There were many conspiracies against Diệm in 1963, many of them by different cliques of military officers independent from one another. According to Ellen Hammer, there were "perhaps as many as six and possibly more" different plots,^[6] and these spanned the gamut of society to include civilian politicians, union leaders, and university students.^[6]

In mid-1963, one group consisted of mid-level officers such as colonels, majors, and captains. Mậu was in this group, which was coordinated by Trần Kim Tuyến, South Vietnam's director of intelligence. Tuyến had been a palace insider, but a rift had developed in recent years, and he began to plot as early as 1962.^[6][7] As South Vietnam was a police state, Tuyến was an extremely powerful figure with many contacts.^[8][9] Another in the group was Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, an undetected communist agent who was deliberately fomenting infighting among the officers and mismanaging the Strategic Hamlet Program in order to destabilize the Saigon government.^[10]

Tuyến's group had many officers who were members of the opposition Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng and Đại Việt Quốc Dân Đảng parties,^[6] which had been discriminated against in promotions, which were preferentially given to members of the regime's secret Cần Lao Party. ^[11][12] These included commanders of airborne, marine and tank units from the 5th Division,^[6] mostly at battalion level.^[13] As Mậu was in a role that involved coordinating with other senior officers, he was an effective conduit for coup plotting.^[14] He was popular and needed by the other officers as he was able to keep compromising information about them from Ngô Đình Nhu, Diệm's younger brother and main strategist.^[15]

When Tuyến's machinations were discovered, he was exiled by Nhu. ^[16] Mậu and Thảo took over but their initial coup plans for July 15 were shelved when American CIA agent Lucien Conein instructed Thảo's superior, General Trần Thiện Khiêm, the head of the army, to stop the coup on the grounds that it was premature.^[17][18] Thảo and Mậu's group resumed plotting, intending to move on 24 October, and they recruited a total of 3,000 men.^[19] They augmented their forces with an assortment of officers from auxiliary units such as from the Signal Corps, Transportation Corps and some Vietnam Air Force pilots.^[13] Mậu enlisted the help of Khiêm following Tuyến's departure into exile.^[13] Mậu gained the cooperation of an assortment of military and civilian dissidents known as the Military and Civilian Front for the Revolution in Vietnam (MCFRV). The MCFRV started to plot independently in August, and was led by a cousin of Mậu.^[13]

Following the Xá Lợi pagoda raids, the senior generals started their own plot in earnest.^[6][20] General Trần Văn Đôn, nominally a high-ranking general, but without command of troops because the palace distrusted him, was sought out by Mậu, who wanted to collaborate. Mậu later accompanied the ranking general in the plot, Dương Văn Minh, on recruitment campaigns. Despite his high rank, Minh was out of favour and served as the Presidential Military Advisor, a meaningless desk job where he had no subordinates in the field and no access to soldiers.^[20] Mậu helped Minh to secure the cooperation of General Nguyễn Khánh,^[14] who commanded the II Corps that oversaw the central highlands of the country, and Colonel Nguyen Van Thieu,^[14] who commanded the 5th Division based just outside the capital Saigon in Biên Hòa. According to Thiệu, Mậu and Minh had promised to establish a more strongly anti-communist government, to expel Nhu and his wife, Madame Nhu, from the country and keep Diệm as a figurehead president.^[21] In October, the younger officers' plot was integrated into the generals' larger group, which was more likely to succeed,^[22] as Khiêm and Mậu were involved with both groups.^[23] The coup was successfully executed on 1 November 1963 under the leadership of Generals Minh and Đôn.^[24]

When the coup was about to take place, Mậu helped to get to weaken loyalist forces. Mậu concocted military intelligence reports with false data claiming the Việt Cộng was massing outside the capital for an offensive.^[25] He then convinced Diệm and Nhu to send several companies of ARVN Special Forces personnel out of the capital to fight the communists.^[25] The United States had cut off funding for the CIA-trained Special Forces because Diệm used them to stop coups, repress dissidents and attack Buddhist pagodas in the capital instead of combating the communists in rural areas.^[26][27] Mậu's deception meant that what was effectively a private unit of the Ngô family would be unable to defend them.^[28]

Another of Diệm's younger brothers, Ngô Ðình Cẩn, began to suspect Mậu and told the palace, which told army chief General Trần Thiện Khiêm to have Mậu arrested. However, Khiêm, also part of the plot, deliberately procrastinated and Mậu remained free. In the meantime, it was too late for the brothers to bring their loyalists back into the capital.^[25] Mậu helped to organise a lunchtime meeting at Joint General Staff Headquarters at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base and invited senior officers to the event. At 13:45 on 1 November 1963, the coup was launched, and those who remained loyal to Diệm were arrested.^[29]

Mậu found himself on the opposite side to his nephew and Air Force Lieutenant Đỏ Thơ, Diệm's aide de camp.^[4] Late in the evening, Thơ accompanied the Ngô brothers as they escaped the rebel siege on Gia Long Palace and absconded to the home of a Chinese supporter in Cholon.^[30] The following day the brothers were captured and executed.^[31] Thơ died in action a few months later in a plane crash.^[32]

After the coup was successfully executed, the media learned about the conspiracy organised by Tuyến and Thảo which was more advanced than that of the generals before being integrated into the main plot. Đôn thought the younger officers had publicized their well-advanced plot in order to gain personal acclaim and distract attention from the generals' success, so he threatened to arrest them but Mậu intervened to protect them.^[15] Mậu was a principal tactician of the coup. He did not explicitly command troops, but had a thorough knowledge of the backgrounds of most of the ARVN officers and their strengths and weaknesses.^[1] This had allowed him to help recruit rebels, avoid loyalists and engineer the previous coup. The Military Revolutionary Council (MRC) of General Dương Văn Minh respected Mậu, but their fears about his shrewdness led them to place him in the relatively powerless post of Minister of Information, even though he was one of 12 members of the MRC. Mậu's closest aides were posted further away from any real power.^[33]

Mậu was mainly responsible for stifling anti-government sentiment. Saigon newspapers, which been able to operate liberally in the post-Diệm era, reported that the junta was paralysed because all twelve generals in the MRC had equal power.^[34][35] They strongly attacked Prime Minister Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, accusing his civilian government of being "tools" of the MRC.^[36] They also questioned Thơ's activities under Diệm's presidency, accusing him of personally benefiting from corruption under Diệm's land policy.^[36] Mậu's ministry had already circulated a long list of topics which could not be reported. Thơ could no longer tolerate what was being reported about him. He called journalists into his office and assailed them for what he regarded as inaccurate, irresponsible and disloyal reporting. Thơ accused them of lying, and claimed one of the journalists was a communist while another was a drug addict.^[35] He said that his administration would "take steps to meet the situation" if the media did not behave responsibly. The next day Mậu's ministry closed down three newspapers for "disloyalty".^[35] During this time, Mậu enacted the "Golden Rules" to govern media conduct: Do not promote Communism or neutralism. Do not endanger national security or the army's morale. Do not spread false news of any kind. Do not slander individuals. Do not bolster vices.^[37]

1964 coup[link]

Disgruntled, Mậu began recruiting for a coup against Minh's MRC, sounding out exiles in Cambodia and France as well as those who had returned after the overthrow of Diệm.^[33] Mậu started by targeting General Nguyễn Khánh, who was moved from the II Corps in the central highlands to the I Corps in the far north of South Vietnam. This, it was speculated, was to keep him far away from Saigon.^[1][38] This was contrary to Khánh's request for a transfer to the Mekong Delta close to Saigon. Khánh made no attempt to hide his anger at not being given a more important job by the MRC.^[1] Khánh had long been regarded as an ambitious and unscrupulous officer by his colleagues,^[39] and he had a reputation for switching sides in high-level disputes for personal gain.^[38][40]

The most important link in Mậu's plan was Colonel Nguyễn Chánh Thi, the former paratroop commander who had fled to Cambodia in the wake of the failed 1960 coup attempt against Diệm. Mậu persuaded the junta to install Thi as Khánh's deputy in I Corps. He tricked the junta into doing so by reasoning that Khánh had largely been responsible for putting down the 1960 revolt and that Thi would be an ideal mechanism for keeping Khánh in check, whom they distrusted. Privately, Mậu predicted Thi would be a bridge between him in Saigon and Khánh in Huế.^[33] Mậu recruited General Trần Thiện Khiêm, who had worked with him during the November 1963 coup. Khiêm had assisted Diệm in putting down the 1960 plot and had since been demoted from being Chief of Staff of the ARVN to the commander of the III Corps that surrounded Saigon following Diệm's fall. Khiêm joined the plot and controlled the divisions surrounding the capital.^[33] Khiêm, Khánh and Mậu kept in touch surreptitiously on a regular basis, supplementing their forces with an assortment of Marine, Air Force and Special Forces officers. Mậu recruited the chief of the Civil Guard, Dương Ngọc Lắm who was under investigation by the junta for swindling military funds, and General Dương Văn Đức, who had recently returned from Paris and was an assistant to General Lê Văn Kim, the chief of the junta's general staff.^[41]

At the time, there was innuendo that some generals in the MRC would become neutralist and stop fighting the communists, and that they were plotting with French President Charles de Gaulle, who supported such a solution in order to remove the US presence. Đức used his French experience to concoct some plausible sounding and incriminating documents for Mậu, which purported to show that some junta members were French agents. Some of the documents were leaked to some senior American officials.^[42] In January 1964, troops led by Khánh, Khiêm, and Thi overthrew the MRC in a bloodless coup.^[43][44] Khánh assumed control of a new junta, and Mậu was one three Deputy Prime Ministers, overseeing social and cultural affairs.^[45][46]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Dommen, Arthur J. (2001). The Indochinese Experience of the French and the Americans: Nationalism and Communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33854-9. 
• Hammer, Ellen J. (1987). A Death in November: America in Vietnam, 1963. New York City, New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-525-24210-4. 
• Jacobs, Seth (2006). Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam, 1950–1963. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-7425-4447-8. 
• Jones, Howard (2003). Death of a Generation: how the assassinations of Diem and JFK prolonged the Vietnam War. New York City, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505286-2. 
• Kahin, George McT. (1979). "Political Polarization in South Vietnam: U.S. Policy in the Post-Diem Period". Pacific Affairs (Vancouver, British Columbia) 52 (4): 647-73. 
• Karnow, Stanley (1997). Vietnam: A history. New York City, New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-84218-4. 
• Langguth, A. J. (2000). Our Vietnam: the war, 1954-1975. New York City, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81202-9. 
• Logevall, Fredrik (2006). "The French recognition of China and its implications for the Vietnam War". In Roberts, Priscilla. Behind the bamboo curtain: China, Vietnam, and the world beyond Asia. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-5502-7. 
• Moyar, Mark (2006). Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965. New York City, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-86911-0. 
• Shaplen, Robert (1966). The Lost Revolution: Vietnam 1945-1965. London: Andre Deutsch. 
• Truong Nhu Tang (1986). Journal of a Vietcong. London: Cape. ISBN 0-224-02819-7. 
• Tucker, Spencer C. (2000). Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social and Military History. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-57607-040-9. 

v t e Military of South Vietnam Corps I II III IV Divisions 1 2 3 5 7 9 18 21 22 23 25 Marine Airborne Branches Air Force Army Civilian Irregular Defense Group Navy Popular Forces Regional Forces Rangers Cavalry Squadron Special Forces Presidential Guard Air bases Bien Hoa Binh Thuy Cam Ranh Da Nang Nha Trang Phan Rang Phu Cat Pleiku Tan Son Nhut Tuy Hoa Coup attempts and mutinies 1960 1962 1963 1964 September 1964 December 1964 1965 1966 Notable officers Cao Van Vien Chung Tan Cang Do Cao Tri Duong Van Minh Hoang Xuan Lam Huynh Van Cao Lam Van Phat Le Minh Dao Le Nguyen Khang Le Van Hung Le Van Kim Mai Huu Xuan Nguyen Cao Ky Nguyen Chanh Thi Nguyen Huu Co Nguyen Khanh Nguyen Van Thieu Nguyen Viet Thanh Ngo Quang Truong Pham Ngoc Thao Pham Van Phu Ton That Dinh Tran Thien Khiem Tran Van Don